I apparently only move to places where it's between 28-40 degrees (f) and precipitation is never ending. The snow returned yesterday, and with it, a certain glum mood settled in on the office. Melancholiness blanketing like fog reminded us that regardless of the groundhog's shadow, Macedonia still had a bit more winter. The snow didn't stick, rather, it became slush, the devil love child of snow and rain, upon arrival to the ground.
I think slush is God's way of telling people to lighten up. It's hard to keep a straight face while wading in 3 inch deep water in soaking socks and water dripping down your nose. I am reminded of when I was in New Orleans (age 12 or so) with the Alaska Youth Choir. It was pouring, but as warm rain was incredibly foreign to us Juneau kids, we left the other choristers under the awning to frolic among the pregnant drops.
I'm taking a class on Cuba this coming quarter. Am hoping to become extremely interested in the only warm communist country and move there.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Pictures from the Green Schools
Grigor Prlichev School in Ohrid
5. Feb 2010
Celebration of patron name day or something. The mayor is the big guy and the guy in red is the school's director. Ten minutes later the entire room lit up cigarettes.. I was like are you kidding?
New USAID windows! The students and teachers all said they feel much safer because the wind no longer breaks their windows. Also, to greenify, their heating bill has gone down.
Smaller projects that the students can do on their own include things like this- that remind students to turn off the lights when they leave the room!
Green Club- Grigor Prichev!
New florescent flights installed!
Hallway painted by the kids (aided by professionals). The two schools that I've visited have a strong presence of the color green.
Goce Delcev in Negotino 8.Feb 2010
(the rest of the photos are from this school)
Green Schools. Green Club.
The new faucets the kids bought last year. These ones turn off automatically.
I don't know if you can see it here, the kid in the black sweatshirt by the window was taking photos of me on his camera phone the entire time. Way to go Macedonia, way to raise green creepers.
A rare photo of me.... and I'm working! two birds, one stone.
All of the kids with their two advisors. Such fashion. :)
Posters Made for the GREEN CLUB classroom
5. Feb 2010
Celebration of patron name day or something. The mayor is the big guy and the guy in red is the school's director. Ten minutes later the entire room lit up cigarettes.. I was like are you kidding?
New USAID windows! The students and teachers all said they feel much safer because the wind no longer breaks their windows. Also, to greenify, their heating bill has gone down.
Smaller projects that the students can do on their own include things like this- that remind students to turn off the lights when they leave the room!
Green Club- Grigor Prichev!
New florescent flights installed!
Hallway painted by the kids (aided by professionals). The two schools that I've visited have a strong presence of the color green.
Goce Delcev in Negotino 8.Feb 2010
(the rest of the photos are from this school)
Green Schools. Green Club.
The new faucets the kids bought last year. These ones turn off automatically.
I don't know if you can see it here, the kid in the black sweatshirt by the window was taking photos of me on his camera phone the entire time. Way to go Macedonia, way to raise green creepers.
A rare photo of me.... and I'm working! two birds, one stone.
All of the kids with their two advisors. Such fashion. :)
Posters Made for the GREEN CLUB classroom
Monday, February 8, 2010
Two Case Studies
Today (Monday) and Friday I spent most of the two days with the green clubs of two separate schools and thought I would comment on both of them a bit.
The two schools I visited were Grigor Prlichev in Ohrid and Goce Delcev in the town of Negotino.
Both schools are in the second phase of the Green School Program- so that means that not only have the had the USAID renovations, they have also had the presence of a "Green Club" for a full year and a half now. The Green Clubs are made up of 25 students- specially chosen- and they do different activities on their campuses to raise awareness and to educate their communities about the environment and what people can to do help out: i.e. picking up trash, turning off lights, turning off faucets, etc. They also make teaching materials to do presentations around the school- especially for the younger kids - and patrol the hallways after school to monitor the level of trash left or faucets left on, etc. In addition to their efforts made to change the behavior and habits of their students, the students are allowed 800 USD from USAID to change something about their school each year. Both of the schools we visited chose to change the faucets - either just to non-broken ones, or to automatically shutting off ones.
