Beth's Corps Experience

Profiling my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Macedonia.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Headed to Hungary

I left Macedonia on Thursday, September 22 headed to Budapest for my brother John's wedding. John (number four in the Wager line-up) used to work for a large international law firm in Budapest and met his lady-love there over 2 years ago.

My flight went well, and I took an airport shuttle to my new sister-in-law's house and had wonderful welcome upon my arrival. It was outstanding to see my mom and dad, my brother and Brigitta. I hadn't seen my parents in almost exactly a year (I went home a year ago for my sister's wedding) and it was great to be with them again. Brigitta's parents were a riot, her mother was full of life and effervescence and her father has a dry wit I know I will enjoy in the future.

After dinner with Brigitta's family we went and had a beverage at a cafe near our apartment. When I woke up Thursday morning my water wasn't working in my apartment (as is frequently the case on Thursdays) so I am looking especially slick (greasy). Nice.

Pictured here (l to r: My mom, me, my dad, Brigitta and John).

We spent some time chit-chatting and catching up at thecafe and then headed back to our apartment. Our apartment. It needs description, but I want to keep my blog G-rated. John and Brigitta booked an apartment online for my parents and I to stay in because it would be less expensive than a hotel and that is the way he usually travels. It's a neat way to be a visitor, but also feel kind of integrated into the community. In an apartment you can sort of feel like you aren't a total foreigner, even though we are. Anyway, the apartment they booked on-line was NOT the apartment they ended up visiting and checking in to. It was spacious, but filled with crap. And I mean crap. Not like fecal matter, but like old Balkan-esque crappy antiques. If you're a PCV from Macedonia and you're reading this you know what I mean, doilies, figurines, ridiculous lights. But there were other interesting things in the apartment. Like Porn. Good God, there was so much porn all over the walls it was like a national lampoon's "My Son Is Marrying Someone From Another Country" movie. I won't go into detail, for that you can contact my brother, but I will say I felt bad for my parents. My mom mostly, but after a while I think we all just got used to ignoring it. I know John and Brigitta felt bad too, but now its just something at which we can laugh.

Explored the Castle district

John and Brigitta were really busy with wedding preparations so the following day I played tour-guide for my parents. We went to the castle district via the subway and a bus. I got a real kick watching my parents on the subway, they seemed to really enjoy it. I have been doing a bit of international travel off and on since 1997 so I don’t get too stressed out anymore (especially after my experiences throughout the last 2 years here in Macedonia) but mom and dad really seemed to be enjoying it all and it was fun to observe them. When we got to the castle district we had a late breakfast and wandered around. We saw St. Matthais Cathedral, the Fishermans’ Bastion, had coffee with a breath-taking view of the city and enjoyed the day.

Pictured here are my mom and dad in front of St. Matthias' Cathedral.

Cafe Time

Here are my mom and dad at the cafe at Fisherman's Bastion.

View from the cafe


And this was our view of Budapest at the café

The big day

The following day was the big event, John and Brigitta's wedding. I was not the official photographer (which is a very good thing) so I don't have the best photos, but I will post a couple from what I did get.

The ceremony was a civil service, but there was a definite air of something spiritual or something, it wasn't dry and boring (well, it may have been, but I don't understand Hungarian...but it didn't seem like it) and the woman presiding was very dignified. It was really nice.

Pictured here is Brigitta and her father walking down the aisle.

newly-weds

And here is the newly-wed couple immediately after the ceremony

The whole group

A Hungarian Custom (a Macedonian custom as well, I think) is to take a photo in front of the church with all of the guests. My mom and dad and I are on the bottom left corner...

The reception

The reception was wonderful, it was held in a gallery, where a significant number of Brigitta's photographs were displayed (Brigitta is an artist). There was a great Jazz band that played and we were able to enjoy the music and relax. Afterward we had refreshments and cake.

Pictured here are Brigitta and John cutting their cake. After a bit more visiting and cake-eating the reception drew to a close and we left.

toastin time

Here are my mom and dad getting ready to toast the bride and groom.

After the reception

Later I met back up with Brigitta and John and their friends and we went to a Garden-bar type place. A popular hangout with the youthful crowd of Budapest, old buildings' courtyards are transformed into outdoor beer gardens with rockin house music and an awesome atmosphere. I met one of Brigitta and John's friends who was born on the Hungarian/Serbian border and we spoke a bit in Serbo-makadonski. Nice.

Pictured here are Me, Marsella (Brigitta's sister-in-law), Brigitta and John. What is the deal with the Wager red-eye?

The next day we had more family time and the following day Mom dad and I left for Macedonia!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Fresh Eggs!




My eggs are so fresh some of them still have feathers on them. I wish you could see it better.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Time is flying out of control


Last week flew by in what felt like two days. I can't believe how quickly time is lapsing, and I'm not gonna lie about it, this is a bad thing. I have so much work to do and the days are sneaking away from me.

I have more work to do with the sheep-breeders, a bit more help I promised to Land O'Lakes, a ton of admin stuff I have to do for Peace Corps and of course, that whole masters degree field paper needs HUGE revisions. Also, I am headed to Budapest this weekend for my brother's wedding...and my mom and dad are returning with me after the wedding (YEAH! Finally, I get visitors!). And the following weekend is a girls hike that has been planned (in theory for quite some time now) plus I need to visit my host family...MEH! The stress is getting me all riled up.


