Leaving for Bulgaria...

The last couple days have been spent in board rooms going over the policies/procedures of the Peace Corps. They have ranged from safety to laundry. To be honest, it was mostly plain dry information. The good news is that I have met what the Peace Corps calls your 'immediate family.' These are the other volunteers that will be leaving with me.

The range of people is amazing. In total, my class is 56 people strong. A much larger group than I had thought. We have one woman who is in her sixties. We have three married couples. And, we have everyone in between. Professionals, graduate students, mothers, fathers, and the young ones like me. I have not met a bad person in the bunch, not surprising given the circumstances. From what I have heard, and now experienced, these are the people that I will become very close with. A strange bit of information to handle before you even know their names.

Here is the more detailed itinerary for the next week:

4 August: Fly to Sophia and take a two hour bus ride to Strelcha. (Even our advisor was not sure where Strelcha is on a map)

5-9 August: Do more training on Bulgaria (in Strelcha).

9 August: Meet and move in with host family.
This begins the three month training phase. From here, I will spend about four days a week in my new town going to classes. Once a week the entire group will meet up in Pazardjik (between Sofia and Plovdiv).

Hope everyone is doing well,
Mark

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