The Prom

As in many schools in the USA and probably world-wide, the 8th graders had their Prom to celebrate their completion of studies at the primary level. Next year most would be studying at the high school here in Probistip, some taking the college route and others taking the vocational route. Some students would opt to go to schools in Stip or Skopje or some other city in Macedonia.

The Prom was a well-anticipated event, as expected, and the students talked about it for months prior to the scheduled evening. Many girls made their own dresses and were extremely fashionable in their choice of attire. Not unlike the girls in the States, their selections were influenced by television, movies and fashion magazines. The boys dressed in their finest which for a 14/15 year old boy meant sans suit or tie – Prom casual we would call it. The students didn’t come as boy/girl couples, only as classmates, so 100% of the graduating class attended.

A crowd of onlookers gathered outside the hotel where the event was being held to watch the 72 bedazzling students arrive. In Macedonia, the 6:00 PM arrival time on the invitations meant that things would begin to get started at 6:45 and such was the case when the photographers began taking photos and videos to record this cherished event. Many of the students seeing that I had my camera, asked to pose for pictures, some of which I posted on this blog.

When the photo session was over, everyone moved inside to their tables. The band then began playing dance music so that everyone could begin dancing the Oro, the traditional Macedonia dance. The thing about the Oro is that it goes on forever, in this case 90 minutes. The songs change but the dance steps remain basically the same. Almost every student danced and sang for the 90 minutes before the main course was served. And credit to the band which enthusiastically played the whole time. Meanwhile, salads and beverages were on the tables.

After the main course, the Director and the three home room teachers presented awards to the most outstanding students. They also recognized two staff members who had retired the past year and they presented me with a beautiful oil painting (still wet) of Lee and me done by several of the students.

Then the music turned “modern” and the students danced and sang to every song for another 90 minutes. They knew the words to every song and unabashedly sang along while they danced. I had the opportunity to show off some of my dance moves that I had picked up over the course of time and the students and staff were duly (or dully) impressed (the letter “L” makes a big difference here).

The evening ended around midnight and I was told many of the students continued the festivities on the plaza until about 2AM, despite having class the next morning at 7:15. Surprisingly (to me) most of students did come to school, even though it was a challenge, I’m sure, to wake up. Those that brought a USB were able to get a copy of all my photos to post on their FaceBook site, if they were so inclined.

It was a very well-planned and very well-executed Prom. The students’ behavior was exemplary. There were no fights and no cliques and no one left out of the activities. The students really enjoyed each other’s company. Well done! Well done! (Be sure to check out the photos.)

Stuff on SharePoint

This blog is mainly FYI to the PCV’s in Macedonia, both TEFL and CD. My Close of Service (COS) is rapidly approaching. It’s hard to believe that I have been in-country now for almost 33 months. I thought it would be a good idea to make my fellow volunteers aware of some of the resources that I have posted/will post on the Peace Corp’s SharePoint site. Regardless of whether they are a TEFL or involved in Community Development, some of the material regarding Secondary Project ideas or Networking may prove to be useful. I presented a portion of the material at the MAK 15 In-Service Training in April.

Posted on SharePoint-Macedonia is a Power Point Presentation (PPP) in Macedonian and English (M&E) on “Why Our Students Need Dictionaries” that I presented to the School Superintendent and Director in my attempts to convince them that a dictionary is an essential tool in learning a language. There is a PPP in English and Macedonian entitled, “Are our Students Eating Well” that I put together to point out the poor breakfast eating habits of many Macedonian school children and the detrimental effects of drinking sugared drinks and the causes of osteoporosis. Both of them resulted in the Superintendent taking some positive steps in addressing both issues.

Also posted is a PPP presentation, “A Classroom Teacher’s Expectations” in both Macedonian and English that we used at the beginning of the school year to educate our students on expected classroom behavior. It proved to be a very effective tool in reducing classroom management problems. The students adjusted their behavior patterns once they knew and practiced them. We occasionally review the presentation with the students to reinforce what they already know and may have “forgotten”.

There is a Fire Drill Checklist (M&E) that I put together which delineates the responsibilities of the fire chief, the school director, and the classroom teacher when planning and conducting a building evacuation plan. Fire drills in schools are unheard of in my community, so this checklist helped convince some officials to address the issue of a safe school evacuation as well as insuring that exits at indoor public gatherings are unlocked and unblocked during events.

There are a few posters in Macedonian that we designed and posted around the school to educate staff and students as to the proper way to “Cough and Cover”; Stop, Drop and Roll; and on how to conduct the Heimlich Maneuver. There is also a poster on limiting the amount of sugared drinks and the fact there are 13 teaspoons of sugar in half liter bottle of cola. These posters proved to be effective tool in bringing about an awareness of these topics. Why not conduct a town-wide campaign?

There is a PPP, Sowing Seeds, Successful Practices, that shares the successful strategies and resources that my counterpart, Alexandra, and I were able to implement in the classroom. Some of them enabled us to challenge the more advanced English Language students and some of them enabled us to provide alternative materials for the students who need more time to learn. The presentation contains only visuals (it was produced with the idea that I would explain each slide) but for the most part, the slides can be understood.

There are copies of three different classic stories that were adapted for reading by multiple students or for casting a play. They were adapted by a friend of mine classicacts.net so she should be sent a courtesy e-mail (crmgates@comcast.net) if the material is used in a public performance. She has given her permission for in-classroom reading to Peace Corps Volunteers in Macedonia. The adaptations make the readings fun and understandable for TEFL students.

