So this entire time we've been in Byala Slatina, Vinny has told us about his dad. He was described to us as a huge guy who always has a cigarette and beer in his hand. He always says inappropriate things, but in a loving way. He's called Vinny gay numerous times (especially when he dresses up with a tie for school) and says obcenities to Vinny, but never never never in a serious way. We always crack up at these stories and kind of assumed that Vinny was embellishing a little bit about the extreme personality of his father. Yesterday, however, we found out that Vinny was not exaggerating in the least bit. Our group (minus Mary) went over to Vinny's house to see the kittens that were finally old enough to be away from their mother. We walked up and there was Vinny's dad, this bear of a man. He stands at about 6'8" and weighs very close to 300 lbs and, true to form, had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Vinny introduced us and he waved and said "Ahllo" and then went over to Vinny and put his arm around him and goes "Vincent...malko gay." Which translates into Vincent is a little gay. Everyone busted out laughing, including Vinny. I knew at that point what this entry would be named.
This week has been SO busy that it's not even funny. Tuesday we had our first Cluster in a town called Knezha. Knezha is another satellite site and is about 15 minutes away by bus, which may not seem bad, but if that's how you feel about it then you have never been on a Bulgarian bus. The roads here are destroyed from all the winter weather craziness and they can't afford to fix them so there are potholes everywhere. The drivers try their best to drive around all of the potholes, which sometimes means driving on the other side of the road...even if there is oncoming traffic. We were also prepared for a bus...we got a 15 passenger van, with about 25 passengers. I was squeezed in the back between a window and Kevin, who I thought was going to throw up at any given moment. This was either because of the insane driving, no air, or the three couples that were making out around us. I believe it was a combination of all three. Once we got to Knezha we went to the training center there. The town is bigger and nicer than Byala Slatina, but the room we were in was microscopic campared to ours. We had to fit about 20 people in a room made for ten. It was hot and cramped. My feelings on the Cluster were mixed because I was glad to see the people that I hadn't seen since orientation, but I think that a lot of the stuff that we went over could've been condensed into a pamphlet. I will say that some of the stuff was helpful. We talked about lesson planning and went over some teaching strategies. The only thing that I really want to complain about was one of the trainees that was there. I won't say her name because it really doesn't make a difference, but just know that she might be the most annoying person that I've ever met in my entire life. She's the girl who ALWAYS has something to say...about EVERYTHING. Example: We had to pretend that we were teaching a class of Bulgarians a vocabulary lesson. So we were doing our thing and she was asking what everything meant, as in a translation. Really? If you were a Bulgarian student, you wouldn't ask us to define everything, you would just sit there and nod your head like you understand everything we're saying. She also is the girl that has to correct everyone, but then when she corrects them...she's wrong. Pretty much what I'm saying is, she's a mess.
Wedneday we had to teach a period of 80 minutes. By ourselves. Georgi wasn't there, he was on vacation. Kevin, Vinny and I freaked out a little, at first, because we thought we were going to have to teach a different class than the one that we've been working with so far. But we sucked it up and came up with a lesson to get them writing and speaking English. The first class went by amazingly well, except that we finished too quickly, but we gave them some free time (which they were obviously not used to) and it was fine. We went around the room and said what our plans for summer vacation were and everyone went, except me. When we gave them free time, one little girl raised her hand and said "Ms. Evan, what will you be doing for summer vacation?" It was so cute, I almost died. I also didn't have a very interesting answer. I told her I had to learn Bulgarian all summer. Just because of that one experience, she's my favorite student. The boys brought an American football and tried to get some kids interested in that. A couple were slightly interested but most of them are diehard soccer fans. I tried to tell them that they would think American football was ridiculous, but Kevin is convinced that by the time he leaves, all Bulgarians will love American football as much as he does.
Thursday we met with the police inspector to go over safety stuff. The groups from Popitza and Turnova (nearby villages) were there too. Nothing really exciting happened that day. Bulgarian was brutal and I left the Center with the biggest headache. I went home and talked to some people until Ifell asleep for a little nap. Nadka came in, saw that I was asleep and assumed that I was sick. She felt my head and asked me if I felt OK. I told her I was fine, but she freaks out every time she comes in my room and I'm laying down. I need to find out how to tell her "Sometimes...I'm just tired." I might have to ask Tanya how to say that during our next class.
Friday we had our first HUB in Vratsa, which is the big city around this area. It's about an hour southwest of our town and we stopped on the way there to pick up another group of trainees. This day was insane. We had to be at the bus stop at 7:10am to make sure we could get a bus. I had to wake up at 5:30am to get there on time. We got there and the two groups nearby were there too. Because they were there and they lived further away, they got first dibs on the bus at 7:10. The bus was full so we had to wait for the next one. The next one came at 7:20am...ish. We boarded and were ready to go. We sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes. Once we finally got going the ride wasn't as bad as the one to Knezha, but it was still impossible to fall asleep. We got to Vratsa and we still had about an hour before the HUB started. We all ran to the nearest coffee shop and downed some espresso. The HUB was pretty much like the Cluster. It was nice to see everyone and see how their families and groups are, but I could've done without a 2 hour Bulgarian history lesson. Bulgaria has a lot of history and I was dozing off through most of it. Lunch was welcomed with open arms and Vaune, Kelsey, Jeff and I went into downtown Vratsa for some delicious Bulgarian cuisine. We got back to the HUB site to talk about more stuff that isn't helpful at this point in our training. Soon it was time for us to head back to Byala Slatina. We got a private bus this time and we were with trainees from surrounding areas. This bus ride was way more fun.
We got back to Byala Slatina and decided that we deserved a drink after our stressful week. Rob (the volunteer who lives here) had said something to Tanya about getting a drink with us, so we decided to take him up on that offer. We went to the nice resteraunt and had dinner and drinks. Tanya stayed and ate, but she didn't drink because it's against the rules. It was nice to just sit and hang out with everyone. We all realized how lucky we are in terms of the people in our group. We all like each other and we haven't had any problems with cliques or anything like that. It was also good to talk to Rob about things other than the Peace Corps. After we had some drinks, it was time to go home. Rob walked with Jackie and myself since we're kind of in the same direction. I, actually, live on the outskirts of town so Rob had to walk a long way back, which I felt bad about.
The next day we were invited to some sports thing. We thought it was at the stadium, so that's where we went, but apparently it was at the park. We didn't know this until way later that day. We ended up spending that majority of our day at the cafe. I felt like a real Bulgarian. We did go to Vinny's house to see the kittens and we ended up staying there for a while because his dad is hilarious. Kevin and I went to the supermarket to see if we could find anything to eat that was recognizable. We found some LAYS barbeque chips and were so excited. We took them to the Center (so that Kevin could get on the Internet) and opened the bag. We shoved them in our mouths. Different. Really different. We took another look at the bag and although it said barbeque, there was a picture of a kabob in the corner. You could literally taste the meat and tomato flavoring. I'm not going to say they were bad, I'm going to say they were different and I'm not sure if I'll be getting them again. After that saddening experience, we all met Rob for coffee (I owed him one from a bet we made the night before on our walk home) and it was another relaxing day. It was nice to finally get to relax. Tanya even joined us, which was good because she can hang out with us and not be all business.
Today I got to sleep in and it was amazing. I met Katie and Kristin from Popitza at a cafe and then Kevin came and we all used the Center for it's Internet. It was another relaxing day. I just hope this upcoming week will be less stressful than the last. I know that Wednesday we get observed teaching...I think we kind of have a plan. I'll let you know how it goes! Also, I'll try to post some pictures this week!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
"Is there a problem with your face?"
These are the lovely and caring words that my host mother asked me during lunch yesterday when I arrived at the table with no make-up on. I was just sitting there, innocently eating my block of fried cheese (kashkavahl pene) and she looks at me with a concerned expression on her face and gentlly asks "Is there a problem with your face?" and touches her own cheek. After giving her a look that I'm pretty sure is disrespectful in every culture, I informed her that I just hadn't had the time to apply my make-up yet. I accomplished this by miming the application of make-up to my face and then again sliding my hand infront of my face and saying "neh", which means "no". She got the picture and then tried to make up for it by telling me that my hair looked nice, completely unaware of the fact that she had destroyed my international self-esteem.
The weekend and time off were much needed to everyone in our group. Saturday, I got to sleep in. By the time I woke up and got ready for the day, it was time for lunch. We had chicken noodle soup...but it was definitely not Cambell's. It was delicious either way. For dessert we had that creme caramel stuff again. Amazing. After lunch I went to the Center to meet with Jackie, Rachel and Kevin for a walk. Kevin was feeling better, but he still wasn't 100% so we didn't go as far as we would have liked to. Vinny didn't come because his entire family was out of town so he had the house to himself, which meant that he would be sleeping all day. We ended up meeting Mary on the walk because she was out with her host sister who is eight-years-old and speaks better English than we do Bulgarian. She told us how our town got the name "Byala Slatina". It's a nice story about a man who fell in love with a girl named Slati and wherever she walked, little white flowers would bloom and everyone called them "slatini". The word for "white" in Bulgarian is "byala" so they put the two together and the town was named Byala Slatina (slatina is the singular form of slatini).
After our little walk, we decided to enjoy the Bulgarian passtime of drinking coffee at a cafe. We settled under a huge umbrella on the main street downtown. We each ordered our drinks and were having a good conversation when it started raining. We didn't think anything of it because we were safe under the umbrella and it wasn't raining hard. Then it started raining harder...and thundering. The rain started closing in on us. We were still determined to stick it out under that umbrella though. Then some random girl comes walking up to our table and says "Well, I found the Americans." Shocked that someone knew English, we all turned to find a previous volunteer standing at our table. We told her to join us and asked how she knew we were American. She told us that we were the only ones left sitting outside in the rain. Everyone else had gone inside. We looked around to discover that she was absolutely correct.
She suggested that we move inside and we agreed. Once we were seated in the smokey cafe, we did introductions. Her name was Krista and her permanent site had been in Byala Slatina a couple of years ago and she was just coming back to visit. Now she lives in Sofia and is a teacher at a private school where she teaches English and Biology. She told us about her Peace Corps days and how things would slow down after PST was over. We asked her to tell us her worst horror story about teaching with the Peace Corps and she told us about this one time where a student almost threw a chair at her. Our general response was: "Oh, but he didn't throw it? Oh, that's not bad then." American public schools have take their toll. It wasn't long before some of her friends who had been volunteers with her came and joined us. They told us about their experiences as well. It was cool to see that people loved it so much that they didn't leave. One girl had actually married a Bulgarian so she lived here because of him. Don't worry, I'm not planning on marrying a Bulgarian.
We had been sitting in the cafe for a couple of hours and we were starting to get hungry so they told us about this thing that's kind of like Bulgarian fast food. It's easy to get and it's cheap. It's called a "dooner" and it's the closest thing to home we're probably gonna get for a while. It's meat, cheese, french fries, cucumbers, and lettuce all wrapped up in a tortilla thing and topped with some kind of white sauce and wannabe ketchup. I also like to refer to it as "Type Two Diabetes" but it's delicious. After we stuffed our faces, we went our separate ways to our houses. I walked with Jackie because her house is on my way across town. Her family runs a store (magazine) in the front of their house and I wanted to buy a vafla (kind of life those waifer things you used to eat when you were a kid, covered in chocolate). I used my best Bulgarian to ask for one and I got ready to pay for it and Jackie's host mom gave it to me for free and then forced me to sit down and stay for a couple of hours. She pulled up a table on the side of the store and asked if I would like something to drink. I said "yes" because it was true and then she poured me this pineapple soda stuff that was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. But I smiled my way through my first sip. As soon as she walked away, I poured a little bit out to make it look like I was enjoying it. It was nice hanging out with Jackie, though. She's probably the person in the group that is the most like me. Soon, though, I had poured out all of my pineapple soda and it was time for me to return to my own host home.
I made my trek across town and finally arrived at my gate where I proceeded to fail at being able to open the gate with the key. I looked around in paranoia. I'm sure it looked like I was trying to break in to their garden. Luckily, Nadka was crossing the street to my aide. She simply turned the key to the right and, like magic, the gate was unlocked. I swear I had just done that and nothing happened. But she told me nevermind and motioned for me to follow her somewhere. It turns out we were going to her neighbor's house who is a doctor. We entered through the gate and went to a sitting area outside in the garden. Nadka told me that she had a small problem and although I wanted badly to ask what the problem was, I refrained. Mostly because I don't know how to ask that, but also because if I did know how to ask, there's a 99.99% chance that I would have no idea what she was saying when she answered me. So I left it a mystery. The doctor came back out from the house and I was surprised that it was a woman. She introduced herself to me and I have no idea what her name is. I think it begins with a "P". While Dr. P had been inside, Nadka was messing with the blood pressure thing. She took the air pump and kept pumping air into the arm band. When Dr. P came out she looked at the pumped up arm band with a look of question on her face. I had to hold back laughter because Nadka didn't own up to pumping it up. Soon after the impromptu examination, another woman bicycled into the yard. Her name was Zara (it was easy enough) and she spoke a very little bit of English. The three of them reminded me of being at home with my mom and her friends. No one could complete a thought without another one chiming in. They were just funny to watch and listen to. It was then that I noticed the epic hairdo that Dr. P was sporting. A bump more epic than Snookie could ever wish to achieve AND it was natural. No Bump It, my friends. There was no way for me to sneak a picture, so I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine it, but yes, it WAS as grande as you're imagining it.
After some time with the girls, we went home and dinner was on the table. There was some conversation, but it was minute. I'm pretty sure that Hristo thinks that I have some kind of disorder. He keeps looking at me like "Oh, it's ok that you can't get it right, we know you're special." Eh, I get through the meals the best I can. After dinner, I was so glad to catch Leslie on Skype and talk to her for a while. Actually, I talked to her until Nadka and Hristo went to bed and cut off the Internet. Then, I too, went to sleep.
Sunday I slept in as well. I woke up and talked to Leanna on Skype until it was time for lunch. Consequently, I didn't have time to prepare myself adequately enough for the meal. This is when Nadka questioned my facial issues. After lunch I retreated into my room where I did some reading for the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Cluster tomorrow. This is where we go over technical things to make sure we know what we're doing when we really start teaching. I was soon bored with reading and decided to watch the classic movie "Casablanca". There's nothing like Humphrey Bogart on a rainy Sunday. However, I layed down to watch it and I passed out before Ilsa even waltzed onto the screen. I awoke to do some more work and then it was dinner time. By this time I had put on make-up so we wouldn't have a repeat incident.
For dinner we had "mehkitza" which is basically just fried dough that you can do a number of things to. You can add just sugar, or honey, or cheese, or anything really. The favorite around here ended up being a toss up between honey and cheese. This also ended up being my breakfast this morning. After dinner, I went to play with the new puppy for while. I decided to name him Dexter because nobody has told me any other name to call him. After this, I talked to Leanna again and then my parents. It was nice and I know it puts them at ease to see me and talk to me.
Today was a national holiday to celebrate the Cyrillic alphabet. Two Bulgarians created it and schools are out all over the nation. There was a concert at the Center that we got to watch with Bulgarian dress and dancing. One of the students from my class was in it and she was very excited that we were there. She kept looking back and waving at us. It was cute. Even though today was a Bulgarian holiday, it was not a Peace Corps holiday, so we still had three hours of Bulgarian language. It wasn't bad because the sessions were broken up by the concert and lunch. We also had our community walk after the lessons so that we could make a map of our town. It was nice to be with the group and Tanya without it having to be a lesson.
When I got back to my house, it wasn't long before dinner was ready. It was a traditional Bulgarian dinner to celebrate. We had chicken (pillay), potatoes (kartophy), salad (salada) and, of course, rakia. Rakia is the Bulgarian national drink. It looks like vodka, tastes like tequilla and smells like rubbing alcohol. It's the kind of drink that you can have a glass (and by glass I mean a double shot that you sip slowly because otherwise it'll kill you) at dinner and burp the next day and still taste it burning in your throat. Yea, it's that serious. But in the spirit of the holiday, I had a glass. I don't think this drink will be something that I drink regularly. Now I have to do some more reading and get ready for our Cluster tomorrow. It'll be good to see some of the Trainees from the other sites. I'm pretty excited about it...and it means no Bulgarian! Dob'r vecher (good evening!)!
The weekend and time off were much needed to everyone in our group. Saturday, I got to sleep in. By the time I woke up and got ready for the day, it was time for lunch. We had chicken noodle soup...but it was definitely not Cambell's. It was delicious either way. For dessert we had that creme caramel stuff again. Amazing. After lunch I went to the Center to meet with Jackie, Rachel and Kevin for a walk. Kevin was feeling better, but he still wasn't 100% so we didn't go as far as we would have liked to. Vinny didn't come because his entire family was out of town so he had the house to himself, which meant that he would be sleeping all day. We ended up meeting Mary on the walk because she was out with her host sister who is eight-years-old and speaks better English than we do Bulgarian. She told us how our town got the name "Byala Slatina". It's a nice story about a man who fell in love with a girl named Slati and wherever she walked, little white flowers would bloom and everyone called them "slatini". The word for "white" in Bulgarian is "byala" so they put the two together and the town was named Byala Slatina (slatina is the singular form of slatini).
After our little walk, we decided to enjoy the Bulgarian passtime of drinking coffee at a cafe. We settled under a huge umbrella on the main street downtown. We each ordered our drinks and were having a good conversation when it started raining. We didn't think anything of it because we were safe under the umbrella and it wasn't raining hard. Then it started raining harder...and thundering. The rain started closing in on us. We were still determined to stick it out under that umbrella though. Then some random girl comes walking up to our table and says "Well, I found the Americans." Shocked that someone knew English, we all turned to find a previous volunteer standing at our table. We told her to join us and asked how she knew we were American. She told us that we were the only ones left sitting outside in the rain. Everyone else had gone inside. We looked around to discover that she was absolutely correct.
