stuff

Two years later...

2011-02-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

So it's been over two years years since my return to the States. I've obviously stopped posting here... and probably would never have posted again if I weren't holed up in our local library fighting distraction and trying to get some studying done for the NCLEX that I'll be taking on the 25th. Clearly I'm losing the battle of me vs distraction.
So here's some updates. Finished up nursing school in December (bachelor's degree number two, check) and am working as a nurse on the fantastic oncology floor where I did my preceptorship. Vangel continues to work and go to school for culinary arts. We have a small apartment, three computers but no television, and plan on going back to the BG for a much needed visit sometime this summer.
Let's see if I can find any pictures to post since I don't think I'll be able to pull my focus back to NCLEX studying for at least another 15 minutes.

Grandma's 90th birthday celebration.

Drive-in movie waiting for the sun to set.

Beginning of spring in Michigan

Lake Michigan

And now I believe I've wasted a sufficient amount of time posting to a blog that nobody reads. Time to get back to studying.

Michigan

2009-05-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

so while I'm sure that nobody reads this anymore i felt the urge to update.
been back in the states almost 7 months now. crazy. time flies here, time flies there.
vangel and i are both working and going to school.
vangel more working than schooling, me more schooling than working.
things are good. life is good. it's still nice to be home. i miss bulgaria but oddly a whole lot less than i expected i would. maybe that's just my defense mechanism. or maybe i appreciate a conveniently close washing machine and structured environment with clear and defined expectations more than i ever knew.
either way it's nice here.
spring has come and just like in the balkans it's gorgeous. in a different, yet equally beautiful way.
so with that, чао за сега.
but before i go, here you are, like always, the pictures:

Rome

2008-12-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

amazing.
we had planned to travel around italy. and I'm sure it would have been wonderful if we had, but we so fell in love with rome that we ended up staying there the whole time.
next trip to italy we'll see more of it.
but this time was just perfect.
picnics at night by the colosseum, picnics during the day by the vatican, picnics next to the trevi fountain, picnics at a park overlooking all of rome (do you see a pattern here? by the way, if you are traveling on a budget picnics are the way to go. you get the best views for the best prices)
and when we weren't picnicking we were eating pizza and gelato. 10 of the best days of my life. (just so you know the pic of the pizza isn't mine, we forgot to take a picture of the pizza places, but that gives you the idea because they all looked the same and were all delicious. i'll never settle for pizza hut again...not that i really ever did in the first place...)

2008-11-07T19:44:00.001-08:00

so happy to be back in the states. for so many reasons. vangel and i are loving it.

not sure if i'll still update this blog anymore.
we'll see.
anyway, here are a couple pics from our low-key wedding in good old Zlataritsa, Bulgaria back in may. (actually, technically more of an "after signing the marriage documents" party)

and i'll try to get the pictures from rome up as soon as i can.

sofia

2008-09-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

so these are patrick's photos from sofia, but i like them too.

Endgame

2008-09-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

So with 20ish days left here we're trying to get things in order before we head out.
One of the most important things being this little tiny piece of paper. After months of paperwork, trips to Sofia, and money spent we finally have it:

We also just bought our plane tickets to Rome. Not quite sure how long we'll be staying there. The main purpose of our trip is to visit Vangel's mom who is working somewhere in the south of Italy. We'll see, it might be a couple days, it might be a couple weeks. But we will definitely be back in the States before November.

Also, the kids are back in school. Which means all the older kids who went to Greece for the summer to be with their parents are back in town and back at the museum.

And while I'm here and typing, might as well put up some more pictures.

Here is a picture of the city of Sliven as seen from the blue rocks of Karandila.
A couple weeks ago when I just needed to get out of town for a bit I took a day trip there.

And then last week we headed over to Turnovo and hiked to the transfiguration monastery. There was also quite a bit of homemade wine and picnicking involved. Great hike, great monastery, great day.

And then here is a picture from last months BBQ at Dancho's house. Dancho, by the way, is one of my adult English students. He also makes the best wine and rakia in Zlataritsa.

OK, well I guess I'll stop here before everybody gets bored.
See ya soon!

gone

2008-08-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

we just got back yesterday.
went to sofia. again.
vangel had his "interview" (which by the way, was nothing compared to his first interview at the embassy back in november when it wasn't even for a visa, but just to marry me)
but everything went great.
we just have to translate a few more documents, send them in, and a few days after that they should be sending out the visa.

then we went to kraynitsi to hang out with my host family. it was great because
1) vangel was able to meet everyone and
2) daniela, my language trainer from two years ago is back in kraynisti as the trainer for a new group of trainees.

after kraynitsi, we left on an overnight train to the sea. we only spent a couple days there but i fell in love with bulgaria's north black sea coast.
it was absolutely beautiful. we went to the marine reserve of kaliakra, saw wild dolphins swimming and also to the town of balchik which was beautiful because unlike the other tacky touristy towns on the black sea this one was much more relaxed. yes, it had it's touristy side, but it was at least much less tacky. it had a cute downtown area, a great beach with clear water, and instead of the main tourists being british, here they were romanian or russian. all the signs on the restaurants were in both bulgarian and romanian instead of bulgarian and english.
which was definitely a change from turnovo and the other towns in bulgaria. not that i have anything against british, americans, or english speakers in general, it's just nice to find out that bulgaria attracts a more diverse group of tourists.

museum

2008-08-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Lately i've been taking the camera to my summer program.
Life skills, sports, gardening, english, team building.
All that fun stuff.

HELP!!!

2008-07-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

So with the help of the school here, I wrote a PCPP project.
It was accepted and is now posted on the Peace Corps website.
So if you, or anyone you know, is looking to donate to a great cause, please look here.
It's tax deductible....
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=313-107
even if you can't donate, at least check it out.

thank you thank you thank you!

back to the mountains

2008-07-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

last week vangel and i went to sofia to file his I-130 petition.
which puts us one step closer to the states.

then we went to musala and took a nap on the highest summit in the balkans.

2008-07-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

so vangel and i were on tv.
along with a couple other volunteers as well.
you might not understand the language, but you can get the idea :-)
http://www.btv.bg/videos/broadcast_video.pcgi
you will have to search...but it says
корпусът на мира
29.06.2008

close of service and mountains

2008-06-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

rings

2008-05-19T23:50:00.001-07:00

oh, and if you didn't know, vangel and i got married.
may 3rd.
i still don't have any pictures because i was too busy, well, getting married, to take any.
i'm waiting for people to send me theirs.
and by the way, it was definitely the best day of my life.
vangel, the wedding, and everything that will be our lives, is exactly what i never knew i always wanted.

freshly grown beverages

2008-05-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

spring time
=
tea time

visitors

2008-05-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

gotvene

2008-03-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

so i know i seem to be perseverating on this sorrel that grows out of control everywhere. it just is crazy to me that you can just go and pick things to eat. for free. anywhere.
that being said, we decided to do a "cooking week" at the museum. with most ingredients picked right from the museum yard. other non-pickable materials were supplied by the kids themselves. i only provided the pot and hot plate (which was given to me by the municipality when i first moved in and didn't have an oven)
and vangel taught the kids how to cook.
it was a good week.

2008-03-20T11:57:00.001-07:00

ok so i've figured out it is definitly sorrel.
and i've made a delicious cream of potato soup with sorrel for dinner tonight.

but this sorrel i picked from the museum today with the kids as we were cleaning up the yard.
ok, to be honest the kids actually picked it.
not to eat, just to get it out of the way.

yeah, i eat weeds.

and they're good too.

free food

2008-03-17T06:13:00.000-07:00

so yesterday vangel and i took the kids on the weekly sunday hike.
we headed out to the lake in town.
the weather was perfect and although the group was kind of small (just 11 kids) we all had good time.
then on the way back he decided to stop at his parents house to get some "lapad" to make soup from.
so we go in, and instead of heading to the garden he goes off to the sides and starts picking what i could only assume were random weed growths around the yard.
although suspicious, i figured he knew what he was doing since his baba had been making soup and meals out off this weed looking thing forever and nobody has died yet.
anyway, so today before he went to work he made the soup.
after it cooked for awhile the stuff that used to look like a weed to me started to look a little more familiar.
i went to google and yep, it wasn't a weed at all.
but something much more familiar. like spinach but not quite. maybe sorrel.
apparently they grow wild here. maybe they do back at home too. i wouldn't know as growing up we weren't exactly allowed to eat random plants growing around the yard and i have only seen these greens maybe once or twice in my life and they had already been cooked at that point.
anyway, i'm excited now. healthy meals for free. just walk around town and pick.

my next plan is to pick some dandelion greens for a salad. i love spring.

common occurence

2008-03-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

comments heard tonight as i visited vangel at his work.
spoken by the same intoxicated man, but you can take these quotes and apply them to numerous other people and situations as it happens quite frequently.

man- "so you are dating vangel huh?"
me- "yes"
man, under his breath- "boy did good for himself. she is pretty. white. not like his father and that black gypsy."

and later

so after declining the offer about twenty times of this 50 year old man to sit next to him, each time explaining that i wanted to sit at the bar so that i could talk to my boyfriend he decides that it is not actually my wish but states "the gypsy won't let her move"

and later

man- "i'm macedonian, not bulgarian! don't you ever forget it!
vangel, you are macedonian too. don't you forget it either. nevermind that your mother is a dirty gypsy."

welcome back to bulgaria.

Austria

2008-03-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

mom,
i'll figure out a way to get the rest of the pictures to you.
it was absolutely fantastic.

2008-02-23T01:27:00.000-08:00

we're going to Austria next week.
valentines day special.
buy one get one free.
plane tickets.

melting

2008-02-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

went to Veliko Turnovo to wander around on saturday. it was fantastic. and we found spring.

video

2008-01-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

so you can see them in motion.
the kids horo dancing to kucheck music.
a traditional bulgarian dance to traditionally roma music.
an everyday favorite.

the wig

2008-01-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

15 leva at jenski pazar in sofia.
definitely worth it.
although i'm not so sure about the educational value of such an item.
wait, no...it fosters creativity and thinking outside the (gender) box.
so, there ya go.

the museum continues

2008-01-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

it's been some time since i last said anything here.
things are going good.
really good actually.
the after school museum program is going really really well and that makes me really really happy.
because it is what i do everyday. i mean i do other things too, but...ok, let me rephrase that. it is my favorite thing that i do everyday.
i tell the kids 3:00, they get there at 2:50 and are waiting for me to unlock the door.
3-7 at the museum.
we play games, dance horo, dance kuchek, make crafts, i even have them doing leadership/team building activities i find on the Internet cause...well, why not. it's something to do.
and maybe it even helps in building teams and making leaders... who knows. can't hurt, right?
we have speed tournaments (the card game), play charades, girls put on mustaches and boys dress up in wigs.
anyway, without further rambling on my part, i'll continue with your very exclusive photo glimpse of a normal day at my museum/youth center in zlataritsa.

2007-12-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

here

2007-11-21T03:13:00.000-08:00

so it snowed this weekend.
for like a second.

other than that... not too much going on here in Zlataritsa. (notwithstanding the always present apartment/water heater/electricity problems, of which 3 were addressed by the maintenance people today alone)

as far as work goes, we are having a late Halloween party next week at the children's center in town.
i figure, it is an american holiday. i am the american. hence, i get to decide the date of which Halloween is celebrated. and i think next week is the perfect time for some candy and games.
and why not? it's not like i have anyone telling me what to do, nor am given any goal or direction from a source other than my own capricious whims as to what constitutes my job here. which means, essentially, that i highly doubt there will be any objection to the observance of Samhain on the non-official and belated date of November 29th.

we will be bobbing for apples.
and having mummy wrapping contests.
and bowling with a homemade bowling alley made of sandfilled plastic pop bottles.
and watching a scary movie on the new tv/speaker/dvd paid for (along with many other things) by the generocity of the south eastern michigan returned peace corps volunteers (SEMIRPCV).
it should be fun.
it is also one more opportunity to take more pictures.
which i love to do.
because one day i will look back at all of my pictures and my life will somehow make sense.
because, otherwise, why do i do it?
and by it, i mean both taking pictures and, you know, everything.

2007-10-12T00:40:00.000-07:00

for visit.
:-)
oct. 16-30

2007-10-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

so i'm coming home in less than a week.

no opinion

2007-09-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

so on september 15th, the first day of school here, 3 of the mothers here decided that they did not approve of the way Zlataritsa chooses to separate the children in the 1st grade classes.

so these 3 mothers, whose children were entering into the 1st grade (which means they were coming from the kindergarten, which means there is a good chance i taught all of their children their english 123's and ABC's) decided to start a petition to change the division of the two first grade classrooms.

what was the problem here?
what was so horrible about the division of children that three of the local women decided to start collecting signatures to change?
well, i'll tell you.

the women petitioned to have the children separated, not by random choice, alphabetical, chronological, astrological or however they do it...

but by race.

yes folks you heard me.
these women wanted the bulgarian children of the town (about 50%) learning in a separate classroom than the Roma (gypsies) in town.
apparently the other bulgarian parents agreed, because with the exception of one family, all of the ethnic bulgarian parents signed the petition.
on the first day of school this petition (which was made without the knowledge of the Roma parents) was presented to the school director who immediately called the mayor asking the mayor what to do.

the mayor settled it in about .05 seconds.
loosely translated he said, "are you kidding me? what year is this? 1900? how about we start having separate bathrooms and drinking fountains too because that is about how logical this insane petition is. throw it away while i go cry for the mentality of my constituency."

ok, actually i have no idea what he said exactly, this is just what i am imagining he said in my head.
anyway regardless, the outcome was...nothing.
the petition was thrown out at once.
the children will study together. just like they live together and play together.

i'll say nothing more on the matter.
as i don't think korpusa na mira would exactly appreciate my oppion on this being posted on any sort of public site.

bathroom problems

2007-09-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

so for the past week i've had one problem after another with my bathroom.
first, the boiler stopped working (again, again, again)
then the sink wouldn't stop running.
but last night was the worst.
at like 11pm i decided to wash some clothes.
after i was done i went to shut the water to the shower off, but it kept running.
not like a drip drip, but like full force, completely on, running.
my neighbors were asleep, i had no idea what to do at 11pm.
anyway, so i called my friend in sofia for advice. he offered a few suggestions, such as try turning it off really reallly hard. ummm thanks vangel, already tried that.
so he said he would think of something and call me back in a minute.
well, within the minute i had a knock on my door.
he had called his cousins in zlataritsa and immediately they came over to try to help.
they were able to shut the main water to my apartment off which at least stoped the water from flooding my bathroom for the night.
awwww... what a sweet friend i have.

anyway, so this morning i kind of wanted to take a shower, and wash my dishes, or maybe just drink some water, so i had to have the main water turned back on for that.
so i went to see the maintence people, my friends.
anyway, nicoli wasn't there.
walking back the mayors chauffer saw me and invited me for coffee.
no time i said, i need to find nicoli because i have serious problems with my water.
no problem he said. he took me up to the assistant mayor who located nicoli and had him go immediately to my apartment.

so things are fixed. for now.
there are definitely some good people around here.
i wish nicoli wasn't diabetic, or else i'd make him cookies.
i used to, and he used to eat them. it wasn't till months later that i found out from someone else he was diabetic and ate my sweets because he was my friend and didn't want to make me feel bad.
umm, it's one thing to eat my cookies if you just don't like them and don't want me to feel bad. it's another to eat them when you are diabetic and they could kill you.
so anway, i had my mom send over some splenda to give to him so he could have sugar in his coffee in the morning.
this is a bunch of rambling.
anyway, to make a long story short, i love my friend in sofia and the maintence people in my town are the best.

happy friday everyone.

bye bye katie

2007-09-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

so a little over a year ago in arlington i checked into my hotel room. sat down on the bed and wondered what the heck was going to happen in the next two years.
however, i didn't have much time to think because shortly after the door opened and in came a girl lugging in her baggage behind her. a fellow midwesterner. immediately friends we walked to the mall, got food, then headed to the first of seemling endless training.
just a bit of nostalgia for you guys.
anyway, katie left to go back to the states last week. i'll miss her, but reality was calling...

orientation in last august

saying goodbye at the airport

2007-08-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

or actually, use this link.
it goes to all the albums from the camp. so you can see the new pictures too.
Zlataritsa Summer Camp Pictures...this link is better.

camp time.

2007-08-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

so day number two of my summer camp here in zlataritsa has finished.
forgot the camera on the first day, but here ya go for the second.
tomorrow we are going on a field trip to a great place about an hour away with a canyon, waterfall and cave. i'll add the pics from each day.
summer camp webshots

weekend in vidin

2007-08-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

a medieval fortress, the danube river, and mexican food.
good weekend.

from camp

2007-08-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

it might be dark, but admit it, you'd know that butt shakin' anywhere.

july

2007-08-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

so it's the first of august.
july has come and gone.
in a few more days we'll hit the one year mark here.
one year away from detroit. from family. from english. from tiled bathrooms.
oh well, no time to talk, my dog is trying to eat something else.
hopefully nothing electrical.

2007-06-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

so apparently "I'm trying to grow my hair out because I want long hair. just a little little little bit off the ends"
translates into Bulgarian as,
"I'd like it all chopped off, please. And the quicker you could make that happen, the better"

here is the picture of exactly what i didn't want.
if i don't look happy in the picture, it is because i'm not.

however, i'm willing to bet i'm a whole lot happier than this guy at the sofia zoo.

