PROGRESS!!!

Again, its been a long time since I wrote anything in here. And again, I am sorry. It has been busy, and when it hasn’t been busy, I’ve been lazy or trying to stay warm. That’s another thing, it’s a real pain in the butt to type something long when your fingers are nearly frozen. The amount of mistakes I make typing are astronomical. I have a lucky moment now at work where the wood burning stove is exceptionally hot and my fingers feel normal. But don’t get me wrong, I’m still wearing my new down jacket that my mother sent for Christmas and my hat. My toes are still cold. The joys of winter.

So since last I wrote, it has gotten much colder. We have had a couple days here with -25 degree Celsius weather, which is around -10 or -15 Fahrenheit. It’s cold and it’s hard to escape. I just have to make a good fire and sit near it all day. For instance, a couple days ago I didn’t have any work to do so there wasn’t a reason for me to be in the office. I was also running out of wood to burn for warmth, so I grabbed a book, went to the office, and sat next to the stove all day reading. I went to work only to stay warm. Haha that’s a first!

Things with the girlfriend are going well. We get to see each other pretty much every weekend. Last weekend I went to her place and she set up a nice candle lit romantic dinner with music, warmth and good spaghetti. It was the first time someone has done something like that for me, and let me tell you, it’s probably about as relaxing as it gets. It was like a vacation for dinner. Sitting in a dark candle-lit warm room with relaxing music, good food and a bottle of wine is seriously underrated. For all those with significant others, I suggest doing this for them.

I have some unfortunate news though. One of my friends here who is a volunteer is leaving. Long story short, she worked at a place that was basically a correctional facility for youth. She was physically threatened and harmed on a daily basis. Some of the things done would scar the average person for life. This volunteer is very strong willed and very strong emotionally, but she simply does not have the training to handle a situation like the one she was in. She complained about it and was transferred to a different site due to the danger of working in the facility. Unfortunately the site where they sent her did not work out either. There were no more options available and she is now finished with her service. It’s a big tug back down to reality for me that this service is able to be terminated at any time. I feel terrible for her. She doesn’t leave for another week, so I will do my best to spend some time with her before she heads back to New York. She will be greatly missed by me, my friends, and the people of this country.

And now for the good news and the thing that is making me feel accomplished in my days! Over the past month or so, I have formed a group of youth. About 10 kids, mostly from 14-16 years old, are in this group. They are leading it with my help and our goal is to make Koynare a better place to live. Over the past few weeks, we have started a project to totally revamp a park near the school. The park is falling apart, over grown and filthy. We are going to add park benches, picnic tables, a gazebo, garbage cans, lamps and improve the grounds in general with grass, flowers and maybe more trees. It’s a big project. But these kids are super excited, super smart, and we have the full support of the Mayor for our project. It is so fun to see them starting to believe in a thing that they never thought was possible. I worked with 6 of them yesterday for 4 hours straight!! We finished with a meeting with the Mayor showing him everything we had done. The kids talked the whole time and I sat there with the biggest smile my face could allow. It was incredible. I feel like a proud father watching these children see that they actually have a voice. It’s what I came to do. And I am finally getting that warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment that I missed for the last 8 months. Ahh, it’s paying off…

So that’s kinda what’s going on in my life. I’m just trying to stay warm, keep the kids motivated, find new projects and activities and prepare for the warmth to come back when we can get these projects moving.

I have so much I want to do and it’s becoming possible with the support of these kids, and the town! Excellent.

Btw – I am now at 29.75% of my service complete. Just thought you’d like to know. But that’s if I finish at the normal time. Maybe I’ll extend another year if things are going well or maybe something happens that makes me finish early. Who knows? I wanna stay.

Another thing - for those that I used to work with - I am looking at a Ricoh van outside certainly making SPIFFs on whatever is being sold... you can't escape the Ricoh SPIFF. It's everywhere. Even Koynare.

Your friend, brother, son, grandson, cousin, nephew or uncle,

Rory (v.1.2975)

longest blog entry about the holidays ever. sorry.

