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One last trip

2008-07-18T02:39:00.008-04:00

Here we go... finally a posting after too many busy (read lazy) months without. This will be about the trip I took at the beginning of July to Poland. In short summary, I went with a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer from my group. We traveled by train from here, through Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and then finally to Krakow. On the way there, we had a trying time finding trains and seats on those trains which would finally get us to Poland. Apparently summer in Europe is a popular time to travel (sarcasm and regret). When we pulled into Krakow, I wish I could say it was a great feeling to finally be there, but really, the 3 days of train travel with no shower, no change of clothes, and the fact that it was 6am and check in was not until 2pm, all added up to a not so agreeable morning sight seeing adventure. Plus, it was 6am... and not even coffee places were open, even if they did accept smelly, disheveled customers. So we walked around the center, the town, and saw the outsides of the sights I promised Joe we would go into as soon as I had showered. This pic below is me in front of the old marketplace in the city center (marketplace building to the left) and the tower. The market building sits right in the center of the square and divides the area. Joe said that Krakow's center was the biggest or one of the biggest in Europe. I guess because I am too lazy to Wikipedia it, I will take his word for it.

The next picture is of me (post-shower and happy) in front of the St. Mary's church. Here, Pope John Paul often spoke from the bronze pulpit that you can see on the outside of the church. Every hour from the top window of the left tower, a trumpeter plays his horn. Standing in the center, walking around the cafe lined sides, watching the people ride in the horse drawn carriages, all made for incredible evening walks. It was definitely a different atmosphere than what I was used to in Bulgaria.

Here is one of the drivers with spotted horses and his bowler hat to complete the ensemble.

All of the privately owned carriages were different styles and colors, and the drivers reflected that by dressing similarly to their carriage. Some were driven by women who wore green bows in their hair and white skirts to match their lime green cart and all white horses.

Below is me in the bell tower of Wawel (pronounced Vavel) castle. I am standing under the Sigismund Bell which is 500 years old and still in working order. I have around my neck the most amazing part of the Polish tour experience, in my opinion of course. It is an iPod shuffle tour guide! How insane... they have programmed the sights on the shuffle, you can skip ahead if you didn't buy tickets for the bell, or go back and redo a sight if you were lost. It was amazing to me that they could do that... it's so much better than a tape player where if you lose your place, you spend another hour rewinding and fast-forwarding to find where you left off. And... it was only like $2.50... I was just floored. Bulgaria needs to stop wasting EU money (rather stop pocketing EU money) and invest in something as smart as this to boost tourism.

We also took a day to go to the salt mines in a town just outside of Krakow. The mines were closed only about 10 years ago, and inside, almost every wall surface was the salty rock that has been dug for passages and caverns, which our tour guide assured us was harmless and lickable. (Yes, I did lick the wall... just as you would expect, salty). This photo is from one of the caverns, the statues were carved entirely from the salt rock and by the miners themselves.

After Krakow we briefly stopped over for a night in Warsaw to meet up with a friend who was in Bulgaria with us, but left early to live in Poland with his dancer/super star girlfriend. Warsaw was incredibly expensive compared to Krakow and I am happy we had already decided to not stick around. Our next stop was Gdansk, the port city on the Baltic sea. The pic below is on one of the canals leading into the center, this was taken from the deck of the boat hostel we stayed in.

Gdansk is the city where the Solidarity movement (labor movement against communism) began. The city was also almost completely destroyed by the Germans in the second World War. Most has been rebuilt, but they kept the original brick foundation on many of the buildings so you can see the old brick and how much of the building was just leveled from the invasion. Below is the clock tower and church at the end of the walking street. I kept thinking that with the colorful and virtually new facades on the buildings, the street vendors, the accordion players, the ice cream stands every 100 meters, that I was in Disney world. It's a strange feeling to associate something real with a place that is all make believe. Epcot's big money certainly does the job in making you feel like you are really there.

Here is another angle of the church and clock tower. The statue/fountain to the right is Neptune.

After Gdansk, we began our journey back to Sofia, Bulgaria. We should have known it was not going to be easy going when the only train we could get out of Gdansk left at 1am and arrived in Krakow at 11:56am. We didn't have a sleeping car, but more worrisome was that we had already bought tickets leaving Krakow at 12:10pm to Budapest. The way the trains were treating us, I knew we would not make that 10 minute window to catch our train to Hungry and sure enough, our train didn't pull into Krakow until 12:20. Luckily though, Poland understands late trains and accommodates it's travelers (unlike BDZ) and we were able to transfer our ticket to another train leaving Krakow at 10pm... yay!... another day of showerless Krakow tourism.
We make it to Budapest and this time had a while to walk around until our next train to Serbia. So we saw the sights...

This is the Parliament building on the Buda side of the Danube. Though the weather doesn't look great, at least we didn't have rain... so I was thankful for that.

Lastly, this was a view of the inside of Budapest's train station. I had never been in a station like this one. I am used to the small, two rail stations that only have a building for the ticket booth inside, or like Sofia's, a huge depot that has no architectural appeal. This was where we finally departed on our 20 hour ride back home.

Baba Marta with the orphans :)

2008-02-29T06:38:00.000-05:00

Here is a look at the kids that live in the orphanage where I work 2-3 times a week. Above is Indira. She is in the room/group with the younger crowd, I think from 3-4 years old. Some are older though, but stay in this room because they have Down Syndrom or other physical and mental handicaps. To the right is Alex and behind her is Stoyan.

Tomorrow is Baba Marta Day but since tomorrow is Saturday, they celebrated the holiday today. Some put on vests and dresses and received martenitsi from Baba Marta herself. So to explain a little, Baba Marta is the woman of the hour on March 1st. The day is dedicated to her and the coming of spring. Martenitsi are red and white yarn bracelets that are shared and worn until the first stork is seen. Once you see a stork, you take off a bracelet and tie it to the nearest budding tree branch. For more detailed stories and descriptions, you can go to this site http://www.abvg.net/Traditions/Marta/Marta.html . Above is Martin and Roberto.

Here I am with a girl that just came to the orphanage today. She was all dressed up in her traveling clothes. Her name is Sisi. She wasn't dressed up for Baba Marta, but cute nonetheless.

These two are twins who we work with almost every time we come. They both have Down Syndrome and are learning how to walk. Martin (right) can walk all over town while just holding onto one of my hands. The other day he took a couple of steps all alone and then plopped... but he is already stronger than before. His brother (and I am awful that I can't remember his name right now) still walks while holding both hands. They are cute and I love seeing what they will do next time.

Happy Baba Marta Day everyone. May spring bring warmth, happiness, well-being and optimism!

day to day life... and more inane details

2008-02-08T12:54:00.000-05:00

Today an old friend messaged me with an update of her life and asked at the end, "what is a day in the life of Bulgarian Karli?" When I started to think about it, I decided that it would make a pretty good blog post for those (like my grandma and Missy) who think my blogs come too few and far between.

I will tell it like it has been for the past couple of weeks... for me, routine tends to change quickly and without intention. But for what it is worth (which is not really worth a whole lot to Bulgarians who rarely keep to a set schedule), I think this will represent my life for the next couple of months.

(First, here's a view from a ski lift gondola on the way up a mountain in BG)

A typical weekday for me can start between 7:30am and 8:45am. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to work at the orphanage which cares for infants and children up to age 7. I go with the temps who have been working at the NGO since November. One has a degree in psychology, and the other in pedagogy. We work there from 9:30-12:30 on the developmental stepping stones that the kids should be learning but are not really reaching. Most of the kids are either disabled or very closed off to interaction. They, like most other kids in "orphanages", are not orphans in the American sense of the word. They have parents who have checked them into this institution, and who will most likely take them back after 5-7 years. Nonetheless, they are there and need more than just someone who will feed them and give them a stuffed animal to play with. The work we do with them right now is very fundamental; getting them to interact with their peers is one of the most important and yet easily overlooked. The three of us work with a handful of kids each time we go, and I am looking forward to seeing how far along they will have come in the 3 months that the orphanage has agreed to let us volunteer there.

On the other days of the week I work in the office that is literally right across from my apartment door. Being a NGO, they can set up shop just about anywhere... and they chose an apartment to convert into an office. Well when they got their first Peace Corps Volunteer, they looked for an apartment for her in the same building as the office, and by a crazy coincidence, the one across the way was vacant because the girl that normally lived there was living in America (Orlando, FL to be exact). So I inherited the apartment, and therefore live right across from and share an adjoining wall with my office. It comes in handy for the mornings when they don't come in to the office until close to noon... I can just knock on the door at 10am (my normal arrival time), and if they are not there... I return home, put the TV on CNN, and listen for them to come up the stairs.

While in the office, normally I am busy helping with project ideas, writing a project (as we have been doing the last couple of weeks), or just trying to improve the Bulgarian I sort of know by talking with everyone about whatever is floating around gossip-wise or in the news. I work with all ladies, so we get talking about hair care, social inequalities, skin products, the homeless, exercise, school systems, the elections, and cooking. It's a mix bag and I never know what kind of words I won't know for that day.

This morning I was asked how I know if a pineapple is ripe... I was at a loss as to how to explain in Bulgarian. Also, I was sort of surprised when I found out throughout the course of the conversation that most children and even adults don't know what a whole pineapple looks like. I needed to find a way to explain how to know when the pineapple was ready to eat and how to then cut it... and which parts were OK to eat. My friend who was talking to me about these pineapple logistics then told me the story of when she brought this strange fruit home. Her son (who is in kindergarten, so not shocking I suppose) asked what it was. She said, "a pineapple." His response, "but what is it??"... "A pineapple."..... "what is it!!??"..... "a pineapple," she repeated for the third time. And then she said, he just silently nodded and walked away. Then her older son asked, "so when are we going to eat it?" To which she thought, and then had to say, "well, I have to ask in the office tomorrow how to know if it's good and what parts we can eat."

