I live in the crater of an extinct volcano.
My town dates back several thousand years, having been first mentioned in Homer's The Iliad, an epic poem set during the Trojan War (the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states), telling of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. The written version of The Iliad dates back to around the 8th century B.C. and is the earliest known reference to the town of Kratovo where I have been living with a host family the past 3 weeks and will continue to live the next 2 months as I attempt to master the Macedonian language. Peace Corps Macedonia has been good to me. :)
I live in a 3-story home in the "beverly hills" (so I've been told) neighborhood of Kratovo, a town of 6,000 people nestled in the mountains of northeastern Macedonia. Our street is lined with small vineyards and flowering rose bushes of all colors. My dad is a doctor and my mom works for the local municipality. They have 2 daughters, both in their twenties, but neither lives at home; one is a doctor, the other is on her way to becoming a dentist in the capital city of Skopje. We have running water that I gladly drink from the tap, as well as electricity and internet. So much for roughin' it. I believe this is what is known as "Posh Corps." We have 2 cats and a generous garden, from which the majority of our food comes from: hazelnuts, walnuts, figs, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers, parsley, peaches, plums, apples, red grapes, purple grapes, green grapes, yellow grapes, onions, and garlic galore! Our supply of "feta" cheese is made by my host uncle's family, and I will be helping my host family make wine and rakia (think very strong moonshine/whiskey) next month. Our staples are fresh loaves of bread, feta and a plethora of fruits and veggies. Happiness IS.
My days consist of intensive language class in the morning, followed by a combination of technical (community development), medical, safety and cross-cultural trainings in the afternoon. I arrived in Macedonia with 37 fellow Peace Corps Trainees from all over the US. We spent the first orientation week all together at a hotel in the larger city of Kumanovo, and were then split into 4 villages/towns for 3 months of language training. Of the group, I hit it off with a guy from Austin, Texas. His name's Faron and our birthday's are 1 day apart. We ran together almost every morning during the orientation week, and against all odds have been delightfully placed in the same town and language class. Faron lives just down the street from me and we have been exploring this new town of ours every day after class by running or hiking the innumerable trails that surround this mountainous crater town. Today we took off on a new trail that begins behind my house and ended up on a 2 hour hike of endless surprises...pictures to come! Well it's way past my bedtime and this Macedonian language is kickin my butt, but I wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well and give you a sneak peak into Peace Corps Macedonia.
YouTube Video Sneak Peak of Peace Corps Macedonia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBTOe4EuJSk
Blessings!
XAHA (the Cyrillic spelling of my name)
My town dates back several thousand years, having been first mentioned in Homer's The Iliad, an epic poem set during the Trojan War (the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states), telling of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. The written version of The Iliad dates back to around the 8th century B.C. and is the earliest known reference to the town of Kratovo where I have been living with a host family the past 3 weeks and will continue to live the next 2 months as I attempt to master the Macedonian language. Peace Corps Macedonia has been good to me. :)
I live in a 3-story home in the "beverly hills" (so I've been told) neighborhood of Kratovo, a town of 6,000 people nestled in the mountains of northeastern Macedonia. Our street is lined with small vineyards and flowering rose bushes of all colors. My dad is a doctor and my mom works for the local municipality. They have 2 daughters, both in their twenties, but neither lives at home; one is a doctor, the other is on her way to becoming a dentist in the capital city of Skopje. We have running water that I gladly drink from the tap, as well as electricity and internet. So much for roughin' it. I believe this is what is known as "Posh Corps." We have 2 cats and a generous garden, from which the majority of our food comes from: hazelnuts, walnuts, figs, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers, parsley, peaches, plums, apples, red grapes, purple grapes, green grapes, yellow grapes, onions, and garlic galore! Our supply of "feta" cheese is made by my host uncle's family, and I will be helping my host family make wine and rakia (think very strong moonshine/whiskey) next month. Our staples are fresh loaves of bread, feta and a plethora of fruits and veggies. Happiness IS.
My days consist of intensive language class in the morning, followed by a combination of technical (community development), medical, safety and cross-cultural trainings in the afternoon. I arrived in Macedonia with 37 fellow Peace Corps Trainees from all over the US. We spent the first orientation week all together at a hotel in the larger city of Kumanovo, and were then split into 4 villages/towns for 3 months of language training. Of the group, I hit it off with a guy from Austin, Texas. His name's Faron and our birthday's are 1 day apart. We ran together almost every morning during the orientation week, and against all odds have been delightfully placed in the same town and language class. Faron lives just down the street from me and we have been exploring this new town of ours every day after class by running or hiking the innumerable trails that surround this mountainous crater town. Today we took off on a new trail that begins behind my house and ended up on a 2 hour hike of endless surprises...pictures to come! Well it's way past my bedtime and this Macedonian language is kickin my butt, but I wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well and give you a sneak peak into Peace Corps Macedonia.
YouTube Video Sneak Peak of Peace Corps Macedonia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBTOe4EuJSk
Blessings!
XAHA (the Cyrillic spelling of my name)
Beautiful pictures Hana- thanks for sharing your experience!
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