Awkward, sad, tacky, Bulgarian, plastic, Dinosaur chicken nuggets

All by Myself....don't wanna be....All by myself....by myself...by myself...

I have been listening to Celine Dion a lot recently...which I actually didn't do at home too often because it is rather embarrassing and I can not help but sing along to every song. However, since moving in my new apartment, I have been going all out and assuming no one else can hear me....which is probably a bad assumption since I can hear everyone else...

Anyways, here are some words to sum up the whole of this past week: awkward, sad, tacky, Bulgarian, plastic, and dinosaur chicken nuggets.

Awkward, took my Bulgarian language test and discovered that if people do not say or have the exact conversations that we studied then I'm not sure what to say at all. I was given a conversational topic where I was supposed to ask questions and the topic was "You're in the kitchen with your mother while she prepares dinner, ask her questions to pass the time." All the questions I had learned had to do with meeting people for the first time, none of which you would be likely to ask your mom. I couldn't think of anything so I asked things like, "What are you doing?" and at some point asked "How old are you?" I failed that part miserably and was told that I should find a tutor when I move. However, since I did very well at the other parts, I PASSED!!!! Score. Still plan on finding a tutor.

Sad, I left my tiny little village, my family, my satellite group, the rest of the volunteers, and pretty much the Bulgaria I know. This goodbye was so devastating for me. I loved the community and the village and liked the fact that everyone knew me and I could say hi to everyone, but I guess I will have to put in a lot of effort to get the same result in svishtov. I balled when I left my host family. My mom had cried at the dinner table earlier that week when we were talking about me leaving on saturday, and my baba cried at dinner the night before I left, so i expected that they were going to cry, but when I saw my daido (grandpa) start crying I couldn't help but cry. Everyone cried. We were one big crying sloppy mess. I very much love them and will miss them. Good thing there is a bus that goes straight from Tiny Little Village to Svishtov. Leaving all the other volunteers, including my satellite group, was rushed and I don't feel like I got a proper good bye with any of them. Maybe it's good it was rushed because I would have cried when saying goodbye to them as well, especially since my satellite group definitely feels like family now.

Tacky, Bulgarian, Plastic, and Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets- These pretty much sum up my time in Svishtov so far. My apartment was already furnished and decorated for me upon my arrival! Score. Kinda. My apartment is painted 3 different pastel colors-pink (living room), green (kitchen and hall), and blue (bedroom). It is decorated with plastic flowers (tons...seriously), doilies, plastic bull on my head board (which is kinda awesome), plastic fruit, plastic smiley fruit magnets, velvet covering on furniture (not as good as the shag carpeting that covered everything at my host family's house, but close), fake birds and butterflies, a ship in a bottle, and fancy elephant statue. I find my apartment exquisite and would not have decorated it any differently. It is actually pretty nice, delightfully tacky, and wonderfully Bulgarian. Lastly, first dinner in apartment- Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets!!!!! Who would have thought that they were internationally popular?! I was super stoked to find them, even it means that I can't fit anything else in my freezer. Pictures up soon.

Ok, besides the above mentioned. I am doing well and am excited to discover Svishtov and start making friends, it will be very helpful having another volunteer in town (Ben). I am officially a volunteer now, but will not be starting work until september, so I have time time to explore and meet people. God is good all the time and He is taking remarkably good care of me.

If you could be any sort of Robot what type would you be?

Opa...I didn't forget to write this blog for two weeks, I just couldn't find the time to write this blog for two weeks...actually it may have been longer than that. Anyways, this is everything we have been doing with short notes:

Model School: June 25-July 8 Tiny Little Village

Sweet Sassy Molassy! My Group can pull things off AMAZINGLY! We had lots of additional things to do during this time but somehow our school was super fun and creative and I think the kids loved it (going off of my sister (Didi) reaction). Each one of us had a different group of kids (Lions, Tigers, Pumas, and Dragons-My team was the Dragons because they could take down Lions, Tigers, and Pumas easily-plus they fly and shoot fire-clearly my group was the best!) Then kids rotated to 4 different classes where they did different activities according o the day's theme. I did different improv games with the kids according to the theme and every kid got into it and participated. It was pretty incredible. We taught them kickball, which they were pretty horrible at, but seemed to love playing anyway. We had them prepare our cultural presentation with us (provided us cute pictures of what they wanted to be when they grew up). We taught them about America and had them make our 4th of July Invitations and Posters. We had a "We Love Our Tiny Little Village Day" and had them do part of our community project, where they competed in a fun-filled day of picking up trash around the center of town and the school. They got really into it and picked up a ton of trash. Our Model school was really successful and awesome, regardless of the lack of planning and using the kids to complete other things we had on our agenda. I awarded us 500 bajillion awesome points.

