A Day in the Life...

A typical day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer differs greatly depending on where one is located and what type of organization the volunteer works for. Although I work as a community development volunteer here in Bratsigovo, there are other volunteers like myself who work all around the world. I have friends who are working as English teachers in elementary schools in Asia, teaching HIV and AIDS awareness to villagers in Africa, and teaching villagers how to best farm their land in Peru. That being said, here is the rundown of a "typical" day living and working here in Bratsigovo:

My work day begins at 8:30 AM although I generally go to the local cafe to have a cup of coffee with my colleagues a bit earlier. Cafes are a very important part of every day life in Bulgaria. It is here that friends and colleagues meet to talk about their families, share stories, and even to discuss work. Unlike America, where people simply run into the nearest Starbucks, order their drink, and leave, going to a cafe with friends or colleagues can last as long as two or three hours. I spend my mornings in my office which is a large room on the upper floor of the town's youth center. I work with together here with three women in the office of European integration. It is our job to write and manage various projects to help the wellbeing of the citizens of Bratsigovo and to help promote Bulgaria's integration into the European Union. In the past I have written and won projects involving the renovation of a pensioner's club and youth center, the creation of a youth scout group and "green patrol," the creation on an environmental information center, and a campaign to boost eco-tourism in the region.

After having lunch with my colleagues I generally leave the office and work with various groups in the community. In town there are two orphanages with a total of 200 kids. A few days a week I go to these orphanages to play soccer with the kids, do various crafts with them, or just hang out and talk. I have also recently started an English class which meets two days a week with the older kids from one of the orphanages. It has been great to see how interested and eager they are to learn! On the days which I don't visit the orphanages, I often head to the upper part of town to the Roma neighborhood. The Roma people, often known as gypsies in America, are an ethnically diverse minority group in Bulgaria who are greatly discriminated against. As a whole, the Roma community is much poorer and less educated than the Bulgarian community. There is very little work for them and the work that is available is underpaid labor. I am currently in the process of starting a new project to work with Roma teens in order to help them make healthier decisions in their lives.

When my work day ends I spend my free time in a wide range of ways. I enjoy hiking and jogging throughout the surrounding environment, playing basketball at the local school, reading on my balcony, cooking, and going out to a cafe with friends. On the weekends I often attend the local soccer matches in Bratsigovo and Plovdiv or travel around the country with friends. When the winter arrives I hope to be able to go snowboarding a few times in the Rhodope Mountains. I have snowboarded for most of my life and although I am not able to go up as much as I would like here, it is great to have the opportunity a few times a year.

It has been an interesting change for me moving from a large town such as Boulder to a small Bulgarian town with only 4,000 people. As you can imagine, the pace of life here is much slower than that in America but I have come to love it. It's hard to complain when most evenings I am able to sit on my balcony overlooking the town and watch the sunset over the Rhodope Mountains.