Kate in Bulgaria

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

Happy Tuesday all, can you believe that tomorrow is December 1st.  Shocking I know, but it is. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate lots and lots of Thanksgiving food.  I enjoyed a very very quiet evening and celebrated with a meal befit the Irish before the Potato famine.  Yep you guessed it, had me a potato, i figured it was very Bulgarian and Thanksgiving like all in one.  The one bright spot of my day was talking to my family.  Mama and Daddy called and I got to speak to them, as well as the other 30 people at their house for Thanksgiving.   What a mad house, but when you grow up part of the Pagano clan, that is the normal.  Anything less than say 20 seems odd. 

I went to Gabrovo on Friday afternoon, i was the 6th or 7th there.  By dinner time on Saturday there were 11 including the two hosts.  I know I have said it before, but it deserves repeating, these weekends are going to keep me sane.  Dinner on Saturday was wonderful.  We had Turkey, three of them, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing (compliments of a care package from another volunteer) and a creamed pearl onion thing that I never in a million years would have tried in the US, but I loved it here.  We even had Pumpkin and Apple Pie.  All i needed was some cool whip and it would have been perfect.  I think everyone there was so excited to eat "american" food that we didn't eat all day so that we would be really hungry.  Of course, like all holiday meals, there was way too much food, but we rectified that situation on Sunday.  I even had a Turkey sandwitch, minus the lettuce, but I didnt' care.  I think that was the best Turkey sandwitch I have ever eaten.

So, now i'm back in Letnitsa.  Went to kindergarten again on Monday, I had a different book to work with this time, more picutres, it went over well.  We are still working on teh alphabet though, I tried to teach it to them with the song, but no luck.  I think I am going to work on Christmas words until the end of December.  That should be something they are interested in. 

Tomorrow my program director from the Peace Corps is coming.  They come to the towns, talk to us to see if there are any problems or concerns.  They look at our apartmetns, again, go see our offices, talk to our counterparts and so forth.  I'm contimplating about mentioning my troubles with Tanya, but I just dont' know.  I guess I'll just play it by ear, see what types of questions they ask me.  After this meeting, that will be it pretty much unless we call them with a problem. 

Well, I guess that is it for now.  I'll add more later if something else happens.  Y'all be good and enjoy your holidays.  Keep in touch

 

posted by: ksension at November 30, 2004 17:14 | link | comments |

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I survived round two!!  Kindergarten put up a good fight, but I finally won them over.  Talk about a releif, I didnt' know what I was going to do if I bombed again, but fortunatly I don't have to worry about that anymore.  My counterpart brought me an English language workbook that her son had used when he was learning.  Whether it was the colors or visual aids or whatever, it worked.  Even the 2nd group participated, I am soooo releived. 

Today is Thanksgiving, its such a non thing here I almost forgot it was today.  I'm headed to Gabrovo tomorrow for the weekend, going to have a late Thanksgiving with some other volunteers.  I'm looking forward to it, I need to get away for the weekend.  It is so very quite here, I probably wont' spend more than one or two weekends home each month.  I'm fortunate that there are so many others within a pretty close area, its going to make Winter a lot better. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and ate lots and lots of Turkey.  I always did like the Turkey better the day after.  Oh what I wouldnt' give for a Turkey sandwitch with real lettuce right now.  I can almost taste it.

posted by: ksension at November 25, 2004 14:38 | link | comments (1) |

The scariest Job in Bulgaria

Have you ever had 15 five year olds stare at you for 20 minutes and not say a single thing.  Its not often someone can make me antsy, but I believe I was just that yesterday. 

The first group of kids was really good, they would repeat after me, we covered 1-10, colors, Hello, I am ....., it was fun.  They were energetic and I thought, this is going to be an enjoyable part of my job.  Well, 30 mins after working with that group, I was taken to the 2nd group.  I might as well have been a plate of raw vegetables for the interest they had in me and what i was trying to do with them.  I talked, they stared, I asked questions, they stared.  It was worse then a job interview I tell you, 5 year olds can be a formidable foe if they want to be. 

I'm headed back tomorrow for round two, i'm going in with my game face on, I'll get them to talk yet...

posted by: ksension at November 23, 2004 09:52 | link | comments (4) |

Happy Thanksgiving

How does one explain Thanksgiving to people who have lived on the same land for hundrends and hundreds of years and have no concept of a Country made up of people from all over the world.  Add to that my limitations with the language and you can imagine how that conversation went.  I tried to tell them about the Pilgrims and the Indians, but that only made them ask me what a Pilgrim was.  So then I tried to explain why people came to America and that only opened up a whole other can of worms.  In the end I told them, "Nie cme blagodaryan za vsichko" (we are thankful for everything).  This answer seemed to appease them until they wanted to know what we did on Thanksgiving.  An hour later, exhausted beyond my expectations from explaining in Bulgarian everything i can about Thanksgiving, I think I have been requested to cook some "Thanksgiving" dishes for them.  I really have to stop agreeing to everthing, someday its going to get me in trouble. 

This weekend was quiet and uneventful for the most part.  One of teh gaggle, the little girl who likes to spend hours at a time with me, came by at 8:30am Sunday morning.  Now most of you know I am not like my father when it comes to getting up at dawn, I like my sleep.  I was going to just ignore the buzzer, but she is smart, she knew i wouldn't be out at that time, so she kept ringing and ringing.  Its going to be a sad day when I run out of candy to give them.  Daddy says i'm just rewarding them for coming by all the time, but until I come up with something better, i'll stick with what works. 

I woke up and it was freezing.  Winter is again trying to take over, its probably 31, 32 today.  I walk around all bundled up like an eskimo and they are wearing little jackets, if that.  They think its humorous, but i'd like to see them survivie a 100% humidity August day in Carteret County.  We will see who is laughing then....

There was a funeral this morning.  The only reason i knew was because of the music.  The people attedning all walk down the middle of teh street, following teh hurse.  Some people are in front of the hurse carrying banners and signs, behind the large procession was a group of musicians.  It reminded me of something you would see in New Orleans, very dramatic music, people shuffling along headed to the church, other people who weren't involved coming outside to watch the parade, its stuff like this that reminds me i'm in Bulgaria.

On a happier note, although i may not agree later, I'm going to the local kindergarten today to work with some of the kids.  I will work with the 5-6 year olds and the 7-8 year olds two days a week for an hour.  I think my counterpart and mayor figured out I was bored to death at work and they figured this would give me something to do.  I start today at 2:30, 20 five year olds, can't wait.  I think I'm going to be teaching them colors and numbers in English.  When I went to visit this morning, they were singing Jingle Bells in Bulgarian, maybe i'll try to teach it to them in English.  That would be interesting.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

 

posted by: ksension at November 22, 2004 11:08 | link | comments (1) |

Anyone have a washboard?

Another week down. Nothing really interesting happened this week, so this will be a short entry. My heater stopped working on Sunday night, a very bad thing. I hadn't realized how cold it can get inside at night, but without my most favoured possession, I found out quickly. On Monday when I got to work and told my mayor that it had stopped working, he reprimanded me for not calling him. He said, "I thought you said you were not 12 years old" that is what I wanted to hear. Oh well, its fixed, and next time it stops working, even if at 3am, i'll be sure to call.

On Tuesday I had my first tutoring session. One of the Vice-Mayors is my tutor and she only speaks Bulgarian. Well, needless to say, this presents a whole new obstacle in the learning process. It was a very slow start, she wanted to start with the very basics, which I know already, but at the same time, she would speak a mile a minute about this and that and would think I could understand it all. Go figure. I have another session today, in about 15 minutes actually, so I will really have to keep this one short. For the first 6 months at site I have to do 60 hours of tutoring, I'm actually happy about that though. Its harder than I thought it would be to make myself sit down and study. When I was in training, it was so structured that it was easy to do, but here, on my own, I can usually find something else to do. Although the fact that I have to speak Bulgarian in my office is helping a whole lot. I have learned a lot just from listening to them speak and trying to join in.

Yesterday Mr. Johnev called me to his office, it is usually just to introduce me to some visitor and yesterday was no different. The only change was it was a room of journalists from Lovech. I think he wanted them to interview me, lord help me. Fortunatly, the language barrier was to great to accomplish more than pleasantries and basic questions, so Mr. Johnev has decided he will try again after New Years. Not to toot my own horn, but he likes to show me off to people. I think on some level he sees me as his American, i know I'm a novelty, but I really hope it wears off in the next few months. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Ok, got to go, finish later

I'm back, I think I am going to have to get a new tutor.  I thought Tanya, my tutor and a different tanya, would cover new things today.  I had shown her on Tuesday where I was when I left off studying in Panagyurishte.  No such luck, we did the basics again today.  I think I'm going to call Anni, the language director, and have her call Tanya and explain to her what we are suppose to be studying.  Oh well. 

My gaggle of children just came by wanting to come in or for me to go out or something.  I dont' think they care as long as i play "whats this" with them.  They point at anything and everything and want to know what it is in English, err go the game, "whats this".  They are becoming more numerous each time they come by, 8 of them today.  I give them candy sometimes, thank you mar and mamma, that makes them happy and is a nice consolation for the times I dont' want to go play with them.  They are really sweet though, when ever they see me they call out my name and come running.  Quite a few of the boys are taking dance classes right now in preperation of a Christmas pagent i think.  They want me to come watch them dance next week, they are so funny. 

Some of my gaggle just came back again.  The three dancers, they sit on the steps in front of my door and wait for me to answer it.  As soon as I open the door they yell, "Good Afternoon Kate", they are so proud, its too funny. 

Yesterday I had to laundry because I was running out of clean everything.  Its a huge deal for me to do laundry here, takes like 2 hours for one load.  If you are wondering why it would take two hours, the answer is, I wash it by hand.  Yep, you read it correctly, I do my laundry like the pioneers, only they had lakes and I think that would be easier.  Anyways, me, two buckets called legens, some soap and my dirty clothes spent two fun filled hours on the bathroom floor rediscovering the "old ways".  Let me tell you how tired you can get ringing out things like jeans and sweaters, its hard work I tell you.  Then of course you have to hang it out and it takes about 2 days to dry, but that is only if you're lucky. 

 

posted by: ksension at November 19, 2004 11:55 | link | comments |

Snyak, its that white stuff that comes from the clouds

Well, with the exception of Istanbul, I think i just had the best weekend I've had so far in Bulgaria. The funny thing is, I didn't do a whole lot of anything. On Friday afternoon I went to Pleven to meet up with three other volunteers from my group, Matt, who was in my training group, Brett, and Wendy, who actually lives in Pleven. I can't think of one thing we did that could be considered exciting or interesting even, but I feel so relaxed and rested now. I think it was the fact that nothing we did this weekend was hard. Not that I do anything hard or difficult now, but you would be surprised how stressful it can be going through an entire day trying to speak Bulgarian and dealing with coworkers who dont' really know what to do with you. We could have been in any city in America and I think it was exactly what each of us needed to regroup for the next month or so.

Wendy and I did a little shopping, which as most of you know is one of my favorite pasttimes, we walked around, went to cafes and resturants, and the whole time we got to speak English and have conversations that lasted more than 10 minutes. It was lovely. On the other hand, the satisfaction I got from being able to communicate with all of the bulgarians I came in contact with was priceless. It made all of the aggrivations of learning a language finally pay off. Not that I haven't been able to communicate for a while now, but it has been with what Peace Corps calls "sympathetic listeners". Not one soul this weekend was a sympathetic listener and I did just fine anyways. The four of us have decided to make this a monthly event, or at least every 6 weeks or so. I think it will be imperitive to us surviving these next two years.

Not to much happening this week. On Tuesday my mayor and counterpart are taking me to Lovech, the regional center, to get some stuff for the apartment. I also have to pick up my Lichna Karta, my permanant foreign resident card. On Wednesday, Carl, the country director and Andrea, the PC nurse are coming for a site visit. They check the apartment, talk to me, make sure i'm going crazy or something and just do an overall review of the town.

I can hardley beleive Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Seems like it was just last month I got here, and now it is already the end of November. For those of you who may be worried that I will be all alone, dont' be. There are about 12 of us getting togeather on the Saturday after to have our very own Thanksgiving dinner. Geoge and Sarah, an older married couple who live in Garbrovo, a large town about an hour away, are hosting Thanksgiving dinner because it is also their 40th Anniversary. As I said before there are quite a few of us who live within two hours or so of each other, so we are the ones who are going. It will be nice to have an "American" dinner.

The weather people are calling for snow either tonight or early tomorrow. I don't believe it, but I guess i'll just have to wait and see....

I saw an old woman walking her Turkeys the other day. A whole gaggle of them. Did you know that a turkey has blue feathers around its eyes? They are very pretty animals actually, but loud. They are the most talkative animals I have seen yet in Bulgaria. I must say though, seeing those lovely turkeys just made me want to go grab a juicy drum stick and take a big bite. They are lucky i'm not into plucking feathers.

posted by: ksension at November 14, 2004 16:10 | link | comments |

I wanna fly a plane

Guess what I got to do!! You never will so I'm gonna tell you.  Mr. Johnev took me to a Bulgarian Air Force base to meet some visiting German Officers and I got to sit in the Bulgarian version of a F15.  It was so awsome! I've seen these planes up close at the air shows at Cherry Point, but i've never seen inside of one before.  I got to sit in the front seat and play with all of the gadgets and controls, they even closed the lid of it for me.  I dont' know that I would want to spend any real time in there though,  very cramped quarters, can barely move once in and the cockpit is defintely not made for tall people.  Of course I had to be wearing a skirt, so climbing up to the seat was a teste of grace. 

The Man in charge of the base is a good friend of Mr. Johnev and fortunatly he speaks a little English so we were able to communicate with out difficulty.  Between my Bulgarian and his English, we got along famously.  I have been invited to a ceremony at the end of the month for the opening of a new hanger and he said he would invite me to any other ceremonies they have because he thinks they will be very educational for me.  I think he was just impressed that I have and have had so many family members in the military at one point or another.  In Bulgaria, every male has to serve for at least one year, not many stay in, so the fact that the men in my family would volunteer for service and stick with it impressed him grately.

After our visit to the base, Mr. Johnev took me to his friends fishing cabin.  Its located on a rather large lake that has some of the largest fresh water fish in it that I have ever seen.  The guy told me I could come whenever I wanted  and he would take me fishing.  I think I'm going to go next week, get some fishing in before it gets so cold that my fingers will freeze. 

And for some drama, I finally had to break down and tell my counterpart Tanya that I am not 10 years old.  She has been really bad lately about treating me like her child, grabbing my arm to get me to go places, grilling me about what I am eating and what I am not allowed to buy because of one reason or another.  I had a sore throat on Tuesday and she came barging into my kitchen fussing at me because I was drinking hot black tea and not the herbal she informed me I had to drink.  Well needless to say I had had enough.  I told her I was 25 years old and that my Mother lives in North Carolina.  I think that is as direct as I can be with her.  Bulgarians are not direct at all so this statement probably came as a shock to her.  I am hoping things will get better now.  She is a nice person and I know she probably means well, but if she continues treating me this way, I might have to get Peace Corps involved.  We will see.....

I'm going to Pleven this weekend.  Its a large town about 40 minutes away and has all of the things Letnitsa doesnt'.  I am meeting up with two other volunteers and we are all going to stay the night at yet another volunteers apartment who lives there.  I think we are all in desperate need of conversation, American company, and a little escape from our respective towns.  I lucked out in that there are quite a few other volunteers within an hour or two of me.  Cant' imagine being out in the middle of nowhere with no other volunteers to hang out with even if just once in awhile.

Something surprising for you, two of the volunteers that came over with my group are going to get married.  Yep, you read correctly, they are getting married.  Can hardly beleieve it myself, but as soon as another  volunteer (someone who wants to transfer sites)  is found to replace the guy, he is moving to her town and they are getting married.  With PC, the only couples that can live togeather are married couples.  Hope it works out

Well, that is it for now, hope everyone has a lovely weekend.  Keep my Dad in your thoughts, my Grandma Sension passed away on the 5th and her memorial service is this Friday in Pennsylvania. 

Well, i'm off.  Take care of yourselves.

posted by: ksension at November 11, 2004 14:14 | link | comments (1) |

Week three. Its Tuesday night, start of week three, seems like I just got here yesterday. At this rate, I'll be home in no time. Letnitsa is growing on me, I've met some nice people and have some how aquired a gaggle of children that come to visit me every day. One little girl in particular comes like clock work at 5:30 and doesn't leave until I ever so gently hint that it is time to go. It is nice to have people to hang with though, even if they are in elementary school.

