Sick and Wet

They say the most common sickness for a PCV is diarrhea, which I am finding to be true. I have been sick this week with the runs and a really bad stomach ache (yea i know it sounds gross). I could not eat or sleep for about three days. The people in my town said that a virus was circulating because of the change in the weather. One other volunteer at my site was sick as well. Today I am 100% healthy. Well maybe not 100% because I still have a little headache and I lost my voice.

I have the funniest story to tell....

One morning my host mother told me she was going out somewhere (i am not too sure where) and left the house early. I was leaving my house to go to language class when i noticed that water was running out of the water fountain in the garden. I attempted to turn it off only the water came out faster and started to spread everywhere. The water began to get bigger and stronger, I was soaked within five minutes.

I panicked because I was the only person in the house and I did not want to be the "American that broke the water fountain". I had no way to reach my host mother so I hysterically called my language instructor. He thought I was deathly ill and came running over to "save me" only to fine me soaked to the bone fighting back water. He looked very relieved to see that I was physically ok and turned the water off from the main unit. He than explained that this was just a minor problem and to make sure that I told my mother about the problem.

Later that afternoon I ran into my host mother in the center of town with my language instructor and he explained in Bulgarian about the water. She said it was not a problem and would have it fixed the next weekend. She laughed about me being nervous and thanked my language instructor for his help.

Ahh another day in Bulgaria,


From underneath the water,

Crystal

Ten Things

I have been in Bulgaria a little over a month and now I understand what it means when they (former PCVs) say “this job is the toughest job that you love”. It is hard being in the Peace Corps yet I am enjoying every moment of it. Life is hard because everyday is different from the next. Sometimes I feel like a complete idiot because I know very little Bulgarian while other days I feel empowered because I made a sentence in a different language and a native person understood me!

I have so much to say but I don’t know where to start or how to share…. I guess I will go back to the ten things I learned about myself in Bulgaria. This is not in any particular order.

I LEARNED THAT…..

1. I can wash clothes on my hands….The volunteer that lived with my host family before me came a couple weekends ago and taught me to wash clothes on my hands. Now I wash my clothes on my hands because I enjoy it most of the time.

2. I can hike…. Last week we hiked through the Rila Mountains. This was a tremendous task indeed. We climbed about 4000 feet to the top of the several mountains, which overlook seven lakes. I was totally excited because this was my first time hiking up mountains. My legs hurt for days but I learned the value of hard work. I linked climbing the mountain to my purpose in life, which gave me the energy to keep going. While we climbed I stopped many times to catch my breath and rest, however, I was always one of the people leading the group. After we climbed the mountains I even climbed a waterfall which was even more difficult with the slippery rocks! I am surprised and proud of myself at the same time. Hiking will be my new hobby!!!! Pictures are available just click on the link.

3. I can wear the same clothes over and over again….The woman I will work with once I officially become a Peace Corps volunteer invited me to stay longer during my permanent sight visit. A permanent sight visit is when a PCV goes to see where they will live for two years once they are officially a volunteer. I will get my volunteer status after 2 ½ months on October 19, 2006!!! Anyhow, she asked me to stay longer and I only had three days of clothes with me. Instead of panicking and running to the store to buy more clothes I simply wore the same outfit a couple times. It wasn’t a big deal at all. In fact wearing the same clothes a couple days in a row isn’t a big deal in Bulgaria.

4. I can catch a bus across country with limited Bulgarian….Once I left my permanent site I had to catch a bus home (to Rila) across the country with another volunteer. It took me about three buses and six hours to get home. We both speak limited Bulgarian but it was exciting figuring out the Bulgarian bus system on our own. During the entire trip I learned patience and that I know more Bulgarian than I think.

5. Sometimes I get annoyed very easily….Speaking of patience sometimes little things really bother me. It could me a comment by someone, the way someone chews their food, or a late bus. I was talking with another PCV and she said she didn’t know how irritated she got with people until she came to Bulgaria. I feel the same way. Sometimes people simply get on my nerves. Other times I am completely fine and oblivious to people’s annoying habits. I am learning patience….

6. I can make homemade pizza….One of our integrating projects was to purchase food from the store and cook a potluck dinner with other volunteers. I decided to make American style pizza and I did….with the help of my host mother. I am a good cook but she insisted on helping me through the entire process. The pizza came out fantastic!!!! I have pictures so click on the picture below.

7. I can use a Turkish toilet….If you don’t know what a Turkish toilet is you are missing out. Essentially it is a hole in the ground. When I first came to Bulgaria I thought that I would not be able to use this type of toilet but now they don’t even faze me. When you have to go you have to go…. I have a picture of this phenomenon click on the link.

8. I look for Black people….Imagine being in a world without Black people? For some of you this is the norm but for me this is abnormal. There are always African Americans near me or that I am in contact with. I thought I was the only one here until about a week ago. I was in a town called Dupnista when I saw a woman with braids in her hair walk by me. I didn’t think much of it because there are a lot of European woman here with braids until I notice the curve in her hips and her light caramel skin tone. I did a double take and yelled for her to stop. She looked at me and smiled. We proceeded to have a conversation in broken English and Bulgarian. Turns out that her father is Nigerian and her mom is Bulgarian. She spoke very little English but smiled a lot and seemed just as happy to see a black American as I was to see a mixed Bulgarian.

I ran into another black person a couple days ago in the town next to my hometown. I was on my way back from my permanent site visit. I saw him as I was going into the bus station to find out where to catch my last bus home. I looked at him and he looked at me. We smiled and I walked up to him to introduce myself. He came to Bulgaria, and I quote, “many years ago, even before I was born from Ethiopia”. He was staying in my town for two more weeks and had seen me walking around before. I think he lives in Northern Bulgaria with his family. He barely spoke English but we caught the bus home together. I even got him to take a picture with me, which, of course, is available through the link. Maybe we will go for coffee one of these days?

9. I love cafés but not coffee… the Coffee here is really strong but the atmosphere in the café is fun. The coffee in Bulgaria makes me high literally I get really dizzy and sick if I drink too much of it. I learned my lesson the hard way. When I first got here I was drinking a shot of espresso at about 8:30am and another coffee at 10am almost everyday until I started to feel dizzy. One day in language class after my second coffee of the day I had to put my head down because the entire room was spinning. One of my peers suggested that I stop drinking so much coffee, and it worked. I drink tea or soda water instead.

10. I miss going out…. I am not a huge club/disco/bar fan but I definitely want to check out the club scene in Bulgaria. I have been so busy with PC people that I haven’t had the opportunity to hang-out anywhere but the cafés.

There are many other things that I learned but I think this blog is long enough. I hope you got some idea of what I have been doing in Bulgaria for the last month or so.

Writing from inside of the café and drinking tea,

Crystal

I made this Pizza

Wow A Month

A lot of things have been happening these past few weeks. I found out my permanent site in the Peace Corps (Veliko Turnovo), I went hiking, and I am getting really close to my host family. When you get a chance please google Veliko Turnovo. I will be working with Nonprofit and youth development.

I have learned ten things about myself since I have been in the Peace Corps. That I can not share with you right now because I am on my way to my site. However, I will have pictures and the ten things next time.

WOW I have been here a MONTH!!!!

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.

Wow! It has been a month since I last worked on my blog. Life in MA is going great so far with some bumps in the road here and there. The people I work with are all wonderful, for the most part. I absolutely love Boston. I feel at home here and I am experiencing so many new things. I have been to Harvard almost five times which has been pretty amazing. I visited BU, UMASS, BC and some other schools that I can’t remember right now. Being in New England makes me want to continue my education once I come back from the Peace Corps.

About two weeks ago a couple co-workers and I went to New Hampshire and Maine for the beach and a clam sandwich. This was our work day! I have decided that clam is my new favorite seafood. You haven’t tasted seafood until you have visited New England!

I finished my Master’s Paper and handed it in to my Prof. He gave it back to me for corrections and now I am trying to beat the clock before I leave for the Peace Corps. I literally have about three weeks left in the U.S.! I can’t believe that I will be in Eastern Europe so soon. How will Bulgarians treat me? Will I learn the language? So many thought are running through my head that I am often distracted, excited, nervous, and anxious at the same time.

I have to get going but here are some picture of the people I work with.

In Boston at the Quincy Market. If you look close enough you can see me and three other people taking the picture.


I went Wellesley Unveristy. This is the school Hilary Clinton graduated from with her BA.

This was a team building excercise we did during training.