Howdy, ya'll!!

So today was just another day in Lozovo. You just never know what to expect here!! The school day was not as long as yesterday (thank goodness), and all of us seemed to be in excellent moods. My language group is so much fun, and our teacher was extra cool today. We played card games to practice counting in “Macedoncee,” and we learned an extensive vocabulary on fruits and vegetables. Fortunately, a lot of us have already begun expanding on our vocabulary of food, thanks to our host families feeding us like we are starving children,…so the lesson wasn’t too overwhelming. And I really feel like I am getting the hang of a lot of what I’ve been learning!! I find myself practicing even to myself. I find ways of exercising what I’ve learned at home too.

For instance, everyone seems obsessed with these soap operas over here. I’m not sure, but I think they are Indian soap operas, because they are all dubbed over in Macedonian. Anyway, I’ve been watching them for nights, because my mom and dad do. I’ve never know who was who or what was what, so tonight I practiced asking. I asked who everyone was, what their profession was, and how they were all related. The best part about it was that I asking everything perfectly, and I completely understood all of their answers!! IT WAS SO REWARDING!! Oh man I felt so legit tonight, hahahahaha

My communication with my family is getting better every day. I still don’t understand most of what they say and ask, but I can usually pick up at least 3 or 4 words out of a conversation…enough to deliver an answer. My mother brags about how well I can read and write in Macedonian, so that helps with my confidence!! Within a month, I hope to at least be able to follow a conversation, but I doubt I’ll be able to speak much…maybe by the end of the 2^nd month I will be able to speak more. It just takes me a hot minute to process what I want to say and how I need to say it. Their language does have its complicated twists and turns, so remembering all the rules is what hangs me up the most. I’m thankful I have such a good teacher.

Today, my mother took me to buy more minutes for my phone here. Somehow, my phone keeps picking up the wireless and using all the minutes for data. I finally figured out how to fix it, so hopefully there won’t be any more problems. My mom then took me over to Sarah’s house, who is another volunteer. Her and I had a giggle fit as we listened to our parents talk about us and how we need to gain weight. Again, we can only follow some words, but we know enough to know most of what they say about us. Sarah’s host brother is also super awesome and introduced us to google translate. Using his keyboard, he can switch between typing in Macedonian and English, and then it translates back and forth. We were able to hold a legit conversation for a while! Sarah’s parents fed us an awesome meal, and then a group of us got together for a beer. It was the first beer I’ve had since moving to Lozovo. It was SO NICE to sit with the other volunteers outside for a drink. I love everyone more and more each day. It is so sad to know we will all be split up in 2 months.

It hit me today that I’ve been in Macedonia for 2 weeks!! WOW!! The time seems to go fast and then slow. I’m hoping things do go fast, because it helps with the homesickness to imagine seeing someone familiar sooner than later. Plenty of people have said they’ll come visit, so I hope at least a couple are able to make it over…INCLUDING MY FAMILY ::hint hint:: Anywho…I will try to upload more videos and photos as soon as I can. I feel awkward filming a lot of the times when I’m not around the other volunteers, so I try to keep it to a minimum.

Miss and love you all!!