First three months in Bulgaria

Road between Vrastsa and Pleven

 

Pleven

 Rila Monastery

 Rila Monastery

 Vrastsa

 Vrastsa

 Vrastsa

 Dimitrovgrad

Roman ruins in Plovdiv

Roman ruins in Plovdiv

 

Old City in Plovdiv

 Waterfall near Lovech

Where the water flows out of a cave

From a gloomy day in April to a gloomy day in June Pre-Service Training was a time when I was constantly tested on my commitment to live in Bulgaria for the next two years. Between intense schedules of Bulgarian language and teaching English, and living in a new country with a Bulgarian host family I had a pretty interesting 12 weeks. But they are over, I made it and now I am a full fledged Peace Corps volunteer. Congratulations to those who have endured this before me and to everybody who endured it with me. Now the real work beings

Time stands still and I grow older

I went to Sofia for the first time and it was great to be in a big city again. Sofia really is nothing like the rest of Bulgaria, it doesn’t have the same feel to it as Kneja or Parvomai has. I did not get to see many things because I was only there for 3 hours but I did get to see something so remarkable that it needs to be experienced to get the full effect. June 2^nd is a holiday in Bulgaria celebrating a Bulgarian liberation hero. At noon a loud siren is sounded for two minutes at which time everything stops. Taxis, cars, people, the streetcars, everything stops. The city went from a loud bustling place to an eerie ghost town in a matter of seconds. Looking ahead at the people they just stopped and never moved an inch, it just felt like time had stopped and only you were still free to move around. The only thing you could hear was the sirens and birds flatting their wings. Simply put, it was incredible. I am going to plan of being their next year and either film it or bring somebody from home to experience it

On another note, today I have been alive for 27 years. It feels like just yesterday I turned 26 and only a week ago I was 16. This will be the first of three birthdays I will have here in Bulgaria and I have to say that today was a great day. My host family surprised me with an awesome birthday gift. Then I spent the better half of the day at a High School here in Kneja helping kids paint some rusty playground equipment they have in from of their school. It is difficult being away from my family and friends. I wish I was there to have dinner with my family. I picture my nephew running around a table at in a restaurant my parents take me to for my birthday. While my dad and brothers talk about sports my sister-in-law and mother would be talking about future plans for the weekend while I would be entertaining my niece and enjoying the pleasance of my company. Or my friends and I in a nice restaurant eating a fancy dinner over a nice glass of wine and after dinner we would ride our bikes to their house and listen vinyl records. Sadly all of this is happening without me and it tears me up on the inside that I can’t be there but at the same time I am so happy to be here in Bulgaria experience things that very few people will ever experience. The only gift I ever really want or wanted in life is the ability to travel and see new places and new cultures, and that is exactly what I am doing, and I could not be happier about it. It defiantly has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but it is good because that is how you grow as a person. It is days like today that you can mark that growth. I hope that next year I can look back at my 27^th year and think about how different I am now just like I am doing with my 26^th year.