Adios and 6 Applications!

This is a sign in the small village we stayed in near the Albanian border. I think the man we were staying with made this sign.

Audrey is en route to Iceland as I type and I am sad she is gone. While her last official day was Friday, she was in for part of the day throughout the week. I really respect Audrey's calm, strong demeanor. She taught me a lot and was very patient with me and for that, I am grateful. I hope that our paths cross again in the future.

Now, to completely change subjects, I have applied to six jobs this week! Not bad. The jobs are located in: UK, DC, Colorado, San Francisco and Baltimore. I had this "duh" realization that while my passion lies in women's empowerment, I can bring gender mainstreaming to any job I hold. The majority of the positions deal in one way or another in women's issues and I am cautiously optimistic about my future. It feels like I am shooting in the dark when applying - a lot of these organizations are new to me - and who knows if they are genuinely looking for someone or are just advertising to jump through the hoops. I think I am off to a good start looking for a position. I am also in the process of entering my resume and info on various websites of international organizations - like OSCE so they can offer me a job when one opens up here in Skopje :)

I can't believe I am going to be gone for 2 weeks. I leave for Sarajevo Sunday evening, if all goes according to plan. Boban and I are calling the bus station in a few minutes to get the details on my illustrious bus ride. I will be so tired when I get to Sarajevo. I can hardly wait to be a history buff again in such a historic city.

New dish and my holiday plans

This is a ram from when I went to the Macedonian mountains a couple weeks ago. He was super friendly, despite being continuously head-butted by the other ram, which you can see his legs in the background.

I forgot to write that I learned how to make a delicious, refreshing "soup". Damjanka and I had a great time cooking together on Sunday. She taught me how to make the soup from yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and a bit of oil. Boban informed me this was not a soup, but a salad. Whatever it is, I like it and it is very refreshing on a hot summer afternoon. Damjanka made baked beans, which is a very traditional Macedonian food, an eggplant spread and vanilla creme for dessert. It was a wonderful afternoon. Once I can get my computer to recognize my flash drive, I will up load the photos.

In other news, I am going on holiday next week for about 2 weeks. I am travelling with a Peace Corps volunteer, Dao. We are meeting in Sarajevo, then going to another city in Bosnia Herzegovina, then up to Croatia. We may head down to Montenegro too. I will try to update my blog as often as I can. The pictures will have to wait because I will not be bringing my computer with me. I am realizing that I am getting older because I don't want to have to share a room in the hostel, except with Dao, if I don't have to. Thankfully, she is very understanding. Nona and I had a great time in Hawaii in our shared rooms, but since Dao and I are moving around so much, it is important to get a good nights sleep!

Finally, I am working on my final paper for my Masters program. I am a bit nostalgic for a year ago when I knew I was moving to Philly and scared about being back in school after 5 years off. I wonder where I will be a year from now! I am also working on brainstorming with my co-worker regarding projects/interventions to combat domestic violence in Macedonia. Duty calls!

Internet at home, for real and 2 computers...

You will never guess what the breed of this goat is. This is a Balkan Goat. Do not confuse it with a non-Balkan Goat.

Zdravo. Guess what? I am once again blogging from home and this time, fingers crossed, my internet is not just a fleeting moment, but a reality. I even have had two conversations on skype. Imagine! Talking for free to my friend in Colorado and my other friend in Spain...the internet is a beautiful thing.

I am beginning looking for a job after my internship finishes. I am not sure when my internship will finish. I have committed to be here through mid-November, but if my funding and my project permits, I may be here through mid-February. I have a feeling that I will be very committed to my project here, once it takes off so leaving it will be difficult. I am beginning the job search now because if I end up working for an organization like the UN or USAID, the hiring process can take much longer than you ever think it should. I figure if a place wants me bad enough, they'll wait for me anyways, right?! Finding a job is much more difficult than one would think because most of the international development job openings I see are not entry level - I would venture to say a lot of them are for mid-career and higher. Another reason this is difficult is because I would like to stay working on women's issues. I would be happy to work in the area of women's health, women's economic rights, etc. So, since I am not at the level of executive director and I want to stay in the women's rights arena, my pool is a bit smaller. I need to look in Washington DC at Women's lobbying groups and the like. But the thing is, I feel like getting into the non-profit sector in DC or the States in general is a different direction than development...I know there are a lot of excellent organizations out there who would be happy to employ me, I just have to find them...

