waiting...

so i'm at the computer lab with my group typing up our project proposal that we have to submit to the peace corps next week.
since we are each taking turns writing our own part, there is a lot of waiting involved...
so i'm spending my time looking on the internet for grad schools.
because it is never too early...or something.
i do know that i want to start grad school right away when i return, although as far as the actual subject of study goes, well that i'm not too sure about.
maybe recreational therapy.... or... something... i don't know.
ok, well apparentally we are done, or done-ish.
ok, bye.
mom, dad, beth- i'll talk to you tonight, hopefully the phone connection will be better.
love you!

writting again

so it is lunch time right now, but i am not hungry (this is a first for me)
or maybe it is becuase i have just consumed mass quantities of food since arriving in bulgaria and my body has finally decided that enough is enough.
either way, i'm not hungry, i'll grab something later, and do some blog updating now.

what has happened lately...
so much, yet nothing really.
last week we had hub on tuesday and wednesday, then went to visit a currently serving volunteer in verbitsa with sarah (from my training group) kristen, and karlyn.
it was actully really great.
we got to see where she worked, fit 5 people in a tiny stuidio apartment, cooked dinner for some of the kids that she teaches, ate ridiculous amounts of yogurt, and just relaxed.
plus the volunteer that we visited was great.

but i feel that my bulgarian IQ droped a few hundred points in the 6 days without language training. so now we are back at it. i love it, but today it the weather is overcast and kind of blah here, so that always kind of puts me in a crappy mood and definitely doesn't help my concentration.

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... what else...
i am afraid that whatever i write will come off sounding slightly melancholy if i write it now since the weather is making my mood go "blah" too.
Just know that I am, in everyway, as happy as can be.
I am really enjoying training, but at the same time, i am excited to move to my permenant site and see what things I will be doing for the next two years.

well i still have some more time so i guess i can ramble on a bit more...
thoughts, thoughts, thoughts....
humm.
well, i have been thinking that i want to get 1984 and read it again, as i haven't since i was in high school, although i enjoyed it even then.
but now i will definitely get more out of it, and not only for the political satire (which in itself will be more interesting now living in a post communist country) But also because, if i remember correctly, that is the book where the government gradually phases out words, with the idea that, if people don't have a word for how they feel, then it makes them unable to feel it, and therefore easier to control.
I have always found this idea amusing, but more so now that I am surrounded by a language that i can only speak at the level of a child, so when i want to express myself with more evolved and expressive words, i am unable to form the sentences, or find the right word, or whatever, so i get frustrated and give up.
I am not sure that it prevents me from feeling, but it definitely makes things incredibly more difficult.
ok, maybe not difficult in reference to feeling, but...
oh, i don't know what i am trying to say...
i never was very good with articulating the ideas in my head.
long story short, i want to read the book again.

ok, well i have sat here long enough that i am now a little bit hungry...
now my only problem is trying to pick out a restaraunt in this huge cosmopolitan city of kraynitsi.
or, just kidding, becuase they only have one restaurant and it is too far to walk and be back in time for class.
i think i'll grab something from the magazine downstairs.
i do love that yogurt....
and i have some cocoa in the classroom and other random items i can mix in.
oh, you didn't know that you could turn yogurt into a complete, balanced meal??
well let me tell you, you're missing out!
it is fantastic.
(and if it is too hard to tell since this is written as opposed to spoken, my sarcasam stopped after the cosmopolitan comment, i am 100% serious about yogurt making a fantastic meal. try it sometime. :-)

love you all!
hope my ramblings weren't too much for you.
muah!
- tracy

ok, some more from the seven lakes... just cause they are beautiful

so it has been a few weeks, but i thought you all needed to see some more picture of this :-)

some tiny pictures for you :-)

this weekend

my host family

my host mom with the icon that i (shockingly) broke.
vera and me
host father and brother
dani and vera
dani and me

well the internet connection here is terrible, so i'm going to try to get some pictures up... here is just a sampling. :-)

for the next two years.....

so we found out our placements this morning.
for the next two years i'll be in....get ready for it.....
zlataritsa!
don't worry, i hadn't heard of it either.
it is a tiny village close to veliko turnovo. (which is supposed to be the most beautiful city in bulgaria)
oh, did i mention it is tiny?
because it is.
about 5,000 people in the whole municipality.
which is alright with me.
my job is going to consist of planing day camps, teaching english, translating documents, coordinating sports programs for the kids there.
there is a lot more to it, but i don't have my description sheet in front of me.
i meet my counterpart this afternoon. (the person from my town who will be helping me, with work, my apartment and all that kind of thing)

ok.... just wanted to let you guys know what i'm up to.
i leave tomorrow for zlataritsa until friday to see the town and where i will be working in october.
excited/ nervous.

also, hiking this weekend was fantastic.
again, as soon as i can i'll try to get the pictures up.
simply beautiful.

i'll let you guys know on friday how it goes.
love you.

- tracy

when i have something to say...

well, i have thought of a billion things to put here, but as usual, when i'm actully at the internet cafe, i can't think of a sinlge one.
hummm.
some good news though, i have finally started to understand bulgarian.
yes, a small amount, but at least i don't feel like i'm wearing a clock of ignorance anymore.
which brings along with it it's own problems.
now i know enough words to catch a lot of the conversations around me, yet not enough to fully understand them in any sort of functional way.
although, i will say that i am able to have semi-converstaions with my host family finally, WITHOUT the use of the bulgarian/enlish dictionary, thank you very much. :-)
granted, my conjugation was atrocious. i had to use like five words to describe something since i am lacking the vocabularly for specific things that i want to say, and twice i had to stop in the middle of a story because it was just too hard to convey the words i wanted to continue.
soon, though.
now i'm almost obsessed.
i study all of the time. seriously.
my host family has to tell to stop.
pochivka, tracy. monogo yuchish.
and i agree. for like two seconds.
then i'm back to it.
i just hate not being able to understand what is going on around me, as well as not being able to express myself, or my thoughts to my host family.
soooo yeah.

let's see, anything else interesting???
well, we find out our permanent sites on monday.
at the site placement interviews i said that i didn't have a preference, so i'll probably end up in a small village, which is fine with me.
not as many temptations to spend my money.
i just really want running water.
yep. that's it.
running water.
which almost all the places in bulgaria have, or at least have the majority of the time, so i'm sure i'll be fine.

ok, well it's late, got to get up early for the hike.
love you.
good night.