One Sweet Month!!

We've just finished 5 incredible weeks! Jim and Casey arrived at the end of June and we explored Macedonia. Kacey left us for 11 days to work the Girls Leading Our World summer camp. The four of us then visited Istanbul for 5 days before heading to Athens and the surrounding area for another 5 days. Jim and Casey flew home and we flew on to meet Harry and Jeanne in Rome. We spent three great days in Rome before heading south for two days in Naples and Pompeii. A train took us across Italy to Bari, where, despite a few setbacks -- they canceled our ferry -- we made our way to Durres, Albania. One wild taxi ride later we were back in Macedonia for another fun week of exploration with Harry and Jeanne!

Highlights included: Jim drinking, with much struggle, his second cup of coffee EVER; A Muslim "monk" lecturing on the intricacies of American Democracy; plenty of Rakija -- for details ask Jim or Jeanne; A 4'5" 9 year old girl pitching a baseball to a 6'10" 19 year old who was swinging for the fences -- from 8 feet away; An interesting bonding experience for Kacey and Casey at a traditional Turkish bath; Three straight nights at an Irish Pub in Athens; Harry and Conor screaming at Roman waiters nearly to the point of blows ("Boy, you sure screwed up this time" -- HH); Hours of ear pounding music at an Albanian wedding; Harry and his sheep (no details); Jim learning how to taste wine -- feel free to ask for a demonstration; And one "successful" encounter with Rroma kids in Skopje!

We've created an online photo album at snapfish. Unfortunately you need an account, although the account is free. If you want to check out the pictures email one of us and we can send you an invitation and link.

Hiking Marathon

Two weekends ago we joined another Peace Corps couple, Dan and Jillian, on a 27 mile hike from one town in eastern Macedonia to another. The day began with a 4:00 am taxi ride from their town of Kriva Palanka to the town of Probishtip. After a tour of 800 year old Lesnovo Monastery where both Jillian and I had to put on skirts and Conor pants due to the presence of a monk, we set out. This 3rd annual marathon hike is organized by the Kriva Palanka hiking club and we accompanied 30 members ranging in age from 17 to mid-60s.

The views were amazing and as Dan puts it, "We passed through no less than half a dozen terrains and I think several microclimates on our journey, including a boggy marsh, a beautiful meadow, some loose boulders and for about 500 meters, a desert." During the first third of our trek we had to cross a river - not particularly deep, but with a rocky, uneven bottom. Up to this point two small dogs from Lesnovo Monastery had joined us and wanted to continue, and as we reached the other side of the river we heard much whining and splashing as the littlest jumped in. He got swept downstream and over a small waterfall, and instead of swimming to the side he relentlessly tried climbing back up the falls. He was pulled out by a fellow hiker and sat there drying off and resting from his laborious swim. We continued on our way, assuming the two pups had gone home until the other one showed up as we were eating lunch. After ten more kilometers it was obvious he intended to complete the hike with us. Near the end as we commented on his determination, the leader of the hiking club answered back, "Oh him? He comes along every year and then he walks home."

At the peak of our hike

We arrived at Osogovski Monastery in Kriva Palanka around 8:00 pm just as the sun was fading, and finished off our day with dinner and beer. It felt nice to finally put up our feet. While resting though we couldn't help but think of Jim (Conor's dad) who's on his own journey on the Santiago de Compostela trail in Spain, hiking nearly 500 miles in four weeks.

Osogovski Monastery in Kriva Palanka

Tearce Student Council

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdHjOnh636c

Kacey has started a Student Council for seventh and eighth graders at her school in Tearce, Macedonia. Working with one of the English teachers (there are five at her school) they brought together a multi-ethnic group of Albanian, Macedonian, and Turkish students. At the first meeting they explained to the students the point of the club was to have the student leaders identify areas or aspects of their own school that they wanted to see improved or changed, that it was up to the students to figure out what to do, and it was up to them to figure out how to involve the other students in the school.

Walking them through this process, the students immediately identified trash (an endemic problem throughout Macedonia) as the biggest problem at their school. The school grounds, both inside and outside the school, are covered in trash (as is the entire village). The students decided they wanted to cleanup the mess. Importantly, they also came to the decision on their own that they needed to educate all the students at the school why they should not litter and instead use garbage bins in order to address the root cause of the problem.

The students decided they needed to meet with the school Director (principal) and solicit her help. Kacey and the other teacher arranged a meeting between the students and the director. The director was very receptive and listened as the students asked for garbage bags, trash cans for inside and outside the school, gloves, and the opportunity to teach all the classes. The director agreed and asked how the students would feel about collecting 20 denars from each student (40-50 cents). The students thought it was a great idea and a way to show the other kids that they were the cause of the problem and they had an invested stake, both in the problem, and the solution.

