Quick update

Hey Everyone!

So I hope to write a quick blog, but I really want to add some pictures so you all can get an idea of what Kumanovo looks like. I have only had one experience in the town, with a very large group of people, on the second day. Others have taken the opportunity to go back, but time has been short over here, and I have used the little extra time to relax.

We have several training sessions throughout the day, as you can see by the schedule posted earlier. We have met many great teachers and staff and I have been very excited to get to know the training group even better.  Adjusting to the time has been tough, but it seems like I am adjusting better than some others. I have been able to get to sleep around 11 and wake up around 7-8, and then begin lessons at 9.

The food here is great!!! Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, with bread accompanying every meal. Today we had beef comparable to my Grammy's beef tips. Delicious!!!!  

Here we are at the airport in DC, getting ready to check all of our luggage. We completely overwhelmed Austrian Airlines but they were able to get through all of us, plus we had about 5 hours to get everything done.

The center of Kumanovo is about a 20-30 minute walk from the hotel (especially uphill). Here is a view of one of the farms on our walk down to the center of Kumanovo

We were presented with a Traditional Macedonian Bread and Salt and then a buffet- style lunch of many traditional Macedonian foods on our first day.  It was a great opportunity to talk to many current volunteers and feel completely welcome in our new community for the upcoming week.

In the left of this picture is the US Ambassador to Macedonia and the Country Director to Macedonia is to the Right. We briefly were able to be introduced to the Ambassador during our training.

Here we are walking to town from the hotel. You can see town in the distance. It was MUCH easier walking to town, downhill of course, than back to the hotel.

Here is an idea of what Kumanovo looks like. We were able to explore, and I was able to buy a toothbrush (I had misplaced mine somewhere) and some shampoo, as well as exchange some money. We had our first several awkward encounters when in town, but it was nice to be in a fairly large group for our first experience.