Usage of words

"Your colleagues may expect that you will know exactly what needs to be done and how it needs to be accomplished. At the same time, you are simply trying to understand how things are done, why they are done in particular ways, and why things take a lot longer to be completed. Given all this, open-mindedness, flexibility and patience are perhaps the most essential tools to a successful experience."

from Your Assignment, Peace Corps

This I think may sum up the majority of my "efforts" while serving in the Peace Corps.

History of the Program

The Peace Corps program in Macedonia began in 1996 with the first group of English teachers in secondary school. Today the program has grown to include business, environment, local government, and NGO development. Due to political unrest, Peace Corps service was suspended in 1999 and again in 2001. The Ohrid Framework Agreement peace agreement ended ethnic fighting in 2001 and international assessments have concluded that Macedonia now has capable security forces that can handle the country's issues.

I will be part of the sixteenth group of volunteers to serve in Macedonia that will work in English Education and the Community Development.

Macedonia has begun the process of decentralizing their 84 municipalities. Local government will be responsible for education, healthcare, infrastructure development, and other services. One of the many challenges of the country is its name dispute with Greece and it remains unresolved, holding up its entry into NATO. The country is advancing making partnerships with neighboring countries and now citizens have visa free travel to EU countries which marks a significant step in the EU integration process.

My Primary Duties

As the government moves to a more decentralized structure, I will be helping local organizations learn organizational development, networking, grant proposal development and grant management skills, and financial sustainability. I could be doing anything from developing mission statements and strategic plans, introducing the effective use of information technology, promoting teambuilding, and identifying community assets. I may, also, have a major responsibility in assisting with the financial stability of the organization, through grants or other means of fundraising. The Peace Corps repeatedly mentions environmental improvement organizations, which excites me and could be promising. I could very well be helping Macedonians recycle or help to organize clean-ups.

Camden in the snow earlier this year

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work

Sorry didn't get too much done on the research front today. I was at my internship all day helping people file their taxes and then it was off to family dinner. Here's what I have learned since we last parted.

Here is some basic info.

Program: Community and Organizational Development

Job Title: NGO Development Volunteer

Staging Date (Date I leave): September 9th

Pre-Service Training (in Macedonia): September 11th - November 24th

Dates of Service: September 11th, 2001 - November 23rd, 2013

Job Description:

I will be providing assistance to NGO members, municipality employees and other members of Macedonian communities interested in developing their skills focused in their area of interest, improving skills in project development, strategic planning, resource acquisition, and to improve their day-to-day operational capacities.

Here is the website for the Peace Corps' page on Macedonia http://macedonia.peacecorps.gov.

Also, Macedonia has its own Idol showcase competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VumH0QvJKvE

Little Blue Packet

There is it friends! I have my placement for Peace Corps. Wanna know where I am going? Well, it all started this afternoon while I was on campus finishing up a paper due later in the day. My cell phone rang and it was Cheryl telling me that I got a large package from the Peace Corps! Then she asked if I wanted her to open it, no way Jose! I would open it when I got home from school.

Of course a few of my classmates thought I was crazy for even waiting since my house is only a few minutes drive from campus, but I had school to do! I told them if I finished up I would run home before next class and get the packet. Well that's what I did. I got home with 30 minutes to spare before class (I know I know when am I going to tell you...I'm getting there).

I wanted to make sure that everyone got the best of the finding out experience, so I let Cheryl open it and see without me seeing. I wanted to open it and find out with my classmates who would also be going through the same procedure as I did today. After opening and seeing where I would go, I asked Cheryl some questions.

Is it Africa? No. Man that's where I wanted to go, my heart broke a little...ok a lot. I felt like I would cry. It took me a second to remember where this country was. Really? Man I felt confused, where could it be? Cheryl is smart and knows most places, so I was stumped. I jumped back in the car with 10 minutes till class and about to reveal where I would be spending the next two plus years of my life.

You know that moment on Wheel of Fortune, at the end, where the winner is finding out what their prize is by opening a shiny gold envelope? That's how it felt for me. I got into class and everyone was excited that I waited and there was this pause...when I almost couldn't open up the Velcro cover. Then as every one was cheering me on, I slipped my hand under the flap...

I am going to Macedonia?!?!?!?

Yep, I am going to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A country in Southeast Europe that is bordered by Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Albania. I country with more than 50 lakes and sixteen mountains higher than 6,562 feet.