There is a chart (M&E) that summarizes the amount of class time spent each year by teachers completing the required information in the Dnevnik (The Big Red Book) and the amount of time students wait while it is being completed. I shared it with the teachers and the director at Nlkola Karev and they were somewhat amazed about how much teaching time is lost over the course of the year.

There is a reference page to a software program that can be used by those responsible for completing the class and teacher’s schedules at the beginning of the school. We installed the program at our school and it saved countless hours of pencil/eraser adjustments. The program contains algorithms that can modify the entire schedule when the most minor change needs to be made.

I noticed when I first started observing the students in the classroom, that when a discussion was being held on any given topic, that it was quite common for more than one person at a time to be speaking, that comments were interjected while someone was trying to make a point, and that the noise level made the entire discussion quite chaotic. There is now a poster on the wall regarding “Rules for Conducting a Classroom Discussion”. We point to it when discussions begin to get noisy to remind the class, but it’s not always followed.

There is a memo “Suggestions for Managing Student Behavior” that I shared with the school Director and some of the teachers. It briefly discusses the need for students and staff to know what the school rules are, that they must be consistently enforced by all the teacher, and that there must be consequences for failure to follow the rules. These suggestions might seem obvious, but my observations proved otherwise. The school director addressed the issue.

There is a file “Games For English Class” that I put in PDF booklet format. I just copied a file that was already in the Peace Corps online library and repackaged it. Most of the English language teachers in Probistip have used it.

There is a PPP on “A Model Classroom” that illustrates the approaches that Alexandra and I took to turn our classroom, an unused chemistry lab, into a classroom that has the tools and the environment to more effectively teach English.

Finally, there is a file “The Best PE Games in America” which has the rules for Kickball, Speedball, Capture the Flag, Knockout and Ultimate Frisbee. I translated the rules into Macedonian (with a LITTLE help from my tutor) and distributed them to all the PE teachers in town and primary class teachers at Nikola Karev. The students loved the games when we played them during my after-school sports program but the PE teacher here seems reluctant to introduce any new activity in his classes. Maybe someday.

(No pictures attached to this blog)

Michael Had a Little Lamb

I missed having lamb for the past three Easters, so two weeks ago I questioned one of my friends as to why it was so difficult to find lamb at the meat markets in Probistip. After all, there’s sheep all over place. “Well in Probistip, we don’t eat lamb” was the answer. I didn’t pursue the answer to the question “Why?”. I’ve learned there probably wouldn’t be a logical answer that would satisfy me as a person from outside the Balkans. In the western part of Macedonia there there is a large Albanian (Muslim) population and pork is not eaten and hence, lamb and beef are everywhere. Probistip is in the northeastern part of the country (mostly Orthodox Christian) and pork and chicken are the meats of choice, the only choice, at least here in Probistip.

So answer in answer to my question of “how could we get some lamb”, my friend Darko replied, “we could go to one of the villages and buy a lamb.” I had been thinking, like maybe a leg or some chops, but a whole lamb? Pressured by my craving for lamb, as well as my curiosity as to how we were going to pull this off, I said “OK, let’s do it?”

Darko put a plan together and its execution began on a rainy Sunday evening. He and his father picked me up in their family Yugo and we drove about 12 kilometers to one of the villages where a person could buy a lamb. Crammed in the back of the Yugo for the journey, I wondered how I was going to share such limited space with a lamb who probably wasn’t going to be too cooperative in such a new environment as the backseat of a Yugo with someone who wasn’t even from his village or for that matter, his country.

When we arrived in Stubol, we had to wait a little while for the return of the shepherd from the pastures with the flock. After penning up the sheep, the owner of the flock (the shepherds are hired hands) went into the pen and picked out our future dinner, secured his legs and weighed him on a scale that had probably not been calibrated to any standard weight for a half a century or more. The rain soaked, dirt covered lamb (the lamb’s wool looked nothing like the pure white lamb’s wool that appears in children’s books) weighed in at 19 kilograms (42 lbs.).

My newly purchased (@ $60) lamb was then put into the trunk of the Yugo (I was relieved I didn’t have to share the back seat) and we proceeded to the village of Old Probistip, where awaiting us would be the local butcher to perform Step 2 of Darko’s plan. Darko and I didn’t want to watch the actual throat slitting, so we waited until the task was completed and then entered the garage to watch Ruman do his thing. Every internal organ (intestines, stomach, liver, kidneys, head) was excised and cleaned to be used in some local dish. There was no waste. The gutted lamb was left whole and not cut up into the usual parts that I am familiar with – chops and legs.

Step 3 involved taking my lamb (now weighing 9 kilograms or 19 lbs), to Darko’s sister’s home where freezer space was made available. Step 4 took place the following Friday when the frozen lamb was removed from the freezer in preparation for Step 5A, baking the lamb in the oven at the local bread factory where Kire was a supervisor, on Saturday morning. We figured there would be enough lamb for about 8 people, so the guest list for our picnic included some of the regulars at our weekly English conversation group. David, John (a visiting friend of David’s who had been in the Peace Corps in 1964), Goran, Clavche, Kire, Anita, Darko and me made it onto the guest list.

