"leaving on a jet plane"

So I'm thinking this might be the last blog in B.  Of course that could change.  My mom is coming on Friday (can't wait) and we are traveling for a couple of weeks in the Greek Islands, Istanbul, and Greece itself I think.  I will try and blog during our travels but just not sure how that will go; I may be using facebook more.  I'm trying to plan gosti's while mom is here and looking forward to showing her around what has been my home (and always will be in spirit) and introducing her to the people who have taken care of, fed, loved, supported me, and so much more over the past 2 years!!  As of right now her bed is a mess (one of them anyway) with stuff to go in luggage.  It hasn't hit me yet that I'm leaving and won't be back for what I'm thinking will be quite a while; a ticket over here is expensive!  I'm not sure when it will hit me, but women and used to crying for no reason and at the drop of a hat.  All the other times I thought I would cry when saying goodbye and such I got tears in my eyes but that's pretty much where they stayed.  I'm thinking when we actually leave, are standing at the bus stop with people from my Glodzhevo waiting to get on the bus, I will cry saying goodbye to them.  But who knows!  It's sad and, yes, there are other ways to show saddness.  Maybe like I said before it hasn't really hit me yet; I've left and come back many times in these 2 years.  Well we'll see!!  Love and hugs from me!!

the people "behind the scenes"

  Tomorrow I leave for Kubrat to get on a bus at 3 am on Thursday to go to Sofia for the last time!  WOW!  I just heard what I wrote.  I had always known that this will be the final time in S; what I didn't think about was that part of this last trip to Sofia (not my favorite place lets be honest-it's a big city and I like small/smaller places) is the last time I will see all the staff who have been with me for 27 months.  Some have left already but most are still there.  Now that I think about it that makes me sad.   I thought about the volunteer friends I will be saying goodbye (for awhile at least) to but I never thought about saying goodbye to the staff.  While I'm on the subject let me just say a big thank you to our staff, both B and A.  Every volunteer has a different story and experience but I have to say the staff here is top notch!!  From the (relatively new) Country Director, who came at our midservice conference, to the drivers who know the way to each one of the volunteers' sites (at one time there has probably been pretty darn near 200 here) AND how to navigate B'ian traffic-no small task!  To a person our staff isn't just "staff."  If something happens and I need to talk I know I can call ANY ONE OF THEM, not just program staff if it's related to youth development or the SSC if it's an issue of security.  I have never been afraid.  Of course that's partly because I'm in a small town but it also has to do with how informed Dilyana keeps us on issues of security, safety issues that affect us/me.  We are able to do our "jobs" because they do theirs so well, spored men (in my opinion).   So (I just decided I'm going to make this a seperate blog for the staff) to all my friends at the Peace Corps office (there are so many and I can't name them all) but from the bottom of my heart-THANK YOU!!  I would write that in B'ian too but my sheet of the B'ian keyboard is packed somewhere and I'm too lazy to do the google keyboard thing!  YOU helped make my experience a great one!   I wish you all the luck and happiness in the world in your future endeavors!  Ha zjev i strav!  Vsi4ko hubavo i 4esta be6e moq!  Life and health!  All the best and the honor was mine!  Love and hugs from me!

homeward bound!

Way back in May 2010 when I was getting ready to come to B the Peace Corps allowed us 2 checked bags weighing a total of 100 pounds, a carryon and a personal item, like most flights.  My sister and her husband are members of a camping/outdoorsy store and got me a 33 liter backpack that was my carryon and I used a beach bag stuffed with odds and ends for my 27 months as my personal item.  Needless to say I've accumulated much more over the 27 months; some I can give away (like some clothes) and some I plan on keeping (like the birthday gifts I got from the teachers at the English school and others).  Getting it all home will be a chore and I know I will have to pay a baggage fee; that's just going to be a fact and I'm ok with that.  However I have been sending some stuff home (hense the homeward bound) little by little to (hopefully) lighten my load a little.  The post office here will ship a 2 kg. package for me.  I know what you're thinking, "2 kg!  You can hardly fit anything in a 2 kg package!"  You are right, but it's cheaper and much more convient!   So I've been using my scale to very carefully get to the 2 kg. limit before I go to the post office.  This morning I had a package all ready to go and it even was a tad under 2 kg. so I headed to the post office ONLY for their scale (the one that matters) to tell me it was over the limit!  Today is the day to pay electricity and that is done at the post office, so while the ladies were busy with taking money, I tried to repack my already carefully packed package.  With what I had in the package there was no way it was going to be 2 kg. so I ended up sending a 1.65 kg package.   Did I think of other things I could put in to make up the difference?  SURE DID, but they were in my apartment and I wanted to be done with that.  So far I've sent 3 packages home with a total of most of my gifts for family and that I have been given, a blanket that I bought here that served as excellent wrapping material, and some clothes that serve a dual purpose; clothes and wrapping material.  I think that's probably all I'll send but I'll have to wait and see.  Now I'm just hoping the Bulgarian and English words for "fragile" mean something to whoever handles my packages!  Every time I send something I have flashes of that computer/new tv/whatever that was being dropped over a fence when being delivered.  I know thev're just things but those "things" mean more to me than losing my bags!  Loe and hugs from me!

giving time!

