This past week has somehow been the exact definition of my Macedonian Peace Corps experience so far. I had those moments where I didn’t feel at ALL like I was in the Peace Corps, and those moments where I absolutely did.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s really an interesting dichotomy here between a first world experience, and a 2nd world life. On the surface level it’s so much like the United States in so many ways, especially in the capital, yet on other levels there are things that would never be experienced back home. Ironically, and I believe I’ve mentioned this as well, it makes the experience somewhat more of a challenge in a way I never expected.
In Ghana, you never actually felt like you were in the US. Sure, there were moments where you had a more familiar experience – especially in Accra or at certain hotels – but you never could escape the fact that you were in West Africa. The people, the landscape, the culture, the dress, EVERYTHING; and though it was familiar after two years, it was too different.
Here, you often feel like you are in the US. The way people dress, many aspects of city life, the restaurants, the TV; all of it lends itself to a strange pseudo-American experience. But then you look deeper; the motivations, the cultural meanings, the approach – all are not quite the same as they seem, and very different than what we are used to.
To use my favorite term – it causes a type of cognitive dissonance that didn’t exist in my previous experience, and despite coming into this country fully aware that it will be different, was something I did not consciously expect.
It’s sort of messing with my mind…
This week was a perfect example of why.
Tuesday this week was a holiday. The government here seems to declare holidays all the time – some are religious-based, others are not. For example, last week they had a holiday to celebrate and plant trees. Not at all religious based, and as a result, government offices are still closed, but they make up for the missed day on the following Saturday. Not really a holiday if you ask me – just a moving around of the work week.
Anyway, Tuesday’s holiday was religious based. I’m not really sure how, but it was. Since work was closed (nothing like having a day off on your second day of work!), and I had just moved into my new place and still needed a bunch of stuff, I decided to hop the bus on up to Stip. I’ve mentioned Stip before, but just as a reminder (since, obviously, you’ve all read the previous updates, right??) is a decent sized city where those of us doing PST in Sveti Nikole would go for joint sessions with the trainees there. Its only about 25-30 minutes from Sveti, and happily, only about 55 minutes, including a stop, from Strumica.
There are three volunteers from the MAK20s posted there, one of whom is Jennica, who was also with me in Sveti, and a nice side benefit of heading to Stip to shop, was getting to see them. In the morning, my host father drove me to the bus station, and saw me off on the bus. The ride is just under an hour in length, and includes a quick stop in another town. The scenery along the way, as is true in most of this country, is beautiful. Mountains on every side, grape fields, farms, and houses dot the landscape; I saw sheep, goats, dogs, eagles, and a few of these really neat looking birds that are black and have white stripe across their wings and in their tails.
When you come into Stip, for a short few minutes you ride along a river, at the bottom of a hill, and in the river are fishermen, dogs, and the occasional horse. Built up into the rocky hillside are houses, and on the other side of the road you pass a really amazing church.
Stip itself is a pretty big city by Macedonian standards, and houses anywhere from 40,000 to 55,000 people, depending on who you ask. It’s also a university town, with lots of what are called faculties here. There’s lots of shopping, a shoe factory, and many, many cafes and restaurants, including an Irish Pub.
The store I was looking for was called Elkoes, and had one very important thing I needed – a beard trimmer. Granted, there are beard trimmers you can buy in Strumica, but the ones from Elkoes work well, and, more importantly on a Peace Corps ‘salary’, are less than ½ the price. Even paying for the bus the total cost of the ticket plus the trimmer was cheaper than just buying a decent one here.
When I got to Stip, I met up with Emi near the bus station, then we walked over to one of the restaurants there where we met up with Dana and Jennica. After a quick lunch, we made our way on foot over to Elkoes. One thing about Stip that is different than other places I have ‘lived’ in here in Macedonia – while a city, it is not what I like to call a ‘center-based’ city.
In Sveti Nikole, and in Strumica, there is a central square referred to as Center, where everyone congregates. There are cafes, a park, and shops. It’s where you go when you go somewhere.
In Stip, everything is spread out. They still have an area they call Center, but to me, it’s more in the sense of us in the US saying we are going ‘downtown’, and not actually referring to a central square. That being said, it took us a good 30-40 minutes to walk from the ‘center’ over to the store. Unlike Strumica, Stip is HILLY! It’s some pretty good exercise any time you walk around.
