lately...

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