Remembering home

One evening, around 6 pm I headed towards the fields east of the village for my walk. I met many villagers’ working in the field or herding sheep home. I went east, and then turned north to link up to a farm road I had been on. I had to cut across some fields in order to do that. Meanwhile it had became dark and though I made my way home, it became a source of concern to those who had spotted me that I did not return back the same way! The next day I tried the opposite direction in the afternoon, in broad daylight. The hill to the west is much higher and one can see about 4 villages in the distance. If I was a painter I would like to capture this vista on a canvas with the red tiled roofs seen at a distance and the rough stony farm road at my feet.  I think I will make this my daily route.  I wish I could send you a picture but a photograph with my amateur camera will not capture the essence of the place.

There are four trainees in our CD group, with one living with a family in another village. I am fortunate that my partner is in this village, so in addition to reviewing our homework assignment made available to us in electronic form, we were able to spend a few minutes Saturday morning preparing for our practicum; site visits to two different organizations on Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Our assignment is to focus on the physical & human resources, as well as the sustainability and funding aspects of the organization. After each team visits each of the 2 ngo’s and one municipality twice, a total of 6 site visits, we will be able to put all the information we have gathered together for a written a case study featuring these 3 organizations. The case study is to be presented to the big group mid way through training. My surmise is that this practical experience is designed not only to dispel some anxiety of actually working with an organization after the conclusion of training, but also to expose us to the culture of these three organizations, which in the future may be selected as a PCV site based on the information collected.

Back to my Macedonian adventure! Today my breakfast (loosely translated as poyadok) consisted of boiled fresh quail & chicken eggs, diced tomatoes picked just before serving and bread and marmalade (made on Monday with apples, pears, peaches and plums) with some coffee. If only this could continue…….it will change when I’m in an apartment, so I am making the most of it.  Lunch, which sounds like ‘rucheck’ in Macedonian is often was a meal of Maedonian peppers cooked with eggs (a ratio of about 10 peppers to one egg), white cheese and sliced tomatoes.  Dinner is usually fruit, currently grapes are in season, and bread with aivar. Cold cuts and yellow cheese is always set out, but is optional. Last night they served honeydew and a locally grown watermelon from the farm of one of the relatives!

The local bus service between the village and the city appears to be private, as there is no uniformity among the buses. Neither are the buses painted with firm name nor are there signs at bus stops. A single wooden bench or a wave of the hand along the route will stop the bus. The price though is fixed at 20 denari’s from this village to the city center, a distance of approximately 5 km. These buses are called “combi’s. They are extended minivans with most of them having 3 rows of seats. One combi owner had modified a sliding door in a garage type operation to hinge it adjacent to the front door. One could see the work of the mechanic, as no attempt had been made to finish it for cosmetic reasons. 

I went with the family in the combi to the city over the weekend.  This is the same place where we will be having our site visits.   As wew are expected to use public transportation or the combi for travels during our training, I now know the pick up and drop off points, as well as an orientation to the city center from the village. The hotel we stayed at last week was northeast to the city center, while the village is more south, southwest. Going to the center was like going to a familiar place. Visiting the green market, reminded me of a flea market, with open stalls. There did not appear to be any bargaining being done, as many vendors had rough had written signs on stiff brown cardboard atop the vegetables. I spotted, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant, leeks, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage and dill pickles along with the staples, like potatoes, onions, garlic as well as the dried white bean. Flat leaf parsley was the only spice. I remembered the fennel growing by the wayside and in some home gardens near the hotel, but there was none at the market, neither did I see any basil, though in one of the gardens in the village, the family has planted a couple of basil plants. From this, I venture to guess salt, parsley and peppers are the common flavorings used. We ventured in a regular grocery store to pick up butter and yogurt – along with the usual meats and cheese that my family favors.

The feeling of being far away from home is settling in my gut as I am unsettled by constantly reaching for my dictionary or notes to compose simple sentences! 

Impressions

Life is quite busy in the village for my family – certainly not at the leisurely pace that I heard is quite the norm here. On Monday, after spending so much of her day making Aivar the day before, not to speak of the big meal of the day with everything handpicked and cooked in different spaces in the house, she started on a apple, pear, plum and peach marmalade, which filled 10 8” jars! Every fruit, but the plum was handpicked in her garden, then washed, peeled, grated in preparation for the cooking. I am truly sorry that I was in class while all this activity took place, as I had truly enjoyed participating in making the traditional Aivar.

In addition to all these time consuming, labor intensive farm activities, taking up a PC trainee in their home, with very clear cut instructions to what is to be provided – especially the meals is humbling. I am truly pampered by the running hot water and an indoor western style toilet and their total attention to meeting my needs and comfort. 

However, when I was ready to leave home for class at 7:45 am, everyone was sleeping and as the kitchen cum living room cum dining room also served as sleeping quarters, I skipped breakfast. I was hungry when I returned at about 12:30 pm and found no one at home. Fortunately, I had been given a key to the house and let myself in and made myself a meal of bread, salt and Macedonian peppers with some fig preserves, which her friend had brought the first night I was here! She was mortified and yet it was an incident that cleared the air a bit. It had not bothered me that no one was at home and though I had been puzzled when I was given the key, I realized that not only are they busy but sometimes when they are in the backyard, the front door is locked (for my security?). My actions made it clear in a way no words could, that I did not expect to be waited on or that they need to worry about what I would eat –my choice of the traditional bread and salt saved the day.

In the evening about 5:30 pm, as I was studying at the kitchen table, I learned that one of the two exotic birds flew the coop and they were going to set out to search for it. I did not join the search as my priority has remained focused on learning the language and I am not familiar with the village as yet and it was late evening. The dusk turns rapidly to night and they didn’t need me getting lost or tripping somewhere in the dark. They managed to find it and secure it in the coop, after an intensive search.

Classes are fast paced and each one of us was asked to share 2 new Macedonian words with everyone. Writing them down is becoming a little easier, though I still mix up the letters and the sounds – for example the sound of English B is bat but in Macedonian it is vat; an X in English is an H and P in English is R in Macedonian and so on. In order to keep it clear in my mind, I have cut out little one-inch squares of paper and written down the Macedonian alphabet. I mix them up and then sing along as I sort them in order – it certainly made it a little easier to find the words in the dictionary and is helping me with the sounds at the same time.

In the afternoon, we split into our two main sections TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and CD (Community Development). TEFL volunteers’ met at a site outside our village while the CD section met at this village. TCL trainers brought all our material on a computer, which was loaded on the 2-gig flash drives that were issued to each one of us last week! 

Later, I walked around the village with sis to get a little perspective and become familiar with the neighborhood - it is a mixed Albanian and Macedonian community. The streets have no names, per se and people just know who lives where – not unlike a village in Punjab, India! I have roughly mapped the area with points of interest like the post office, about 4 of the few village markets, the mosque and church, the village school, our own little schoolhouse and the homes of the volunteers! It has made me feel more settled in as I am oriented not only to the location of the village but also where it sits in relation to a north south orientation as well as Skopje and our training site of Kumanovo.  

The village school has been rebuilt a couple of years ago with an EU grant from the Norwegian government. It is built on the grounds of the old school, which has not been torn down with the material hauled off to a landfill. It remains on the property in a ruined state and I feel it is a hazard, as it seems to me that it will be a magnet for a place to “escape” or “hide”. 

We also stopped at a home of a family friend, whose front yard was torn up to lay a new water line. All the digging was being done by picks and spades and I spotted a concrete mixer, so I presume they would rebuild it reusing some of the material. Later I joined in playing a spontaneous game of football with the young village kids on a rough (thorny) and grassy field. It was fun and soon there was enough of a crowd that gathered to watch the Americans play with the kids.  

Settling In

Saturday morning we assembled at our site and with our LCF, spend the day visiting each other’s homes. It was a leisurely walk around the village, giving us a familiarity with the environs, sampling the hospitality – lots of coffee, along with juice and water as an alternative, homemade pies as well as fresh fruit namely – figs, apples and grapes from their gardens. Our families are very patient with us as we spend a lot of time writing down the spoken word in Macedonian in our little notebooks or paper that we are carrying around. This is a spontaneous activity, and re-writing many of these words at night has not quite doubled my vocabulary, but has made me so comfortable in greeting others. When we arrived at my house, my host was still away registering my passport at the police station, as a temporary resident. I will have to do this myself when I reach my assigned site. I am expected to carry my passport whenever I am not in the village – exempt from this only in the village or town that I am registered. 

After a rainstorm, I headed back to my home while the others made their way to the internet café – I was lucky that my family had a laptop connected to the internet. Having missed the lunch hour, I ate my second proper meal at around 6 pm and that was it for me. Again a traditional rice and meat dish, which was really tasty, with a cabbage and carrot salad and beans mashed and refried in tomatoes! Later, I helped Mom (she is younger to me) clean 3 ducks from their menagerie, which I am guessing will be our meat next week. 

There were no scheduled activities on Sunday – the day for personal stuff like washing clothes in the washing machine and hanging them up to dry, washing my long hair – I think shorter will be the way to go, as so much of it fell out during shampooing. Mom made yeast white bread dough and I helped pat and shape some of it for frying and she prepared 4 loaves with the remainder of the dough for baking. After a late breakfast at 10:30 am, the outdoor wood grill was lighted and the red peppers were first washed and then roasted – the first step in making Aivar, a Macedonian sauce/condiment. I would guess it was approximately a bushel, yet it would barely make about 5 bottles. Each pepper was turned over by hand and collected in polythene bags and then individually peeled, and deseeded - a pretty long process, which took up the major part of the afternoon. Most of the food we are eating is from the garden – including the meat! Sheep, calf, chickens, the remaining 5 ducks, pigeons and the exotic birds – peacock and a couple of brilliant dominant yellow plumed birds, needed to be guarded, so each home has a dog. Here is a picture of a Macedonian Shepherd.  

Meeting my Family

Friday lunch is over and we are asked to wait upstairs for the host families to arrive. A welcome poster is prepared each of us signs our names in Macedonian. After making sure the volunteers going to three specific sites have water distiller kits recommended for these sites, we wait for the host families to arrive and assemble downstairs. Cards games, phone number exchanges, last minute packing create a palpable atmosphere of anxiety mixed with excitement.  

Soon I find myself trailing behind the others, hanging onto my slip of paper with the clue in case I get tongue-tied. There is pandemonium in the big hall, yet somehow I am able to find my host without any problem. She is there with her teenage daughter with such a welcoming, yet nervous smile. I try out all the phrases we learned, so few (about 4 to 5) that the conversation was largely conducted with smiles and nods! After refreshments and some entertainment in which we all joined in dancing a traditional folk dance, my host joins me in bringing my two big suitcases, two backpacks, water distiller box and a bag with two pairs of shoes (which I just couldn’t stuff back into my suitcase) down the stairs to load up the car and leave.

It is a short 20-minute drive to the village of about 6000 inhabitants south of Kumanovo, nestled in the a valley. Leaving the main road, which cuts through the center of the village, up a fairly steep hill off the narrow main road, just wide enough for the car, we turn right and I see my new home for the next 10 weeks. The rains have all but washed away the asphalt leaving a heavily rutted track from the main road to their property! A two storied home with a balcony and the entrance up a few steps, we park under a black walnut tree filled with nuts. There are chickens running about the yard and I believe they have a peacock, birds and a couple of farm animals that I don’t see from the front yard.

