Shift in Thinking

I haven't felt like writing about my experience for the last three months. Arriving in Bogdanci, attempting to hit the ground running with classes, with community connections, with my family, I didn't see the attachment forming until an accident in my community illuminated how I really feel; I am starting to love it here!

It is hard to say that in a way when I look back on how I feared adapting. I remember in training, when I struggled with what felt like all I was loosing, a fellow PCV asked me if I could withstand what I saw I was loosing long enough to find what I could gain. These powerful words pierced my adjustment resistance. Honesty amidst your Peace Corps experience is essential, but your positivity and persistence in committing to the journey is also essential. She invited me to sit amidst the chaos, knowing that my service would draw me in. It didn't feel comfortable to think about loosing weekly swing and salsa dancing, the YMCA- my second home, or the freedom to challenge gender stereotypes through my strength and vivaciousness. But something in me knew I had to see more, give myself more time.

The first few months in my site blew me around- LITERALLY! Bogdanci is known as THE
WINDIEST part of Macedonia. Lined on the backside with high hills and cultivated plains below, the wind blows through strong enough to keep a runner using all her might in place.  Learning the names of about 250 students, plus coworkers, plus cultural norms blew me about as well.

Despite the wind, the mild climate and peaceful nature of Bogdanci permeates the people and sets the vibe. My high school director and fellow teachers are incredibly welcoming. You can hear and see that they are committed to their students and do the best they can.  Bogdanci is small, so your teachers see you grow up, like family.  And while the economic opportunities in Macedonia in general leave many small communities like Bogdanci wanting for jobs and lacking motivated students, I find small victories with my classes everyday.

I truly feel the students have embraced me. It took a couple months for me to open up to my humorous, relational teaching style. Introducing reading and questioning strategies, technology resources, and learning through play, I have been finding my place.  This in turn has helped me share who I am and learn who my students are.

Teaching Body Jam and Yoga, I have continued building connections with myself and others through activity. Teaching yoga and establishing a personal practice has sparked a steep learning curve. Luckily, the openness of January gave me the time I needed to practice language and cues.  I also joined the adult Oro group. Oro is Macedonia's beloved traditional dance. At practice we laugh, we learn, we celebrate the beauty of Macedonia's unique music. I hope to have a Swing Dance party by the end of February, recruiting my students and fellow Oro-ers.

One of my most surprising discoveries in Bogdanci was Polymath 13. A couple who started working with a national effort for rural development through the Green Agenda approach, Dejn and Naditza of Polymath 13 exemplify committing to your community. Leaving work in offices to join the Green Agenda project, their efforts through Polymath 13 have replaced an eroding roof in the kindergarten and an inefficient, out-dated water reservoir. Not only are they local, so they understand the community; strategic, so they plan short term and long term tasks; open-minded, so they see possibilities; they are also my extended family!

Personally, I can feel a shift from worrying about getting what I need here to looking deeper and broader about how to help Bogdanci.  I realize I have more to let go of and more to embrace to truly understand how to be an asset towards sustainable change. That is humbling. Matching that with the hospitality I've been shown thus far makes me smile in gratitude for what is to come.