Community Meeting: July 1 Tiny Little Village

Yay! We came up with tons of fantastically wonderful ideas for our community project and the whole town thought they were incredible and had difficulty deciding which one to do as a community and the whole town gave us a standing ovation and blew us kisses and proclaimed their love for us. Or it may have been that we came up with some great ideas and the cultural board shot us down and told what they were going to do. We are making a sign for our town, which is actually kinda great. We decided that the way we can get the whole community involved was to throw a unveiling celebration, and we got the kids involved by having them pick up trash around the center prior to the unveiling. The unveiling ceremony will be tomorrow, July 16, and the sign is ready and gorgeous!

HUB 3 & Cultural Presentation: July 2 Vratsa

Our Topic was "Local Kids and their Dreams." Therefore, we had the kids make pictures of what they wanted to be when they grew up at our Model school and I dressed up as a kid named "Tsveti" (not after anyone in particular but just because we know so many Tsveti's-really I'm going to start taking a count). We didn't really plan much but the presentation went FANTASTICALLY! For some reason acting like a small child comes pretty naturally to me.

4th of July Celebration: July 4 (this looks obvious but some groups did their celebration on different days-which is not only confusing but lame)

Once again we didn't have a lot of time to plan and used the children from our Model School for our benefit in spreading word and getting the community there. Lots of people showed up, we had all things necessary for a Fourth of July celebration including: watermelon, some sort of messy food eating contest, baseball, lawn games, water balloons, and of course, fireworks. It was great! We had lots of fun and the fireworks had pictures of Sadam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and some other guy (terrorist probably) and they said "GAME OVER." So, we blew up terrorists in the form of fireworks, how incredibly American of us! Success.

HUB 4 & Project Proposal: July 9 Vratsa

Peace Corps Bulgaria has a little thing called, "Volunteer Advisory Committee" or simply VAC. This is where 5 people from each training group get together every once in awhile and talk about issues volunteers face. I mentioned that I was interested in being on this committee, so obviously my group and I took the necessary steps. Adrienne suggested we make T-shirts and I campaign (let me mention that this isn't something you really run for). So, we made teachers and wore them to the HUB. Let me now mention how incredibly amazing and wonderful I think my group is: they are incredibly amazing. The shirts were hilarious. There will be pictures soon.

Affinity Groups: July 10 Vratsa

The volunteers in Bulgaria love each other and need support. Let's talk about RELIGION. I thought being a Christian here was going to be really easy since it is a predominantly Orthodox Christian country, but not many really have a faith or practice their faith. Instead they are associated with christianity out of tradition. It has been really hard to find anytime to practice my faith. I have no fellowship, no church building I can really visit, and no time to study on my own. I know I should make more time.... Anyways, we have a small group for us religious folks and it will be great! I am realizing that I need community in faith so very badly. I miss my community group....and my church.

Final Program Interviews & Sofia: July 14 Sofia

7 million people live in Bulgaria. 2 million live in Sofia. It's kinda a big deal. We had a day in Sofia and by day, I mean a few hours (left 6 am, arrived in Sofia 930 am, got to PC office at 10:30am, had interviews, left PC offices 12:45 pm, got to starbucks 1:15pm, saw some major buildings, had lunch at Chinese food until 2:45, left on only bus back at 3:15 pm, arrived home 6:45 pm). PLUS side, interview was easy, STARBUCKS made me so happy!!!! and Chinese food for lunch and then breakfast next morning! So good! It wasn't enough time in Sofia and I wish I could have gotten tortillas and Indian food. I will plan another trip after 3 months. it good to know I can find comforts from home in Sofia if I need to.

Anyways, I am still stressed but I only have one more week of PST and then I go to my permanent site!!! I am realizing that as excited I am to have privacy soon, my own apartment (hopefully-still don't know), not have to eat enormous amounts of food, and a less stressful schedule, I am really going to miss my host family. I really really love them and am going to miss them like crazy. They have been wonderful and I am so lucky to have such a great family here in Bulgaria. When I left for Sofia at 5:45 am, my host parents got up and drove me to the center (5 min walk) and saw me off. They are so cute and thoughtful. I have a final language proficiency test next Tuesday, a HUB on thursday, and then I swear in as a volunteer and commit my life for the next two years. Crazy. Next Post will be so good.