Interview with a Peace Corps Volunteer: Kaeli
Kaeli is a volunteer from Washington State. She graduated from Western Washington University with a Political Science major and a Geography minor. She has fallen in love with her Albanian village in North Macedonia, where she teaches English to high school students.
Jeff: Thanks for doing this interview.
Kaeli: My pleasure.
Jeff: Let’s start with your living situation here in North Macedonia.
Kaeli: I am with an older couple. They don’t have any kids, but they have lots of nieces, nephews, and siblings. Also, my host dad’s father lives in a house just next door. I have this room and a bedroom and share a bathroom, kitchen, and everything else with my host family.
I have a nice big yard, a garden, and a barn that often has kittens or puppies in it. It’s great. My host Dad is retired. He turned 64, so now he’s a pensioner. He worked for the post office before. He’s not happy about being retired because the North Macedonian pension is not very much. They supplement that with the rent they get from the Peace Corps for me and from tobacco farming. Everyone is busy with the tobacco harvest right now.
Jeff: Tell me more about that.
Kaeli: Several families have a smaller plot of land next to their homes where they plant the seeds. When the seedlings are big enough, they pull all of them by hand and wrap them in these big bundles. Then they plant them out to the big fields outside the village. Once those are big enough, they start pulling the leaves from the bottom and moving up the plant as the weeks pass.
Harvest goes on throughout this summer until the end of October. They have this big sewing machine with this long conveyor belt. They stack piles of leaves on the machine, which sews them together in long strings. That’s how they hang them up for drying. They hang them everywhere in barns, outside their houses, and in these little covered plastic tents to dry. When the tobacco is cured, it is boxed up and sold at Philip Morris.
There’s a government Tobacco Research Institute in Prelip. I’ve wanted to visit sometime to see what they’ve got. It’s just probably a couple of guys sitting around smoking. I’m interested in the whole tobacco process because I see a lot of tobacco in life, but I’ve never actually seen it in the ground. Neither of my host parents smoke, but they grow the stuff, which I think is interesting.
Jeff: Do they wear gloves when they’re harvesting?
Kaeli: Yeah, they wear gloves through the whole process whenever they touch the tobacco because it’s toxic, you know. They usually do the work in the evenings when it’s cool. They have an old couch in the barn where they do it, so I’ll sit out there with them.
They told me a story about a volunteer who was here about five or six years ago. He grabbed a leaf and tried to put it in his mouth, but they stopped him. The locals were horrified, and my host dad thought it was so funny. He was the typical stupid American. I tried explaining chewing tobacco to him in broken Albanian because my dad chews. I said, “I think he eats it.” He looked even more disturbed.
Jeff: That’s wild.
Kaeli: Yeah.
Jeff: that’s wild. Tobacco is a big cash crop here. A lot of people smoke because cigarettes are so cheap, $2 a pack.
Kaeli: But yeah, chewing tobacco isn’t a thing here
Jeff: So, tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you end up in North Macedonia serving in the Peace Corps?
Kaeli: I’m from Washington State. I was born and raised there. Until college, I’d not left North America. I’d been to Canada a couple of times, but that was it. In my freshman year of college, I decided to go to school in Rome. I studied at John Cabot for less than a year and transferred to Western Washington University, but I still wanted to do something internationally.
I wanted to major in political science but wasn’t sure about my second major. I wanted to double major because — don’t tell anyone — political science degrees aren’t that difficult. I fell in love with geography, specifically human geography. Combining that with political science prompted my interest in international relations, political geography, globalization, development, and migration. I hadn’t heard of the Peace Corps until college.
I had an advisor who was a returned Peace Corps volunteer, and she had the Peace Corps flag on her wall. It turns out that my university is historically the number one medium-sized volunteer-producing university, so the Peace Corps has a decently large presence on campus.
In my junior year, I went to an event to talk to RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) and decided that was what I wanted to do. I hoped to do aquaculture or agriculture because I had done a lot of environmental and ecological things at university.
The first posting I got was in Malawi as an agriculture volunteer, but because I was diagnosed with TMJ during the medical clearance process, so I was medically denied. I did not know that I had it before. It means that I clench my jaw, and apparently, that is enough to get you disqualified for Malawi. So, the Peace Corps gave me a list of four alternative countries, and I ended up here. I was disappointed not to go to Malawi, but I couldn’t be happier now.
Jeff: What was the medical clearance process like for you?
Kaeli: Is calling it traumatizing too extreme? Every time I got an email notification that I had a new message in my medical portal, it would raise my heart rate. There was always more and more. My pediatrician, whom I’ve known for years, helped with a Peace Corps medical clearance. Even she was shocked by the seemingly random details that they required. She was as frustrated as I was. I got my medical clearance two days before leaving for staging in DC.
Jeff: It’s hard to have your life up in the air until the last minute.
Kaeli: I’m lucky to have a very supportive family. I was in between college and the Peace Corps. My mom let me live with her, and I had a job as a barista that was pretty flexible. If I had been in a situation where I was an independent adult with a lease, a car, and a career, I probably wouldn’t have been able to follow through with being in the Peace Corps. I felt jerked around during the medical clearance process.
Jeff: But you didn’t have any trouble with the security clearance?
Kaeli: No, no. At first, I was almost more worried about the security clearance, not that I’d done anything. I just didn’t know what they were looking for. I submitted my stuff and got cleared in no time. I know other people had problems with it, though.
Jeff: It’s something to know you have an FBI file now.
Kaeli: I never thought about that, but yeah.
Jeff: Okay, time for some off-the-wall questions to get to know you better.
Jeff: What do you most value in your friends?
Kaeli: That’s interesting. Since being in the Peace Corps, my answer has changed. I’m very close with friends in the US that I’ve known since before high school. We all went to different universities, and especially after coming to the Peace Corps, trying to stay in touch is more important to me now. It doesn’t have to be a lot of effort, but showing a desire to be friends, even if it’s just a text every couple of months saying, “Hey, how’s it going? I’m thinking of you,” means so much. I try to do that for them, and they do it for me.
Sometimes, the Peace Corps is lonely. Knowing there are people back home still thinking about you is comforting.
Jeff: Showing the value of friendship with action.
Kaeli: Yeah, and I don’t need grand gestures, just a text occasionally.
Jeff: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Kaeli: I wish I procrastinated less. I am a big procrastinator.
Kaeli: That’s been something I struggled with in high school, college, and Peace Corps. It’s something that I have to battle with all the time. I wish that that was different. I wish I were more proactive.
Jeff: Okay, here’s the deep one. On what occasion do you lie?
Kaeli: It might be customer service jobs. I used to lie all the time about the littlest things when I was a barista. I worked for tips. You have a short time to get the person to care enough about you to give you a couple of bucks. For example, a girl once said she was going to get her wedding dress fitted, and I said, “I remember when we did that for my older sister’s wedding dress. You’re gonna have the best time. It’s gonna be so emotional.” My sister isn’t married. I would tell little lies in situations like that. Sometimes, I’d say I went to a different university than I did or talk about my nieces and nephews. I have no nieces and nephews. I don’t think I lie a lot. But saying it out loud sounds kind of bad.
It was just with strangers to get my money, so to speak. I didn’t do it with everybody. I had a lot of regulars with whom I was close. I never lied to them. And day to day or with important things, I wouldn’t say I’m a big liar.
Jeff: So, you only lie when it doesn’t matter.
Kaeli: I’d say, yeah. When I talked about joining the Peace Corps with my friends from home, some suggested, “When you go there, you could reinvent yourself. You could become like a whole new person because none of these people know you.” I wasn’t going to do that anyway, but in hindsight that would have been so difficult because now we all know each other so well. Peace Corps is a heavy bonding experience, so it would have screwed me over in the long run if I tried to reinvent myself, so to speak.
Jeff: The best part about telling the truth is you don’t need a good memory.
Kaeli: Exactly. Yeah.
Jeff: So, you are on the West side of Macedonia, in the Albanian world. You were in the dual language program. How difficult was it having to learn two languages instead of just one,
Kaeli: It was tough in the three months when I was actually learning two languages. I am pretty fortunate, I guess. Once I got to my site, I didn’t need to use Macedonian daily, so I’ve only been speaking Albanian since I arrived. I stopped doing Macedonian tutorials early on but restarted because I still want to learn Macedonian. I finally feel comfortable enough with my Albanian to take the time to do that.
The dual language world is fascinating, and we all have different experiences. Some people I know have had to stick with the dual track more, which has been difficult for them, and I have a lot of respect for them. But I consider myself on a single language track. Right now, I know enough Macedonian to order food and transportation. That’s about it.
My village is Albanian, but it is more in the country’s center. The closest larger Albanian region is about an hour away. So, it’s pretty isolated here.
Kaeli: There is a larger city half an hour from my village, but there is no public transportation to get there. It’s easier for me to go to the Albanian city, which is an hour away, than to get anywhere near me. Two volunteers in Macedonian towns are twenty minutes away, and I feel bad because I haven’t seen much of them, but it’s almost impossible for me to go.
