Last Day

Today was my last day teaching! One year down, one to go! Not allot of students showed up, as final grades have been calculated and everything is done. In my classes I decided to teach the students, who did show up, two dances that they don't have here in Bulgaria. The Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance. One of the above pictures is of the student doing the Hokey Pokey, I believe it was during put your head in and head out part. They absolutely loved the dances, especially since I did them with them. Some students laughed so hard at me dancing that they needed to be put in a straight jacket and institutionalised. I believe it is safe to say that any respect the students had for me has been lost.

Bend it like...

Beckham scored quite possibly the greatest goal of this world cup yesterday, I may be overstating that a bit but not by much. It was a pretty boring game but that goal was worth sitting through it. Go England!
This is the final week of teaching for me, three days left. I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing, because the final grades are in and there is absolutely no incentive for the students to pay attention (although to be fair they never pay attention). The Bulgarian educational system is set up so that students must continue to go to classes after they have taken their final tests and their final grades have been determined. I would be amazed by the lack of logic in this but I have been here to long to even make a sarcastic comment.

Go England!

Well the US was eliminated yesterday by a combination of crappy offense, defense, and a referee who had his head up his ass (and fixing the game in my opinion). The US didn't play very well I thought but they weren't embarrassed, which is something. Hopefully they will do better in four years with some more experienced players and some more talent.
Now I hope England wins the whole thing. Hopefully Beckham et al will bring the cup back to the country that invented the modern game.

Dear coach Arena

I know that you have forgotten more about football then I will ever know but please listen to me. This is the world cup. The most important tournament in the world. Please play your best players. John O'Brien is one of your best players, PLAY HIM! The same can be said for Eddie Johnson, your best pure offensive player, PLAY HIM! You can be cute with your line up later. Now please pay attention because this is important. ALWAYS PLAY YOUR BEST PLAYERS!!!!! Thank you.

World Cup!!!!

World Cup!!! The world cup has started and it is being played right now. Technically it's half time but by the time anyone sees this it will be over so who cares. As stupid as it sounds when I found out that I would be in Europe for the World Cup I got incredibly excited, even though I wouldn't be in Germany. It is great to be so close to the Cup and be able to watch all the games easily on TV. I can talk with just about everyone about it and I talk about it everywhere; in class, at the store, with neighbors and complete strangers. Football is great and the World Cup is my favorite sports tournament.

Trainees Vist

This weekend I had three new trainees visit me. They came to see me as part of a program where they can ask questions to volunteers and see them in their communities. It gives them a little bit of an idea of what their life might be like in a couple of months. The three volunteers were named Jamie, Jim and Natalie. They were really cool and it was great to have them visit.
One thing that was a bit weird was seeing them and seeing myself in their shoes one year ago. The way they talked about their training groups, HUBs, PC staff, host families. It was kinda strange and made me realise what I, and the other volunteers, in my group must have sounded like to the more experienced volunteers. It's comforting to know that what we go through as volunteers here has already been experienced by other people, and that we are all part of something greater then ourselves.