The “Suburbs” of Probistip

Probistip is the newest town in all of Macedonia. The approximately 33 villages within the Municipality, however, date back to the 17th century (more on this in my next Blog).

The town itself was built after WWII when Yugoslavia opened a fully operational iron and lead mine and large factory that made auto and truck batteries for the entire country. It became the second most affluent town in all of Macedonia. Apartment buildings for the miners and their families were built as well as homes for the managers and professional staff. I’m guessing, as time went by, miners built their own homes away from the center of town. These are the “suburbs “as I like to call them.

(N.B.The mine and battery factory are currently operating at only 20% of capacity (this % is hearsay) so unemployment within the community stands at 35- 40%. The residents have experienced the best of times and now they are enduring some tough times).

A couple of weeks ago on one of the last days of Spring, I took an early morning Sunday walk through the southern neighborhood of Probistip (I forget the name) where many of these homes were built and where many are still in different throes of completion. Being mindful that Probistip is relatively small, it is only a 5 minute walk to this part of the town from my apartment building.

In this part of town (southern “suburbs”) some of the roads have yet to be paved, unlike the northern side “suburbs”, where all the roads are asphalted. Many homes in the southern neighborhood are in different stages of completion but almost all of them have vegetable and flower gardens, grape arbors and fruit trees. The neighborhood on the northern side was established first and all of the homes are well established with beautiful landscaping and outdoor patios and arbors.

Rather than try to explain what I saw on my stroll, go to Click here to Check Out My Photo Albums at the top of this page. Check out the beauty of the Springtime in Probistip.

Happenings Around Town

Probistip has a local TV station that promotes the events that are scheduled to occur in the town but since I have cable TV, I don’t have access to that station. Accordingly I quite often don’t hear about scheduled events until after they take place. Now that David (the other PCV) works at the municipal building, I can get a better heads-ups on whose coming to town or which local organization is sponsoring an event.

I missed the biathlon that takes place here each spring (I did report on it last year) but as far as I know, that’s the only major event I didn’t know about. At the end of this school year, the students from the two primary and one high school put on a musical program at my school. This was in addition to the individual evening school performances that took place on separate dates at the old movie theater or as I call it, The Death Trap. The children and high schoolers are very talented and Macedonians in general, love to sing and dance.

The Municipality sponsored a “Run Day” for all the students. While not a requirement, every student was expected to participate (not all did). So on 14 May, the teachers escorted their students to “downtown”. Starting with the pre-schoolers and finishing up with the high schoolers (for whom it seemed to be a very-voluntary event) everyone ran a course corresponding to their grade level. Certificates were presented to the first three finishers in each category. It was another well-intentioned effort by the municipality to foster a sense of community in the town.

20 May was National Firefighters Day in Macedonia. Children from the primary schools presented flowers to the Probistip firefighters who were assembled on the plaza. Also there, was the fire truck that was donated by the United Kingdom last year and a fire Captain from England who had returned to Probistip this year with some additional equipment. In the U.K., fire fighting vehicles must be replaced every 10 -15 years, at which time those that are still functional, are donated. Members of The Florian Society, a firefighter’s organization, use their vacation time to deliver and train firefighters from developing countries in the use of the donated equipment. David and I met the Captain, who was delighted to find additional English speakers (he did have a very competent firefighter-translator from Skopje with him). After a demonstration of the fire equipment, David and I were invited by Risto, a town official, to the fire house to have a traditional Macedonian feast with the firefighters and town dignitaries to celebrate the day.

On the evening of the 20th, the Fourth Year graduating students (Seniors) had their Prom Night. What was fascinating was the tradition of, what appeared to be, the entire town showing up at 9PM to line the street as the 4th Years arrived at the hotel where the formal celebration was to occur. I really enjoyed watching the crowd as the students with their escorts walked the “Red Carpet”. The girls dressed exquisitely on their big night and rivaled any fashion models walking the Runway. I felt I was back in America on Prom Night, Anywhere, USA.

The Mayor’s Office also sponsored (through the Ministry) free English and basic computer lessons for the residents. I don’t recall the exact number of participants but it was quite impressive. The English instructors chose to use the textbook that was assembled by several previous Peace Corps Volunteers and is the one I use at school with the students I work with. I offered to assist the instructors but none of them took me up on my offer.

Our Wednesday evening English Conversation Group continues to be a blast. We have a fun time talking about whatever seems to be a topic of interest for that week. I really admire the individuals who come every week wanting to practice their English. David and I learn so much about how real down-to-earth Macedonians feel about the issues of the times and they in turn have so many questions about life in America. It’s a great time to share.

Several of the PCV’s in Skopje put together the First Annual Squirrel Basketball and Football Tournament for the purpose of collecting new or wearable clothing for those in need in the city. Such a concept does not yet exist in the Macedonian mindset. Instead of paying an entry fee, teams had to bring usable clothing on the day of the tournament. A dozen-or-so PCV’s from all over Macedonia traveled to Skopje to assist the organizers who had done all the preliminary work. I worked as a basketball referee. The event was an all–around tremendous success and the outside agencies that participated are already talking about next year. Great job, Jordan and Sarah (PCV’s)!

Finally, it’s great to be in Europe during the World Cup. South Africa is in the same time zone as Macedonia so the games are on at a reasonable time. It’s fun to be caught up in the excitement here in “The Probe”. Here one can drink their coffee, beer, or rakija at an outdoor café and watch the games on a large plasma screen, interrupted only occasionally by the hoof beats of a donkey or horse cart, the crowing of the nearby roosters, or the scooters driven illegally by helmetless 14 year olds.

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.