Into the Mix

It’s a long 7 hours to and from Veliki Preslav.

Driving along the little highways in Bulgaria gave me a lot of time to think (especially since I didn’t bring anything to read. Good move, me!)… I think mostly about the little things in the now, but every once in a while I get some good ideas about future plans. This was one of those times. I guess the need to fill in the awkward silences in between my 3-year-old-level Bulgarian and my counterpart’s lack of English provides a good medium for plan-making. I have so many things floating around in my head right now it’s ridiculous…

My primary assignment will be to work in the local orphanage (Dom za Detsa – literally “home for children”), coordinating activities for the kids and teaching life skills for integration into the community. As secondary assignments, I’ll be working in a kindergarten and also holding English classes for adults in the town. This is perfect for me, not only because it means I’ll have a pretty stable workload over my two years here, but also because my primary interest and experience is with at-risk children. And believe me, these children are definitely at-risk. Hopefully I can get some of the local fathers in town involved as well in my second assignment, as that assignment not only involves the small kids but also their families.

I’m walking into a bit of a delicate situation here, as I’m replacing another volunteer whose service has ended. Luckily I was able to talk to said volunteer and discuss some things she’s done over the past couple of years. Admittedly, I have a different approach to working with children from her. This isn’t a bad thing, and I think that the ideas I’m mulling over right now can actually work out and can provide a big payoff for the kids in the area of life skills. I guess we’ll see in time…

As for my site itself, I couldn’t be happier. Preslav is a small city (a “gradche” as the residents there affectionately… or diminutively… refer to it) and was at one time the capital of Bulgaria. It once rivaled Constantinople as the most powerful city in the known world. Now it is a small, underserved, and all but forgotten town near the regional center of Shumen, having only ruins and a museum near the town to remind the world of its former status. That aside, the town itself is beautiful, with several cafes and restaurants, a weekly farmer’s market, a huge park, a nice central courtyard area with a gigantic statue of the former king of Bulgaria, and some nice old churches. There is another volunteer – a COD from the previous group - located in my town who is awesome and with whom I think I’ll get along really well. There are also a lot of other volunteers in my area (including 4 from my group – the B24s), so it will be nice to have all of them around in case things get hairy.


But for now I’m trying to concentrate on the near future… more specifically my group’s current project. We’re doing a mural painting on the wall of the local chitalishte (community center), which will involve the help of kids and community members. We’re also going to be coordinating some activities to happen while people are waiting to paint the mural, and might also hold a trash pickup in the town center. By the end of this week I will have also taught my first class ever – an hour long English lesson to Bulgarian children -and will have developed a 3 month action plan to implement when I get to my site. It will definitely be hard to stay focused on the present as all these ideas swim in my head, and as I plan for projects to come.

It’s hard to believe that as I’m having the time of my life here I’ll be missing football season (“real football” haha) for the first time. Luckily we have in the BG are keeping the spirit alive with a fantasy football league. It’s not quite the same but it’s better than nothing. I expect all of you with access to a TV on Saturdays and Sundays to keep me updated. Hopefully I’ll find a place that is sympathetic to the needs of American football fans. In the meantime, Bulgarian soccer will have to hold me over. More on that whole situation later…

Until next time… Go Noles, Go Bucs…