LG's Excellent PC Adventure

"The rate of criminality in crimes registered in the region decresed upwardly to 57,89% having less impract through this year and to last year. Some of the newest crimes are going to be 5,443 homicides and other public nuisance but unregistered by the police. Also will be motor vehicle catastrophes too."

Some of my work involves editing English text that other people have translated. This paragraph was in the Chamber of Commerce's annual report and seems to forecast some fairly grim times ahead for Stara Zagora. Fortunately for us, the anticipated 5,443 homicides will be nothing more than "public nuisances". Brian was asked to edit the English version of his Agency's website and worked through all 22 pages diligently making corrections and suggestions. When he was through the Agency asked him to hold off before uploading the changes because they wanted to "get a second opinion". They hired a French Canadian to check Brian's work and then told Brian to upload the Canadian guy's text without altering it. So, the website has a new and interesting look complete with a whole new set of errors.

Most volunteers have cell phones but here they're called "GSMs" or "mobiles" or diminutively, "moby's". We rarely use them to call each other because the costs are prohibitive. Text messaging costs a fraction of calling so we just send text messages back and forth. In Bulgaria, it doesn't cost anything to receive either a call or a message, just the sender is charged. We can also go onto our computers and send messages for free to our friends' gsm's. One relatively ridiculous form of chatting is to send computer messages to your friend's phone and receive his computer messages on yours. As volunteers, we can be extremely thrifty! We don't have call plans here, we just buy vouchers in various denominations to recharge our phones. Typically, we'll put 30 leva at a time onto our GSMs and recharge once or twice a month depending on personal use. GSMs also help satisfy our safety and security requirements. It's essential for the PC to be able to contact us at all times and as long as you have your GSM, they can reach out and touch you where ever you may be.

I have several options for grocery shopping in Stara Zagora including a Billa (an Austrian supermarket chain) and Metro (some other foreign chain). I rarely go to either because they are both located on the outskirts of town. For fruits and vegetables, I go down to the pazar or market. It's an open air market with approximately 100 stalls selling everything from avocados to zucchini. Most of what's available right now has been imported, but in the Summer the selection and quality of the fruits and veggies is unbelievable. I also go to the market to buy my eggs and honey. I get the eggs from an old woman who has an egg stand near the potato man. Her eggs are graded by size and the price per egg is clearly marked. You tell her how many you want and then select the eggs that appeal to you. I learned to pick out my own eggs after I discovered that she had a habit of giving me eggs that had small cracks in them. Nothing I hate worse than walking all the way to the pazar, buying nine or fourteen eggs, walking all the way home and discovering that one of them is broken; at a cost, I might add, of several stotinki! I buy meat from a butcher up the street from my office and I can pick up assorted odds and ends from the small 'magazine' (store) across the street from my apartment. When I have to stock up on foodstuffs, I go to the 'supermarket' about two blocks from my place. This is a grocery store that's about the size of a White Hen and is pretty well stocked. I get my bread from any of the places where I shop. I tend to find myself in one store or another almost every day. Maybe I'll become better organized and cut that down to every other day before I leave. The food here is plentiful and relatively inexpensive and our PC allowance is more than sufficient. Meat is available in the forms of chicken and pork. I can't find a good steak yet, but I'm not through looking.

Television is interesting here. I get about 50 channels on my cable and about half of those are dedicated to either soccer or chalgah singers. There are a couple of channels that broadcast in English. I get Cnn, The Hallmark Channel, The Animal Channel, and after 10:00pm the Cartoon Network becomes Turner Classic Movies. I also get a British History Channel. For those of you who worry that I may lose touch with my finely developed fashion sense, I can watch the Fashion Channel 24 hours a day.

I plan to go to Pazardjik this Wednesday to visit a PCV who has started a Film Club there. I was thinking about doing the same in SZ and want to see how he's organized his club and what they do. The PC encourages us to get involved with kids as a way of integrating into the community. My language tutor teaches at the local high school, so she can help me set up the club if I decide to try it.

On Saturday, I'll go up to Sofia with Brian and Matt to work on the PC Habitat for Humanity project. As most of you know, I can't hang a picture on the wall so this will be truly interesting. My assumption is that they will have someone stand behind me and hold my hand as I swing the hammer. On the other hand, maybe I'll do all the electrical wiring? It promises to be a most interesting day.

That's about it for now. We're having a delightfully mild winter here and activity at work is picking up, so for now, I've gotta go.