My journey to Macedonia week 2

Здраво again! I am keeping my word and writing about my second EVS week here in Bitola because I want to share with you my experience here. First and foremost, I am confirming once again how nice people are and the fact that they like to help you as much as they can and however they can ALWAYS.

Now about my second week: I will share with you my EVS project. I am happy to say that I had my first upcycling and recycling workshop with the children from Sv. Kliment Ohridski School on Wednesday. If you are wondering what exactly the kids are working on, I will tell you. Given that the New Year and Christmas are not that far away, we were thinking of doing a themed project. More precisely, we are doing a DIY fireplace for the holidays, made of… cardboard boxes. I have to tell you first that the preview of the project consisted in gathering the materials for the workshop, a.k.a. actually going to random shops of Širok Sokak and asking for the boxes (and sometimes showing a picture of them where the language tool did not work). My mission was rather short; in one evening and the morning after, I had all the cardboard boxes I needed for the project to start. This Wednesday, armed with cardboard, scissors, glue, scotch tape, colorful paper, and lots of enthusiasm, we went to meet 35 kids, eager to start the workshop. This first workshop was a personal challenge for me because it was the first time I was in front of a classroom, making sure everything was going according to plan and that we would finish in time what we wanted for that day. Luckily, I had some supporters from SFERA with me, so the workshop was a success. The kids enjoyed wrapping the boxes with white paper, divided into 5 groups, and finished the workshop by starting to cut colorful paper for the bricks of the chimney. Next week, we will continue with this fun challenge. Until then, I am keeping myself busy at the office with articles, posters, etc.

Enough talk about work; let’s talk about the fun part of the week.. I have to tell you that I managed to visit the Bitola Museum, a very interesting small museum full of history and artefacts from earlier times. A large part is dedicated to Ataturk, the founder of contemporary Turkey, so it was interesting to get historical insight into another country.

“What else?” you may think.

Well, given that I am a big fan of food and going out, let’s say that I explored these areas of interest. In terms of food, continuing my mission of trying out at least one new dish per week, I tried the Turkish pide, rakija, and had another backed cheese (just to remind myself how good it was last week). It goes without saying that, because it was such a sunny, warm week, I enjoyed a cup of tea on the famous Širok Sokak one day at noon, like any other respectable Bitolian. But enough cups of tea for now. In terms of entertainment, I got to experience the electronic vibes of Porta Jazz and the famous… nightclub. Lots of fun! The week ended on a happy note with fun meet-ups with friends.

What about challenges? For me it is a smooth stay here, nothing to share for now and I got used to the local time of North Macedonia, a.k.a. being a bit late :).

In anticipation of next week’s article and some snow, have a great week!

Ciao