Kate in Bulgaria

Experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer and some adventures on the side

Another week is over, getting ready to start week 8. I can hardley believe that I have been here two months almost.
Although I do have another animal story to share. This happened on Tuesday. It was one of those moments where you either need a camera or another person there with you. So, i've already told you how once in awhile you will see a nice BMW or Mercedes. Well Tuesday on my way home from school, I saw a Mercedes, a nice one mind you, with its window down and what do you think was walking beside this Mercedes. Someone was in the back seat holding on to the leash of a very sad looking horse who was happily trotting beside the car. I'm use to seeing the horse drawn carts have a horse teathered to it, but a Merecedes? When in Rome........

So, what else. My family is having a Na Gosti tonight for teh other volunteers and their families. Na Gosti actually means to "be a guest", but this is what all parties are called. Lots of Rakia and Wine are drunk. But, unlike in America, Bulgarians do not typically drink alcohol without food. Not just any food, but specific food for each different drink. With Rakia, you eat Shopska Salata (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and onions.) Yumm
Oh I also got my results from teh LPI test. I am at a Novice High grading, the minimum rank to stay in Bulgaria after training. So hey, i can only learn more from this point on, so guess I'm gonna be staying (sorry mom). I got the highest rank in my group for comprehension and was second for Conversational Bulgarian. I'm happy.
I think that is it for now. Three more weeks till I go to Letnitsa, can't wait. I know it isn't the site i wanted, but I am so ready to settle somewhere.
So, I wish you all a good weekend. Take care

posted by: ksension at September 30, 2004 11:34 | link | comments (2) |

The Cat speaks Bulgarian

The cat speaks Bulgarian, who new. This is what happened, the cat got inside, a very bad thing here in Bulgaria. They are so paranoid about germs and stuff from the road that you have to take your shoes off when you come into the house. Hopefully you did not where your not nice socks. It is actually understandable if you think about it, the shoes in the house bit. Every morning on the way to school it is like an obstacle course to avoid the animal feces in the road. I can now tell you what kind of droppings the various farm animals make. So anyways, Johnny the cat got inside and we all strarted looking for him. I get assigned the upstairs to look and immediately start calling for him "kitty kitty kitty". To my consternation, the stupid cat ignores me. Well Ivan comes in after about 5 minutes and starts assisting me. Do you know that he said "matsa matsa matsa" one time and that stupid cat come prancing out like he owned the place. I suppose it never dawned on me that the animals would only understand Bulgarian. A little slow on my part I know, but i mean really, how often do you think about the language of the farm animals in teh respective country.

Since i'm sharing some animal stories, i'll tell you one more. So there is this goat herder guy who i see every morning on my way to school. He stands on the same corner while his little flock of goats (do goats travel in flocks or is that just birds) grazes the grass along the side walk. The reason i share this is the fact that every morning, as i walk to school, there is the goat herder massaging the head of one of his goats. I first thought, isn't that sweet, he is petting him. But i tell you, every single morning it is the same goat standing there getting his head rubbed. smart goat

Well, i suppose that is enough animal stories for now. Believe me, there are a lot, i think there are as many farm animals living within the town limits as there are cars. Horses walk down the back roads, cows are absolutely everywhere, in the middle of the street and in front of your door, pigs are kept in the yard ( these are not big yards), and the goats and sheep are the official grass cutters for the city of Panagyurishte.

Um, any more news, let me think? Oh yeah, i had my mid point language Interview yesterday. It went pretty well if i may so. There was a written section, a role play, and a 15 minute conversation all in Bulgarian. I'll get the results next week, see where they think my level is.

Well, i guess that is it for this week. Sunday is my mama's birthday, so be extra nice to her if you see her. Until next time...

posted by: ksension at September 24, 2004 16:25 | link | comments (1) |

Well, I have seen my new home. A tiny little town in the middle of nowhere called Letnitsa. I know I told them I wanted a small town, but this is beyond any thing I had imagined. My town is the name of the Municipality because it is the largest of the 4 that make up the Municipality. Total population of the 4 towns is about 5500 people (hora). About 2500 in my town, and the rest spread about in the others.

Lets see, what can I tell you about Letnitsa. Well, it has a lot of donkeys. I think there are more donkey and carts than cars, which actually isn't that unusual to me anymore. Who would have ever thought seeing a donkey and cart infront of a Mercedes or beamer would be a normal thing to me.

WIth in the town itself, there isn't a whole lot of anything to do. There is one resturant that doesn't have a menu because it serves one thing each day. There is another one but I was told not to go there because it is a gypsy pub. There are a few cafes (only serves drinks), maybe pershony kartofi (fench fries), but that is all. A few magazines (stores) that sell the basics for cooking, meat, veggies, cheese and the like, and I think I saw a what not shop. SO that is my town. Fortunatly there is town of about 20,000 about a 45 minute bus ride away. There is actually a PC Volunteer there now and he is actually from NC, small world.

My apartment is um, interesting. The inside isn't too bad actually, well once I got over the fact that I have one room that counts as both sleeping and living room. THe kitchen is pretty nice considering, but the bathroom. Oh my the bathroom. The vice-mayor came over to see teh apartment and he just stood there and said, "Tova e mnogo starr" (this is very old), now for a Bulgarian to say something is old is rare. SO you can imagine.

My coworkers however, make all of that not so good stuff disappear. They are very sweet people and very happy and excited that I am there. Not a bit of English spoken in the whole lot, but we managed to do ok. My counterpart actually speaks a tiny bit of English, just about as much Bulgarian as I speak. The whole office actually took a one month class in English in July, unfortunatly, i don't think it stuck very well.
Well then, I have exactly one more month of training left. My swearing in date is Oct. 22 in Sofia, then that evening or the next day I go to Letnitsa to stay. The mayor and some of the others from teh town said they would come to Sophia to get me. It is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride, so that is really sweet of them. I'm glad cause now I will have help with my luggage. I have tried my hardest not to accumulate anything new, but you know me.
I have a mid point language exam Thursday. They want to know what are levels are at this point, don't really know why, you can't get kicked out for not knowing the language. Desi, my instructor, said that the only way you fail the final exam is to not say anything. Won't be a problem. Plus we all have to hire a tutor once we are at sight. PC pays for it for as long as you desire to have a tutor.
I think I'm gonna get a cat. The mayor is also the vet and he has a litter to get rid of. ir eally want a dog, but that wouldn't be fair, so i think a cat would be good. Someone to keep me company during the winter. I would have preferred a different kind of "company" but they are all shorter than me, oh well guess a cat will have to do. Think i'm gonna name is Rachy, i need some to listen to me.
so, i think that is is for this entry. Hope all are doing well. If any of you reading this sees my Mama, tell her Happy Birthday, its the double nickle you know.

posted by: ksension at September 21, 2004 14:40 | link | comments |

I know where I am headed

Well, I found out. The ceremony was really cool. I met the American Ambassader to Bulgaria. They had put this huge map of Bulgaria on teh gym floor (it was made out of tape). Each site was labeled so you could see where every place was. They called our names out one at a time and told us our site. We had to go to that place on the big map and stand there. That way we could see where everyone was. So, with all of that said, my site is Letnitsa. It is a small town of about 6500 that is in the Northern part of BUlgaria. Sort of Central as far as east to west. It is at the foothills of the Danube Mountains and below the Danube river, so sort of just there int eh middle. It isn't where I wanted, at least the region anyways. As you all know I was hoping for the Rhodope Mountains, which are in Southern Bulgaria. Oh well.

I go back to Pazardjik for another hub on Tuesday. I will meet my counterpart, the person I will work the closest with over the next two years. On Wednesday, my counterpart and I will travel to Letnitsa and I will stay there until Friday. I do get to see my apartment and I am actually going to be staying in it while I am there. They told us we could take some of our luggage with us and store it there. This will be very nice seeing as I will have to deal with it all by myself on Oct. 22 after the swearing in.

