Friday, September 16, 2011

PST Placements

A quick update as we are packing and meeting host families in half an hour. We just got our PST placements and I am very excited.

First, my training group is amazing- Kenzie, Morgan, Claire, Shannon, Julie, Amy, Andreas, Anna, and I. We are very well matched as a group. And, we have awesome LCFs (Language and Cultural Facilitators).

Second, we are going to a small village near Veles. Veles is in the center of the country. We are not supposed to publicly disclose our exact location for safety reasons, but if you really want to know, send me a Facebook message. We will meet our families soon and we have to read a sentence in Macedonian to them. Our sentence tells us something about our family. Mine sentence sentence says Ќепката на Томе се вика Бојана. Which you would pronounce Kyepkata na Tome say vika Boy-ana. It means: Томе has a daughter who is called Бојана.

Hopefully more info soon. Because I will be in a small village, we do not have an internet cafe, but we were told the school where we will be studying has free wireless. We just received Macedonian cell phones, but they are pay as you go and its not exactly cheap, so I don't really plan on using it outside of my Macedonian/Peace Corps friends.

Macedonia is playing Spain in EuroBasket today at 4:30 our time, you should check out the game (or at least the results as I can't imagine it will be a highly publicized game in the US).

Ciao!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Здраво oд Македонија!

So I know I posted last night and not a whole lot to update on. However, I will have internet today, tomorrow, and then I may not. It all depends on my home stay family and their accommodations. We find out who are families are on Friday, which is very exciting.

A few highlights/things I haven't mentioned yet.
  • If you come visit, do not flush the toilet paper. Only the most soiled piece may be flushed. The pluming infrastructure here is not able to handle toilet paper, so every bathroom has a small garbage can next to the toilet where you place your used paper.
  • Pictures are to come. I am still investigating what is the best option to share photos.
  • Macedonians and Americans have some very different body language sometimes. In language class today, the whole group of Americans thought we were being taught how to say, "I am not good" when asked "How are you?" because our language instructor swung her fist and was not smiling. She intended it to be a happy gesture, however, we all misunderstood.
  • Macedonia plays Lithuania tonight in the EuroBasket Final Round tonight. It is a huge deal here and everyone is super excited to see if they move on. Needless to say, many of us will be venturing from the hotel outside of Kumanovo into town to enjoy some скопско, a Macedonian beer brewed just a few miles away in Skopje, and cheer on Macedonia. We were even taught the cheer to use- "Go Bo Go" for the most popular player, Bo McCalebb.
  • We met with the US Ambassador to Macedonia, Ambassador Paul Wohlers, the sixth U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia. He was sworn in on August 11th of this year by Hillary Clinton.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Македонија!

I have arrived in Macedonia (or Македонија in Macedonian). It has been a great experience so far. We were the first group ever to arrive in the new Alexander the Great Airport (opened only days before we landed) in the capital of Skopje and there were lots of current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) and Peace Corps Staff there to meet us. Our luggage was loaded into a semi-truck and the 36 weary travelers onto a school bus and driven to our first training site, approximately half an hour from the capital. We are staying at a hotel here in Kumanovo until Friday when we leave for our training communities and our host families.

We have had trainings on medical (same diseases as USA), safety and security (stay away from the dogs and don't pet them and stay vigilant), language (I can now introduce myself in Macedonian), and ethnically diverse Macedonia (home to Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Roma as the main groups) to name just a little of what we have learned thus far.

My fellow MAK-16ers are amazing. Everyone comes from a different background and brings lots of unique skills and experiences to the table. Our group has people from Washington, Kansas, Washington D.C., Georgia, Texas, California, Maryland, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon, New York, and many other states. We collectively speak 13 different languages (or around that number). We have top business executives who quit their jobs and people fresh from college. The age of our group ranges from 21 to people in their 60s. However, we all are here with three common goals (and they happen to be the Peace Corps goals): 1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women, 2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served, and 3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

One of the girls in our group has been creating a series of short videos about life in Macedonia so far. There is one video from the airport and one from the first few days in Kumanovo. For some of the new followers, there is an awesome YouTube video that was created by a former volunteer, but its content has excited many of us.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Vienna, Austria!

A quick update from the Vienna Airport where we have access to free wireless.

