Wednesday, February 12, 2014
I'm BAAAAAACK!
Okay, only sort of. I am going to try and revive this stupid thing. I am going to try and compile a lot of the mass emails I send out into a few different blog posts about my time in China when I was without anything titled "blog". So, I hope to finish this within the next month. Just as an FYI I am currently in Nicaragua volunteering and here is a picture from the area I live. Thanks!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Seriously, I need to do this more often.
So, it has been a while since I have updated this thing. I would say not much has happened but you would all kill me...and that would make me a huge huge huge liar. I think my last real update was in the beginning of November. I guess the next major thing that I did was a Thanksgiving. We'll start there.
Thanksgiving was awesome and tiring at the same time. First I made pumpkin pie from scratch. That took nearly an entire afternoon...plus I had to learn how to make pie crust...and pumpkin puree. Whew, that was some work. But it came out very tasty. And for those of you who know this, I do not like pumpkin pie. I had some activities for the kids at the kindergarten but nothing for the kids at the primary school. That is a funny story which I will get into after this one. So, after I finished running around my town giving out pieces of pumpkin pie I packed for about a week worth of travel and projects.
The next morning (actual Thanksgiving day) I headed off to help Whitney get ready for a huge thanksgiving dinner she was planning. It was huge dinner, we fed about 40 people. We cooked 3 turkeys (approximately 15 kilos or 30ish pounds) about 2 kilos (about 4 pounds) of apples, 2 kilos (about 4 pounds) of pumpkins, about 4 kilos (about 8 pounds) of potatoes, and 2 kilos (about 4 pounds), plus a bunch of other things that I didn't get a chance to measure. It was a lot of food. Plus we had to use two different kitchens...which were on opposite ends of town. We thought we could cook everything in one kitchen because there were three ovens there. What we didn't know was that only one oven worked. Luckily, it was big enough to fit all three turkeys so then we lugged a third of the food back across town to Whitney's house. And, for those of you who are not familiar with Whitney's town is basically built into a hillside. So, there is about a 100+ meter elevation change plus about half a kilometer lateral distance between the first kitchen and her kitchen. People must have thought we lost our minds. But when all was said and done we got it all cooked and everyone was served. Not everything was hot because I ended having to wait for about 45 minutes for the van to show up to take me to the actual dinning hall which wasn't near either kitchen (I couldn't carry everything and I had no idea where it was). After everything got eaten (seriously, no leftovers) Whitney and I did dishes until about 10:30 or so in the evening.
The next day we headed to Amber's place to prep there for Thanksgiving with other volunteers. We were supposed to go to an orphanage in a nearby town to teach about Thanksgiving there but that ended up being moved to the next week due to bureaucratic issues. We had a nice chill day. And then the next day was Volunteer Thanksgiving which had volunteers showing up all day. Also, Amber only has a small oven and 1 (yeah, one) burner on which to cook. So, that was some very well managed kitchen time. It was a very lovely Thanksgiving. Well, everything except the hauling of 5 cubits of wood to here fifth story balcony. Which, wasn't too bad because we had a decent amount of people to help, but still took a long time—and we didn't even finish. Then we all passed out watching it's a wonderful life.
Alright, the next few days were spent in Plovdiv for IST (In-Service Training) which involved a lot of late nights and early morning. Didn't think I still that in me after college. Craziness that I don't think I should get into here. Nothing too bad just excessive drinking and partying. But what can you expect from us? This was the first time we'd seen each other in over 3 months. I expect similar things when I head back to the states.
So, IST was for 3 days. I got back to my site late and did not stay long. I basically got a quick hi from some people, taught 2 English classes and then was back on the road. This time I went to Chiprovtsi in Northwest Bulgaria for a carpet weaving weekend. It was my first time to experience (first hand) a cultural tourist activity. It was interesting to see how to market such activities. Despite the weather it was tons of fun. I weaved a bookmark size piece of carpet, got to hang out with some B25s whom I don't see often and had a good learning experience. Lets see...I left on Thanksgiving, came back for a day on the 2nd of Dec. then left again on 3rd and got back from that on the 6th. A lot of traveling, working, hanging out. Can't complain about that at all.
Between then and Christmas not much happened. I tried to develop a schedule for myself only to have that obliterated by the Christmas/New Years holiday blitz.
For Christmas Whitney's family came to Bulgaria. They came and visited here on the 23rd and I went with them to Cameron's town for Christmas. It was really fun. They are awesome people and brought me cooking supplies (!) and coffee (YAY!) for Christmas. We didn't do much. Did a little hiking, ate a lot of food. Drank some drinks. Went to church. But it was mostly chill. We were there for the weekend and then I went home. I spend the couple of days before New Year's eve working on a few things but mostly preparing to have a guest for the New Year's weekend. My buddy Ben came to visit me for the New Years weekend. The New Years eve was a bit crazy. We, by accident, had 3 dinners, and “party” hopped. Which I do not think that is normal in Bulgaria. At midnight the entire town lit up with fireworks. It was really spectacular. Then we went to the Disco and watched the amazing display of drinking prowess. The next day Ben and I hiked to Greek border and back. It wasn't as far or hard as I expected. We left around 11:30 and were back by 4 or 5. Then we visited Whitney. He left on the Monday morning bus. Nothing too exciting. Just good times.
January 2nd came and went without a fuss. It has been nine years now. I feel a little bad for being here for the 10th anniversary but, what can you do? I had written something different here but figured that would be best to just leave it that.
Well, that is all for my life. Hope you all had a safe and merry holiday season.
Thanksgiving was awesome and tiring at the same time. First I made pumpkin pie from scratch. That took nearly an entire afternoon...plus I had to learn how to make pie crust...and pumpkin puree. Whew, that was some work. But it came out very tasty. And for those of you who know this, I do not like pumpkin pie. I had some activities for the kids at the kindergarten but nothing for the kids at the primary school. That is a funny story which I will get into after this one. So, after I finished running around my town giving out pieces of pumpkin pie I packed for about a week worth of travel and projects.