That conversation made me jot down in my notebook verbs and words like ripe, squeeze, soft, core, citric, and prickly, so that tonight I can look them up in the dictionary and be able to describe how to determine the ripeness of fruit.

When I leave work, most of the time I take a stroll around town. If I don't, it would mean that I would not have left my floor of the apartment building or have been outside all day. And that is just not healthy on any level. The downside to this is that I normally always spend money while walking around, whether it be on necessary food items like milk and bread, or on unnecessary sweets like chocolate and vafla. Upon returning home, I say hi to my cat, make some dinner (normally nothing to really call a dinner... just a sandwich, some yogurt and musli, or something easy with eggs), and then sit in front of my computer or TV to catch up with friends or with CNN reporters. I feel as if I know them at this point... the reporters that is... should this be a sign that I should find a new use for my time?

Speaking of new uses for time, I am trying to read more, and the first book I picked up from the collection left behind by the old volunteer is "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", what a strange book.

Weekends are spent so many different ways, mostly depending on the season. Most weekends I am here in my town, just hanging out and cleaning. But when I travel I go see other volunteers and what their towns have to offer. In the last weekends, I have been out skiing! It has been great because the weather is amazing and the snow is beautiful. However, I quickly realized that I don't know how to ski... I thought I did... but I don't. I am a novice/beginner who just goes out there an does whatever she can to get down the mountain. I would insert a "hahah" in there, if it was indeed funny. But for the kind, kind friends who have stayed behind with me while I fall and snowplow down, it is not really funny. But I have a blast! And hopefully we will get one more snow, and I can go in another weekend and move up to beginner-high status! We shall wait and see!

As this has turned into quite the lengthy blog, I will start to wrap it up here. Also because my leaky faucet is at an all time annoying level of drippage (I know that's a made up word... whatever) and I desperately need to get up off the couch and use the wrench to turn the knob to stop the insane drip-drop.

back to blogging in Bulgaria

2008-01-10T12:57:00.001-05:00

Let's begin this return to blogging by going back, way back, to Athens. November 4th was the date of the Athens Classic Marathon which I and about 10 other volunteers ran. I was not overly eager to write about the end result of the race because it was not an experience that I enjoyed or fondly look back on. It was an experience though, and even if I don't think it was a fun one, I completed the 26.2 miles, and have a medal to show for it. This first pic is of Me and Melanie at Marathon Stadium before the race (circa 6:30am).

We made shirts for the race that said "She's Mel/Jel" on the back, and "I'm Jel/Mel" on the front. Mel and Jel are clearly our nicknames. Making shirts was not only one of the most fun parts of the marathon experience, but also unexpectedly useful. At about the 26 kilometer mark (a little over half-way through), Mel took some time to get oxygen in an ambulance and I proceeded on for fear that if I stopped, so would my legs. Throughout the rest of the race, some nice men that were driving up and down the course to chauffeur quitters to the finish, kept updating Mel and I on each others' status. It was a great conversation point with other runners as well. On the back, we had printed "Peace Corps Bulgaria" and low and behold... Peace Corps Albania and Armenia stopped for a quick chat along the way.

This is me in front of the Parthenon, which is under heavy restoration, in case you were curious about the scaffolding in the back... I don't suspect many even noticed, but I still feel the need to articulate each detail of the picture.

Now on to more topical matters. First of all, Thanksgiving is being left out of this update because I could not find pictures on my computer and anyway, there is nothing very interesting to tell of the holiday. For summary and photos though, I suggest my friend Grace's blog... there are photos and a brief wrap-up of the day of thanks there. (For the less tech savvy... click on the underlined Grace's blog to link to her page ;) )

Below you will see me (well part of me anyway) and my cat Palachinka. I thought it appropriate to show an updated pic of her since the last blog I had pics on include her and her bother upon arrival to my life.

Since about a month ago, Gob (the black brotha) has been living with my site mate. Two kittens proved quite the strain on the old wallet, and my site mate (Emma) had talked about wanting a cat for company. So she decided to accept Gob into her apartment and heart, and I kept Palachinka with me. Yes, she will be coming back to America with me in October...

Winter time in Blagoevgrad (my city's name for those who are late to the game, or behind) was enchanting. Around mid-December, the local taverns built wooden shacks on the main square, complete with plastic, tarp-like sheeting for windows, and grills in front to cook the array of pork. It was charming to walk down the row of outdoor pubs/BBQs and watch the master chefs grill ribs and meat patties, smell the grill smoke, and look at the Christmas decorations being sold at the booth next door.

The snow had just started to fall before I left for the holidays in America. Here is a picture of the snow along the banks of the river that runs through town.

Christmas and New Years were spent in Tampa! I won't drone on about those times because I heard on several occasions that I was to write a new blog, "but NOT just about my vacation in America, because we know what it is like here!"

Christmas was wonderful! It was great to be back home with family to celebrate after being away for the first time last year. New years was spent with friends, both from UF and good ol' Blake Hi. This is Missy, Me, and Courtney at the Mac Grill before the party began at my house.

Below is a pic of Laura and I out at one of the Irish pubs after a rousing couple of rounds of bowling. Among the mini high school reunions that seemed to just happen, there were also good times with the old IDS folk :)

And lastly, here is some more of the crew at my house for new year's eve. (Anne-mari, Collin, Me, Mel, Keith)

Miss you all and will try to make the blogging more frequent, but no promises.

turducken is a comin'

2007-10-30T09:09:00.000-04:00

This year's Thanksgiving some of us are looking to the wise elders who accomplished the feat of a 17 bird feast (a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicke, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an Ortolan Bunting, and a Garden Warbler, a bustergophechiduckneaealcockidgeoverwingailusharkolanbler if you will...) and attempt our own, turducken! It may end up being a turkenken (with two chickens of different sizes rather than duck, because who knows if we can buy a duck here...

In tribute to our attempt at the turducken, this song will help clarify any concept cloudiness: http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.mp3

October 17th already!

2007-10-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

This morning I woke to the sound of my kittens crying for breakfast, to the sight of foggy windows from the temperature disparity between my radiator-heated bedroom and the chilly Autumn dawn, and to the thought of what my day will be like, and if it was possible to stay in my sweatpants and Smartwool socks (I decided jeans and a business casual shirt were a more acceptable choice.) These days I am lucky to wake later and enjoy a relaxed morning regime because the Resource Center where I work starts their day a bit later... around 9:30 or 10 (sometimes 11... 11:30... 12... etc.)

I am really enjoying my work with the two women at the Center and the volunteers who help out (pictured here: from left to right, me, Svetla, Mary [the past volunteer who just left... fellow Floridian!], Tanya, and Bianca.) The Children's hotline which they established 3 years ago for kids with questions about problems and life in general, has officially ended. The funding for the line stopped at the beginning of October, but we are thinking and talking all the time about what new initiative and project to start. The director (Tanya) and the coordinator of the hotline (Svetla) are very active in the community and have a strong commitment to civic awareness and development of an active youth. Working with them inspires me and reassures me that changes are possible even with the toughest of Municipal staff or corrupt financiers.

Currently we are planning for the World Awareness for Peer Bullying Day. It may seem like kind of an obscure recognition, but from my understanding, there were events last year as well and currently, one of the other NGOs in Blagoevgrad is working directly on prevention of peer fighting and bullying. I have found that the "World fill-in-the-blank" Days are a great way to motivate organizations and initiate activities because there is a definite deadline, there is a definite cause, and therefore it is more clear and easier to attract attention and approval from the required authorities. I recently attended a conference for World Mental Health Day, conducted by the Center for Mental Health and HIV/AIDS. I hope to work with Tanya and Svetla and partner with the Center for Mental Health and HIV/AIDS for December 1st (World HIV/AIDS day.)

Other than these ideas, I am happy to be active now with one of the Children's homes in the city. This home is truly an orphanage, unlike other Children's homes in Bulgaria (which house kids who have known parents, but who are unable to afford them or give them to care for other reasons.) All of the kids that live in this home were abandoned by their parents. They are all under 3 years old and there are about 65 of them. The home can house up to 100, and in the past it was overcapacity. I look forward to getting more involved in the home and seeing how I can best help them.

Ps- 2 months until I visit!!! Be ready Tampa!

Training for Athens

2007-09-22T04:31:00.000-04:00

In just over a month, there may be tears shed, toenails lost, muscles exhausted, and despair reached, but such is the cost of completing the historic Ancient Greece Marathon... if all goes to plan...

Yes, the melodrama is necessary. If someone had told me before I started training, that running the length of 26.2 miles was something anyone can do, I would have believed them and also thought, "and I will even be quick about it." This was my mentality before trying my mind and body in the Plovdiv Half-Marathon on September 6th. I have always liked to run and considered myself a fairly decent runner at that. I had no clue what gruel was involved or how punishing 13 miles actually would be. I fought through about half the race at a decent pace, but found that going into a 13 mile run without previously ever (... in my life even...) run more than 6 miles at one time, makes doubling that in one go nearly impossible.

I learned a valuable lesson from the Half-marathon: Training is absolutely necessary. So as I sit here on a beautifully clear and brisk Saturday morning in Blagoevgrad, I think about my scheduled 12 mile run. Running longer has gotten considerably easier, but 12 miles (a mile of shy of the torture that I felt at the half-marathon) seems extremely daunting.

