where have I been?

Sorry y'all...but between writting a mini-grant for peace corps, visiting current volunteers, meeting up with the nashville volunteers, and saving the world (okay, that's just a joke), things in the last three weeks have been insane.

also, sorry if anyone called this weekend (though I doubt that...) because i was 6000 ft above sea level in the beautiful Rila Mountains!!!! we left early early saturday moring, packed down with food for 2 days, several layers of toasty clothing, water to last a lifetime, and excitment to make the 10 hours of hiking our trip called for!!! we forded streams, trudged through mud, sleet, snow, incredible inclines (okay, to me the novice hiker they were "incredible" but to others, maybe they were simply uphill!) and in general, got an amazing workout! we hiked almost 4 hours to our "hija," which is the Bulgarian version of a chalet (note the emphasis of "bulgarian version) on the first day, and then on sunday, we hiked to the "7 lakes" and climed an additional 1000ft. The hija was one of the biggest in the Rila mountain chain, and it had a main floor with a lounge and a cafe, a downstairs with a "bar" and two upper floors containing rooms for 7 people, 2 people, or 11 people. We had about 30 people on the hike, and most of us stayed in 11 person rooms. Surprisinly, even though it was snowing up in the mountains, the hija was actaully warmer than most houses in bulgaria! we were pretty excited to take off wet shoes, socks, and clothing, sip hot chocolate, and bask in the warmth of the hija. when the hiking was all said and done, our crazy guide (who must have been about 60 years old) only got us lost a few times on the way up, and despite the periodically heavy fog, we saw a lot of beautiful landscape and made new friends with volunteers on the hike. all and all...a pretty darn good weekend!

this week, my training site is implementing our community project. We are working with the obshtina, the local government, and youth in the community to plant trees near the center of town. we plan to have members of both ethnic groups in our town (Bulgarians and Roma) participating in the event, and we're very lucky that our Obshtina is so excited to work with us!

Other than that, our site has our final lanuage exam (called the LPI, for language proficiencies interview) on friday morning. my teacher is pushing myself and Anna, one of the other trainees, to pass with "intermediate-mid" which is a full two levels higher than is required by peace corps. I think we should be able to do it, it just means I have to study a bit this week!!

well, i hope that all is well with y'all!!!