Oh just the past 8 months or so...

This is going to be incredibly long and for that, I'm sincerely sorry. HOWEVER! I am leaving you with the Bold option where you just skim and read the parts that are in bold, which will highlight all you need to know from March- October. I am organizing by month. Here we go:

March:

Fantastic! Holidays galore!

• Baba Marta-March 1: Great holiday where you give your friends and family martenitsi (which are bracelets, necklaces, pins, etc...that have intertwined red and white string). I loved and it felt very loved as both of my wrists/arms were covered in and white bracelets. It's a symbol of the coming spring and you're supposed to keep them on until you either see a stork or a budding fruit tree. Now with the trees, you're supposed to tie them on the branches, but I'm not sure with the stork because I feel that it would be hard to capture a stork and tie the bracelet on them. Luckily I avoided this because I never saw any storks, just trees. (side note: before I knew about the martenitsi and Baba Marta, there was a tree I past everyday that was just covered in these red and white strings, and it creeped me out so much. It seemed very Blair Witch or there was a tragic accident by the tree. I was sure that the tree was either home to a witch or a tragic accident. But I was wrong, just home to fruit and therefore every spring dozens of new bracelets)
• Women's day-March 8: You don't have to be a mother to get a holiday here-just a woman, which means that I qualified! Score! For me, this meant flowers from students and a lunch out with all the teachers after school. I think we should have this holiday in America. If not, I will continue to celebrate every year and blame it on my Bulgarian roots....I just realized that I have acquired some roots since getting here...
• NEW TATTOO! Sometime in March....i think. I got a tattoo, it is beautiful, stunningly beautiful. My friend Sara designed it a while back, and a very talented tattoo artist then inked me. It is meant to represent the Tree of Life, which was a focal point for all stories and performance art in Indonesia and I got it to represent everything I learned there. If you want to know, please let me know and I would be happy to tell you about how God worked in my life during that period.

April:

• Parents Visit/Romania/Turkey: There are so many things about my life here in Bulgaria that I love and so many things that I wish I convey to my friends and my family back home. I wish you could see exactly how I live, how I interact with friends and colleagues, my work, and every other aspect of my life here. However, that is not possible and will never be possible. That sucks. When my parents came, it was entirely overwhelming. I was very excited about them coming and wanted to share everything with them, but as I stated before, that was not possible. I let myself get very upset that they didn't get to experience Bulgaria the way I live it, but only got to see a tiny slice of Bulgaria and my life here. However, they did get to meet my host family, which was FANTASTIC! I loved every minute of it. They were so uncomfortable. It was great. It did make me realize how much I have learned about Bulgarian culture and how easily Bulgarian manners and etiquette now come to me. My parents seemed so incredibly out of place and there was sometimes when I was stunned as well. I guess it goes to show, how vastly different Bulgaria and America are and how quickly I have come to forget this fact. The longer I'm here, the more comfortable I become, and the more I tend to think that Bulgaria and America may not be that unalike. That is not, however, true. It was slightly fun to also be the one that they had to rely on, since I know the language and live here. I think it was hard for my mom to give up that control, especially to her youngest (and probably in her head, most naive child). On the whole, it was wonderful having them here. Turkey was fantastic and I just got to relax and eat incredibly good food. it was the perfect vacation. Oh, Efes was cool too. Romania, only a day trip to Bucharest, was very fun. I have to admit though, for a person missing the Western world, th most exciting part was going to H&M and Ikea for me. It was also good to go to Romania, since I felt pretty lame that I could see it daily but had never actually been there. Now I can proudly point across the river and say, "Romania, yeah, I hit that!" (which is exactly what I say pretty much everyday).