Jeff: How big is your town?
Kaeli: It is about 1,400. A thousand of those are Albanian, and the rest are Bosnian.
Jeff: So very Muslim
Kaeli: Yes, it’s very Muslim. We have the mosque in the center of the village and two more towards the edge of the village. I hear the call to prayer every day, which I do like now. I don’t call it background noise because I like it. I think it’s pretty, but it doesn’t phase me anymore. We observed Ramadan and celebrated Bajram.
Jeff: Are the residents orthodox Muslim or more relaxed?
Kaeli: I think it’s the same with every religion. There’s a spectrum from person to person. I’ve met people who are more devout and some people who are Muslim in the same way that I grew up Christian. My family celebrates Christmas and Easter, but that’s it — more of a cultural identity than actually observing the religion.
But I’ve never, ever experienced anybody giving me a hard time or not liking or accepting me because I’m not Muslim. Except for one of my students who tried to convert me last year, but my counterparts helped me navigate that. The little kids have a lot of questions. A little kid in the village once asked me, why aren’t you Muslim?
I told him, “Well, I was born into a Christian family. Your parents are Muslim. That’s why you’re Muslim, and my parents were Christian.” When people ask me what my religion is, I typically say that I was raised Christian because I feel like it’s not quite a lie. It’s a non-answer, I guess.
Jeff: But you don’t consider yourself Christian or religious at all.
Kaeli: No, I’m not. I have a lot of respect for religion, religious people, and faith, but I don’t consider myself religious.
Jeff: You have a ring in your left nostril. Do you get questions about that?
Kaeli: No, which surprised me based on the staging staff telling me I needed to take it out immediately. The only person who has ever acknowledged its existence was a two-year-old girl who kept pointing at it. I have a tattoo on my foot, which I kept hidden until the summer when I wasn’t wearing shoes and socks every day. Мy host mom is more religious, and I saw her looking at it. I told her that I got it when I was eighteen and stupid. I like my tattoos, but I was trying to keep the peace. And she just said, “Not stupid, just young.” And it’s never come up again.
I wonder what the experience would have been like in my village before everybody had TVs and phones. They’re exposed to so much more that it doesn’t phase them as much. I don’t walk around flaunting; I have more tattoos, and I try to keep them hidden. But I think that access to information and other kinds of people has made my life easier. They’ve seen worse than a nose ring and a foot tattoo.
Jeff: What’s been your experience with Peace Corps staff in general? Do you feel supported?
Kaeli: As a volunteer, the staff has been great. My Regional Manager is amazing, in my opinion. However, I have heard negative stories about the staff from other volunteers. It’s hard because everybody is different, and everyone’s situation and interaction with staff are different, but they always seem to be receptive, both American and in-country staff. The medical staff is superb.
Jeff: Now, you are on a volunteer committee. Tell me about that.
Kaeli: Yes, the SIC (Service Improvement Committee). Every three months, we meet with the Peace Corps staff. We are the “voice for the volunteers.” Volunteers can always go directly to staff with any issues, concerns, or suggestions. We’re just an easy way to get them directly to David Reside, the Country Director, and Jeff Warner, the Deputy Director. Typically, there’s a Regional Manager and other staff on the call.
We have a conversation and present suggestions to them. Staff will rarely take our suggestions immediately, but they’re pretty receptive. Our staff is excellent. They are as receptive as they can be. Of course, there are things that they just can’t do. They’re constrained by budget, the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps, and sometimes, we can’t fit another responsibility into a person’s job description. But it’s always a pleasant conversation.
Some were volunteers, so they understand much of the stuff we go through. They have been open to listening to the volunteers and hearing our concerns. But there are issues they wouldn’t think about because they’re not volunteering now. We’ve done a lot with the upcoming PST (Pre-Service Training) for the next cohort of volunteers. We’ve been busy providing suggestions from our PST, and I think they’ll incorporate many of them.
The volunteers elected the committee. I work with Danielle from our cohort, and Bre and Joe are the representatives for MAC25. It’s great working with them. The meetings are every three months, but we can have one anytime. We can go to staff immediately if somebody has a pressing suggestion or concern.
Jeff: Have you made any suggestions that were implemented?
