Macedonia!

Seeing as how my efforts to write on my other blog regularly have failed, I decided a motivating reason to start another is a trip overseas! Actually, the decision to travel came first, and then the realization that I have an outlet to process and share about it through this. Since my last post was almost exactly a year ago, and it mentioned the journey of last year's TESOL group to Macedonia, I decided to start fresh and begin a new blog for my own experience. 

view from our back window

For those of you who didn't know this trip was coming...surprise, I am in Macedonia! These next two months of observation and student teaching will fulfill the practicum requirement for my TESOL major.   I have been anticipating this trip since my freshman year, and I can't believe I am actually here. We arrived on Thursday and settled into our apartments in Skopje. There are five of us altogether, and we were able to secure two apartments in one house. Two of us are upstairs (that is where I live), and three downstairs. We have a lot more space than we anticipated, and find that being able to run back and forth to each other's apartments is really convenient. 

We will be creating our own curriculum and lesson plans to teach ESL classes at various schools and organizations throughout our time here, and we have two different weekends planned for trips to Ohrid and then Greece. We conclude our trip with a final week of English camp for elementary aged children. That is the overview...at the moment I can only take one day at a time, however, because thinking about all of that sounds a bit overwhelming!

On our first full day in Skopje, Rachelle took us shopping to get groceries and household items. Rachelle and her husband, Josh, and their 2 little girls live here and teach English. They are connected to IWU and are "in charge" of us and our schedule throughout this time. We are essentially lost without them. Literally...as far as communicating and understanding the city we would not have a clue where to start! They have been taking us around, hosting us in their apartment, and helping us figure out what to do (and what not to do). We will be taking a few Macedonian language lessons next week, which I am sure will be helpful. So far I know how to say "hello," "thanks," and "yes/no"...haha, so I can't get too far! Macedonian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and so I feel a few steps back with reading anything. Not only is everything written in a different language, but they use a completely different alphabet. I'm excited to figure more out though, and I am really enjoying learning about the culture and taking in everything as we go. 

Alexander the Great fountain downtown

This current weekend is Easter here, and it is one of the biggest holidays in Macedonia. While exploring the downtown of the city today we stopped at one of the Orthodox churches to watch some traditional Easter rituals take place. Tonight we will be attending a midnight service at the same church. I am looking forward to experiencing that as well. My descriptions right now might be rather vague, as I am still processing everything and figuring out myself what to say. I have found that my only international experience to relate this to is Kenya four years ago, and being abroad once again brings up many memories. Those are very helpful ones to recall, however, even if Eastern Europe is quite different. I am realizing I have to adjust my expectations of particular cultural aspects that do not apply in Macedonia. Slowly but surely we are seeing more of Skopje, and I am excited to explore more and become more comfortable getting around. 

I am glad to be the in the minority in another culture -- it renews a perspective that the world is so much bigger and diverse. I hope and pray this time is growing and stretching for me... inevitably it will be a challenge at times. I will post more soon!

Day 2