Site Visit to Delcevo

This week we had the opportunity to visit Delcevo, where we will be living and working for the next two years. We took a bus from Veles on Wednesday afternoon. After three hours over the winding mountain roads, we arrived in Delcevo. We were greeted by both of our future counterparts, our new host, and Rob and Sandy – two PCVs who have served in Delcevo the last two years, and are now closing their Peace Corps service.

Our new host, Jarred's counterpart, me, my counterpart, Jarred, and a new Delcevo friend at the bus station.

We shared introductions with everyone, Rob and Sandy gave us a map of the town, and we loaded into a couple of taxis to see our future home. We will be living with a retired couple who speaks no English. They have a large home. We will live on the second floor, in what is basically our own apartment. We have a private entrance, in addition to stairs going into the main house, our own bathroom, a kitchen, living room, small terrace, dining room, and bedroom. The place is fully furnished with everything we will need. It is far more than we expected, and could have even hoped for. It is certainly not the grass hut we envisioned when we applied for the Peace Corps. We will have running water, electricity, a wood stove, Wi-Fi, and plenty of room for guests (start planning your visits!) We are excited to have some space to ourselves and more independence after months of living in the midst of a family.

Rob welcoming us.

After the tour, we had dinner downstairs with our host and counterparts. We chatted a bit to get to know each other and made plans to see our worksites the following day. After dinner, Jarred and I unpacked the camping gear, summer clothes, and other nonessentials we brought along to lighten our load on moving day.

Enjoying coffee in our future home.

The next morning, we had breakfast with our host. We learned that she and her husband are retired. They have a daughter who lives in Italy, and a son in Peru. Our host spent three months in Peru last winter visiting her son, and picked up a good bit of Spanish. She loves to dance, and is a member of a folk dance group. After breakfast, she walked us to the high school, where Jarred will be teaching English.

His counterpart gave us a tour of the school and introduced him to the principle and a few teachers. We, then, met up with my counterpart and her husband to see my future workplace. My counterpart operates an organization that provides educational and medical services, particularly to the Roma community. Her husband operates a separate organization that focuses on Macedonian and Roma culture. They do traditional dances, play folk songs, and travel around Europe performing in competitions and cross-cultural shows. These two organizations work closely together and share an office space.

With our counterparts at lunch.

We had coffee at a restaurant across the street from the office, which they call their second office because so much work is done there. After coffee, my counterpart and her husband gave us a tour of the town. Then, we had lunch with our counterparts and Rob and Sandy. Rob and Sandy prepared a list of their contacts and favorite places in Delcevo to help us transition smoothly into the community, and shared their experiences with us.

It was exciting to get a small taste of what our lives will be like in three weeks. Delcevo is smaller and quieter than Veles, which will be a nice change of pace. Everyone we have asked says that Delcevo is a clean city with peaceful people. We are looking forward to settling in and getting started with our service.

-Andreya