Here is the flag:

It looks kind of cool right? I mean I am warming up to the idea more and more. It's not that I am against Macedonia, it's just I never had a real opinion on the place and now I am going to be living there. I wasn't really sure where it was when I read the name out. I know where it wasn't but I wouldn't have been able to go to it on a map.

The Peace Corps sent me a huge packet with all sorts of information I need to go through and I should do that and get back to them within a week's time, since that is the deadline. Yeah I'm going to go, it's an adventure and they tell you to be open to where ever you are placed. So I ship out on September 9th, with per-service training from September 11th - November 24th. I will be serving as an NGO Development Volunteer till November 23rd, 2013.

I plan (cross your fingers) to post something new about Macedonia and my service each day this week. As I learn information you too will be learning. Here's to new lands and new adventures.

Rightness

Peace, a state of tranquility or stillness, is what I am feeling now. To be truthful I feel like there are still a dozen things that I need to get done, but really on the whole they are not that pressing, I am only missing myself-diagnosed deadlines and no one else's.

Currently I am sitting in Nashville, the city I has called home for eight years and said good-bye to this August when I started graduate school in New Jersey. I have a mug of hot chocolate which has been a frequent companion of mine this wintery season. I have already had a full two days since I rolled into town. I love how it just seems so easy to reappear here as if I haven't even left. Driving around town a bit more I do notice changes, new stores there, a building torn down here and other consturuction everywhere else. Seeing these changes hurts a little because it is the evidence that life keeps moving forward with or without you.

Today, I spent the afternoon with one of my dear young friends who I have loved and cared for since she was eight. We took a walk down the street and to the school on the corner. The day was beautiful for December, sunny and warmer than it should be. We skipped and jumped and looked at leaves and nuts on the ground. My favorite is spinning in circles and I would sing to her and she just smiles and sometimes covers her ears when I am a little off.

I was catching up on one blog that I am attempting to follow and there was an entry on being childlike and today I felt like I did a good job of that, more so than maybe I have been since leaving. I knew it in my heart and thought what a great joy to skip and jump with someone who loves it just as much and doesn't care what others who pass by are thinking.

Here is a segment from Leo and his blog that stuck out to me:

Consider: as children, we are naturally imaginative, curious, able to play without a worry in our minds. Some qualities of young children that happen naturally:

• they live in the present
• they have no concerns about money, productivity, or being cool
• there are no limits to their imagination, except what they’ve been exposed to
• they play and lose themselves in play
• they create with abandon
• they are endlessly curious, and ask questions … without end
• they love showing off to their parents

I hope to have many more moments to express childlike joy, there is freedom in letting yourself go.

Picture happy

Fog on this morning's run. I could feel it on my face as if I was running through the produce section at the grocer's or a butterfly house. I was stopped by a gentleman that I had seen last week. We walked and talked for about a half mile. It disrupted my run but I didn't mind. He's living off disability in some apartments where Cheryl said there have been a few homicides. This man is waiting for a settlement check from his former apartment complex where a faulty handrail lead to his being disabled.

For my birthday (over a month and a half ago) Erin gave me an iTunes gift card, the second I have ever received. I just used that thing and bought the Hipstamatic app for my phone, which I love love love! Here are some pics I took over the weekend.







































I think I found my fireplace at Jersey Java. I've been wanting to find somewhere with a good fireplace that was in use! We have one at the house but it's been cemented in so it mocks me, looking inviting but in no way will it be holding a fire. There was also cool lighting inside too.





Tomorrow I am proud to say that I will be reporting for work at D.U.E. Season Charter School. I will be helping with the after school tutoring. It's not much money but since my work study has still failed to finalize and I just don't have the time or authority to make it happen, I had to look elsewhere. Here's to adventure tomorrow!

Calm before the storm

It's November 11th and Veteran's Day, which means my internship office is closed and I am having a mini-holiday right now. I made it through mid-terms without too much stress. I did however have to run to one class with my just printed mid-term clutched in my hands in order to make it to class on time. I don't want to do that again! I made good grades on them all so I am relatively pleased with myself. Long ago I abandoned my ability to get all A's, for the most part no matter how hard I try it just doesn't happen. So I am thrilled to be getting the A's I have seen and the few B's sprinkled in along the way. I have reconfirmed to myself that I am not a scholar, I just don't get excited about reading and discovering a certain topic. Maybe you could say I once was about the American fast food and food systems, but not as much any more. I am just not one to spout off knowledge about the things I know or believe. I recently felt ashamed when my favorite professor asked me what I was passionate about (trying to get me to focus my research paper) and all I wanted to say was nothing. I know if my dad reads this he can tell me "told ya so" at Christmas, sorry. I am seeing this degree as more as a means to a better job than any other overarching self fulfillment type situation, though I will be proud of myself when this is all said and done.

