A Chronicle of my Changing Times.

Lucky with friends...

This past week I did something really stupid.  I take the GRE Exam for graduate school on November 6^th  This is an extremely important test for me, as I’ve mentioned previously, since my academic years were not necessarily spent in the library.  Well, they weren’t spent in the library without other friends or girlfriends and maybe a deck of cards.  Yet while at my computer one night I got an instant message from my friend and fellow PCV Melody.  Her birthday is a mere 2 days before mine.  She was interested in what type of plans I had to celebrate.  My plans are to head to Istanbul for a 4 day weekend of fun, sightseeing and cultural growth.  So I’m going to be out of the country. and should have spent the week, including the weekend, studying for it.

This disappointed her a bit because she wanted to throw a party and my place is more suitable for such events.  After bantering about a bit we came up with the ingenious idea that we could throw the party a week early.  Without a second thought and within an hour a guest list of about 30 people was created and an invitation email sent.  Yeah, I’m weak.

About 10 PCV’s came – but I was glad for the ones who did come.  Beer was bought, Hairy Buffalo punch was made, and my apartment was cleaned (in large part by Pauna).  Joining the gathering was a number of my Bulgarian friends.  Honestly, there was nothing exceptional about the gathering – beer was drunk and more was ordered along with smokes.  An amazing fun fact I didn’t know before Saturday night, you can have anything from the 24-hour stores delivered to your front doorstep by many of the taxi companies in town.  This coupled with pizza delivery service apparently makes Haskovo one of the coolest towns PCV’s reside in.  Who knew?

What was exceptional to me about the night was the people who came.  There are many ways to categorize PCV’s here in Bulgaria.  The way that makes the most sense to me and one that I appreciated this past weekend was the difference between younger volunteers and ones with slightly more ‘life experience’.  Many times younger PCV’s are fresh out of college, they’re idealistic and get easily frustrated by their surroundings or lack of accomplishments, and many times vent this frustration in raucous behavior when with other Americans.  Its almost as if PC is an extension of college somehow.  The second group is a bit older, has usually held a job for a number of years or at least has a masters degree of some sort, and typically has more realistic ideas of what can be done in country.  They don’t get frustrated as easily and don’t complain as much.  Discussions with this group are usually deeper and insightful.

By and large the people at the party were from this second group.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older or because I’m starting to focus more on post-PC plans, but I was happy with the mellow yet lively tone of the evening.  Drinks were poured, tongues loosened, old school hip hop/rap played on my stereo, and good times were had by all until the very late hours of the early morning.  There was a seemingly perfect mixture of people of different interests, lifestyles, backgrounds and even nationalities (considering the BG’s who were there).

Thinking back a few days later I can help but be glad for those people who came.  These are the type of friendships amongst PCV’s I thought I would have from the get go, yet somehow eluded me.  My closest friends here in BG are Bulgarians and I don’t hang out with Americans all that much.  Yet, it’s the Americans that stand out in my mind upon reflection.  There’s a saying that I throw around way too much, “Lucky with friends, unlucky with love”, usually focusing on the negative aspect since women still befuddle me.  Too often I glaze over the positive side that is the friendships that surround me.  For the first time I actually think there might be some fellow PCV’s that I might keep in contact with after our time here is done.

On a side note or two, I leave for Istanbul later this evening.  I’m headed there with a Bulgarian friend who has never left the country before.  It should be an interesting experience.  Due to Presidential elections on Sunday, there is no school on Monday which allows me to take a nice 4 day weekend.  Speaking of school, I finally have my schedule for the semester a full month after school started.  I confirmed it today and starting next week I’ll be doubling the amount I’m teaching from 9 hrs a week to 18 hrs.  In my literature classes, both 11^th and 12^th grades, most students still do not have the text book – so it’s been a bit fortuitous that I haven’t had to teach as much.  They’re buying them as a group, so most should have them by the middle of next week.  On a positive note, I’ve had 12 or so students volunteer to tutor kids in English at a local orphanage.  I’m meeting with the director of the orphanage tomorrow to work out the details.

Life keeps flying by…

Posted by: mjmarble at October 19, 2006 02:09 | link | comments
work, friends, birthday

Comments: