Hello everyone!
I am writing this on a 95 degree day here in my new office at the Town Hall. There is basically zero ventilation and to say that it's stuffy in here is like saying the sun's surface is kinda hot. I am alone in this office and I actually enjoy it. The problem is that this office used to be the office of someone important. That person has simply relocated down the hall, but I am hounded day in and day out by people coming through the door and then pausing and looking at me as if I am an alien. I even had one woman, whom I am assuming had bad eyesight, open the door and then just stand there and stare at me for an uncomfortable 10 seconds. While I asked if I could help her, this only confused her more. It was if my voice was from a distant place that she could't quite recognize. After what seemed an eternity, she actually stepped forward a few steps. She then stopped and stared again for another long pause. She is halfway between the door and my desk. A whole 5 feet away from me. I asked again if she was looking for someone or if I could help. Again, more confusion. Then another few slow steps forward until she was literally standing with her toes touching the other side of my desk. Yet this wasn't close enough and, as though she needed to smell me to determine who I was, she leaned in closer. I now sat with my face about 12 inches from this woman's face. Another 5 seconds. My eyes locked on her. I am totally mesmerized as to how this event is unfolding. The she abruptly stands straight up, quickly says, "Oh, I thought you were the Mayor. You have a similar haircut." and she walked out the door. It took her at least 30 full seconds, a whole half a minute, without once blinking or a quick eye twitch to the side, her eyes locked on me, a look of pure confusion cemented on her face and her slow agonizing approach, followed by a total breach of personal space and after she was satisfied that I was not the Mayor, (even though I work in a small side office that pales in comparison to his air-conditioned, well decorated place of business, I speak with a thick accent and other than having short hair, don't look much like our Mayor) she abruptly departs, leaving me with the accusation that my short hair fooled her. As soon as I thought it was safe to do so, I stood, walked to the door, and closed it. It has remained closed for the last few days in fear of another "Mayor Sighting" in the strange office, two doors down from the door that has "MAYOR" written in big letters across the door.
Ok, enough about that. Most people who read this blog are already aware of the fact that Cveti and I got married on July 27th. It was an absolutely wonderful celebration with our closest friends and family here in Bulgaria. Due to our ridiculously short planning period of the wedding, my family was unable to attend. The ceremony was short and sweet and I was able to broadcast it live for some people back in the states. The wonderful internet allowed my 10AM Bulgarian time wedding, (2AM in Chicago) to be viewed live by those who wished to tune in. I must say, I was completely shocked and utterly flattered by the amount of people that actually either stayed up until the early morning, or woke up in the middle of the night, to tune in for our celebration. It really means a lot to me that you would do that. So for those of you who did watch, and are reading this, thanks.
So for the planning part of it, I was a non-participant. I was in Prague hanging out with Dan Baker-Smith for a few days drinking Pilsner Urquell and Absinthe. Cveti was here frantically finding a dress, shoes, cake, decorations, inviting people and basically setting the whole thing up. I think that's fair right? She was not alone in the matter though. Our dear friend, neighbor, and Maid-of-honor, Beti, assisted her in everything and was absolutely priceless. So Beti, I know you don't understand English, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your help. The wedding was amazing. My bride was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't have been happier.
I'll give a "brief" description of the wedding.
8:30-9:00AM - Cveti and I have been separated. She is at Beti's getting ready, I am at the apartment "getting ready".
9:00 - 9:30AM - People start coming over to my apartment. This includes Rosen and Temenujka, Cveti's step-father and her best friend Bobi, Evan, Plamen and Krasi. We drank coffee and waited.
9:30ish. - I was lead over to Beti's apartment by my entourage. I had to find the bride. I got to Beti's door and was met by Tsura, the co-owner of Beti's cafe and friend. She told me that Cveti was not there. I then had to bribe her to get more information. This lead to me finding out that Cveti is indeed in the apartment, but I am not allowed in. So more money was negotiated. When the sum was acceptable, the door was opened. I was met by Cveti's mother who would not fully open the door. She as well, as the mother of the bride, wanted compensation for the bride. So I had to negotiate a price with her as well, but after she demanded too much, my entourage and I, forced the door open.
9:40AM - Where is Cveti? She is no where to be found. I paid for her and I am certain that she is in the apartment, but she is hiding from me. So I searched. When I finally found her, I tried to escort her to the wedding hall. But wait! A problem! Cveti is missing a shoe!! How can she go to get married without being bipedally balanced? So, as the groom, it was me responsibility to find the shoe. This resulted in a long search which was mercifully concluded by playing the "hotter/colder" game.
9:55AM - Shoe is found! Wait, it doesn't fit as well as she wants it to (it fits fine)! It is too big (not really)! What can fill up the space between her foot and the shoe? Why, money of course! So I stuff a few more bank notes and some spare change that I find laying around into the shoe until it "fits". If you wanna know what fitting looks like, check out the link.
* Don't freak out about the money stuff, it is done as a joke and it's more traditional than anything. Cveti got all the money so it basically just got returned.
10AM - Drink rakia for courage. (even though we are supposed to be at the wedding hall already.)
10:05AM - Rakia finished. Courage meter full. Depart for wedding hall on foot. (it's about 100 feet away from where I live.)
10:10AM - Start services.
10:30AM - Services finish! The room was like a furnace, so I was glad the official part was over.
10:45AM - Arrive at cafe where it is beautifully decorated. I'm not kidding, this wedding was beautiful and it was put together in less than a week. If anyone needs last minute wedding planning, talk to Cveti. She is our champion.
10:45AM - 9:00PM - Party! We drank champagne, broke bread, broke glasses, danced, ate, partied, had a wonderful time and video taped a bunch of it (thank you Evan!). We had many liters of homemade 100+ proof rakia at the tables. I had a glass or two and then tried switching to beer. Unfortunately/fortunately, Beti saw this move and quickly warned me to just stick with the rakia. I already had some champagne with the service and in celebration and mixing rakia, champagne and beer is a recipe for a terrible next day. So I listened and stayed with the rakia. Well. We partied for about 10 hours. All I drank was 100+ proof moonshine. My memory stopped recording around 6pm. But I can say that since we have video evidence, I know that I had fun in those dark hours and danced like I'd never danced before (for better or worse).
So that was the wedding day in a nutshell. It was wonderful.
On another note that's equally exciting, we got Cveti's immigration visa! In a process that is estimated to take 4-6 months on average, we got the visa finished and approved in 2 weeks. We are AWESOME. So we have our tickets booked already for Molly's wedding in September. Cveti and I will be flying in on the 19th and she will get to see the USA for the first time and meet my whole family. We are very excited about it. After the wedding, we will be returning to Bulgaria to finish up some things before we move to the states for real.
So, that leads me to my final point, and possibly most important to our new little family... Anyone have a job opening out there? We are looking to stay in Chicago but I am not opposed to relocating if it's the right job. I'm flexible and realize that in today's economy, jobs are a bit hard to find.
Thanks so much and maybe I'll post again before we visit Chicago. If not, see you then!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wedding planning
2011 is not the year for me to write in this blog. I guess one reason that I haven't been putting much effort into it is because every day things change here. So if I write something down today, tomorrow it could be totally different.
As I mentioned in the last post, I am officially staying here until December 14. That date is completely arbitrary. My goal is to marry Cveti and get her a visa for the states and for us to travel back together. Peace Corps has a policy that requires a background check for all host country nationals that intend to marry an active volunteer. This background check takes 4 months. or so they say... Cveti and I submitted the paperwork for the background check back in April and hoped that we would have it completed by August. We found out in late June that the paperwork was never forwarded on to Washington DC for the actual background check to be completed. So we thought that we wouldn't have permission to marry until at least November. Well, yesterday I found out that the check was completed and we have the green light to marry now!! There are a hundred different variables right now including the changing of the Immigrant Visa laws in mid August that we now are having to consider. Basically it comes down to this, we are going to try to get married ASAP.
I am leaving for Prague this weekend with Dan. He will continue on to the states after Prague because his service is now finished. Once I get back, on the 26th, Cveti and I have a window of about 4 days before my national ID card expires. Hopefully we can get the paperwork set up and completed in that time frame before any further complications. This has been a total roller coaster. Getting married in a foreign country is not easy.
I don't want to jinx anything, but there is a chance now that Cveti and I will be at Molly's wedding together in September. Keep your fingers crossed.
As I mentioned in the last post, I am officially staying here until December 14. That date is completely arbitrary. My goal is to marry Cveti and get her a visa for the states and for us to travel back together. Peace Corps has a policy that requires a background check for all host country nationals that intend to marry an active volunteer. This background check takes 4 months. or so they say... Cveti and I submitted the paperwork for the background check back in April and hoped that we would have it completed by August. We found out in late June that the paperwork was never forwarded on to Washington DC for the actual background check to be completed. So we thought that we wouldn't have permission to marry until at least November. Well, yesterday I found out that the check was completed and we have the green light to marry now!! There are a hundred different variables right now including the changing of the Immigrant Visa laws in mid August that we now are having to consider. Basically it comes down to this, we are going to try to get married ASAP.
I am leaving for Prague this weekend with Dan. He will continue on to the states after Prague because his service is now finished. Once I get back, on the 26th, Cveti and I have a window of about 4 days before my national ID card expires. Hopefully we can get the paperwork set up and completed in that time frame before any further complications. This has been a total roller coaster. Getting married in a foreign country is not easy.
