New family, new job, job searching and Chicago bound!

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Last post of the year!

Welcome to the last post of the year. Over the past month since my last post, many a wonderful merry things have happened. First thing and biggest thing is that my PCPP (fancy term for the track team project I've been working on) is fully funded! Thanks to the kind donations from my friends and family, we raised over $4,500 to purchase equipment for the track and field team here in Koynare. The team currently has very dated uniforms, only a few pairs of running shoes, one or two starting blocks, three hurdles and they are lacking much more. But this money will be able to purchase all the necessary equipment they need to actually have a successful team! We are all very excited here to get the money so we can see this project to the end. I am especially excited because I know that the benefits of this will pay off for these kids and the town for many years.

Second most awesome thing is that in a couple days I am going to be headed back to the states for the first time since May 2009. I am going to be in Chicago for 2 weeks with family and friends for the holidays and I can't wait! I am just not really looking forward to the long flight and I will miss Cveti a lot while I am there, but other than those two things, I am really excited to see everyone and spend some time with them! It has been a long time and everything will be wonderful. I hear that we will even be able to catch a Chicago Bears game... :)

So for Thanksgiving we celebrated again this year at my apartment. However, we did not need to find a live turkey as we planned a little bit more in advance and Dan was able to purchase a frozen turkey from Pleven. Cveti and I hosted Dan and Kari who are two other volunteers and in the spirit of Thanksgiving we invited Plamen and his wife to celebrate with us. Plamen is a teacher at the school who has been like an uncle to me here. He has helped me with countless problems and is the main leader of the Scouts group that we are starting here. He is a guy that I am very thankful to know and that is exactly why we invited him to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was something amazing this year. We had such a good time. Everything was American except a couple very Bulgarian twists. We cooked turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed onions, deviled eggs, and had apple crisp for desert. The meal was served buffet style which is very strange here, but I insisted on it. So until this point it was dead on American. But instead of eating a big dinner meal at like 4 or 5pm like we usually do, the dinner started after the guests arrived at around 8:30pm. Plamen, being the hunter he is, brought some fresh cooked pigeons that he had shot recently. Pigeon is kinda delicious. At least now I know that if I live in Chicago without work, I can find food. He also brought some Bulgarian homemade rakia and a salad for us. So we sat and started with salad and rakia. Traditional Bulgarian start to a meal. Then around 9:30 or so, we started on dinner. We ate and ate and ate. Everything was great and my Bulgarian guests LOVED the food. Well, after plates were empty, or close to empty,  and we had been sitting for an hour and a half or so talking, I asked if Plamen and his wife were finished eating so I could clear their plates. I thought I was being polite. They said they were still eating and everything was ok. Later, Cveti explained to me that it was rude of me to have asked that since the meal had just started! I swear we had been at the table for close to 2 hours at this point. Well we waited a few more hours, told jokes and stories and enjoyed each other's company until around 11:30 before we put the dessert on the table... And at midnight we lit up a hookah that I got for my birthday and passed it around. It also happened that at around 12:30am we called my mom to wish her a happy birthday. At this point we were all pretty jolly and it was a lot of fun to talk to her on skype. Finally at around 1:30-2am, dinner was over and everyone went home and we went to bed. Literally a 4-5 hour Thanksgiving dinner spent saying thanks to the people that have helped me the most. It was wonderful. Absolutely the best.

Here is a link for some pictures of the night. http://picasaweb.google.com/Roryjnolan/Thanksgiving2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCI38hKPDqcjzOw#

So we also did a really successful HIV/AIDS day of activities with the kids here. We had like 20-25 kids that showed up and all day we did games and activities to teach them about HIV/AIDS. It was a lot of fun and a huge success. I must say that if Cveti wasn't there to help me, then it would not have been even half as successful as it was. It was a great day. Here are more pictures! http://picasaweb.google.com/Roryjnolan/20101206#

Ok, that is all for now. I will be going home soon for a few weeks and after that I'll be sure to write.

Thank you to everyone that donated to my project too! And I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season!

Rory

Recap and the greatest question of all time... read below to find out more!

Winter's coming and I am getting busier. After surviving last winter, I now respect the cold like I have never before. This year I have SEALED my apartment. The draft last year was so bad that it was impossible to get my apartment above 45 degrees. This year all windows and doors are sealed shut with insulation. My new worry is suffocation but we will find out if that's possible or not soon. :)  I have a new fireplace in my apartment too which is 3 times the size of the one last year. It will really warm the place up. My mother sent me a cover for my down comforter that is so freaking warm that I don't know if I'll ever get out of bed in the mornings. Seriously, I know I am getting old when I get super excited about getting a cover for my down comforter for my birthday. But it's the best gift ever.

So this year I say to winter, BRING IT ON! The cold slap of winter caught me off guard last year. This year, I will show winter who is boss and why MAN is on top of the food chain!

As for work, things have been uber busy. We are starting a scouts group here in Koynare which is a lot more complicated than it should be. We are doing it though and it's looking like it will be successful. Due to our imminent success, I am becoming a Peace Corps expert on Scouts and have been asked to help with getting more support for the organization. I will be presenting to the new group of volunteers here next week on how and why scouts are important to youth development and why Bulgaria needs a stronger organization. On top of that, I will start working with the national organization on strategies for success.

Another thing, which may be too early to start celebrating since I haven't yet received confirmation from Peace Corps, is that my track team project here looks as though it is FULLY FUNDED!!! This news is amazing. Seriously amazing. 5,000 dollars. This is all it takes to transform a failing sports team into something successful. This track team has been working for the last 10 years on getting some sort of financial support. They just do not have the experience or the know-how to do it alone. They needed a little help from their local PCV from Chicago and the support of his friends and family. I really think this project will be a huge success and will be something that benefits Koynare and the kids for years and years.

On Dec 1, International HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I am hosting an awareness camp here for the day wit

Oh, and Halloween... yea, we had like 150 kids participate. It was about 100 more than I was expecting so needless to say, we were a bit unprepared. We did not get to do everything I wanted to during the party, but we did have a successful costume competition. The kids also went trick or treating in the center of town which is the first time anything like that had ever happened. At the end of the day, I was exhausted and feeling like it was too hectic to have been a success. But after talking to some people around town, teachers, and most importantly the kids, I realized that just because I had other visions of how the day was supposed to go that I did not see how much FUN everyone was having! People are still talking about it. They are dying for next year so they can do it again. I saw kids with bags full of candy wearing Halloween costumes walking around town laughing. After a bit of reflection on the day, there were things I could have done better, things that should be done next year and other small issues, but most importantly, everyone had a great time and great memories that they will never forget.

My boss from Peace Corps came here yesterday and he made me realize that my time is coming to an end. I am on my second year and only have so many months left. He then told me that if I want to stay for another year, that I have to decide soon. Kinda scary. So let me ask you this, my readers, what do you think of me staying another year here in Bulgaria? Is there work back in the states for me? Will I be as happy there as I am here?

I look forward to your answers! Oh, I'm going back to the states to Chicago from Dec 22nd til Jan 4th. I'd love to catch up with you face to face if it's possible.

Take care,
Rory

Waaaaassss Haappaa-nin'?

So school's started and things are moving forward. I have been spending my mornings going to the school and helping with English classes, meeting with teachers, meeting with the principal and with my group. We have actually been pretty busy and a bunch of good things are on the horizon. The kids and I have been planning a Halloween party at the school on the last Friday of the month. The party is going to have all sorts of fun things including costume contests, food, music and games. The kids are totally excited. They do not celebrate Halloween like we do in the States. They have a holiday here in the spring that is based on the same core reasons for celebrating Halloween, but it is more serious. Halloween for kids is probably the best holiday ever. I have been trying to explain to the kids that they get to dress up as whoever they want, be whatever they want, and go from place to place to receive candy. What's bad about that?

Besides the party, I am trying to get the stores and cafes in town to support "trick or treating" on Saturday before Halloween. I have a vision of little kids getting all excited and dressing up and going trick or treating around town. I've spoken to a couple places already and they seem pretty excited about it! I am pumped and really hope that it works. It would be a great memory for these kids to have and hopefully next year they would continue it as well. Even though it is an American thing...

I am also planning and AIDS/HIV Camp here. It is actually part of a project that Ashley started and put together. I went to her town earlier this fall and saw how it works. Now I have to do it here. We have the camp set up to take place on December 1st which is International AIDS Awareness Day or something like that.

Annnddd what else? I am working with the kids to possibly clear out a room in the basement of the school in order to be used as kind of a "kid's room" where they could watch movies or do whatever really. So that could be sweet.

We are raising the money too for the track team. Right now we have nearly 2,000 dollars donated from my friends and family. Thank you all so much for the donations so far! It really does mean a lot to me and to the people here in town. I am excited for the full amount to be reached and then we can get it all started :)

I have been preparing for winter too recently. Last winter was so cold that I am doing everything I can to make sure my place is comfortable! I have been insulating and sealing all the windows and doors so there will not be such a bad draft this year. I also got a new wood burning stove from a friend. This one is seriously heavy duty and will be a ton warmer than the thing I used last year!

Cveti is in school at Sofia and has been getting really frustrated recently because for whatever reason, the professors aren't showing up for classes. She will go to the class, travel like an hour to get there from where she lives, only to find out that the professor never showed up. It's total BS and its really driving her crazy, understandably.

That's it really - I know it's not a fun post or anything, but I'm tired and I felt obligated to keep you all in touch as to what's been going on in this world.

Take care
Rory

Life and death in BG

I think it's time for a new post. This is one that I have been kind of dreading writing about but I hear it's good to get your thoughts out and tell people your story.

So last Sunday around noon, I was at my apartment with Cveti. Cveti was in bed and I was in the living room playing on the computer. My neighbor in the apartment building came home and couldn't get into her apartment. She was banging on the door loudly and calling to her husband. I heard it and figured that he had gone out into town, locked the door and she had simply forgotten her keys. She ended up leaving for a minute or two before coming back to knocking on the door. I assumed she went out briefly to look for him. In another minute or two, she rings my doorbell. I answer the door and she has tears running down her face. She asks me if she can use my balcony, since they are adjoining, to yell to him. She does this and there is no answer. The door to their apartment is open though so Cveti, without hesitation, climbs over the railing and shimmies her way across the 2 inch wide foothold 2 stories off the ground. She gets over the neighbors balcony, into their apartment and unlocks the door from the inside. She comes back in the apartment and I asked her what happened. She says she didn't look around. Within moments, I hear the woman start yelling. I listen intently and wishing to hear him respond to her yells. I hear nothing from him, so I knock on her door and open it at the same time. I see her in the hallway leaning over her husband who is on the ground with his upper body coming out of the bathroom. He had apparently fallen against the closed bathroom door from the inside and when she opened it, he fell into the hallway. He was on his side when I came in the apartment. I quickly gave my phone to Cveti and told her to call for help. I bent down and found a faint pulse in his neck. My hopes went up and I knew it was time for action. I asked the wife to help me move him to his back. All my CPR trainings were coming back to me like a lightning storm of information. Call for help, assess the surroundings and situation, check his pulse, feel for breathing, secure neck while moving the body, begin CPR. Well, it was just instinct at this point. I will leave out the vivid details for your own good.

