Random Observations

Macedonian men, especially seniors like me, don’t smoke cigars. The men congregate in the center, sit around in the park, dine on wonderfully prepared and delicious food, drink homemade wine and rakija, smoke lots of inexpensive cigarettes but don’t enjoy cigars.

There is a national helmet law requiring scooter and motorcycle riders and passengers to use one. With few exceptions, I’ve never seen anyone wearing a helmet nor heard of anyone being cited for failing to wear one.

Another law that went into effect last year was the requirement for bread to be packaged (for health and sanitary reasons) when sold in the markets. It has taken a while, and the bread still makes the trip from the bakery to the store buck-naked, but now paper bags are provided so customers can take the loaf home on the final leg of its journey to the table.

Students as young as 13 go the discos where alcohol is served to those 18 or older and where the music is exceptionally loud. They also place bets at the numerous sports betting parlors in town.

Many men have a well-trimmed and very long fingernail on the pinkey finger on one of their hands.

The model airplane glue that is banned in many places in the States is the glue the students use for most of their in-school projects. For some reason the students seem very mellowed out in Crafts class.

There is no need to put warning signs or install safety barriers when repairing or digging on or near a sidewalk. This employs the same reasoning that I use when I refuse to chop the ice on the steps during the winter months in Massachusetts. My family members and neighbors, my 84 year old mother and 94 year old mother-in law maneuver over them very well because they assume that the steps will always be icy and therefore are always cautious. Those of us who live here in Macedonia are well aware of the potential existence of unguarded construction sites, keep vigilant at all times and thereby avoid any accidents. It’s called defensive walking.

Those of us over a certain age will remember the railroad crossing guards that were employed to manually raise and lower the crossing gate to stop traffic and pedestrians upon the approach of a train. I saw one at the crossing in Veles last month on my bus ride to Skopje.

In addition to the Peace Corps, there are many other countries extending aid to Macedonia during its quest to join the European Union. China, Japan. Germany, Sweden, Holland, and Bulgaria are just the one’s I am aware of. There are others. There’s also an EU version of the Peace Corps.

No ice in The Probe. No Margaritas, no Daiquiris, no Mojitos, no Slush Puppies, no Iced Tea, no kegs, no ice for First Aid (R.I.C.E.). Many families have large freezers but not for ice-making purposes.

Macedonians don’t eat ice cream in the winter for health reasons – it could give you a cold. But any day now, the locks will come off the ice cream freezers in the markets. It will be deemed safe to indulge in the flavors of your choice until the first frost of autumn or sometime thereabouts.

There are no fire hydrants here in Probistip. I’m curious to know what a Macedonian dog would do if it confronted one.

Pensioners and a Presentation

Having lived here in the Probe for more than a year, I finally learned that there is a Senior Center (Pensioner’s House). This revelation occurred only because David works at the Municipal Building and his buddies introduced him to some of the pensioners (retirees) who frequent the place. The Center itself is nestled on a hillside in the middle of a residential neighborhood and I had walked by it many times without realizing what it was. It has a modest recreation hall/meeting room, bar, and kitchen facilities. The upper floor contains nine apartments for pensioners who have no family with whom to live.

David and I were invited by one of the members (Malevka) of their traditional folk group to attend one of the their weekly practices. This group of retirees travels around Macedonia and other Balkan countries performing ancient folk music and dance.

So David and I attended one of the 2-hour Wednesday afternoon practices as special guests and were warmly received by the 30-or-so members of the group. They were very pleased to have us there and very proud of the accomplishments of their group. We got to listen to and observe music and dances that have been performed in Macedonia for hundreds and hundreds of years. The performers were dressed in their everyday clothes and I look forward to seeing them in their traditional garb (garb- what a neat word that doesn’t get used enough).

Upon the completion of the rehearsal, we got to meet the president of the Pensioners’ House and learned a little about the retirement system in Macedonia. (Warning: the following information may contain details that are inaccurate due to my inability to fully comprehend rapidly spoken Macedonian). Every worker must retire at the age of 62 (or 64) to make room for younger workers. Everyone who has worked receives a modest pension (it varies based on your occupation), health care and discounts on some services and products. The retirement system is financed by a payroll deduction from every workers’ wage/salary. I believe it’s about 140 denari (@ $3). I plan on asking more questions about the retirement system when the opportunity presents itself.

David had the idea that it would be great to bring the group some American cookies and cakes as an after-practice treat. So two weeks after our first visit, we returned bearing our home-baked goodies which turned out to be a tremendous hit amongst the seniors in attendance. They enjoyed David’s oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies and my crumb cake and apple-walnut cake, asking us for the recipes and jokingly suggesting that we bring them every Wednesday. We were invited and accepted their offer to join them in dancing a simple Oro (a circle dance) and were invited to be their guests at the annual folk festival in Bitola. We were extended an invitation to drop in at the Center any time.

On the weekend of the 6th, Phil and I visited Michael in his new apartment in Skopje. Michael’s landlord was unresponsive to Michael’s request for repairs so the Peace Corps let him move to a new, very nice apartment, ideally situated about half a mile away. Phil had a Photo Field Day for his Skopje Photo Club on Sunday. We (I joined in as a guest-member after paying Phil 250 denari) went to the Old Pazar and spent an afternoon taking photos with Phil giving helpful tips to the 10 of us in attendance, nine of whom were not required to pay Phil.Check out the photos by clicking on "View My Albums" at the top of the page.

Last week I was able to give a Power Point Presentation to several departments from the Mayor’s office. Some of the officials in Probistip had asked me about my thoughts about their town now that I had lived there for more than a year. So I put together a presentation that offered my observations and questions in an organized format for those who were interested.

I pointed out my concern that there is no evacuation plan at my school and only one exit through which 450 people would have to pass. I referred to the flag now flying in front of our school and hinted that it would be wonderful to see one flying in front of all the public buildings. I mentioned the difficulty of translating Macedonian into English for English speaking readers and volunteered David’s and my assistance in helping with editing any documents that needed it. To help improve community pride and have some fun while doing it, I suggested we organize a parade on their Independence Day (September 8), have a Miss Probistip Contest, sponsor Cleanup Days, promote neighborhood greening projects and playground equipment upkeep, and perhaps have an Agricultural Fair in the autumn. And since we would do it with volunteers, there would be little cost to the municipality.

These ideas, for the most part, are new and haven’t been organized by volunteers. There will be a learning curve since the concept of volunteering is still in its infant stages in this former socialistic country where everything was taken care of by the State. But everyone seemed enthused with my presentation and said that they liked my ideas and thanked me for sharing them.

The municipality can’t sponsor the Miss Probistip Contest for some reason but every male I talked to offered to assist. On the other hand, I was promised by the powers-to-be, and I quote, “Michael, we will have your parade and we will have lots of flags”. Looking forward to it!