It's Official...I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer!

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you all know that I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. On Friday I sworn-in with 61 other people as a B25 volunteer. It was a hot and humid day with temperatures hovering around 100F. The ceremony lasted about 1 hour with speeches from the PC country director, the mayor of Vratsa, the US deputy ambassador to Bulgaria, and other people. Despite the weather is was a fun day. It was also kind of sad because I was leaving the Americans that I spent the past 10 weeks studying, training, and having fun with. I also had to say goodbye to my host family who were so patient and understanding of my language and cultural inabilities.

Also on Friday I traveled to Sofia to visit my doctor to have a checkup regarding my knee. Everything went well and I now have 2 more weeks to wear the cast. After that I can begin walking without the cast and the crutches, but I still will not be able to exercise. I have to wait another month or so before I begin some type of rehabilitation program. I'm lucky because my town has all of the amenities I need to begin therapy. I am approved to begin swimming after the cast comes off so at least I can begin some exercise.

Before I go I would like to thank my country director, Lesley, and her husband, Sam, for allowing me to crash at their house on Friday. The pancakes with maple syrup on Saturday morning were amazing!

Peace, Love, and Understanding...

My host mom, Natashka, and me before the ceremony.

Me and my group members from Roman.

My language trainer, Ani, and me before the ceremony.

The Days of Summer

Hi Everyone,

I know it's been a while since the last posting but things here have been extremely busy for me. The past few weeks I've been trying to prepare for the huge language proficiency test that I took on this past Tuesday. It looks like the coast is clear and on Friday I will swear-in as an official Peace Corps volunteer. I'm actually kind of sad, because now I have to leave my host site and start over again meeting new people and forming new relationships. At the same time it's very exciting because now I will start the work I came to Bulgaria to do, which is to help people.

The past few weeks, in addition to studying Bulgarian, I've been seeing new places, celebrating different occasions, and forming amazing relationships with the locals in my community. Last week, me and my group members implemented our day camp and it was unbelievably successful. There were about 30-40 children that participated and the community chipped in to help us with the project.

On Saturday I will travel to my permanent site, Tryavna, and begin the transition of working without the structured environment of the Pre-Service Training. I'm looking forward to having more time to do things that I want to do, but at the same time I think I'm going to be extremely busy with my work in Tryavna. At least I have a lot to look forward to, because on July 30th I will have my cast removed, and on August 8th I will also travel to the Black Sea for a much needed vacation.

Well, that's about all for now. Once I'm in Tryavna I should be able to update this blog more often, so look for more posts in the coming weeks. I have posted some pictures below of the day camp and a trip I took to a monastary near my town. Before I go I have to give a special thanks to Marina, Pesho, Nasabravka, and Jenni for being so patient the past few weeks while I tried to perfect my Bulgarian!

Until next time,

Peace, Love, and Understanding...






Jenni, me and Marina at the monastery.

Pesho and Me