Killing Time with the Marlin

Hey.  Nothing too exciting to report on the Macedonia front right now. So, I thought I'd take the time to talk about routines.  When I got to college my freshman year, I thought I would be so busy, between going to parties and writing those 20 page papers that always seem to be due the next day.  One thing I didn't realize is how much down time I would have.  Classes were only 15 hrs a week and I didn't have a job my freshman year.  But, there is this expectation that college life would be mad busy.  (College life really did get busier, just not at first).  Peace Corps is the same.  When I applied for the position, I thought I would be spending all day every day building huts or hugging trees or whatever.  Instead, I am at work 8-4 every Monday through Friday.  On top of that, when I go home, it's not like I watch tv, because there is nothing on that I understand.  So, I decided to pick up some hobbies, just to keep myself from going crazy.

First, I've continued my trek through SNES and Playstation RPG emulators.  I beat Chrono Trigger and then its sequel, Chrono Cross (It was the second time I beat Cross - and thanks to finally playing Trigger, I think I understand it this time).  I'm working on Final Fantasy VI right now, but I don't care for it as much as the Chrono series.  The villains aren't particularly interesting and VI has a habit of not letting me pick who I want to be in my party which is just frustrating more than anything.  Locke can't fight for shit, yet he always insists on coming along.  Fuck him.  After VI, I think its Xenogears then Wild Arms 2.  That's some cool stuff right there.

Next, I joined the gym here in Resen.  Actually, Resen has two gyms (ostensibly so people can say, let's not go to that gym, let's go to the good one).  I go prolly like 4 times a week.  A gym membership is very cheap.  It's 500 denari/month, or a little less that $10/month.  I've been going for like 2 months, and I'm prolly in the best shape I've been in since college.  Add to that joining a gym pressures you to eat healthier (why waste the time at the gym if you're just going to pig out on junk food).  I even quit drinking, or at least, drinking by myself - which is no small feat.  Alcohol is widely available in Macedonia.  I can walk 2 minutes to the nearest corner store and it sells wine and beer.  Because of that and the inherent loneliness of being like the only American (or one of a few) in a small town, the Peace Corps Macedonia has had problems with alcohol usage by volunteers in the past.  I think I'm one of the few over here who, when presented with alcohol that was more accessible than in America, actually drinks less.  Take that, liquor control board of Pennsylvania!

I even read a book.  Cover to cover.  Already.  It was Speaker of the Dead, which is the sequel to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  It wasn't very good.  I wouldn't recommend it.  Ender's Game is a sci-fi book filled with action.  Speaker is set 3,000 years later and is all about how characters in some faraway planet colonized by Portuguese Catholics all have like 4 names and why I'm supposed to care about how they got each one.  I really didn't.  But, man I was ruling in Cross with Norris and Karsh.  I think that is worth mentioning.

Lastly, it has snowed over here tremendously.  Like, every day.  There's probably around a foot and a half of snow on the ground right now and today and yesterday were like the first two consecutive days it did not snow since mid-January or something like that.  Here is the view outside of headquarters:

Unlike America, there are no snow plows here, so the roads are never clean.  People just drive slower and don't freak the hell out.  It is a little easier to drive here because there is less traffic and people don't drive an hour or so to work every day.  They are in town, so it's like a 10 minute drive at the very most.  I hear it's been unusually warm in the winter in the Philly area.  Winter here sucks.  That's all.  I originally promised when I started this blog I wouldn't post about boring shit.  Sorry.  I think I broke the promise here.

End of the Holiday Season

The end of the holiday season is finally upon us.  The best holiday is Orthodox New Year, which occurs on January 14th.  Every year, on the 13th and 14th, Vevcani (Vevchani), a smallish village in western Macedonia, hosts a celebration where participants dress in costume and parade around town.  These participants go to various people's houses.  The people invite them in and everybody has a drink.  The costumes are insanely involved too.  One person dressed as Gaddafi, while his friends dressed as soldiers, one group of men who we followed around for a while dressed as trees, and there were other costumes as well.

