LG's Excellent PC Adventure

Everything is going well here at the beach. There is a contract on my house (finally!) and nothing has come up that should present an insurmountable obstacle to its sale. Mari has firm control of the business and I am certain she'll continue to grow it bigger and better than ever. Most of the major things have been taken care of and now I only have to take care of the 'details'. I am working on my Bulgarian every day and can now say, "Could you please speak more slowly", that and "May I photograph the face of your Grandmother?" will probably be the most important words I'll speak.

I spoke to a fellow at the Balkan Desk/Peace Corps today and he told me that he would be sending out a new packet of information this week. In it will be a cd with PC language lessons. I hope there aren't two versions of Bulgarian. I've been putting in a lot of work on the "Teach Yourself Bulgarian" version of the language and will be very disillusioned to learn that it isn't quite the same as the PC version. I have seen many responses from current and former volunteers addressing applicants' concerns about the language requirement. They all carry basically the same message, the PC wants you to succeed and will do everything in its power to ensure that you do. If you apply yourself and show that you are willing to work at it, you'll be fine. The PC will even hire tutors to assist those who are struggling. "Hello, Larry, this is your tutor Vladimir (Cat O'Nine Tails) Molitov. He'll beat you until your pronunciation improves."

I've just finished reading a couple of books on Bulgaria. "Summer in the Balkans" is a journal recounting a summer spent in post-communist Bulgaria. It is an interesting and positive account of the country and people written in 1991, just after the fall of the communist government. The author talks about the warmth and generosity of the Bulgarians, their living conditions, their meals and social events and their determination to effect positive changes in their country. "Voices from the Gulag", on the other hand, is an account of life under a totalitarian regime and more specifically, life in a Bulgarian concentration camp. It is written about Bulgaria in the 1960's and 1970's and goes a long way towards explaining why cultural disparities exist and why simply saying, "Presto, you're a democracy" hasn't been a magic answer to everyone's problems.

Geoff introduced me to his Bulgarian friend in NYC and when I tried to say good-bye (doe-vizh-da-nay), she said, "We all just say 'ciao'" So, Ciao.