Wow. So as most of you know, I am not good at keeping up with things. Looking back and seeing that I have only written once since in my permanent site, and it hasn't been since January! So to all of you who like to follow whats been going on I am sorry for that! Instead of writing n extravagant amount of information I will recap with 5 updates.
#1: I am now an aunt! Most of you already know this though. When I found out I was doing dishes at Marks and started crying. It wasnt the response Rebecca was looking for, and it confused Mark on if he should be happy for me, or if he should respond some other way! It was a hard time for me because as being my only sister and her first baby I was supposed to be there. I had told her before I left that she had to wait til I came back, but obviously they couldnt!
Madison Noel McGee was born July 30th. Wow, that was a hard day. I woke up for work and saw my mom was still on skype, she tells me Rebeccas water broke and tey were going to Boise! I tried to go to work, walking through town crying, which I am sure everyone was looking at the crazy American thinking what in the...?!? 2 minutes later, I couldnt make it to work, so I turned around and went back home, got comfortable and cried all day! I am so happy to be an aunt, but it is very bittersweet as I see her change only through pictures and skype.
#2: Went to Istanbul twice. Mark and I went for our first trip in March. We spent 4 days there and it was amazing. It is about 15 million people and the biggest place Ive ever traveled. We took a night bus, and arrived early on a thursday morning, so tired that Mark fell asleep drinking a coffee at Starbucks! I cant describe what a trip like that was like. You know you are in another country. Hearing the call to prayer throughout the day, eating incredible food, and seeing things that I had only dreamt of, it was incredible! The downside...I had started breaking out in hives and rashes that continued getting worse as the trip went on! It was a mess, and very miserable, but despite that I fell in love and took my parents back this summer.
The trip with my parents was much different though. Little did we know that it was Rhamadan and half the tourist sites were closed, the rest were incredibly busy and packed. It was a different trip but we had a good time, despite me almost getting us lost. As much as I enjoy Istanbul and want to go back, I wat to see the rest of the world too. Istanbul will alway be that first great pleace to me though, and the first place I had Starbucks in almost a year!
#3: Meeting Marks parents. This summer was a great time. The weather was great, a lot more free time and I was a lot busier and less lonely. First Mark's best friend and his wife from the states came to visit! It was a great break from bulgarian life and also a big sep in Mark and my relationship, to meet such important people to him. After that was Marks birthday and a Metallica concert! It was a little weird being someplace where the people knew the words better then you, but had no idea what they were saying! It was a lot of fun though!
In August Marks parents came to Bulgaria for a week. They rented a van and a coworker from Marks work drove us around. Little did we know how much stress that would end up being. We traveled o Marks host family, and to most of the bigger cities, it was a great way meeting his parents. The driver ended up not being like what we thought he woudl be. There were days he wouldnt talk to us, if he didnt get his way and times when he would just ignore Mark and I on where we were going. It was very stressful with him. To top it off, Mark got food poisoning half way through the week! It was overall a great trip meeting his family and seeing more of Bulgaria. I think we can all agree though that we are excitd to travel to places in the future where Mark and I dont translate and we can all relax!
#4: About a month after Marks parents came, my parents came to visit. I had planned quite a bit in advance for where we were staying and when we would travel, as we were traveling with public transportation. We traveled around Bulgaria in bus, train, and cars, it was an adventure! They were here for about 18 days and Mark was able to spend about half that with us off and on. We went to my host families and stayed, which I think was one of the highlights of my parents trip. We went to a few smaller towns that I had never been to before, and some I had just been to with Marks parents. It was a great trip filled with goodies (my mom brought me a suitcase full of stuff!) and just relaxing, being able to show my parents what my life has been for the past year.
I think for us when we go back to the states, its going to help in adjusting that our parents at least saw a little glimpse of what our life was here. It was great seeing our parents, but it was almost harder saying goodbye this time ause we were the ones staying behind and we still had a year left ahead of us! We have decided to come home for 2 weeks in April though, so that will help this last year go by even faster.
#5: I'm engaged! As you all, or most of you know, Mark and I met in Philly for the start of Peace Corps. We sat next to each other on the plane ride over,and we were in the same training site for the first 3 months. This past year has not been easy in having a relationship as we live about 7 hours apart and can see each other only every couple of weeks. This summer with us meeting each others parents, I knew he would ask my parents for their permission, but I had no idea he would ask me to marry him while we were still in Peace Corps. While on the trip with my parents, in a town on the Black sea called Sozopol, he asked me. I had no idea except that he was acting really weird! It had ben raining, which he was stressing about. As a guy from Seattle I thought that was kinda odd. He bought the ring in the Cezch Republic. It was to big so I sent it home for right now to be safe. We are now planning the wedding for February 6th 2010!
So, my life has changed quite a bit since Ive last written. As Thanksgiving and the holidays approach, Im glad that these will be my last holidays here. Work continues to be mostly like last yer, a ot of English and just spending time with the kids. I now work at the kindergarten twice a week teaching English, and Im hoping in January that we will start a program on aggression. Aside from that I'm still just trying to adjust and live here. There have been no otehr problems with my apartment, like last year, aside from having my refridgerator taken at the beginning of the summer for 2 months. Other then that, I am looking forward to getting home, meeting my niece, getting married and starting a new phase of my life!
Again, I am sorry for no writting in so long, and that it was a little bit longer then I intended, even with just 5 updates! I promise to try to write more often in the future! Again though, thank you everyone for the support this last year! If it wasnt for you I wouldnt have been able to get through it all! As of now there are about 10 months left to go! Hope to talk to you all soon!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
6 months
Well, it is official, on February 2nd I will have been away from home for 6 months, and on the 5th, will have been in Bulgaria for 6 months. As I look back on the time, it seems like so much longer and I cant believe all the good and the bad that I have experienced. I want to apologize to those who try to read my blog to keep up to date on what I am doing, I know it has been a long time. For those of you who know me well, know that I may start something with the best of intentions but end up getting lazy or bored and not following through. But I am hoping to change that, and keep up with the blog again.
Well, when I last wrote, I was still living in Radomir, and although life at the time was very stressful and we were all looking forward to the next step, looking back, life was so much easier then. The last few weeks of living with a host family continued to be busy with language training, assignments, projects and various meetings with Peace Corps. On October 18th, we had what is called a swearing in ceremony. The swearing in ceremony is when we took an oath (the same one the President takes) and became official volunteers. It was much more emotional and difficult than I thought because the day before you said goodbye to your host families. You knew that by the end of that day you would be saying goodbye to your friends, site mates, teachers and any other support you had during the first 3 month, and that by the end of the day, you would be at what was to be your new home.
Saying goodbye to my friends and support was so much more difficult than I thought it would be. I arrived in Dolna Banya that night, was shown my apartment for the first time and was left with no food, and a pretty empty apartment. Reality hit, and I have never felt so alone or lost in my whole life! One of the difficulties of coming to site at that time was before a weekend, and you would be on your own without work or seeing anyone really. Somehow, I dont know how, I was able to get through that first weekend and as time went on...the adventure began!
Everyday I went to work, which initially I woud just sit with kids and a coworker and watch them do homework, various other things. The first week I was there, my boiler didnt work in my bathroom, so I didnt have hot water for more than a week. During this time, my light also stopped working in my bathroom and for about the first month I had light in there for maybe 4 days total.
The next adventure was one day I started having difficulty getting my key to unlock my door. Somehow with the language barrier, I was able to contact my coworker who had an extra key and she came and was able to let me in my apartment. After she left, I wanted to test from the inside to see if it worked...well it didnt and I managed to lock myself in, and break the key in my lock! So again, with the language barrier, got her to come back, with 3 "diyados" (grandpas), this time to try and break down the door. So for about an hour, I was trapped in my apartment, listening to 3 old men arguing with each other on the best way to get me out! After this was done successfully and they were repairing my door, I told them about the scratching I had been hearing behind my toilet. One man went to investigate and discovered a dead bird that he proceeded to throw at me! I swear I caught bird flu! Needless to say, it was a slightly traumatic experience, but one I just tried to laugh through.
My next adventure happened when I was in the middle of taking a shower and was interupted by loud banging on my door. Turns out, my shower was flooding into the apartment below me...so again with the language barrier, realized I couldnt shower, and had to try and relay this problem to coworkers so it could get fixed! After about a week of not being able to shower again, 2 men came, pounded a hole in the cement floor and replaced my drain. During this time, they discovered a second dead bird behind my toilet! At this point, everything was continuing to build up and I was seriously questioning my being able to make it through 2 years of this!
Well, 3 months and no more huge problems like that. In a place where everything is foreign and difficult, when you only have your apartment that you can escape to, when that starts to fall apart, it makes you a little crazy! Life in no way is easy here, and it tests you daily at how much you can handle. Even though you see people every day, there is still a huge isolation that you feel, which is intensifyed by winter, when people in town spend most their time in their homes.
The culture as great as it is, is difficult as well to get used to, and that carries over into work. My work has mainly consisted of working with a small group of kids daily on helping with homework. This has been very difficult because it is not what I expected on doing when I came here.
My NGO is also very new, so together we are learning about this process and how to make it work. Right now, work is where I am struggling the most. Because its not what I expected, and because of the language, there is a large part of the time where I feel useless. As I continue to struggle with this part of being here, I am slowly realizing that I have to lowerd or eliminate expectations and just do the best I can. On the days when I walk down the street and the kids yell at me from across the way, or I meet one of their parents it makes it all seem possible. I have come to realize that even though I came here to help others and make an impact where I can, that I believe I will be the one most changed and impacted by this experience by the time I leave.
It still does not feel like home, and I struggle with quite a bit daily. This is an experience that you can get through physically, but trying to get through mentally and emotionally is a different story. It continues to test me and show me how much I can handle, when I think I am at the end of my rope, but somehow I get through to the next day. We have policies on traveling, but I am lucky that there are 2 volunteers that live within an hour, hour and a half that on weekends if I need a break or support I can go see. Also, as most of you know, I am dating another volunteer, Mark actually who I had lived in Radomir with. Even though he lives about 6 and a half hours away, we have made it a priority to see each other at least twice a month, which makes a huge difference!
But, as it has been so long since I have written, I will end it now as I dont plan on writting a novel. There is still much more to update you on, but now that I have internet in my apartment I am hoping that I will get back into writing more! I want to thank you all for the support you have given and continue to give me. On those days when I dont want to do it anymore, your support pushes me and helps me get through the day! It makes a world of difference. So thank you. Also, I have a skype account and would love if any of you are connected to skype to be able to chat. My account is michala.golden so contact me if you would like!
Take care,
Michala
Well, when I last wrote, I was still living in Radomir, and although life at the time was very stressful and we were all looking forward to the next step, looking back, life was so much easier then. The last few weeks of living with a host family continued to be busy with language training, assignments, projects and various meetings with Peace Corps. On October 18th, we had what is called a swearing in ceremony. The swearing in ceremony is when we took an oath (the same one the President takes) and became official volunteers. It was much more emotional and difficult than I thought because the day before you said goodbye to your host families. You knew that by the end of that day you would be saying goodbye to your friends, site mates, teachers and any other support you had during the first 3 month, and that by the end of the day, you would be at what was to be your new home.
Saying goodbye to my friends and support was so much more difficult than I thought it would be. I arrived in Dolna Banya that night, was shown my apartment for the first time and was left with no food, and a pretty empty apartment. Reality hit, and I have never felt so alone or lost in my whole life! One of the difficulties of coming to site at that time was before a weekend, and you would be on your own without work or seeing anyone really. Somehow, I dont know how, I was able to get through that first weekend and as time went on...the adventure began!