The next morning (actual Thanksgiving day) I headed off to help Whitney get ready for a huge thanksgiving dinner she was planning. It was huge dinner, we fed about 40 people. We cooked 3 turkeys (approximately 15 kilos or 30ish pounds) about 2 kilos (about 4 pounds) of apples, 2 kilos (about 4 pounds) of pumpkins, about 4 kilos (about 8 pounds) of potatoes, and 2 kilos (about 4 pounds), plus a bunch of other things that I didn't get a chance to measure. It was a lot of food. Plus we had to use two different kitchens...which were on opposite ends of town. We thought we could cook everything in one kitchen because there were three ovens there. What we didn't know was that only one oven worked. Luckily, it was big enough to fit all three turkeys so then we lugged a third of the food back across town to Whitney's house. And, for those of you who are not familiar with Whitney's town is basically built into a hillside. So, there is about a 100+ meter elevation change plus about half a kilometer lateral distance between the first kitchen and her kitchen. People must have thought we lost our minds. But when all was said and done we got it all cooked and everyone was served. Not everything was hot because I ended having to wait for about 45 minutes for the van to show up to take me to the actual dinning hall which wasn't near either kitchen (I couldn't carry everything and I had no idea where it was). After everything got eaten (seriously, no leftovers) Whitney and I did dishes until about 10:30 or so in the evening.
The next day we headed to Amber's place to prep there for Thanksgiving with other volunteers. We were supposed to go to an orphanage in a nearby town to teach about Thanksgiving there but that ended up being moved to the next week due to bureaucratic issues. We had a nice chill day. And then the next day was Volunteer Thanksgiving which had volunteers showing up all day. Also, Amber only has a small oven and 1 (yeah, one) burner on which to cook. So, that was some very well managed kitchen time. It was a very lovely Thanksgiving. Well, everything except the hauling of 5 cubits of wood to here fifth story balcony. Which, wasn't too bad because we had a decent amount of people to help, but still took a long time—and we didn't even finish. Then we all passed out watching it's a wonderful life.
Alright, the next few days were spent in Plovdiv for IST (In-Service Training) which involved a lot of late nights and early morning. Didn't think I still that in me after college. Craziness that I don't think I should get into here. Nothing too bad just excessive drinking and partying. But what can you expect from us? This was the first time we'd seen each other in over 3 months. I expect similar things when I head back to the states.
So, IST was for 3 days. I got back to my site late and did not stay long. I basically got a quick hi from some people, taught 2 English classes and then was back on the road. This time I went to Chiprovtsi in Northwest Bulgaria for a carpet weaving weekend. It was my first time to experience (first hand) a cultural tourist activity. It was interesting to see how to market such activities. Despite the weather it was tons of fun. I weaved a bookmark size piece of carpet, got to hang out with some B25s whom I don't see often and had a good learning experience. Lets see...I left on Thanksgiving, came back for a day on the 2nd of Dec. then left again on 3rd and got back from that on the 6th. A lot of traveling, working, hanging out. Can't complain about that at all.
Between then and Christmas not much happened. I tried to develop a schedule for myself only to have that obliterated by the Christmas/New Years holiday blitz.
For Christmas Whitney's family came to Bulgaria. They came and visited here on the 23rd and I went with them to Cameron's town for Christmas. It was really fun. They are awesome people and brought me cooking supplies (!) and coffee (YAY!) for Christmas. We didn't do much. Did a little hiking, ate a lot of food. Drank some drinks. Went to church. But it was mostly chill. We were there for the weekend and then I went home. I spend the couple of days before New Year's eve working on a few things but mostly preparing to have a guest for the New Year's weekend. My buddy Ben came to visit me for the New Years weekend. The New Years eve was a bit crazy. We, by accident, had 3 dinners, and “party” hopped. Which I do not think that is normal in Bulgaria. At midnight the entire town lit up with fireworks. It was really spectacular. Then we went to the Disco and watched the amazing display of drinking prowess. The next day Ben and I hiked to Greek border and back. It wasn't as far or hard as I expected. We left around 11:30 and were back by 4 or 5. Then we visited Whitney. He left on the Monday morning bus. Nothing too exciting. Just good times.
January 2nd came and went without a fuss. It has been nine years now. I feel a little bad for being here for the 10th anniversary but, what can you do? I had written something different here but figured that would be best to just leave it that.
Well, that is all for my life. Hope you all had a safe and merry holiday season.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Birthday at the Kindergarten
Hey, haven't done much since my last update. Just wanted to share some pics and video of a birthday party at the kindergarten. It was a lot of fun. Made me miss my nieces. I hope this finds you all well.
Today is a korban byram (sorry if I misspell that) which is a 4 day celebration. It should be a lot of fun. Especially, since we have a band new mosque. I should have people from all over the region coming to take a look at it. It is going to be really exciting. Well, after that it is time to prepare for Thanksgiving. Then I have IST (In-Service Training). After IST I get to go to learn how to weave carpets...actually how to host a carpet weaving and then take that info back to my town and hopefully start a similar activity there. So, I get to be gone from the 25th of Nov. until the the 6th of Dec...crazy. Just plain crazy.
Today is a korban byram (sorry if I misspell that) which is a 4 day celebration. It should be a lot of fun. Especially, since we have a band new mosque. I should have people from all over the region coming to take a look at it. It is going to be really exciting. Well, after that it is time to prepare for Thanksgiving. Then I have IST (In-Service Training). After IST I get to go to learn how to weave carpets...actually how to host a carpet weaving and then take that info back to my town and hopefully start a similar activity there. So, I get to be gone from the 25th of Nov. until the the 6th of Dec...crazy. Just plain crazy.
Monday, November 1, 2010
So, I haven't updated in a while. Here is over a month's worth of stuff:
So, some of this was written at times when I didn't have the internet, and when I did have I forgot to post it. So, here is a month's worth of adventures...broken into weird/random segments.
Sept 1st, 2010:
Well, it has officially been 6 weeks since I messed my ankle up. Today is the first day I wandered outside without my brace. I still was sporting an ace bandage but it seemed to do alright. I can't tell if my ankle is taking a long time to heal because I messed it up so bad, or because I have been treating it like a wuss and wearing that brace for so long. Mom says the last time I hurt my ankle it took nearly three months to FULLY heal. So I guess this is just how it goes. I hope to be off the Ace bandage in 4 weeks or less. I still don't have full movement in it, up and down is almost all there but side to side still extremely stiff and with limited range of motion. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.