On the plus side though, an upside to training and averaging about 30 miles or more a week, means that I get to load up on all the food I love so much, but painfully deny myself. This morning I carb-loaded by making some Bulgarian Pancakes and loved every bite... coincidentally so did my kittens! The name of the girl, Palachinka, is Bulgarian for pancake... how fortuitous. I was on the verge of losing a finger when I offered a morsel of the goods. I know now I can count on at least two living things that love my cooking.

update for september (in photos)

2007-09-13T13:44:00.001-04:00

me making banitsa from scratch

My two kittens. Meet Palachinka (translation-
pancake) and the black one is Gob (as taken from Arrested Development... he was a born magician...)

Blagoevgrad

2007-08-28T07:08:00.000-04:00

It has really been a while since last posting, and I looked back today and realized that so much has happened since that last post.

First of all, I am no longer in Peshtera. I have moved to a city called Blagoevgrad. It is in the south-west corner of Bulgaria. I have been here for about a month now, and can say that my new home is welcoming and wonderful.

I am working for an NGO which acts as a Resource Center called "New Alternatives". There, threewomen work in the office to help disadvantaged families, youth, and anyone in need of counseling. There is a hotline which they set up, where youth can call with their problems ranging from family abuse, to relationship problems, or just to get advice on day to day stress. I am so thankful to step into this organization and to be welcomed by such active and caring people.

Blagoevgrad is about 4 times the size of Peshtera. There was a mild adjustment period of getting used to life in the city.... (the "city" of about 80,000 people). But after I realized that I could find some rare comforts of home, like m&m's and a constant supply of fat-free milk and yogurt, then I instantly felt at home and comfortable in the new city.

I am now looking forward to meeting some of the new volunteers at our Mid-service conference when we share experiences of our first year with them. I am also looking forward to traveling to Greece for the Athens Marathon in November and then to America for Christmas!

from the office

2007-07-09T02:19:00.000-04:00

Once again I find myself alone in the office of the Chitalishte, with no counterpart and nothing to do but try to come up with fresh ideas for projects and search the web for everything from grants, to baseball scores, to crosswords, to the latest news, to other people's blogs... I also hold the distinguished position of phone-answerer. This proves to be somewhat difficult at times when people on the other end do not understand that I, in fact, know nothing about the theater times or activity schedule of the Chitalishte, and yet they proceed to ignore the millions of "ne znam-s" ("I don't know-s") that I am saying and continue to ask about the upcoming holiday schedule.

This is the "do nothing" summer season though. Which we will all use as an excuse to continue to do nothing of circumstance for 3 months, while in fact, this is the best time to try and engage the kids who are out of school. Don't try to find logic in this inactivity, for it does not exist. I am told that too many people are on vacation and don't want to be bothered with projects or deadlines, so there is no use in planning a camp or english class... for who would show up? If they only knew the over-scheduling of an American kid's summer, packed with camps, extra classes, and other lessons...

On the other hand, these practices may be isolated to my organization or my town. Proof being that the ATIP (anti-trafficking in persons) committee organized a summer film fest last week. It was really well planned and implemented by two of the girls on the committee for Peace Corps Bulgaria. There were volunteers from different villages, towns, and cities who chose to host one night each for the week long traveling film fest. We had partner organizations like the Red Cross and Animus come to the event and lead the discussions after the films. We showed a film called "Svetlana's Journey" which is a true story of a Bulgarian girl sold into prostitution, MTV's EXIT "Inhuman Trafficking", and a documentary of the dangers of taking a job abroad. I went to the final night in Sofia last Friday. It was encouraging to see a successful project planned and executed, with people genuinely interested and participating from all over Bulgaria. I think the idea of a traveling film fest was a good one because we were able to go to the small towns, and engage in a touchy, yet important, topic while also meeting some new people and potential partners. All of us on the committee agreed that it was a good idea to expand upon and continue for the future.

This week will be another ambiguous one. Maria is out of the office today and probably tomorrow. And the other guy that works here is on his vacation. So I will just come in and try to work on something productive, but without direction or consent from my Bulgarian counterparts, it is basically futile. We are supposed to simply be here to aid them in realizing new possibilities and to help them find the means and best way to achieve their ideas. But, without discussion as to what their ideas/dream/goals really are, it makes my job pretty tough to qualify.

Switching topics though, who can believe it is already approaching the middle of July? We are thinking about the new group of volunteers that will arrive the second week in August, trying to help with ways to improve the training months from the last time. I personally had a great first 3 months, learning the language, the culture, the work we would do, and more about ourselves than we really thought was possible. It will be interesting to start our second year soon, and hopefully we will begin to really get some traction on projects and development.

J'skis in Bulgaria

2007-06-21T12:20:00.001-04:00

From the 30th of May until June 19th, Mama and Papa J'ski came to Bulgaria. We had a rocky start, thanks to the wonderful care that baggage handlers took... meaning, they were without their bags for the first couple of days. On top of that, the capital city was experiencing more rain than we have seen all year. So even as shuttling back and forth to the airport to check on where the luggage could be, would have been stressful enough (and let's include jetlag recovery right here), we also were dealing with monsoon like downpours. Not that Sofia is the most eye catching, cultural city to begin with, but the first impressions were not helped by the constant need to look down at the puddles or inability to look upwards through the umbrella material.

We went around Sofia on day 2 on a mission to find some fresh clothes... the ones they were wearing at the time were a ripe, 3 days old. So where do you go, the mall of course! So we did what I absolutely love (should be read dripping with sarcasm)... and shopped all day. The upside was that the rain persisted, giving us a clear conscience about being inside all day looking for jeans and new shoes. My reward for being patient in the stores was that they took me to see Pirates of the Carribean 3 at the end of the day! Looking back, the reward of a movie for behaving myself while my parents shop, and my enjoyment of such a thing, indicates that I still can be manipulated like a little kid. The picture here is of me and my dad in-front of a pizza place in Sofia close to our hostel. We walked in the rain there (got stares from the dry people in McDonalds because of my flip-flop foot apparel) and of course, once we got inside, the rain stopped. Oh well.

After Sofia, we went to Kazanlak for the weekend. The town is situated in the "Valley of the Roses" and the annual Rose Festival was the draw for our visit. We saw the rose oil distillery, and picked some roses from the bushes on the side of the road... it is still unclear whether that was allowed or not...
From Kazanlak, we took a 4 hour train ride to the city of Burgas on the Black Sea. Our destination for the night was a hotel in another city up the coast which is called Nessebar. The Black Sea coastline is not exactly like the long stretches of white sandy beaches of Sarasota, but there are parts which are decent, and parts which are not very well "man-made"... Our section from the hotel was a little strip covered with beach chairs and umbrellas for rent. After the first day of being asked to pay 16 leva for 2 chairs and an umbrella (and consequently running away from the collector when he turned his back...) my mom and I hung out at the luxurious pool and used our "all-inclusive" privileges at the pool-side bar while taking in the rays. Funny how happy hour creeped earlier and earlier as the days went on... :)

After the beach, we began a same-day trek to the mountains of Bulgaria. My parents were troopers... we took the 6 hour train from Burgas, across the country, to a town called Kostenets, where we picked up a mini-bus for an hour long haul to the mountain/ski town of Borovets. Normal seasons for tourists there are winter from Dec-April and Summer from Mid-June to September. We were hitting it right before the season started, meaning there was little to nothing to actually do in the town. We took the opportunity to have CDs made of their camera memory cards (as they were already full after one week), and we went to the Rila Monastery. The Rila Monastery is supposedly the most famous, biggest monastery on the Balkan Peninsula.
To the left is a picture of the oldest part of the monastery, the bell tower. It survived a fire that took out the rest of the monastery, as can be seen from the architectural differences from the tower to the red and white striped domes standing behind.

The trip continued after Borovets, to Peshtera. Mom and Dad got to see my somewhat dysfunctional apartment, and met the people who I work and live with. We had people over for dinner, we went to other people's houses for dinner, we went on day trips with colleagues... it was a fun filled week. I think one of the highlights for us all, was the day trip to Plovdiv, a large cultural city about an hour away from Peshtera. There is an "Old Town" of Plovdiv, which boasts a 2nd Century AD Thracian amphitheater.

Here we see Mamo J'ski carefully perched above the theater overlooking the city of Plovdiv and not attempting the narrow marble staircases which lead to the stage. Dad on the other hand... he pioneered a way down and got on stage.. then was invited for an extended private tour by a beer drinking reconstruction worker, who took him to the second tier of the stage and then to a church behind the theater.

We left Peshtera and went back to Sofia for the remaining 4 days. I took them to Dren to visit the host family... And then to Vitosha Mountain. On Vitosha, the cable-car and chair lifts work year round. So we took an exciting (for mom it was more like frightening) ride up the mountain on a rickety, wood slatted, chair lift. It was amazing to be taken up like that, through the woods, and without anything closing you in... it really gave me the sensation of flying. On the way down, we took the enclosed gondola.. not quite as thrilling, but an experience nonetheless.

It was really awesome to get some visitors after 10 months. I enjoyed taking some time off and showing the parents around the country which I have been living in for almost a year now. I hope that they saw the charms, along with frustrations, that are common. Hopefully this will draw some more people to think about coming over. The food is cheap, the beer is decent, the Bulgarians are welcoming (except maybe for the Sofia cab drivers who call Americans cheap and stupid...), and I am here!.. what more do you need?

my summer plans...

2007-05-17T01:40:00.000-04:00

ahhhhh, summer is here. With the sun staying out until around 8:45 these days, I am taking full advantage of the cool evenings. Too bad the sometimes overpowering smell from the factories ruins the otherwise utopian nap on the balcony.

