A day in the life...

So, some people may be wondering just what it is that I do during training. Most of my training day is taken up with language class (3 hours) with our Bulgarian language trainer. She is fantastic, and I have come a long way in a short time under her able tutelage. Not to give the impression that I am suddenly rattling off philosophical treatises in Bulgarian, but I can order food, ask what work someone does, ask for directions, introduce myself, express appreciation and ask some basic questions! I am far from fluent, but am slowly but surely learning new things everyday.

My training group especially likes games in class. For example, today we played a board game that required a different language related task on each square that our piece landed on. We are also big fans of throwing a ball around while conjugating verbs. I think the games are good because they force us to think quickly.

We also usually have something to do in the afternoon, related to another assignment. For example, we met with the police inspector of our town (who also happens to be my host dad), are planning a community meeting, are working on "cultural passports" that help us to learn about Bulgarian culture and often have other papers or group projects to work on.

Afterwards, I head home for the evening. I spend time with my host family at night, which helps A TON with the language. I also spend some time either emailing, blogging or reading by myself. Having a completely new lifestyle in a new culture takes some adjustment and I find that giving myself some time to relax helps in this process immensely.

The Tiny Dig

So, here in my training village they seem to have come by some money for infrastructure improvements. There are road resurfacing projects, a recent renovation of the town square, and bilingual signs at points of interest with EU and BG decals on them. I ascertain that many of these projects are funded with EU monies. The most relevant project to my immediate situation is what I like to call the tiny dig (non- Bostonians, ask a Bostonian).

They are putting in new water pipes in my neighborhood. This is exiting not only because the water will be more reliable and pure in my 'hood, but also because I get to find a new hole in a different place everyday. There is a large digging machine, but I am also seeing shirtless male neighborhood residents (Old guys, people! Don't get the wrong idea!) digging to the connecting valves to their houses. Furthermore, since my neighborhood is not paved, all that has to be done after the pipe is laid, is filling in the hole. Really quite efficient by large American public works project standards.

The hole digging really adds interest (rather than inconvenience) to my daily commute, which I have come to enjoy. I live maybe a mile away from the language training center, so I get plenty of exercise (especially if I walk home for lunch, which I often do). I am beginning to figure out which people I will see at which places and at which times of day, which is nice. I am really enjoying the pace of life here and am even beginning to walk more slowly.

Yes, blogosphere, I am alive

I am in Bulgaria and have been with my host family for about one week. I am still only speaking baby Bulgarian. My host family repeats things a lot for me, and I have rediscovered my talent for pantomiming, so everyone is understood eventually.

So, I have other previously type blog entries on my computer. Unfortunately, I am having some technical difficulties with my flash drive. I have heard that sometimes BG computers fry them, which is what I suspect has happened to mine. I will try to get a new one in order to post my old entries and PICTURES of course. I am taking them, just having trouble posting them.

I think the new highlight of my life (aside from living in a foreign country, learning a new language and getting to know one of the kindest families on earth) is milking the two family goats. I have only done it twice so far, so I am still slow at it. I am learning though! My host family finds the sight of a city slicker American gal studiously milking (albeit with some aim issues) extremely entertaining, and I am happy to oblige them.

Last Day in MA

Tomorrow, bright and early, I set out to Philadephia to meet up with my Peace Corps cohort. It seems that we will have a series of meetings regarding everything we ever wanted to know and more about Peace Corps policy and regulations, perhaps some pokes from various vaccination needles and a distribution of passports (I will have both a normal US passport and a special government one; it makes me feel like I am in a spy movie) and airplane tickets. It has seemed recently that I was approaching an event horizon on the outskirts of the black hole of moving abroad from which no shard of my identity would escape; happily, the feeling has become akin to the anticipation of my first big road trip in my recently sold VW golf.

I had a wonderful New England summer supper this evening with my parents and my grandfather: swordfish, corn and grilled tomatoes with rasperries and blueberries with some ice cream for dessert. The corn, tomatoes and raspberries were all grown within 10 miles of my parents' house. I can't think of a supper that more encapsulates early August in coastal Massachusetts. I have been eating fish (and mussels and clams and calamari!) at every opportunity, as I understand that, sadly, the Black Sea is rather polluted.

I have been enjoying the ocean this summer summer. I have been going to the beach a lot (just a quick bike ride away), including a quick last dip today. Yesterday, my mother and I went on a kayaking adventure (meaning I paddled, and my mother told me where I should paddle) on the tidal inlet that my parents live on. See below, picture of my mother (and my toes) in the bow of the kayak.