I don't want to jinx anything, but there is a chance now that Cveti and I will be at Molly's wedding together in September. Keep your fingers crossed.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Catching up
Hey folks, I am the worst at this blogging thing. Or at least I have become the worst. Sorry about the gigantic window of silence that you have from me for the last few months. Well, my lack of posting has not been because there hasn't been anything new and interesting, but on the contrary, it's been so crazy that posting on my blog has been the last thing on my mind. This post could be the longest thing ever, and I might regret this later, but I don't really feel like getting into a ton of details. So here are the big things that have happened.
The biggest, of course, is that I proposed to Cveti on April 2. She said yes and we are engaged now. It was a long day involving a lot of walking, but it was a great day none-the-less and totally worth it. We plan on getting married here in Bulgaria and as of now, we aim for after Molly's wedding on Sept 23rd. Hopefully, Cveti will be joining me on a trip back stateside for Molly's wedding where she will have the overwhelming chance to meet the whole family. Of course this depends solely on obtaining a visa for her to visit the states.
Cveti and I have both quit smoking. Some of you probably didn't know it, but we both were smokers. Bulgaria has very cheap cigarettes and smoking is the norm. Unfortunately, in my quest for cross-cultural acceptance, I developed the nasty habit of smoking. It has been hard for us, but we both have quit and it is coming up on one month without a cigarette. I've also quit drinking alcohol because nothing goes better with a beer or rakia than a cigarette. I don't need that temptation. While I was on this role of quitting all sorts of vices, I decided to start exercising on a regular basis and eating more veggies and healthy food. As a result, I've probably lost between 15-20 lbs. Not bad for an old man like me.
I am extending my service officially until December 14, 2011. I was supposed to come back to the states at the end of July, but due to the circumstances here, I am staying for a few extra months. The good news is that when I come back, I won't be coming back alone! I will be bringing my lovely, soon-to-be wife, Cveti. It will be right in time for the chaotic holiday season too!
I am working on scouts stuff mostly here and I have been named the leader of the older (13yrs+) patrols until we can find someone to replace me when I leave. It's been interesting and it promises to continue.
We had our close of service meeting last week. It was a ton of fun. It was the last time that all the B25s (my group) will be together. In the next 6-8 weeks, they will start leaving the country and move on to bigger and better things. The meetings were great and some good memories were created.
I guess that's all for now. Sorry I've been so lame with this, but we got a wedding to plan now!
I'll catch ya'll later
Rory
The biggest, of course, is that I proposed to Cveti on April 2. She said yes and we are engaged now. It was a long day involving a lot of walking, but it was a great day none-the-less and totally worth it. We plan on getting married here in Bulgaria and as of now, we aim for after Molly's wedding on Sept 23rd. Hopefully, Cveti will be joining me on a trip back stateside for Molly's wedding where she will have the overwhelming chance to meet the whole family. Of course this depends solely on obtaining a visa for her to visit the states.
Cveti and I have both quit smoking. Some of you probably didn't know it, but we both were smokers. Bulgaria has very cheap cigarettes and smoking is the norm. Unfortunately, in my quest for cross-cultural acceptance, I developed the nasty habit of smoking. It has been hard for us, but we both have quit and it is coming up on one month without a cigarette. I've also quit drinking alcohol because nothing goes better with a beer or rakia than a cigarette. I don't need that temptation. While I was on this role of quitting all sorts of vices, I decided to start exercising on a regular basis and eating more veggies and healthy food. As a result, I've probably lost between 15-20 lbs. Not bad for an old man like me.
I am extending my service officially until December 14, 2011. I was supposed to come back to the states at the end of July, but due to the circumstances here, I am staying for a few extra months. The good news is that when I come back, I won't be coming back alone! I will be bringing my lovely, soon-to-be wife, Cveti. It will be right in time for the chaotic holiday season too!
I am working on scouts stuff mostly here and I have been named the leader of the older (13yrs+) patrols until we can find someone to replace me when I leave. It's been interesting and it promises to continue.
We had our close of service meeting last week. It was a ton of fun. It was the last time that all the B25s (my group) will be together. In the next 6-8 weeks, they will start leaving the country and move on to bigger and better things. The meetings were great and some good memories were created.
I guess that's all for now. Sorry I've been so lame with this, but we got a wedding to plan now!
I'll catch ya'll later
Rory
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Fires, sweat and celebrations!
First let me say that I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day! Here in Bulgaria, Feb 14th is not only Valentine's but it is also a holiday called Trifon Zarezan. This holiday is basically about the coming of spring and trimming of the grape vines in preparation. The holiday is celebrated by drinking wine (after the trimming of the vines of course). So the question asked on February 14th is, "Which holiday are you celebrating today?" I think it is wonderful. You get to choose between celebrating love, or celebrating the juice of the vine. How many people in the States would love to just say, "today I choose to celebrate wine, not love" and that be a perfectly, if not more accepted, answer?
Cveti and I celebrated both. We were actually supposed to be in Plovdiv for a scouts meeting the weekend before, but it didn't happen, so I kinda wasn't able to really get Cveti a gift. I am terrible and for that I am sorry. But we celebrated our love without gifts and isn't that what it should be about anyways? So on the night of the 14th, we went to Betty's to celebrate. We started the dinner with salad and rakiq per usual. The rakiq was toasted to love, many times. We actually had a teacher at the school propose to another one of the teachers that evening, so we celebrated their future unity. After salad, the wine came out. Homemade of course. This was then poured and we toasted to Trifon Zarezan, many times. The food was amazing but the company was better. The evening, or early morning, was concluded in song as we sang everything from our national anthems to "row row row your boat" to the song that never ends and some Justin Timberlake for good measure. Many laughs and good memories and bad headaches for all.
Koynare actually celebrated Trifon Zarezan as a town on the Friday before. There was a contest for the best homemade wine in town. Here is a link for the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zcfqwETG6w.
As the token American, I was given the winning bottles for my own personal consumption. How lucky!
On Sunday evening, around 6pm, Cveti and I decided that we needed to get to the store before it closed. So we set out together. When we opened the outer doors to the apartment building the dusk sky was enlightened by the licking flames of a fire in the building's yard. A few of my neighbors were hanging around looking at it and a few others were on the move filling water buckets. The flames were touching the lower branches of an old tree and they were spreading on the ground due to the abundance of dry branches, sticks and grasses. Cveti and I, on our way to the store and never missing a beat, shrugged, went back inside the apartment and started filling buckets with water. We went out and just walked up to the growing fire and poured water all over it. The fire gathered some extra spectators and impromptu fire fighters, one including the mayor. After 5 or 6 trips with buckets of water from each of the 10-12 newly concerned citizens, the fire was under control and people were relaxing. We later understood that one of our fun crazy homeless guys started the fire for reasons unknown. Cveti looks at me and complains, "Great, now my hair smells like smoke. I just took a shower." I couldn't have been more proud in that moment, so I showed my growing admiration for her by laughing out loud. The girl just jumps into a random fire armed with buckets of water while on her way to the store. The only thing she needs to say about the situation is how mad she is that her hair now smells like smoke. I couldn't help but find the humor in the whole situation. What a girl. At the end of the adventure, we went to the store and bought ourselves food for dinner. We never quite know what adventure we will embark on when we walk out of the apartment in Koynare.
I started running with the track team recently. I run with the 10 year olds. I can only imagine how funny it must look for people when they see me, all 220 lbs of me, dragging myself at a pathetic pace surrounded by energetic 65 lbs 10 year olds who are laughing and talking and skipping and running the same speed as the towering American who struggles to keep up. I love the statement I hear every time we go on our 3-4 mile runs. "Wow, you are sweating a lot." I know kids, I know.
Winter is almost over and I wish you all a great day!
Rory
Cveti and I celebrated both. We were actually supposed to be in Plovdiv for a scouts meeting the weekend before, but it didn't happen, so I kinda wasn't able to really get Cveti a gift. I am terrible and for that I am sorry. But we celebrated our love without gifts and isn't that what it should be about anyways? So on the night of the 14th, we went to Betty's to celebrate. We started the dinner with salad and rakiq per usual. The rakiq was toasted to love, many times. We actually had a teacher at the school propose to another one of the teachers that evening, so we celebrated their future unity. After salad, the wine came out. Homemade of course. This was then poured and we toasted to Trifon Zarezan, many times. The food was amazing but the company was better. The evening, or early morning, was concluded in song as we sang everything from our national anthems to "row row row your boat" to the song that never ends and some Justin Timberlake for good measure. Many laughs and good memories and bad headaches for all.
Koynare actually celebrated Trifon Zarezan as a town on the Friday before. There was a contest for the best homemade wine in town. Here is a link for the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zcfqwETG6w.
As the token American, I was given the winning bottles for my own personal consumption. How lucky!
