It's Halloween!

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31.

The day is often associated with the colors black and orange, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

History of Halloween, like any other festival's history is inspired through traditions that have transpired through ages from one generation to another. As this process goes on, much of their originality get distorted with newer additions and alterations.

Behind the name... Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows', also called 'All Hallowmas', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day, observed on November 1.


Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. They are said to be used to scare off demons. Costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons.


Ask your local American Corner about Halloween activities!

U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery

“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Diversity Visa”

Consul Lauren May will discuss the process of applying for a Diversity Visa, where to look for information on US government websites.

The application is free – applicants should not be fooled by scams that ask for money.

Ms. May will also be open to questions on the diversity visa and other visa questions after the presentations.

Join us in

- American Corner Bitola on Wednesday, October 28 @ 2:00 PM

- American Corner Tetovo on Wednesday, October 28 @ 6:00 PM

- American Corner Skopje on Tuesday, November 3 @ 6:00 PM

Ask your nearest American Corner for more info.

Best Wild Animal Pictures of 2009 Announced!

Overall Winner

"The Storybook Wolf"

See the story behind this photo and the other winners HERE.
nationalgeographic.com

"The Day to Celebrate Learning and Exploration"

On October 12, 1492 the Italian seaman Christopher Columbus first stepped foot on the soil of the Americas, bringing with him European culture, goods, religion and practices.



This is what happened:

Ironically, Columbus did not plan on discovering a “New World”. He left Iberia hoping to arrive in the
Indies, a series of islands in South East Asia that Spain frequently traded with through long and expensive journeys on land. His goal was to find a quicker, water-based route instead.



So when he sailed west, he didn't land in the Indies, but rather he anchored in the Bahamas at a place he named “San Salvador”. When he came ashore on San Salvador, he mistook the native people for natives of India, calling them Indians (a misnomer which stands to this day). In fact, Columbus returned to the Americas three more times over the course of 12 years without knowing that he had arrived in an uncharted land, halfway around the globe from his intended destination!


Happy Columbus Day!

In the early morning fog, a replica of one of Christopher Columbus' ships, Nina, departs Maysville, Kentucky,
where it was on tour in November 2005.
The ship, which was built by The Columbus Foundation and launched in 1991,
continues to visit ports around the United States as a floating maritime museum and to participate in tall sail events.

Activities for kids:

Columbus Day is a great time to celebrate exploration as a family. For preschoolers, it can be as simple as learning about maps or treasure hunts and exploring the backyard in a new way. For grade-schoolers, they can set out on an imaginary voyage, complete with a pretend passport, world map and discover real – or imagined – places.

http://holidays.kaboose.com/school-community-activities-columbus-day.html

Tips for talking with Strangers, a 5-Step Program

You don't want to just dive into talking to strangers. You're out of practice. You need to build up those curiosity and bravery muscles. You need to thicken your skin in case they snub you. You need to plan a few exit strategies in case of social suffocation.

Sure, when you were a kid you talked to strangers all the time. But you were trained out of it. So here's a five-step 'Taking to Strangers' training program. Tailor it to your needs. Stay at any level as long as you like. Some people spend months practicing, "Hi," in front of the mirror before they will dare it with strangers.

Keep this in mind. Humans like to connect with other humans. We are social creatures. It's taken a lot of television and fear to convince us to stop doing what comes naturally. You have it in you. So have at it…

**The 5-Step Program **
(click to enlarge)

Ask your local American Corner when are they hosting a Conversation cafe, and join.

Talk to Strangers. We dare you.

conversationcafe.org

October Monthly Prorgrams

These are the October monthly programs for all three American Corners Macedonia.


American Corner Skopje

(click to enlarge)

American Corner Tetovo

(click to enlarge)

American Corner Bitola

(click to enlarge)

TOEFL and GRE testing dates

Dear test takers!

As a certified ETS testing Center, we would like to announce the testing dates for the upcoming months.


For TOEFL

Choose American Educational Center (STN11667A) on the following dates:

• October 10, 2009
• November 7, 2009 and
• December 4, 2009

To register for the TOEFL, click HERE

For GRE

Choose American Educational Center (10743) on the following dates:

• GRE General: October 24, 2009

• GRE Subject: October 10, 2009
• GRE Subject: November 7, 2009

To register for the GRE, click HERE

Remembering 9/11

On a sunny, cloudless September 11 eight years ago, tragedy struck America.

The President paid tribute to those who lost their lives at the Pentagon Wreath-Laying Ceremony.

"We remember with reverence the lives we lost. We read their names. We press their photos to our hearts. And on this day that marks their death, we recall the beauty and meaning of their lives; men and women and children of every color and every creed, from across our nation and from more than 100 others. They were innocent. Harming no one, they went about their daily lives. Gone in a horrible instant, they now "dwell in the House of the Lord forever." (read the whole speech here)

(President Barack Obama pauses after placing a wreath during a ceremony at the Pentagon honoring those
who perished in the 2001 terror attack. Standing with the President are Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
and Chairman of the Joint Chief Adm. Michael Mullen, right. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Vice President spent the morning on this 8th Anniversary of the 9/11 tragedies at the ground zero reflecting pool in New York City. He read the poem entitled "Wild Geese" by American poet Mary Oliver:

Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting

You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

(read the full poem here)

Creaive Writing Summer Camp

After the huge success last year, the U.S. Embassy in partnership with Writers in the Schools of Houston, Texas, will organize again the Creative Writing Workshops!
These workshops are hosted by the American Corners in Macedonia.

“Writers in the Schools” Writer and Professor Merrilee Cunningham, is traveling to Macedonia again. She will spend three weeks in Macedonia, leading the creative writing workshops in Skopje, Bitola and Tetovo

The groups were completely filled only few days after the announcement was sent out, and there even was a large waiting list.

Here are some pictures from Bitola and Skopje and Tetovo:

Ambassador Reeker vsisted the AC BItola Workshop

The atmosphere during in AC Skopje

The Camp in AC Tetovo

Read more on Merrilee's blog : The Macedonian Expess

Observing the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon Landing

July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind

At 10:56 p.m. EDT Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Read the full story here. (nasa.gov)



at the American Corner Skopje:

"40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Landing"
With Charles Hornbostel, Consular Officer at the US Embassy in Skopje

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

A multimedia-rich commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing was held by Mr. Hornbostel who the audience was already familiar with as this was his third presentation at the Corner this year.
The 20 attendees enjoyed the brief overview of the origins of spaceflight and the 1960s space race between the United States and the Soviet Union that culminated in the Apollo 11 landing on July 20th, 1969.

The video clips from the JFK library and NASA websites brought all of us back in time as the voice of President Kennedy and his “The Race is On” speech filled out the room. Everyone got a glimpse of the countdown and the lift off of Apollo 11. Tribute was paid to the astronauts and cosmonauts who were lost along the way.

Thanks to Mr. Hornbostel’s Undergraduate degree in air and space engineering very insightful and professional explanations providing evidence were given to those doubting that the landing ever took place.

Many were wondering why the next mission is going to take place in 2014 and why the moon has not been inhabited yet. In the long discussion that followed different opinions were offered on the matter. The members of the Skopje Astronomic Society who were in the audience took part in the discussion too and invited everyone present to attend their celebration of the landing of Apollo 11 which is going to take place next week.

See part of the media presented during Mr. Hornbostel's talk: