Thanksgiving

Right on the heels of Bayram, we had a Thanksgiving celebration in Gyovren . Ryan (from Trigrad) came over early Thursday morning and we cooked all day in the kindergarten. With his guests from Trigrad, plus the people I invited in Gyovren, we had to prepare for about 40 people! The menu included turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, and apple and pumpkin pies. I alternated all day between feeling stressed about getting the food done, not having enough food, worrying that no one would come, and feeling generally unprepared (for example, we hadn’t planned where we would find plates, utensils, or drinks until about an hour before the meal). We also had to move the pies and dressing back up the hill to my apartment because only one oven in the kindergarten was working. After that, all the food had to be moved across town to the factory where we hosted the meal—thank goodness someone with a van helped us out! In the end, everything turned out great—people started showing up a half hour early for the dinner (which is unheard of here)! We served lots of seconds and only had a little pumpkin pie leftover at the end of the night. After the meal, they asked us, “Okay, what’s next? What do you do after you eat on Thanksgiving?” We laughed and explained that generally we fall into a turkey-induced coma on the couch or watch football games and then get up at 4am the next morning to start shopping for Christmas. But, since those weren’t options for us here, Ryan and I provided the after-dinner entertainment with an impromptu performance of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” I also initiated my friend Aishe in the tradition of breaking a wish bone. And, as generally happens at parties here, we ended the night with some Horo dancing.

Life since then has been good. The weekend after Thanksgiving Amber hosted a group of volunteers for a more relaxed Thanksgiving celebration. Following that we had our Inter-Service Training for all the volunteers who arrived in May. It was a refreshing time of sharing experiences and getting re-focused for the next stage of our time here. My parents and brother will be here in exactly one week to celebrate Christmas. I can’t wait!

Bayram

November 15th-19th was my first experience with Korban Bayram. Here in pictures are some of the ways this holiday was celebrated in Gyovren:

Opening of a new mosque in Trigrad. The builders were from Gyovren and anyone who could find a ride went to Trigrad for the opening ceremony.

From 11-20 Bayram, molitva

A family meal. Everyone visits their relatives, neighbors and close friends. Traditionally, these visits were supposed to be an opportunity to ask forgiveness for any outstanding conflicts.

From 11-20 Bayram, molitva

Families who are able sacrifice a lamb during this week. They then host neighbors and friends at their house in the evening. The lamb is served after gathering in rooms and singing passages from the Koran.

From 11-20 Bayram, molitva

There were two baby showers after Bayram. This link is for a clip from the "all-night baba party" where they stir the food that will be served the next day. All the women from the village stop by to see the new baby and eat together.

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitney.godby/Clips?authkey=Gv1sRgCLn9q7XympqV1QE#5546720116871316898

We also had horo dancing in the streets and a concert with traditional Rhodope music and dancing in the evening

From 11-20 Bayram, molitva

Halloween Crafts!

I have lots of pictures to share for this post.

Here's the first snowfall:


Here is the school gym. It's the only indoor place where the kids can play when the weather is bad. It could use a little remodeling. It's in the very creepy basement, there are exposed pipes, peeling paint, the floor has fallen through in two places, and it smells distinctly of mold.


Here's the Gyovren library. On Saturday, three girls came to the library and were doing the usual stuff: using the typing game, looking at the English books with me, and finding Bulgarian books. One of the girls decided to re-organize the English books and I was more than happy to let her. It turned into all three of them essentially "playing library." They started cleaning and organizing other books. And then, the one who initiated it made a list of supplies that they needed for further work: tape, string, a hole punch, etc (not sure why they needed those things, but making a list and assigning who will bring what is a great skill!) So, they asked me to "secretly" open the library on Monday so they could work again. I did and all three showed with supplies in hand! And they are doing a pretty good job! They are alphabetizing all the books and if they have torn covers or pages, they are fixing them. Plus a little decorating, labeling, and cleaning. I'm just watching and loving it!


This week I did Halloween crafts with three groups of kids.

The 5th and 6th graders made paper mache masks and then decorated them with natural materials. It was a messy and wild process! I have to thank Ryan for his tip on bringing my hair dryer in case the masks hadn't dried completely before we decorated. We also used it to dry paint and glue! My favorite thing about this art project is that for the paper mache we used up my abundant supply of Peace Corps papers that were cluttering my room! The other adult in the pictures is Eliza, the English teacher who I work with.


These are the 1st graders who made 3D pumpkins. They're a fun group!


