my weekend part 2

brad can you believe i lost this too?!?!  second time's the charm!  on saturday we had breakfast and then one of our students came over and we went to her house, her aunt and uncle came over, and then went back to my collegues house when we were done visiting.   we had lunch and studied more english.  we took a "pochievka"(break) and then went walking and na ghosti again that afternoon.  i will repeat again: everywhere i went i was fed and fed some more!  on sunday we had breakfast and then my collegue said we were going to go outside and work with the flowers a little but i was just going to watch.   one thing i have learned since coming here is that the B women work very hard.  now i'm not saying the men don't I'm just saying i noticed how hard women work since i'm a woman.  everytime i tried to do even the littlest thing i was told no and i didn't have gloves on.  i told my collegue i work like this all the time at my house in the states and that didn't seem to matter; if you're a guest you don't help.  so here i am standing (i felt very funny!) watching 2 women slave away, one of which was the age of my mom-in her mid 60s probably, in the garden and all i can do is watch!  i'd feel uncomfortable doing that in the states let alone here!  anyway they finished after a little, we had lunch, and then went na ghosti again.  most places i go i run into someone who can at least say a few words in english and they are eager to share their knowledge with me and i am more than happy to ablidge them!  most places i go i also run into people who want to teach me bulgarian or turkish and i am to teach them english.  i would so love to help everyone with english but it's impossible!  but i can try and that's why i'm here...that and for youth development!  when we got home it was time for me to catch the microbus back here with the students.  i have to say it was very enlightening going to one of my students homes.  in the states they would be below poverty level.  but they make do and it's life for them.   they drop what they are doing when someone comes to visit and welcome them with coffee and food, and spend hours, sometimes, talking.  dropping in on someone is not done in the states or at least very much.  we're scheduled to a T and plan things to the n'th degree.  it's kinda refreshing just "dropping in."  i'm going to quit and get this published before i lose it again.  how did the Pacers start their season???  love to all!

familiar faces!

 i must apologize for not blogging the past couple days and for the next couple.  i've been busy trying to bring a little bit of Halloween to B.  i found some ghost stories online that, believe it or not, i think i remember from when i was younger.  the 28th, yes it's the night after i get back so it will be a busy day, i've recruited the teachers that live here to help me and we're having a party in the stol, where the students eat their meals,  after supper.  i'm going to read the stories in, of course, a spooky and scary voice and at just the right moments the other teachers are going to make noises and scare the students.  the teachers helped me cut out some ghosts and bats and pumpkins and other halloween things and i had them with me tonight at dinner,planning on starting to decorate the stol.  some of the students who were still eating asked me about them and if they could help.  they did everything!  that was really cool how they wanted to help.   all this o say i've been busy trying to prepare for halloween that i haven't even packed to leave tomorrow morning to leave to see my parents and to see my B family.  i plan on being back here the 27th in the afternoon/early evening if all goes as planned.  so i will catch you all in about a week!  thoughts and prayers are with my family at this time.  love to all!  

my weekend

well i can tell you i had way too much to eat this past weedend!  everywhere i went, with my collegue, i was fed.  on fri afternoon i took the minibus with the students who lived in the same villege.  it was about a half an hour ride.  i got there and dropped my stuff in the room where i was to sleep, we rested for awhile, and then went and took a tour of the village.  we went to the mayor's office and everything.  of course while at the mayor's office we had coffee and talked for awhile.  then we headed back to the house and got ready for dinner.  lots of women here sew, including my collegue, and she showed me her "goblins" (framed finished needlepoint or crosstitch pictures) and they were all really beautiful.  she also showed me an outfit she made for a turkish wedding that was also beautiful and very intricately stitched.  we talked a little and studied english a little and then it was time for bed.  saturday morning one of our students came over and visited with us a little and then took us back to her house to visit.  her aunt and uncle came over and we had a housefull.  her uncle spoke english and so i spoke with him, but also used my B.   since i only speak english with the studnts many of them, ok most of them, don't know i speak B too or at least very well.(I'm not saying i speak very well but i can say more than hello and i'm good in B) so speaking in front of one of the students was kinda interesting for me!  on course more food and when we left we went home only to have more guests come over.  everytime i tried to lift a finger i was told no and that i was a "ghostinka.  Sejada!"  i know i'm spelling that wrong but basically i was a guest and to sit.  i finally broke into helping when i washed my glass and silverware after dinner.  everywhere i went the people i met wanted to teach me B, or turkish, and i was going to teach them english.  I've got my work cut out for me!!  sorry but i'm going to sign off here,  dinner's here and MY WASHER IS HOOKED UP!!!!  not sure if i trust myself enough to use it yet tonight.  maybe i'll wait till tom.  will wrie more about this past weekend later!  love to all!

