During PST, we are told that we will work a lot of Peace Corps Goal Two: Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. I have certainly done that recently.
Last night, my brother and I worked on it. After spending some time with Shannon, Andres, and Anna at Trend (the local coffee bar), we walked Shannon towards here house on the other side of town, then went home around 1am. Здравче and I then stayed up until 3am talking via Google Translate. He asked me what I thought was the funniest about Macedonia/what I didn't understand and I told him three things: 1) If a female has wet hair, she will get sick, 2) If a female sits on the floor, she will become infertile, and 3) промаја (pro-mi-ya).
He then clarified a few things. He said yes, I can't have wet hair or I will get sick. I then told him that at home, in America, lots of girls go outside with wet hair and in Minnesota if you do that in the winter, you're hair will freeze into icicles. The concept of just how cold Minnesota can be is hard for some here to comprehend.
He said in his house, it is fine to sit on the floor, but why would you do that when you can sit on the couch. I told him, sometimes it is comfortable to sit on the floor. He said, "ok, you can try, but my mom and dad will make you sit on the couch instead." (paraphrased the awkward Google Translate version)
Finally, on the topic of промаја, we could not come to an agreement. промаја is the belief here (and I believe other places in the area as well), that if you have a cross breeze in your house, you will get sick. It is fine for the wind to blow on your outside, but not inside. If you have one inside, you will get sick and possibly die (which is why even in the summer, on super crowded busses, you can't open your windows). I told him that in America, we don't have промаја (which that alone blew his mind). I then asked him if he had ever gotten sick from промаја and he said yes. He had промаја in his car once and got a headache and then later his back hurt, so he hasn't opened multiple windows since. I then told him that I like the breeze and am willing to chance getting sick from it and he shook his head and finger at me and made the disapproving clicking sound and said Не. Apparently, I am not allowed to try it here, so I am glad that it is getting cooler here.
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For dessert today we had the Macedonian equivalent of Oreos. We could have just eaten them and enjoyed them, but then I wouldn't have fulfilled goal # 2. Instead, I taught my host mother, sister, and brother about the ancient American tradition of using the "Oreos" to determine who you are going to marry. We spent the next 15 minutes twisting our "Oreos" open and determining which side of the cookie had more frosting, thus selecting our future husband/wife. They loved it and after the first time, they did it with every cookie. My brother then decided to use his "Oreos" as first a monocle, then using two to make himself a pair of glasses. I finally was allowed to take a picture, but I know if I post it and he saw it, I would be in trouble (he laughed at the pictures and said, "глупи слики", which means stupid pictures.
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I am starting to feel much more at home here. I am comfortable sitting on the couch relaxing, rather than sitting straight up with my feet on the floor and my hands in my lap. I will, to some extent, get food from the fridge if I am hungry (although I am very rarely hungry here as my family is still trying to feed me as much as a 18-year-old football player). I am fine making a fool out of myself with my limited language.
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I jump back and forth from being the middle child in the family and the youngest in the family (despite actually being the oldest age-wise). Здравче really is my big brother now, despite being 3 1/2 years younger than me. He is always looking out for me and it is clearly his role to be my security here. He is like the ideal big brother. He told me yesterday when we were Google Translate talking that if I ever need anything, let him know. If any of the Americans need anything or have any problems, let him know as he wants to help all 9 of us. Growing up, I sometimes wished I had an older brother (nothing against you Anna), and now I have it, for a few months anyway. Sometimes I am the next oldest child in that my host parents let me stay out late and I can drink and I am an adult. That leaves Бојана as the youngest (which at 14, she is quite young still). Other times, I am treated like a two-year-old, not capable of doing anything for myself. The lack of language and cultural knowledge is the main reason for this. I definitely prefer it when I am the middle child. I am ok having my "big" brother take care of me, but I am not a huge fan of being treated like a child when I haven't lived with my real parents for quite some time.
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I asked Здравче the other night if he liked living with his parents (last year he lived 20 minutes away at college, but this year he is living at home) and he said he did. His parents give him money when he needs it and take care of him. I told him that in America, most people don't live with their parents after age 18 and he knew that from a previous volunteer. I said I liked living on my own. That concept isn't really seen here. You live with your parents until you get married, then the bride moves to her husbands house, sometimes in the same house as his parents, sometimes in a house nearby.
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Language learning is going really well, in my opinion. Later this week we all meet individually with our LCF to get his interpretation on our abilities. I was finally able to figure out the conjugations (thanks to Shannon's magic memory trick) and I already have a fairly large Macedonian vocabulary considering I've been here for three weeks. Јас се викам Сара. Јас сум од Америка. Јас живем од Лозобо. Јас имам дваесет и четири години. Јас имам една сестра. Cестра ми се викате Ана. Таа живее од Калифорнија. Маијка ми се викате џуди. Татке ми работи како професор по компjутери. Јас сакам да јадам леб со ајвар за појадок. Jас одиме школо со куче ми, Бени. (I am called Sara. I am from America. I live in Lozovo. I am 24-years-old. I have one sister. My sister is called Anna. She lives in California. My mother is called Judy. My father works as a professor of computers (I have yet to learn how to say Technology Coordinator). I like to eat bread with ajvar (a Macedonian specialty- red pepper spread) for breakfast. I walk to school with my dog, Beni.)
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I am still trying to figure out how to:
- Say stop feeding me. I am not hungry. Actually, I know they understand what I am saying because they understand the word "full" and Јас не сакам де јадам сега (I dont want to eat now), but they pretend not to understand so they can keep feeding me. I was told this morning that chocolate will build muscles.
- Explain that I am learning Macedonian at school and while I appreciate their help at home, I can only handle so much. I can't remember 100 new words a day and my text book from Peace Corps is correct, it is just a different dialect than they speak here.
- When I can shower. You have to heat the water up here, so there isn't always hot water. It takes a few hours to heat up. I have been able to shower a few days in a row and I have also had the opposite. The last time I showered was on Wednesday...its Sunday (I did just shower like 20 minutes ago and it was one of the best showers I have ever had since it had been so long). I have tried to ask when I can shower and establish a routine, but it has yet to happen. I much prefer showering daily to showering every 4 days.
When I start to get frustrated with the above things, I just tell myself, I only have to deal with this until the end of November, then when I move to site, I can do things how I want to do them (or I better be able to!).
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All in all, life is still good. I am still in the "honeymoon" phase. It has yet to hit me that I am in Macedonia for two years. We've been told, for some people, it will hit during PST, for others, it won't hit us until we have been in our site for a few days/weeks.