So, I have two laptops at my home right now. One is from work, so I can use the internet and the other is my beloved Mac. I am revising my resume and coming up with some thrilling cover letter for a few jobs on the Mac since that is where all those documents are. Want to know something awesome? My work laptop only has one place to plug in a flash drive, which means that I can only have the internet in or my flash drive with all my documents. C'est la vie! Maybe I can bluetooth the docs over...

Secret Agent

Dominika and I have listened to Secret Agent radio for the last 3 days. What is Secret Agent radio? It is a web based radio station that sounds like something straight out of James Bond movies. It is fun to listen to and makes me feel like I am doing my work in some swankly lounge as opposed to sitting at my desk, which is covered in papers.

This weekend I will be staying in Skopje. I am tired and the weather has been cool and drizzly, making it perfect sleeping weather. On Sunday, I will be going to Damjanka's house for dinner. She is my host-mom/landlady. Hooray for homemade Macedonian food!!! I need to finish knitting Audrey's scarf and clean my flat. I know you are getting jealous of my weekend plans. Just look at the title of my blog - it explains all!

It looks like at least part of my holiday will be spent in Croatia. My friend and I are supposed to plan our trip this coming week. I will update the blog on my plans.

In other news, I received feedback on my draft for recommendations for UNIFEM regarding entry points for women's economic rights. Audrey and Dominika were very supportive of my ideas and liked my paper so I am happy! Most likely, nothing will come of my recommendations until September when my new supervisor starts and everyone gets back from holiday. When I say everyone, I mean the entire country of Macedonia. So, in August, I will be working on a domestic violence funding proposal of sorts. More details to come when things are a bit more official.

Back from Sofia!

This is a picture of Daniele and Mattia when we went to the mountains on the Albanian border last weekend. I like the cross over the door to this building. I believe the cross has something to do with service to the community, but I am not exactly sure.

At any rate, Sofia was great. It is a 5 hour bus ride from Skopje and the countryside between the cities is beautiful. The mountains in eastern Macedonia reminded me of Colorado - very brown/gold with shrubs but no real trees except for by the rivers. When you cross the Macedonian/Bulgarian border, you have to go through 2 separate border guards. I was singled out at the Macedonian border because they wanted to see my police registration. All foreigners living in Macedonia have to register themselves with the police. I am surprised the guard was that vigilant, but I think it is because I don't have visa. He tried to keep my police registration, but I asked for it back and he gave it to me, smiling. I think he likes his job a little too much. There were no problems getting through the Bulgarian border. Once in Bulgaria, we took a 20 minute rest but since I had no Bulgarian money, I couldn't buy anything.

When we were about 50 km outside of Sofia, I saw what appeared to be a huge nuclear power plant. This power plant was enormous and very extensive in the valley. It also looked like it burned coal. It was a cement industrial giant in the middle of this valley. Upon arrival in Sofia, I quickly determined that the bus/train station is where a lot of weirdos hang out. Petya arrived shortly after I did and we went back to her place to meet Kyle and Cristi. For dinner, we ate veggie burgers near the Bulgarian version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I know veggie burgers do not sound very Bulgarian, but it was a welcome change. These veggie burgers were delicious, not dry and cakey. The rest of my time in Sofia was spent walking around the city, strolling into shops and meeting Petya and Kyle's friends. It was wonderful to be with people I have known for years (Petya and Cristi). The Bulgarians loved it when I spoke Macedonian because it sounds really funny to them. It is like having thick Southern or Bostonian accent in the US - just different. I introduced myself in Macedonian to Petya's Bulgarian friends and one thought I was Serbian! That was until I admited that, at this point, I know about 10 phrases in Macedonian :) I will put pictures up soon.

Off to Bulgaria!

As promised, here is the random photo for this blog post. This is a very patriotic sheep that I saw last weekend at the sheep shearing festival. You can't really tell, but the wool is cut into a mohawk. I was rather fond of this sheep and I wish I had a better picture of her. She wore her red yarn with pride.

I am off to Sofia to visit 2 friends I went to undergrad (Sewanee) with. I am looking forward to getting to Sofia, but not the ride there or back. I am taking a bus, which means that the usual 3 hour trip by car becomes 5 hours. Here is to hoping the children are left at home :) I am going to study my Macedonski and knit. Maybe catch up on some zzzz's. I don't know what we are going to do, but I have been instructed to bring a swimming suit. Which reminds me: I need a new swimming suit. The old one will do, but it has seen better days.