the people behind the scenes

so before i tell you all about my weekend in another village i have to tell you about my morning.  i recieved a phone call letting me know there was something for me at the post office on fri but couldn't do anything about it because i wasn't in town.  so today i arrived at school only to be told by nargis that i had a package waiting for me at the post office.  thinking they might want to have it gone i headed over to the post office to get my package, i didn't know from whom.  imagine my surprise when i saw the big box sitting there for me!!  everytime i get a package i want to share a few things so i took it to school and opened it there.  i couldn't believe what i saw!!  yes, several smiles and big time grins crossed my face!!  i can't thank my aunts enough for this!!  however what i want to share is this.  yes i'm here in B and this has been a dream of mine and, ok, maybe i'm doing what other people think of doing but don't.  HOWEVER!!!  for everyone who does something a little hard or different or what have you there are tons more people behind the scenes who really make it happen!!  i was an instructional assistant for special education at an elementary school for 7 yrs and i know how hard i worked.  i'm not saying this right i know.without the example of service set by my grandparents who spent 2 years in africa with heifer project i wouldn't be here.  without all the encouragement and support of and from my family i wouldn't be here.  without people who believe all countries and peoples need to work together i wouldn't be here.  without people praying for me on a daily basis, yes i feel it, i wouldn't be here.  without friends who support what i'm doing i wouldn't be here.  and how can i forget without B being open to me i wouldn't be here.  what i'm trying to say is, ok maybe i do rock if you must call it that...but...YOU ROCK MORE!!!  the people behind the scenes really do the work.  without all you i couldn't focus on my job here.  you are the ones who make me happy.  when i'm happy i'm more focused on what i need to do.  so, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU FAMILY, steffens and millers that i know of.  like my earlier blog, the word thank you just doesn't come close to expressing my feelings!!!  a big hug to all!!!  i love you all so very much and i'm only carrying out the tradition of service in our family!!  and happy birthday a day late mom!  love to all!

it's the small things

just this morning i had the idea for this blog.  every day i deal with this difference but just now thought to write about it.  over here the temperature is given in *C instead of *F.  so yes, while 5*C is cold it's not as cold as one might think.  there are more correct ways to compute *C to *F, including on my phone-"there's an app for that"-but a quick, give or take 2 or 3 * is multiply by 2 and add 30.  so 5*C is around 40*F, and yes the other morning when i woke up and was watching the news Pyce, which is about 45 minutes NW was 5*C at about 7:15/7:30.  sure enough!  i just checked on my phone and 5*C is 41*F.  that took some getting used to!  one on the guys in my pst group got me a termometer for my birthday and it has *C and *F and that sure has been helpful!  another thing, in addition to the temperature being different, is distance isn't in miles, it's in kilometers.  over here it's all liters and grams, not cups or teasoons.  before i left the states my cousin printed out and had laminated a conversion chart for cooking.  now i really don't cook that much but have to say i've used it several times already and converting all the quantities when making choc chip cookies took longer than the actual baking process.  i never was very good at math!  now to my day.  tom afternoon i'm leaving for the weekend to go ha ghosti to one of my collegues villages.  that will be fun and i have to say it will be a real test for my B language!  and it could be that my collegue is the only person who speaks and B at all.  we'll see and i am looking forward to it although will have to work on a few things for next week.  halloween is coming and both the kdgn and english school want me to do something and i need to plan!  but i'm going to another place in B and that will be nice and a new experience for me!  that being said i'm not sure if i'll get to blog tom or not.  if not have a great weekend everyone and i'll talk to you on mon!  oh yeah!  this is the day, oct 14th, 50 yrs ago when JFK stood on the steps of the MSU campus and challenged the students to serve their country by going abroad  and the idea of the Peace Corps was planted.  next yr, 2011, is the big 50 yr anniv celebration and also 20 yrs in B!  what a time to be in the corps!  and in B too!  love to all!