Spring Holidays

Saturday March 1st was Baba Marta Day in Bulgaria. As I explained in my last post, this is a day to pass out bracelets for good luck and good health. I spent the whole day tying on bracelets, wishing good health and enjoying the amazing weather. I might of gotten carried away with warmer temperatures. I decided to sport a sun dress and flip flops. When my first counterpart saw me on the street she said that I would cause the weather to change and we would have cold rainy weather.........since my outfit was premature. Right up until the end of the day I was exchanging bracelets. Since this took place on the weekend, the entire town was exchanging for most of the week.

Monday March 3rd was the Bulgarian Independence day. I had been invited to join in on the festivities that took place in the center. The Municipality leadership and employees as well as the local military and my dance group came together in the center to celebrate their freedom from Turkish rule. The next day represents a morning of those who died for the freedom of their country.

I just happened to have a meeting in the Municipality that day to discuss my apartment situation. Before the meeting I was shuffled into the main entrance where all the Municipality workers stood with lit candles and the local monks cleansing the building for the new leadership/new year and also to remember the dead..............like our memorial day, only just after our independence day.

Saturday March 8th was Women's Day (March is women's month). This day has alot of symbolism. Not only does is it a day to recognize all the efforts of women but also it follows the continuation of holidays in Spring that celebrate new life, a new start and good health. Women give life and maybe even one can connect women with keeping the family / children healthy. This day began with a festival in our center to with Kukerie dancers. Five of our villages were represented in the National Kukerie festival only the weekend before. All 8 of our villages were represented with their kukerie groups this day. Amazing costumes and kukerie of all ages and size filled the town square and the whole town was there to watch. The last group to perform had 10 and 15 foot head dresses made of owl feathers.

Being that this was women's day, I (being female) had been invited to a little banquet at the tourist hostel. The owner had prepared salads, fried potatoes, Bulgarian meat and lots of sweets. I was at least 1/3 the age of most of the women there but it was so much fun. We danced the horo, ate till I thought I would never move and exchanged spring bouquets with each other. All the women were grandmothers and being that I was the only one without a family, I was asked repeatedly about my plans to start one and if it would be with a Bulgarian who would convince me to stay and keep me barefoot and pregnant. I just smiled (holding back my chuck reflex) and said I have plenty of time for those things.

The next day, March 9th was the national day of forgiveness. This is a day celebrated with the family. The younger members of the family as for the forgiveness of the older family members. An egg is given to those asking for forgiveness........again symbolizing new life and a new beginning. This past Sunday was Easter in the United States though Easter for the Eastern Orthodox is not celebrated until April 27th. The traditions seem to be similar. They also incorporate painted eggs and an appearance at the local church. The next big holiday that I am aware of is the Rose Festival. This begins the first week of June. Preparations will begin long before. I live in the Rose Valley and our city has a large role in this holiday. Rose oil will be put into our water fountain filling the air with an amazing smell of roses. I have been told by my dance team that I will be dancing with them in the center for the whole town at the Rose Festival..........insert biting fingernails. Should be worth a photo or two!

Ray of Light

Other than some scattered clouds, the weather has been amazing lately. The sun has been shining and I haven't had to wear 6 layers of clothing to go outside. The center has been covered with people shopping and sitting outside at cafe. There are only a few more days left before Baba Marta Day. This is celebrated on March 1, as the coming of spring. Before this day you buy red and white bracelets for your friends and family and give them out wishing everyone good luck and health and the person receiving them makes a wish when the bracelet is being tied on. The bracelets are worn until you see a stork and then they are tied to a fruit bearing tree. I'm excited for this holiday and look forward to seeing my friends in town to exchange these bracelets called Martanitzi. I have bought at least 20-25 with all different types of charms and designs.
My work situation and secondary projects have been keeping me super busy lately. This week I have had at least 3-6 meetings every day. I have begun a project with a teacher from one of the local high schools and her students. The project will focus on Environmental Education and activities to get the students more interested in the topic. This will include several hikes and camping trips in the mountains, and presentations about Environmental issues, sustainability and human impact. Before I decide on the topics of the presentations and the specific activities I will submit a survey to the students and the teachers of the local schools to get a better idea of what their interests are and the best resources to make the educational process more fun. I will also submit a survey to the leaders of the Municipality in order to understand how Environmental Education is supported throughout the town. In addition to this, my new boss has me working on one of two new websites for his organization. Today he handed me a plan for now until September of the projects he wants me to be working on with him. I was in shock. I figured that I would be pestering him for projects and tasks. I cant wait............most of this includes working with the eco trails, composting and local organizations who want to make a connection with the tourism center. Outside of my main organization, I have several other projects in the works. The gallery project is under way now that we have a Go! by the mayor. Tomorrow I will be speaking with several art teachers about choosing students for the gallery opening. I have also been asked to submit some art work. I may do some poetry and or photography. The local language school has asked the other volunteer and I to help the students put on a large presentation for their end of the year projects. This will be a huge cultural event all about the United States. The students can choose any topic they wish and present it however they wish. I will be organizing a group of students who want to learn a country line dance that will be performed at the large cultural day. We are inviting their parents, members of the municipality and a member of the US embassy. I have started an informal English group so that the local community who speaks English can practice their language skills outside of a classroom. I have had a very good response so far.
Outside of work I have managed to take part in a Bulgarian dance group and a rock climbing club. The young man who invited me to climb with him is a European Champion. He has been unable to gain support from our municipality for his competitions, so I am helping him to put together a resume and letter for climbing companies and organizations that might be willing to sponsor him and help him pay for his competitions and gear.
Tomorrow I'm traveling to Chirpan to watch another volunteer who has also joined a dance group. I have to give him a lot of credit for doing this. It can be difficult enough going to practice and being the American butchering their time honored dances, but performing in front of your community and media...........that's intimidating. I will be performing on Monday and Wednesday. Monday is the National Holiday. This will celebrate the independence of the Bulgarian People. As far as I have heard this is only a day without work and relaxation. The mayor will make a speech and the military will display their equipment. It is not celebrated in such a active way like our independence day.
Just today I received the keys to my new apartment. The one I have been waiting to be completed for five months. I was told it was completely finished. This isn't totally true. It has electricity and running water but where the Kitchen is supposed to be is not finished and there is not furniture, only an empty room. I was told that the Municipality will give me 500 leva to buy all the things I need. This will not be enough for a fridge, oven, bed and the smaller things I will need. I wasn't totally surprised that even to the very end they would be dragging their feet to try and get out of the agreement with Peace Corps. None the less I have been in my apartment several times today just enjoying the fact that I do have a brand new space all for me........even if I cant move in just yet. So close and almost there!

I can't believe I did that!

At the moment I am sitting in the living room of my apt. About an hour ago I was in new my office just next to my apartment building. This is a smaller and temporary office that does not have facilities. Since my apartment was only steps away, I decided to leave my things in the office and run upstairs to use my own facilities. When I closed the door of the office it locked on its own.......the keys are in the locked office and I am sadly not. Ehhh it could be worse. I got a hold of my counterpart and currently I'm waiting for her to find a locksmith who will come and unlock the door so that I can continue with my work. Not exactly how I imagined my first day but there isnt much that surprises me in this country anymore.
My new work placement is with the Tourism information center in Karlovo. I already find myself much happier in this placement then the last.......not only because I have a responsive director but also because they are excited to have a volunteer and ready with several projects and activities for me to work on with them. This will not only give me the opportunity to work with tourism activities in Karlovo, it will also allow me to provide assistance to the tourists who come from abroad. I explained to my director that I also want to be involved in environmental awareness activities with the local youth through the center. He was very excited about this. As far as work goes, things seem to be looking up......Right now I am only waiting on my apartment to be finished and a locked door :)
Soon I will be starting an informal English group with students from the local language school and also having a pen pal exchange between these students and several in the states. I have a cousin in Kentucky who is a teacher in middle school and her students are very excited to have pen pals in Bulgaria. This should be a great experience for both sides.
I spoke with my mom last night over SKYPE. She is doing very well. She explains that she is almost pain free and that her cancer markers are dropping fast. I cant ask for better news. My other family members are just now learning about the wonder that is SKYPE, so soon I hope to speak with them on a regular basis, not only through email.
The student I climb with on Tuesdays is training for his next competition. I have been communicating with my climbing friends in the states to see if they had any ideas of how to find him a sponsor for his competitions since he does not have the money himself and the municipality is not a reliable source of support. He and I will be working on his resume and several letters to send to European and American companies that design climbing gear and or support the sport itself. If anything it will show him how to find support within his own interests.
Yesterday was the day of remembering Vasil Levski, this was the memorial of his hanging. He is the hero of this country and known as their freedom fighter. He desired to have one united Republic of Bulgaria.....not sure if he would be happy with the present day situation. The schools let out early and parades and people flooded the streets all the way to the Levski monument in the old town. Red and yellow carnations were put at the foot of the monument as a memorial of his death and for his heroic efforts. On Monday I attended a play that illustrated the events that led up to Levski beginning the rebellion in Bulgaria. Not only was it a great play helping me to better understand how he played such an important role in creating a more united nation for his people but it also allowed me to feel like more of the community. After the play I talked with several municipality employees and their families.
Well I have been told my problem is solved and I can go back to work.

Who knew the woman painting her nails would be my rock of sanity!

Life has been all over the place since I got back from Thailand. Last weekend I hosted a much needed ladies weekend in Karlovo. We made French toast for breakfast, I gave them a tour of the town and we and stayed up late doing the whole girly gossip. I had such a great weekend with the girls. It gave us all an opportunity to open up and just hash out whatever was going on, which we all needed to do. Next time I want to have more of the B22 girls.......one big estrogen fest.

