It seems I've neglected my blog a bit over the past few months, eh? So please excuse me for a brief moment while I apologize.
*Sorry, blog*
Ok, now a bit about my life in the here and now. Last week, I finalized my post-PC travel plans heading back to the states. Briefly, it is as follows.
*I officially become a 'Returned Peace Corps Volunteer' on July 1st, 2009. Following this, I will remain in Bulgaria until my flight from Sofia Airport to London on July 10th. I will be flying with Beckie and spending 4 days in London. Then we are taking the train up to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet Beckie's mom, Dad(jonny/JC), and Mark. In my book, as cool as it will be to see Edinburgh and the Highlands of Scotland, everything will be peripheral to July 19th. Any guesses why? HINT: The 19th is a Sunday. GIVEAWAY: My Dad's gonna be there. You guessed it. We have Sunday tickets to the 149th Open Championship at the Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, Scotland! Among many other times recently, the other day in class I was teaching a lesson to my 9th grade students about Sports (vocabulary, idiomatic phrases, grammar differences, etc.) when I got to talking about golf. Golf is not popular in the least in Bulgaria so, none of my kids were interested in the least in my rant. But that didn't stop me. I realized the scope of my instruction had gone a bit too deep when I began to explain what a '3-putt' meant. oops.
On a related note, Golf is becoming a bit more popular here in Bulgaria. With BG's integration into the European Union, and the influx of investors in real estate over the past decade, a few respectable golf courses have popped up around the country. As far as I've heard, there is a resort on the Black Sea Coast called 'Thracian Cliffs' that has a Gary Player designed course. But I played on a course in the summer of 2007 in a town just south of the Balkan Mountain range that had greens manicured to the level of the 'greens' the Brauns, Alan, and I used to create by putting my lawnmower on its lowest setting and cutting a small area of one of our lawns. Honestly, yea, this course was that pathetic. wow, once again, my golf digression has gone on way too long.
ok, so, after Scotland, Beckie and I are going to spend 14 days in Germany. We're going to travel around Bavaria and then head up to Berlin. We will fly out of Berlin on the 4th of August and arrive in Cleveland on the evening of the 5th. Why Cleveland you ask? Well Beckie's sister and her Brother-in-Law live there. She graduates from nursing school on the 7th and we are going to be there for the graduation. I hope my parents can make the trip up. Possibly stopping in Canton and Athens (OU) on the way home? hmm?hmm?whaddya say?
Bottom line, I'll be back in the DC area by the middle of August. Holler at me.

Life in Bulgaria has been great. I honestly probably wouldn't have used the word 'great' if it wasn't March. I say that because a)the weather has finally warmed up over the past few days b)the tradition of 'Martinitsi' (red and white bracelets that everyone exchanges with friends and family on the first days of march signifying the welcoming of the spring season) and c)I just returned from a nearby town where some of the PCVs in the region conducted a basketball clinic for some of the young people. It was a lot of fun for everyone involved and I loved how everyone was so competitive, friendly, fair, and appreciative. For all these reasons, I am reminded how lucky and thankful I am to have this experience.

I promise I'll post some more about my recent activities...soon.

All the best to all of my loved ones back home! Happy March and God Bless!