‘Do some good son’, my father said with a deep sigh as he locked me in a hug that I’ll never forget. I’ve rarely seen my father cry; I knew this was a moment that I hope to share with kids of my own someday. My father was shedding tears, something I couldn’t understand. This true love, the ability to let me go and continue to grow on my own is very hard. While I know it will be difficult, my family is here. I couldn’t do half of what I do if it was not for them. I must say that seeing my father choked up rattled me quite a bit. The night before staging in Washington D.C. and packing for last minute things let alone trying to gather my sanity for the next couple of weeks was already spinning in my head. I got hardly any sleep due to insomnia and excitement. I wish every Peace Corps trainee has the same feeling I had. Waking up at five and continued to pack. Around six my brother came up and said goodbye for one more time before went to work. My father came around 6:30 am and said goodbye again. I think this was harder than the previous night. Regardless on no sleep I finally got my gear and headed into my mother’s car for the drive down to Georgetown to drop me off at staging.
Fast track 3 days later.
“18 kilometers”, Dani, the language coordinator said. I felt like I was getting ready to jump out of a plane. Waiting for the green light. I had my family info in one hand and my camera in the other. Coped with this I had what my best knowledge of Bulgarian was from about a week of just pure language and policy. We’re here. Orientation is over. The real fun is beginning. You’re all wondering did I have that awkward moment of meeting my new family. Boy did I. I loved it. I found my Baba Tatyana and my Drudga Vasil as well as my cistars Yoana or Yo and Vladimira or Vladi at the hub training center in Vrasta. “Zdravete, Tatyana, Vasil, Yoana и Vladimira. Az sum Jon. Az sum ot Amerika ot Maryland ot Severna Park. Az sum ot Korpska na Mira. Az razbiram malko balgarski”, I said my first true sentence to true Bulgarians. No English. They responded and I have no idea what they said so I just kept saying, “minogo dobre” (Very Good). Followed by a bunch of random phrases that probably did nothing that confused us both. It came to the point that we all looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders as if we were a synchronized swimming team. It was amazing. How does one get out of this? You smile and laugh it off. We all started laughing at the lack of communication we had. I followed up with, “Pryaten me a” which means Pleased to meet you. At this point Vladi was hugging me, Tatyana was choking with tears, Vasil was doing a mixture of smiling/laughing and smoking his cigarette, while Yo was laughing while touching my hair. It was official; I was apart of the family. After a short drive we arrived to their house where the house warming really occurred. Before my bags were out of the car I’m pretty sure there was a shot of liquor in my hand and a bera in the other. “What have I got myself into?” for a brief moment I thought to myself. Mom, Dad not to worry though, I sipped the drinks over my very long meal. Not only this but over the course of three hours I ate like a champion. Chicken, potatoes, bread with chili pepper all from the home garden and store. AMAZING. Doesn’t sound like a lot right? We’ll my Baba definitely put two more scoops of food for every one scoop of food I ate. So no English speaking people. They have a corner store, a garden, they distill their own Rakia (Vasil said this is ‘Balgarski Whiskey- Johnny Walker- Minogo Dobre/ Bulgarian Whiskey- Johnny Walker- very good”). Essentially Rakia is moonshine. Anyways they distill that, make their own wine, have their own cherries, pretty much eat off the land. It’s simple. It’s amazing. Vasil showed me around the property and it looks like I’ll be working in the garden on my Sundays and becoming a mason to help him build his outside kitchen. How cool? Yo, is a student in secondary school and the English she knows is non-existent and consists of quotes from the ‘Twilight’ movie or lyrics from the band Paramore. She wants to learn English. Vladi is so adorable. I gave her the crayons. It’s her first set. Never in her life has she seen them. I had to show her how to use them and essentially told her that it was like painting a picture but with out getting wet. Once she saw this you could tell that I was her new best friend. At this moment I know I’ve chosen the right path. My path. These little things are what will get me through the tough and sometimes arduous times in this training. But knowing me in nine weeks, I’ll be swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I’ll be taking memories with me. Even though they are here on the weekends right now, they will move in when summer starts which is about three weeks.
