sick sick sick

*Ahem* So I think that this January in this year of 2007 is quite possibly the worst month of my life. As far as health problems go anyway. The new year started out with me having a mild case of food poisoning from some village pork that a colleague gave me. The stomach pains were so horrible that it felt as though something was ripping my stomach in two. Then came the news that I had Giardias. Oh Joy...I'd always wanted an intestinal parasite. But I think that lil guy is gone now. Also, the day I found out that I had Giardia was the day that I picked up another case of fleas! How it's possible to get fleas as much as I do I really don't know. I'm guessing that I picked them up on one of the many bus rides that I'd made back and forth to Sofia this month for all my running around for visas. I believe that those external parasites are gone now too as I haven't had any new bites in a few days. And lastly comes a viral infection - something akin to the flu - that hit me on Friday. It started out with a little sniffle and little cough. Then it turned into my whole body aching and feeling weak and having chills. Then the earache came and worse coughing and enough snot being blown out of my nose to fill a bucket. Next came a fever that got up to 102 degrees. Now all that is gone and I'm left with an ear infection where my right ear is in pain and I have swelling around my ear and on my right cheek, jaw, and neck. I was going to go to the doctor in Sofia today but then I hadn't slept in 24 hours and fell asleep at 6 this morning just before I should have gotten on a bus. So the doc said to stay home from school today and tomorrow; and if the swelling isn't down in the morning and my ear doesn't feel better then I'd better take that bus ride and go to the office. Oh the joys of living in a foreign country in the winter time where the only person to take care of me...is me. It's times like this that I miss my momma.

my newest friend....

Giardia lamblia

After a visit with my Peace Corps medical doctor today I learned that this little guy, Giardia lamblia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia_lamblia , has been living in my intestine for quite sometime and wreaking havoc upon my digestive tract. He has made these last few months quite unpleasant for me. With bloating, gas, diarrhea, and nausea having been playing a part of my every day life I'll be quite happy to get rid of him. I've just now taken 4 horse pills that Dr. Rob gave me so this little parasite should be gone in 1 to 2 weeks. Good-bye Giardia!!!

A warm winter's day

I took the day off today from worrying. Actually I took yesterday off too...today was just an extension of that. This project with the dancers is getting more and more stressful. Don't get me wrong...things are moving along quite nicely. It's just that I feel like I put more on my plate than I can possibly handle. But with the help of my rents and other folks back home (as well as my pal Jon - former PCV) things are starting to pull together. It just makes it a little more difficult to try and organize things when I'm here...and everyone else is there. But I said that I was taking the day off from worrying...so I'll stick with that.

I hopped a bus over to Berkovitsa today to go on a little hike with Mr. Brooke. We ended up hiking for about 3 hours up into the Balkan Mountains. It was a gorgeous walk/hike...albeit a bit muddy. And the weather today was fantastic!!! This has been an unseasonably warm winter and today it was about 50 degrees! We didn't even need our jackets for the hike. And after our hike we settled down to a lovely meal of steamed veggies, Mexican Rice (courtesy of Lipton's rice mix), and a home-made Apple Pie for dessert (made by Mr. Brooke himself)!!! Top the day off with an episode of Grey's Anatomy and I can't think of a more perfect winter's day!

An Interesting Combination

In the past year and a half or so that I've been here I've gotten pretty used to the different foods that Bulgarians eat. I thought that I was to the point where nothing really surprises me...but I was wrong. Today's lunch threw me for a loop and made me realize that "yes...I can still be surprised" when it comes to Bulgarian food. I got a little pizza today from the cafe near school. I've come to expect that any pizza I order will most likely not have pizza sauce, but will have ketchup or mayonnaise...or both, and that it will also probably have corn or pickles on it and some unidentifiable meat. ("Is that chicken or pork?") Today's pizza had no ketchup or mayo (yay!), but it did have my usual corn and pickles. But the thing that I've never seen before, and never imagined could be on a pizza, was peas and shredded carrots! I think that this is taking the "vegetarian" pizza thing a bit too far. And it wasn't even a vegetarian pizza because it was still covered with shredded mystery meat! I guess that I will continually be surprised by what Bulgarians can do with food. (Just a FYI - the pizza wasn't half bad)

Holidays

I just spent my first Christmas and New Year's in Bulgaria! And the first Christmas and New Year's away from my family :-( But even though I couldn't be with my family and friends back home...I was able to be with my friends and Peace Corps family here :-) I spent Christmas in Koprivshtitsa with Mickie. Her town and new apartment are just adorable. Really...it's the cutest little village. I loved walking around and looking at all the old traditional style houses. I also loved that Mickie has a wood-burner stove and I got to play with fire the whole time at was at her place.

After Christmas in Koprivshtitsa Mickie and I came back to my place for New Year's. Nikola and her cousin Mariela also came over on New Year's Eve and we all watched the city ignite from my balcony. I've never seen so many fireworks or heard so many gun shots in my life! It was an insane way to ring in the New Year. I do wonder if every New Year's Eve celebration is that crazy or if it was exceptionally crazy this year because on January 1st Bulgaria became a part of the European Union. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Bulgaria_to_the_European_Union

It's been great having a break from school. I was really ready for one. But now vacation is almost over and I'll be headed back to school on Monday. It's time to start finishing up the first semester so I've got to work on grades this weekend and finish correcting papers that I had assigned before the holiday. What kind of teacher am I? Why did I have kids turn in work just before the break? That only means work for me during my vacation! And it's also time that I get real serious with my dancers project. We've got interviews at the U.S. embassy coming up and hopefully all of the dancers will get their visiting Visas to the states. Now I need to start getting the travel agenda lined up. I know when we'll be getting into the states and when we'll be leaving...but I need to set up all of the performance dates at the schools and other community centers where the dancers will be performing. And I need to start going to the dance rehearsals since I'll have some part in the performances! Woo Hoo! Just two and a half more months and my Bulgarian Folk Dancers and I will be state side! Man...it's gonna be a lot of work. But so worth it!