Skopje Weekend

From Skopje

I went to Skopje from Wednesday 12th to Monday morning 17th. I went with one of the college students. I thought going to another Country would be a great addition to my learning experience and I was right. Spending a long weekend in the heart of the Capital made me learn a lot more about other cultures. I'm glad I was exposed to another culture and I made more realizations about all of the cultures I recently have been exposed to. The more you talk with others and make comparisons the better my understanding of everything is. Over all I feel like I have gained a lot more now.

Moving on, for a capital of a country and a large population I was amazed how non big city it felt. There were trees and strips of land everywhere. A lot of the buildings had space next to them and not another building. Plus there were some nice parks with ponds, water fountains, many different trees and nice trails for walk on. I've talked to a few people and they have asked if its similar to Portland, but I have never been there so I dont know.

I did have some issues with a few intersections. The pedestrian crossing signs, walk dont walk, were located in two places, the first half of the street and the second half. I am use to one sign that I can walk across the entire street. There were a few occasions that I would see one sign and start walking, then as cars are turning towards me I realize that is for the second half and not the first half where I am trying to walk. I did learn and change my ways. Most of the time (depending on intersection) there were few cars moving so it took me longer to learn to look for two signs. Plus I feel like the signs were not within the same line of sight, that I would have to look around to find where each one was.

I got to walk around the city and see a few sites and take photos. In the evening I got exposed to a few different bars, restaurants, and cafe/ live music spots. I enjoyed it, I felt like I was exposed to many different places and atmospheres. On Saturday I got in a car with the family, which consisted of Spire, Mom, Aunt, and Uncle, we drove to Ohrid. I was nervous because we drove threw a lot of fog, but to my surprise the sun was shining and it was a great day for seeing sites. I took photos and when we started to wrap up the day the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Went out to eat before driving back, we had the most unfriendly waiter ever. It was clear he was having a bad day or in general hated people and life. The drive back had thicker fog or at least it felt like that because the sun had set and everything was darker. I loved what I got to see and I had a great time with everyone. Huzzah for friendly families willing to take me out and show me the sites.

Over all I had a great time. There was some concern about me getting back into Greece but I had no problems at all. Traveling itself was a pain, the train was about 2 hours late and then we hit some construction on the tracks that we would have otherwise have missed. Over all got to Thessaloniki about 4 hours late and then we had troubles with the bus. It was a very long day of traveling with lots of sitting and waiting. The food we ordered has never tasted so good.

Athens Oct 24-28

I went to Athens for a long weekend with one of the high school students. I had a great time, I really enjoyed his family, the weather and seeing the sites. I didn't get to see as many of the museums as I wanted to but it just gives me a great reason to go back. Plus his family made it clear that I am to return and stay longer.

I enjoyed going to the Acropolis and seeing the Parthenon. I wish I could have recalled more from my art history classes but I still enjoyed it. I was told to take a lot of photos and I did. I couldn't believe the view, it was surrounded by city everywhere, in all directions. Sunday was a family day. There was a baptism that I got to attend. It was not a full church service, it was at a small church and it was just the baptism. It was nice to meet more of the family. I really enjoyed seeing how everything was done and how they celebrated. Lots of colorful balloons and pink decorated items. Little gifts were handed out to all and a dessert snack thing. Afterwards there was a reception at the far end of town (lots of driving). It was in the back half of a restaurant with some live music. I enjoyed seeing my host mom and her parents dancing. I still need to learn some traditional dancing.

I even got to see 'The Mall', a very large mall in Athens and that is the name of it The Mall. On Monday we (Thano & I) went to see a movie there, Burn After Reading. I really enjoyed the movie, especially the part where one character mentioned he use to be a Greek Orthodox Priest, it made the line a lot funnier being in Greece.

I got to know the transportation system very well. Train there and back (Austria's train seats are more comfortable), the bus, metro line, and car. It felt like most of my time was in transit but I know it wasn't. Over all I loved it and am happy I got to go and spend time with a family, even for a weekend.

English Classes

This is a two part entry. 1)attending classes 2)teaching classes

1) Last week I attended four different English classes with three different teachers. It was interesting to see how the classes *interacted with me *what material was covered *how much english was spoken to them by the teacher *different teaching styles *organization and planning for each class.
Classes and the school system here are very different than in America. Classes can easily run late the entire day, students (all)come an average of 2-5min late, 1 class can be cancelled for an event (USA would shorten all classes evenly to make time), field trips get on a bus and go (USA attendance would be taken, groups formed all with an adult chaperone), still don’t have books for classes so using photo copies for handouts

2) When I first arrived I was asked by the English department to make a power point about myself to teach the classes in case a teacher could not be available to teach. I would be a substitute if/when needed. Last Thursday I was suppose to teach three different classes about myself. It ended up only being two classes because the third was cancelled for student government elections. I tried my best to cover information about Colorado, Boulder, my family, IFYE program, different states (use of maps) that were important to me and my life, some photos of me, the four schools I attended and the school grades in America, and some other info. Over all I think it went well. I am not sure how much they actually learned but I could tell they were interested and looking at the map of the states was helpful. At the end I would ask if there were any big cities or states they had heard of and I would point them out. Before each class started I took the class photo with GodzillaDino (will be posted).

