"How much do your sisters cost?"

This is the question that I accidentally asked when we had a substitute language instructor last week (I also forgot to mention it in my last post). Vladi was having all of us ask questions about him and his family and everything. He just wanted to get us comfortable with talking and asking questions. So we would ask whatever questions we could think of and he would answer all of them. My intention was to ask him how many sisters he had (kolko ima sestri?), but I ended up asking him how much they cost (kolko struva sestri?)...it was awkward.

This past week has been another incredibly busy week. We've had to teach every day, which is really not a problem because Vinny, Kevin and I team-teach one class. So every morning we start with some teaching. I really can't put into words just how amazing our eighth grade students are. They are all so smart and their English is better than some of the native speakers that I've heard. They're all eager to learn and don't complain when we give them assignments. There's one kid especially, whose name is Radi, who is literally a genius. He always knows what we're talking about and helps us explain it to the other kids (and he's nice about it). His sentences are more complex than some of the sentences that I've heard Americans make. It's kids like him that make me really happy about teaching. However, we know that we're being completely spoiled with this class. We were telling Rob about them and he told us that there was basically no way that we would end up with students like them at our permanant sites. I guess we'll just enjoy it while we can.

After teaching, we usually have a break where the three of us eat some lunch and go over some Bulgarian. I just want to say that our entire group are professionals at ordering food from a cafe or resteraunt. You would think that we were fluent. Anyway, around 1 o'clock every day we head over to the Center (chitalishte) and have three long hours of Bulgarian. We usually break it up into two hour-and-a-half blocks. The first hour and a half isn't bad. Everyone is focused (for the most part) and it's not too hot. The second hour and a half, however, is usually a hot mess. It's during the hottest part of the day and our room has no windows that can open. All we have is a little ocillating fan that can only do so much. It just started getting really hot this week, but it took no time at all getting into the upper 90s. I can tell you one thing, I will never take air conditioning for granted again. There's only one place in town that has air conditioning...and there are half naked ladies all over the walls. Needless to say, mostly we just sit around and sweat all day. Anyway, we get to the point in the second hour and a half where everything is hysterically funny. We'll end up laughing at nothing for about ten minutes straight. And Tanya is a saint because she puts up with all of us when we get like that.

Monday, we had our site placement interviews. Some people were nervous about them, but I felt (and still do feel) like they already know where they're going to place us before we have these interviews. To me, it seems like they're just a formality, but it's one that I appreciate. They did ask us to go into more detail about the kinds of people that we would like to work with or the types of projects that we would like to start. I told them that I was interested in working with minorities and that I would like to start some sort of creative writing club. However, based on those two things alone, I have no idea where I'll be sent...but I'll find out Thursday!

Tuesday we had a meeting with Phil, from the Senior Staff, about resiliancy. I actually found it to be quite destressing itself. We talked about some things that stressed us out and ways to deal with stress. For example, when I got stressed back home, I would go for a nice, long drive. Here I'm not allowed to drive, so what can I do? I can go for a walk. Luckily, I live about 20 minutes away from the Center so I get to destress every day when I walk home. It was nice and Phil did throw some good ideas our way and stuff for us to remember when we get to our permanant sites. Then, at the end, he snaked his way into getting us to do an icebreaker for the next HUB. We all hate icebreakers, but Phil knows that no one can say "no" to him because he's the man in charge. Sneaky Phil, very sneaky.

Wednesday we had a meeting with the Medical Staff to talk about...medical things. They pretty much just told us what was in our Medical Kits and how to use it. They told us not to get pregnant (but if we do, they'll take care of us for the first three months and then we get med-evacked out) and they told us it was ok to drink the water. I feel like they could've just shot me an email. I guess it is nice that they come visit, though. It shows that they care more than an email would.

Thursday and Friday we had to be at the school at 7:30am because of Kevin's big mouth. I was not a happy camper, but I made it through. It was also kind of nice to have a long break before Bulgarian too. Friday, after Bulgarian, we went to our usual spot for our weekly dinner and drinks. Another volunteer who trained in Byala Slatina was here visiting. His name is Raff and he was cool. He was really positive about everything and he got me excited to go to my permanant site. His Bulgarian is really good too. This gives me hope that mine will improve. After dinner, some of us moved to the cafe where they had set up a big screen TV outstide and watched the World Cup games. Rob and Vladi came, but they sat inside because language trainers can't drink with trainees. It was fun, though and Rob walked me home again. He told me that one of his seniors that just graduated was asking him about me. Awkward. What's more awkward is that, apparently, he was sitting at the table with us for some of the night. He never introduced himself. Now Jackie makes fun of me and says that I have a boyfriend. It's OK, though, because she has one too. And her's doesn't speak any English.

