PDM, End of summer.

Well per usual I have failed once again to update you all with my fast paced life. Everyday I seem to be learning more Bulgarian (so I hope) and losing more English. This happens to be great for everyone speaking to me. My Bulgarian is coming along and my English just gets even more ridiculous as the days pass. I got a pretty sweet comment the other day though...I was asking the conductor of the train if the section I was in was either first or second class. He answered, then asked if I was Macedonian. When I told him I was an American. He was dumbfounded. We ended up talking and then went our separate ways. About 30 minutes into the departure he came back to my cabin and sat down and talked. He was so intrigued that in fact he was talking to an American in his native language. He also kept apologizing for mistaking me as a Macedonian (to me that's a compliment). Mind you this is the man that puts holes in everyones ticket as they board the train. To date while in Bulgaria I've been mistaken as Greek, Italian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian. What is next? Who knows...I'll keep a tally though.

So about the end of August I came down with either food posioning or a brief stomach flu. It put me out. I mean I was hugging the door of the Turkish toliet half the time. (Turkish toliets...well there's no porcelin) Anyways after about 48 hours I was great and dandy. Then about two weeks later at the PDM conference which takes me about 10/11hours to get to...I get sick again. But let me explain the PDM conference. First, it's a great time to see some of the other B25's as I haven't seen some of them since July, so there was plenty of reason to be merry and have a good time. Second the PDM conference was in the old capitol of Bulgaria. A fantastic, rustic city on a hill. Very Beautiful. The first day was raining so not much of sight-seeing could be done. Third the PDM conference is a conference with our counterparts (or our Bulgarian colleauges that we work with) so we can learn about grant proposals, projects, and different areas of interest. As that is all interesting and very informative on the second day/night of going out. People started not feeling well. In the back of my mind- I knew all too well. This stomach flu/food posioning was back. And back it was- with a vengence. I'd venture that myself included probably 50.60% of the people got sick. It was quite an experience. Having to travel 10 hours on a train then a bus, then walk 7 km when you're trying to recover. AWESOME time spent! Atleast you get to be very close with the people that were also sick, because hey...you don't get upset if they say..."Hey I'll be right back...where's the restroom again?"

Ah Peace Corps. How I love it. The end of summer is here, next week I start teaching my classes again and working on projects. Most B22's will be leaving at the end of next week. That's actually kind of sad. Though I know some will be back and within 8 months new volunteers will be here...the B26's. It's getting pretty cold here not going to lie. I have a wooden stove that keeps me warm though. I have an amazing shot that my friend took on our hike. This is what the end of summer (and every day) looks like from the top of the peak behind my apartment. (Takes about 1.5 hours to climb...but as you see it's totally worth it). Cheerrsss
Take care.

4ao.

It's September, potatoes and mushrooms.

It's September now. Wow. Really? I finished up my last class of summer school refresher courses this week. Well it wasn't a failure like I thought, and kids enjoyed it. I have a feeling my time here will go by very fast. It's never a dull moment and even when it seems as though I'll have a dull moment, something exciting happens. September also means- time for potatoes, and well August means Mushrooms here. So the town has been busy picking both. With the addition of gathering wood for the winter it's exciting. Everyone moving. The potatoes here are super sweet. They make delicious french fries. Yes. I make french fries. I eat them with vinegar and sometimes I make honey mustard.

I've been researching a few different things for other small projects recently and I think I found some kids interested in an ecology/geo-cache club.
Another volunteer about 50 km North and I may collaberate on it so that his kids and my kids could go on hikes together and such. We met up yesterday to discuss possibilities. We'll probably talk more about it next week as we have a conference to go to, but we figured it was a good way to get to meet up and see each other, it's been about 5 weeks. Well when we met up in a town equally far (about half way for each of us) to our surprise we hardly spoke any English. Um...it was weird. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the moment but- you know someone speaks English, yet you look at them talking in Bulgarian it was very mind-boggling. We talked for about 2 hours on logistics, interest, and just the ideas of how it could work. We also were able to catch up on other things as well.

This weekend is the town holiday and hopefully it should be good. I'm hopeful the weather will hold out and that maybe my internet inviting (per the request of the Mayor) worked. Even if only 20 people come, well I'll consider it a small victory. From no internet presence 2 weeks ago...small steps. I was waiting for a ride yesterday (which can sometimes take a while) and I snaped this photo that I though was glorious...yes glorious.





PS. Ravens are 4-0 in Preseason...the last time they did that was in 2000. Was that the year they won the Superbowl? Oh that's right it is. Coincidence? Pure Skill? I'll go for the latter.