Probistip

I finished my first full week in Probistip with my host family.  Things are going great over here.  I have no serious concerns and my wants/needs appear to be tended to.  I settled into a routine where I have my language class in the morning, from 8am to noon.  Some days we have additional classes, others we don’t.  But after that, I go home, get my homework done and on the weekends, my host brother, Zlatko,  invites me out with him and his friends.  At this point, that pretty much is my life.  The language is difficult.   In class, we learn valuable stuff, but then we go out into the real world and people are speaking a mile a minute, or don’t speak clearly and even the words/phrases we do know we have a hard time picking up in the real world.  But, I never really intended for this blog to be about learning or feel good stories.  Instead, I would like to tell you about the more interesting things that happen:

First, the flushing mechanism of the toilets here is different than in America.  In America, we press down on a lever.  Here, there is a rope that protrudes from the top of the toilet and you pull that string to flush.  As I learned at my host family’s home, there is a rhythm to pulling the string.  You want to pull it once, forcefully.  Ok, that’s the back story.  So I was at a bar with Zlatko and I had to go to the bathroom.  And, at this point, I had a bunch, so I go to use the restroom and I finish and to flush, I yank the rope.  Maybe I don’t know my ‘drunk strength’ (def: the additional strength you gain once you become drunk – or more realistically, the fact that when you are drunk, it is difficult to judge how much force to apply to a given physical task), but when I yank the rope, I ripped the fucking thing right off the toilet!  I just stood there, dumbfounded for a couple seconds.  What could I do?  I determined the only proper thing to do would be to drop it and walk away.  I mean, what else could I do?  I was drunk.  The situation was entirely unavoidable.  

Second, a traditional Macedonian specialty is Ayvar, which is a paste made from red peppers, which are plentiful here.  Making ayvar is a huge process and from start to finish takes approx. 12 hours to make.  The end result is a thick, jam-like paste that is spread on bread.  It is often pared with a special type of white cheese, but since I don’t eat cheese, I don’t enjoy it that way.  Anyway, every mother makes ayvar here and for the first 4-5 days I lived with my host family, I ate it every day, either for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Being from red peppers, it is red.  And I ate so much of it, I literally starting shitting red.  The first time I saw that, I panicked for a couple seconds.  Was there blood in my stool?  That’s never a good problem to have, let alone when you are in a different country and can’t speak the language.  But, after about 3 seconds, I connected the dots.  Ayvar = red.  No problem.

Finally, we were at a bar and I wanted to buy a beer.  A bottle of Skopsko is 60 denari, or roughly $1.75 maybe.  But, I look in my wallet and all I had was a 500 denari note and a bunch of birds (10 denari notes).  Rather than take the birds out of the flock and start counting them, I just give Zlatko the 500 note.  Using a 500 note to pay for a 60 denari bill is kind of frowned upon (it’s like going to a bar in Philly and whipping out a $50 to pay for a $5 bottle of beer).  So, instead, I just told Zlatko to go up to the bar and buy a lot of beer so I wouldn’t have any change.  For whatever reason, that made more sense to me at the time than to see if I could change the 500 or if I did have enough birds.  Zlatko comes back with like 6 bottles of beer and we are handing them out to anybody we know.  Craziness.  

So those are some of the misadventures I was telling you about.  I still have not uploaded the photos onto my computer.  But, I think I’ll do that Monday.  Chao.

Orientation Week/Meet Host Family

First week under the belt.  One casual observation: it really helps to know Macedonian in Macedonia.  If I had a nickel every time I found myself stuck because I couldn’t express myself well, I would already have a lot of nickels.  But, Macedonians use denar, not nickels, so forget it.

Kumanovo itself is a neat looking town with a couple good bars.  The city has a defined center that is wide open and only pedestrians.  Everything is located there.  We really don’t have anything comparable in American cities.  

Center of Kumanovo

 Statue of 'Drunken Georgi'.  Legend has it he was the town drunk years ago and to shame him, they erected a statue. Either that or our guide is a liar.  Don't quite know what I believe.

During orientation, our days were busy.  We had a language class that lasted about an hour and a half everyday and we also had classes regarding Peace Corps rules and regulations, safety and security, medical issues, Macedonian culture, and a Q&A with current volunteers regarding what to expect for the 3 month home stay leg of the race.  We also had a chance to try a lot of the Macedonian cuisine.  Of all things, eating Macedonian food was the thing I was most apprehensive about.  I am a crazy picky eater (no cheese, no mayo, no salad dressing, and I’m sure there’s a lot of other things I am forgetting), but Macedonian food seems edible, even to my high standards.   There was nothing too strange.  Of course, I’m sure they’re saving the Lamb Brain Stew for later.  