Everyday I went to work, which initially I woud just sit with kids and a coworker and watch them do homework, various other things. The first week I was there, my boiler didnt work in my bathroom, so I didnt have hot water for more than a week. During this time, my light also stopped working in my bathroom and for about the first month I had light in there for maybe 4 days total.
The next adventure was one day I started having difficulty getting my key to unlock my door. Somehow with the language barrier, I was able to contact my coworker who had an extra key and she came and was able to let me in my apartment. After she left, I wanted to test from the inside to see if it worked...well it didnt and I managed to lock myself in, and break the key in my lock! So again, with the language barrier, got her to come back, with 3 "diyados" (grandpas), this time to try and break down the door. So for about an hour, I was trapped in my apartment, listening to 3 old men arguing with each other on the best way to get me out! After this was done successfully and they were repairing my door, I told them about the scratching I had been hearing behind my toilet. One man went to investigate and discovered a dead bird that he proceeded to throw at me! I swear I caught bird flu! Needless to say, it was a slightly traumatic experience, but one I just tried to laugh through.
My next adventure happened when I was in the middle of taking a shower and was interupted by loud banging on my door. Turns out, my shower was flooding into the apartment below me...so again with the language barrier, realized I couldnt shower, and had to try and relay this problem to coworkers so it could get fixed! After about a week of not being able to shower again, 2 men came, pounded a hole in the cement floor and replaced my drain. During this time, they discovered a second dead bird behind my toilet! At this point, everything was continuing to build up and I was seriously questioning my being able to make it through 2 years of this!
Well, 3 months and no more huge problems like that. In a place where everything is foreign and difficult, when you only have your apartment that you can escape to, when that starts to fall apart, it makes you a little crazy! Life in no way is easy here, and it tests you daily at how much you can handle. Even though you see people every day, there is still a huge isolation that you feel, which is intensifyed by winter, when people in town spend most their time in their homes.
The culture as great as it is, is difficult as well to get used to, and that carries over into work. My work has mainly consisted of working with a small group of kids daily on helping with homework. This has been very difficult because it is not what I expected on doing when I came here.
My NGO is also very new, so together we are learning about this process and how to make it work. Right now, work is where I am struggling the most. Because its not what I expected, and because of the language, there is a large part of the time where I feel useless. As I continue to struggle with this part of being here, I am slowly realizing that I have to lowerd or eliminate expectations and just do the best I can. On the days when I walk down the street and the kids yell at me from across the way, or I meet one of their parents it makes it all seem possible. I have come to realize that even though I came here to help others and make an impact where I can, that I believe I will be the one most changed and impacted by this experience by the time I leave.
It still does not feel like home, and I struggle with quite a bit daily. This is an experience that you can get through physically, but trying to get through mentally and emotionally is a different story. It continues to test me and show me how much I can handle, when I think I am at the end of my rope, but somehow I get through to the next day. We have policies on traveling, but I am lucky that there are 2 volunteers that live within an hour, hour and a half that on weekends if I need a break or support I can go see. Also, as most of you know, I am dating another volunteer, Mark actually who I had lived in Radomir with. Even though he lives about 6 and a half hours away, we have made it a priority to see each other at least twice a month, which makes a huge difference!
But, as it has been so long since I have written, I will end it now as I dont plan on writting a novel. There is still much more to update you on, but now that I have internet in my apartment I am hoping that I will get back into writing more! I want to thank you all for the support you have given and continue to give me. On those days when I dont want to do it anymore, your support pushes me and helps me get through the day! It makes a world of difference. So thank you. Also, I have a skype account and would love if any of you are connected to skype to be able to chat. My account is michala.golden so contact me if you would like!
Take care,
Michala
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