A Warm Christmas

Seasons greetings friends from around the world,

Today is the 25th of December, also know as Christmas in most parts of the Roman Catholic/Christian world. I would like to extend Happy Holiday/Christmas/Haunakah/Kwanza tidings to everyone I know. For us here in Macedonia, this is not yet the case. We celebrate the Orthodox Christmas, which is on January 7th. Today in Bitola is just another average workday, however we are very lucky that today is much warmer than usual! Last week, the temperature in the city was around 0 degrees, every single day. This week, we are fortunate to have temperatures at 8 or 9 degrees (these are Celsius degrees by the way), so it has been much less miserable to do any sort of outdoor activities. However, there are tons of decorations all around Bitola (and the rest of Macedonia) to celebrate.

I suppose I should include an update on how work and life has been going. The short answer, is good. The slightly longer answer, is better. I have been fitting in well at work, and hanging out with the coworkers is always a good time. I found a suitable language tutor to continue my Macedonian language lessons with, but at the same time, not being in class for four hours a day has definitely had a negative effect on my speaking and comprehension abilities.

Also this week at work, we had to bid farewell to 4 of our EVS volunteers. It will be very lonely around the office now that they are all back in Turkey and in France. Hopefully they will get a chance to come back and visit, go out to the nightclubs, and buy a Zastava to drive back to France. I should look at the positive side of this and be happy to note that I will be spending significantly less money on going out and having fun... yet remember that now instead of having fun, I will be sitting inside, near the thermo petchka and working on productive things, like reading... or writing this blog.

All quiet on the office front. It was a calm day to sit and relax. Lucky me I have a new smartphone, with Instagram so I can join the hipster legion and snap photos of every meal I (don't) eat, and take over-contrasted pictures. So long artistic integrity!

Let me just say that work has also been quite busy the last few weeks. Around the office there has been a lot of catching up to do on events, and filling in all the reports of the past years activities. This is the last week of the year, so next week we will be taking some time off, for New Years, and of course Божиќ (Orthodox Christmas). Following this, is a whole mess of other holidays, including Old New Year, and several Saint days... Realistically, I am not planning on being very productive until February.

On the bright side, there is a strong possibility that I will be going to Montenegro in January, for a 3 day conference on APV training. This is a very important opportunity with the organization because it is a critical component of what we do for all of our international exchanges as well as most domestic programs that we hold ourselves. I am thoroughly looking forward to this potential opportunity for two reasons; first being that it will be a great learning experience to better understand the nature of the organization and to provide assistance; and two, its an excellent way to travel! I will get to visit Montenegro, one country I have wanted to see for the past several years, as well as stopping in Kosovo along the way.

Speaking of traveling, I was fortunate enough to not spend the holidays without any Americans. On Sunday, I was able to visit a nearby town, Prilep, to spend the day with some Americans and to American things. It was a nice reminder that I am not alone in Macedonia. We drank some beers, ate pizza, and generally had an all-around good time. However, I got to experience the never-ending frustrations of the Macedonian bus system as I was leaving! Since I had purchased a round trip ticket at my bus station in Bitola, I had to wait in Prilip for the same company to return. I had missed the first bus from that company by 10 minutes or so, and the next one was 3 hours later. It was more frustrating seeing that every 40 minutes, another bus from a different company would stop and be on its way home. However, I am the cheapest person that I know, so I certainly was not about to pay another 100 denars (2 dollars) to buy another ticket. Long story short, I waited, drank coffee, and eventually made it back with no problems!

Welcome to Prilep! I took this photo before being trapped in the town for three hours. Lucky for me, it is a nearby town to Bitola so it only is 45 minutes by bus, and makes for a nice day trip!

I have many great events to look forward to coming up, and hopefully I will be motivated to share some of it with you all. New Years Eve in Bitola is less than a week ago, and there is an event being hosted by my organization at a local nightclub the weekend before. Overall, I think its going to a good start to a good new year!

Среќен Нова Година, и Среќен Бозиќ!

Settled In and Ready for Snow

Greetings family, friends and neighbors! It has officially been one week since I said goodbye to my wonderful family in Kratovo, packed my belongings, and moved down south in search of wild Internets and warmer weather. One thing when thinking about Bitola is that, when you look at a map, it is very far in the south, approximately 12 kilometers from Greece. This would lead one to think;

 “Ah! Look how far south this city is, it must be MUCH warmer than in Kratovo or Skopje.”

I think that this misconception is the biggest lie ever perpetuated since the moon landing. I firmly believed that people were teasing me when they would say things like:

 “Oh, you will live in Bitola! It’s the coldest city in Macedonia. Hopefully you have lots of warm winter clothes and long underwear.”

But no, I was lured into a false sense of security, believing that simply being further south would automatically mean that it is warmer. Bitola is at a higher elevation, and is next to one of the largest mountains in the country. This means that all winter long, the cold frigid air blows down from Mt Pelister, down the Shirok Sokok, and freezes every man, poofla, and child as they are sipping their coffee to stay warm.

On the bright side, I am officially moved into my own new apartment, and it is exquisite by Peace Corps standards. A year ago today, I was wondering if I would be living 2 years in a mud hut in Mozambique, but instead, I get a palatial flat in Bitola. There is even a massive, energy-draining thermo petcka to keep myself warm all winter long. Interesting side note about heating in Macedonia: Most families in this country use small heaters and wood stoves to stay warm during the winter. This is because the cost of electricity in this country is obscenely ridiculous. This creates a conundrum for a few different reasons. The first reason is that it has lead to moderate amounts of deforestation in parts of the country due to the demand for heating wood in the winter months. This, as you can imagine, comes with the standard negative ecological side-effects. However, it is more cost efficient for people in the villages and smaller towns to use wood heat. For me, since I live in an apartment, on the 4^th floor, it is completely impractical to rely on wood stoves for heat. So, this leaves me with a massive 300 lb. thermo petchka that is probably older than Tito and sucks electricity like flowers in the desert after the rain.

For me, the best way to combat the expensive heating costs associated with the petchka is to downsize. Now I only heat the one small room in my apartment. I literally took my mattress from the bedroom and sleep in the kitchen/dining room. Actually, it is kind of nice being in this one room. It is almost like living in a dorm, with my own personal kitchen and bathroom, and no obnoxious roommates to wake me up at 4 am after coming back from ‘Cabaret’. Once April rolls around, I will most likely move the mattress back to the bedroom and open up the doors. Violia! My studio apartment will magically transform back into a grand entertaining space with a living room, separate bedroom, and dining room.

Here are a few photos of my new living arrangements for the next two years!

 Добредојдовте сита! This is the happy entrance to my humble abode, complete with a mirror and coat closet!

 This is the only room in the apartment that gets heat. It is completely impractical to heat all the rooms just for myself. So here you have the dining room table, and pro tem bedroom. Also, please note the lovely Oklahoma spirit on the wall.

Here is the kitchen, it is small but has all the essentials (red wine and olive oil). For some reason however, the sink is on the opposite side of the room. I blame poor Yugoslavian planning.

 

Here is the unused bedroom, currently serving as storage during the winter months. Also, this is potentially a guest room that could be heated for a day or two, if required. I keep the shutters drawn because the amount of light in the morning is absolutely blinding.

 Here is the living room, and possibly my favorite room in the house. It leads out to the balcony where the clothes can dry in the summer, and has two very comfortable sofas for hosting guests. I dig the traditional Macedonian floors.

The organization in Bitola is going excellent so far. We are a small group of volunteers, but there is a great dedication among the staff members of Together Macedonia. There are loads of interested youth in Bitola who also enjoy working with the organization do work events, plan workshops, and to partake in the English language lessons. A large portion of my responsibility will be conducting English language lessons for the EVS volunteers as well as high school and university students from Macedonia. Each Monday evening, I will be teaching a brief, informal English conversation course. My first class is tomorrow, and I am very excited to start.

Other events with the organization include holding workshops in Bitola, attending workshops abroad (rumor has it that I will be in Albania in March, and then Luxembourg in April), and local cultural events in Bitola (particularly BitFest in July/August). As of right now though, all I can do is plan for my English lessons, sit inside next to the heater, and watch the snow fall outside. Тоа е Тоа.

Here is some early morning snowfall outside of the dining room balcony. The building just past the salmon colored apartments is where my office is located. With this weather, I am thankful it takes just 5 minutes to walk to work.

 From the other balcony, you can see Mt. Pelister, however today in the snowstorm you cannot see much of anything. It is very pretty though, almost like a wintery Bitlola postcard.

Hopefully soon I will be able to act like a tourist and go around to take pictures of things in Bitola. Until then, try to stay warm and have a nice day!