Sir, Why are you taking my marmalade?

I arrived home Friday night after a five-day trip to Thailand. The purpose of this trip was for medical evacuation due to a needed surgery. I arrived last Sunday after a detour though London...this will come into play later on. My first medical visit was on Monday. I go in for my appointment, which begins with an ultrasound. Well oddly enough, the purpose of going all the way to Thailand appears to have well disappeared. The polyp that required the medical evac had magically disappeared. Well even though this was no longer present, something was causing my body to act so abnormally. Further hormone tests were done only to show that everything was normal......but there not. The doctor decided to put me on medication to see if it would correct the previous issue otherwise I would have to come back and at that point surgery could be an option...........uh go back to Thailand......why not that was a quick 12 hour flight.
After this news I only had 3 more days in the country so I tried to make the most of what I had. I spent one day traveling up and down their rapid transit system checking out all the monuments, shopping areas and historical sites. The next day I went to lunch with several previous PCV's who currently work and live in Bangkok. It was a great time. Funny though, they seemed more interested in why a Bulgarian PCV was sent all the way to Thailand for treatment but happy to have me just the same. One of the attendees was an original Thailand 1 PCV. At that time, volunteers actually served in the city of Bangkok. Later that day I went to their version of China town and then took an accidental boat ride up and down the canal at sunset. Turned out to be one of the best parts of my trip. On my last day I had planned to see the massive outdoor market in the center of Bangkok, except it really isn’t very lively during the week. I decided to go and see the Grand Palace. This was the perfect day to go since just before my arrival in country the King's sister had died and this was the day of her funeral, so it was very active around the palace and I didn’t have to pay to get in. The Grand Palace was amazing. Temples and shrines covered in gold, jewels, and marble. Everything was so beautiful. The main structure housed an emerald shrine of Buddha. No one could take pictures inside or wear shoes. Everyone was silent and spent this time in prayer or meditation. This was the end of my Far East trip and headed back to the airport that night.
When going through security I was put in a bit of a negative mood. I had purchased marmalade for another PCV and had it in my suitcase. Well when I went through security they saw it on the x ray. It was removed from my baggage and thrown away. Normally I would have just said whatever and went on......but I actually argued with the guy taking it from me. I had originally bought the marmalade in advance incase I didn’t have time on my flight back through London, not only that but this stuff wasn’t cheep. I found myself trying to get the guy to let me keep it, explaining that I had brought it into his airport why the heck wouldn’t he allow me to take it out. Finally he had enough of my ranting and just threw it away in front of me. What I wanted to say but didn’t was that he was taking a jar of marmalade from me but somehow had no problem with the straight pin on my coat, the razor in my carry on or the flowers I had purchased containing foreign seeds that I would be taking into another country........but I'm glad we got rid of the dangerous marmalade, who knows what I could do with that on board.
After landing in Sofia I decided to take the 6:30 train back to my town. While in the car, I started chatting with the conductor about the usual and then he asked me randomly if I wanted to ride up with the drivers of the train.....well heck yeah I want to. So for about 30 min or so I was hanging out with the drivers making small talk. Later I had my picture with them but I'm sure they werent as excited as I was..........anything to amuse the American.
Well that was my trip to Thailand in a nutshell.

My life is a circus

Where do I start? Everyday my office is a constant in and out of random people. We have women coming in to show off their new hairdo or their new boots, you name it. Men come in to flirt with our Secretaries and offer to have them sit on their lap. At least 4-5 times a day women walk in offering me their sons.........yes I mean they want me to be their daughter in law, and they are very blunt about it. So far these men/boys have ranged in ages from 20-35. Looks like I have options!

Several people come in everyday in order to give one of our secretaries a massage.....One would think she has serious medical problems. The women in my office do nothing more then make coffee and tea, talk on their phone and gossip about other people in the building. One man comes in yelling "Hey America, Kak Ci - How are you? This is now his official entrance. One woman from the Information office has been telling me she wants me to speak english with her daughter. Just the other day she brings her in. Rather then just meet her and talk for a minute or two she drops her off and says "Here, you two talk for a while and I'll be back later to pick her up." Hahah, I've become a babysitting service for kids wanting to improve their english skills. As if this wasnt enough to keep me entertained, I have befriended a man in the Municipality who likes to SKYPE me while at work, constantly. He sends constant messages (mainly Emicons) all day long. Just today I walked into my office to see that he had left me a message last night that read : (Hi Cynty, send me please this your photo. i am alone............without you.........you may be in home........) Hmmmmm. What do you say to that?

I just recently found out that my counterpart is being fired wrongfully by the mayor in my municipality. What does this mean?............I may or may not have a new counterpart in the municipality, I may be moved to a new organization in Karlovo or I can be moved to another town. In addition to this I am still waiting for an apartment after 3 months. The Muni I work for has been claiming the entire time that they will have my apartment ready at least 2 dozen times over this period. At this point nothing has been done on any of the apartments they have suggested. Nothing!

On Saturday I will be flying to Thailand for an operation. Why Thailand? This is what I keep hearing. Apparently flying a volunteer half way around the world is protocol for Peace Corps. The journey should be interesting. I'm going though London first......take a look at a map and see if that makes sense to you. I should only be in Thailand for 10 days and then I will return to work. What will be going on here when I get back........that's another question. The director of my PC COD will be coming personally at the end of the month to discuss with my Muni my future in this org or lack there of.