May:

• Class change! I started to teach 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 grades on my own. The English teacher that replaced my other counterpart, got fed up and left. On her behalf, the students were awful to her, and I could only help so much, not being the lead teacher. On my students behalf, she was the fourth teacher that had that year, and she didn't speak English well...or at all. Classes became much easier for me, after she left. Some classes drove me crazy, but I have come to find out that I can teach high school and junior high. I taught them until the end of the school year. It was probably one of the hardest jobs I have ever done, and probably one of the hardest jobs I will ever do.
• Holidays Galore! St. George's Day (May 6), Culture and Alphabet Day (May 24), 12th Grade Graduates (May 12), 1st grade finishes (May 20?). St. George's day is big in Bulgaria because so many people are named George (well at least the Bulgarian version of George- Georgi), that pretty much every family celebrates by roasting and eating a lamb. I went back to my host family's house. It was delicious. (side note: I can't actually think of anyone in my host family's family named George....maybe everyone just celebrates...). Alphabet Day-refer back to last years, same thing. OH! Another note I hit the 1 year mark in Bulgaria!!!! 12th graders graduated, I felt like a proud parent, since I taught them all year. The 11th grade class put on a presentation for them, which was very heart-warming, and I had to avoid eye contact with my students, to avoid crying. No actual cap and gown ceremony, with speakers, and speeches...which was weird. America wins for 12th grade graduation. 1st Grade, which I also taught, moved on to....they grow so quickly. Being a teacher, and probably having taught so many classes this past year, I feel like I have hundreds of kids and I am kinda taken aback by how much I care for them, love them, and am proud of them. My students mean the world to me.

June:

SCHOOL FINISHES!!!!

• The end of school is so different here. There are not any parties (besides my classes, because I wanted parties). There is no huge celebration. There is just a rush to finish the book, the work, and the tests. I will not go into grading, because I have no nice things to say about it (for more details, you may send a message and I will pour out everything, but on a public forum, I don't think it is suitable). Another thing! NO YEARBOOK! Only a small book of pictures for the 12th graders. This is a sad. America wins for better end of the school year.

July:

AUBG Summer Camp! oh, and I also hurt myself....kinda really badly. Darn you, interpretive dance!

• The story of how I hurt myself....kinda really badly. It was early July, and my friend asked if I could be the MC for the PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) talent show we were having at our Mid-service Training. I, of course, said yes. Having very little talent myself, but thoroughly enjoying being the center of attention, I decided to do a recap of our first year of service through dances in between the acts, complete with costume changes. Unfortunately I only got to our first three months at site, as I interpretive danced my way to disaster, having got really into Celine Dion's "All by Myself." Anyways, I landed a leap wrong and totally messed up my ankle. I heard a crunch right away and it started swelling immediately. Luckily, I had both the PC doctors in the room, and within minutes, had ice, doctors attention, and rakia to make me feel better. I also got medication that night for the pain and ride (in a car-high life) to Sofia. I got X-rays, the following day, because they were sure I broke something, but I ended up just tearing some tendons and ligaments, and general ankle stuff. I was taken care of really well, really fast, and was able to proceed down to Blagoevgrad the following day without any delays. I also got to wear a boot, the exact same kind as I had when I broke my leg back in college. I was very lucky that I didn't hurt myself more, and could walk and continue to teach at the camp as planned. I'm thinking God had a little something to do with that...
• AUBG Camp. The camp is at the American University in Blagoevgrad, and is an educational camp in English, for students all over Europe. We had students from Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Azerbaijan, Albania, Kosovo, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Krgystan, and more (I can't remember them all....). I taught drama. It was absolutely fantastic! I loved teaching drama. My students were incredible, I had two groups of thirty students each, and taught them for 3 hours a day. It was so much fun. They got to learn the basics of acting, directing, and play-writing. Each group wrote their own play and created their own characters. I can't get over how wonderful it was! The students were all middle-school and high school and I loved teaching them. It reaffirmed my desire to teach and my excitement with working with students to help them come out of their shells. They were incredibly talented. We also did afternoon and evening activities with them, like bowling, billiards, relay races, waterpark, gym, improv games, and even took them to see the last Harry Potter film. The camp was great. I feel lucky to have been apart of it.

August:

Some Fails, and Some Wins

• FAIL: I had planned to do some summer camps in my town for my students during August. One was going to be an Art Camp and the other an Eco Camp. From my tone, you can probably guess that didn't happen and you'd be right. Unfortuantely, I live in a town whose population is two-thirds students, who all leave during the summer. I had no students. Camp Fail. Hopefully, we can have these "camps," or at least the activities I planned at another time....oh well.
• WIN: Spain! I went to Spain. It was AWESOME. It was so good, that I have decided that I am likely learning the wrong language (who would've thought right?-Bulgarian is so practical, especially for future jobs...) and should learn Spanish and move to Spain. Barcelona, is beautiful and I met some great people there and had an absolutely amazing time there-after I left I was more tired than I have ever been in my life but it was worth it. Then I went to Malaga, and relaxed. It was the greatest vacation ever conceived. I just ate, went to the beach, read, ate, drank, relaxed, and soaked up the wonderful sun. Plus, Western Europe blew my mind! My stove, oven, electric kettle, coffee maker, and microwave were terrific! They work so wonderfully! Plus, I had a bath tub and access to ethnic foods like: Indian, British, Mexican, Chinese, and more and things like BEEF steaks! I realize that this sounds sarcastic but truthfully, this is what impressed me most about Spain. What a wonderful country with incredible modern conveniences! Aw...the things that you learn to live without....

September:

School.

• School started. (Sept. 15) While Bulgaria loses for the last day of school, Bulgaria wins for the first day of school. Like last year, the ceremony was fantastic and lunch afterwards with the teachers was great. It was a sunny, beautiful day. Plus, I got to show off my horo dancing skillz. (btw-I got to take off my boot in the middle of August, and though it still is not back to normal by the first day of school, it was good enough).
• School. This year, I am teaching 5, 6, 7, grades on my own, and it is so easy. I don't have the discipline problems I had last year. The students were given the rules right away, they understand exactly how I give grades, they work hard, and I am renewing my faith in education. However, I was told that a new English teacher would be taking over the classes in November. Since I am a volunteer, and do not want to take the work of a qualified Bulgarian, if there is a qualified English teacher, my school must hire them. So, as much as I love teaching on my own, love my classes, and feel like a successful teacher, all I can do is hope that the new teacher sees that my very unusual (for Bulgaria) methods are working and continues them. This is going to be hard to hand over my classes to her. SO, much prayer.
• HIKE! 7 Rila Lakes! Ok, so as bad as this is for my non-outdoorsy image, I went on a hike to see the 7 Rila lakes, and discovered I really love hiking and the outdoors. The 7 Rila lakes are these lakes way up in the mountains near the Rila Monastery, which were created by melted glaciers and each one is shaped like a body part, which is rather creepy thinking about it now... Anyways, some Peace Corps friends and I hiked up during a weekend and it was beautiful, plus we had the most perfect weather. It was a delight. Unfortunately, I discovered that I am allergic to the outdoors and all things nature, and had horrible allergies, that for my sake waited until I made it down from the mountain. I like hiking. Peace Corps has made me more, well..... like Peace Corps. I'm gonna end up being a granola-eating, birkenstock and tye-dye wearing hippie. I will, however, continue to shave my legs and arm pits-you're welcome.

October:

Birthday!

• My Birthday (Oct. 4) was terrific! Unfortunately I didn't really get to celebrate my birthday with other volunteers this year as we don't get paid much and there were so many other birthdays around this time....BUT I got to celebrate in my town with my theatre group, bulgarian friends, and my colleagues. Pretty much, we ate, we drank, we danced (a lot), we sang, there were flowers, there were brownies, there were muffins, there were presents, and there were chocolates (a lot). It was a great last birthday in Bulgaria and probably the last one where I will find myself drinking rakia and horo-dancing the night away.

Spanning the Months!!!!