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

happy holidays

2007-06-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

so thursday was a holiday here.
which is a huge suprise, i know.
i'd have to say though, that out of the roughly million and ten holidays we have, this was one of my favorites. mainly because it included fireworks and hiking up to a memorial in the hills.
this particual holiday, unlike the vast majority, was not for a person's name.
no, thurday was the 130th anniversary of my town, zlataritsa, being freed from turkish rule.
which seems, to me, a very credible and valid reason to celebrate.
although, who can argue with the celebratory grounds of "congratulations! your name is Ivan!"
a party pooper.
that's who.

so, just so you can feel like you were right there with me, here ya go:

mk

2007-06-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

makedonija be6e fantasti4na.
and the people were right. we couldn't understand their macedonian for crap but they understood our bulgarian perfectly.
luckily it didn't much matter because everyone spoke english.
it was a nice vacation.

perfecting the art of the bucket bath

2007-05-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

so, once again my water heater decided to crap out on me.
and being the smart boiler that it is, with a perfect sense of timing, decided to do so on the 4 day weekend here in Bulgaria.
which means i'm hot waterless until wednesday.
i had some volunteers over this weekend, but at least the heater waited until after friday to go on strike so a couple of them were able to be relatively clean on their visit.
me, on the other hand, well, it's back to the bucket for me.
however, not being winter anymore i am no longer heating my apartment so this time i was unable to put the water jugs on top of the radiator overnight as a source of hot water.
which means i'm relying on my tea kettle and one pot to keep me clean.
i'm keeping my fingers crossed that if it's dark inside, people can't see in, because i had to stop my shower (if that's what you consider it) twice, to walk to my kitchen in front of the window lacking drapes to get the kettle off the stove to take it back to the bathroom to rinse off with.

some people might have just forgone the shower until it was fixed.
no thank you.
i took advantage of monday off to explore Elena, the municipality to the south by hiking and wandering around for about 9 hours straight.
not showering would not have been an option.
at least not a desireable one, for me or anyone else.

speaking of hiking, i was also planing on going on one today in Emen, a village in the veliko turnovo municipality with an eco-trail, cave, and waterfall... but decided to stay in Zlataritsa since i have english lessons for both the children and adults today. and while they would have understod if i cancled (being the holidays and all) i just perfer to be there.
i will be going to Emen anyways next week with Kelly, but i just wanted to make sure that i knew my way around before i brought her.
we'll figure it out though.

there isn't too much else interesting to say.
yesterday in Elena was beautiful.
however, while waiting to board the return bus home, there was a lady and a man who kept staring at me.
i didn't recognize them, and they didn't end up getting off in Zlataritsa, so who they are i still don't know... but apparentally they were quite facinated with me.

they stared at me as i walked into the bus station.

they stared at me as i sat down.

they talked between each other (and not quietly i might add) about what i was doing.
"look, there is the american." (how they knew this, i don't know. my fame must be far reaching...all the way into the villages of the urban jungle known as Zlataritsa)

"why is she sitting by the window?"
"maybe she is going to do something"
"she is looking through her purse"
"oh she is taking something out"
"it looks like she is going to write down the bus schedule"
"yes, she is writing down the bus schedule"

then i proceded to write down not only the schedule to Zlataritsa but to other villages as well, which clearly took more time than they deemed necessary for such a task.

"what? is she going to write them ALL down?"
"she obviously hasn't gotten orientated yet"
"do you think she understands us??
"why is she laughing?"

as well i was.

because it was funny.

(laughing, smirking, what's the differnce really...)

and if they thought writing down the bus scheule was odd it's a good thing they didn't see me the three hours before, by myself, up high in the hills, in the meadow, picking wildflowers to take home (weeds really... but who decides what is a wildflower and what is a weed, is it not a matter of personal perference? sorry, digression)
so yes, i was collecting wildflowers to take home.
as well as dirt.
yeah, i filled a plastic bag full of dirt. (how much more amusing would it have been if i had pulled THAT bag out of my purse instead of a paper and pen?).
so maybe you're wondering why i took dirt.
well, i bought some flower seeds and need something to plant them in of course.
i could probably buy dirt, but for some reason during my hike yesterday i felt like taking it instead.
i told someone and they go "you can't just take dirt from the forest, that is stealing!"
stealing?
it's dirt
and while yes, i will agree that it is definitely weird to fill up a plastic bag full of dirt, it is by no means stealing.
it's just a small bit of earth.
and i'm just moving it from once place to another.
namely to my terrace.
so we will see if i can grow purchased flower seeds in borrowed dirt.
it nothing else, maybe i'll at least grow some weeds.

it's prettier than you think

2007-04-28T03:23:00.000-07:00

so i was tired of googling zlataritsa and the only pictures available were ugly, old, out of the 70's pictures.
so i got a user account at pictures of bulgaria and uploaded two photos.
so that makes a whopping total of 4 photos available.
but please, tell me how much better my pictures are than their's...
(i labled mine... the river and the meadow (i negleced the 'a' when i uploaded it.) i also uploaded one of some people riding horses, but i don't know if that one is up yet.
just search for zlataritsa in google. click on pictures of bulgaria website. then click on photo galery.
or go here.
http://www.picturesofbulgaria.com/photo_gallery/zlataritsa.html
now i need to work on the wikipedia article i started in january.
yes, i didn't get that far with it, but somebody must have found it and put up the same ugly 70's pictures i detest.
this is unacceptable.

Do I contradict myself?

2007-04-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Very well, then, I contradict myself;
(I am large - I contain multitudes)

so i met with my older students sunday night and we discussed what to present in english at the upcoming town holiday
we decided on a poem since, if i'm to be perfectly honest, we knew we could find one pre-translated, saving us the work of not only writing a speech but getting it exact in both enlgish and bulgarian (not that anyone would know one way or the other)
but anyway, as luck would have it i found my favorite online, printed it out and brought the english and bulgarian versions today to the club house to see what they thought.
all the kids, not just the older ones got all excited. (who knew bulgarian children dig 150 year old american poems...)
so now there's a slight change of plans.
now i have a group of 10 students ranging from 6-12 grade reciting Walt Whitman's Song of Myself (1-7) in English with me and the other students reciting the Bulgarian translation.
yep, we're gonna have walt whitman and baseball at the town holiday.
just one more, slightly unnerving, example of how i had to go to bulgaria to be american.

I know I am deathless,
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt
stick at night.

I know I am august,
I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
I see that the elementary laws never apologize,
(I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by,
after all.)

I exist as I am, that is enough

to laugh like a brook when it trips and falls...

2007-04-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

so today i went on a hike with 15 of the kids and one of the teachers from the school. this is only the second weekend so far of such hikes but we plan on continuing indefinitely as a sunday tradition.
we walked through the acres of yellow flowers that have grown so tall and thick that you could only see the tops of the kids heads when they were wading through them.
and hiked through the hills while passing grazing cows and babas tending to them.
then during the breaks the kids played frisbee while i answered "how do you say (insert word or phrase here) in english?" questions.

the whole time i had this almost uncontrolable desire to bust out in "sound of music" songs as that is exactly what it looked like with the beautiful nature all around and the kids frolicking and singing. (bez nazis and matching homemade window curtain outfits of course)
anyway, it was great.
well, if you like that kind of hiking singing hanging out with kids thing.

and yesterday i went exploring by myself the hills around my town.
i managed not only fall in the river but also be chased by what i can only assume were hornets or wasps of some sort for a good quarter mile but surviving with only one sting, relief that nobody saw the crazed swearing 400 meter sprint and the knowledge to be a bit more careful next time as apparentally they aren't too fond of having their home disturbed.
however, also during my sunshine filled excursion, i also discovered that there is a sand beach on our river hidden from the road down past the railroad tracks and, like most places once you leave the center of town, completely secluded. i lay there on a blanket for a good couple hours just enjoying the sunlight and the birds and the river and the fact that it was warm and spring and i was in bulgaria able to get chased by hornets and fall in the river because even with things of that sort it still beats being back in detroit wishing i was anywhere but.

the flea bites are back again... which means now it's official

2007-04-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

continuing to perseverate on the fact that it's spring until... well, until it's not spring anymore.
but then it will be summer.
which, although wonderful in itself, is still a step closer to the impending winter.
but let's not think about depressing things of that sort now.
just the absolute (relative to winter) bliss that is spring in bulgaria.

so the top pictures were taken from the vast fields of wildflowers that blanket the road leading into my town.
the following are more from the club house. some kids making jewelry while others worked getting some furniture ready.
the one of me is a picture that one of my kids took because she made the green necklace i'm wearing and wanted me to see what it looked like.
by the way, i love the necklace and even if she hadn't tied it in a permanent knot around my neck, would have worn it anyway.
what else to write about...
well, we are starting to get ready for our town holiday (may 9th)... which, by the way, kelly will be here for!
on my end, the municipality wants my kids to do a baseball demonstration... they are even going to buy uniforms and everything.
apparently we are going to be the eagles with violet and gold as our colors.
ok. works for me.
uniforms for my kids and i didn't even have to ask for them?? we could be the flying ardvarks with mustard and puce and i'd be happy.
also, i took my group of older students to the municipality today to talk to the assistant mayor because they had the idea to give a speech in english for the town at the festival.
the assistant mayor said no prob bob and all's a go.
so thursday we will start writing and practicing the speech...
oh, i forgot to mention that i will be translating the speech into bulgarian after the kids speak in english.
should be interesting (read: hilarious)
i'll try to have kelly get it on tape.

oh yes,
and if anyone (read: mom and dad) has this deep compelling need to send me something (i soooo know you do!)
i would give anything for a few bags of my completely unavailable in bulgaria favorite tea. (ok, the stuff from turkey is awesome too...but this is different...it's like apples and oranges, you just can't compare)
http://www.guayaki.com/index.php?p=view_category&category_id=11
anything on the left would be fantastic... although orange blossom, chocolate, or mint are best ;-)

and send it to:
Tracy Read
Chitalishte
Ulitza D. Palev #2
Zlataritsa 5090
Bulgaria

or if you're handy with cyrillic you can be fancy and go with:
Трейси Рийд
Читалище
Ул. Д. Палев #2
Златарица 5090
България

hope it warms up over in michigan... till then i'll just be enjoying the flowering trees everywhere around me and thinking of you.
miss you all

chocolate bunnies, mac 'n cheese

2007-04-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

although i'm tempted to postdate this, due to katie's comments on that sort of thing, i won't.
so here we go.

easter weekend.
lots of fun.
i had some other volunteers visit which made it the second weekend in row with visitors...my town must think that the americans are taking over or something.
friday a few of us went out to the cafe in my town and stayed up till 4am doing random things. like making porridge... ok, maybe that was just me.
regardless, we stayed up late.
my plan for saturday was to cook a nice dinner for everyone, but after walking around turnovo all day with such little sleep i was exhausted so we ended up with salad and macaroni and cheese.
thanks to maggie for the kraft mac and cheese.
traditional easter food, nali?
we also made it to the midnight easter vigil in my town, which was definitely interesting. the most being where the priest comes out with two large candles and then everybody rushes to him as if he were a rockstar trying to get their candles lit.
we were all pretty fascinated by it, but then someone made the point that if it were the pope here and everybody were catholic you know that there would be people dead in the stampede to get their candle lit.
so true.
no matter what denomination or where you're from, i suppose people figure every little bit of extra blessing helps. and if your candle is lit directly from the priest himself instead of the fire passed down, well, all the better i say.
as for us, we waited and had ours lit by someone who got it from someone who got it from the priest.
and through a series of fire borrowing we managed to keep ours lit through the entire outside sermon.
tradition says you are supposed to keep it lit on the walk back to your house while you remain silent.
well, we figured we did a pretty good job with the candle thing and called it quits once outside church property.
god will understand i'm sure, even if we didn't get ours lit right from the popa himself.
so we made it back, exhausted from the day and then managed to sleep 6 people in my tiny apartment.
happy easter No. 1 in BG.

the grass is always greener...

2007-04-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

in zlataritsa.

i don't know why, but it is true.
the grass literally IS greener in Zlataritsa.
it is beautiful.
people are out, weather is warm, i actually have some work to do.
and best of all, i'm not cracking up at site anymore.
so except for stacie's departure, i'd have to say that things here are pretty good. actually, really good.
finally.

so we are making a club house in zlataritsa.
i'll be there every day with crafts or english or baseball or frisbee.
but now we are just getting it cleaned up first.
and having some fun too.

2007-04-09T02:07:00.000-07:00

well, it's about noon and i'm at the peace corps office in sofia right now.
good news: i found the tom robbins book i had started before i left for bulgaria but was forced to return before i departed and never actually finished.
bad news: the reason i'm here.
one of my closest friends here and previous sitemate during training left for america at the crack of dawn this morning. she won't be coming back. not of her choice. medical issues and things of that sort. so while the realistic side of me is happy that she will be getting the best care available in colorado and will hopefully have a full recovery, the selfish side keeps thinking how much it freaking sucks that she won't be here anymore.
just last week we had started planning a trip to macedonia at the end of may.
sigh...
you don't even realize how attached you are to people until they call you at 8am on a saturday morning telling you that they are being not only medevacted to the US, but medically seperated as well.
so easter sunday i hopped on a bus to sofia (because there was no way she was going to leave without having a chance to say goodbye) and spent the night hanging out with her in sick bay (the bedroom in the peace corps office where volunteers stay for medical reasons) then at 4am we got up and headed with the PC driver to the airport.
yes, i know i'll see her again.
and health is more important and all that.
but she was one of the most positive, upbeat, thoughtful, and all around great people we have here, and i miss her already.

2007-04-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

after living here 8 months i have found that bulgaria is basically composed of two types of people: those whom i can understand, and those whom i can not. through trial and error i have found some basic essential truths when dealing with the latter.
one is that without a doubt, the only word you really need to know is the local word for "maybe"
you can fake pretty much any conversation with that.
that and "i don't know"
but you have to add the facial expression too.
not like "i don't know because i'm a dumb shit" face.
but more like "that is a very interesting question, i will need some time to reflect on it to give it the proper answer a question such as that requires."
if they don't seem satisfied with the "i don't know" combined with the face, then resort back to "maybe".
if it is a yes or no question (most likely as i have discovered more people speak to foreigners in mostly yes or no questions) then 'maybe' will likely work.
if not, then by answering maybe to a question that maybe is not a correct answer, they will usually see that it is much too much of a challenge to continue with the conversation and give up, thus letting you off the hook.

and there you have it.
my 2 minute course on conversational bulgarian.

mind of a child

2007-03-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

so i love children's books.
i am not sure why. maybe it's the innocence or simplicity or how they have a way of reflecting on life in an unpretentious way that puts everything back into perspective.
whatever the case, here is a nice little excerpt from alice's adventures in wonderland.
i find it amusing.

'Please, then,' said Alice, `how am I to get in?'

`There might be some sense in your knocking,' the Footman went on without attending to her, `if we had the door between us. For instance, if you were inside, you might knock, and I could let you out, you know.' He was looking up into the sky all the time he was speaking, and this Alice thought decidedly uncivil. `But perhaps he can't help it,' she said to herself; `his eyes are so very nearly at the top of his head. But at any rate he might answer questions.--How am I to get in?' she repeated, aloud.

`I shall sit here,' the Footman remarked, `till tomorrow--'

At this moment the door of the house opened, and a large plate came skimming out, straight at the Footman's head: it just grazed his nose, and broke to pieces against one of the trees behind him.

`--or next day, maybe,' the Footman continued in the same tone, exactly as if nothing had happened.

`How am I to get in?' asked Alice again, in a louder tone.

`Are you to get in at all?' said the Footman. `That's the first question, you know.'

It was, no doubt: only Alice did not like to be told so. `It's really dreadful,' she muttered to herself, `the way all the creatures argue. It's enough to drive one crazy!'

The Footman seemed to think this a good opportunity for repeating his remark, with variations. `I shall sit here,' he said, `on and off, for days and days.'

`But what am I to do?' said Alice.

`Anything you like,' said the Footman, and began whistling.

`Oh, there's no use in talking to him,' said Alice desperately: `he's perfectly idiotic!' And she opened the door and went in.

преживявам

2007-03-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

ok, so not that i ever really wrote anything all that revealing here, but every once in a while i'd talk about something i was actually thinking about. you might have noticed this has stopped and been replaced with useless babbling and pictures. even though i suppose i had to have thought it to write it...well, you know what i mean.
i feel this is the better rout to go. because i don't think that anyone would really like to know what runs around in my head here pretty much 24 hours a day. and i hesitate to even talk about work or my town, in fear that i would go off into that direction. that's what the paper notebook next to my bed is for. although it spans over 5 years there were sparse to no entries for years. now, each entry is pages long with almost unreadable scrawling as i hastily attempt to get the thoughts out of my head and onto the paper least i forget them. or worse yet, they remain in there.
so, sorry if all of you are thinking "um we don't freaking care about dried fruit, or your clean room, or your favorite tea."
well, that's the way it goes.
or something.
and now, more periphrastic garble.

ok, so let me tell you why this picture is great.
well, besides the completely confused look my face, or perhaps in addition to it. whatever. so here we go..
1) my bedroom is clean. yes, just my bedroom, but it isn't like my apartment is huge or anything so having a clean bedroom takes care of a good 1/2 of my apartment. so it's a start.
and i don't mean i just kind-of organized it. i took everything out of my closet and drawers and dusted everywhere and vacuumed below my bed. my bedroom is CLEAN. my mind even feels more organized now. tomorrow the living room (i suppose that is what you would call the room that doesn't have my bed in it...)
and then... the kitchen. i seriously don't even want to think about that. i'll leave it for last.

ok, moving on to the next reason why this picture is great.
2)i got my new issue of discover! (on the bed)
yes, they DO deliver to Bulgaria! (so, in case you were contemplating a move to bulgaria but were hesitant because of the possibility that your favorite magazine won't be there, worry no more)
i don't know if i have talked about my love for this magazine before, so forgive me if i have. but it is great. the articles are short, (good for those of you/us with ADD). they have super interesting articles but aren't so technical that you need a biology degree to read them.
oh, and also they are great because my older students (all 3 of them.) love this stuff. for example, yesterday, after class was over i took out my magazine to show one of them something and we ended up sitting there talking about it for another hour. they wanted me to translate the main points of the articles for them. however, although pretty rudimentary it's still a freaking science magazine. so after struggling to put it into Bulgarian with the aid of numerous unsucessful gestures and pictures, we decided it would be best for me to rephrase it into simpler English and then have one of the kids who speaks pretty good english then translate it into Bulgarian for the other two. yeah, maybe is took a little longer than it would at home with the language and stuff...but we got by. it was actually pretty fantastic.
they want me to bring the magazine again to class on thursday.
definitely.

and now, finally, the last reason why this super fuzzy, 70's looking picture is so fantastic.
3) the tea in my hand.
it's the stuff i got in turkey. i just accidentally picked it up at the grocery store next to our hostel because the tea they gave us for breakfast there was horrible. but this stuff turned out to be the best tea i have ever had.
green tea with ginkgo... which i have had versions of in the states. but this...it is perfect. so i went back before i left Istanbul and bought the remaining boxes at the store. (they only had three more left)
i still have a box and a half left. but then... what will i do?
i suppose that is just one more reason i need to go back to Istanbul.

eh, i'll throw in one more reason.
4) while cleaning i found my favorite pair of worn in jeans, which i'm wearing in the picture, that i hadn't seen in a month or so. you might wonder how an apartment so small could have become so disorganized as to lose a pair of jeans. well, it's a special talent i have. magic almost. i'd like to say it's inherited, but nobody in my family is like this, so i guess i take full credit. even though the jeans weren't really lost... just...you know...under stuff.

ok, off to english class with the younger students.

but before i do, i can't forget to say that....
KELLY IS COMING TO VISIT!!!
MAY 5th!!!

miss her. tolkova mnogo. can't wait. can't wait. can't wait. :-)

oh, and one last sidenote.
i used the word 'freaking' twice in this one entry.
i feel this is excessive.
i actually considered removing them as soon as they were typed.
but decided against it.
freaking was what i thought. freaking is what stays.
jesus, now it's up to 5.
and i gotta go...
ciao!

instead of rambling about my kids obsession with swear words...

