God Loves Bulgarian Heroes.

First let me say that I have updated some pictures on my picasa site. The link is to the right. click it and enjoy. The pictures of what look like a city with big blok apartment buildings is the city Vratsa. The little town with the airplane and what not is my little village of Moravitsa. It's really pretty. I thouroughly enjoy it. 

Let me share one cool story with you. I dont have much time as my battery on this laptop is draining fast. So we went to celebrate the death of Kristo Botev. He is like Bulgarians biggest hero. He was killed in battle on a nearby mountaintop in the late 1800s fighting for Bulgarian freedom. The holiday is celebrated on June 1st and 2nd every year. On June 1st, my group went to Vratsa, the largest nearby town to where he was killed and watched some fireworks in the rain. When I returned back to Moravitsa, Rosen told me that every year it rains on June 1st and 2nd. I guess it has happened for like the past many years. He said it was like God crying for Kristo Botev. I took it for what it was. 

Well the next day the Mayor of the town rented a bus and took us to the top of the mountain that he was killed on for a celebration. They reinact the battle and death. It was cloudy at the top of the mountain, but not raining. We watched the reinactment and the moment Botev was killed, the sky opened up and it starting raining. I got some serious goosebumps... it only rained for a few minutes, but it was pretty incredible that it happened right when he was killed... 

Oh another thing, there were fireworks that we watched. And during the fireworks I saw a whole bunch of little black cat style fireworks popping off on top of the roof of a nearby building. After looking at them for a bit, I realized that they werent fireworks, but men with AK-47s firing wildly into the air... I assume the bullets were blanks, but who knows for sure. It was pretty interesting. As Rosen said afterwards, "Guns are better".... i guess.

Today we went on a trip to both a house for children with special needs and also a juvenile detention center. Pretty powerful stuff. 

Tommorrow after training, Rosen is taking me to the Bulgaria vs Ireland soccer game in Sofia! It should be quite an experience that's for sure. 

Oh, and maybe one day I will take a picture of a Turkish Toilet and put it in here... It's pretty awesome. It makes you want to get on your hands and knees and beg for a port-a-potty. And today I paid 30 stotinki (roughly 25 cents) to use one that looked like something out of a horror movie. Pretty sweet stuff.

Have a good night. Batteries dying.... 

So I have been having a really good time integrating here. I can almost speak fluently at this point... you know, after a week in Moravitsa. So this will be a breeze...

I don't know how many of you reading this have ever put yourself in a place where NOTHING is even remotely close to your language. And when you dont have a translator following you around all day... It gives you some good time to think about how often you want to chime into a conversation (that you can't understand anyways) or how you can relate a story or even tell them that you have to pee. And those that know me know that I laugh at the dumbest stuff. Stuff that isn't even funny or relevant to anything. And usually when I laugh like this, and someone is around, I will explain my crazy thoughts and why I found it humerous... Well let me tell you, it is a little more difficult to explain these things when you can't speak the language. All that ends up happening is the people you are talking to get a free laugh out of the different hand gestures you can come up with.

I went and watched the town's championship soccer game on Friday. Rosen is on the team and the Mayor is the coach. We unfortunately lost, but the town of 800 (or 1500 according to the mayor) won second place which is pretty impressive! I then joined the team for dinner in a neighboring town. What an experience.

We arrive to a small little restaurant that only has 3 tables. One is fortunately big enough to seat 12 or so in a big L shape along the wall. There were big salads set up at each place already. So we sit down and more and more people trickle in until the table is full. I just watch because hey, what else can i do? :) Anyways, we arrive at the restaurant at around 8pm or so. Everyone arrives probably within 30 minutes. Then I notice that someone is putting bottles of Rakia around the table. 6 bottles total... there are 12 of us. 30 minutes after arriving, and staring at my salad, we start to eat. But eating at a restaurant is nothing like eating in America. No one was there to eat. They were there to hang out with friends, enjoy lots of loud conversation and laugh and drink rakia and smoke cigarettes. The last thing on their mind was the food. The salads sat in front of us occasionally being picked at for nearly 3 hours. Then came the plates of meat. There were all sorts of meat on a couple plates. And people ate it as they saw fit, which means they hardly touched it. I got a nudge saying that we were leaving and heading to the Discoteka. I glanced at the time and noticed that it was 1am. So we spent 5 hours at dinner...

