A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

A few random photos (because if I am paying $2.49 a month to have extra space for posting photos, I may as well use it!)

When President Obama (or a cardboard lookalike) came to visit American Corner Stip, of course he demanded a photo with the one and only Phil Guthrie!

And his trip to AC Stip wouldn't be complete without a photo with Kiki- they're close personal friends- can't you tell!

I made chicken and rice soup from scratch and it turned out fantastic! No Dad, I didn't raise or butcher the chicken, but I did everything else from scratch.

Right before the recent mayoral election, our mayor opened up the brand new pazar in Kamenica. It is the nicest one I have seen in the country. Some of the babas were all dressed up to serve food at the opening ceremony.

To teach the first graders yesterday, I made "magic glasses" that were different coloured. The kids loved them, so of course we had to take photos! (The little boy in the blue and green shirt is practically fluent in English thanks to his 5th grade sister).

This group wasn't quite as happy to take a photo. But once they knew I was going to put them up on Facebook, they happily agreed (well somewhat happily).

My glasses were black and official NASA approved stare-at-the-sun-and-not-hurt-your-eyes glasses!

Fact or Fiction?

Peace Corps is full of rumors. There is the PCV rumor mill where volunteers like to spread the newest gossip to other volunteers. There is also another rumor mill lead by the Host Country Nationals (HCNs) about the PCVs. The PCV rumor mill can get really annoying and tedious, as can the HCN rumor mill. The HCN one, however, tends to be far more hilarious. Here are a few of the rumors that I have heard within the last two months about myself:

I am a spy.

FICTION: I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. Peace Corps is a US government sponsored program that places trained Americans in countries around the world to help transfer skills. My job here is to help teach English to the kids at the local primary school. I am in no way a spy.

When I go to Skopje I stay at the US Ambassador's house and have slumber parties with his daughters.

FICTION: While both the Embassy and Peace Corps are US government affiliated, we do not know the Ambassador on a personal level and I don't think he would really want to open his house up to a bunch of PCVs.

I bought eggs last week.
FACT: I did, in fact, buy eggs last week.

I will call President Obama if someone's house isn't dusted well enough.

FICTION: Sorry to break it to the HCNs, but I am not that tight with Obama. Also sorry to say, but Obama has a little bit more important job to do than to worry about the dusting of one Macedonian household.

I am going to take Macedonian children back to America next month at my expense.

FICTION: While I would love to expose some local children to the American culture, it is not going to happen. If I had the kind of money it would require to bring children back to America, sorry to say, I probably wouldn't spend it that way. Also, just for the record, I am not into kidnapping children. (One teacher received an urgent phone call this past Friday wondering why she had not been notified that the American was taking her child to America next month- lele).

Those Times When You Realize, "Hey, I'm in the Peace Corps."

It is easy, even over here, to get stuck in the hum-drum of life. It's easy to wash, rinse, and repeat each day. But then there are those days that just throw you for a loop and you have to remember you're not in America. You aren't living a "normal" life. You are a Peace Corps Volunteer.

- You talk about poop- your own, your fellow PCVs, the animals, and your host mother 's (and unfortunately got to witness that last one).

- You don't even ask what you are eating until after you have eaten it because chances are, you don't want to know and if its free, you probably don't care.

- You don't shower every day, every other day, or sometimes even every week (don't judge us- we're either too poor to pay to heat the water, our town/village once again has no water, or we're on a so-called "vision quest")

- You give a stray dog a chunk of bread on your way home from the store so you can have a friend in town. 

And then there are those things that you can't even begin to describe.

The other day I came home from school and went downstairs to collect some wood to start my fire- however I didn't make it to the wood pile. I walked out on my host mother cleaning goat intestines. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking since I have to include them (A. This is something hard to imagine without seeing it and B. My host mother laughed for a good 3 minutes when I asked if I could take pictures). One thing the pictures can't capture is the smell. It was horrible- very ammonia like. The smell is so strong it has been known to make PCVs quit smoking!

My host mother working on her intestines. The first step was to find the end of the intestines and hook it onto the end of a long stick.

Then she would push the intestines onto the stick so they would bunch up- she did this quite fast too I might add.

She really bunched them up on the stick.

The next step was putting the stick in the bowl and pulling on the intestines to turn them right side out (she had already turned them inside out and cleaned them by the time I got there).

The bowl of "cleaned" intestines

Then she washed them over and over again in clean water. The bubbles aren't from soap, but rather simply the intestines themselves.

After washing them, she threw them in a pot with water to boil for awhile. At this point, I stepped out of the action and just asked her what she would do. She said after they had boiled, she would throw the water, chop them up into small pieces (about the size of your thumb tip). After that, they would be eaten in a variety of manners- cooked with rice and spinach, soup, etc. I told her I would pass on eating them as I have already tried intestines and despite being a delicacy, I don't like them. So far, I have escaped having to eat any, but we shall see.

Oh to be 26 and living the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer. I know you all wish you could trade lives with me!