In other news, America ranks 12th in the world on the Human Development index. This index combines indicators in the areas of education, health and income. Why is the richest country in the world not even in the top 10 for Human Development? Another interesting finding from this study: Among the world's richest nations, the US has the highest number of children living in poverty (15%). Think about it. That is approximately 1 out of every 7 children. I need to look at how poverty is defined. Regardless, this is embarrassing. The Human Development Index is calculated by the UN Development Program and it used to define countries as developed, developing and undeveloped.

Busy Busy Week

This week, we had visitors from Bratislava, our Regional Headquarters. I never knew there could be so many meetings in one day. Thankfully, I have not had to attend all the meetings, but for my poor cohorts who do, it's enough to drive one to drink. They have handled it well and I am sure they sleep very soundly at night.

So, you probably want an update on what I am doing for the women of Macedonia and their economic rights. Well, I am in the process of coming up with a 3-4 page paper outlining where we are and where UNIFEM can intercede. You are probably thinking that this sounds vaguely familiar and you are right. I have been working on this, on and off, for the majority of my time here. But it is crunch time. Holiday season (holiday is European speak for vacation) is just around the corner (read the entire month of August) so I need to have a plan in place for September, when we hit the ground running. Much to my surprise, I am working with the most senior person in Bratislava on coordinating and figuring out a potential strategy/projects for Macedonia surrounding women's economic rights for 2008-2009 and, maybe, beyond. No pressure.

I am not going on holiday for the entire month of August, nor are my coworkers, just to be clear. It is just that it is hard to get much done because everyone else is on holiday. We might shut the office down for a few days and we are all planning our respective holidays but we will still be around for at least half of the month, one way or another. I will let you know my holiday plans, once I get approval from the Boss for the time off. You know how that goes, it isn't official and the like. I can tell you that if it works out, I anticipate spending a lot of time in various hostels in the Western Balkans. And now for some pictures of Skopje. You have waited a long time for this and there are only 2 but, hey. They mean a lot to me.

The picture with the umbrellas is what a typical coffee bar looks like. Click on the picture itself and you might be able to see it better. This is how many evenings in Skopje are spent, sipping libations (coffee, Skopsko, etc) and chatting. The other picture is of the old stone bridge that is right by the center of Skopje. This river runs through town and the coffee bar in the other picture is located right by the river. I think from this point on, I will try to include random pictures in every post. But no promises.

What a weekend!

I am back in Skopje, working hard and re-invigorated to tackle the issues surrounding women's economic rights in Macedonia. We have 2 women from our regional headquarters in Bratislava visiting and so I have been participating in a lot of meetings surrounding the future of UNIFEM in Macedonia. Very exciting, actually!

This weekend, I spent in the mountains in the western part of Macedonia near the Albanian border. I went with my coworker and her family, pictured right. They have friends who own a hotel/restaurant in a town on the other side of the mountain from the town that hosts the traditional Macedonian wedding. It is interesting because there are a lot of Macedonians in this region who also speak Italian so our hosts were bilingual. My friend's husband, Daniele, (the baby's father) is Italian so he got to speak in his native tongue. Daniele's parents are here from Italy and came with us so they had no problems with communication. I speak Spanish so Daniele's parents and our hosts and I could half understand each other.

At any rate, Saturday, I got to experience a Macedonian sheep shearing contest, Turkish wrestling (I still don't understand) and meet various Macedonian livestock and dogs. After going to visit this fair, we went on a tour of the town we stayed in. I know it is not that old for Europe, but there were homes that were over 300 years old in this village. There were roofs made of slate type rock and most of the buildings were built from stone. There are Macedonian Muslims and non-Muslims who lived in the village. You will see the Mosque in the pictures below. We had a fantastic dinner and I met a Macedonian woman, my age who is living in Denver! She and I are at similar stages in our life and she knows all my old haunts. It is almost like we switched places.

On Sunday, we went to the wedding where we met the King of a Pakistani region who says he is a decent of Alexander the Great's Army. He was visiting his homeland. He had bodyguards and everything. I took a picture of the royal family and some of my new friends. The wedding was very interesting, with lots of dances, traditional Macedonian music and loads of spectators. I felt bad for the performers because all of their outfits were made out of wool and it was H-O-T. We hiked around the town for a bit, then went back to the hotel, ate a delicious lunch and chatted. I cannot tell you how beautiful it was and how great it was to get out of the city for a while. Here are some pictures.

Macedonian sheep dog puppy






Adult Macedonian sheep dog




Um, speaks for itself



Turkish fighting/wrestling





The village where we stayed





Hello Mr. Rooster! He woke us up at 4:30 on Sunday morning.