After a few minutes, two of my neighbors from the building came over to help. I was continuing CPR (which is a bit more difficult to manage alone on a real person than with the CPR dummy.) when my other neighbor assisted me in holding his head in the proper position. For a long 10-15 minutes I continued working on him. But after about 5 minutes of this, it became apparent that it wasn't any good. The wife was crying and saying over and over again that he was dead. My neighbor told me it was too late, but I insisted on continuing and he helped me without complaint. After a while, I too decided that it was too late for him. His pulse was gone and had been for some time. We stopped, I turned around and hugged his wife and said sorry. While we were waiting for the ambulance (which took about 30 minutes to arrive) the three of us moved his body to the bed where he was in a more dignified position. Turns out that he had a weak heart and if finally stopped working. He was 65 years old.

So that was my Sunday. I have now seen the cycle of life here in Bulgaria. I have been to the hospital hours after Cveti's baby sister was born, I have been to weddings, I have seen death here and everything in between. It is amazing to me how differently our two cultures, Americans and Bulgarians, cope with and understand death. Granted their are great number of traditions both our cultures practice before, during and after someone has died and each tradition has its own reasons for existing. One of the strangest to me was the utter acceptance of death that I saw from all involved, even his wife. Don't get me wrong here. His wife was devastated by the loss, but when she first saw him on the ground she did not check a pulse to see if he was alive or call for help. She started mourning the loss immediately. I am sure she was in shock and couldn't believe it. I have also never witnessed a death like this in the states. But my first reaction was, and I would assume most Americans would be, to see if he can be saved. Call for help, check to see if he is still alive. Basically to do everything possible to see if he can be saved. There is always hope. Right?

Ok, so say that his wife was in shock right? Then we can excuse her due to her extremely close connection with the victim. But the other people in town, the neighbors, my co workers, the cafe owners, my other friends here... they all just kind of shrugged, said he was old and he had a weak heart, and then went on with their day. It was like it was an everyday occurrence. It got about as much attention as if you told someone you cut your finger while chopping onions. A quick story followed by 1 or 2 questions and then a shrug saying "it happens."

That part for me is what scares me the most. Even the paramedics that came just had a stethoscope. They didn't bring anything else that I saw. Just listened for a heart beat, said sorry, and walked out. The utter acceptance and complacency of being sick and dying trickles down from the people to the doctors and nurses. They just kinda throw something at you, pray for the placebo effect to work, and if it doesn't say, "well, there was no hope for him." It's really something that upsets me.

But is it that the Bulgarians are doing something wrong? or are my American expectations, hopes and handling of these kinds of situations the problem? We all die right? Isn't it harder on everyone, including the person dying, if we always wish for a hope and do everything we can, only to come to the same end? Doesn't that just make it harder to deal with? If you believe there was hope and that there was something you could have done to save the person's life, doesn't that make you feel guilty for their death? The performing of CPR is an exercise taught to us to prolong the oxygen delivery to the victim's brain so when help arrives they can bring him back to life with some magical electric paddles or a quick shot of some wake-up juice. But when that fails - the ones close at the end feel guilty. Whereas the acceptance of it and the knowing that death is going to come to us all and we can never stop it from happening must make coping so much easier. I am a bit jealous of the people here that just shake their head, say tsk tsk tsk, and move on. I dunno.

But these are where my thoughts are these days.

Big entry today - big event happened.

I am taking Cveti to Sofia tomorrow to help her move into her new apartment. She will be starting school next week there and our summer of fun will be officially over. Now it's time to play the long distance relationship game.

Begging for Money

Hi all!

It is a great day here as my big project finally got put up and fully supported by Peace Corps. The project needs to be funded though by my friends and family, or just strangers who want to help a the kids of a small Bulgarian town out. The project will fund equipment for the track and field team. The current team has basically nothing to practice with. The town has a beautiful track and stadium though, just nothing else for the team. Anyone that has done track and field, or knows anything about the sport, will know that you need a little bit more than just a track. They have no running shoes, uniforms, track spikes, starting blocks, hurdles, javelins, shot puts, discus, etc. These are all things that will be purchased with the donated money. The idea is to start this team up, recruit kids and make track and field available to them. The town currently only has a working boys soccer team. There is nothing for girls to participate in. This will ideally attract more youth to sport and occupy their free time. Participation in sport is an incredibly invaluable learning experience that we take for granted in the US. There are youth here that are dying for some organized sport, but they do not have the ability to participate. They currently do have a youth track team, but its numbers are dwindling and the kids have to basically buy all their own equipment and pay for transportation to events. The team doesnt perform well either when they are at events and in turn, the country doesnt fund the team well due to their poor performance. They really need this equipment to keep the team alive. Please click the link and donate what you can to support this project. You will be helping provide a wonderful opportunity to the youth of Koynare.

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=313-148

Thanks so much for your continued support and I really look forward to seeing this project come to life.

Oh did I mention that all donations are tax-deductible? :)

Rory

Summer events

Wow. Time flies when you are having fun! I just saw that it has been over a month since that last post, yet it feels like I just wrote it a few days ago. Oops.

Things here are moving right along. Last week I finished writing up my project proposal for new track and field equipment for the town. They barely have any equipment at all over here and the equipment they do have really needs to be replaced. So I finished that up last week and Peace Corps sent it to Washington for their final approval. The project proposal is actually kinda neat because it relies on donations from friends and family of the volunteer. Washington will host a site for collection of donated money for my project soon and when it finally gets put up, I will put the link on here. We are asking for a lot of money, but if everyone donates just a bit, then we will reach our goal and a lot of kids here in Koynare will have an opportunity to participate in competitive organized sport!

The bushes that we planted have been cared for by myself this summer. Actually, myself and one other guy. We have been watering them a couple days a week since there hasn't been a lot of rain here. They aren't growing as much as I'd like but at least most of them are still alive. I worry that once school starts back up, the kids will just walk all over them and destroy them. The plants aren't hardy enough to handle the gentle touch of kids playing tag through them...