On Sunday evening, around 6pm, Cveti and I decided that we needed to get to the store before it closed. So we set out together. When we opened the outer doors to the apartment building the dusk sky was enlightened by the licking flames of a fire in the building's yard. A few of my neighbors were hanging around looking at it and a few others were on the move filling water buckets. The flames were touching the lower branches of an old tree and they were spreading on the ground due to the abundance of dry branches, sticks and grasses. Cveti and I, on our way to the store and never missing a beat, shrugged, went back inside the apartment and started filling buckets with water. We went out and just walked up to the growing fire and poured water all over it. The fire gathered some extra spectators and impromptu fire fighters, one including the mayor. After 5 or 6 trips with buckets of water from each of the 10-12 newly concerned citizens, the fire was under control and people were relaxing. We later understood that one of our fun crazy homeless guys started the fire for reasons unknown. Cveti looks at me and complains, "Great, now my hair smells like smoke. I just took a shower." I couldn't have been more proud in that moment, so I showed my growing admiration for her by laughing out loud. The girl just jumps into a random fire armed with buckets of water while on her way to the store. The only thing she needs to say about the situation is how mad she is that her hair now smells like smoke. I couldn't help but find the humor in the whole situation. What a girl. At the end of the adventure, we went to the store and bought ourselves food for dinner. We never quite know what adventure we will embark on when we walk out of the apartment in Koynare.
I started running with the track team recently. I run with the 10 year olds. I can only imagine how funny it must look for people when they see me, all 220 lbs of me, dragging myself at a pathetic pace surrounded by energetic 65 lbs 10 year olds who are laughing and talking and skipping and running the same speed as the towering American who struggles to keep up. I love the statement I hear every time we go on our 3-4 mile runs. "Wow, you are sweating a lot." I know kids, I know.
Winter is almost over and I wish you all a great day!
Rory
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Best part about winter
The best part about winter here is that the kitchen doubles as a refrigerator. After cooking, you can leave the leftovers and ingredients on the counter for days. We have been the drinking milk in there for the last 3 days and it still hasn't turned.
Friday, January 28, 2011
January is cold
Hey ya'll,
I hope January was good for everyone. It's been kinda cold here but it isn't nearly as bad as last year. Or so it seems. It's still single digits when I get up in the morning, but I prepared for the winter this year and insulated my windows in the apartment to kill the draft. This year my thermometer in the bedroom sticks at around 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit for now. Last year is was around 40. I also have a better stove to burn wood in so we can actually get the living room up to warm temperatures. I have been spending a lot more time outdoors too. Plamen and I go out to the river on walks for a few hours a week.
Here in Koynare, the longest river in Bulgaria passes through the town. Plamen and I get in his car and follow the dirt roads out to the river where we find ourselves in the nature. The river is a wonderful place but unfortunately the tough times here are really taking it's toll on the nature. The area is littered with tree stumps and garbage. The illegal farming of trees for firewood is rampant. Every time we go out to the river, it depresses me with all the freshly cut down trees and evidence of late night tree harvesting. I would be surprised if there is a single tree left after 10 years. Plamen has lived in Koynare almost his whole life and he loves nature. He feels more at home alone in the woods than he does surrounded by people. He tells me stories of what used to be here and how much wildlife there used to be within the forest. There is one place he showed me that is nearly barren now and he told me that when he was young they used to refer to it as "the jungle". Now there are only a handful of trees there and wildlife is scarce. The river also brings garbage. When the waters rise, and then retreat, they leave behind giant piles of trash. The beautiful islands in the river are completely blanketed with bottles, boots and tires. The river also brings wood and leaves it along the shores. Plamen and I have started gathering this wood and filling his car with it to use as firewood. We would rather collect the wood the river has already brought than contribute to the chopping down of the live trees. It really is a shame that this is the situation that has fallen upon this town. Electricity is too expensive, there isn't enough work, legal firewood is expensive and hard to obtain, and there are few trees left nearby. So they unfortunately have no choice but to harvest the locally available resources to survive the winter. And after a few years of this, they will exhaust everything.
After one hike that Plamen and I went on, we started a campfire. It was cold and we had been out all afternoon. The sun was setting as we made it back to his car. Plamen had brought some fresh pork, bread and wine so we could cook dinner over a fire. We sat down amongst some stumps of recently chopped down trees. There were plenty of small branches littering the area from the felled trees so we gathered them and got the fire going. Plamen and I sat on the ground, skewered some pork on sticks and added some onion in there as well. We stuck the meat directly into the hot coals and toasted the bread over the fire. It was freaking awesome. I really think that few things in this world compare to sitting out in the wilderness, making a fire and cooking dinner over it. The food was fresh and delicious and the wine was red and homemade. It was a good end of a hike.