Kaeli: SIC’s work is technically confidential, but we can share it if approved. Some volunteers have been struggling with finances, so we spearheaded the Living Allowance Survey. We worked with staff to quantify the inflation we’ve all been experiencing to ensure that volunteers have enough living allowance. Ohrid has been hard hit because it is a resort town, so the cost of living there has increased disproportionately. Ultimately, everyone’s allowance increased, and volunteers in Ohrid got an extra bump.
Kaeli: I hope all the arm-twisting to get volunteers to fill out those surveys was worth it.
Jeff: Absolutely, thanks. So, teaching wasn’t what you signed up for. How’s that going?
Kaeli: I think it’s going pretty well. We’re in the second week of the school year, and I am cautiously optimistic. Last year, I was often scared in front of the kids because I was uncomfortable, didn’t have experience, and was in a high school, which is not the norm. I might be the only high school volunteer in our cohort. We were trained to teach younger kids.
But ultimately, being in high school has helped me. This year, I feel like I’ve gone into it more confidently, which has helped the kids. I’m working with an IT teacher and one of my counterparts on setting up a school newspaper, so I’m excited about that. Even if it doesn’t work out, having people from the community and the school want to do something has been rewarding.
Last year, I felt like I needed to entertain them more, but I realized early on that I was thinking of American high school students. Albanians don’t have the same experiences as kids in the American school system. I remember the first time I played hangman with my kids. We played this in first grade in America, but they had never played it before, so hangman was the coolest thing ever, along with Pictionary and Heads Up Seven Up and all of these games you play. American high school students would think it was lame, but my kids had never seen them, and that made me feel like I could do this.
So, it’s been good. I have great counterparts, and My kids are all great. The most frequent question I get from my family and people in America is, “What are kids like?” They’re just like American high school students in behavior and attitude.
A view of Kaeli’s site. Source — Kaeli
Jeff: The rest of Macedonia has been experiencing a “Brain Drain,” with many young people leaving the country for better economic opportunities after graduating high school. Is that happening in your town as well?
Kaeli: It isn’t easy. In my village, many kids might want to, but they don’t see it as a possibility for themselves. Pretty much all my students have been working on their family farms once tobacco season started. I’ve seen twelve-year-old kids on tractors going out to the fields. They’re all expected to help. My counterparts told me to expect the kids to be tired all the time once Spring started. They go to the fields to work at three in the morning before it gets hot. And then at 7:30, they come to school.
If they want to go to college, they usually go to one of the two Albanian universities in Tetovo. But because the community relies so heavily on their labor, it doesn’t feel like an option for them.
Jeff: It’s very family-oriented. Your host family lives very close to each other.
Kaeli: Yeah. It’s almost like these little compounds. I live on, I’d say, a driveway, and there are four other houses with extended family in them. But they don’t view extended family here like it is in America. Everyone is family, no matter how distant; if you are a nephew, niece, cousin, uncle, or whatever, you’re family.
Jeff: Have you noticed any cultural differences in your Albanian village compared to stories you’ve heard from volunteers at Macedonian sites?
Kaeli: The main thing is alcohol. We don’t have rakija for lunch or dinner. That’s something I noticed besides religion. I think food is very similar. A volunteer I was talking to was surprised that Albanians ate Ajvar. They love it. Doesn’t everyone in North Macedonia?
Jeff: Yeah. Who could not like Ajvar? (Note: a traditional condiment of roasted peppers and eggplant that many families make at home every autumn)
Kaeli: Yeah, from what I’ve heard, weddings are very similar. Macedonians have the Oro, which I’ve never done, but I’ve seen videos. It looks very similar to the vale, which is the Albanian traditional dance.
Kaeli: It’s hard to compare because I have only lived in Albanian towns with two Albanian host families. I feel like I’ve missed experiencing Macedonian culture. I want to go to the East side more and experience the Eastern Orthodox culture.
Jeff: Tell me some stories about your teaching. Any struggles or successes?
Kaeli: I have had a bit of trouble. I went in, projecting a fun persona. I wanted to do activities, be a little goofier, and create more relationships with the kids. That has been great, and I loved it all. But it also means that I often don’t get the respect of being the teacher.
There is a culture of respect for the teacher here; the kids stand up whenever a teacher walks in the room, if the teacher bangs on the table, and the kids are quiet. There have been a few times when I’m trying to lead a class activity, and if my counterpart steps out of the room, I cannot control them. Once, I could not get them to listen to me after my counterpart left, with twenty minutes left in class. One of the girls in the front row said, “You have to bang on the desk.” Trying to get their attention verbally wasn’t working. So, I did it. And they immediately stopped talking and yelling and whatever. I don’t know who was more surprised.