ANyway, so that's the official part of the Green Clubs. All of the work they do really has affected the schools and the surrounding communities: from helping teachers keep the hallways and classrooms clean and void of food trash- to advocating for buying new light bulbs, etc. However, what has struck me above all, is the level of passion and commitment these students have for their work and the changes seen in their lives as well as the students around them. Unless the US, where school clubs are commonplace, the is the first example of any type of organized group designed to empower students. I remember being in student government in high school and the feeling of importance that came from being listened to, encouraged, and valued as a member of the community. Many of the students, if not all, now feel a personal responsibility to be environmentally friendly, which is amazing, but it also very moving to see the long term effects this type of club will have in their lives. I think this is true of American schools as well, but it's so built into our system that it's hard to get through life without having been part of some sort of club, and the effect has probably been diluted by the intention to "empower" everyone- quite difficult when trying to run a high school.
One story was especially touching. Martin, a kid who had issues at home and at school and was known as the bully, was going downhill very fast. After a few months in the green club, he has become a passionate and sincere advocate for being green and although the younger kids may still be slightly scared of him, they now only have to recycle instead of give up their lunch money...
One of the advisors said that when the students put on their green shirts- donated by USAID- they take on a certain maturity and responsibility, through which they've gained respect from the students and the GC members respect their fellow students as well. I asked if they were the same after they took their shirts off- hoping that the maturity stuck around outside of their one meeting a week. The advisor laughed, held his head in his hands, and said: They never take them off- Every student wears his teeshirt every day!
I'm inspired. If these students can find a passion at age 12, I certainly can soon.
Love,
Tess
The two schools I visited were Grigor Prlichev in Ohrid and Goce Delcev in the town of Negotino.
Both schools are in the second phase of the Green School Program- so that means that not only have the had the USAID renovations, they have also had the presence of a "Green Club" for a full year and a half now. The Green Clubs are made up of 25 students- specially chosen- and they do different activities on their campuses to raise awareness and to educate their communities about the environment and what people can to do help out: i.e. picking up trash, turning off lights, turning off faucets, etc. They also make teaching materials to do presentations around the school- especially for the younger kids - and patrol the hallways after school to monitor the level of trash left or faucets left on, etc. In addition to their efforts made to change the behavior and habits of their students, the students are allowed 800 USD from USAID to change something about their school each year. Both of the schools we visited chose to change the faucets - either just to non-broken ones, or to automatically shutting off ones.
ANyway, so that's the official part of the Green Clubs. All of the work they do really has affected the schools and the surrounding communities: from helping teachers keep the hallways and classrooms clean and void of food trash- to advocating for buying new light bulbs, etc. However, what has struck me above all, is the level of passion and commitment these students have for their work and the changes seen in their lives as well as the students around them. Unless the US, where school clubs are commonplace, the is the first example of any type of organized group designed to empower students. I remember being in student government in high school and the feeling of importance that came from being listened to, encouraged, and valued as a member of the community. Many of the students, if not all, now feel a personal responsibility to be environmentally friendly, which is amazing, but it also very moving to see the long term effects this type of club will have in their lives. I think this is true of American schools as well, but it's so built into our system that it's hard to get through life without having been part of some sort of club, and the effect has probably been diluted by the intention to "empower" everyone- quite difficult when trying to run a high school.
One story was especially touching. Martin, a kid who had issues at home and at school and was known as the bully, was going downhill very fast. After a few months in the green club, he has become a passionate and sincere advocate for being green and although the younger kids may still be slightly scared of him, they now only have to recycle instead of give up their lunch money...
One of the advisors said that when the students put on their green shirts- donated by USAID- they take on a certain maturity and responsibility, through which they've gained respect from the students and the GC members respect their fellow students as well. I asked if they were the same after they took their shirts off- hoping that the maturity stuck around outside of their one meeting a week. The advisor laughed, held his head in his hands, and said: They never take them off- Every student wears his teeshirt every day!
I'm inspired. If these students can find a passion at age 12, I certainly can soon.
Love,
Tess
Monday, February 1, 2010
Winter Funk
Yesterday I went on my first run since I've been here. I normally try to incorporate a significant amount of exercise into my daily routine, but the past few weeks it's been difficult to motivate myself to move after a long day in front of a computer-- especially since the sun is well on its way to setting by 5, when I get off work. But yesterday afternoon is geared up in my running tights and long-sleeved zip up, prepared to brave the elements that accompany any eastern european winter. Surprised, I left my apartments and entered into what felt like 65 degree weather! I checked later and it was only 46, but the sun was shining and people were out with their dogs- sometimes it seemed they had heard an American would be out running and didn't want to miss the show. A lot of people stared at me. One woman was just awkward about it, so I smiled and waved. :)
One of the reasons it was so important for me to get out and exercise is that I'm feeling like I'm slipping into my annual winter funk. Although the symptoms resemble a light depression, it feels more like an incredibly calm indifference. Actually it's not always a bad thing. I feel exhausted and relaxed at the same time.. but all the time. Kind of unmotivated, listless even. But I'm from Alaska and this is the first time I've lived anywhere south of Seattle (latitude-wise), so these sorts of swings are not unfamiliar. And some of it is the weather.