My project for the track team has been fully funded and almost everything is already purchased. For the past few weeks, the coach and I have been buying all the equipment we put into the budget. The track team here was using very old, broken equipment. The kids did not have running shoes or uniforms and inadequate practice equipment. With my project, we have purchased starting blocks, hurdles, shot puts, discs, javelins, uniforms, running shoes, track spikes, track suits and more. The kids are ecstatic. When they went to track meets, they were intimidated by the other teams. They didn't know how to use the starting blocks, proper form for jumping hurdles, their shoes and uniforms were mismatched and old. Now they look sharp. The confidence is increasing and I could feel the excited energy from them when I was at practice yesterday. They have their new track suits and shoes on and they look good. I watched as they were running laps while smiling and laughing. This weekend they are at their first track meet with the new equipment.
Cveti is now at the end of her first semester and she is taking her finals. She already has taken three of them and has a few more in the upcoming weeks. Of the three she has taken, she is has 2 A's already and we are still waiting to find out the grade for her English test. I am pretty confident that she did well on that one...
I don't really want to get into details on a public blog, but there are a lot of issues going on at the organization where I work. All day while I am here in this small office I listen to people yelling at each other and arguing about who did what and where things have disappeared to. It's really starting to wear on me and I find myself dreading sitting here and listening to this. Even though I am not really in the middle of it or involved at all, I am still sitting here listening to the yelling. I can't concentrate on anything and find myself just wandering the internet and lost in my own thoughts. Not the most productive environment. Hopefully it will pass but I don't think it will.
So that's all I got for now.
Rory
I hope January was good for everyone. It's been kinda cold here but it isn't nearly as bad as last year. Or so it seems. It's still single digits when I get up in the morning, but I prepared for the winter this year and insulated my windows in the apartment to kill the draft. This year my thermometer in the bedroom sticks at around 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit for now. Last year is was around 40. I also have a better stove to burn wood in so we can actually get the living room up to warm temperatures. I have been spending a lot more time outdoors too. Plamen and I go out to the river on walks for a few hours a week.
Here in Koynare, the longest river in Bulgaria passes through the town. Plamen and I get in his car and follow the dirt roads out to the river where we find ourselves in the nature. The river is a wonderful place but unfortunately the tough times here are really taking it's toll on the nature. The area is littered with tree stumps and garbage. The illegal farming of trees for firewood is rampant. Every time we go out to the river, it depresses me with all the freshly cut down trees and evidence of late night tree harvesting. I would be surprised if there is a single tree left after 10 years. Plamen has lived in Koynare almost his whole life and he loves nature. He feels more at home alone in the woods than he does surrounded by people. He tells me stories of what used to be here and how much wildlife there used to be within the forest. There is one place he showed me that is nearly barren now and he told me that when he was young they used to refer to it as "the jungle". Now there are only a handful of trees there and wildlife is scarce. The river also brings garbage. When the waters rise, and then retreat, they leave behind giant piles of trash. The beautiful islands in the river are completely blanketed with bottles, boots and tires. The river also brings wood and leaves it along the shores. Plamen and I have started gathering this wood and filling his car with it to use as firewood. We would rather collect the wood the river has already brought than contribute to the chopping down of the live trees. It really is a shame that this is the situation that has fallen upon this town. Electricity is too expensive, there isn't enough work, legal firewood is expensive and hard to obtain, and there are few trees left nearby. So they unfortunately have no choice but to harvest the locally available resources to survive the winter. And after a few years of this, they will exhaust everything.
After one hike that Plamen and I went on, we started a campfire. It was cold and we had been out all afternoon. The sun was setting as we made it back to his car. Plamen had brought some fresh pork, bread and wine so we could cook dinner over a fire. We sat down amongst some stumps of recently chopped down trees. There were plenty of small branches littering the area from the felled trees so we gathered them and got the fire going. Plamen and I sat on the ground, skewered some pork on sticks and added some onion in there as well. We stuck the meat directly into the hot coals and toasted the bread over the fire. It was freaking awesome. I really think that few things in this world compare to sitting out in the wilderness, making a fire and cooking dinner over it. The food was fresh and delicious and the wine was red and homemade. It was a good end of a hike.
My project for the track team has been fully funded and almost everything is already purchased. For the past few weeks, the coach and I have been buying all the equipment we put into the budget. The track team here was using very old, broken equipment. The kids did not have running shoes or uniforms and inadequate practice equipment. With my project, we have purchased starting blocks, hurdles, shot puts, discs, javelins, uniforms, running shoes, track spikes, track suits and more. The kids are ecstatic. When they went to track meets, they were intimidated by the other teams. They didn't know how to use the starting blocks, proper form for jumping hurdles, their shoes and uniforms were mismatched and old. Now they look sharp. The confidence is increasing and I could feel the excited energy from them when I was at practice yesterday. They have their new track suits and shoes on and they look good. I watched as they were running laps while smiling and laughing. This weekend they are at their first track meet with the new equipment.
