Sunday, June 13, 2010

One of those amazing stories

Today Tessa, Kerri and I met to do our lesson plans and study a bit at the cafe. After 2 hours or so we finish up and see our partner teacher, Marusia, come in with a few people. She points us out and one of the gentlemen walk over and tells us in perfect british english how lucky we Americans were in the world cup game. WHAT?!?! First of all, yeah, but second, you speak english?!?! We join them for a drink and this guy starts telling us that they just moved to Bulgaria to be near their daughter who moved here to start a horse farm. As we talk he tells us that he runs an internet radio station. So naturally we ask how he got into something kind of random like that. "oh" he says "I've been in radio since I was 17. It was me and a couple of friends that started pirate radio in Britian back in the day".
Umm... What?
Yeah, it was a blast. We used to sail up the coast and to take requests. We had people flash it out in Morris Code with their headlights. I was great till eventually they cut our anchor and towed us in to be tried.
Ok, my opinion of this guy just jumped tenfold!
So after that I started working at the BBC since they had no idea how run popular music. So I did that for the start of rock and roll. Yeah, I worked their for a bunch of years as a DJ and ran/ hosted their summer concert series at all the beaches in Britian.
AMAZING!!!!!!
So the highlights of his life after that:
1. He toured the world MC-ing and opening for a bunch of acts during the British Invasion
2. Moved to Australia and ran a radio station there
3. Moved to Spain and started a radio station there
4. Moved back to England in Canterbury and opened a hotel that was ranked #3 in all England
5. Moved back to Spain and started the internet radio station
So when his daughter decided to move to Bulgaria to train horses he decided to pack up and move there as well. He lives in a town about 20 kilometers from us.
He was absolutely an amazing guy and the stories that he and the rest of the group hinted at sound fascinating. I can't wait to hang out with them again.
Haha, so just one more thing to the list that Marusia has given us here!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

When in Rome

So the expression "When is Rome" is not a common expression. In fact, it is basiclly unheard of over here. So, if you have seen Anchorman, it was just like that sence. The cross-culture and language are creating some histeracal situations. Case and point, the other night I was being asked if I have ever heard of Sex in the City. Yes, I have heard of it. So topic moves on and I don't think anymore of it. Saturday rolls around and I get a phone call from my host brother that they got me a ticket for THE movie. Umm... what? That conversation had been about if I LIKED Sex in the City. I can honestly say I have never seen more than 10 min of it, but hey, this is supposed to be an adventure, right?
The last few weeks have been uber hectic, but over all I am having a blast. My Bulgarian is coming along slowly, but I am definitely understanding a lot more. I really don't think that there is a language that would be harder than English, but Bulgarian seems to be a close second. Every single grammar lesson is 5 min of going over the rule and then 2 hours of the exceptions to rule. F!
We started teaching at the local school, first in pairs then going solo. My first lesson was on my hometown to the 5th grade classes. Since it is damn near impossible to explain the Amish over here I've just been saying I'm from Philly. A whole lot easier! Otherwise I have been teaching everything from vocab to grammar to leading discussions. Everyday is something different!
I've started running with another volunteer, Tessa. It is great to have another person the run with so that I don't dog it and actually go the distance. There is also a gym in town that Neal, the PCV that is stationed here was able to get us into. It is great to be able to workout since I would be getting super fat off the food here.
I don't think there is a Bulgarian translation for cooking light. All the food is full fat and full flavor. The other morning I had french toast the was fried in lard and covered in strawberry jelly. Talk about a sitting like a rock in my stomach! And every meal is bigger than my normal dinner in the US. Lunch is a full 3 course meal! But over all there are only a few things that I don't care for so no real problems. I do miss regular salads, but I bought lettuce seeds so once I get to my permanent site (so freaking excited/nervous to find out) I hope to grow a bit.
Speaking of permanent sites we have the interviews this week for the PC to find out what are preferences are and what would be the best fit. I am really hoping for a medium size site like the size of the town I am in now, but honestly I am up for anything.