Bulgaria's Bill O'Reilly

2007-05-03T04:10:00.000-04:00

Before reading the following, I feel obligated to share that this comparison is really meant out of fun and not to be taken all that seriously. I simply had a mini epiphany while sitting in my armchair this morning, listening to Maria yell into the phone at someone, and then remembering a series of clips I had recently seen of The O'Reilly Factor from Youtube.
One morning, my dad sent me an old clip that he found on Youtube of Phil Donahue facing off with Bill O'Reilly. Phil was on The O'Reilly Factor and just beating the crap out of "Billy" with every comment. Donahue made fun of the fact that not only does Bill not change his argument when he is proved wrong, but then tries to overcompensate by just yelling even louder. Well in many respects, I think that I have found his match in Bulgaria. My counterpart is so skilled in the art of yelling her point, that her appearance on The O'Reilly factor would cause the soundboard to fry out. They would both just get going and short out their mics, but then not care, cause it's like a game... who can outlast who. In this case, I am afraid to say that the conservative, yet tar-free lungs of Bill O'Reilly would be the victor. Stamina is important in the art of yelling down your opponent, and with Bill O'Reilly, this Bulgarian would prove no contest... one hack pause and Bill would take the house down.

tuesdays with karli

2007-04-24T11:17:00.000-04:00

Lately, I have been working on the SPA project proposal for the Chitalishte. SPA is a program designed for Peace Corps Volunteers with money by USAID. It stands for Small Project Assistance, with a maximum of $5,000. But that is kind of the idea of Peace Corps, involving community organizations and developing at the grass-roots level. And $5,000 in a newly inducted European Union country does not go as far as it used to. And now considering how much more difficult and competitive the process has become since entering the EU, it's not a sure bet like it used to be. USAID pulls out funding when a country enters the EU, thus our source of money for this grant program has frozen. The administrators of the project committee are now awarding less grants per year, so as to stretch the fund for future volunteers. Basically, the SPA projects are many of the volunteers’ reasons for working/living. The Bulgarians know that such money for PC volunteers exists specifically for them, and they plan on you (the volunteer) taking advantage of that open door.

April 27^th is the deadline for this round (4 per year) and I/the chitalishte is applying. So the last couple of working days have been splendidly busy. I have been sitting on the couch/armchair/accountant’s desk with my laptop, ticking away and preparing the proposal. Today I was able to really take a look at some of the comments I had received back as feedback. It is required that 7 days before the due date, you submit it to other volunteers on the SPA committee for peer review. Well it is now 3:30 and the American work mentality and persistence has resulting in me finishing 2 Bulgarian days of work, in half the time. So now I sit, and occupy time by playing spider solitaire, hearts, and drawing on Windows Paint… the most awful sketch program ever designed.

this and that

2007-04-15T05:54:00.000-04:00

It's officially turned into a monthly blog... oops. I would like to say that the reason for the gaps between posts is that I have become too busy and don't have time, but that has not been the case. Instead, I have been putting it off, waiting for something of importance to write about. Major holidays are always a good starting point for posts, thus here is my Easter event blog.

I went back to Dren to visit my host family over Easter weekend. I had not been back to see them since I left in October, and it was definitely good to see them, and gauge my language skills. Unlike the first 3 months, I could actually tell them more than just, "I am/am not hungry now," "I will take a shower tomorrow".... Baba (my host grandma) was in good shape and sweet as ever. I arrived there on Sunday morning via the highway "bus stop" (aka was dropped off on the side of the road next to the road sign for Dren.) I took advantage of the 3 kilometer walk and meandered a bit around the hills before going down the little dirt road toward my first Bulgarian home. I only stayed the day, but Baba was able to fit two over-sized homemade meals into that time. Parting gifts included her homemade "kozunak" which is the traditional Easter bread. It's amazingly sweet and filled with different things, depending on what you prefer. Baba's had walnuts and wonderfulness. The drawback to this annual treat is that after 3 days straight, the word kozunak makes you cringe a little. She also threw in some dyed Easter eggs.

I think I will try and get back there sometime next month because they seemed a little sad that I hadn't been around, and that I left after only a day. Plus, there are new volunteers coming tomorrow to Bulgaria and Baba and the rest of the Dren clan will be hosting another volunteer by Friday afternoon! So I can go back and meet another American... fresh from the motherland... maybe they will still have crumbs from their one last burrito, or the smell of Starbucks coffee, mmmmm.....

These volunteers are all coming over as English teachers, and will become TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) certified during training. So they will be placed in schools and act just like a regular teacher there for 2 years. I don't think that Peshtera will be getting one because from what I can tell, the schools all have English teachers now. We have also been getting emails and questions from the group of development volunteers that are coming in August, like my group. So it seems like things are really moving now that we won't be the "new" ones. Also, the group coming in August seems so close, which also means that one year here will be over before I have time to realize it. Both good and bad.... I am looking forward to accomplishing some of my work goals, which Peace Corps tells us happens in the second year.

Basically what I have concluded about how my personal work experience will play out, is that the first year is all about learning. Learning the language, learning how to work with Bulgarians (a feat greater than I would have ever imagined), learning yourself, learning how to live those two silly words that Peace Corps values: patience and flexibility... and learning how to cook (I thought I knew... oh no... I simply "prepared" things because my cooking in America was all pre-packaged "just add chicken" meals.)

Lastly- some updates (too silly to draw out, but maybe of some interest nonetheless)

my washing machine- bought sometime in February for my new apartment... after not moving, the washer was then sitting in the unoccupied apartment, sad and unused... it sat... and it sat. Finally delivered to my apartment two Mondays ago. Wahoo!

my washing machine- delivered to my apartment, but not installed... so it now sits sad and unused in my kitchen. No word on when they plan on setting up the plumbing for it.

Spring is here and I now look out my windows to beautiful green mountains, with normally blue skies, and temperatures in the 70's. :D

I bought a vacuum!!! It's cute and does the trick. Looks like I am almost totally moved in to this apartment, and now face the anxiety of how I will move back to America in a year and a half with all my crap I now have. Too bad yard sales aren't a thing here.

April is the month of birthdays for many I love...
YAY Missy turns 23! .... or as she would probably say, her two year anniversary of 21!
Mandi get to the big 25. And moves to Tennessee. And is starting a new job... ok you are old :)

Sundays- with no plumbing for the wash-o-matic, my sundays continue along the lines of dishes, hand-washing a load or two in my big orange bucket, blogging (once a month), and naps!

GO GATORS!!! um... yeah... I think that is pretty much all that needs to be said. I really missed being around other Gators for this last win, but I love my gators :D

iSTANBUL

2007-03-18T05:35:00.000-04:00

And now to begin what will mostly be a photo blog, with the pictures accompanied by short (at least I will try to be short) recounts of the charm, magic, and wonderfulness of Istanbul, Turkey. As a person who is constantly impressed and always in awe by historically rich places in the world, Istanbul turned out to be a great choice for my first travel destination outside Bulgaria.

This first photo was taken in a Turkish carpet store on our first day after arriving by night bus at 6am. We checked into the hostel and out of the 10 volunteers I traveled with, all girls (self-named "Estrogen Brigade"), 5 of us decided that the sleep, or lack there of, gotten on the bus ride, was not sufficient. We decided to take a power nap before hitting day 1 out of 3. Our first stop of the day after the beauty rest was meant to be the Blue Mosque. Named the Blue Mosque because of the abundance of blue glass in the windows and the the traditional blue and white tiles that line the upper levels inside the mosque. This was, as said before, "meant" to be our first stop... that was until we became the victims of the infamous Turkish "draw-in"... and we bought it... hook, line, and sinker. 5 young women, walking around the winding streets of Istanbul didn't stand a chance. A lovely man sitting on the edge of the street, speaking great english, invited us into the store for some famous apple tea and a place to sit out of the chilly weather. As we sat, another man came in and replaced the first, we suspected it was because he was the owner and sales department while the first man was just the nice friend who brought in the customers.

It was such a charming store, with traditional rugs everywhere. And the second man was just as friendly and through conversation... turned out that he lived in Tampa for a year, some 5-6 years ago! Right off Dale Mabry close to McDill air force base... from there on out, I was referred to as "Tampa girl."
We sat, drank tea, talked, and took in the enchanting surroundings, realizing that we were sipping tea, in Istanbul, being shown hundred year old rugs, and being offered lunch and baklava... real turkish baklava... I was in heaven.

Fast forward 4 hours, and the 5 girls are still in the carpet store and still sipping tea. We have made friends with the man and it was time to make our decisions on which rugs were our favorites. We sat on our choices, as if they would become enchanted and turn into magic carpets that would fly us right out of the store. Well no such luck about them whisking us into the air, unfortunately they had to be paid for first. The result of a full belly of his homemade pasta, tea, and baklava was a bought rug now sitting in my apartment in Bulgaria with nowhere to put it that would really do it justice. But out of the 5 of us, 2 bought rugs, and we made sure that the other 3 regretted their cheapness the rest of the trip. :) In short, when I buy, I buy, especially when seduced by charm and sweets.

We finally left to carpet store around dusk and realized that we had just spent our entire first day looking at turkish rugs. Luckily the Blue Mosque was very close and we could still walk around before dinner. The above photo was taken from the entrance archway. We arrived just as the evening prayers were beginning, so there was no access to visitors. But we went back the next day between prayer time, and were able to walk inside and see the magnificent arabic cursive writing on the walls and the amazing stained glass windows. Its size and artistry topped that of some of the cathedrals I remember from Spain.

This next photo is of one of the entrances to the famous covered bazaar. Once you enter, you are inundated with the bright colors of scarves, handmade bags, turkish carpets, lanterns, and pottery. And the sounds from within are a mix of friendly hellos, sales pitches, marriage proposals, and the cheesiest come-ons imaginable, not to mention hearing "I love you" said in languages ranging from turkish, to english, to chinese, to french, to german... they are schooled in the art of the draw-in.

