catching up

happy thanksgiving :-), here are some pictures from last month's swearing in ceremony in sofia.
oh, and as a side note, the person who was going to get the turkey for thanksgiving decided to save it for christmas.
which is ok with me.
i made sushi for dinner.
it was fabulous.
muah!
-tracy

extended weekend in sofia

well, what was intended to be a day or possibly overnight trip to sofia to buy beads ended up being a 5 day excursion.
i stayed an extra night because there were some other B20's coming into sofia that i wanted to see.
then another night because i hurt my ankle a few weeks ago and it hadn't gotten better, and after walking around sofia for two days it was super swollen, so i called the on-duty medical officer, becuase i figured that since i was already there i might as well see them instead of having to make another trip out to sofia just for that.
then monday a friend of mine who has been sick and staying at the peace corps office had a pretty bad doctors appointment and the peace corps doctor asked me to stay another night so that she wouldn't be alone.
so that is the reason i didn't get back from sofia until tuesday night...
so there you are, my preface to the pictures that follow.
:-)

if you got some extra money in your pocket...

and don't quite know how to spend it... well here is my phone number! you can give me a call!
(you all probably thought i had some really nice altruistic organization you should give the money to... well i am sure there is, but right now, my telephone number.)
(359) 884487256.

* note: 359 is the country code.


and if you don't want to use your money on a long distance conversation with me, wait a little bit and i'm sure i will have a much more worthwhile cause for you to donate to.

on a completly unrelated topic, i would like to tell you all about the fantastic lunch i just had because i'm really excited about it.
it had chick peas. how exciting is that! i got them in sofia... they were beautiful. I never knew how much i would miss chick peas and chick pea products...
anyways, moving on.
i soaked the chick peas over night and then this morning put them on the stove on low so that they were ready when lunch time came.
then i drained the left over water and am saving it in the fridge for soup tomorrow.
then i took the chick peas and mashed up half then put them all in the pan with a diced tomato a little olive oil and this middle eastern seasoning i got from the iraqi food store in sofia (i have no idea what it is, but it is exactly the smell that all middle eastern restaurants have, so whatever it is, i am glad i bought it because it is exactly what i didn't know i was looking for)
anyways,
so then i put the chick pea, tomato mixture and spice dish on top of rice.
but it still needed something else.
i decided it was cinnamon and sugar.
i know it sounds weird. but i was certain that was it.
so it put a little on it... and yes, it was perfect.
actually it tasted exactly like a couscous dish that kelly made for a party at my apartment back in the states months back.
so maybe subconsciously i was trying to recreat a kelly homemade meal....
definitely a possibility...

ok, so here is another one from before the wedding.
on a side note, somebody has been rating my recent videos.
but they have only been giving them 2 out of 5 stars.
jesus people, i'm not steven speilberg. theses are just my random movie clips that i capture on my digital camera so that my michigan people can see a bit of bulgaria.
2 out of 5 stars.
rude.

like a rollercoaster, baby baby...

things are good.
can't really get into it now.
to make a long story short, i have work now, and i'm going to keep getting more and more and more.
but it is good.
very very good.
the peace corps couldn't have picked a better counterpart match.
even though there are big things to come, for now my schedule will consist of
- tutoring 12th graders twice a week in english.
- also teaching some younger girls english once a week.
- coaching baseball (i don't know how this is going to work, but i start today...)
And next week I'm going to start teaching the girls from the dance group how to make jewelry (just today we asked the mayor for some money, and yeppers, I got 400lv to go to sofia and buy supplies on friday :-)
And we are also starting to plan out our SPA project, we have the idea, and we just got permission from the mayor so now we just gotta get things moving.
Ok, I gotta go back to work.
I actually have stuff to do :-)
oh yeah, and i'm also now in the traditional bulgarian folk singing group with my co-workers.
this should be great since i can't sing, and i don't know bulgarian.
ha.
i figure it will just make it all the more fun, right?...
oh yes, and on an unrelated topic. here is a clip from the wedding.

let me know if it works or not...

internet

so i caved.
internet in my apartment.
now i can listen to my npr live anytime i want just like back at home.
you can all probably hear my sigh of relief all the way back in michigan.
:-)

WEEKend, i prefer the WEEKend.

ok, so chances are nobody but kelly will get the "weekend" subject title... oh well.
anyways,
yes, the weekend.
yesterday i took the bus to Veliko Turnovo because i was in desperate need of some winter boots.
i am so bad at choosing shoes, because I don't ever like anything, but at the same time, i don't have very good taste in shoes, so i end up getting not cute ones anyway.
i have always thought that my lack of shoe taste had no actual bearing on my life since i never look at people's feet, i wrongly assumed that nobody else did either.
so maybe i made an incorrect assumption.
i have worn my flip flops to very innapropriate occations assuming that no one ever looked down.
so once again, looks like the rest of the world doesn't think like me.
back to topic, i got some boots, my feet won't freeze this winter. my collegues are happy, my mom is happy, and i am happy, as i didn't want my feet to freeze either.
so yes, veliko turnovo.
i spent the whole day walking around the city.
it was crazy, because there are so many freaking amazing view, with no one around.
i stood by an old monastary on a cobblestone road overlooking the whole city in the mountains and there wasn't a single human produced sound to interrupt it.
i absolutely love veliko turnovo.
love. veliko. turnovo.
and... i decided to take a cab back because i didn't want to wait the hour for the bus and i was exhausted from 8 hours of walking.
but this time, the cab driver was a women. she asked if i liked some kind of music that i totally didn't understand. i said yes, because i figured, either i said yes and i would find out whatever kind of music she was talking about, or tell her that i had no idea what kind of music she was talking about in which case she might try to explain it and again, i would have no idea what she was talking about, since i have noticed that when you don't understand certain words people just try to say them slower, as if somehow a slower pronounciation will somehow make a word that you have never heard before and have no clue of somehow understood.
i figured 'yes, i love that music' was the easier rout.
well apparently she was refereing to the most beautiful classical piano music i have ever heard.
so after a day walkinging around an amazingly breathtaking and historical city, i was engulfed with breathtaking and historical music.
fantastic day.
and, if it isn't obvious, a much better cab ride.
:-)

snow.

it started snowing for the first time here today.
and yes, it is sticking.
this does not put my in a good mood.
blah.
oh and just when i think my bulgarian is actually getting better, i go out in public and have to talk to someone who doesn't speak "tracy bulgarian" and i am reminded once again how much i totally suck.
but, on the bright side, i spent the entire night doing something that i am really really good at.
cooking.
sigh.
yes, no matter if i can communicate important topics to my collegues or not, i can at least go home and cook some freaking great food.
healthy food.
good tasting healthy food.
make up new recipes.
fun, and pretty cheap hobbie.
plus, it is something that i have to do anyways... eat and all... to live, ya know.
there are so many great things you can do with vegetables, it am excited even thinking about it.
yes, you heard right.
i just spent my friday night cooking and now i'm admiting to the fact that i actually get pumped for veggies.
oh, the exciting night life in zlataritsa.
ok, so maybe the snow has put me in a bad mood.
things are actually really good here.
my collegues are fantastic.
they are actually planning a thanksgiving party for me.
angelina has homemade wine to contribute.
nikolai has turkeys and is going to "donate" one for it.
i'm sorry that you have to die mr. turkey. but it's gonne be thanksgiving. and for the first time in my life, i want mine to be as american as possible.
odd, the things i never though i'd miss, and here i am, pumped for the butcher of an innocent turkey. (ok, so maybe i'm also excited that my collegues care enough about me to put together a party so that i can feel like i'm back at home)
and along the topic of things i miss, mom, if you feel so inclined, when the new year rolls around, a michigan calandar or pictures of michigan in general would be much appreciated. i believe i still have a birthday sometime in january.
feel free to be late about it. i deserve it. the bad birthday forgetting daughter that i am.
ok.
welllll, i have a clothes line in my apartment waiting for me to hang.
the weather will no longer permit for me to hang my handwashed clothes outside to dry.
they just freeze.
doing me absolutely no good.
and on a related note, i also have clothes i have to handwash.
in my bathroom.
with my standard issue toilet/shower in one.
if anyone knows of any better way to wash clothes without a washing maching other than by hand let me know.
is there maybe some non electrical device to do it maybe?
like a salad spinner or something?
one can only hope....

mom,
i forgot to send you an email on your birthday!
i am a horrible daughter. i'm sorry.
happy birthday!!!
and i got the package!
thank you!
but i live in Zlataritsa, not Vlataritsa...
it is funny, there were errors in the cyrillic and english, but between the two the package got to me.
i think you did a great job of writing in cyrillic considering i dictated the way to write it over the phone over the course of 5 conversations since the conection kept cutting us off.
my co-workers were impressed.
and thank you for the picture.
everyone loved the pic of beth and i, and tell katie they also love her frame. :-)
ok, that is all i have time for now.
good night all.