And last but not least, the kindergarten class who made spider hats!

How can it possibly be the end of October?

It’s been about a month since I last updated this blog, but the time has flown by! That’s a new phenomenon for me here. This is probably because I now have more things to do each day and I’ve also had several pleasant diversions from the routine.

The most recent was my birthday. I celebrated in Devin the day before by meeting up with several fellow volunteers. We shopped at the pazar, café hopped, and had a nice relaxed dinner together. Here we are together having cake:

On my actual birthday I was in Gyovren…when I taught at the kindergarten, the kids sang Happy Birthday to me and it was so precious that I ended up in tears! They actually don’t have a Bulgarian birthday song, so they sing “ours.” Birthdays are a little different in Bulgaria because the person with the birthday is expected to give treats to everyone throughout the day (usually chocolate) and they pay for their friends if they go out. I abided by these cultural rules :) I also received several presents, cards, and words of encouragement from people back home—thanks so much!!

In early October we also made two field trips with kids…The first was to Devin for the town festival. Rufie (the director of the kindergarten) choreographed several dances and the kids performed there. It was great fun—I felt like a parent, sitting on the front row, taking pictures, and clapping extra loud!

The second was a trip to Trigrad (where Ryan is the volunteer) to play soccer. Ramadan (the director of the chitalishte) had the idea and told me what day we were going, but that was about the extent of the planning. We found a 10-passenger bus that we crammed all 15 kids and three adults into. And, when we arrived no one in Trigrad knew we were coming, but after waiting around for about an hour in the school yard, some kids showed up who wanted to play. In the end, it was a great outing! Here is part of our soccer team :)

I got to have guests in Gyovren—Ryan and Cameron—volunteers from my training group who live nearby came over after the Devin festival. We also had a mini training group reunion because our language trainer, Momchil, came to Smolyan. It’s always incredibly refreshing to share ideas and struggles with friends who can relate!

I’m continuing to spend most of my time teaching English. And, it’s becoming a lot of fun! I restarted the adult course on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the factory where Sarah used to teach during the lunch hour. It’s just a conversational course for now because I don’t want to tackle explaining grammar quite yet! So, I choose a topic and we have different exercises centered around that to help us discuss it and to build vocabulary. Showing pictures from home has been a nice way to make it more personal and interesting.

I’m getting more comfortable with the kids as well. The school has been closed after lunch several times because of teachers being out sick, so I’ve had tutoring sessions with different classes in the library instead. I love getting to see the kids using the library. I installed Mavis Beacon typing on the library computer and they fight over who gets to type first! They ran out of funds to pay for the internet there, but it’s almost been a blessing in disguise because the typing program is the only “fun” thing on the computer!

I light my stove in my room almost every night and we did see snow early in October, but the last few days have been really pleasant and sunny. The fall colors here are amazing!

P.S. Rufie and I made a web page for the kindergarten (using blogger). It’s all in Bulgarian, but it’s here if you want to check it out: radostgyovren.blogspot.com

Variations on a Fall Theme

The Start of School

I love the first day of school! New books, sharp pencils, the excitement of seeing everyone again after the summer. And then in college we got a syllabus for each class--what ecstacy! The whole semester laid out before you waiting to be conquered. Here in Gyovren it's a little different because September 15th means saying goodbye to a lot of families who were just visiting for the summer and now have to return to the cities for work or higher education. I also said goodbye to Sarah, the peace corps volunteer who has been in Gyovren for the past two years. She was very helpful in getting me started here and I will miss spending time with her. The first week on my own was rough.

I am now teaching in the school a little bit. I team teach with the regular English teacher in a combined 2nd and 4th grade classroom and then teach optional tutoring sessions in the afternoons. I am also getting to work with the kindergarteners and 1st graders who would normally not have English class until 2nd grade. Each of these have their own joys and difficulties. I love the flexibility I have in teaching the younger kids and their enthusiasm for learning, but I'm the only teacher in the room and I don't have much experience with handling 11 very active 6 year olds! I appreciate having Eliza, the English teacher, to help with classroom management in the 2nd/4th grade, but coordinating our teaching styles and plans is a challenge.