So this guy that is helping me with the plants is turning out to be a huge resource for me. He is a teacher at the school and for the first year here, I really didn't ever talk to him. Then one day, a few months ago, we were riding the same bus back from Sofia to Koynare and we started talking. After that, he was friendly with me. Then at the end of July one of the trainees here, Nick, had a birthday. This guy, Plamen, came to Nick's party. Well, after a few rakias, I got to talking to him pretty boldly. After confessing my desires of meaningful work and solid support from the locals, he has become my #1 Go To Guy. He and I are starting discussions here for a Scout Group (think Boyscouts) in Koynare as well as other ideas for youth related activities. He is an avid outdoors man who teaches history, loves to talk and has had a lot of experience working with foreigners... so he is patient with me and takes the time to really understand what I am looking for. It's a match made in heaven so to speak... and it took me a year to find him.

I just got back from a little vacation at the Black Sea. Last week, on Wednesday, I was walking to work in the heat and said to myself that I really should go see the Black Sea since I might not be able to get there next year. That night I talked to Cveti about it. Then we did some research. We found a super cheap apartment that was like 200 yards away from the beach. Since we were getting an apartment, we invited one of her friends along. On Thursday, her friend confirmed that she could go, she came over to my apartment that night and then we left bright and early the next morning. Friday we arrived in the early afternoon in Varna and spent the remaining sunlit hours laying on the beach next to multiple topless women of all ages (18+) and sizes. We spent the next few days there, until Monday, enjoying hot sunny weather, warm sea water, cold fruity beverages and good seafood. It was a very much needed break.

Next week I am going to another volunteers site to help her with an HIV/AIDS camp that she is hosting. Then on the 11th there is a race in Koynare which I will be participating in and hosting other volunteers here. On the 12th I have to wake up bright and early to get to Sofia and meet my brother at the airport!!! He is staying until the 16th and we will have an absolute blast together. I am really excited about it. Unfortunately it is such a short amount of time that we can't really travel around and see the country, but he will be hanging with me in my world for a few days. I can't wait! After that, school will start back up and the new season of work will begin!

I hope the blog finds you all well and I will update soon with a link to my donations page. Please please please send a little love this way. It will be seriously appreciated!

Take care and much love.
Rory

a little time for reflection

I’m going to take a little different approach to this blog today. Usually I just write and re-cap details about what’s been going on in my life here, but this one will be a little more reflective and heart felt. On July 25^th 2010, I had my one year anniversary of my arrival in Koynare. The internet is down at the Chitalishte where I am right now and I am writing this in MS Word, and I can’t check to see if I wrote one of these for my 1-year-in-Bulgaria anniversary back in May. I think I touched on it a little bit, but here I want to reflect more on my time in Koynare. Honestly, I think my opinion has changed and matured a bit since then. Actually, I know it has. My experiences with the trainees that were in Koynare and the mid service conference that we had a few weeks ago really put everything in perspective for me.

It is very difficult for me to actually write down and capture the emotions, situations, experiences and importance of all the stuff that goes on here but I’ll try anyways. I am fighting three very big challenges that will hinder this entry.

- One – I was out last night at a friend’s house for dinner until about 1am and was awoken this morning to mosquitoes biting me around 5am. The rest of the morning was spent hunting the bloodsuckers. I’m tired.

- Two – My Bulgarian language abilities are getting stronger and I am struggling to find English words, usually the big ones. Like Homer Simpson once said, “Every time I learn something new, I forget something old. Like the time I took that home wine making course and forgot how to drive.”

- Three – Pepi is here alone with me and as always our conversation is without end and the interruptions are frequent.

Well let’s get on with this.

Someone last night asked me where I consider home since I was explaining to her how many times I have moved. I hesitated to answer. In the past, when I was asked that question, I would answer with the fact that I went to middle school and high school in Connecticut. That was the longest I’d ever been in a place and where I had some of my happiest memories. But I graduated high school about 8 years ago. A lot of time has passed since then and the “home” feeling I have from there is now distant. I never really felt at home in Chicago either. That was just the place where my parents lived when I got out of college and the natural place for me to migrate to. I made friends there through work and enjoyed my time with my family, but I never really lived on my own and had a place to call “my home”. Don’t get me wrong, it was super nice living with my folks but it just wasn’t “my home”. It always felt temporary.

So my answer to last night’s question of where I consider home was “Here, in Koynare.” Home is where the heart is, right?  If there is one thing that I have put in this town, it is my heart.

I came here a year ago as an eager, naïve, ambitious, and unprepared foreigner. I was all alone and felt that way. The people were nice to me and welcoming, but how close can you get with someone when you hardly speak their language and their warmth seems like it is conjured out of sheer curiosity about the American? I was treated like a guest and felt like one too. I moved into an apartment with two rooms and a kitchen. I lived in the kitchen and slept in the bedroom. I didn’t go into the living room for the first month because I didn’t feel like it was my apartment.

Oh, how much has changed…

I don’t know why or what caused it, but I have totally made a life for me here over the last year and I don’t know if I could have done it better. The warm greetings I get from everyone here is no longer a cover but genuine. I am invited to sit at tables, to enter conversations and to give my opinions about anything from the price of bread to global corruption issues. I am spending evenings as a guest at different people’s houses regularly. Last week, Cveti and I even treated a family to a Mexican dish we prepared, at their place of course! My opinion is now considered and my presence is welcomed.

I am no longer a guest in this town but a member of the community. I was getting a hair cut a few weeks ago and a man entered the barbershop while I was in the chair. He is a man that I have met maybe a few times but seen around a lot. He saw me in the chair and said to the hairdresser, “Take care of Rory and give him a great haircut! He is a Koynarian and our boy. We all have to take care of him and make sure everything is good for him.” I looked at him in the mirror and shot him a smile. He then turned to me and asked me how long I’d been here in town and how much longer I will be here. I told him that I have been here for a year with a year left. He smiled and said, “Well hopefully you decide to stay in Koynare after you finish your year with the Peace Corps.” I have heard this type of thing many times from people I have come across, but the way he said it and the way he acted sounded like he genuinely meant it.

Not only do I feel more accepted here by the people of the community but over the year I have accepted the community. That is more important and harder than it appears. As an American entering a developing country with different values, culture and habits than what I have known, in order to work together with locals and live within the community, the adjustment is astronomical. Especially when I look back on all the stuff that I have accepted and adjusted to, it’s amazing that only one year has passed! Not until you can accept and understand why things are the way they are and why people do what the do, can you be comfortable.

An example – when I first got here, one of the biggest things that I missed was food. Ranch dressing, a cheeseburger, Mexican food, vegetables year round etc… Not only did I miss the food, but the process of purchasing food too. Walking through isles with a cart and endless options available was my dream. I craved this stuff and I rejected the things around me involving food. I thought that the food and the way they bought food was so weird and incorrect and that they should really have stores and food like America. Because America is better, right? Well my eyes were just closed to the beauty of food here. I go to the store now to buy food everyday. I buy just enough for a day or two and hardly spend more than 10 leva. I can’t explain why I like the process now and what is available to eat, but I simply do. Maybe it’s the conversations I have with the person working there or just that I have gotten used to it now. I no longer have a single craving for American food, but I find myself craving a shopska salata with home grown tomatoes, cucumber, onions, peppers and home made cheese. The food is so fresh and good to me now that I fear going back to the states and trying to eat vegetables, meat and cheeses. All the food here comes from no more than 30 miles away. Sometimes it even comes from a friend’s garden or personal livestock. An omelet made with fresh eggs from a colleague’s chickens cooked with homemade cheese from sheep’s milk that was given to you on your walk home from work by the guy that made it, mixed with vegetables grown in the spot of land behind the apartment building, spiced with dill from your neighbor’s garden after she overheard that the person at the store said they didn’t have any to sell you so she ran home to pick the dill and give it to you, and eaten with warm bread baked less than 50 yards from your front door is a dish that only a lucky few in the states can understand. Yet that is a meal that is more the norm than the exception. How can I not fall in love with this place?

Well all that is fine and dandy right? The other thing is that I have made my life here, MY life. I made work my own and understood the expectations of me from my host organization and community. My work has taken off and I have many projects that I hope will be successful. I have support and just so you all know, we finished the park project recently… J I finally accepted my apartment as being mine. I have now added things to it, taken things out, and consider it my place. It could be more comfortable, but whatever. I have great memories there and host guests for weekends.

The most important guest that I host is my wonderful girlfriend Cveti. I know I am mentioning her late in this long rant of reflections and experiences, but she is by far the most important thing that has happened to me. Without her, my life would not feel anywhere near as complete as it does now. She has been with me since November and has been by my side for most of this year. She has lent a listening ear, a comforting touch, and solid advice. She has given me companionship and endless laughter, smiles, and support. She has opened my eyes to accept more and to see more. She has opened her heart and let me in, and I the same. She has been with me through all the hard times, frustrations, challenges, and rainy days. She has shown me how strong someone can be during times that appear lost. She has shown me hope in more things than anyone will ever know. Without her I would not be nearly as successful as I am today. Frustrations may have gotten the best of me or my outlook may be more negative during misunderstandings with others. Basically – she is guilty for my happiness, successes and feeling of completeness. Way to go Cveti… I came here for the hardest job I’d ever love, but you’ve made it easy. J

So that’s been my year. Sorry for the length of it all but it’s been a year. I’ve made life long friends here and as I said in one of my first entries before I came to Bulgaria, I am not the same person I was when I left. On the surface I haven’t changed much, but my soul is richer, warmer, happier, fuller, bigger, more open and more loving.

So now I want to say: Bring on the next year! I can only hope that it is as fulfilling as the last one has been! 

1 year left... almost.

Guess what everybody?! I'm still here! 

In 2 weeks, I will have completed exactly 1 year of my real service here. That is to say that the first 3 months of training do not count for the 2 years of service. Since I will have completed 1 year, that means that I only have 1 year left. Unless I decide to stick around a bit longer in the ol' BG. Actually, that might be a possibility. I found out recently of a new position that Peace Corps BG is starting. It's basically a position where a 3rd year volunteer will commit 50% of their time assisting other volunteers and 50% of their time at their volunteer organization. The person needs to basically be fluent in Bulgarian in order to even qualify since the position requires mentoring between volunteers and their respective organizations. This sounds right up my alley and I really think I'd love the job. But that's a year away and a lot can happen between then and now... I mean, just look at the last year that I've been through. I'm only Rory v.1.5 right now, so the transformation still requires some time...

Last week, my group had our 1-year conference. This conference was in Vratsa and all the b-25s got together for 2 days of meetings. It was so much fun! We all have grown so much since the last time we saw each other. During the days, we discussed our successes and struggles over the last year. We also planned for the next year. Each of us had such different experiences! We just sat and talked and had a great time with each other. It was seriously fun. Then on Friday, I gave a 50 minute presentation to the new group regarding what it is like to be a community worker and how they should prepare for it. It went really well and I got some great feedback from the PC staff. I went to Moravitsa Friday night with Cveti and Scott and hung out there with the old crew and the new volunteers that are there. On Saturday, Rosen and some of the other guys from Moravitsa came to Koynare to camp and go fishing. Cveti and I hung out with them and fished a little. So last week, starting on Tuesday night, I may have gotten a total of 15 hours of sleep. On Saturday night, when I got home from the river, I went to bed at like 1AM... and slept until noon. Then I fell asleep again on Sunday at like 2:30 and slept till 6... then I went to bed at 11 that night and slept straight to 7am... I don't think I've ever slept that much in my life. I was awake for only like 8 hours on Sunday. I needed it.

This week, I am going to the Black Sea with the dance team here in Koynare. It should be a ton of fun! The dance choreographer told me that he is going to tell the competition judges that I am the choreographer for the dance... I am really curious what will happen when they find out that an American choreographed the Bulgarian Folklore dance... I'm sure they will start asking all sorts of questions that I won't know how to answer. Should make for a good time. Hopefully someone is there to record it.

The 4th of July was celebrated at the Mayor's house. We had the 5 American trainees here as well as Dan and Cveti. I made a big batch of chili for it. Dan brought tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, ground beef, and other stuff. We made salsa too. The other guys brought a thing of chili, made a cake, brought hot dogs and buns and all that good stuff. So we basically had chili, cheeseburgers, chili dogs and cake for the holiday while at the Mayor's house. It was pretty spectacular. 

I don't know if I really have all that much else to say. I think my park project (from last April) will finally get finished this month. 

The weather is hot and I am sweaty again. My water and electricity has been on and off all month. The water pressure is currently too low to get hot water out of the boiler. I have become the master at how to take sponge baths. If anyone wants advice on it, let me know - I have the process down to a science. I can fully clean myself with 3.5 liters of water. I think that's like 1 gallon... or 10 seconds in a shower... or 1 flush of the toilet... or if it was gas, 10 miles in Rubi... 

Take care all.

Rory 

Successes, injuries and metal shows.

Again, it's been about a month since my last post. Oops. :)

Let's start with some highlights. The trainees are still here and they are adapting well. They found out their permanent locations a few days ago and none of them are near Koynare unfortunately. On a positive note, Koynare will be getting another volunteer! Her name is Evan and she is going to be an English teacher here in town. She will move in at the end of July. I met her the other day and it seems like we will get along well and we both are looking forward to working with each other in the coming year(s).

I started working outside all the time now. I am available to the kids in the mornings at the stadium where I wait with my big bag of sports equipment for them. It's not as big a success as I want it to be right now, but with time I think it will attract more kids. They did recommend that I go to the stadium at around dinner time instead of in the morning. In the morning, it's getting hot and the kids have to wake up early. At night, its cooling down and they are already up. So I guess I'll start going in the evenings.

I also started a fitness group at the local gym. I am helping out with fitness training and all that good stuff. It's fun but I don't know how long it will last. It started enthusiastically and is now appearing to die down. Yesterday no one showed up... So we will see.

Shakira, the dog I had, has also returned to her previous owner. Which is way better for her. And now I have a cat. She is 3 months old and super cute. She loves being around people and enjoys sleeping in the bed with me, which is kinda strange.

So that's the good news.

The bad news is that about 2 weeks ago I was playing volleyball and sprained my ankle pretty bad. It's a funny sprain and isn't really healing as well as I want it to. So I am in a brace for the next few weeks. The sprain and all the limping around has also inflamed a patellar tendinitis which I was dealing with anyways. It was a small problem, but now it has become more of a problem. I went to the hospital while I was in Sofia this week with the Peace Corps. The doctor there re-x-rayed my ankle and ruled out a fracture in my metatarsal which was a possibility. Then she told me not to do anything sports wise for 3 weeks or so. Then I told her about my knee. She put me in a knee a brace and then told me to rest that knee for 1 month... So now my sports filled summer is going to start late and I am walking around like the bionic man with braces all over me.

That's the bad news. But it's not horrible.

I want to end this post with an observation I made this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Cveti and I were at a concert in Sofia. Not just any concert... but the most bad-ass metal concert I've been to. Day 1 was Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica. Day 2 was Stone Sour, Alice in Chains, Manowar, and Rammstien. It was crazy. But not as crazy as I had anticipated in fact. Let me tell you the differences between the way Americans go to metal concerts, and the way Bulgarians go to metal concerts. The first thing I noticed was the demographic. American metal shows are full of what society calls "outcasts". Not everyone, but I will speak in generalities here. The American metal show outcast stereotype is male, wearing black, fully tattooed, pierced, really fat, smelly, long hair or shaved head. The young ones are visibly angry and put a ton of thought into their appearance to show that to the world. The older ones are clearly not to be messed with as they have been following these bands for countless years and been blasting their music in their semi-trucks or harleys for ages. Either way, they look and feel the part. Also - about 5% of the crowd at the American show is made up of women. And only the lamest individuals are wearing the band's shirt that is playing at the concert.

Now for the Bulgarian demographic. This show was full. 70,000 people were recorded as being there. There were of course your really big metal heads that looked and felt the part. They looked like the American version described above. But they were the exception. The average person looked like the average person. I would say there were more males than females at the show, but not by much. Maybe 60/40. Black was the dominate color, but again, it wasn't necessary. And I think about 80% of the people attending the day that Metallica played, had on a Metallica shirt. Same for when Rammstien played the next day. Everyone was sporting the bands shirt. It was so odd. One last thing I noticed and it surprised me. Bulgarians go to the show to watch the bands and listen to the music. Americans (not all of them) go to the show to get tossed in the mosh pit. There was not a pit in Bulgaria and with bands like Slayer, Stone Sour, Manowar and Rammstien, I would have thought it would be hard to not be a part of a little pit action, especially since we were right up by the stage.
I guess the people here are smarter than us, or at least their metal heads are a little more sane...

So that's all for now. Hit me up with questions if you got any. I'm gonna get back to doing other stuff.

Rory

Happy 1 year anniversary to me! (and the other B-25s)

One year ago today, May 19th 2009, 61 scared Americans and I stepped off American soil and onto a plane headed across the ocean to enter the unknown. One day later, of the 62 that arrived, one stepped back on a plane and returned. Of the 62 that arrived one year ago, 56 will celebrate their one year anniversary in Bulgaria.

I guess it is time to reflect on the past 365 days. Let's just say that when I first got here, I was not thinking of the future. If I did, I would have driven myself insane. Those first days weeks and months are so difficult and long and scary and new that if you project out into the future and try to grasp the upcoming 27 months, you will lose your mind, begin crying, possibly start banging your head and utterly feel helpless. So it was best just to take it one day at a time and not really think of the future too much. With that said, even though I didn't look to the future and wonder what life for me would be like at the 1 year point, I don't think I could have imagined myself feeling this good, this happy and feeling more like myself.

