Name: Kate
This blog is really nothing more than me putting my rantings down on paper; amazing how cathartic that can be. It chronicles my time and experiences living and working in Bulgaria and gives you a little insight into the mysterious world of Peace Corps Volunteers. Enjoy the read -
Oh yes, I am required to say that this is not an official Peace Corps Website (as if that was a mistake you would make) and the views and opinions expressed here are my own (but of course they are.)
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I’m now a Junior, so to speak. The new group of COD (Community and Organizational Development) volunteers arrived on the 15th. They are officially the 18th group of They were me last year. I have been talking to many of my friends here and we all keep repeating the mantra “my god, it’s been a year already.” It really makes you stop and take inventory of your life, what you have done, seen, accomplished. Makes you realize that these people, these Americans that you never knew existed before Aug 6 2004 are now your family. They are the people you turn to, the ones who listen to all of your complaints and convince you that yes, you can do this for another year. I can honestly say that without a handful of these people, I would have never made it this far nor do I think I would want to stay if I didn’t have them. The emotional bonds you develop in situations like these are unreal. I never really believed that people could be that close in such a short amount of time. I have been proven wrong many times over and have no issues admitting it. We are a strange family, hailing from all over and making up about 8 different professions. We are cynical, opinionated, sensitive, moody, compassionate, hard headed, smart, adventurous and kind. All of us put together make a pretty great person and our last name is Volunteer. These are my peeps and I spent last weekend in the towns of On Friday, Gorsho, one of the Municipal drivers, drove us to the station in Levski, dropped us off with plenty of time then took off back to Letnitsa. I went up to the ticket desk to get our tickets and the woman informed me that the trains weren’t running and she didn’t know when they would start back up. Well, as you can imagine this is not the news I wanted to hear. So, what to do what to do? Fortunately for both Matt and I, I keep a little book of transportation schedules for all over So, we caught a bus an hour later back down to Lovech (about a 50 min drive in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go). Got there in time to catch a bus to Veliko Turnovo (2 hour drive); this bus ended up being a mini van type bus, meant to hold about 12 people but they managed to squeeze in 19. Matt and I got to sit upfront with the driver, which would have been nice except for the fact that I had to sit right next to the driver, who smelled horrible, and only the driver’s window worked in the ENTIRE bus so you can just imagine how fun that was. After a very hot and miserable ride, I finally see Veliko Turnovo approaching and feel some relief. This did not last long however because I noticed that we were starting to slow down randomly and swerve a bit. I look over at the driver and the man is half in and half out of sleep. Others in the bus had also noticed and were making somewhat of an effort to talk to him so he would wake up. I had my elbow prepared to jab him if necessary. We finally get to the station in Turnovo, grumpy, hot and relieved. Not for long however cause it turns out the next bus to Many volunteers have had problems with the public transport here. Personally, I have never had any issues. Never missed a bus, lost a ticket, got on the wrong bus, nothing. In one day however, I managed to have the worst travel experience and the most expensive. Needless to say when we finally got to So anyways. Not all was lost. After a morning storm on Saturday, the weather cleared and Matt, Jenn (our friend who we were visiting in Varna is one of those cities in This weekend Matt and I are having a bunch of friends up to his place in Apriltsy. Six of our friends will come up tomorrow afternoon and we will spend the weekend hiking, swimming at the hotel pool, eating homemade Mexican food, and vegging out American style. We have rented a vacation house for everyone to stay at, and hopefully the weather will hold out and we will have a wonderful weekend. If not though, gin rummy and eating homemade salsa and chocolate chip cookies sounds just as nice. I have my mid-service dental exam and physical on Tuesday. I’m rather looking forward to it truth be told. Nothing like having dentist cleaned teeth. The dentist is an ex-pat from All else here is pretty normal. We have been having some crazy lightning storms here as of late. Knocked the power out for about 6 hours the other day. This summer has been great weather wise (except for lots of rain in certain areas.) Nothing like the scorching heat I was expecting. Everything is still very green, the flowers are gorgeous and the summer fruits and veggies are starting to come out again. I found figs and cantaloupe the other day at the Pazar (daily fruit and vegetable market) in Lovech. Corn on the cob is sitting in my fridge waiting for dinner and the grapes are absolutely amazing. It really is the best time of year food wise. I’ve been baking zucchini bread, banana bread, apple cobbler and anything else I can come up with. My American friends love it, my Bulgarians at least try it. They can’t seem to get their minds wrapped around the concept of a sweet bread that has fruit or vegetables in it. This from people who put mayonnaise, ketchup and hotdogs on their spaghetti, go figure.
As it would happen, I have lots of time right now to write yet little to write about. I suppose that happens with life, when there seems to be a plethora of time, you have nothing to fill it with, yet when you have a million things coming at you at once there never seems enough time.
It’s Wednesday and I am sitting in the office with not a whole lot to do. Am suppose to be teaching English right now but the Mayor is entertaining a visitor so that takes precedence. Doesn’t really matter anyways, 2 of the other people that go to class are on vacation now anyways.
The Bulgarian Summer vacation, it is a beautiful thing. Starting in early July, people just seem to disappear from the office for 2 and 3 weeks at a time. It’s like a ghost town here right now with so many people gone. They get days off here and there throughout the year, but come summer, it’s like a great migration to the sea. Can’t say that I blame them any, I myself am headed there on Saturday. I got tired of people asking me if I had been yet and reprimanding me for not going when I said no I hadn’t. Matt and I are headed to the town of
The weather this week and last weekend turned unexpectedly cool. I actually wore a jean jacket for about 3 days and had to break out the little heater last night. Today is back to a reasonable temp, low 80s I would say. Not that I am complaining, the 3 days of high 90s with no A/C were not pleasant days and I would not be sad if that didn’t happen again.
Mr. Mayor took me to a small river about 15 minutes outside of town last Wednesday. He had to drive a ridiculously old Russian military transport truck down to the river because of the poor condition of the road you have to take to get there. It was a fun ride, driving through the water and down into big holes and such. He and his brother went swimming at this spot that has a natural jet of sorts. After that they fished with cast nets for about an hour and a half. They actually caught quite a bit of fish, not very big ones, but that matters little when you fry them whole. He said he goes a few times every week and I am welcome to come along. I think I just might if the weather warms up a bit. It is really a beautiful spot, lots of green hills around it, rock covered sand bar type things dotted along the river.
Matt and I are hosting a weekend for our friends next week. He lives in such a great town and we have both told so many people how great it is that we figured it was time to share it. Going to be around 8 people, they will stay at the hotel where Matt’s apartment is. We are even going to have a Mexican night; I must say I’m as excited about that as anything else. There is an amazing pool up at one of the hotels on the side of the Mountain that we will go to. The pool is out in front of the hotel and buts right up next to the fence that runs along the cliff of the property. In front of you there is a 180 degree view of 4 mountain peeks that on a clear day you feel like you could reach out and touch them. It is something you would imagine you would find in
Well, I think that is it for now. I’ll let y’all know how
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