If I had internet, this would have been my blog post for
yesterday (Wednesday).
It snowed. A lot. It is supposed to
continue snowing. A lot.
I went to the gradinka
(Preschool/Kindergarten) for the first time today. Kids were full of energy and
didn’t listen very well.
Hung out at coffee bar with
Macedonian males for first time. Talked a lot of economics and politics.
Got puked on by a kid. Landlady
washed clothes.
Discovered my Discovery Channel is
back. All is good again.
However, lucky for you I didn’t have internet because that
would have been kind of a downer of a post. Instead, I will say the same thing
only I will stretch my thoughts/sentences, which will make it, in the words of Andres,
“podobro”.
Everything I said about no snow,
forget it. I have snow, lots of snow. It started Tuesday night and is still
going strong now. It is supposed to continue snowing with big, heavy, flakes
until Friday morning. The total for today was about a foot and it made walking
up and down my hill to my house a little tricky. This morning I wasn’t sure if
it would be icy so I pulled out the lovely Yak-Traks Peace Corps gave me after
they saw my walk. I was laughed at my one lady because I looked funny wearing
snow boots with Yak-Traks, my coat, hat, scarf, and gloves (I should point out
that if I had been in Minnesota, I would have fit right in, no one would have
noticed me wearing anything out of the ordinary. The Macedonians here don’t
prepare for the outdoors quite the same).
Today was my first day at the
Gradinka (Preschool/Kindergarten). I will be there once a week working with the
lady who teaches English to some of the children there. It was fun to see the
kids because they remind me of my preschoolers back in St. Peter. Most of the
kids didn’t really listen today and just sort of ran about not paying attention
to anything. My counterpart was flustered by their squirreliness. I told her
kids are the same everywhere and I have had many days where my little ones just
wouldn’t listen, especially when you factor in today was their third day back
since the holidays and it was snowing like crazy. Those two factors, plus the
fact there was a visitor are a recipe for disaster.
After our classes at the Gradinka,
my counterpart asked me if I would like to go to one of the coffee bars with
her, her boyfriend, and one of his friends. I said sure as I had nothing going
on and here was a chance to hang out with people my own age. On the way we
stopped to pick up a little girl who has private English lessons with my
counterpart. She is 6 and is really shy, but she was pretty cute. We get to the
coffee bar, sit down, order drinks and about two minutes after our drinks come,
the little girl gets sick. She starts coughing and then puking and I quick
scoot my chair out of the way so the teacher can get her to the bathroom. Nope,
the teacher asks for napkins and the kid keeps puking. Sweet. After getting her
somewhat cleaned up, they leave (thank goodness). I am left with the boyfriend
and his friend. Luckily the boyfriend speaks pretty good English (despite
saying he doesn’t) and the friend understands everything I say even if he can’t
speak much back. This was the first time since Lozovo I have actually hung out
with Macedonian males and I didn’t have to worry about them thinking it was
anything more than just having coffee (or actually tea and juice as no coffee
was ordered). We talked a lot about politics (kind of a taboo subject for PCVs
to get involved in, however I did very little of the talking and made it clear
I can not express my opinion on anything related to Macedonian politics- Peace
Corps rules). Hopefully I will be able to hang out more with them and their
friends because it was nice being around people my own age.
I noticed a little kid puke on my pants
and boots and wasn’t sure if she had gotten any on my coat or anywhere else. It
was only a little, but those of you who know me, know I don’t do puke in any
shape, form, etc. However, since I was with new people I had to keep my freak
out on the inside. *Side note, as soon as I got home I ripped off my clothes in
my doorway, threw them in a bag, and brought them down to my landlady to wash
in her machine. There was no way I was hand washing those puppies. Oh and
because I feel like someone (i.e. my father) would make a joke here if I don’t
specify, I did put on other clothing before going down to my landlady’s, no
worries there.
At least the night ended on a good
note. When I came home from Vevchani/Veles, I noticed I had lost my Discovery
Channel on TV. I don’t watch a lot of TV here, in fact, you might be thinking,
wait you’re a PCV and you have a TV? I have two actually and my landlord pays
for the TV service, and was so confused when I hadn’t used the TVs within the
first month, so I tried it out one night and discovered I had Discovery
Channel- Its good background noise when I am cooking or just need an English
break. However, without Discovery Channel, I have had to resort to old fishing
shows or shows about WWII (while WWII is interesting, you can only watch so
much about Hitler and Mengele before getting kind of depressed). I also feel
the need to mention that I have maybe 20 channels and within those, I have
channels in Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, German, Italian, and English, so if
I get sick of one language, I can switch to another. Best part is Discovery
Channel came back today and Wednesday nights are when my current favourite
show, Border Security, is on. There are two versions, Australia and USA and it
features the many different agencies that control the borders of the two
countries. Yes, it is kinda trashy TV and there definitely are some rather
racist moments in each episode, but its still better than the soap operas that
are popular here, right? Debatable I know. However, the episode tonight
featured Roseau, Minnesota (pronounced on the show as Row-so) and the people
who sneak between the U.S./ Canada border during the winter when the lakes are
frozen. Ah, the accents- it makes
me feel at home! Clearly that is a sign I was meant to watch this show instead
of na gosti-ing the neighbours tonight.
Did You Know…. About 400
semi-trucks full of garbage come in from Canada to Michigan every day and some
border control agents have the job of searching through the garbage.
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