Can you CanCan??

Well, I'll get right to the point.

On Monday, I went into Skopje to see the Peace Corps doctors. The pain in my hip was still really bad, and they wanted to give me a proper evaluation. Well we ended up at the hospital, and they gave me an MRI to rule out any possible spinal problems. Although I have some scoliosis in my lower spine, they couldnt find anything wrong that would be causing my hip pain. I was definitely relieved, but at the same time, we were all a little frustrated with not knowing the root of the problem. They wanted to keep me in Skopje to see another doctor to rule out some other possibilities, but I REALLY wanted to just go home and rest in the comfort of my own home with proper pain medicine. After being given some pain meds and muscle relaxers, I got a ride back to Kocani with a local family I know (and now love).

Seriously, this family is awesome. One of their daughters just got accepted into the YES program, which allows students from here to travel to the US and study in an American high school for one year. Their daughter, Elena, is SO sweet. She is going to do an awesome job while she is there. We talked a lot about her thoughts on leaving, and it's really very interesting, because her and I will be in VERY similar situations. She will be missing her family, friends, and home, much like I do here. I also spoke some with her parents, and I offered for them to meet my mother when she comes (in only a couple weeks!!!!), so that the moms could talk...they, too, will have a lot in common. Anyways, this family took me, free of charge, into Skopje with them. Along the way, they treated me like I was one of the family..bought me food and drinks and insisted I didnt need to pain any money. Most people in Macedonia are hospitable, but some people are exceptional. The care they showed me really made my day and my pain so much better....it may not seem like a lot to any of you, but it meant a lot to me.

So I've been stuck on my couch since Saturday. I've watched a lot of movies and TV shows online. I've managed to make food and drink plenty of coffee and juice. I booked my travel plans for the summer trip I will have with Chad. We booked tickets to go to Corfu, Thessaloniki, Athens, Zakynthos, Milan, and Venice. Along the way, we also want to hit up Rome and maybe Florence or something. All together, our flights cost UNDER $400 total per person, which is remarkable!! Living in Eastern Europe sure does have its perks. :D I'm really very excited about this trip.

In other news, I had a some really great things happen today. This morning, 3 of my dancing ladies came by my house for a visit. I was SOOOOO happy to see them. I missed them!! They brought me bananas and juice. We sat around talking for a while, and it made me so proud to hear that they'd been still holding Zumba classes, even when I wasnt there. Furthermore, they did a great job and had an excellent turnout. I couldnt have been happier.

As the girls were leaving, I was at the door, and my neighbor from across the street waved for me to come over for a coffee. Seeing as how it was a couple of feet away, and my only other option was to go back up to my couch, I decided to seize the moment to get to know my new neighbors better. I'm so glad I did, b/c I had a great time meeting the family. The grandmother and mother dont speak English, but we communicated just fine in Macedonian! The son of the family came home near the end. He is 24, and last summer he worked in Gatlinburg, TN. SMALL WORLD, RIGHT?! He spoke excellent English, and the whole family offered an open invitation for me to visit whenever I want. Oh, and they had a big beautiful white dog, which I got to pet and love on the whole time, which also made me really happy. :D

After resting on the couch for the rest of the day, I took some more medicine so that I could tolerate going to the school's French show. I had helped a group of 4th year girls put together a CanCan dance for the show, and my French friend, Arnaud, and his girlfriend offered to drive me. We had a great time!! Honestly, I was embarrassed by everyone seeing me limp so badly. I felt like I looked ridiculous. And I think a lot of people were just confused as to what was even wrong with me, but it's just hard to explain. It doesnt matter though, b/c the girls did an EXCELLENT job. Check it out:

After the show, I really wanted to just go home and rest my hip, b/c I was in pain, but Aleksandra and Arnaud offered to go eat. I love sharing meals with them, so I agreed. We had a feast of frog legs, fried onion rings, and salads. It was great!! Stefani also found time to swing by, which made me so so so so happy. She gave me her senior photo with the sweetest note written on the back, and IN ENGLISH!! I love that girl, and I'm going to really be sad when she goes off to college this summer. 