It is a common custom to remove your shoes by the door, as it is farming community, no different than leaving our snow boots by the front door in Chicago! I leave my shoes in the rectangular entrance hallway that has two washing machines and a bathroom at one end. This hallway also functions as an airlock. The inner hallway divides the house in two, with the living/dining/kitchen to the right and a workroom on the left. Straight up are stairs leading to the backyard at the mezzanine level and the bedrooms on either side of the landing. It is a hillside home. 

My new sister, who came to pick me up is in 8th grade has given up her room for me. It is has a large picture window facing a south-easterly direction, towards the main road, but I cannot see it at all as it is obscured by trees. Short evergreen firs and pine as well as fruit trees. The apple, figs, pears and black walnut are laden with fruit. My room has a sofa bed, a table with two chairs, a book shelf with a 2 shelf cabinet for storage, a low 3 drawer dresser, a tall mirrored dressing table area and my very own TV (which I probably will never turn on, possibly breaking an American stereotype). Some posters remained on the wall to which I added family pictures! This will be my space for the next ten weeks – perfect as the bathroom downstairs is fitted with a western style toilet.

We spend next 4-6 hours settling in, including unpacking and sharing a traditional lunch – of bean stew with bread and Macedonian peppers dipped in salt between each bite – finger hot’s which are not really hot but give such a nice flavor to the meal. When friends come visiting, she brings freshly prepared whole fig preserves and I sample everything that is served including lots of Turkish style coffee! The coffee is served in small cups and though we have lots, the amount in 3 cups here in my village, is about one tall Starbucks. Though it has not been easy to have a back and forth conversation, I have surprised myself that I remember so many words and expressions already. I used mime together with a mixture of copying words from the dictionary (thoughtfully provided by PST staff) stringing nouns together, while my hosts were enunciating the words slowly, pointing and using mime to enable me to follow. My new sister speaks enough English to help out. Pantomime is more effective for personal needs and quite difficult when talking about work and life back home.

I manage to convey my love of walking so later we walk around the village for a bit before dark. As with all hilly towns, dusk turns to night very quickly! Supper consists of cold cuts and cheese, bread and fruit and I settle for some chai (tea). It is green tea and I have found the best alternative to the coffee drinking culture! 

First Week

Since our arrival in Kumanovo, our days have been packed with activity from morning to night. Over 9 hours of language classes alone! Though the country has broadband available across the length and breadth of the country, it doesn’t mean that every establishment is either Wi-Fi or wired yet! We have to go to the internet café’s in the town center to get online! With such a busy schedule, my blog updates may be spotty. 

In addition to the language sessions, I repeated the introductory anthropology session on culture and values that I had earlier this year as a museum resource person at the Social Justice Education course held at the Field Museum, Chicago. I love the exercise with the iceberg as it gets the participants engaged in the process, leading to a spirited discussion over a series of behaviors and expectations that are culturally reflective of American and Macedonian values.  

My first impressions of the residential area around the hotel was one of neatly fenced homes with a small patch of grass or none at all, but gardens full of ripe tomatoes, red peppers (not bell peppers or the hot Thai chili peppers, but milder Macedonian peppers), daikon radish, ripe corn stalks, black and green grapes, ripe apples, pears, figs, apricots and flowers tucked in here and there. The homes are made with a red-slate like brick block covered with mortar and red tiled roofs. Most of these homes appeared to me 40 to 50 years old in construction and almost all were two storied, so I surmised this to be a new ‘suburb’ of Kumanovo. Seeing a homeowner making Rakja (homemade wine) in his yard, under the open garage one morning brought home the much talked about wine and how it is mostly homemade, though urban dwellers have to purchase it in the store. However, when I passed his house the following day, he had dismantled his equipment and I hoped I would have another opportunity for a photograph. Rakja appears to be a national cure for every ailment. I have yet to taste it.

There are sessions clarifying PC policy; security and safety issues and medical policy sandwiched between the other sessions. The mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks along with an hour or so for lunches, gives time to visit with and befriend other MAK-14’s, as we are known collectively. One evening, some of the volunteers organize a dance party, as there is no scheduled activity in the evening. 

Listening to the early experiences of a few of the currently serving volunteers helped break down some of the anxiety I had of which town I was going to for my homestay and PST training and adjust to my Macedonian family as an older volunteer. Meeting a few of the MAK-13 was very pleasant, as they remembered, how medical had sent me home to recuperate from my arthroscopic surgery from staging last year!

Friday morning rolls around and I am packed once again! At morning meeting, at each of the language and cultural trainer’s alcoves, there appear to be blank tent cards on the table. In reality our names are facing away from us. As soon as morning meeting ends, the cards are turned around and we find our training site and the small group of 6 others with whom I will train for the next 10 weeks! MAK-14’s will be sworn in on Thanksgiving Day this year, with a real American Thanksgiving dinner (our family favorite) – turkeys and all arriving from the USA. How cool is that!

We concentrate on specific phases to help with conversation when we reach our homes. I receive a clue on a slip of paper that my host will also have and we will ‘discover’ them on arrival by matching the clues! Macedonian is a phonetic language, so I think I will find it easy to read and write the words, once I have mastered the alphabet. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I know what the word means yet! 

First 2 days

Chapter One.
It is almost 4 am! The sunrays have yet to penetrate the dark sky and it is time to make those two final calls across to the other side of the planet, before loading the packed bags in the trunk of the station wagon. Every journey is anchored by conversations with loved ones before actually setting forth. I have spoken with everyone except my sister in Australia and our daughter in China. A final goodbye, even though I know the world is totally connected via internet, ichat, gchat, sms, etc., I find solace in those conversations wishing me a bon voyage. These conversations are followed by our family tradition of meditative minutes with our spiritual self in front of the altar. I am ready to leave Lake Forest. From now on the journey will take on a life of it’s own, with just one preplanned stop in D.C.

The bags are loaded and the world still sleeps as the car glides out of the driveway around 5:30 am. A last glance at Otis who has no words, but is standing in the hallway hesitantly wagging his tail, because those suitcases in the car somehow are connected with at least one person not coming back. This is the sixth set of suitcases that have been packed and loaded in the last 4 weeks! 

At Milwaukee airport, the baggage charge is reduced and upon boarding the Midwest Airlines flight, when I see someone else in my assigned seat 17C, I find I have been bumped up to first class! After a complimentary sightseeing tour by the Blue Shuttle bus, I arrive in time for lunch at the staging site in Georgetown.
 
Chapter Two.
There is one personal stop to make before assembling for the flight to Skopje at 11:30 am. I leave the hotel at 6:50 am and hail a taxi to take me to Arlington National Cemetery. Reaching a good 45 minutes before it opens, I walk to the Iwo Jima and Carillon Bells Memorial Park. After visiting Uday’s resting place in Arlington, I am ready to leave for my new home for the next 27 months in Macedonia. 

Wow! Moving 37 volunteers, each with approx 100 lbs of luggage, from the hotel to the airport is no small task. Once the bus is loaded, we are on our own till we meet the Pre-Service Training Staff at Skopje. We left 40 minutes behind scheduled time of 12 noon for a 5:40 flight and found that a little extra time makes sense for such large groups, especially after unloading we found that our code share flight meant we check in at Austrian Airlines and not at United Airlines, for a UA coded ticket! Dulles terminal is organized alphabetically so we ended up hauling our luggage from one end “U” to the other end “A”!

Was this in mind by the architects when they chose marble floors for airports? I am sure it made hauling the mostly wheeled bags much easier. I am sorry I had one pick-up and go old-fashioned (39 ½ lbs) smaller suitcase. I owe the young man from Kalamazoo many wheels for cheerfully taking over my suitcase and letting me push his 4-wheeler! Then another young trainee offered to keep my toilet bag in his loosely filled duffle bag so that my 52 lbs large suitcase wouldn’t go over the weight limit of 50 lbs! This was a great group and all signs tell me that I am going to enjoy Macedonia with a great group of volunteers!