Jottings

My first two weeks at site has been packed with new impressions of the place and the people! As I started my daily walks immediately, through the section of town that is buzzing with activity – people heading to work and children to their school, my presence in the community is very visible. While doing no more than smile and greet the children in English and the adults in Macedonian, I have become a familiar figure in this short time. Much to my delight, I am often greeted with a smile of recognition during these walks.
This morning, I met one of my personal goals - that people will be able to keep time with my morning walks. This personal goal was based on a book about an English teacher living in Nepal, whose routine was well established in her community. I thought it would be cool to do that, because on days when I don’t feel like going out or am not meeting my walking partner, there will be expectation that I will walk by that particular combi stop at 7 am! So today, when I approached the spot where teachers wait for the combi to take them to primary schools in the neighboring villages, one of them looked at his watch and said, it must be seven to my walking partner!
My time in these first two weeks is packed with learning the ropes of living alone after years of living with the companionship of a husband and children. I buy a small loaf of bread at the bakery, standing in line with the young primary school children and much like them, pointing to the item I will buy that morning –not having enough language to name the items displayed. To date, I have made a big pot of soup, without any starters and was delighted with the outcome. It was my mainstay for a week! I have attempted to make broccoli with cheese sauce and succeeded, but made a mess of a pot of rice! I have yet to get a feel for all that is available and love the Macedonian phrase “ima vreme” (there is time) as it reflects my attitude towards my settling in period.
Meanwhile, I am becoming comfortable at my work site – slowly understanding their work and responsibilities with my limited language. As my co-workers hear me struggle with speaking in Macedonian – mixing up sentence structures with verb conjugation, nouns and expressions, they feel less anxious about their own poor English speaking and vocabulary and have started tentatively responding with a few words that they know! My morning greeting is now “Good Morning” followed by “Dobro Utro”. I have also backed of from having my coffee or tea at home and share that first cup at work. I still have my cereal breakfast before arriving though!
I know it’s only a week, but I have asked that we start English conversation hour twice a week and we start tomorrow! I suspect many of my co-workers have studied English and are nervous about speaking. I was nervous too, of sounding silly, of being judged about my abilities, but after our intensive training before arriving here, some of that nervousness disappeared and there are many phrases in Macedonian that I speak with confidence. So my goal is not so much to “teach a new language – heaven knows I have never taught a language class in my life, but to make everyone comfortable with hearing themselves speak the language they have learned, but lost it because of lack of use. I am nervous too, of leading a conversation hour, having never participated in one that I can model. Cie la vie! We will all learn together.
Meanwhile I have made friends with some community leaders. I attended the “preredbata” – kind of a musical evening at the primary school last Monday. When I heard about it, I figured I should just show up – as it will be filled with parents of the children. It worked – not only did I run into a few parents, who happened to work at the worksite, but also a few other teachers who I know through my visits with my landlady and her friends. Later that night the PCV volunteer teaching at a neighboring village, invited me to the teachers party in town. I was reading a book when her sms reached me. I dropped my reading and walked out the door immediately. We both joined in dancing the traditional ora and had a great time. Now my circle of friends has become bigger and I know the names of many of these teachers, some of whom I see during my morning walk and around town.
I have met a few other community leaders and though I have made two trips to Skopje, midweek for a secondary project and over the weekend to attend a Hanukkah celebration, I am quite content in my new town. The hiking trails and walking playing a big part in my settling down, as it matches my routine back home. There is time enough during my service to really get to know the country was visit the other places that are recommended by the people and the tour guidebooks!