Christmas on the 25th was just another day and it didn’t really seem anything like a holiday. I did however, enjoy my Skype’ed visit that evening with my wife, sons, their maidens, my mother, my brothers, sister, brother-in –law, sisters-in-law, niece, nephews, and as the case may be, their wives. Also a quick thank you to my neighbors back home– the Wilsons, the Hoveys, the Nolans and others - who have watched out for my wife over the last year and eased any concerns that I may have had in her ability to survive two-and-a-half years without me.
The week after the 25th was the lead-up to the holidays here. Decorations went up, people bustled around the town and the holiday spirit began to appear. The students at school were busy decorating classrooms and common areas. As usual, Alexandra took the lead and was overseeing the whole process. It was nice watching the students make most of the decorations from ordinary pieces of paper.
The music teachers with the help of some of the classroom teachers put together a wonderful New Years Pageant which I recorded. I put together a souvenir DVD which I hope we can use to raise some money for English-Macedonian dictionaries. Since this is a new concept, I will have to sell the principal on the idea.
We had a wonderful teachers’ holiday party at the local hotel. Macedonians love to dance and they seemed to dance the Oro non-stop. I kind of missed the Chicken Dance, YMCA, the Hokey Pokey, and the Electric Slide, but maybe someday in the near future some innovative Macedonian (probably Alexandra) will sneak it into a Macedonian celebration. I feigned ignorance of the Oro and chose not to participate, not because I couldn’t dance it, but because I didn’t have the stamina to dance non-stop for 40 minutes at a time.
Most of the excitement in Macedonian is focused on the first day of the New Year. So the other PCV in Probistip, David (you met him in previous blogs) and I went to Bitola, the second largest and most beautiful city in Macedonia (reference earlier blogs from my wife) to spend time (and free lodging) with the most famous photographer from Connecticut, Phil.
Winter bus rides afford riders a great view of the countryside landscape. The defoliated trees along roads enable one to experience a unobstructed view of the valleys, rivers, and distant mountains. The emerald fields of winter wheat stand out in the otherwise brown and gray landscape and the leafless vineyards and arbors, with their dress-right-dress formations remind one of a North Korean tribute to President (dictator) Kim Jong-il (that’s my analogy, OK? Maybe that wouldn’t be your’s.).
Bitola was dressed in all its holiday splendor and ready to rock at midnight. We caught up with the other volunteers from Bitola, Heather and Katy and Michael (who just completed his PC service) and his friend from Australia, Ed. We showed up at midnight on the square with lit cigars and took in all the sights. The party lasted until 2:30 in the morning. We successfully dodged all the fireworks that were being tossed from all directions.
The secular holiday of New Year’s Day was the most celebrated holiday during the days of the Yugoslavian Republic. Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were working days. Now Macedonians have freedom of religion and there are many holidays related to the saints of the Orthodox Church. I was invited to spend Christmas Eve with Jasmina’s (my language tutor and friend) family. Jasmina’s mom put out all the traditional fare (no fat is served on this day, so fish was served) and her father provided us with the recently made rakija and wine from this year’s harvest. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are relatively quiet holidays where family members spend the day at home with one another.
The students are off until the 15th or 20th. I’ll verify the exact day tomorrow. The teachers, however, are required to show up each day for a couple of hours. Once the ridiculously cumbersome (my personal opinion) grading and the documenting -of-grades process is completed, there is little to do for the teachers. So everyone socializes for a couple of hours and then everyone departs for home.
I’ve got lots of stuff to try out, and hopefully implement, in the upcoming months, so I’m looking forward to the students’ return and an invigorated back-to-business attitude for a new year. Don’t forget to check out my newly uploaded photos. Catch you later!
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