It's been about a month and I am settling into my new home rather nicely! On June....9th? 38 PCVT's were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers and we all went our separate ways. Some live on the Black Sea, others in the Rhodope Mountains and some in the center. We will all see each other once again in about 3 months at our next weekend training.
About my site...I am fortunate to be right near that capital city and have found that I can go to the movies or even eat a Subway whenever I want! I have been forced to learn to take busses and trolleys - this is a new experience for me! Usually I sit next to an older lady and they always help me with where I need to go. The other weekend I went to visit my language tutor from my training and we went to see a movie, walk around Sofia and had cake at this place called 'Sunday's.' It was such a fun day and I am truly grateful that I am in the vicinity to do these things.
I have spent the past four weeks honestly just adjusting into my new area. Living in another country and speaking another language is mentally exhausting and I find that I am worn out after just a little bit of the day. I work at a Roma organization working with teenagers. As of now we are preparing for a 10 day camp on the Black Sea at the end of July. My job has been to plan all the games and activities. If you have any suggestions, please throw them my way! Another volunteer who has been here for a year will accompany me so that is awesome since he speaks the language rather well :)
Fortunately, I have had some help transitioning into my location...a B25 will be closing her service at the end of July so she is here with me for another 4 weeks. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such an amazing person. She has been such a good resource for meeting new people and learning all about my community.
My town also has a British population due to the fact that it is near a large ski resort in Bulgaria. It is nice to speak my native language when my brain is fried from the day. Learning Bulgarian is very tricky...there are suffixes and prefixes to so many words and one change can affect the meaning of the sentence. I am studying with a lady who speaks fluent American English (as she has lived in America for a total of 4 years throughout her life). She has the cutest family with three kids, 6, 8, and 10 and I love going over there and hanging out with them.
So yes, I have been keeping busy and keeping happy. I am excited for the school year to start as summer is all about adjusting and settling in. Once I get a regular schedule things will be different. I'll probably be even more tired :)
Anyways, feel free to ask questions. I have been cooking for myself a couple times a week and I find that my biggest struggle is not knowing WHAT to cook! I'll have to have my mom send me an easy recipe cookbook...and chocolate chips :)
Take care and when something exciting happens, I'll post again!
Jo
Chips I can do, but finding a cookbook that uses Bulgarian ingredients may be a challenge! Sounds like your summer is going great--camp on the Black Sea! How exotic!
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