Merry Christmas

It’s the 23rd of December around 3pm in Chirpan Bulgaria. It will be my first Christmas away from my friends and family. Oh well that’s part of life, and it’s not the end of the world. I will miss most of all, Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house. That is always a highlight of my year, and a wonderful time to spend with family. I will be spending Christmas with a few Peace Corps buddies in Chepelarie, a small mountain town near the ski resort of Pamprovo. I will spend the week in Chepelarie then travel to Sofia for new years. It should be a lot of fun. My kindergarten students made me a strange branch with yarn, popcorn, pumpkin seeds, and other decorations all over it. Apparently if you hit people with it on new years you will have good luck for the following year. I went to the Municipality Christmas party last night. It was quite interesting, they drew names and made people compete in strange contests like Hammering nails into a board. It was kind of funny watching 5 middle aged Bulgarian women trying to hammer a nail into a small piece of wood. I was selected for the cake eating contest, they made me pick a girl to feed me the cake and then it was a race to devour the slice. I felt like I held my own but was demolished by a beast of a man named Evegini. Evegini (head of the city council) has a head the size of a basketball is taller than I am with has hands that dwarf mine, he has the body type of a grizzly bear. It was a lot of fun and I got a laugh when some of the guys started chanting U.S.A…..U.S.A.
It is definitely starting to feel like Christmas around here, the ground is covered with snow and all around the town you can see Christmas lights and other holiday decorations. Work at the municipality is great, at this point I am just getting to know the people and beginning to gain trust and acceptance. They seem to like me so I feel I will be able to accomplish many things in the future.
I have tried a few new food items lately. Pig ear: it tastes a bit smoky with a barbecue type taste, but it’s basically a piece of fat with thin cartilage. It is also a bit difficult to chew.
Shark fin soup: I had this at a Chinese restaurant yesterday in Stara Zagora. It was a great soup and was only $1.40.
Wow it’s been 4 ½ months only 22 ½ more to go. Well I miss you all and wish I could be with you this holiday season. Christmas will definitely not be the same without friends and family. I will post some pictures online so you all can see what I have been up too lately. Thanks a lot for the packages you have been sending. The winter Cloths have helped out quite a bit. It’s been extremely cold here the last couple weeks. I only have one radiator style space heater, so things aren’t all that cozy and warm at the pad. Well I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Love
Trevor Lake