I'm MOVING BACK!

I can't deal with that wordpress.com business. It has proven to be too complicated for me. I can't even make paragraphs. How is that possible? I recognize my defeat. So I came back to you know, blogger.com 

LOOK A PARAGRAPH! This is why I will never stray again--though I would like pretty layouts. That is one place where wordpress.com has you beat. 

I'VE BEEN SHOWN THE WAY

I've moved blog sites. My pally-wally told me of a new site that he deems better and seeing as he blogs 400 times a day, I guess he would know best. Here is the new address:

 http://knittelb.wordpress.com/ 

Enjoy. 

Dupnitsa: The Hard Rock Capital of Bulgaria

Twice in one week! Consider this a record. 

So, as it turns out, I'm living in the Hard Rock capital of Bulgaria. Who knew? Eat your heart out, Rob Zombie!  I almost want to start a hard rock band just cause. Too bad I never seriously pursued the life of a rocker. I would be in my element. 

Actually, today was totally music day here in my life. This morning I went to the kindergarten I frequent to teach "Jingle Bells." It was great. I love going there. The kids are all about the Amerikanka who visits them twice a week. Well, that's not entirely true. I can't say all of them are into me. Some of them look downright terrified when I talk to them, but others think I am the bees knees. I'm okay with it. I'll take what I can get. Anyway, after our 6 rounds of "Jingle Bells" we moved on to "Happy Birthday." We sing that even when it's no one's birthday. Today, however, it was someone's birthday--BONUS! We sang to him a couple times and then we ate torta (I bet you can guess the translation). Based on these two examples alone you can tell that Dupnitsa really lives up to it's claim. But I'm not even finished. There was more music in my life today. 

This afternoon I accompanied my counterpart to the "Mledeshki Dom" (Youth House) where I was serenaded by the lovely sounds of teen hard-rockers. My organization is currently running a project called "Social Inclusion through Music." It really is a great project. Kids from all over Dupnitsa were invited to participate in a series of concerts organized by my organization. Right now they are getting ready for the Christmas concert that is coming up in a couple weeks. Actually, there are some great little musicians here. Today I listen to a couple girls rock a Janis Joplin tune. I was impressed. There are a couple other bands who regularly play that are also quite impressive. My personal favorite is a band called Satan's Slaves. They have a great guitarist. They like singing Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Korn. I love that all the kids sing English songs. They trick me. I think they know English but then when I go to talk to them they look at me like I am...foreign. Right. Seriously, though, I really have to wonder if they understand the songs they sing. They must. They are teenagers. They need to feel the lyrics, no doubt. 

Anyway, I'm getting side tracked and I want to get to the real reason I'm even blogged today Pictures! YEAH! I walked around Dupnitsa this weekend in search of images to post that would represent my Dupnitsa. Here they are...

my house.

my street.

my favorite.

sushi equals happiness and delight.

After not blogging for a month and a half, what a random topic I have chosen to write about...Sushi.

This past Friday all my food fantasies came true: I got to eat sushi AND a burrito. It was the best day! Now, I realize most people would not normally use Sushi and a burrito as two variables in the equation that equals best day ever but, then again, most people aren't living in Bulgaria where these two culinary delights are very hard to come by. The burrito was the surprise lunch item at a meeting I had to attend in Sofia all day on Friday. With the burrito came pico de gallo and Tostito Chips with a hint of lime (a.k.a. the best chips ever). It's amazing how much better American brand food tastes abroad. Amazing. I also had the Girl Scouts ever famous Thin Mints cookies for dessert. (I feel like I need to be using that trademark sign all over the place in this blog.) Basically, by 2 pm I had already eaten two of the things I didn't imagine myself eating until returning to the States. THEN a little post-Thanksgiving, Pre-Christmas, miracle happened. I got to eat my OTHER favorite thing that I didn't think I would eat until returning to the States: Sushi.