I left Pine City on Friday morning around 4am. Thanks to my lovely parents for getting up early and bringing me to the airport. I flew from Minneapolis to Philadelphia to meet everyone else who is going with to Macedonia. I had planned to meet up with another girl to travel to the hotel together, however her plane was delayed. As I was attempting to find my way to the shuttle, I ran into a girl from Kansas who had lots of luggage and we figured out we were going the same place. We met two other fellow PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) on the shuttle. We had a few hours of training in the hotel (focusing mostly on the Peace Corps Goals and Expectations) before heading out in Philly for dinner and to enjoy our last night in the U.S.

We awoke early this morning to catch a bus to JFK where we sat around for 6 hours until our flight to Vienna. Very little sleep was had on the plane (it was like a sauna in there), but we were fed lots and given free wine.

Our group of 36 is currently sitting in the Vienna airport waiting for our 10am flight to Skopje. Once one person discovered the airport provided free internet, lots more computers appeared and Facebook statuses were updated immediately (gotta love technology).

We have no idea what to expect once we arrive in Skopje, other than we will be getting on a bus and heading to our hotel for the first week.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

31 Hours

First of all, after a few days of back and forth, I finally officially obtained medical clearance again. Nothing like doing things last minute!

In only 31 hours I will be leaving to start my journey. It has been a busy few days with packing, packing, and more packing. I finally got my bags to where they should be ok without any overweight charges.

My bags weigh in at:
- Large Check: 50 lbs
- Slightly Smaller Check: 48.5 lbs
- Carry-on-18 lbs
- Personal Item- 16 lbs

I will try to add pictures soon because with the MAK-16s, packing and baggage size was the most hotly talked about topic on our Facebook Group.

For anyone who would like more information on Macedonia, here is the link to the Peace Corps Macedonia Welcome Book

The next time I post, I will probably have started my adventure!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

OMS Called....

A new lady at OMS called me today around 1:30 to tell me they had received the information my doctor sent over. Here's the gist of the conversation:

OMS: The medical officer reviewing your file had a few questions he wanted me to ask.
Me: Ok
OMS: Have you ever had a prolonged reaction to any sort of allergen or viral infection in the past.
Me: No
OMS: Oh....
Me: (thinking: crap- wrong answer clearly).
OMS: Ok, well are you going to be able to go see the doctor you saw before?
Me: Probably not. He is 3 hours away.
OMS: Hmmm... Well the Medical Officer saw the numbers from the peak flow test that was performed and he wants it done again.
Me: Ok. I have the peak flow meter with me. I can do that no problem.
OMS: Well, see, the Medical Officer isn't here today, but he really wanted a doctor's follow-up and the same doctor. I mean I can check with him later to see if he will take you doing it at home. Hmmm.... Well, how about this, you give me a call back on Monday or Tuesday and let me know the numbers you got when you did it at home and I will let you know if he is ok with that or if he needs the doctor to sign off on it.
Me: Um, ok, but I leave on Friday.
OMS: Yeah, I see that. Well, let's hope we can get this squared away by then.


So, perfect. Just when I thought I had made it through all of the hoops, this comes up. However, I am choosing to just forget about it now, there is nothing I can do until Tuesday (since Monday is Labor Day), so there is no point in worrying about it. It just may mean six hours of driving for literally a 10 second test that I can do at home.

I get that they need to be thorough and are just doing their job looking out for the health and well-being of their volunteers, but that doesn't mean it is any less frustrating. I guess at least they called today rather than on Tuesday. See...a bright side can be found anywhere if you look for it.

I am going to just forget about it all as much as I can and enjoy my last weekend in Minnesota complete with trips to the Minnesota State Fair, Mall of America, Como Zoo, and a Twins Game. What an eventful weekend it is sure to be.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Finger Crossing Worked!

I finally got ahold of OMS and I think I am in the clear. I need to fax over doctor's notes and get a letter from my doctor saying he is still clearing me to go, but I was told that, providing nothing is way crazy and I don't get worse, if my doctor here gives me clearance, Peace Corps will go with what he says. Hopefully I will have full clearance to go by the end of the week, but just knowing there is a good chance is a huge relief.

Now I feel like I can move forward and start packing. That will be quite the process I'm sure: 27 months, 2 bags, 100 lbs. Doable certainly it will just take some creativity.