Yeah! I'm teaching

Ok, so I've only taught two classes now, but I'm finally doing what I came here to do. I taught Wednesday morning and this morning from 10:00 to 11:00. I've only had six students show up, but I'm happy with that - maybe more will come later. So far my students are all girls, ages: 7,7,8,10,11, and 13. One girl doesn't know any English at all and one is really quite good; the other four know about as much English as I know Bulgarian - not a whole lot. It's a challenge to find activities that they can all participate in without my beginner student getting lost and my advanced student getting bored. So, we've done flash cards to learn some new vocabulary (then played pictionary with those flash-cards), done basic introductions ("hi, my name is..." and "I'm ......years old"), and we've played "Duck, Duck, Goose" and "Rock, Tree, Bridge." I also had all of the girls chose American names just to be used during our classes; they loved it. (now my girls' names are Jennifer, Ashley, Britney, Kristin, and two girls named Molly) I've had a lot of fun and I think that they have too. I hope that they, along with more kids, keep coming until school starts. *If anyone has other ideas about games and activities I'd love to hear them.*

Oh, I did make chocolate chip cookies and took them to school to share with the other teachers and my students. I also took some cookies to Olga (the lady with the house wares shop). Everyone loved the cookies and my co-workers wanted the recipe, which I gave to them. I told them that they are chocolate chip cookies but they decided that they'll just call them "zlatki na Stephanie" or "Stephanie's cookies." It was kind of cute. But the recipe isn't really mine; I found it on the internet about 5 years ago - a girl named Ashley came up with them. But here in Bulgaria we'll just say that it's my recipe.

*recipe for Stephanie's (Ashley's) Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 2/3 cups Flour
¾ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt
¾ cup Butter
¾ cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup White Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 cups choc. Chips
Preheat oven to 375. Sift: flour, baking powder and salt. In medium bowel, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla to cream mixture. Stir in flour mixture and then chocolate chips. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 min.

*note: One can't really find brown sugar here in Bulgaria (I just happened to have some that my mom sent me). But once I run out I'll have to use about 1 cup white sugar and about 1/4 cup honey.

Just one more thing. I've been hearing that it will be difficult to find a variety of fruits vegetables in the winter time, so I'd like to do some canning - except I have no idea how to can. I want to can some peaches and pears, maybe some green beans and tomatoes too. Anyone know how I can accomplish this?

Trying to get the ball rolling

Well, I've been here a little over a week now and I'm sad to say that I really haven't done much. Of course, I'm new to the city and still don't have a grasp on the language so I can't really be expected to know all my neighbors and be volunteering at every place in town, but I'd like to be doing something. My counterpart and I are trying to set up summer English courses for the fourth and fifth graders and today was the first day. But not one single kid showed up. It was kind of depressing. I know that it's summer time and kids don't really want to go to school if they don't have to, but I had hoped that they wanted to. I'll try again on Wednesday. The school's secretary is calling all the families of the fourth and fifth graders and letting them know that I'll be teaching classes every Mon, Wed, and Friday until school starts. Of course I don't really plan on doing hard core lessons. I just want to play some games like pictionary and Simon-says, and maybe the hokey-pokey. I'd like the classes to be a fun way to learn some English over the summer break and to get the kids excited for the school year. I still want to volunteer at the orphanage but have yet to even visit there. My counterpart said that she'll take me there and introduce me to the director, I'm just not sure when. For the time being I'm orienting myself with the city, making my apartment my home, and trying to study Bulgarian - which is not an easy thing to do by ones-self. I have found a tutor, but she's on vacation and wont be back for another week. I'll at least try and review my old lessons and keep what I do know fresh in my mind. I have met a nice older woman that owns a little house-wares shop. She's really a sweet lady and very patient and helpful when I try to talk to her in my broken Bulgarian. I think that I'll bake her some Chocolate Chip cookies - share a little bit of American culture with her.

Photos of my apartment

semi-scary bathroom

the kitchen - complete with washing machine 

my bedroom 

my living room 

Last Day of Training

jon, mickie, and me (always together at hub)

"The best group ever's" last day together  

Not so sad anymore

I'm in Montana now and things are going fairly well - not like on Friday when I was balling my eyes out. I lucked out and got a pretty decent apartment with a bedroom, living room (with 2 hide-a-bed couches), a little kitchen and a semi-scary bathroom. Slowly but surely I'll make it into my home and comfort zone for the next two years. These last few days I've been going with my counterpart to our school to meet the other teachers and go over what I need to have done before school starts. I've also been doing some shopping - buying the basics for apartment, like: frying pan, cups, baking pan, and an assortment of food stuff. It looks like I'll start teaching on Monday. I'll be teaching summer English classes to 4th and 5th graders three to four times a week - it depends on the kids and how much they want to be in school for the summer. I'm up for anything because I don't really have anything else to do. I still haven't been to the orphanage yet, but I think that my counterpart will take me there next week to visit and see if it's somewhere that I'd like to volunteer. I also need to get going on my language studies. My tutor has just gone on vacation for two weeks so I'll have to motivate myself to study Bulgarian on my own until she gets back. I guess I could start writing a book to help keep me busy. I was telling mom about all the superstitions that Bulgarians have and I think that it would be fun to compile them into a book - and yeah, there are enough superstitions to make a book. One note worthy superstition (that I found out the hard way) is that when you finish eating your meal (breakfast, lunch ...etc) you should not eat any bread after you've already cleaned your plate because it's bad luck and you will be poor. I learned this one from my host family when I finished what was on my plate and reached for a piece of bread and was told not to eat it. It was kind of upsetting because at the time I couldn't really speak any Bulgarian and didn't understand that it was just a superstition. I thought that I just wasn't aloud to eat bread and everyone else was. That's also a great example of one of the many misunderstandings that I've had here in Bulgaria (though it's kind of funny now).

I'm not ready to leave

Here I am sitting at Peace Corps headquarters waiting for a taxi to the bus station and I'm hating it. Yesterday I was so excited to be moving to Montana and to be on my own, but now I'm not. It's leaving home all over again. I got tears in my eyes saying good-bye to everyone, especially Mickie, Melody, and Kathy. I'll say good-bye to Eric and Elena at the bus station, but I'm not ready for that, and I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to my pal John. I'm not ready to be so far away from my new friends and new family. We wont have another meeting for 3 or 4 months. I don't think that I can go that long without seeing them. and Elena loves me....(Elena wrote that). It's amazing how close people can become in such a short period of time. I've forged bonds with my friends so quickly that it scares me. I've come to depend on them and my host family for support and now I'm being ripped away from them. Though it's not like I'm being sent to another country or can't see them occasionally (like my family and friends in Utah), but I hate having to be so far away from them - we're all in different cities.

Now is really the beginning of my Peace Corps service. I should be in Montana this evening and into my apartment that I've yet to see. I am lucky in that I'm going back to my host family tomorrow and then they'll take me back to Montana with all of my baggage and books and a load of cucumbers and tomatoes. I still don't know what's going to happen once I get to my site - don't know what projects for sure I'll be doing this summer. Everything is still unknown.

A happenin' last couple of weeks

Hey everyone, I don't think that I can realistically keep this blog updated once a week, it just wont work - especially since the internet has been down in my village for the last week. I will, however, be moving to Montana this coming Friday - July 8th, after my official swearing in ceremony, and hope to be able to get internet access in my apartment. I'm pretty excited to be moving and am looking forward to living on my own again and to be starting work in my school. Though, it is summer vacation... so I'm not sure how much work I'll be doing. I hope to do some summer English classes with my new students. I would also like to start working at the orphanage. I'll just have to wait and see what's there for me and see what my school director has in mind for summer projects too. I'm a little sad though to be leaving Kourtovo Konare and my host family and especially my friends. It's like leaving home all over again. I'll probably go back to visit my host family when I can - they've invited me back for Christmas.

These last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. We had our final language proficiency test on Thursday and our safety test on Friday. We've also had a lot of parties and get to-gethers. For my birthday (Sat.25th) we went to the Bochkovo monastery - very peaceful and relaxing. And in the evening I had a big dinner at my host family's house and later went to the discotec with my friends (American and Bulgarian). The next day, Sunday, Melody and I went with my host family to Hissaria to the hot springs to get water. Tuesday was Eric's birthday, so we partied again. Wednesday was Petyo's name day - which was another party. Thursday we went to the Roma neighborhood and had an informal discussion with a group of Roma teenagers. Then, this Monday is the 4th of July and we will of course have a party for that. Tuesday we've been invited to dine with a British couple that lives in the next village. And finally, on Wednesday night (our last night in Kourtovo) we will have a big get-together with our host families. After that, it's off to our permanent sites and the start of our jobs for the next 2 years.