She suggested that we move inside and we agreed. Once we were seated in the smokey cafe, we did introductions. Her name was Krista and her permanent site had been in Byala Slatina a couple of years ago and she was just coming back to visit. Now she lives in Sofia and is a teacher at a private school where she teaches English and Biology. She told us about her Peace Corps days and how things would slow down after PST was over. We asked her to tell us her worst horror story about teaching with the Peace Corps and she told us about this one time where a student almost threw a chair at her. Our general response was: "Oh, but he didn't throw it? Oh, that's not bad then." American public schools have take their toll. It wasn't long before some of her friends who had been volunteers with her came and joined us. They told us about their experiences as well. It was cool to see that people loved it so much that they didn't leave. One girl had actually married a Bulgarian so she lived here because of him. Don't worry, I'm not planning on marrying a Bulgarian.
We had been sitting in the cafe for a couple of hours and we were starting to get hungry so they told us about this thing that's kind of like Bulgarian fast food. It's easy to get and it's cheap. It's called a "dooner" and it's the closest thing to home we're probably gonna get for a while. It's meat, cheese, french fries, cucumbers, and lettuce all wrapped up in a tortilla thing and topped with some kind of white sauce and wannabe ketchup. I also like to refer to it as "Type Two Diabetes" but it's delicious. After we stuffed our faces, we went our separate ways to our houses. I walked with Jackie because her house is on my way across town. Her family runs a store (magazine) in the front of their house and I wanted to buy a vafla (kind of life those waifer things you used to eat when you were a kid, covered in chocolate). I used my best Bulgarian to ask for one and I got ready to pay for it and Jackie's host mom gave it to me for free and then forced me to sit down and stay for a couple of hours. She pulled up a table on the side of the store and asked if I would like something to drink. I said "yes" because it was true and then she poured me this pineapple soda stuff that was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. But I smiled my way through my first sip. As soon as she walked away, I poured a little bit out to make it look like I was enjoying it. It was nice hanging out with Jackie, though. She's probably the person in the group that is the most like me. Soon, though, I had poured out all of my pineapple soda and it was time for me to return to my own host home.
I made my trek across town and finally arrived at my gate where I proceeded to fail at being able to open the gate with the key. I looked around in paranoia. I'm sure it looked like I was trying to break in to their garden. Luckily, Nadka was crossing the street to my aide. She simply turned the key to the right and, like magic, the gate was unlocked. I swear I had just done that and nothing happened. But she told me nevermind and motioned for me to follow her somewhere. It turns out we were going to her neighbor's house who is a doctor. We entered through the gate and went to a sitting area outside in the garden. Nadka told me that she had a small problem and although I wanted badly to ask what the problem was, I refrained. Mostly because I don't know how to ask that, but also because if I did know how to ask, there's a 99.99% chance that I would have no idea what she was saying when she answered me. So I left it a mystery. The doctor came back out from the house and I was surprised that it was a woman. She introduced herself to me and I have no idea what her name is. I think it begins with a "P". While Dr. P had been inside, Nadka was messing with the blood pressure thing. She took the air pump and kept pumping air into the arm band. When Dr. P came out she looked at the pumped up arm band with a look of question on her face. I had to hold back laughter because Nadka didn't own up to pumping it up. Soon after the impromptu examination, another woman bicycled into the yard. Her name was Zara (it was easy enough) and she spoke a very little bit of English. The three of them reminded me of being at home with my mom and her friends. No one could complete a thought without another one chiming in. They were just funny to watch and listen to. It was then that I noticed the epic hairdo that Dr. P was sporting. A bump more epic than Snookie could ever wish to achieve AND it was natural. No Bump It, my friends. There was no way for me to sneak a picture, so I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine it, but yes, it WAS as grande as you're imagining it.
After some time with the girls, we went home and dinner was on the table. There was some conversation, but it was minute. I'm pretty sure that Hristo thinks that I have some kind of disorder. He keeps looking at me like "Oh, it's ok that you can't get it right, we know you're special." Eh, I get through the meals the best I can. After dinner, I was so glad to catch Leslie on Skype and talk to her for a while. Actually, I talked to her until Nadka and Hristo went to bed and cut off the Internet. Then, I too, went to sleep.
Sunday I slept in as well. I woke up and talked to Leanna on Skype until it was time for lunch. Consequently, I didn't have time to prepare myself adequately enough for the meal. This is when Nadka questioned my facial issues. After lunch I retreated into my room where I did some reading for the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Cluster tomorrow. This is where we go over technical things to make sure we know what we're doing when we really start teaching. I was soon bored with reading and decided to watch the classic movie "Casablanca". There's nothing like Humphrey Bogart on a rainy Sunday. However, I layed down to watch it and I passed out before Ilsa even waltzed onto the screen. I awoke to do some more work and then it was dinner time. By this time I had put on make-up so we wouldn't have a repeat incident.
For dinner we had "mehkitza" which is basically just fried dough that you can do a number of things to. You can add just sugar, or honey, or cheese, or anything really. The favorite around here ended up being a toss up between honey and cheese. This also ended up being my breakfast this morning. After dinner, I went to play with the new puppy for while. I decided to name him Dexter because nobody has told me any other name to call him. After this, I talked to Leanna again and then my parents. It was nice and I know it puts them at ease to see me and talk to me.
Today was a national holiday to celebrate the Cyrillic alphabet. Two Bulgarians created it and schools are out all over the nation. There was a concert at the Center that we got to watch with Bulgarian dress and dancing. One of the students from my class was in it and she was very excited that we were there. She kept looking back and waving at us. It was cute. Even though today was a Bulgarian holiday, it was not a Peace Corps holiday, so we still had three hours of Bulgarian language. It wasn't bad because the sessions were broken up by the concert and lunch. We also had our community walk after the lessons so that we could make a map of our town. It was nice to be with the group and Tanya without it having to be a lesson.
When I got back to my house, it wasn't long before dinner was ready. It was a traditional Bulgarian dinner to celebrate. We had chicken (pillay), potatoes (kartophy), salad (salada) and, of course, rakia. Rakia is the Bulgarian national drink. It looks like vodka, tastes like tequilla and smells like rubbing alcohol. It's the kind of drink that you can have a glass (and by glass I mean a double shot that you sip slowly because otherwise it'll kill you) at dinner and burp the next day and still taste it burning in your throat. Yea, it's that serious. But in the spirit of the holiday, I had a glass. I don't think this drink will be something that I drink regularly. Now I have to do some more reading and get ready for our Cluster tomorrow. It'll be good to see some of the Trainees from the other sites. I'm pretty excited about it...and it means no Bulgarian! Dob'r vecher (good evening!)!
Friday, May 21, 2010
I got locked up.
These past two days have seemed so long! I think it's because we all know that the weekend is right around the corner and the weekend means that we get two days off in a row! Ugh! That is so exciting! I bet you're wondering about the title of this entry...well I'm going to make you wonder a little bit longer.
Yesterday we observed our schools for the second day. Luckily, we only had to observe one class and it was the one that we'll be teaching, NOT Microeconomics! When class was over Vinny, Kevin and I decided that we desperately needed coffee before we attempted to tackle and hour and a half of Bulgarian. We stopped at a little cafe in the middle of the "downtown" area. On our way there, we ran into Jackie, Mary and Rachel so it ended up being perfect. As we were drinking our delicious coffee, Tanya was walking by and we called her over to join us as well. We had a nice and relaxing time before Tanya got a phone call saying that one of our Senior Staff members (Jason) was coming sooner than we had planned. It turns out he was only about 10 minutes away and that we wouldn't have time to squeeze in our Bulgarian lesson before lunch. This made Tanya a little uneasy, but the rest of us were perfectly fine with it.
We finished our coffee and headed back to the Center where we met Jason. Some of the group didn't have a lunch with them (I did though, Nadka made me a sandwich and gave me an apple) and Jason was hungry, so we went to a nearby resteraunt to eat lunch. It was actually quite comforting talking and having lunch with Jason. He just wanted to make sure none of us were freaking out and that our host families were OK. He was very real and told us about his freak out moment when he was a volunteer. We appreciated the fact that Peace Corps cares enough to actually send someone to make sure we're all alright. I think that says a lot about the organization. Jason made it crystal clear that if we had any problems, any one of the Senior Staff would be there for us. Not that we were wound up before, but after having lunch with Jason, there was a definite ease among us.
After lunch, we all headed into an hour and a half of Bulgarian. We got a break at 2 o'clock to go talk to our Bulgarian counterpart teachers about the microlesson that we would be teaching the next day. Originally we were all only supposed to teach about 10-15 minutes each. Whenever Georgi talked about it, however, it was 15-20 and by the time we left his shop that day, he informed us that we would be teaching a solid 25 minutes a piece (which ended up being the whole class period because they were cut short due to the holiday). Vinny has three years of teaching experience behind him. Kevin and I, however, have never taught a proper class in our lives.
At 3 o'clock we had another hour and a half of Bulgarian. It's still difficult, but as the days go by I get a little bit more confident. I know I still have such a long way to go, though. Vinny gets pretty frustrated in these lessons so afterward we all went with him to walk his family's dog to get some of that bad energy out. Most everyone came and we all just walked to my house because it's clear across town. There is literally nothing past my house. Excuse me, there is a field of cows and goats past my house. On my way back one day, I almost got ran over by a renegade goat. I tried to move out of his way but he kept following me. This is the traffic that I deal with now...goats. At least they don't contribute to global warming.
When I got back to my house Hristo wanted to make up for making me mow the grass in my dress the day before and made a peace offering to play some soccer with me. We really just passed the ball back and forth. It was nice, though, and it brought back memories of my glory days on the field. Hopefully I'll get to really play soon. After soccer, I got to help with dinner again. This time I made the entire salad. I'm glad they're not holding back in letting me help with stuff. When dinner was over, I went ahead and took a shower and settled into bed. I had to get up at 6:15am the following day and I was in no way happy about it. Kevin and I were going to meet Vinny at his house at 7am and then we would all walk to school together and be ready to go at 7:30am.
I either didn't hear my alarm (which is perfectly possible because it's not very loud) or it just didn't go off. At 6:30am, Nadka came in to wake me up because she knew I had to be at Vinny's at 7am and she knows that it's a good 15 minute walk to get to that side of town. I jumped (literally) out of bed and scrambled to get ready. I went to my phone to text Vinny that I would just meet him at the school and not to wait for me. When I grabbed my phone I saw that I had a text from Kevin saying that he had a fever and wouldn't be making it today. What does this mean? I was supposed to go after him. Do I have to teach his lesson and mine now? I don't know what he's teaching. I don't have that book. I don't feel prepared for my own lesson, let alone his. This is ridiculous. I inhale my breakfast and powerwalk to the school. I walk into the teacher's lounge and half expect and hope to find Kevin there with a big grin saying "Just kidding guys!" but there was only Georgi and James (another volunteer who has Byala Slatina as his permanent site). Great. Where's Vinny?
Georgi knows about Kevin but hasn't heard from Vinny. I quit. I quit right now. Maybe I should call Vinny before I quit, just to make sure. I call him and he's on his way. Good. Georgi has figured it all out and I will teach the lesson I prepared for after Vinny teaches his and Georgi will wrap everything up in the last period before they get out for the celebration. Excellent, now I don't have to quit. Vinny walks in and is ready to go. The bell rings and the four of us walk down the hall towards our future. Vinny is a professional and his lesson went brilliantly. The bell rang and I chug my bottle of water. I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be. The kids are smiling, which I assume is a good thing. The bell rings again and it's time. My time. I did it! We did fill in the blank activities, using pronouns, and using conjunctions to make complex sentences. It felt weird being up there, but a good kind of weird. My only criticism was that I talk too fast sometimes...but that's really not a secret. I was even complimented on my voice being very clear and pleasant sounding. So thank you, Mom, for always making me read those little booklets outloud in sixth grade Sunday School, it paid off.
Since the school got out early today (the next few days are holidays to celebrate the Cyrillic Alphabet...it was created by Bulgarians) we had so much time before we had to be at the Center for Bulgarian. Vinny, James and I had some coffe and ended up being joined again by Rachel, Mary and Tanya. We stayed at the cafe for a good hour before Vinny wanted to go back to his house to change out of his teaching clothes before our long day of Bulgarian. Mary had to do her microteaching and Rachel had tutoring with Tanya so they went their separate ways. Vinny, James and I went to Vinny's house to grab some food and so that Vinny could change clothes.
We stayed there for about an hour asking James what life was like after PST and all that good stuff. But soon it was time to head to the Center for Bulgarian. We went to leave and Vinny pulled on the doorhandle to open the door...and the handle fell off. Right there, on the floor. We each took a turn trying to put it back on by hand and that didn't work at all. If anything, I'm sure it probably made things worse. Vinny went to try to find some sort of tool but he was unsuccessful. While he was looking, I called Rachel to see if she could maybe come and open it from the outside. We still had the key but we could slide it to her. She agreed and she arrived shortly with Jackie and Mary in tow. They unlocked the door from the outside and tried to turn the handle but that thing was not moving. After about five minutes of struggling (which felt more like 15 minutes) Jackie had the idea to be like the movies and use a credit card. Now, I'll go ahead and admit it, I didn't think that this would actually work...but it did! We were free! Vinny felt bad for breaking his family's door, but overall this situation was hilarious (hence the title).
Bulgarian went by better than usual and after our lessons and tutoring we went to visit Kevin and take him his medical kit that he had left at the Center the night before (ironic much?). He was grateful for the kit and the company but he still wasn't feeling well so we didn't stay long.
Dinner was slightly more productive today. I told them that I taught the class by myself (in very broken Bulgarian) and we had that amazing creme caramel stuff. After dinner we watched that crazy but addictive soap opera thing. Tomorrow I think some of us are going to go for a walk around the town to get more familiar with things and just relax. Relaxing is what we all need to do. I still think the hardest thing for me to get used to (other than having to throw away my toilet paper instead of flushing it at the Center) is that in Bulgaria you shake your head for "yes" and nod your head for "no". Nadka gets on me all the time about that but it's been embedded in my head for 23 years. It's a hard habbit to break. Another thing that may or may not become a problem is that all of the thoughts in my head are now with a Bulgarian accent. It's weird and I hope that the accent will just continue to stay in my head and not come out of my mouth...unless I'm actually trying to speak Bulgarian. Clearly I need the weekend...leka nosht!
Yesterday we observed our schools for the second day. Luckily, we only had to observe one class and it was the one that we'll be teaching, NOT Microeconomics! When class was over Vinny, Kevin and I decided that we desperately needed coffee before we attempted to tackle and hour and a half of Bulgarian. We stopped at a little cafe in the middle of the "downtown" area. On our way there, we ran into Jackie, Mary and Rachel so it ended up being perfect. As we were drinking our delicious coffee, Tanya was walking by and we called her over to join us as well. We had a nice and relaxing time before Tanya got a phone call saying that one of our Senior Staff members (Jason) was coming sooner than we had planned. It turns out he was only about 10 minutes away and that we wouldn't have time to squeeze in our Bulgarian lesson before lunch. This made Tanya a little uneasy, but the rest of us were perfectly fine with it.
We finished our coffee and headed back to the Center where we met Jason. Some of the group didn't have a lunch with them (I did though, Nadka made me a sandwich and gave me an apple) and Jason was hungry, so we went to a nearby resteraunt to eat lunch. It was actually quite comforting talking and having lunch with Jason. He just wanted to make sure none of us were freaking out and that our host families were OK. He was very real and told us about his freak out moment when he was a volunteer. We appreciated the fact that Peace Corps cares enough to actually send someone to make sure we're all alright. I think that says a lot about the organization. Jason made it crystal clear that if we had any problems, any one of the Senior Staff would be there for us. Not that we were wound up before, but after having lunch with Jason, there was a definite ease among us.
After lunch, we all headed into an hour and a half of Bulgarian. We got a break at 2 o'clock to go talk to our Bulgarian counterpart teachers about the microlesson that we would be teaching the next day. Originally we were all only supposed to teach about 10-15 minutes each. Whenever Georgi talked about it, however, it was 15-20 and by the time we left his shop that day, he informed us that we would be teaching a solid 25 minutes a piece (which ended up being the whole class period because they were cut short due to the holiday). Vinny has three years of teaching experience behind him. Kevin and I, however, have never taught a proper class in our lives.
At 3 o'clock we had another hour and a half of Bulgarian. It's still difficult, but as the days go by I get a little bit more confident. I know I still have such a long way to go, though. Vinny gets pretty frustrated in these lessons so afterward we all went with him to walk his family's dog to get some of that bad energy out. Most everyone came and we all just walked to my house because it's clear across town. There is literally nothing past my house. Excuse me, there is a field of cows and goats past my house. On my way back one day, I almost got ran over by a renegade goat. I tried to move out of his way but he kept following me. This is the traffic that I deal with now...goats. At least they don't contribute to global warming.
When I got back to my house Hristo wanted to make up for making me mow the grass in my dress the day before and made a peace offering to play some soccer with me. We really just passed the ball back and forth. It was nice, though, and it brought back memories of my glory days on the field. Hopefully I'll get to really play soon. After soccer, I got to help with dinner again. This time I made the entire salad. I'm glad they're not holding back in letting me help with stuff. When dinner was over, I went ahead and took a shower and settled into bed. I had to get up at 6:15am the following day and I was in no way happy about it. Kevin and I were going to meet Vinny at his house at 7am and then we would all walk to school together and be ready to go at 7:30am.
I either didn't hear my alarm (which is perfectly possible because it's not very loud) or it just didn't go off. At 6:30am, Nadka came in to wake me up because she knew I had to be at Vinny's at 7am and she knows that it's a good 15 minute walk to get to that side of town. I jumped (literally) out of bed and scrambled to get ready. I went to my phone to text Vinny that I would just meet him at the school and not to wait for me. When I grabbed my phone I saw that I had a text from Kevin saying that he had a fever and wouldn't be making it today. What does this mean? I was supposed to go after him. Do I have to teach his lesson and mine now? I don't know what he's teaching. I don't have that book. I don't feel prepared for my own lesson, let alone his. This is ridiculous. I inhale my breakfast and powerwalk to the school. I walk into the teacher's lounge and half expect and hope to find Kevin there with a big grin saying "Just kidding guys!" but there was only Georgi and James (another volunteer who has Byala Slatina as his permanent site). Great. Where's Vinny?