Today it was my turn to send a package!!  I'm trying to condense everything I have and the stuff I have accumulated over the past 27 months and it's not all going to fit so I will be shipping some home.  Today I used the one of the boxes my mom sent with a Bible verse on it; I didn't know way back when how important all the boxes people have sent me would be!  I remember this package because it said "God is love" on the side of it and when I went to open it in the post office the lady asked me what it meant.  After I explained she asked "is that "good?"  I used the side of the box to write the word "good" under the word "God" so she could see how similar the 2 words are.  When I went in this morning she was telling the other lady "she had so many packages at Christmas!"  I may have to send some more, I'll just have to wait and see. Last summer I made some rainsticks with some of my students for a legacy project by the B26s with toilet paper rolls, nails, duct tape, and beans or watermelon seeds or popcorn seeds, or rice; small stuff like that.  I was down talking one night to my neighbors and told them what I was doing and Ivan gave me maybe about a foot long hollow cylinder and said "here, try using this!"  Well I had the PC in my head then and, remembering sustainability and "...teach a man to fish..." that has been drilled into our brains (and rightly so) made a mental note to save that project and do it WITH Ivan.  Flash forward to yesterday at about 11am.  I came back from taking some stuff to the Kindergarten with Neriman and her sister and saw Maria and Ivan sitting at their little table they have outside of their apartment building and thought "aha!"   I asked them if they were going to be there for awhile and when they said yes headed to my apartment for the nails, beans, the cylinder he had given me last summer, and a hammer (with toilet paper rolls I can push the nails in but the cylinder was a tad harder!).  I walked up to the table and started unloading my stuff and said "remember this from last summer?  We're going to make a rainstick!"  I had started another one in my apartment and just not finished so took that one down to work on as well.  After we were done I gave them all the nails I had purchased (you have to have different sizes so they sound different) and the beans we didn't use along with an exacto knife that has come in handy the past 2 years that is not coming to the states with me.  Yesterday Neriman and I gave the pre-school room in the Kindergarten the 3 puzzles that mom (I think) sent me, the BINGO game (complete with 16+ laminated boards) I made to use in the pre-school room (that they didn't get exactly but hey, English letters are English letters!), a set of 100 English laminated (I so loved that thing!) flashcards that the English students made complete with both the British and American English words and a pictures of an item, the Tiger mask and tail mom and Ron brought me 2 Octobers ago for Halloween (it had a bowtie but it got lost somewhere), and some colored cardstock/construction paper I didn't end up using.  The flashcards were something and I so hope they get used; the students had so much fun making them!  We ended up making 5.  2 sets of 100 (give or take) of the same laminated cards with both the American and British English words on one side and a picture of the item on the other went to the library here, 2 sets went to the 2 schools here, and the other went to the Kindrgarten.  Then, because the students had so much fun cuting out pictures and showing off their English knowledge, there were 2 random sets with about different 80 words (each set give or take)with both the picture and British/American English words that also went to the library here.  I also intend to take some of the books you sent me to the library.  now I just have to make an announcement saying that they are there!!  that's for today or next week!  other than that i'm stuffing things in plastic bags and in general de-cluttering my apartment!!  Love and hugs from me!!

now I've done everything!

Sorry about yesterday!  I went to Ruse to get some stuff taken care of and when I got back just forgot.  But now I can tell you that now I can leave Bulgaria!  I've accomplished nearly everything I set out to do and yesterday just put the icing on the cake!   I (almost) missed my bus.  I overslept a little that morning and because of that didn't have time for breakfast.  As some of you know if I travel a long way on an empty stomach (or don't take motion sickness medicine) I get sick.  The ride to Ruse is a little over an hour with a rest stop 10 minutes into the trip in a near city Vetovo.  I thought "I'll grab something in Vetovo and eat it on the bus; I can handle a 10-15 minute ride with no food."  Wouldn't you know that when we got to Vetovo and I ran off the bus to grab something (it's a 10 minute stop)  to eat the lady ordering in front of me had multiple orders.  I could see the bus through the window and JUST AS SHE HANDED ME MY SANDWICH I saw the bus pulling away!  I told myself that the buses don't move very fast and if I run, maybe I can catch up with it!  Turns out that there's an advantage to being an American (or probably any other nationality) in Bulgaria; people remember you!   As soon as the bus pulled away someone realized I wasn't on it and the bus pulled over.  I of course thanked the driver and the lady who takes the money a couple of different times.  Now I can add "almost missing the bus" to my list of accomplishments in Bulgaria!!  Well, the B26 group of 87 originally is down to 40.  My preparations for leaving were rudely interruped a couple days ago by a rash.  Turns out that when I thought to myself "what's the chance that this laundry soap will have the EXACT THING that I'm allergic to?" (ironically I found out I was allergic about a month before coming here)"  Turns out the chance is 100%!   So I had to rewash lots of clothes and have lots of mind over matter and tell myself "if you start itching you'll never stop so it's best not to start!"  People probably think I've developed this horrible skin desease!  It's been extremely hot and I just read where the whole of B declared a code orange because of the heat.  I don't quite think it's been as hot here as it has been there though; we sure could use the cool-down you are having in the states!  Love and hugs from me!

final party recap

I realized that I have not told you all how the final party went!  My bad!  We had a wonderful time and the only students who weren't there were the students who were absent from school.  The presentation that I put together (I did the easy part-choosing the pictures and songs!  the actual "putting together" was done by Ibrahim...and it didn't help things any that in the midst of all his hard work we lost power and lost a lot of his work) took it's time opening but once it did everyone enjoyed it!  I picked out about 200 pictures of my 27 months, where I have been, things I have done, and people sho have been with me from start to finish.  Then I picked out 5 songs (We are Family, I'm Still Standing, Wonderful World, You Rise Me Up, and My Country, My Bulgaria in that order) and Ibrahim made a power point presentaton out of them.  It really turned out very nice if I do say so myself!!  2 of the students then read a nice speech they had written to me that was very nice.  Then we danced like always.  A nice time was had all around!  One of the Ruse teachers even stayed with me so she could come!  That was nice!  The next day was the final day of school and my last day with half of the students (the ones not from Glodzhevo) and then today was my last day with some of the teachers.  When my mom comes we're planning on seeing my language tutor and Nargis but other than that, today was pretty much it.  Sad times.  As I was standing next to the minivan waiting for them to leave and saying my final " I wish you happiness..."'s they said "invite us to the wedding (no there is nothing I'm not telling you-no weddings for this lady on the horizon)!  It was kinda sad walking around the school where I spent so much time these last 2 years!  Az 6te bi lipsvam MNOGO!  Posjalavam mnogo yspeh, zdravi, lubov, i 6tastie!!  Be6e mnogo mi priqtno da posnavam i rabotq i sjivee s vas!  ot moqto curtze i S MNOGO obi4:  4ao zasiga.  obi4 i pregrudki ot men!  

thank goodness for mom!

So the English School totally surprised me today and this time I teared up quite a bit.  I say that because last week for graduation/the last day of school I gave a little speech.  I had prepared Veleava ahead of time, language tutor and awesome friend and person, that she might have to take over for me because I would be crying and not able to finish and since she was the person I practiced with I figured she would be a good person to take over for me.  All the students were there and well as the teachers and others affiliated with the school.  Knowing that last Friday would be the last time I saw half of the students before I leave (I'll leave it at that) I had plenty of tissues ready.  NOT A TEAR DURING MY SPEECH!  And from me no less, the woman who cries at the drop of a hat (maybe not the drop of a hat but I'm a crier)!  Of course AFTER the speech when thinking about leaving my awesome counterpart and my language tutor-THEN I got teary eyed.  So now I'm  in the midst of giving things away, wrapping up loose ends, giving little gifts, and generally preparing to move in...I don't even want to say it...after mom comes when Nargis calls me and says that I need to go to school.  I was planning on it anyway and told her I was on my way.  After I had been there maybe 20 minutes (?) the director came in, shook my hand, handed me a beautiful inscribed Amazing Bulgaria book and a tapastry, and started saying nice things about me.  Then it was my turn (Valeava said I did a good job with my B'ian and that I haven't forgotten; yea for me).  Then I got all choked up!!  All I can say is thank goodness mom will be here to help me (even if she says she'll be no help and crying along with me!) get on the bus when it comes time to go!  Goodbyes are seldom easy and this will be no exception!  Love and hugs from me.  I really going to try to keep blogging from here on out but depending on how hectic things become they may or may not happen!  OH!  I almost forgot!  Happy 4th!!