Anyway, I got what I needed (and then some), and after some more quick hanging out, made my way back to the bus station for the trip back to Strumica. Thanks to the whole winter thing and all, it gets dark here around 4 or 430pm; by 445 its pitch black out. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue for me, but it definitely contributed to my first little panicky moment here at site (ok, I didn’t ACTUALLY panic, but I could have…).
One thing that I should clarify about life here is how cell phones work. While you CAN get post-paid plans for your phone like we usually use in the States, here, Peace Corps recommends and sets up for us pre-paid plans. You purchase a certain number of credits, and everything you do costs so much – a phone call is so many denari per minute, a text so many, and using a megabyte of data so much more. Now, usually, I make sure that my settings have cellular data off, as that is a surefire way to drain credits REALLY quickly.
I thought I had turned it off this day.
I hadn’t.
Previous times when I had come to the Strumica bus station (all two!), there were plenty of taxis waiting. Plenty of taxis.
This time, none.
Not a single one.
Ok, maybe one, but the first person off the bus quickly grabbed that one.
After that, there really were none.
Not a single one.
Another thing of which there was none – credits on my phone.
Not a single one.
I tried calling the taxi.
The recording yelled at me.
In Macedonian.
But one thing I clearly understood – “Нема Кредит.” No credit.
So, while it wasn’t late, it was pitch black outside. Nowadays it gets completely dark out by 430. Kind of crazy. And, while I’ve driven the route from the bus station to my house many a time (twice!!), I’ve never really paid too much attention. I mean, I know how to get to Center, and isn’t that what’s important???
I was stuck. No idea how to go, too dark to recognize anything, with no credit on my phone, and no one nearby to call a taxi for me. Somehow a Peace Corps moment.
Finally, luckily, someone walked into the station, and a taxi pulled in to pick him up. Most of the taxis here are called and dispatched – you can catch them randomly at places sometimes, but usually, you call. So I know the only reason that taxi showed up was because that one person happened to call it.
I literally ran over to the taxi, asked him in my VERY broken Macedonian if he could call another one, and skipped happily away when he did so.
Mission accomplished.
Later that evening, I met Priscilla in center and, needless to say, one of the first things we did was walk around trying to find some place to get credit.
That mission too, was successful.
Priscilla and I walked around center a bit, she going all giddy over the lights and tree they have up in center with what I have been told are called icicle lights (many pictures were taken). It was actually fun to watch – at one point she even climbed up on a bench to get better pictures!
After a quick drink at a place called Que Pasa, we piled into our separate taxis, and my first holiday as a true PCV came to an end.
A cold end – as my house doesn’t have any heat of any type, but an end. One comment I will make – I’ve always said how I like things to be cold, so I can cuddle up under the blankets in bed and warm up.
I’ve now learned there are limits to that statement.
See the kinds of things Peace Corps teaches you??
The next day was back to work. I got up a little early to pack, as I was heading to Skopje after the work day, and set out on my walk to the office. I have to give my host father credit here – every morning he passes me walking in his car; he too works for the Општина (ohp-shteena, Municipality), and every morning he stops just to make sure I really want to walk.
It’s cold out, he tells me, and tries to get me to get in the warm car. He spends at least two minutes motioning me in, and just sort of shakes his head in defeat when I won’t. My walk is my exercise, and I actually enjoy it.
Work was, well, work. I’m still feeling it out, and I think they’re doing the same. It’ll be somewhat of a balancing act, but that’s not a bad thing. All life is about compromise; this experience is no exception.
After work, I made my way up to the bus station to grab my ride to Skopje. I managed to catch the direct bus, which is only 2 hours rather than 3 ½, and got there pretty quick. After checking into the hotel, I had myself a nice evening, a very nostalgic one, actually, of Chinese take-out and a movie on my computer in my hotel room. Back in the States I spent literally months out of every year doing that same thing – Chinese take-out with a movie on my computer in a hotel room. Granted, the capital city of an Eastern European country is very different than a small hotel on the Mexican border, but, it was nostalgic none-the-less.
