"The Quiet Period"

(Older photo of a beautiful church
in a town called Kavadarci)

What is that you hear? The sound of a newly released blogged post ahead of schedule?! Surely, your ears must be deceiving you. Or, presuming predilections towards preposterous postulations haven’t poisoned perceptions, perhaps you’ve misidentified the source – for there’s no way on God’s green earth that A Dawggone Good Adventure, written by the brilliant but chronically late author Zach Humrich, could be released ahead of schedule. Indubitably there’s some type of cosmic mistake, a glitch in the matrix or a tear in space-time if you will.

Yet, here we are. Today is February 14^th (Valentine’s Day or Single’s Awareness Day, depending on your preference), and I’m posting an update that is decidedly earlier than my “End of February” deadline. Things have been perpetually slow at work, and I haven’t been in the same rut I was my first month & and a half of service, so here we go. I played around with a couple new formats in my drafts for this, but nothing felt quite right. Thus, I’ve prepared another monologue in semi-comedic fashion (emphasis on “semi”) that interlaces my life events with some light commentary on culture here.

Anyone with any objections can speak up now.

Nobody?

Well, I’d say I’ll take the deafening silence as a yes (see it’s funny, because that’s not how this works), but as I’m writing I have 7 Macedonians in my bullpen. So, actually, it’s more like I’m right in the maelstrom of loud, forceful opinions regarding politics, the weather, or basically anything that lets us avoid work. That’s alright though, because it keeps things lively and I honestly don’t mind it. Besides, you know what I always say:

“Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. - Henry Adams” - Zachariah Humrich

(Dumping some older photos - but here's a shot of me looking
majestic with the poofiest hair I've ever had - PC Nicholas Jackson)

First thing I want to talk about is how the work situation has been progressing. I mentioned this in the last post, but winter is slow here. It’s a change of pace that's taken me some time to adapt to. I’ve begun using it as an easy way to network with my coworkers though. I got moved to a new office and started joining my new office-mates for the ritualistic 12 PM coffee. Which, by the way, everyone in the village turns out for. It’s interesting to observe foreign societal habits. Having a standard lunch break for 30 minutes to an hour doesn’t faze me in the slightest because it’s so normal back home – yet, watching the entire village congregate at a handful of cafés to drink coffee & shoot the bull feels weird, like I’ve stumbled into a cult meeting at 3 AM after a night of drinking. Not that I’d know how that goes, but it still feels like an apt comparison. It's honestly not that weird of a tradition - it's just new to me is all.

Coffee is huge here, by the way. It’s the go-to social event. People say “let’s get coffee” even if they plan to drink tea or beer. It’s how 90 % of networking seems to get done. I had a 3-hour “coffee” about a week ago with the Youth Council in my town I was hoping to work with. The first 30 minutes compromised us talking back and forth about what they do & how I could help as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The following 2 & a half hours were pure socialization. We talked about Krushevo, events coming up, new gossip about couples in town, and so forth. It’s been an interesting transition – going from an “this is a work relationship” American culture to a “if we’re working together, we should be able to drink beers together” Macedonian culture.

Slowly though I’m getting more snippets and rumblings of work to come. My counterpart tells me about future projects he wants to involve me on, I keep hearing about the hectic work schedule we’ll have in summer, and other organizations talk about being excited to include me in their work. It’s been comforting to slowly start making some progress – I may have adapted to the pace here, but I’m still a workaholic at heart. I’m doubtful I’ll ever reach my old levels of productivity, yet I don’t feel I’ll be squandering my time. It’s a good time for self-growth to confront personal flaws I’ve long since glossed over and pick up a handful of hobbies I’ve always wanted to take up but never got around to. Which, in retrospect, is probably good for me. I’ve eschewed having “fun hobbies” for a couple years now in favor of filling myself up with more professional or work-related hobbies. It definitely made me ponder at times if I was really living life. Now though, I'm striking more of a balance – so, if you need me I’ll be singing “Friday” by Rebecca Black in my pajamas at 6 PM on a weekday.