Cveti is now at the end of her first semester and she is taking her finals. She already has taken three of them and has a few more in the upcoming weeks. Of the three she has taken, she is has 2 A's already and we are still waiting to find out the grade for her English test. I am pretty confident that she did well on that one...
I don't really want to get into details on a public blog, but there are a lot of issues going on at the organization where I work. All day while I am here in this small office I listen to people yelling at each other and arguing about who did what and where things have disappeared to. It's really starting to wear on me and I find myself dreading sitting here and listening to this. Even though I am not really in the middle of it or involved at all, I am still sitting here listening to the yelling. I can't concentrate on anything and find myself just wandering the internet and lost in my own thoughts. Not the most productive environment. Hopefully it will pass but I don't think it will.
So that's all I got for now.
Rory
Monday, January 10, 2011
In the land where the streets are paved with gold
I'm back in Bulgaria after a wonderful trip home. The trip back to the states started off absolutely terrible though. I will get to that in a moment.
Before I left, Cveti and I spent a couple days in Sofia together. We went shopping for gifts as well as spent some good time together. We went and saw Megamind at a 3D theater in Sofia. It was Cveti's first 3D movie and it was a lot of fun. The movie was dubbed in Bulgarian but I understood basically everything and very much enjoyed it. We went out to some nice meals and at one dinner, Cveti and I sat next to a woman that used to be the host of a popular TV show here. We had a great time together just hanging in Sofia.
On Wednesday, the 22nd, Cveti and I got up at like 4am to get to the airport to catch my early plane to Munich. Well, when we got there, the whole airport was covered in fog and all flights were cancelled. Cveti and I waited in line for the single computer at Sofia Airport available to Lufthansa. We waited for 4 hours before they got me on another flight. The flight was to leave at 1:50pm and it looked hopeful that it would actually fly. I said goodbye to Cveti around noon and went through security. I then waited until about 5pm before they finally cancelled that flight too since the fog never lifted. Well, I got booked on a flight at 6am the next morning. So I left the airport, went to the hostel and slept for a few hours. Then got back to the airport bright and early and the fog was still there. They said the flight had a green light though. My itinerary had changed though and I would fly to Frankfurt, then Munich, then Chicago. Well. My flight out of Sofia was delayed again but it did fly. I missed the flight to Munich. I got on the next one which was also delayed a few hours. In turn, I missed my flight to Chicago from Munich. Finally, in Munich, they got me on a waitlist for a flight to Chicago that went out that afternoon. And thanks to the Lufthansa people at the gate, I got on the flight and they upgraded me to business class. :) It was the most comfortable 10 hour flight I've ever been on. It felt so good to finally fly.
Well, I got back to Chicago to be greeted at the airport. We got my bags and drove to Britt and Catherines where the rest of the family was waiting. I made the mistake of taking off my boots which housed my feet who were covered in the wool socks I'd been wearing for 3-4 days... This resulted in a quick shower, changed clothes, airing out of the house and a lot of moans and groans from my loving family about my stinky feet. After that we did a quick dinner and I went to sleep. The following day was Christmas Eve and celebrated by being lazy. Although I woke up at the wee hours of 4ish in the morning due to jet lag, I had a great day with the family. Everyone was there and all the kids too.
On Christmas, I woke up again at like 4am so I went downstairs, got on the computer and started writing Christmas letters to my friends here in Bulgaria. I ate breakfast and drank about a pot of coffee. When I heard the kids running around upstairs getting all excited at about 6am, I knew it was time to celebrate! I had the most energy ever. After all sorts of nauseating amounts of caffeine pumping through my veins. Christmas morning was wonderful and I am thankful we had two trees. One for the kids to tear through, the other one for the adults to sit back and take our sweet time.
That night, I almost died at the table from exhaustion. I left before dessert to go to bed. I missed pumpkin pie.
On the 26th, there was about a foot of fresh snow on the ground. Britt, Dad and I went to the Bears game where we had an amazing time. The game was great and the Bears destroyed the Jets. But it was a good game and we had great seats. We even got to sit out in the snow while watching the game. After the game ended, we had so much fun that we basically didn't leave until they kicked us out.
I could take this thing day by day, but I'll just sum up the rest. I had an amazing time. I got to hang out with my family, meet Molly's boyfriend Paul, see the kids and how much they had grown, share stories and laughs, drive a car, see friends, and eat nasty American food that gave me all sorts of heartburn. I can't thank my parents enough for making the trip so great.
On the 4th of January I got on a plane with over 125lbs of baggage to bring back. The flights went without problem and I was greeted by Cveti at the airport when I arrived. It was great to see her there! When Cveti and I went back to Koynare, I opened the door to my apartment and noticed that the lights weren't working. So I checked the fuses and everything looked good. Then I remembered that I didn't pay my electricity before I left... So Cveti and I spent that first night back at the apartment in the cold and dark. Welcome home.
