E Taka...

Hi all!
Sorry I haven't written again in oh, say over a month, but I just went
through the transition from training to site, so now I live on the
other side of Bulgaria in a medium town just waiting to get to know
people. My apartment is roomy (plenty of room for me, my landlady who
occasionally stays there, the mold in the kitchen and the couple of
cockroaches that live with us) in a great location-just across the
street from the police station! Other highlights are the picture of
Abba in my closet and the beautiful view of town (if you look just to
the left and right of the apartment next door).

Seriously though, I know that I will like it here. I've made friends
with the teachers at my school and I inherited some of the
contacts/friends of the previous volunteer. I will have to get his
baseball team up and running again, but so far so good. Many people
know me already because I was interviewed on the day of our swearing
in ceremony (speaking in Bulgarian-eek!) and it made the Bulgarian
national news. Everyone in my town perked up when they heard that I
was coming here.

Luckily before I left, I had the chance to visit a few more amazing
mountains on that side of the state and see the Rila Monastery, which
is the largest, most beautiful monastery in the country. I also
visited the waterfall in a nearby village where some volunteers were
staying and had time to learn to cook some important Bulgarian dishes
before leaving. When I tried to cook since coming here I've only
kinda burned things a little and managed to make some of the things my
baba made with much more experience and skill. I have begun tutoring
and I realized (although I tested above the required level) that my
Bulgarian could still use quite a bit of work. I will keep you posted
as more exciting things happen, but I wanted to let you know that I'm
alive and loving it.

Also, these are pictures of me with my host mom in the mountains and the Kukeri Festival, which is a pagan holiday that ancient
Bulgarians celebrated by wearing scary masks to bring good luck and
ward off the evil spirits that made people sick when the weather
changes. Then there's the very elaborate festival that the
kindergarten in my training site presented. It was so cute, and very
impressive. Finally, there's a picture from our horo dance group
(traditional Bulgarian dancing).

Please write me back!
Emily
These views do not reflect the views of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.