The past two weeks have been absolute heaven. The sun has been shining and it's been warming up enough that I finally took off my long johns! Since October! White crocuses are popping up in every garden and my kids are getting antsy to play outside. On Thursday I went into Vratsa, the closest city, where I have to pick up my packages, and met up with Laura, another PCV, and sat out in a cafe in the sunshine for lunch. It was fantastic. Spent the weekend with Ljudmil in Sofia, walking around the city, enjoying the weather, eating corn and drinking tea, and browsing all the Martinitsa stands. The 1st of March is a big holiday where everyone in Bulgaria gives their friends, family, and colleagues red and white string bracelets (like those 5th grade friendship bracelets) for health and good luck for the coming spring and year. When you see the first stork or buds of spring, you hang your bracelet in a tree or bush. It's fun at least, and apparently my students will bombard me with Martinitsa bracelets after March 1st. There's supposed to be a Martinitsa concert at the Culture House in town this weekend, so that should be fun. March 3rd is also Bulgarian Independence Day from "the Turkish Yoke", a national holiday following Martinitsa.
School has been great lately and I'm excited about summer projects that I'm planning for. Hopefully, the fact that the director left won't interfer with anything and I hope I can get a lot done. I've found some great Bulgarians in town to work with who are more than willing to help with projects. So things are rolling.
I'm planning on going home in May for my brother's graduation from business school. It'll be the first time I'll be home in a year, which makes me terribly excited and nervous all at once. I'll only be there for a brief 9 days or so, first in Philadelphia, Florida, then New York, so it'll be a whirlwind trip. I think if I had gone home to the States over Christmas, I wouldn't have wanted to come back. But now that things are easier here and I have so many things going on, I may just feel like I'm coming back "home" when I get back to Bulgaria. Peace Corps always says it's a little bit of a reverse culture shock when you go home, and maybe so. I'll just be happy to see my family finally after so long. And the food. Oooooh the food. I just miss Korean food and sushi and Mexican! Where is Café Habana’s Mexican grilled corn smothered in butter and cheese when you need it?! And just a damn good ‘ole cheeseburger or hot dog. You can’t find good beef in this country, it’s impossible! Even the ground meat is usually 40/60% beef and pork. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beef steak on a menu anywhere. It’s usually pork or chicken. I’ve actually been trying to avoid most red meats while I’m here anyway, just to keep my diet healthier.
But I must say, they are dairy experts here. Ljudmil’s mom has been making me some excellent homemade yogurt the past few months and it’s really the best stuff I’ve ever had. It’s probably like fatty fat yogurt, but it’s so fresh and creamy, like butta, I tell ya, like butta. I feel all those good acidophilus bacteria working in my intestines! Haha! Ljudmil also has a little dairy farm venture going on with a farmer friend of his so he always brings fresh milk over. I actually had it the other day and it grossed me out just a little because that film of fat that was left on the top got in my glass and I’m sorry, but I just don’t do chunky milk. But after it was sieved, I was a happy camper and it was so yummy! I just thought, man, if only I had some warm chocolate chip cookies, I’d be in business. And I’ll get some Little Debbie mix from Publix when I’m home. Only two and a half more months!
Check out my Bulgaria Albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment