Integrating

I enjoy every moment of running in this town. Maybe it is the beautiful scenery that accompanies me as I glide slowly down the dirt stricken path in the local stadium. Maybe it is the sun that glistens off the broken football (soccer) goalie stations. Maybe it is horses, donkeys, and sometimes goats that feast on the overgrown grass. Or maybe it is the numerous children that accompany me on my daily run and call me out on the streets to find out the time of my next run.

Today for instance on my way to language class two kids yelled across the street to ask me about my next run. I yelled back that I would run at shest (six in Bulgarian). I had only ran one other time before this so I was a little surprised that they even noticed. One of the children yelled back, in broken English, something to the extent of “you said you would run yesterday and you didn’t”. At that moment I knew I better get myself to the stadium at shest or suffer the consequences.

The stadium is about two minutes from my house so I usually run there for warm up, do a lap, stretch and run 40 minutes to an hour. Today I ran to the stadium and was in the process of doing a lap when I noticed 12 other feet on the path with me. Apparently the two boys that I had talked to earlier brought some friends with them. All the children ran about a lap and slowly died off until it was just me. It tickled my insides to see the turnout!!!! I felt special and part of the community especially after struggling through language class earlier today.

Learning this language is turning out to be very difficult but at the same time rewarding. I thirst for the small victories of saying a sentence or word correctly (or semi correctly) to express myself to my host family and other Bulgarians. Sometimes I feel like a child unable to talk. Imagine being in a world where everything that is normal to you isn’t normal. You are the outsider, the abnormal person, the weirdo!!!! People stare at you because you are foreign and strange. Its kind of exciting and annoying at the same time. Only time is the cure for culture shock. So I am patiently waiting to adjust. That was definitely a tangent…

Anyhow, so the children at the stadium joined me for about a lap and went to play football (soccer) whilst I ran. After a while my little host brother joined me and ran/walked until I was done. Upon completing my run I sat down to catch my breath and the six children plus more (ranging from seven thru sixteen) ran towards me speaking Bulgarian. I couldn’t understand them so I simply smiled and said “da” (yes in Bulgarian) until my host brother joined me and translated. They wanted to know where I was from and to hear me speak ingleski (English). They also wanted to touch my hair and look at my mp3 player. I didn’t let them touch my hair but I told them about my mp3 player. We talked on and on for about 30 minutes.

I started to get cold and said to the children “burr it is cold” and grabbed my arms and rubbed them up and down. They laughed hysterically until my brother translated. One of the teenage boys did the sweetest thing and offered me his shirt. His actions remind me of typical Bulgarian hospitality. The people are generally very welcoming and giving.

I am so glad to have spent the evening socializing with the kids. They made me feel so comfortable in their community. As my host brother and I walked home he said “they really liked you”. I kinda smiled to myself because it meant a lot to me. I am tired!!!! Bedtime….

Bus Again
Originally uploaded by latsyrc_81.

Click on the picture for more pictures!!!!

I am finally here

I made it to Bulgaria and everything seems to be going fine. The plane ride was awesome. I have bumps in the road here and there with adjusting to culture but nothng to write home about. For the first three months in PC you are expected to stay with a host family to learn the language and culture, which is great. My host family consist of a baba (grandmother), her two daugthers, and three grandchildren. All of them are really cool. After three months I will move to a permanent site to do work.

Today I told my host mom that I was going for a walk to see another PCV. She said it was fine and proceeded to give me directions on where to go. Of course, it was in Bulgarian and I could not totally understand her. I left the house and proceeded to walk down that street when i heard someone yell "Crystal". I turned around and there she was pointing at me to keep straight. Apparently, she had followed me outside of the house and wanted to make sure I knew where I was going.

I walked in the direction she told me and heard my name yelled again and she pointed at me to make a left now. I made the left and turned again and she was waving at me with the OK sign. She stood on the corner to make sure I got there ok and than walked back to the house. I thought this was really nice of her and felt really warm inside. She actually cared enough to follow me until I got to my location safely. That was awesome!!!!

I like it here..... Pictures are still coming soon.

The Haves and Have Nots

This is something I wrote Saturday, July 30. Pictures are coming soon...

Friday I leave for training in the Peace Corps. Friday I leave for training in the Peace Corps. OHH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! FRIDAY I LEAVE FOR TRAINING IN THE PEACE CORPS. Months have gone by and I still have not fully thought about what joining the Peace Corps means to me. This summer has been an intensive learning experience. I spent about a month and a half in Boston working with privileged kids and now I am in Troy, NY working with kids that literally come from the slums. The organizations I worked with had similar purposes but targeted two different audiences. The organization in Boston aimed at making students aware of the medical field so that they can fully participate in pursuing their desire to become doctors. The kids actually paid to come to the forum and had high expectations for the future. They knew they were the cream of the crop and actually they were recruited to come to the forum because of their high scores. The other organization also recruits students for their scores but they intentionally focus on mid-tier students that are not performing at their best. Their main purpose is to get student motivated to want to go to school even though society, peers, teachers, and even parents don’t believe they have what it takes to succeed in college let alone get into college. The students do not pay to come to the workshop because they can not afford the cost.

One of my colleagues at the Boston workshops asked the students to raise their hand if they were sure they were going to college. The students chuckled at her question and made the comment that “of course they were going to college because everyone goes to college”. They had no concept of people not furthering their education because they lacked resources. With this in the back of my mind I asked my students in the NY workshop to raise their hand if they were sure they were going to college. Literally one person raised their hand and after a while put it down because they were not totally confident. This shows the disparity in our society between the haves and the haves not, which translates into people of color and white people.

Each of the students I dealt with this summer (the haves and the haves nots) are equally intelligent. The brilliance of teenagers these days blows me away. Both sets of students have so much insight and potential that it breaks my heart to know that more of the have nots will not reach their potential than the haves because they lack resources. This is not to say the wealthy kids don’t have struggles that hinder their growth as people but the struggles of the kids from the slum truly outweighs the experience of the wealthy kids.

These kids come from broken homes. Some of the stories they shared with me this weekend had me in tears for hours. I still can’t get some the horror stories out of my mind. It makes me angry to see and hear about so many horrible situations that teenagers have to experience. Imagine listening to a teenage boy describe being homeless in a shelter and not have food to eat and on top of that losing his mother at a very young age. Image hearing stories about a 16 year old girl whose father stepped out of her life when she was just 5 and never meeting him even though he lives down the block from her. Lastly, think about hearing a kid share the horror of having a gun pulled on him because of gang violence. The contrast between the two groups is amazing.

I believe joining the Peace Corps will help me bring something back to my community. Although I have never lived in “ghetto” I feel that my duty in life is to help people that are from these areas. These are my people because they are people of color that do not have the same opportunities presented to them. I feel that they represent me, my culture, and my heritage. In order to help African Americans and Latinos gain leverage in this country and across the world, educated blacks like me need to start giving back.