Harvesting and Cooler Weather

Everyone is gathering something. Wood, berries, potatoes...the approach of winter is palpable. Temperatures are in the 40's in the mornings, but warm up to a blissful 65 when the sun is out in the afternoons. Here are some "drenki" (which remind me a lot of cranberries) that I gathered with my landlord:

Apple Pie
I made an apple pie the other day. No matter that it was in a square pan and that I had to use a jar as a rolling pin. As soon as I cut the fresh apples and mixed them with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar, I was transported to Kay Kellers, the apple orchard, and everything beautiful about fall in Upland, Indiana.



Pumpkins
Yep, we have them here :)

Out of the Ordinary

Since my last blog was about a typical day here, I wanted to share some of the exceptional things that have happened over the past month. So here they are:

Going to the mosque with my landlords on the first night of Ramazan














During Ramazan here a common meal is served at a small store near the mosque after the evening call to prayer. Anyone who wants to can come and eat--different families just take responsibility for providing the food each night. Ramazan ends on September 8th and since people in this village really take the fasting seriously, they will have a big celebration with Sheker (sugar) Bayram.

Attending festivals in Osikovo and Yagodina














Every town in Bulgaria has a "sabor" which I describe as a county fair/homecoming football game/variety show. In Osikovo we literally danced in the streets!


Visiting a mandra














A mandra is a place where shepherds herd the sheep to be milked. People who want fresh milk, cheese, butter, or yougart can come directly to the source and make/buy it there. We piled 12 people into this jeep (3 in front, 8 in back, and one on the fender) for the rough drive up the mountain! It was a day of beautiful weather and incredible views.


Reading with kids











This may not seem like a big deal, but it was an extraordinary moment for me. While in the library with several kids who were using the computer, one picked up The Giving Tree. I asked if I could read it with him and we began working through it in combination English and Bulgarian. The other kids became interested and huddled around us. When we finished the book they liked it so much that we read it all the way through two more times with different kids taking the lead!

Returning to the U.S.














I came back to the states for my grandfather's funeral (Gene Godby). The occasion was sad, but the time spent with family and friends in Muskogee was such a blessing. All of the grandkids were able to make it! And, I got to meet my second cousin, Elaine :) Thank you to everyone who was an encouragement to me during this time.

Learning the Rhythm

Two full weeks at site! I'm starting to develop a routine so here's a typical day for me:

Early morning: Gyovren is a fog-enshrouded time warp. The only people I see on my morning walk are babas leading their cow to pasture or hauling hay in baskets on their backs. The sun breaks over the town as I reach the top of the hill. Some things are eerily familiar. The white gravel roads are exactly like our long drive way in Fort Gibson. The smell of chopped cedar whisks me away to memories of camping in Robbers Cave. And then I hear the call to prayer.

Mid-morning: I have my language lesson in the calamine lotion-pink, one-room library. They recently received a computer from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and I will be helping to keep the library open more often so people can have access to the internet. Afterwards I head down the hill to a cafe where women with small children gather daily. I chat with the women and occasionally play a game of backgammon with the men at the other table.

Lunch: I have lunch at my house--actually, it's the third floor of Sali and Zeynep's home. Sali is a construction worker at a nearby town where they are building a new mosque. When I turn the corner, I almost always see Zeynep near the front door, chopping wood. With perfect temperatures, no humidity, and a gentle breeze, only the constant preparation of fuel for winter reminds me that cold weather approaches quickly here.

Afternoon: After some time spent studying Bulgarian I like to get back outside. There are plenty of trails to hike or I can join Zeynep in weeding the potato field. Perhaps I can play volleyball with the pack of 4th-8th grade girls who roam the town. Or maybe I will "na gosti." Visit, is how this phrase is usually translated, but it only vaguely resembles the American sense of dropping by for a chat. "Na gosti" means stopping by a person's home, usually without any advance notice, and being served food and drinks for at least two hours.

Evening: I'm usually found at the school grounds where women with children congregate, or at a cafe with a terrace that gives a beautiful view of the sunset. At the cafe I sit with girls who are in high school or university in other towns and are only in the village in the summer. All of them have had English classes throughout their schooling and are excited to try out phrases with me. When I return home, Sali and Zeynep are starting their very late dinner and they always send me upstairs with a plate of something to eat the next day.

The Ride Home

Saturday, 4:00 pm, I’m sitting at the bus stop in Devin with two other volunteers: Jon and Ryan. I am still groggy from the stuffy mini-bus that jolted through curvy, narrow mountain roads to bring us here. My body protects itself from motion sickness by sleeping; I’ve become a narcoleptic who uncontrollably passes out even when I would rather stay awake to take in the views. At the Devin bus stop the three of us study the limited bus schedule. For me it’s one bus from my village in the morning and one bus back in the evening. Monday through Friday. I start to feel the weight of isolation. Jon, who has been here for a year now, gives tips for getting around in “less institutionalized” ways.  
 Ryan has made plans for us to be picked up by a contact from his site visit. Actually, it’s the same guy who helped us get back to our training sites. He’s a disheveled, stocky business man who drives a much-used jeep to distribute construction supplies to several stores. Last time we rode with him, he and a partner stopped for “20 minutes of work” in Plovdiv while Ryan and I sat in his running car. 20 minutes became an hour and 45 minutes before we were finally dropped off at the bus station. The most likely explanation for the seemingly absurd delay is that we were needed to keep the car running—at a previous stop they had to push start. Maybe we should have learned from this experience…
At 4:15 I call our friend to make sure he’s still coming for us. Bulgarian phone conversations are a challenge, but in the torrent of words I can usually find key ideas…in this case “working now,” “will come,” “one hour later,” “nice Bulgarian.” My side of the conversation was, “three people,” “at the bus station,” “waiting,” “thanks!” Knowing that one hour is probably just a polite underestimation, we settle in and take turns walking to a nearby café for refreshments. I drift into thoughts about arriving at the village, mainly imagining my new house and what things I have in my bulging luggage that can make it start to feel like home.  
At 6:00 we see the familiar jeep pulling into the parking lot…packed to the roof with hardware items. There is no room for two people, much less three people with significant luggage. Even the back seats had been laid down to accommodate the huge oil drum, chain saw blades, and various boxes. Before I can ask for the plan, our friend has started taking everything out of the jeep. I am confused—is he going to leave all of his work materials unattended in the parking lot while he gave us a ride? One advantage of not speaking a language fluently is that it keeps me from making objections or comments in a timely manner. While I am racking my brain for a way to say “plan B” and conjugating the verb “to doubt” in my head, he is able to cram all of the items back into the jeep so precisely that one back seat is left open…Just enough room for Jon and I to squeeze in with Ryan sitting in the front holding more luggage. Jon is sitting with his feet on the seat and his chin resting on his knees (since the floor was packed as well). I sit, or rather, am enclosed in the other half of the seat, pressed against the window. Neither of us can move our arms. When Jon’s phone rings, it is impossible to answer it. But, we only have 20km to drive and then they will have one less person and two less bags…
5km from my village there is a road that splits off to the west. Without warning, our friend veers to the right and begins taking us away from our homes. Homes…yes, at that moment although I had only visited for three days and hadn’t even seen the place I would live, the village had the familiarity and attachment of a home to me. And I knew we were driving away from it. We quickly speak up: “Where are you going?” “Why did you turn?” “People are waiting for us!” The answers are vague, but the commands are familiar: “Relax!” “Don’t worry” “Take it easy!” Somehow those words in Bulgarian rarely have the intended effect on me. As we pass villages our driver points out things that we might find interesting (e.g., “Oh, there’s where the town had their holiday last year,” or “There’s a factory that operates 24 hours a day.”). But under the uncomfortable circumstances I’m only focused on when we will turn around. As we continue to protest the route change, he begins to use me as an excuse: “Whitney wants to see Bulgaria.” We change tactics as well. Now as he points out new villages we speak of ours in glowing terms: “Oh, that village is nice, but I like Yagodina so much better” etc.  
After an hour of driving in the wrong direction I reach a state of being that I have only experienced in reckless taxis, on roller coasters, and during rough airplane landings. It’s a sort of resignation to fate that says, “I have absolutely no control, I will probably not die, and I’m going to enjoy this!” As I laugh to myself, our driver points out the Pirin Mountains—we have officially driven all the way through the Rhodopes! The end of the story is simple: our driver drops off the oil drum at a store and then finally turns back east. After one more business stop and another hour of driving, he heads up the steep, rough road to my village and leaves me there to settle into home, having seen more of Bulgaria.  

Last Friday we had an English teaching/dance class in Pudriya for whoever wanted to come. A lot more people came than I had expected—at least 25 kids and a couple adults were crammed into our training room. Right away we ran into some difficulties: people being too embarrassed to participate, not being able to hear each other, and not having clear roles for the teaching. I’m not sure anyone learned English, but we did successfully teach the electric slide! It was a great exercise because as we debriefed, we took away a lot of strategies for problems that we had not anticipated.
The next morning (Saturday) we were blessed with sunny weather for our “clean-up the park” project. We sanded, picked up trash, cut the grass/weeded, and painted the playground equipment. We had a lot of kids helping out and they really took ownership of the painting. They added some personal touches by mixing colors and using “creative” painting techniques! The finished product is great!