The next day we had training with the Peace Corps. It was actually pretty fun and another chance to meet some more of the MAK19 group that I hadn’t really associated with yet. Again, I ate Chinese.
After the meeting, I hopped back on the bus, but this time, instead of going right back to Strumica, I made a stop in Stip.
I’ve mentioned Stip many times, so I’m not going to redescribe it, but this time I went for something more ‘work’ related – the American Corner. One of the main activities that Peace Corps volunteers do are secondary projects. Every one of us has a primary worksite that we are assigned to, be it a non-governmental organization, a school, or as in my case, a municipality.
But that’s only part of the story. In addition to that all of us are encouraged (though, to be fair, not required) to participate in secondary activities. Many of the activities support the second goal of Peace Corps – to help host country nationals learn about the US and US culture. One of the primary means of doing this in Macedonia is the American Corner.
Sponsored by the US Embassy, the American Corner provides a lot of services that help local people to understand and experience some of what makes the US the US. They have a lending library with books, movies, CDs, games, and pretty much anything else you can think of that kids or adults in the US might be interested in. They also host seminars and cultural programs, and it was to one of these that I was going.
One of the MAK19s, Abby, had been asked to talk with a group of 8-12 year olds about what education and school is like in the US, and she invited a couple of us to help out. I can honestly say I didn’t know what to expect. In Ghana, when you dealt with kids, “Obruni, how are you, I am fine, thank you” was usually the limit of the English, even though they theoretically took English class every day during school. I was worried it was going to be the same here.
Boy was I wrong.
At 6pm, Abby brought myself, Emi, Jennica, and Dana over to the American Corner and introduced us to the staff there. I’ve got to say, I’ve heard a lot of great things about the staff from not only Peace Corps, but from the volunteer I’m replacing, and it was all true. They spoke better English than we did, and were amazingly nice people.
Only one or two kids were there at this point, but over the next twenty minutes or so they slowly filtered in; by the end of the talk there were probably a good twenty or twenty five there.
And they all spoke really good English. Some of them were a bit shy about using it, but they were amazing. Not only did they use the ‘proper’ words, but there was a lot of English slang thrown in as well. It was really impressive.
We talked for a little over an hour, and it was great. A little slow start just due to shyness I think, but by the end, it was talking over talking. It was really fun, and I’m glad I went. I definitely plan on going again.
While these may not be as funny as they were at the time, two of my favorite moments came from the kids.
There was one boy who brought up the Legend of Bloody Mary. He lamented the fact that he’s tried it many times, and it’s never worked. Then, a girl who was sitting near me stated, in a very matter of fact tone, that it was stupid, and fake, and not real, and she doesn’t believe in it at all.
The girl sitting next to her, obvious anxiety in her voice, piped in with the fact that she NEVER likes looking in the mirror, she’s too afraid because of Bloody Mary. The two went back and forth for a minute or so, then at once, fingers pointing back and forth between them, the state, “We’re BFFs.”
Completely unexpected, and very funny!
Then, another boy asked me if I liked to play games; I said yes. He asked if I played GTA5 (Grand Theft Auto 5). I said no. The look of disappointment on his face was intense. He then put his arms in the air and shouted, pure despair in his voice, “Doesn’t anyone play GTA5? Anyone???”
Very funny.
After the session, we all went out for a quick drink with one of the staff from the American Corner. I wasn’t rushing – after all, there are buses every hour from Stip down to Strumica, all the way up until 10pm at night.
Right?
Sort of.
The illusion is shattered once again, and the fact that I’m in the Peace Corps reared its head again.
According to the published schedule, and according to the staff at the bus station, there is a bus to Strumica at 9:05pm. So, being the responsible person I am, I managed to get to the station around 8:45pm, a good 20 minutes early.
I did not get on the bus.
It left 35 minutes early. It got into Stip from Skopje really early, didn’t want to wait, and just left. I was stuck at the bus station until 10:15, when the next bus showed up. For a while, I was the only one there.
Which wasn’t too horrible, as they had Animal Planet (in English) showing on the TV, and I got there just in time to grab a snack and drink from the small store there.
By the time I got home it was midnight, and I was exhausted.
The next morning, I got up early to head to work, but I’ll get into that in another update.
After all, this one is way too long already.
Doing It Twice 