Then we went to the disco. Which was pretty cool. Pretty typical actually. Just a lot of music and smoke and drinks. But two things I learned.... well maybe 3.

1 - If you are a man and you are friends with Bulgarian men, do not be alarmed if they put their arms around you for extended periods of time when you sit next to them, or put their hand on your knee or all that touchy-feely stuff that makes us American men feel like less of men. It's totally cool here.
2 - Also, Bulgarians love their country and their people. There was a bus that had defective brakes in this country the day before we went to the disco. The brakes went out and the bus crashed into a lot of people killing around 15 or so. Because of this event, the disco was almost empty even though it didn't happen very close to here. The young people of Bulgaria did not go out that Friday night because there had been a tragedy in their country. Pretty amazing.
and 3 - When you go home at 3am because you have class the next day, it is not ok and the people dropping you off will go straight back out to the disco because their night just began.

So that was the most exciting thing. Yesterday and today I just kinda hung low. Ive been pretty tired lately. That happens when life is non-stop. I had dinner with Ashley's host family last night because Rosen and his wife were at a wedding. I was invited, but opted out so I could rest a little. The dinner last night was full of laughter and flipping through the bulgarian-english dictionary so we could explain ourselves. But good times had by all.

Hopefully I'll post again soon!

Holy Different!

Well long time no post! It has been over a week since I left and this is the first time I have gotten to use the internet! I am at one of a few houses in this village that have internet. WooHoo! Its actually been kind of nice not sitting in front of a computer.

So I guess I'll start from the beginning...

The night before I left, my family and I attended the most American thing available to us... The WWE Judgement Day! It was pretty ridiculous. But a ton of fun and a memory that will last forever, and not only because my hearing was permanently damaged by the pyrotechnics we were sitting under... :)

It was very very hard to say goodbye to my family. They are definitely very missed. So I boarded the plane to DC to start staging. There were 64 of us there but someone had to go home that first day because their medical forms werent totally completed... wow. I would have cried if that was me! So we spent a night in DC doing really basic stuff.

The next day we boarded a plane headed to Frankfurt and then to Sofia. Of course I sat in the middle. I am so glad that I wont have to take that flight again for another couple years...

After staying awake for 30+ hours, we got to Sofia. I have pictures, but not with me. I will post them later. Lets just say that Bulgaria is better in some aspects than I thought, and not as good in others... so it's hard to pass judgement from the first impressions.

We got on buses (mine was a little green bus that looked like it was 30 years old) and navigated our way to a mountain resort a few hours away to kind of decompress. We were there for 4 days where we went through rules, regulations and policies of the Peace Corps. We also started some language training. All 63 of us were together, and then one girl left. So now there are 62. But all is still happy here.

The last night we had a big celebration with traditional dancing and food and music. I of course danced (attempted to dance) some of the traditional dances. They are a lot of fun and hopefully my village will teach me theres.

So now I sit in the town called Moravitsa. It is outside of Vratsa in the northeast region of Bulgaria. I met my host family on Saturday (i think) and I havent stopped moving yet! It has been a BLAST! Moravitsa is about 800 people. It is 10km (6miles) from the nearest town. Everyone knows everyone and most of them havent seen Americans before. There are 4 of us here. Me, Ashley, Scott and Sarah. And our language trainer lives in town too.