I wont be back at work tomorrow. Honestly, I want to try to go to school on Thursday, just to observe the Zumba class and see all my ladies and Emilija. This weekend will just be resting, and hopefully I'll be feeling much better. If the pain doesnt get better in a couple of days, Ill need to go back to Skopje to see another doctor, but let's all think positive thoughts. :D 

My body is allergic to the cold

Hi everyone!! Ok, so this week was EVENTFUL. As some of you have seen, I've been dealing with a medical problem lately:

Basically, what you see above was happening to my feet ALL THE TIME. My feet would change, and they would get extremely painful. This transformation was beginning to last longer each time as well, sometimes up to 4 hours. So I finally contacted the PC medical office. They decided to set me up to see a specialist, so on Tuesday, I caught a ride into Skopje. 

Well my appointment wasn't until 4, so I spent the first part of my day mingling in the office. I was able to catch up with the PC Director, Stephen, as well as my program manager, the IT guy, and a few others around the office. By 3:30, we were on our way. I was actually excited to meet this specialist. Especially because I just wanted to know what I was dealing with!! Unfortunately for me, they decided further testing needed to be done, which was going to require me to stay in Skopje UNTIL THURSDAY. Goodness, I wasn't planned for that!! From there, I got dropped off the in the center and had to spend the rest of the evening finding things like a toothbrush, toothpaste, new socks, new undies, and a little bit of makeup. I was completely unprepared to stay in Skopje for three days....hell, I didn't bring anything with me!! 

That night, I indulged on eating McDonalds in the mall. It's the only opportunity I have to eat it, and even though I never ate fast food in America, the thought of eating a double cheeseburger was just what I needed to end my day. Peace Corps did set me up in a hotel that was quite a ways out, so I hoped in a cab and went to bed early. Tuesday, I immediately went into the PC office for my blood work. They diagnosed me with having Raynauds, but they werent sure if it was connected to some underlying condition, hence the blood work. I spent the rest of the day shopping way too much in the center. I even ran into my neighbors from Kocani while shopping!! So funny!! 

A couple of great things did come out of my trip in Skopje. After shopping, I met up with a volunteer who recently ended her 2-years here, but has decided to stay in Macedonia. Her name is Tracy, she's an artist, and she's awesome. She was going to a spa, so I figured why the hell not?! I got a massage, and boy it was the best thing ever. Later, I met up with my old Macedonian language teacher for some rakija and beer. We caught up for a couple of hours in this awesome little Macedonian restaurant. I really missed him!! In Lozovo, he acted like my big brother, especially on my bad days where I needed to vent away from the other volunteers. We've definitely kept in touch since I moved to Kocani, but getting to spend time with him one on one was priceless. We had a blast!! That night, I met up with Milevka's (host mom) niece for pizza. Her and her family were so excited I was in town, and they welcomed me into their home like I was part of the family. Suddenly, we all realized it was 11pm, and there was absolutely no way for me to make it back to my hotel without paying A LOT of money. So they offered up a spare bed for me....oh, and their cat slept with me, which seriously made me SOOOOOOO happy to have a pet snuggled up against me. God, I miss Turtle so much at night. Having that cat with me made me feel like I was close to home.

The next day, I had to sit on a bus for over a half an hour in order to make it back to the hotel. It was so damn cold, and we were still getting snow. I decided to rest for a couple of hours before meeting back up with Tracy at her new apartment in Skopje. Tracy seriously knows some kick-ass places in Skopje. For instance, she took me to a place where I could buy PAINT!! Real acrylic paint!!!! Although it was extremely expensive, I indulged yet again and bought 7 tubes. Next door, she took me to this cute little tea place, where I bought some homemade tea with vanilla and strawberries in it. Spending time with Tracy was a real treat. We talked a lot about art and what to do with the limited resources in Macedonia. We also talked a lot about projects she'd done, which really help get my wheels moving for future community projects of my own. Hopefully, I'll be able to collaborate with her more on a creative level when we both get more time and the weather gets better!!

That afternoon, I went back to the specialist for my final tests. Thankfully, my blood work all came back looking good. They did some tests to observe the tiny veins in my fingers under a microscope and some other things. They said they were quite sure it was only Raynauds, and nothing more. I was told I'd need to be on medicine, three times a day to help relax and expand my blood vessels and also to help get more oxygen into them. In the meantime, I was going to have to do everything in my power to stay as warm as possible. They simple dont want my bones and organs getting affected by the Raynauds. So from there, PC had to send off all the results to the office in DC, where they will most likely just agree with the prognosis, and I'll just have to take the medicine until around summertime. It sucks, because I dont take any medication on a regular basis, and now I will have to....however, if it means my condition will lessen in its severity and I wont have to worry about my skin dying, them I guess I'm ok with that. 