 As you can see here, the group is a colorful lot.  In this vain, it's like the Mummers in Philly, but with less drinking.

Some more people in costume.

To add to the ambiance, the day before, it snowed in Vevcani and it was like the snowball-type snow, too.  So, while we were following the parade around, a snowball fight broke out, first between the other volunteers, but then, some Macedonian youths jumped in and for a while it was Americans vs. Macedonians.

Every ten minutes or so, we went into another house and got a drink.  I think I had somewhere between 8-10 shots of rakija on the day.  The other trick about Vevcani is its in the mountains and there is no flat land.  Wherever you walk, you're either going up a hill or down one.  From the snow and the cold, the streets all iced over (and in Macedonia, they don't salt the roads - people are just careful).  I think everybody slipped and fell at least a half-dozen times on the day.  It truly was dangerous going (and a volunteer broke his arm, too).



This is a view of a mountain from the base of Vevcani.

That's pretty much all there is to report.  I still don't do much at work and am just getting over a cold.

Holidays In Macedonia

The holiday season has just begun in Macedonia.  Macedonians are primarily Orthodox, so they celebrate Christmas on January 8th.  In addition to that, they still celebrate the New Year on the old Calender, on January 15th.  But, they celebrate New Year's on January 1st, just like everybody else in the world.  I headed out to Bitola for the holiday, as the volunteers in the area had a party.  Bitola is one of the largest cities in Macedonia, with approximately 100,000 people.  It is just to the east of Resen, about a half hour away.  Bitola also has one of the largest New Year's Eve parties as well.

Prior to the fireworks, there was an outdoor concert, same as America.  In fact, the singers even sang a bunch of pop songs in English.  I think we were the only people who knew the words.

I think all this pic shows is that my camera isn't all that hot at taking pictures of fireworks.

Bitola is a beautiful city in its own right, but just as American cities get all the Christmas lights up, so too did Bitola.  That and the snow that was on the ground really made the city feel like any other city in the Northeast during the holiday season.  Interestingly enough, they do have the lights, decorated trees, and Santa Claus over here, but here its for New Year's, not Christmas.  It's like they know Western Europe and America have these things at this time, but the only holiday at the end of December for Macedonians is New Year's, so over here, all these decorations and Santa Claus are for New Year's.  New Year's is the "celebration" holiday, anyway, whereas Christmas is more of a family thing.

January 1st was also the birthday of one of the other volunteers, so we had cake.  Here is the Marlin enjoying some fish food.

The only other thing that's really going on is I started teaching an Adult English class.  I didn't start the class; another volunteer in Resen did, but it is an interesting experience.  Especially considering that 3 months ago, I didn't know any Macedonian, it's pretty crazy to think that know I am teaching some of these guys English.  And of course, some of the people back home know that I am the last person that should be teaching proper English.  But, it requires a lot of thinking on your toes.  Especially because like one awkward silence or taking too long to think about the next thing to do totally throws the class off track.  There's more to classroom management than I realized, that's for sure.

First Couple Weeks in Resen

I just completed my first couple weeks in Resen.  Nothing too exciting.  Work has been a little slow as the Opstina looks to find a role for me.  I recently took a couple pictures:

 For the next couple years, this apartment building will serve as Marlin Headquarters.  My apartment is on the second floor, directly above the red Yugo.  (Yep, that's a Yugo).

 This is the Apple Statue in the town center.  Resen's main industry is the exportation of apples.  Resen's economy depends on them. 

 Another pic of the town center.

 This is the House of Culture.  It is a mansion built in the early 20th century, when the land was ruled by the Ottoman Turks.  Legend has there were two rich, young Turkish men who lived in Resen. (I forget if they were brothers or best friends).  Anyway, one of them left to live in Paris and the other stayed in Resen.  The one in Paris had a picture made of some fancy Parisian mansion and sent it to the one who lived in Resen.  Almost to spite him, the Resen guy replied back "Big deal, there is a building like that in Resen" and he built a similar building to live in!  The town is literally built on spite.  I found my home!