Yesterday, Kevin and Vinny had invited our whole class to come to the Center and play American football. We also invited the group from Boravan (a village, like, 10 minutes away) and some other students (including my new boyfriend) came too. It was actually a really good turn out and it was probably one of the cutest things I think I've ever seen. I'll post some pictures in a little while. We were pleasantly surprised that Kevin's competetive side didn't come out when his team started losing. Some of the students were actually really really good! And I think everyone had a good time. Afterwards, I went with the Boravan group, my new boyfriend and Niki (another one of Rob's seniors) to a cafe to learn how to play a popular Bulgarian card game...the name of which, I don't remember. From what I can gather from all of the rules and the changing cards of power, it's very similar to Spades. We played it for a little while and I think it'll be a game that I'll be pretty good at. It was fun, except for the part when my new boyfriend asked me to go to the disco with him later that night. I told him that I would be watching the World Cup, but he assured me that we wouldn't go until after the game. I told him I didn't think we were allowed to go. Bullet dodged.

After the game, I went back to the Center and hung out with Jackie until we went out for some drinks and some REAL futbol. Jackie and I got to the resteraunt before everyone else, so we ordered. There were these two drunk old men sitting at the table behind us. At one point, they started talking to us. We told them that we didn't know Bulgarian and that we were American, however, they continued to talk to us. The waitress came over to take some of the attention away from us and motioned for us to not talk to them. We took her lead and just stopped responding. It was all good until they were leaving. They came over to our table and started saying something in Drunk Bulgarian and then one of the men pinched Jackie's cheek! I pretty much could not contain myself and I guess the other guy took that as a sign that I wanted the same treatment, so he pinched my cheek as well. What makes this story even worse is that there was a table of teenage Bulgarians just watching the whole time and laughing so hard they were almost crying. We were extatic when other Americans started to show up. We met up with the rest of our group (sans Vinny) and watched America tie with England. I made a bet with Niki that if America won, he had to buy me a beer and if England won, I had to buy him a beer. Luckily, we both got to keep our leva that night.

This up coming week should be good because on Thursday we are going to Vratsa for our HUB and to find out where our permanant sites are! We spend the weekend meeting our counterparts and then on Sunday, we go and visit our permanant sites. The only scary part is...well, everything is pretty scary, but we have to find our way back to our satellite sits BY OURSELVES! This will be interesting!

"The Golden Cock Award"

This is a group shot from Kevin's birthday.
Vinny, Mary, Rachel, Tanya, me, Kevin and Jackie


This is the name of the award that is given at some sort of talent contest. I found this out while teaching on Friday. Actually, Vinny was teaching and he asked if any of th students played any instruments. A couple raised their hands. He then asked if any of them could sing. One boy raised his hand. Vinny was impressed because he used to sing in show choirs and stuff like that. Another volunteer that is located in Byala Slatina (James) is a teacher at the same school as us. He, like Rob, has been here for a year already so he already knows the students. James told us that this kid won an award for singing. We asked him what award it was the he had won. James hesitates and then says "...It's called The Golden Cock Award...". The three of us errupted into laughter (as did Georgi) and I really hope that kid never finds out what that means. I just hope he didn't think we were laughing at him...but really, how can you hold that in?


These long PST hours are beginning to take their tole on our group. It never seems to matter how much sleep we get, we're perpetually tired. But then we remember that we're having this amazing experience and we perk up enough to make it through the day. Monday was nice because we didn't have to teach so we were done before lunch. We just had three hours of Bulgarian and then we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Kevin and I had to meet with Georgi to go over our lessons the next day. The two of us and Vinny had to team teach one 45 minute class, which is not even a big deal. We went to his shop and he ran off some copies of the activities he wanted us to teach. He gave Vinny a page full of stuff, Kevin got a little over a half of a page, and I got...one activity. Just one. I had to have them combine two sentences to make one complex sentence. These kids are smart. This activity will take 10 minutes. How is that even fair? I was slightly insulted. I was then visiually violated when more eye contact was made with my chest than with my eyes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I don't think feminism is much of a concept over here. I got to talk to Tyler for a little bit but the power went out and we were cut off. This made me pretty upset because I was going to wish her a Happy Birthday before we got off so that I could've done it kind of in person instead of just on Facebook. But, I know she understands.


Tuesday went well with the team teaching. I was right, my activity only took about 10 minutes. I tried not to let it bother me, though. Vinny and Kevin both did really well, so that was good. After teaching, we grabbed some lunch at a little sandwich shop that we found and frequent. Nadka fixes me a sandwich every day...but I'm not sure what kind of meat is in there. It's something that I'm not comfortable eating. The sandwiches at this shop are delicious and cheap, which are two things that I greatly appreciate over here. After lunch we had our three hours of Bulgarian and then we all went back to our houses to prepare for the next day when we were to be observed by someone from the Senior Staff. Dinner was kind of quiet again, but afterwards, Nadka and Hristo took me to the Penny Market to go grocery shopping. I know what you're thinking and, no, it's not a market where everything costs a penny. It's just what they call a grocery store. We got there and they told me that if I wanted anything to just grab it and put it in the cart. I thought this was a nice idea...but I don't know what any of this stuff is! They would bring me something and asked me if I liked it and I would say that I didn't know and they would just ask me again, but louder. I think we ended up coming back with entirely too much food. I told them that I liked ice cream and they wouldn't leave the store before I picked out a kind that I wanted. But, I also found the only attractive male Bulgarian in Byala Slatina at the Penny Market. Unfortunately, he was not for sale. But it's nice to know that one exists. After the Penny Market, we came back home and I went into my room to prepare for the next day. I also talked to my WONDERFUL, INSPIRING AND LOVING parents for about an hour. It was definitely the highlight of my day (was that good enough for you guys? ;))


Wednesday went surprisingly well. We found out that Phil would be the Senior Staff member who observed Vinny, Kevin and myself. Vinny was going to teach an entire 45 minute class by himself (because he's a professional) and then Kevin and I would team teach the next 45 minute class (because we are not professionals). Vinny did well, as he usually does, and then it was our turn. I don't even remember what we talked about, but I remember we took turns doing different activities and I felt like I was going to throw up the entire time. When both of our classes were over, Phil offered to buy us lunch and, being poor volunteers, we gladly accepted. Mary joined us and Phil told us about his experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Napal and then about his experience in Bangladesh when he worked on the staff there. He had some amazing stories and I told him that he should write a book. Or let me write one for him. After lunch, we had feedback about our teaching and I was so glad (and a little surprised) to hear Phil tell me that he thinks that I'll be "a great teacher". I was worried that he would be able to tell that I had little to no experience teaching, but he said he couldn't tell at all. He only had one suggestion and that made my day.


Thursday we switched Language Trainers for the first Bulgarian lesson. Vladi from another satellite nearby came and did some review work with us. He is actually from Byala Slatina and it was good to see how another Trainer goes about things. It was easier because all we did was review so we played some games and stuff. It was a nice change of pace. He left during our lunch break and when we returned, Tanya was back. We were still reviewing so we didn't have a rough day. It was a nice break.


Friday was Kevin's birthday, so we made plans to go to "The Nice Resteraunt" after our days work and have some drinks with our group and Rob and James. First we had Bulgarian. Vinny, Kevin and I had to teach in the afternoon, so we had to have our Bulgarian in the morning, without the other girls. It went well because it was still reviews and we did a lot of helpful activities. We grabbed a quick lunch and went to the school. We were each to present the state that we were from and prepare a whole lesson around it. It was the easiest thing I've ever had to present. Kevin is from Indiana and Vinny is from Ohio, so I definitely had the most interesting state. I talked about the Wright Brothers and their Kitty Hawk flight. I talked about the Outerbanks and the pirates ( they thought Blackbeard was really creepy looking). I talked about how Michael Jordan became famous because he played at UNC. I pretty much made North Carolina look like the best place to live, ever. At the end of the class we took a vote to see which state the kids liked the most, North Carolina totally won. After class, we went to the resteraunt and met the rest of our group and Rob and James for dinner and drinks. It was so nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about teaching or Bulgarian. I think it was definitely needed and Kevin had a good time on his birthday.


Today we all met around 2 o'clock to go shopping for groceries so that we could cook Tanya a traditional Bulgarian meal. This was an assignment, by the way, we didn't just think this up on our own. We made her banitza (a traditional Bulgarian pastery with eggs and cheese in it), stuffed peppers (she doesn't like meat so we just stuffed them with rice, carrots and onions), tomato and cucumber salad, and fruit salad. We made it all at Tanya's apartment and it was all pretty good. I was impressed. Tanya said it was good (and she said it with a straight face) and she ate all of it. So that was good. After dinner we played some card games and just hung out. I walked with Jackie back home. I got abducted for a little while by her mother, but it was OK. When I got home, I played with the puppy for a little bit and then I came in to find dinner waiting for me. I had told Nadka the night before that I would be eating dinner with Tanya...at least I think that's what I told her. So, I ate dinner again...but with Nadka this time. I didn't eat a lot because I wasn't hungry in the least bit. Gotta love those language barriers!


Tomorrow I'm going to Pleven with Nadka and Hristo. Her brother lives in a little village outside of Pleven and then they want to take me there to show me around a big city. I don't know if her brother knows any English or not, but I do know that this should be interesting!