One thing that I sometimes find difficult as the only Macedonian around is teaching my kids the customs and traditions of my native country. I don't speak my language with them as often as I should, mainly because my son has a speech delay and some other delays. The holidays always escape me, because there is nothing and nobody around to remind me of them. But one thing that I try to do as much as I can is take my kids to traditional Eastern European Folk Dancing. I used to do this every Thursday night, but my work schedule has been in conflict with this.
But yesterday, the Phoenix Folk Dance group put together a festival. So we went.
I was happy to see a group of Romanian dancers. They are from the Romanian Orthodox Church in Phoenix. I didn't even know there was one. I was even happier to see that these were young people, in their teens and 20s. This always make me smile because I am always afraid that in this melting pot, us foreign born people are supposed to bring the cultural differences and enrich the society, but I also often see that we abandon our cultures and traditions and we try too hard to fit in a society where we don't fit. We just simply forget that we shouldn't try to fit, we should just be and play our part of being who we are. That's how we fit.
I didn't have the best view and if I moved, my troupe (son and daughter) would have followed me across the dance floor and possibly trip the dancers. So I stayed put and did what I could to take some pictures.
I was delighted to also see my friend Lora show up with her kids and husband. Lora is from Bulgaria, a neighbor of my native Macedonia. Lora and I used to go dancing every Thursday night, before we got in the business of being moms. One of her daughters, Lucia is close in age with my kids, and my kids love Lucia, and Lucia loves my kids.
And here there are dancing 'kolo'.
And even my Capetan America can do these dances.
But yesterday, the Phoenix Folk Dance group put together a festival. So we went.
I was happy to see a group of Romanian dancers. They are from the Romanian Orthodox Church in Phoenix. I didn't even know there was one. I was even happier to see that these were young people, in their teens and 20s. This always make me smile because I am always afraid that in this melting pot, us foreign born people are supposed to bring the cultural differences and enrich the society, but I also often see that we abandon our cultures and traditions and we try too hard to fit in a society where we don't fit. We just simply forget that we shouldn't try to fit, we should just be and play our part of being who we are. That's how we fit.
I didn't have the best view and if I moved, my troupe (son and daughter) would have followed me across the dance floor and possibly trip the dancers. So I stayed put and did what I could to take some pictures.
I was delighted to also see my friend Lora show up with her kids and husband. Lora is from Bulgaria, a neighbor of my native Macedonia. Lora and I used to go dancing every Thursday night, before we got in the business of being moms. One of her daughters, Lucia is close in age with my kids, and my kids love Lucia, and Lucia loves my kids.
And here there are dancing 'kolo'.
And even my Capetan America can do these dances.
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