Winter, go away

2 more months and I'll have been in Bulgaria for a year. I can't believe how fast it's gone. Was it really so long ago that I was pushing papers around and glued to my $1,000 modern office chair at MoMA? Apparently it was.

Second semester has begun and school has become just another part of my life here. I think I have a good handle on it, yet things seem to change pretty quickly there too. My favorite teacher left the school for another teaching job in town and my director officially announced her resignation. She will be starting a position with the Municipality as Vice Mayor of education. She handed the torch (or in this case, her official stamps and stamp pads) to my counterpart, Kamelia. The incompetant one. This will be very interesting and we'll see how this one ends up. She's acting director until the summer, so I don't think it could be too bad. I mean, besides the fact that I think she's the most apathetic person in the world, I guess it's better that she's dealing with administrative issues than actually teaching the kids. The apathy won't rub off so much, hopefully, while she remains in the director's office instead of the classroom.

The past few months have been fine as far as work, but the weather's been keeping me down. Seriously the coldest winter I've ever experienced. It's not that it's so much colder than Massachusetts or New York, it's just that the heating here sucks. I have one heater in my room but my bathroom and kitchen are freezing, and who likes to sit on a cold toilet seat at 6:30am? It's a harsh wake-up call. It's quite foggy here too, so there was probably a good 2-3 weeks of blue skies and sun all winter, the rest of the time I've felt like I was in some horror flick, you can barely see a few feet in front of you when you're walking outside. It's totally creepy. I'm always anxious that some rabid, Cujo-type dog will lunge out of the fog toward me. So far, no bad stray dog experiences, except I went to throw out my trash in the dumpster a few weeks ago and heard a rustle and then saw something moving in it and was absolutely freaked out and then the dog's head popped up. So like any nice person would do, I gave him my trash. I actually had leftover pork ribs once and Ljudmil insisted that I just throw them off my porch for the dogs, and the thought of just throwing bones and trash out of my 6th floor apartment really disturbed me at first, but then realized that's how these dogs live and how people keep their trash bins a little less smelly. So I guess it's a win-win situation.

Christmas in town was relaxed and nice. New Year's was spent with Peace Corps friends in Istanbul, but as soon as I got back my immune system was attacked by some freak-virus/bacteria that I'm sure I caught on the Turkish/Bulgarian border where we sat for 3 hours waiting in the cold to get through. The bus ride was about 12 hours anyway so what can you expect with all that recycled air? I was out for pretty much 2 weeks with classic flu symptoms and awful sores in my mouth, I could barely eat. Needless to say I was really hungry after the whole mess.

Things are just starting to pick up again now. I feel a little healthier, the air feels a little warmer outside, and the school year is half over. We're barely in school second semester. After March there's seriously about 25 days of vacation. I'm just waiting for the last bit of snow to melt, crossing my fingers that it will be the last of the season, and waiting for the sun to come out. I can't wait.