first weekend with the fam

My first blog! I never thought I would be a blogger, but I enjoyed reading all the other peace corps blogs so much, and this is the easiest way to keep everyone up to date. So here I am! Where to start? I am officially at my host family's house! Many of my fellow volunteers think that time is flying by, but right now, for me it feels like time has stopped. It's times like this when I am in my room alone that I really start to miss everyone in the states! But I am still very excited about what's to come. So far, I am very happy with my family. No one smokes (a miracle in Europe!) and I love my little sister. She knows a little English from school. Only a few key phrases, but she has helped so much. Without her it would a long, long road ahead. Now it's just along road ahead :) Either way, I'm already starting to feel comfortable around the house, which is always nice.

Last night we went to our neighbors' house. I probably understood about 15 words the entire time we were there... Music Idol, Mariah Carey, America, krastaveetsi (cucumbers), domati (tomatoes), dobray (good), etc. Oh well.

(Oh yeah, they have Music Idol... the Bulgarian version of American Idol. Even the judges are the same. There's a big guy (the Randy), a chick with brown layered hair (the Paula), and an old serious guy (the Simon)).

I'm still getting used to the food! Everything is prepared with LOTS of oil. Last night a very interesting dish was prepared at the neighbors': chopped up hard-boiled eggs, mixed with salt, red pepper, some green spice, and oil and vinegar! Needless to say, I'm definitely going to have to broaden my horizons for the next three months.

Anyhow, what else? In Bulgaria, they shake their head for yes, and nod for no. It is very hard to get used to! Since I can't really speak, I shake and nod more than usual... but I'm always like, "no wait! I meant yest!!" Also, they never wear their shoes in the house. They have slippers that they wear around inside and outside. You have to walk outside and downstairs to get to the bathroom and dining room. The dining room could be mistaken for a bedroom. There is a small table with two chairs, but one side is next to what seems to be a day bed, and that is used as a seat. It was like this at my neighbors' as well, so I a guess this is the typical arrangement.

My family has a few farm animals: chickens, roosters, rabbits, and goats. I'm not really sure what their purpose is at this time.. and I don't know how to ask. Also, they have a dog, Mary, who is so cute and sweet. She looks kind of like a shitszu, but with different hair. There are a lot of stray dogs around here. They bark late into the night. It is so sad to look at them, because they are always very mangy looking. I'm thinking of maybe trying to set up and animal shelter as one of my community/secondary projects.

This is getting so long! It's only because it is my first one though. The rest won't be as tedious... unless people want me to include all the details? We shall see.

Oh yeah, when I was talking a walk yesterday, someone was herding cows down the street! It was so cool, because they totally just followed this old man like the pied piper. He barely had to direct them at all.

Lastly, I have skype now. (I helped my little sister create a skype account and she was sooo excited. At least I helped with something, because I feel useless otherwise!) I'm in the works of getting a head set, but you can message on it, AOL instant messenger style. So add me if you have it: jab324. Bearing in mind that there is a seven hour time difference, so if you get on at 9:00 pm, don't wait up... it'll be 4:00 am here.

Peace(corps) and love!