First Visit to Obleshevo

Today I just returned from a two-day visit to the village of Obleshevo, where I will spend the next two years working as a volunteer at the municipality of Cheshinovo-Obleshevo. Thankfully, the trip to get there was not particularly arduous since it is a relatively short distance away from my training site in Kratovo. Several of us decided to take a taxi to the town of Probishtip, where we proceeded to catch another taxi to the larger city of Shtip. Finally, I got on a bus from Shtip to Obleshevo, and ran into a couple of other volunteers going to their sites in Kochani and Makedonska Kamenica.

After a short bus ride, I arrived in Obleshevo, and met up with one of my counterparts (Dragica), met a few people at the Opshtina (municipality), and went off to the nearby (6km) town of Kochani for a two hour meeting with representatives from 11 different municipalities in eastern Macedonia regarding PR and tourism promotion (as far as I could understand, it was all in Macedonian). We returned back to the municipality afterwards for a meeting with the mayor (gradonachalnik), and then met with him one-on-one for about an hour (again all in Macedonian). My other counterpart (Blagoja) joined us at some point and then I went with him to his family's house in Cheshinovo after work for rychek (the main meal of the day). I enjoyed spending time with the family and they were definitely curious about me! Later in the evening we went over to a coworker's house for about an hour to chat and then went home (I stayed at my counterpart's house during my site visit). Exhausting but good day!

The next day in the morning I sat in on a 7th grade English language class at the primary school in Obleshevo (just a short walk from the opshtina), walked around town with a coworker, met some local business owners and toured a rice factory, and drove around various villages in the municipality with some coworkers to post flyers advertising a community forum to be held Nov 3 (today).

Also, I visited my new home- a two story house about 5 min walk from the opshtina in Obleshevo. I will be sharing the house with the two children of the landlady who lives in a house next door. The children are both in their mid 20s and work during the day, one I think is a nurse in Kochani. Apparently they eat their meals with their mother, so the kitchen space is basically mine, along with the refrigerator. My room itself seems pretty small and there was no bed in place yet, but I think it will work out ok. Here is a link to a Facebook album with some more photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150343758019117.345981.525244116&type=1&l=425f2c4b60

It was great to have a chance to see some of the municipality and get my bearings...I have a feeling that I'll plan some running routes to random villages once I move on the 25th just to figure out where things are. Fortunately, the mountains that surround the valley aren't too far, maybe 6km or so. Much better than living in Nebraska, when you had to go to Colorado to find the mountains. I am planning to buy a bike at some point after I move later this month, not only assist with my hiking plans but also to allow me to get to Kochani easier. Obleshevo does not have a bank in town and has a fairly limited selection of small food stores, so I think I will need to go to Kochani fairly often for groceries and other necessities.

Overall, it was a good visit to my future home. I've never lived in a village, so it will be an adjustment for sure, but I am excited that the people I've met at the opshtina are extremely nice and welcoming. There seems to be ample opportunity to contribute as a volunteer, and I look forward to seeing what that is once I've had a chance to get to know the community and how I can fit in.