I have joined a Bulgarian Folk dancing group. I was very excited / anxious on Monday for my first lesson. I show up in full dance attire to a table of people in Jeans and sweaters. The dance team is celebrating the name day of our dance instructor. So no dance class. I was waved over and sat right next to the instructor. I look around in confusion why no one had bags with dance clothes. About an hour into the party I ask the woman to my right when we would be dancing.....she responds with "Wednesday." This is about the time she realizes that I am dressed to dance. She asked me why I was dressed this way......I quickly responded with " I will be going for a run this evening" so as to save face. This would have been a fine answer except that our town had been covered in ice.

To many of you this may seem like a crazy lifestyle I find myself in.........Nope this is normal Peace Corps life. Loving every minute of it.

Bulgarian Christmas and New Years

The craziness and running around of Christmas and New Years has made it difficult to post recent blogs.
Just before Christmas, my roommate and I had a pre-Christmas party with the Youth Parliament. It went really well except for the initial issue of them fussing about the lack of alcohol and too much house music. Like any dinner party, it started earlier then expected and we were missing half the necessary kitchen wear needed to make the food, but all in all it was a great time. The party came to an end around 3 am.......and I needed to catch a train early in the morning in order to go to Boboshevo for Christmas.
I found that I didn't have to take the horribly early 6 am bus out of Karlovo to Sofia. I found a 9:30 train that took less time, who knew! While waiting for the train I saw a man I met at the municipality Christmas party and we spoke for a few minutes about our holiday plans. I met with Joan in Sofia, a woman I trained with in Boboshevo. She and I took a bus headed for Dupnitsa. On the way out of the city her host dad called saying he would be at the bus station to pick us up in his new car. Hooray for saving money! When he got to Dupnitsa, we met up with her host dad (Stephan) and as I was getting into the car, he was telling me that he had seen Jim. I thought maybe I misunderstood and he wanted to know if Jim would be coming to Boboshevo. He explained that Jim was at the Bus station. I let Joan and Stephan go on and I met up with Jim so that we could roam around the old Dup for an hour or so.........since we hadn't been there in over two months.
I saw a few other volunteers that I hadn't seen since swearing in or Thanksgiving in Kazanluk. While in Dupnitsa, I saw traditional Bulgrian dancers dressed in full costume. These are called Kukeri. They wear furry costumes and full head masks with scary faces to drive away evil spirits.
On my way to Boboshevo I rode the bus with the previous volunteer at Stephan's house, Eric and the first volunteer at my baba's home, Abby. I had never met Abby before, but only heard great things from baba and her neighbor baba eyulka. It was so amazing being back in Boboshevo for Christmas. Though it didn't quite feel like Christmas had come, being surrounded by family and friends was what made it special. It had the feeling of coming home from college for the holidays.

On Christmas Eve, Bulgarians celebrate this day without meat. For lunch I had Bop (bean Soup) and Dinner was a feast of banitsa, bop, stuffed peppers, bread, rice wrapped with cabbage and of course rakia and wine. My baba had spent hours that morning preparing two types of banitsa, onion and pumpkin. The pumpkin is called Teek Vaneek. It's a little piece of heaven. At dinner a prayer was read by baba's son-in-law. This is read only at Christmas Eve dinner. I'm assuming it was a prayer remembering the sacrifice of Jesus and how we celebrated that night without meat. Just after this he broke the large round bread that had been specially made for this night. A piece went to everyone at the table and one to the
house, which could also mean for those who had passed. Within the
bread was money. Whomever found the money in their piece of bread would have good financial luck in the upcoming year. I had a one stutinki piece in mine. Now I can just sit back and wait for the dollars / Leva to roll in. I was told by some of the other volunteers that their parents used incense to bless each of the rooms in their house. My host family is not religious at all, but this is not uncommon for Bulgarians after religion was banned during communist times. Christmas tends to be a rather newly celebrated holiday. Christmas trees are only sold days before and only one or two presents are exchanged.
Christmas Day I spend most of the time curled up next to the stove and reading a book. We had a lunch with Baba's family and exchanged presents. I received candy, pantyhose and candles. In the evening I went to Rila. I had been invited for dinner at Jim's host parents home, so I traveled there and his host mom had prepared an amazing amount of food. I wondered if I would pop. I brought three large boxes of candy and a rose oil made in Karlovo. I think maybe she felt obligated to give me something in return so she gave me more pantyhose and some of her owned canned food.
I headed back to Karlovo the day after Christmas. I "worked" for two days and then visited Jim in Chirpan for my weekend out of site. It was a great opportunity to just relax and enjoy the weekend without running all over the place. We made cookies, which some were later given to his baba at the local fruit and veggie stand. We also sat in a local cafe just relaxing and talking about events prior to Peace Corps.
For New Years I had several options up in the air. There was a possibility of going to Plovdiv with friends from Karlovo, spending it with a woman who I work with at the municipality and her family or just going to the center at midnight to hear the speech of the mayor and horo dancing. At the last minute I received a phone call from friends in Karlovo who had reservations at a Club in Plovdiv and wanted me to join. I went, with only an hour to get ready. Other then being a passenger on the Bulgarian roadways in a car I know was going over 120 km/hr it was a great night. At midnight champagne bottles went off all around the room, spraying everyone and everything, followed by horo dancing all around the bar and outside. Fireworks went off days before New Years, but the day of felt like a war zone. After midnight and still large BOOMS! and BANGS! have kept my heart racing and my ears ringing. I got home around 4 am so today has been rather lazy but somewhat productive. That was my holiday in a nutshell.