"Dyme Pet!"

This is the Bulgarian equivalent of "Gimme five!". Yesterday one of my students said this to me after I told another one of my students that he was being ridiculous and needed to write his vocabulary words and sentences. It was pretty funny at the time because I hadn't heard it yet. However, it quickly lost its humor when neither one of the students wrote their sentences. Such is the life of a TEFL Volunteer. I don't want to be discouraging, though, so the rest of this entry will be about the happy things that have been happening.

Halloween was a huge deal and an even huger success. The Friday before Halloween, Rory and I threw a massive Halloween party after school. The teachers and everyone were so excited that classes got cut short so that the kids would have time to go home and get their costumes ready. Luckily, I only had two classes that day and so I was done early so that I could go help Rory set up. The party was in the cafeteria of the school and once we got all of the decorations there, it really didn't take that long to set up. Once the classes were finished some of the kids came in and helped with balloons and stuff. They were so excited and eager to help. After a little while, we shooed them out of the room so we could finish up and all of the kids could enter together. It wasn't long before we had finished setting up the room and got into our costumes. Rory was the Grim Reaper complete with an awesome skull mask that he made himself. He looked pretty creepy. Cveti, Rory's girlfriend, was there too and she was a zombie princess. She looked great with her zombie make-up and a fabulous dress. I was just a cat. I painted whiskers on my face and I wore all black. I couldn't think of anything super creative to be. The time came for the kids to come in. There were probably over one hundred. It was great. There were a ton of little kids, so we had them come in shifts. The kids that already has costumes went trick-or-treating and the ones that didn't, came in and got their faces painted or made masks so that they could go later. We had spookey Halloween music playing, games, candy and the kids loved it all. Some of them had some really great costumes too. One girl came as "Autumn" and she had painted her face yellow and green, put leaves all in her hair, and wore some kind of sheet with fall leaves all over it. Another kid came as a member of Al Quida, which was actually kind of hilarious. He had on a robe with all kinds of different colors on it, a round of bullets across his chest, a fake gun and sunglasses. He also had painted a mustache on himself. I almost died when I saw him. A lot of the kids had some great masks too. It was cool to see that everyone went all out. I was also happy to see basically all of the teachers from school there. They looked like they were enjoying it too and a couple of them even played some of the games. After the party, my eighth graders wanted to go trick-or-treating and they wanted me to go with them. It was a lot of fun and I told them that I hadn't gone trick-or-treating in years. They're good kids, even if they don't always do their schoolwork.

The next day was the much anticipated Volunteer Halloween party in Veliko Tarnovo. I met Kristin in Cherven Bryag and we took the train together to another city and then to VT (Veliko Tarnovo). We got there around dinner time and went to the hostel where some other volunteers were staying. We gathered a small group and made our way to the house where the party was to take place. We arrived at the house and were greeted by our friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. There ended up being probably, one hundred volunteers there. We went up to one of the bedrooms and got into our costumes. Lexi and I had decided to go as two other volunteers, Kevin and Drew. They are frat boys who talk about nothing but football and fitness. So, naturally, they're easy to make fun of. Make no mistake, though, they're still friends and they took our joke extremely well. We borrowed jerseys from them (and they had no idea why) and put their names on the back of them, the we put on the black eye stuff and had footballs with us at all times. We made our grand entrance into the room everyone was in and started acting like Kevin and Drew with the football and we got an applause at the end. It was a lot of fun and I was glad that they took it so well. The rest of the party was a blast and people came up with some really cool costume ideas. One group came as a bunch of little Rubix Cubes and wore all different colored articles of clothing. By the time the night was over, the all had to be one color. We had some people dress up like the cast of Jersey Shore, some boys were KISS, and even Justin Beiber showed up. It was great.

The next morning/afternoon when we all woke up at the hostel, a group of us decided to stay another day (since we didn't have school on Monday) and explore the lovely town of Veliko Tarnovo. Kristin, Kerri, Adrienne, Katelyn and myself went to this castel way up on a hill and did the whole tourist thing. It was nice to be a tourist. We got to eat at a nice restaurant where the waiter spoke English and then explore the castle at our own pace. We went to the top where it overlooked the city and it was absolutely gorgeous. After our trek to the castle and back down, we decided it was time for a little nap. We went back to the hostel and rested for a while. After our rest we decided to treat ourselves to a movie. We went to the mall, which was also pretty impressive, and saw the movie "Easy A". I highly reccommend it and it was just what all of us needed. After the movie, we went to the supermarket that was also located in the mall and got a bunch of stuff to make sandwiches and shopska salad. We headed back to the hostel for dinner. We had a delicious dinner of sandwiches, shopska salad, pudding and wine. We had to keep it classy.

The next day we all traveled back to our respective sites and spent the day resting. The past two weeks have been good. This past weekend was Rory's birthday and we had a nice dinner over at Betty's house. It was a lot of fun and I came out with a jar of honey and homemade lutenitza (which is a red pepper kind of spread that is delicious). Now I'm looking forward to this coming weekend and my birthday in Vratsa! It should be a good time and I will be sure to report how that goes too. Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I'm excited to spend my first birthday in Bulgaria. I already bought the chocolates to give to all of my fellow teachers!

Home, Sweet Village

Hello again family and friends! I apologize (again!) for it taking so long for me to update. It turns out that being a high school teacher is quite the time suck. On most days I'm pretty exhausted after school so I take a little nap. That little nap usually turns into a longer-than-I-intended nap. By the time I wake up it's around dinner time, so I fix myself some dinner (usually a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich thanks to Mom and Dad) and eat while watching TV or talking to Lexi on Skype. After dinner I search through the deepest, darkest corners of my mind and the Internet to come up with new and interesting ways to make the next day's lesson fun. Sometimes I'm successful and other times I just decide that we'll play UNO. Why UNO? Because, for whatever reason, kids here LOVE UNO. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great game. But they never ever EVER tire of it. However, I've made the mistake of introducing all of my classes to this game and now it's all they want to do. Everyday I walk into the classroom and I have ten to fifteen voices shouting "Gospozha! Moje li igrya na karti?!" Which roughly translates to "Teacher! Can we play cards!?" I'll admit, I give in more often than I should, but this week I'm turning over a new leaf. Now that I have books for all of my classes, learning English will now be taking place in all of my classes. Sorry kids.

However, it hasn't been all work work work. I still manage to have fun. When I can I travel around to other volunteers' sites and hang out. Last weekend I went back to Byala Slatina to visit the three volunteers that live there and my host family. Friday night Kristin, Mary, Rob, James and myself all went to the always-wonderful LPB for dinner and drinks. It was just like the good ol' days of PST. We ate, drank, laughed and compared teaching notes and ideas. It was nice to be back there. Everything was still fresh and familiar. The next day Mary went back to Knezha but I stayed. Kristin took on the task of coloring my hair and, I must say, she did a very good job. Then we went into the town and did a little shopping. Around 6 o'clock we made the trek all the way to my host family's house on the outskirts of town. It was great to see them again! I could tell that they were excited that I had come back to visit. I was also happy when they told me that my Bulgarian had gotten better. We had my favorite Bulgarian meal (musaka, pronounced "moosaka"), shopska salada, stuffed peppers, and rakia. For dessert we had ice cream. It was delicious. I really enjoyed being able to actually have a conversation with them as well. I could finally say more than just "Az sum ot America." (I am from America) or "Az obichum tanzoovum." (I love to dance). I plan on going back pretty often. I felt like it was also good for Kristin to meet them so that she could make some more contacts in Byala Slatina.

This past weekend, some of the volunteers who live close to me and I all made a trip to Pleven to do some shopping. The goal was to find some winter clothes. I came out with a lot of food that I can't get in Koynare and a new pair of super cute brown boots. Conclusion: success. It was nice to get to hang out with all the girls and hear the stories from their schools. I feel like I have it really easy. My main complaint was that my students don't speak as much English as theirs. But, overall, I think I have it the best. There was a mix up with some of the bus times so when it came time for everyone to go back to their respective towns, my bus never came. I waited and waited and the spot remained empty. Katelyn was the last one to wait with me and once she had boarded her bus I decided that it wasn't a big deal and I would just take a train. So I walked across the street to the train station and bought a ticket for the next train to Cherven Bryag (the bigger town about 10 minutes away from Koynare) which happened to be arriving in five minutes. I board the train and find a seat without any problem. I have all of my groceries which are completely thawed out by now and I'm staying alert to find the stop for Cherven Bryag in the darkness that was slowly taking over. We were finally slowing down to my stop so I began to gather my things and move toward the door. We arrived at the station and I waited for the train to stop. But it didn't. It just kept moving (slowly, but still). I didn't know what to do. I was hanging halfway out of the door and the men working at the train station were motioning something to me and yelling words in Bulgarian that I didn't know (or I knew but I was in too much of a panic to understand). I didn't know what was happening or what to do, so I jumped, with all of my groceries and my purse, off of the moving train. I landed easier than I expected and walked past the workers very calmly as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. They all stared at me with mouths gaping open as I made my way across the tracks and up the stairs to get myself a taxi. I secretly felt like Indiana Jones or someone cool and adventurous like that. I got in a taxi and made it back home safe and sound. The next day, I barely moved off of my fouton and it was glorious.

These next two weeks should be good, though. Rory and I are putting together a Halloween party for all the kids. Rory has a group of a few students who have been helping him with his projects and they are all in on this one too. Flyers have been made, materials have been bought, costumes are being thought of, and candy is being purchased. The party will be on the Friday before Halloween, after school. Kids will be encouraged to wear costumes for a costume contest, play games, get their faces painted, make masks, and hopefully watch a Halloween movie. Saturday afternoon, some of the cafes and magazines have agreed to give out candy to little kids who are dressed up so that they can experience Trick or Treating. It's exciting how the whole town is getting involved and how they are all excited for it. I have a feeling that there will be a great turn out at the party. I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes. I'll also try to be better at updating in general. Have a good week!

Talk the Talk

It has recently been brought to my attention that some of you guys may or may not be having a difficult time trying to decipher all of my Peace Corps babble. So, this blog is solely dedicated to breaking it down for you guys so you will now be hip to the Peace Corps lingo.

Ok, this is pretty much the breakdown of Peace Corps Bulgaria. We have a Country Director (CD) and her name is Lesley and she's in charge of everything and everyone in Bulgaria. Then we have Phil and Jason. Phil is the PTO (and I honestly have no idea what that means) and Jason is in charge of finances. So those are the three big dogs.

Then, out of however many programs the entire Peace Corps offers, we only have three in Bulgaria. We have Youth Development (YD), Community Organization and Development (COD) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). I am a TEFL, obviously. It's been said that the TEFLs have the most work and the most difficult jobs out of the three programs here. I'm not trying to make you think that TEFL is better than the others...but it is. I'm not biast or anything.

Anyway, each program then has two or three Bulgarians that are in charge. Dora is the Program Director for the TEFLS and she has two assistants, Valya and Chavdar. All three of them are absolutely amazing. Actually, the entire Peace Corps Staff is pretty fantastic. I think it's really cool how Lesley, Phil and Jason are the only three Americans and everyone else is Buglarian. I like that a lot. Also on staff are three Doctors, a Safety and Security Coordinator, a Training Manager and Assistant (they were in charge of everything that happened during Pre-Service Training), and a Language Coordinator.

Also, there are different groups of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) here in Bulgaria. The group that I'm in is B26. The B26 group is everyone that left America when I did to come here. We are the 26th group to be in Bulgaria since Peace Corps got here. The group before us is B25 and so on. I think at this moment, we have some volunteers all the way back to B21, or B22. The next group that's coming in (the B27s) are coming in March, so that will be fun.

So that is the Peace Corps breakdown. Hopefully I've cleared some things up for anyone who was confused. If I did leave anything out, though, or you just have questions, leave me a comment and let me know! These questions can be about anything, not just necessarily about this post. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Blagoevgrad, AIDS and the first day of school. What do all of these things have in common?

The answer is: these are all of the reasons that I haven't written in such a long time. I apologize, but to make up for it, this blog will be extra entertaining and extra long. Grab some popcorn and a Coke and get ready for the stories of the last three weeks.

OK, first of all, we had to do some more training before they shipped us all off to school. So, all of the TEFLs and CODs were gathered together in a town south of Sofia, called Blagoevgrad. It's a gorgeous mountain town with an American University. I traveled to Blagoevgrad with Kerri, Kristin and Mary. We stopped in Sofia and stayed overnight at a hostel called Hostel Mostel. Now, this was my first every hostel experience (I haven't even seen the movies) so I had no idea what to expect. We get into the cab at the bus station and told him Hostel Mostel. When he dropped us off, I got out of the cab and grabbed my bags. I looked around for something that might resemble what I think a hostel would look like, but saw nothing of the sort. I didn't see anything besides whatever construction was happening all around the area. Luckily, one of the other girls saw a small sign above a hidden door with the name on it. We went to the door and pushed the button to be let in. We walked through the smallest door in the world and into a beautiful courtyard. The hostel was amazing. It was clean and bright and not hostel looking at all. Everyone who worked there spoke English and they were all so helpful. The guy at the front desk gave all of us maps and told us the best places to go for food, drinks and entertainment. Then he took us to our room, which turned out to be this cute apartment thing that was on another side of town. He told us that some more Peace Corps Volunteers would be joining us later that night, but they knew where they were going, so he wouldn't be back. The apartment was great, with a nice, clean bathroom, a full kitchen and a common area. We put our stuff down and hit the streets of Sofia to see what we had missed the last time. We bought some sunglasses and did some window shopping. Then we saw it. The one thing that none of us craved but we still had to have it: McDonald's. Now, I didn't eat McDonald's in the States (except for the McFlurry, but that's just on special occassions...and it's so good) but I had to have it. It was the best thing that could've happend to my tastebuds at that time. It tasted like America. After McDonald's, we did some more window shopping and then we stumbled upon Starbucks and indulged yet again. After our very American lunch, we decided to go back to the hostel and rest before we hit the town that night. We got back to the hostel to find more Volunteers there napping. Soon, though, they woke up and we all began talking. They are B25s who were coming to Blagoevgrad too. We all went out to dinner at some Italian place that was pretty good and then we parted ways with the 25s. The four of us went on a journey to find a candlelight bar. It's this bar that's down an alley (not a creepy alley) and in a barn-looking building. The entire bar is lit by candles and they play jazz music. The candles are melted onto the tables, columns, and stairs. It looks really cool because the candles are all different colors and the wax all melts together and looks really cool. If any boy in Bulgaria wants to impress his lady, he should take her there. The atmosphere was very relaxed and not bar-like. The only problem was that after a while it got pretty hot in there with the combination of alcohol and candles. We stayed there for a while until we decided that we should sleep because we had more traveling to do the next day.

The next day, we got up and went to the main courtyard of the hostel for breakfast (breakfast and dinner are always included with the prices). Then we cabbed it to the bus station again and got on our bus to Blagoevgrad. On the bus we ran into more Volunteers and we all traveled together. The bus ride wasn't too bad. I fell asleep for most of it and we were in Blagoevgrad before I knew it. We had to take taxis to the hotel that we were all staying in, which wasn't quite in town. By the time we got there, there was a pretty decent sized group of us there. It was good to see everyone again and hear stories about everyone's permanant sites. A small group of us went to the Mehana for lunch. When "Mehana" is written in Cyrillic, it looks a lot like "Mexican" and the first time we saw it, we thought it was a Mexican restaurant and we all got really excited, until we realized the unfortunate truth. A Mehana is a traditional Bulgarian food restaurant and is the last thing you want when you think you're going to get Mexican. Anyway, thsi time we knew what we were getting ourselves into, so it was good. By the time we got done eating, it was time for our first session. We walked back to the hotel to find over half of our B26 group together again. We had a brief opening session, explaining all of the things that we would be doing in the next week. After that we broke into the groups that we would be teaching with for that week. My group consisted of Jackie, Lexi, Kevin and myself and our counterpart was a woman named Dima (she is the actual counterpart of a B25 and she's fabulous). We called ourselves "The Dream Team".

The following week was filled with teaching in the mornings: The four of us taught eleventh graders and they were fantastic. All of them spoke English very well and they responded well to almost everything that we did. They really liked playing games and I enjoyed watching the others teach. Dima was very supportive of everything we did and took away some of our games and strategies to use in her own classes. At the end of the week, all of the classes had to do some sort of presentation infront of all of the others. All of the classes were great (ours were the best, of course). The eighth graders did the "Thriller" dance, which was amazing. The ninth graders sang the Bulgarian national anthem and the American national anthem, which gave me chills because it had been so long since the last time I heard it. I'm pretty sure I saw a tear in Kevin's (aka Captain America) eye. The tenth graders did a country line dance and then two to the boys beat-boxed, which was pretty epic. The other eleventh grade class did a spoof on "House" and then ended with an acoustic version of "Bad Romance". Our class went last and we did a murder mystery skit in which Lady Gaga killed everyone and took all of the money. The kids had a blast doing it and it showed off what we had taught them that week.

The afternoon was jam-packed with sessions: They were lead by B25s, Bulgarian counterparts or Peace Corps Staff. We learned about different teaching techniques, classroom management strategies, ways to make grammar fun, and just about Bulgarian schools in general. Most of them were interesting and helpful. The final full day in Blagoevgrad was spent going over different ways to raise AIDS awareness. We spent all day doing different activities that we'll be able to take back to our permanant sites. There was also a session on how to put on a condom, using a banana and you would think that adults could get through it without laughing. Wrong. I guess some things you never grow out of.

The nights were used for socializing, drinking and playing games: There was a huge front patio that was used nightly for hours of Apples to Apples, Big Booty, and sing-a-longs. It was nice because pretty much everyone hung out with each other. It wasn't as cliquey as our group appeared to be at HUBS and whatnot. Tuesday night everyone went into the town to see "Inception" in the theatre that was on the American University campus. There were only, like five people in the whole theatre that were not Peace Corps Volunteers. It was pretty hilarious. The movie was also excellent. Wednesday was Mary's birthday, so that night all of our PST group (and some extras) went into the town for dinner and drinks. It was a lot of fun and I think it meant a lot to her that we all came together. Later that night, some of the CODs came out and I stayed out with them because TEFLs rarely get to hang out with CODs during the day.

On the way back from our week of Blagoevgrad fun, Lexi, Kerri and I went back through Sofia. Lexi had to make a pit-stop at the Peace Corps Office and we stayed at Hostel Mostel again. We had told Lexi how great it was and she wanted to experience it for herself. This time we stayed in an apartment that was smaller and closer to the main building. We went to the main building for dinner and found out that a bunch of people were going to the park for some kind of music festival. We decided that we should go too. Why not? We found ourselves walking across the entire city with people from all around the world. There was a guy from California, some girls from Austrailia, some guys from Finland, a guy from Germany, some girls from Austria, and some boys from Britain. It was a blast. We went to the festival and then back to the candle light bar and then to some other bar/cafe thing and then back to the hostel for an all-nighter. It was great. The next day, however, was not as much fun. We did go to Subway and I finally got Ranch Dressing. It was like heaven in my mouth, even if we did have to walk halfway across the city to get it. After Subway, we went back to the hostel to relax until it was time for our buses and we ended up meeting a guy from North Carolina! He went to UNC and his cousin lives in Fayetteville and she's someone that I know, who went to Jack Britt-how weird is that!? Talk about a small world. After that excitement, we went to the bus station and got on our respective buses to go back to our towns.

The next two days I spent resting because that Wednesday was the first day of school for teachers. I had no idea what to expect, I've never been a teacher before. I spent time picking out my outfit and getting all of my supplies ready to lesson plan or something productive. I got to the school and my Director asked me where I had been all week. I freaked out because 1) I had just spent a week with all Americans, speaking nothing but English and I had no idea what she was saying; and 2) This was the first day. She saw the paniced look on my face and told me that she was joking. She knew that I had been in Blagoevgrad. I almost died. Then I went into the Teachers' Room and found my counterpart. The Director gave some long speech that I didn't understand and then she gave out what classes we would all be teaching. After that, we all just sat there. Eventually there were snacks, but mostly just sitting. The rest of the week followed a simiar pattern. I got there and sat. That was pretty much it. I used my time from 8am to 12 noon studing Buglarian and mastering my skills at Sudoku.

The next week, I went with Rory to Dolna Banya for and AIDS camp training. Another B25 Volunteer was putting on an AIDS camp in her town and some other volunteers were invited to help and to learn how to do it so that they can do it in their sites. Rory thought it would be a good idea if I went with him so that I would be able to help him and so that I could physically help him carry back all of the supplies. I agreed because I thought it would be a good idea and it was better than sitting around the Teachers' Room doing nothing. This volunteer, Von, who put on the camp was awesome. She put so much into it and you could tell. We got there the evening before and she gave us a quick rundown of how things would go the next day. She had all of these activities and games that were educational, but fun. We played icebreakers, did trivia, jeopardy, made anatomy figures, played condom volleyball, played regular volleyball, soccer and dodgeball, and wrapped it up with a review. It was fantastic. You could tell that the kids enjoyed it and that they learned a lot too. Each kid got a T-shirt and you could tell that that was a big deal for them, too. All of Von's counterparts at the chitalishte (she's a Youth Development volunteer) were eager to help and were so supportive. The other volunteers that were there were also all B25s and they were all great. It will be exciting to see try to put this thing together in Koynare.

That weekend, there was actually a 5K in Koynare that is also a fundraiser for the town. There was a pretty good turnout. Rory and I participated along with other volunteers that came from nearby to support us. I didn't run the whole thing, but my goal for next year is to be able to run the entire race. I probably need to start now. Either way, the fact that Americans were there was a huge deal and we ended up being in the newspaper (both in Koynare and Sofia), on the news, and on the Bulgarian sport website. It was pretty cool.

Today was the first day of school. I was slightly nervous going into it because I literally had no idea what to expect. I had heard that the day was mostly just a celebration and that I wouldn't have to teach, but all day I was paranoid that I would somehow get stuck infront of a class with nothing prepared. But, not to worry, that didn't happen. The day began with a ceremony in the courtyard thing. The mayor spoke along with some teachers and some guy in robes who kind of reminded me of that rapping rabbi. He sang some kind of jam that I couldn't understand or hear because the mic was bad. All he was missing was a bass line. After the ceremony, we went to the Teachers' Room and hung out for a little bit. I was with the woman that I would be team teaching with. She's not my counterpart or the woman that I met in Vratsa at the Counterpart Conference, but she's great. Her name is Nina and she speaks English and she'll teach the ninth graders with me. So far, so good. Anyway, after sitting around for a while, we went to the cantine (or cafeteria) and there was a banquet layout for all of the teachers. It was so nice. There was food, drinks and dancing. It was a regular party. Today more of the teachers showed interest in me, which I appreciated. Maybe by the end of the year they'll all speak to me. We'll see.

Tomorrow, is the hard part, though. It's the first day of actual classes. I have a lesson plan prepared so we'll see how it goes. The first day is always easy, though. No actual assignments, just icebreakers. Wish me luck!

I am the Master of all the bugs.

So, one of the things that I've noticed about living on your own is that you have to do everything yourself. I have to cook for myself, do my own laundry, clean everything by myself and kill every single bug that I find in my apartment by myself. It's exhausting! As of right now, I'm not very good at most of the things on this list. I am, however, insanely talented at killing bugs. I owe this, in large part, to Leslie Dent, who is my best friend and my college roommate. She had a rather irrational fear of all things with more than four legs. Whenever a bug would come into our room, Leslie would screech and then repeat "EVAN! KILL IT!" until I had successfully squashed the life out of the little guy. We were both usually never satisfied until it had received at least three whacks of a shoe, magazine, book, clock (or whatever just happened to by lying around). Because of this training, I have been rather successful at keeping my apartment bug free. Every now and then one slips out from between my fingers (not literally, though, because that would be gross) but overall, I would say that my apartment is one with not a lot of bugs. I even killed one on my white walls and left the mess there as a warning to all bugs who enter: This is the fate you will have. So, thank you, Leslie for giving me the ability to be the Master of all the bugs. Maybe within the next two years, I'll figure out how to do all of that other "living on your own stuff."

This last week, I feel has been pretty productive. I started tutoring a small group of kids (that has somehow managed to get smaller and smaller by the day) of all ages in the mornings. We meet at a cafe and then we walk to the school for a rousing hour of English learning! Originally, the session was supposed to last for about two hours; it didn't take me long to realize that two hours was entirely too long for, both, the kids and myself. The ages varied from preschool to a girl going into the eighth grade. Their skill levels were equally as varied. Some of them know a decent amount of English so that direction giving and explinations are understood. But, the smaller kids have absolutely no idea what is going on. I try to incorporate some games so that they'll have fun too, but I think the older kids think that the games are stupid and they ask me questions about grammar and stuff. Which reminds me, I need to look up a bunch of grammar stuff on the Internet before our session tomorrow. By now most of the smaller kids have stopped coming. Only one boy, named Bobby, remains. I hope he can stick it out. Rory came and taught one day for me and did a great job. I think it will definitely be easier once my Bulgarian gets better.

Today is my first day of Bulgarian tutoring with Rory's girlfriend, Cveti (Svety). She tutored him and she's really the only one around who knows enough English to be a suitable tutor. I was originally going to have two tutors. One of them was going to be the Bulgarian Language teacher at my school. Which would have probably been pretty cool, except that she doesn't speak any English. Problem. The second was going to the my Counterpart, Polya, who is another English teacher at my school. She speaks English but isn't confident with it and I'm not confident with my Bulgarian all the time. Problem. So, it came to be concluded that Cveti would be my tutor and soon I will be fluent. Problem solved.

Last Friday I went to some beautiful waterfalls with a Bulgarian family. The woman's name is Betty and she works at the cafe that I always go to. She, her husband, Kracimiere (Kraci for short) and their daughter, Dani have pretty much adopted Rory, Cveti, and myself. Friday was Dani's 14th birthday and they were going to these waterfalls and then to go to Pleven to go see the fourth and final installment of the "Shrek" saga. Betty was nice enough to offer me and invitation, so I was nice enough to accept. These waterfalls were about two hours away and another couple were coming with us. I sat in the front seat (which was kind of awkward), Dani had her iPod in, and there was little conversation. It was in the morning, though, so I didn't mind the silence. When we got to the waterfalls and got out of the car, I was almost knocked over by the overwhelmingness of the heat. I was not prepared and had worn skinny jeans and my [fabulous] lime green Pumas. I could only hope that it would be cooler closer to the water. We bought our tickets and began to make our way up the trail. It started out simple enough with a little creek thing and some rapids. I was forced into taking a picture with an unsuspecting Bulgarian family. Betty wanted me to get close to the water for the picture, but there was a family there. I tried to get as close as I could without them thinking that I was trying to join their family. The picture is awkward. The pictures from the falls are also all on Facebook, if you're interested.

We proceeded upward and it became obvious that these waters were open for anyone to just get on in. I wished that someone would have told me that so that I wouldn't have worn the skinny jean and [fabulous] tennis shoes. Just looking at the water and not being able to get in was like torture. Betty didn't hesitate and was walking all up in the falls. The woman from the other couple joined her and I was sad. The further up we hiked, the more epic the falls became. It was truly a beautiful place. If I can ever remember the name and you come visit me, we can go there. Be sure to wear clothes that will allow you to get in the water. At one point, though, there was a set of stairs that we had to climb. These stairs, though, they might as well have been a ladder, they were almost completely vertical. Some of the boards were a little loose. It was kind of insane. After we explored all of the falls and hiked up to see where the stream began, we had some lunch. It was so hot and I was so tired from the hike that the last thing I wanted to do was eat. I just wanted to drink water and only that. There was a little restauraunt in the park thing, so we ate there. I ordered a salad and Betty told me that that wasn't enough food. I ordered a salad and some french fries and Betty said that I needed to try this bread thing with some kind of spice and cyrene on it. I ordered a salad, french fries and that bread thing. Betty said that I needed to have some chicken because she knows how much I like eating chicken. I ordered a salad, french fries, that bread thing and chicken nuggets. Then I needed two cokes and a bottle of water to wash it down. I assumed that everyone else had ordered similar portions of food. I was wrong. Everyone else had somehow managed to only order what they were able to eat. I looked at my four plates of food and my heart dropped. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to eat all of this. I tried my best, but alas, I failed. I split my chicken nuggest with everyone at the table (except Dani because she's a vegetarian), put a dent in my french fries, ate a couple bites of the bread thing, and finished almost all of my salad. I think Betty was disappointed. I'm sorry Betty. I just couldn't do it. My stomach would have exploded and that would not have been pretty.

After lunch, we headed to Pleven to see "Shrek"...in Bulgarian. Did I mention that before? Because it's a kid's movie, it was dubbed in Bulgarian and it didn't have subtitles. "Shrek" is still pretty funny even in another language that you can barely understand. The movie was also in 3D, which made it even more...special. Dani liked it, though, and that's really all that matters since it was her birthday. All in all, I'd say it was a good day.

Saturday evening, I got my washing machine and got it all hooked up and everything. It was one of the most exciting things that's happened to me since I've been in Koynare. I spent all of Sunday resting my mind from all of the Bulgarian that had been spoken to me on Friday and Saturday and doing all of laundry that I hadn't been able to do since I got to Koynare. I'm telling you, that machine came just in time because I was running out of clothes (which is kind of a feat for me).

Now I'm off to become fluent in Bulgarian! Wish me luck!

"You don't have a refrigerator, a washing machine, or internet...but you have MTV!"

I'm sorry that I've been so negligent of my postings but PST is quite the time-suck. But, I am happy to report that I'm COMPLETELY finished with PST and I'm now OFFICIALLY a Peace Corps Volunteer! Whoo! The past two months really haven't been that bad and I managed to make some good friends in that time. I'll miss my PST group, but I'm not going to lie, I'm really really really excited to have my own apartment in a new village.

Though PST has a reputation for being the most intense training...ever, we still had some really good times these last few weeks. We had to do a community project for Byala Slatina, so we thought some sort of festival thing would be a good idea. We had to meet with the Vice Mayor and propose our ideas and be willing to listen if she had any suggestions or be ready with another idea in case she hated ours. We went to meet with her and she was, actually, excited about our idea. She thought it was a good idea and liked that it would give the youth something to do instead of just going to the cafes and drinking. We also managed to get an invite to a dinner that evening with a bunch of youth from Byala Slatina, as well as youth from Romania and Serbia. We gladly accepted the invitation and made plans to meet back in front of the municipality (obshtina) later that evening. Wehn we came back to the obshtina, we found people dressed in traditional Bulgarian clothing and knew that it was going to be quite the part (koopn [yes, it's pronounced like "coupon", we had a lot of fun with this]). We followed the Vice Mayor into the reception hall and watched as everyone in the room turned to look at all the Americans. We stood in front of everyone for what felt like forever, but was probably really only about 15 minutes. The Vice Mayor was talking to all the guests and all we could do was wait until we were told what to do. We ended up getting front row seats for the show with the Vice Mayor. There was a salad that we pretended to eat and a fantastic show of dancing and singing from the three countries represented there. The dinner didn't even start until after 8pm, so none of us could stay for the actual entree. We gave our regards to the Vice Mayor and made our way back to our homes.

The actual community festival ended up being a success as well. We had about five different stations of activities. We had food and drinks, crafts, bobbing for apples, card games, and American football. We started it later in the day because it was so hot; we wanted to make sure people would actually show up. We also had music playing (that was my job) so that it would get people's attention. We had planned to end the festival with soem games with water balloons because it was so hot. We started out doing a water balloon toss to see what team could stand the furthest apart and toss their balloon without breaking it. As soon as the first balloon broke, though, it was war. Those kids went crazy and started throwing balloons at everyone. It was great. Once all of the balloons were busted, that didn't stop them and they started filling up cups and wash bins full of water and throwing the water onto people. It was the best thing ever. Everyone had a good time and there wasn't a single person who walked away from that fiasco dry. Even Tanya got a little wet. All of the Trainees had water guns that we had bought at a little store. Those were fun and I plan on using mine in the classroom for management purposes.

That weekend we had a "na gosti" at Vinny's house. A na gosti is when you go over to someone's house to hang out. Bulgarians go all out, though. There's almost always food and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and you always stay for at least three hours. We all wanted to hang out with Vinny's host dad and see this man in action. His host mother had been preparing all weekend for our dinner and it was amazing. We had rakia, homemade wine, beer, shopska salada (the national salad), lutinitza (peppers and tomatoes mashed up and put on bread), bread, bbq ribs, chicken, banitza (national pastry), and cake. It was all delicious. We all talked and laughed and watched the final World Cup game. It was great and Vinny's host dad definitely lived up to our expectations. He ddn't bother with wearing a shirt and I don't think I ever saw him without a cigarette in his mouth or a glass of beer in his hand. He and Vinny have a special relationship where they don't really talk to each other, but throw insults at each other. It was hilarious and you can tell how much they actually adore each other through their insults. Vinny's host family is truly amazing.

