I will miss u...

My friend just got Medically seperated, meaning she had to leave the Peace Corps for medical reasons. I am so sad to see her go. We became very close over the past six months because she was the only other black female volunteer in Bulgaria. There is an AA male here but his experience is somewhat different from mine. Dont get me wrong I have ALOT of Peace Corps friends and Bulgarian friends that I am very close to, however, she truly understood my perspective on life in Bugaria. It was her I called and visited when people yelled the "N" word to me on the streets in my town. Ohh well life goes on. She needs to get healthy anyway. If you are reading this dear friend know that you are missed in Bulgaria. Love Ya!

thinking about my dear friend,

Crystal

The sad realities of Death :-(

Wow this week has been filled with TRAMA. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer was found dead in the Philippines after she went on a hike. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_as/philippines_american_missing

On top of that the killings in Virginia are so sad. So many lives were affected my one person’s decision. Who is to blame? Can we really blame the administrators of Virginia Tech? One lone troubled student committed this crime. How sad so sad. I find it strange that I can relate to so many issues back home while I am so far away. I am American. The fact that I am so far away makes me think more about the situation. This was a very sad week indeed.

By the way the date went fine….

Thinking about the workings of life,

Crystal

Is this a DATE?

Wow I just got back from a very funny dinning experience at the restaurant down the street from my apartment. I was supposed to go to church today but when I got there no one was at the building. Instead of complaining about the situation and feeling disappointed I decided to walk through my beautiful city for some fresh air.

Towards the end of this walk I started to feel a little hungry for the food from the restuarant near by apartment. I thought about exactly what I wanted cappuccino, toast, and mish mash. (Bulgarian food made with eggs, tomatoes, red peppers, serene, and some other spices). The moment I walked into the restaurant all heads turned in my direction as usual. People will literally stop chewing the food in their mouth to catch a glimpse of me. Every time this happens I try to keep my head up and glance around the room catching the eyes of various people along the way. I do this because I want to make sure they are aware that I am aware of their staring. Usually they look away. Let me stop taking about it because this is one of the things I do not like about Bulgaria or my town.

As I walked pass the bar I caught the eye of a waiter. He looked at me like he was nervous so I smiled (I am learning never to smile at people I do not know) which in turn made him smile. I walked to a booth. Once I sat down at the table and disengaged by purse from around my neck my waiter came to take my order. Of course it was the guy from the bar and he seemed a little nervous. Actually he wouldn’t get very close to me. He stood about three feet from my booth when he asked me if I wanted a Bulgarian or English menu. I thought his offer with the menus was really nice considering the waiters and waitresses always give me English menus. In retrospect I bet he asked me about the menus to see if I could speak Bulgarian. My response was that I did not want a menu because I knew what I wanted. I placed my order and he double checked that he understood me three times before walking away to tell the cook.

I ate my mish mash and drank my cappuccino slowly until I was completely full. The waiter came back to my table about three times to make sure everything was ok. When I asked him for my check he looked disappointed that I was done so quickly. I can not eat slowly for the life of me. I think I was in the restaurant a total of 45 minutes, which is very quick for Bulgaria. The waiter also seemed a little upset because I had about 1/3 of the mish mash still left on my plate. In fact he asked me if I liked the food. I was really caught off guard because he looked really hurt that I did not eat all of my food. Of course, I assured him that the food was great but that I was full and couldn’t eat anymore. I paid my bill and waited for him to bring me my change. He brought me my change and kind of stood at the table as if he was waiting for something. At that point I said ok maybe he wants a tip so I left a lev (the equivalent of a dollar). Some of you might think I should have left a tip from the start, but this is Bulgaria. Only foreigners tip and Bulgarians (for the most part) do not tip. He looked at me again and walked away.