Georgi knows about Kevin but hasn't heard from Vinny. I quit. I quit right now. Maybe I should call Vinny before I quit, just to make sure. I call him and he's on his way. Good. Georgi has figured it all out and I will teach the lesson I prepared for after Vinny teaches his and Georgi will wrap everything up in the last period before they get out for the celebration. Excellent, now I don't have to quit. Vinny walks in and is ready to go. The bell rings and the four of us walk down the hall towards our future. Vinny is a professional and his lesson went brilliantly. The bell rang and I chug my bottle of water. I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be. The kids are smiling, which I assume is a good thing. The bell rings again and it's time. My time. I did it! We did fill in the blank activities, using pronouns, and using conjunctions to make complex sentences. It felt weird being up there, but a good kind of weird. My only criticism was that I talk too fast sometimes...but that's really not a secret. I was even complimented on my voice being very clear and pleasant sounding. So thank you, Mom, for always making me read those little booklets outloud in sixth grade Sunday School, it paid off.
Since the school got out early today (the next few days are holidays to celebrate the Cyrillic Alphabet...it was created by Bulgarians) we had so much time before we had to be at the Center for Bulgarian. Vinny, James and I had some coffe and ended up being joined again by Rachel, Mary and Tanya. We stayed at the cafe for a good hour before Vinny wanted to go back to his house to change out of his teaching clothes before our long day of Bulgarian. Mary had to do her microteaching and Rachel had tutoring with Tanya so they went their separate ways. Vinny, James and I went to Vinny's house to grab some food and so that Vinny could change clothes.
We stayed there for about an hour asking James what life was like after PST and all that good stuff. But soon it was time to head to the Center for Bulgarian. We went to leave and Vinny pulled on the doorhandle to open the door...and the handle fell off. Right there, on the floor. We each took a turn trying to put it back on by hand and that didn't work at all. If anything, I'm sure it probably made things worse. Vinny went to try to find some sort of tool but he was unsuccessful. While he was looking, I called Rachel to see if she could maybe come and open it from the outside. We still had the key but we could slide it to her. She agreed and she arrived shortly with Jackie and Mary in tow. They unlocked the door from the outside and tried to turn the handle but that thing was not moving. After about five minutes of struggling (which felt more like 15 minutes) Jackie had the idea to be like the movies and use a credit card. Now, I'll go ahead and admit it, I didn't think that this would actually work...but it did! We were free! Vinny felt bad for breaking his family's door, but overall this situation was hilarious (hence the title).
Bulgarian went by better than usual and after our lessons and tutoring we went to visit Kevin and take him his medical kit that he had left at the Center the night before (ironic much?). He was grateful for the kit and the company but he still wasn't feeling well so we didn't stay long.
Dinner was slightly more productive today. I told them that I taught the class by myself (in very broken Bulgarian) and we had that amazing creme caramel stuff. After dinner we watched that crazy but addictive soap opera thing. Tomorrow I think some of us are going to go for a walk around the town to get more familiar with things and just relax. Relaxing is what we all need to do. I still think the hardest thing for me to get used to (other than having to throw away my toilet paper instead of flushing it at the Center) is that in Bulgaria you shake your head for "yes" and nod your head for "no". Nadka gets on me all the time about that but it's been embedded in my head for 23 years. It's a hard habbit to break. Another thing that may or may not become a problem is that all of the thoughts in my head are now with a Bulgarian accent. It's weird and I hope that the accent will just continue to stay in my head and not come out of my mouth...unless I'm actually trying to speak Bulgarian. Clearly I need the weekend...leka nosht!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
"I am not a tomato."
Today was our first day of formal Bulgarian language training since our arrival in Byala Slatina. We worked with making positive and negative statements using the different forms of the verb "to be". I felt like I was back in Spanish 1 again. Anyway, we began by saying things that we were and then we moved on to saying things that we weren't. Now, I feel like I need to tell you that our vocabulary is extremely limited. We're mostly familiar with numbers, greetings, and food. An occassional word that we've heard our host families say to us a lot is sprinkled in there too. By the time we had gotten around to Vinny, all of our vocabulary that was relevant was running low, so he decided to inform us that he was not, in fact, a tomato. It was pretty hilarious. Thus, the title of this entry was born. I think that was the most I've laughed since we got to our town.
Yesterday was our first day off and it was great! I finally got to sleep in (which hadn't happened since I started on this journey) and by the time I got up and ready for the day, it was almost lunchtime. I had lunch with Nadka and Hristo, which was some kind of brothy soup with some sausage in it. I told them that I liked sausge once and I don't think we've had a meal where there has been a lack of sausage. At first glance at everyone's plate, one would think that we all had an even share of food. I thouht I was lucky because my host family wasn't force feeding me, like the other trainees. But I took a closer look and noticed that my bowl was significantly larger than the bowls that they were eating out of. Very sneaky Nikolovos, but I caught on to your game.
After lunch, I headed to the Center to meet with the rest of the group so that we could go over the schedule for the rest of the week. I'm also pretty sure that none of us were ready to spend an entire day with our host families knowing as little Bulgarian as we did/do. We got there and made some executive decisions and then we decided to practice some Bulgarian. We play a game with a ball and when the ball is thrown to you, you have to say something in Bulgarian. It's only numbers, foods, and greetings so far, though. I am proud to say that we can all successfully count to one hundred in Bulgarian! After we had worn out the extent of our Bulgarian, a volunteer (Rob) who has his permanent site in Byala Slatina came by and took us all out for coffee and so that we could give him the third degree about everything.
We ended up staying at the cafe for over an hour and Rob had some really good things to say. He was much more positive than the last volunteer that I talked to. He did say that stuff got hard, but that the Peace Corps support system was amazing and that everyone was so helpful. He also made it clear how excited he was that we were there and that he would be around if we ever needed anything. He teaches Secondary School and the school year is coming to an end so he's glad to have things to do now that we're around. Talking to Rob definitely put me at ease and he really made us all feel like there was no need to put ourselves under so much pressure. The language will come and you will learn as you go what works and what doesn't work while you're teaching.
After coffee with Rob, everyone went to their separate houses for the night. We had pizza and I have no idea what was on it (I'm sure sausage was in there somewhere) but it was delicious. I tried to help clear the table and Hristo told me "Neh, neh neh", so I stopped and just sat and watched TV. Nadka and I both had our dictionaries (rechnick) out and kind of sort of had a conversation. I tried to say some Bulgarian and she tried to say some English. All in all I think it went pretty well. They still laugh at me a lot because it's pretty obvious that I generally have no idea what they're talking about.
Today I met Kevin, Vinny and Tanya at the Center and we walked to the Technical School that we'll be doing our practicum at. Tanya just dropped us off with Georgi, who is our Bulgarian counterpart, and then went to take the other girls to their school. Georgi gave us the lowdown on his students and basically said that we don't have to stick to the curriculum as long as we made it relevant so that they would see the need to study. Makes sense to me. After our briefing, we observed one of Georgi's English classes. I was amazed by two things: 1) how well-behaved all of the students were. They stood up when Georgi walked into the classroom and were basically quiet during the lesson. They also participated a lot, which was encouraging. 2)how much Bulgarian Georgi spoke while he was teaching. We're all under the impression that when we teach our classes, we'll be teaching mostly in English, but Georgi was teaching mostly in Bulgarian. I guess it's different if it's your native tongue, but it just took us by surprise. After Georgi's class, we were asked to observe a Microeconomics class...that was taught completely in Bulgarian. It was like Chinese water torture. I don't understand microeconomics in English...I stand a chance in that situation.
After the longest 40 minutes of our lives, we went and ate at the pizzeria from the day before. Nadka had packed me a lunch because I live so far from the Center. I had leftover pizza, so I was just as happy. Lunch went by quickly and we had to be back at the Center to meet everyone else for three hours of Bulgarian. These lessons are bittersweet because I'm excited to learn the language so that I can communicate, but it's such a difficult language that it's sometimes hard to get excited about it. Tanya is a good teacher, though and she does what she can to make things more interseting and easier for us.
I stayed and studied at the Center for about another hour with Rachel. Around 5:45, I began my trek home. It's a nice walk and I can go over everything that happened that day, or think about people from home that I miss. It's also nice because it's still pretty cold here, so the walk warms me up. I got back home and got on the computer to see if I had any activity and to do a little bit more Bulgarian. I was glad to talk to some people from home and a trainee in another satellite. I was in the middle of some nice conversations when Hristo knocked on my bedroom window and motioned for me to come outside and to be quiet. I went out wearing the dress I had worn to school, a sweater, a scarf and my flats...and he had me mow the grass. I figured it was the least I could do, so I did what he said (sorry Dad!). I think it was obvious that I had never done this before. It was only a few minutes before Nadka came out and scolded Hristo for this and I was pardoned to go back to my conversations. Some things are universal. Soon after we had dinner (another form of sausage was involved) and we watched TV. There's some telenovela thing that is dubbed in Bulgarian that they love to watch. I'll admit, it's quite entertaining although I'm not too clear on what's going on.
Tomorrow we go back for more observing at the school, a lunch with one of the Peace Corps Bulgaria Senior Staff members, and more Bulgarian. Everyone says the language will come, the language will come...I would like for it to come now, please.
Yesterday was our first day off and it was great! I finally got to sleep in (which hadn't happened since I started on this journey) and by the time I got up and ready for the day, it was almost lunchtime. I had lunch with Nadka and Hristo, which was some kind of brothy soup with some sausage in it. I told them that I liked sausge once and I don't think we've had a meal where there has been a lack of sausage. At first glance at everyone's plate, one would think that we all had an even share of food. I thouht I was lucky because my host family wasn't force feeding me, like the other trainees. But I took a closer look and noticed that my bowl was significantly larger than the bowls that they were eating out of. Very sneaky Nikolovos, but I caught on to your game.
After lunch, I headed to the Center to meet with the rest of the group so that we could go over the schedule for the rest of the week. I'm also pretty sure that none of us were ready to spend an entire day with our host families knowing as little Bulgarian as we did/do. We got there and made some executive decisions and then we decided to practice some Bulgarian. We play a game with a ball and when the ball is thrown to you, you have to say something in Bulgarian. It's only numbers, foods, and greetings so far, though. I am proud to say that we can all successfully count to one hundred in Bulgarian! After we had worn out the extent of our Bulgarian, a volunteer (Rob) who has his permanent site in Byala Slatina came by and took us all out for coffee and so that we could give him the third degree about everything.
We ended up staying at the cafe for over an hour and Rob had some really good things to say. He was much more positive than the last volunteer that I talked to. He did say that stuff got hard, but that the Peace Corps support system was amazing and that everyone was so helpful. He also made it clear how excited he was that we were there and that he would be around if we ever needed anything. He teaches Secondary School and the school year is coming to an end so he's glad to have things to do now that we're around. Talking to Rob definitely put me at ease and he really made us all feel like there was no need to put ourselves under so much pressure. The language will come and you will learn as you go what works and what doesn't work while you're teaching.
After coffee with Rob, everyone went to their separate houses for the night. We had pizza and I have no idea what was on it (I'm sure sausage was in there somewhere) but it was delicious. I tried to help clear the table and Hristo told me "Neh, neh neh", so I stopped and just sat and watched TV. Nadka and I both had our dictionaries (rechnick) out and kind of sort of had a conversation. I tried to say some Bulgarian and she tried to say some English. All in all I think it went pretty well. They still laugh at me a lot because it's pretty obvious that I generally have no idea what they're talking about.
Today I met Kevin, Vinny and Tanya at the Center and we walked to the Technical School that we'll be doing our practicum at. Tanya just dropped us off with Georgi, who is our Bulgarian counterpart, and then went to take the other girls to their school. Georgi gave us the lowdown on his students and basically said that we don't have to stick to the curriculum as long as we made it relevant so that they would see the need to study. Makes sense to me. After our briefing, we observed one of Georgi's English classes. I was amazed by two things: 1) how well-behaved all of the students were. They stood up when Georgi walked into the classroom and were basically quiet during the lesson. They also participated a lot, which was encouraging. 2)how much Bulgarian Georgi spoke while he was teaching. We're all under the impression that when we teach our classes, we'll be teaching mostly in English, but Georgi was teaching mostly in Bulgarian. I guess it's different if it's your native tongue, but it just took us by surprise. After Georgi's class, we were asked to observe a Microeconomics class...that was taught completely in Bulgarian. It was like Chinese water torture. I don't understand microeconomics in English...I stand a chance in that situation.
After the longest 40 minutes of our lives, we went and ate at the pizzeria from the day before. Nadka had packed me a lunch because I live so far from the Center. I had leftover pizza, so I was just as happy. Lunch went by quickly and we had to be back at the Center to meet everyone else for three hours of Bulgarian. These lessons are bittersweet because I'm excited to learn the language so that I can communicate, but it's such a difficult language that it's sometimes hard to get excited about it. Tanya is a good teacher, though and she does what she can to make things more interseting and easier for us.
I stayed and studied at the Center for about another hour with Rachel. Around 5:45, I began my trek home. It's a nice walk and I can go over everything that happened that day, or think about people from home that I miss. It's also nice because it's still pretty cold here, so the walk warms me up. I got back home and got on the computer to see if I had any activity and to do a little bit more Bulgarian. I was glad to talk to some people from home and a trainee in another satellite. I was in the middle of some nice conversations when Hristo knocked on my bedroom window and motioned for me to come outside and to be quiet. I went out wearing the dress I had worn to school, a sweater, a scarf and my flats...and he had me mow the grass. I figured it was the least I could do, so I did what he said (sorry Dad!). I think it was obvious that I had never done this before. It was only a few minutes before Nadka came out and scolded Hristo for this and I was pardoned to go back to my conversations. Some things are universal. Soon after we had dinner (another form of sausage was involved) and we watched TV. There's some telenovela thing that is dubbed in Bulgarian that they love to watch. I'll admit, it's quite entertaining although I'm not too clear on what's going on.
Tomorrow we go back for more observing at the school, a lunch with one of the Peace Corps Bulgaria Senior Staff members, and more Bulgarian. Everyone says the language will come, the language will come...I would like for it to come now, please.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Byala Slatina
Today was my first full day in the town of Byala Slatina...I think I misspelled it in my last post, I apologize for that. It's a town of about 15,000 people and it's about an hour away from Vratsa (our hub site) by bus. My host family is an adorable older couple, named Nadka and Hristo Nikolovo. They were both teachers for special needs kids and Hristo still teaches at a village nearby. They have a garden in the front and back of their house with hens, rabbits and one dog. They have hosted a Peace Corps volunteer before, which is good. They also don't speak a word of English. Contrary to popular belief, I'm a bit hesitant to make friends with the dog (koocheh). He barks and growls a lot.
Leaving our orientation site yesterday was bittersweet. It was exciting because this is when everything starts getting real. We're finally going to be in a town or village, surrounded by Bulgarians and having to live the Bulgarian lifestyle. How exciting is that?! It's also more than slightly terrifying. We left orientation having the language skills of a two-year-old. The first two hours of the bus ride from the orientation site to Vratsa was spent in a coma because everyone was so tired and still jetlagged. The last two hours were spent trying to get as much Bulgarian in our brains as possible. We were armed with our dictionaries and our curiosity. It didn't get us (or, at least, me) very far. We got to Vratsa and were let off the bus to go find our host families armed only with a sheet of paper that was cut like a puzzle piece so we could find the one that matched. As soon as I saw Nadka and Hristo, every single Bulgarian word I had learned left my head. Including how to say "hello" (zdravete) so all I could do was smile. They greeted me with hugs and kisses and cookies. What more could I ask for?
We stood there for a little while full of awkwardness until they asked me if I was ready. I actually have no idea what they asked me but they motioned toward the exit, so I'm assuming they were ready to get this show on the road. I was lucky enough to have my Language Trainer, Tanya with me. She is supposed to come to all of our housed and find out the ground rules for the next three months and it just so happened that it was my turn first. I'm so glad she was there because she and Nadka talked the whole ride to Byala Slatina and I didn't have to say much. They did ask me a few things through Tanya, so I was lucky I got to answer in English instead of whatever language would've come out of my mouth had she not been there. Nadka told me that she loved my hair (thanks Mom!) so that was nice.
For dinner we had cucmber soup, sausage, fish, potatoes, salad, bread, banitza, and creme caramel (which is really just European flaun). It was pretty good. I avoided the fish because it was literally a fish that had been caught and fried. I could still see his face (R.I.P. Fredrick) so I just couldn't do it. But I did suck it up and eat the sausage, which was alright. The cucumber soup is served cold, so it's very refreshing in the summer. The salad was good even though there was no Ranch and the bread and potatoes were delicious. The creme caramel was probably the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I was prepared for a three hour long, awkward dinner, but with Tanya there, and everyone being hungry, it didn't feel long at all. After Tanya left, things did get a little more awkward. We were told to just spend time with them, so that's what I did. We shared pictures of family and friends, I gave them their gifts (a deck of UNC playing cards for Hristo and a promise to play with him, and Bath & Body Works for Nadka), and we watched "Bulgaria's Looking for Talent". It was kind of amazing. It wasn't long before I went to bed, though, because that jetlag is still hanging on strong.
Today, I had breakfast with Nadka. We had leftover banitza (which is some kind of pastry with a filling that can be either sweet, or not), coffee, and yogurt. Now, this yogurt is not like American yogurt. The literal translation of the Bulgarian name (keecelo mlyako) means sour milk...and that is exactly what it tastes like. You have to add either sugar (zahar) or honey (met) to make it good. It's also strange because you have to drink it, not eat it with a spoon. After breakfast, Nadka walked with me to the Police Station so we could register in the town. That didn't take long. Then our host families left us with Tanya and we went to buy cell phones. By the time we had gotten our cell phones and gotten into our room at the Community Center (where we'll be having our Bulgarian language lessons) we were all hungry and desperate for coffee. We went to a cafe and had a nice, English-speaking lunch. This was something that we all needed. After lunch we did some more errands and met the teacher who would be helping Vinny, Kevin and myself when we go to the Technical School to observe and teach.