Things are in like a totally different universe over here.  I’ve been gone a week, which means everybody in America has already forgotten me.  Which is cool.  I’m cool with that.  But, for example, today is the first time I’ve thought about how the Phillies are doing.  Roy Halladay could have had a stroke and I wouldn’t have known.  I’m sure the Phillies are doing alright.  It’s the Teal Sox who I am really worried about.  

During the week, I got to know the rest of the Macedonian Peace Corps team.  There are 36 of us, altogether.  Most of them are kids my age or thereabouts, but we also have some older volunteers who are now retired.  We went out drinking every night and negotiating the bars in Macedonia only being able to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is a real trip, let me tell you that.  If you ever are looking for a good time, consider going to a part of the world that does not speak English and try to order something at a bar or restaurant.  ‘Pivo’ is beer and ‘Vino’ is wine.  Skopsko is the beer of choice in Macedonia.  It’s a light beer, similar to any cheap domestic light you would get in America.  But, at 100 denar for 1.5 liter (approx $2.30 for a little over 40 oz.) you can’t go wrong.  And every store sells beer too.  It’s certainly not like PA. where this store can only sell beer and this one only spirits and six packs and cases can’t be sold together and people wearing blue shirts can’t buy wine on Wednesdays.  Lots of drinking during orientation week.  That is for sure.  I’m not a good sleeper to begin with and when I drink it’s ten times worse and so, no joking, I think I slept a total of 20 hours during the 5 day stay at Hotel Satelit.  But did that stop me from drinking?  No.  That’s a true gamer.

 Bottle of Skopsko.  What all the kids drink.

Pack of Benston.  What all the kids smoke.  And in Europe, you can smoke.  Nobody is all uppity like in America about it.

Joke's on you guys.  We were really only sent to Macedonia to introduce them to planking.  This is one of the team members.

Some other team members. The gentleman in the middle was my roommate in the hotel for the week.

Here is another team member mean-mugging 'cuz she hates me.

The entire team in an Orthodox church in Kumanovo.  I am on the top row, second to the right.

The entire week had been leading up to an ominous climax.  Friday, we were assigned host families throughout Macedonia where we would live for the next three months.  The 36 of us were split into 4 groups and each group was sent to a different city.  The volunteers waited on the third floor of the hotel while the host families all made their way in.  The wait upstairs was easily one of the worst waits in my life.  We didn’t know anything about the people we were going to live with for the next three months.  If they had kids, how large was the house, if they had working utilities.  Nothing.  And we just waited there for about a half hour.  Each of us was given a sentence written in Macedonian and each family was given the same sentence.  When we found a family with the same sentence, we would find our host family.  

 

We got down into the dining room of the restaurant and after maybe 5 minutes of awkward looking, I found my family.  The father, Risto (REE-sto) greeted me and he was joined by his two friends, Jorgen and Peter.  Peter speaks English as well, so communication was not too awkward.  After a short ceremony, we hit the road to Probistip (Pro-bi-SHTIP).

Probistip is a small city, with approx. 15,000 people and is an hour drive southeast of Kumanovo.  (For comparison’s sake, Kumanovo had approx. 50,000 people or so).  Living with Risto are his wife, Venka and son, Zlatko.  They also have a daughter, Elena, who works and lives in Skopje.  Zlatko is 25 years old and I am very happy to live with someone my own age who has the same interests.  He also speaks some English, which is a big help.  Their apartment has fully functioning utilities and even wireless internet.  I am not sure if they have monthly broadband limits, so until I find that out, I’m still gonna take it easy with the internet.  Probistip is a beautiful community situated near mountains.  It too has a defined center with bars and restaurants.  Zlatko was nice enough to show me around and invite me out with his friends.  He is a trip to be around.  I only wish I didn’t just sit there with a blank expression on my face because I have no idea what anyone is talking about.  This post is damn long, but it covered everything.  I’ll post smaller entries in the future.  I also have pictures of Probistip and my host family, but they are not uploaded to my computer and I am too lazy to do it now.  I promise to upload them this week.

 

Zdravs, y'all

I made it into Macedonia today.  Obviously the flights were long and boring, but thankfully, uneventful.  We arrived at Skopje, the capital city at around 1pm on Sunday.  That would be 7am Pennsylvania time.  From there, we took a half hour bus ride to Kumanovo, the site of our training and the 2nd largest city in the country.  We'll be here for a week doing various orientation activities before we go out to host families.  For now, we are in a hotel. 

This is the front of the hotel.  As the name implies, it is from the future.  Kidding aside, it has wireless internet, which is a huge plus.

