Hanging with the kiddos

On Friday I returned to Karlovo after a five day excursion with twenty-five third graders, all of which were nine or ten years old. The trip was an opportunity for the children to take learning outside of the classroom. We visited history museums, churches, historic monuments and caves. The name of this little excursion translates into Green School. Not only did the students learn about the history and culture of Bulgaria but also its amazing environmental beauty.

I was asked to serve as another shaperone for the students and since I speak English..........it was thought that I could teach the children English while we were traveling around the country. I had prepared flash cards and pictures in English and Bulgarian but the kids were also happy playing 20 questions all day long in order to learn any word they could think of. It was very humorus and I enjoyed every moment of it. I helped them with their English and I had 25 ready and willing Bulgarian language teachers.

At first they didnt seem very interested in me traveling with them. Every now and then they would walk to the front of the bus where I was sitting and ask me a question; "Where are you from?", "How old are you?", "Do you speak Bulgarian?" :) (that one always makes me laugh because I've already answered the first few questions in Bulgarian), "How long have you been in Bulgaria?" ........and so on. This went on just about the entire first day until we got to our hotel and we had more time to joke and have fun. It wasnt long before we were all good friends........But the questions continued :) They wanted to know absolutly everything about the United States and how it was different from Bulgaria. It was difficult conveying to them the size of the US because they wanted a response that pertained to the whole country. They didnt understand how there could be so many differences in one country. I did my best. I did have one student who asked me what life was like in England. I explained I was from the US, and not only is it far from England but also different in many ways. She didnt seem to care much about my explanation.....to her, they were two English speaking countries and basicly one in the same.

There was one student who turned out to be more curious then the others. One day he put his arm around me and asked me with a smile "Are you married?" Not too bad for a nine year old. Every night we had a little disco in the resturant of the hotel.....only problem was all the boys I could dance with were missing fifteen years and three feet. It was fun just goofing around and dancing around with the kids not worring how bad I dance.

The moms and other shaperones were just as interesting. The day was spent with the kids and in the evening the older women and I spent the evening with Bulgarian snacks, Gin and tonics and Music Idol. The questions at this time of day were geared more toward what I was doing before I moved to Bulgaria, my family and my personal life. It was interesting to them that I was twenty three years old, living very far from my parents and without a ring or kids. One had been married since she was 16, but never regreted a moment of it.

Before I left on the trip I began planning an Eco Club for these students. We will play games focused on food chains, have a mask making competition with materials from the outside and recyclables, and also a film and a presentation about the animals in the Balkan Region. I will be getting help from local volunteers in Gabrovo for the presentaions and well........... the crowd control (entertaining 25 youngins is no easy task).

I hope to have the opportunity to work with more youth in the future of my service regarding environmental education in ways such as eco clubs, projects, hikes and outtings.

Life behind the scenes

Well its only a matter of time before you have to write something personal in your blog. For some of us, life as a volunteer includes more then butchering the language, nagosti and coffee at the local cafe. A few of us have attempted to have a personal life during our service.......arent we optamistic.

This brings with it many challenges, sacrafices and the need for alot of strengh and understanding. The biggest challenge is balancing your commitment to your work and community (your reason for coming here and dedicating two years of your life) while finding time and giving enough of yourself to your personal commitments. Sometimes I find myself asking if it is appropriate to be spending time on anything other then my work, however we are all entitiled to a life as long as you keep your priorities in mind at all times.

Hope! This is something I have been holding onto everyday. Hope that all your effort and time spent is going to prove worthy of all the difficulty. Hope that one day you will have more then weekends. Hope that one day you will really learn who this person is.

Just as in our service, this must be taken one day at a time and with the least amount of expectations as possible.

TIME: Do your best to spend your time wisly; its limited.

TALK: Communication is so important, because you spend 80% of your relationship on skype or sending emails if your lucky.

BE CAREFUL: Your emotions cant be paraded around town and your best friend on the other side of the world isnt always going to be awake when you need someone to talk to.

PATIENCE: Be willing to put your needs on hold

UNDERSTANDING: The first priority is your purpose for being here.......Don't lose site of that.

Take a deep breath and take each step with care and consideration. Maybe it doesnt work for everyone but for me it also takes alot of prayer; all of my blessings did not come from my work alone, so why would I think I could face my challenges and survive them alone?

Forgiveness

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

"Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives you out of love takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrafice."
-Dag Hjalmar

"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."
-Mark Twain

Some might say my daily life is a bit strange...........

So enough "odd" things have happened to me lately that I felt compelled to share it with everyone who may be reading my blog. For those who do not live this sometimes awkward life style, daily events and happenings may leaving you looking with a confused and maybe nervous face. I've encountered the weird, the funny and the "are you serious, is this really happening?" You can't plan for each day, because 90% of the time it never happens the way you plan or something off the wall happens instead which really just makes your day that much more interesting........Just be prepared to go to the moon at a moments notice and you will be fine. I always keep my passport, a toothbrush and a change of underwear on me at all times....you never know whats going to happen.

Seriously though.......things seem to happen to me here that would leave some with a huge ? over their head like in the Sunday morning cartoons.
Back in January I was going to Sofia by bus. It was 6:30 in the morning and a man was sitting across from me making the most horrible sounds. Everyone seemed to think he was sleeping but I could tell it was not so simple. He was foaming at the mouth and his breaths were getting shorter and shorter. At the time the bus driver decided to go back and see what all the commotion was about the man had stopped breathing. The driver was yelling at him to wake up. Rather then calling for an ambulance right away when the man did not wake up, instead he went back to his seat and turned on the bus. I was in horrified. Were we going to leave this man on the bus with us for the next 3 hrs ? Finally one of the passengers said that he would call for an ambulance. After waiting 20 minutes for this the man had ceased to make any sounds and was completely still. It was so odd because his phone was ringing every five minutes, as if someone in Sofia was trying to contact him and he was not really in the position to tell them he wasn't going to be making the trip. The man passed away. He needed 5 men to carry him off the bus onto a stretcher and be put into a car used as an ambulance but really was an old communist car or truck reassembled into an ambulance. Needless to say it was a quiet trip all the way to Sofia.
I'm friends with the woman who runs the local Radio station. Once she heard that I had joined a local Bulgarian dance group she wanted to see my skills............outside in the center of town! Every morning she would find me somehow, I would be on my way to work and she would want to dance the horo, rain or shine this woman was ready. With some music and the right outfits we could have been quite the entertainment.
One day I was waiting on my boss to come to the office and open the door when I man talking to himself was kicking rocks around where I was sitting. He seemed harmless until he picked up one of the larger rocks and made the motion that he would throw the rock toward one of the nearby shop owners. I was a bit nervous and thought about leaving. He came over to me and started to tell me something in Bulgarian. This man was missing all of his teeth making his words that much more difficult to understand. I told him I wasn't able to understand him, so he thought for a second and just said to have a nice day. About five minutes later he came back with a red tulip for me as a present and then walked away. I decided to go home and work from there until I heard more from my boss. I hadn't been walking more then 3 minutes when I heard the sound of someone running behind me......it was the same guy. I kept walking only to hope that he wasn't running to me. Well he was.....he threw everything in his arms in front of me so I couldn't walk anymore. He stops for a breath, looks up at me and says USA? I replied yes and he handed me a cookie and then ran back in the other direction.
Just yesterday I was walking home from work to change my clothes for the opening of an art auction that was associated with one of my recent projects. Please keep in mind I live in Bulgaria......not anywhere near a desert. I'm walking by and just enjoying the weather when I see a camel sitting next to my apartment building.......Yes a camel. This animal was just chilling out in the grass with 5 miniature horses. I found out later that the circus is in town. This wasn't as shocking as what I found on the steps of my apartment building this morning. What looked like a 3 or 4 year old little girl and an infant were sitting on a blanket alone, dirty and very sad looking. I kept looking around for parents or someone keeping a watch on them.....no one! One would think that would be enough to talk about for one day......not in my town. The woman in my office asked me to take a notebook to the tourist hostel and mentioned that I had mail waiting for me at the information center. I went for a walk, grabbed some pastry and ran my errands. On my way back to work I saw a man who comes into my office to speak with my boss on a weekly basis. He was in his car and I went over to say hello. I could see tears in his eyes but rather then saying something about what was wrong he proceeded to ask me if I would teach his grandchildren English.....well of course but not what I was expecting him to talk to me about. He wanted to know where I was going so I explained I was headed to work.......I could see it from where I was standing. He insisted for me to get in his car so that he could take me to work......all 30 seconds of the trip.
This didn't include the constant stares because I must have AMERICAN tattooed to my head, crazy questions about America (You mean its not like on the movie...?) and little things like mothers leaving their children in baby carriages outside or 5 year old children buying cigarettes at the local store....but you get the idea. Well that's just a taste of the odd ball things that go on here in Bulgaria.......Can you handle it?

I'm alive, I promise!

Yeah so I’m a horrible volunteer and I haven’t been sharing with the rest of the world about my experiences in Bulgaria…………..Here is me playing catch-up after a month of no blogging. Lets see, since March I have been crazy busy with projects, almost dieing in my bathroom, checking out a few more cities in the BG and playing around in the North EU.
On Sunday three of my first projects will have been implemented after several months of work and if you know me at all, a bit of stress. At the beginning of the month there was a youth art exhibit organized by a local high school student and myself. Students participated from every school in the Municipality, from first grade to their senior year. There were photographs, graphics, sculpture and paintings. Two poems of my poems were written on photos taken by another student………….they were in English so I had to do some explaining. So many people from the community came to show their support. Many leaders of the Municipality came and local teachers. We had problems finding funding from the community, and ended up accepting support from a local political party……..which means after organizing for 3 months I had to take the back seat and keep my name out of the event. As a volunteer I can’t be politically affiliated especially since I technically work for an office out of the municipality. The event was organized to sell the artwork and give the money earned to the local orphanage as well as get the local youth involved in a charity and bring the community together. It was a great success and I was really impressed with the hard work of the students and the support of the community.
Just a few days later (April 21 and 22 2008) was two days full of Earth day activities that I had organized with several local teachers, my organization (tourist society) and local students. The first day included painting over years of graffiti on the information center and planning trees and flowers around the property. The second day included 10 students from the local mahala and I making bird feeders and seedling planters. They really enjoyed themselves and I really felt that I helped to make a special day for them. Later in the day I painted two murals with several High School students on the side of the info center. One was Edelweiss and the other was a tree with the faces of youth under a banner that said in Bulgarian “Celebrate the Earth.”
For the last 4 months I have been working with the local English school specify on their American cultural day. My site mate and I have been helping the students to prepare projects and even teach them some American dances. The event will be this Sunday. A representative from the US embassy in Sofia will come, some staff from the Peace Corps and the community has also been invited to watch the event.
Other then work I have been living life in this little county. A few weeks ago I learned why people always wear sandals in their bathroom. I was trying to do a little home repair and fell on slick tile directly on my elbow and then my lower back. I’m ok now but after a trip to Sofia it just gave my boss something to tease me about………I mean who falls in their bathroom and messes up their elbow. It does feel funny though. The tip of my elbow where I fell is chipped.
As far as traveling, I went to a great city north of my site, Veliko Turnovo. It was absolutely beautiful. I went for a meeting with a Russian woman who is writing a book about tourist destinations in Bulgarian. Since I work for the tourist society and info center in Karlovo I figured it was a great opportunity. I met up with 3 other volunteers and stayed in a hostel owned by a RPCV. The town is built into a hill with so many historic buildings and structures. The same night we crashed at the hostel, a young English man was also staying in our room. He was hilarious and kept us entertained. He apparently has been working in many countries, with odd jobs just seeing the whole world. He told us about his American girlfriend who he has dated for 10 years long distance. She was coming just two weeks after we met. Little did she know he had just bought some property in a nearby village to VT. By that I mean that he bought a shack he was planning on adding a shower and a blow up mattress to before she came. I wished him luck for her arrival.
Just last week I went on another trip. This time I went out of the country to Latvia for a youth exchange. Five students and myself traveled by plane (some of them for the first time) to a country even smaller then the one I live in…………..if that is possible. The name of the exchange was called “Looking forward for open Europe.” Even though it was grammatically incorrect it was a good exchange. The organization and leadership could have been better but I really enjoyed the activities and the people I met. My favorite was the Portuguese group. One guy had a really long name beginning with G so we just called him Big G………such a funny guy. I’m planning to make a trip to Portugal to see them as soon as I can afford it. I will be traveling to Austria and Slovenia with Jim in August………so my money has been already spoken for.
The rose festival is in just a few weeks and the previous volunteer from Karlovo will be coming back at the beginning of next week. I’m really looking forward to this festival. Tourists from all over the world come to see the traditions of the rose festival. I asked if I could be the rose queen which they crown every year, but apparently there is this rule she has to be Bulgarian……..Can you believe it? ;)

Какво Става с Мен

Now that I'm trying to catch up on my blog entries, I'm at the point where I can fill you all in on the present. My work is going very well. My new counterpart is a very smart man with great project ideas. He is very interested in sustainable tourism in Karlovo. Currently we are working on a SPA project for alternative energy systems for the five huts in the mountains surrounding Karlovo. We want to add Solar panels, composting toilets and composting of organic wastes for each site. We have until August to have the project written, but still a long time to go as far as creating the budget, securing funding from the municipality and planning out the timeline. My counterpart says "Има време" - There is time!

Last Monday Peace Corps came to visit my site now that I HAVE AN APARTMENT, and now that I have a new organization (with a sweet counterpart!) This was a very productive meeting because I was able to express any concerns I had about our working situation and he was able to explain more ideas he had about projects, future events and how he wishes for me to be involved with the tourism information center. Eye opening! I had a good idea about what he wanted and now I feel even more confident about being busy with projects and activities while I work for this organization. Yeah for having work and people who want to work with you!
When the Peace Corps came they brought with them a package that had been sent to me in December 2007. This is not the norm for packages to take quite that long.........sometimes I wonder if the pony express is still in use but not three months. When I received the package I saw what had caused the delay. My address was illegible and the only information that could be read was my name, Peace corps, Bulgaria and 4300 (my town code). With this limited information this package, even after three months made its way to the Peace Corps office in Sofia. Someone out there went out of their way to find out where the Peace Corps office was in Bulgaria. In the box, I received some Christmas socks, ginger cookies, wire art, "Grow a pet" (a plastic pet that grows 600% its size when in water for 72 hrs), a very pretty Chinese fan and an American magazine article about cosmetic companies in my region. Very interesting contents. Certainly made my week!

Outside of my organization I continue my efforts with local schools and some social groups. With the other volunteer in my town, we have been assisting in the planning and preparation of an American cultural day with the local English school. The children will be presenting everything from historical events, famous people, holidays and even one about Mcdonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In addition to the projects, some children will be participating in extra activities such as traditional dances, readings of famous poets, skits, plays and preparing traditional American food. As far as food, my site mate and I will be preparing some dishes and hopefully with the help of other volunteers. We would like to serve macaroni and cheese, apple pie, lemonade, hamburgers........ This Saturday they had an end of the year party named "Fashion disaster." It was a great time with dancing and games. At the end of the party I provided the teachers with American country music that I would be using to teach the students how to country line dance. After the party I went with about 15 little girls to our cultural center where I dance every week, to teach them the electric slide. It was more of them jumping around and giggling.......So cute and lots of fun!

