American Meeting in Skopje.

I think we last left off on Sunday, me going out alone to a cafe? Monday was just a Monday... nothing too sweet. Woke up with a sore throat that I still have tonight. No ice skating for me. Might as well start with last night (Tuesday).

I decided to do the same last night. Just a near by spot, it has an indoor arena attached and is also near to one of the college dormitories -campus is clear on the other side of town though - it tends to have a pretty young and full crowd. I took a table near the middle and pulled out a book to look over the next days lessons. That's right I'm teaching now! As I am going over how to introduce pronoun-antecedent agreements in my head I hear someone ask what I am reading. The English was perfect, no accent, no problem with the tense... this was an American. Turns out I was right. This guy, Steve as I later learn, is a businessman from Chicago that was traveling around Europe for work. He went to this Cafe simply because he saw it on the way to his hotel and decided to stop in. Seemed a little random, but I can't judge... I do the same thing. Steve and I started out talking about what brought us both to Macedonia, and how at it is different than what we expected it to be even while knowing it would be different from home. Well as we kept talking, I noticed that Steve was pointing out differences and bashing Skopje for what it was. Little by little I began to defend Macedonia more and more. Finally I got to the point where I was actually annoyed that this American had come to Macedonia and all he could do was bitch about the pollution, the crazy drivers, and the fact that his business associate he met with earlier in the day hogged up much of this time telling him about the history of Skopje and trying to give him various samples of Macedonian cuisine.
We chit chatted for about an hour, after which my machiatto had run empty, and so had the entertainment of Steve. I do have to admit, I was thrilled to be able to have an easy conversation with some one else from the U.S. All the words were exactly what he meant to say, nothing was a more formal version of the word... just normal talking. But as the conversation grew longer, it seemed that everything I had grown accustomed to, or began to see as "home" he was putting his views upon and making the characteristics of Skopje seem wrong.
On my COLD, short walk home I realized that I might have done the exact same thing upon my arrival. I really hope not, but I'm sure that I did. As I walked up my steps to my door I had a good little chuckle. I had just sat down with someone from home, from the states, and defended Skopje against his bias and judgments. I got a kick out of it. Stupid Steve.
Last nights interaction wasn't all that bad though. I got to meet a new person, which is the goal to going out. Added Bonus: I got to see the potential of this trip. Part of a trip like this is to see other parts of the world right? But I think more important than seeing other parts of the world, it is important so that I can be impacted by other parts of the world. Well done Skopje. Well done.


Side note. Teaching finally started, and is going well. It involves many more worksheets than I am used to. A lot more I talk, WE read the directions on the paper, I give an extra example, YOU fill out worksheets. This is not exactly what they encouraged at the good old U of I, and certainly not something that I would have done in Lewiston either. However, I must say it seems to work. I'm obviously going to shake it up a little bit, throw in some Mr. L. ideas here and there where I am able to. For now, I'll stick to Radica's plan.

Here's a good chuckle for you before I sign off...
I am required to write in cursive on a chalk board... It's a grand mess. Print is hard enough for me when I get going. When I teach, I am easily excited. As lights turn on in kids heads I get more and more enthusiastic and animated. By the end of some lessons my writing looks less and less like letters and more like connect the dots. That is with Print on a white board. One of the students encouraged me to practice cursive at home. Isn't that sweet?