Meeting the host family

Do bur Den!!!

My official Pre Service training has begun. We spent 3 days in Philly doing some staging stuff. Paperwork, security training and other stuff. It was a really good time and it was comforting to know that there were 40 other people that were about to embark on the same journey as myself. Everyone is really cool and everyone has their own uniqueness to them. I think that we all get along pretty well. Maybe it is because if we look around, we realize that these are going to be the only Americans we can talk to for the next 27 months. We departed NYC at around 6 o'clock and were headed off to Frankfort, Germany. I have never flown Lufthansa before in my life but I have a feeling I will again. Though we tried to sleep on the plane, a group of 40 Americans in a plane for 8 hours just doesn't afford you the opportunity to rest. All of us were trying to get to know each other as much as possible. I think we ate about 3 times on the plane and the flight attendants kept walking around giving out free wine for everyone. I think a few of us took advantage of this. We finally arrived in Frankfort at about 10 o'clock in the AM and prepared to board a flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. We were all very tired but could not find any time to sleep. The excitement maybe was just to much. We kind of made it a game to not let each other sleep. As the clouds parted in the sky we finally saw it, Bulgaria. The place we all would be spending the next 27 months together. It was a little overwhelming. We landed down in Sofia about 1 o'clock and was greeted by the wonderful Peace Corps staff on hand in Sofia. I was really impressed in the way that Peace Corps was organized. Signs everywhere. We all piled on the bus and started to head off to Panichite, a mountain resort in the Rila mountains. Though the day was pretty rainy and cloudy, we were able to see the Sofia surrounding areas. It was very surprising to see so much construction going on in the city. High rise condos going up everywhere. For those that do not know, Sofia has been accepted into the European Union. There will be a lot of opportunity for the country of Bulgaria in the future. We readied ourselves for a 2 hour bus ride to Panichite. The ride up the mountain was quite an adventure in itself. Imagine a huge bus trying to navigate up a one way road. I thought a few times we were going to fall off a cliff. We finally reached the resort and were greeted by Bulgarian women in tradition dress. It was really kind of neat. All of the staff was there. The women gave us a welcoming tradition.

They gave us some bread and we could either dip it into a salt and pepper mix or honey. It was a pretty good feeling to know that here you are, an American that knows no Bulgarian, someone that is strange to this land and you are greeted like this. I was really happy.




The next 3 days we had a lot of intense meetings. Medical meetings, Security meetings, Community meetings, and last but not least Language meetings. The 3 days enabled us to come together more as a group and let us try to get adapted to the new surroundings. The language lessons, WOW, I didn't think it would be as hard as it is. Imagine that you have 3 days to learn as much as you can about Bulgarian before you meet your host family that speaks little to no English. It is intense. Every word you try to memorize but there are just too many. The language teachers were great though. Very patient and very helpful. We were first separated into two groups: Youth Development and Community and Organization Development. My group was Community and Organization Development (COD) and was again split into 3 groups: COD, Evironmental Education and mine, Econmic Development. There were 20 people in each group which made a total of 40 volunteers. It was very exciting learning about what you were going to be doing for the next 27 months.







A picture of the a mountain pass in Panichite.




On the last day we were split into groups based on what village we were going to live in for the next 3 months. I was blessed with a great group: Elizabeth (from the Boston Area), Thomas (from Penn) and Rajun (from North Carolina). We (along with our language trainer Nina) were off to a town called Sapareva Banya. This village was just down the mountain in the valley. We were all excited. So this Friday (08/10) we prepared to load the bus to go and meet our host families in Dupnitsa (our HUB site). I was probably the most scared/nervous I had every been in my life. Think about it. It would be nerve raking enough to be moving in with a host family in the states let alone a foreign country. I think we were all pretty nervous and also excited. We arrived in Dupnitsa and grabbed are bags and walked towards a Cafe that had tons of people, along with a news crew.

So here goes nothing. I walk up to women named Carmelia and say, "Do bur Den" and she says "Do bur Den". Then I freeze. All of that language material I been studying for the past 4 days just vanished. Nothing. I felt like a complete idiot. You should of seen the look on my face. BLANK. After a few phase and a lot of pointing, we headed to the car. Carmelia is a very nice lady. Very, Very patient with me which is good seeing how every time she points to something and says what it is, I forget 10 minutes later. We arrive at a beautiful house on the side of a mountain. This is amazing. As I walk into my room there is a bed, desk, closet and couch all for me to use. Awesome. I get settled in and head downstairs for dinner. Chicken (Pila), Tomatoes (Domati) and Bread (Hulb). I started to show pictures of my family and then I met the rest of the family: Rosen (the father) and Nikolia (the son who is 18). The warmly greeted me. I am so grateful to this family for taking in a complete stranger and treating me like one of there own. We headed down to the center to see some of the sites. Sapareva Banya is a beautiful city. It is know for its geyser which is in the town center. There is a mineral bath (Turkish style bath) that is in the city. I don't know how I feel about that now, but I will probably go later. Well, that is all for know. There will be more later. Thanks again to all for the emails back, I appreciate them very much. Oh, I just found out that Sorinano is hurt and Ramirez my be as well. Hopefully the Bears are having better luck.

Thank you and You Stay Classy Chicago.