A few words about the springtime.

Me at the ruins of an ancient fort overlooking the convergence point of the strait of Bosphorous and the Black sea.

As congress wages a monumental battle about our country's role in Iraq, American citizens prepare for one of the most important presidential races of all time, the Jazz and the Spurs take on the conference finals, and my fellow Hokies mourn the tragic massacre that occured there; I continue to straddle the cultural scales between Balkan Macedonia and American USA. It is so much fun. This spring, I decided to take advantage of cheap travel conditions, and use most of my pent up vacation days. My wandering mind went to Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia. Later, to Istanbul, Turkey. And finally on an adventure through Mt. Olympus national park in Northern Greece. My yahoo photos page has digital proof. Yet not all was lost in my pursuits of development and positive change. I continued to teach classes, starting a somewhat successful Spanish group, and continued to work alongside the promising employees at my school and support them in their ventures. We had a change of director, which was politically tumultuous, but I have no control over these sorts of things. I've attended a wedding and a funeral, both of which were stimulating and emotional. And I've just found out that my time at site will end in September, rather than December, as originally planned. Peace Corps has hired me to become the TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) trainer for the new group of volunteers who are coming in September. I will move to another town, and work on developing a training program and arranging practicums for their 3-month training period. It will be tragically difficult to leave my site, however, I'm genuinely looking forward to the challenge of being a trainer, and having the challenge of working with American students. (Yes, this will be a challenge)

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and I feel a higher level of positive energy around me most of the time. Macedonia is a truly unique and mystical place, with so many secret corners to be explored. I'm looking forward to the summer, for which I will repeat my camp experiences, seek more swimming opportunities, and eat more watermelon than last year.

Our greatest strength is the love in our hearts.