On Friday night I decided to stay the night in Sofia with a couple B-21s. We went out to dinner at a restaurant suggested to us by another volunteer. The restaurant was called Lagunda and, in true Bulgarian style, it specialized in everything! Apparently, it's a pretty happenin' restaurant. I think the reason it's so hip is because there are very colorful pictures in the menu, the waitresses wear leopard-print outfits, and there are conk shells on the walls--you don't find that often in Bulgaria (note the sarcasm). Regardless, they had sushi and much to my surprise it tasted like sushi. I was a little afraid to order it at first because, well, Bulgaria isn't really known for it's seafare. In fact, on many Bulgarian menus seafood is often referred to a "gifts of the sea." Actually, that is one of my favorite things about a Bulgarian menu. Anyway, I ordered the sushi using the colorful picture displays on the menu. These pictures proved to be both a blessing and a curse; I was able to order easily but I had no idea what type of roll I was actually ordering. It was a fun surprise when I got my sushi. It all worked out though. You would be surprised what soy sauce and Wasabi can do to mask the taste of an unknown sea gift.

The rest of my weekend was pretty uneventful in the food department. When I got home on Saturday I went back to the ever faithful Cirene and Tomato sandwich. But, believe you me, I will always remember the day I ate all my favorite things, in Bulgaria.

Ok. Seriously.

Ok. So, seriously. I have been bad (and by bad I mean horribly neglectful) with this blog. So neglectful, in fact, that I don't even think that I've stated this is about my adventures as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria (the sole reason for blogging in the first place). Ehh, no matter.

So, yes. Here I am. I've been in Bulgaria for something like 12 weeks now. I got through the packing and the good-byes, the staging in Philly, the 24 hour international travel with strangers, the first week of orientation, the 11-week Pre-service training full of countless hours of language, culture, and technical training, the sweet home stay experience with a Bulgarian family, and finally the swearing-in as a dignified Peace Corps Volunteer. Awesome. I think the last couple of months can be best summed up with these four adjectives: awkward, exhausting, humorous, and challenging.

I'm kind of mad at myself for not blogging more during training. There were some great moments that deserved to be documented. Darn! Before coming to Bulgaria I thought reading peoples' blogs were so helpful in understanding what life is like in the Peace Corps. Oops! Sorry future onlookers for not following suite. You'll have to look somewhere else for help in understanding PCVs in Bulgaria, for I am no good at keeping record of my activities. Ehh, maybe I will back blog. Whatever, it will be a surprise.

Ok, on to the now. So I am a volunteer and I'm at my permanent site. What now? I'm pretty sure that very question is on the mind of 35 other people here in Bulgaria today. It's so weird to make yet another transit to the unknown. Literally, that is what we (to state the obvious, "we" is referring to myself and the other volunteers in my B-22 group) have been doing since we began this adventure. Having to walk away from the familiar and walk straight into the arms of the unknown had become second nature. I suppose this is a good thing though. I mean, it certainly doesn't hinder one's horizons. Anyway, it's been a fairly smooth transition for me thus far. I, however, have been granted the luxury of familiarity. I have been placed in the very city we trained in during PST which means I've been familiarizing myself with my permanent site since we got to Bulgaria. So needless to say, I believe my transition to site is quite different from most other volunteers' stories; but, believe you me, it's not all rainbows and butterflies here either. I still have the lack of confidences in my language ability and the confusion over what exactly I am supposed to be doing my first day of work. Oh, le-le. I keep telling myself (thank-you "What About Bob?" for introducing me to this term) "baby steps." And they said you can't learn anything from movies...

Seriously though, what great advice: Baby Steps.

I'm done for now.

You learn something new everyday

Well, I'll be. I created my very first blog. HOORAY! Now I just need to figure out what to write about and to whom I am writing. Usually I know the audience to which I write and am able to write accordingly. New experiences all around I see. I guess I better get used to it. It's going to be happening a lot in the next couple of days/years.