Since then I paid my electricity and we are back online. I have gotten used to the time difference again and kinda getting in the swing of things. Cveti is back in Sofia getting ready for exams.
So here we are, in the cold again, sleeping and living in rooms where ice crystals form. I forgot how hard it was to get rid of the chill after you wake up in the morning. Hats help.
Be good and stay warm
Rory
Before I left, Cveti and I spent a couple days in Sofia together. We went shopping for gifts as well as spent some good time together. We went and saw Megamind at a 3D theater in Sofia. It was Cveti's first 3D movie and it was a lot of fun. The movie was dubbed in Bulgarian but I understood basically everything and very much enjoyed it. We went out to some nice meals and at one dinner, Cveti and I sat next to a woman that used to be the host of a popular TV show here. We had a great time together just hanging in Sofia.
On Wednesday, the 22nd, Cveti and I got up at like 4am to get to the airport to catch my early plane to Munich. Well, when we got there, the whole airport was covered in fog and all flights were cancelled. Cveti and I waited in line for the single computer at Sofia Airport available to Lufthansa. We waited for 4 hours before they got me on another flight. The flight was to leave at 1:50pm and it looked hopeful that it would actually fly. I said goodbye to Cveti around noon and went through security. I then waited until about 5pm before they finally cancelled that flight too since the fog never lifted. Well, I got booked on a flight at 6am the next morning. So I left the airport, went to the hostel and slept for a few hours. Then got back to the airport bright and early and the fog was still there. They said the flight had a green light though. My itinerary had changed though and I would fly to Frankfurt, then Munich, then Chicago. Well. My flight out of Sofia was delayed again but it did fly. I missed the flight to Munich. I got on the next one which was also delayed a few hours. In turn, I missed my flight to Chicago from Munich. Finally, in Munich, they got me on a waitlist for a flight to Chicago that went out that afternoon. And thanks to the Lufthansa people at the gate, I got on the flight and they upgraded me to business class. :) It was the most comfortable 10 hour flight I've ever been on. It felt so good to finally fly.
Well, I got back to Chicago to be greeted at the airport. We got my bags and drove to Britt and Catherines where the rest of the family was waiting. I made the mistake of taking off my boots which housed my feet who were covered in the wool socks I'd been wearing for 3-4 days... This resulted in a quick shower, changed clothes, airing out of the house and a lot of moans and groans from my loving family about my stinky feet. After that we did a quick dinner and I went to sleep. The following day was Christmas Eve and celebrated by being lazy. Although I woke up at the wee hours of 4ish in the morning due to jet lag, I had a great day with the family. Everyone was there and all the kids too.
On Christmas, I woke up again at like 4am so I went downstairs, got on the computer and started writing Christmas letters to my friends here in Bulgaria. I ate breakfast and drank about a pot of coffee. When I heard the kids running around upstairs getting all excited at about 6am, I knew it was time to celebrate! I had the most energy ever. After all sorts of nauseating amounts of caffeine pumping through my veins. Christmas morning was wonderful and I am thankful we had two trees. One for the kids to tear through, the other one for the adults to sit back and take our sweet time.
That night, I almost died at the table from exhaustion. I left before dessert to go to bed. I missed pumpkin pie.
On the 26th, there was about a foot of fresh snow on the ground. Britt, Dad and I went to the Bears game where we had an amazing time. The game was great and the Bears destroyed the Jets. But it was a good game and we had great seats. We even got to sit out in the snow while watching the game. After the game ended, we had so much fun that we basically didn't leave until they kicked us out.
I could take this thing day by day, but I'll just sum up the rest. I had an amazing time. I got to hang out with my family, meet Molly's boyfriend Paul, see the kids and how much they had grown, share stories and laughs, drive a car, see friends, and eat nasty American food that gave me all sorts of heartburn. I can't thank my parents enough for making the trip so great.
On the 4th of January I got on a plane with over 125lbs of baggage to bring back. The flights went without problem and I was greeted by Cveti at the airport when I arrived. It was great to see her there! When Cveti and I went back to Koynare, I opened the door to my apartment and noticed that the lights weren't working. So I checked the fuses and everything looked good. Then I remembered that I didn't pay my electricity before I left... So Cveti and I spent that first night back at the apartment in the cold and dark. Welcome home.
Since then I paid my electricity and we are back online. I have gotten used to the time difference again and kinda getting in the swing of things. Cveti is back in Sofia getting ready for exams.
So here we are, in the cold again, sleeping and living in rooms where ice crystals form. I forgot how hard it was to get rid of the chill after you wake up in the morning. Hats help.
Be good and stay warm
Rory
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