I am dreading writing this blog. So much has happened between my last one and this one that it is crazy. Sorry if you feel obligated to read it all, this one is more for me than anything so i dont forget what happened.

So the week before christmas vacation, the english teacher at the school decided that she was going to be sick of one week. Literally told me on a Monday, that she won't be back until next monday, and this was before she went to the doctor... so yea, i became the teacher for a week. unsupervised and undirected teacher from grades 6 to 11. And i speak really broken, poor bulgarian. I mean, i can handle it, but its just funny for all involved. For the most part, i had a really good time. The classes are interested in me and i have a different teaching style. the students that dont speak any english, just dont pay attention and thats fine by me. The others listen attentively. I only had one incident where i had to yell, and it was well deserved. it was a 6th grade class and the kids were out of control. there were maybe 15 kids in the class. 4 of them wanted to learn, the other 11 didnt. the 11 that didnt want to learn were taking pictures, playing music, getting up and running around the classroom, talking loudly and even fighting. one girl slapped a boy pretty hard, i moved her to the other side of the room. when i turned around, she was back her in original seat. i moved her again and she moved again. so i moved her back and started to be stern. then another kid came to the front of the room and started to fight one of the students that was trying to learn. that is when big bad rory came out. I started SCREAMING at the top of my lungs, in english, telling them to sit back down, listen to me and all sorts or other stuff. I just went crazy yelling. it got their attention, they didnt understand a word i said, but they knew what i wanted. after that they were quiet, attentive and polite... haha... For those that have heard me yell... you will agree that i can stop any kid dead in his tracks with a single shout. its kind of a fun power, but i dont like using it...

On the last day of my teaching, one teacher in the teachers lounge told me she was sorry that i was teaching. I said why? she said - because the students here are terrible and they dont listen. I told her that i like the kids and they listen to me. she said, when they dont listen, you have to hit them. thats the only way to get them to behave. dont be afraid to hit the kids... when she told me that, i was speechless. and now i feel terrible for the kids. no wonder they listen to me, i dont strike them!

So yes. that was interesting. then lets talk about the christmas parties... so on the 22nd the chitalishte had a party. there was a lot of traditional christmas stuff like singing and dressing up in traditional outfits and all that stuff... it was cold and i took a lot of pictures. then the party happened at some cafe in town. i showed up at 7pm as i was instructed and it was packed. many of the older people in town were there, but also a lot of students that are involved in the activities of the chitalishte. there were probably 50 people there. it was a typical party. it involved me sitting, being given someones rakia. then someone elses, then someone gave me some food they made, then more food, then homemade wine, then another persons homemade wine, then more rakia, then more food, then wine,rakia,food, rakia and so forth. meanwhile, there was lots of music and dancing and laughing and other great things that parties involve. i think i am falling in love with the Horo too... its the traditional bulgarian dance. its pretty epic. its complicated sometimes, but involves everyone holding hands and dancing together, and it is easy enough to do if you are older and cant move well, but hard enough that the young people love it. its fun and communal. an very traditional. there is a lot of pride in it, i like it.

ok, so the next day... cveti comes to koynare. there is a party now for the students. they rent out a restaurant (the only one in town) and its only students from 8th 9th 10th and 11th grade. so like 14-17 years old. we go to the restaurant and the respective teachers of these grades are there. everyone drinks. everyone dances. lots of music. there was a table of 9th graders that bought a bottle of whiskey and they were smoking cigarettes. it was strange for me, but hey, whatever. and again we danced the horo! haha

here comes christmas eve. dan joins cveti and i. we sit in my place. i cook dinner from the food i received in packages from home so that was nice. christmas eve dinner was chicken covered in shake and bake, noodles in pesto sauce and mashed potatoes from dehydrated potatoes. it was delicious. dan and i drank a lot of beer, cveti doesnt drink. I skyped with Britt and Mr. Tom Stien from the good old job i used to have in the states and his family.