I got home sometime around 9pm last night. I was absolutely dead. I felt tired, cold, hungry, and just emotionless. To my surprise, my lovely little Lilika was waiting for me at the bus stop. She had come to help me walk home. It's things like this that make me just love my life in Kocani. Not only do I ALWAYS feel good when I finally make it home, but I just cant express my gratitude to the people. Everyone at school today was so excited to see me back, which made me again feel as though I truly am becoming part of the community. It was a great way to end such  stressful week.

Well...that's that!! I'll be ok, as long as I can stick out this winter for a few more weeks. I can't wait till we get warmer days again. I'll never forget this winter, that's for sure!!

Hello, 2012

Well a new year has already begun. It's crazy that I've just survived my first set of holidays over here. Although Xmas was difficult (as expected), New Years was MUCH easier!!

Last Wednesday, I woke up SICK. I was so mad. My throat hurt when I spoke or swallowed, and I had headaches with my congested head. Rob was flying into Macedonia that night, so I spent the rest of the day after school trying to sleep it off. Rob got in safe and sound that night, but I still felt pretty ill. By Friday, we rode into Skopje to see the PC doctors, which is really a pain to go there and back. The trip is like 2.5 hours each way on a bus. Then, once you get to Skopje, you have to get on another bus for another 30 minutes just to get to the PC office. The good news was I was able to get some proper medicine, and the doctor told me I just had an upper respiratory infection. We spent the second half of that day walking around Skopje, enjoying the Xmas lights and eating Arabian food. haha

Saturday, we woke up to snow on the ground!! We decided to make our errands quick so we could literally spend the rest of the day and night inside. And that's exactly what we did!! For our New Years celebration, we made A LOT of Mexican food....I mean, A LOT. We seriously ate the hell out of some tacos and nachos. By midnight, we were able to stand out on my mini balcony and watch the locals shoot off fireworks from house to house. Kids ran in the streets, shooting fireworks at cars passing by. The view was actually spectacular...and not because of the fireworks, but because I was really able to register where I was for the celebration of the New Year. It felt good.

The last couple days were a lazy mess. I've slowly gotten over my illness by resting in bed and watching a lot of movies and TV shows on my computer. Rob has so far gotten to meet Emilija and her family, as well as Paul, which is AWESOME!! I was trying to explain how good it feels to have someone come here and see where I live, meet the people I adore, and even do the basics like running errands with me (he got to see the butcher shop!) It's also nice to have someone from another country to talk about the cultural differences with.....overall, it's just nice to have his company here!!

Starting on Thursday, Macedonians will begin to celebrate their Christmas here. It all begins on the 5th and lasts until the 7th. I'll be going into Lozovo for this occasion, and I was just told by Milevka last night that Rob is welcome to join as well. We are going to have a full house!! Thursday night will be a big village-wide bonfire, complete with food and drinks. Friday is a type of fasting day, where families mainly eat lentils and salads and stuff...nothing with meat in it. We will spend a good chunk of that day visiting the other families and volunteers. Then, Saturday is the actual Christmas day. I'm not sure if we are staying that night too, but we will see. I'm already anticipating how cold that house is going to be!!

Anywho....I'm excited to see my family and the volunteers again. It'll be a nice little break. Once I get back, teachers are supposed to go back into work to plan what they are going to do in the coming year. I have a lot to plan with both my director and Emilija, and I'm excited to start talking about the new little projects we want to implement. There is already talk of a photo club, a school newspaper, a radio station, and (my favorite) converting the basement area into a dance studio. The gym teacher wants me to teach the kids some ballroom dancing for their upcoming prom. HOORAH!! I'm also excited about being able to show Rob some more of Macedonia while he is here. There is a festival down south in a couple of weeks we are already planning on hitting up. It's the one carnival that looks kind of like Halloween....people dress up all crazy in the streets and stuff. Seriously looking forward to that one.

I hope everyone had an excellent New Years celebration. I can honestly say I had a great one. Looking forward to hearing from everyone!!

My sister is in Macedonia!!

My sister is in town!! IT IS FANTASTIC!!

Jessica arrived about midday on Wednesday. Unfortunately for me, I still had a little over 3 hours left with PC things, so my language teacher agreed to walk her back to Milevka's house for me. By the time I got done with my PC stuff, I ran home and greeted my sister, who was sitting in the kitchen with my host father. He was showing her all of his "homework," which is basically all the stuff I wrote out for him to pronounce different simple English words. He was showing off!! Jessica and I sat around and caught up a bit. We drank a lot of coffee and relaxed a bit with the folks. Andres swang by for a hot minute and joined us for dinner, before the three of us headed out for a short walk around the village.

The walk was really nice!! Jessica was able to see what Lozovo looks like at night, and we were able to do some much needed chatting about what's been going on at home and such. The entire time it felt so surreal....just the fact that my sister was in Lozovo!! Later that night, Jessica and I organized all the fantastic items my mother sent my way. Later, we laid in bed until around midnight just chatting up a storm...again, MUCH needed!! It felt so good to have my sister.

Yesterday, Jessica came to school with me for the day. She mainly sat in the back and did some stuff on the internet and read a bit, but it was nice to have her see what class is like for me. Luckily for us, it was an early day, and we were out of school by noon. After school, Jess and I caught a bus into Velec. We walked around the city, ate at a local restaurant, visited my old counterpart, and shopped a bit. We arrived back in Lozovo after the sun went down and decided to visit Andres's house for a quick visit! I wanted Jess to see what another village household was like, and Vera is by far one of my favorite women in Lozovo.

There, we were offered MANY drinks (surprise, surprise) and food. We sat around just chatting a bit with everyone, and around 7, we went back home for dinner. It's really quite entertaining to be in the middle of my sister and Milevka communicating. There's a lot of "What did she say?" going on, and me doing my best to translate on both sides. Sometimes, I caught myself speaking poor English even, because Im so used to thinking in the Macedonian sentence structure. My host father walked around all night showing off his knowledge of the phrase "oh my god," which we all found to be hilarious. After a while of relaxing with the host parents, Jess and I retreated back into my room where we spent another night just laying in bed and talking.

By the time I decided to actually go to sleep, I felt an enormous weight of sadness run over me. I realized Jessica had not much time left with me, and that I was beginning to miss her again already. I now see why PC suggests we do not have company from back home for the first few months, because seeing and speaking with her has just made me feel homesick. She has promised to come back for a couple week in the spring though, so I'm going to convince her to bring momma with her so we can all be together!! Dont get me wrong....it's really difficult to not have my family here, but you know I am doing just fine. : )

Today, we are going to Skopje after school!! We will be having dinner at an Italian place, relaxing at a bar later, and enjoying a nice breakfast together tomorrow morning, before Jessica hope on a plane for Istanbul. I'll still get to spend the rest of the day and night in Skopje on Saturday, followed by coming back to Lozovo Sunday night for a party at Kenzie's house. Monday, we are in Skopje again for PC stuff, and Milevka has said she'll make the Funfetti cake mix my mother sent me in the mail for that evening. YAY FOR FUNFETTI!! More of an update on Tuesday, seeing as how I'll be out of town until then. Miss and love you all!!

I've made it!!

Well, ya'll...I've officially made it to Macedonia. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwbzDiK83q4

After being awake for 29 hours and traveling my butt off, I was finally able to eat some good food and relax at the hotel we are staying at for this week. The food here has been awesome so far. They've fed us lots of cheese, fresh veggies, some chicken, soup, rice, coffee, etc. My room isn't too bad either. Although it is a bit small, the beds are surprisingly comfy, and we ever have an air conditioner!! The shower and toilets are a bit weird....we cant put the toilet paper in the toilets....still havent gotten used to that one.

I'm still totally loving the fellow volunteers. Ive really connected with some of the girls, and the boys are all fantastically entertaining!! Im really sad that we will all be split into 4 groups at the end of the week. So I'll only be training with between 8-10 volunteers in the community I'll be living in for the first 3 weeks. From there, it's all on my own. Already sad to think of leaving the people who I now already feel extremely close to.

Im going into town tonight with a large group to get our telephone numbers set up and to buy some essentials we are all lacking. Im looking forward to getting in and seeing more of the area. Today has been all training sessions, so we havent had much time outside of the one room we work in.

All in all, I am happy!! Im so excited to be here. I already miss my friends and family, but Im feeling pretty good about everything.