After another post being long overdue, I have finally found time to make myself write. Sometimes I get caught up with living in the moment here and am trying to immerse myself as much as I can, but I forget how good it feels to write about my experiences! So, here are some updates of my life over the past month:
First, I have moved to a new home in a new town in Kocani. I loved living in Vevcani and my family and counterpart there were fantastic. But some things came up with Peace Corps and they decided to move me. This is a bigger town in the north east part of the country and I will be living with one woman, so I am looking forward to getting to know her as well as my new town. I will be working in another school here with grades 1-9, just like before. Pictures of my new town to come!
First, I have moved to a new home in a new town in Kocani. I loved living in Vevcani and my family and counterpart there were fantastic. But some things came up with Peace Corps and they decided to move me. This is a bigger town in the north east part of the country and I will be living with one woman, so I am looking forward to getting to know her as well as my new town. I will be working in another school here with grades 1-9, just like before. Pictures of my new town to come!
Second, during this time of transition from homes, I got to spend time with other volunteers. I visited one of my very dear friends, Stephanie, in her village/town called Demir Kapija-this is in the heart of wine country here! Her host lady is wonderful and we spent last weekend laughing at anything and nothing (this is what happens when you have a language barrier). I had my first real encounter with no central heating. Here in Macedonia, electricity is very very expensive, especially compared to the average income of Macedonian residents. Typically, you’ll find one heated room (this is the living room and kitchen, which are often connected) with a stove where a fire is made inside that heats the room. Sometimes the ovens are used for cooking as well and sometimes the heat leads to other rooms if they house has central heating, but this is uncommon especially in the older houses. So, when we would go to the bathroom or to Stephanie’s room, we could see our breath. Winter is here and we might as well embrace it! Anyway, she showed me her town and we went out with some of her friends and enjoyed Macedonian cuisine, drinks, and music. | |
Third, I realize how much I love meeting strangers. Isn’t it refreshing to talk to someone who knows nothing about you but cares to ask and wants to ask about you? It is just you and that person, conversing about topics to get to know each other. Anyway, I love this and encountered a perfect example of this on my bus coming back from visiting Stephanie. I met a young woman in the bus station-we got to talking and talking turned into her changing her plans to show me how to get to the City Mall once we got to Skopje because I had never gone using the city buses. Then, once we got to the mall, she wanted me to meet her mom because her mom happened to be there. After tracking down her mom and step dad, they proceeded to wait for me as I bought a few groceries, gave me a ride home to where I was staying in Skopje, and invited me to their Christmas Eve dinner that was in 2 days. Wow. That’s what I told myself when I was finally alone. I was smiling from ear to ear with the new encounter I just had-I called my new friend the next day and accepted the invitation.
Christmas tradition is much different here than anything I’ve seen in the states. Keep in mind that all the food is still without meat or animal products through Christmas Eve. Every household bakes a loaf of circular bread called “paricka” which means bread with money. It has a coin baked inside.
Christmas tradition is much different here than anything I’ve seen in the states. Keep in mind that all the food is still without meat or animal products through Christmas Eve. Every household bakes a loaf of circular bread called “paricka” which means bread with money. It has a coin baked inside.
After this, we passed around a cup of red wine and everyone took a drink of “Jesus’s blood.” Then, the feast began!
I conversed with them for 6 hours in Macedonian and it was nothing but wonderful. The mom crocheted me slippers! They packed me leftovers and tons of fruit because fruit is also very common to have at every dinner. To say the least, I slept well that night.
Below, you can see the bread with the cross on it that was ripped. And the picture on the right: mom, my new friend, me, and step dad. Such a wonderful family! Also, I love my new slippers. They're so warm!
I conversed with them for 6 hours in Macedonian and it was nothing but wonderful. The mom crocheted me slippers! They packed me leftovers and tons of fruit because fruit is also very common to have at every dinner. To say the least, I slept well that night.
Below, you can see the bread with the cross on it that was ripped. And the picture on the right: mom, my new friend, me, and step dad. Such a wonderful family! Also, I love my new slippers. They're so warm!
Fourth, I also had the pleasure of visiting my girl Rebekah in her town Orizari for Christmas Day and a few extra days. Her village is about 10 minutes outside Kocani (my new town) so I’m so happy we’ll be neighbors. We’re already planning all the food we’ll cook and bake together. Anyway, focus Rachel..so when I arrived at her house, we ate a late breakfast/ early lunch that consisted of the food from Christmas Eve dinner. It is tradition here to leave the food out on the table overnight (for Jesus to eat during the night). Then, later for lunch (which takes place at dinner time), we ate a meal of pork, potatoes, and carrots. Also, I got to see Iris and Crissy, two other volunteers that are near the area of Kocani and they we were all together in Sveti Nikole-it was much needed. I’m very happy I’m living near them. |
Going Back in Time a Little:
I forgot to mention that two weekends before our (American) Christmas, one of the volunteers, Logan, had about 15-20 volunteers over at his house. His host family was wonderful and allowed us to take over the kitchen and basically the entire house. We cooked a delicious meal, made Christmas crafts, danced and sang Christmas carols, and laughed the night away. It was a wonderful way to spend such a family oriented holiday with my new family here. Also, it was in a beautiful city-Ohrid, that I’m sure you’ve heard much about if you research Macedonia. Here are pictures from this:
Also, for New Years Eve, I stayed in an apartment in Skopje with a few other volunteers. We stayed in, cooked a wonderful dinner which consisted of mexican food and pizza with ajvar. We had champagne, brought in the new year with local Macedonian TV stations, and woke up the next morning to make a wonderful brunch (American pancakes, eggs, and leftovers from the night before). It was perfect.
Other than that, those are recent updates. Here are some classroom pictures from Vevcani of my last week there when we did Christmas crafts. They loved it so much and learned Christmas vocabulary during the process: