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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Flags, Refrigerators, and More

Yesterday, August 28th, was a National Holiday in Macedonia, a new religious one in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At one time in Poibistip, when the mine was functioning at its full capacity, it was an important secular celebration for the mining community. There is an interesting pictorial history at the modest mining museum at the Cultural Center where there are photos of the miners in their miner dress-uniforms, with parades and other events conducted on this day. But sadly, the tradition has passed and it was a pretty quiet and hot summer day. I understand that there was an evening football game and an after-game dance at the football field (AKA soccer field) but I didn’t make it over there this year.

Unlike Americans, Macedonians don’t display their national flag on holidays. It’s a tradition that died out after the breakup of Yugoslavia. All over Probistip you can see the weather-worn flag holders on the light poles lining the main street and if you look closely you can see triple flagpoles hidden amongst the now 30 foot evergreen trees in what were at one time prime locations at the schools and public buildings. The senior citizens I have spoken with would like to rekindle the tradition but I’m not sure they know how to initiate the plan. So I have added it to my list of projects (along side of my original plan to get the Macedonian flag at school) and will seek out a few seniors to lead the way with me in the background.

So I took the first step yesterday and displayed my recently acquired Macedonian flag from my apartment window (see my pictures) and thus became the first and from what I can tell, the only resident in my neighborhood to do so on this holiday. Passers-by made comments upon seeing the dangling flag and maybe on September 8th – the next holiday- they’ll be a few more flags. I did check with my Macedonian friends beforehand, and they assured me it is totally acceptable to display the flag.

Correction: In my last blog I reported on the vendors selling melons and I inaccurately identified the round yellow melons as “boctons” but Alexandra informed me that the “boctons” are really the watermelons. She told me the name of the yellow melons but, surprise, surprise, I can’t remember it at this moment.

The door on my 35 year old refrigerator fell off last week. There were indications that this event might occur because it hasn’t sealed properly for the last few months and it was difficult to close. So my landlord, Dimchay, came over several days after my urgent call to check it out. While waiting an additional several days for the miester (repairman) that Dimchay was searching for to drop by, I propped the door closed using a kitchen chair. One can’t appreciate a functioning refrigerator door until one doesn’t have one. I dreaded having to get something from the fridge and was amazed as to how many times I needed something in the course of the day? And then have to put it back.

I didn’t think it could be repaired. The hinges were bent and worn and rusted out and the door was totally misaligned and it was missing washers and bushings. On Saturday morning Dimchay showed up with the refrigerator miester and after a cursory examination, they emptied it and hauled it away in the back of a Zastrava Coupe. I was left with the contents of the fridge scattered about the kitchen as they headed off to wherever, not really understanding exactly when they would return and wondering how long traditionally refrigerated food would survive on a 90 degree summer day.

They returned within the hour with the fridge with its newly welded hinges and replaced parts, ready for another 35 years of service. I really admire the way Macedonians fix things rather than replace them. They seem to be able to repair things that most of us in the States would discard believing they were not repairable. The newly hand-crafted hinges on my eyeglass frames, the perfect picture on my once useless TV, my now functioning Toshiba computer (without replacing the motherboard) give testament to their skill.

Although many of the public areas in Probistip are well-worn from time and weather, the town is kept meticulously clean by the public officials and private citizens. Every morning the women are outside sweeping up any discarded trash, fallen leaves, or whatever else doesn’t belong on the sidewalk or curb (It’s still quite common to witness people throwing chip bags, soda bottles, candy wrappers, etc. on the ground rather than in trash receptacles). The town street sweepers come by frequently with their wheelbarrows, branch-brooms, and six-inch wide shovels and the garbage trucks come by daily (or so it seems) to empty the dumpsters.

Individuals receiving public assistance are required to work (I believe four hours daily) for the town during the warmer months and can be seen weeding vegetation along the curbs and the sidewalks. Many of the public areas have been resurfaced, repainted, and repaired by various crews and so you can witness the pride that Probistipians have in their community.

Almost every tree in town is a fruit bearing tree. There are few maple, ash, oak or other decorative trees. In most yards now the trees are ripe with pears, various kinds of apples, plums, chestnuts, walnuts, kiwis, figs, pomegranates, and/or apricots. These will all be harvested as “winter food” and some will be turned into compotes and marmalades, while others will be stored in root cellars and barrels. Of course the grapes are almost ready for the mid-September harvest and the peppers for ivar are being harvested as I write.

The children return to school on September 1st but their class schedules are not finalized for several days/weeks. The teachers returned on August 18th and are required to put in two hours daily. During these sessions, the teachers get their rooms ready, attend meetings hosted by the director, get updated on the newest changes from the Ministry of Education, and find out how many classes they will have in the upcoming school year. Teachers need twenty classes a week to be full-time and due to the declining enrollment in Probistip, several teachers now find themselves for the first time, having to hustle for classes at other schools. 140 desktop computers are waiting to be installed in the classrooms but internet connections are not yet available due to its cost to the school.

The custodial staff ripped out the old laboratory sinks in Alexandra’s classroom (with a great deal of prodding from Alexandra and me), opening up much needed space and giving her many more classroom management options. For their efforts in prioritizing our request, I promised them a peach pie, which they settled for in lieu of their initial request for round trip tickets to visit America.

So I am off to the kitchen to fulfill my pledge, substituting a Lou’s Crumb Cake for the pie because the fruit vendor didn’t have peaches yesterday.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Downtime?

Teacher’s report back to school on Monday the 17th and the students will return in September. So I’ll find out real soon what is expected of a teacher during the pre-season.

The summer progressed exceptionally fast. As I try to figure out what I did for the last five weeks, I am having a difficult time accounting for extended periods of time. I traveled to Kavardaci for two days to assist Maggie with her Wackey Wednesday activity. I spent three days on buses to and from Skopje when I had my dead computer brought back to life. I spent four days in Dojran making sure my colleague Phil survived his last week there before he transfers to Bitola where he will actually have something to do. I spent some days in Skopje, picking up supplies and visiting Najstar (The Oldest) Michael and conducting business at the Peace Corps Headquarters. I’m not sure if my In-Service Training and Habitat For Humanity days in Veles fit into this time period, but let’s just say they do as it will help me account for some of the time I am trying to account for.

The rest of my time has been spent in Probistip. While my days start at 6AM and end between 10 and 11, Probistipians seem to begin their outdoor day at 5PM and end at it at about 1AM. Their need to get a good night’s rest, having gone to bed at 2AM, getting up at 9 or 10, eating breakfast then, with a large lunch at 3 or 4, followed by a nap until 5 or 6 with dinner at 8 or 9, somewhat limits my daily contact with my neighbors. Macedonians are a very industrious people and are always busy. It’s just that I don’t see many of them in my neighborhood during the hot weather because of my North American circadian cycle.

I have spent a great deal of time researching and preparing materials and Power Point Presentations for various officials to be presented when the new school year begins and the summer funk has faded. The internet and my Epson printer/scanner/copier have been indispensable in helping me document the information that I will present.

For the English classes, Alexandra and I have created award certificates which we’ll present to last year’s deserving students to hopefully motivate this year’s students; we’ve established an account with ThinkQuest which will enable students to create websites on the school’s computers while working with students from America and around the world; we’ve planned a seminar for the other English teachers in Probistip, during which we can share some successful methods that we tried last year; and we’ve established a state of the art English classroom with scavenged materials and donations.

I am working on a compilation of games and activities for Physical Education classes and translating them into Macedonian for the teachers in grades 1-4, who must teach PE to their classes, and for the PE staff at the school who must follow a curriculum dating back to the Yugoslavian days (read mostly football). (N. B. Whenever I say I am translating something into Macedonian, I mean I translate it, take it to my tutor Jasmina, and we work on re-translating it into something a Macedonian can understand. After I retype it, she rechecks it once more for spelling and typos. It’s a tedious process but I am seeing improvements each month. Hopefully at the end of two years, I will have a resource that can be distributed to schools throughout Macedonia.)

On the last day of the school year Alexandra and I met with the Director and she was very open to our suggestions regarding establishing a Student Council; an after-school detention procedure to hold students accountable for their in-school behavior; an emergency evacuation procedure that would require more than the one current exit for the entire school; a infusion of "patriotic behaviors" that would entail having at least one Macedonian flag displayed at the school and singing the National Anthem on Monday mornings. I’ve put together all the materials, so implementing these ideas won’t require much work.

Four girls from Probistip were selected to attend a Peace Corps sponsored camp this summer called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and I promised them I would help them establish a GLOW Club at the High School in the fall. Jasmina has agreed to be a mentor, and I’ve gathered materials for this project.

I put together a Power Point Presentation for parents and teachers (in Macedonian, mind you) which addresses the question of “Are Our Children Eating Well?.” The answer to this question is “NO,NO, NO!” The children’s breakfast diets are atrocious here and the presentation just raises questions and an awareness of the problem.

I am planning on an informal meeting with the new mayor to offer my services to improve the English language versions of the Probistip website and work with any of the businesses in town that produce brochures with English. I would volunteer to work with whoever does their translating to make the material more understandable to any English reader. Many of the travel brochures, websites, and town documents that I have read in Macedonia need a a lot of polishing. I also prepared some materials to share with the mayor and his staff that would educate them about how a small town government works in my home town in Massachusetts. It would open up the opportunity for me to learn about how things are organized here in Probistip.

