The days leading up to this exciting vacation from Bulgaria were spent with friends, both American and Bulgarian. I bid my students and colleagues farewell and promised that I would return. I headed off to Sofia for the weekend, where I met up with some of my favorite volunteers for one last hoorah that included eating American food, drinking American drinks, watching American movies, and speaking in English. This was to prepare me for what was to come.
Monday December, 19 I took a taxi to the Sofia airport to start my long journey back home. I flew from Sofia to London and then London to Washington DC with little to no problem. The flights had, both, been a little late, but I didn't think anything about it until we got to customs. The dreaded customs. Our entire plane had to go through it and I had about an hour to make it to my next flight to Raleigh. I tried to plead my way to the front of the line, but the airport employee didn't care that I had another flight to catch and that it was the last flight to North Carolina that night. Needless to say, I didn't make it on my flight because customs (as most of you know) takes forever and when I got through and tried to put my bags at the gate, the man tells me that the gate has been closed because the plane is about to leave. I have to ask him to repeat himself because I couldn't believe what was happening to me. He restates the fact that I can't get on the flight that will take me home and I immediately get hysterical. I don't know what to do, so I wander around until I find a very nice woman who let me use her cellphone to call my parents and tell them about my situation. Luckily, British Airways set me up with a nice hotel room for the night and a seat on the first flight to Raleigh for the next day. After I got to the hotel and took a shower, I settled down into bed and was grateful that it was the best of a bad situation.
Tuesday December, 20 I board an 8 o'clock flight to Raleigh, NC and land about an hour later. I was greeted by my dad and we had a lovely ride home. We went straight to my mom's work, where I met Leslie and we surprised my mom. After our short family reunion, I went off to lunch with Leslie and our friend Ryan at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Casita. It was the perfect first meal back home. The rest of the day was filled with getting important stuff done such as: getting my license renewed, getting my phone set up, and getting my hair done. After being in Bulgaria for a year and a half and not cutting my hair that entire time, I was in much need of some hair treatment. Thanks Mom! After dinner, Leslie and her family came over, as well as Ryan and Scooter and it was just like the old days. I had the perfect first day/night back home.
The next few days were filled with old friends, good food/drinks, and great times. I got to see almost everyone that I wanted to see and I was reminded of how lucky/blessed I am to have such great people in my life. Getting to see and hang out with everyone made me feel so loved and I, honestly, can't express how much it meant to me to have people make such an effort to see and hang out with me. Thank you so much to everyone and I love you all!
We spent our Christmas in Sanford with my dad's side of the family that I don't get to see too often, so that was a nice change. It was fun seeing my dad interact with his cousins that were like brothers when they were younger. It was also extremely obvious to me how Southern everyone was. In Bulgaria, I don't hear Southern accents or sayings, so I was thrown into all things Southern with these guys. It was pretty entertaining, to say the least.
My sister and her husband came up from Florida to spend New Years with us and it was awesome! We had our family Christmas and then Christmas with some extended family, and New Years all in one week. It was a whirlwind, but it was great. Leslie also came back to spend New Years with us and it was perfect.
Finally the day came when I had to head back to Bulgaria. I flew from Raleigh to JFK to London to Sofia. Of course this time I didn't have any problems with the flights and I, actually, ended up getting back to Bulgaria a little bit earlier than planned. I took a bus back to Koynare and slept for about three days.
Going home for Christmas was absolutely what I needed at that point in my service. I got to see (almost) everyone that I wanted to see and it reminded me of how lucky/blessed I am. It was a nice break from the day to day life in Bulgaria and motivated me to keep going for another seven months because I have some pretty great people to come back home to.
