2 Years

"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and to know the place for the first time."
-T. S. Eliot

Two years ago today I stepped off the plane into my Bulgarian Peace Corps experience. After a couple of days getting to know the other members of my group, I boarded a plane to a place half a world away into an experience I could never have expected and could never forget. I can remember vividly those first few confusing, desperate hours... Landing in Sofia and immediately being shepherded into a bus, lured by strange Bulgarian chocolate bars (later to become an addiction known as "vafla" haha) in a half-aware state not quite awake, but unable to sleep. We stopped in a small town along the way and I made my first purchase in Bulgarian leva - Spinach and Cheese flavored Bake Rolls (later to become another staple in my life). After nodding off a couple of times, we rolled into the mountain village of Panichishte, greeted with bread and honey by traditionally-clothed locals.

The rest of that first week has become somewhat of a blur, but I can vividly remember saying to a camera "This is life right now," and really believing it, until the camera turned off and I realized that it was an incredibly pretentious thing to say. Moments later we were whisked off to our training site, Krainitsi, and life would never be the same.

Over these two years I've forged some really deep friendships with my fellow volunteers - people I couldn't dream of forgetting. I traveled to 9 different countries. I've done some incredible things with the kids here, including coordinating 2 camps, creating a fitness room, teaching children how to read and encouraging them to make positive life decisions. I have not only gotten to know many incredible Bulgarian people, but have also been accepted as part of their families (thank you Baba!). I've become fluent in a language that most people never even knew existed. I've seen all the ups and downs of this beautiful yet enigmatic country - climbed its mountains, swam in its Black Sea waters, and admired its traditions amidst its beautifully blooming countrysides.

Next week I will go to my Close of Service Conference, during which I will start the process of wrapping up my experience here and moving on the the next phase of my life. This will be the last goodbye to some of the people in my group - a group that lost over a third of its members since meeting for the first time in that conference room in Washington DC. I am among the survivors, and incredibly proud that I have come this far. It's something that can accurately be called a journey - full of joy and turmoil, confidence and confusion, intense and unbearable heat and bone-chilling uninsulated and unheated cold.

In less than 3 months we will leave this country and assume our "normal" lives. But what does that mean if life in this place has become so seemingly normal? I can't wait to find out.

Until next time.

Buzzwords and Acronyms

Well I made it.. sort of.

I'm in Washington D.C. for Staging, a sort of general weekend-long orientation session filled with icebreaker games and policy discussions. We speak about things like synergy and sustainability from the 15th floor conference room of our Arlington hotel. I've been making it though like I usually do... that is, with a healthy dose of sarcasm and a lack of taking myself seriously.

I have been meeting a lot of people, however, and the constant togetherness has been helping us get to know each other in a relatively short period of time. From what I can gather, it's a great group with a lot of fun and interesting people coming from all around the country, so I'm pretty excited about the next couple of years. I'm the only Floridian by the way...

Tonight a group of us walked around the National Mall for a bit after our sessions were over. I've been here in DC so many times, but this was a bit different. We got to see all the great monuments just after sunset, when the fading evening light hits the marble and granite just right, inspiring a sense of awe in anyone who happens to be standing there. Standing in the center of the WW2 Memorial at sunset was a memory I'll bring with me Bulgaria and cherish as a reminder of home. I feel like they send us away to Bulgaria from here for a reason...

Tomorrow is more meetings, more policy, more "getting to know you" activities, more of everything. It's grueling and tiring and overal pretty boring, but every meeting is one step closer to Bulgaria.

Random fact of the day: The Military Marching Band has a bigger budget than the Peace Corps. Now you know...

Until next time...