But some of it is my frustration with work right now. As I've said many times, my coworkers are incredibly great and very well intentioned, but I can only imagine how difficult it is to have a non-Macedonian speaking 'Academic Intern" with them. They can't give me busy work, but I also have to have things that are recordable to the program and it's goals. Which is great and I would be thrilled doing it, if they seemed to have the work for me. When I was given my placement, I was told I was attractive to the PEP project because I speak German and I'm interested in conflict resolution/prevention through dialogue and education. And yes, that speaks directly to one area of my Scope of Work. However, that is the part I haven't started. In the mean time, I've been working on Green Schools. When I work with Milica, from the other organization, I am excited and feel useful and productive. But for the past full week, I've had very little to do. Today I asked if I could take on some research in the field of educational funding in relationship with the government-- so tracking how educational policy and its funding has changed since 1991 when Macedonia became a democracy. I was told that it really didn't have anything to do with my project and that we needed to show that all of my time was being used to help the project. But for the past week, very little I've done has helped the project.
I'm not complaining and I'm sorry if it comes off that way. I needed to vent briefly. I am at my happiest when I am engaged intellectually and am stimulated by whatever task I am given - which often can be any task at all. I understand and appreciate the work that everyone around me is doing and see that it is difficult to have a new person without language skills to try and keep busy.
Hopefully the days will continue getting longer- they're already 10 hours!, the weather will get nicer and I will get busier.
Until then, I'll continue doing the things I know will best help me in gettin' thru the funk!
Love,
Tess
One of the reasons it was so important for me to get out and exercise is that I'm feeling like I'm slipping into my annual winter funk. Although the symptoms resemble a light depression, it feels more like an incredibly calm indifference. Actually it's not always a bad thing. I feel exhausted and relaxed at the same time.. but all the time. Kind of unmotivated, listless even. But I'm from Alaska and this is the first time I've lived anywhere south of Seattle (latitude-wise), so these sorts of swings are not unfamiliar. And some of it is the weather.
But some of it is my frustration with work right now. As I've said many times, my coworkers are incredibly great and very well intentioned, but I can only imagine how difficult it is to have a non-Macedonian speaking 'Academic Intern" with them. They can't give me busy work, but I also have to have things that are recordable to the program and it's goals. Which is great and I would be thrilled doing it, if they seemed to have the work for me. When I was given my placement, I was told I was attractive to the PEP project because I speak German and I'm interested in conflict resolution/prevention through dialogue and education. And yes, that speaks directly to one area of my Scope of Work. However, that is the part I haven't started. In the mean time, I've been working on Green Schools. When I work with Milica, from the other organization, I am excited and feel useful and productive. But for the past full week, I've had very little to do. Today I asked if I could take on some research in the field of educational funding in relationship with the government-- so tracking how educational policy and its funding has changed since 1991 when Macedonia became a democracy. I was told that it really didn't have anything to do with my project and that we needed to show that all of my time was being used to help the project. But for the past week, very little I've done has helped the project.
I'm not complaining and I'm sorry if it comes off that way. I needed to vent briefly. I am at my happiest when I am engaged intellectually and am stimulated by whatever task I am given - which often can be any task at all. I understand and appreciate the work that everyone around me is doing and see that it is difficult to have a new person without language skills to try and keep busy.
Hopefully the days will continue getting longer- they're already 10 hours!, the weather will get nicer and I will get busier.
Until then, I'll continue doing the things I know will best help me in gettin' thru the funk!
Love,
Tess
Sunday, January 31, 2010
S'more Photos
Macedonia Street! Full of Coffee-bars (whatever that means) and expensive stores.
My roommate, Nive
One of the statues that are all over the city. Apparently they were commissioned by the government and young people designed them.. some of them are random and kind of communist looking, but i liked this one.
