From the Black Sea to the Serbian Border

This week has seen a lot of me sitting on trains and trying to fenagal my way around strange places that are thronged with tourists to the point they are almost unmanagable.

On Sunday I was sitting somewhat bored in my apartment and decided to take a trip to the Black Sea for the first time. I didn't think I could handle Burgas yet, as it is a pretty big city and is absolutely packed to the gills with tourists right now. So in my Lonely Planet guide I read about this ancient port town a little north of Burgas called Nesebur. The guide siad it had a lot of tourists in the summer, but nothing, no words, could have prepared me for what I encountered when I stepped off the bus from Burgas.

There are two parts of town, "New Town," which is entirely made up of hotels and resorts, and "Old Town," which was founded thousands and thousands of years ago by the Thracians and is actually on a small island next to new town, only accessible by this rather narrow bridge.

When I crossed the bridge, I thought I was entering a refugee camp. Hundreds, literally hundreds, of people were swarming the bus as they walked over the bridge. They had huge beach bags, sun hats, bottles of sunscreen, innertubes, beach balls, and everything else you would take to the beach. When I got off the bus at the ancient gates to the town, I realized that almost everyone was speaking English. As I had not heard English in several days at that point, my ears went into shock and I almost didn't understand my native language.

The streets of the town are serval thousand years old and very narrow, but every crevace, every doorway in the place was absolutely packed with people. Everyone had to move in sync along the cobblestones lest they fall and be trampled. People were yelling at one another over the heads of strangers, little kids were getting separated from their folks, truly inconsiderate people stopped in the middle of the street to check maps or hold conversations and got knocked over by other inconsiderate people. It was a MADHOUSE (or as we say in Bulgaria, LUDNITSA). By noon, I had had enough and began the trek back home.

But the refugee-like adventure was not over yet, oh no. I took the bus back to Burgas, and by that point the sun was at its most intense. I managed to find a train that would stop in Straldja, and boarded. I did not, however, remember to buy a reserved seat. And, as would make sense on a Saturday at the end of July, the train was packed. I mean, for those who are familiar with London public transport, Central line of the tube at 6 p.m. on a Friday between Bank and Liverpool St. We were hanging out of windows for fresh air, circulating who got to stand on the sides and who had to stand in the middle of the mass not really holding onto anything except the mass itself.

But it was only 2 hours, and I ultimately survived (and kissed the door to my flat when I got home, if I remember correctly.)

My second trip started yesterday with a 7-hour train ride from Straldja to Sofia for a med check-up. I think I took the least efficient route here (all the way down through Plovidv and the area where I lived during training and then all the way back up the other side), and I will do a bit of research when I return to that side of the country. But I somehow made it, somehow managed to find the Peace Corps office on my own, which is a feat considering it is actually in a small village next to the capital, and had my appointment. In the evening I went to one of the Peace Corps recommended hostels to spend the night. Everyone there spoke English, so it was a pretty fun night. In one way I feel sorry for those travelers who have been in Eastern Europe for a month or so and only visit the major capitals of the countries in the area. THey really don't experience the place at all...Though I know it must be terribly difficult to travel around small towns here not speaking the local language. More and more I appreciate the way I am traveling...town by town with a home base to go back to. I understand the culture pretty well now, I speak enough Bulgarian to carry conversation with a "sympathetic listener" and I feel like I am actually betting to know the place, not just see it.

After the dust has settled

I have been a volunteer for a week and a half now, and I can already feel myself getting more adjusted to life in Straldja. My apartment is clean(er) and I have food in it...and things to cook with (though it still takes me about an hour to bring water to a weak boil...I'm waiting for my stove/oven to just give out completely so I can get a new one. For now, salad seems the way to go.)

The first week I was here I made two trips to Yambol, my nearest big town and the "capitol" of my region in Bulgaria. It is apparently one of the poorest "Oblasks" in the country, but you can't really tell that from the downtown area. There are shops (where the best 15 leva of my life were spent on a rotating fan imported from Germany for my apartment. They didn't have a box for it, so I had to sit with it fully assembled on the 20-minute bus ride after paying for an extra seat.) There is even a movie theater that shows one film a week.

I had to go to town two times because I am in the process of applying for my lichna karta (my Bulgarian ID) and I needed to get extra forms. It's one of the few remaining elements of a communist goverment, and even though it's a pain, I'm glad it's just one little aspect of living here. I could be much, much worse.

Over the weekend I headed back to the Rhodope Mountains to visit my "family." My host sister had her birthday on Sunday, but even though she wasn't there (she was at the beach with her uncle), they still wanted to have a party. I left for Plovidv on Friday morning by train. It's a 3 and 1/2 hour direct ride. I spent the day bumming around the city. I managed to find a replacement camera for the digital I lost (so be on the lookout for photos with these emails) and I saw War of the Worlds in the theater nears Ivan's apartment...don't ask me how I found it again, but I must be getting better with directions. In the evening I took a bus to Krichim, and Maegan and Andy were "home" too. Everyone was glad to see us, and they treated us like we had been gone forever (not just one week). On Saturday I bought the new Harry Potter book (since it is not yet translated into Bulgarian, I was the only one in the store) and hung out in Krichim. Villi, my host cousin, gave me a haircut and she says I look "Bulgarian" now...I doubt it, but several people have come up to me and started speaking Russian thinking I am Russian...

Anyway, I came back to Straljda on Sunday and finsished Harry Potter yesterday. Today I did the last of my paperwork in Yambol, and now I eagerly await Aug. 19 when I can pick up my ID card.

I am a volunteer

It's been a heck of a few weeks, which is why I have bene negligent in writing. During our last week in Krichim Ivan took us on a whirlwind of field trips and excursions (we suspect so that we'd give him really awesome final reviews.) He took us hiking to the Krichim pool and on the way home we found an awsome spot in the river to dip in. The next day he took us to Bretsigovo, a small town west of \krichim, to bum around and take our minds off of our final language tests the next day.

The day of our final LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) was one of the hottest in Bulgaria, ever. We were all really slow on the draw, but as it turned out, I was given a rating of Intermediate Mid -- the second-highest rating awarded after Pre-Service Training. Apparently only 4 people in the history of PC Bulgaria have gotten higher than that, so that's cool. After two months, I think my Bulgarian is actually better than my German, and I studied that for 4 years!

Anyway, this past week was eventful as well. On the 4th of July we were planning to have a party with our kids as a project, but the weather was really crappy so we had a 5th of July 4th of July Party. Lots of kids showed up, and we took them to the pool and played American games with them like sack races and stuff. They were really happy with it, and the gym teacher from our school came to learn some new stuff to do in class.

I must say that everone in town wished us a happy Independence Day, which I found suprising. THey all know our day, but no one outside Bulgaria knows theirs...That might also be because they have 3, but that's beside the point! (One to celebrate the beginning of kicking out the Turks, one to celebrate the final leaving of the TUrks and one to celebrate the leaving of the Soviets.)

Thursday was a pretty rough day. Our host families dropped us off in Pazardjik and we said our goodbyes, which were quite tearful. All day they made us do menial things to get ready for Friday, which was our big day. We heard the news about London in our afternoon (an hour of two after it happened) but our internet was down and we couldn't get much accurate news. Many of us have actually lived in London for periods of time, so we were all pretty upset.

THe next day, Friday, was the Swear-In day for the B-17s. They bused us to Sofia, took us to the Peace Corps compound, had the ceremony (which included reading out our names and hometowns, the American Ambassador of Bulgaria giving us the oath, and the Minister of Educatiuon in Bulgaria officially welcoming us to his employment.) Afterwards my five sitemates and Ivan bascially milled around together, not really wanting to go our separate ways. We decided that before school starts we will meet in the Rila Mountain town of Dupnitsa to hike to the Rila Monastary. Ned, one of my sitemates, will be living there, so it seemed like a good starting point. I will probably take a train to Plovdiv, meet up with Ivan and Ethan, and Ivan'll rent a car and drive us to "The Dup." I'm looking forward to it.

But after a few hours, everyone had left the compound and I was left waiting for my school director to come and pick me up. Once she came it was a 5-hour ride home to Straldja, and here I have been for the past two days, attempting to settle in.

I have some major cleaning and stuff to do in my apartment, but my town is so small there is not much shopping to be done here. TOmorrow I will travel to my nearest city, Sliven, about 45 minutes away, to get some supplies.

I know I'll be fine here. I have the language skills and the independence. Now it is simply a matter of settling in, meeting people, and getting into a routine.

I will also soon begin using either internet at my apartment or internet at the school, so my emails can be more poetic without time restrictions.

Peace Corps: Resort Style

Summer has officially arrived in Bulgaria. It is hot, sunny, and very slow-paced. The "Detsata Na Oolitsata" ("The Street Children", as we have come to call them) ride their bikes all day around town and eat ice cream and go swimming in public pools. They have the childhood that I imagine kids had in the mid-20th century.

We, however, are still in language training. We will be moving to our permanant sites in two weeks, so this has become a mad-dash to learn the language and to get ready to be "camo" (alone). I'm a little nervous, but I know once I get there I'll be fine. It will be nice to be more settled and esablished.

On Thursday and Friday of last week we had hub in Pazardjik, and then Ned (one of my training mates) and I went to the town of Kostenets in the Rila mountains to visit some other trainees. We were there for the weekend, hung out at the pool, and generally relaxed.

Today we have some interviews with Peace Corps big-wigs and language. Tomorrow Ivan wants us to study up at the Krichim pool in the mountains, and we aren't complaining.

A Week in Pazardjik

So life has been going in Bulgaria. This week I have spent four days in Pazardjik (where we go for hub)-- two days for hub with all the trainees and two days for special language training with a few others. Everyone else went on site visits to see other volunteers, but my group and 4 others wanted to do more language. We are getting ahead of everyone now, so that's good.

For several days it was raining all over the Balkans and they had to evacuate a lot of cities (none that I am ever in). It seems like it has more or less cleared and it's really hot.

On Monday evening I went to see a play with the other trainees in Krichim in the Chitaliste (where we have our lessons). Of course it was in Bulgarian and we only understood the odd word, but it was nice to see some local theater. At one point a piece of set fell down, but they were smooth. Some of the castmemebers are kids I have in school, so they were glad to see me there.

So all in all, it's been a good week. Yesdterday a current volunteer in Pazardjik took three of us on a tour of the Mahala (the Roma ghetto). She works there in youth development. The Pazardik mahala is the third-largest in the country (about 20,000 people live there and it is about a square mile big). It was extremely desitute, but no more so than the mahala in Krichim. It was just much bigger and much, much more crowded. We didn't get mobbed as much as we would have had we not had the volunteer with us. She is actually Indian, and the Roma are originally from India, so she physically fits in there and they have completely integrated her.

Seeing the mahala made me look forward to beginning my work in Straldja, where I'll have the opportunity to teach in a totally Roma school part-time inside the mahala. I hope I can integrate myself as effectively as Anessa has (the volunteer in Pazardjik).

Hello from Sunny Bulgaria

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth. I have simply been doing too much to keep near an internet cafe.

THe weather for the poast few days has been amazing (sunny, hot) and it put me in the mood to go swimming. THe water in the local river is still a bit too cold, however, so that will have to wait. On Monday my training group went on a hike into the mountains as a "team building" activity and we ended up stealing loads of fresh cherries from the trees up there. We ate until we could barely hike back home. Ivan, our trainer, climbed into one tree and threw branches down to me, and the others kept watch at the head of the trail for the owners of the trees.

Yesterday was Chuildren's Day, so there were local doings for that. The police general of Sofia came to town and autographed my language book. There were tons of games for the kids, and the whole town seemed to be under the age of 10.

Other than that, not much has been happening actually. We've been doing traini8ng, visiting Plovdiv, and so on.

Back in the West

So folks, here I am back in the "hometown" of Krichim. I just returned from a few days at my permanent site on Friday (my birthday), which was pretty exciting. I will be working in a town called Straldja in the mid-eastern part of Bulgaria (guess I'm always an East Coast chick), about an hour drive west of Burgas, one of the two major resort towns on the Black Sea. It's a small town in the shadow of Starra Planina (translated as "Old Mountains"), which is the mountain range known in the west as the Balkan Mountains. Near Sofia they are huge and snow-capped, but further east they are more like really tall Appalacians. My school is really nice, and there is a Roma school in the town for me to work in as a secondary project. My counterpart (the Bulgarian teacher who has "adopted me") is really nice and speaks incredible English. She will be the primary grammar teacher and I will be more of a cultural and communication teacher (pronunciation, etc.) There is a running joke in our group of trainees that one guy from Long Island will be teaching phonetics to his students. His accent should make for an interesting class!

Tomorrow trainees south of Pazardjik will meet in the dumpy little town of Brestovitsa to talk about our site visits. I hope every else is as happy as I am with mine. My brithday was a rockin' good time...My family had all the volunteers in the area and lots of their extended family over for a party. They taught us all the couchek (the Turkish dancing) and they claim we are good...I really don't think so. My Bulgarian is getting better, so that's a good sign. I'mlooking forward to getting back into my rountine in Krichim after a week away.