  Picture of a pedestrian-only alley way near the city center.

I went and visited my neighbors for the first time this past Wednesday.  In Macedonia, visiting neighbors is a big thing.  People in Macedonia generally don't have a whole lot of money, so rather than go out, people often host each other.  My neighbors are pretty chill.  They are in their 60's and have adult kids who moved away.  Visiting neighbors here is different than in America.  In America, hosts generally offer food or drink, but it's generally like a non-offer.  Nobody is really expected to accept.  However, here, if you walk into somebody's home, they get out the coffee and juice and cookies and if you don't accept, it's like offensive.  Different in that regard.

PS: I have a new address:    Please send all correspondences here:

Dan Polykov
Naum Veslievski br 46
stan 8
Resen, Macedonia 7310

Swearing in and Resen

Thanksgiving was the official Peace Corps swearing in ceremony for us trainees.  We had spent the last two and a half months learning the language and learning how to function in everyday society in Macedonia.  The Peace Corps makes a big deal out of the ceremony.  In addition to the Peace Corps staff in attendance, all of the host families come, as well as the American ambassador to Macedonia and the Macedonian Minister of Education.  All of the major dignitaries gave short speeches.  It was welcoming to know we felt ‘wanted’ in Macedonia.  I mean, if we didn’t, the Peace Corps would simply pull out of Macedonia.  Still, it was nice of them to say it at least.  The swearing in was complete with a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving.  However, there wasn’t any stuffing, which is the best part of Thanksgiving dinner.

My host family and I at the swearing in ceremony

 

In the center right is U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Paul Wohlers

This past Friday (Black Friday in America), I traveled from Probistip to my new home, Resen.  Saying good-bye to my host family was sad.  I am happy to be on my own again and be a true Peace Corps volunteer, but my host family cared for me the past two and a half months and I genuinely cared for them in return.  I left Probistip at 7am and by 2:30pm, I was in Resen.  I saw my apartment for the first time.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Easily nicer than the dump I lived in Woodlyn my last 10 months in America.  The apartment is fully furnished, with a television and washing machine to go with a bed, a couch, a dining table with chairs, and a kitchen with pots and pans. 

An interesting note about apartments and buildings in Macedonia: central heating is like non-existent and electricity is relatively expensive.  Many things are cheaper in Macedonia than in America.  You can go to a café, for example, and get a good cup of coffee for 40 denari, which is about 90 cents.  Electricity is not one of those things.  And because of the lack of central heating and the relative expensiveness of electricity, Macedonians often only heat one room or part of their houses or apartments.  I am in that same boat.  My heater is in my common room, which is connected to my kitchen and dining room.  That  is the part of my apartment that is heated.  My bathroom and bedroom are not heated.  Ergo, I do not go into my bedroom and I go to the bathroom only when I absolutely have to.  (And I really hate going there – I can literally see my breath in my bathroom).  I sleep on my couch, which sadly is approximately three inches too short for me to lay comfortably across.  

My first weekend here, I did not have cable and internet at my apartment.  From a surfing the internet standpoint, that was hard.  I was used to having the internet going and watching television at the same time.  Not having either made the weekend a drag.  But, in a remarkable act of foresight by me, I planned ahead.  I downloaded an emulator of Chrono Trigger before I left America.  Because most people who read this blog do not care about Chrono Trigger, or even know what it is, I’ll spare the details.  But, right now, I am all about it.  Without that game, I think I would have gone crazy this past weekend.  And because I do know one person who does want to hear all about it, I’ll just ask nobody give me any spoilers.  Right now, I am a little over halfway through the game, at the point where I just defeated Magus and his henchmen in his castle and have been thrown back in time unwillingly.  No spoilers.  For real.