Step 5B was the actual eating of the lamb. Darko and Goran selected a site that was set up for picnics up in the mountain alongside the Zletevo River. We purchased all the makings of a salad and some mushrooms while I brought rakija from Negotino, cigars, homemade cinnamon buns and marshmallows to roast (marshmallows are unknown in Probistip and I thought it would be fun to introduce toasting marshmallows to my friends. Lee had brought them for me on her recent trip.) Others brought the wine, beer, bread, water, soda utensils and plates. We also brought the horseshoes.

We piled into a combi (a large van) that we had hired (500 denari round trip for $6) in front of the bakery at noon and headed up the mountain. The location was unbelievable and very isolated. The owner of the property charges 50 denari ($1) for each person using the fully equipped campsite.

The lamb turned out to be the best I ever ate and I had enough to keep me happy for a long time. We had an enjoyable afternoon. I learned the proper way to prepare lamb from scratch while my friends learned how to toast marshmallows, appreciate an after-dinner cigar, and recreate with a game of horseshoes.

Check out the annotated photos for a much better perspective on the joys of living here in Macedonia.

A Quiet Visit

My wife Lee was here until the 7th of May, having arrived here on the 4th of April for her last visit to Macedonia with me as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We definitely plan to return for visits with our Macedonian friends and to breathe in the breathtaking scenery that is everywhere. I’ll be able to drive so that we won’t have to spend so much time on buses and taxis, although it’s very easy to travel around the country via public transportation if time is not an issue. We kind of just hung around Probistip, visiting friends, hanging out at the cafes when the weather permitted, watching a movie or two in the evening after dinner. During a Volunteer’s last three months of service, they are not permitted to take out-of-country-vacation days. This didn’t bother me because I had no desire to travel outside of Macedonia.

We were invited to the wedding reception of our friend Jasmina’s brother. It was a wonderful event and we learned first hand how Macedonians celebrate such an important event. It was so much like the traditional wedding reception in the USA. There was lots of food, lots of drink, lots of loud music, and lots of laughter. We sat at a table with some people who spoke English, so we were able to ask lots of questions about marriage customs and traditions.

Lee’s best friend Peg, came for a four-day visit. During her stay we visited the various neighborhoods of Probistip and were escorted by my friend Goran to Kratevo, Lesnovo and Zletevo where we took in the sites offered in these very old villages. We introduced Peg to many traditional Macedonian foods. She seemed to enjoy them. On the 7th of May, the ladies took off in a taxi to Durres in Albania, with a day stop in Bitola, where they caught an 11PM overnight ferry to Italy for a 10 day holiday.

On a somber note, two young men and a high school girl from Probistip were killed in two separate auto accidents during the last few weeks. I also know two families in town who lost teenagers in motor vehicle accidents several years ago. Excessive speed was the cause in each incidence. The road conditions and the age of the vehicles probably have every parent worrying when their teenage children go out a car.

The eighth graders at school have basically shut down, making teaching a little more challenging. They all know that they will move on to the high school next September, regardless of their final grades, so there is little chance of motivating them at this point in time. Graduation, Prom Night, class pictures, and the spring field trip have taken over as the major interests of the eighth graders. To make matters worse, the internet at the school either doesn’t work or when a connection is made, it functions so slowly, that using the computers is no longer a choice. There is no IT person on the staff to resolve problems, so the computers lay idle while the Internet provider continues to be paid monthly.

As I am writing this blog, the students have only 18 days of school left and I have only 28 days left in Probistip, 31 days in Macedonia. I am beginning to finalize the last of my projects and submit copies of them to the Peace Corps’s SharePoint website where other volunteers can check them out for ideas that they may find to be helpful in their communities.

Lilacs

It’s a sunny spring weekend morning and I’m walking back to my apartment after taking a little sojourn around the town. I come upon two young girls who always greet me with smiles and a “Hello Michael!”. Neither of them are in my classes and for that matter, don’t even attend the school where I teach.

One of the girls is carrying a few sprigs of lilacs that she had collected. I mentioned how pretty they were and asked her if I could smell them. She held them up. I sniffed and commented how wonderful they smelled. In response, she handed them to me and told me, "For you!". The smile on her face grew when I accepted them. As we parted I could see that, happy as I was to receive them, she was truly even happier to have given them to me.

Macedonia!

N.B. Don't forget to check out the accompanying pictures!

That Which Is Good

Probistip got more snow this March (5 cm.) than the entire rest of the winter. It was definitely the mildest of the three winters I have spent here in the northeast part of the country. We still get some cold and very windy days, but spring is slowly making an appearance.

As I predicted in a previous blog, I had some difficulty convincing the School Manager at the Municipality to allow me to conduct a workshop for the English teachers during the school week (not the weekend) and allow them to have a Professional Development Day that started early in the morning and didn’t require them to attend a 4 hour workshop after teaching all day. Initially he agreed to my request, but after speaking with the three school directors, he changed his mind and told me I could conduct the workshop starting at 12:00.

I in turn told him “I wasn’t going to conduct a workshop that violated every principle of conducting a successful workshop and I wasn’t going to do a mediocre job”. The impasse was resolved when Alexandra intervened and we compromised on a starting time of 10:00. I believe this may have been the first time that the decision of a person in power was challenged and only because I initiated the challenge. I had nothing to lose, unlike most citizens in the country who are fearful to challenge the decisions of those in power because of the political ramifications.

