A Visit to the PC Office

I took the early morning (4:40 am) combe on Friday to Skopje for an appointment with the PCMO (peace corps medical officer). A month ago, I had foolishly let the adrenaline in my system push me from walking the 5K Humanitarian Walk into running the last kilometer as all the marathoners were streaking past me finishing up the second half of their run. My mind, stuck in the past egged me into an easy lope, which became faster and faster as I descended into a time warp and made it across the finish line less than 50 minutes!

So now I have to pay for my foolishness as I damaged the cartilage of my twice-operated on right knee. Fortunately the meniscii, whatever was left after tearing them up twice, the first time back in 1991 held steady and let the cartilage take the beating this time. After all home remedies fail, I am going in for a cortisone shot to relieve the pain and let me go about my daily business as if nothing untoward is wrong with me.

I meet another volunteer and we have typical Macedonian breakfast pastries in a bakery close to the PC office. I choose the flaky pastry crust sans filling as my friend digs her teeth into a jam filled one. After breakfast, we find ourselves in an office supply store close by. It not as big as Office Max and would probably fit into the space we devote to one checkout corner, but it was stocked choc-a-block with what we truly need. I picked up a roll of cello tape and a picture frame for less than 100 denari.

It’s still early and as we are the first volunteers there we head into the lower level library. This is by far my favorite place in Skopje, with it’s two big upholstered chairs and a sofa just big enough to take a nap during the day, when it is hot outside. And of course the books, rows and rows of them. I joined the library committee and learned to label the books using the Dewey decimal system and feel so connected to the books now. My home away from home in Skopje. Moreover, it is air-conditioned! There are three computers that connect me to planet earth, my friends and family. One of the bookcases serves as a mini “thrift shop” clothes and other knick-knacks left behind by outgoing volunteers for the benefit of incoming volunteers. I have found a blender, a duffel bag in addition to socks and shirts that have made their way without my realizing it, into my place in far away Makedonski Brod! This is close to heaven!

Soon volunteers start drifting it – it a meeting day for one of the many committees we like to be involved in and Friday is a favorite day to schedule this official time away from site. When a few of the staff see me, they remember they wanted to see me for one thing or the other. Really! I am reminded of the expression “out of sight, out of mind”. In my case the expression “in sight - in mind” is more true! It is incredibly busy today. Maybe it is busy like this everyday. I don't know as I don't come often - it takes about 6 1/2 hours round trip on a combe to come here. Now I know some volunteers in other countries may think I am nit-picking because it may take them 16 hours one way to get to the PC office. I want to assure all my readers that I am not complaining, just stating why for me - I only make this trip if I just have too.

Anyway, I meet the MO and get my shot and as I have a couple of hours before my next meeting with the PO, I walk over to the green market. Though I wanted to pick up the berries, I stick with lettuce and spinach. Not that I don’t get these things back at my little rural town – it’s just that Friday is also green market “Pazar” day at site and these two items will be gone before I return back home. I also needed to get my dark glasses fixed and there is no optician at site. Not finding anyone in the pazar to replace one of those tiny screws that keep the frames together, I wander out to the stores outside the pazar and find an optician. I proudly proceed to tell her in Macedonian that it s broken, but realize I haven’t the vaguest idea how to say, will you be able to repair it? After speaking to me in Macedonian she just takes the glasses and asks me for my name which she writes on a piece of paper and a time 13:00 to 14:00. Ahh, I get it – she wants me to come back at that time. OK, I leave my glasses in her hands – hoping she doesn’t present me with a new frame and a bill I cannot pay when I return. When an english speaker like myself is in a non-english speaking world, trust is what you operate on. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When I return at 2 pm there are my glasses, as good as new and she doesn’t want any money!
Toa e toa!

A Random Day

When I was scrubbing the soap soaked fabric in a grayish soapy solution this morning, taking up the most of my Sunday morning, my thoughts flew to pre service days when I was preparing myself for the possibility of being in a country where this was the only option to wash clothes. I saw most challenges through rose-tinted glasses, a romantic notion quite different from going through the process day in and day out!
Today I have a week’s worth of clothes, one pair of pants, two pajama bottoms, one t-shirt and underwear! I skipped washing the dress, two shirts and 3 pairs of socks and it still took half a day because the bucket I use holds only one pair of pants at a time. After rubbing the fabric together, I rinse it out in another bucket 2 to 3 times before wringing and hanging it to dry. Serendipitously, there was no rain and the wet clothes on the line just dripped down into the garden below! Takes longer to dry but oh so much easier than wringing it all winter when drying took place indoors next to or on my heater!

Macedonian families have and use washing machines. Though my place had an old washing machine, it couldn’t be fixed even after a couple of trips by the handyman. I still have mixed feelings about not having a machine because most of the time it doesn’t bother me as I wash a couple of items every other day. However, when I add the towel and kitchen cloths and even my easy to wash polartec jackets or when I return from a training session, I dream of my laundry room back home.
With my focus on washing and reviewing the week’s language lesson plans, I forgot that I had emptied my fridge not only of all perishables – but also the meats. This is what was in my fridge - a bottle of Sano fruit juice, half a box of 0.9% milk, which surprisingly was still good; a hunk of cheese, a small bottle of spaghetti sauce and a jar of pickled hot peppers. The freezer had only ice cream. So last night I had pasta with spaghetti sauce and one banana (one of the two I purchased at the green bazaar in Skopje before my return home). This morning my usual bowl of cereal with the second banana and a lunch with lentils and homemade flat bread.