The End of the Holiday Season

So not a lot has occurred here over the past week, but enough small things happened that are worth noting.

Old New Year

In Prilep, Macedonians celebrate Old New Year by baking bread or a burek with a coin inside.  Most other Macedonians celebrate this tradition on Macedonian Christmas.  Last Tuesday, as soon as I returned from Ohrid, I met my colleagues at a restaurant to celebrate the tradition.  As the burek was passed around, I was the third person to pick up a slice, but my counterpart took a slice after me and picked the burek with the coin inside.  Angela was happy to receive the coin, and it was a bit of a preminition since she hopes to be president of AIESEC Prilep next year.  If the coin falls to you, you are destined to receive good luck for the next year.  I am sure Angela will welcome this luck for the year ahead.

I was also surprised to receive a birthday cake and a wonderful birthday gift!  I will surely wear my gift often to represent the organization that I work with.

With my birthday gift!

Vodici

On Sunday, many Macedonians celebrated the tradition of Водичи (Vodici).  The event is hosted in every city on Macedonia to commemorate the baptism of Christ.  In each town, Macedonians gather by the closest body of water (whether that be the lake in Ohrid, the rive in Skopje, or a dinky little pool in Prilep).  In these locations, a lkocal priest blesses a cross and tosses it into the body of water. Afterwards, Macedonains plunge into the water to try to retrieve the cross.  This year was momentous because, in Shtip, a woman had retrieved the cross for the first time in memorable history!

http://travel2macedonia.com.mk/event/bogojavlenie-vodici

A picture of Vodici, borrowed from the internet

Back at Work

So the holiday season is over, but many students at the university are still on break.  The last two weeks of January are finals weeks for the college students, but students are only required to take these tests if they failed their midterms in December.  Some of you back home are asking me if work is picking up.  Others are still confused as to what I do.  My role with AIESEC will likely evolve as my time passes in Prilep, but we are currently working on our Local Recruitment campaign to encourage students in the southern part of Macedonia to consider volunteering or interning aborad for the summer.  We are also recruiting new members to plug some of the personnel gaps in the organization.  So I am busier, but I am still learning about the organization, and I feel like I have entered the “Trial and Error” phase of my service.  Overall, I am happy to contribute to the organization, and when I am free I usually spend my time studying Macedonian or preparing for the Foreign Service Test.