Other projects that are in the planning stages include a Women’s Health Fair; a unit on Health and Human Reproduction (HIV-Aides Awareness) for the high school students; an Ultimate Frisbee League; an after-school jump rope team; a horse-shoe pitching league for the pensioners; a Knock-Hockey production line; a muffin distributorship; a plant that makes and distributes ice; a pie, cookie, donut and crumb cake addition to the limited selection in at least one of the bakeries in Probistip; an English language conversation group at the Culture Center for residents who want an opportunity to practice their English; a Skype-buddies group between students at my favorite school in America (Blanchard Memorial) and students here in Probistip, so the they can learn about each other and practice their English speaking skills.

Exactly how many of these activities will ever come to fruition remains to be seen. It will be challenging, yet fun trying to implement them. Many of the ideas are new here and require changes in attitude. Education and a solid marketing strategy are essential. So I am always on the lookout for the 20%’s like Alexandra and Jasmina who are open to new ideas, are willing to think outside a somewhat small box , and are willing to take part in implementing some of the changes. Onward!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Mid-Summer, Macedonia

Now that I have my computer back, things have returned to normal. Without my computer I had to actually read a book and watch B-movies from the 70’s and 80’s. I never knew there were so many bad movies out there. I did get a lot of language studying in and I organized some of the stuff I had been putting off. I put everything in the kitchen in alphabetical order. For example, when you open the utensil drawer, you will notice from left to right, forks, knifes, and then spoons. The dishes and glasses are arranged – coffee cups, dinner plates, juice glasses, large bowls, sandwich plates, saucers, soup bowls, tall glasses, and tea cups. I could have arranged them - bowls, large; bowls, soup; cups, coffee; cups, tea; glasses, juice; glasses, tall; plates, dinner; and plates, sandwich – but I think that I made the right decision by employing the former technique. I would love to hear others' feedback on this issue. Anyway having my computer back has rescued me from having to make such frivolous, yet rewarding decisions.

The weather in this part of the country hits the mid-90’s on some days but there is little humidity so I am quite comfortable. Laundry hung on the line will actually dry completely in two hours. There always seems to be a breeze, so my stan (apartment), equipped with a Peace Corps issued fan, remains tolerable for me. The traditional Macedonian, however, believes that a breeze (promaja) will cause one to become sick with a headache, shoulder problem or worse. Accordingly, few families have fans and few of the apartment dwellers open their windows. If you ever come to Probitsip, you can identify my apartment from the street, because it is the only one in the neighborhood with all the windows open. One of my students mentioned that the only time his mother opens the windows is when she is cleaning.

This fear of a breeze (promaja) also makes bus travel somewhat uncomfortable because regardless of the temperature, the windows on the bus that can be opened, will not be opened. In many cases the buses lack air-conditioning. The high outdoor temperatures combined with the body temperatures of the passengers along with the perfumes, deodorants, food smells and body odors make bus travel a truly sensory experience. I have traveled on several buses this summer that were air-conditioned. The driver would have to turn it off when traveling uphill but the ride was pleasantly and unexpectedly comfortable.

During these summer months it’s kind of weird to go outside and not see many people until five or six in the evening. Those residents who don’t work seem to sleep in, especially the teenagers, until after 12PM. Then it’s "too hot" to be outside and lunch is at 3’ish after which a nap is in order because of the big mid-day meal and heat of the afternoon. Around 5’ish the residents are out on the streets and this goes on until after midnight. I have yet to adjust to this schedule and am usually in bed by 11PM.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Wednesday market walking amongst the crowd and surveying the stalls for my week’s supply of fresh produce. Suddenly a microphone was thrust in front of my face by a reporter for the local TV station. Accompanying her was a cameraman and I then I realized I was a participant in a man-on-the- street interview. The only problem was that I could only understand 7 out of the 10 words of the question I was being asked. So I gave my usual, “I am from America and I am learning Macedonian. I know a little of your language.” This comment always encourages a Macedonian to speak faster and in longer sentences and I find myself guessing about what they are talking about, not understanding 30-50% of the words. So when I was asked the question of the day, I heard the words for weather, sun, rain, hot, and like but really didn’t know what she was asking. So hoping I was in the ballpark, I answered, “I like the weather when it’s sunny and hot but I also like the rain.” She gave me a quizzical look, thanked me and proceeded on to find another interviewee. I figured the reporter could get a better response from any other living person in Probistip. The next day Jasmina, my tutor and friend, casually informed me that, “Oh, we saw you on TV last night. You spoke very well!” Go figure.

Melons are in season right now and almost everywhere I go I will notice “melon vendors” plying their fruits. They have a melon here that looks somewhat like a cantaloupe and it’s called a “bocton”(pronounced boston). So for the last week or so, at the market and on the street corners, I hear the name of the capital city of Massachusetts, my home state, being proclaimed throughout the Republic “bocton, bocton, imam bocton tuka”(get your melons here).

So now that school is out until September (teachers report back on the 18th of August), what goes on in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Macedonia? Tune in next time and I’ll fill you in. I’ve got a lot to do right now. (FYI: those of you who get this posting directly as e-mail may be missing my wonderful captioned photos that you can access at Picasa from my blog)