The end of this semester is approaching and I have two small papers and two large papers left to do. Not so bad except that research eats up a lot of time. One paper is my choosing (that passion one) and I guess I have settled on international cattle trade/industry. Can't say I am super excited or that I have discovered anything really new. It's similar to the American system just in other countries that are poorer. The one for budgeting is this long thing looking at budgets in various states. I picked Georgia. Not super thrilled about this one but it's gotta get done.

Well, that's the state of affairs concerning school right now. I've felt absurdly at peace the past few days even though I know there is more work I should be doing. By the time I get home from class at 9pm I just don't want to do any more work. That will have to change soon even if I don't feel like it.

Last weekend I ran a 10k over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and around Camden. It was fun, though doing it by yourself isn't really fun. There were over 4,000 other people with me but I didn't know any of them. They had run out of my shirt size but they gave everyone a medal at the end, which made up for it. I wore the thing the rest of that day.

Tumble, jumble, another year

My bike and the Ben Franklin
All that is left
Lori watching the fireworks after our visit to the symphony


I am writing from Boston, MA after a long and harrowing car trip. It started off with me rear-ending probably the nicest guy out there. At one point he told me that he was sorry, maybe that was due to the fact that I mentioned it was my birthday yesterday, but you know... It wasn't a bad accident. He was stopped and I moved to the gas before looking again to make sure he had already gone, whoops! I am just now coming to terms with the fact that maybe I shouldn't drive anymore. I am just not careful enough on the road. I want to get where I am going as soon as I can with the lest amount of resistance. If I can make it through this year then I won't have to worry about a car for two years.

Oh, and my bike got stolen in Philadelphia last Saturday. I biked over the Ben Franklin bridge to see Lori and spend the night. Biking in Philly was a little much for me since it was the biggest city that I had tried to maneuver in before. There were a few times that I needed to be turning down a certain street, but me physically trying to get there would be a death sentence. So I went in a few large circles. I didn't die though and I eventually found Lori's place after stopping and getting some final directions from her roommate. The bike got stolen near the Italian Market and what kills me is that it was totally my oversight. I didn't lock the thing up right and we were gone for maybe 45mins and that's all it took. Just my front wheel and lock left. I felt terrible because Lori had to push her bike around for the rest of the afternoon. I almost had a breakthrough when the police called on Thursday saying they were so sure they had my bike. I jumped in the car and drove over to the station, but alas it wasn't mine. I was ok with it not being my bike simply because the cops called me, they were looking for my bike. Also, when I said it wasn't mine they seemed so crushed. I was happy enough that the system was working for me when I though it would just over look me.

Let's talk about water ice. I had never heard of such a thing before landing in Camden. It's flavored ice with custard or soft serve underneath or in layers. I was skeptical at first because I didn't want it to be like a snow cone or Italian ice. If my words can convince you in anyway, it's not like either of those two treats. Water ice is amazing! I have been twice and the first time I got chocolate water ice and coffee soft serve. So good! Pretty soon water ice shops will close down for the fall/winter.



Also, there is an endless pool at school. You know, it has one of those machines in it that produces a current that you swim against. There's a crank where you can speed it up or slow it down. The weird part is that there is a mirror in the bottom of the pool angled up to face you. That freaked me out big time. In fact it took two rounds of swimming in the pool before I got over the fact of having to watch myself swim. I guess I could try it with my eyes closed but that seems weird to me. I can say that the mirror has helped to correct my stroke, I don't look like some spaz now and I feel like I could LOOK like I would pass for the Olympics. I also can't help thinking that the mirror makes me look as if I am trying to swim away from some terrible monster that is trying to get me.

Oh and it was my birthday on Thursday so now I am 28. So far I don't feel any different. Normally I don't, but when I turned 20 I felt weird not saying something-teen. My house was kind enough to make me strawberry shortcake, tater-tots and green beans on request. They also served me this delightful food on a happy birthday plate and I drank from a happy birthday mug. So Happy Birthday to me, let the next year keep plodding along.


Philly mural, coffee break and almond-chocolate chip muffin mix