I braided my friend’s hair today. Its kinda cool because it was my first time braiding a Bulgarian woman’s hair. Her hair turned out extremely well!!! Unfortunately I do not have pictures but as soon as I find someone with a camera I will make them take pictures of her. If you are wandering I braided her hair in cornrows going straight back. Braiding her hair made me want to rebraid my own hair. I am thinking at the end of this month before I go to Italy I will do it. It sucks not having a camera!!! I have been wearing my hair in a curly afro thingy that is just gorgeous!!! You must see it but yea the camera situation. I can not afford to buy a new camera at the moment because of the Italy trip and my plans to go home August/September.

I plan to go home to visit soon! My twin sis is moving to a new apartment (I can help her move and we can spend time together), my brother Chris will be in Chicago for a short visit, and my friend is getting married. I think it’s a wonderful time to go home. Actually I just got really excited! Can you guess why? When I go home I am going to the beauty salon to have a cut and trim for the wedding. Hair hair hair. I love wearing my hair in different styles.

Work Stuff….

Tomorrow I have to teach the children a song in English. These are the kids I teach during the summer because they attend the Center’s summer camp. I love teaching them most of the time but it can be a little overwhelming because I am not a trained teacher. Actually I think I am getting better and better everyday because the children are starting to remember things I taught them from a previous lesson. Wahooo!!! I thank God for giving me wisdom and the ability to adapt to different situations in Bulgaria. Sometimes I am called to do various things that are out of my scope. However, I am able to complete the task successfully and learn something about myself in the process. This is the Peace Corps experience right?

Wow this is going to get longer than I thought. I just thought about a situation that occurred this past Friday. I was sitting at a table in a local pub with people I met last weekend. They were all pretty strange people (to say the least). Actually I think they were a part of some cult group or another. One of the guys to my left was someone new so he started to ask me the typical questions people ask when I meet them for the first time “Where are you from?”, “Do you like Bulgaria?”, “What are you doing in Bulgaria?”. I can pretty much communicate all of these answers in Bulgarian without blinking an eye because so many people have asked me these questions. So I gave the guy my normal speech. Afterwards he listened politely than he asked “What is your purpose here?”. My response was to repeat what I had said previously but in a different way. He then looked me in the eye and really started to freak me out. He said “No seriously what is your purpose in Bulgaria?” “People don’t travel this far across the world without a purpose”. My response was to turn to my friend (the girl whose hair I braided) and ask her to translate the conversation so that I would have a better understanding of what he was asking. I wanted to be sure he did not think I was a part of some government hidden group or something. Also the reason I did this is because I sensed evil from this person and needed a break from talking to him. It was as if he was tainting me because I believe that God has sent me to Bulgaria for a specific purpose. In fact the guy even mentioned my purpose in being here (which was not a part of my speech) before I turned away. He actually laughed at me as if my purpose was nothing. I have never felt so much evil and craziness in Bulgaria. When we left the pub my friend told me everything that the people were saying in Bulgarian and I realized that...well lets just say those people are def not people to hang out with.

waiting for the long flight home and liking Bulgaria at the same time,

Crystal

Ohh P.S. This is the lesson I am teaching tomorrow. Zoo animals! The song is really cool. http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-zoo.htm