In other news, I finally got a story for the history of our chitalishte (cultural center), meaning I typed for three hours in Bulgarian while she dictated from a handwritten document I could barely read. Now begins the long/slow process of translating it and then getting it into the website I am building—well, the hard part is formatting the thing. Oh, I am building a website or seven. When they get uploaded I will send ya'll the links. Yagodina's subor (town holiday) is this weekend too. It should be fun, although the walk is about 1.5 hours (about 7 km, 4.25 miles) if you don't stop for the views. A little faster if you cut through some pastures. I might get to head to “The Ramp” or whatever Jon calls it. About a 2 hour hike up from the town (imagine walking up Alabama hill for two hours on unkempt road). But the view apparently will make me crap myself. I will try to remember a camera. But this weekend is not all fun, games, and rekia, I do hope to get some collaboration done. Jon and I are are working on the same project for our towns and didn't even know it. Time to find some funding for it. Looks like I get to shake down some local businesses. I will post more about it when I have a better idea about the probability of its completion. Oh, I think I got cleared to participate in a English Camp (as a trainer, duh) for the weekend of the 10th through the 13th. If all goes according to plan, I will on the 7th I will go to another conference (this time in Sliven) until the 10th where I will get directly onto a bus to Plovdiv, then another bus to Borino then I might have to hike to the site. If everything works out I will get to the camp around 10:30 at night. I can take the 1300 bus from Sliven to Plovdiv. Then I get to take the 1630 bus from Plovdiv to Borino, it should arrive there around 2130. From there I have no idea where I will be going. Alright, enough of this. Time to finish watching Carnivale. Later.
Sept 21st, 2010:
So, that was quite a jump. A whole 20 days. A lot has happened. I had the PDM (Project Design and Management) Conference and taught at the English Camp. My life has changed a lot in the last 20 days. Before my day to day activities involved a lot of uncertainty and flexibility. Now there is still as much uncertainty and flexibility as ever but with more plates than I can spin safely.
To begin with school is in session. I started teaching English at the Kindergarten yesterday and that was a...new challenge. Imagine me, someone who barely speaks Bulgarian trying to teach little kids how to speak English in the very best Bulgarian I can muster. And still failing miserably. But luckily Asya, one of the people I will be working with, was there to help control and speak on behalf of me. All in all it was a good start despite I only taught for a whole 15 minutes. I get to try it again on Thursday. I also found out I will be teaching at the school. I still don't have a program yet, but I think I will be teaching computers and English there. I could be wrong, but that sounds like it. OH! When I find the director I will find out if I can use one of their classrooms in the afternoon to teach an adult class or three. At my absolute max my week will look like this: Monday: Teach at the kindergarten at 9:30; after that at the school; Tuesday: Teach at the school in the morning and an adult class in the afternoon; Wednesday: Teach at the school in the morning; Thursday: Teach at the kindergarten and then the school, with an adult class in the afternoon; Friday: teach in the morning at the school. I will teach adults in the afternoon because the primary school is only in session until noon. I will probably only do a third to half of that. I am being an ambitious new volunteer. I have plans for making an eco-club at the school. I have all the paper work to start a scouting organization here and even the contact info for someone in a nearby town (Borino) who is looking to start a scout club. It is actually Shah's old counterpart—he just COSed (closed of service...yes, it is a verb) last week—so I might get to help them too. Also, I am still working on the map project I mentioned on Sept. 1st and I am still working on translating the museum. Then I get to make a website for them too.
Some of you might be looking at that and thinking, “Is that all?” The answer is no. Those are only the activities I am doing to meet my secondary goals. My first big projects are a Tourism Resource Exchange within the central Rhodope region and map out a eco-trail between my town and Whitney's town. The Tourism Resource Exchange (from now on referred to as TRX) is not going to held until April—if all goes according to plan. The TRX is a place for towns who do not have a tourism infrastructure to talk with people and other town who have one to learn how to begin and how to maintain a tourism infrastructure. For those towns who already one established, there will be professionals and experts there to advise them on how better and advance the current infrastructure. The TRX is too big for me alone so I will have lots of help from other volunteers in the area. We are going to start primarily with our towns and hope to include others later. We hope this will become an annual event in which leaders in the local tourism industry meet and work together to better the entire region. Remember when I said ambitious? Rolled into this is a project in which Whitney and I try to find the best eco-trail between our towns in order for tourists to gain easier access to Whitney's site. She has lovely town and they want in on the tourism industry. First we are going to help people gain access. Then we will work on the other stuff. We have an example project for another eco-trail to work from and it seems like a year long project. Jon and I are also talking about getting information boards put along the trail between our towns to further promote the eco/botanical trail between our towns. Whew...BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!
I still have my household chores, aka Selska Rabota. I just got all my wood delivered (It's okay, I here you snickering) for the winter. So, I have been splitting that every afternoon after lunch for an hour or so. I am no longer worried about my tattoos because I have been doing this shirtless. What? I get hot and sweaty swinging an ax for an hour or so straight. It also gave me an awesome blister in my palm so I gotta do it all right handed. I should also buy a hatchet...Anyways, I have been learning how to make preserves for the winter. All interesting and all very new to me. I am trying to get in the mindset to eat seasonal foods, I guess that means lots of potatoes and other roots for most of winter. Next week I get to start learning how to cook on/in a stove that has no temperature control. I am stoked (just like all the fires I get to start) to learn how to cook winter foods. They mostly consist of soups, stews, and slow cooked meats. I get to hang out inside for long periods of time this winter because there will most likely a meter or so of snow around from November to May. I should try to find snow shoes to go hiking. Actually, I should brush up on how to make snow caves...just for fun. Oh well, it is not like I do not have plenty to keep me busy during the winter. While the rest of the town bunkers down for the winter I get to plan and prepare for the next active season.
Let's see, is there anything else?
OH! I got a package from my folks today. I got a pair of Carhartt's, an awesome hat (it has a mohawk), my rain pants (yeah, that's right, pants for the rain), and SEASONING PACKETS AND MACADEMIA NUTS! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! I gots me some teriyaki marinade and taco seasoning. I have a recipe for tortillas, so, when I am needing a lift during the long, dead winter, I am gonna make me some tacos. Oh, I should also be getting a copy of Civilization 5. All in all I think I have more things to do than I have time for, which is super. I don't sit still well (unless I am playing video games). Now, all I need to a mouse for my laptop (I hate the pad thing) and find the internet and I will be set for the next two years. Though, I do have about as much stuff to waste my time as I do actual work.
I guess I should do my dinner dishes now. Bye for today.
Sept. 30th, 2010:
Well, I am officially a long-term resident of the nation of Bulgaria. I have my “lichna carta” (registration card) yesterday. This thing is so cool. They have the facial recognition tech stuff, no glasses, no piercings, no smile, picture which makes me look a little annoyed (I was). Also, there is a chip in it that allows for swiping the card at ID points. On the chip, they also have digital copies of my prints. It is pretty fantastic. Good ol' big brother. Keepin' me safe and such.
Yesterday involved a nice meeting with some of the other volunteers in the area. We decided to all pick up our cards at the same time so we could meet, exchange resources, and talk about projects, vent about our frustrations, and share coping mechanisms. It was really nice. Got some good work done and got some more plans. All I can do right now is keep throwing irons in the fire and wait. I know that they will probably all finish at the same time and then I get to juggle hot iron for a few months. Oh well, that's the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism for you. Well, off to work again!
Oct. 21st, 2010:
Well, what the hell happened to October? Lots and lots of new things and even more new project ideas. So, still tossing irons in the fire, some are hot and I am beginning to juggle and just waiting for the point of being overwhelmed. Right now, the project that takes to most time is teaching English. I teach at the Kindergarten two days a week, once a week at the primary school (I teach third through 8 graders, not at the same time) and in November I am going to start afternoon classes for adults at the school. Kids here only go to school from 7 am to 1 pm. So all the classrooms are free after 1 or 1:30. I think I am going to start at 2:30 and go for 1 hour. We'll see how that goes. I only teach at the kindergarten for 20 minutes tops—but usually coffee and snacks follows for another 30 minutes. So, if I get two afternoon classes I will teach English for about 5 hours a week. Not too bad. But, right now all my focus is one figuring out a way to teach kids here about Halloween. I have 5 days to get this done. Because I have volunteered to help another volunteer put on a haunted house so I will be gone for Halloween weekend (Friday through Monday) and on top of that I have to go into Plovdiv to get my flu vaccine on Wednesday the 27th. But, they start giving out flu shots in the afternoon, after all the buses to my town. So, I am going to hang out in Plovdiv and do some market research for those two days and then head to help the other volunteer. Well, at least that is what I am thinking right now, that can, and probably will, change within the next 6 days or so.
Right now I am working a lot on the website. I have set an arbitrary finish date of Nov. 30th. No one really seems to care when I finish as long as I am working on it. I just finished translating all the information into Bulgarian. Now I am waiting on proof reading and editing on the Bulgarian script. Then I get to start looking for free web hosting sites, online photo galleries, video hosting sights, etc, etc, etc. Oh, that reminds me I still need to edit the three digital videos they have and create subtitles for them. That should take me close to one month.
In other news, I found a really awesome program called Google “Sketchup” which is helping me make a map of my village. I am about a quarter of the way done outlining all the buildings. So, I still have a long ways to go on that. I have an arbitrary finish date of the end of April. The sooner I finish my end to sooner I can start to hound people for resources to help get this project done without needing to actually write the big GP—grant proposal. So, I am getting stoked on that.
I am creating a survey (seriously, it was only a matter of time) for all the local guests houses and hotels about what services they offer and if they have a website, etc. You know, simple market research. Rolled into this is a series of questions about what sort of business development help they want/need. I am not sure how these questions are going to works. I will probably talk with Jon, Whitney, or Amber about that since that is kind of their cup of tea. I am going to being this by myself and door to door. The instrument development should be done by the middle of November, and I should have gathered all my data by the end of December. Now, I need to learn how to do useful stats in Excel. I hope to use this data to better develop training materials on business development, marketing, and customer service. I am hoping to get those classes up and running by NEXT fall. This is a long term goal. But, also in line with market research I am also heading out into some of the other larger tourist destinations nearby to see if they sell homemade Rhodope souvenirs. There is a couple of people who make homemade souvenirs and I want to help them make a little more money. Because we only sell them at the Tourist Information Center and that place is only open when I am there (Saturday mornings, generally) so getting their wares to a place that can actually push them is 12 times better than what I can do within the village alone.
And on the TRX we are still in the research mode but Cameron and I are talking pretty regularly about it. We are also trying to figure out a way to set up collective bargaining for our villages. They make a lot of raw materials that get used in different products, such as milk, berries, mushrooms, etc. Our villages sell these products to buyers to travel from village to village. They in turn sell it to someone else with nearly a 1000% mark-up. Like, they buy a kilo of mushrooms for 5 bucks. They then sell those mushrooms for 50 bucks a kilo. Ridiculous, right? So, we are working with them to give them a pay raise.
Well, time for bed.
Nov. 1st:
Wow, that was a weekend. Some stuff went down on the internet. Some things went down in Veliko Turnovo (good things happened there, no worries) and all in all, just a very long weekend. The party and Haunted House were fantastic. Learning more and more about planing and execution of plans here. I am on the news here...again, for helping out with the haunted house. Which, by the way, gave me some awesome ideas for next year and I am excited to start planning that next September. Also, found out my parents will be coming to Europe next September and taking me on a cruise. Stoked to see them. I am working on plans for a trip to Italy for my birfday in February with Nikki (SO EXCITE!) and have a lot on my plate otherwise. Time here is flying by at a crazy rate. I am excited to say that I will start my adult English class next Tuesday. And by excited I mean I am extremely nervous. Holy crap. I am going to start prepping classes this week as well as catching up work that I missed while out doing other work. My Halloween projects turned out better than I expected. Though, it was a bit harder than I expected. Since this is their first Halloween it required a lot more me doing it first to gain their interest. I had a very unexpected Jack-O-Lantern carving party. That came together in the matter of a few hours. But things are going well and getting easier. My language is still struggling—in my opinion. But that is mainly because I have a hard time forcing myself to study. But I have plans to change that habit. I am a little behind on certain projects I am working on, but it is okay. I have time to catch up. It seems that winter is the time to plan and prepare for spring and summer.
Speaking of winter, the weather is getting cold. There is snow on the ground and looks like it is going to stay that way for a long time. Still have a lot of wood to split, mainly because I only split wood for an hour or so a day and don't get to split everything at once, like most locals. Oh well, it will get done. I am not worried. Right now I am exhausted and waiting for the bus back to my town. But, still have some work to do on the internet.
You should see some pics of me below. I look a little funny. But that is life. Also, there are some pics of the kindergarten I teach and of the reults of my the pumkin carving party.
I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again and having some winter brews. If anyone wants to ship me a case of Snow Plow I would love you forever and ever.
Sept 1st, 2010:
Well, it has officially been 6 weeks since I messed my ankle up. Today is the first day I wandered outside without my brace. I still was sporting an ace bandage but it seemed to do alright. I can't tell if my ankle is taking a long time to heal because I messed it up so bad, or because I have been treating it like a wuss and wearing that brace for so long. Mom says the last time I hurt my ankle it took nearly three months to FULLY heal. So I guess this is just how it goes. I hope to be off the Ace bandage in 4 weeks or less. I still don't have full movement in it, up and down is almost all there but side to side still extremely stiff and with limited range of motion. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.
In other news, I finally got a story for the history of our chitalishte (cultural center), meaning I typed for three hours in Bulgarian while she dictated from a handwritten document I could barely read. Now begins the long/slow process of translating it and then getting it into the website I am building—well, the hard part is formatting the thing. Oh, I am building a website or seven. When they get uploaded I will send ya'll the links. Yagodina's subor (town holiday) is this weekend too. It should be fun, although the walk is about 1.5 hours (about 7 km, 4.25 miles) if you don't stop for the views. A little faster if you cut through some pastures. I might get to head to “The Ramp” or whatever Jon calls it. About a 2 hour hike up from the town (imagine walking up Alabama hill for two hours on unkempt road). But the view apparently will make me crap myself. I will try to remember a camera. But this weekend is not all fun, games, and rekia, I do hope to get some collaboration done. Jon and I are are working on the same project for our towns and didn't even know it. Time to find some funding for it. Looks like I get to shake down some local businesses. I will post more about it when I have a better idea about the probability of its completion. Oh, I think I got cleared to participate in a English Camp (as a trainer, duh) for the weekend of the 10th through the 13th. If all goes according to plan, I will on the 7th I will go to another conference (this time in Sliven) until the 10th where I will get directly onto a bus to Plovdiv, then another bus to Borino then I might have to hike to the site. If everything works out I will get to the camp around 10:30 at night. I can take the 1300 bus from Sliven to Plovdiv. Then I get to take the 1630 bus from Plovdiv to Borino, it should arrive there around 2130. From there I have no idea where I will be going. Alright, enough of this. Time to finish watching Carnivale. Later.
Sept 21st, 2010:
So, that was quite a jump. A whole 20 days. A lot has happened. I had the PDM (Project Design and Management) Conference and taught at the English Camp. My life has changed a lot in the last 20 days. Before my day to day activities involved a lot of uncertainty and flexibility. Now there is still as much uncertainty and flexibility as ever but with more plates than I can spin safely.
To begin with school is in session. I started teaching English at the Kindergarten yesterday and that was a...new challenge. Imagine me, someone who barely speaks Bulgarian trying to teach little kids how to speak English in the very best Bulgarian I can muster. And still failing miserably. But luckily Asya, one of the people I will be working with, was there to help control and speak on behalf of me. All in all it was a good start despite I only taught for a whole 15 minutes. I get to try it again on Thursday. I also found out I will be teaching at the school. I still don't have a program yet, but I think I will be teaching computers and English there. I could be wrong, but that sounds like it. OH! When I find the director I will find out if I can use one of their classrooms in the afternoon to teach an adult class or three. At my absolute max my week will look like this: Monday: Teach at the kindergarten at 9:30; after that at the school; Tuesday: Teach at the school in the morning and an adult class in the afternoon; Wednesday: Teach at the school in the morning; Thursday: Teach at the kindergarten and then the school, with an adult class in the afternoon; Friday: teach in the morning at the school. I will teach adults in the afternoon because the primary school is only in session until noon. I will probably only do a third to half of that. I am being an ambitious new volunteer. I have plans for making an eco-club at the school. I have all the paper work to start a scouting organization here and even the contact info for someone in a nearby town (Borino) who is looking to start a scout club. It is actually Shah's old counterpart—he just COSed (closed of service...yes, it is a verb) last week—so I might get to help them too. Also, I am still working on the map project I mentioned on Sept. 1st and I am still working on translating the museum. Then I get to make a website for them too.
Some of you might be looking at that and thinking, “Is that all?” The answer is no. Those are only the activities I am doing to meet my secondary goals. My first big projects are a Tourism Resource Exchange within the central Rhodope region and map out a eco-trail between my town and Whitney's town. The Tourism Resource Exchange (from now on referred to as TRX) is not going to held until April—if all goes according to plan. The TRX is a place for towns who do not have a tourism infrastructure to talk with people and other town who have one to learn how to begin and how to maintain a tourism infrastructure. For those towns who already one established, there will be professionals and experts there to advise them on how better and advance the current infrastructure. The TRX is too big for me alone so I will have lots of help from other volunteers in the area. We are going to start primarily with our towns and hope to include others later. We hope this will become an annual event in which leaders in the local tourism industry meet and work together to better the entire region. Remember when I said ambitious? Rolled into this is a project in which Whitney and I try to find the best eco-trail between our towns in order for tourists to gain easier access to Whitney's site. She has lovely town and they want in on the tourism industry. First we are going to help people gain access. Then we will work on the other stuff. We have an example project for another eco-trail to work from and it seems like a year long project. Jon and I are also talking about getting information boards put along the trail between our towns to further promote the eco/botanical trail between our towns. Whew...BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!
I still have my household chores, aka Selska Rabota. I just got all my wood delivered (It's okay, I here you snickering) for the winter. So, I have been splitting that every afternoon after lunch for an hour or so. I am no longer worried about my tattoos because I have been doing this shirtless. What? I get hot and sweaty swinging an ax for an hour or so straight. It also gave me an awesome blister in my palm so I gotta do it all right handed. I should also buy a hatchet...Anyways, I have been learning how to make preserves for the winter. All interesting and all very new to me. I am trying to get in the mindset to eat seasonal foods, I guess that means lots of potatoes and other roots for most of winter. Next week I get to start learning how to cook on/in a stove that has no temperature control. I am stoked (just like all the fires I get to start) to learn how to cook winter foods. They mostly consist of soups, stews, and slow cooked meats. I get to hang out inside for long periods of time this winter because there will most likely a meter or so of snow around from November to May. I should try to find snow shoes to go hiking. Actually, I should brush up on how to make snow caves...just for fun. Oh well, it is not like I do not have plenty to keep me busy during the winter. While the rest of the town bunkers down for the winter I get to plan and prepare for the next active season.
Let's see, is there anything else?
OH! I got a package from my folks today. I got a pair of Carhartt's, an awesome hat (it has a mohawk), my rain pants (yeah, that's right, pants for the rain), and SEASONING PACKETS AND MACADEMIA NUTS! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! I gots me some teriyaki marinade and taco seasoning. I have a recipe for tortillas, so, when I am needing a lift during the long, dead winter, I am gonna make me some tacos. Oh, I should also be getting a copy of Civilization 5. All in all I think I have more things to do than I have time for, which is super. I don't sit still well (unless I am playing video games). Now, all I need to a mouse for my laptop (I hate the pad thing) and find the internet and I will be set for the next two years. Though, I do have about as much stuff to waste my time as I do actual work.
I guess I should do my dinner dishes now. Bye for today.
Sept. 30th, 2010:
Well, I am officially a long-term resident of the nation of Bulgaria. I have my “lichna carta” (registration card) yesterday. This thing is so cool. They have the facial recognition tech stuff, no glasses, no piercings, no smile, picture which makes me look a little annoyed (I was). Also, there is a chip in it that allows for swiping the card at ID points. On the chip, they also have digital copies of my prints. It is pretty fantastic. Good ol' big brother. Keepin' me safe and such.
Yesterday involved a nice meeting with some of the other volunteers in the area. We decided to all pick up our cards at the same time so we could meet, exchange resources, and talk about projects, vent about our frustrations, and share coping mechanisms. It was really nice. Got some good work done and got some more plans. All I can do right now is keep throwing irons in the fire and wait. I know that they will probably all finish at the same time and then I get to juggle hot iron for a few months. Oh well, that's the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism for you. Well, off to work again!
Oct. 21st, 2010:
Well, what the hell happened to October? Lots and lots of new things and even more new project ideas. So, still tossing irons in the fire, some are hot and I am beginning to juggle and just waiting for the point of being overwhelmed. Right now, the project that takes to most time is teaching English. I teach at the Kindergarten two days a week, once a week at the primary school (I teach third through 8 graders, not at the same time) and in November I am going to start afternoon classes for adults at the school. Kids here only go to school from 7 am to 1 pm. So all the classrooms are free after 1 or 1:30. I think I am going to start at 2:30 and go for 1 hour. We'll see how that goes. I only teach at the kindergarten for 20 minutes tops—but usually coffee and snacks follows for another 30 minutes. So, if I get two afternoon classes I will teach English for about 5 hours a week. Not too bad. But, right now all my focus is one figuring out a way to teach kids here about Halloween. I have 5 days to get this done. Because I have volunteered to help another volunteer put on a haunted house so I will be gone for Halloween weekend (Friday through Monday) and on top of that I have to go into Plovdiv to get my flu vaccine on Wednesday the 27th. But, they start giving out flu shots in the afternoon, after all the buses to my town. So, I am going to hang out in Plovdiv and do some market research for those two days and then head to help the other volunteer. Well, at least that is what I am thinking right now, that can, and probably will, change within the next 6 days or so.
Right now I am working a lot on the website. I have set an arbitrary finish date of Nov. 30th. No one really seems to care when I finish as long as I am working on it. I just finished translating all the information into Bulgarian. Now I am waiting on proof reading and editing on the Bulgarian script. Then I get to start looking for free web hosting sites, online photo galleries, video hosting sights, etc, etc, etc. Oh, that reminds me I still need to edit the three digital videos they have and create subtitles for them. That should take me close to one month.
In other news, I found a really awesome program called Google “Sketchup” which is helping me make a map of my village. I am about a quarter of the way done outlining all the buildings. So, I still have a long ways to go on that. I have an arbitrary finish date of the end of April. The sooner I finish my end to sooner I can start to hound people for resources to help get this project done without needing to actually write the big GP—grant proposal. So, I am getting stoked on that.
I am creating a survey (seriously, it was only a matter of time) for all the local guests houses and hotels about what services they offer and if they have a website, etc. You know, simple market research. Rolled into this is a series of questions about what sort of business development help they want/need. I am not sure how these questions are going to works. I will probably talk with Jon, Whitney, or Amber about that since that is kind of their cup of tea. I am going to being this by myself and door to door. The instrument development should be done by the middle of November, and I should have gathered all my data by the end of December. Now, I need to learn how to do useful stats in Excel. I hope to use this data to better develop training materials on business development, marketing, and customer service. I am hoping to get those classes up and running by NEXT fall. This is a long term goal. But, also in line with market research I am also heading out into some of the other larger tourist destinations nearby to see if they sell homemade Rhodope souvenirs. There is a couple of people who make homemade souvenirs and I want to help them make a little more money. Because we only sell them at the Tourist Information Center and that place is only open when I am there (Saturday mornings, generally) so getting their wares to a place that can actually push them is 12 times better than what I can do within the village alone.
And on the TRX we are still in the research mode but Cameron and I are talking pretty regularly about it. We are also trying to figure out a way to set up collective bargaining for our villages. They make a lot of raw materials that get used in different products, such as milk, berries, mushrooms, etc. Our villages sell these products to buyers to travel from village to village. They in turn sell it to someone else with nearly a 1000% mark-up. Like, they buy a kilo of mushrooms for 5 bucks. They then sell those mushrooms for 50 bucks a kilo. Ridiculous, right? So, we are working with them to give them a pay raise.
Well, time for bed.
Nov. 1st:
Wow, that was a weekend. Some stuff went down on the internet. Some things went down in Veliko Turnovo (good things happened there, no worries) and all in all, just a very long weekend. The party and Haunted House were fantastic. Learning more and more about planing and execution of plans here. I am on the news here...again, for helping out with the haunted house. Which, by the way, gave me some awesome ideas for next year and I am excited to start planning that next September. Also, found out my parents will be coming to Europe next September and taking me on a cruise. Stoked to see them. I am working on plans for a trip to Italy for my birfday in February with Nikki (SO EXCITE!) and have a lot on my plate otherwise. Time here is flying by at a crazy rate. I am excited to say that I will start my adult English class next Tuesday. And by excited I mean I am extremely nervous. Holy crap. I am going to start prepping classes this week as well as catching up work that I missed while out doing other work. My Halloween projects turned out better than I expected. Though, it was a bit harder than I expected. Since this is their first Halloween it required a lot more me doing it first to gain their interest. I had a very unexpected Jack-O-Lantern carving party. That came together in the matter of a few hours. But things are going well and getting easier. My language is still struggling—in my opinion. But that is mainly because I have a hard time forcing myself to study. But I have plans to change that habit. I am a little behind on certain projects I am working on, but it is okay. I have time to catch up. It seems that winter is the time to plan and prepare for spring and summer.
Speaking of winter, the weather is getting cold. There is snow on the ground and looks like it is going to stay that way for a long time. Still have a lot of wood to split, mainly because I only split wood for an hour or so a day and don't get to split everything at once, like most locals. Oh well, it will get done. I am not worried. Right now I am exhausted and waiting for the bus back to my town. But, still have some work to do on the internet.
You should see some pics of me below. I look a little funny. But that is life. Also, there are some pics of the kindergarten I teach and of the reults of my the pumkin carving party.
I miss you all and look forward to seeing you again and having some winter brews. If anyone wants to ship me a case of Snow Plow I would love you forever and ever.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
This one goes out to...
everyone touched (not literally, figuratively you perv) by Jesse Lee Dukellis. He was an amazing man. My heart goes out to those he left behind.
Drinking for you bud!
Drinking for you bud!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Hello blogosphere! @$&*#! I LIVE IN BULGARIA!
Alright, time for a huge post. I have not updated this since I got the good news I did not break my ankle. Some of you may be asking, “So, what has been happening in your amazing life?” The answer is simple: I work and live. Many of you may be thinking that this is a gross over generalization, and you are, in fact, correct. So, I will try my best to fill you guys in on my daily tasks. I did write out a play-by-play of my daily routine but that may be too much information for some. For those of you who only want to skim you can finish the next sentence and be on to your next blog. I wake up, eat food, find work, work for a couple hours, go home, eat more food, wander around town, find more work, wander a bit more, go home, eat yet again, listen to music and read, go to bed, that is all, hope you enjoyed my abuse of the comma, have fun with your next blog.
Still with me? Good. I usually wake up around 6 or 6:30 and begin cooking breakfast. While I wait the 15 to 20 minutes for water to boil I typically exercise (can't be slacking on my physique) and grind some Ethiopian coffee I bought in the nearest city, Devin. Once the water is boiling I start cooking breakfast which is two eggs with a bowl of granola and yogurt (there should be a pic, but it may not be labeled). After that I take about 45 minutes to finish getting ready for “work” which includes, doing my dishes, flossing, brushing teeth, washing face, combing hair (yeah, what of it?), putting on deodorant ('bout time I made it a habit, right?), and getting dressed. See? Not much different than in the States. Now it is usually around 8:30 or 9. I head down to one of the cafes and have a doppio. What? I drink a lot of coffee. Anyways, I drink that and watch people while I study Bulgarian vocab until 9:30. At this time I go and look for work. Sometimes my counterpart is in the library and sometimes she isn't. It is a busy time of the year. There is hay to gather, cattle to herd, things to harvest, canning to do, and a myriad of other things to prepare for the coming winter. If she is not there I have another office to utilize if I have computer work to accomplish. Some of the work I have been doing on the computer is creating a website or seven (without any programs like dream weaver, just me and notepad and a bunch of mindless coding), editing pictures, scanning pictures, helping with database management and spreadsheet creation, etc. If not I head to the cave and sit around talking with the people who work there. While there I may help someone but mostly I sit there, smile, and watch how they interact. Depending on the day I may have my first beer at 10:30. Between 11:30 and 12:30 I will head home to make lunch which is generally a huge salad, some fruit, and any bread I may have baked over the weekend. Then I nap or play computer games. About 2 or 2:30 I will re-emerge from my home and either have some coffee or work on some personal project. The last week or so I have been walking through every street making map of the village. Around 3 or 3:30 I usually go back to work until 5 or 5:30. Then I go shopping for food I may need for dinner, or I buy ice cream and eat it in the town square while the older men ask me why I am not drinking beer/rekia. I tell them because I have to cook dinner and they just kind of shrug their shoulder, make a joke about finding me a wife, and that is the end of it. Then I cook dinner, watch the news, get ready for bed, and watch some American TV I downloaded before I left. Whew! What a crazy life? Not really. Like I said, “I work and live.”
Life is a routine. Nothing new there. My work is drastically different than what I did in the States but it is work nonetheless. I may not sit in an office, or have a 9 to 5. I may get to hike for 5 hours and call that my work for the day. But at every moment I am working to fit into this community. I may have to work harder to integrate into my community because I am very different than usual. To help facilitate this I leave the lip piercing home and keep my shoulder tattoos covered (my Black Drop tattoo shows because it is too hot not to wear shorts). I am going to start learning how to make preserves for the winter with some of the local women. I will be learning how to make rekia and wine with my neighbor. Sometimes I go and visit with people at a local restaurant or their homes. My homework one week was to attend the local disco and meet some younger people.
Some interesting things: The cultural center I work for is performed in Varna (a big city on the black Sea coast) for a festival celebrating cultural diversity in Bulgaria. For this festival I got to perform with them. By “perform” I mean I stood on the stage, in a traditional outfit, and I didn't say a word. That is all. It was fun and I got to go to the Black Sea for work. WOOT! Also, having an American performing with a folk group was big deal and I got interviewed by the media. I tried my best answer the questions in Bulgarian but I quickly ran out words. I asked a friend to help translate and continued for a little while and then let them interview her because I am not supposed to talk with the media. I am not supposed to talk with the media because I, the American, quickly become the center of attention and it should focus of the partnership between Peace Corps and the host organization.
A Dutch couple bought the house down the street from and will live here next summer. They speak very good English and are extremely nice and they can party. Seriously. They were here for the first 3 weeks working on fixing up the house and will be back next year for more renovations. It will be nice to see them again after I have gotten more acquainted with the area.
I am also trying to find fast, reliable internet access. The next town over has cable internet so I am looking for a telecommunications grant to get cable internet to our town. It is cheaper and faster than what is currently available. I am preparing to start teaching English in October. I will have two classes, maybe more, one class will be at the kindergarten and another class with local business owners who want to improve the quality of service to English speaking tourists (which there are a lot). I will also be offering English classes to the employees at the local tourist attractions because only 1 person currently speaks English. Next summer I hope to work there during the weekends as a tour guide.
Don't worry, I have not forgotten about coffee. I am still quite obsessed with it. I am building up the language skills and nerve to ask the local cafe owners if I can work on their machines. They use La Cimballi (sp?) machines—two group, not sure of the model numbers—one is similar to the one at La Vie En Rose and the other looks like a newer model. I would ask but I don't think they know. With the limited amount of competition between the cafes and seeing how they prepare their coffee (pretty much the exact same way) I don't think offering specialty grade coffee is high on their lists of things to do. But I will ask a little later when there is less tourists. Also, I am looking into traveling to origin while I am a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) because if the Peace Corps (PC) are active in that country I will get the same benefits I would in Bulgaria. I am looking at East Africa right now. Just need to know when the harvest seasons are (if there are multiple) and when people conduct buying trips. It would be nice to go with someone who knows what is going on and what they are doing. But we'll see what happens.