Anyway, all 10 of the the primary school English teachers turned out for the workshop. The high school director prohibited his teachers from missing classes to attend the workshop, somehow over-ruling the school manager’s decision (the director must be higher up in the political hierarchy). We had a great workshop and the teachers left with many useful handouts and new ideas. The teachers commented that it was a great experience and wished that they could have more opportunities to learn and share.

I also had the opportunity to conduct a couple of sessions (Teaching in a Multi-level Classroom and Developing Resources) for the MAK 15 TEFL’s who were attending their technical IST (In-Service Training) in Ohrid. This required me to spend 12 hours (round trip) on a bus (plus wait time for connections) and an overnight stay in a very nice hotel in Ohrid. The presentations afforded me the chance to share everything Alexandra and I had accomplished in the past 2 ½ years. I just hope that the PVC’s in attendance got something out of them.

By the way, my beautiful, capable, knowledgeable, talented wife (she reads this blog)) arrived for her fifth visit (and sadly her last since I will return to the USA in June) to Macedonia. And for the third time, her luggage arrived with her, improving the baggage-arrival-with-passenger rating at Sophia International Airport to 60%. I picked her up in the capital city of Bulgaria once again, since it costs $500 less than to fly there than into Skopje. Bobbie (our favorite taxi driver) and I continued our twice a year tradition of stopping at one of the McDonalds in Sophia. He always orders and a Big Mac and I always order three hamburgers, fries and a Skopsko beer. They taste exactly like a McDonalds in America,the hamburgers, not the beer.

March 8th was Woman’s Day in Macedonia (they don’t have a Mother’s Day as we know it - all women are honored). The children bring flowers for their female teachers and many of those teachers bring in sweets for their students. Alexandra got a ton of artificial roses. Traditionally, the women teachers celebrate at a local restaurant in the evening. They seem to really look forward to it.

The town had its annual Cleanup Day combined with the twice a year National Tree Planting Day. This year the high school students in Probistip, along with all the municipal workers, planted the trees while the primary school students cleaned up around the town roads and school grounds. The children came to school this day armed with brooms, garden rakes, hoes, and sticks with nails imbedded in the end for picking up paper. Surprisingly, and despite this plethora of pseudo-armament and the many pointed-stick duels I witnessed, no eyes were lost, no blood was let, no injuries reported, and no lawsuits filed. I also noticed a direct correlation of .97 between grade level and work ethic – the higher the grade level the less the level of enthusiasm and the amount of cleanup actually accomplished. This supports world-wide observations made on this matter of adolescent behavior. Once again my leaf rake was a big hit as few people in Macedonia have ever encountered one and wanted to try it out.

Similar to the Carnival in Strumica on Fat Tuesday, the town sponsored a Masken Ball (Costume Ball) for the young children and students the evening of 31 March. There was a tent erected on the town plaza for dignitaries and judges, a live band and an awesome sound system. The emcee for the evening was exceptionally good. There was also a decent fireworks display. Many residents turned out to watch the children parade around the plaza while the panel of judges, judged. Prizes were awarded in different categories for the best costumes. It was an entertaining family-oriented evening.

At one of our Wednesday evening English conversation group meetings back in the Fall, the topic of recreational activities for children came up, specifically the idea of safe bike-riding areas. The discussion revealed that there were no really safe areas for smaller children. So I half-jokingly suggested to one of our regular attendees, Clavche, that he should initiate a project to resolve this problem. And he accepted the challenge. He worked very hard over the winter months on the project, facing the many obstacles that confront new initiatives in Macedonia. David helped him out occasionally and I printed his posters, but that was it. He was rewarded for all his efforts when on 2 April, 65 bicyclists turned out for the first community ride of the GREEN PATHS Bicycle Club. They traveled to Strumush, a village about 15 kilometers away. There was local TV coverage of the event. Clavche was interviewed on the local TV station. He received the recognition he deserved.

It was rewarding for me to witness the seed of a suggestion turn into Clavche’s completed project.

Trip’in

This month I received two invitations to travel with two different school groups to destinations that I had wanted to eventually visit during my service in Macedonia. The first was an invitation to travel to the city of Strumica on Tuesday March 8th which is what we know as Fat Tuesday, Mardis Gras, or the day before Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent. People from around the country come to Strumica to observe or take part in the celebrations and parade – Carnival. This year there were also groups from Albania and Bulgaria that participated. Last year the students from Probistip won a major prize for their costumes (masques) and this year they returned en-mass dressed as Alexander’s renowned phalanx warriors. They spent many weeks preparing their masques for their return trip this year.

David and I were invited to accompany them on a very nice chartered bus to the Carnival and watch the evening parade. We were treated to a lunch along with the students and later on to a sandwich and juice for the return trip. It was a great photo-op (check them out) and would have been better if there wasn’t a security guard stationed every 6 meters along the parade route blocking the view. I believe it was one of the coldest days of the winter with steady wind, but many of the participants wore some pretty skimpy outfits. After the parade, people partied, as they do at Mardi Grases(what’s the plural of Mardi Gras?) around the world, with lots of loud music and drinks of your choice. I didn’t see any beaded necklaces. Being that we were with the students, we left at 8PM and returned to Probistip at 10:30, although some of the chaperons stayed to party. The students were well behaved, had a wonderful experience and did Probistip proud. Check out www.strumickikarneval.com and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7K36oyNg7o to learn more about the Carnival.

