Refections and absorption

two loves i made last month

Yesterday I began reading blogs, facebook, google searches, and my Peace Corps material (again) in order to learn more about Macedonia, my future home for twenty-seven months. Let me state for the record, along with everyone else who lays claim to the same statement, the country is gorgeous! I am excited just to see the landscape, but the people are suppose to be so giving as well.

I feel as if I could read endless amounts of information on all things Macedonia, the Balkans, and Peace Corps. Here are some of the sites I have been visiting: Candy's Blog, a current volunteer, Lew, who will be part of my team, the Facebook Page that Lew set up for our group, the Peace Corps Journal Facebook Page, and the Peace Corps Wiki. I am going to do my best to bounce around all these sites and glean as much info as possible. There is a ton though, and I must say it wears me out. I am also referencing the Welcome Book and have begun making a master packing list, making sure to mark if the item still needs to be procured. Feel free to read any of these and send me your notes! This will save me time and sanity ;-) I have also reserved three books off the Peace Corps reading list for Macedonia. I hope these are a better read than the first book I tired and then failed to read.

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The thing I love about summer, well my last two summers (I'm including this one), is the freedom to do what I want when I want, like bake bread. I find that even though I have no "schedule" I some how manage to fill my time, especially with the things I enjoy. I have been in the kitchen more which has resulted in bread, hummus, pizza, and quinoa and chickpea dishes. My mom recently reminded me of the fact that I just part of the tradition of sharing meals with the people I lived with and was curious if I was doing anything like that now. The answer was no, but as of Sunday that will change. Though the eight or so girls that I will be eating with once a week do not all live with me, they live near-by and I see them all at least once a week. Each week a different person will cook and play host and I am glad to be incorporating shared meals back in my weekly rotation.

I also broke down and re-joined the YMCA, I needed an exercise option that provided more than just running, mainly I signed up to have access to yoga classes, but I also need a place I can go to whenever there is down time, where I can get in some extra work (out of the heat too). I am so glad to be doing yoga on a regular basis, I've already gone three times this week. It's good for my soul and keeps me energized when tackling my to-do list. Oh and I almost forgot! They have a pool and so I'm back to swimming laps, get this, in a real lap pool! I have missed this so much and prefer a pool to the endless pool machine at Rutgers. So, joining the Y equals a happy Mary.

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Other than that my life has been fine, though I feel like all my friends are in the midst of hard situations, some circumstances are just the result of the way of life and some are self-inflicted. I have been struggling with what one does when situations are out of your control (aren't they all?) and all I can do is offer them up to God. Especially the ones that are self-inflicted, no amount of acting as a bystander or yelling will actually get someone to change their negative position. All I can do is continue to be there and occasionally try to offer a voice of reason. I must say, I've been in that same spot so many times myself and in the midst you do not want to listen to any one, even when you know they are right. One day, though, when all energy is gone, that still small, constant voice will breakthrough and shine the light of redemption and maybe, just maybe a part of that voice will have been yours.

Wash me clean, inside and out

Girl Talk

A light afternoon shower is falling over Nashville today, thwarting my plans to wash the dust of Bonnaroo from my car. So, instead I am taking the time to update the blog, over pizza and a latte.

I got back in Nashville yesterday afternoon after spending six days in Manchester, TN at Bonnaroo, an outdoor music and arts festival attended by 85,000 people. This event is typically viewed as primarily a hippie event with lots of drugs involved. Though the line-up continues to become more diversified every year (and this year was the 10th anniversary).

This was my fourth Roo ('05, '06, '07 and '11) and just as fabulous as all the former ones I attended. I got to see Kopecky Family Band, Best Coast, The Drums, Sleigh Bells, Matt & Kim, Ray Lamontagne, Florence + The Machine, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, The Low Anthem, The Black Keys, Girl Talk, The Head and The Heart, Amos Lee, Cold War Kids, Robyn, and Beirut.

My highlights were seeing My Morning Jacket and the Black Keys from the first row, dancing till 4am at Girl Talk and finishing out the weekend hearing Beirut for the first time. I was surprised to hear that Eminem put on a good show and was many people's favorite. Of course I was sad to miss Mumford and Sons, but since I work at the festival, which enables me to get paid to be at Bonnaroo, some sacrifices have to be made.

As always, Bonnaroo is as much as going to see good music as it is building community with other festival-goers. A memory I will always carry with me from this year's event is from Sunday morning, when all ten paid staff and volunteers for my Pod were just sitting and laying around in the grass talking and laughing together. No one was running off to see a show and even though only two of us were "on the clock" at the time we all were taking turns helping patrons with any questions that needed answers. I love how Bonnaroo brings strangers together and builds a sense of family between individuals. I think I value that magic more than the music.

I think I've almost washed all the glitter from my hair and body, my car is unpacked, and the majority of my laundry is done. I'm glad to be back to sleeping in a bed and having access to running water, but I will also be looking forward to the next time I can make it to the Roo.

