Thoughts Fom the Top of the World

Every day I feel more and more like a Peace Corps advertisement: “Life is calling… How far will you go?” Last weekend I hiked into the mountains up to about 10,000 feet to see the Seven Rila Lakes, which I can say with confidence is hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It takes a good 3 hours to get up to the lakes, and once there, another 2-3 hours to get to them all, including an hour hike almost straight up from the 5th lake to the top of the mountain where the last 2 are hidden, but it’s definitely worth it. Any questions as to why I’ve come this far were wiped away as I looked down at Bulgaria… Then a hailstorm came and we pretty much slid the rest of the way down the mountain in huge piles of mud.



Am I living my life? I like to think so.

From that point, at which I’m pretty sure was the highest elevation I’ve ever stood, I couldn’t help but feeling small. I also couldn’t believe how far I’ve already come in such a short time. It’s hard to believe that just 2 months ago I stepped off the plane into this crazy adventure, where now so many weird things seem completely normal to me. I’m trying to imagine what kind of warped reality I will be living in after 2 years, or how many things I’ll be missing in the States. But I can’t quite wrap my mind around that yet… Maybe I will have finally integrated into this Bulgarian life. Maybe the lack of oxygen was just getting to me…

One thing I’m not missing is the ridiculous amount of politicking that is going on this election year. Pretty much my only lifeline to American news is internet sources, and right now they’re jammed with worthless personal crap about the candidates. It’s everywhere, including places where I thought were safe havens (like my email inbox). I know that election years are usually crazy, but this year seems to be on a different level. I don’t know if it’s that the stakes are so high or if the media is just more prevalent than ever. Whatever it is, I’m glad I’m not in the thick of it right now…

Thankfully I can escape the constant bombardment by simply focusing on my work here. I taught my first class ever this week – an hour long English lesson about parts of the body, concluding with a pseudo dance party (Do a dance move using your… arms!). This weekend marks the beginning of the most important events of our pre-service training. We will be painting our mural on the town’s chitalishte on Sunday, and then we’ll be presenting our cultural topic on Friday (our group will be talking about Bulgarian superstitions).

Until next time.

PS: I’ve posted more pictures from the hike on my facebook page. I hope I can get more up on here, but in the meantime, if you have a facebook account (which I think everyone should have haha), you can check them out there…