My job and average day are not necessarily ideally what I would like to be doing but things are slowly but surely moving in the direction of the ideal. It also takes me a bit to see what my expectations are of me being here, and what my town's expectations are. When I combine the two, I see that I am actually doing a pretty good job in terms of work. Everyone is happy so what more can I ask for?

During our last trip around the sun, I have emotionally, spiritually and cognitively matured a lifetime. For this, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to serve as a volunteer in Bulgaria.

I dare to say that my days spent in Koynare are comparable to my last 2 years in high school. I walk down the street confidently, greeting many people along the way, some of which require a shout across the town center. I have good conversations with my coworkers and friends, kids seek me out to talk to me or invite me places, and everyone is used to my language mishaps followed by a smile and laugh. The weekends are spent with Cveti or American friends and we always enjoy each others company. I feel as much at home in this town of 5,000 in northern Bulgaria as I have anywhere else. And all that after 1 year?

What will come of the next 15 months? I only foresee it getting better. The language will continue to improve, relations with townspeople will strengthen, trust will be reinforced and the gap between cultural expectations will continue to narrow. This is my current expectation and I hope it is accurate.

As for the new volunteers... there are 5 of them that arrived in Koynare last Sunday. They will all teach English. I'll give a quick description of each based on the limited knowledge I have so far. We have a married couple who are older. The husband recently retired as a NASA engineer and named Michael. His wife is Karen and I don't know anything else about them except that they have great personalities. There is a guy around 30 years old name Nick who speaks a bit of Russian and is getting along really well here. He was a teacher in Portland, OR. A girl named Deanna, or Diana (not sure), is around 24 years old and comes from Pennsylvania. The other girl is named Basima and she had a birthday yesterday bringing her to 23 years. She is from Ohio.

All of them will do great. They have good personalities and are ambitious to help. I am super excited to have the 5 of them here! I have already been out to dinner twice with Nick's family that he is staying with. I am helping the families and the volunteers communicate so it makes me feel good, and I get a free meal out of it. :)

So with 1 year behind me and at least another to go, I am doing better than good. Everyday I am thankful for the events that took place which put me here.

This weekend I am going to Moravitsa to meet the volunteers that are there now... I was assured by the staff at headquarters that they will live up to the town's expectations that my group set...

Take care!
Rory

Learn something new today.

This blog is like dirty laundry. I know it's there, I know the longer I wait to do it the more stuff builds up, I know that I should just get it over with and dive in... but I'm just lazy. So I let it build up and I go weeks without doing either my laundry or writing in my blog. Speaking of laundry, my washing machine broke again, for the 3rd time. This is what happens when you purchase a German made washing machine from a second hand store... I now need to find someone to figure out why it isn't pulling water into it... especially since I waited until the last minute to do laundry only to find out the machine is broke.

Here is a link to my vbox profile - vbox is like youtube, but without all the copyright stuff... :) http://vbox7.com/user:panterarn?p=allvideos
These videos, if they load for you, are from the park day.

Tomorrow the new batch of volunteers arrive in Bulgaria. I bet they are scared out of their minds and anxious and all that good stuff. In fact, I remember that feeling like it was yesterday. Rory 1.0 boards the plane and hears the German flight attendants go through the security brief. I thought to myself, "well... good-bye native English speakers..." and so began my journey. Almost 1 year ago. It will actually be May 20th 2010 that will mark my 1 year anniversary. It's amazing I have been here that long. I feel like a COMPLETELY different person. I have gained 10 years of wisdom in 1 year of living. I think anyone that has a burning desire to learn something new should join the Peace Corps. I look back on the last year and all the stories I have and things I have done and seen... And then I compare that to the year before that... and I see nothing but a couple big deals both won and lost at work, talking on the phone for hours at a time, same routine during the week only broken up by joyous rides in my wonderful ex-girlfriend/jeep Rubi. There were things that happened that were out of the norm day to day, but nothing like this. I am not saying my time in the states was bad, it was just so ordinary. I pretty much knew what everyday would bring and where things would be. But here... something new each day. That is not a lie or exaggeration. I see, learn, hear, do, make, experience something new EVERY... SINGLE... DAY. Who else can say that? I challenge you, think of yesterday and tell me what you experienced that was new? For me, I became the professional photographer for the 12th grade graduation in my town. I went through every motion with them for their ceremony. I had never experienced how Koynare students graduate from high school.

Last weekend, we had a 4 day weekend. I took Wednesday off as well and went to Cveti's town. She had her graduation ceremony. It was great. We then went and hung out with all her friends from her class at a party that night. On Thursday, Ashley, Dan, Cveti and I went to Varna which is one of the big tourist destinations for Europeans when they want to go to the Black Sea. It was their off season, but it was still great. So we spent Thursday through Sunday there. The weather was ideal for me... 70-75 and sunny. We went to the beach, went swimming in the 60 degree water, went to the hot springs, sang karaoke, played pool, went shopping, Ashley ate sushi, drank a Guinness, etc... It was grand.

I will be trading Scooter for another dog that will fit my life a little better. I like Scooter, he just needs a different place to live. He is too energetic and too high maintenance for a single working person who lives in an apartment. But the dog that I will get is way more chill. She is house-broken, likes staying indoors, quiet, loving, etc... or so they have told me. We will see when the time comes. Keep your fingers crossed. I love dogs and would love to have the right one for me.

On a side note, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Especially mine. I appreciate the hard work and love you put into raising me.I am forever grateful, even if I don't always say it. And thanks especially this year for the love and support you gave me for my first year in Bulgaria. I know that wasn't easy but it meant the world to me. I couldn't be here if I didn't have your support. Thanks Mom - I love you.