For a few more pictures take a look at my flickr.

Let me come home

New Jersey was nice enough to let me leave the state as long as I promised to come back one day soon, but I've heard it's been raining non-stop since my departure.

I made my way to Nashville taking a slower pace than normal and still getting in at a reasonable time. I'll be here for the majority of the summer, living similarly as I did last summer. My days will be filled with faces I love and adventures I'll cherish, while making sure I still attempt some form of a responsible adult existence.

I finished my semester at Rutgers Camden with a few close calls as always, but I did well if I do say so myself. I gained a vast amount of information in a short amount of time and soon I'll have the chance to apply this material while serving in Macedonia. Speaking of which, I was required by the Peace Corps to resubmit my dental review and after a bit of cajoling I was about to get the Camden County College Dental School to poke at my teeth, take some X-rays, and even clean them! I am grateful to the wonderful ladies that helped me get that task complete.

I will have to catch up on life this week. I am just posting this because it was an entry I started about two weeks ago...

Downhill with the breaks on

The end is coming...I am fighting counting how many weeks of school I have left. Oh alright, I might as well. Open iPhone. Touch calendar. This week, next week, April dear God, that whole month, ok really six weeks...maybe seven if you count the two classes that are meeting when no one else is, but by week six I will have turned in everything that counts for a grade. In those six weeks in addition to class and homework, I will still be helping individuals with taxes three days out of the week (including Saturday), trying to wrangle the beginnings of three community gardens, running a half marathon (did 9.3 yesterday), going to the Jersey Shore one more time with my housemates, attending a Brownfields Conference, helping organize and promote for a grant writing workshop, visiting a Macedonian church, possibly going to Norfolk, VA and either going to Boston or having Jillian come here (both of these may also happen after I am done with school), visiting Washington, DC, seeing Iron and Wine, cooking a Macedonian meal, attending a wedding, AND pack.

I really just wanted to write that all out (not really).

Thursday I got back from another WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunity for Organic Farming) adventure, this time in Ireland. I will have to write about it next time (I wrote most of this entry two weeks ago).

I am about to run out the door for the Jersey Coast this weekend with my houses and a bit of a retreat.

Verification

Quick note, wanted to let you know that I just sent my acceptance e-mail to the Peace Corps for my service in Macedonia as a NGO Development Volunteer.

Oh, and watch this cool video!

Good night.

Just around the bend

A small break from Macedonia. I got approval from the Department of Public Works this week for the lots I requested for community gardens through the Adopt-A-Lot Program. This is the first major step for instituting three new community gardens in the Cramer Hill neighborhood of Camden. I hope to begin serious planning in March after my spring break, it's still too cold to do anything with the ground, but there will be some planning until then. Right now we are swamped with running a VITA Center in the office. I have become a tax preparer, though I am still fuzzy on where to put home mortgage stuff, oh yeah Schedule A.

In other news, I will be running my first ever half marathon in April. Our "team" will be running outside for the first time together on Sunday. This will be my first time running outside since Christmas. There are four of us ladies from the IPSD program, two of which are first time race runners!


Ok back to Macedonia. One of the volunteer letters in my Peace Corps packet talked about a local delicacy called ajvar, which is a type of relish made primarily of red bell peppers with eggplant and garlic. I think I would like it, hopefully someone will teach me how to make it.

I know I will easily fit into the culture there based on that fact that finding "a new friend is as simple as going to coffee, one of the most popular pastimes in Macedonia."

Here is a little bit more about the program in Macedonia. Along with doing my assigned job, Peace Corps encourages all volunteers to take on additional community projects around your interests and skills and the needs of the community. A lot of the RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) that I have spoken to did something with children, mostly educated them on a certain topic or did organized sports. I wonder what opportunities will await me. My main job will run normal business type hours (8am-4pm) and will be business casual dress, nothing that I haven't done before, which is comforting.

When I first enter the country I will be with other volunteers who will be serving Macedonia and we will all enter an intensive three month training session. The focus of the tree months will be language, cultural, and job training. During that time I will live with a host family which will also help me to quickly learn Macedonian and the cultural heritage. After the first three months I will be assigned a community where I will work for an NGO and call home for the next two years. Here are some non-profits I found in Macedonia through Idealist's website. Who knows I may end up at one of these.

More than likely in my community I will be living in some type of apartment situation on my own. I will have my own entrance, kitchen, and bathroom. The information also listed furniture, though every one else I have talked to mentioned having to buy furnishings. There is the possibility that depending on the community I may have to share entry-ways or kitchen and bathroom with another family, if my community does not have individual living space. So it's a toss up, but I think no matter where I am at it sounds like I will have good accommodations. It's mentioned several times that the Internet can be easily accessed, so I think I will be taking my computer after all.

For all you social media types, Peace Corps has a twitter.

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