The next week, we took a group trip to Sofia to see the Peace Corps Office Headquarters. It was pretty legit. The offices were nice and you have to have and ID to get in. It was funny because the first thing you see when you walk in was the American flag and Kevin (a.k.a. Captain America goes "Man, I haven't seen one of those in a while." It was funny, but true. I thought it was pretty refreshing. the offices had everything you could ever need. We met all of the people who work there and everyone is so nice and supportive. We really couldn't ask for a better staff. There was also a library both for resources and for pleasure. We were with the group from Popitza, so we all decided to have lunch together. One of the women in the office told us about and Indian food place that was in Sofia. Everyone went crazy and decided that we would be eating there. I'm not too big on Indian food and all I really wanted was to go to Starbucks and have a frappuccino. We went to the Indian restaurant and I got some sort of chicken and spinach thing that was pretty good. Afterwards our group went one way and Popitza went another. I got my Starbucks and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It tasted just like back home! We were walking back to the bust station and getting ready to get on the trolley when Mary said "Evan, look over there!" I turned my head and saw two black guys standing by the trolley stop as well. My day was made right then and there. As much as I like Bulgaria, it isn't very diverse and I miss that in my life. I couldn't have asked for anything more from my trip to the capital than Starbucks and diversity.

This last week we had to take our LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). It's to make sure that we'll be able to survive in our permanant site. I'm glad to say that I passed with little to no problem. We just got into the room with the interviewer and talk. We talk about ourselves, our families, our homes (both here and in America), and our daily routines. They just let us talk until we can't talk anymore. Sometimes they ask you questions to help you along. Then you have a role play where you have to talk through a scenario that may or may not be something that you will actually have to deal with at your permanant site. These role plays can be anything from "invite your friend to a party saying when, where and what to bring" to "someone broke into your apartment and took all your stuff, now you have to call the police". I had to ask about an apartment that I was thinking of buying. I asked about the size, if I had internet connection, what floor it was on, if it had a balcony, and how much it costs. I was pretty satisfied with my performance. I mean, I know there's still a lot to learn, but I feel like I'll be fine until I can find a tutor.

We also had our very last HUB on Thursday. It was pretty much just a wrap up of everything we had gone over for the past two months. I think they also used it as one last time to actually get to see some people. It wasn't bad, except that it was so hot! I don't think there was a single breeze at all that day and every single window in the room was open. All 85 of us were just sitting there sweating and there was nothing anyone could do about it. After the HUB, we all headed to the restaurant one last time for drinks. James and Rob joined us for a farewell. It was a nice way to end PST.

The next day was our Swear-In Ceremony. Mary's host mother drove Mary, Jackie and myself to Vratsa for the ceremony. We took a group picture, got pins, swore in, listened to speeches and said our good-byes. The American Ambassador was there and he gave a speech as well. We nominated two volunteers to give a speech and it was very well done. They were the two volunteers who scored the highest on the LPU so they wrote it in English and Bulgarian. Then one of the volunteers sung a song in Bulgarian that had all of the Bulgarians in the audience in tears. It was a nice ceremony. Afterwards there was food but not everyone could stay and hang out because some of them had a whole day of travel ahead of them. We all said our good-byes and went our separate ways. Mary and I went back to Byala Slatina for one more night because neither one of us were going very far the next day. That night, my host family fixed me an amazing going away dinner. We had rakia, wine, juice, shopska salada, chicken, potatoes, and creme caramel. It was beautiful and so delicious. They also got me a beautiful scarf for a going away present. Nadka also wrote down how to make the creme caramel (and some of my other Bulgarian favorites) so that I'll be able to make it when I have people over for a na gosti. The only problem is that it's in Bulgarian...so I may be needing some help with that.

The next day Nadka and Hristo drove me to Koynare to begin my two years as a volunteer. We met Rory and his girlfriend and they all helped me get settled in. My apartment is nice. It's in the same block as Rory and it's right in the center of town. It's very close to the school and the chitalishte. I have a kitchen, a bathroom (with a toilet and a shower), a balcony and a living room/bedroom. When I get everything completely organized and unpacked I will give a virtual tour of my new crib. My couch doubles as a bed and I'm especially excited because I can actually flush my toilet paper. That's a luxury that I never thought I'd be so excited about. Nadka went with me to buy cleaning supplies and stuff like that. I still need to get a refrigerator and a washing maching, though. She and Hristo also gave me some tomatoes and cucmbers so that I wouldn't go hungry over the weekend. We said our good-byes and I thanked them for everything and promised and I would call and come back to visit. I honestly could not have asked for a better host family. I spent the rest of the day getting as settled in as I could. I still don't have clothes hangers so I can't actually unpack yet. I went out for dinner and drinks with Rory and his girlfriend and I feel like these next two years will be good. This is only the beginning of a great adventure!