Sunday, the 4th of July, we hosted a party in the town center. We had a rough start. At least 50 people had gathered around and were waiting to try our American food (chili, cheddar cheese, potato chips, pasta salad, peach cobbler, and chocolate chip cookies). We were embarrassingly late to start, we had no plates, and only 20 forks! But, as with all of our projects, despite our lack of planning and our mistakes, everything came together in the end. Swain gave a little explanation about the 4th of July to start us off. We served food in plastic cups and people brought us more silverware. It became a party when we started the music! We started with the electric slide, but people really got involved when we switched to Horo music (the Bulgarian dancing). Everyone joined the circle! At the end of the night we also had an impressive fireworks display. We left the town center around 10pm and headed to Swain’s house where the party continued with Kucheck dancing in his kitchen. We had 15 people crammed into a very small (and hot) space dancing as wildly as possible! Self-consciousness and fear of dancing is just not an option here! Best 4th of July I’ve ever experienced! :)
So, after three intense days of watching our projects take shape, we now have less than three weeks of training left. All that’s left is our final language proficiency exam and swearing in to become actual Peace Corps volunteers.

My new home

I just got home from a visit to my permanent site in the Rhodopes. It was an overwhelming three days! Here are some pictures to set the scene:

This is my counterpart Ramadan sharpening his scythe before cutting some grass. He is the librarian and his wife, Rufie, is the principal of the kindergarten. I also stayed with them during my site visit.

The town sits on this steep hillside and extends a little further up the mountain.

And my favorite picture…this is Rufie and her neighbor Fatima taking me for a walk. They were pointing out which plants can be used to make tea.

Overall, I’m very excited about living and working in this village. I don’t want to make premature judgments or generalizations, but I can say with certainty that I am living in an absolutely breathtaking place. I am IN the mountains with a river down below, amazing caves on either side of us, and bears and wild goats roaming throughout the area.

The site visit itself wasn’t very fun…it involved long days of travel on buses, being overwhelmed with meeting new people, and an exhausting amount of Bulgarian and Turkish speaking. Also, since I ended up staying with my counterpart I had very little autonomy or space for rest (especially mentally). Coming back to Pudriya was such an encouragement because it felt like home! I realized that we have built a level of understanding with people here. I have a routine. I have a room. And, communication in Bulgarian was suddenly SO much easier. The best part is, I know I will eventually get to that point at my permanent site too.

Site Announcement!

We are officially half way through training and today we received our long-anticipated permanent site information! I found out that I am headed to the Rhodope Mountains in the Devin Municipality (which is pretty close to the Greek border).My site is a Muslim Turkish community of around 1,000 people and I will be working for the cultural center. For the next two days we are in Vratsa getting to know our counterparts (the people who are planning to work closely with us at our sites). After that, we will have three days of visiting our permanent sites! My counterpart is very outgoing and relaxed. He doesn't speak English, so we spoke primarily in Bulgarian and threw in a few Turkish phrases occasionally. He is excited to help me work on my Turkish, but since I've been studying only Bulgarian it's hard for me to switch gears. There is a peace corps volunteer currently serving in this community and she'll be there until October (but unfortunately I won't get to meet her this weekend because she's using some vacation time).

The needs expressed by this community are not overly specific. They include organizing cultural events, working with youth, beautification of the village, and developing tourism opportunities (e.g., helping create a village web site, networking with other villages, and opening guest-houses). So far, this all seems to be a good fit for me. I think I'll be able to write more about my first impressions and feelings after I've actually visited the site.

Team Dynamics

It’s the end of my third week in Pudriya. At this point in our language lessons we’re finally getting to make correct sentences (using the definite article, prepositions, etc.), but we can still only speak in present tense, lol! Here are my training team mates (minus Swain) with our language teacher, Momchil when we first got our group assignments:

This is us posing with our community mapping assignment:

And last night we had a cooking assignment…here we are making moussaka and banitsa at Momchil’s house:

I am truly thankful for this team. As we encounter so much that is unfamiliar, it’s really great to have people who process things with you and who make you laugh. And there’s a lot to laugh about when you’re making as many mistakes as we are!

