wait 5 minutes

of course when i want to find a mosquito i can't find one alive!

nargis told me my bites may not be fleas after all!

so i have to tell you about my big day today.  after declaring war on fleas i got about 3 hrs sleep last night because every time i got close i heard the buzz of a mosquito.  since i was at war, and tired, i was very mad and so got up several times during the night to use my flyswatter which looks a little worse for the ware.  so combined with the flea thoughts, of not wanting them and thinking they are everywhere, and the party outside, although that didn't bother me so much, i got about 3 hrs of sleep.  but i've got an hr ong bus ride to Pyce right?  that's what i thought and was so looking forward to the time to sleep; we left at 7 so i could still sleep easily...or so i thought.  nargis and i paid the driver for our ticket and were both getting ready to get some much needed rest when the driver decides it's late enough and he wants some music. english and loud.  now don't get me wrong i need to hear american music...but not at 7 am and not when all i want to do is sleep and definitely not loud!  ok so sleep is not an option.  we get to pyce and applied for my lichna carta, which went well and i will have to go back to pyce the day before my sisters bday to get it,did some shopping and headed back "home."  while again trying to sleep the ride seemed to go much faster and neither one of us got more than 30 minutes sleep and not good sleep at that.  we pull into G and wonder aloud if we will get any sleep tonight and then we see it...people with instruments and amps setting up in the city center right in front of our bldg.  there's a wedding today which means, in addition to people starting their lives together and all, ANOTHER LATE, NOISY NIGHT!  so i head up to my apt thinking of trying to get a nap in.  so here i am, tired and with red bites on my legs which may or may not be fleas, thinking about he sleep i'm not going to get tonight.  face it, i could have been in a better mood.  AND THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED TO MINIMIZE ALL THAT, well as much as they can be minimized.   nargis showed up at my door and told me MY REFRIGERATOR IS HERE!!!  Ok i bought a fan today in pyce and that helped because mosquitoes don't like fans, but now i can buy food and not have to worry about just buying enough.  and i have to say i'm really not a fan of warm beer or dt. coke.  YIPPEEEEEEEEEE!  now i can make eggs to go along with my potatoes and other veggies and have an omlet!  and i can have sirene anytime i want with  salad!  the little things.  i took some pic's of my new "friends." so you can share in my joy and my pain.  i had to laugh when nargis told me i would have to clean the fridge because, i'm so my mom's daughter, from the time they set it down in my apt my mind was wandering to how i would need to clean it.  here's a shout out to you mom!

at war!

I'm at war with fleas!!!  this am while walking to go na ghosti with a man who works at the school I showed Nargis the flea bites on my legs.  low and behold after i got back home after my b. lang lessons, after a very nice time of coffee, coke, peanuts, cake, and the earliest I have had beer in my life, i noticed what i thought were new bites so i asked Nargis and she thought they were new also.  I DECLARE WAR ON THE FLEAS!!  i washed my sheets again, my couch covering, and all the tablecloths and everything.  i borrowed a vacuum cleaner and swept the rug and floors; maybe the fleas that were hiding in the crevices of the floor are now in the vacuum bag!  i aired out my mattress and sprayed my chairs and bed frame with biokill stuff.  IT'S ON!!  while i was declaring war on the fleas i started rearranging things in the apt.  it feels a lot more roomy!  tom N and I are off the pyce again to start my lichna karta, the document so I can stay in the country.  it will be another early am for me so here's hoping the noisy guys downstairs take another night off!  i've started getting mail although both letters were given to me by Nargis.  since today was war with fleas i didn't have a chance to leave the apt in the afternoon. that was exciting even though everything in the letters i already know.  it really is comforting and something i look forward to; mail.  i'm really going to have to remember the ladies at the post office because I'm sure they're going to get tired of seeing my name the next 2 yrs!   today we saw the lady who cooks for the school and got permission to use the oven to make choc. chip cookies.  i have the mix mom sent me and just thought this am that would be a great thank you.  yes it's probably true i need to learn how to receive without thinking i need to give back but i also want to ensure future volunteers get the same treatment, of  fresh fruit and vegetables.  anyway i can't believe what is on tv right now.  stiffler?"  "i'm going to band camp!!"  go figure! love! 

being a foreigner

once again i have been humbled.  this am N, my counterpart, and I went to the local medical center to get some information to send into the pc and i came away with more plums, and not the purple kind, apples, and tomatoes i am going to be able to eat before the plums go bad in 5 days!  i also got a cucumber and some onions and a pepper for the chapska calata i had for lunch.  i stopped and got some serine and had the first chopska calata i've had since i've been in G.  and it tasted SOOO good!  but again i'm left with the thought of what can i do to make this up?  other than a thank you note i'd have to run by N to make sure everything is being said correctly i'm not sure what i can do for these people.  the pc offered a talk about living in a muslim community during one of the last HUB's, where all 85 of us come together and get info , given by current volunteers and i went to that one.  one of the things that everyone said is that being new people will give you things and it's important to give something back.  i'm just having trouble figuring out what exactly.  i'm working on taking more pic's so i can show you all my home for the next 2 yrs.  i decided on a schedule for the mornings although the past 2 days it hasn't worked because i have woken up at 3:30 the past 2 am's and wasn't able to get to back sleep for awhile so when my alarm clock went off at 6:30 i reset it.  i also decided today i'm going to label my apt in English and Bulgarian words.  tom am i am going over to the house of  one of the men and women who work at the school .  that will be interesting; to see other houses in G.  i have to get to the post office so that's gonna have to be all for today.  do utre!  please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers!  lisa

market day!

today was my first opportunity to experience market day in G. and it was quite something!   all kinds of vegetables andI saw on the webpage where the fever lost last night ha fruit under the sun!  other items as well.  every monday from, not really sure when it starts, until about 1:30.  I got some zucchini, potatoes, cucumbers, peaches, bananas, and carrots!  I haven't seen carrots since I left the states!  well here and there in soups and on salads sometimes but not like this am!  now I need to go get a carrot peeler!  after that I had my first B language lesson since leaving Varshetts.  it was ok and I have lots of work to do!  a funny story.  last night I was sitting in front of the tv eating a late dinner when all of a sudden I felt something flu into my shorts and thought it was a mosquito so I swatted my upper leg.  next thing I know my leg is hurting like the dickens and when I looked there was something sticking out of my skin!  Hindsight being what it is I realize the times I tried to grab to stinger, I still didn't know exactly what stung me, I probably squeezed more venom into my skin.  after awhile I started scraping at it but I think it was too late.  still didn't know what it was so I text N thinking maybe it was a Bulgarian bug I didn't know and maybe something more serious would happen to me.  right before whe got to my door I saw it crawling around on my rug.  my leg still killed and was beginning to swell.  finally i found some ointment in my huge medical kit and it started feeling better.  i have been stung 2 times the last 2.5 months and can't remember being stung a second time in probably the last 5 yrs in the states!  some excitement last night!  oh yeah!  this am while walking to the market a hay bailer drove past.  how funny!  I'll work on taking some pictures of G this afternoon!  I read on the website where the fever lost yest.  are they starting to act like the Pacers???

Peace Corps Bulgaria - New Volunteer Swearing-In Ceremony

http://tv-vratsa.bg/index.php?lang=bg&r=home/tvvratza/t140/t3086