Such a Beautiful Country

I had the opportunity to go with the seventh graders, and three teacher-chaperons, on their end-of-the –school-year excursion. This year our travels took us to the western part of the country. We went to the Mavroro National Park, which boasts a man-made lake and breathtaking mountain vistas and to Lake Matka, another man-made lake just outside the capital city – Skopje (I talked about Lake Matka in my April blog). Stops along the way included a visit to the head springs of the Vardar River and the historical Monastery St. Bigorski (St. John the Baptist). Check out my photos and if you are interested, you can find more information about these places on the internet: http://www.360cities.net/image/st-john-bigorski-monastery-macedonia

We left the school at 7:30 and arrived back in Probistip at about 10 PM. We spent a total of about ten hours on the bus, interspersed with timely stops along the way. For me they were very pleasant hours because they gave me the opportunity to sightsee the wonders of this country. I think the students could have benefited with more time hanging around but they behaved extremely well and for junior high school students, seemed very interested in the different sites.

Most of the Albanian-Macedonians (about 20% of the 2 million Macedonians) live in the western part of Macedonia. They adhere to the Islamic culture. Peace Corps Volunteers who are placed there must learn Albanian and some Volunteers learn both Albanian and Macedonian (God Bless them!). As we traveled through the many areas near the cities of Tetevo and Gostivar, there were times when I felt as though I was 400 years or more back in time. Everywhere there were horse drawn plows, donkey carts, families in traditional clothing, scarved women hunched over in the planting fields, goat and sheep herders, free-roaming cows, pitch forks, scythes, and hay wagons. Of course there were also luxury cars, extremely beautiful homes with vegetable and flower gardens, plasma TV’s and John Deere tractors. The extremes of the old and the new exist together very well in such a geographically small country. Macedonia justifiably has earned its title - The Switzerland of the Balkans.

Macedonia is a photographer’s and outdoorsman’s paradise. The beauty of the country is numbing. Perhaps someday, an entrepreneur will start a tour company specifically for photographers. I’ll be the first to come back and sign up.

Happenings at School

As is the case in most schools in America, the students sense the end of the school year and learning (and teaching) has slowed down considerably as the talk of the class trip, sleeping-in, visits to their grandparents’ villages, and the lazy summer days ahead permeate throughout their conversations. Everyone will be promoted and will spend their next school year together with the same classmates.

This last month has seen the acquisition of Macedonian/English dictionaries (a donation from one of my sons and one of my sisters) which are invaluable asset in helping us teach. The students become empowered when they can find new words when working on their exercises without having to continuously ask the teacher the meaning of words when trying to write a sentence or paragraph. They now have the confidence to attempt to read English language materials from our English resource classroom library and the dictionaries give Alexandra a resource to accommodate all the students in this multi-level classroom. There are incalculable ways in which to incorporate them into our lesson plans and have the students more self-involved. Sadly, we are one of the few, if not the only, English language classroom in the country, that has a Macedonian/English dictionary for each student to use during class time (everyone does have useless non-functioning computers though).

We now have new curtains in the classroom that Alexandra purchased with the profits from our bake sale. After much discussion, the students voted that the curtains would be a wise, immediate and longtime investment to help brighten up their classroom.

The geography teacher is working on the World Map Project that I introduced to Alexandra. He has done a wonderful job working with some of the eighth grade boys to tackle the task. It was very rewarding to me to be able to suggest the project, give him the plans and then just sit back and watch another teacher other than Alexandra, take over the task. The World Map Project should be completed by the end of the school year.

There are so many proficient students in our English classes. They are far ahead of what is being taught in the textbook and for the most part are very bored. Fortunately our classroom has the resources to challenge them. Some of the students are translating a book of activities and games into Macedonian. The compilation will be used by the First through Fourth Grade teachers who must teach physical education (as well as music and art) to their students but have little training in that area. Another student translated a booklet I found on the internet (English For Police) into Macedonian for use by the police department. I’ll spend some time over the summer coming up with additional projects for next year.

My new tattoo is a big hit with the students. Many of them now have a self-made, drawn in ink tattoo on their arm. Some of them have the fake tattoos that come with a purchase of gum. I’m sure the parents appreciate that I’m such a positive influence on their child.

Class trips are coming up in the next few weeks so the class treasurers are collecting and securing the class trip monies. As I’ve mentioned in other blogs, teachers aren’t allowed to collect money so the total responsibility for carrying and safeguarding the collections is placed upon 7-13 year olds.

