After I finish my service in the Peace Corps in the next two weeks, I will be heading out on a Balkan Road trip. To where? you ask. Here’s a handy map!
View Larger Map
Sept 24: Anita and I pickup our rental car and we hit the road to Ohrid, Macedonia (via Skopje).
Sept 25 Spending the [...]
Please login first to post comments.
My Peace Corps adventure is coming to a close.
It is hard to believe that two years can fly by so fast, and yet, crawl so slowly. In the past few weeks, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect over what I have done and my decision to join the Peace Corps and how that decision [...]
It was one of the coolest places I’ve been to in Bulgaria. Last weekend I went to the old communist party headquarters. The building was located on top of a mountain overlooking the rose valley. It would be hard to reach it without a car.
A perfect location for all the head hanchos to meet and [...]
I know it’s been a long time since my last post. There hasn’t been too much to write about and we’ve been having frequent rain showers in Chirpan. This has taken out my internet. I went about two weeks with out it.
Last weekend I went to Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria’s second capital. It was stunningly gorgeous [...]
June 30 (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s Socialist-led government has been plagued by high-level corruption scandals during its four years in power, prompting the European Union to freeze millions of euros in aid for the bloc’s poorest member.
Brussels criticised Sofia for failing to cut links between virtually all political parties and “rings of companies”, a phrase [...]
Here are a few pictures Trevor posted on Facebook. I’ll post more once I take some.
Walking down the main street in the Roma Mahala (Gypsy slum) with (lt-rt) Trevor, Mustafa and me.
(lt-rt) Mustafa, Toby (Trevor’s brother), Tommy. Mustafa and Tommy are fantastic football players and eager students
My class at the church in the mahala.
Trevor [...]
Yesterday was my last day teaching my kindergarten class. I’ve been teaching them since the beginning of the school year, four days a week for an hour a day. With this much English, my students can now speak very well. In fact, I believe they can speak much better than the average sixth grader! I [...]
Since I’ve been back I’ve been pretty busy. I’ve been hosting the PCV before me in Chirpan as well has his brother. It’s been great hanging out with his since he’s introduced me to his old friends. But the big news is we went to the Mahala (the Roma slums). I’m going to have a [...]
Sorry for the lack of posts; I was in the US for 17 days due to a family emergency and my brother’s graduation.
We’re been having a few thunderstroms recently in Chirpan and they’ve knocked out the internet in my apartment. This, of course, is nothing new. My LAN cable goes out through a drilled hole in my window frame and up to the roof. Yep. Just a regular old cable. Exposed. On the roof. As soon as [...]
The LPI, which stands for “Language Proficiency Test” is the test Peace Corps Volunteers take to get their language skills ranked and rated. There are a total of ten levels. In order to “pass” training, volunteers must get a score of at least “3″ (Novice High). This rating varies from post to post but the [...]
Last weekend was Chirpan’s Fourth Annual Charity Football (soccer) Tournament. The even had a lower turnout than last year. This is largely due to the fact that it was during spring break and most volunteers and students were on vacation. But it was the only time the stadium was available so, I’ll take what I [...]
This happened last night and includes this unfortunate title.
Bulgaria is a land of loud noises and things that will scare the living piss out of you. For instance, and I believe I can speak on behalf of every volunteer, past and present, have cursed the night sky when throwing out the trash and having a [...]
I may live to regret giving 30 third graders my Skype contact info….
In response to a request, I am posting a crazy story.
Though I would have never hitchhiked in the US, I’ve done it several times in Bulgaria. It is a way a life for several Bulgarians who live in remote places with little regular, if any, transportation. In fact, the Lonely Planet guide book waives [...]
Jimmy, are you coming to our party?
Sure! When is it?
Whenever we make it.
I love this country
It started out as any normal day at class. As soon as I walked through the door, I got bombarded with my kids. Aye! Mister! What iz dis? (point to a truck. I swear, my kids speak better English than the 4th grade!) And then it got weird.
There were two teachers talking to each [...]
Yesterday I had a meeting with the man I’m organizing the football tournament as well as another project. I wanted to know how widespread Chirpan’s TV coverage is. He called the TV station and I scribbled some thoughts/other questions to ask as he spoke with them. “I’m here with my American friend. He’s very nice [...]
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go on vacation to Istanbul, Turkey. Travelling to Turkey seems to be a rite of passage amongst Bulgarian Peace Corps Volunteers; every volunteer I know has gone. I and another volunteer, left from Plovdiv on a midnight bus after going to a very nice Turkish restaurant.
The bus was [...]
This is how you ward of the demons (from the beginning of the month). These photos were taken in Shiroka Laka. I was there last year.
From Kukeri 2009
Kukeri 2009
I’ve been a Peace Corps Volunteer living in Chirpan for almost 16 months. Chirpan isn’t a large city, and it’s not a small one either-the perfect size to think you know everything and then get surprised. One such surprise is meeting some awesome people who are involved in the community, but have never heard of [...]
Novinar, via the Embassy Daily Press Brief:
The top story on front page of the newspaper as well as in other newspapers today is the news that Bulgaria will replenish its gene pool with Danish sperm. The sperm from the EU is of higher quality, says a sub headline to the story. Yesterday [...]
This doesn’t directly impact me or my work here, but it’s been in the news quite a bit recently. Greek farmers have a beef with Bulgaria, saying they have been flooding the Greek market with cheaper commodities and it’s ruining several farmers. In response, several rouge Greek farmers have set up blockade on the main [...]
One of the projects I’ve been working on for a while has been to teach my kindergarten class proper dental hygiene. It hasn’t been easy. I’ve been shot down by lots of companies both in Bulgaria and international as well as several professional organizations. In the end, I just asked my dentist from the US [...]
I come home and turn on the light in my foyer. Blam! The light goes out. It’s 33F outside and it’s 11pm. No light in any room. Yet my water heater is still on, I can turn on the tv and use the internet. Methinks I’m going to have a mystery to solve (or a [...]
This is my second Christmas (Коледа) in Bulgaria (my first is here). This Christmas season has largely snuck up on me since I’m well adjusted to life in Bulgaria and I was in the US for Thanksgiving. It’s very hard to believe that it’s Christmas Eve already! Since time has flown by so quickly, I’ve [...]
Diyado: “Are you going to the bar?”
Me: “No, to the store”
D: “Why aren’t you going to the bar?”
M: “I have to go grocery shopping”
D: “I think you should go to a bar”
M: “I had some rakia with dinner at the Flamingo last night”
D: “That was last night”
M: “I plan on buying some vodka from the [...]
I have had several infrastructure problems in the past, a year later should be no different. The past week, I’ve been confronted with a tsunami of problems. Thankfully, they have all be resolved now.
The city has been repairing the water pipes. To do this, they periodically have to shut down the water to parts of [...]
Coming back home was a much needed vacation and it felt absolutely fantastic to my family again. It also gave me an opportunity to see America from a new perspective and understand how much I’ve changed (as well as much I’ve missed certain foods. Never would have guessed pancakes and bacon would have been so [...]
I asked my baba if she wanted anything from America, and she said “a tattoo machine”.
My Bulgarian isn’t perfect, but I’m not that bad…
Me: “Can I keep my old Linchna Karta like a souvenir?”
Lady: “No. It’s not a souvenir.”
How many entries are we showing above?
For now, we are showing up to 50 entries on each page. Entries that
are too short are filtered out. For more entries, please use
archives.
|
Connect to Peace Corps Journals
About the Journal
Contact Us
Disclaimer:
| |
| Copyright (c) 2010 |
