Three Days of Christmas Parties

After three days of Christmas Parties and dancing at the disco you would think I would have trouble being amongst the living. On Thursday night we had the Municipality Christmas Kupon. This was so much fun. I danced the Horo, drank wine and rakia and met with all of the members of the muni all evening long. I was told my horo skills were great..............for an American butchering their cherished folk dance. I danced along with the Mayor and Vice Mayor. I even slow danced. This was quite the experience. Thankfully they only asked me questions and made comments I could understand. I met with a Turkish man who works with local youth in Karlovo. He said only "I want you to run." Uhhhh....this could mean several things. I assume he wants me to be involved in an event that requires running.....or he can see how eating banitsa has affected my thighs. One of my last slow dances was with a local artist. He has a daughter studying in Cleveland, Ohio. He had made a sketch of me and gave it to me when he asked me to dance. Very flattering. I left the party with my counterpart after 2AM. Thankfully the Mayor allowed all of the Municipality staff to come into work late the next day............rather then 9am, 10am.

It has begun to snow in Karlovo. It looks so pretty with everything covered in white.....but it is sooooo cooold. Yesterday I gave a presentation with my sitemate and a local volunteer in Sopot. It went over a little shaky but it was expected to only be both the YP from Karlovo and Sopot, but it ended up also being a local dance team and their mayor. It was a nice experience meeting with the nearby YP.

After the presentation my site mate and I went with the Karlovo YP to Azarros, a local cafe/disco. It was while getting dressed for the disco a bit of confusion took place. About 2 weeks ago a guy who my counterpart and my language tutors husband know well came to my office to chat with some old friends. I only met with him for a minute, but I was able to explain why I was in Bulgaria and where I was from. He has spent several years working in the states...so he speaks english very well. My cp gave him my number because he wanted to meet with me to improve his english skills. He called for the first time last night but when I answered I thought I was speaking with one of the students from the YP. He asked to meet me for coffee at 8. About 15 min later one of the Yp students did call saying they were already at Azarros.....so I ditched the idea about coffee. When walking out the door my phone rang. The voice asked "Its 8pm why arent you here?" I couldnt figure out what was going on. I finally realized it was was Miril, the friend of my CP. He was at the cafe I had previously agreed to go to, where I was late to meet him, though I didnt know it. After apoligizing for the confusion for 15 minutes we had drinks and talked about development in Bulgaria. The brother of my language tutor's husband and his friend came later. From this cafe we went to a bar to meet up with more of their friends, including my LT's husband......I had to ask him if he was ok with this social situation. I found myself laughing when I sat down at the bar greeted with a line of condoms.......forward but honest to the reality of bar activities. We went from here to the local disco, Opium. I only stayed for an hour since I had to work the next morning (today). I have been asked to hang out with my new found "gentlemen" for new years in Plovidiv.....maybe. This depends on on what the kids from the YP are up to.

Today was me running all over the place. I went into work in the morning for only 15 minutes before I had to go to the Karlovo Restaurant to meet with the intellect school for their Christmas party. I gave a quick introduction to about 40 little kids and then they had lunch and cake and we spent the rest of the morning playing games and dancing. It was so much fun spending time with this group. I will be joining their classes next week before their holiday break.
Ok long day and I'm baking chicken....Peace!