This is my first ever attempt at creating a blog, and since I'll be living in Macedonia until November 2013, I should have a lot to write about!
I arrived in Macedonia on September 11th and spent a week in the city of Kumanovo (a short drive away from the border with Serbia) for our orientation to Macedonia and some initial language training. After five days in Kumanovo, all of us (36 total new volunteers) moved to our respective training communities for 2 1/2 months of pre-service training (PST). There are four communities in total (Kratovo, Romanovce, Probishtip, Lozovo), and we are split up into groups of 8-10 based on whether we are focused on community development or teaching english as a foreign language (TEFL). From Monday thru Friday we spend 4 hours a day in language class, usually followed in the afternoon by another training session on various topics like project design or cross-cultural issues. This will be our routine until the end of November, after which we will all move to our permanent work sites, location TBD! Our official swearing in as volunteers will take place on November 24, so we'll get to celebrate with a big turkey dinner :)
With the general info out of the way, I managed to end up in the town of Kratovo for my training community. It is relatively small (~6,000 people) but seems to have a lot of character and history, along with pretty incredible mountain scenery. I've managed to get out on a long walk or hike nearly every day, and finally got in my first long run this morning. Every weekend there is an outdoor bazaar (пазар in Macedonian) where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, along with cheap clothing.
For my living situation, I am staying with a Macedonian family about 10-15 min walk from the town center. They have been extremely kind and hospitable, and it has helped make the adjustment to the culture and lifestyle a lot easier. In addition to my host parents (and a dog named Ben), I have three host brothers who help run both a cafe-bar in the town center and a restaurant nearby. Their names are Jonche, Vaki, and Dragan. Dragan just returned from his honeymoon in France with his wife. Most evenings I am sitting with them at the cafe-bar attempting to pick up bits and pieces of the language and introducing myself to locals who frequent the bar. Once my language skills are up to par, I hope to be able to help out more and maybe do a little bartending.
Well, my laptop battery is running low so I'll need to cut this short, but I'll be trying to get an update out each weekend at least while I am in Kratovo, and possibly more frequent once I move to my work site in late November. For now, chao chao (bye bye)!
Oh, and if you'd like to see more photos, check out these links:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150295074919117.335500.525244116&l=d7770ea580&type=1
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150289745209117.334578.525244116&l=3cb5f5f299&type=1