On the 15th, I was invited to accompany a group of eighth graders that were going on an excursion to view the new dam that was being built on the nearby Zletevo River. This was part of the geography teacher’s lesson on studying the water systems of Macedonia. Ivanchay, the teacher, asked me to take photos of the day’s events and wanted me to teach the students how to test the water at various locations. So I had two responsibilities besides being a spectator. The students were thrilled that I was going along and many of them spoke very good English, so there were no communication concerns. Once the 15 passenger mini-bus that Tito rode to school on (why do we ride on a bus but we ride in a car?) arrived, all 25 of us, along with lunches, drinks and backpacks piled onto it for the trip up the mountain to our dam destination.

Ivanchay did a great job planning the day’s events and as it turned out, we precisely followed the time line that he had planned and written out. Timeliness is not a common Macedonian trait, so I was thoroughly impressed. The trip included stops in the town of Zletevo; a stop at a monastery in the mountain inhabited by Orthodox nuns; a stop at a small waterfall for testing the water; a stop at a water treatment facility; a tour of the new dam; lunch along the river where we once again tested the water; a stop where selected individuals descended a 60 degree, 150meter, rain-slickened, rock-strewn incline to view a breathtaking waterfall; and a stop on the way home at a restaurant for tea (Ivanchay and I had a couple of beers. Drinking on field trips in front of the students is acceptable adult behavior, I was told.)

Some of my thoughts along the way: These students really, really get along well with each other. This country is soooo beautiful! How many nuns live in the monastery, do they teach school and if they do, do they rap students’ knuckles with rulers? Why don’t they install guardrails along this narrow mountain road with the 200 meter drop-off to my left,? These rock slides that block the road and that require us to de-bus to clear out of the way, do they occur at scheduled times or could one of them randomly occur at the moment we are passing and sweep the bus over the cliff? Do we have a First-Aid kit with us? Will the girls who were considered to be too-girlie, have their parents give Ivanchay a hard time tomorrow for prohibiting them from descending the slick, rock-avalanche-prone mountainside to see the waterfall? Will I have a heart attack climbing back up the mountainside after proclaiming to the students that I was in an Infantry Division for 21 years and I was used to such challenges? (N.B. I did receive an ovation from the students for having successfully completed the trip and I further embellished the reputation of ALL 64 year old American men in the minds of my Macedonian friends.) Maybe passengers' laps count as a place to sit when considering maximum seating capacities on buses in Macedonia? How well can the driver see now that it is raining when only one windshield wiper works and the windows are fogged-up? Will the bus driver (who by the way was very professional) answer his cell phone if it rings as we’re going around the next blind curve? How qualified is the mechanic who performed the last brake job on the bus and was he in a good mood when he did it? We sure did laugh a lot today.

Can any day get much better than this day in Macedonia was?

Your Trash Could Be My Treasure

This blog entry is directed to my fellow TEFL Peace Corps Volunteers who have little resources to use in their classroom other than a textbook and workbook. Others are more than welcome to read it if so inclined.

One day when I could no longer fit another one in my kitchen drawer, I finally decided to put to use the beer, soda, and juice container discarded bottle caps (DBC’s) I had been saving (TEFL PCV’s rarely discard anything that may someday prove useful in a resource-less classroom).

To help some of the struggling students who were having trouble with the Latin alphabet, I took 26 of the DBC’s and drew one letter on each. The students thoroughly enjoyed the task of putting them in order while singing the Alphabet Song, or not, and they became somewhat proficient in the sounds of each letter.

This one small success led me to come up with a myriad of uses for the DCB’s. Of course I needed to renew my supply, so I conducted a contest among the 2 fifth and 2 sixth grade classes - the class that collected the most caps in one week would receive a batch of my famous homemade cookies. That alone inspired them to collect over 1400 multi-colored caps. Plus we had a lot of fun competing.

But rather than go on here and describe other ways I found to use the DBC’s in the classroom, at the top of this page, click on to My Photo Albums and open the album “Bottle Caps” where you will find annotated photos describing some of the ways we use the DCB’s with the students to reinforce what they have learned. I am sure you will find many more.

Eat To Live

Having been here in Macedonia for 29 months I have had the opportunity to sample most if not all of the traditional food dishes. All of them are made with the home grown ingredients that are seasonally based and are very fresh and quite delicious. So right now, root vegetables-potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, beets- are easily found at the market here in Probistip. Sometimes you can find lettuce and broccoli because some of the growers have installed plastic covered hot houses. Imported oranges, mandarins, kiwis, grapefruit, bananas and local apples are plentiful. For some reason, dried cranberries are available. Hats off to the marketing people from the cranberry growers of America who have overcome the Macedonian tradition of reluctance to try something new or different.

The five meat stores make it easy to procure pork, chicken and sometimes, beef. It’s still very difficult to find lamb in this part of the country. The beef I have bought, however is very tough, so I have been unsuccessful in making a nice roast beef or beef Wellington. The ground beef makes excellent low-fat hamburgers and Shepherd’s pie. You can, of course, find a better variety of meat in the bigger cities. There are quite a few “meats” that are available that I have not developed a taste for or in some cases have not identified, but are quite popular here. Tongue, hearts, intestines, brain, kidneys and all sorts of dried smoked meats and sausages fill the meat displays.

As good as the traditional food is, there is a real shortage of variety in the towns and villages. Here people eat to live, not live to eat. Each of the dozen-or-so restaurants have the same menu and choices. No Italian, Chinese, Turkish, or Mexican. No chain restaurants. But for the equivalent of $5, I can get an enormous salad, fresh bread, 2 beers or 2 glasses of wine, an entrée with fries and a pancake dessert (a crepe). I can get a large roll filled with a “hamburger” (a pork-beef mixture) and fries and covered in ketchup and mayo for 65 cents. A beer would make it $1.05.

Every Wednesday in Probistip is market day, a day to meet up with neighbors and friends from the villages and a day to procure items which aren’t readily available in the stores in The Probe. It’s a very big social event. I am always amazed at the pint-sized babas in their traditional dress who have come out for the occasion to shop. not even 4 ½ fee tall pushing a wheelbarrow or pulling a shopping cart full of a week’s necessities, whether it be fresh produce, paper products or some new clothes.

A frustrating task is trying to get an older Macedonian to try a new food. Some won’t even try, some will try reluctantly and some look forward to the new experience. Jell-O because it wiggles too much and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because “we don’t eat salty and sweet together” (Payday), received a thumbs down. Some children at school liked Toll House cookies, others didn’t. Fruit pies when I make them, which are unknown in these parts, generally receive a thumbs-up.

I rarely eat out simply because there is no variety in the restaurants. I can always find something of interest to make at home with the ingredients I have on hand. Frequently I must make substitutions for ingredients but the final dish always turns out edible. The Peace Corps Volunteers in Macedonia put together a cookbook filled with recipes that can be made using ingredients that can be found locally.

Lately I’ve been making my own bread, much to the dismay of the students at school and my male and female friends. Men don’t bake. That’s impeding on the roll of the women folk (clever play on words). Freshly baked buttered bread, 15 minutes hot out of the oven ranks in the Top Ten Pleasures of life on earth. Why couldn’t God have made vegetables taste like freshly baked bread? I would surely look forward to eating my brussel sprouts and green beans.

Most Macedonians in the rural areas have never left Macedonia and are unaware of the overwhelming variety of foods in the world. They are content eating the foods that their families have been preparing for hundreds of years. Variety doesn’t really matter – unless you’re a PCV who has lived in-country for the last 29 months.

Classroom Management 101

A milestone was reached upon our return to school on January 24th. It became very apparent to me very early in my classroom observations in Negotino and in Probistip, and verified by almost all the PCV TEFL’s throughout Macedonia, that the students behaved somewhat like the characters in the novel Lord of the Flies. By this I mean there didn’t seem to be any behavioral direction for the students to follow, so they more-or-less behaved as children would behave, given no supervision. When I asked the Macedonian teachers if students were always so “uncontrollable”, they would respond that when they were in school under the Yugoslavian Government, things were quite different and discipline was not an issue.

So the missing key here in “Deadwood”, as I soon realized, was that the students didn’t really know how to behave and were ignorant what the teacher expected of them. To address this hole in their schooling, I put together a Power Point Presentation for Alexandra entitled “My Expectations in My Classroom”,“My“ referring to Alexandra. She accepted the idea and presented it to each of her classes (5th, 6th, and 8th grades) on their first English class of the New Year.

The topics covered in the presentation were: Do Your Own Work; No Leaving the Classroom Once You Enter; Be Ready to Work When the Bell Rings; Check the Chalk Board for Your First Assignment of the Day; Follow Our Classroom Rules As Posted on the Wall; Look at Me When I Am Speaking; Rules for Conducting a Class Discussion; Bring Your Handout to Class; When Another Student Is Speaking, Listen; Do Your Homework; Ask Questions; Comply With Our Noise Level Chart; Be Prepared to Answer Questions; and Listen and Learn.

These topics might seem rather basic, but each one of them was something that the students needed to hear from the teacher. So Alexandra spent the period explaining in detail what she expected in her classroom. Other teachers may have different or no expectations, but her English class would be conducted in compliance with her expectations (a new marshal in Deadwood).

The difficult part for Alexandra now, is to enforce and reinforce her expectations. It’s a lot of work initially to change behavior patterns and it’s tiring. She is letting the students know she means business and she’s getting wonderful results. The students, for the most part, have bought into her ideas. The students now come into the classroom knowing they can’t leave to wander the hallway and hangout near the water closet. They know they must be ready to work with pen/pencil, textbook and handout when the starting bell rings, not starting to get ready (they have a five minute transition time to get to their next class). They must check the board and begin their assignment while the teacher fills in the Dnevnik (another story). They know if they break one of the class rules (developed by the students themselves) they will write the rule out 15x’s in English and 15x’s in Macedonian for homework. They know they must face the teacher and look at her when she is speaking and not be doodling or daydreaming. They know they must bring their handouts that Alexandra and I put together to save time by eliminating copying vocabulary and grammar rules into a notebook. They know they must raise their hand to make a comment during class discussions and not just yell out their opinions while another student is speaking. They know Alexandra keeps a record of completed homework assignments. They know they should not be embarrassed to ask questions and that the teacher thinks they understand what she is talking about if they don’t. They know they must be silent when the teacher gives them a “One” command; whisper on a ‘Two”; indoor voice on “Three” and rarely, if ever, use the “Four” or “Five” mode. A “One” is the default mode.

So far the results have been wonderful. The students now have understandable guidelines and they are very content to follow them. I also have noticed Alexandra’s surprise and elation how classroom behavior has changed and she admitted that it’s fun to come to school with a new idea to try out on the students. She also knows from experience over the last few weeks, that initially it’s going to take a lot of effort on her part to reinforce and enforce her newly codified expectations. But she fully understands that her efforts now will result in a better learning environment for her students for years to come. It’s all up to her.

I challenged Alexandra last December to see if she could teach her lessons for the month of February without using the designated textbook that was selected to be used in Macedonia (and which I hate for many reasons – another story). Sadly, most teachers only have the text and workbook and no other resources and couldn’t accept such a challenge. We’re now half-way through the month and she has yet to use the textbook. Instead, she has devised some wonderful activities, found relevant websites on the internet, introduced the students to ThinkQuest on the computer, and used pertinent music and lyrics. I don’t doubt that she’ll make it to the end of the month and meet my challenge.

I’ve been busy building up a supply of teaching resources that the English teachers can use to supplement and reinforce their lessons. My son Jesse and his friends made a donation of a continuous ink-flow printer and supplies necessary to make laminated flash-cards, game boards and other materials that need to be protected for re-use. The materials will be available for use by any of the English teachers in Probistip.

I’m also completing “Operation Bottle Cap” so there will be a handy supply of manipulatives for working with students of varying abilities, from the simple making of the Latin alphabet to irregular verbs and opposite adjectives.

My next immediate goal is to conduct a workshop for all the English teachers during which Alexandra and I will present all of the strategies and materials that we have developed over the last two years. I’ve got to convince the manager of the schools here in Probistip to allow the teachers to attend. When the Ministry of Education sponsors a workshop, the managers and directors jump through hoops to insure teachers attend. Locally initiated workshops are unheard of so I’ve got to make a convincing argument to have one.

How’s My Liver Doing?

During this holiday season, a lucky member of each Macedonian family has the opportunity to be blessed with health, good fortune and happiness on Badnik (Christmas Eve). How? If you are the one to acquire the coin hidden in a piece of homemade bread given to you at dinner, then you will receive many benefits in the New Year. And if you are a male married during the previous year, you are afforded a SECOND chance to win such blessings. It happens on Voditci.

Voditci is the day commemorating the baptism of Jesus. In the Orthodox Christian community, there is a tradition whereby the local priest, after a short ritual ceremony, tosses a cross into a lake, river or whatever body of water is available. Recently (within the last year) married males from the village or town compete to retrieve it. This is the strict tradition in Zletevo but in many communities now, any adult male willing to confront the frigid waters, can participate.

The previous two years I attended Voditci in Probistip where the event is conducted at the town swimming pool because there is no lake or river in the Probe (see my blogs from January 2009 and 2010). This year along with David and our good friend Clavche, I went to the nearby, (15 minute taxi ride) town of Zletevo where they have a river. At 6AM we set out and were among the first to arrive at the site on the Zletevo River where the ceremony would take place. The only ones there before us were the individuals warming the rakija and tea and the individuals setting up the sound system. This gave us the opportunity to get the best spot to take photos.
Traditionally, men from the community contribute to the rakija pot and so there is plenty of the stuff to go around and it’s free. So in order to meld into the community as envisioned by the Peace Corps, at 6:45 AM I had my first rakija of the day solely to be “one of the guys” (AKA “peer pressure”). In 64 years I had never had a 104 proof alcohol so early in the day but its warmth and sweetness was comforting on a cold winter morning. Plus the men in the town were pleased to see that I was participating in one of their beloved traditions.

We were told that the ceremony would start about 7AM, so IAW Macedonian convention, people started to arrive at 7:15 and the ceremony began at 8:15. Time is an approximation, not an exactitude, here in this wonderful country. But since my fingers were pretty numb from the cold, I was glad when the priest and his entourage finally arrived. After a brief liturgy under the gazebo, the pope (the Macedonian word for priest is “pope”) and the men from Zletevo who had been married the previous year, participated in the traditional throwing and retrieving of the cross (check out my photos).

During the event when I was changing lenses on my camera, a lens cover flew off and landed on some rocks at the edge of the water. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible to recover it, so I kind of wrote it off. But the many Zletvoians who witnessed it, were deeply concerned about the situation. Remember that David and I were visitors in the community and stood out from everyone else. People were always looking at us out of curiosity, but in a very friendly way. And so it was important to them to retrieve the lens cover for their guest and they did so when one of the non-recently married swimmers climbed up onto the rocks to retrieve the lens cover. Everyone nearby was sincerely relieved that I it was returned to me.

When the ceremony was over and after my third to-be-sociable-rakija (and to prove my American manhood to the Macedonian men), we headed back to the center where we would search for a taxi to take us back to Probistip. However, on the road back, Stojche, one of the gentlemen we had been talking with, invited us into his home for a “na goste” (a visit). This always sems to happen here in the smaller towns and villages. People invite strangers into their home for food, drink and conversation. We went.

Two and one-half hours later, 5 more shots of homemade rakija, salad, coffee, lots of laughs and a sharing of life’s experiences with Stojche and his wonderful wife, the three of us headed back to Probistip. Cab fare was 160 denari ($2.50) split three ways. I appreciated the fact that I wasn’t the driver and not in the position of having to prove to my Macedonian friends that I was capable of driving after consuming an inordinate amount of alcohol.