Christmas morning we woke up late, did nothing all day (imah mahmurluk - i had a hangover) and dan left. at dinner time, cveti and i went to the restaurant in town and had christmas dinner. we went to bed early. it was a quiet day. i did talk to my family and share their christmas morning with them on skype video. that was nice!

On the 26th we wake up at 7am to a phone call from Cveti's stepdad saying that her mom just gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl! she is 2.7kg and i think 49cm long! her name is Ivana. Cveti and i go to Moravitsa for rosen's daughters baptism party. we stay for a few hours, have some drinks and food. Ashley was there with her dad. her dad and i talked for a long time about the states and what not. then Cveti and I left to go to see her mom and new baby sister! It was precious. her sister is adorable and it was a lot of fun to be there!

Then from the 26-28 i was in byala slatina with cveti. on the 28th i left and went back to koynare. i spent one day alone in my apartment. on the 30th i went to pleven to retrieve the gift my mom sent from the states for christmas. Customs held it because it was too expensive and i had to pay a customs fee to get it. it was the most ridiculous process ever. it took me literally all day and cost me over 100 dollars to retrieve this package. seriously, the event was insane, i dont really want to write all about it. but it was craziness. and dan and i were together during it. Cveti came to pleven that night and stayed with us.

On the 31st we went to moravitsa together. dan went to a different town near there to stay with his old host family. new years eve was unlike any new years eve i have ever had in my life. Ashley, Cveti and I were at rosens cafe. we had dinner and rakia until midnight - it was really relaxing. nothing special. then midnight struck.... the champagne flowed and the fireworks were lit. then the party began. Honestly, i dont remember all of it. I know i danced. i know i went to a few different places with lots of people. i was kissed on the forehead, head, cheeks and nose by probably 5 different people... all guys. then when we left the cafe, i looked at my watch. it was an early 7:45 in the morning. so we started to head back to go to sleep. but ashley and i have family that are 8 hours behind us, which means at 8am - its new years there! yay! so we climb to the roof of the school in town (not a hard climb) and wait until 8am. we scream happy new year chicago! and then start singing the national anthem. then the sun starts to come up. so we sing again... annnnd then a man dressed as santa claus spots us and he wants to join. but he cant really walk at the moment, so we convince him to go away. he does. we go to bed around 9am. it was special.

I wake up around noon. there are things to be done! actually, dan came into town, so i went to go see him. we went to find coffee, but no place was open, so we go to the center of town. we find a group of people there - one of them has a birthday and never went to sleep. so we sit and start having a few more drinks... i mean, why not right? cveti sleeps and i sit there with dan and ashley and the others in the center of town until about 7pm. i then leave to search for cveti who i find still sleeping! she has to wake up because the town party starts at 8pm! haha... so cveti and i find food and go to this party where we stay and continue the festivities until around 3am. there was much dancing and drinking and laughing. good times, lots of music.

We sleep from 3 til about 10 or so, not sure.  actually, this day, i dont really remember doing much. its the 2nd of january. we find ashley and dan and i dont really know what happened. we just kind of hung out, nothing special.

so then we leave on the 3rd and i come back to koynare. i am exhausted. i go to sleep.

the 4th i have classes at the chitalishte and they are the most productive classes ive ever had. i think we will start some great projects and do some cool things here in town. i dunno. we will see...

longest blog ever. sorry, im tired, i dont want to type any more. i love you all. this holiday season was ridiculous. never done anything like this before and i loved every minute of it. seriously. even without sleep.

til next time.

Hunkering Down

I made the big move this week (wtf... why is it that when i start typing, the jeep drives by again! its such a tease - especially since its snowing, it just adds to her beauty.) soooo... as i was saying, i made the big move this week into one room of my apartment. I've basically sealed off the others. In my one room, I have everything I need to survive. I have a bed, table, refrigerator, toaster oven, tv, computer, wood burning stove for cooking and heating the room, i have access to wood for the stove, exercise equipment, and my clothes. the only thing i need to leave the room for is laundry, showers and bathroom breaks. but lets be honest - laundry is a weekly or bi-weekly thing, showers are like... once every 2-10 days... haha ok, like 2-4 days... so yea. i live in my one room now. its kinda nice, but im sure i will go crazy (more crazy, crazier [i dont know which is grammatically correct]) But my wood burning stove is a fun experience. I am getting good at lighting and maintaining fires, and yesterday i learned the importance of the correct amount of air to feed the fire so it doesnt spew smoke all in your room forcing you to have to open the doors and windows to allow non-lethal/cold air into the room which in turn defeated all the warmth the stove produced. a valuable lesson. another valuable lesson - make sure the chimney is attached to the wall so it doesnt smoke you out either. i breathed a lot of smoky air yesterday...

Last weekend I went to Pleven with Dan and Cveti. Pleven is one of the larger cities in Bulgaria and is home to around 130,000 people or so. Which means it has all sorts of fun things to do! We went to a movie... we saw A MOVIE. IN A MOVIE THEATER. it was awesome. we saw Paradise Getaway or something like that, it was good and enjoyable and in English. After the movie, the 3 of us went to a pool hall and shot pool for a few hours... it was pretty awesome.

I think I am spending my Christmas Day at an orphanage with Dan to share the day with the kids there. After that, I have no idea what I am doing. I am sure I will be travelling a lot during that time. To Ashley's, Dan's, Cveti's, Rosen's, and around Koynare.

Uhm - yea, I dunno what else. It's cold, dark and winter. The holidays are coming and I'm in Bulgaria. Those are all facts.

It's a Jeep thing. You wouldn't understand.

Welcome to my blog! or whatever. Things, I guess, are moving on cruise control. But the great thing about MY cruise control is that it's like putting cruise control on Ruby while offroading... I'm never in control and I never know what is going to happen next. Best thing to do is sit back with your seatbelt on and enjoy the ride... I have gotten pretty good at that too. I just go where I'm told, do what is recommended to my best ability and enjoy the ride. I am making more friends in town, none of them are my age. They are either kids in school, or people over 50. Cool by me, I like both groups. The older group has interesting stories, traditions and tricks. But those that know me well, know that I like the younger kids more because I am one, at least in my heart. Cveti is convinced I'm 13 years old!

I left work the other day and I started to cry. I got very emotional and was overcome with nostalgia for my previous life. Rory 1.0 was resurfacing and trying to get out of me. I felt a heavy weight compressing my chest and heat in my face. The tears were starting to show themselves when I was standing outside work by the road. Pepi asked me what was wrong. I told him nothing was wrong. I looked at him for a second, then I started to run down the road away from him, away from everyone and everything. I just ran - I didn't know what else to do. Everything in my heart and soul told me to run, it told me to go and be alone with my nostalgia. So I ran and ran the 15 meters or so to look at the dirty 2001 black jeep wrangler with off roading tires parked near my work!!!

haha - ok, I didn't really cry, or even get that sad, but I did walk over to it and admire it for about 5 minutes. Someone in this town bought a jeep wrangler. The thing is BEAUTIFUL. It literally took my breath away when I saw it. This is a bad thing to say, but I think it's true - If a supermodel in a bikini was posing for me on my left side, and a tricked out jeep wrangler was on my right side, I would turn my back to the supermodel to look at the jeep. It's kind of a problem. This jeep is the only TJ that I have seen in Bulgaria and it's black, with big tires and covered in mud. I am so excited that it is in Koynare! Pictures to come. haha!

So I got a big chunk of my firewood delivered to my apartment yesterday and I moved it out to my balcony. The wood was delivered from my coworkers shed to my apartment by a student in 7th grade with his horse and cart. Pretty awesome.

