ПАВОЛЧЕ - Pavolche

Whew! Its been about a week since I last used the internet so I figured you all might want an update. Last Sunday I met my host family. My parents names are Maya and Georgi. Maya grew up in Russia in a city of approx. 1 million people and Georgi grew up in Pavolche where they currently reside. I have a sister whose name is Maria. She is 20 and studies at the local military school and speaks some english. I don't think I could have a better set up. They are all very nice and hospitable and I have been full of food since the moment I arrived. If I have learned anything, its that Bulgarians take great pride in having people in their homes and go out of there way to make you feel welcome and comfortable. I am loving it. I have my own room and bathroom. The Bulgarian people are very good at using space in the homes. My bathroom is about 5ft x 2.5ft. The water spout from the sink detaches and I hang it on the wall to shower. The drain is in the middle of the floor. There are 2 curtains, one blocks water from getting on the door and the other blocks water from getting on the toilet and toilet paper. Its ummm, how do you say, very interesting trying to wash my legs/feet. Also, toilet paper is not to be flushed so I just toss it in the trash can and after a couple days I take it out. Im pretty sure you get the idea. Our conversations are really fun. With only a few common words, I notice myself talking more with my hands that I ever have. Drawing pictures has also been helpful. I've had some interesting conversations that I'm sure have been misleading, but for the most part it has been a sucess. My assignment for tonight was to ask 5-10 questions and write a paragraph in Bulgarian about the answers. That should be fun. Im probably rambling on by now, but I have done a lot and seen a lot the past week. All the food has been good and I will get to that at a later post. Lets talk about my group and what we have been doing. Idk if I put this in my last post (and im not sure how to check without losing this post) but my group consists of 6 volunteers and a language trainer (LT). There is me, matt from NJ, tom from boston, nichole from wisconsin, katie from montana, and kelsey from michigan. Our LT is Elli and she is from Bulgaria. We have been studying bulgarian as a group for a little over three hours a day and alone for an hour a day. Its a lot of work but I can see it paying off in the small improvements in the conversations I have with my family and the locals. Besides studying, Pavolche offers a limited number of things to do. There is a waterfall that we hiked around, we walked to a park (which was close) that had american games such as rock climbing, mini golf, paint ball and ropes course facilities. To walk across the whole town takes less than ten minutes and on the way we pass 3 donkeys, some goats, and sometimes a couple cows. People are ofter seen with a trailor full of whatever pulled by a donkey. The local school is across the street from me and is for 1-8 grade. Many of the students come from other villages and some are from the orphanages in Vratsa. In total there are about 100 students. Next to the school are two basketball courts and the other day I bought a ball and we played with some of the younger students. The hoops are in shoddy condition and are only about 8 feet tall. Just high enough where I get rejected by the rim everytime. It was fun playing bball with the kids and as my bulgarian improves maybe I will actually be able to have a conversation with them :) We have started our community mapping project in which we draw the village and highlight the main buildings such as the kindergarten, church, school, mayors office, library, cafes, and such. We had a meeting with the mayor and local police and discussed a little bit of what their ideas are and how we can help them. The locals are very nice and for the most part are surprised that people would want to go to bulgaria from america. I have met the host families of all the other volunteers and the are really nice as well. Yesterday my family went to celebrate a high school gradutation party for their neighbor (who also has a PCV living with them). There were about 35 people there in total from all over the world (Russia, bulgaria, america, greece). The party lasted from 7:30pm to 3:00am. We had a lot of good food and drinks. The main course was goat, which was bought the day before and sloughtered about 20 feet from me. There were a few guests there who spoke english so it was nice to have a break from being the confused outsider. Over the past our group has learned a few of the traditional bulgarian dances and on Sunday we went to dance class to learn more. We attending the 1st grade graduation last weeka and today we went into Vratsa to celebrate the local holiday (celebrating the people who created the bulgarian alphabet). Well I think thats enough to keep you all occupied for awhile. Im not using my computer so I dont have any pics or videos to upload at this time. Im gonna make a video showing my room and me saying some bulgarian phrases which I hope to get on here soon (if thats even possible). So far, life in Bulgaria is good! Georgi toasted with me the other night (through translation) and I thought it would be good to share with you. My dream is to buy a house, but I cannot afford it. I have enough money to buy a goat, but I do not wish to buy a goat. Lets toast to all our wishes and dreams being the same.