Last Wednesday I had a visit from my program manager. This visit was intended to find out what would be my next steps in the municipality since my department had been closed and counterpart fired. Since the municipality I have been working for, had not met any of the requirements to host a PCV up to this point, there were intentions of removing me from the municipality and moving me to a new organization. The meetings that day resulted in another period of waiting. I have been waiting 4 months for an apartment that was supposed to be done the weekend I arrived back in October and Its been almost a month since my counterpart was fired and sinve have been sitting in an empty office waiting for information. It was agreed that I would wait until March to see if the Muni will give me work since they explained that they do want to keep me, had a new department for me and had actually began work on my apartment. I had expected that this would have been a visit with more concrete results but progress and results occur differently in this country and you have to accept it or let it drive you up a wall.

On Friday of last week I was called into the Deputy Mayors office to meet a man who is the director of an sustainable development NGO in town. We talked about work done in this dept, the type of work I wanted to be involved in and how I could be involved in this organization..........call me crazy but I thought I was getting a new work placement. I was asked to show up this Monday morning to meet with this director and the others in his office. I showed up to the office and met some very nice people who told me if I had any questions or needed any help to feel free to come to them. We all talked about peace corps, my background, the United States and learned a little about the organization. I was asked again what type of projects I wanted to work on. I explained that I wanted to do something related to environmental awareness, but willing to work on whatever was the current project........just wanting some work to do (though I am busy with other activities). When this was over he said I should go with him. We left the office and walked toward the center, then into the Municipality. I was not sure why my new boss was taking me back to my old place of work. Well it turns out that this man is not my new boss, instead he is the head of the department that has replaced mine and I was introduced to him as a resource.

After that confusion, I was trying to figure out who would be coming with me to the Peace Corps IST that starts on Monday next week. Either the counterpart of the volunteer is supposed to attend or a member of the office they work in who the volunteer works with. At this point I was without a counterpart until it was suggested to me that the new girl in the of office I "work" in to be my counterpart. Turns out she used to be the counterpart of the volunteer before the last and is familiar with project writing......so I think that could work. She is really young but very smart and super sweet. Im only confused on if I work in that office or for that office since the muni said they would be placing me in another department in a few weeks......Just one reason to talk to my program staff at IST. So as of yet I do not know who I will be going with to IST for the PDM workshop but at this point im just along for the ride.



This past weekend was so fantastic. The weather was so beautiful. Jim came to visit me this weekend and he finally had the opportunity to experience Karlovo, meet people in my town and enjoy being outside surrounded by the beautiful Balkan mountains. Friday we went to the intellect school to watch the students presentations, then we went to the disco with the students from the youth parliament. Saturday was so much fun. We went to meet with my dance group at our dance hall. After everyone changed, we boarded a bus for no more then 5 minutes and then got back out again. Everyone walked to the top of a hill covered in snow. When we arrived, some of the dancers were making preparations for some type of cultural tradition. It turns out though Trifonovden was Friday it was being celebrated with the community on Saturday. This was a holiday to celebrate the fruits of last years grape harvest and bless the land for the following. I drank red and white wine from metal bowls that had a grape branch floating in the wine. This is more symbolism of blessing next years harvest with this years fruits. The mayor came to the event. He broke traditional Bulgarian bread, drank some wine and cut a branch from the vineyard. A priest came and blessed the vineyard and followed it with a small religious ceremony which had me trying my hardest to keep a candle lit in the wind :) . After the ceremony, we all walked down the hill to another part of the festival that had kukerie dancers, who scare off evil spirits. There were also baba horo dancers. I did a little horo in the mud and snow to amuse my dance group.
Jim and I had intended on making chicken pot pie for dinner but we ended up blowing a fuse and killing the electricity in the apartment........this lead to eating out and some really amazing chicken. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, enjoying amazing weather and eating a lot of M&M's.

Today was a little more confusing as far as still trying to figure out this partner to IST.........I'm finished trying to figure it all out. I'm just going to watch it unfold and quit worrying about it. This evening was very productive. I watched presentations at intellect instead of meeting with my climbing group. I wanted to talk to one of the teachers about creating an informal English speaking group that would meet in a cafe or restaurant in Karlovo. This would help the students to practice their skills outside of the classroom. She and I set up a meeting for Friday at lunch to discuss. After this I went to meet with one student who I will be working with on another project. He and I are working on a project for a youth gallery opening. The theme is "Youth Art and its Future", or at least that is what it is for the moment. He and I made some great headway by laying out a calender of what needed to occur and how to meet our gallery opening deadline. We discussed meetings, materials and funding needed and layout of the exhibit. The best part about this project is that the money raised will be given to the local orphanage........a great way for the local youth and the community to be active and support a local charity. I'm really looking forward to working on this project. Well its been a long day, that I just remembered it began with a glass of red wine.........I was stopped by the gallery owner on my way to work to sit for a spell and try his natural red wine. Who am I to turn down wine at 9:00 am :)

"How long should you try? Until!"

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.