Kate in Bulgaria

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

In 5 days, yes 5 short days my Mama and Daddy will be flying into the Sofia airport. I have never gone this long without seeing them (10 months 15 days) and the closer it gets for them to get here, the more excited I get. Its not homesickness really, its being around people that you know love you unconditionally. I will never understand how people survive without a family. If only Rachel was coming over with them, it would be perfect, but I’ll have to wait till next summer to see her.

To update you all on the results of my meeting with Dimitar (my program manager at PC), things went ok. It wasn’t the answer I was looking for then, but now that I have had time to process it, I suppose for now it was the right one. He and I have agreed that I will redo my SPA (due August 5^th) but this time will focus more towards working with the community centers and doing a project geared towards kids. The big problem with the first SPA was it was only geared to municipal employees and I was asking for a ton of equipment for what in effect is the Municipal government. Not exactly what the SPA committee wants to fund, but other projects like that have been funded in the past. Guess mine was a little to over the top with the equipment I wanted.

So anyway, Dimitar and his assistants are busy doing new site selections for the group of business volunteers that will be arriving in August. Dimitar and I agreed that I will redo my SPA, try to do one more project called a PCPP (its sort of like SPA but the money comes from businesses and organizations in the states that pick the project that they like and fund it), and see how those two things go. So that is what I am doing. At least for now. He also agreed with me that if doing this does not improve my situation, that come August or early September, he will start looking into new sites for me to work in. So, that is the situation as of now. I have a meeting today with the ladies at the community center to start thinking of ideas for a project that will involve them and the community center. I refuse to write another SPA all by myself. This is suppose to be a team effort and involve community members and if I have any say so, they will be involved in the entire process or it just isn’t’ going to be done. Granted it is not starting off on the best foot, Tanya, my counterpart, knew about this meeting, helped me contact everyone who I wanted to be there and agreed to come and represent the municipality. Well I got into the office today and Tanya wasn’t here. I asked where she was and was informed that she is on vacation for the rest of the week. Isn’t that just grand?

Well, I suppose that is it for now. I sit here counting down the hours till my parents get here. I thought this would be one of the longest weeks in history, but I can barely believe it is Thursday already. Needless to say I’ve got some Spring-cleaning to do. Hope you all have a great weekend

posted by: ksension at June 16, 2005 07:52 | link | comments |

Who would have thought that it would take me coming all the way to Bulgaira to get me to garden?  Certainly not me, but its Bulgaria and I've quit trying to understand why things happen the way they do here.   I think I have mentioned the festival that is happening here tomorrow, well I have learned a bit more about it so I thought I would share. 

Tomorrow celebrates the 35th anniversary of Letnitsa becoming a town.  Not that Letnitsa is only 35 years old, but this anniversary marks teh day it went from a Villiage to a Town.  This seems sort of insignificant to me, but here, it is a big deal.  It is very bad of you to call a Town a Villiage and you are quickly corrected if you do make said mistake.  There are officially 3500 people who live in the town (maybe 3501 with me) and all of them, plus about 200 "dignitaries" will be taking over the town center for tomorrow's celebrations.  Well of coure this means that the town has to look beautiful.  Fortunatly Letnitsa already looks pretty nice in the Spring, and with all the rain we have been having lately, everything is veryyyyyyy green.  Now however, as of about an hour ago, Letnitsa looks the best it has probably ever looked.  The gardens have all been weeded and spruced up, the grass is cut to golf course precision, the streets have new lines, the fountain infront of the municipality has been fixed and they even built a cute little well right beside my apartment.  It has a bench and a bucket and a little cobblestone path and everything.  In the 7 months I have lived here, I have never seen this place shine like it does right now.

Well, one would think all of that would make for a great day.  It actually did until about 3 o'clock this afternoon when I made the mistake of checking my email only to find that the SPA decision had been sent out a day early.  Obviously from the tone this paragraph has taken you already know the answer to the obvious question.  I did not get the SPA.  I find it very funny that I got as upset as I did about the answer.  It wasnt' really a project I wanted to do at first, but my Mayor and counterpart wanted it badly and I realized that If we got it I would be guarunteed work for at least the next 6 months.  Well, sorry charlie but the answer was no.  Of course they say I can redo it and resubmit it in the Fall, but I just dont' think that answer is going to go far when I try to explain the Mr. Mayor that no, I did not win the money to get the equipment he wanted.  Which I must admit, I think he was waiting on as a way to justify me being here.  Ouch

Needless to say this means big changes for me.  Thank God Mama and Daddy will be here in 2 1/2 weeks, I think if they werent' coming I would be buying myself a ticket home for a much needed visit.  I'll keep y'all informed as to what is happening about work and such.  I'm expecting a call from my program manager either tonight or tomorrow to discuss the SPA and other issues.  I'll let you know how that goes. 

Guess that is all for now.  Have a nice weekend

 

posted by: ksension at June 02, 2005 16:10 | link | comments |

Just a quick note.  My friend Brett has put a lot of pictures he took in Istanbul on his site.  There are some really excellent shots and worth taking a look at.  The link is below and it will take you directly to the album on his site.  I'll be sending some more pics once I get them put in a yahoo photo album thing, but for now, if you are interested, take a look at these.

http://www.brettnet.net/gallery/istanbul/index.asp

posted by: ksension at June 01, 2005 08:31 | link | comments |

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