I am a little disappointed I must admit, I was really hoping for a mountain town. Oh well. Letnitsa is near the old capital Velico Turnovo. I have been told this is probably the most beautiful city in Bulgaria. And, I am near Romania, so traveling there will be relatively easy.

Other than that, everything else is pretty much normal. Although Plovdiv, the city I was in last weekend, had a small earthquake on Friday. I hope it wasn't too bad becuase some of the PCTs went there for the weekend after hub.

I helped my family can vegetables this morning. They have so many already done they could survive on stored food for like a year. I think, if I understood correctlty, that they are actually going to give me some when I leave. Milka, my host mother, is so worried about me not surviving through my first Bulgarian Winter.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I'll be out most of next week, so I won't be able to email or update this until I get back from Letnitsa. I hope everyone is doing well.

posted by: ksension at September 12, 2004 12:29 | link | comments (6) |

I woke up and it was Fall

Fall has finally made an appearance.  I actually had to break out some warm weather clothing last night.  I am so very happy I brought my robe, I 'm sure it will come to be my best friend as the weather gets increasingly colder.  Tomorrow is the big day, I think everyone is very excited about finding out their site and future job.  My interview went very well and I think that it was just a follow up more than the main interview.  They seemed to have already decided where we are going to go and just wanted to make sure they had made the right decisions.  I asked for a small town somewhere in teh Rhodope region, they acted like this was probably going to be the case for me. 

I helped my baba make fig jam the other day.  Fortunatly, my host family has decided to teach me all about canning and preserves before I go off on my own.  I think they are worried about how I am going to survive this winter.  This weekend they are going to show me how to can potatoes.

One thing that is very different here is what they show on the news.  These past two or three days all of the news stations have been showing the video of the Russian school masacre.  It is so very sad, and a lot of the BUlgarian are taking it very badly.  It seems to be the topic of conversations at most cafes.  The Bulgarian government is actually hosting quite a few of the families of the victims. 

Well, I will update this as soon as I know my site.  Hope everyone is enjoying SEptember thus far.  Take care

posted by: ksension at September 09, 2004 11:20 | link | comments |

Can you believe its already been a month?

Well, I'm still here. Life here is starting to become pretty normal for me. I have my routines now and the waitresses at our favorite cafes are becoming more patient when we butcher their language.

I spent a lovely weekend in Plovidv. Did the tourist thing, went to teh colloseum, all though it was discovered in the 70s, not 5 years ago as I had previously stated. Bad info I guess. It was an awsome site and I was actually able to see a live concert while I was there. It was a Rock Opera and was very very cool. Its so incrediblely cool that they still use this colloseum for events. The history there is so amazing.

I have another Hub on Friday, going to find out my permanant site. Tuesday is the final interview. Next Wednesday I actually get to go and visit my site and meet my Counterpart. My counterpart will be the person I work the most with once at my site. I hoping for a good match, can't imagine being stuck with someone I dont' like for two years. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The weather is starting to change here. I think Fall will be here in another couple of weeks. It will be nice to be in a place that changes colors during Fall. I'm also looking forward to the cooler weather. Not that it has been to very hot here (28 to 30 C), but a/c is non existant, so a break will be nice.

One good thing though right now about this weather is the amount of fresh veggies and fruits that are available everyday at the market. it is a Vegetarian's Utopia. Unfortunatly, come late Fall, I have to say goodbye to fresh veggies and hello to canned and dried. My host mother is going to teach me how to can veggies and fruits this weekend. It is potatoe harvest time right now, so I think that will probably be the veggy of choice.

I hope everyone is doing well and I'm glad that you are all going to be spared from anohter hurricaine. Sounds like it would have been a nasty one at that.

take care and keep happy

posted by: ksension at September 05, 2004 15:23 | link | comments |

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