To MAK and Back

It has been a while since my last blog update, and a lot has happened! In April and May, my parents and sister visited, and we embarked on a tour of the Balkans. We spent the first few days exploring the country and visiting Lake Ohrid on the Albanian and North Macedonian border, where we enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Afterward, we spent two days in my village, Obleshevo, staying with my host family and meeting my counterparts (the Macedonian teachers I work with on a daily basis). Along the way, my family met several of the Peace Corps volunteers I have grown close to. Though my language skills have improved dramatically over the two years in this country, translating between my host family and my own family proved challenging but was a lot of fun. While not every word translated perfectly, everyone had a wonderful time.

After spending time in my village and exploring places in Eastern Macedonia, we traveled by car to Kotor, Montenegro, where we explored the coastline and historic Italian-built fortresses. Kotor was incredibly peaceful and scenic. From there, we took a day trip to Dubrovnik and stayed near Split and Trogir in Croatia. The area was stunning, with ancient Roman and Italian ruins adding an extra layer of fascination. Since Serbian is spoken in both Montenegro and Croatia, I was able to carry on conversations on a limited basis. After Split, we visited Zagreb before my family flew back home. Traveling with my family was a wonderful experience, a perfect mix of my two worlds coming together!

Since January, my counterparts and I have been working on a Peace Corps grant project to install new dry-erase boards and projectors and host instruction sessions for teachers on how to use these tools in the classroom. We successfully installed all the products in five schools in July and completed the training sessions. The grant was an enormous success in the community, and most of the teachers have already integrated the materials into their lesson planning for the upcoming school year. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the project—it would not have been possible without your support!

For the past year, I have considered extending my service for a third year with the Peace Corps. While I thoroughly enjoyed teaching English in the villages and working with amazing co-workers and students, I realized that teaching wasn’t the long-term career path I wanted to pursue. Over the past year, I have been involved with various organizations on different projects, which sparked my interest in the community and international development sector. After learning from others in similar fields and gaining firsthand experience, I wanted to explore this further before potentially pursuing a master’s degree.

One organization I have been working with has its head office in a city near my village. After several meetings with them and discussions with Peace Corps staff, I was offered a third-year extension to collaborate with the Local Community Development Foundation (LCDF) in Stip. Since starting another school year in the village did not make sense, I moved to Stip on September 1st. Instead of living with a new host family, I found an apartment that fits within the Peace Corps housing budget. During my first week, I completed Peace Corps Community Development training and I am now settled in my new apartment.

I have begun working with the LCDF and am thrilled about the year ahead! I am excited to work and learn with my new organization, experience city life, and meet new people. The organization has several exciting projects that I cannot wait to dive into, and I will share updates here.

One of the benefits of extending it for a third year is getting a month off to visit home. I will take that time off in December and return for Christmas to reconnect with family and friends. With this extension, I will complete my service in January 2026.