After my lavish carpet purchase the day before, my mission for the covered bazaar was simple... don't spend more than 50 lira. Success! We had an ingenious plan... we being Grace, Sarah, and Mel. We broke into pairs and spoke Bulgarian to each other and the salesmen. In the covered bazaar, if they know only one other language, it is english, and they will offer you the price in American dollars first, and much higher to start than if you were not American or English. So we pretended to be from Bulgaria, not in fact a complete lie, and we haggled like nobody's business. Plus, that way, they gave us the price in Lira first, which is about equivalent to the Bulgarian Lev, no exchange inflation. I think our cunning plan helped, aided by our amazing negotiating skills, because after we compared prices we concluded that we managed some good deals.
The picture above is of me, Grace, and Sarah in front of the Blue Mosque. Grace and I are wearing our bag purchases from the bazaar and Sarah, her brilliant scarf... half the price after negotiations completed.

On the last day, those who were still standing, walked to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. It was extraordinary to smell the rich aroma of the exotic spices mixing with each other and filling the bazaar air for everyone to share. I loved the displays, shoveled piles of ground cumin, ground red pepper, dried apricots, dates... and the samples of turkish delight! I could have stayed there for hours... if it wasn't so crowded and the pick up lines were a little less offensive. I bought a variety pack to bring back to my formerly bland kitchen. Now I just need suggestions on how to cook with them... or how to cook period. :)

Because of the enormity of the city, and the countless sites to see, I am planning another trip maybe next year. Three days was good, especially on my wallet, but I left so much behind. I did not get to ferry over to the Asia side of Istanbul, and I did not see some of the most famous museums. But on the whole, it was a great place, as said before, to spend my first trip out of Bulgaria.

just an update...

2007-02-25T07:26:00.000-05:00

Last week showed me that sometimes, I can be busy, without actually accomplishing things. I was traveling around the country for 5 days, mostly pleasure, but some business. Each day I rode somewhere on the buses... which has led to a few conclusions about me and the Bulgarian bus. First, I have discovered that I am a "car-sick" person. I never used to have any problems reading, looking sideways out the window, sleeping, etc, in a car or bus, but can honestly say that now, my stomach is easily angered when riding on the roads here. And the driver normally insists on cranking on the heater until we all melt. Another volunteer also aptly observed that there is a certain bus funk that stays with you after unloading... a mix of Bulgarian-ness (read old sweat), moth balls, feet, and mildew. The truly unfortunate part is that, like the vacation car funk, the odor lingers and stays attached. This is extremely unfortunate when you are traveling like I was, for five days in a row, each day hopping on a bus. Secondly, Bulgaria as a country is huge... after factoring in the amount of highway laid and the lack of long-distance routes available. The day that I was scheduled to travel back to Peshtera was Sunday. However, I woke up that morning in a town called Zavet. Basically I was trying to make it from the very North-East corner of the country to the South-West side in a matter of 10 hours. Bad thinking Karli.
There were a bunch of us who went to Zavet for a Mardi Gras extravaganza thrown by a volunteer from the NO (aka nawlans, aka new orleans)... who I regret to say, went to LSU :( Anyway, we all left his town at noon, took an hour trip to a bigger city, and looked to catch a bus from there. I blame my poor distance calculations for the extra day I added to my trip. When we got to the station, I thought it would be a sinch to hop on a bus to Plovdiv (since it is such a main city) but you know what happens when you assume... soooooo I tallied the hours of travel on my hands and realized I would be better off staying with my dear friend Grace for another night in her apartment 2 more hours away, rather than being stuck in a city where I would have to pay for a hostel for the night, (plus she cooked for me, so I was not about to turn that down!) She lives here, in a town of about 7,000 people, mostly Turkish. I took a bus the next morning from her town to Sofia. All winter, we have not seen much snow, but that weekend it decided to finally fall. Yesterday in Peshtera there was some snow too. It seems though that for the most part, the bitter cold that I was expecting from the eastern european reputation, has passed me by. The colleagues in the Chitalishte still like to make jokes about how I am directly affecting the weather, bringing the warm Florida weather here. I, on the other hand, just think of how bad it is for their spring and summer plans. Most people here, excluding the city dwellers, sustain themselves on the food they grow themselves. The complete lack of snow in this region is bad for the gardens and farming in the spring and summer because now there will be no snow to melt and give water to the soil. This at a bad time, when produce in the markets is getting more expensive after the accession into the EU. Not to mention that those supplying the markets will have less to sell as well. A sure sign of global warming can also be seen in the early blooming of the fruit trees. Blooms before the first of March are unheard of... there aren't even "martenitsas" handed out yet to tie to the branch.
"Martenitsas" are handmade bracelets, pins,or necklaces made from red and white string. Most are bracelets simply woven or braided. The tradition is that you buy these gifts for close friends or co-workers, and they wear them until you see the first bloom of spring. When you see the bloom, then you take off the bracelet and tie it to the branch where the bloom is... for good luck, health of the harvest... so on and so forth. The name comes from the word for March. In Bulgarian, the month of March is "Mart", hence "Mart-enitsas", and "Baba Marta", are the symbols of March and spring. Baba Marta is a character during the tradition who is played by one of the grandmas in the town, and she helps to hand out the martenitsas and to watch over the coming of spring. I wish I had a picture from a performance I went to Friday, where the kids and Baba Marta were singing and acting out the story of the holiday. But I am sure there will be another one like it, and then I will take some pics to help out those visual thinkers.
In the weeks to come I am excited about a couple of trips and events. Since the end of January, our group of volunteers that came here in August, have been granted the privilege of going outside the country! With that new freedom, there are some of us taking a trip to Istanbul in the beginning of March. I am thrilled to get around the area a bit and see some new cultures. Also, we will soon have another workshop on project writing. I am looking forward to being able to discuss some more things with Maria here. She and I will attend the workshop together, and hopefully it will lay down the ideas for future activities.

my apartment

2007-02-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures that I took around my apartment one day. The intention then was to be able to show my "old" apartment vs. my "new" apartment. The quotations are my way of expressing sarcasm through the written word... as I was supposed to move to another apartment in Peshtera this last week, but thanks to some Bulgarian wheeling and dealing, it will no longer be happening. I was told about 2 weeks ago by Maria that I would be moving. She broke it to me bluntly over coffee by saying, "so when we show you your new apartment, you will have to tell us where you want the beds and your refrigerator to be." I was caught a little off guard and was not sure I understood what she was trying to tell me. So I just kind of sat there and nodded (like all other situations) and waited for her to tell me to come and see the new place. First of all, I love the apartment that they gave me first, so when I was told I would be moving, I was a little upset. I mean, I had really started to live in this apartment over the last 3 months, putting up pictures on the walls, decorating, buying new dishes and kitchen remodeling... just call me Bob Villa... so it is hard to say whether I got stressed by the attachment I had made to this apartment, or the fact that the new one didn't have much of anything in common with it. Well, to basically wrap up two weeks of confusion and me being the last to be told exactly what is going on... I am not moving. The lease that was in debate between my land lady and the municipality was found (missing because of a typo on the spelling of someone's name) and I now have been told that since the lease specifies 2 years... I will not be told to move again. And with that, here is my living room/winter bedroom/office of old and new.
I have been using the couch as my bed since about mid-december, when I got tired of leaving the room which had the heat and going into the bedroom to plug in the other radiator and wait for it to get warm before going to sleep. Yeah, it's laziness. Also, the sleeping bag is because of my inability/outright disdain for washing the bed linens by hand. So I snuggle up like a mummy in my sleeping bag and just hang it out on the balcony on a nice day for a freshen up... I hope this is not too gross. If some think it is, I will justify my actions and look to better my image by telling about a volunteer who has not washed his jeans since coming to Bulgaria. Low blow to him, sorry Matt... but I really only look out for my own image. But to go back to praise my laziness for a moment, it not only saves electricity by only heating one room (and that room being the one with the oven as well... so baking my cookies is a win-win) but it is just this laziness (some might read procrastination) which helped with the smoothness of the "move-on", "move-off" confusion. Thanks to the inherited trait of procrastination... ahem dad... I didn't have much to unpack once they told me I would in fact be staying where I was, because I never really packed all that much in the first place. But even so, those two boxes of books that I packed really cut into my Sunday afternoon of laundry... ok, not really.
This is a little look at my kitchen. It is so hard to tell with pictures how the place is laid out, but basically, when you walk into the main room, you are looking out the big windows and door to the balcony and the couch/bed is on the left... there is a wall on the right with a cut out arch which shows into the kitchen, which you enter when that half-wall ends by the balcony door. Anyway, my prized possession of the whole apartment is my oven. Most Bulgarian kitchens have some sort of tiny little half-oven with two bunsen burners on the top. I love my ceramic top, full-sized oven capable of baking my many varieties of cookies. I have found that I describe American holidays through what cookie you make for them. So the oven has inadvertently taught my colleagues about Halloween through my ball-cookies with red jam to simulate "bloody eyes"... Thanksgiving was pumpkin cookies... and for Christmas I made gingerbread cookies in the shape of presents (I failed miserably to hand-cut gingerbread men...) Sometime this week I will be making sugar cookies in the shape of hearts for Valentine's Day. But they celebrate Valentine's Day here just about the same as we do, with just as many awful heart shaped pillows, and heart shaped chocolate variety gift boxes. But to really get a feeling for my apartment, I guess you should just visit me... open invitation :)

remembering the village life... 3 months gone

2007-01-28T04:04:00.000-05:00

Last week, all of the B20's (the group of volunteers who came here last August) met in a city called Kazenluk for IST ("In-service training"). There, we mainly went to conferences with our Bulgarian counterparts and tried to learn more about how Bulgarians operate in the work environment while also trying to tell them that their way might not be the most efficient. It made for some interesting round-table discussions. One the whole though, I would say it was helpful, and that the coordinator of the conference was smart to end things by 5pm so that we could all come up for air. After the conferences was a great chance to catch up with the volunteers who we have not seen for the last three months, and also for what we called "Pirinsko Time"... after the Bulgarian Pirinsko beer. ;) The week in all was a great mixture of reuniting and sharing some stories with long-lost volunteers, and learning and working with the Bulgarians to get some kind of traction for projects which we should now be working on. But my favorite was the fact that the Dren-tastic crew from PST got to hang out again.
Alden has some kind of super camera which holds billions of pictures... so one night we spent a good 20 min like intraverts, sitting in the bar, going through all of her pics from PST and the beginning of it all.