• Theatre Group! Since my birthday last year, I have been rehearsing with a theatre group, here in Svishtov. We performed, in Bulgarian of course, (which acting in another language is significantly harder than acting in your native tongue-hard to figure out emphasis...), a Greek play called, "Looking for a Liar" (I don't actually know the exact English translation of the title). We had many performances throughout April, May, June, and strangely again in October. The days and times were very scattered, and I was usually just phoned or told, "Oh, Katie, we will perform this Thursday at 7pm." We went to two theatre festivals, one in Knezha and the other in Lom. Being a part of this group has made this past year wonderful! They are my favorite people. Theatre people, everywhere in the world are the same: crazy yet full of life and very fun to be around. I am looking forward to working on the new show this year! I still find the rehearsal and performance schedules here baffling. We spend all year on one show, the rehearsals are laid back, don't last long, often involve whiskey or other types of alcohol, and we perform sporadically whenever we feel ready. It's a very Bulgarian process.

Ok, YAYA! You reached the end! I'll try to not wait another 8 months or so to update this again...but we'll see.

Where I am now.....

I am frustrated often by things outside of my control, which is probably due to cultural differences, but am trying to let things go and enjoy my last year in Bulgaria. I definitely have hard days when I want to give up and go home, but God is doing an awesome job of comforting me and reminding me to relax. Luckily, more often than not, I am in a really good place. My life primarily consists of teaching, my english clubs, working at the kindergarten, and planning future holidays (Halloween, thanksgiving, etc.). I am exhausted every week day and go to bed early. However, it's a good exhaustion. I'm hoping to just be someone who will be remembered of fondly here in Bulgaria, so I'm trying the best to be an Awesome person and role model for my students (which is also exhausting-being awesome is hard...). Anyways, I could use prayer for my day to day life and living as an example (I definitely need help with this). YAY! UPDATED. WIN!

THE FIRE and other Such Stories!

January.

Cold. Flucation. VAC meeting. End of first semester. Started teaching high school.

February.

Still cold. Language Weekend. Valentine's Day. Fire.

It is definitely winter as things are rather uneventful here but regardless, I have been extremely busy. Let me bring you up to speed. My main counterpart (the English teacher at my school for 7th-12th grade), has been out since the first week we got back from winter break and will be out for the rest of the year. Therefore, instead of staying with my current classes, I am taking on many more to help out my school. Plus, I am really good at speaking English, which is pretty necessary (not completely necessary....as they replaced my counterpart with someone who does not speak English...well...or at all.) Anyways, I currently teach alongside the other English teachers in 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. It's been interesting since I am obviously better at working with the younger kids but I have realized that high schoolers can be fun too, just not as fun. However, the difference in ability in my older classes is incredible. I'm finding it difficult to incorporate all my students when some are close to fluent and others don't understand the simplest phrases like, "How are you?" This is definitely an enormous learning experience. It is has been entirely exhausting.

Anyways, in January, Bulgaria invented the greatest idea EVER: flucation. This is a vacation from school for all students and teachers due to a flu epidemic to keep people healthy. Freakin' Brilliant. I will be bringing it back to U.S.A..

Language Weekend. I got together with some fellow PCVs and studied for a whole weekend. 100 points to me. Still struggling and wish that I could speak with more ease but unfortunately the perfectionist in me makes me shy and will not allow me to speak unless I know that I am saying everything perfectly. Dag. Definitely being in a play in Bulgarian is helping me, as well as making Bulgarian friends....and working with the new English teacher...who I have to speak in Bulgarian to...since she doesn't know English. I will be fluent...some day.

Valentine's Day. Also, A WINE HOLIDAY!!! I made many many pink heart cookies for all my colleagues at school, some for my neighbors, and also some for my fellow actors (but then rehearsal was cancelled and I ate them all by myself). How brilliant of Bulgaria to celebrate Valentine's day as a wine holiday as well. It's like saying to all the single people, "You can celebrate too! Go home and drink wine by yourself without feeling like a fool; you're just celebrating the wine holiday!" And I did. I also made pork cooked in red wine with quince jelly and cinnamon with a splash of orange juice! It was really good. REALLY GOOD. The weekend before I went and celebrated with some other fine single ladies. Glamour Shots!

The Fire. The Full Story. Oh Bulgaria. Last night after returning from downtown and the supermarket with groceries, I walked into my apartment building to find it full of smoke and no electricity. At first I was confused. Then a neighbor who entered the building shortly after me, said something about fire, turned on a flashlight and ran up the stairs. Thus, I concluded that there was in fact a fire somewhere in my building....and that's when I thought, ohhhhhh crap! I hope it wasn't me....what did I leave on this time. As I went up the stairs, closer to my apartment, the smoke got thicker. I reached my door, opened it and got inside. Thank God, it was not me. But there was still a massive amount of smoke in the hallway coming from somewhere in the building. So I put my groceries down, packed my laptop, a croissant, a banana, my phones, my wallet, a book and underwear in a bag and hastily made my way out of my building. I am ridiculously afraid of fire, as many of you know. I was not concerned that my apartment would catch on fire since I live in a cement block, but I thought I might be out for the night....you know, being that there was a fire and all in my building. I was surprised by the fact that when I got outside, not more of my neighbors were also outside. Only two in fact, that were standing, smoking cigarettes. There was also no fire truck. That's Bulgaria for you...I thought to myself. My neighbors were looking up and that's when I saw the firelight up on the seventh floor. I said to one of them, "fire," and she replied, "yep." And that was all. I was a little concerned by the lack of concern of everyone else. By this time though, I was actually pretty hungry, so I decided I would go eat somewhere in the meantime. I was just going to call the Peace Corps and alert them of my situation but then I thought I would call and ask my old counterpart (who is also good friends with my neighbor) to get the status of what was going on. While out at dinner, she called me back and told me that there was, in fact no fire in my building, but rather one of my neighbors' fireplaces had gotten backed up and they had to let out all the smoke (which was a ridiculous amount-seriously thick black smoke...creeping under my door). Simultaneously, the electricity in my part of town went out. Therefore the firelight, I saw on the 7th floor was probably just candles due to no electricity. And I'm assuming that the neighbor that said yes, when I said fire, probably thought I said, "smoking," which she was doing at the time. The words are similar in Bulgarian. So, to sum it up, Bulgaria is not unconcerned about fire, just unconcerned about smoke.

GO BIG OR GO HOME!!!

I used to have a shirt that said, "Go Big or Go Home" I wore it while I was in Indonesia, but have no recollection of what happened to it afterwards....Anyways, I decided that was model for the Holidays. Either I was going to make them extra-fantastic here or I would get so home sick that I would go home....SO I WENT BIG! (I actually got tubber in the process too...which was not what I had originally envisioned as "Go Big" but whatever it will keep me warmer this winter).THANKSGIVING! SUPER AWESOME!

On actual Thanksgiving I had to work...lame. So, I worked and as soon as I got off, I cooked like crazy. I invited some Bulgarian friends over and Ben (my site-mate aka the other American in my town).

I made all the traditional stuff like mashed potatoes, rol

ls, stuffing, green beans, gravy, pumpkin dish thing, and turkey (actually I just bought 2 pre-cooked chickens 'cause I didn't have the time or money for turkey but 2 chickens=1 turkey--I'm pretty sure). Ben brought over 2 pies: apple and pumpkin, and they were delicious (seriously fantastic!). I asked my Bulgarian friends to bring drinks or a dessert and ended up with 2 liters of Rakia and 2 liters of beer, banitsa, and cake. It was lots of fun and a great way to show American culture (Goal #2 of Peace Corps!-I rocked being a volunteer!). Seriously, it was great. Super great.

Thanksgiving with fellow PCV's. I headed over to my friend Mary's house on the following saturday and again had a wonderful thanksgiving with other volunteers and some Bulgarian friends. It was very fun and I got to make stuffing again (homemade-apple and sausage-my own recipe-I'm turning into a 1950's housewife). I love the other volunteers. Any time I get to spend with them is always fun and fantastic. The highlight of the meal may have been the macaroni and cheese-made by Evan.

CHRISTMAS!