Below are some pictures of my life. What I look like,my typical breakfast and dinner, and a little shrine I made to remembering home and my friends. I miss you all and hope you are doing well.
Still with me? Good. I usually wake up around 6 or 6:30 and begin cooking breakfast. While I wait the 15 to 20 minutes for water to boil I typically exercise (can't be slacking on my physique) and grind some Ethiopian coffee I bought in the nearest city, Devin. Once the water is boiling I start cooking breakfast which is two eggs with a bowl of granola and yogurt (there should be a pic, but it may not be labeled). After that I take about 45 minutes to finish getting ready for “work” which includes, doing my dishes, flossing, brushing teeth, washing face, combing hair (yeah, what of it?), putting on deodorant ('bout time I made it a habit, right?), and getting dressed. See? Not much different than in the States. Now it is usually around 8:30 or 9. I head down to one of the cafes and have a doppio. What? I drink a lot of coffee. Anyways, I drink that and watch people while I study Bulgarian vocab until 9:30. At this time I go and look for work. Sometimes my counterpart is in the library and sometimes she isn't. It is a busy time of the year. There is hay to gather, cattle to herd, things to harvest, canning to do, and a myriad of other things to prepare for the coming winter. If she is not there I have another office to utilize if I have computer work to accomplish. Some of the work I have been doing on the computer is creating a website or seven (without any programs like dream weaver, just me and notepad and a bunch of mindless coding), editing pictures, scanning pictures, helping with database management and spreadsheet creation, etc. If not I head to the cave and sit around talking with the people who work there. While there I may help someone but mostly I sit there, smile, and watch how they interact. Depending on the day I may have my first beer at 10:30. Between 11:30 and 12:30 I will head home to make lunch which is generally a huge salad, some fruit, and any bread I may have baked over the weekend. Then I nap or play computer games. About 2 or 2:30 I will re-emerge from my home and either have some coffee or work on some personal project. The last week or so I have been walking through every street making map of the village. Around 3 or 3:30 I usually go back to work until 5 or 5:30. Then I go shopping for food I may need for dinner, or I buy ice cream and eat it in the town square while the older men ask me why I am not drinking beer/rekia. I tell them because I have to cook dinner and they just kind of shrug their shoulder, make a joke about finding me a wife, and that is the end of it. Then I cook dinner, watch the news, get ready for bed, and watch some American TV I downloaded before I left. Whew! What a crazy life? Not really. Like I said, “I work and live.”
Life is a routine. Nothing new there. My work is drastically different than what I did in the States but it is work nonetheless. I may not sit in an office, or have a 9 to 5. I may get to hike for 5 hours and call that my work for the day. But at every moment I am working to fit into this community. I may have to work harder to integrate into my community because I am very different than usual. To help facilitate this I leave the lip piercing home and keep my shoulder tattoos covered (my Black Drop tattoo shows because it is too hot not to wear shorts). I am going to start learning how to make preserves for the winter with some of the local women. I will be learning how to make rekia and wine with my neighbor. Sometimes I go and visit with people at a local restaurant or their homes. My homework one week was to attend the local disco and meet some younger people.
Some interesting things: The cultural center I work for is performed in Varna (a big city on the black Sea coast) for a festival celebrating cultural diversity in Bulgaria. For this festival I got to perform with them. By “perform” I mean I stood on the stage, in a traditional outfit, and I didn't say a word. That is all. It was fun and I got to go to the Black Sea for work. WOOT! Also, having an American performing with a folk group was big deal and I got interviewed by the media. I tried my best answer the questions in Bulgarian but I quickly ran out words. I asked a friend to help translate and continued for a little while and then let them interview her because I am not supposed to talk with the media. I am not supposed to talk with the media because I, the American, quickly become the center of attention and it should focus of the partnership between Peace Corps and the host organization.
A Dutch couple bought the house down the street from and will live here next summer. They speak very good English and are extremely nice and they can party. Seriously. They were here for the first 3 weeks working on fixing up the house and will be back next year for more renovations. It will be nice to see them again after I have gotten more acquainted with the area.
I am also trying to find fast, reliable internet access. The next town over has cable internet so I am looking for a telecommunications grant to get cable internet to our town. It is cheaper and faster than what is currently available. I am preparing to start teaching English in October. I will have two classes, maybe more, one class will be at the kindergarten and another class with local business owners who want to improve the quality of service to English speaking tourists (which there are a lot). I will also be offering English classes to the employees at the local tourist attractions because only 1 person currently speaks English. Next summer I hope to work there during the weekends as a tour guide.
Don't worry, I have not forgotten about coffee. I am still quite obsessed with it. I am building up the language skills and nerve to ask the local cafe owners if I can work on their machines. They use La Cimballi (sp?) machines—two group, not sure of the model numbers—one is similar to the one at La Vie En Rose and the other looks like a newer model. I would ask but I don't think they know. With the limited amount of competition between the cafes and seeing how they prepare their coffee (pretty much the exact same way) I don't think offering specialty grade coffee is high on their lists of things to do. But I will ask a little later when there is less tourists. Also, I am looking into traveling to origin while I am a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) because if the Peace Corps (PC) are active in that country I will get the same benefits I would in Bulgaria. I am looking at East Africa right now. Just need to know when the harvest seasons are (if there are multiple) and when people conduct buying trips. It would be nice to go with someone who knows what is going on and what they are doing. But we'll see what happens.
Below are some pictures of my life. What I look like,my typical breakfast and dinner, and a little shrine I made to remembering home and my friends. I miss you all and hope you are doing well.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
quick update
I got some good news and some bad news:
First the good news: I did NOT break my ankle! WooHoo!
The Bad News: I DID severely sprain my ankle. I will be on crutches for a couple days then I get to move across the country! YAY!
I swear in tomorrow and will begin my real adventure! So stoked. Another bummer about my ankle is that I won't be able to hike for about a month. Which is good and bad. Good inasmuch as I get to spend a lot of time in village. Bad inasmuch as I will not get to explore the surrounding region for a while. Anyways, I have more stuff to do right now. I will post again from my new hometown.
First the good news: I did NOT break my ankle! WooHoo!
The Bad News: I DID severely sprain my ankle. I will be on crutches for a couple days then I get to move across the country! YAY!
I swear in tomorrow and will begin my real adventure! So stoked. Another bummer about my ankle is that I won't be able to hike for about a month. Which is good and bad. Good inasmuch as I get to spend a lot of time in village. Bad inasmuch as I will not get to explore the surrounding region for a while. Anyways, I have more stuff to do right now. I will post again from my new hometown.
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