Here is one from the cafe where my host mom and her daughter occassionally worked. We hung out at this cafe, as opposed to the only other one in town, because it was a little more relaxed. And in good weather, there was a great terrace to sit on which overlooked the sleepy village. The other girls in the picture are our great teenage bulgarian tutors. They are Mariella's (my host sister's) friends. They loved to hang around when we worked on our bulgarian language and laugh at us... I guess I can't blame them. After all, we probably sounded very funny repeating, "The hospital is inbetween the library and the post office"..."The restaraunt is behind the cafe"..."For breakfast, I like to eat marmalade and bread." ooooooooohhh language training.

Here Alden and I are at the picnic in the Verila Mountains where an old monestary used to be. Dren has an annual picnic there around one last remaining stone from the monestary. The mayor is obliged to re-tell the myths surrounding the destruction of the monestary. Out of all of them, most have something to do with a lover's quarrel... typical. In the pic, from left to right, me, Alden, Rosie (Alden's host mom), and Dessi (Alden's host sister). Everyone pretty much brought their own food up to the spot, but there were also huge caldrons full of the soup which Bulgarians make for all celebrations. I am not a huge fan, mostly because of the seven layers of sheep fat that you have to spoon through to get the soup. But it is tradition, and they really do use all parts of the animal when they are making this soup... let your imagination run away with that.

Now to cap off the old pics, here is a great one that Alden took after we finished our cooking assignment. Patrick and I in a celebratory chest bump! During training, one of the cultural activities we had to do was to go to the store, prove that we were competent enough to buy food using the language, and then go into a Bulgarian kitchen and learn how to cook with their appliances. For the most part, one would think this would not be so difficult... well after you see most of the ovens, and how they do not so much have settings for degrees or levels of heat, rather they have some sort of hieroglyphics to determine how hot it should be, you might start to scratch your head and wonder what genious thought this would make life easier. To digress for a second, this is one reason I still have not invested in a washing machine. I tried to wash something at another volunteers apartment one time and was dumbfounded by what dial to use. And the symbols give absolutely no indication of the possible cycle you will be choosing... then there is a matter of where to put the soap. After 30 min of staring, I turned it on and walked away, only to be told by the volunteer after the wash stopped, that the clothes were not clean becuase the soap never entered the cycle... oops. Back on topic, so the dinner was ammusing and we all had fun making pizza out of bulgarian ingridients, and then some shopska salad, and apple crisp. We took the time after to stand around and watch Elena (our language trainer) and Rosie's mother clean it all up.
It's about that time now for me, on this lazy sunday, to get off the couch and clean the apartment a little. After I got back from the conference, I walked into a dark apartment with no electricity. Apparently Bulgaria is like America in that if you do not pay your electric bill, they will shut it off... oops. Although it was not completely my fault because I technically do not pay for it, so someone in the municipality forgot. Well my excuse for the mess then, is that I could not unpack neatly in the dark, so instead, I tore clothes and toiletries out of my bag and threw them everywhere. So now, I have to finish upacking and actually put things in their proper spots.

Horo-ing in the New Year

2007-01-18T06:02:00.000-05:00

Ah Plovdiv... breathe in the culture... then exhale coughing from the cigarette smoke you probably just inhaled from the smoker next to you. Kidding... a little. This city, which is the second largest in Bulgaria, is known for its culture, and by the way the women are dressed around you, you might mistake it for some other high fashion, western european metropolis. I feel slightly bad for the volunteers (there are 4) who live in this city because you actually have to be up with the fashion in order to not be stared down on the street. It is definately not a place where you can dress in that stereotypical "peace corps" clothing... cargo pants, hiking boots, a Columbia quick dry shirt. Plovdiv demands knee-high boots, designer sunglasses, and your sassiest strut.
This is the city where 11 of us rang in the New Year. We had a smashing time with thousands of our closest Bulgarian friends as we horo-ed in the center square at midnight. Those who forget the explanation behind the horo... it is a dance that is traditional to Bulgaria and which is done at any celebratory event. From your typical na gosti, to new years, to all night raves in the mountains, to weddings, to... well there really need not be any excuse to horo now that I think about it. But anyway, we all broke into the horo line, clasped hands with the people on our sides and went round and round and round. Weaving in and out of the crowd until everyone got into the line and it became one huge, weaving, spiral of horo-ers. Wonderous!
After such a high point, not to mention the amazing fireworks being shot off dangerously close to us, we all trickled back in the direction of the hostel. Some stopped by the bar where the night had begun, but one by one... from the bar, people made the 20 foot walk to the hostel. It turned out to be a fairly early night (especially by bulgarian standards... and by sarah, who is a plovdiv volunteer and who i am convinced has bulgarian blood... the way she can party and put back the rakia.) The best part of the new years celebrations was definately the company, and the girl's recovery day to follow. Our leftover Chinese from the day before, coupled with a couple of rounds of greasy duners (pita thingys with shaved chicken meat from a kebab spit, and then topped with heavenly cream sauce) was the perfect accompaniment to the 4 episopes of Grey's Anatomy we watched. In retrospect, a very American way to start off 2007... but I think we all needed a little time to clear the mind and start the year upbeat.

This photo was taken in the bar before midnight... Me, Taylor, Joe

Late night insight from podcasts

2007-01-13T05:45:00.000-05:00

Last night, I couldn't sleep and found myself meticulously updating my itunes podcast list until I had completely wiped out all the old subscriptions and downloaded fresh new ones. I was tired of listening to the same news updates, and too impatient to wait for the NPR Democracy Now! update to download everyday. In the midst of searching for the perfect length and content of a podcast, I came across this speech by Madeleine Albright. I never knew too much about her, but credited her for her ambition and dedication to democracy at the state level.

After the first 2 minutes of the speech, I was no longer trying to sleep, but found instead, that I was laying on my side, just staring at the computer screen and listening. The speech was entitled, "Public Service in the Age of Globalization." If you have a chance, it's an insightful and honest 30 minutes worth listening to it... the Q&A which follows isn't interesting, but the speech itself is worth the time.
After a tough week of still accomplishing little and feeling useless in my organization, or even worse, unnecessary to them... the speech showed me that what I have come to value as important in my life, and my motivation for service here, is something that is needed.

http://www.yale.edu/opa/podcast/pod_law.html

"If there is noone in your way, it is probably because you are not going anywhere." -Senator Kennedy

"To run from risk, is to run from life" -Madeleine Albright

We're GATORS SILLY!!! National Champs!

2007-01-09T01:18:00.000-05:00

Just a very quick note about my beloved orange and blue. Gators are the best! They played top of the class offense and defense, and I was just glad that after the LSU tigers beat up on Notre Dame, and we on Ohio State, let it be understood that the SEC is a conference all in its own. I quote Jarvis Moss, who made the Heisman trophy winner's night a misery, "Honestly, we've played a lot better teams than them," Moss said. "I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably compete with them and play the same type of game we did against them." The final score was 41-14, ironically the same as LSU v Notre Dame. And I loved listening to every second of it through live FOX web stream at 64 kbps. And of couse, the game was enriched by skype calls between quarters to the Jankowski residence, where my mom progressively got more gator-ized... starting with a simple t-shirt, and progressing to an orange and blue wig, my bright orange Gators sweatshirt, and my blue and orange Gator pj pants. I only wish there were Gator fans to share this with! I miss you all, but GOOOO GATORS!!!!

It's GREAT, to be, a FLOORRIIIDAAA GATOR (holding the national championships to football and basketball)

