We’re Ready

The cupboards are now filled with a bounty of preserved autumn vegetables and fruits; the ajvar and pinjur jarred; the nuts dried and shelled; the hogs butchered, smoked or frozen; the wine and rakija barreled, the fallen leaves swept up and carted away; the leeks replanted; the firewood split and stacked; the bee colonies put to bed; and the winter wheat sewn. So come on winter! Macedonia is ready.

While the Trainees were in Probistip preparing for their assignments throughout the country, there were 10 Americans in this small town. The seven “youngsters” plus one senior could be seen hanging together at the cafes and sometimes at the disco, heading to and from their classrooms at Nikola Karev Primary School, bonding with members of their host family and attending na gostes (visits)with their host family’s relatives and friends. But they were sworn in as Volunteers on Thanksgiving Day and have been sent out to their new towns and villages, the same routine that every Peace Corps Volunteer anticipates since they submitted their application to join. So as I write this Blog, the MAK15’s are on their own for their very first weekend, armed with a new language, and trying to find food, not getting lost in their new community and assessing where they can obtain what they need in order to be comfortable for the next two years. We’re back to two PCV’s in the “Probe”.

As has been the custom for the last several years, the Trainees were sworn-in on Thanksgiving Day at the Palace Hotel in Kumanevo. The American Ambassador to Macedonia, Philip Reeker, made some brief comments before swearing-in the MAK15’s. The Trainees’ host families, the Peace Corps Staff and current PCV’s attended the event which was followed by a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal that was highlighted by the invitation to feast on 20 well-prepared turkeys (sans stuffing, cranberry sauce, and apple cider) flown-in from the States and prepared by the function hall staff. It was a nice event for everyone in attendance.

I recently attended a meeting in Skopje with the CEO of the Macedonian Olympic Committee. Phil asked me to be in attendance as he made his pitch to introduce golf in Macedonia and more importantly, to discuss a plan to introduce track events throughout the country so as to identify potential future Olympic contenders (a very long term project). Quite frankly, the feeder system is in such disarray (42 different independent sports federations) that it will take some time to get everyone to work together toward this commendable goal. As is the case in many instances in this nation that is having a difficult time getting away from old habits, there is little positive interaction between different sports federations. The other problem is financial. There are 205 countries that are members of the Olympic movement. Only one country is not financially supported by their national government – Macedonia. Needless to say, little is currently happening in this area.

After our meeting at the Olympic Headquarters, we were drinking coffee in a very open, well-lit, quiet and uncrowded café, when a thief stole the pocketbook of Phil’s colleague who had momentarily set it on a chair while she made a phone call. The thief was quick and professional. The police officers, who took two hours to respond, said that a common problem in the city.

Friday the 19th of November was National Tree Planting Day and students and municipal workers throughout the country spent a part of the day planting trees. The students and teachers from Nikola Karev went up into the hills near the new church and planted trees and shrubs, supervised by adult town employees. For the very first time, the school day doesn’t have to be made up on a Saturday , probably because a limited number of students attended in past years.

The weather has been mild for this time of the year, enabling us to continue our recreational Sunday afternoon horse shoe pitching get-togethers. The game is popular with a core group of players but there is still a contingent of my neighbors who think they’re too old play. We’re working on them and the time will be here soon when we’ll need more sets of horseshoes to accommodate all the players. On one hand it will be great to need more sets and then on the other hand, I’m not sure how we will be able to fund the cost of purchasing and shipping them from the USA.

The classroom computers continue to provide resources for the students to practice their English skills, albeit they still don’t speak enough. We’re somewhat fortunate to have ours up and running. Several other classrooms have to wait three months for the person responsible for finalizing the installation of the computers to recover from eye-surgery. I am told he is the only one that knows how to complete the set-up.

My bottle-cap project is also going very well. I’m having select students (those who are so far behind that they are just lost, have given up and are warehoused until they graduate) construct sets of caps that will reinforce and enable students to practice such concepts as adjective opposites, past simple and past continuous, possessive and personal pronouns, and irregular verbs. These students love to work with their hands and enjoy the opportunity to be useful during class. And they unknowingly are learning a little English in the process.