Man, I wish I could post pictures right now...I have some great ones for all of you.
Last nigh I went to a wedding in Dupnitsa with my host mom. It was great.
Ryan, (another volunteer in my town) was there too with his host mom.
We ate and danced the horro all night long. Ok, so maybe we drank a little rakia too... it would have been rude not too ;-)

What else to tell you.... hummm...

I hand washed my clothes for the first time in my life... it isn't as hard as I thought it would be, although I definitely wouldn't say it is something I am exactly fond of. But I'm also not a fan of dirty underwear.

We had fresh almonds in the shell the other night. I had fun being the one to take a mallet and crack the shells outside. And no, they don't taste anything like the almonds you get back home. You wouldn't even know they were the same thing. Prepackaged nuts have nothing on these.

I am developing a serious addiction to coffee. The strong stuff. I am not too concerened about the caffine intake, I just don't want my teeth be anything less than sparkling white. Sigh, vanity.

There is so much more.... so, so much more... but there is no way i have the time to write it, nor would anyone have the time to read it. So I'll just stick to the superficial basics for now.

Although I will say something interesting I have noticed being in Bulgaria, is that I am forced to slow down. My speech most noticibly, for obvious reasons. As I struggle with every sentance I so carefully piece together. However, it's nice that my reliance on charades is slowly decreasing, as I am able to convey myself verbally more and more everyday. Yeah, I talk like a toddler, but at least I'm trying.

But yeah, here things are just slower in general. Before I left, my mind was constantly in a million places at once.
Here, even my brain has slowed down. When I fall asleep at night, worries are no longer swirlling in my brain. What I fall asleep to instead are random bulgarian words. Just random words strung together in no particular order, I don't even know what half of them mean, they are just things I had heard during the day. Odd before sleep thoughts huh? Much better than worries. I think my brain is now confused, it doesn't isn't hearing english anymore, so it doesn't dwell on things spoken in english, but it doesn't understand bulgarian, so words just float around.
Being a self-confessed dweller, this is a welcome break for my mind.

Another thing that I have needed to modify my behaviour with, is eating. Here, meals last forever. They eat slowly. I have learned to do that too, or else I would be a thousand pounds, since as soon as your meals starts to look like it is almost gone, they are trying to make you eat more. Back at home, I wouldn't even sit down for meals. I just didn't have time...or something. I would shove the food down my throat as fast as I could to move onto the next, what? thing? What was I in such a rush to do? Live my life? Couldn't miss out on anything, right?
The result being that I never really fully experienced most things I was doing.
Here, you don't have a choice.
I don't have any pressing issues worrying me, or forcing me to rush. No court reports to write, or birth parents to argue with, or pointless paperwork to document, or rent to pay, or clothes to buy (there is no store or even a bank in my village even if i wanted to) Who knew that joining the peace corps would be the most realxing thing I could do. I know it won't always be like this, but for now, it is amazing.

As always though, I miss my family and friends.
So in ending today, I hope you are all sleeping well, have a great sunday when you wake up, and know that I love you.

- Tracy