 Interior of Hotel Satelit, which is decidedly no-frills compared to American hotels.

From an urban planning standpoint, Kumanovo is an interesting exhibit.  On the map to your right, you can see that Kumanovo is the city about 45 degrees northeast from Skopje, which itself is above the "E" in Macedonia.  But, the streets are not in a grid formation at all and roads go every which way.  On top of that, drivers go flying around bends.  That and the fact that we're out in the edge of the city, so we are surrounded by open fields gives the area around the hotel a Mad Max feel to it.

Kumanovo is 40 mi from Skoje.  Yes, that sign is in miles, not km.  I looked it up. 

Around here, luxury isn't spared when making children's playthings.

But, I just wanted to let you all know I got to my final destination safely.  Training for real begins tomorrow.
PS: If you ever want to get the Macedonian time thing down, just add 6 hours to Pennsylvania time.  So, if it is noon in PA, it is 6pm over here.  Good luck to you all and the rest of the volunteers!

Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Ironic Twist of Fate!

Tonight is the last night before orientation for the Peace Corps on Friday.  By a stroke of luck, orientation is in Philadelphia, so the first leg of the journey will only be about a half hour for me.  For some other volunteers, arriving in Philly means taking a cross country flight.  This being my last night, I wondered how I was going to feel now.  I thought I would be anxious or scared, but in reality, I'm just stressed.  There is so much to do.  My last day of work was Tuesday and I thought I would just have to pack a couple suitcases and that would be it.  But, it has been non-stop this entire week.  Doing laundry, getting my oil changed in my car, double checking my paperwork.  I've barely had time to surf the internet three hours a day. 

This being the last day before I head out, I thought I would take the time to answer some questions I've been asked about:

How long is the stint?
27 months.  3 months training in Macedonia, then 2 years of actual service

What are housing arrangements like?
During the three months of training, I'll be living with a host family.  Afterwards, I am not sure.  Either I can get an apartment on my own, or the Peace Corps will set me up with another (most likely different) host family

What can I take?
Two suitcases and a carry-on.  Whatever will fit, I can take.

What's the weather like?
Weather is similar to that of Pennsylvania or any other state in the Mid-Atlantic region.  4 defined seasons, including a snowy winter.  Macedonian seasons match ours, so just like us, they are approaching fall and winter.

What do they speak?
Macedonian.  From what I've heard, it's most similar to Bulgarian, but I don't have any experience with either.  Macedonian uses the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet.

What will I be doing?
I really don't know.  My title is Community Development Volunteer, but that is so open ended.  It could be anything.

What's the travel plan?
Orientation is Friday.  The flight itself is Saturday and leaves from JFK in New York.  The flight is approx. 11 hrs and touches down in Skopje (the capital and largest city in Macedonia) on Sunday, at like 1pm. 

Can I leave whenever I want, if I really don't like it?
If I want to leave before my stint is up, I can leave.  But, I would have to pay for my own ticket.  As it stands, if I make it the entire stint, the Peace Corps will pay for my trip home.  That is not the case if I leave early.

Can I travel around?  Can I come back home?
Yes.  As a Peace Corps volunteer, I accrue vacation days which I can use to go wherever I feel (or sit in my underwear and play video games - whatever the situation may warrant).  I can travel back home, but would have to pay for transportation.

Do I get paid?
I get a stipend, which is like walking around money.  I also get room and board covered.  However, nobody gets rich volunteering for the Peace Corps.  Without performing the formal cost of living calculations, I am sure what I get 'paid' is a fraction of what similar work would go for in America.

What about health care?
Each country runs the country's health care for volunteers.  So, in my case, providing health care is the responsibility of Macedonia, not America.  So, I would go to a Macedonian hospital if I get hurt or sick.  However, the Peace Corps ensures that all volunteers are placed in situations where most basic health care needs are met and if I need serious attention, I'll be sent somewhere.

Will I have internet?
I really don't know.  If where I live does not have internet access, there are always internet cafes.  Because I may not have instant internet access, I may not be able to post or respond to any questions/comments in a timely manner.  But, I will try my best to respond back as soon as reasonably possible.

I feel bad because I totally forgot to leave my contact information to my work friends, but my email address is dp8039@gmail.com.  Like I said above, I may not be able to respond immediately, but I will respond.  Also, before I leave, I would like to thank everyone, my friends and family.  I will miss all of you and wish you all the best of luck.

As I said above, Macedonian uses the Cyrillic alphabet.  In that spirit, I outfitted my computer keyboard with Cyrillic decals.

My fool-proof way to keep people from stealing my stuff at the airport.