2007-03-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Suprise Suprise, I'm going to talk about food again.
You know, I probably could save the world or at least get an advanced educational degree if I just took the amount of time I spent thinking/talking about/cooking food and did something else with it.
Well, maybe someday.
What I want to go off about today is my new found love of dried fruit.
I never really liked it back in the States. And although I don't really remember, I'm pretty sure it tastes different (read: better) here.
Dried figs, plums, and dates...
soooo good.
Did you know that dried dates taste like caramel? I kid you not.
But they are just too good. I ate quite a few today. (ok, so maybe my dinner consisted entirely of dried dates... that's ok... right?)
But that left me with a lot of date pits.
So I decided that I'm going to try to grow them.
(warning: the following will highlight exactly how exciting my social life is here)
After looking online for how to grow dates from seeds I think that I figured out the two varieties that are sold at my local "supermarket" (read: store that sells more than two varieties of yogurt)
But honestly, I am really not sure.
I studied social work in college. Maybe if I had stuck with forestry, my first major choice, I would know this.
But then again maybe not. It isn't like date trees grow extensively in Michigan.
Regardless, I want to grow them. Not that I'm going to get fruit or anything, I just want to see if I can.
I have some room in my kitchen. And lots of extra date seeds.
And I'm not expecting some tropical palm tree in my apartment, but I'll be happy with any sort of life i can get from the seeds.
Hey, if they can grow a date tree from 2,000 year old seeds I shouldn't have a huge problem with these.

Plus, Tunisia exports a lot of dates.
I already wanted to go to Tunisia.
I love dates.
Clearly, I am meant to go to Tunisia.
I'm glad you follow my logic.
Yes, maybe Egypt is the largest producer of dates, but Egypt has too many tourists and I have already decided that it is not a place I have much desire to go...well, at the moment anyway. So I ignore their date production standing.
See how the reasoning works?
In reality, I'm not crazy and the amount of dates a particular country produces or exports really has no bearing on my choice of a vacation destination, but I just like to have random facts backing up my random decisions.
Like how I decided that I just HAVE to go to Tunisia sometime.
I don't know why. I looked at my map and thought, 'yeah, Tunisia.'
Or maybe there was more to it.
Or maybe there wasn't.

and from home...

2007-03-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

today i picked up a package from my family at the post office.
among the fantastic goodies were tons of trader joes instant miso soup packets, triscuts, and this super cute letter from my sister:

love you too beth.
i don't know about your birthday, but i'll see what i can do.
muah!

Second, Istanbul

2007-03-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

just a small observation. i realized that unintentionally i stopped biting my fingernails last week. Just didn't occure to me to do it. And now, here we are, two days back in Zlataritsa, and my fingers are damn near bloody again.
interesno.
anyway, today could have been crappy, for the normal set of reasons.
but, like always, the afternoon saved it.
for english today i decided that i didn't feel like sitting in a room, so we went on a walk for a couple hours. i don't really know how much english was learned but it was soooo good to walk around. i can't really describe how beautiful it is here. you guys at home have no idea.
the first spring trees are blossoming, and the grass is greening and the river has melted, and there are frogs and fish and mountains all around. it's like a dream.
with all the beauty around them, i still had to stop the kids about 10 times from throwing trash onto the street, or the river, or someone's yard. they kept telling me "this isn't America, tracy. this is BULGARIA"
which, in their minds, explains everything.
i told them if you want a pretty town, you need to keep it pretty.
i'm sure they will remember that about as much as they will remember the words for stairs, and bridge, and trash can, and air, and whatever else we learned today.
but oh well.
they also liked to say random english swear words that they know, and then ask me what they mean. well, obviously they know they are bad. they ask me every week. and then they pretend that they just came up with this word for the first time.
no, i remember. you asked me last week. i told you it was bad last week. word hasn't changed. it's still bad.
which i suppose is funny. how can a word be bad. words are words are words.
i suppose i'm just perpetuating the power of the word by withholding the meaning from the kids. well, maybe it will keep them coming back. the possibility of learning how to swear in english. whatever it takes. or something.

well, if you haven't already guessed, these are the pictures from Istanbul. it was a great, however short, vacation.
got scrubbed down at a turikish bath, went to asia, saw the blue mosque, the grand pazar as well as spice pazar, smoked some hookah, went dancing, got sucked into a carpet store for a few hours, heard nearly every line possible by pazar vendors, ate turkish delights, went to starbucks... you know... everything you think one should do when in istanbul. i could go back again. the sooner, the better.
this has nothing to do with the mass quantities of beautiful people living there.
nope, not at all....
even though, sadly, we did not see the turkish volleyball team that we had met in dupnitsa, like crystal and i had hoped... but the people we did see pretty much made up for it.
ok, no more talking. more pictures.
then i'm off for a run.
4ao for now.

First PDM

2007-03-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, let's start off first with PDM in Plovdiv. All the B20's were there from Sunday to Wednesday learning how to develop projects. Things were learned, good times were had. I love this group. It's always a great time. Like on the last night pretty much everyone was at the same club dancing and laughing and just having a good time. Nothing out of control, or creepy, or anything that would get one kicked out of the Peace Corps for... just a good time.

I'll just throw some pictures up since I'm not really in the mood to write anything worth reading. I'm a bit sick now, but I suppose that is to be expected after an entire week without a single night of proper sleep.

back from away

2007-03-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

well it is late and i'm heading to bed.
tomorrow i will try to put up some pictures, but for now i'll just leave you with the overall impression that i took away from istanbul.

turkish men are beautiful.

beautiful.

my perception of this has nothing to do with the fact that since august i've been in a town of 2,000 people, where maybe 3 are even close to my age.

it just made me appreciate it more.

goodnight.

Sofia to Aya Sofia...

2007-02-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

oh, and i might have forgotten to mention that I leave for Istanbul in a week from tomorrow.
which is, you know, exciting and stuff.
:-)

lately

2007-02-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

let's see...
this weekend was good.
i stayed in Zlataritsa because 1) my atm card wasn't working, 2) i'm saving money for Turkey.
but it makes it a lot easier to save when you have no access to your money.
fortunately though it is working once again, which means I don't have to ration out my apples anymore. I can indulge in them freely.
speaking of food, because it is something i love to do, i made rabbit this weekend.
yeah, about a month ago a baba gave me a frozen rabbit that i can only assume she had raised and killed herself, because that is how they do it here. talk about free range organic...
well this was after i declined her offer for chicken, telling her that i don't really eat meat. she goes "oh, you don't eat meat? ok, well then here you go!" and handed me a rabbit. because apparently nowadays rabbits are made of vegetables...
to make a long story short it would have been rude to refuse again, so i thanked her and took my frozen hunk of rabbit meat home with me.
saturday night i had some free time so i thought i'd utilize the dead carcass in my freezer and cook dinner for my friends here.
i made rabbit with white wine sauce and rosemary.
i'm not gonna lie. it smelled so good i tried some.
it was probably the most delicious thing i have ever tasted in my life.
i cooked it for three hour so the meat was really tender (yuck, i can't believe i'm talking about how tender meat is...)
i am definitely not going to make it a habit to eat foods such as this, but....well, it's good to know i have the ability to cook meat if i have to. even rabbit.

things are definitely going better at site now.
i decided to not worry about the jewery thing. we don't have the right material to make the jewelry i know how to make. what to do...
well i thought back to when i was in high school when we made those hemp bracelets and necklaces and stuff.
so i went to the lev store, bought some 50 stotinki twine, and it worked perfectly.
super cheap, and the kids love it.
it's the cool new thing in zlataritsa.
so here is my gratitude to my high school friend, Courtney Chandler, for teaching me how to make them, oh so many years ago. :-)
oh, and i also taught the kids how to make martinitza... which is a traditional bulgarian bracelet for the first of march. funny, an american teaching bulgarians how to make a traditional bulgarian accessory... but i guess they liked my new take on it. (so thanks to whoever taught me how to make friendship bracelets when i was like 7 years old... never knew it would come in handy as a 26 year old peace corps volunteer)

on a remotely related note:

this is a picture of the bracelet one of my 8th graders made me. (i definitely didn't teach this, as i don't know how to knit)
he made it last night at home after jewelry group and gave it to me today during my tuesday english group. how many 8th grade boys knit their teachers bracelets??
super nice.
i love it.

