"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence" Buddha

It's been quite awhile since I've updated but much has happened within the past 3 weeks or so. The biggest area I can comment on is the Easter Holiday. On Palm Sunday my mother took me to the church and we lit candles for our loved ones. We then received 'palms' which were from the willow tree. I was so lucky to see the inside of the church. It was comforting to see the same pictures as in an American Catholic Church. When we got home we put the palms in the gate to our house. This brings good luck. I also had a vase with the palms in my room. The next week we went to church at 10 p.m on the Saturday before Easter. Many people from the village showed up. It started with everyone getting candles for their loved ones and the priest saying some words. The priest then lit a main candle and everyone lit their single candles from one another with the original light coming from the priest. We then put our candles in several stands and all took one lit candle and walked around the church three times (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Afterwards the priest said some words...of which I couldn't understand and then we walked home with a lit candle. I found out later that we aren't supposed to talk on our way home... On Easter Sunday I woke up and we dyed eggs all sorts of different colors! I must say, in Bulgaria, their eggs are prettier. They use cotton, onion peels and different colors to make these amazing designs. It was awesome.

Another story I have happened just yesterday. I was on my way home and turned on my street. Normally I look at the ground when I walk and all of a sudden I decided to look up. Staring at me were 20 sheep! I then thought to move to the side of the road so I could pass...well...they followed me...so I walked faster...and they kept following me. I saw my mom down the way and she was laughing pretty hard! Apparently I'll make a good shepardess?

My daily routine consists of language from 8:30-1:30, an hour lunch and then studying, tutoring or working on community projects. We had to make a map of our community and are now working on a Community Service Day. The kids want us to sing, dance and do theatre activies.

I've been in my village for about a month now with 3 other volunteers are we are taking it day by day. It definitely isn't easy but we are having a blast! In two week we will find out about our permanent sites. As we are Youth Development workers we have no idea what kind of organization we will be in. It could be a school, orphanage, NGO, shelter, etc... Once we find out where we're going we will find out our counterparts (who we will be working side by side) and have a conference to get to know one another.

I find that I rarely have a spare moment and try and utilize my time learning the language as much as possible. We travel to a larger city when we have our 'hub' (the entire B27 group) which is awesome! City life is so very much different than the village life. I've had the opportunity to visit both an orphange and a special needs day center. It was quite an experience!

Other then that I am enjoying my time here, learning the language and meeting amazing new people...American and Bulgarian.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I appreciate them!

Love,

Jo