The Dog Bite

Do you remember when I got bit by a dog? This is the same kind of dog that bit me, a sharplaninec (pronounced SHAR-plan-ee-nets), a sheep breeding dog found only in Macedonia. Scary, huh? I will probably be able to get a much better photo of one this summer once we head to the hills and hang out at the Bachila...but for now you must be satisfied with this photo.

Went to Visit Heather...but she was not home.

Angie and I are Wardens for the Gostivar region (meaning if something bad happens we are kind of responsible to get all the folks in our area assembled and accounted for) and we needed to visit all the volunteers in our region. My counterpart Luli needed to go toward where we had to do our visits so he took us. We went to Heather's village but we were unable to get a hold of her before we left because all the phone lines were down. Unfortunately we went to her village the day that she leaves to go to another nearby village and teach at a satellite school, what a bummer, we totally missed her. Heather's village is awesome, its like a scene out of the Sound of Music. Pictured here is Luli (in front, being a spaz) and me and Angie. The village is surrounded by these mountains. Its beautiful.

LAMBS!

Most of our field visits take place in the summer when the sheep are moved from the lower elevations to the mountains where the soft white cheese (think feta, but from sheep milk rather than goat milk) is made.

One of our sheep breeders is looking to get some credit to build a new barn and today we went on a field visit to check out his current barn. And we got to hang out with the sheep! It was really fun...


In this photo my colleague Luli wrestles a lamb.

I thought it was goats that ate clothes...

In this photo I am surrounded by the little lambs (and one of them thinks my pant leg tastes good).

All my clothes are tasty!

Here a different lamb is after the buttons on my coat. DE-LISH!

Update time

Hello Everyone! Wow it has been a LONG time since I last updated this thing! I have been very busy with PC stuff, Sheep breeders stuff, field paper stuff (not as much as I should be though) and community integration (which is really just hanging out with host country nationals). Below is a brief description regarding what I have done in the past few weeks, and what I will be doing in upcoming weeks.

Success story for CSHI
I am getting a lot of practice writing success stories for implementing agencies for submission to USAID. Last fiscal quarter I wrote a story for the association development department of Land O'Lakes and a few weeks ago I wrote a story for another project, CSHI (community Self-Help initiative). The story was about how the sheep breeders association has helped its members improve their products and their business in general, and therefore, their incomes. If you want to read it, send me an email…I’ll send you the story.

Mickey Mouse Gives us Money!
Shaun and I authored a proposal at the end of January for something called “World Youth Service Day” which happens over April 15-17. We applied for funds to conduct a park clean up with 40 children from Gostivar ages 10-14. We found out that we received funding right before we were leaving for our in-service. Once we complete the event I will fully recount the affair on the blog. Thanks, Mickey!

Mid Point In-Service training (or was it a 2/3 point service training?)From February 28th through March 2nd MAK 8 (my training group), was in the Southwestern Macedonian town of Strumica, located near the Bulgarian border. We were there for our “mid-service” training (although mid service for MAK 8 was December).

It was the best training we have had, due in part to the fact that about ten of us sort of hi-jacked the training early on. Previous trainings had many sessions that were presented by people who don’t particularly understand what it is that we want or need. Those of us involved in the hi-jacking composed a detailed list of things that we did want and need, for example, training in adult English education classes or how to conduct a project design and management workshop.
Most of the sessions were facilitated by other volunteers and they all covered information that was interesting and relevant. And as of today, I have less than 8 months left as a PCV in Macedonia. Yippee.

Went to Greece...

Trip to Agriculture & Food Products Fair in Greece
On the weekend of March 5th and 6th I accompanied my sheep breeder friends to visit the Agriculture and Food Products fair in Thessaloniki, Greece. Many of you know my previous experiences of traveling with host country nationals have not been pleasant (think Vienna or Germany with the Mayor) so I was dreading this trip. Fortunately though, it went remarkably well. We went with a few professors from the University of Skopje's agriculture department, a few students and 2 Land O'Lakes Macedonia folks. We had a chartered bus and things were all very well arranged, no catastrophe to report. I was also able to meet up with one of the MAK 7 volunteers, Kevin, who now lives in Thessaloniki.

Sheep breeders from the western regional association
trying some Greek Feta cheese.

Update continued...

Another Snow Storm
When we returned to Macedonia it was sort of a rude awakening, the weather in Greece had been warm, about 70 degrees, with no clouds in sight. In Macedonia it was cold and rainy. Welcome home. Upon my return I went directly to bed, but when I woke the next morning there was about 6 inches of freshly fallen snow. When is spring supposed to be here?

Project Design & Management seminar for the OSCE
A few of us PCVs have offered to train some local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in project design and management. The Organization for Security and Cooperation has asked for us to train about 15 active NGOs (9 in Skopje, 6 in Tetovo) in how to design, implement and manage small scale development projects.

I am really excited to do this because it will be nice to share this kind of information with people that are looking to do some good projects, rather than just chase money (as is frequently the case with municipalities and less reputable NGOs). It will also be fun to meet new people in the NGO sector.

Bosnian Sheep Breeders come for a Visit!
I found out last week that a delegation of sheep breeders from Bosnia will pay us a visit in late April. I’m really excited to meet these guys—rest assured a big story will be on the blog after their visit!

Organizing the Cheese & Wine Festival
Last year Macedonia Competitiveness Activity (MCA), Land O'Lakes and ScanAgri (the Swedish agriculture aid organization) organized a wine and cheese festival in the tourist town of Ohrid. Local cheese and wine producers were able to market and sell their products at a fair type venue; it was very festive and fun.

This year the Sheep breeders association (with generous support from MCA, Land O'Lakes and ScanAgri) is organizing the festival, which in this early stage means that I am organizing the festival. I am working on the project plans and getting all of the documentation in order (because we are getting a grant from MCA for it) and it is taking up a considerable amount of time (and patience). Once all the paper work is finished we will begin organizing stuff and then we will train the sheep breeders in how to do everything like writing proposals and budgets, contacting advertising agencies and working with the host city. I anticipate that this will be a great experience both for me and the sheep breeders. And I can’t wait to eat cheese and drink wine!

Local Elections
Last weekend was local election time and due to the slight possibility that violence may erupt we PCVs were grounded. I love living in Gostivar and I rarely want to leave, but being told that we were not allowed to leave made it feel a little stifling. No violence to report from here though, just a lot of noise around 11:00pm and parading cars with Flags representing Albanian political parties and the Albanian flag. Round II of the elections is the 26th and 27th. I plan to be hard at work on my field paper that weekend though…

Day of crazy stuff...

Skoka (Jump!)
Sunday, March 13 was the day that people ask each other for forgiveness here in Macedonia. Part of the ritual is jumping over a small fire, and then later trying to catch an egg in your mouth.

To be honest, I don't fully understand the traditions, and I don't know if they do either, but it was fun. Here I am jumping over the flames

What do you do with the egg?

More of this crazy egg business! I really don't understand it, and they couldn't really explain the symbolism. It was hilarious though.

The Kiroski's (My Landfam)

This is the family that I live above (and me in the green sweater). I have taken to calling Koce and Slavica, the mom and dad, Lamma and Lampa. They are kind of like host parents, but they are my land lords... Now, they are landparents. And the two girls are my lansisters...

Interesting traditions...

After the jumping the family sits around and you try to catch an egg in your mouth. To be honest, I don't fully understand the traditions, and I don't know if they do either, but it was fun. Here are a few photos of the activities I participated in along with the family from who I rent my apartment.