Next, a meeting with an NGO was set-up and the students presented their proposal and plan to address the trash problem. They are still waiting to see if the NGO will help fund their project. Currently they are working to organize a school-wide cleanup and education.

Kacey put together this video and it was presented at a town clean-up day organized by the municipality. The municipality was inspired by the students effort, and the video was screened to a packed gym of a few hundred people.

As a little background, Tearce is halfway between Tetovo and the Kosovo border - 7 miles each direction. During the conflict in 2001 it was a center of violence and all the Macedonians fled to Skopje. The group Kacey has brought together is made of up kids from three ethnic backgrounds. Although most of these kids have attended the same school their entire lives they have had little or no interaction; for some kids it is their first real interaction with peers the same age, from the same school. The school is run with ethnic classes, meaning Albanian kids have class with only Albanian kids, Macedonian with only Macedonian, and Turkish with only Turkish. Not wanting language to be a barrier to any student, Kacey and the other teacher decided the Student Council would operate in any language. They manage meetings with a lot of translation and patience, but the students have been incredibly receptive, many attempting to speak a language other than their own in order to help make their peers feel welcome. In the video the kids are each speaking their own language, Macedonian, Albanian, and Turkish, and two speak in English. Thus, the video has four languages.

enjoy!

Long Live Marx - and $4.50

Day of the International Solidarity of Workers, or Labour Day, is still celebrated May 1st here in Macedonia. It remains a national holiday and people flock to the hills and mountains for "picnics." A teacher Kacey works with invited us to join him and a group of friends for a picnic in a tiny village on the side of a mountain. What he didn't tell us was that we would be leaving Tetovo at 8:30 am. With little time wasted we began drinking Rakija (Kacey's favorite) promptly at 9:00. It rained all day, but the picnic area, which is at a centuries old church, was covered. The view was spectacular (when it was clear); we could see much of the Polog valley with the views stretching far south of Tetovo and North into Kosovo. The day was filled with eating (five different salads, pork, chicken), drinking (Rakija, Skopsko beer), and lots of singing (1991 soft rock classics intermixed with Macedonian folk songs) accompanied by the guitar.

At the green, or open air market Saturday we bought 25 pounds of Potatoes, 2.2 pounds of tomatoes, 2.2. pounds of cucumbers, one cabbage, one head of lettuce, 1 pound of onions, half a pound of peppers (and one complimentary lemon because we spoke Albanian) -- all for about the equivalent of $4.50.

Turkish?!

Along with Macedonian and Albanian languages, Kacey and I have started Turkish language lessons. The Peace Corps has funds available to pay a tutor for two hours of language class a week. Because we are in the dual language program they approved 4 hours of tutoring for us - 2 in Macedonian, and 2 in Albanian. At our recent In-Service Conference, which included three days of language training, we asked about the possibility of also learning Turkish. Some volunteers opt not to have a language tutor, resulting in extra money in the pot. Thus, we now have Turkish language lessons on top of our Macedonian and Albanian lessons.

So how are our language skills? Well, we just had to take our language tests, which are oral interviews, tape-recorded and scored against a world-wide standard rubric, and we both passed higher than was required. I passed both tests at a level expected for someone only learning one language. Kacey on the other hand blew the testers away. Having only been in country for six months, Kacey nearly scored in the "advanced," or highest range in Albanian language, a score nearly unheard of for a first exam. Many volunteers who learn only one language leave the Peace Corps never having reached the level she is at already. She also scored quite high in Macedonian.

In our daily lives we can function fully in our community and are no longer nervous to go shopping, ask about prices or directions, direct cab drivers, order at restaurants, or enter into conversations. Learning two (and now three) languages simultaneously has been easier, in many respects, than we thought it would be. Most of the time we don't get them too confused and we mix them far less frequently than we did at first. The hardest part is when we need to make sudden transitions from talking in one language and switch instantly to another. It's incredibly fun however, and it's hard to describe the respect and reaction people have when we are able to talk to them in their native language. It was definitely the best decision we've made in the Peace Corps, and the decision that has had the biggest influence on our service.

We're Alive!!

Of everything we've learned since arriving in Macedonia, the most evident is this: We are horrible at this whole blogging thing. Since our last post - about Thanksgiving - we have much to report. We can confirm that Borat was not entirely made-up. We can tell stories about cleaning 66,000 pounds of trash from a river. And we can talk about this amazing town we now call home - Tetovo. But, you'll just have to wait, or write us an email if you want the details.

Instead, we'll just start by describing last Saturday.