At this point my thoughts turned to work and the projects I have coming up for Monday and I made my way to the exit. By the way, April 20th-22 is Earth Day. I want my organization to get a group of young people together to clean a park. Anyhow, once I walked out the door of the restaurant I heard someone say the Bulgarian word for “excuse me”. I turned and there was my waiter again. I thought that I might have left something in the restaurant so I started checking my pockets and purse. He looked at me and said “Do you like to drink coffee?” Well at least that is what I understood because he was speaking in Bulgarian. I said in Bulgarian “Yeah, I love Bulgarian coffee”. He looked at me and said “Do you want to drink coffee with me?” I did not understand why he asked me this question so I said “sure now”? In my head I was thinking “oh goodness now he thinks I am hungry because I did not finish my mish mash. Peace Corps wants us to integrate so I will go”. I made my way to the door of the restaurant because I literally thought he wanted to have coffee then. He then looked at me and said “I am at work now but how about tomorrow at 5pm?” I looked at him and before thinking said “Da” (yes in Bulgarian)”. But I was really trying to buy time to understand what he was saying. "Da" is a filler word that I use to translate Bulgarian into English in my head. He than asked me my name and told me his. After I realized the mistake he started talking about meeting in front of the post office (central meeting spot in my town) at 5:30pm not 5pm because he needed a little time after work. I did not have the heart (I am nice sometimes) to tell him the mistake because he was so nervous asking me. Nonetheless it looks like I am meeting him tomorrow at 5:30pm. I will keep you all posted….

thinking of mish mash (not the Bulgarian dish),

Crystal

Easter baby

Easting
Originally uploaded by latsyrc_81.

Orthodox Easter is around the corner! Going to the host fam for the holidays the first time in six months. Everyone here seems to go to the village (the place they were born or family is from) for Easter. They eat lamb for the holidays so I cant wait. I love lamb!!!! I haven’t eaten meat or milk products in Bulgaria for about 2½ months so it’s going to be interesting. I hope my host family is impressed with my Bulgarian skills. Last time I talked to them I could barely say my name!!!! Happy Easter!


I have some new pictures so check out my link!!!
The pictures are from my friend's birthday party last weekend. It was a blast. These are a couple people that were at the party.

Rock Music and Me?

I have been here since August 2006 which would make it 8 months! If you look above you will see that I have 18 more months left in the Peace Corps that is only a year and a half! I am starting to think that the time here will go by very quickly and before I know it I will be on a plane out of Bulgaria. Anyhow, before we jump forward to me leaving Bulgaria I am still here and I want to share a story about something that happened on Monday.

Monday I had to run home from work to get some personal items for lunch. I grabbed what I needed from my apartment, ate a little food, and walked to the corner store to get some sunflower seeds. I was feeling real good b/c I was completing so many tasks. The little corner store, which is really like a tiny hallway, was crowded with about four people. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a 6’5” 200 lbs man grab something from the freezer and put it back. He than walked towards me and that’s when I noticed his clothes! He had on a dingy white shirt with wet stains all over it. His black pants were stained with white and green guck that looked like dried urine. I took a couple deep breathes so that I didn’t have to smell him and waved him to stand in front of me. I smiled at him to cover up the fact that I didn’t want him to be near me. (I know this sounds mean but it is the brutal truth). He smiled back and we waited for the two people in front of him to purchase their items.

The entire time we were in line I was listening to Fantasia’s “Hood boy” on my mp3 player trying to get hyped to go back to work. When his turn came to pay I noticed that he didn’t have any items to purchase. I took one earplug from my ear to hear the conversation he was having with the saleswoman. He wanted coffee from the coffee machine but he only had a 10 leva bill. The hand he moved towards the cashier was stained with dirt and white crumbs. He was asking her for change. I thought this was another ploy for a homeless person to get coffee for free so I offered him the change in my hand. (You can take the person out of Chicago but you cant take the Chicago out of the person…hahaha). I figured that since my New Year’s resolution was to give more than I received it was proper for me to give him 0.20 stotinki (penny) for coffee. He looked at me as if I were God and refused to accept my offer. He thanked me but eventually the cashier gave him change. I walked back to work without giving him a second thought.

On my way home from work I was listening to my MP3 player again minding my own business. I reached my door and something told me to turn around. The man from the corner store was behind me! My heart started to beat a little faster and I could feel the sweat trickle down my back. I felt like every nerve in my body was alert. I stopped what I was doing and said hello (in Bulgarian). He did a double take and walked closer. The first thing I noticed was the fact that he didn’t look homeless anymore. His clothes were clean and neat. In fact he looked like a rocker dude. He walked closer (a little too close for my comfort) and proceeded to apologize for being dirty earlier. Apparently he works at the restaurant on top of the corner store. He then asked me what I am doing in Bulgaria and my purpose here. I didn’t feel comfortable telling him where I worked (he already knew where I lived) so I said I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria for two years. Afterwards we had this conversation about rock music for about five minutes in front of my doorstep. He had this random DVD of his friend’s rock music that he insisted I hold. He invited me to one of their concerts and I am thinking about going.

Trying to discover the “rock” side of me?

Crystal