Holy-moly. I
originally planned to use the more vulgar term, but I usually do not like to
leave a paper trail of my profanity.
However, no other phrase can better preface all that has passed within
the past month or so. Inactivity from
this blog probably indicated how busy I have been, and this post breaks that
silence as well as foretells a (hopefully) less busy period.
These past weeks have been stressful, and not in the usual
Peace Corps way. This stress is more
familiar, with deadlines and plenty of moving parts that make life an ordeal of
living on a prayer and burning the midnight candle. However, there were a few holiday parties
that we celebrated that I failed to mention these past weeks, since they were
nothing more than PCVs celebrating American holidays in some apartment. However, I will present a short recap on all
that has passed during the early part of December.
Corporate Sponsorship
Toward the end of November, I joined another PCV (Cindy from
Bitola) on a corporate sponsorship ask at a company in Prilep. As the Finance Coordinator for the Young
Men’s Leadership Program, my main concern regarding the camp should be finding
money to support the camp. However, as
grant resources from the US Embassy seem to dry up (at least for already
financed and/or camp-based projects), Cindy (who works with YMCA in Bitola as
the NGO managing YMLP) has decided to pursue corporate sponsorship to help fund
YMLP and GLOW (the women’s version of the camp).
Overall she has been very successful in leading the
charge. But she invited me to an
appointment with a company in Prilep (I will not name which one, but it is known
for its snacks and sweets in Macedonia).
Even though I have some experience asking for donations or partnerships
with alumni or companies while working for Admissions or Career Advancement at
UChicago, I never asked for money on
behalf of a project, so I decided to stay silent and observe, at least until
Cindy did her thing. After the company
agreed to donate more than we had expected, I finally used my Prilep dialect to
talk up the CEO of the company, who softened up quite a bit and seemed to warm
even more toward the project. This
experience was definitely exhilarating, and even though I never thought of
development (fundraising) as an attractive career, having a meeting with a CEO
of a foreign company was definitely a rewarding experience.
Dream Team Project
At our In-Service Training in April, Peace Corps assigned
all volunteers and their counterparts to create a Dream Team project. While it is not very clear why we needed to
accomplish this, I assume that this initiative would facilitate collaboration
with our counterparts, and the video or presentation produced from this
collaboration would serve as marketing material for Peace Corps Macedonia.
AIESEC Prilep decided to submit its I Promise project as the
Dream Team project. Even though I
collected content in September while the interns were still here, a combination
of procrastination and lack of time resulted in me submitting our video right
on the deadline. Provided below is the
Youtube link of the video that summarizes the success of I Promise.
Thanksgiving
While last year’s Thanksgiving was momentous in many ways
(as I scoured the forest for herbs, cooked a large dish of macaroni and cheese
and squash, and ended the holiday dancing the oro with my training community), this
year was a lot more subtle. Many PCVs
gathered in Bitola for Thanksgiving on Saturday, since it is forbidden for PCVs
to leave site during the week. I started
the day at the faculty painting our new office.
The color is not the greatest, and I first thought it was a silly idea
given how busy all of us were with our various projects. However, the work really brought the AIESEC
Prilep members together. After being
covered in blue and white specs, I rushed to a bus to Bitola, made simple dish
of curried Brussels sprouts, and sat, ate, and drank on the floor for probably
8 hours. As one volunteer mentioned that
night, the PCVs in Macedonia ought to be thankful for how small the country is,
since getting together for an American holiday like this becomes that much
easier.
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| Preparing my curried Brussels sprouts for T-G dinner |
Festivities in Ohrid
Since the MAK18s who live in Ohrid have birthdays very close
to each other in early December, they invited us again to the carbon-copied
version of Birthdays and Holidays celebration at their place. The night of celebrations involved, just like
last year, gathering for homemade food, various drinking games, and a secret Santa
gift exchange (in my opinion, the most creative gift was two bottles, one
filled with tequila, the other with water from a river that flows through
Kumanovo). Luckily, I was able to
include some business with this trip, as I presented AIESEC’s new internship
database to the university students studying in Ohrid. Ohrid’s weather was very gorgeous that
weekend, and I reveled in the ability to read for about an hour at Kaneo (the
emblematic church in Ohrid) in a meditative silence absent of any tourists.
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| Reading outside on the lake in December- PC Macedonia perk |
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| Post-Secret Santa Exchange |
AIESEC Work
The most stressful part of these past few weeks has been
managing the work with AIESEC. All of
our members have been busy learning their new functional areas or organizing
Career Directions, a seminar that was hosted on December 12-14 for students in
Prilep. Members implemented their skills
in business development, marketing, graphic design, and presentation skills to
make the seminar a success.
Besides helping with this seminar or working with the
applicants interested in going on an internship through AIESEC, I have also
been writing a grant proposal for AIESEC Prilep’s next seminar, Leadership
Inspirational Seminar, which will occur at the beginning of March (if we
receive the funds). I will discuss each
individual project within the next few posts, but our goal to take AIESEC
Prilep to the next level has given our membership a worthwhile, albeit
stressful, experience.
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