Kaeli: I try to be at least light and fun and not so serious. One of my counterparts will walk up to a kid if he’s acting out, and she’ll grab a little tuft of hair on the top of their head and lightly shake their heads. I cannot imagine a teacher doing that in the US.
Jeff: Wow. What has been your biggest success teaching?
Kaeli: Last year, I had my third years write letters to their future selves, which I planned to give back when they graduated at the end of this year. I gave them a few prompts to get them started. One of the prompts was to talk about a memory they wanted to remember from this school year. So, I collected all the letters at the end of class, and the girls asked me if I would read them. And I was like, “No, these are private. These are just for you. I promise I won’t read them.” And they all said, “But we want you to read them.” So, when I got home, I read them. And they all said their favorite memory from that school year was when I started attending class. One wrote about when I played Pictionary with them for the first time. That’s not a specific thing I did, but I call it a success. Those letters really touched me.
It reminded me that just my presence can benefit the kids. Just seeing somebody who came from around the world can make a difference, especially a woman. It can be even more challenging for young girls in more conservative communities. I’ve heard from some of my students that they want to go somewhere else, maybe, but can’t because girls don’t do that sort of thing. It was nice to be reminded that I am impacting them just by being there.
Jeff: That’s cool. How did you spend your summer? Did you do any camps or anything?
Kaeli: Yeah, I did a travel camp with Ruth in Gostivar for a week in July and then a leadership camp that Liz and Jake put on in Tetovo.
Jeff: How did that go?
Kaeli: They were both great. I think I was more effective in the leadership camp because I worked with that age group more and had some experience in leadership programs in high school and college. It’s great to work with kids. It was interesting to see kids in the same age group as my kids but from different parts of the country.
Stacy and I ran a simulated hike to practice safe outdoor skills with the kids. We recruited Krista, another PC volunteer, as our heat stroke victim. We started in a classroom and went over the basics, such as picking a hiking route, what to pack, and animal encounters. What would you do if you ran into a bear, a wild boar, a mountain lion, or any other things you could run into in North Macedonia?
Stacy had Krista lie on the floor in one of the classrooms upstairs. As we went along, they happened upon our poor heat stroke victim, and the kids loved it. It was so funny because they got so into it. Obviously, Krista was not a victim of heat stroke. She was playing, but they were so invested. The pictures are great.
Kaeli and a fellow volunteer, Krista, co-facilitating a session on team building at a summer camp. Source — Kaeli
Jeff: That sounds like a good time. So, you teach twenty classes a week. How much time do you spend prepping for the classes?
Kaeli: Typically, I’m prepping either in the morning for about fifteen minutes before school or as I’m waiting for class to start unless my counterpart lets me know what we’re doing in advance, which doesn’t happen often. I have done more prepping, especially the planning for the school newspaper and the English Club.
Jeff: Is the school newspaper in Albanian or English?
Kaeli: I hope to do at least some of it in Albanian. I’m having that conversation with the other teachers participating in it because my counterpart wants it to all be in English. That’s understandable since she’s the English teacher, but I would like some of it to be in Albanian.
Maybe we could translate it into Albanian so more kids can participate, but It will be primarily in English.
Jeff: Okay, and what do you do with your life when you’re not teaching?
Kaeli: Finding things to do with my time was a big challenge when I first arrived. There’s not much to do in my village, but I took up crocheting. I learned to crochet when I was younger but hadn’t done it in years. My first few projects weren’t great, but I’m improving.
Kaeli: I’ve read a couple of books by the Albanian author Ismail Kadare. I might be getting my facts wrong, but he was among the most nominated people for the Nobel Prize. He passed away recently, so people were talking about him. His books are great. I try to go for walks. There are several beautiful hills around the village, but my host family doesn’t like it when I walk in them because of the dogs.
My host dad joked about taking a gun with me. I told him I didn’t think the Peace Corps would be too happy about that.
Jeff: Yeah.
Kaeli: I also like to sit with my host family, especially my host Grandpa. He often sits on the front porch during the summer, so I frequently talk to him. It’s good language practice. Life is pretty slow here. At first, it was difficult, but now it’s nice because I picked up hobbies. I started painting a little bit and drawing more. I spend a lot of time crocheting, honestly. Maybe a little too much time on my phone. I’m working on that.
Jeff: Any expectations of service that you ended up thinking were unrealistic?
Kaeli: I tried to go in with no expectations, which is difficult because you will always have them. I did not expect to be working in a high school. That was a last-minute change for me. I received a lot of support from staff and other volunteers in MAC25 who have worked with high schools that helped me out.