The Mosque in the village







On the other side of the Mountain
was where the traditional
Macedonian Wedding
takes place

Wedding participants










The wedding from afar


Pakistani Royal decendants of Alexander the Great's army and my friends








Cheese! The rounds are a yellow cheese and in the cans is feta

Gettin' hitched

Zdravo! As you can see from the comments on my last post, the name issue for many Macedonians and lovers of Macedonia is very important and there is a lot of passion surrounding the treatment of Macedonia as a country and as an ethnic minority group in neighboring countries.

This weekend, I am going to have a truly Macedonian experience. I am going with Dominika and her family to a small village in the mountains to see a traditional Macedonian wedding. This is an actual wedding, put on by the municipality and it is a tourist attraction. My understanding is that a couple, where one of the parties can prove their ties to the villlage, has a publically sponsored wedding. There is traditional Macedonian music and folk dancers. I will take loads of pictures and put them up on my blog sometime next week. It should be fun. Here is the smallest member of our group, Dominika's son (I have no clue why the picture is sideways, but somehow I think it is appropriate).

I will tell you about my infultration of the Democrats Abroad and the weekend once I get back. Ciao friends!

The Name Dispute

As you may already know, there is a serious name dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the name "Macedonia" for the country I presently reside in. I read about this name dispute every single day when I read the English summary of Macedonian news events. The name dispute has kept Macedonia from joining NATO (it is the ONLY reason Macedonia has not be allowed to join the military alliance) and will keep Macedonia from joining the EU, if it is not resolved. Here is how the name dispute is commonly viewed here in Macedonia: "Macedonia has fulfilled all the criteria for NATO membership; Greece vetoed Macedonia because of who we are." You now see the rhetoric used to discuss this issue. I am sure the Greeks have a similarly emotionally driven come back for that quotation. But here's the thing: the playing field is not level in this dispute. Greece is already a member to the clubs Macedonia wants to join and the clubs all happen to have a consensus rule about allowing new members to join. Because of the unequal positions of the two States, Niemitz, the UN negotiator on this issue, needs to be very careful that Macedonia is treated fairly in this dispute. And, both sides need to grow up. This reminds me of a playground shoving match. By focusing on the populist rhetoric of a name issue, what are the Macedonian and Grecian politicians not discussing? Unemployment? Domestic violence? Human trafficking? Stagnant economies? This is a supposedly a dispute over identity. I can see that; however, it is also a smoke screen to not discuss bigger issues that truly affect the everyday lives of Grecian and Macedonian citizens. Until Macedonia and Greece resolve this issue, NATO and EU Membership will not be within Macedonia's reach.

Shhhhh, don't tell! and the Dumpsters

I am usually the first one in the office in the mornings so I take it upon myself to make the coffee. It is regular drip coffee but I do something secretly. We accidentally bought Turkish coffee and I opened it, not realizing what it was. From what I can tell, no one in the office drinks Turkish coffee and I know one of my coworkers doesn't like Turkish coffee. Well, my secret is that 2 of the 8 scoops of coffee in the filter are the Turkish coffee. You can't even tell. It's like swapping reduced fat mayo with regular or light cream cheese for regular. Most people can't tell unless you tell them. I figure my secret doesn't harm anyone - it's not like it is decaf! So, there you have it. Somehow, I usually end up being the coffee maker at work. Maybe it is from my days as a barista...ah the good ole' days. I wish I could be a barista here, part time, but the coffee bars don't just serve coffee. They are restaurants/bars so I wouldn't just be making lattes. And I don't speak Macedonian well enough.

Fun Fact: Turkish coffee is a leftover from the days when Macedonia was part of the Ottoman Empire. There are some Turkish words in the Macedonian language.

On to the trash talk. All the dumpsters on my street happen to be on one side and that happens to be the side I live on and walk to work on. I appreciate that I do not have to take my life into my hands crossing the street to take out the trash, but I am sure you can imagine how ripe it is on my way home after a day where it is over 90 degrees. That being said, I am careful not to complain. My friend, Jessica, lives in the Roma neighborhood of Skopje called Topaana. I have talked about Topaana before, I think. At any rate, in Topaana, home to 5,000 Roma, they have FIVE dumpsters. Five. On my way to work, I would guess that there are at least 15 dumpsters. One day I will count. Any way, in Topaana, that is one dumpster for every 1,000 people. In the municipality where Topaana is located, called Cair, there is one dumpster for every 14 people. Yet the Roma neighborhood has five. Jessica is participating in neighborhood discussions on how to deal with the trash issue and has gone to the municipality's government with high schoolers from Topaana to discuss the problem. What is interesting to note is how deep stereotypes run, even within one's own community. Apparently, there is a stereotype that the Roma are lazy and some Romani leaders said that Topaana's trash problem wouldn't be so bad if the Roma weren't so lazy. I am speechless.

