LG's Excellent PC Adventure

I suspect that you're hoping to read more of the continuing saga of my adventures in laundry but I'm afraid that I must disappoint you in that regard. For two weeks in a row now I have run the peralnia (washing machine), hung the clothing on the line, and brought it in without mishap. I did have a slight appliance malfunction when my forty year old refrigerator fell over, but that's a story for another day. This was a week for work, not domestic chores.

One of the PC requirements here is that we write up bi-annual reports on our activities, projects and progress in our communities. Our reports were due on Friday and I took advantage of the opportunity to review everything I'd done since I arrived here. My primary function here is to integrate into the community and to introduce Bulgarians to Americans and America. PCV's are, first and foremost, goodwill ambassadors. In order to help us accomplish this task, we work in schools, municipalities, ngo's and other organizations where our various life experiences can be shared with our hosts. I have an advantage over some of my PCV friends in that they have joined right out of college and I waited a little bit before volunteering. Approximately thirty-five years in fact. I was assigned to REDA because of my work background and this too offers me an advantage. REDA has a shopping list of projects and proposals and, as I've stated in the past, is run by two very professional hard-working women. A couple of my good friends have been assigned to Obshtinas (like City Hall) and literally have nothing at all to do. All day long they sit at empty desks, or in Sara's case, on a chair in the middle of the room, and try to think of things to do. This seems to be a fairly typical experience for volunteers assigned to Obshtinas. Why do Obshtinas not only apply for PCVs but actually compete to have them assigned you ask...the only answer we can come up with is "Who knows!?!?"

However, while my friends struggle to find ways to make their experience here meaningful to themselves, they have both become welcome and valued members of their communities. Both have made many Bulgarian friends and have found ways to let people see how bright and decent Americans can be. In my opinion, they are each doing far more to advance the goals of the PC than I am with my laundry list of projects.

My two primary projects are the hand-knit crafts project and the film club at the high school. I've been working for a couple of weeks now with Malcho to help him write up the business plan so we can get started, but he is proving to be more interested in being called "Boss" than in planning the business. I've tried to explain to him that if he can't write a coherent business plan, then he won't be able to manage the business and if the business doesn't have a manager, then there won't be a business and if there isn't a business, then there won't be anything for him to be "Boss" of. Unfortunately, as was said in "Cool Hand Luke", "we seem to have a failure to communicate". I'll continue to try to work with Malcho, but we are beginning to suggest alternative candidates for the job to each other. The eight ladies have lived in institutions their entire lives and are disinterested in becoming the manager of their enterprise. We are hoping to find a good qualified person to manage the business from within the disabled community here in Stara Zagora and I, personally, hope that Malcho can be persuaded to put a little more effort into his training.

My Film Club is still quite active. I've received five scripts and they all have some potential as student films go. One story in particular is quite original and will make a very good short film. I've offered to be available if the kids want to work on their movies over the summer and some of the groups indicated that they might do just that. Several groups have quit but there are still about five who continue to show up at every meeting and seem to be pretty interested in producing a movie. If any movies do actually get made, I'll post them online.

One of my responsibilities in the Agency is to respond to various emails from English speaking correspondents requesting information on businesses in the Stara Zagora region. Our website generates a fair amount of inquiry from abroad and Bulgaria is becoming a booming area for foreign investment with EU accession right around the corner in 2007. I have begun to prepare a list of the services we offer to foreign investors that we'll post on our website and I've begun urging Petya and Darina to begin thinking about charging for the work they now do for free. I'd like to set a fee schedule up for our services and post that too. Petya and Darina will spend days gathering information, setting up meetings and agendas, making reservations for visitors, etc. without ever charging a stotinki. They then sit at their desks until eight or nine o'clock at night to finish up the work they didn't have time to do during the day. They provide services that foreign investors can't get for free elsewhere and they do a better job of it than anyone else can, so they ought to be compensated for their time and talent. Hey, it's my soapbox I'll make any point I choose!

I fully intend to wander down to the center today to grab a chair at an outdoor cafe, have a cup of coffee and watch the people promenade up and down the main street. It's a sunny warm day and the trees are all fully leafed. Then I'll wander over to the market to buy some mushrooms and tomatoes to have with my dinner of beef tips with rice. Later tonight I'll begin editing some video I've shot during the past month and if it turns out to be anything interesting I'll post it. So , as we say here, "Priyatna Cedmitsa"..Have a nice week!