Resen is a beautiful town and I hope to take pictures of it when I get the chance.  It’s not that I have been so unbearably busy that I can’t, it’s just I work until 4pm and by that time, it’s a little too dark to take pictures.  Hopefully, this weekend I’ll have some time.      

Probistip and Training Comes to an End

This is the last full night that I will be a trainee.  Tomorrow, on Thanksgiving, is our swearing in ceremony.  The Peace Corps makes a really big deal out of this.  All of our host families are gathering in a restaurant in Kumanovo and having a traditional turkey dinner.  Also, the Ambassador from America will be attending, as well as the Macedonian Minister of Education I believe, as well as other dignitaries.  So, it's a really big deal.  I am excited to get to work.  Training had its ups and downs.  Living with a host family was tough at times for me because in America I was accustomed to living on my own and the freedoms that provided.  But, as a whole, I am very thankful for the experience.  Obviously, the training was invaluable.  I will miss Probistip dearly.  I finally got around to taking a couple photos of the town:

The fountain in the town center

Another picture of the center square of Probistip

A picture of Risto's family farm in the village

This is Crazydog.  I saw him nearly everyday walking to school.  In Macedonia, it is customary to keep pets outside.  Crazydog would approach us as if to play, but then when he got too close, he would jump back in fear or something.  I never quite knew what he was thinking.  I never did figure out if he wanted to play or bite my face off.  That, plus the disheveled fur and the chain for a collar really makes him the craziest dog I've ever met.  I'll miss you, Crazydog!

We had our last day of language class today.  I took some pictures of the class.  It's cool, because we have a whole bunch of posters with our lessons on them.  Next time I upload photos, I'll post them on the blog.

This past Saturday, I went to a wine festival in Veles, a city in central Macedonia with a friend of mine.  First of all, let me say my frame of reference for cities has totally been skewed.  I was excited to go to the 'big city' and take in metropolitan life for an afternoon.  Then I realized: Veles has about 50,000 people.  This is like the equivalent of me getting excited to go to Scranton.  Seriously, what does Scranton have?  Anyway, the festival was fun.  I had a couple glasses of wine.  There was traditional music.  All in all, a pleasant time.

My friend with cotton candy.  That shit gets stuck in your beard, by the way.  In case you wanted to know.

After the wine festival, my friend and I went to Stip (Shteep).  Stip has an old church and ruins of an even older fortress on a mountain.  We climbed up it.  There was a huge path of stairs in the middle of the mountain, almost like an RPG.  At the top, you could see all of Stip.  Also at the top, by the fortress, there is a gigantic illuminated Orthodox cross that is visible from nearly all of Stip.  Seeing it set up this exchange:
My friend:  "Hey, check out that cross.  Isn't that cool?"
Me: "Thank you, Electric Jesus!"

Stip, from the mountain.

The other side of the mountain, with the ruins of the fortress in the foreground and the scenery in the background.  The ruins are around 1,000 years old.

This is the last post I'll be making in Probistip.  Thursday is swearing in and Friday I am off to Resen!

And now Marlin related news:  I forgot to post this last time, but the Marlins changed their team name, uniforms, and colors.  They will now be the Miami Marlins (as opposed to the Florida Marlins), and if you Google new Marlins uniforms, you can see them.  Personally, I don't care for them much, but that's not my decision of course.  Worst of all, they dropped teal from their team colors.  This is particularly bad for me, as I have grown accustomed to calling them the Teal Sox or the Tealies and I thought they always looked best in teal; it was identifiable and unique.  I think the compromise I'll come to is for this site, I'll refuse to acknowledge the changes, so they will still be called the Florida Marlins here and I will keep the teal-based nicknames as an anachronism.  But, understand that they will be called the Miami Marlins.  Additionally, the team signed oft-injured shortstop Jose Reyes to a big deal.  I think the money can be spent elsewhere, so consider me a skeptic of their biggest free agency signing in possibly the history of the franchise.  Best of luck to them.  This off-season has already proven to be one of the most busy for the Marlins in their 18 year history.

Holy Shit, it's been a long time since I've posted.

