A Chronicle of my Changing Times.

A bit of sunshine on a cloudy day...

It has been raining like cats and dogs here in Bulgaria for about 2 months now.  All over the country, but especially in the north, there's been quite a bit of flooding.  The Bulgarians I've spoken with have never seen a summer like this and are a bit perplexed and a lot frustrated by it all.  Just yesterday it rainned three times - with one being a downpour.  Already today, it's rained at least twice (if you don't count the multiple instances of drizzle) and the largest storms usually happen in the evening.

This has made navigating the center and major shopping district of Haskovo an adventure at times as flash streams appear down the sidewalks and streets.  Luckily for me, I purchased a pair of much needed and desired sandals earlier this week at the flee market for a wonderfully low 10 Leva.  Yes folks, with currency conversion, I paid approximately $7 US for a pair of sandals I'll be living in at least for the next few months.  This is the joy of being in a developing country.

Since I last wrote I've been rather busy doing a lot of seemingly nothingness.  But after a bit of retrospect, I'm actually amazed by all that I've accomplished.  Some of the best news is that as of Monday (barring any accident or intervention of monumental proportions) I should have high speed (yes, high speed) internet in my very own apartment.  This, along with the music I've brought with me, brings sanity to my corner of the world.  For everyone who happens to read these ramblings, this means (hopefully) better posts and (drumroll, please) pictures.  Given the cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words, this alone should cut down on the length and breath of my posts.  Ok, maybe not - but it was a thought.

Another thing I've done this week is spend quite a bit of time with my counterpart, Dimitar.  I feel badly for dragging him around with me as much as I have, but by his own admission he's extreemly bored this summer.  Remember the aforementioned rain?  It's been preventing him from doing any repair work on his house.  Regardless, he's been a blessing taking me from store to store, showing me many of the sites around Haskovo, helping me obtain that wonderful internet in my apartment, help me get my Lichna Carta (residency card - an adventure in beauracracy if I've ever seen it), etc.

And whenever I haven't been spending time with him, I've spent time with Ethan, another volunteer who is in the city to the north of me, Dimitrovgrad.  Luckily it's only a 10 minute bus ride so I get the feeling we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other the next two years.  Tomorrow a number of PCV's from this area (all from our group) will be getting together here and in Dimitrovgrad.  Ethan and I kinda threw it together and I'm actually surprised at how many people are coming.  It'll be good to hang out with other PCV's.  Even though it's only been a week since swearing in, it seems like forever in some ways.  I'm also excited since we'll be doing a movie exchange and I'll have new things to watch.

But I think one of the best things that has happened this past week was beginning to meet Bulgarians.  It's happening slowly, but it is happening.  Whilst working to get my Lichna Carta earlier this week, I met a Dutch woman, Barbara, and her Bulgarian friend Zdravko (all foreigners have to register at this office).  Well, Barbara is out visiting other friends right now, but Zdravko has turned out to be great.  I went out with him and his friends last night to one of the local discoteka's for retro night and had a blast.  He called today and we ended up hanging out briefly at one of the local swimming pools.  I suspect that I'll be seeing him (and Barbara - when she returns) quite a bit over the next few weeks.  There's a number of other people I've begun to meet, but I won't bore ya'll with the details.  Basically, it boils down to getting out and about is helping me to integrate rather quickly - much faster than I thought I would.  Heck, I even found out there's a choir in town I might join next fall after they get back from their break.

So, I'm in good spirits and enjoying life here.  I actually had a moment earlier today whilst having a lunch of chicken, rice, peas and bacon with Dimitar at a resturant watching the rain come down.  It dawned on my, quite suddenly actually, that I was going to make it here and that I would be successful.  It's a rather suprising thing to realize, actually.  It makes me look forward to the next two years in a way I hadn't before. 

Posted by: mjmarble at July 15, 2005 14:53 | link | comments (3)

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