anyway, to avoid any tangents that i could possibly go off on, i will just post a couple pictures from this weekend instead.
it was Todorov Den. which means that it was the name day of everybody with the name of Todor, or any name sounding similar to it.
They have a horse race... I don't know why this is so or the symbolism behind it... i will ask tonight at my Bulgarian lesson and let you guys know if it is interesting enough to retell.

ok, well i have to run, i'm hungry and i have a bowl of yogurt with apples and honey calling to me.

ok. pictures.
чао!

busy

2007-02-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

so i've actually been busy lately.

which means i'm roughly 1,000 times happier.

made it to turnovo saturday for some coffee with a few other volunteers.
back to turnovo on sunday to pick up a visiting guest from japan for whom i was, get this...
the translator.
hahahahahaha.
which is extra hilarious considering that half of the people here (the half that i don't talk with) think that i can't speak any bulgarian at all. so the fact that they asked me to translate showed how totally out of other options they were. which is fine, because i knew i could handle it. and even if i couldn't, i was the only one who knew what i was saying, so if i just started making stuff up neither party would know.

not that i would do that.

that would be untruthful.

but i'm just saying.

anyway, i didn't mind because at least it gave me something productive to do.

turned out to be one of my best times so far in bulgaria. Yuri (her name) was great.
she is a 23 year old student from japan studing in Russia who just kind of felt like seeing a little of the bulgarian countryside.
it was a lot of fun, we hung out for two days while i impressed everyone around with my totally crappy translations...but hey, a crappy translation is better than no translation.
we went to Elena and walked around, she helped out with my jewelry class, we went to the parents home of this bulgarian wrestler from the next city over.
apparentally he is now living in japan as a sumo wrestler and is pretty famous there.
yuri thought we were just going to look at the house... but no, we went in, met the fam, took pictures, they gave us some chocolate.
she was so excited. it was like on one of those tv shows when you get to meet a celebrity. she didn't even know what to say.
she was only here two days, but i miss her.
it was nice to have someone else in town to speak english to.
but now i have a standing invitation to visit tokyo anytime i want. :-)

just a little thank you

2007-02-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

well, i just looked at my last post and i think i actually had the intention of writing an entry but must have for some reason just posted it with only a title.
sorry.
but yeah, we had snow.
for like two days.
now it's back to spring-like weather.

anyway, the whole point of this is to say thank you to all the people that sent me christmas/birthday/no reason cards and packages.
they really help and bring my mind back to the people i love and have loved for such a long time.
not that i need stuff to be happy, obviously that isn't it. (although the food and music and candles and clothes are nice :-)
it's just that you care to send it.
i love you all.
MUAH!

snow.

2007-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Roma New Year...installment 2

2007-01-16T02:51:00.000-08:00

so i keep calling it the "roma new year" because that is what i learned was politically correct and so i find it hard to stop... however where i live, which is Zlataritsa, the people here do not like to be called roma... they call themselves, and prefer for others to refer to them, as gypsies, or tsigani in bulgarian.
just so ya know.

so yeah, i had some volunteer visitors this weekend. patty, stacie, and maggie...from plovdiv, blagoevgrad, and ugarchin.
i knew that it would be fun with them because all of them are such good sports... and you have to be here.
getting lifted up on chairs to dance in the middle of a restaurant of people you don't know, starting acapella singing circles outside with the kids, needing a flashlight to use the bathroom (ok, so that last one was my fault... opps)
anyway, to curb my ramblings early, i'll just say that it was great.
i had a great time, the people from zlataritsa had a great time, and i'm pretty sure my friends had a great time too.
just to give you a little glance into the night, here are a couple clips.

inside at the party:

and then outside on the street:

Roma New Year... installment 1

2007-01-16T02:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a clip of the kids program during the day.

Plovdiv

2007-01-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Fantastic time in Plovdiv. I don't know exactly what expectations i had, but whatever they were, Plovdiv definitely surpassed them. The city was beautiful,(although I still prefer turnovo) there are pieces of history just laying around the city, for example numerous Roman ruins, the weather was great, wasn't too crowded like sofia and they had an easy to find little health food store where I was able to buy lots of fun stuff. I'll use my crazy cut and paste skills to give you a quick summary of the history of the city.

* Plovdiv *

Remains of ancient, mediaeval, revival and modern culture coexist and are interwoven into the unobtrusive, irresistible and eternal beauty of this city. They do not stand in each other's way; they complement and enrich each other to make Plovdiv a synonym of Bulgarian history and a genuine world city.

Plovdiv is very, very old. The Eternal City, as Rome is conventionally called, is much younger. Athens, Carthage and Constantinople came into being later. A contemporary of Troy and having survived Mycenae, Plovdiv is a city upon layers of cities and an epoch upon layers of epochs. Plovdiv is all in one: a Thracian and classical Greek polis, the pride of Philip of Macedon, the capital of Thrace under the Roman Empire, a centre of Byzantinism, a stronghold of the Bulgarians, a dream of the crusaders -- a magnificent, wealth and most important city.

Kendros, Eumolpia, Philippopolis, Pulpudeva, Thrimonzium, Pulden, Populdin, Ploudin, Filibe -- those were the ancient names of Plovdiv throughout its 6000 to 8000 years of existence. The name Plovdiv first appeared in 15 century documents and has remained till today.

In the distant past Plovdiv was situated on seven hills: Taxim, Nebet, Jambaz, Sahat, Jendem and Bunarjik. The seventh hill, Markovo Tepe, has nowadays subsided completely under the pavement of modern Plovdiv.

In 432 B.C. the town was conquered by Philip II of Macedonia. During his rule the ancient Thracian fortress and towers were rebuilt. The vain Philip II gave the city his own name, Philippopolis. Soon it became a Thracian town again, called Pulpudeva. During the 1st century A.C. it was conquered by the Romans. The practical Romans called the town Thrimonzium (lying on three hills) because the Roman town was situated on three hills, Taxim, Nebet, and Jambaz Tepe. The Roman emperors Trayanus and Marcus Aurellius built solid fortresses around the town. They intoduced many improvements, as well as coin minting. At the time Plovdiv was known as Ulpia Thrimonzium, the most flourishing metropolis of the Thracian province.
The magnificent amphitheatre above dates back from Roman times. Now it is restored and classical drama, operas, and concerts are presented on stage in the open air...

In 447 the Huns ruined the town. In the sixth century the Slavs settled in the Balkan Peninsula and introduced the names Pulden and Plundiv.

In 815 Khan Kroum seized the fortress. In the following five centuries the town was ruled by Bulgarians, then conquered by Byzantium. The Bulgarian army came again later. The Crusaders demolished and plundered the town several times on their way to Mecca.

1365 was a fateful year for Plovdiv. The town fell under the Turkish yoke. Later it was renamed Filibe and became an important administrative and military center of crafts. Filibe was the seat of the ruler of the district of Rumelia. At that time the town possessed a mysterious charm and striking poverty typical of the Orient. The functioning Jumaia Mosque attracts visitors to the center of modern Plovdiv with its fine minaret and its sun-dial.

The commercial area of the town was between that mosque and the river Maritza. One of the oldest clock towers in Eastern Europe is located behind Sahat Tepe. The clock is working even nowadays. As the Turkish traveller Evlya Chelebi wrote in 1651, "Philibe is the biggest one among 10 big towns in the European part of Turkey, and is getting richer every day".

The 19th century brought Plovdiv closer to the rennaissance from cultural opression during the Turkish occupation. That was the time of spiritual awakening when the Bulgarian people began their struggle for religious, cultural and political independence. Many citizens of Plovdiv sacrificed their lives because they had the courage to rise against the sultan. In 1850 the well-known enlightener Naiden Gerov established a class school. In the following year the anniversary of the Slavic enlighteners Sts. Cyrillus and Methodius was celebrated for the first time. Hristo G. Danov founded the first Bulgarian publishing house in 1855. He circulated the printed books, newspapers and magazines around the Bulgarian land. The first printing press in Bulgaria appeared at that time. The Bulgarian revolutionist Vassil Levski organized a revolutionary committee in Plovdiv.

The long cherished liberation came to Plovdiv on January 19, 1878, after 500 years of waiting. However, the extasy of it was short. The Berlin Congress divided newly liberated Bulgaria into the Principality of Bulgaria and the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia with its capital Plovdiv. Just seven years later the unification of Bulgaria was proclaimed on September 6, 1885. That was the first blow agains the unfair Berlin Agreement. This is a photo of the lovely monument in the middle of Unification Square that honors the hundredth anniversary of that great event. The monument depicts the Mother-Country with the laurel wreath of victory stretched in her hands, with her two wings, the two regions brought together, ready for the coming 20-th century.