My host family appears to be pretty influential and popular in town. The fathers name is Rosen and he is 29 years old. His wife, Temenuzhka, and daughter, Dayana, live with him in a single floor house above a bar in town. The bar is owned by his cousin. Rosen owns a cafe in town that doubles for a night club. Its super nice, it has a flat screen tv! Rosen is also building his own house that his younger brother is helping with and other people in town. One of Rosen's friends, Peter, has been staying with us. Not sure if that is an everyday thing or what... Peter used to play professional football (soccer) for Bulgaria but hurt his knee. He is healed now, but he didn't make the cut for the team this year. Rosen is a superstar on the town's football team and they have the championship game tomorrow night in a neighboring village. Should be fun!

Everyone in this village is AWESOME. They are so nice and welcoming. I can hardly speak the language, but they all work with me and help me through it. Rosen speaks a little English, so we can sometimes understand each other. I am fortunate that he can speak a little. The kids have welcomed us as well and each day they have thrown some sort of celebration!

The first day we watched a 2 hour celebration of traditional dances and songs to welcome us. We were greeted by a news crew as well and appeared on the nightly news that evening! Then that same news crew showed up again the next day and interviewed us individully! I watched myself on TV last night trying to speak a little Bulgarian. It was humerous. Actually, I didnt watch alone... the whole town was watching the Barcelona and Manchester United soccer game in Rosen's bar and he flipped on the interview... so we got a nice round of applause from the town! My little group here in Moravitsa was also in the newspaper... we are famous! It's really quite fun. The mayor of the town has asked if we would stay. He is trying to find Scott and me a bride so we stay here... The mayor also told me that in order to be a true Bulgarian you must drink at least 3 beers a day. And it doesnt matter how big or small you are... 3 beers. :) He was joking obviously, but that's just the way people are here!

I am having an experience of a lifetime here. I can't wait to show pictures. I go to sleep listening to dogs and roosters and wake up to either roosters or the sound of a herd of goats walking down the street. Sometimes I hear a cow bell as someone leads their cow to the fields. For the first time in my life, I had to walk through a herd of goats on the road to get home. It was incredible. Horses are just tied up outside and eat whatever is around. Some people travel by donkey carts. Luckly Rosen has a BMW... :)

Sorry for the long post - its kind of a boring one too... but this place is so different that there is no way to even describe it in a blog. I have lots of pictures and I honestly love it here. This place, this town, these people... they are just what I was looking for. I just wish I could speak the language...

I love you all and miss you dearly.

Rory

Rory v1.0 Discontinued

So I'm starting to believe that this whole Peace Corps thing isn't a joke anymore... It kinda feels like it's for real. It kinda feels like it's going to start tomorrow. Hmmmm...

Well Folks, Rory v1.0 has very much enjoyed knowing you, talking with you (in english) and being your friend. We are very excited to start production on Rory v.2.0, post peace corps and upgraded. It will be a long upgrade, one that will surely have many versions before our successful launch of v.2.0 due to be released in late August 2011. You might have opportunities to speak to various versions along the way, but rest assured that v2.0 will be better than ever upon its release date. Starting tomorrow we release Rory v.1.01 - it is undoubtly going to be a terrified, quivering and anxious version. Some of it's upgrades include: very basic and crude understanding of Bulgarian, larger eyes on a swiveling neck that simply have to look at everything around, a camera in which many pictures will be taken and a diaper (because we anticipate an involuntary releasing of bowels upon landing in Bulgaria).

So Rubi is gone. She found a good home. In fact, I couldn't have asked for a better person to buy her. His name is Corey, he had a beard, he loves Jeeps and plans to offroad. He is also going to continue calling her Rubi. Maybe he will give me a ride in a few years...

In a few minutes, I am headed to a Cubs game with my parents and the sis, Molly. The weather is perfect, sunny and like 65. Then post Cubs victory, we are headed to WWE Judgement Day!! I have never been, nor really ever watched, wrestling. But I figured what better way than to celebrate my last day in America for a while? WWE. Perfect. And the whole family is going. It will be epic.

So Rory 1.0 is soon to be dead - the upgrade will be long, confusing, exciting, hard, fun, meaningful, challenging, different and life changing. But hopefully you all keep in touch.

