back home, from home.

oh, so much to say, but i am tired.
went back to kraynitsi this weekend for my host sister's wedding...
it was fantastic.
there is nothing quite like a bulgarian wedding... especially one that you are actually a part of.
i handed out the cookies with my host nieces and host aunt(?) (I guess I really never though about her hypothetical "host" relationship to me) to the guests at the house before the wedding when the bride and groom make their exit to the car and do the horro in the street on the way to the church.
i stood with the family at the signing of the marriage documents and at the church, as well as sat with them at the reception.
had three songs dedicated to me, one being a horro that i couldn't do by a neighbor and close friend of the family who gave me way too much dancing credit.
i think i seriously let her down when i didn't know it.
sorry, but just because i have the one-two-three-kick-kick, down, doesn't mean i know the other ones.
For one of the dances I was next to my host dad, and when we passed by tables of his frieds he declared "Amerikanka!!!" Obviously proud that his volunteer was joining in.
Yes, in EVERY dance.
Except for the two that I didn't know.
I was exhausted.
Nobody cared.
When a baba grabs your arm to dance, dang it, you dance.
And then everyone asked if lili and lazar taught me how to do the horro.
Yes, some people gave me, for lack of a better word, 'looks'. whatever. i wasn't there for them.
they can think what they want about somebody that they don't know.
I was there for my host family.
AND, i didn't relaize until comming back how much better my bulgarian has gotten.
The whole family noticed it and commented on it.
10 days with absolutely no english, with the excption of text messages and convos with mom, will do that.
My host mom, said "see, i told you not to worry, when you have to speak bulgarian, you speak bulgarian"
I even understood my host brother, who i honestly don't think i understood a word that came out of his mouth for the two months i lived there.
But, that could also have something to do with the fact that i kind of snapped at him my last night there. He was saying something to me, like usual way to fast for me to ever comprehend.
and then he goes to the family, "two months and she doesn't understand still"
so without thinking i go "ivan, but you speak way too fast. and i never understand you! sorry, but i can't!"
I could tell that he definitely made a huge effort to speak more clearly and slower with me. It really helped and I thanked him.
He said that he was sorry he spoke too fast before.
And all is good again.
it was a lot of traveling, but it was definitely worth it.
zlataritsa to veliko turnovo, turnovo to sofia, sofia to dupnitsa, dupnitsa to kraynitsi.
then the reverse today.
except i got a ride to dupnitsa from my host family, and despite my protests, my host mom insisted on buying my ticket to sofia.
and i took a taxi from veliko turnovo back to zlataritsa since there is no bus at this time.
i had heard before that taxi drivers have a habit of telling you their opinions of minorities, but i never really thought too much about it.
but believe me, they do.
what do you say when someone is just blowing your mind with their ignorant hatred.
ummm, nothing.
because i can't.
the only thing i could say was that i like everyone in the whole world.
very sophisticated, right?
language. grrr.
ok, so i'm not totally that ridiculous.
i was able to say that while he was telling me that this whole group of people were lazy, that all the people i know are very hard working. And right after he had said how much he hated hitler, he went on to say that hitler wanted this group of people gone.
"znachi, eskish li hitler?"
so, you like hitler?
no, he said, he didn't at all.
well then, what the heck is your point, buddy??!!
whatever.
i got here.
back home.
with the people that my taxi driver hates.
who are exactly opposite of his opinions of them.
ok, i'm tired.
i'm going to bed.
oh crap, and i have more veggie soup cooking on the stove.
my beans are going to be over cooked.
goodnight.