On September 9, 1944 the Nazi were driven off Bulgaria and the communists came on power. A very close relationship with the former USSR was established and many monuments were built in the honor of the USSR. One of them, the monument of the Russian soldier Aljosha, has remained at the top of a hill in Plovdiv.

The end of communism for Bulgaria is quite recent -- November 10, 1989. Plovdiv was a place of major demonstrations of the democratic forces in the country. Some people refer to the city as "the blue (democratic) capital of Bulgaria.

And now, without furthur ado, some pictures :-)

yesterday was exactly 5 months...

2007-01-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

since i boarded the plane from detroit metro...
wow. time...
well, time does what they say it does.
flyes.
5 down, 22 more to go.
nishto.

just got back from a na gosti.
we danced, sang, they made me drink both apricot and cherry compote, and i left with a new jar of homemade fruit preserves in my purse. fantastic.
i can't say that i speak for everybody here, but i really can't get enough homemade canned goods.
i'm not even kidding.
i hated canned food at home.
here, man, it's different. other volunteers might joke about all the food they give you, but as for me... i'm taking anything in a glass jar that you want to give me.
i think this one is strawberry with walnuts... yummmmmm.

what else to ramble on about when i should be sleeping.... let's see...

today i went to turnovo to buy boots.
again.
because the cheap ones i bought before hurt my feet and i can't walk in them.
this is what i get for buying cheap shoes.
i know better.
now i spent the money for the good ones, plus the cost of the cheap ones.
i should have just gotten the good ones in the first place.
i knew this, sigh. i never learn.
actually the reason that i went was to buy a discount card for the train.
but i forgot my photo for the card.
so next week i have to go back to the train station.
gives me another excuse to go to turnovo.
like i need one.
i love that city.
happened to have my camera today.
i felt like taking a couple pictures.
one is from the bus because there weren't any people on it so i decided to be cheesy and take a picture.
the other is just a normal view in what i think is the prettiest city ever.

oh, and on a side note, i got two packages yesterday.
one from aunt louise, uncle pat, katie, steve, michele and jeff...
it was great.
katies magnet cracked me up.
i hung the angel up on my wall.
and i haven't had a chance to listen to the cd yet, but i will tomorrow on the bus ride to Plovdiv... can't wait :-)
the other one was from moriah, the volunteer who was in zlataritsa before i came here.
it said educational supplies on it.
i opened it up and there definitely weren't any educational supplies...it had food...
lots of food.
american food.
chocolate, (including reese's peanut butter cups!)and chocolate chip cookie stuff, and just add water hummus, and just add water other meals, and hot chocolate, and olive oil...and other stuff... i can't even remember...
it was amazing... she knew just what to send...
who sends a care package to someone she hasn't even met?
someone who is as nice as everybody says she is.
she has been so helpful all along too, with any questions about the town or anything else.
zlataritsa was lucky to have her.

ok. it is way too late for me to be up.
i have to wake up in less than 3 hours to catch the 7am bus to veliko turnovo, then the 8am to plovdiv where there are a billion and ten conversations just waiting to be had with my friend i'm meeting there who i haven't seen since swearing in. can't wait.
be back sunday.
mnogo vi obicham.
night!

2007-01-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

ok. here ya go :-)

i love maps. especially in my apartment. :-)

2007-01-01T03:43:00.000-08:00

2006-12-27T23:26:00.000-08:00

so i just took my first bucket bath ever.
my hot water is still out but will probably be fixed today.
i just can't handle going more than two days without a shower so i figured that i could improvise.
i put a two huge jugs of water on my radiator last night on the lowest setting.
this morning they were completly warm.
so i used a clean kitchen sponge, water bottles, a bucket and my radiator warmed water and took a pretty freaking good shower.
i only had to use one of the jugs of water.
washed my hair and all.
i could have even probably used less if i tried.
ok, so i know that the peace corps in other countries have to do this everyday and all, and here i am, poor bulgaria pcv, my water heater stops working for a couple days.
but it was my first time.
so i'm kinda proud.
and i'm clean.
it even took less time than a normal shower since i normally just sit under the hot water for an excessive amount of time.

ok, that is all.

i'm off to work.

muah!

-tracy

i got the button

2006-12-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

oh yes, and as a side note, overall, i had a wonderful holiday, loved every second back with my host family, and now i have a fresh supply of homemade canned goods and honey to last me at least for a little bit.
i also have left over surmi and pulni chushki from christmas eve.
i had to draw the line at the left over turkey and cabbage.
too heavy and i knew that i just wouldn't be able to make myself eat poultry that had been unrefridgerated for over 24 hours.
but i got got the lutenitsa and sladko.... yummmmmm.
oh yes,
and banitsa too... both tikvenik and sierene style.
now i definitely know how i gained 4 kilo's in 2 months during training...

only me

2006-12-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

so things like this could happen to anyone.
but like my mom has been saying for years "yes tracy, it could happen to anyone, but it always only seems to happen to YOU."
why this is...well i don't know.
ok. yes i do.
partly.
even though i know i am not unintelligent in the conventional sense, as i'm quite aware that my brain has the capacity to understand and process large concepts such as morality, and spirituality, and other things of that sort, I still perpetually do some of the freaking stupidest things in the entire world.
like i don't know how i have lived this long on earth sometimes with my stupid actions.
it's weird though, because everytime i get myself into just completely ridiculous situations, my butt always somehow gets saved. like there is an angle on my shoulder or something.
i'm not talking like i do anything really wrong mind you.
i just do duuuuummmmb things.
i'm not even going to say what i did tonight because it was so stupid i'm actually a little embarrassed about it.
but just know that there probably isn't another dumb ass in this entire country who this would have happened to.
just me.
lucky me.
anyway, i'm not going to say anything more about it because if i had to estimate, i'd say it was probably 15 times more stupid than when i thought i set my host family's house on fire, but had really just filled it up with smoke from a pot of oil in the left over grease in the oven that i had accidentally turned on.
But don't worry, I have more stories from the weekend to share with you, because, well, these are also the kinds of things that fit into the 'why does this crap always seem to happen to you" category.
friday, i stayed in sofia in a hostel.
before i headed back to kraynitsi and my host family for the holidays, i met a lady from the ukraine who was staying there at the hostel with me.
as i was packing my bag we started chit chatting about the weather, which lead me to ask how long she was going to be in sofia, which lead her to tell me about how she just bought a house in bulgaria for 10,000 dollars, which lead us to talking about money and her grown son and daughter, which lead to one topic after another.
to make a long story short, our conversation ended up with both of us peridocially becoming slightly emotional and teary eyed about the state of affiars in the world and the mindset of the majority of people, and superficiality and irrelevance of material possessions, and living your life for a cause and never giving up and so on and so forth.
wonderful person. one of those people who you meet only breifly but never forget.
flash forward to today.
i was late to the train station (shocked, aren't you.) anyways, so i just made my train, but i didn't know where to sit. some guy who looked to be about my age helped me with my bag into his train car where there was about 5 people but a couple of empty seats.
we started talking and he spoke some english.
one of the first things out of his mouth is asking if there were a lot of jews in america. which was followed shortly by how much he hates them.
fantastic. i just knew this was going to be a simply stunning 5 hour train ride.
anyways, i asked if he even knew any jewish people.
no, but he knew that he didn't want to.
funny, i said. i actually KNOW jewish people. and i like them.
weird how the world works like that.
he said that he just felt it in his gut that they were bad.
riiiiight.
well i get gut feelings too. i felt in my gut that i wanted to throw up all over this guys face. amazing how this whole gut feeling thing is different for everybody...
anyways.
so he talkes some more of the same, you get the idea.
and again to make a long story short he managed to bring up his hatred for communists, roma, and question me on my feelings toward the klu klux klan. apparentally disagreeing with my opinion, told me that they were a part of my country's history that i should be proud of.
and the weird thing is, nobody in the train car thought this was weird.
ok, so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt, the conversation was half in english.
but the whole english excuse only works for half by story, becuase shortly after this his friend who had been passed out for hours woke up, immediatly started drinking his 2 liter bottle of beer, and then took off his shirt to proudly display his swastika tatoos, nobody even looked twice.
except to have a slightly amused smile on their face.
WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?????
so his friend sits back down again, and starts talking about american pigs.
and how he doesn't like americans in general.
then he started talking about how they shouldn't let anybody into this country at all. not other europeans, not americans, no one.
luckily, this all happened right before plevin, which was their stop. but before my travel companions exited the train, he did us the favor of taking off his shirt once more to get another view of his body art.
which was very thoughtful of him, as i was able to notice a lot of lovely details that i didn't before.
such as the huge freaking NAZI tatooed on his stomach.
and the word "skinhead" tattooed cleverly on, get this, his head.
get it? skinhead. on the head.
yes, this one was witty.
anyways, he proceeded to put his face right up mine a few times with this drunken creepy look of somebody who is too intoxicated to focus and goes with a low drunken voice "amerikanka". then he tells his friend to tell me that he hates americans.
um, don't bother buddy, i got it the first time when you said it.
your friend doesn't have to translate for me.
and still NOBODY DOES ANYTHING!
and then, their stop came, and all except one lady and me were left in the car.
and, to reiterate my point, NOBODY DID ANYTHING.
(except his friend a few times who told him to stop, the one i was originally talking to)
who also, by the way, put on his coat to go and proudly pointed out that his coat was ralph lauren. an american brand.
"bravo na teb" i sarcastically replied.
which pretty much means "good for you"
are you kidding me? you let your friend go off on his drunken i hate americans and everyone else rant and then you switch to english and point out your stupid brand name coat???
Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that he also invited me to plevin, to hang out and listen to his band. this wasn't the tattoed one, but the other one, who apparentlly doesn't hate americans in general, only religious and political minorities, or more than one person of any given nationality in his country.
as he pointed out to me. "see, you, for instance. you are american. you seem like a really nice girl. but if there would start to be more than one of you here, i would start to hate that too"
awww, geee... is that how you always ask people out on dates for new years??
but, you would be proud of me. becuase even though i do stupid stuff a lot, i am actually getting a bit better about keeping my mouth shut.
yes, this could be due to the fact that i don't speak bulgarian.
but you don't know HOW much i wanted say to the tattooed one as he left "if you only like things that are bulgarian, then why do you have english tattooed all over your body?" (which i was amazed to realize, i actually could have said.)
but i didn't.
because there was absolutely nothing that could have been gained from a comment such as that.
i realized this.
but why the heck nobody else in the train car said anything, ANYTHING, is just so amazing to me.
back in the states, that would never happen.
i mean, NEVER.
if a drunken skinhead was going off about how much he hated foreigners right in front of one, please believe that nobody would be silent about that.
but, i also i want to continue believing that the majority of other bulgarians wouldn't either. i have meet way too many wonderful people here and i'm sure that i just had some really bad traveling luck today.
but seriously, what is wrong with world?
*as a warning, i'm going to continue to ramble off on another, only slightly related tangent*
when i was in college there was this show on the local public access show in east lansing called the john mattenopolus show.(or something like that, it has been so long now i forget)
i have no idea if it is still on or not.
anyway, this guy was an unta-ultra-ultra conservative (i'm not talking republican here), homophobic, misogynist, who i can only assume was a racist as well, since, why the heck not? if you are going to hate one, hate 'em all, right?
anyways, so this guy had/has this tv show.
my roomate todd used to watch it every week and just get soooo pissed about it.
i was always like "todd, why do you watch that crap? you know it just pisses you off?"
this was before saw it.
i watched one episode.
i was so angry that i literally stabbed a fork into a pillar in our kitchen. or maybe it was a knife, i forget (or maybe i remember but don't want to sound like a psycho...)... anyways, the point is, i was mad.
like enraged.
i couldn't believe this guy was for real.
how could an actual person not only hold these beliefs, but broadcast them on television (albeit, east lansing public television)
i ended up convincing myself that maybe he was actually really a liberal person who only had this show to get liberals fired up and passionate again.
make people remember what they believe by agitating them.
(this isn't true, this guy actually exists and is as horrible as he appears in his program)
but regardless, his program was quite effective, although in the opposite way he intended.
no, i never for one second started to view things his way. all it did was solidify my own already held beliefs and pissed me off enough to get even more passionate about them.
so in the same way did the nazi skinheads in the train.
except the completely passive lack of reaction from the other passengers in my train-car was so disappointing that it essentially lowered my opinion of humanity and made me want to run back to america, where even if people are being crappy, at least i can open my mouth and say something halfway articulate.
but then i remember the lady from the hostel.
her opinion on people becoming jaded from life, is that they never actually cared in the first place.
and if she can escape her country of birth due to political oppression, live in 5 different countries, be thrown into the same situations as me where she doesn't know the language, and still manage to live half a century with her convictions still intact...well, then i can definitely withstand some ignorant comments and a little american bashing without help from the apathetic onlookers.
i'm a big girl.
situations like that i can handle.
although i sure do appreciate my guardian angle for the other idiotic conundrums i get myself into of my own accord.

