Kopaonik

After getting moved into my apartment, I headed for the hills (literally) for a job as an English teacher at an English summer camp for kids 8-16 on Kopaonik mountain in southern Serbia (I'll pause here to ask what preposition goes with mountains in English since this isn't something I've done much of in English. Is it I was AT Kopaonik? or ON Kop? I'm banking not IN Kop - that sounds too odd.) It was 2 weeks room & board with pay at the end - I was suspicious about the amount of work the woman said I'd be doing, but, hey, it's an adventure.

The first one was getting a taxi to Sava center to catch the bus- a friend said I could text for one, and I did, but when I got down there there was nothing at all. So waited a little bit but running late - headed to Bulevar and hailed one (which is hard to do at 7 a.m. on a Saturday), banking that I know enough Serbian to tell the guy if he tried to rip me off. I'd been told it was vital for me to be on time, and yet when I got there not even everyone was there yet - it was a sign for how the next weeks would go. Very chill more than not.

I'll not go into the nitty-gritty of daily life except to say that I had 2 classes a day, one in morning and one in late afternoon, then evening activity and meals that I had to be present for. My colleagues were are nice folks, a couple had worked the camp before so knew the ropes. There 2 guys for sports and 2 other ladies teaching English. Most of daily life happened in Serbian (even though the camp was advertised as English immersion) which was good for my listening comprehension at meals and things, although I'd stop and make sure I was getting everything when it seemed necessary. At one point it dawned on some of them that listening and understanding takes a lot of energy which is why I didn't say much often (a new role, yes). The kids were a good group over all, they were from all over Serbia and Montenegro along with some ex-pats back for the summer. I had the most advanced group in English and we had a decent time although I didn't think much of the textbook I was given and it seemed like a lot of review for them, oh well. I worked with what I was given and didn't have to be too mean usually. Although I did scare them when I went off after someone whined "It's not fair" about how I didn't want to hear those words in my classroom again. Grammar exercises were probably my most reoccurring threat and when they were good I'd tell them stories (like "okie-dokie bye for now" one that's a Qualls favorite- they liked it).

But enough pseudo-fussing; Kopaonik is a gorgeous place. It's the place to ski in the winter and is basically a resort village/town at the base of the ski lifts. I forgot to mention but our campers were in mini-apartments with 3 beds, kitchen stuff, bathrooms, whole shebang- not a cabin or tent in sight. A bit different than Bradford woods. In the summer there's tons of hiking to be had, whenever the weather was good I'd go on a solo tramp somewhere (we also took the kids on a ramble the second day that was pretty great). Made it to the top of some of the lifts, the best day was when I went to the highest point twice in one day (over 2000 m up). Lots of woods as well, often I'd go read or write somewhere before heading back down into 'civilization' to teach. There are wild blueberries and raspberries everywhere; I ate a lot of them on my rambles. There's nothing better than a slightly sun-warmed sweet red raspberry, I tell you what. And yes, I hummed "The hills are alive" every so often. It was an irresistible urge.

Speaking of food, apparently I was WAY allergic to something I ate because in the first week I broke out in a HUGE rash all over my body. I was one big red itch, very unfun. We had an on-call doctor who was a lovely woman, she checked me out and gave me some meds. And when that didn't work - the next evening I was even worse - I got a shot of something much more hardcore. I discovered during this ordeal a new level of Hell that Dante forgot - you wake up at 2:30 a.m., your body one bit burning itch you can't scratch because it will do no good (and since you're not sure why it's spreading you don't want to risk it moving around more by touching). You can't get comfortable enough to try and fall asleep, so you toss and turn looking for a position that offers at least a modicum of ease. And to top it all off there's LOUD turbofolk blasting from the café below, filtering in to make your bed of pain that much worse. (I was ecstatic when the shot made everything go away after a day or so).

The second weekend was rainy and cold, although we did get a short hike in to a geyser en masse. It felt like November - I can't ever remember needing to wear multi-layers under a sweatshirt on the first day of August before. Went swimming a few times, enjoyed the sauna a bit as well. Read a whole lot - Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue is excellent by the way. I think my colleagues didn't know quite what to make of me - often they went to while away the morning drinking coffee. But there were mountains calling my name.

It was nice being in nature and I did like the kids - they were creative in funny ways. We had a costume ball and a group dressed up as the Taliban, did a sketch involving GW that, while somewhat tasteless, was done in English and pretty well done for all that. I saved the day with blockbusters - thanks Nick! - a few evenings; we also had skits for the last night which were hilarious. The middle group went shopping and then had a negative brush with Madonna, mine did a Pizza Hut commercial involving the Terminator and a silly news broadcast about people water-skiing because of the rain, a massive outcry due to a pizza shortage. Entertaining. After one class I was swarmed by kids wanting me to come and teach in their primary schools since I was "cool" and "interesting." Flattering to say the least but I'm hesitant about high school kids and discipline there - listening to my colleagues at schools here doesn't make me want to get into the little ones in a mass kinda way. They wrote some heart-wrenching essays as well- most life changing experiences, people they admire. I was impressed.

Alright, that's enough babble. I was ready to come home by the end, really and truly. I've not gotten paid as promised and that makes me mad (but isn't that big of a surprise). But being back in Beograd is great and I'm hoping I can go back to Kop in the winter to ski with some friends because that would be totally rad.