My new favorite scent? Bug spray.

Bug spray... maybe you think it's not the best smell? But trust me, I put this stuff on like it's no one's business and I haven't had any complaints thus far. (Like the 17 year old who told me he didn't like my Britney Spears perfume. Rude.) And I'd rather smell like bug spray than add more bites to my legs, arms, and other various parts of my body that currently have bites. It's not just me either so I don't think I'm about to die or anything it's just annoying. And unsightly. This morning Meg and I were talking about how it was kind of annoying at first but we could deal with it. But 1.5 months into it... the bugs are starting to get beyond obnoxious.

Other than that, 4th of July (Bulgarian style) has come and gone and was a success. Our village hosted a basketball game with a neighboring village and had a surprising amount of people come out to watch and play. I did not play. I just DJ'd and made sure everyone had a good look at my Texas t-shirt.

After the game we had a big dinner at my house with about 20 people. Meg and I tried our best to put an American touch on the food which included hot dog weenies (no buns), chips and onion dip, Burger House seasoning, french fries, and ice cream. And many other things! (If anyone feels overwhelmed to send me a package the onion soup mixes and ranch mixes would be good things. You can mix it with the yogurt that is available here and make some delicious dip! Or shells & cheese! And a cheese slicer would be handy.)

Yesterday (Sunday) was actually pretty enjoyable. It's always nice not having things you have to do. These days are few and far between in training. In the afternoon I went to the river with Meg, CJ, Greg, Ivan and some of his friends. We didn't go swimming but more just waded around in the river. It's times like this that I'm thankful for my Chaco sandals. Meg, Greg, CJ and I also found a small cave and went in that where Meg was nearly attacked by a bat. She's okay, apparently she just has a fear of bats and screamed like she was about to fall to her death. So we left the cave and I slipped and slid down the hill. I lifted up my backside to protect my favorite quick dry shorts from ripping and cut my hand. Not even bad enough to be considered a real battle wound. It was more entertaining than painful.

Only 2.5 weeks left of training. I'm definitely going to miss my host family and living right next to English speakers but I'm excited to get where I'm going. Something else that I've been thinking about is PC Volunteer's in other countries. There's a website called Peace Corps Journals which is a huge database of blogs by volunteers and you can see recently published entries or look up blogs by country. And since I enjoy blog stalking other people I often check out this website. It's been interesting to read about people in places like Honduras or Mauritania where there are some serious political problems occurring. For the most part we all join Peace Corps for a common goal - to serve others. We don't really have much of a say as to where we'll be placed. Some people may have an idea but then there are people like me who are willing to go anywhere. (And I thought I was going to Africa... not so much.) But it's so cool to me to read about complete strangers incredibly different experiences. And I haven't even been here 2 full months. There are thousands of PCV's all over the world and every single one of us has joined to serve but I can't even imagine what some of the other volunteers are experiencing. Something to think about.

Texas 4 Life

Basketball game spectators

Dan, Meg and I. Obviously Dan is thrilled to be in this picture.