Earlier in the year, I had shown some of the classes a few of the “Traditional American Dances” that were popular in our country, namely The Chicken Dance, The Macarena, YMCA, and a few others. The students loved them. So this year at the student talent show which is held at the old movie theater, in addition to the performances by the mandolin orchestra, the school chorus, and the folk dancers, Alexandra had several of the groups perform these “Traditional American Dances” in front of the school body and their parents and friends. The dancers were a big hit, especially the boys who dressed as The Village People. The student emcees actually gave me (Michael from the Peace Corps) the credit for introducing these American dances to the students. And as usual, Alexandra was responsible for recruiting the students, holding the practices and designing the costumes. (Be sure to check out the pictures of the event in My Albums.)

All the teachers received a laptop computer to use in conjunction with the useless computers in the classroom (Do you sense my distaste for the “Computer on Every Student Desk Initiative”?). Alexandra, I believe, may be the only teacher who is actually using her laptop now. The teachers have yet to receive their training on its use, but Alexandra is very computer savvy. She found English lessons on the Internet, downloaded them and with the Principal’s In-Focus projector which she borrowed, supplemented the textbook lessons.

Tragically, the $160 plus shipping projector bulb burned out last week, putting an end to that initiative. But we will overcome this setback. Somehow.

Class Picture Day

Unbeknownst to me, today was picture day at school. As Alexandra’s class was leaving to get their photo, they pleaded with me to be in their class photo. One of the students said to me, “Michael, please be in our class picture. When I am older, I want to be able to show my children a picture of you with us when I tell them how you came to our country from America to help us to learn English and what a good person you are.”

To the cheers of all, I humbly went.

Lovely Lee B.

For the month of April, my companion for the last 39 years paid me a visit. It was her third trip to Macedonia and, as was the case the previous two visits, we had a wonderful time hanging out in Probistip for most of the time, but also visiting other volunteers in Ohrid and Skopje.

She accompanied me to Ohrid where I facilitated two TEFL sessions for the MAK 14’s who were assembled there for their In-Service Training with their counterparts. We extended our stay for one day and were able to tour the beautiful city of Ohrid. The eight-hour buses rides to Ohrid from Probistip afforded us the opportunity to take in the breathtaking scenery of Macedonia in the spring. Farmers were plowing, winery workers were pruning and burning last seasons growth, wildflowers were blossoming, streams and rivers were roiling and the winter wheat, still in its infancy, greenified much of the landscape.

We also had the opportunity to visit Michael F. and Phil, two other PCV’s in Skopje. Besides the usual dining and cafe-ing , we, along with Michael F., went on a day trip to Lake Matka. The man-made lake, about 20 minutes outside the city, was formed when they built a dam for hydro-electric production. It provides a beautiful recreational area for city residents who want to get away from the excessive summer heat or who just want to relax in a naturally beautiful surrounding. A short boat ride on the lake took us to some awesome caves that have been developed as a tourist attraction and were well worth viewing.

The highlight of the trip to Skopje was my initiation into the world of tattooing. Najstar (the Oldest) Michael, Phil and I agreed to get a tattoo sometime during our Peace Corps experience. Najstar had gotten his the previous week and so as agreed upon, I decided to get mine with my wife’s blessing (Phil was off to some foreign land and will get his later). The tattoo artist did a great job on both Michael’s and my tattoos. The children at school are totally impressed, while at first not believing it is a real one, while the adult Macedonians cannot comprehend why a 63 year old American would get a tattoo which displays a Macedonian flag. And while they can’t figure out the why, their faces light up in appreciation when they see it.

At home in Probistip, Lee B. went to the school and worked with the advanced English students in each class, affording them the opportunity to experience more challenging work . They really seemed to enjoy the sessions. Lee B. also spent some time with Michael on Skype and in person, discussing his proposal to revitalize Macedonia’s dying garment industry, and searching for ways to interest non-governmental investors.

We also spent time at many "na gostes" (visits to friends and neighbors) where we drank liters of rakija, along with the standard salads, coffee and sweets. We idled away time at the outdoor cafes, people watching and conversing on occasion with individuals who wanted to practice their English. We walked around town, bombarded (in a wonderful way) with “Hi Michael, Hi Lee” from the children and the friendly smiles and “hellos” from the townsfolk.We celebrated Orthodox Easter and Worker’s Day, the first of May, with our Macedonian friends. It was a relaxing, yet busy, time.

She’ll be leaving the country on the 6th of May and we’ll both be looking forward to her October return. My time in Macedonia is flying by but it seemed to fly-by exceptionally fast the month of April 2010.

The Arrival of Spring and My Wife

Spring-like weather arrived in Macedonia for the 4.6 billionth-or-so time coinciding with my wife’s third visit. This time the airlines didn’t misplace her luggage and her flights were on time despite flying British Airlines which was embroiled in a strike by its cabin crews. We (Bobby the driver and I) picked her up in Sophia, Bulgaria which is an eight hour round trip including the border crossing, without incident.

Besides her exuberant personality, she brought me some Log Cabin pancake syrup, a Christmas-present dress shirt from my mother-in-law, a supply of cigars (non-existent in Probistip), heavy duty socks, contact lens solution (very expensive here), a hard disk memory drive to back up my photos, laminated donated menus from Chili’s and Friendly’s (which I will use in class), two seasons of the TV series “Rescue Me”, three pounds of Twizzlers for Phil and new camera equipment that Phil had sent to Lee for her to lug over here so he could avoid the shipping and handling charges.

Unfortunately Lee caught some kind of bug on the flight over here and her throat was extremely sore. We got to test out the health care system and were pleasantly pleased. A visit to the local privately-run clinic cost 360 denari (@ $6) and the medications at the pharmacy cost 140 denari (@ $3). Within a few days, her throat cleared and she was cured.

The first of April in Macedonia is the same as April Fool’s Day in America with the exception that the children dress up in costumes (known as masks in Macedonian) similar to our Halloween. The children come to school dressed for the occasion and mid-morning head to the center plaza in parade-like fashion.

This year on 3 April there was a ceremony and a lunch for the army veterans from Probistip and Kratevo. The Assistant Secretary of the Army is from Probistip and he scheduled a performance of the Macedonian Army Band. Many residents turned out on a beautiful spring day to listen to a wonderfully diverse program of music. After the performance, there was a luncheon to which David and I were invited at the hotel. We sat at the table with the veterans and had a great time “talking “and laughing even though no one at the table spoke English. We had a great time. There were several partisans amongst the group who had fought in WWII with Tito against the Bulgarians and Germans. I took a group photo which seemed to please the group and I have distributed a copy to each of them.(checkout My Albums)

This year Orthodox Easter Sunday was celebrated on the 4th and Easter Monday on the 5th. I got to fly my Macedonian flag for four consecutive days. (For some insight into how Macedonians celebrate Easter, check out my Blog from 30 April of 2009.) This year Lee and I colored some eggs using the dyes that are sold in the shops and pazars. The dyes produce rich and deep colors, unlike the dyes we use when coloring eggs back home. Whether the dyes are more toxic has yet to be determined, but we felt no ill effects from eating the tons of egg salad created from the many eggs given to us by our friends and neighbors (it’s a custom to bring an egg for each member of the family you may be visiting in the days after Easter).

While we only colored eggs, Alexandra colored and decorated eggs with her family. She presented us with four beautifully decorated eggs that were works of art. They were exquisite. Unfortunately they were perishable and we had to eventually use them in a salad. Remarkably, we used all the eggs that we had colored and those we had received from others. Understandably we won’t be eating hard-boiled eggs for quite some time.

Also during the week there was an exhibition at the House of Culture (like a Community Center) at which eggs decorated by children were incorporated into displays which used artifacts from the Town museum.

We also had a Tree Planting/Clean-up Day at the school. Someone at the Ministry declares that on a specific day, all public employees will plant trees throughout the country (but the time has to be made up on a Saturday sometime down the road). It’s a nice concept and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. At Nikola Karev some of the older students went out to plant trees while the rest of the students cleaned up the trash on the school grounds and around the nearby neighborhoods. I got to use my grass rake as did some of the students who had never seen such a tool. Unfortunately by the next day there was a good amount of trash on the school grounds because many of the students still discard their trash onto the ground rather than use the provided bins.

With my wife here for the month of April, I will now have to bite the bullet when it comes to sharing my computer, going for walks when I’m not interested in walking, turning off lights that for some reason are on midday, closing cabinet doors to prevent a head injury, shutting drawers left open for whatever god-knows reason, eating healthful food most of the time, and controlling flatulence.

But in the long run, I guess, it’s well worth it to have her here.

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!