Things you can mail in an envelope

One of our key phrases and ideologies in the Peace Corps is the term “sustainable development.” This means that we want to create change that will last far beyond the date of our close of service. So, any resources I develop should be sustainable…this isn’t to say that I am not going to ask everyone I know in the future to either send something or donate money or participate in an online exchange (by the way, if you’re interested or anyone else in having pen pals in Macedonia, please spread the word and let me know!), but it is to say that the best things to send me in packages are things that I can use to share our culture with other people, and also because I can’t afford or can’t find them here and it would be fun to have them…Anyways, here’s a list I developed of:

“Things you can send in an envelope or very small box to your Peace Corps Volunteer abroad”
CD’s—Christmas carols, pop hits, country music, and classical/jazz music, for example.
Stickers—anything in English, American, teeny-bopper, or American holidays.
Taco, Ranch, Italian seasoning packets or anything Mexican or Chinese or Vanilla extract!
PHOTOGRAPHS: seriously, even if it’s just a picture of your dog, new house, or old family pictures, or baby pictures of me…or pictures of an American school, classroom, Stop sign, family, house, dinner table, grocery store…
Samples—anything that smells like Sweet Pea from B&B Works, make-up samples, perfumes, lotions, mascaras…
Anything written in English for my enjoyment, to know what’s going on in America, or that I can use for my classes…i.e. tear a page out of a magazine, or…send the whole thing—People, RD, USA today. If you read an interesting article, think of me and how much I would like to read it and share it with English learners here!
American souvenirs/knickknacks—anything that says WV, VA, USA or that could be given as a token of friendship between me and people I meet (keychains, magnets, knickknacks, pens…)
Fall leaves, dried flowers, sticks of gum, candy, children’s books, DVDs, paintings, pictures, postcards, maps of NYC, maps of the states
Frisbees
And, last but not least: I’m looking into the future, and want to start an English library in the school where I will be working—so start collecting children’s books, and ask people you know to collect some children’s books, and if you go to a used book store, pick me up a few children’s books, and send them over!

My address is:
US Embassy
Miroven Korpus
Sara Woodward, PCT
Oslo 6, Skopje 1000
Makedonija
EUROPE
Make sure the customs form declares LESS THAN 50 dollars so I don’t have to pay duties!

My mobi-mak

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. The craze of cell-phonia in Macedonia has fallen plainly on the main J My first and perhaps one of my most important investments was a tiny tiny “mobi-mak” and five hundred denars of credit. “What?” you may be asking yourself…(it’s okay, I did too) They have cell phones in the Peace Corps? Yep. Indeed, anywhere you go, even the most remote village, you can make (although not advisable due to the astronomical expense) and receive phone calls to and from anywhere in the world, and text messages, too! While I’m at home with my wonderful host family (Bilyana, 40, Zlatko, 44, and Dime, 15), I sometimes receive text messages from my language teachers who live here in Negotino reminding me of something, or from one of my five other classmates inviting me out to a café or bar or just saying Hello.
During class, which consumes four intense hours of my day, I have to remember to silence my little mobi-mak. From the top floor of the ‘opshtina’, or, municipality building, our class meets every weekday and packs in vocabulary and communicative competence at a massively unbelievable rate, and, perhaps also impressively, I retain about 95% of it! I love it! So let me get back to helping my beautiful host mother make sarma (which is an unbelievably delicious mixture of meat, vegetables, rice, and spices wrapped in steamed cabbage leaves), and doing my domashna rabota in the living room while drinking café tursko with na gosti.
Write me letters! Send me packages! Ask me questions! Keep in touch! Oh yeah, and Macedonia says Hello to all of you, and she invites you wholeheartedly to come and experience her rich and beautiful country and culture (and food!)!!! Ciao! And may God bless the US!

Address to send me:
American Embassy
Sara Woodward, PCT
Miroven Korpus
Oslo 6, Skopje 1000
Makedonija, EUROPE

Packages can be expensive, and I don’t really need anything, although I will once I start teaching. But, please send me photos, post cards, stickers, recipes, and cards and letters! Like every other stranger in a foreign land, I love getting mail!!! I do really need a frisbee, though J

first photos...

my first view of Macedonia... from the air! and the other pictures, are of my home here, my training group, the monastery, traditional dancers, and a photo from the PSTraining session in Veles.

home in Negotino

Ok, so the room is filled with smoke and Macedonian people who don't speak English. We walk in, with a much folded and unfolded little piece of paper that has a statement about our new host family. I find my village, and smile shyly, and then burst out "Zlatko e slikar" (my host father is a painter). One beautiful woman smiles back at me and says, "here is Zlatko!!" And so we hug, and greet, awkwardly. After watching a native dance, I get into the car, and nearly collapse because of the relief of finally meeting my host family and being on my way to my new home in Negotino, a small beautiful town in central Macedonia... yeah... right in the mountains. I'm going to language class 4 hours a day, and so everything is intense and amazing. Send me packages and letters and e-mails!