Oh, and let me tell you of a failure I had. Well, not a failure, but not a success either. On Saturday last week I tried to organize a "let's clean up the park near the school cause it's freaking filled with trash" day. During the whole week, I told kids about it and got names of kids that wanted to volunteer and all that jazz. Well, I was excited on Friday because I had about 30 or so kids that promised to come help us clean up! But on Saturday, Cveti, Dan (Brave Yankee came to help with the cause) and I went to the park at the time we were supposed to meet everyone. We waited. We got 4 kids. 4 kids came to help clean, and Pepi came. So there were 4 adults, and 4 kids. It only took us like 30 minutes or so to clean it all, but I was a little sad that (sorry for the interruption - I just saw the jeep drive by outside. It's raining outside so my vision might not be perfect right now, but I swear she winked at me.) we only had a few kids show up. Maybe next time we will get a bigger showing. (oh this jeep is teasing me... it just drove my again.)

So all in all - things are good. I am getting support and having successes with work. I have a great girlfriend. I am making more friends here. I have firewood to keep me warm. The dog that lives outside my apartment building has become my friend and now sleeps outside my door. If she wasn't so dirty, I would let her in but that would also result in lots of new stains, I'm sure. I dunno - today I feel good. But remember, I'm in a Jeep on cruise control while riding over unpredictable terrain. Who knows what the afternoon will bring (THE JEEP DROVE BY AGAIN!!!! AHHHHH!!! She is beautiful.).

Alright, I'm out.
Rory

Oh - Sorry, I forgot to mention this. Everything with my MRI is fine. Nothing to worry about. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I just had a real fun weekend. On Thanksgiving afternoon - I decided that it was 100% required that I have a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner that was to be eaten on Saturday night. But as everyone knows - it takes forever to defrost one of those suckers if you buy it frozen. But what you might not know is that it is impossible to find a frozen turkey in any town smaller than 100,000 people... I am in a town of about 4,500 people. Well, I was running out of time. I had a small window to acquire a frozen turkey so it would be ready for dinner on Saturday. The window closed. I now had a small problem. I told a few people here of my problem and soon the resolution was reached - we must find a live turkey in Koynare, purchase it, kill it, clean it, and cook it. And that is exactly what we did. I found a turkey for 30 leva, had to explain to the man selling it that I wasn't crazy and that eating a turkey at the end of November is an American tradition and that I didn't want to wait until Christmas when it is customary to eat turkey here. So I bought the young turkey a month before he was supposed to fulfill his destiny. Pepi and I tied up his legs and tossed him in the trunk of the car. I was the proud owner of livestock. First time ever I owned something alive with intent to eat it. (Garden plants don't count. They can't blink). So that was Friday. Pepi told me that I was not allowed to do the actual killing of the turkey and that his wife would handle it for me. I had other things to do that night, like pick Cveti up from the bus station in a neighboring town, so I really didn't have time to clean the turkey.

So Saturday - the day of the big party - I was given my turkey, cleaned and in a bag. Got up on Saturday and per Thanksgiving tradition I spent the entire morning in the kitchen cooking. First I made dessert - Apple Crisp. The smell made me want to dance. Then Cveti and I cooked together the rest of the stuff all day long. We made homemade stuffing, creamed onions, gravy, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and of course the turkey. Dan came in the afternoon. During the day, we got bored waiting to put the turkey in the oven, so I made chocolate chip cookies. Literally, a whole batch of cookies was consumed by Dan, Cveti and myself within an afternoon. They were quite the treat. At around 8pm, Cveti had 2 of her friends come and they brought more food - traditional Bulgarian food - and we celebrated together. Per tradition, we filled our first plate to the brim with food. We finished it, then we went back for seconds, again filling our plates. The second plate proved a challenge. And of course, after we couldn't eat any more, the warm apple crisp with whipped cream came out and was delicious. We ate it all and wanted to explode. We sat at the table for the next few hours talking, listening to music, and having drinks. It was a grand Thanksgiving and I won't forget it anytime soon... Check the picasaweb site link for pictures.

On Sunday - we played football at the stadium. Cveti, Dan and I started throwing the ball around and soon we had a crowd of children with us playing too. It was like 60 degrees outside and sunny. A heck of a weekend.

Honestly - the memories I am making here are amazing. I am so freaking thankful for the opportunity to be here.

So with that said - I go to Sofia tomorrow for my MRI. Let's hope all is well. I'm nervous.