Familja Shqiptare

I am loving it here in Macedonia, and that’s in large part due to my amazing host family.  They are so kind, loving, and open.  I have been accepted in their home from day one as another member of their family.  Literally, one of the first things communicated between the parents and me was “Now you’re one of us!” Except there was a lot less English, more Shqip (Albanian, pronounced: sh-ch-eep), and lots of hand gestures and blank stares from me.  This is still how most of our communication is done, with a few personal pronouns, “dua” or “kam” (want, have), and various common nouns thrown into the mix.

Në shtepi/home

For my PST (Pre-Service Training) site, I’m in Dobroshtë/доброште (about 20 minutes from Tetovo where we had our orientation week) and I will be here until the day after Thanksgiving, when I’ll be moved to my permanent site for the next two years.  Dobroshtë is a mixed community of 97% Albanians, and 3% Macedonians, with a population of about 3.000 (their comma use is flipped with periods).  It’s definitely a small town and the two ethnic communities’ sides of the town are divided by a bridge--oh the symbolism.  The Macedonians are predominantly Christian Orthodox and the Albanians are predominantly Muslims.  I see some similarities in their tensions/divisions with each other and the ones we have in America between White and Black Americans and Americans and Latinos.  Not the same, and I don’t know enough about the conflict here, except that in 2001 Peace Corps had to be evacuated because fighting between the 2 groups broke out and a mini-“war” ensued; about 200 people died and about 35 of the deaths happened here...or so rumor has it.  I’m sure I will here more about this and when it comes to any sort of Macedonian political matters, PCVs are neutral and not allowed to express an opinion as we are literally here for peace and to help the locals.

Our ideal of the bridge, which we have named "The Friendship Bridge"

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I live with a Muslim, Albanian family/Familija Shqiptare.  I have a mom and dad (Imerzatë and Qemal)--about my parents’ age--and three siblings: Amire (34), Samed (28), and Azra (22).  They have another 36 year old sister who’s married and living in Denmark.  My siblings all speak varying levels of English and we haven’t really had any problems communicating.  I’m definitely another motra/sister and I’m already really close with Amire and Azra.  Qemal (pronouned chay-mall) is probably the smiliest man I have ever met, and when he smiles his whole face becomes one giant wrinkle that make his eyes all but disappear.  Imerzatë is incredibly sweet and is constantly worried about how cold I am; she can’t believe I walk around in a t-shirt with no socks on, when she has 3 layers of sleeves on because she’s always cold.  She also loves salt and puts it on everything--Mom, sound familiar? The whole Maksuti family is incredible and I can’t wait to spend the next three months with them! 

Nëna/Mom 

Baba/Dad

Kjo quhet Azra. Ajo është motra shqiptare ime.

Kjo quhet Amire.  Ajo është motra shqiptare ime gjithashtu.

Funny moments me familija ime:

**This was literally my first moment in my new home.  Amire had come pick me up and brought me back home to meet the family.  I knew all about the kisses on the cheeks as a standard greeting between women; I’ve greeted people like this in Spain, Kuwait, France, and various other locations.  The only difference between those kisses and the ones here is the very simple fact that I’ve always gone right first...and here they go left.  So as I went in to greet my new host-mom (the very first person I greeted), we both went the same way, then awkwardly  and nervously tried to accommodate the other--all while in continuous motions towards one another.  You can imagine what happened: I kissed my host-mom. Full on. Right on the lips.  

Oh the embarrassment. 

Thankfully, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, my family has never brought it up, yet it garnered plenty of laughter in those first few awkward moments.

**Winter is coming. 

No one gets this reference, but we say it all the time now because we’re actually preparing for the coming winter.  Amire, Samed, and I chopped about 23 kilos of cucumbers and 23 kilos of carrots--it took us about 3.5 hours.  It was really fun because we all bonded and laughed the whole time about one thing or another.  Our humor translates really well, which is nice.  

Winter is coming.

Sister bonding. When you peel the carrots there is so much water that splashes on your face, so we decided instead of avoiding the splash back, that we'd get it on our faces because it's a natural juice and probably good for you.

So many carrots. So. Much. Chopping.

We got tired of all the cucumbers...after chopping one carrot, we missed the cucumbers.  They are so soft and sliceable, ya know?

So we’re busy chopping, peeling, and washing vegetables when Azra comes downstairs from studying (she has her final exams to graduate college with a major in Pharmaceuticals) and in English she exclaims: 

“Wow! Samed! You’re actually working. Stacie, he never works or does anything around here.” 

To which Samed rolls his eyes and tells me, “Azra is a liar.”

I respond, “Well, looks to me like he’s doing all the work and you’re doing nothing.” 

That was the time I received my first fist bump from Samed and high fives were to be had all around.  Tears from laughing ensued.  Sass translates very well.

Samed and I were chopping buddies. 

Winter is coming, but we are ready.

Ready for winter.

**Eating dinner with the family one night, there was raw pepper from the garden on the table (a common occurence...yum!), and Qemal took a piece of the spec and said something and made a gesture towards his face.  Azra told me he said:

“Here we say that if you eat a lot of peppers, it will make you beautiful.”

Without missing a beat I replied, “Oh, I don’t need peppers.”

Seriously, sass translates well.