On December 12th the Mak13 group had our swearing-in ceremony. Let's see... I played a version of the national anthem of Macedonia on my guitar whilst the others sang. All I know is that I was glad to be done with our Pre-Service Training. It is nice to also be done with the middle school antics of many of my fellow volunteers. I can honestly say that the amount of ridiculous gossip that goes on in the Peace Corps, thus far, has been the most negative part of my service. [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pics of Skopje. Haven't traversed every corner of it, but I'm sure I will over the next two years. DOBRO! [View Full Entry]

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Here are some photos with some of my friends, a local artist, and in my practicum school, Goce Delchev. [View Full Entry]

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OK, so long story short. Me & two of my Peace Corps buddies went to the TAKSIRAT Festival in Skopje two nights ago. The Roots, Marky Ramone, Neville Staples from The Specials, and Bernays Propaganda (awesome local band) all played. When we arrived, we walked in the wrong way. One of the security guards saw us and assuming one of us was in a band, ushered us backstage to The Roots' green room. (P.S. One of my friends is black as are The Roots.) We kind of just played along and got free beer and got to hang with some of [View Full Entry]

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The novelty of snow will probably wear out soon. Kratovo, my new city is really cold and icy. I will be moving there in 2 weeks. I'll miss my host family. They have been extremely warm and helpful to me and are absolutely hilarious and loving people. [View Full Entry]

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So I was planning on not mentioning anything on my blog about anything other than Macedonia, but...YES!!! I am so happy to have a president-elect Obama! While I was in the U.S. teaching a 6th grade class, we were talking about different attributes of both Obama and McCain. The kids came up with Republican/Democrat, young/old, believes in universal healthcare/believes in status quo, supports war in Iraq/ doesn't support war in Iraq, etc. But not once did black/white come up and I could tell it was the furthest thing from the kids' minds. That was perhaps the proudest moment I've ever had [View Full Entry]

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Well, my life pretty much consits of these two places. On the terrace is where I play my guitar and @ the center is where I people watch...Or the people watch me. I kind of stick out around here. [View Full Entry]

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Alright, so my first week of pre-service training for the Peace Corps is done! Waking up, sitting in uncomfortable chairs for hours...You get the point. All of my Peace Corps cohorts are really cool. I know I am going to learn a lot from many of these people whether it be professional or personal in nature. I am staying with a host family in Negotino. My host brother, Simon, is a seventeen year old actor type kid. He's pretty funny and really nice. His father is hilarious from what I gather. I don't understand him, but everyone else seems to always [View Full Entry]

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Finishing packing up all of my stuff in Tempe and moving them into storage at my brother's house. I'm totally procrastinating though. Should have been done with this last weekend. The poor guy who is taking my spot must be totally annoyed. Oops, he'll live. Can't believe it is only 19 short days away before I leave for Macedonia for two years with the Peace Corps. I'm excited to get on the ground and see what sort of projects await me. I love the fact that the Peace Corps allows their volunteers to be creative, self motivated, and get involved in [View Full Entry]

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Visited Countries Map [View Full Entry]

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