The statue of a diving woman into the river-- right in front of the stone bridge
Random Rooster tied to a post.
Streets and shops by the Turkish bazaar in the old part of the city
There are so many random cats around.. They all have discolorations.. it's quite sad- they perch on garbage containers and rummage through everything.. :(
view from my apartment!
My roommate, Nive
One of the statues that are all over the city. Apparently they were commissioned by the government and young people designed them.. some of them are random and kind of communist looking, but i liked this one.
The statue of a diving woman into the river-- right in front of the stone bridge
Random Rooster tied to a post.
Streets and shops by the Turkish bazaar in the old part of the city
There are so many random cats around.. They all have discolorations.. it's quite sad- they perch on garbage containers and rummage through everything.. :(
view from my apartment!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
photos of film night
This photos are from a film showing PEP had this past week. We showed the move, "The Water is Wide" and then had a discussion afterward. It was all in both Macedonian and Albanian, and although I didn't understand any of the words, I definitely could understand a lot of the sentiments behind them! People got quite upset about the choice of movie and some people were demanding answers to how they should be acting as teachers.. It was an interesting night, but I'm not sure it was all that productive in reaching their goals! Apparently they have had other movie nights and they have all gone much much better.
The first photo is of Keith- our Chief of Party- and Virna another coworker. Nive and I were also asked to speak a bit about the situation in the U.S. as well. the rest are of participants-- nice lipstick, right??
The first photo is of Keith- our Chief of Party- and Virna another coworker. Nive and I were also asked to speak a bit about the situation in the U.S. as well. the rest are of participants-- nice lipstick, right??
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Day to Day
I've talked mostly about my job and work related things, so I thought I'd mention a few things about my day to day life and then a quick update on work at the end.
NEW ROOMMATE
I have a lovely new roommate now. Her name is Nivedita (Nive for short) and she is a 32 year old grad student in development studies in Brighton, UK. Since she got in on Sunday we've been able to get to know one another quite well. She seems really great and I look forward to having her in the apartment for the next few months while I'm here! She has a had an incredibly interesting professional life since graduating from undergrad, so it's great to see where I could be in ten years-- and also fun to hear what her friends are doing to see all of the other options there are out there!
We cook dinner every night, I haven't gone out once. Partially due to the fact that I've enjoyed cooking and know that most of the meals I enjoy would be difficult to find here, but partially because going to a restaurant is incredibly difficult with the language and alphabet barrier. Unlike countries where the alphabet is shared and most things are at least recognizable, it would take me hours to translate the menu and most likely would be much more trouble that it was worth! Having said that, we often go out to eat for lunch, which is actually quite nice because then I learn more vocabulary every day. Today, however, I brought some soup that I made on Saturday, because although most stuff is quite inexpensive (A full meal out is often 3-4 USD), the rent and costs associated with our housing situation are turning out to be more expensive than I originally anticipated. It's not super spendy, but we think we may be being a bit taken advantage of, being foreigners.. :( One of our coworkers is going to call our landlord and talk to her, so that's nice.
MACEDONIAN
I'm still learning quite fast: I make flashcards at night and study what I can. I can now put together very simple sentences like, that is beautiful, and you are boring. I have even learned the past tense of "to be"... Although my German has helped me in absolutely no way here- even hurt me, since they keep trying to get me to roll my r's and not use my throat!- but i do think that having learned, or at least started, three languages before this one, I know the basics of what I need to know to start teaching myself... Of course, with Spanish and French, I rarely had a problem guessing things!
One of my coworkers also gave me some of her daughters books to try to read. We'll see how that goes.. :) It's hard because there isn't an internet dictionary to help me out.
WORK
The rest of the this week may be a bit slow for me because I'm waiting to visit the schools with Milica next week to start implementing my evaluation system. I did write a statement about the Green Schools yesterday for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was pretty cool. I have no idea where its' final destination is or if it will be published, etc, but it's neat to have something to slide into a portfolio! I just got it back from Keith (The COP- Chief of Party- of the Project here) and he said that he made a few revisions, but that it was really good work! --> You can read this directly to the right of this post on the side column.
Next week I will also start creating the Project Profiles for each individual school. I'm excited to start this project because it's partially artistically creative, which I'm excited for. I'll definitely learn a bit more about how to use WORD...
