Wow, I just logged into my blog for the first time in a while and saw that people still come here. Seriously, who are you people and why are you coming to my defunct blog? Maybe I’ll start writing stuff again, about my adventures in making a drastic career change.  We’ll see!

By the way, you may have noticed the lack of a Peace Corps disclaimer, though you probably didn’t so I’m pointing it out to you. I can take that ridiculous thing down now that I’m not a volunteer anymore.

Vidin!  Not quite what I was hoping for, since I wanted to be near the Greek or Turkish border.  Instead I’ll be as far away as possible from there: in the northwest corner of the country, on the Danube bordering Romania and very close to Serbia.  I’ll be working at an NGO that does regional development and business consulting.  I’ll be involved in labor exchange, local tourism, business incubator, consulting to micro and small companies, and working with a cooperative.  It sounds interesting because it’s not completely business-focused.  I’m off to Vidin for the next few days to check out my permanent site.  Wish me luck!

Zdraveyte ot Bulgaria! I’ll have internet access only about once every two weeks until October, so sorry if I’m not very good about returning emails, but please write! It’s something to look forward to when I do get to check email. And if you would like to send me a letter in the mail, please let me know and I will send you my address. I’d love to get some mail!

I can’t believe that I’ve been in Bulgaria for only two weeks. It feels like it was such a long time ago that I got on a plane and flew to DC to meet the other 41 people who would be going to Bulgaria with me. Almost everyone in the group has just graduated from college or has been out for only a year or two. I think only six people are older than me. I’ve been saying for a while that I feel old in general, but now I really feel old. Eh, it doesn’t seem to get in the way. I seem to be getting along with a lot of them quite well.

I am now in a small rural village with a population of about one thousand, where I will spend nine more weeks with four other volunteers, with whom I will go through language and technical training. Apparently during Communist times it used to be quite the bustling town, but now there is only one restaurant/gas station, a few cafés, no internet, no bank, and sometimes no water on the weekends. Actually, there’s not very much here at all. My day usually consists of having language classes until mid-afternoon, hanging out at a café or at the restaurant/gas station, going home to eat dinner, and taking a walk around town afterwards. But you know what? I really like it. You would expect that someone who is used to living in a place like New York City for most of my adult life would feel quite the culture shock moving to a tiny village in Bulgaria. It’s been surprisingly easy to adjust. The slower pace of life seems to suit me. I’ve been helping a little in the garden and eating mostly fresh fruits and vegetables from there like plums, peaches, and melons, and tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. The produce is really amazing. The food is quite good, and I’ve been eating so much. My host mother seems to want to fatten me up. Supposedly everyone in the last training group in my village gained a decent amount of weight. I don’t think I have so far, but we’ll see how I am by the end of training.

I live with a retired widow who spends a lot of her time gardening and canning. It’s a little strange to be living with a complete stranger who doesn’t speak any English, but we seem to (kind of) be able to communicate the important stuff. Her daughter who speaks some English lives nearby with her family and often stops by for meals, so she translates for us.

In just two more weeks I’ll be finding out my permanent site, where I will be spending the next two years!

At this point it really does seem insane that we are expected to learn enough of the language after less than three months to be functional and work successfully in community development. I’m not so sure I could do this in the US in English, let alone in a new language in a completely foreign land. But at the same time I can’t believe that I know as much Bulgarian as I do after only four days of language classes.

I also don’t feel so much like I’m living in a fishbowl, like I was told I would, or maybe I’m just oblivious, which is a definite possibility. We do get stared at a lot, and we are the focus of a lot of attention, but it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

I still have yet to really freak out about the whole thing. I’ve been surprisingly completely stress-free so far, which is weird, isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong. I still think, What the hell am I doing here? from time to time, but who wouldn’t, right?

This is what packing for 26 months looks like:

According to my not-so-trusty scale, my checked baggage is about 75 pounds.  I’m allowed to bring 100, but I bought smaller luggage on purpose so that I wouldn’t bring so much crap.  I really didn’t think that I’d be able to get everything to fit, but I did after taking out a lot of stuff that I had wanted to bring.  How will I survive without my Gucci shoes and Marc Jacobs bag?

Besides getting ready, I haven’t been doing much of anything since I stopped working except for lazing in the backyard and going swimming since it’s so damn hot out. 

After living in this house for 20 years, my parents finally decided to make the pool swimmable now that they want to sell the house.  At least I got to enjoy it for the past few weeks during this unbearable heat.  It’s kind of sad that when I return, my family will have moved to Atlanta of all places.  This is my childhood home, the only house I really remember living in.  I’m being a bit nostalgic, which is so not me.  Now if only someone would buy the house.  Anyone in the market?

