De-Briefing/Farewell with the Fulbrighters at the US Embassy Skopje

I am going full-speed ahead here in Macedonia - and I am not ready to acknowledge that my time here is starting to come to an end. (Besides, I view this experience more as a beginning than an end)

Still, it is a fact that the semester is coming to a close, and soon the Fulbrighters here will begin to depart. (Actually, one (or two?) may already be gone as I type this...)

We sat down with Gazmend, Laura, and Shalom of the US Embassy to talk about our experiences, reflections, recommendations over a nice lunch (pizza and shopski salad).

For the Spring 2017 semester, the inbound Fulbrighters to Macedonia consisted of 4 Fulbright ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) and 1 Fulbright Scholar (moi). (There was a second Fulbright Scholar who was here during Fall semester - for 6 Fulbrighters in Macedonia total for this academic year.)

The Fulbright ETAs were based in


--Skopje:  Aliya Chisti, ETA in Skopje. She was placed at Public primary school “Rajko Zhinzifov”, Çair, Skopje. Highlights included working on a 4-paragraph essay with her 8th graders that discussed how different communities in Macedonia can overcome their differences to work together.

--Tetovo: Katherine Bast, ETA in Tetovo. She was placed at Public secondary school "Mosha Pijade" in Tetovo and English Department at the State University of Tetovo.

--Bitola: Xeno Carpeneter, ETA in Bitola. He was placed at Public secondary school “Taki Daskalo” in Bitola.

--Veles: Samantha Easterling, ETA in Veles. She was placed at Public elementary school “Vasil Glavinov” in Veles. (Not pictured)