Peace Corps Cooking

If there was something I couldn't live without while in the Peace Corps, it was definitely baking. I don't think I can consider myself a cook since I am still learning but ask me that in 2 years from now and I might have a different answer! I wanted to share with you a few things I have either baked or cooked.

My host mother was very intrigued when I told her I wanted to make "банана леб" or banana bread. She thought this sounded pretty strange, I mean who puts bananas into bread?  As you can tell by the photo, she was pleasantly surprised by this delicious bread and even had me have the recipe translated into Macedonian so she can make it again some time! I gave a piece to my language teacher and she said it was the best dessert she has ever had. Here in Macedonia, they don't have anything even close to this taste so I think the new taste was surprising.

The smell of success 

Yum! 

Last night I made zucchini bread with my host mother. This didn't turn out as well because we didn't set the timer for the right time so it was a little over cooked but it was still delicious. My host mother couldn't believe there was even zucchini in there. My host family doesn't eat zucchini so I was very excited to show them one of the many things you can make with zucchini!

Zucchini bread! 

Last week I went over to Jasmine's house to make banana pudding. Jasmine is a fellow volunteer who loves cooking and baking! This was the first time the both of made banana pudding. Another volunteer wanted to make this but she ended up not feeling well but we still made it. It ended up being more cracker then pudding but it was still delicious, especially right from the over topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. Yum!

Jasmine the amazing baker!

The before and after 

                            

Delicious, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon! 

Well now onto the savory dishes. Two nights ago I attempted to make eggplant pizza. The final product was very tasty although it was not what I had in mind. My host father said he would get parmesan for the recipe but when he came home from work he said he never got it so I improvised with the cheese in the fridge. The cheese is called сирење and is extremely salty and more like a feta cheese so it does not melt well.  I had no idea that my host sister would be over with her 2 sons. Everyone tried the dish and enjoyed it! I felt very proud!

In the process of making the eggplant

The finished product! 

Last week, I informed my family that I like to eat butternut squash. They don't eat it but were curious to see how I eat it so they bought one for me. I find it interesting that here in Macedonia, they call zucchini, butternut squash and actual pumpkins, pumpkins or Тиква. I made roasted butternut squash with olive oil and garlic and it was so delicious. I also made roasted cauliflower on Sunday but didn't take a picture of that. Here they only boil or fry vegetables so I am trying to introduce a healthier alternative. They also only use sunflower oil so by me using olive oil, I am showing them another healthier alternative. Next week I plan on making homemade brownies and then I want to make apple bread! I am not sure what dinner dish I will make next but I will be sure to take pictures!

A delicious salad, roasted butternut squash and dried chick peas!

Site Placement Day

Vineyeard in Kavadarci

Site Announcement Day: Both the most nerve wrecking and exciting day of Peace Corps Training. Sweaty palms, butterflies in your stomach and a million thoughts running through your mind. This is the day that determines your life for the next two years. Everything changes after this point.

Veles was the last community to find out their placements and the suspension was killing me. Imagine having to endure 4 ½ hours of language class when all you can think about is finding out your future later that day.

Finally the time had come and the 12 volunteers from Veles met in the classroom along with the homestay coordinator, Corey who is head of Macedonia Peace Corps and our site director. They gave each of us folder full of papers.

After counting to 3, we opened our packets all together. Mine read: KAVADARCI or Кавадарци in Macedonian! I had no idea what this meant, whether it was a good or bad thing. I looked at the population and it said 38,000 and I was full of joy to see that I would not be living in a small village!

Corey, Head of Peace Corps Macedonia

After reading more in my packet, I discovered I would be in the wine capital of South Eastern Europe and also only 1-1 ½ hours from the Greece boarder!!!!!!! This means I am in South Eastern Macedonian in the Vadar region. 

I will be teaching English at a primary school which is grades 1-9^th. I am the first volunteer the school has ever had and they said they are looking for a volunteer who would be a great representation of their school. I am so incredibly excited to begin working with my new school and new counterpart. 

After everyone in our group and went around saying where we are going, I discovered that one of my fellow trainees, Jasmine, is also going to Kavadarci and she will be working in a Non-Profit since she is in the Community Development sector. There is so much joy knowing I will have a site mate! We found out that there are a lot of EVS there, which stands for European Volunteer Service so we will be meeting European volunteers from all over Europe but mostly France, Ireland and the United Kingdom. If you know me, you know how much I love London and Ireland so this was the best news! Oh and I found out they have a SWIMMING POOL! It's only open in the summer but knowing I can get in the pool and swim some laps was icing on the cake!

My fellow volunteer Jasmine

3 volunteers will stay in Veles as their permanent site! I can’t believe they won’t be moving. My good friend Susie got places in Skopje and I am so happy for her and secretly jealous a little bit!

Susie, Corey and I

Veles Group Photo with our placements! Pictured back row left to right: Andrew, Monique, Bill, Steve, Andreya, Jarred, me, Susie, and Sydney. Front row L to R: Audrey, Katy Jasmine and Corey!

After much anticipation and waiting, I am so excited to finally know my placement. I will be living with a 63 year old woman and her 26-year-old son. Apparently she wants to become a vegetarian with me because she is worried about her health! Also my family doesn’t smoke. This is huge because almost every family in Macedonia smokes and they had to search extremely hard to find one that doesn’t. I feel so incredibly blessed by this small gift.

So proud of my placement on the map!!!!!

Yesterday, we had our Hub day in Skopje, which is training with all of the volunteers. Did I mention that this training is at a 5 star hotel in Skopje with a fabulous lunch?! We eat a feast when we go (this may be my favorite part of the day!) They brought a huge map of Macedonia and we filled out papers with our picture and site placement and placed this on the map so we are able to see where the rest of the volunteers will be living. Then they served us cake! It was chocolate chip cake with some sort of berry in the middle. We may be spoiled, just a little bit!

Deliciousness 

This has been a phenomenal week and I am so thankful for the prayers and support of my family and friends! I will keep you posted on Kavadarci as I go for a site visit in 2 weeks and will stay with my new host family!

Veles Pie Festival!

"Pie Festival"

When the word “Pie Festival” comes to your mind, you typically think of a fair with carnival games and pie judging contests. There would probably be booths selling baked goods and homemade jams and goodies as well as every pie you could imagine.

Macedonia has a very different Pie Festival. The festival took place in my town, Veles. It began on Friday and lasted until late Sunday night. This pie is unlike any pie I have ever seen. It appears to be more of a pizza or “pita” as Macedonians also call it. This oval shaped creation has a think crust with egg and lamb baked into the middle. Hope you aren’t watching your sodium intake when eating this because you would your levels would be off the charts! This is why the Macedonians eat this delicacy with wine, particularly red wine. White wine is also served but red is the wine of choice.

A close up of the Pie! 

Wine Vendors

Selling Pie and the Macedonian dessert

The main street was closed for the festival and dozens of tents were assembled in the middle of the street along with tables, chairs, refrigerators and booths for various venders. There was a stage set up in the middle of the festival with speakers lining the streets so that from any point on the main street you could hear the traditional Macedonian music blasting in your ears.

Various booths selling wines lined the outer boarders of the tests. One vendor even had crates of grapes and a barrel full of wine. It appears that were making some of their wine on site. There was only one vendor selling a traditional Macedonian cake. There were street vendors selling balloons and various light up toys for the children. The atmosphere at this festival is warm and inviting and is a kid friendly environment. This was completely surprising to me because in America, typically when alcohol is involved, the environment is anything but kid friendly. People sit around the tables in the street with their families for hours eating pie and drinking wine. The people are relaxed without an agenda. This pace of life is extremely enjoyable. Macedonians value time with family and this weekend was a glimpse into this main value in their culture.

On Friday I attended the festival with a few friends and only tried the crust of the pie since I don’t eat the meat. It was very salty but it seems that everyone enjoyed it. Pitas are at every vendor during the lower times but come dinnertime, there is a mad rush for pies and you have to wait hours before your pie is ready.

On Saturday I had TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training and all of the volunteers from the other towns and cities came to Veles for the training. They arranged for a restaurant to make pies and vegetarian pizzas for all of the volunteers so everyone could enjoy the pie experience. The other volunteers would return back to their placements shortly after the training and wouldn’t have enough time to attend the festival.

This festival was both refreshing and relaxing. Seeing how much the Macedonians value spending time with one another was refreshing. Coming America, we often have the “hurry disease” and are always on a schedule going from place to place. The people here value their time spend with each other over work or watching TV (unless is football!). It is refreshing to see that family does matter and is the main priority here as well as following traditions. Overall, this was a fantastic weekend full of many laughs and time spent with family and friends.

Setting up the stage for the Serbian band

5 Churches, Mountains and Friendship

The beautiful city of Veles

Imagine your 69-year-old grandmother asked you to visit churches.  You would probable go to the many little old churches around town have lunch in a café and have her home at 2 o’clock for her nap.

 In Macedonia they visit churches very differently.  Susie, who is 66, and my fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, invited me to visit the local churches with her and her host mother, Branka. Susie’s host mother, Branka, is 73 and her friend who also came along, Vesna, is 69.  When I accepted the invitation I had no idea we would be hiking mountains to explore churches.  The previous day I had ran 12.5 miles and was already sore. I was astonished that they were physically able to climb up the mountains.