Princess of Pie... Apple and Pumpkin

2007-01-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

My first Christmas apart from the family has past. I wasn't quite sure how I would feel for it, but it seems that we have all survived. I think some of the credit for the joyous and transcontinental success can be attributed to the power of the webcam. Yes, it was a fantastic webcam christmas, from my family room in Peshtera, to the Jankowski family room in Tampa. As I set my alarm for 7:30am Christmas morn, the Jankowskis were returning from midnight mass at 12:30am EST, and our arranged skype session began. Thanks to a flexible Santa who delivered my presents to Bulgaria on time, and the stimulant of caffine to keep the Floridians awake until 2am Christmas Eve, we were able to carry out our unwrapping of the gifts just like I was there on the 25th. Mom even documented my faux-presence by photographing the computer screen which displayed my full-screen webcam photo. Techno-classic. My Christmas morning was a hit and I am so glad that we were able to pull off such a digital feat. After the Jankowskis went to sleep, I cleaned my apartment of the traditional wrapping paper mess, and packed a bag for Plovdiv. There were 8 other volunteers in Plovdiv already cooking up a storm for a traditional Christmas dinner. Here is the crew below... from the left top, kate, casey, coolest B19 ever, robert, patrick, (bottom row-) jane, emily, me, thea.
Patrick made us all newspaper crowns and tiaras... mine was titled: "Princess of Pie- Apple and Pumpkin", regardless of the fact that I helped in NO way to prepare the pies for dessert. Maybe it was his devine knowledge of my love for all pies, particularly of the apple and french silk variety... but, as there are no Village Inns in Bulgaria, I was more than happy to settle for apple and pumpkin that day. We ate, we drank, we ate some more, and then we decided to go ice skating! Plovdiv has a lot to offer being the second biggest city in the country, and one thing this Floridian loves is a man-made ice rink in the middle of the main square. The 4 leva that we paid for the skate rental and rink time was worth the experience. I loved skating in the middle of the square to Christmas music... in the cold... on Christmas night after turkey and stuffing. It was magical, yet surreal to think that I was spending my Christmas in the Peace Corps in such a New York way. I would have never imagined that I would be around such western traditions for Christmas while I was volunteering. The ice skating is a sign of progress, and there are many more things that I get to live around and experience here which I feel spoiled to have, but I am beginning to finally catch on to why they still send us here. On the surface, Bulgaria can be seen as a reformed, ex-soviet democracy, however the education system has far too little enrollment and far too high drop-out rate, and the people outside of the urban centers continue to live and prepare as if their country will endure another 180 degree shift in governing within their lifetime. There has been a lot of gossip and talk about our role in Bulgaria now that we are in the EU, and whether or not Bulgaria will continue to honor our contract as volunteers. If you look at the progress to be made, it seems unlikely for them to deny the help, but on the other hand, there is a strong precedent of canceled peace corps programs in countries which entered the EU... countires which were credited as "graduating" from the peace corps upon EU entrance. So only time will tell. I think most of us are awaiting an email from the country director with an update. Until then though, its business and banitsa as usual with my fingers crossed.
On a lighter note, I can't wait for the January 8th championship! Let's hope it is a repeat of the basketball match-up. I have bet an Ohio State fan here that if the Gators lose, I will sing her fight song in front of the group at our In-service Training on January 22... and vica verca. I hope for my sake, and those that will have to hear my tone-deaf vocal capabilities, that the Buckeyes are GATOR BAIT!

2006-12-14T12:54:00.000-05:00

The fact that I really have nothing new or any specific story that I want to post will result in the fact that this might be somewhat of a pointless blog... and for that, if you have some holiday cookies baking, laundry in the washer (... snide comment about your modern technology vs my bucket inserted here), or maybe something really crazy like going to shop at the mall, then it might be best to get back to this later, it is bound to be just rambling. Let me explain the picture first, and hopefully that will invoke some ideas and lead to a real story. I took this last Sunday. I remember it well, I had spent the whole previous day "hiking" with an outdoors group in Peshtera. I had been with them on a hike once before when we went to the cave called "Snow White" that is about 3 kilometers outside of the center of town. You can easily get there on foot, and it was really awesome to see the stalagtites and -mites shaped like the 7 dwarves, Snow White, and the Evil step-mother herself. Anyway, the saturday before this picture was taken, I thought we would be doing about the same type of hike as before, but... as per usual here, I was wrong. We meandered a bit around the hills, not for long though, because then we met up with a man who, from all evidence I could interpret, was only around to build a fire and then leave. So we hung out there for a couple hours... and had a traditional Bulgarian BBQ for lunch. Now, the Bulgarian BBQ is something to admire. It starts with a bed of hot fire coals, then you take out your meat patties, bought earlier that morning from the grocer before the "hike", and place them on a hand held grate thingy... that's the technical term by the way, and just set that on top of the coals. Ashes you ask? Psh... extra protein we say! So after they have cooked, you take out your three loaves of bread for 5 people, and chow down. Meat and bread... that is the Bulgarian BBQ, tasty in a greasy mountain man kind of way. So after we ate, we warmed by the fire and sang Queen songs along with someone's cell phone music. At one point, the leader of the pack (he calls himself the "President" of the club) got up on a rock and used his hand carved hiking stick as a microphone and belted out "The Show Must Go On." Classic. The day was ended rather quickly when I told them that I had dinner plans with my tutor at 7pm. I felt bad to make them leave early, but there was no cell service and I would have felt awful canceling on her homemade dinner for me just to sit around and listen to more another round of "We are the Champions." So we headed back into town and I went to dinner until 10pm and then home finally for some rest. The point of the story is that after "hiking" all day and then dinner with the tutor, I was exhausted on Sunday. I planned to spend the whole day in my pajamas as reprisal for the hard work of intigration from the day before. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (for real this time...) It was super, and it was at sunset that I realized I had not been out of the apartment all day and the I could not have cared less, haha. It was also at sunset that I took this picture. It was quite a sight, and I think that my 65 year old neighbor's tidy-whities blowing in the wind only adds charm to the photo. To the left you can see the sign on top of the building for the Poshta-Поща, or it may be too small, but regardless, that is where I go to pick up my mail (well really only packages) and where I send my letters out from. The lady who handles the out-going mail and package reception desk knows me by sight, and almost by name. It's nice to go in and get a smile and ask how I have been... and she knows now that I am from Florida so when I bring in something to mail to anywhere else in America but Florida she looks at me puzzled and verifies that I indeed want it to go to America. She is nice though, as are all the people in my town/city. There are moments during my day or week when I will realize that the people who I live and work around are amazingly kind and helpful. I love the feeling when it just hits me, and I smile, and probably get stares if I am doing it in the street, and then move on.
My neighbor's relationship with me started because of a strange logic held by my postman/woman. You see, the mail-person delivers my mail, not to the address which is listed, but to my neighbor, who then has to somehow find me, or if it is small enough, slip in under my door. It's complicated, and somehow the mail-person says it is "easier" this way... however hard that is to believe. The good thing to come of all this though, is that my neighbor and I are quite friendly now and after I took my trash out tonight (the dumpster is out the building and around the corner), I met up with her and her son outside our apartment's street door. It was the first time I had met him and he is in town for Christmas... from London! I didn't know that before and it really shocked me when I asked where he lived now. Anyway, just the simple act of meeting him, getting acquainted on the way up the stairs to our apartments, and saying goodnight, made me smile and realize that I really see myself living here for two years. Maybe it was also the fact that they showered me with compliments about my bulgarian speaking abilities. Thank goodness someone thinks I can communicate intelligently... at work I stumble through the day and every time I have to explain something or talk about what I want to work on here, it turns out to be a disaster. Once in a while you just need to hear that the frustration is paying off, especially on the subject of language acquisition.
I can see now that I should never be worried about not having stories to tell on my blog... I can ramble on and on. One more thing about what I have been doing these last couple of weeks though. Maria and I have been talking about how the Chitalishte needs computers and new technology, so I decided that instead of sitting on the couch and feeling utterly helpless, I would find a possible grant, start to write it and see where it went. Well I finished the "German Marshall 'Balkan Trust for Democracy'" grant and budget today and sent it in... 3 hours later, I received email confirmation that they had gotten it! So I have written a grant, maybe we will get it, maybe not, but it was good to get the experience and think that there might be a computer center that I helped them get. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but after I told Maria and she showed me the room where it would be set up, all I can think about are 6 shiny new computers, a projector, scanner, copier, and presentation desk all sitting so pretty in this room... maybe I will be one of the lucky ones to actually get her first grant. And on that note, it's time for some christmas music and radiator warmth to lull me to sleep!

the holidays... Bulgarian style

2006-12-04T12:13:00.000-05:00

The holiday season has begun.... finally. For obvious reasons, Bulgarians did not celebrate Thanksgiving (no it's not because they were once communist, here's a clue, it's based around pilgrims and indians in AMERICA.) So on the 23rd of November, everyone else in the world works like normal and therefor I went into work like a good little volunteer at 9 sharp, and greeted everyone sitting for coffee, "Happy Thanksgiving" and then again in perfect Bulgarian "Chestit den na blagodarnost!" I expected to see blank stares, but to my surprise, most of them at least knew the holiday, though not exactly what took place. So they asked what we do special on this day, and somehow, "we give thanks for what we are thankful for" lost something in the translation (it's redundant enough in english, so I understand why then, I actually did see the blank stares I was expecting from before.) I proceeded to tell them how it was probably one of the top three holidays in the America and that it is just a time to eat a lot, be with family and friends, and eat some more. They understood that part of it at least. Then my abitiousness got the best of me... I decided to try to explain the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Perhaps I should have known before the start of my explanation that ballons the size of the Empire State building carried along the street by hundreds of men, would be hard to get your head around. Needless to say, "Kermit, the big green frog, will be 100 feet long" was also mucked up a bit in translation. Thank goodness for the internet! They understood once I showed them photos of the enormous Garfield and Pokemon (ironically they knew Pokemon at first sight.) The rest of Thanksgiving day in Bulgaria was decent... carrying on with random work here and there (aka: surfing the web, talking on gmail chat, looking for grants, checking espn and cnn) but the highlight of the day was the fact that my co-worker called the radio station and asked the dj to give me a shout-out (or dedication for the older folks) and to play a song in honor of the American holiday. So after they wished the American girl in Peshtera a nice Thanksgiving, they played a song which was about luck and four leaf clovers. Well, since I struck out so badly with the Macy's parade, I wasn't about to get into how that song would probably be played for St. Patrick's Day and not Thanksgiving. But who knows if they even "do" St. Patty's day here or that they know what that is about either. I took the safe route and simply thanked him for the heartfelt guesture.
The next day, Friday, I traveled with Eric (the volunteer from the town 7 kilometers away from me) to another town called Mezdra. We were meeting up there with 5 other volunteers for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. The boys, thinking it would be in true "peace corps" fashion, decided to forego the available frozen turkeys in the stores, and instead buy a live one from a cleaning lady in the Town Hall and kill it themselves. Lovely. So while the boys went for a somewhat sadistic meet and greet the turkey Friday night and then to kill it Saturday morning, Grace and I dutifully went shopping for the other makings of a Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily, the house of the Bulgarians who actually know how to kill a turkey, where so very kind and offered to cook it there as well, and even stuff it with rice and things... I say things because some looked like your ordinary mushrooms, while some not so much, which led me to believe that the "things" were more definately the misc. turkey parts... after all, Bulgarians use everything. The other blessing about the Bulgarians cooking it for us, was that it showed up at our door, prepared and whole, if we would have cooked it ourselves, we definately would have had to pre-cut it as to fit it all into the pitiful excuse for an oven at Burrows' apartment (imagine the capacity of a typical microwave and then think smaller.) Also, to no surprise, there was a video taken of the killing and I of course watched it, who really knows why, curiosity I suppose... but it resulted in me eating just a sliver of turkey and instead piling my plate with delicious garlic mashed potatoes, corn (out of a can... lets not get carried away), and fabulous stuffing (which tasted perfect, and we had Ryan to thank for his labors of actually drying cubed bread, putting it in a bag, and taking it on a train from his town to Mezdra... that's dedication to homemade stuffing!) All in all, it was the best way that I could have imagined Thanksgiving to be away from home. I even continued the tradition of "being comfortable with elastic waistbands" into Bulgaria... if you look closely at the picture, you can see that I am in fact wearing boxer shorts for the blessed occassion. The others from left to right are josh, eric, grace, me, matt, and mike burrows... ryan is taking the picture.
Now it's Christmas season, and this holiday is celebrated just like in America. The Chitalishte where I work is very busy organizing groups to perform for the week before Christmas, and the streets are beginning to sparkle with lights strung from building to building. The store fronts blink with twinkle lights as life size Santa's wave at passers-by. Yup, the commercialism of Christmas has hit Bulgaria and nobody seems to mind. The holiday is sure to be full of spirit, and then ahead to New Year's, which will bring just cause for even bigger celebration as Bulgaria officially enters the EU on January 1, 2007. There is already a rope-light sign in Peshtera's town square wishing everyone a happy 2007 new year, which I thought was a little premture at first, but if you watch the local news here, and see the "countdown to EU" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, you understand that the first of the year can't come quickly enough for Bulgaria. They may be entering as the poorest out of all 27 member states, but they are probably the proudest as well. Which leads me to conclude with this, from now until the 6th of January (when I actually go back to work) it will be party party party in the BG!

