Complete.

Dance camp was a complete success. The entire week may have been the best week of my entire service. With the 3 PC volunteers helping me, my 4 Macedonian "helpers," and of my my favorite local people by my side, it could not have been better. The girls learned 8 choreographed dances and 13 Zumba. I am proud to say that every single dancer performed on stage, and the majority of the girls performed every dance! Most of the dances have been uploaded online, so I'm attaching them. I have to warn you, there are a lot of videos in this post!! Without saying much more, here are some of the dances:

This is the hip-hop dance I taught. You can see me front and center : )

This is the "pop" dance I taught.

My dance crew kids did this for me....I had no idea!!!!!

This is the ballet piece that Enid did....she's front and center.

The Charleston dance I did. I'm in the front again, but the quality of the video is pretty crappy. 

The modern piece that Enid did.

There were also some amazing photos taken by Lilika from the show. They are only available on FB, so if you are friends with me on there, you can see them! If not, let me know, and I can email you some of them. They are really fantastic!

My kids planned a lot of surprises for me. One of them was the "Bounce" dance. I'd been begging them to do it, but they surprised me instead! I also got more roses than I've ever received in my life, complete with a sheet banner that the kids made saying "We love you Morgan." There was a lot of crying and hugging and photo taking. The entire city was at the show to show their support, and there was an epic news segment too. The night ended with a really nice dinner at a place in the park..all my favorite people were there. 

Overall, is was a perfect week. The next few days were complete....I was so happy. And now...well, now it's on to the next adventure. :D

Ajde ciao-

The Grand Opening

Yesterday was the grand opening of my dance studio. I got to school at 9:30, and spent the rest of the morning setting the room up. We hung up the framed photographs from the photography club photos all of the walls. We hung the dance posters out in the hallway, and the janitors threw down a red carpet that led from the upstairs all the way down to the studio. The girls got there early too! They spent a few hours rehearsing their dances and getting excited. By 12:15, we already had people showing up. The mayor came, along with two news stations, and even Goce from Peace Corps! I was already so excited!

I began the event by introducing myself and the work I do with Peace Corps. I explained what we offered in the studio, and that it all began by us wanting to encourage and teach English outside of the classroom, while offering extra-curricular activities as well. I thanked the dancers for their hard work and efforts, and explained the dance camp I'd be throwing at the end of the summer. Later, my Director stood up and said some excellent things about me and the progress of everything. Goce, my safety security advisor from PC, also stood up and said a few words. Goce is originally from Kocani, so having his support has been tremendous! After some speaking, I let the kids have the floor!

All I have to say about the dances is that they were AWESOME!! My hip-hop dance crew went first with their dance. You can watch that video in my previous post, or you can find it on my YouTube page. The audience really loved them, and they were not expecting it!! Their tricks were great, and the energy was perfect. My Zumba girls also did a FANTASTIC job!! They were so in sync!! Their moves were sharp, and they just looked perfect. I was smiling from ear to ear the entire time.

As I said, there were two news stations covering the event. Thankfully, I was able to record them while over at Emilija's house for dinner last night:

This is from Kanal 8

This one is from TVK

So yea!! I hope to be seeing some photos from the event at some point too. We had a lot of coverage, and if I can get some of the photos, I will def upload them! 

Other than that, today is the beginning of my VACATION!! It's crazy....it does not feel like I am about to go on vacation. I managed to pack everything I think I will need into my small backpack. Two weeks of traveling in one bag is NOT easy for a woman, but I think I will manage. : ) I packed nothing but comfy clothes, and the warm temperatures made that easier to pack. In two days, I'll be laying on a beach in Zakynthos (google it!), eating seafood and drinking girly frozen cocktails. Corfu (google it!) is later next week, and then it will be off to Italy. I am so excited and ready for my vacation. I'll be bringing my Ipad along, so I will try to update the blog at some point while traveling. Yay for summer vacation!!

“Not all those who wander are lost.” 

– J. R. R. Tolkien