Village Life

I'll try to let pictures do most of the talking for this post. I don't have regular access to the internet, so I'm sorry I haven't been able to stay in touch very well :(

This is a picture of some people who came to sing and greet us on our first day of language class!

Language training is sink or swim. We really are in a place where no English is spoken so we get by with the tiny bit of Bulgaring we've learned so far, hand gestures, and lots of smiles!



This is a picture of Zoya and Vitko, my host parents sitting at our front gate. They are extremely kind and hospitable (which also means they try to make me eat a lot of food at every meal)! The house is typical for the area--it has a large garden, a courtyard where we eat and cook when the weather is good, an outhouse for the toilet, and an all-purpose living room/kitchen/bedroom where we can sit when it's too cold to be outside. I have my own room and a shower to use as well. Zoya makes almost all of our meals with ingredients straight from the garden. Yesterday we spent an hour together chopping onions and dill that had just been harvested.

The whole area around Pudriya is incredibly beautiful. Here is the river that runs next to the village.

Three local boys took Ryan and me on a hike up a nearby hill...















And here's a view of the entire town!

Adjusting to life here has been pretty smooth so far. I'm motivated to work hard on the language, even though it seems like I have to hear everything 100 times before I finally get it. I also really enjoy hanging out with the kids. They seem to like us too, at least as a novelty! We play soccer, volleyball, and uno for hours! We have 3-4 hours of language class each day and usually other meetings/training as well. At the end of our time here we will need to complete a project as a team to help prepare us for our permanent site. Thanks to all who have taken time to write--I love hearing from you, even though I'm not able to repond much.

Orientation

Orientation has flown by! Everything went smoothly with arrival in Bulgaria. The Peace Corps is really efficient at training and I've been very impressed will all of the staff. We have been staying at a resort in the mountains since Wednesday. Bulgaria is incredibly beautiful!!! I got my site placement yesterday and I'm so happy about how it worked out...I'm in a village of 700 people called Pudria that is about 20 km from Vratsa. Our language trainer's name is Momchil and he's the one that I've had for all of our sessions here at orientation. He's young, very enthusiastic, and it's his first time to work for the peace corps. I think that he is going to be really great about spending time with us and he will definitely give his best. And it's fun to be someone's first group. There are 4 other Peace Corps volunteers who will be in the same village and we have a solid group! I travel to my training site today and get to meet my host family for the first time! I'm nervous, but also really excited.

California and Staging

California was amazing! Lots of driving, but no accidents or car trouble. I got to eat a lot of interesting food (Ethopian, Korean BBQ, Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo, and In and Out burgers with animal style fries...yum!). Here's our group (minus Kelty and Nathan)

We went to the Getty, did some hiking in San Diego, and the guys tried surfing! One of my favorite moments of the trip was having coffee with Kayla one morning in LA. We sat with a 72 year old Hungarian man who had been in the film industry for a long time. He shared stories about celebrities and talked with us about art, literature, and music. He described a local library as a "20 course meal for the soul." Beautiful.

I'm in St. Louis tonight and I leave tomorrow for staging in Philadelphia. This part of the trip doesn't worry me because I will just be part of a flock of people, going through the training and absorbing as much as I can. I will be meeting a lot of new people all at once (80 new volunteers all going to Bulgaria!), but I imagine they all have interesting stories so I look forward to getting to know them.

Leaving

It's here! My last day in Muskogee. This afternoon I'll be driving to California in a van with 5 friends: Kayla Shaw, John Burton, Jenny Blumenberg, Janna Blumenberg, and Courtney Scott. Nathan Clark and Kelty will be flying into LA to join us. What a fun distraction from the thought of actually leaving. I'm not sure how to process my emotions at this point other than to say that I have felt sad, excited, overwhelmed, and nervous, but mostly numb. I'm very thankful for the time I've had to spend with friends and say goodbye over the past week.

First Steps

Hello Friends! I hope that this blog will be a helpful way for us to keep in touch while I am in Bulgaria for the next 27 months. I am starting to feel the immenence of leaving. No day is quite normal for me anymore because each one involves a "last time to..." or a "before I leave I need to..." Every date between now and April 30th is swimming around in my head, full of its own importance and necessary activity. I've started to sort the apartment into 4 piles: things for California, items to give my parents, stuff to sell, and belongings that will travel to Bulgaria. I love the thought of owning only two bags of stuff (each less than 50 lbs)! But, the saddness of leaving a place that I love is starting to hit me too.