Final Week of PST (Pre-Service Training)

Wow - I've officially entered my final week of pre-service training! I really can't believe it. Although every day seems to be so long because we do SO much, overall, these past two months have really gone by fast!

This week has been especially busy for us trainees. We've had a lot of language, we took a trip to Sofia, and we implemented our community projects (each satellite site has to do a community project before swearing-in). I'll start off with the trip to Sofia..

On July 15th (two days ago) we made a day trip to Sofia to have our final interviews with the Peace Corps staff. Before going to the Peace Corps office, Elena (our language trainer) showed us around the city. We got to see a lot of the major landmarks of the capital such as the Parliament building, the Presidency, the main concert hall, and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral (which was my favorite part of visiting Sofia!) It really is a neat city, I was surprised by how much I liked it. After sightseeing, we made our way to the Peace Corps office for our interviews. I had my interview with Phil, who actually just began his position with Peace Corps Bulgaria. It went well, I'm pretty sure we just had the interviews so the staff could make sure we were really ready to swear-in and commit to two years of service here in Bulgaria. I definitely know that I am, and he said he could tell that I was, so the interview went really well!

This was also a big week for us because we began our community projects. For our community project, Raf, Emmy, Carolyn & I decided that we wanted the kids to paint a mural of the world at the Roma school in our town. Luckily, the director allowed us to do so on the cement wall that surrounds the school. So, we chose a section of the wall and painted it white so that the mural could be painted over it. Then, we traced an outline of the world on the wall and had the kids paint it blue and green. We also painted all of their hands and had them make handprints on the wall, after which we painted stems and turned them into "handprint flowers!" It really turned out great, and SO many kids showed up to work on it! It was a blast. We also played a lot of volleyball and frisbee with the kids who already had their turn to paint. I'm really pleased with how the project turned out! And the best part is that I really think the kids enjoyed it :)

Now, I'm just getting ready for our final language proficiency interviews, which are on Monday (in 3 days!) We are supposed to be at an "intermediate-low" level in order to swear-in, so I'm hoping I pass! Besides that, I'm just starting to get things ready for my big move and spending time with my satellite group (Emmy, Carolyn & Raf) and my host family. Although I will definitely be sad to leave, I'm ready to become an official volunteer and move to my new home in Aytos!

I think that's all for now, I'll post again soon after I move into my new apartment. Ciao!