2 of 26* A Whole Lot of Swearing.

7-26-09



Wow! Here I am, a full fledged Peace Corps Volunteer. It has been a long time in coming but I am finally beginning my two year assignment in the Rhodopi Mountains of southern Bulgaria.

Friday July 24, was the day my fellow B25s’ (25th group of Peace Corps Volunteers to Bulgaria) and I took our oath of service. We swore in as United States Peace Corps Volunteers in Bulgaria. The day was quite exciting. That morning, we met at the Municipal concert hall in Vratsa. There was a crowd of 350 people consisting of our host families, and other members of the community who gathered to see the ceremony. There was folk-singing, speaking and of course, a lot of swearing!

A Huge-Congratulation to my fellow Peace Corps volunteers Jared and Nat who delivered speeches on behalf of our Peace Corps group. They were outstanding! Each of them wrote superb speeches and delivered their speeches in both English and Bulgarian.

Following the ceremony, there was a reception with snacks and drinks. It was a little bitter-sweet. Not because of the sweet and sour chicken, but because all the new volunteers were relieved to have made it through pre-service training and sad to have to say goodbye to many friends.

Immediately following the reception, I was given a ride to the bus station where I had to catch a bus to Sofia. Ivan, Ivanka, and I said our last goodbyes and another volunteer Jon, whose site is near mine, and I left for Sofia.

In Sofia, we had to catch another bus to our sites, and to do this we had to go to a different bus station. Jon had a friend who lived in Sofia and purchased our tickets and helped us get from one bus station to the next. That was incredibly helpful and saved us bit of money because we didn’t need to take a taxi.

The bus ride to my site is very…strange. The bus trip takes me through small neighborhood roads and at one point a rock quarry. When you get into the mountains, the roads are all narrow and winding. Sitting in the bus and looking down at some points is pretty nerve-racking, but great fun!

Friday night I did a bit of un-packing and settling in, but I was pretty exhausted from the hot and eventful day, so I just crashed.

Saturday started off fairly quiet. I went to the café/store to purchase some food for my house. I ended up drinking coffee with some local people for a couple of hours. People here are very approachable, and it is easy to invite yourself to sit with anyone at the café. I went back later in the day and did it again. (Mostly because I forgot to pay for the cup of coffee I bought that morning…great start, right?)

That afternoon, I sat on my porch and did a bit of reading. There was a pop and some smoke on the mountain in front of my house. I thought perhaps it was someone hunting. I didn’t give it too much though and went inside to make myself a sandwich. I came back outside sat down with my sandwich and looked at the mountain to see a few trees engulfed in flames! I could not believe it. Most of my safety and security training in PST had to deal with exactly this, and here I was on my first day.

I went inside, put my shoes on and grabbed my fire-extinguisher. I ran up to the fire and gave the fire-extinguisher to someone who was fighting the flames. Being a Peace Corps worker I am not really suppose to be putting myself in any danger. I went back down the hill and made sure someone was calling the fire department. Then, I ran to get the mayor. After I knew the mayor knew, I called our Safety and Security Officer and reported what was going on. The Safety and Security officer had me pack a bag incase the fire really got out of control and I wouldn’t be able to stay in my house.

The people of my village had the fire contained fairly quickly. It was very impressive to see the response and knowledge of everyone from the village to fight the fire. They were able to have the flames under control using shovels, axes, and one fire-extinguisher (which probably didn’t affect the outcome too much). They had to respond to the fire because the fire department didn’t show up until 30 minutes after they had been called! It is no fault of the Fire departments; it’s just that our village is so secluded that it is hard to get here.

So... a little excitement on the first day, but otherwise very good. I spent quite a bit of time walking around my neighborhood that evening. I spoke with some of my neighbors on the block. Apparently, a lot of my neighbors are family. I like that.