Last weekend I went hunting with my mayor and some of his pals. Yes, I said I went hunting, but the reason I went is because they were hunting wild pigs. How could I not go do that. It was a beautiful day, everything about it screamed Fall. Had to wear my gloves and a hat even, it was mightly cold. Ended up seeing a couple of the pigs, but none were caught. Mr. Johnov, the mayor, kept wanting me to hold the gun so i could shoot the pig, but I can't shoot an animal. We comprimised, I shot at a target on a tree and I must say, I hit it every time. He was right proud, so much in fact he had me do it infront of his pals to show them he didnt' get some girly girl who couldnt hit the broad side of a barn door. After hunting I had lunch with all of the hunters, an intersting expereince. I have never seen so much meat before. It was a vegetarian's worst nightmare.

Work is ok, I have now met most of the people I will be working with and for the most part they are all very nice and patient with me. Mr. Johnev is very quick to include me in a after work activities. I think he is very concerned about me not liking Letnitsa. He realizes that there is nothing for me to do here after work, except of course for hanging out with my prepubescent friends. My counterpart however seems to think I am 12 years old and in need of a mother. I'm sure she means well, but it is aggrivating none the less. Fortunatly, the Vice Mayor works in the same office as we do, so he balances out the personalities. All in all though I have settled in nicely, I have a neighbor lady that brings me vegetables once or twice a week, I met a younger couple who live on the third floor, they seem like they could be good friends. The babas like me and we all know how important that is to me being accepted as a resident of Letnitsa. I take walks a couple times a week, trying to find any cool little spots in town. Found an old bridge the other day, leads to a big field that will be lots of fun for building snowmen come winter. might buy a sled, find myself a hill and do some sledding.

The fresh veggies are all gone now, except for potatoes and cabbage. I can find tomatoes maybe once a week but they are a lot more expensive now. I am begining to be a potatoe cooking expert, i'll have enough potatoe recipies to write a cookbook. SPeaking of which, if anybody can think of anything creative to do with a potatoe with limited other recourses, please let me know.

I'm going to Pleven this weekend. I'm meeting up with two other volunteers from my group. I think we are all in need of some American conversation.

Fall has come in strong, finally. Hopefully it will stay this time. Had to break out the gloves and hat for last weekends hunting trip. My coworkers find it humorous that I am already bundling up so much when I go outside. I think they know something I do not. We will see....

posted by: ksension at November 09, 2004 21:21 | link | comments (1) |

what do you do with a free rabbit

so, its about 8:30pm last night and Mr. Johnof the mayor calls me and tells me he is coming to the apartment.  I said ok, altough I had no idea what so ever why he would be at that time.  So 15 minuntes later i hear a knock at the door.  I asnwer it, expecting him to come in to visit, and I am greeted by the site of him, in full camouflage with a plastic bowl that he thrusts in my hands.  I take one look inside, and what do I see, but little bunny foo foo.  I don't know who had more of a shock that night, the bunny when he felt that fatal shot or me, when I was given, my very first dead skinned rabbit. 

Now most of you out there reading this know that Bob Sension is not a hunter, so inturn I don't have a clue as to what to do with anything that isn't purchased at the grocery store.  I had to look up on the internet today how i was suppose to go about cooking this thing.  So, as i sit here writing this, I have a dead, skinned rabbit that was hopping around just as happy as you please yesterday, currently sitting in a bowl in my little fridge.  I must be in Bulgaria.

posted by: ksension at November 02, 2004 14:37 | link | comments (2) |

Letnitsa

Well, I'm here. All moved in to my block (apartment) and enjoying the svabodna (freedom) of living on my own. I really enjoyed my time with my host family, but I was ready to move on and get settled into something more permanant. I've been living out of a suitcase or in limbo for the last three months and it got old awhile ago.

So, first I'll tell you all about swearing in and all that built up to it. My last two or three days with my family were rather sad. Baba cried just about every morning and especially the morning I left (8/21). I have promised to come back for Christmas and it will be a welcome thing I believe. This, for those who don't know, will be my first Christmas away from my family. Now that might seem strange to sum, but then you must not know Terri Sension very well. Anyways, I will keep in touch with them, and when Mama and Daddy come to visit next Summer we will go to Panagyurishte to see them.

So, Friday, Oct. 22, off to Sophia we go with all of my luggage in tow. Fortunatly our host families had to drive us to Pazardjik on Thurs and thus saved me from the torture of having to lug all of my luggage by myself. I swear i think my one really big bag, foundley referred to as the "body bag" by those who have assisted me with it in the past, weighed at least 100 pounds. But non the less, it and the rest of my belongings made it to Sophia and the Ceremony started at about 11am. It was much quicker than I had imagined, when are any governmental functions short and sweet? Carl Hammerdorfer, the PC Country Director for Bulgaria and James Pardew, US Ambassador to Bulgaria spoke and we all took the oath swearing our allegience to the US, I felt like Johnny 5 in that early 90s movie when he became a US Citizen. I swear it was the same exact oath, I actually said the words "without any mental reservation or purpose of ivation", it was a little surreal.

So, ceremony over, little reception and then we all began to depart. Most had to catch a taxi to the avtogarata (bus station), with I might add, all of their luggage in tow.  I was one of the fortunate few who's Obshtina (municipality) came to pick them up. After being picked up, my counterpart and Vice-Mayor took me to the Bulgarian National History Museum. Bulgarians are very proud of their history, quick to tell you about the Turkish "Yolk" they suffered under for so many years, the April Uprising that actually began in Panagyurishte, and anything else they can make you understand with the communication limitations that face you. The musuem was very interesting and full of religious iconographies and relics. Rachel would have been in bliss.

Finally arrived in Letnitsa around midnight, got all my stuff in the apartment and I went to bed in my very own single bed that had been brought in so that I wouldnt' have to sleep on a pull out sofa for two years. The apartment is better than I remembered, that or I suppose I have decided that it is only for two years so why fret over something I have no control over. They did paint the bathroom walls a rather interesing orange color so it looks much better than it did. I have all of the necessary appliances in the kitchen, and for the most part it is more than enough for what I need. They say I will be grateful for the one big room situation come Winter time. You are only suppose to heat one room during the winter so I won't have to worry about having to choose a bedroom or a living room.

Letnitsa itself it exactly how I remember it. It is very small, no larger than maybe, downtown Beaufort with all of its little side streets. In some ways I'm sure I will come to appreciate this, but right now it is more a sense of frustration because I can't get anything I need here. The houses here are not as nice as in PanaG, but they are very typical for Bulgaria. Children play football (soccer) in the street, donkeys are chained up on the sidewalks, stray dogs are absolutely everywhere, and little old ladies, all babas (grandmas) I am sure, sit on benches where ever they can find one and talk about all of the people in town. Sitting on the Baba bench is a big deal here and you do not dare sit on it unless invited by the baba who sits on one of the ends. Old men and teenagers sit at one of the few cafes, drink coffee or beer, the gypsy women sweep the street, gaggles of children run around and torment the stray dogs, and life in Letnitsa, and most of Bulgaria I imagine, goes on like this day after day. Its a very simple life here, it moves very slowly, and I don't think any one of them would trade it for anything. 

 Food and what not can be purchased here in Letnitsa at one of the 4 magazines (shops) that carry all of the food necessities, but anything for the house, towels, blankets, household stuff has to be purchased in Lovetch. It's the closest large town about a 45 min bus ride away.  Guess my love for shopping will be curred by the time I get back to the US.

My coworkers are all very nice and patient with me. Mr. Johnev, the Kemet (mayor), is especially friendly and seems to be full of energy. He is always on the go and constantly tries to get me to drive. A big no no with the Peace Corps, so I tell him, if I drive, I go home. The Vice Mayor is equally friendly, a bit less formal with me, which is what I am use to, so I believe I have a friend in him. My counterpart Tanya is also a nice person, but I think she thinks that I am 12 years old and in the need of a keeper. I'll let it go for now, dont' really have an option. Once I can explain myself better in Bulgarian I will deal with that situation. All in all though I think I will like working here. Still not sure what my job is yet other than writing projects and proposals for EU funding money. That is pretty much what all small municipalities do right now. Each country accessing to the EU can request EU funding to assist them with the many guidelines they have to meet before 2007. I will also begin my Bulgarian turoring this week with the other Tanya in the office.

We had an Earthquake last Wednesday.  I woke up because my alarm clock fell of the window and hit me in the head, well that and my bed was shaking.  I wasn't quite sure what was going on at first, it was around 1:30am so my brain was slightly skewed.  I went back to sleep and woke up the next morning thinking I had dreamt the Earthquake up. That is of course until I turned my phone on and saw that I had 5 messages from other Volunteers asking if I had felt the Earthquake.  Guess it wasn't a dream after all.  Found out later the center was in Romania and it reached 5.5 on the richter scale.  Not bad for my first Earthquake, guess I can go live in California now.

So, the really exciting news now. I went to Istanbul this past weekend. Now usually new volunteers are prohibited from leaving the country for the first three months of service, but since I would be going with my mayor and some other coworkers, it was considered a business trip and I was allowed to go. Thought there might be some problems with the Visa situation, but that got sorted out and I got the appropriate stamps so that I could leave Bulgaria and reenter again even though I don't have my permanent foreigner resident card yet.

Its a 10 hour bus ride to Istanbul, but oh so worth it. At the Turkish border I had to buy a Visa because I am an American. 20 US dollars and I can stay for up to 3 months in Turkey with no problem. I guess they don't worry about immigration. Arrived around 7am Friday morning, checked into the hotel, had a shower and some breakfast and then a two hour meeting with the others who came (40 total). After the meeting was over, I was the official picture taker, we headed out to Istanbul. What an absolutely amazing city. I think I could have stayed there for weeks just exploring all of it. It happend that Friday was the 81st anniversary of the unification and creation of the Republic of Turkey. We went to a parade, all of the military schools performed, armored vehicles drove down the street, tanks and rocket launchers, jets flew over as well as helicopters, it was an awsome sight. Huge red Turkish flags hung everywhere and on every building, bands played patriotic songs (i thought they sounded patriotic), and people cheered the armored cars that drove by.  Had it not been for the women dressed in full burkas and showing nothing but their eyes and noses and mouths, I could have been standing on the street corner on Front Street watching the parade go by.  Some people would hear me speaking in English and stop to ask me where I was from.  They found it very interesting that I would come to Turkey and were very interested if I was impressed by the parade and Istanbul as a whole.  Fortunatly I was able to say yes to both.  A lot of Turks speak some English, just in case you were wondering how we went about communicating.

We also went to a huge street festival, think Seafood Festival times 3.  It was so crowded with people and vendors and street sellers.  Street sellers are an interesting lot.  They are anywhere from 3 to 80 years old and are selling everything from tissues and ladies underwear to postcards and "cuban" cigars.  The vendors and the festival sold all sorts of curious Turkish objects, collectables and weird things.  The smells were wonderful.  Duner Kababs were every other booth, for those who dont' know what Duners are, it is a huge cylindrical spear of chicken or lamb, roasting on a spike.  You get shaved chicken or lamb, veggies, curry sauce, and spices on a warm Turkish peta and it is delicious.  You could stop for turkish coffee or tea at one of the makeshift cafes or smoke on a huge smoke pipe that was shared with numrous other people.  It was like I had left 2004 and stepped off somewhere  houndreds of years ago.  This part of the World is truley a world unto its own.  At any given point you are just as likey to be serenaded by a trio of musicians as you to be offered to buy a remote controlled toy car, I got both, many times.

Well, I suppose you can figure out for yourselves that I thouroughly enjoyed Istanbul and I have every intention of going back whenever possible.  So now I am back in Letnitsa and am half way through the first day of my 2nd week of work.  I actually had a project to do today.  The school is getting a new chimney and Mr. Johnev wanted me to draw the design out with all of the measurments on the computer and in English so that he could present it to his board.  Thank god for Autocad in High School.  Would have hated to have failed at my first official project as a Peace Corps Volunteer, might have set a bad precedent. 

I'm going to the local school today to speak with the 3rd grade class.  They are studying English and I think I am brought in for shown and tell if you will.  This will be my 2nd trip there, my first being last Thursday.  We do simple vocabulary, they sit and smile and probably wonder what in the world this American girl is doing here in their little town trying to speak their language.  I must admit, I wonder the same thing sometimes, then I see a donkey cart go by, kids playing soccer in the street, an old man walking his goats down the main street in town and the bench of Babas wave at me and say "Dobro Ootro" (good morning) and all of a sudden it hits me, I'm living in Bulgaria and it is exactly where I want to be.

 

posted by: ksension at November 01, 2004 08:51 | link | comments |

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