When I returned home I needed to get some shut-eye. The rakija had taken its toll. I grabbed a blanket and headed out to my chair on my balcony. It was a somewhat mild winter day and it was sunny. As I lay ensconced on the recliner, I briefly reflected on my wonderful 8 rakija-day among the wonderful people of Zletevo before I fell asleep (passed out) for the next well-deserved two and half hours. This gave my liver a chance to do whatever God intended it to do. I was pleased knowing that I survived the binge and that the men of Zletevo appreciated my participation in their tradition and rewarded with an A+ (when it comes to drinking their National beverage). All in all, a challenging day’s work as a PCV.

I’m now looking forward to a couple of alcohol-free months. And, I believe, so is my liver.

Many Traditions

The month of January is basically a month of celebrating. It’s like the time in America between Christmas and New Years when everyone “goes to work” , however you want to describe work. The holiday spirit lasts three to four weeks. Why not? We can always accomplish tomorrow what we could have accomplished today.

The town looks very festive during this time and the lights will probably stay up till at least February. I’m hoping we get at least one snowfall during this time. School is not back in session until the 24th so the students are slowly forgetting much of what they learned in the first half of the school year. The teachers have finished their grading and record keeping as required by the overzealous demands of the remnants of the socialist record-keeping bureaucrats. Yet the teachers must still report to school almost every day, be seen, drink a cup of something hot because the building is not heated, and then head back home after an hour or so. Why? No one knows.

Since Phil is always free-loading off of everybody, David, Jim, Michael, Lillian and I decided to invade Phil’s place in Bitola to celebrate the New Year and freeload off of Phil. Much to his credit and my astonishment, he was the perfect host and put together a couple of nice meals. We celebrated with 10 other PCV’s who had come to town and who stayed with a couple of other Bitola-stationed Volunteers. The seniors amongst us acknowledged the New Year with cigars and Jack Daniels ($30 a Liter) on the square at midnight. There were thousands of people attending the event and everyone seemed to be having an enjoyable time. I was able to get a few really good photos of the fireworks because it was the first time I was actually under a fireworks display. They exploded directly overhead. There were no safety zones set up and we stood directly next to the launching area.

I understand from the many people who asked me where I was, that there was a very nice celebration in Probistip. As nice as Bitola was, I looked forward to my return home to Probistip on Sunday, having eaten all of Phil’s food and drinking most all of his hard-to-come-by black tea (You can find a half dozen or more kinds of tea in Probistip. Tea has a medicinal value and there is a tea for every ailment. Apparently there are no ailments that can be cured by drinking India tea (black tea – Lipton) because none of the stores or markets carry it).

In the USA, it’s back to our daily routine after New Years. Here, we still have the Christmas season ahead of us. On the 5th of January, David and I were invited to attend a traditional ceremony that takes place on the mountain. Many of the men from town head up to one of the local mountains for the purpose of collecting oak leaves which they will place in their Christmas Eve fire. I’m not exactly sure of the meaning of this tradition, although I did understand oak, smoke, strength, health, and luck when it was being explained to me. Of course the occasion was celebrated on the mountain with blessings by the priests, rakija, wine, food and traditional music and dancing.

Last year I was unprepared for the tradition of children coming around on Christmas Eve morning(December 6th). Representing angels (I am told), they carry a large staff and go house –to-house singing the words:”If you are asleep, wake up! If you are awake, make us cookies! If you can’t make us cookies, then give us walnuts! If you can’t give us walnuts, give us chestnuts! If you can’t give us chestnuts, give us some money? If you can’t give us some money, then we will break your window!” This kind of puts a damper on the “angel” scenario, but according to the police chief there have been no reports of broken windows on the last few Christmas Eve mornings. This year I was ready for the children, although I might have slept through their 6AM arrival had I not heard them singing across the street.

Christmas Eve (Badnik) is spent at home with family. A meatless meal is served and traditional formalities are carried out (see my blogs from January 2008 and 2009 which go into more detail). (Congratulations to my good friend Violeta in Negotino for getting the coin this year!) On Christmas Day (Boshik), families and friends visit one another. Gift giving is kept to a minimum, considering Father Ice made some deliveries on New Year’s Eve. Gift giving is not a big deal in Macedonia. I love the idea. No stress in trying to figure out if your wife wants a new iron or a new vacuum.

After the religious celebration of Christmas, many people look forward to celebrating Old New Year’s Day, January 13th in accordance with the Julian calendar. Another excuse to party! David and I were invited to attend the party of the municipal employees. It took place at the fish restaurant located in a beautiful setting in the mountains and owned by the mayor. It was another fun-filled party with the traditional food, drink, music and dancing that one comes to expect at these occasions. I was even able to throw a few of my infamous dance moves into the traditional Ora which a few adventuresome Macedonians were able to mimic.

The last traditional event of the season will take place on the 19th when the men of the town/village who were married the previous year will attempt to retrieve the cross thrown into the bitterly cold lake/river/ swimming pool by the local priests, commemorating the baptism of Jesus (once again, if interested, more detailed accounts of this event are reported in my blogs from January 2009 and 2010).

During this school break I have been putting together materials for a workshop for all the English teachers in Probistip. I have to try and sell the idea of canceling English classes for one day to the “superintendent of the schools” so the teachers can attend on the school’s time in Alexandra’s classroom. Usually teachers are expected to attend these workshops on weekends (great for morale!) This is a novel approach to offering in-service training so it might be a hard sell. We’ll see.