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!