Time to get real

 It has only been a week since I left home and headed off for my big adventure. It has seemed like it has been longer because the bonds I have made with the 39 other people who came with me to Bulgaria as been not only made, but solidified in the stress of traveling to a completely foreign world, under the idea of promoting peace and cooperation. We left our mountain retreat this morning, the last bastion of normalcy we had left, and have been fragmented into groups of five and placed with host families in small villages throughout Northern Bulgaria. In route to our home for the next 3 months we were able to see more of Bulgaria than we had before, and on this cross-country trek it really became real for me because after coming down that mountain I finally saw Bulgaria. Bulgaria really is a beautiful place full of amazing and proud people, but it is clear that it is not like it’s Western European neighbors. I fell truly honored to be invited here and I hope to help this country in everyway I possible can.

But before I can do this I need to not only be trained on how to speak Bulgarian, understand their culture, but also how to teach English as a foreign language. This is why we have been fragmented, separated, and placed in a home with a Bulgarian family. I have been placed with a family of four. Two middle aged parents, who both work, and their two children, one boy and the other a girl. They have generously housed me in a cottage behind their house with all the amenities a person needs to live comfortably for three months of intense training, not to mention feed me delicious Bulgarian food and drink. I almost feel bad because I am cared for so well by my host family and also Peace Corps, I only hope that I will be able to repay this hospitality to my host family, their country, and to mine for sending me here to help make this world that much better. I hope my fellow volunteers have been made as comfortable in their new homes as I have.

Leka Nosht e Dovizhdane.