I'm still doing really well and enjoying everything.. Nive and I may join a gym this weekend because our nights are rather sedentary as are our days, and I'm definitely not used to it... And it's hard to motivate ourselves to go out into the city (a good 30 minute walk) after 5 when we get off work and it's already dark...
Oh one more thing, just to end with. Milica, the woman I'm working with at the partner organization, said that she loved all my ideas so much she would hire me immediately! And Nebo, my immediate boss complimented me on my work (and speed, I think, that's normally where I get compliments) and joked that they needed me for another 10 weeks. I'll write later about what I'm thinking about doing post-graduation, but how neat would it be to do a Rotary or something here?... Food for thought at this point.
Hope you're all well.. I especially send out love to my fellow IDIPers-- I've so enjoyed reading everyone's blogs and seeing their photos.. I love how different all of our experiences are shaping up. Can't wait for Spring (If I ever come back)..
Lots of love,
Tess
NEW ROOMMATE
I have a lovely new roommate now. Her name is Nivedita (Nive for short) and she is a 32 year old grad student in development studies in Brighton, UK. Since she got in on Sunday we've been able to get to know one another quite well. She seems really great and I look forward to having her in the apartment for the next few months while I'm here! She has a had an incredibly interesting professional life since graduating from undergrad, so it's great to see where I could be in ten years-- and also fun to hear what her friends are doing to see all of the other options there are out there!
We cook dinner every night, I haven't gone out once. Partially due to the fact that I've enjoyed cooking and know that most of the meals I enjoy would be difficult to find here, but partially because going to a restaurant is incredibly difficult with the language and alphabet barrier. Unlike countries where the alphabet is shared and most things are at least recognizable, it would take me hours to translate the menu and most likely would be much more trouble that it was worth! Having said that, we often go out to eat for lunch, which is actually quite nice because then I learn more vocabulary every day. Today, however, I brought some soup that I made on Saturday, because although most stuff is quite inexpensive (A full meal out is often 3-4 USD), the rent and costs associated with our housing situation are turning out to be more expensive than I originally anticipated. It's not super spendy, but we think we may be being a bit taken advantage of, being foreigners.. :( One of our coworkers is going to call our landlord and talk to her, so that's nice.
MACEDONIAN
I'm still learning quite fast: I make flashcards at night and study what I can. I can now put together very simple sentences like, that is beautiful, and you are boring. I have even learned the past tense of "to be"... Although my German has helped me in absolutely no way here- even hurt me, since they keep trying to get me to roll my r's and not use my throat!- but i do think that having learned, or at least started, three languages before this one, I know the basics of what I need to know to start teaching myself... Of course, with Spanish and French, I rarely had a problem guessing things!
One of my coworkers also gave me some of her daughters books to try to read. We'll see how that goes.. :) It's hard because there isn't an internet dictionary to help me out.
WORK
The rest of the this week may be a bit slow for me because I'm waiting to visit the schools with Milica next week to start implementing my evaluation system. I did write a statement about the Green Schools yesterday for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which was pretty cool. I have no idea where its' final destination is or if it will be published, etc, but it's neat to have something to slide into a portfolio! I just got it back from Keith (The COP- Chief of Party- of the Project here) and he said that he made a few revisions, but that it was really good work! --> You can read this directly to the right of this post on the side column.
Next week I will also start creating the Project Profiles for each individual school. I'm excited to start this project because it's partially artistically creative, which I'm excited for. I'll definitely learn a bit more about how to use WORD...
I'm still doing really well and enjoying everything.. Nive and I may join a gym this weekend because our nights are rather sedentary as are our days, and I'm definitely not used to it... And it's hard to motivate ourselves to go out into the city (a good 30 minute walk) after 5 when we get off work and it's already dark...
Oh one more thing, just to end with. Milica, the woman I'm working with at the partner organization, said that she loved all my ideas so much she would hire me immediately! And Nebo, my immediate boss complimented me on my work (and speed, I think, that's normally where I get compliments) and joked that they needed me for another 10 weeks. I'll write later about what I'm thinking about doing post-graduation, but how neat would it be to do a Rotary or something here?... Food for thought at this point.
Hope you're all well.. I especially send out love to my fellow IDIPers-- I've so enjoyed reading everyone's blogs and seeing their photos.. I love how different all of our experiences are shaping up. Can't wait for Spring (If I ever come back)..
Lots of love,
Tess
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