We walked out of town and along the river. We passed many people fishing in the polluted water. I can only hope that they don’t eat the fish and are only fishing for leisure but then again I am reminded of the real poverty here and for some people, this is the best option for a meal. Suddenly the town was no longer in sight and a sea of mountains surrounded us. The mountains were very tall with small towns and churches etched into the mountainsides. The mountains were extremely rocky and different formations jutted out at various points.

Before climbing up the mountains 

St. Friday Church

From the top of the mountain!

We stopped in front of a small church that I would never have noticed if Branka hadn’t pointed this out. This church had a small bench and a small place to light candle but had no walls and was completely exposed on all sides. Beside the church was a path that led up the mountain. I could see a church far in the distance and my legs were not too happy as I began to climb up the path. Once getting to the top, I discovered the church is called St. Friday. There were 2 women standing outside the church wearing blue robes. There seemed to be a pattern with the robes because when we visited the other churches, I noticed that all of the workers or volunteers at the churches wore these same types of robes.

Anyone else wondering what that red/brown thing is in the background?

Upon entering the church, one of the women informed me that this church has Turkish influence. My Macedonian language skills are limited so I may have interpreted this wrong considering the Turks are Muslim. The church was very tiny inside and we lit a few candles. I tried asking if they had a priest that would come to say mass by using the word “Pope” and trying to signal the man below him but I didn’t get anywhere in the conversation expect I added more confusion. I did however see a small room that looked like a confessional and had a robe that I assumed a priest would wear.

Every open space on the wall is covered with pictures of various saints and coins are placed all throughout the church on any open space.

 Inside the rock cave

Once we left the church, Branka's friend Vesna, took us to a small cave that is formed into the side of a rock. The tradition states that one who goes inside the rock cave and climbs out the other side will have good health, fetility and a happy life. The person’s family members may also receive good health. They insisted that I climb in the rock cave.   It was extremely tiny and can be compared to being pushed through a PVC pipe. I managed to make it through the rock with only a few scratches!

We set off again to see the next church, which we walked along another path on the side of the mountain. This church was extremely old and the paintings on the walls were almost entirely chipped off. It was very dark with a musty smell. We stayed only for a short amount of time because Branka and Vesna were worried it might begin to rain.

The next church was called St. Nikola. This was the smallest enclosed church we saw. Before going into the church, we decided to sit down and have a small bite to eat. There was a canopy with benches and beside  benches were candles to light for the church. We sat down next to a family that seemed to be having some sort of celebration. They came over with plates full of food which included grilled chicken and sausage, rice with vegetables, a salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and onions and grilled eggplant. Once they heard I was a vegetarian, they gave me my own plate of food with extra veggies! Can you imagine this happening in America? If anything, we would be seen as interrupting this family’s picnic back home but instead the Macedonians took this opportunity to share their hospitality with us. I was so incredibly touched. After finishing the meal, they offered coffee and cookies for dessert. This moment will be embedded in my mind as I reflect on the culture. I understand not every Macedonian would do this but it was touching nonetheless. 

After finishing lunch, we went inside St. Nikola and once again there were pictures of saints everywhere with coins on top of all the picture frames. Where is the collection box? I have never seen money lying around a church so this is something new for me!

The beautiful 3rd church we saw

Saint Nikola

We walked down the mountain and were back on the main road, on our way to the final church. After peering around the bend in the road, a multitude of colors struck me. In front of this church was a massive garden with many flowers in bloom. It was truly beautiful and to think its October! This church had a dome on the top and is called St. Petca or St. Sunday. They sure love naming their churches after days of the week! Apparently this saint is from Greece and is very poplar here.

Once stepping inside this church, there was a kaleidoscope of colors. This church was recently repainted and colors of the saints were very vibrant. This church was unlike the others churches we visited because it told a story. On the top row was the story of Mary, in the middle was Jesus’ story including the Stations of the Cross and on the bottom row was the saints. On the far left of the church were stories from the Old Testament. This was my favorite church and there was one painting of Jesus that was saved from before they repainted the church. Apparently this church has healing holy water but I didn’t know this until I got back into town!  I had a wonderful day exploring the churches with Suzie and her family.

St. Petca 

Inside St. Petca 

I am so thankful to have Suzie as my good friend.  I could not have envisioned that the youngest Peace Corp volunteer (me) would become best friends with Suzie, who is the oldest.  It reminds me to always have an open mind and an open heart because you never know when someone will touch your life.