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
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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
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
Thursday, September 2, 2010
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
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
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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 25th 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 Chicago
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 America
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
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!
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