INTERVIEW: Sandy Merrigan from the Peace Corps - EN

If you want to read the Macedonian version, click here.

Sandy and her husband Rob are volunteers from the Peace Corps. If you want to know more about them, read the interview.

1. Good afternoon, what's your name and where have you lived before you came here?
   Hi. Well, my name's Sandy Merrigan. Actually, my name is Sandra, but everyone calls me Sandy. My husband and I have lived in Sunriver, Oregon, near California, before we came here.
   
   
2. Well, hi Sandy. When did you came here?
   We came to Delcevo on December the 1st, last year. We arrived in Macedonia in September, but, we lived in Probistip for 2 and a half months in order to learn the language.
   
   
3. How do you spend your time here in Delcevo?
   I work as an English teacher in “Vanco Prke”. I am a volunteer, so I work with four English teachers. I teach a part of their class. I have lived here for one year and four months, so I've been here quite a while. My husband and I enjoy it here. The people are helpful, they sometimes give us things, like Tomatoes, a jar of “Ajvar” etc. They're very generous. We have wonderful neighbours, they are at our age and they don't speak English at all. They come all the time to check us, and ask us if we need something.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. And how do you like our town?
   I feel very safe here, it's very quiet, I can walk anywhere even at night, and I'm not afraid at all. We are very happy here. I spend a lot of time in school, and I got to know all the teachers, and many of the students. They say hello, hello, all the time. They are very friendly. When I leave, I am going to miss them a lot. I have English club once a week, and I am trying to help the students with their English. When I see them in the street, they greet me all the time.
   
   
5. Have you learnt any words in Macedonian? Or maybe sentences?
   Hahaha, I've learn't a lot. “Mi treba pomos”, “Vrne sneg”, “Baba Marta”. Oh, I saw the “shtrk” and I hung my “martinka”. I also made a wish. I wished my son to settle down and get married soon. I've learnt some dialect, like “arno”, “kitki”, “deka”, “komsi”. I like the traditions here. I like the “oro”. We went to a restaurant for “Osmi Mart” with my colleagues and we danced a lot. I like the instrumetns, like “tapan”, “gajda”, “saksofon”, the folk festivals... We also went to the “Sliva fest”. We really enjoyed it. We went to “Surova” twice. Christmas is also wonderful.
   
   
6. Can you compare Macedonia and the USA?
   People have asked me a lot. It's difficult to say. Because America is so big, and Delcevo is such a small town, and I like it a lot. We have small towns same size as Delcevo, but we also have many big sities like New York, Los Angeles... I like Skopje, it feels big after Delcevo. We go there once a month and we go to the Skopje City Mall and we also go to the restaurants. I like the “Kale”, it's made from the Turkish I think. Here, we've seen many things that we can't see in America. We haven't seen people with donkey and horse walking on the street there, but it's normal here.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. What are your future plans? Are you going to stay here or you'll return to America?
   The Peace Corps is only for two years so we'll leave at the 1st of December, this year. We have a son and a house in Sunriver. But we will come back here, for two or three weeks to see our friends. The neigbours are very sad that we are leaving. We have 8 months left and the time is going too fast. There are many things in Delcevo that I'll be very sad to leave.