Ramble

Hay I was going to upload some more photos onto picasa but I am having some troubles. Things are going well here for me. Getting to see and do more, learning the town better. Saw the first few rooms of the Byzantine museum before I kinda got kicked out (should be going back tomorrow to see the rest, hopefully). Tried Goody's fast food Greek food, pretty good. I wish I had time to look at the menu instead of seeing a few pictures and just picking one hopping it was good. It was a very tasty sandwich I enjoyed it just wasn’t sure what I was getting.

I took a few more photos of the AFS campus and a few more downtown so you can see some of the sites that I am seeing. I've been working on crocheting scarves and need to buy some more yarn. You can see two finished projects on Damian and Nancy, some of my librarian friends that I have been hanging out with. They took some of us to the Beer Academy, nice restaurant with lots of beer. It ended up being more of a German night making me think of Austria. I had an unfiltered dark German beer, and the food we had was a plate of sausages.
I usually go to the store to buy bananas; I can usually get 5-6 for about 1ε, pretty good especially compared to Zurich.
This coming weekend I will be heading to Athens with one of the AFS students for the long weekend. National holiday on Tuesday. I'm excited to be staying with a family and being able to see Athens.
Oh wait just was informed that there will be a general strike tomorrow so going to the museum will be postponed but going out for coffee and buying yarn in the evening is a go because they are private enterprises.

I have reduced the amount of mosquito bites by purchasing a thing to plug into the wall. The last few days there has been an influx of fly’s in the hall and in my room. They are everywhere and you can tell the plug in stuff is having an affect on them but not enough to kill or discourage them from coming in. Floors get really dirty here so lots of sweeping is necessary. Story time: I was having troubles with my shower and floor drain draining. This past friday they came and cleared it out, very happy for that. They on the other hand left all of the clogging parts all over my bathroom (found 4 piles of gross stuff), the floor had an extra layer of dirt/grime, the shower curtain is oh so dirty, the faucet and water controls were covered in stuff. Over all happy to have water flowing, unhappy about the mess I had to clean that I didn't realize how bad it was until I was getting naked to get into the shower. It's much better now, I cleaned.

Links about the School

I have not been ontop of getting information to you about AFS. I have decided for those of you who like to over achive I will give you some links and you can read what intersts you. I WILL be making a real post about the school with some facts later (hopefully this week or next)
the famous wikipedia
AFS American Farm school
Perrotis College same campus
infomative info on the fresh products, good reading about the eggs

Greece

I have almost been in Greece for 20 days, and I have another 2 months left. I will make another post about the school later (AFS). For the most part I have a lot of freedom here. I have a larger room (because it's for two people and I have it to myself), with a private bathroom. I get a lot of mosquito bites at night and just bought something to plug into the wall to help with the situation. There are a few American interns who are here for the school year. A lot of people get me confused and think I am one as well. But I'm here with the 4-H program, some are informed and know what I am talking about and others don't have a clue (kind of like in America).

When I first arrived there was a lot of cold and rainy weather. I was told September was the best time to be in Greece. Lucky for me it didn't stick and the past few days have been amazing. The sun has been shining and the sunsets are beautiful. A few days ago the winds blew out some moisture and now I can see Mt Olympus. I have taken a few photos and will be taking more. Keep checking on my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/kelliebetty. I have most of the photos up but are not labeled yet, I'm working on it.
I've gotten use to taking the bus to and from town, and the taxi at night after the buses stop running. The bus is only .50 cents, and I can use one ticket for 4 bus rides within a 70 minute time frame. The taxi is pretty cheep too. I've never taken one in America so I don't know how they compare. I usually buy bus tickets in groups of 10 (deca). I was upset today to find out my most recently purchased ones were in the pocket of my pants after I washed them, opps there went 5ε.

I help work library hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings. I've also been getting to know the library staff and I am becoming good friends with two of them. I'm getting to know the city Thessaloniki a little bit better, still need to review the history of it (there's a lot). I found a store to buy yarn so I am crocheting again (I love it so much). I've also found my new favorite bar in the world, I wish I could take it home with me. The only things to improve the bar would be to stop the smoking and make my drinks be free. Then again I never enjoy paying for my drinks;)
I spend most of my time on campus but have been slowly getting to see and do more off campus. I have not been to a Greek home yet, but this week some students have been talking to me and inviting me to their homes. The last weekend in October is a long weekend and I should be going to Athens with a student who's from there. I'm pretty excited about these opportunities. There is an alum who is always wanting to host people, I am waiting for more details on this.

I'm interested in hiking Mt Olympus. I've been told I need to do it with in the next two or three weeks otherwise it gets to cold and has snow. Other than that I have little information on it, like how far it is or how long it takes to hike it.
Plus another very important thing to know is that you can not flush the TP. There is a trash bin beside the toilet for everything to go into. No one told me for a few days, I hope it didn't screw anything up. First I thought it was just here at the school, but apparently its for all of Greece.

Austria Landjugend

Here are some photos of me while at the orientation in Austria. Feel free to flip threw them, I know all of the people in them;)
I was also in the newsletter but at this point I have not seen it, but I've been told there is a picture of me and a few quotes from me. I wish I knew what it said. Hopefully I'll get a copy one way or another.