Are we in Texas??

Today’s been a beautiful day in Vratsa. Nice weather, the whole works. I think the high today has been in the 70’s. But just a few days ago it was mid 90’s. It was during that time that I was thinking about the luxuries of air conditioning. And thinking how nice it would be to have it instead of profusely sweating (along with a lot of other people… pictures below).

Anyways, I’ve been saving up for a really good update with lots of pictures so here goes.

First thought: lawn mowers in Bulgaria. Everyone likes a pretty lawn, but not until I came here had I ever seen a lawn mower being powered by an electrical cord. Does that not seem slightly hazardous to anyone else? I just kept having these visions of accidently cutting the cord with the mower and the mower would meet their untimely death. I guess they’ve got the art mastered as I haven’t seen/heard of any injuries.

It’s been a busy week with community meetings, group cooking, bike riding to Pudria and that whole language business. (But then again, studying has never been my specialty. I’m more of the “na gosti” type.) But our village had a meeting to try to decide what type of small project we could do together during the short time in our village. About 40 people showed up which was great and we got some good ideas. We still aren’t sure what we’ll end up doing but were happy when the people showed up!

Yesterday, Meg, CJ and I decided to bike over to Pudria to check out another groups meeting. We found a few bikes, put on our PC required helmets and biked the 15 minutes to their village. I really wish I would’ve gotten a picture of us. Meg’s bike had a crooked seat and a crooked wheel but she made it without falling. I was riding the bike of someone’s sister’s cousin husband or something ridiculous. Nice bike, small seat. I can feel the effects today. Then we headed back home and had our group’s Bulgarian cooking session. Went pretty good I guess. We had some native helpers who made sure we didn’t mess anything up too bad.

I guess the most exciting thing going on is that we find out our permanent sites on Thursday! I’m definitely going to miss living here with Emi and Kiril though. This is where I’ll be for two years and really working. I have absolutely no idea where I’m going or where I’ll be working. We head back into Vratsa Thursday for the announcement and get to meet our new counterparts. We’ll all stay in Vratsa at hotels and have two days of meetings then go visit our sites for a couple of days. Crazy!!

Val, Dan and Meg on the bus to Vratsa

Finally got to see Stephanie... hadn't seen her in a few weeks!

Val, CJ, Meg and Ken at the Chicken President's house for a little "na gosti" action!

My host dad & Meg

The incredibly sweaty night

Val, CJ, and Emi

Meg and Greg

Greg, Ken, Chicken Prez - yes, that's sweat.

What do you do when you're hot in Bulgaria? You take your shirt off and it's okay.

CJ and Dan taking their turn to get the banitsa ready!

The group working on the kufteta.

I came home from Vratsa today and I had clean sheets and laundry on my bed. This is the life!