Saturday we finished a week-long conference (three days of technical, work-related info, and three days of language training on the shores of beautiful lake Ohrid). Lake Ohrid itself is pretty similar to Flathead Lake; Lake Ohrid is a bit smaller, but they are roughly the same size, both enclosed by mountains. The difference - The town of Ohrid has been continuously inhabited for 8,000 years. After the conference 6 of us stayed in town with another PC Volunteer who lives in Ohrid. After exploring the city, the seven of us spent the afternoon and evening drinking wine on a cliff over the lake, directly below a 13th century church. The weather was beautiful, and we were able to spend our first visit to Ohrid with a great group of close friends, one of whom is coincidentally from Missoula.

After our evening at the church, we enjoyed a traditional Macedonian meal in a restaurant over-looking an ancient Greek and Roman amphitheater and returned to our friend's apartment for more fun and laughter.




On Sunday morning we attending a Catholic church for Easter mass (one of only three in the country) and then headed back home to Tetovo. We are back in our routines and promise not to wait another four months before posting another update!!

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving only a few days past I think it's an opportune time to reflect on our experience celebrating this year. The Peace Corps organized a Thanksgiving party and dinner for all current volunteers, all PC staff, and all of us trainees, who were each allowed to invite two people. Thus the dinner was huge. The Peace Corps flew in $500 worth of turkeys from America, but the rest of the food was provided by those attending the dinner.

By request we brought "Flee," a traditional Albanian dish made of flour, water, and salt. A fire is started and a cement-type-lid is placed on the fire. Strips of the batter are poured into a large dish - perhaps 2 feet in diameter and 4 to 5 inches deep. The lid is then transferred from the fire to the top of the dish where it cooks the batter from the top. Once the strips are cooked the lid is returned to the fire and another round of strips are poured. The whole process takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours with the end result being somewhat similar to a stack of very thin pancakes -- everyone here loves the dish.

The celebration began with a speech by the Country Director and was followed by a speech and Thank You written by a fellow volunteer. The speech was translated into both Macedonian and Albanian and was delivered in sections. The first section was read in English, then in Macedonian, and then in Albanian. Kacey was selected to read the Albanian. The girl reading the Macedonian did a pretty good job. However, when Kacey read the first Albanian section she flew through it stunning the audience. Once she was finished the crowed burst into cheers in recognition of what she'd done!

After dinner each training group presented skits or a slide show. Our group presented a slide show set to music. Highlights included a group dressed as Turkeys who would each dance onto stage one turkey at a time to choreographed music and proclaim "I am a Turkey." The first turkey spoke in English, the second in Macedonian, followed by Albanian, and finally the fourth turkey in Turkish, proclaiming "I'm a turkey from Turkey, beat that!" Another group had an elaborate Thanksgiving skit performed in Macedonian complete with Trainees in their underwear. We have been left to ponder what our families now think of Americans. After the skits everyone danced - first traditional Macedonian dances, and then modern pop culture dances, e.g. the electric slide.

All details aside, it was an incredible experience that brought home the meaning of Thanksgiving as we'd never experienced before. Traditionally the holiday is celebrated as the occasion the Pilgrims, foreigners newly arrived in a strange land, took time to celebrate what they had to be thankful for. They survived and prospered because of the generosity of those already living in that new land. The willingness of those people to help the Pilgrims was integral and essential to their survival. In theory we've always known this story. Yet we've never really felt, as in felt deep down in our bones, that same level of thankfulness or the same level of meaning that the dinner must have had for those first pilgrims. Until this year. Here we are, strangers in a new and different land far from all we've known, incapable of prospering on our own, lacking the skills and knowledge we need. We've been taken in by complete strangers, and have survived, grown, and learned because of these strangers' generosity and willingness to help. Without the help and support of so many people here in Macedonia we would be like those first Pilgrims had they lacked the help of the Native Americans. Instead, we are like those first Pilgrims, and in the same tradition, offered a dinner and celebration to thank those who have helped us, to celebrate with our friends, and reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

The physical distance of our separation from America has also provided an opportunity to reflect on all we have to be thankful for, and has provided a lens through which to see America in a different and fuller light. It brings home just how lucky we are to have the families and friends we do. It also provides an opportunity to realize, truly, that despite whatever failings and flaws America has, it is an incredible place and is uniquely set apart from other countries, representing hope and the possibility of something better.

Well, enough sentimental rambling. We just want to let you all know how thankful we are for you. We love getting your emails, so please keep writing! (we apologize if we can't always find the time to respond to everyone as in depth as we should -- hopefully that will change if we get Internet at our own place -- less than two weeks!) Happy Thanksgiving, Conor and Kacey