Meet the Fleanstones

Every other Friday all 34 trainees gather in Kumanavo for day-long, whole-group Hub Day training. This year one of the Hub day trainings happened to fall on Halloween. So Thursday Kacey and I found material at a shop in Kumanavo. We brought it home and Hava (our host mother) was going to help us sew our costumes. It also happened to be Agim’s (our host father) birthday. While we were eating desert to celebrate, the power went out. We waited and waited to be able to use the sewing machine. The power didn’t come back on however, so we colored my outfit by candlelight. We went to bed with the understanding Hava would wake Kacey up if the Power came back on or would wake-up early to sew.

Well, at a quarter to six Hava was knocking on our door to show Kacey that the power was still out. She then pantomimed that she was going to sew by hand. Kacey went up stairs with her and a minute later an aunt who lives next door walked in just out of bed; Hava had gone and woken the aunt to help her sew. Thus Hava and her sister-in-law sewed our costumes at six in the morning by hand! When all was said and done, an hour and half later, Kacey and I had incredible Flintstone costumes! Our family got the biggest kick out of the fact I was wearing a dress.

Along with Anna, who made a mask, and Amanda who made bat wings, we visited the local elementary school where Amanda’s host father works. The kids all sat staring, jaws dropped – they don’t celebrate Halloween here, and few, if any, kids or adults for that matter, know what Halloween, or the Flintstones are.

Most trainees, and a number of PC staff were in costume for Hub day. The other dual language group went as the breakfast club. One group all had Devo hats and performed a song and dance number. Two groups made matching tee-shirts. Jordan, the only African-American in our group went as Mike Tyson. The other married couple came in matching Macedonian jogging outfits they bought. The title of the scariest costume was easily awarded to the current volunteer and trainer who came dressed as Sarah Palin.

After training almost everyone went to the Irish Pub in Kumanavo. Most of the training groups had to leave at 8:00 to return to their sights, but since we are so close we were able to stay. A ton of current Volunteers from around the country also congregated at the Irish Pub in costume. At midnight the pub had a costume contest. We were called downstairs through the packed house to calls from the band, “Fred eend Vilma!” Voting was done by cheering, and in the end we elicited the loudest cheer, along with chants of Fleanstones, Fleanstones, Fleanstones – and we won the prize for best costumes! The prize money covered the cost of our costumes, dinner at the pub, all of our drinks for the night, plus a little extra – so it was a great night, and probably the greatest costumes we’ll ever have.