well, i've been in bulgaria a week now, and i wish i could put everything in here... but that would take forever.
seriously.
i'll just give a short recap.
the people are great (both the volunteers and the people of bulgaria)
my host family is amazing
(and my host mom is even more overprotective than you, mom, if that is even possible)
she get nervous if a go on a walk by myself... in this huge town of 1,000 people.
my host family, has a huge garden with every veggie imaginable, a horse, sheep, pig, hens, kitten, fruit trees (apple, pear, plum) berry bushes, grape vines lining the entire backyard.
i have danced the horra (totally wrong spelling i'm sure... but then again, it's wrong in latin letters anyway) both in panicheste with the volunteers and spontaneously a few times during/after dinner with my host family.
drank some homemade rakia, helped unload some beans from the cart to dry, ate more cucumbers and tomatoes than i even knew existed (and although wonderful, nothing beats the tomatoes from my family's garden in good ol' northville michigan)
but yeah, the food.
out. of. this. world.
although, i do have to bust out my bulgarian "i'm full" phrase, or else i could easily gain 5 lbs a day the way my host mom feeds me.
as it is, i think i've actually lost some....odd.
anyway.
my host family speaks absolutely no english.
i mean none.
which i thought would be frustrating, but realize now is so much better... because it makes me learn the language... and right quick.
they help me with it too.
saturday my host mom and i went through the garden teaching me the words for the different vegetables (necessary, because she freaked out when i told her i didn't eat meat)
so row by row there we were with me going "da, obechem uke...da, obechem krastavitsa...da, obechem bop... da, obechem markov... da, obechem kartoff... da, obechem domat..." and so on.
but, i know them now.
plus, i sit in my room studying, and then go down and they all help me. i even stay up late at night reading a "teach yourself bulgarian" book.
if only i did this in college, i would have 4.o'd every class.
but, alas, learning anthropology had no bearing on my functioning as a human being, and trying my best to avoid looking as american as i am.
ok... well i'll update soon... miss you all.
all of you who care to read this, that is.
muah!
-tracy