That last statement would make a lot more sense if i actually had told the story i'm referring to at the beginning of this entry.
maybe someday.
when i don't feel like such a jackass about it anymore.

ok, well i am absolutely exhausted now.
and i'm sure that anyone who has even attempted to start reading this has without a doubt given up long ago.

so good night,
merry day after christmas.
i love love love love love you.
and i miss you guys so much.
good night.

-tracy

zlataritsa

2006-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

took this picture on saturday.
it's a view from the back of my apartment building.
just in case you wanted to see what my commute to work looked like.

christmas ham. little different than at aunt marilyn's...

2006-12-17T03:46:00.000-08:00

so, although i did eventually have to leave because i started to get sick, i think i stuck it out pretty well.
had a little break, i no longer feel like i'm going to throw up.
now it's back to mita's to face the meat once again.
wish me luck...

2006-12-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

so i have my christmas music playing, strung some lights up in my apartment and my christmas yule candle is burning filling my entire apartment with the most familiar fragrance i have found here so far... and all this together equals up to pretty much all i could ask for at christmas in a country that isn't home.
ok, i'm not gonna lie, it's actually pretty great.
my apartment is finally getting decorated... yes, it is an odd conglomeration of non matching fabric, foliage and whatever else i can find and manage to hang up... but it's still mine. i was the one who decided that it was a good idea to take my bouquet of fake flowers, disassemble it, and string them up with christmas ribbon and tie it around the base of my light socket to disguise the gaping hole... ok, so it looks just as crazy as it sounds. whatever, it smells like christmas here, and for now, it's home.
i have posted some pictures from today.
the people from the chitalishte as well as other zlatarianians and i, decorated the christmas tree in the center of town. it was such an amazing beautiful day. waaayyy to warm for the middle of december...global warming much? sorry, i'm a youth development volunteer. i'm pretty sure environmental issues have their own peace corps program to worry about that sort of thing. so, as for me, i'm liking everything about the weather today. oh yeah, and the last picture is of the girl that i tutor every week and i. she is younger, but i also have a group of older students that study in the school with me twice a week. maybe i'll get some pictures of that tomorrow for you.
let's see... anything else...
i made soup tonight.
it had radishes, spinach, seaweed, an egg, and mushroom broth.
it was amazing.
but now i don't know if i'm actually a good cook, or if i have just convinced myself that i am to give me liberty to throw a bunch of totally random crap in a pot together and consider it genius. doesn't really matter.
i liked it.
kind of tasted like miso.
yeah, i just made miso soup in bulgaria with radishes and spinach.
see, i can convince myself of anything.
genius.

2006-12-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

lemme know if this one works.

so did you hear the one about the monk, the monastery, and...

2006-12-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

so here are some of the pictures from our little excursion to the rilski monastery back in october (september?) no, october.
yes, i'm pretty sureish that it was october.
anyway, here is some background information on the monastery. no, the words are not mine (although the pictures are). i could have done that... but it is just so much easier to copy and paste. zapovyadaite.
muah!
-tracy

Rila (Rilski) Monastery

This is the biggest Bulgarian architectural monument and the biggest religious center in Bulgaria. It’s situated in the northwest part of Rila Mountains and stands 1150 meters above sea level. It’s built near the mountain rivulets of Rilska and Drushlyavitsa and is 120 km away from Sofia.

Its history is closely connected with Bulgarian history. The hermit Ivan Rilski founded the monastery in the 10th century. The stone tower - the most impressive building in the complex was constructed in the 14th century. It is five-storey, 8,3 m long and 7,8 m wide defense tower. It is 23 m high, and the "Preobrajenie Gospodne" ("God's Transfiguration") chapel is housed in the last floor.

During the ottoman invasion the monastery was burnt and was on the decline. In the second half of the century, three brothers from Kyustendil undertook restoring the monastery and they carried the St. Ivan Rilski`s relics in the monastery. In the 18th and the 19th century, with the financial support of wealthy Bulgarians, building of the monastery began. The construction had extended for 30 years and had been described with a great variety of architectural sights. The four – storey residential part includes three hundred monk cells, a library, an abbot’s room, four chapels, etc.

The main church is situated near to the Hreliova tower. The frescoes were painted by the best Bulgarian artists - the two brothers Zahari and Dimitar Zograf. Four iconographers had painted the central iconostasis for 5 years. In conjunction with the antique icons it is a national heritage.

The monastery museum keeps antiquities, icons and gospels. The famous wood- carved crucifix, made by a monk named Raphael, has been also preserved. He had carved the crucifix for 12 years and then went blind.

The Rilla monastery is the most famous monastery spot in Bulgaria. It was declared a national record of the past and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

2006-12-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

so i just got an email from my little cousin nicole.
nicole, did some boy hurt your feelings?? yes, i know they suck.
just say the word and i'll come back to michigan and kick his butt for you.
thats what cousins are for.

little late

2006-12-07T02:12:00.000-08:00

american holidays in bulgaria.
thanksgiving in sevlievo.

catching up

2006-11-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-11-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-11-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

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...

2006-11-08T02:59:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-06T04:25:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-05T01:52:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

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....

2006-11-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

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.

back home, from home.

2006-10-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-10-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

maybe a little overboard

2006-10-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

some pictures (and a video :-) from saturday

youth dance group in the mahala

playing with the kids...

retracing my steps...

2006-10-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

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.

waiting...

2006-09-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

some tiny pictures for you :-)

2006-09-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

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.....

2006-09-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-09-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

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.