Home, at last?

Zdravo! I promised an update on the picnic hosted by the Embassy so here goes. The hot dogs tasted like hot dogs in America and the simple fact that they were actually grilled made them that much more tasty. There was American ketchup, mustard, mayo, and relish (yes, there really is a difference!!). I even had that spiral pasta salad with black olives and red peppers. The beer was Macedonian - Skopsko, which is a nice pilsner. I made some new friends, mostly with Peace Corps Volunteers from around Macedonia. I also found out that there is a Democrats Abroad meeting this coming Thursday. Now, I am going to tell you something that may or may not be a shock to you. I am a registered Republican, but will attend this meeting to check it out. It may not be my bag, but I will go. And I even told one of the members that I am a registered Republican and was not shunned so here goes nothing. That being said, I'll let you know if anything exciting happens, you know, like I am outted as a Republican and accused of being a spy.

I think, finally, I am comfortable with my super quiet lifestyle here in Skopje. It takes a while to adjust to spending almost all my free time knitting while watching various (informative) TV shows. I do have friends and go out periodically, but 90% of the time, when I am not at work, I am at home. I am a fairly social creature so it is not surprising that it has taken me 8 weeks to adjust to solitude. I finally feel like Skopje is my home, even if it is only temporary.

Happy 4th, from Macedonia!

It is interesting to spend the 4th of July, my favorite holiday, abroad. There will be no fireworks - maybe tomorrow at the picnic...I listened to Whitney Houston sing the National Anthem on YouTube and was sad for a moment that I will not be at my Gramma's or my parents' home eating hot dogs, baked beans, while listening to music set to the fireworks (they do that in Denver!). While I feel that my country has some things to work on, I also realize how fortunate I am to be an American. I am grateful for all the opportunities given to me and am thankful to the people who sacrificed so I can vote, work and travel freely.

I am currently editing the part of the paper discussing the foundations of building a democratic society based on a respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. I often think about what I am working on and if it will make any difference in Macedonia. One realization I had since coming to Macedonia is that it is one thing to advocate for human rights publicly or as your job, but the real test is how you treat people every day. I ask myself if I treat every person I encounter with dignity. It is easy to edit papers and write critiques/criticisms and suggestions for the government because that is them, not me. I realize that the work my colleagues and I do is very important, but, for me, it won't mean anything if I don't treat the people with whom I interact with respect and dignity, regardless of how they treat me. I need to hold my friends, cohorts and family accountable, in a non-confrontational way, for their actions and words and I hope they will do the same for me. In the end, it comes down to individual interactions, which can foster a community of respect and tolerance or the alternative. I feel as though I am getting preachy so I will just end this post. Thanks for your patience.

Your tax dollars at work

Zdravo! This coming Saturday, I am attending the 4th of July Celebration BBQ hosted by the American Embassy. I have been promised hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer. My Mom told me that when we lived in Malawi, the Embassy had the hot dogs flown in from the States. I would not be surprised if this is a similar situation. I wonder if the beer will be American and if so, which brand it will be. I will inform you of all the particulars next week. But here's my thoughts. I asked if I could bring my Macedonian friends with me and the Embassy told me I couldn't bring a non-American unless we were married. The explanation was security - we would all have to be pat down and the like if we allowed non-Americans to attend. I go back and forth on my thoughts about this issue. Macedonians LOVE George W. Bush-they want to name the city park here in Skopje after him, Albanians fly American flags next to their own due to our recognition of Kosovo so I am wondering what the security issue is exactly. If an American citizen wants to include their Macedonian/Albanian/Roma friends to come to the picnic and learn more about American traditions and history, why not? I can see not opening it up to the general public, but to my friends? I can understand why Americans are seen as arrogant. I also realize that I am not regularly briefed on security threats facing America/Americans in Macedonia so I am trying to tread lightly here. All that being said, I am looking forward to the BBQ. I have met 3 Americans since my arrival here so it will be interesting to meet more of my fellow citizens. I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for paying taxes so I can have genuine American hot dogs on the 5th of July in Skopje, Macedonia.

Are we still in the transition period?

"Yes, we're always in the transition period." This question and answer were referring to the Macedonian economy. I think it also fits my life.