The rest of the week in Kumanovo went by slowly, though now
it feels like the blink of an eye. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and today all
began with language lessons. Tuesday and Wednesday we had other meetings all
afternoon, and did little besides go to those meetings. Both nights I went into
Kumanovo. I changed money the first night, the second was a bit of an aimless
adventure. It’s about half an hour into town, so most of us took that walk, but
then my buddy Patrick and I just walked around the center square, saw the park,
and just generally took the city in.
Kumanovo is an interesting city. It’s big, about 100,000
people. Macedonia is a difficult country to categorize, because in some
respects it’s no different from the United States—there is internet available
in many places, modern supermarkets (though on a smaller scale) are fairly easy
to find, and the way people are dressed wouldn’t be out of place on State
Street in Madison. Then again, the unemployment rate is very high (upwards of
30% I have heard) so there are many people who spend their time mulling about
downtown Kumanovo. Construction standards and building codes are a little less
stringent than in the US. Driving is a contact sport. Pedestrians do not have
the right of way, but cross the road where ever they choose. It’s very much a
give and take atmosphere—reminiscent of how drivers and pedestrians interacted
in Costa Rica. All in all, aspects of Kumanovo feel strikingly familiar at
times, and at other times I feel as though I am on another planet.
Thursday we ended our sessions a little early and took a
visit to a local mosque and then to a local orthodox church. Both were
fascinating. The imam and pastor (?) we spoke with were both engaging and
overjoyed to meet us—and to hear about what we would be doing in Macedonia.
After our tours, which bookended a wonderful 15 minute walk through a downpour
in downtown Kumanovo, several of the trainees met up with some of the
volunteers from in and around Kumanovo to run errands. The group then made
their way over to the local Irish Pub (because what’s a city without an Irish
Pub) and had a few drinks, shared some pizza, and swapped war stories. It was
an awesome opportunity to catch up with some of the local volunteers and get an
idea for what our life would be like over the coming weeks, months, and years.
The support we receive from locals, from fellow trainees, from volunteers, from
Peace Corps, and especially now from our host families is unbelievable and
makes this experience as amazing as it is. It is always a challenge, but these
people make it a heck of a lot easier to get through.
All of the nights we spent at Hotel Satelit outside of
Kumanovo we spent sitting around in the restaurant area playing games, telling
jokes, sharing stories, and enjoying one another’s company. I have 35 new
friends, many of them very close, and that is so valuable to me. Now that we’ve
split up into our communities most of us are much farther away from each other,
but it doesn’t so much feel that way. We’re still all in this together, we
still form one giant support network for one another, and we’re still MAK17s.
The camaraderie is inspiring.
Tonight we’re spending our first night away from each other.
By the time this is actually posted, it might actually be much later. The WiFi
at my homestay isn’t working yet, so I’m not sure if I will be posting this
tonight or not.
I met my host family today, as the above paragraph implies.
They are a mother, a father, a grandfather, and three brothers. My host
brothers are Vladimir, Antonio, and Nikola: 26, 24, and 17, respectively. We
met at the hotel shortly after lunch, shared pictures, and had a chance to
talk. There was a brief ceremony followed by some traditional Macedonian
dancing, which effectively consisted of the trainees attempting to dance while
the locals laughed at us. Fun was had by all. When the ceremony was over we all
said our goodbyes, collected our things, and left with our host families.
Romanovce is my host community, where I will be learning both Macedonian and
Albanian while preparing to be a primary school teacher. The community is
small, only about 2500 residents. It’s a mixed community, so there are large
populations of both Macedonians/orthodox and Albanians/muslims. Those two
categories are not universally applicable, but there is generally such a
correlation between religion and ethnicity that the two become virtually indistinguishable.
Once I arrived in Romanovce I was welcomed into the house
and we shared some Rakija and coffee. After that we had dinner, which consisted
of bread, cucumbers, bean stew, feta cheese, tomatoes and onions (fresh from
the garden), and a spicey pepper dish (also fresh from the garden). Though we
live in among many other houses in Romanovce we still have a large plot of
land. It almost could be called a complex. We have pigs, chickens, a large
garden with pumpkins, peppers, pears, apples, cabbage, cucumbers, grapes,
sunflowers, melons, and two dogs, Medow and Sharky. The spellings are my
phonetic translation. The pigs and chickens are slaughtered from time to time
for meals, while the garden provides the vegetables and fruits that we enjoy.
Sam, my roommate in DC and Kumanovo, lives nearby—virtually the next house
over. We’re separated by a railroad track that runs passenger trains and a
shipping route between Skopje and Greece.
Tomorrow we’ll have a tour of the city after breakfast,
around 11am, then nothing for the rest of the day. Thankfully, the Peace Corps
gives us a little chance to adjust to our new lives before sending us back into
language classrooms and beginning our technical training again. I’m looking
forward to tomorrow and the next week—though it will be really busy. Also exciting
is the fact that I will get more than 5 hours of sleep tonight. Shout out to
Sam Cicero for being an awesome roommate, but our health and wellbeing suffered
for our roommateship. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
That’s all for now, my goal for the evening is to have
another conversation in broken Macedonian, then I’ll call it a night.
Peace out. (get it?)
Ps, We came up with the idea for shirts that say Skopyay!
this week, and it needs to happen.