Sorry.  I've been mad busy.  Still, that doesn't excuse the behavior.  So, without further ado, let's get to the stories:

I went to a couple Macedonian parties over the past couple weeks.  The first was Etno Day, which is sort of like 'Tradition Day'.  Risto, Zlatko, and I went to a picnic and festival in a random village near Strumica, in the SE part of Macedonia. The festival had loads of traditional Macedonian food and kids wore traditional Macedonian dress.  The kids put on a dance that I assume people here used to dance.  The fact that it was a random village struck me.  Every year this festival occurs at the end of October and I wonder if every year, the residents of the village think to themselves, "Here are those city yahoos again" or something like that.  That's what we would do in America.  About 60 or so people showed up.  The village is adjacent to a waterfall and after the festival, everybody hiked up the hill to the waterfall.  The pictures of it were pretty cool.  Well, being there was pretty cool too.

Just to prove to you that the festival was really called 'Etno Day'

Kids in traditional gear.  Better them than me.

Us with the waterfall in the background.

That hill was damn high too.  I was winded after going up it.

About a week after that, my host family had a 'Svadba'.  My family is Orthodox and from what I surmise, the Orthodox have Saints, like the Catholics.  'Svadba' is when the patron saint of the family has his day.  I'm not explaining this well, but every Saint has a day.  So, the 'Svadba' is the celebration of the family.  We went out to the farm in the village and nobody tells me anything before it happens.  So, when we went out to the village, I was expecting just the close family, but when I walked inside the house, there was prolly around 30-40 people.  It was intimidating, man, because I don't speak Macedonian and the vast majority of these people (especially the older ones) don't speak English, but that doesn't stop them from talking a mile a minute in Macedonian to me.  Running through my mind at the time: "FUUUUUUUUU..."
But I lucked out.  There were so many people, they all just sorta let me be.  And I know that's the wrong attitude to have.  But, it is so hard to actively partake in conversation when you can't understand it.  And you feel bad.  Because you don't wanna seem impolite.  But, you really don't understand what is happening.

As the party died down and people started to leave, I was talking basketball with some of the younger people.  Kids love basketball over here, especially the NBA.  I told them how growing up I watched Michael Jordan and how I thought he was the bets of all time.  Then we talked about today's players, like Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.  Like I said, they just love basketball.  And football.  I talked a little football with them.  I told them how Wesley Sneijder is my favorite footballer.  Prolly cuz he's like the only one I know!  It ended up being a lot of fun.

This past Sunday, I chopped wood.  Over here, wood heaters are the norm and obviously, to obtain fuel for such heater, you chop it.  It was a whole day process.  We began in the village doing the chopping.  Then, at around 1pm, we load up the trailer on a tractor with the pieces.  And the trailer was full mind you.  When we got back to the apartment, we put the wood in sacks, standard burlap size, and hauled them to the basement of the apartment building, where the family has a storage locker.  Risto is a master at this.  I am utterly convinced after this that he could be one of the world's greatest Tetris players if he tried.  We stacked a trailer full of wood into what was a 4'x4' area.  At the beginning of the stacking process, I would have bet my entire life savings that couldn't be done.  And it couldn't if the family used my strategy, which would have been to just dump the wood on the ground as quickly as possible to be done with it.  But that's why he's the Macedonian and I'm the American.  I don't think I have ever been as tired as I was at the end of the today.  I am terrible at chopping wood and I think some of the older guys seem to take a little pleasure at seeing the American make an ass of himself.

I took my final language assessment today.  I'm sure I passed, which is a relief.  I will get the marks back on Monday, but nothing to worry about.  As far as the Peace Corps is concerned, I am functional in Macedonian.  But, IRL, that isn't true.  Our swearing in (where we become 'official' volunteers, and not just trainees) is Thanksgiving.  The Friday afterwards, I will move to my site in Resen and the Monday after that, I will begin my job in the municipality building in Resen.

Once more, I apologize for the late posting.  I will do better in the future.