| Dear Family and Friends, I just wanted to give you all an update on my life, which has been extremely BUSY lately! I have only 6 more days of school before the summer vacation, so I have been tying up lessons, giving term tests to anxious 5th and 6th graders, and calculating final grades as the summer vacation rapidly approaches. It really is hard to believe that my first year as a teacher and my first year as a Peace Corps Volunteer is coming to an end . . . and, you know what, I made it! I have to admit, there were times when I wanted nothing more than to just give up and return to my secure little existence, but now I am so happy that I have continually convinced myself to stick it out. I am not sure exactly when I will move, but I will probably travel to Panagyurishte sometime next week to look at apartments. This time, I will get a little more of a say-so when it comes to my apartment because, since my new school cannot quite afford an apartment, the Peace Corps will pay my rent. So, this is a good thing. During this trip to Panagyurishte, I will also hopefully meet my new director, counterpart, and colleagues, and I am looking forward to getting to know who I will be working this next school year. But, for now, I am plugging away with school, realizing just how much I will miss some of my students when I leave. I know I won�t miss the town or most of the adults, but there are several kids who I hate to leave. I will miss my English Club girls the most, so leaving will be slightly difficult in that sense. But, I know this move is incredibly positive and I am totally ready for it. I also recently found out that I will most likely be teaching older grades (7th, 8th, and possibly 9th) in Panagyurishte, which terrified me at first (high school!), but I think I�ll do just fine. It�ll look great on my resume later on, to show that I�m flexible and versatile! So, a new adventure will begin before I know it! So, for the rest of the school year, I have decided to simply play with my students. Today, we played rousing games of European football (soccer) in all of my classes. I suck when it comes to most things athletic, but I had a blast chasing after my students and they got a laugh or two out of just watching me! During my first game of football with my lovely 5th graders, I got smacked right in the face with a flying football coming at me full force! Everyone got a kick out of that, even me, though I think I saw stars for awhile after that one! My girls had the attitude of �We can�t play with the boys!� while the boys thought, �Girls can�t play football!� (the typical Bulgarian stuck-in-the-1950�s mentality), so I played and encouraged my girls to play too. Tomorrow, I think I�ll introduce these kids to kick ball since they enjoy kicking balls so much! I have also been helping with many Visa applications lately, of those Bulgarians wishing to flee to the United States. Last week, I went to school one day to find a Bulgarian man waiting for me outside of the teachers� room. He didn�t speak much English, so he wanted me to take his Visa documents home to interpret the questions into Bulgarian so that he could understand them. Then, a couple of days later, the Math teacher at my school caught a glimpse of the documents and, since she doesn�t speak a WORD of English, she wanted help with the same thing. So, being the good Peace Corps Volunteer, I went to her house and ended up filling out three Visa applications in a row (for the woman�s entire family!) as she provided me with the answers in Bulgarian and searched for the necessary information. I had a little trouble separating my English from my Bulgarian after awhile and I had to remember to write everything in English! And, if you�re American, they expect you to know everything, when I have never applied for a green card before. Everyone in this country wants to get out and the chances of them actually getting out are so slim. The Visa frenzy of last week really caused me to do a lot of thinking. And I came to the conclusion that: 1.) I am proud to be an American with the privileges, opportunities, and freedoms I have in my country and 2.) I have taken so much for granted in my lifetime that I will never take for granted ever again. Everybody wants to get to my country, but I am glad that I am already there . . . that it is already my amazing home. So, I was glad to help give a window of opportunity to these Bulgarians. So, now the summer and then end of my first year continues to approach. What are my plans for the summer, you ask?! The school year will end with a giant Peace Corps beach party in which we�ll swim, play, have bonfires, and sleep on the beach in a small beach town on the Black Sea coast. Shortly after this, our new group of Peace Corps trainees will arrive and training will begin for them . . . it�s hard to imagine that I was in their shoes just a year ago! I will move, and then hopefully I will work at camp GLOW (the girls� camp I mentioned) if all of the necessary funds are achieved. I will also assist with training in Panagyurishte and then, at the end of the summer, I will travel around Eastern Europe (Austria, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, etc.) with Marisa and Chris for a couple of weeks. So, the next school year will begin before I know it! Anyway, I know this e-mail is boring and unimaginative, but I just wanted to provide my loved ones with a little update since so much seems to be going on these days! I promise I�ll write something more enjoyable later . . . but, until then, dovizhdane!!! Love Always, Chantel |
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