It's off to start my last day in the US for a while.

Next post might take a while. I doubt I'm going to be near the internet for a bit. But I'm sure the stories will start getting interesting...

Farewell!

Goodbye, Farewell, See ya later.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. You could say it has been busy over here. Plus, I haven't really left yet - so I feel like I am just the average blogger blogging about their day-to-day lives trying to captivate whoever's reading attention. And that's not my goal. The point of the blog is to keep in touch with you folks while being whoknowshowmany miles away in the remote land of donkey pulled carts.

So since the last post I have basically just been saying "Good-bye" a lot. And will continue to say goodbye until Monday May 18th

We had an awesome family get together at our house in Barrington. Every life created by my parents union was there in full force. It was a wonderful time filled with great memories and lots of pictures.

Unfortunately during this weekend, my grandmother Dearie passed. From what I understand though, her passing was nothing short of beautiful. She passed without pain in the arms of my Uncle Riall, her oldest child, in the early morning while reminiscing about the ones she loved. If only we could all be so lucky to step into the next life the way she did.

So the weekend get together ended with me saying goodbye to Kelly, Jay and their two amazing children. It will be a few years before I see them again, and I cannot wait to see who Haley and Emma are when I return.

And then I said goodbye to the house and to Barrington. Don't care so much about Barrington, but that house was Suh-weet! It was funny though. I was the last one in the house before we locked up and moved on. I sat on the counter in the kitchen and felt a twing of heartache knowing that when I walked out the doors, I would never be back. I reflected on how when we first moved there from Ridgefield, I dispised it. I spent long boring days in the house wanting nothing more than to leave that first summer. And leave I did! I drove back to Ridgefield because I couldn't emotionally handle the move! But as we spent more time in the house and had more memories of family and friends, it began to feel like home. And after 5 years of being there, it was totally home. Each part of the house held a memory of a good time at a holiday, or a bad defeat on the pool table by a certain brother-in-law...

It was a neat lesson to learn. That no matter how unnatural or uncomfortable or overall crappy a place or situation may seem, all you have to do is give it some time and make some fun memories there. I guess it was a good lesson to learn before being shipped to service in Bulgaria for the next 27 months! Let's just hope I remember it.

My friends at CDW threw me a going away paintball party last weekend. It was awesome. I had more fun than I have had in a long time. Nothing like shooting old co-workers and being shot in return.

And for the last goodbye that I am going through right now... Probably one of the hardest goodbyes. A decision that I have avoided this whole time. A promise that I would never say goodbye will be broken. I am selling Rubi. I had vowed that I would keep her until the day she died, but now I am making a choice that anyone who has let someone they love move on with their life understands. I have done my best to prepare Rubi for the real world.

We have shared laughs while cruising the open road on a sunny summer day with the doors and top off feeling the wind in our face as we sit on top of the world. We have cried together when parts break and need repairing and I can not afford to fix them at that moment. Her windshield has protected me from the sting of the rain when the top was left off and we got caught in a storm... She took me to lands I could never travel to without her. We got stuck, scratched, muddied, cut and bruised along the way - but she always got me home safe. We learned together while she let me install suspensions, shocks, brakes, t-case covers, 35 inch tires, a winch and bumper, a rear tire carrier, a soft top, steering stabilizer, cb radio, seat covers, KC hilites, fog light, and a new battery... just to name a few. I now feel comfortable sending her off to be with another. She is too beautiful, perfect and strong (and expensive) to be left in storage while I am gone. She needs to be out playing in the mud, conquering the snow covered roads and cruising in the sun. Who am I to deny her two summers? So farewell Rubi - You were my first and I will never forget you.

Last week Rubi and I went offroading and I buried her in a few feet of mud. Here is a picture - it was awesome.

So yes. I am sick of saying goodbye. Some of the hardest are yet to come.

But once they are over

I will be opening a new door to a new world and whole-heartedly, at the top of my lungs, say

HELLO! (or Zdravey!)

Be good,

Rory