Time is winding down for me here in bulgaria. Wednesday (4/15/09) marks the two year mark from when I arrived at the Sofia Airport with my group of PCVs. My school schedule has been a bit sporadic lately due to Peace Corps seminars and the Bulgarian school system's spring vacation (april 1st - april 12th). The PC seminar was the standard processing seminar that is held for all PCVs that are 3 months away from finishing their service. Our venue was at a hotel in a town right outside of Sofia for 3 days. It was very useful; filled with one final chance for experience exchange, relocation issues going back to the US, and job-searching advice. I definitely need the last one! I haven't been too successful in finding jobs I'm interested in during my search (albeit a bit haphazard). I'd like to be in a position where I can do legal research for a law firm/agency/NGO. Then I'll make the decision whether I'd like to go the law school route or not. I got some 1-on-1 advice from a retired HR expert who is currently serving in Bulgaria as well. Just before the meeting, I was a 'guest lecturer' at Beckie's school for a couple days. She teaches at a small elementary school in a village of about 1,000 people. Although her kids are generally sweet and fun, education is not central in most of their lives. Impulsive noisemaking, unpreparedness, and general apathy are unfortunately status quo in her school's classrooms. That certainly wouldn't fly in my school. So, her day-to-day teaching experience is much different than mine. When I came back from the seminar, I turned right around with a group of students from my school who qualified to participate in the National High School Public Speaking Competition organized by the Bulgarian English Society. The topic of discussion was REGENERATION & RENEWAL. The students were impressive with their eloquent english speaking and their depth of knowledge as 15-16 year olds. After I came back from the public speaking competition, I had a few days with my cast to fine-tune an 'excerpt' from my school's play which was performed at a variety show celebrating the Bulgarian School System's national English Competition. This year, the National Test was given at my high school so our school was responsible for organizing the show. Our performance was a success! Thanks to the hard work of the students and the creative genius of my colleague, the crowd was entertained by an assortment of Alan Jackson, country line dancing, and Texas accents! Not to mention the comic genius of yours truly. On April 5th, I traveled with Beckie, Kai, and Leonard (girlfriend, PC friend from Texas, PC friend from Norfolk, VA respectively) to Romania. For 5 days we traveled to Bucharest and 3 different towns in Transylvania. Transylvania was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. Last night, Beckie and I went to the Midnight Mass at the Catholic Church here in Rousse for Easter. Orthodox Churches (Bulgaria, Greek, Russian, etc.) don't celebrate Easter until next Sunday. Tomorrow is back to school again! Finally, we have our British Open '09 5-some set! Me, Dad, Mark, Beckie, and Beckie's Mom! peace and love
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
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!
*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!
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