After all of that, we headed back to the Community Center and our host families were there to pick us up. There was also some sort of semi-famous artist there with a bunch of his work, so we walked around that exhibit for a little while. Then we went home and I thought I would be able to find my way back but two things hindered me. One: we drove back to the house and stopped at a store (magazine) and at a friend's house so that she could meet me. Two: there are no street names. By the time I realized where we were, we were pulling up at the house. Once we got inside, it was time for dinner and I got to help! I made the salad! Now, this is not like the salad in a bag that you can get in America, no, no. You have to cut up all the stuff, including the lettuce. Some of the stuff was actually from their very own garden. I was proud of myself for being domestic AND for recognizing when they said something about a cucumber (kraztovitzeh). I got excited and they laughed at me. I'm OK with that, though.
Dinner went well and I learned more vocabulary. After dinner, I got to talk to one of their daughters on Skype. She lives in Germany and knows English. I also talked to her children who both know more English than I do Bulgarian. I was a bit shocked. Then the volunteer who stayed with them last time called on Skype and I got to talk to her too. She was not so uplifting about the whole situation, but whatever. I won't take anything she said to heart. This experience is different for everybody.
Tomorrow is our day off and we are planning to meet at the Community Center to go over our schedule for the rest of the week and probably study some Bulgarian. Then we're going to have coffee with a volunteer (Rob) who's permanent site is here in Byala Slatina. I feel like that will be a good thing. I also want to try and do a video tour of the house and garden. So keep an eye out for that. I'll probably post it on here and on Facebook. Lekeh nosht!
Leaving our orientation site yesterday was bittersweet. It was exciting because this is when everything starts getting real. We're finally going to be in a town or village, surrounded by Bulgarians and having to live the Bulgarian lifestyle. How exciting is that?! It's also more than slightly terrifying. We left orientation having the language skills of a two-year-old. The first two hours of the bus ride from the orientation site to Vratsa was spent in a coma because everyone was so tired and still jetlagged. The last two hours were spent trying to get as much Bulgarian in our brains as possible. We were armed with our dictionaries and our curiosity. It didn't get us (or, at least, me) very far. We got to Vratsa and were let off the bus to go find our host families armed only with a sheet of paper that was cut like a puzzle piece so we could find the one that matched. As soon as I saw Nadka and Hristo, every single Bulgarian word I had learned left my head. Including how to say "hello" (zdravete) so all I could do was smile. They greeted me with hugs and kisses and cookies. What more could I ask for?
We stood there for a little while full of awkwardness until they asked me if I was ready. I actually have no idea what they asked me but they motioned toward the exit, so I'm assuming they were ready to get this show on the road. I was lucky enough to have my Language Trainer, Tanya with me. She is supposed to come to all of our housed and find out the ground rules for the next three months and it just so happened that it was my turn first. I'm so glad she was there because she and Nadka talked the whole ride to Byala Slatina and I didn't have to say much. They did ask me a few things through Tanya, so I was lucky I got to answer in English instead of whatever language would've come out of my mouth had she not been there. Nadka told me that she loved my hair (thanks Mom!) so that was nice.
For dinner we had cucmber soup, sausage, fish, potatoes, salad, bread, banitza, and creme caramel (which is really just European flaun). It was pretty good. I avoided the fish because it was literally a fish that had been caught and fried. I could still see his face (R.I.P. Fredrick) so I just couldn't do it. But I did suck it up and eat the sausage, which was alright. The cucumber soup is served cold, so it's very refreshing in the summer. The salad was good even though there was no Ranch and the bread and potatoes were delicious. The creme caramel was probably the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I was prepared for a three hour long, awkward dinner, but with Tanya there, and everyone being hungry, it didn't feel long at all. After Tanya left, things did get a little more awkward. We were told to just spend time with them, so that's what I did. We shared pictures of family and friends, I gave them their gifts (a deck of UNC playing cards for Hristo and a promise to play with him, and Bath & Body Works for Nadka), and we watched "Bulgaria's Looking for Talent". It was kind of amazing. It wasn't long before I went to bed, though, because that jetlag is still hanging on strong.
Today, I had breakfast with Nadka. We had leftover banitza (which is some kind of pastry with a filling that can be either sweet, or not), coffee, and yogurt. Now, this yogurt is not like American yogurt. The literal translation of the Bulgarian name (keecelo mlyako) means sour milk...and that is exactly what it tastes like. You have to add either sugar (zahar) or honey (met) to make it good. It's also strange because you have to drink it, not eat it with a spoon. After breakfast, Nadka walked with me to the Police Station so we could register in the town. That didn't take long. Then our host families left us with Tanya and we went to buy cell phones. By the time we had gotten our cell phones and gotten into our room at the Community Center (where we'll be having our Bulgarian language lessons) we were all hungry and desperate for coffee. We went to a cafe and had a nice, English-speaking lunch. This was something that we all needed. After lunch we did some more errands and met the teacher who would be helping Vinny, Kevin and myself when we go to the Technical School to observe and teach.
After all of that, we headed back to the Community Center and our host families were there to pick us up. There was also some sort of semi-famous artist there with a bunch of his work, so we walked around that exhibit for a little while. Then we went home and I thought I would be able to find my way back but two things hindered me. One: we drove back to the house and stopped at a store (magazine) and at a friend's house so that she could meet me. Two: there are no street names. By the time I realized where we were, we were pulling up at the house. Once we got inside, it was time for dinner and I got to help! I made the salad! Now, this is not like the salad in a bag that you can get in America, no, no. You have to cut up all the stuff, including the lettuce. Some of the stuff was actually from their very own garden. I was proud of myself for being domestic AND for recognizing when they said something about a cucumber (kraztovitzeh). I got excited and they laughed at me. I'm OK with that, though.
Dinner went well and I learned more vocabulary. After dinner, I got to talk to one of their daughters on Skype. She lives in Germany and knows English. I also talked to her children who both know more English than I do Bulgarian. I was a bit shocked. Then the volunteer who stayed with them last time called on Skype and I got to talk to her too. She was not so uplifting about the whole situation, but whatever. I won't take anything she said to heart. This experience is different for everybody.
Tomorrow is our day off and we are planning to meet at the Community Center to go over our schedule for the rest of the week and probably study some Bulgarian. Then we're going to have coffee with a volunteer (Rob) who's permanent site is here in Byala Slatina. I feel like that will be a good thing. I also want to try and do a video tour of the house and garden. So keep an eye out for that. I'll probably post it on here and on Facebook. Lekeh nosht!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Lady Gaga Brings People Together
Today was our last full day of PST (Post-Service Training) at our site in the Rila Mountains. Tomorrow we're all going to meet our host families and our satellite sites. My satellite site is in a little town called Byala Stalinka, which is northest of Sofia and our hub site, which is in Vratsa. We will have hubs once every couple of weeks so that our entire group can meet up with each other again and tell all about our experiences in our villages and with our host families. There are about five or six people in each satellite group and a language intructor. We will have Bulgarian Language class basically everyday and also get into some of our service skills and integrate ourselves into the community. My satellite site has six people in it: Kevin, Vinny, Rachel, Mary, Jackie and myself. I don't really know any of them very well but that kind of makes it more exciting.
Today was a lot of fun because we found out all about our satellite sites and all that AND we had a sort of celebration of everyone's last night together. We had a very nice dinner and everyone got all dolled up for the occassion. The food was amazing (like all the other food we've had here). We had a Bulgarian salad, which, oddly enough, doesn't have lettuce. It has some sort of coleslaw like substance, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, and corn. It was delicious. Then we had chicken with mushrooms and mashed potatoes, followed up by a piece of vanilla cake with orange and kiwi slices on top. Right after we ate dinner, we were entertained by a group of Bulgarian dancers who performed traditional Bulgarian dances. It was kind of a mixture of tap, step, and folk all wrapped in a vest...if you can imagine such a thing. They were so talented.
After dinner, the Bulgarian staff started dancing the Horrah and other Bulgarian dances and encouraged us to join it. It was really fun, but ridiculously tiring because all of the songs lasted for about 15 mintues and they expect you to dance the entire time. I am really excited that I learned the dances though and I hope that I'll get to go to a Bulgarian celebration so that I'll get to dance them. After we all danced Bulgarian dances for about an hour, the music switched to Latin and things started getting ridiculous. The lights turned off so that it was only the disco ball and strobe lights to light the dancefloor. Some people went to bed, but most everyone stayed and eventually American music was brought into the situation. People were a little timid at first, but then Lady Gaga was played and all was right in the world. Everyone got up and jammed until they kicked us out of the resteraunt. Tonight was proof that Lady Gaga brings people of all cultures together. Everyone loves her.
I'm super excited slash nervous to meet my host family tomorrow. I hope my Bulgarian is good enough to not make it awkward. I just hope I get a baba (grandmother)!
Today was a lot of fun because we found out all about our satellite sites and all that AND we had a sort of celebration of everyone's last night together. We had a very nice dinner and everyone got all dolled up for the occassion. The food was amazing (like all the other food we've had here). We had a Bulgarian salad, which, oddly enough, doesn't have lettuce. It has some sort of coleslaw like substance, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, and corn. It was delicious. Then we had chicken with mushrooms and mashed potatoes, followed up by a piece of vanilla cake with orange and kiwi slices on top. Right after we ate dinner, we were entertained by a group of Bulgarian dancers who performed traditional Bulgarian dances. It was kind of a mixture of tap, step, and folk all wrapped in a vest...if you can imagine such a thing. They were so talented.
After dinner, the Bulgarian staff started dancing the Horrah and other Bulgarian dances and encouraged us to join it. It was really fun, but ridiculously tiring because all of the songs lasted for about 15 mintues and they expect you to dance the entire time. I am really excited that I learned the dances though and I hope that I'll get to go to a Bulgarian celebration so that I'll get to dance them. After we all danced Bulgarian dances for about an hour, the music switched to Latin and things started getting ridiculous. The lights turned off so that it was only the disco ball and strobe lights to light the dancefloor. Some people went to bed, but most everyone stayed and eventually American music was brought into the situation. People were a little timid at first, but then Lady Gaga was played and all was right in the world. Everyone got up and jammed until they kicked us out of the resteraunt. Tonight was proof that Lady Gaga brings people of all cultures together. Everyone loves her.
I'm super excited slash nervous to meet my host family tomorrow. I hope my Bulgarian is good enough to not make it awkward. I just hope I get a baba (grandmother)!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Dobre den!
We finally made it to Bulgaria!!! It took us a two hour bus ride from Philly to JFK, a five hour long wait, an eight hour flight, a three hour layover, a two hour flight and then another two hour bus ride but we are finally here! We are staying in a small skiing town about two hours southeast of Sofia. For the part of the bus ride that I was awake for, it is obvious that this country is beautiful! Everything is so green and the mountains are HUGE! Not like the Appalachain Mountains that I'm used to. We are really high up in the mountains and the road was kind of scary when we were literally driving on the edge of a cliff, but our driver was clearly a professional.
Today was our first full day of training and pretty much everyone is still jetlagged. We had some breakfast, which was delicious (as all the food has been so far) and then we got into why we were here. Then we broke up into small groups to start learning Bulgarian. "Dobre den" means "Good day"...just so you know. We went over a lot of stuff and for the moment I'm confident, but we'll see what happens after a night of sleep. Some of the people had studied a lot before and are pretty good. My roommate, Vaune is one of them but she's been nice in helping me in our down time. After our Bulgarian class, we had lunch and I signed some papers and got my picture taken for my ID badge. Then we broke into groups based on the program we would be doing and talked about the differences between American schools and students and Bulgarian school and students. After that it was more Bulgarian and now it's almost dinner time.
I think the rest of the night will revolve around finishing up some paperwork and making sure I know the Bulgarian alphabet. I'm excited slash nervous for Sunday when we meet and leave with our host families!
Today was our first full day of training and pretty much everyone is still jetlagged. We had some breakfast, which was delicious (as all the food has been so far) and then we got into why we were here. Then we broke up into small groups to start learning Bulgarian. "Dobre den" means "Good day"...just so you know. We went over a lot of stuff and for the moment I'm confident, but we'll see what happens after a night of sleep. Some of the people had studied a lot before and are pretty good. My roommate, Vaune is one of them but she's been nice in helping me in our down time. After our Bulgarian class, we had lunch and I signed some papers and got my picture taken for my ID badge. Then we broke into groups based on the program we would be doing and talked about the differences between American schools and students and Bulgarian school and students. After that it was more Bulgarian and now it's almost dinner time.
I think the rest of the night will revolve around finishing up some paperwork and making sure I know the Bulgarian alphabet. I'm excited slash nervous for Sunday when we meet and leave with our host families!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Philly
Today was the day that I've been waiting for since November when I got my invitation. After a restless night of packing, repacking, and writing thank you notes, I woke up at 5am to get on the road for the airport. My parents and I had some much needed coffee and a banana nut muffin as we waited for time to pass so I could board. I thought my flight was earlier than it was, so we had plenty of time to hang out before good-byes. Inevitably, however, we did say good-bye and I boarded the plane with entirely too much luggage. I'm assuming the flight was fine because as soon as I buckled the seat belt, I passed out and did not open my eyes until we were descending upon Philadelphia.
I caught a cab and got to the Hampton Inn, where I checked in and found my roommate already there. We talked briefly while getting ready for orientation and it was nice to finally talk to someone who will be going on this journey with me. We had similar anxieties and aspirations, so that made me feel more at ease.
We got down to orientation and filled out more paperwork than my hand could handle. We were then told that from that point on we were to only dress in business casual attaire. Flips flops and jeans were a no go. I looked down and discovered that I was severely underdressed. After changing, I came back down and sat at a table with people from all over the US. I was really surprised by how many people there were (about 90) and how everyone varied in age. The majority were younger but there was a good amount of middle-aged to retirees there too. The majority of the people there were doing Education. The others were doing Youth Development or Community Development. The next five hours were full of ice breakers, group activities and questionaires. It felt just like those first few days of college again. Everyone seems to be pretty cool, though and not afraid to share their knowledge of Bulgaria. I learned a lot about the country today. We had to go around the room and say one thing that we knew about Bulgaria. It was very interesting.
Being here makes it all so much more real and so much more exciting. I just can't wait until we're finally there and I don't have to worry about all this luggage anymore. Tomorrow we are getting on a bus to go to JFK and then from there Munich and from Munich to Sofia! It's so close!
I caught a cab and got to the Hampton Inn, where I checked in and found my roommate already there. We talked briefly while getting ready for orientation and it was nice to finally talk to someone who will be going on this journey with me. We had similar anxieties and aspirations, so that made me feel more at ease.
We got down to orientation and filled out more paperwork than my hand could handle. We were then told that from that point on we were to only dress in business casual attaire. Flips flops and jeans were a no go. I looked down and discovered that I was severely underdressed. After changing, I came back down and sat at a table with people from all over the US. I was really surprised by how many people there were (about 90) and how everyone varied in age. The majority were younger but there was a good amount of middle-aged to retirees there too. The majority of the people there were doing Education. The others were doing Youth Development or Community Development. The next five hours were full of ice breakers, group activities and questionaires. It felt just like those first few days of college again. Everyone seems to be pretty cool, though and not afraid to share their knowledge of Bulgaria. I learned a lot about the country today. We had to go around the room and say one thing that we knew about Bulgaria. It was very interesting.
Being here makes it all so much more real and so much more exciting. I just can't wait until we're finally there and I don't have to worry about all this luggage anymore. Tomorrow we are getting on a bus to go to JFK and then from there Munich and from Munich to Sofia! It's so close!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Ready...Set...Go?
Wow. I can't believe that in less than one week I will be in Bulgaria! I feel like it's taken forever to get to this point and now, it's here! It's been really hard to say good-bye to everyone and everything that I've known my entire life, but I know that good things lay before me.
I had dinner with a girl, Lindsay, who is a "missionary" in Indonesia and she was so optimistic about her experience and how she believed in me. It really helped to get me more excited about going. She had a lot of encouraging words. She seems to believe that I will have little trouble with getting used to all the changes in customs. She was also pretty realistic about hard times that will be inevitable, which I appreciated. Then she told me this amazing story about how she helped a grandma, who she didn't even think understood her, get eye surgery that helped her to see. It was pretty inspiring and reminded me that what I'm doing isn't about me. It also helps knowing that I have such a large support system here. I will miss everyone beyond belief. I just hope that I will be able to keep in touch with everyone.
Ugh, then I come home and look at everything I still have to do. I have a lot of life to sort through here and pack up and throw out and pack up. The emptier my room looks, the sadder both myself and my parents get. My dad and I did get the skype set up today so we will be able to use that. I hope that will help them with the distance...as much as it can help.
Alright, just wanted to put something down for the first blog entry. I have another day of good-byes and packing ahead of me. This means, that I need my rest.
I had dinner with a girl, Lindsay, who is a "missionary" in Indonesia and she was so optimistic about her experience and how she believed in me. It really helped to get me more excited about going. She had a lot of encouraging words. She seems to believe that I will have little trouble with getting used to all the changes in customs. She was also pretty realistic about hard times that will be inevitable, which I appreciated. Then she told me this amazing story about how she helped a grandma, who she didn't even think understood her, get eye surgery that helped her to see. It was pretty inspiring and reminded me that what I'm doing isn't about me. It also helps knowing that I have such a large support system here. I will miss everyone beyond belief. I just hope that I will be able to keep in touch with everyone.
Ugh, then I come home and look at everything I still have to do. I have a lot of life to sort through here and pack up and throw out and pack up. The emptier my room looks, the sadder both myself and my parents get. My dad and I did get the skype set up today so we will be able to use that. I hope that will help them with the distance...as much as it can help.
Alright, just wanted to put something down for the first blog entry. I have another day of good-byes and packing ahead of me. This means, that I need my rest.
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