Kaeli: One of the expectations I didn’t realize I had was where I would be placed geographically in the country. After PST, I expected to work in the West because that’s where I had thought all the Albanians were. Up to the site placement announcements, I had no expectations; wherever they wanted to put me was fine. But when I got put in the country’s center, I was slightly disappointed. Now, I would not change my site for anything. I love it here.
Jeff: Yeah. With the loneliness and everything, have you ever thought about packing it in?
Kaeli: No. Barring very few extreme circumstances, I don’t think I would go home. That’s not an option for me. There was a time during the holiday season in the winter when I was wondering if it would just be nice to be home. That’s the only time I’ve thought about and rejected it.
Jeff: Yeah, I’ve experienced that as well. As a woman, have you had any problems with harassment?
Kaeli: No. I get stared at a lot. It’s hard to say if it’s because I’m a woman or the new American here. I’ve been here for quite a while, and it has continued, so I’m leaning toward being a woman. One of my male students, who is usually very nice and respectful, said something to me like, “Hey, baby.” As I left school, he was in a group of boys, all yelling at me.
I shut it down quickly but left thinking about it because I worried about that. I am a young woman, and some of my students are 19 years old. I need to keep a level of separateness. I’m an adult. I’m a teacher, even though I want to try to have good relationships with them. Anyway, when I got to school the next day, I was worried about that, but he came to the teacher’s lounge and gave me a heartfelt, respectful apology. It’s exactly what I would have expected from this boy, which is why I was so upset by it. But that’s the only time I’ve ever experienced any harassment, catcalling, or anything. It turned out okay in the end.
Jeff: That’s good. I know some of the other volunteers have had issues. I don’t want to harp on the negatives; I’m just keeping it real. It sounds like you’ve had a positive experience overall.
Kaeli: Yeah, definitely.
Jeff: Would you recommend the Peace Corps?
Kaeli: I would. However, a caveat is that they should be sure they want to do it. It can’t be a backup or a whim. You have to want it. Overall, it has been a positive experience, but there have been challenges, many of which will exist in any country. The idea of being away from home for two years is hard enough, regardless of any of your site’s challenges. It’s tough, so you have to really want it, but I would recommend it.
Jeff: What are your plans after the Peace Corps? We’re halfway through. You’re probably starting to think about the other side. Any thoughts?
Kaeli: I’m looking at some grad schools. I’m interested in Human Rights and Conflict Studies. I found a few programs through the Coverdell Fellowship. But I’m also thinking about going straight to work if I can. I want to work internationally to gain experience besides working in the Peace Corps. I think that is important for my career path, and I won’t have an old Albanian lady making me grosh every day, along with all the Peace Corps’ support.
Jeff: Grosh?
Kaeli: You don’t have grosh in the East? It is a very popular bean stew. It’s white beans stewed in this red pepper kind of Spice blend. You can have it as a watery soup or bake it in this special pot. I forget the Albanian name for it. It’s delicious. If you ever come to the West side, I recommend it. You can put meat in it if you want. My host family puts peppers, garlic, onions, or whatever is being harvested. I think it’s called Fasul in Albanian, but Grosh is the popular name. I didn’t know you guys didn’t have Grosh, so there’s a cultural difference.
Jeff: Here, we call it graff. We eat it all the time, but especially on religious holidays when people fast and avoid meat.
Kaeli: Is that what they call it?
Jeff: Yeah. Graff means beans In Macedonian.
Kaeli: Okay. Yeah.
Jeff: So, you’re considering working for an NGO or something in the human rights world.
Kaeli: That’s what I’m thinking. I’ve also thought a bit about USAID. I’m specifically interested in post-conflict development. It’s interesting being here since they had conflicts not long ago and seeing the development in the Balkans. Thinking about my career going forward, my goal is to work in the international relations sphere.
Jeff: Do you want to work in the Balkans after the Peace Corps?
Kaeli: I think I’d want to return to the United States for a bit. I am very close to my family. My dad has said that I’m never coming back. So, I want to prove him wrong just by going home. Then, I’d love to find a job that allows me to travel, but that’s sort of secondary to the field. It’s also hard because I am from the West Coast, and many of those jobs are on the East Coast. But we’ll see.
Jeff: Yeah. In the United States, the East Coast feels almost as far away as Macedonia in many ways.
Jeff: Do you have anything you want to add or talk about?
Kaeli: No, you ask great questions. I’ve read all of your interviews so far, and they’re all great. So, I was excited when you asked.
