Negotino Revisited, Six Years On

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"...I was 23 and just out of college. I had little inclination to join the American workforce, and being a barrista in Bloomington, IN wasn't satisfying enough. I yearned for adventure, I had wanderlust. I joined Peace Corps. That was 2002. As a parting gift, my old friend from college, Lisa, gave me an appropriate shirt from the "Life is good" people. It said "Not all who wander are lost," quoting Tolkien. I wore the long sleeved T on several occasions during Peace Corps training, and it became the slogan on our groups' self-produced t-shirt.

Indeed, it came to be that year that I joined 19 other Peace Corps trainees in Washington, DC, for a three day orientation, and then departed the US on Thursday, November 14, 2002. We flew Austrian Air to Vienna I recall, using a portal at the airport there to send free emails and grabbing a coffee on that early Friday morning arrival. But we flew on to Skopje, and it was a fanciful feeling to know that soon I'd be in a very foreign country, and one to which I'd have to immerse myself so immensely.

I recall the flight over more arid and mountainous land, and in my journal that day I wrote of the windy bus trip from the airport in Skopje through the Vardar River canyon and valley to the south-central town of Negotino. It was dark by the time we arrived, but we were all excited and engaged in conversation with the Peace Corps staff, and the energy didn't stop once there.

Upon stowing our bags in our hotel rooms we were greeted and entertained by Macedonian folk dancers who offered us the traditional bread and salt. Like the famous Yugoslav rock group, "leb i sol." Yet their energy and our excitement got most of us onto our feet to dance the "oro" for the first time. We had a buffet of meats, cheeses, veggies, and olives, and a few of us ordered our first bottle of local Tikves wine. It was a time of many firsts.

In the ensuing days I recall intense moments of wondering whether I could do this. I struggled to say the word for thank you in Macedonian, as it sounded so foreign. "Blagodaram." I couldn't get the intonation right, and I wasn't alone. I suppose that made me feel better, that I wasn't in a Spanish speaking country where other trainees may very well have spoken Spanish fluently upon joining Peace Corps. No, we were all a bunch of Americans with hardly a clue about what the hell the Macedonian language was. Those days were busy but momentous, as we formed a unique bond that not every Peace Corps group does.

This was in part due to the fact that we were the first group back in the country after the conflict in 2001. Thus we weren't following anyone's footsteps, and only Macedonians and a few American Peace Corps staff were there to greet us. It was somewhat ominous though, with that recent conflict still festering, the short, late autumn days keeping us confined indoors, and the overall foreigness of the land and language. Much has changed in the country today, but some of my earliest grievances then still figure into my thoughts these days. As I wrote on November 17, 2002 and still lament today:

"There's often smoke in the air; someone lights a cigarette and you're suddenly inhaling it. They don't have good ventilation systems here--one little difference. Another: toilet paper doesn't go down the toilet, but in the can beside it to be removed by someone. Someone with a dirty job. I hope they wash their hands."

But I quickly got used to it, and minus a few bouts of stomach illness, came to accept it as part of the culture. Not to mention, there wasn't much I could do about it and I was more concerned with learning the language and getting to know my host-family. I think all of us opened our minds and braced ourselves for the onslaught of cross cultural experiences to come; the three month pre-service training (PST) and homestay living experience clearly the most challenging of all.

What's amazing is how quickly we all did immerse ourselves. I'm sure there were variations, but within six days of arriving I was writing sentences in Cyrillic and having elementary conversations with my host family. I recall Matt and I visiting our friend Hank that first week at his family's house, where his host-father gave us the historical lecture of the country (the one we'd hear over and over again throughout our service, and personally to this day): that the Turks had occupied the country for 500 years and all that had followed since. Well, maybe not all, but a brief synopsis that we miraculously understood most of despite being told in a very new foreign language.

Those were the days, from Negotino to Pepelishte for five of us living there; and to Gradsko, Rosoman, and Demir Kapija for the other trainees. Negotino was our hub, but our small towns and villages our homes. That we were always happy is unlikely, but we submerged ourselves in the ocean of Macedonian culture, and I think few of us regret it or deny having an affinity for this country.

Personally, six years on my philosophy on life has changed, yet my love of Macedonia remains. I see it prospering and preparing for a new era yet still embracing its traditions and character. A couple of recent visits to the old training haunt (as my actual volunteer site was another town) allowed me to fondly recall those days. In contrast to Skopje and other cities, the peacefulness of the town of Negotino is one thing, but not even as sublime as the provincialness of the anachronous villages such as Pepelishte; except for electricity and running water, they largely exist today as they did centuries before. Only the sounds of roosters are heard, the roads are dirt, and dogs, donkeys, and pigs make up half of the living population of the village.

Anyhow, from one of my recent visits I've created a Flickr slideshow. Those of you who were there will view things a little more personally perhaps. For those of you who weren't but never saw where I was, here you go!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31046246@N07/sets/72157609046479855/show/

Golem pozdrav & srekna godishnina,
Dzastin