Job Update/Thanksgiving…

Well, I met with the new mayor on Monday. And, honestly, it was much more productive than I had anticipated. From what I gathered, this was more of an informational meeting for him. (ie. what is Peace Corps, et cetera…) So, after that was done, he seemed enthusiastic about have me on board. The hitch is that I have another meeting next Monday. This one is with his ‘executive board.’ The new meeting will be where I introduce myself, my skills, and what I am hoping to do in the next two years. (All in Bulgarian, by the by.) But, I will take it. Hopefully, this will give me a chance to kind of tailor make my experience here. So, that is that.

This weekend a group of volunteers are attempting to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (we all have to work on the actual holiday). This will be tricky since all of us have ovens about the size of a toaster and stoves that seem to be directly from the Coleman camping supply line. No worries though. It will just be nice to spend the holiday with other Americans. I am sorry that I will miss the annual Bacom Bowl. And, Cook County if you cannot beat out DuPage this year, I think all is lost. Have fun everyone. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Quick Update...

Well, hello everyone. I have been getting some worried emails from over there, so I figured I would put up another journal. Everything is going well here. Honestly. The weather has been great, a true ‘Roma’ summer (they call it that instead of Indian). Since I have found a good tutor, I have been studying the language again. Every little bit helps. As for the rest of it, the best example I can come up with is this: It would be similar if, I had moved to a random city (one that I knew no one), moved into an apartment alone, did not have a TV, and had no real job. That city could be Boston, Denver, or NYC. I would have some adjustments to make. With most of that past me, I am more prepared than ever to enjoy Bulgaria. Hope everyone is doing well,

~~Mark

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Coming to peace with the Peace Corps...

I guess I should first get you caught up on my situation. I am in a bad news first kind of mood. I’ll keep this part short. I have not met the new mayor. This is largely due to the fact that since getting sworn in, he has taken a two-week vacation. Now, to be fair, after an election campaign, I probably would want a break also. The problem is that with the old mayor out and the new mayor on holiday, the city has ground to a halt. No new projects can be opened. The old projects, if they hit a snag, are just stopped and await the next stamp. I could get into more detail, but it would mostly sound like complaining. I don’t want to do that.

So, this leaves us with…well, me. What am I supposed to do? Or, more importantly what am I doing here? This may sound naïve, but when you finally decide to leave every person you know on the planet for two years, you expect big things. I wanted to come into Bulgaria and do everything. My first three months were spent doing two things. One, learn the language. Two, study the growing pains of this little country. I saw everything: racism, unemployment, and alcoholism to name a few. I assumed that once I got to my assignment, I was going to be a superstar. Ok, superstar sounds stupid but, I was going to be good. Really good. I was going to tackle the big issues. I was going to fix things. I guess you can figure out by the tone of this and previous journals that this has not been the case. But, as it turns out, that just might be ok.

I think I have taken the first step to coming to peace with Peace Corps. It all went down early Friday. My counterpart and I were waiting for some document to get approved. It probably was going to take all day, but we had to wait in the office, just in case. This was nothing new; I sit around that office almost everyday with nothing to do. But, for some reason, today was really irritating me. I kept saying to myself, ‘I did not join the Peace Corps to sit around an office board.’ In fact, one of the main reasons I joined was because I wanted to do more than just sit around an office. Anyways, my coworker and I started the typical banter but this time our conversation took a turn towards America. I found myself talking about holidays, family, friends, university, etc… All in my broken-but-getting-better Bulgarian. This went on for about an hour.

I have spoken about those things with tons of people since I have been here, so I do not know why this time sparked an epiphany. It was like that Chemistry experiment where you keep adding more and more of solution A to solution B. If you do it right, all you have to do is tap the side of the tube and everything goes liquid to solid instantly. This conversation was the tap on the tube of over four months of living here and now things have solidified. Now that I have a clearer idea of what is going on I can see I was way off base. (Shocker, I know.)

I, Mark Jackson, was never supposed to be, nor ever will be, the white night for my little town. Somehow, despite logic, I thought I was going to change the world. The reality is if the Peace Corps had any intention of me doing this, I would have come swooping in to Samokov with a caravan of aides, assistants, and an armored car of money. I would have set up the ‘Mark Jackson – American Extraordinaire’ headquarters in a storefront in the dead center of town. My staff would start crawling around the town, and, man, we would be helping people. It would have been good, really good. Instead, they just sent me. No parade, no hoopla, and I can promise you no armored car. Just a twenty two year old kid who is living by himself for the first time. (Sorry Samokov, there will be no black ties or champagne from me. I will leave that to the suits at the embassy in Sofia.) My job description is much simpler: it is to breathe. That conversation with my counterpart was a good day’s work. In fact, that was very ambitious of me. I am doing a good job when the grocery store clerk is surprised that ‘the American’ conducts the transaction in passable Bulgarian. I am kind of like a one man America museum/petting zoo.