And to top it all off I am going crazy. Tonight, while cooking eggplant, I could have sworn I saw a little face staring back at me in one of the wedges.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Week in Review

The past week went by in a blur and included surveys with sheep-breeders in the open air market in Gostivar with (while they sold their cheeses), a kick-off meeting with sheep-breeders from both Eastern and Western Macedonia regarding participation in a new program we are doing with the German technical assistance firm InWEnt, and a trip south to Struga in honor of the National holiday (People's Uprising Against Facism Day, September 8). Also, I got my hair chopped off. Yippee. Here are some photos.

Luli was conducting surveys with members of our association regarding their production and sales levels for this past year.

Luli and his buddy

This is another sheep breeder from Gostivar. Luli wanted to have his picture taken with him because of his traditional (way old school) clothing.

I met with Sheep breeders

We had a meeting about the project we hope to be implementing with a german organization, InWent. These guys pictured here are sheep breeders from Berovo, which is a town in Eastern Macedonia, almost on the Bulgarian border.



And they are sitting under the Macedonian Seal of Quality.

Liz scales the hills

In observance of the national holiday "People's Uprising Against Fascism Day" I headed south to visit my friend Liz and see a bit of Struga I hadn't seen before. We went to the small fishing village of Radožda where Liz's NGO was giving a presentation on solid waste management. While there, we checked out a couple of churches which were high up in the hills.

Here is Liz in front of one of them.

cave church exploration

Here we are at one cave church. The really good news, I have finally mastered the timer on my camera.

wild tomatoes

Here we found some tomatoes growing in the wild. That's Macedonia for you.

crazy natural spoons

On our way back we noticed these crazy looking gourd-zucchini type plants hanging from an arbor-awning. They used to hollow them out and use them as giant spoons I guess. I was told that they are for decoration only and they have a Slovenian name--which means natural spoon, but I forget what the word was.

typical scene in macedonia

Walking through another village we spotted a house with some peppers drying from the balcony. This is a pretty typical scene in Macedonia.

interesting wildlife


The following day (after I got my hair cut) we headed out to Sveti Naum, a village outside of Ohrid, to see the monastery and the town and hang out by the lake. Liz was able to catch me close to a couple of the Peacocks that populate the area.

Nice View

And this is the sun setting as seen from St. Naum

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Happy Anniversary!

Its hard to believe, but I arrived here in Macedonia 2 years ago today. Wow. Congratulations to me and all my fellow MAK 8ers (who are still here, ha).

Monday, September 05, 2005

COS Conference Time

We (MAK 8) had our Close Of Service conference last week. It was a bit of a whirlwind--a lot of information presented, a few activities that were on the brink of getting uncomfortably emotional and a lot of hanging out.

It all began with a ton of information about post-PC stuff like health insurance, dental and medical exams, writing our description of service, the really fun stuff. I found out we get to keep our PC Passports (which I am pretty fired up about) and we also found out that we don't get a living allowance for the last month in country because the first month we were at site they did the first and last month deposit--ouch! That is painful to the pocketbook. We also got a lot of information about post- service options for graduate schools and work opportunities. It was an information-packed few days.

In this picture we are tossing around a masking-tape ball, talking about ourselves. LOVE Ice breakers!

LtoR:Sarah, Holly, Declan, Hugo, Ian (and Alex's sandal).

I'm still culturally sensitive...most days.

We also talked about our times here, things that were proud of accomplishing and things we've yet to do, but still want to. Then we discussed what it will be like returning: reverse culture shock, people not understanding (or caring) about how things were for us in the Peace Corps, and more. I got a little taste of that when I was home in September, and all my friends who were PCVs before have told me the same thing, so its not a huge surprise. People ask how your time was in the PC, but they don't actually expect much of an answer beyond "It was the toughest job I'll ever love." And I think most of us could go on for hours, given the chance...

In this picture we are making posters about things we've accomplished and what we still want to do, and we're laughing at pictures of ourselves during training.

Anyway, the conference was interesting, fun and at times a bit overwhelming and emotional. I think it only started to sink in for most of us that we will be leaving very soon. I have a new date to complete my service--much earlier than I expected, October 28! Just 8 short weeks away.

upcoming stresses ...

And now begins the daunting task of searching for jobs. I feel a little out of practice. A lot of this is uncharted territory for this kid, too, because the jobs I have had in the past were all in Portland--most of them in the political arena (and that is a very small community).

Now I am looking for jobs in DC, I hardly know anyone there, and since I am applying from Macedonia this will undoubtedly complicate things. Part of me thinks I should just calm down and wait until after the holidays to go crazy with the job search. But then the other part of me that has been doing the "Rhetorical Job Search" since December of 2003 just can't calm down. I admit it, I am very uncomfortable with ambiguity in the future. Without a plan I am a nervous wreck.

Below are a few more photos from the COS Conference...



L to R: Liz, Michael and Kendra (aka Keni, a name given to her by her host family 2 years ago).

Eggs and the vegan do not mix

Liz again--she is vegan and she always gets something on her plate that she doesn't eat. That night it was hard boiled egg decorated with a tomato hat.

chess club and its fans


This is Me, Heather in the background, Evelina next to me (she is our training manager) and Shayne. The Chess and backgammon club were having a raging competition in the background. Woo-Hoo.

special bus kids

Keith, Matt, Holly, Declan, Hugo, Ian, Dan


We were headed home on this mini-bus with broken air conditioning, no windows in some pretty darn hot weather. Yikes!