I wake up with a headache – must be from all the angst of
whether or not I got all the fleas out of my apartment. I think so – but there might still be a
renegade, because I do have a couple new bites (thankfully, not another
20). I let the whites soak in the soapy
water overnight, so I rinse them and hang them on the line. Today I have a visitor coming to my
village. It is Vyara from Sofia. She is a wonderful support person for PC Community
and Organizational Development program here in Bulgaria. It’s her first “check-in” site visit since I
arrived here 3 months ago. Yippee.
We talk about my integration into village life in Bulgaria,
goals for the next few months and of course, how I am feeling about my
experience here. She gave me a few great
ideas that I hadn’t thought of. One of
Vyara’s best suggestions was to ask for a Bulgarian to join me in the classroom
with the kids, at least in the beginning.
Someone who knows the kids and who the kids know (think order and
discipline).
As long as I stay focused on the big picture about why I am
here with the PC and why I wanted to come in the first place, I do well. I am doing well in the big picture even
though there are moments here and there when I have fears and doubts (pretty
normal, I think). One of my life long
attitudes which I have continuously worked on changing to a more positive
mindset is the attitude of “I’m not_______enough.” Fill in the blank with almost any positive
quality and it might be what I have thought about myself at some time earlier
in my life. Gratefully, I’ve come a long
way in the self-confidence and trust department – generally through life
experience and learning to look for the things that are going right. Basically unlearning a lot of childhood
belief systems. So here are some
examples of my mind-speak:
~Yes, I am continuing to study and learn the Bulgarian language
(I have my own pace and yet I am learning consistently. …I’m on the turtle team
…he he heh…..and we all know the story of the tortoise and the hare, right?).
~Sometimes I see things differently than others see them
(diversity is a good thing as long as there is tolerance too) and I just have
to keep communicating if I want to be understood. And I have to keep listening so I understand
others.
~I’m nervous, I haven’t formally taught classes before
(everyone has to start somewhere, and I know once I get the hang of it, all will
be fine).
I’m grateful for the support the Peace Corp Bulgaria team
provides. They are always available to
answer questions and to share resources and ideas.
Vyara also brought some copies I asked her to make for me –
the printer I use here is inaccessible at the moment. And she brought more bug spray and cortisone
cream that I requested from the medical team as well as a water distiller. I’m going to try the distiller to see how it
works and if it helps me feel more comfortable about using tap water to
drink. Even in Arizona I had a water
filter, but here I’ve been buying bottled water and then refilling the bottles
at a local spring. The spring water
tastes great but when I boil it for coffee or tea or soup, there is a heavy
mineral deposit on the container. So I’m
going to experiment with the distiller.
In the afternoon at the library, I did a little more prep
work in the classroom upstairs. I have
decorated the walls with some colorful postcards from America (more gladly
accepted!) and am putting some grammar info up as well as some classroom words
in Bulgarian that I want to be able to use for reference until I learn them.
In the evening I went for another walk and met some new
folks (again). By the time I get home,
take a shower, clean up a bit – its bed time.
I also like to find a little time to read books on my Kindle. I’ve read a couple of books I really enjoyed this
summer, but now I seem in a phase of “duds” starting and stopping several. Post
in comments or email me if you have any great book suggestions.
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