Country Life

Ah, the country life. Wake up in the morning to the sound of a rooster (or 7), brush your teeth (if the local farmers haven’t already used all the water), hang your clothes on the line…in the front yard…for literally everyone to see (it is now common knowledge that I am the only person in T--- to own at least 5 pairs of polka-dot underwear), and walk to work down a gravel road while all the local children say, “hello!” (heavy on the “h”).

And let’s not forget the country meals: a hearty breakfast, a very hearty lunch, and an extremely hearty bordering on Thanksgiving-style dinner. Every day. It is an important part of Bulgarian culture to make sure their guests (me) are well cared for and well fed. I am well fed. It’s also considered rude to so refuse something that is offered to you when you are a guest in someone’s home. So I eat until I’m stuffed. One of the first Bulgarian phrases I learned was, “Наядох се. Не мога повече.” (I’m full. I can’t eat anymore.) It’s come in handy.

Truthfully, I really do enjoy living in this small farming village. The kids are so great. They’re friendly and cute and so interested in getting to know us “Американци”. My cheeks hurt from smiling for so many pictures with them on their cell phones (yes, they have those – fancier than mine that’s for sure). My host parents are very sweet and take great care of me. They also have an amazing garden and, while the food may be more plentiful than is necessary for one person, it’s absolutely delicious. I’m also kinda enjoying being taken care of, you know? A lot of the other volunteers are struggling with this for some reason. They don’t want to have everything done for them. They are strong, independent people who are fully capable of taking care of themselves and want that freedom back. I say, “Why?” This is awesome. I’ve totally embraced this lifestyle. They want to be good hosts and make sure all my needs are met and I want to be a good guest and let them. Win – Win, people!

My Bulgarian is also coming along pretty well. I’m still far from fluent (when I say “far” I mean that in terms of the distance between planets, like, from here to, let’s say, I don’t know, Jupiter, about that far) but, considering it’s only been 2 weeks, I feel confident that I will be able to function pretty well on my own when the time comes. Our language teacher, Veronika, is very patient with us and keeps us at a steady pace while at the same time making sure we are absorbing the information. It’s less and less intimidating every day.

As far as my satellite group goes, I’m pretty happy. There are 4 of us (typical size is from 4-6 people) and I like everyone. No one gets on my nerves, at all. Thank goodness! And, hopefully, I don’t get on anyone’s nerves either. Hopefully. Katelyn is really funny and goofy and the fact that she majored in theater is present immediately upon meeting her, she makes us laugh all day long and keeps our spirits up when things get tough. Tom is such a nice guy and doing really well considering he’s outnumbered 4:1 by us girls. And Mary is a quiet, sweet girl who is coming out of her shell more and more as the days go by. Combined with our language trainer, it’s a perfect mix of people.

We have been doing a lot of teaching in the local school and beginning to understand the level of English children are able to speak in rural parts of Bulgaria. This knowledge, along with the teaching experience, will be really useful when we become учители (teachers) in our permanent sites. I really do love the kids here and hope they are just as sweet wherever I am assigned in Bulgaria. I think I'd prefer my permanant site to be rural like this because, from what I've heard from currently serving volunteers, it seems like the kids in the bigger cities are a bit more difficult to deal with. A rural, farming village near a bigger city would be PERFECT. I'll keep this in mind for my Permanent Site Interview coming up.

I can’t believe I’ve only been in Bulgaria for 3 weeks! I’ve experienced so much it feels like much longer while at the same time, the weeks are flying by. I can’t wait to see what happens next. I came here for a challenging adventure and that’s exactly what I’ve got.

Лека нощ!

-Age