Gostivar (almost) Grinds to a Halt!

It started snowing Monday morning and hasn't really stopped. I took this photo Tuesday afternoon. The cars are burried in snow and those that are on the streets are having a tough time. I sure can't wait to hit the slopes though!

Winter Finally Arrived!

This winter has been remarkably warm and I began to think the season wouldn't ever happen at all...but I woke up at 6:30 am yesterday in order to head to Skopje for meetings and there was about 6 or 7 centimeters of snow on the ground. On our way home from Skopje, what is usually an hour drive took 3 hours. In this picture I am astounded at the accumulation of snow on my balcony.

First Snowboarding Trip of the Year!

My buddy Dave and I headed to the hills last Friday for some skiing and snowboarding. I don't have any good action shots, but I have a ton of photos I took of myself (which are all extremely close up because I have such short arms) on the chairlift. This one has a slight view of the ski area and Lake Mavrovo in the background too.

Veegs' New Home!

Here is a photo of Liz and I in her city, Struga. It is beautiful there, huh?
She lives about a 10 minute walk from where this photo was taken.

Vevčani Carnival

Last week the village of Vevčani, outside Struga (where Liz the Vegan now lives) had their annual winter carnival to celebrate Old New Year. The carnival began on Thursday, the 13th and was a three day affair. There is another MAK 8 Volunteer who lives there, Alex (see “Kaitlin as McGuyver” picture) and he invited us to attend the carnival.

The activities at the vevčani winter carnival consist primarily of drinking, dressing up in random costumes (apparently an average bathrobe is one of the most popular uniforms) and parading around the center of the town like a nutball. No one really sleeps, they just party it up for three days straight.

My counterpart and I had meetings in Kičevo, Kruševo and Struga on Thursday and I stayed at Veegs house on Thursday night. We went to the Vevčani carnival Friday afternoon…but it was obvious that the party had already started (and had been going on for a very long time) without us. We looked for Alex but were unable to find him amidst the madness.

Drunken Chat in the Town Square

These two gentlemen were just chatting away, apparently not even aware of the madness around them.

Unexpected Mail

After the New Years’ party (on New Years Day in fact) I fell ill with ear infections, tonsillitis and a sinus infection. Happy New Year! I went to the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer—aka PC Doctor) and she prescribed some medication, but 9 days later I was still feeling like I had been hit by a truck and the PCMO decided I needed different medicine.

The medicine was sent via the Macedonian version of Federal Express and I left the poor delivery boy waiting outside for a considerable amount of time because it is very difficult for me to hear the doorbell in my apartment (it is actually the doorbell to the apartment 2 floors beneath my apartment).

Anyway, when I went down to answer the door I was mid coughing fit, hadn’t showered in 2 days, outfitted in my warmest and frumpiest pajamas and in general looked like hell. When I answered the door handkerchief in hand, I was sputtering apologies in Macedonian for not coming to the door sooner, and the delivery boy looked surprised (and a little confused) but was gracious, had me sign a bunch of forms and was on his way.

Later that week I went to visit my friend Liz who just moved to a beautiful town in Southern Macedonia. I returned to a pink envelope in the area where my landlords’ put my mail. I was excited, anticipating a Birthday card (because I turned 27 on January 10th) or letter from someone in my family or from my good friend Lora, and I happily trotted up the stairs.

I noticed there was no return address and thought it was funny, but then did a double-take when I noticed the way the “W” was written in “Wager”. People in this country write their W’s like 2 Vs overlapping. So at that point I figured it was a birthday card from my colleague Luli, or perhaps my friend Emilija from Land O’Lakes.

Guess Again. This greeting card was from the boy who delivered my medicine. It was pretty cute--a very polite and respectful invitation to coffee because this boy “likes to meet people from other countries”. I plan to call him and accept his invitation for coffee; (not to worry, I have already asked my friend Shaun to accompany as back-up). This is the first time something like this has happened to me so I find it both flattering and amusing. Also, I think this kid is just out of high school and has no idea that I am probably 9 or 10 years older than him. Its just kind of funny.

So who wants to hear how the coffee turns out?

Link-a-Roo

Hey everybody! I have another blog for y'all to check out. This one is from my good friend Liz Abbett. We share many of the same experiences so you can get a different perspective

(and its an amusing perspective) of what goes on over here.

http://www.lizabbett.blogspot.com

My Address!

I moved a few months ago and apparently I have been bad about disseminating my new address. If you're looking to send me snail mail--or a care package (please) send it all to this address:

Beth Wager
Beličica 33
1230 Gostivar
Republic of Macedonia
Europe

Happy New Year

MAK 9ers:
LtoR Marilyn, Kaitlin and Doug (who for some reason I always refer to as Greg)

Liz and I went to a party in Tetovo, a city 20 or so kilometers outside of Gostivar to celebrate the New Year. We were 2 of the three MAK 8s in attendance, but there were plenty of MAK 9s on hand. It was nice to get to know the 9ers a little better, they are loads of fun...(and some of them can't hold their liqueur).

Good Times

The night was filled with fun including a marathon charades contest with the teams evenly divided “East of the Mississippi” VS “West of the Mississippi” unfortunately the West was defeated. Pictued here are some of those Easterners gloating…

Kaitlin as McGuyver

Kaitlin did her best McGuyver impersonation and rigged a ball to be dropped at midnight out of chandelier fixtures. Mak 8er Alex observes, obviously fascinated.

CHEERS!

And at midnight we had a toast...

New Years Kiss

Hopefully next year will be better...although I am sure I could have done worse.