Oh yeah... and GOOO GATORS!!!! I think it's a sign that the snack of choice for missy and I was always chips and salsa... and where are we playing the national championship? TOSTITOS sponsored arena... definately a sign. IT'S GREAT, TO BE, A FLOORRIIDAA GATOR!

is laundry mandatory??

2006-11-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

As I sit at my computer, fingers pruned, toes freezing, nails water-logged, and clothes damp, I wonder exactly how often I will be doing laundry here.... at least under these current conditions. To the right, you will see a big, orange bucket. Don't ask why there are three handles as opposed to just two or what they are for because I do not know. This is my shower room, the bucket is positioned under the faucet of my shower, where the whole process begins. First by pouring my powder Tide into the bucket (which I bought at the "Everything's a Lev" store!) then turning on the water, and finally puting my clothes in the bucket to soak. Understandably, I do not seperate colors, as that would create the need for more than one "load" and this is not something that I have the patience for. So I take a knee and go full arms in to the bucket and begin the "agitation" cycle, which means I dunk and plunge the clothes while soaking myself. Then I take the bucket by one of the handles (non-discriminatory of which really) and pour out the dirty water into the drain the size of a half-dollar coin... which takes about 3 minutes as I pour... and wait for the water to recede, pour... and wait, etc. Then begins that "rinse" cycle. I refill the bucket with some more water, and repeat the dunking and pouring out of dirty water. As for the "spin" cycle, well this will be why I am probably going to be sore tomorrow. I take each piece of laundry and ring it by hand. Tonight was an extra special laundry time, for it was finally time to wash the jeans and work pants... not easy to rid of excess water, I will tell you that. Then I find a nook for each article on my 8 lev drying rack (aka- clothes horse as it is called by some bostonians) and let it drip dry. I do have clothes lines on my balcony, but the procrastinator in me waited until dark to begin the process, thus the clothes would benefit little from hanging out in the cold rather than my shower room. I suspect that everything will be just as wet tomorrow morning, and I will have to transfer it all to the balcony then.
On the other hand, this whole process is going to make me appreciate my christmas present to myself even more! You see, when December's allowance comes in, I am treating myself to a washer! ... well that's so generous of you karli.... well you're very welcome, it was something you really wanted... wow, what a great present, useful and from the heart.... (talking to myself like this is normal right? or maybe I've just turned down crazy street from living alone, and it has only been a month! haha) Well you get the point, I will be a happy cavegirl with clean clothes more often once December rolls around.

Now and then

2006-11-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

As I continue to explore the many facets of my new city, I am continually surprised with the difference I notice from my sleepy village of under 2,000 residents nestled quietly in the Verila mountains, to this small city of 20,000 (in America it would most likely be a "township") which hosts many guests on the weekends, has two industrial factories (one is a rakia, vodka, and wine bottling plant mentioned in the the previous blog, and the other is a pet food plant), and which is known for its shoe industry... lucky me! Most of all, the things that influence me are the small quality of life occurences. In Dren, I would have done my shopping in a very small store, where everything was behind the counter, and where there was bearly enough room for more than 5 people. Furthermore, this was the only store to choose from in Dren. The others paled by comparison carrying only a small selection of proper groceries, and instead stocking the shelves with every kind of sweet you can imagine. In Peshtera however, I could go to a number of grocers, one of which is even open "non-stop"! I gather what I want by myself, and get on my happy way.
Another noticable change, that I am sure my friends and family will recognize, is the accessibility of internet. I come to work in the morning (the chitalishte where I work is pictured there below)... always internet. I return to my apartment where I installed internet the second week here. There are the obvious drawbacks of being so connected, but for a girl just out of college, coming from "non-stop" internet, I think that I speak for the majority of my generation when I say that it is seen as somewhat of a sad necessity. We agree that it holds somewhat of the same value as running water (...this is really not meant to be a joke, wait for the explanation) in that you don't need to have it running all the time, but when you want to use it, or need to use it, you would like it to be there at your fingertips.
Speaking of luxury and necessity though, I am enjoying my indoor toilet! After three months of the "turkish" outhouse, I recognize city life by waking up and not having to dress or put on shoes to use the bathroom. Just a cultural note or two, I used quotes around "turkish" because that is the way they refer to the toilets here which are simply holes in the ground (sometimes with designated foot spots) but it is not exactly "PC" as the turks here are looked down upon with great disdain in some cases. Secondly, the whole idea of the "western" bathroom (with toilet, shower, and sink in one room) has not caught on here because of the long past of a seperate place to "do the business". And most 30 years olds and older find an indoor toilet ironically unclean and like the privacy of a seperate place. In my last weeks in Dren, I embraced that philosophy and thought... "this might not be so bad after all," but with own indoor plumbing, I am back to the american girl and her luxuries. Here though is my high class outhouse from Dren for your viewing pleasure.

Seki Den

2006-11-08T07:51:00.000-05:00

My days in Peshtera have so far been pretty uncomplicated. I wake up, seemingly earlier and earlier (mainly to surf the internet a little more each morning and also because I get to sleep so darn early) and I get ready for work. I do not have to be in to work until sometime around 9.... so because I normally go to sleep sometime around 11 or 11:30, I have about an hour and a half in the morning from the time I wake up at 7:30 until 5 'til 9 to pace the small distance of my hallway, sit at my computer and check the morning updates on the news, and eat my cereal. First of all, let me say that the morning updates leave something to be desired because of the fact that America is 7 hours behind Bulgaria, so when I am looking at cnn.com or nytimes.com.... they have all news from yesterday which I spent the whole previous night reading. Needless to say that at 8am here (1am EST) no new news has arrived. So I return to pacing the hallway, getting up and down from the sofa and walking the 2 meters into the kitchen to get more milk, return my bowl to the sink, opt for some jam on bread as dessert. Whatever fills the time until 9am. I leave my apartment just before 9 because it takes literally no time to walk from the door out of my apartment, to the door to the chitalishte (cultural center). But I leave number 10 Dimiter Gorov at 5 'til and saunter down the pedestrian street to number 4 Dimiter Gorov where at 4 'til, I walk up the steps to my office in the chitalishte.
I work, doing odd things here and there for my colleagues in the office or the library upstairs, until about 12:30, then at 12:32 I arrive home for lunch. If you are questioning that unaccounted minute longer that it takes to walk home than to get to work... I blame the headwind, or a possible stop into the coffee shop to buy some vafla. An hour later I return to the chitalishte and return to whatever I was doing that morning. There is always the possibility of being wisked away to meet someone new and eat some of their obligatory chocolate offerings (which I never refuse... i mean that would just be rude), but more often than not, I return to sitting on the old green couch and either working on my Bulgarian or writing project ideas for the future... when I can speak intelligently about what and how to organize youth here.

I leave work at around 5, and head to the corner grocer. This grocer is my choice store in Peshtera based on several levels of comparison to others within the 100 meter radius of my apartment. The selling points of this one you ask... skim milk!, cornflakes, a selection of musli, plenty of bread for the city, tons of fresh vegis and fruit, and their selection of bulgarian wine, rakia, and vodka. As a side note, Peshtera is know for its rakia and vodka, and whenever I walk to the train station, I walk past the bottling plant... after sampling the goods, I can see what the rave is about (пещерска means "of Peshtera"). So I make my purchases for the shopska salada and whatever else I eat for dinner, and I head to number 10. (For the record, I think I will start refering to Dimiter Gorov street as Downing Street... )

So I make and eat dinner, do some chatting online, perhaps a skype call or two, and I am on my way to washing up and into the pj's for bed. This is all soooo exciting, but for those who really did want a play by play, I could not deny. So I pick up whatever book I am reading at the time, or watch an episope of the west wing, and then nighty night.