I have dance practice three times a week. My group is preparing for a dance festival in Spain this summer. I will not be attending but it gives me more opportunity to improve my skills and practice my Bulgarian. My group will be performing for the Rose Festival at the end of May and early June. I have yet to be asked to participate but I have been told my dancing is improving and its good fun just to be active with the group. Once a week I climb on an indoor climbing wall with a local high school student. He is ranked 13th in Europe for his climbing skills. I have been working with him for the past month on preparing a resume of his placements and a cover letter to request funding from companies throughout Europe and in the US. These were sent out last Thursday, I hope they return a response so that he can continue in his competitive climbing. This is a large part of who he is and I would hate to see him have to give it up because he is unable to find the resources to make it possible.

Last week I planted trees with the municipality. We planted at least 75 trees. With my site mate we plated about 10-12 trees together. These are located in what was an open grassy area next to several bloc districts. The area does seem more pleasant. This was a great opportunity to interact with the municipality workers outside of their office and do some physical work outside. I can only hope that the municipality and the neighbors to to these new trees keep them maintained and healthy.

My English group is going very well. We have had 5 meetings so far and each with a very good turnout. Some of our topics of discussion have included the issues facing Bulgaria, the youth in Bulgaria, lack of employment, environmental issues and homosexuality. Not only does this provide this with a relaxed environment to practice their English since many of them are preparing for their final certificate, but it also allows them to discuss topics not normally discussed in school or in their homes. These students are very bright and have become not only windows to the youth interests in Karlovo they have also become my friends :)

For the last two weeks I have been so tired. This is beyond being difficult to get up when I hear my alarm, I'm not hearing my alarm and sleeping well past when I am supposed to be at work. Not good!
I know I have been going to bed late and eating later. The Peace Corps Medical officer suggested to take vitamins ( I have been bad about this since I was a kid), going for walks in the sun, going to bed earlier on a regular schedule and not eating late. I have removed caffeine from my diet and trying to cut down on salt and sugar. Im not trying to go on a diet but trying to see if a changed and improved diet can help my sleeping problem, otherwise the PCMO has suggested I may need to be tested for anemia. I had blood testing in December and there were no issues then but if my changes dont show any results I will see if this is a possibility.
I have been asked to join another Blog, Blog Stars! I will be the only female posting. My topic is graffiti art and to allow myself other options I think I will also expand my topic to Communist Art. My first post will be tomorrow.......You will have to wait till then!

A Place to Call Home

After five months I have my own little space. Since October of last year I have been hearing from my local Municipality that they are working on my apartment and will have it ready "soon." Soon has a new meaning for me, so does "wait a little."
After a while I was under the impression I would be living with the other volunteer in my town for the rest of my service. Every month or so the Peace Corps and my Municipality agreed on new deadlines for my apartment to be completed and every month the date would pass with no change. When I was finally told it was ready I came to see for myself what it looked like...........it was great! I had freshly painted walls, wood floors and a complelty new bathroom, but........it was empty, no furniture or kitchen!
I went back to the municipality to ask when this would be completly finished, they replied that this is as far as they can go because they ran out of money. Uhhh What? I was told they only had 500 lv left for me to spend on all the necessary items Peace Corps requires in each apartment. This would have covered maybe 2 or 3 items on a list of 15. After several phone calls and the Municipality handing over the responsability of my apartment to the Deputy Mayor it was completyly furnished in 2 weeks.

Many people didnt understand why I needed my own apartment. Almost every person in Bulgaria lives with a realitive or girl/boyfriend. Living is too expensive to live alone, so for me to have my own space seemed unuseuall and maybe even unnecessary. Its required by the Peace Corps for each volunteer to have their own living space, even if it is with a host family........there must be certain space dedicated for the volunteer's use.

I have a modest little pad. My one room apartment is within the tallest buildings in my town. I live on the first floor and have a great view of the Balkan Mountains. Slowly but shurely with the help of several workers from the municipality and sometimes their family, I was able to get my place in order. It reminds me a bit of a dorm room.......small with pleanty of storage.
The apartment was previously lived in by an old Roma woman who I believe died in it........lets just say it adds to the character. The apartment building (bloc) is located far from the town center and closer to the mahala just next to the stadium. This means that I have a reason to have long walks when the weather is nice and I'll never miss a town football match. Its so nice to have a place to hang your hat and call

your own, it was worth the wait :)