home

so, as is always the case, everything that i had wanted to say, is temporarily forgotten now that i sit down at the computer.
all i can think of to say now is that i'm in zlataritsa...
my bulgarian sucks.
my understanding is growing by leaps and bounds, seemingly by the minute... but my speaking...
that... well... i don't really want to talk about right now.
my counterpart and her family, and my neighbors tell me my bulgarian is great.
but they are nice people.
i know better.
damn conjugation.
words i know...
words are not a problem.
i could memorize 100 words a day easy...
putting them together to form usable sentences...
well that is still, as before, a different story.
ok. rambling... and not about what anybody wants to hear about.
lets talk about my apartment...
first off.. i just today got a fridge and stove...
BUT, they are brand new.
as is my table.
and sheets on the bed.
i feel spoiled. and i am. relatively i suppose...
anyway, back to topic.
my colleagues are super nice.
the people in the town seem quite nice as well... but i do have to say that it is a good thing were constantly stared at all the time in Kraynitsi, or else this might be a little of a shock.
for anyone who has ever wanted to be the center of attention, well then, peace corps is for you.
i, myself, have always wavered between the two... not wanting to be the center of attention, but at the same time... do.
in equal amounts.
sigh, again, back to topic.
yesterday went to veliko turnovo to get some of my paper work taken care of so i can continue to stay in the country.
today, we went back to veliko turnovo and bought the table, and fridge, and stove...then in the afternoon i was at the chitaliste with mita, my counterpart and 5 girls from the school, who every Tuesday and Thursday have dance practice.
indian dance as they call it.
man these girls are great.
in between rehersal songs they take breaks with rap songs and dance... so much fun.
anyways, i can't dance well and definitely not quecheck (i have absolutely no idea in the world how to spell it... sorry) , but they didn't seem to care... because i jumped in and danced with them anyways...loved it.
then they asked me if i could teach them to make jewelry... which i would love to do of course,
now it is just a matter of finding the money to get the material...i will think of something... or i will resort to less-expensive materials instead of semi-precious gemstones and silver. But the girls said that they wanted to to learn how to make the jewelry and then to sell it...
there are so many possibilities here...
seriously.
just the money to begin...blah...
ok, tracy, relax. it is your fourth day in town, you can only talk in three tenses, and still struggle pronouncing the "h" at the end of past tense and end up saying "k" instead.
lets take this one step at a time.
right.
ok, enough self-talk via my online blog.
i am not sure if that is more or less crazy than self-talk to yourself???
man i miss all you guy, because my rambling/ranting (hopefully) appeared a lot more logcial (or not) when there were actual people around. or at least it might have been semi-amusing.
as it is now... i actually have used the good ol' fashioned paper journal a few times, because when you feel a thousand things at once and there is nobody around to vent to it actually helps.
so now i have at least one journal entry in my paper journal per year.
since 2002 i believe. yea me.
done rambling, lets finish up my Zlataritsa update.
ok, so today, veliko turnovo, then chitaliste, then over to Mita's with her family.
I showed them the videos i took of the roma dancers in kustendil last month.
hung out, her son speaks english (a 6 in school, the highest grade here)
but wants to speak better.
they asked if i would help and teach english to them, and specifically her son asked to help with his english class (12 kids)
ok, so i have never taught before and am scared to death.
whatever.
why the heck am i here if not to help out with what they need.
they want to speak english.
whoa, crazy coincidence, I speak english.
and quite well i might add.
((for those of you wondering, (if anyone is wondering) i AM aware that you are supposed to capitalize the beginnings of sentences, and proper nouns, and other grammatical rules that i chose to ignore for this blog as well as the majority of emails i send))
ok, well, i am hungry, i am going to go have an apple.
which brings me to my last point of this ridiculously long entry.
food.
i am cooking for myself once again.
i forgot how amazing it was.
yesterday i made vegetable soup.
and ate if for dinner, and breakfast this morning, and lunch as well.
because i could.
because i love vegetable soup.
(but yes, also because i didn't have a fridge to put it in so i had to eat the entire pot before the terrace, which was acting as my fridge, no longer sufficed as a refrigeration device)
but anyways, i think i have probably lost 2 lbs since moving here on thursday.
which is good.
because i gained 8lbs in two months living in kraynitsi... no more banitsa that's for sure.
or cookies around all the time like at my family's house there.
or chocolate as a breakfast food.
no good.
ok, you can all stop reading now, if you haven't already, because i am done.
for real this time.
so much for not having anything to say.
i hope you enjoyed a tiny tiny tiny glimpse into my thought process.
good night.
muah!
tracy
p.s.
thanks for the stevia and shampoo mom, i'll find out my address tomorrow.
:-)

and in my free time...

maybe a little overboard

ok, so i know i'm putting up a ton of pictures, but i am finally able to connect my camera to the computers in the computer lab with a decent connection...
yes, i do have other things to do with my time, but for your enjoyment, i am choosing this.
lots of love.
-tracy


i took this clip walking to class a couple weeks ago.
i heard a noise behind me, looked, and there were two horses just trotting along the street with no leader... i am not sure where they were coming from, but apparentally they knew exactly where they were going...

kustendil

some pictures (and a video :-) from saturday

youth dance group in the mahala


playing with the kids...

retracing my steps...

here are some of the pictures from my visit to Zlataritsa and Veliko Tarnovo last month.

veliko tarnovo





in Zlataritsa with my soon-to-be collegues who appear to have the ability to look directly into the sun... a talent that i, unfortunately, do not possess.