As lame as simply ‘existing’ sounds, it is more important than ever. When an Italy loses a score of solders trying to keep the peace in an ‘American’ war, people get mad. When television is throwing everything from ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ to ‘Ally McBeal’ (both of which are dubbed over to Bulgarian) people here are getting a slanted view of America. It is my job to counter balance these things. And, five years down the road (when we do something else to anger the world) someone will hopefully remember me and direct their anger at the country in general, and not the people specifically. Trust me, we are all a lot better off when people are saying ‘I do not like America’ instead of ‘I do not like Americans.’

Well, I am not sure if this makes any of you feel any better, but I feel great. (Ok, not great great, but good great.) It took me a few weeks, but I found my rose colored glasses again. The same view that got me through all those finals weeks and starting work as 5:30 am, is now being applied to Bulgaria.

Hopefully, I will have some more information about the mayor situation but, no promises. Never know what will actually happen over here.

~~Mark

PS: I have confirmed my arrangements for getting home this Christmas. Family and friends of family, I cannot wait to see you during the events of the Jackson Marathon Christmas. As for everyone else, I will be in Chicago proper the night of the 26th, if you can make it let me know. Details are in the works.

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First days in Samokov...(w/ pictures)

Like the first week in Bulgaria, my first week at site has been challenging. Sorry for the lack of updates, hope this will cover most of it.

Week and a half in Review:

Wednesday…
This was our ‘graduation’ day from training. Up to that point we were Peace Corps Trainee’s (PCT’s) now we are official Peace Corps Volunteer’s (PCV’s) with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that go with the title. The oath that we took included the line: “I will protect the Constitution of the Untied States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic.” After spending three months on foreign soil, just hearing those words was enough to send shivers up my back.

After the ceremony, we headed to a reception. It was painful. Those in attendance included our host families, senior officials from a few nations, our counterparts (the person we will work with), and the newly minted PCV’s. It was too much, we were moving away, again, and all I wanted to do was spend those last minutes with my friends. I decided to leave early.

From there, I headed to my new home, Samokov. The ride was particularly stunning because all the trees in the mountains were changing. It reminded me of an Indiana fall in a massive scale. I got to my apartment, unloaded my bags from the car, and my counterpart left.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday…
I like to call this my days of solitary confinement. My counterpart was working hard on getting the old mayor election and, to be honest, just did not have the time for me. That was just the circumstance of poor timing. The problem was I knew no one else. I have no TV. I had no food and minimal dishes. Along with basic practicalities, the weight of what I am doing really had time to settle in. It was bad, really bad, but it is over. It was a true trial by fire and, since I am still here, I guess I passed.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…
Here, I started to get into a groove. I had work everyday, which was great. It gave me something to do and I started meeting people. For the most part, I followed the mayor elections. When you think that Democracy is only thirteen years old here, it was an amazing opportunity. Because the Peace Corps has a policy that Volunteers do not get involved with politics, I was able to really just sit back and watch the process. The hardest part of this is that I speak absolutely no English. Everything is conducted in Bulgarian. The silver lining is that my language is going to be great, assuming I make it.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday…
Over the weekend, I headed to Sofia. When thinking about it, I felt kind of bad about leaving Samokov so soon. But, I did not know how much I needed some time with friends until I got there. We were able to swap stories, joke around, and generally recharge for our second week. It was much needed.

Monday…
This was probably the sadist day since I have been here. We found out the Mayor did not get reelected. So, I sat with about 200 people while they talked about what they are going to do now. When the Mayor changes they rehire an entire new staff. It is especially tough when unemployment is over twenty percent. This group will include my counterpart. So, as of now, I have no job again. Just when things were settling in a routine, it is all up in the air again. I once said I wanted to join the Peace Corps so I would not be board, but this is borderline ridiculous.

Overall, I really am happy. Most days I still randomly smile at the fact that I am in Bulgaria. I wanted a challenge and now I have one. Hope life in the States is going well.

~~ Mark

PS: Good news, my brother, Jim, had his first baby a couple weeks ago. All went well and her name is Emma Ann Jackson.

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