Day 195 – Saturday – 3/24/12

This Saturday started with Kid's Club!  Cassidy was in Tetovo to visit the tailor, so she was able to join us today!  With spring in the air, today was all about the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  We started by reading the story together. It was obvious that some of the students had heard the story before!  Next we moved on to creating our caterpillars.  There were some very creative caterpillars :)  As I read the book again, page by page, the student colored the pieces of fruit that the caterpillar in the story ate, and then glued them onto their papers. The original plan was to the create butterfly windsocks, but we were way too into the coloring of the fruit to get that accomplished too!  Butterfly windsocks will have to be saved for next time!  The kids then each got their own copy of the story to color, while Adora and I re-read the story.  What fun day!  

Working hard on the Caterpillars

Reading the story

The whole group outside

For English Club today, we continued work on our multicultural music video.  It is interesting to see the kids grow and learn while they are creating their video. Singing in another language can be challenging. I say this not only speaking of it as a skill, but also because of it being another culture.  Macedonia is a very culturally diverse country, with a history of conflict because of this diversity.  The video's purpose is to address this feeling of animosity that somewhat exists with some people. Please know that when I say that I do not mean that all people have issues with other cultures or are not accepting. Like in America, it is some people, but a small group can make itself seem like the majority very easily.  My hope is that the students who are coming to the American Corner to make this video will have a seed planted within them...or if they already have the seed that it grows a bit more!

Working on lyrics

 

Practicing our singing!

This was a very busy day, because as soon as clubs were over, Cassidy and I headed to find a combi and head to Skopje. It was a big night, we had a triple birthday to celebrate.  Cassidy, Aryn and Nevenka all have birthdays around this time, so they decided to host a joint party to celebrate. In efforts to help them celebrate I decided to surprise them with a birthday cake!  One of my colleagues at SEE-U, Aida, told me about a woman in Gostivar that has a cake business; A Piece of Cake (she has a Facebook page if you want to peek! But make sure it is the Gostivar Piece of Cake, there is another one on Facebook too).  I requested what I thought was an appropriate cake for 3 amazing women. Aida brought it to the American Corner for me so that it could travel with us to Skopje. I have to admit, with my clumsy ways, I was a bit worried about the journey, so to prove that it existed and looked amazing, I took photos of it at the American Corner, before I ever even touched it.  Cassidy and I were successful in finding a combi that was already almost full, so there was no waiting!!  Cassidy took a picture of me during the trip with the cake... so far so good!

Proof it existed

In the combi... holding on for dear life

The good news- WE MADE IT CAKE AND ALL!!!  It was a wonderful night of celebrating with a mix of friends.  I was able to see friends I had already made, and was able to meet some new faces too.  Having 3 hosts allows you to socialize with people you might not otherwise meet!  We had a wonderful evening :)

The CAKE!

Birthday Girl- Nevenka and I

Birthday Girl - Cassidy and I

Lesson: Planting seeds of hope, acceptance, understanding, or awareness may be an act that is at first invisible. But don't let that be discouraging, it takes time for that seed to grow.