At the School-Not that big. Taught my younger kids (3rd grade) Frosty the Snowman. Taught the older kids (6th & 7th grades) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. No actual parties but I organized a holiday game challenge for my students, and made them all christmas cards. OH! and they put on a super long Christmas concert which was so random, a little awkward, a little inappropriate (think Mean Girls-Christmas concert), and very fun. I also bought my Christmas tree there (not actually a christmas tree but rather a Bulgarian Hitting Stick-you hit people with it and get presents!-See Pictures).

Teacher's Christmas Party- Very fun. Lots of food, dancing, drinking, and prizes! I also got a fortune that says that I will get a new car this year (which is somewhat pointless-since I'm not allowed to drive in Bulgaria...I'm hoping this doesn't mean that I'm going back to the states). 6:30pm-2am. Favorite Part-My co-worker pulling out two plastic bottles for us-one filled with homemade rakia and the other with homemade wine-keep in mind that the party was at a fancy restaurant. A-mazing.

Theater Group Christmas Party-Also, very fun. Also lots of food, drinking, dancing, and at the same fancy restaurant! My fortune at this one said that I was going to win a large jackpot in the lottery (again-somewhat pointless since I don't think I'm allowed to play the lottery in Bulgaria-but this does explain how I pay for my new car). At restaurant-7:30ish-12:30am. At bar afterwards 12:30-3:30am. School night-bummer. Favorite part- My fellow thespian pulling out a plastic bottle filled with homemade rakia for us-again we where eating out at a fancy restaurant. We keep it classy here in Bulgaria. I love it.

Christmas Eve-FONDUE! I made them sit and eat fondue with me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and they like me enough to say that it tasted wonderful and they enjoyed it as well. I'm pretty much in love with my training site group. Oh Big Booty.

Christmas Day-Hannah's House. Gift exchange. Lots of food. Cake. Apple Cider. Peppermint Bark. I love the other volunteers. It was like Christmas at home but less fighting during the games. It was really great and am so thankful that God surrounded me which such amazing people here in Bulgaria. I missed my family...but that is why God created skype. Certainly different, but some kind of wonderful.

Northern Ireland & the WESTERN WORLD- I made my night-bus from Varna to Sofia, made my plane to London, and my flight to Belfast. Safe and sound and on Boxing Day. I MET MY NEPHEW RHYS!!!!!! He smiled at my right away (I'm assuming because he knew I was awesome right off the bat!-or because I look so much like my sister...). He is so frickin' cute-I wasn't sure about this one since my sister Brittany was not the most attractive baby....Anyways, the western world blew my mind!

Exciting things in Northern Ireland:

-Meeting my Nephew Rhys for the first time

-Seeing some family (Brittany, Andrew, Andrew's Family, My Mom)

-The enormous amount of presents that my mom brought me (a suitcase+ full!-sweatshirt, shoes, tortillas, spices, tampons, dryer sheets, football, calcium chews, chocolate, bedding, whiteboard markers, and more-I'm so thankful for my mom being willing to pack me all these things!)

-Jenny and Johnny's Wedding!!! So wonderful and Jenny was gorgeous!

-Being surrounded by English speakers

-Finding clothes that fit me that didn't make me feel ginormous (M in NI and XL-XXXXXXL in BG-no joke)

-Coffee!!! Vanillas Lattes, Gingerbread Lattes, Soy Chais, Hazelnut Lattes, etc.-WONDERFUL! (they each took me about 5 hours each to drink b/c they were so large-ask Brittany or Andrew-true thing)

-Delicious Food! Ethnic Food! So many choices! (yeah-feel a little tubby now)

-Everyone drives everywhere

-Most people live in houses and there were NO communist block apartments

-Cadbury Chocolate! So delicious!

Being in Northern Ireland was like being a kid in a candy shop-I wanted to buy everything, speak to everyone (generally I speak to anyone that speaks English in Bulgaria), and eat everything. It was marvelously overwhelming! America is going to completely blow my mind when I return. Yikes.

Anyways, generally, as in always, God is completely wonderful. "Sometimes there is so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is going to cave in."

Oh and this is my street at the moment. It gets seriously cold here.