Sharky Time, revisited

Hello! Sorry for my super long weekend absence! I am back. I must admit that it was hard for me to write Monday or Tuesday because I was a bit down. My weekend was mostly spent watching CNN or FoxLife and knitting. Bea was in Prilep with her roommates and Jessica was busy with Peace Corps stuff so it was just me, mostly. I did meet another Peace Corps Volunteer, Mike, who works in another city call Stip (pronounced shteep). He does local economic development in Stip and, coincidentally, I am going on a field trip to Stip with the office on Thursday. I get to be the minute-taker! Woo-hoo! Field trip, minutes....I will tell you about the field trip in more detail in a bit. So I was down on Monday and Tuesday. It is really hard to not be able to communicate with people. What I mean by that is that while most people here in Skopje do speak English, I feel like a super jerk because I know for many of them, it is difficult. And then there are the people who speak no English and my Macedonian is, um, minimal. So even if I can communicate with people, I worry about some how being misunderstood or offending people. While there are similarities to American culture, there are also differences and I don't want to be insensitive. Here is an example of my total lack of insensitivity (although I think I am a sensitive person overall). I met one of Bea's friend's friend and his name is Dragan. I know what you are probably thinking, which was the same thing I was thinking: what a horrible name - Dragon! Who names their kid Dragon?! Even, potentially worse: what if he just prefers to go by Dragon? Oh dear. So I tell Bea that this is a terrible name. She just kind of looks at me. Then, I find out later that Dragan is not Dragon (even though they sound remarkably similar). Dragan is based on a Serbo-Croatian word meaning dear or sweet. Doh!!! So I apologize to Bea, telling her I thought this guy's name was Fire-Breathing Mythical Flying Lizard. She laughs at me and in retrospect, I feel like a dolt. Of course his name wasn't Dragon! and even if it was, the assumption that it means the same thing in Macedonian...I am just glad my friend understands and gives me some leeway! This is when I decided I must take some Macedonian language lessons. I don't want to feel so helpless or dependent. I want access to the culture, access you can gain by language. Sure, I won't be fluent, but I can be polite and my Macedonian friends are super excited and very helpful. Damjanka (my host mom) taught me how to count to five so now I can say the first five letters of the alphabet and count. I am learning to write Cyrillic too. Watch out!

Some of you may not have read my previous blog so I will explain, briefly, Sharky Time. Sharky Time refers to a silver skirt that I wear when I want to feel empowered. The skirt looks, to me, like shark skin. Hence Sharky Time. One day, I will take a picture of said skirt and post it so you can live Sharky Time.

My next few days are super exciting. As I mention, Audur, Dominika, Boban and I are going on a field trip to Stip. We are going with other UN Agencies to talk to municipality leaders about Women's Human Rights, specifically combating domestic violence (DV). I am excited to see another part of Macedonia. Mike, in theory, will be there so it will have one familiar face, besides my dear office mates. After we get back from Stip, there is an opening of a photo exhibit about the Roma in South East Europe that I am going to with Jessica and maybe some peeps from the office.

Friday is super exciting because I am going home with Bea and her brother! We are going to a place call Pechovo (I think), near the Bulgarian border. Her grandmother knits and Bea is excited to show her the scarf I made her for her birthday. I have a feeling gramma and I knit differently, but it will be fun to bond. I get homemade Macedonian food-hooray!!!

Well, I must do some work now, but I will try to write again soon. Ciao!