Rory

Park project completion, interviews and new blood

I was on here like 2 days ago and I swear there was a button that let me upload videos... Apparently it is no longer there. I really want to show the video that I made of the park project we did last weekend, but I guess it won't happen. Unfortunately I added a great song to the video, and now youtube won't let me upload it do to "copyright violations"... whatever that is.

The park project went unbelievably well. We had at least 30 kids there, the mayor, my coworkers, Cveti, and a news crew came. I was interviewed along with the Mayor and one of the other kids in my group. It was awesome. I am a super star. They had me on TV. I think the interview is terrible and that I am just a mumbling fool trying to answer the questions, but the Bulgarians that have seen it said I did a "great job" so I guess it wasn't all that bad. Or they are just being nice... 

The kids and I worked from 9am until about 1pm or so, maybe later. We all had pizza and drinks and cleaned while listening to music. Everyone was really enthusiastic and the such. Now we are waiting until next week to get some park benches installed, flowers, bushes and maybe some actual pathways made. If it all goes to plan, this park is going to totally be transformed. It's really great to see that these kids are the ones responsible. I have just kind of guided their hand, but in the end, it was them that made it all happen. 

In a few weeks, the new volunteers come! They will get here on May 15th, which is Cveti's birthday, and also a Saturday. Koynare is getting 6 new American volunteers! I will unfortunately not be here when they arrive as I will be celebrating Cveti's birthday. On Monday the 17th, I have to be in Sofia too for a dentist appointment... So I won't get to meet them until they have been here 3 days! I really want to get to see them and their wide eyes during the first few days when they see what they have gotten into.

Plus, any of you that know me well, know how much I love to take people under my wing when they are going through something that I have experienced. I've done that my whole life and I will do it again! This is gonna be fun.

That's all for now, projects are moving forward, weather is getting warmer, and I'm staying busy. 

Summary of Booboo and Pop's Visit

I am back from my vacation and time with my parents. To say that the trip was great would be an understatement. I had an absolutely amazing time! I met my parents in Sofia on Saturday the 10th of April. I was with Dan when we picked them up from the airport. We rented a car and got checked into the hotel, which was probably the nicest hotel in Sofia! Then met up with Ashley. The five of us went out to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant for dinner. Afterwards we did a little walking around Sofia to see the sights and what not. From the travel, my parents were obviously tired and they went back to the hotel. Dan, Ashley and I went out to a bar and met up with some other volunteers that were in town. Day 1 with the folks was over. On the second day, we got up, ate some mexican food and dropped Ashley and Dan off at the train station. My parents and I enjoyed a long drive out to Veliko Turnovo. We arrived late in the afternoon, got a hotel room and did the old walk around Veliko Turnovo. We were still a bit tired from the trip and all that, so we crashed early. We got up and did the old tourist stuff around town. We went to a big castle, went down some old streets, saw some cool monuments and those kind of things. We then got back in the car (after we charged the battery since "someone" is used to cars automatically turning off their lights...) and drove to Koynare. On the way into town, we ran into Pepi, my coworker. We talked to him a bit, then went to go check out my apartment. It was super duper clean and everything was good. After that, we went out to Cherven Bryag, a nearby town, to check into the hotel that is there. Ok, now we are on the next day. My parents and I went to Koynare again, I went to work for a bit where they met all the people I work with on a daily basis. There was a meeting that we attended and then went to the cafe with the mayor of the town. I had an afternoon meeting with my group about the park project too. From there, we departed Koynare, went to get Cveti in Byala Slatina, and then continued on to Vratsa and Moravitsa.

My folks got to see Moravitsa where we met up with Rosen and his family. We had beers at the cafe and then headed back in to Vratsa for a dinner with his parents. It was an absolute blast. The food was amazing. His mom cooked all day for us and had a million things to eat. We drank rakia, ate salads and traditional food, and laughed and laughed. It was wonderful. I think it was probably the most memorable dinner ever, even if we did consume a bit too much rakia.

The next day we awoke with headaches, packed our bags and headed into Sofia. We went to the Peace Corps office for an hour or so. My parents got to meet my bosses at the Peace Corps and see where the Bulgarian headquarters are. Then we got to the airport, and without any problems, departed for Barcelona.

We arrived late at night, around midnight, in Barcelona. Cveti, my parents and I together went to the hotel where we quickly fell asleep. The next day we walked all over Barcelona checking out whatever we could. Actually, the next 2 days were like that. We were staying in a beautiful hotel in central Barcelona and we just walked all over the place when we were there. After those 2 days, we moved locations to The W Hotel in Barcelona. We were living large! The W is on the water and kind of removed from the city. But the hotel lacked nothing. Beautiful rooms with beautiful views. Good food, nice people, a pool, bar, club, restaurant... the works. During those days, we went out into the city and saw a castle and a cathedral that is being built. Cveti and I made a trip to the aquarium one day to see the sharks. She had never been to one, so it was a real treat.

Anyways, come the last full day we were there, my parents realized that their flights were cancelled due to some volcanic activity that shut down almost all flights in Europe. This was Sunday and they were supposed to fly out Monday morning at around the same time Cveti and I were. Well, the next flight they could get booked on was on THURSDAY. This was a slight problem because my dad is starting his new job on Wednesday.

Well, Cveti and I went to the airport on Monday morning, around 4am, with fingers crossed that our flights were green-lighted. And luckily they were! We had no issues getting back. The flights we were on flew south of the ash cloud that was causing all the problems.

So we left my parents in Barcelona where they enjoyed a few more days on their own. I just got an email from them saying that they are travelling back right now and that there are no problems so far.

All in all - the trip was amazing. The last 10 days or so couldnt have been better. It was amazing seeing them, we had a great time, made many memories, shared many laughs and they really got to get a feel for my life in Koynare. Things were perfect. Needless to say, it was very difficult to say goodbye to them.

Sorry this wasn't real funny - this was more for my own records, but hopefully you enjoyed reading it anyways.

Take care,
Rory