From Blue Sky Days to Blackbird Fields: One Year of Service...

Yesterday marked one year of service since swearing in as a Peace Corps volunteer. Ironically, I was back in Kamenice where we swore-in at Joni Ranch. I was a part of a group of 6 TEFL volunteers who were observing our trainees in the classroom. We have trainees in Kamenice and three nearby villages -- Koretin, Toponice, and Rogaçice (Rogan). My group was in Rogan and they did an amazing job in the classroom.

The mosque in Kamenice that we walked by everyday during training

Sip Cafe -- one of our favorite hangouts

My village was the longest distance from Kamenice

Thirty-one volunteers arrived with KOS 10 and one had to return already for family reasons. So the group was split between the four locations. They meet up for certain training activities, but have their language lessons in their villages in a room in the school there. The school in Rogan is brand new and it was beautiful. The only problem is the heat doesn't work, so during the winter, they had to move back to the old building. Although the weather was beautiful while I was in Kamenice (blue skies, sunny, and low 70s), the school was really cold. The class sizes were small. The largest class was sixteen students, and the students were well behaved. I observed trainees in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th grade. For the most part, students had better English than my high school students at the professional school in Kaçanik.

I enjoyed seeing the other volunteers. Three COD volunteers also made it to Kamenice during the time we were there -- Kevin, Sarah, and Chad. We had a chance to hang out in our volunteer community and to also hang out with the trainees from time to time.

On Thursday, the volunteers will be finding out their site placements and this weekend they will visit their sites. I remember that was an exciting time for us last year and we are anxious to see where the new volunteers will be placed.

I was in Kamenice last week for observations on Thursday and Friday. We stayed at Jehona, which is where our tech days were held during training. Interestingly, several of the rooms had no keys. They said that they would be watching out for the rooms. Jehona is an old hotel and the mattrices were very hard and the rooms were outdated, but very clean. We had to go into Prishtina Sunday, so that we could meet our driver at 7:20 am at PC offices Monday morning.

On Sunday, I went for a walk with the new response volunteer replacing Addie. She has an apartment in the same building. We went for a walk through Germia Park. She is closer to my age and was a teacher of high school biology, micro-biology, and environmental science. She will be working on environmental science curriculum with the ministry. She is very athletic and loves to hike. We will be hiking together again during her six months in Kosovo.

I had a wonderful evening on Monday, with my host family. Ganja sent me a photo and from the photo I knew she was in the bakehouse making flia. I let myself in the back way and went directly to the bakehouse. She gave me the biggest hug. She finished the flia she was making and then we went in to have coffee. Soon the whole family was there and I enjoyed a wonderful evening in a place I felt really comfortable. They will be hosting a new volunteer that will be assigned to Kamenice.

While I was in Kamenice, I saw a high school student who was part of the Access Leadership group in Kamenice. We had volunteers working with the group and I went twice during training to help out. Drilon (the student) remembered me and stopped to say "hi". That group was halted as their funding was partially through an USAID grant. I am sorry the group has been halted and I hope they will find alternative funding.

On Tuesday, I headed back to Kaçanik, and on the short walk from the bus station to my apartment, I ran into familiar faces, including a talented young lady I met at the prom at the Gjimnaz. She was walking with her mom, and she introduced us. I knew I was back home in Kaçanik.

Now for my next adventure, I will be joining Thom, our son Matt, and his girlfriend in Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia for a few days before coming back with them to Kaçanik.