I think the main thing I will take with me from my peace corps experience is patience. There is a LOT of waiting around.... about things that I consider pretty important, too. This past Monday I finally found out where my permanent site will be! Drum Roll..... Hooray for Kyustendil!! (Кюстендил)
My visit was amazing. When I first found out, I was honestly a little dissapointed. It was a little anticlimactic. There is a training group there right now, a volunteer from a previous group, and it's only one hour from where I am currently living. Basically, on the surface it seemed like it was everything I specifically requested NOT to have. BUT, after visiting, my worries have been cast aside and I am thrilled to move in a short month's time.
A little about Kyustendil. It is in a valley at the foot of the mountains. I'm so excited to still have mountains all around me, because they are my favorite part of this country! I will be teaching English in a math and science school, and I will be working with 8th and 9th grade. The kids were so much fun to talk to. They wanted to know everything about me and America. I got asked ten million random questions, and I had a blast getting to know a little bit about them. They asked for my email and my Skype name, and two of the students requested to be my friend on Skype the next day! Overall, the kids seemed to have really positive attitudes and it was really encouraging. Hopefully the trend will continue when I'm giving homework, tests, and grades! I am supposed to have an English Club this summer and a bunch of the students seemed very interested in that as well, so that was nice and reassuring.
The city has a lot of modern conviences, which of course is always nice. They have a supermarket (not the way we would think of, but still, a lot bigger than the tiny store in my village), and they had tissues!! Tissues are a luxury around here. It's funny... a really good bottle of wine is always readily available and only about $5, but tissues... no where to be found.
As I mentioned, there is a volunteer there from a previous group. She is half way through her service and will prove an invaluable resource to me in the future. She showed me around and introduced me to some of her friends. I also attended her dance class, and will hopefully be a part of it when I move there. They learn traditional Bulgarian folk dances.... they're so hard, but so cool... and it's only $8 per month!! And that's for two classes, one and a half hours each, per week!
Basically, I'm really looking forward to my peace corps service and teaching as a volunteer. It's hard to sum up some of my experiences in such short paragraphs. There's a John Mayer song that has the line, "maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words..." That is the theme song of my life for the next two years!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
like strawberry wine
So today was a fun day!
As some of you may know, I was having a little trouble with one of my fellow volunteers in my small group. I am happy to report that I am a master problem solver, and was able to work it out. Of course, this person will probably still drive me crazy... but at least we have an understanding now. Honestly, it was nice to be honest and put everything out there. Hopefully things will remain kosher for the rest of the training period.
Speaking of training, today we recieved "site descriptions." Basically, we recieved descriptions of the 20 permanent sites that will have volunteers in them after training. It was very exciting!! I was interested in 13 of the 20 sites and VERY interested in three of those thirteen. It is so hard to decide, because there is so much to consider! For instance: the size of the town, the extracurriculars, the school size, the grades you will be teaching, etc. etc. Every school is so different and so interesting sounding! I have placement interviews next week and then Monday, May 12 I will find out where my permanent site will be!!!!
Also, today our small group made some traditional Bulgarian meals at our language trainer's house. It was actually quite delicious, and I am still uncomfortably full 3 hours later!! One of our trainer's neighbors stopped by afterwards. He insisted on serving us his homemade wine. I have never tried homemade wine before, so I can't generalize, but this particular wine was amazing! It was red and I normally prefer white, but this stuff was great!! Even though I could barely understand him (the neighbor), it was great to just sit on the porch, have a glass of wine and relax! Our trainer helped translate a little, but he mainly tried to have us listen and respond as much as possible on our own.
I am slowly but surely understanding more and more. It will also be interesting to see where my permanent site is, because the majority of the sites are Turkish and Roma neighborhoods. If I am in a Turkish neighborhood, I will have to learn Turkish as well as Bulgarian. The languages are totally different! I am up for the challenge though. (I mean, I would hope I am, otherwise why am I here?)
All for now, my family has gone to bed and I am going to watch my OC dvds (care of Lindsey). :)
As some of you may know, I was having a little trouble with one of my fellow volunteers in my small group. I am happy to report that I am a master problem solver, and was able to work it out. Of course, this person will probably still drive me crazy... but at least we have an understanding now. Honestly, it was nice to be honest and put everything out there. Hopefully things will remain kosher for the rest of the training period.
Speaking of training, today we recieved "site descriptions." Basically, we recieved descriptions of the 20 permanent sites that will have volunteers in them after training. It was very exciting!! I was interested in 13 of the 20 sites and VERY interested in three of those thirteen. It is so hard to decide, because there is so much to consider! For instance: the size of the town, the extracurriculars, the school size, the grades you will be teaching, etc. etc. Every school is so different and so interesting sounding! I have placement interviews next week and then Monday, May 12 I will find out where my permanent site will be!!!!
Also, today our small group made some traditional Bulgarian meals at our language trainer's house. It was actually quite delicious, and I am still uncomfortably full 3 hours later!! One of our trainer's neighbors stopped by afterwards. He insisted on serving us his homemade wine. I have never tried homemade wine before, so I can't generalize, but this particular wine was amazing! It was red and I normally prefer white, but this stuff was great!! Even though I could barely understand him (the neighbor), it was great to just sit on the porch, have a glass of wine and relax! Our trainer helped translate a little, but he mainly tried to have us listen and respond as much as possible on our own.
I am slowly but surely understanding more and more. It will also be interesting to see where my permanent site is, because the majority of the sites are Turkish and Roma neighborhoods. If I am in a Turkish neighborhood, I will have to learn Turkish as well as Bulgarian. The languages are totally different! I am up for the challenge though. (I mean, I would hope I am, otherwise why am I here?)
All for now, my family has gone to bed and I am going to watch my OC dvds (care of Lindsey). :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)