third times the charm!

ok this is what you're gonna get for now until I have time to do the rest. I can't get all my pics on this page and have work to do.  these are pics from my farewell parties, the group in newark waiting to fly to munich, and walk I took with some fellow invitees at the hotel where we stayed the first, and the all dressed up pic you see is my group I'm with till July 23rd in my mountain region.  I also thought I'd throw in a pic of my new language.  Will give you more later but I must do homework and to tell the truth this is taking too long for my non-computer literate mind to figure out!  bye for now!

long day

I had a bunch of pictures on this page and I guess I put one too many in because they all got erased from this page so, sorry sophie, you're gonna have to wait at least one more day because I really don't want to go thru all that again right now.  Today all 87 of us traveled from our satellite group sites to the Hub, vrasta, where we all come together for info and training things 3 times these 3 months.  It was fun to see everybody again and it's hard to believe it was just 2 wks ago we stood on the very same steps of the h.s. waiting to meet our host families and being nervous about what we would say on the car ride home.  it was a long day that started at 6:30 and we had training/information about pc stuff till 6 pm.  then the taxi ride home and I stopped in a flower shop and got my family a rose plant. they have been so good to me, helping me with my homework and taking me places like different villages.  it really is a humbling experience!  also today while in vratsa I got my mail, thanks mom and ron and aunt jan!  I also struck up a covsersation with a lady while walking home this evening, only 1/4 of what I knew what she was saying!  but it's a start!  I don't think I have many plans this wknd and maybe I can catch up on some homework.  as if we didn't have enough to do toni gave me homework to do from our tutoring session on fri!  well it's late and I'm pretty tired so I' going to call it a night.  thanks for all the updates!  I have to say it's not going to seem right not being in town for the 500 but I think I'll survive.  If Helio wins that will be #4???  leka nosht!

the day

I'm sitting here at the tourist center with a few fellow invitees waiting for my tutoring session with toni, our very knowledgeble language trainer and second mom.  tomorrow is our first meeting with all the fellow trainees in vrasta.  we leave by taxi at 7:45 in the morning which is before I usually have breakfast.  We will be gone all day untill about 6 in the evening.  it will be fun to see everyone again, all 87 of us together again.  there are 6 of us here in my mountain town.  so far so good on the goal I have extablished for myself.  today I went to buy beer for my family because we are out but I think I got the wrong kind.  beer is beer!  all is going fine and I have to sign off and get ready for my tutoring which is very much needed.  doscoro!  goodbye in Bulgarian!  lisa

mistakes

I'm going to have to force myself to make mistakes.  But first let me start where I left off a little.  Some background.  I am staying in the mountains and my town has beautiful scenery!  My town is famous for it's hot springs and mineral water which at one time were thought to have healing powers.  There is mineral water all over the place and I can walk to fill up my water bottle, I took the "staff only" off, everyday.  I think we have started the warm up where it's usually warm during the day.  They do not heat homes here, maybe a little in winter, so it gets pretty chilly at night.  In the morning I shiver every time I shower, then the hot water hits and it is ok.  What I was saying earlier is that I'm going to have to go outside my comfort zone and talk to people.  Oh I talk to my family, quite a bit actually and they have fun listening to all my mistakes, and say hello on the street.  What I mean is that I'm going to start doing my blog/main emails at lunch and then make a schedule.  Everyday I go to one place.  For example to the magazine, shop, to get chai, tea, or to get flowers for my family, which I plan on doing.  By doing this I can force myself to make conversation with people and, ok if it's easier to say it this way, make friends.  There are 5 others in my group, Sean from Calif is 25, Tyler from Ohio is about the same age, Deborah and Marisa who are 32 from Vermont and 33 from Pennsylvania respectively, and Naoma who is 67 or so.  Sean and Tyler are great at doing this and Sean has been helping me, they both have really.  So I'm going to try this and then maybe my speaking will start to improve.  Yes I feel uncomfortable but it's by making mistakes that we grow and if I don't make these mistakes now it could be a long 2 yrs!  Sean said something that hit home for me.  He told me to not be afraid to make an imperfect sentence.  First of all we don't know how to yet and second, by making mistakes we get corrected, thus starting conversation and learning.  So I guess I'm trying to tell every one of you and myself not to be afraid to make a fool of yourself.  Almost class time so I gotta go!  I miss everyone at the Fieldhouse too and please someone give my a rundown of how the Fever are doing.

my first days

let's try this again!  I arrived in Phili on May 10th along with 86 other peace corps invitees.  We filled out paperwork and had some brief introductions of the corps and the people we would spend the next 2.5 years with.  The next am we boarded busses and drove to Newark airport to fly to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, by way of Munich.  Let me first just say I have never been around so many people eager to serve  Every step of the way the group cheered; when the busses arrived in newark, when we arrived in Munich and in Sofia.  I am so honored to be associated with these people!!  2 people even sold houses and are literally "home"less after 27 months.  And you all think I took a leap of faith??  Anyway after we arrived in Sofia we were greeted by some currently serving volunteers at the airport and then we boarded more busses to take us to a retreat type hotel for the rest of the week.  Here we had the beginning B classes and more information about every aspect of the core we will need to know for the rest of our stay.  That Sunday afternoon we again boarded more busses to take us to Vrasta where we met the very hospitable people whose families we would become apart of  for the next 3 months.  Did I mention that the hotel was in the mountains???  Those of you that know me better know what a great setup that is for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the hectic, jam-packed week.  I have 2 sisters, Krisi who is 15 and Vesi who is 13, and a host mom and dad, Dani and Alexis who are my age.  Every am I have breakfast which usually consists of bread with either ham or some type of cheese; like an open-faced sandwich.  Here there are 2 types of cheese, serine which is white cheese and really does not taste much like feta, and yellow cheese which is cashcaval.  Then I go to the training center which is my home away from home away from home.  I have language class from 8:30-12:30 and 2-5.  In there I also have training in Youth Development, my program sector and what I will be doing for 2 yrs after I leave my host family and become an official volunteer.  Right now I am considered a trainee.  My family is great and I really do not know how the 6 of us in my group got so lucky.  I have a non-smoking family in a country where 8/10 people smoke.  I have internet access at home which is very lucky.  I come home most days for lunch, today I went out with some of my group to try my ordering skills and found out I really need more practice.  Lunch usually is salad but it's not really a salad, just cut up cucumbers, kratsavitza, and tomatoes, tomate.  Rice and chicken are popular food items.  Tonight for dinner I had pizza...with fried eggs on top.  That was la little different but good all the same!  There are a lot of cucumber and tomatoes here.  Fruit is also common.  My host mom keeps yabolke, apples, banan, banannas, and portacale, oranges in the house.   Last night my host mom and sister spent hours helping me with my homework.  It's kinda different to need help with homework again and very interesting(?) to think that I am back at 1st grade level in my language skills.  I have to say it is very frustrating trying to speak.  For instance talking with Dani this evening, vecher, I had so much I wanted to say but do not have the words yet.  My dictionary goes most everywhere I do!  For instance, how do you eplain why a person in your family is important to you when you hardly know about them?  Last night I was trying to interview my sister about being young in my town, again did I mention I'm in the mountains, while on a very, very limited vocabulary.  How do you do that??  Luckily, or not however you choose to look at it, my family knows English and despite what they say can usually understand me when I have trouble with the B. word.  I am really trying hard not to take advantage of this "gift" because I'm on my own after July 23rd and can't rely on someone knowing English.  The language isn't too hard and the fact that I speak a little Spanish is helpful for the foundation.  Sometimes I wish my family knew Spanish because so ofter I think of what I want to say in Spanish before Bulgarian but I'm out of luck there.  Now that I look at the time , I am 7 hours ahead of you all in Indy, I should bring this entry to a close and start studying, which I probably should have been doing all along but I figure my blog is part of my homework too!  I am fine and am surrounded by good people, both my family and the 5 others here with me.  My family is a first time core host family so I'm really trying to help out and be a good addition to the family so they will continue with the next group, B27.  My group is the 26th group of volunteers to serve in Bulgaria.  Ok, that's goona have to do it for tonight.  Leka nosht(good night)!

birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!!

I got it

This is just to say my blog is up and running.  However you're gonna have to wait another couple days or so because I keep hitting something and deleting everything; this the 4th time I've tried and it's late and I need to get some sleep.  Briefly I'm fine.  Language is coming...somewhat but I'm still here in the mountains, or very close. Blog more later WITH PICTURES SOPHIE.

How am I going to get all this done!

I AM THE LUCKIEST LADY ALIVE!!!  The support everyone has given me throughout this whole year plus long process with the Peace Corps is very overwhelming to me!!  I have to thank my  friend Brad for setting this blog up for me, a technologically impaired person.  As of right now I'm in the midst of packing up my life for 27 months in Bulgaria, wondering how in the world I'm going to get it all done!  Some small details to mention.  I'm not exactly when my next post is going to come.  Not sure I'll have the time in all the craziness to post again before the 10th and will not have access to the Internet the first week I'm in Bulgaria.  I'm slowly finding people who are going with me to Bulgaria.  Well that's going to be it for now!  Until next post!  God bless you all!