 

(Photo with a fellow PC friend near a ski-center -
My skiing experience was only marginally better than when I
tried to ice-skate in high school (Read: Terrible))

See, you probably thought that was a funny image. Except it’s only half a joke. For the first time since middle school, I’ve decided to get into music. Which I’m sure has all my close friends from Athens dropping their jaws.

“Zach? Music? But you’re basically a robot. Can you even process music? Did you get that upgrade? Weren’t you once speechless when I asked what your hobbies were?” (Shout-out to Hannah if you’re reading this, for no longer will I struggle to answer the deeply nuanced and complicated question of “What do you do for fun?”)

Mildly related side-note, but I’m told I have a penchant for a little dramatic flair. I’ve no idea what those cretins could possibly be inferring with such a pronouncement, but I’ll presuppose it as a grand homage upon yours truly. It probably doesn’t help I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings lately – if you ever care to upgrade your lexicon with some fancy-schmancy magniloquence (thanks, Google Synonyms) this is the series for you.

But, getting back on track - hobbies. Music, like I mentioned, is on my list. Right now I’ve been diving into “Panic at the Disco” & some other top tier musicians. Maybe one day I can be the guy who “discovered that band on Soundcloud before they were cool”, but I think I’m good taking it slow for now. I’ve also been reading more – I finished a couple books already, and I should be wrapping up the LOTR series soon. I haven’t figured out what’ll be next, but if anyone has any recommendations I’m open. I’ve enjoyed everything from “The Power of Habits” to “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” to “The Book Thief”.

Beyond that, I’ve just been exercising every day & listening to political podcasts. Which the latter has honestly been a long-planned venture for me. Most people who know me know I’m into politics – yet, I’ve always wanted to be better informed. I read the news religiously, but I’ve never felt like I’ve dived into the facts and studies of various research positions. I’ve been wanting to do more intensive research for awhile, but I was always held back by how stressed I got from my workload. There was perpetually some more pressing concern, deadline, meeting, event, fundraiser, test, etc etc I had to prepare for and I typically wanted to spend my precious few hours off decompressing. But now, I’m free.  Free as a bird. Free as a lolly-pop after a dentists visit. Free as a….look, the point is I have a lot of time. So this has been a solid first-step towards that goal of feeling more researched on important issues to me.

(We really like bridge shots, even if they
don't get much across)

Speaking of good first-steps, let’s talk about dancing (#Segue). More specifically, my dancing. Even more specifically, my dancing this past weekend in the capital, Skopje. My training community decided we should have a reunion around a couple birthdays, so the 10 of us all congregated together. And the weekend went about as you could’ve expected when you put a bunch of stressed Americans in the same house together. We drank, we went out on the town, and generally had a good time. I myself may have drank the devil’s drought – I couldn’t be asked how much I had though, as my memory inconveniently and inexorably becomes foggy when I attempt to recall Saturday night.

I will admit to a certain recollection of dancing, however. When I asked about how things went that night, people just tell me my dancing is “intense”. Which fits into something of a trend for me. Every time I go “dancing” people typically use the words like “energetic”, “spirited”, “a heck of a sight”, or “hilarious” to describe me. Yet I’m not sure I’ve ever yet heard “good” used. It probably makes sense – when you’re channeling “The White Boi” as your dance-style, it’s less about skill expression and more about personal enjoyment. It’s been a goal for a few years now to learn how to properly dance (like the Tango, the Salsa, the Waltz, etc etc), but unless I find an instructor in Macedonia I’ll have to stick to my low-skill, high-effort style for the rest of service.

Well that's about all I have this time. If you have any good music, literature, or podcast recommendations please let me know. I’m open to most anything – my only criteria would be that at this stage in my life I’d rather any political podcast be more deep-policy based and less skewed “us versus them”. For instance, when I was researching I found “Pod Save America” which is a podcast run by a few previous Obama staffers who dive into weekly topics from their own perspective. They’re witty, entertaining, and strong in their opinions. It’s a great podcast – but it’s not what I want right now. Otherwise though, burden me with a mountain of suggestions. I’m not expecting things to pick up much for a couple months yet, so I’ve all the time in the world. I hope everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day, and shows plenty of love to everyone important in their lives!