I just got back from a weekend with the girls in Philly.  It was nice to be able to get together with them one last time before I leave, even though everyone wasn’t able to make it.  Thanks so much for the great weekend!

It’s weird, I don’t know how I feel about the fact that I’m leaving.  I feel like I should be excited, panicked, scared to death, anything, really.  It’s almost like I’m in denial that I’m leaving.  The whole situation doesn’t seem real to me.  I’m going through the motions of getting ready to leave, like packing and saying goodbye to people, but I don’t really feel like I’m about to embark on this great adventure.  I’m guessing that the emotions will kick in when I get on that plane. 

Now that my braces are off and I’m wearing my retainer, a few of you have told me that I sound like a “special” person.  Of course you didn’t put it so nicely, but I didn’t want to offend my sensitive readers.  I just wanted to say that I appreciate it.  Thanks.  A lot. 

The braces are off, only to be replaced by other hardware – a horrible retainer, which I’m supposed to wear 24/7 for 6 months – that gives me a serious speech impediment.  How embarrassing.  I’m told that I’ll get used to it, and the lisp will go away in a few days.  But I do have beautiful straight teeth now.  This time around I vow to wear this retainer religiously, since not wearing my stupid retainer was what led to getting braces for a second round.

I also got a brand new haircut to go with my new teeth.  I got close to a foot of my hair chopped off, along with some pretty short bangs.  It looks like the haircut I had when I was 21.  The cut is great, but I don’t like it.  I loved my long hair, and I almost cried when I saw all my hair on the floor.  It wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but I went shorter than I normally would.  I have visions of getting my hair butchered by some Bulgarian hairdresser, so I want to put off getting a haircut in country for as long as possible. 

So now I’m a lisping, (still) metal-mouthed neurotic mess with too short hair.  What a pretty picture.

Today was my last real day at work.  I will be popping in a day here and there (for a price, of course) to help out and to train my replacement, but this phase of my life is over.  Three years I’ve given to this job, and though it was a great place to work, I will not miss it.  I must say, though, that it did drive me to finally take the plunge and make the changes that I’ve wanted to make for a while, so something good did come out of it. 

Exactly four weeks from today I will be boarding a plane for Washington DC to start the next phase.  Now that all I have left to do is preparation for my departure, I have entered full-blown panic mode.  I’m having serious doubts about my ability to do what I’m supposed to do.  Please tell me these feelings will pass.

I also found out today that one of my closest friends is pregnant.  I look at our lives and see what different paths we’re taking, and I find it all so crazy.  But we’re both doing what we want to do, so it’s great. 

For a while now I’ve known that I have no desire to continue down my current career path.  Finance is not for me.  So I decided it was time to do something drastic.  But why Peace Corps?  That’s a good question, one that has been on my mind all throughout the entire application process.  I’m not exactly an altruist or an idealist, as you know.  I have no delusions about saving the world.  At first it was a just a whim.  But the more and more I thought about it, it just felt right.  If you think about it, doesn’t it sound like something that I would do? 

I can’t say that I was all that enthused about my nomination when I first got it back in November.  I had really wanted to go to Latin America so that I could become fluent in Spanish, but mostly I didn’t want to go anywhere cold.  And though I was being considered for only business-related projects because of my past experience, I expressed interest in health or environment projects instead.  What did I get?  A business project somewhere cold.  But now that I’ve done more research about Bulgaria and gotten more info from current and returned Peace Corps volunteers, I am really looking forward to it.  With Bulgaria eligible to join the EU in 2007, it seems like a very exciting time to be there.

I have just 2 more weeks of work left and then 4 weeks after that to pack, take care of all my business, and say goodbye to my friends and family.  I’m starting to get a bit nervous now that it’s become a reality, but I guess that’s natural.

On another note, I’ve now had several people tell me that I’ve lost a lot of weight.  Was I really that much of a fatass before?  I don’t think I look THAT different. 

Passport and visa applications have been sent, aspiration statement and resume are finished!  All that paperwork is done (for the time being).  Now I have to focus on sorting out all the crap I own and packing 27 months worth into a hundred pounds and getting rid of as much of the rest as I can.  Is it possible?

My bout with "malaria" was short-lived.  After a few days I feel a lot better, though I still have no appetite.  On the bright side, I seem to have lost all those pounds I packed on eating anything and everything.  I think I'm back to my normal weight.  I'll have to try on those jeans to find out.

People say that men have a tendency to lose weight in the Peace Corps, while women tend to gain.  How do you think I'll turn out?