Hm...I will just write!! For starters my cat had ran away again when I had two guest in my apartment. I came out of the bathroom and judging by the looks on my friend's faces i asked, "What happened?" They told me that my cat was playing with a bag over her head.......First of all I thought to myself...Hmm why would you let her play with a plastic bag on her head? Then they said that she ran with the bag on her head and jumped off my balcony! They took a picture with a flash to see where she was and they said she started running! Again, I thought to myself...Hmmm why did you flash the camera, of course that would scare her to run! So after hours and days of looking for her I went to see my old training site! One of the volunteers friends had came to visit and I met up with them. I got to stay in a three star hotel with a sauna and you know I used the crap out of it! We found a Mexican restaurant that opened a few months a go and when I walked in I got honest to God dizzy because everyone in there was American and all the food condiments were from American! I think I was speechless for hours!! Then I thought...Hmmmm why didn't I order the enchiladas too! Later, I came home and tried to look for my cat again and of course it was raining! So, I couldn't find her and went into my apt when I could hear her meowing! I tried to get out my door as fast as I could but, I have a gate and a door! I ran around like a crazy person and still couldn't find her, but I could hear her! So, i went back into my apt and created a trap if you will! I lowered the trap off my balcony to see if she would either hop in and or hang around the trap! Then twenty minutes later I heard her again and so this time when I called her name her meowing got louder and louder! So I go outside and say Jalieah! She came running out from underneath a car and I have had her since! Oh ya while my guest were here I was taking a shower and heard something banging around in my wall! I said OMG come here I think J is in the wall! They looked and it happened to be a damn bird! After about 30 minutes we got the bird out of my shower wall and set it free! I thought......hmmmmm is this really my life? Oh yes, I was on the bus the other day to get my linchna carta which is pretty much my visa card for a year when I asked the bus driver if he could Blow Job here!! HE looked at me funny and I said what is the problem? Why can't you blow job here?? Hmmmmmm.....who knew that the word for bus stop and blow job had a one letter "sound" difference! I didn't find out until later!! Here I was thinking this bus driver was an huge A hole hahahahahaha!! On a cooler note, I am a regional coordinator for anti-trafficking and AIDS! Oh and the other day I went to work and was told that we were going to get blessed by the pope! So, I walked over to the orphanage and everyone was standing around holding candles and singing and the pope threw water on me! We then had to line up and kiss the cross and the popes hand! Hmmmmmmm.......Did I mention that after the blessing we went back to the office I work in and realized I had locked the pope and the rest of the people out of the building because they gave me the key before the blessing started to go back and get my camera!! OPPPSSS!!!! We waited for about 20 minutes until someone found a key opppps! Then my colleagues got me drunk at work!! Hmmmmmmmmmmm........Not a good idea because I told them that Borack Obama was my boss and that only if I called him would he come visit! With my drunk eyes and red face I said I am serious!!! On my way to teach English I had lost my mind and started talking and laughing to myself when a man saw me! Of course I waved and said oh hi and continued to laugh. Later that night I met up with his wife for tea and he asked me why I was laughing and talking to myself this morning? I said what are you talking about? Hmmmmmmmmmm....Oh that was you I waved to! I said oh well, I had lost my mind for a moment and now I am fine! Any thoughts? Well, the last thing that happened was when I taught english to the kids on Thursday and I bought fruits and veggies to have a tossing game to learn the veggies and fruits!! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......what in the hell was I thinking it turned into a food fight and when the teacher walked in kids were crying and throwing the food as I stood their staring at them like shit I AM FIRED FOR SURE!!!!!!!! Well, I love and miss you all!

Love Me

LEARNING IS NOT SO FUN!! Well as like always a lot has happened in the last two or three weeks! Who knows if that is right I have lost track of time, in fact I can't remember what year it is!! WINK WINK! I have come to realize that I really miss sandwiches and Wal-mart......I never thought that I would ever miss Wal-mart but they have just made it toooooo easy! To clarify I am going to be working strongly with Anti-Trafficking and I feel very overwhelmed and lucky to work with this tough situation that is all over the world! I am learning all the things I dislike about myself here and I feel that this learning and growing process only makes sense to start there! However, I have learned I am a quick learner!! =) I have had the past 6 days off because I had to go to the Peace Corps Headquarters to do a biopsy on a lump in my breast that they found!! I have also Learned that I am stronger than nails because I survived the biopsy without anesthesia.........excuse me for a moment I just got a flashback!! My friend was there for support and without her I would have been miserable!! No worries the doctors all say the same thing that I am fine but that this is necessary procedure because I am still new in the Peace Corps. There was a holiday here for the past two days as well so I have had about a week of rest! While I was in Sophia for my check up I ate McDonald's twice and remembered quickly how crappy American food makes me feel! I also learned that I hate the feeling of being "played" if you don't understand this terminology I don't like to feel taken advantaged of. For example, while I was walking the streets with my friend I noticed something pressing on my bag and when I turned around my wallet was sticking out and their was a little girl with a scared look

on her face because I had just caught her trying to steel my wallet. I think with one look I scared her straight!! I was sooooo mad that I couldn't even speak Bulgarian anymore and I went off in ENGLIGH....go fugure! Everything ended up being fine and I learned I have the reflexes of a cat and the temper of a LION!!! WInk! Anyways everything is fine now! I will go back to work tomorrow! On a funny note I have LEARNED that sometimes giving someone the benefit of the doubt is appropriate!! The other night I was on skype with my host mother and she asked if I was going to her daughters birthday and I said no I woulnd't be able to make it....after this she said FU.......As I am sure you all can picture the look on my face........I replyed FU? Do you know what that means in English.........She said no.......So I told her what it meant in Bulgarian......she said ohhhhhh! Later in the converstation I saw her write FU again and then she erased it.....when I asked her about it she said she didn't know that's what she wrote and that she was trying to type ok it was just that the Bulgarian keyboard was off and she made a mistake! I then switched my keyboard to Bulgairn and typed in OK.....it did not match up so as you can imagine I was ANGRY! I told her that I would definatley not be visiting her again and that I was mad! Later the next day I was talking to another volunteer about the situation and they told me that if I type the letters FU on the american keyboard in bulgarian it should type OK...............oppppps!!! I learned that I should have gave her the benefit of the doubt and that she really wasn't saying FU!! I apologized and we are fine!! =) WOW this is my life and I am sure you are all loving to hear about it! I would like to give a shout out to my brother and ALicia for having a new baby puppy! To my sister Amanda for being BRAVE......and a wonderful mother! I miss my neice like crazy and I talk about her all the time! Congrats to the ladies in my life who are getting married and to Amanda Beim for getting married! To my sister Alex for doing so wonderful in school and soccer ............GREAT JOB keep it up my love! Thanks to everyone who has kept me updated in their lives I do enjoy it! Congrats to Meg and Casey for getting ready to become wonderfully new PARENTS! To Chris and his family thank you for being you!! I could keep going on but thank you to everyone who has sent me food, clothing, and love...you know who you are it means a lot! Well I am tired of writing so I wish you all well and I will leave you with.............LIFE IS LEARNING AND BOY AM I LEARNING FAST!

Love ME

Hey...Lo!!

It has been awhile since I have blogged and I have been pretty busy....or I at least feel busy...=) I think I start teaching English to 6 year old so that should be interesting I just don't know what day. I went to a conference for about a week and was excited I to see all my old Peace Corps friends. I am also going to put together some material on anti-trafficking and teach this material to the teens at the orphanage. I worked with my friends Erin and Ursula on a "fake" project at our seminar and we think someday it would be a benefit to really put this program or camp on. We want to do a 1-2 week camp where we focus on life skills. I am going to an Anti-trafficking seminar at the end of this month on the other said of Bulgaria so that will be interesting and I hope I don't get lost. Well, I am off to study and possibly drink some coffee! I love and Miss you all and thanks for all your e-mails! Chris and I are doing well and he keeps reminding me that the time gets shorter and shorter before he travels to this lovely country of Bulgaria to visit me!! I can't wait!

Bye For Now!

P.S. FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND BULGARIAN I AM WELL AWARE THAT IT IS NOT TOTALLY GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT GIVE ME A BREAK!!! (WINK WINK)

JUST RELAX!!!! IT IS A GOOD THING I AM NOT PERFECT......RIGHT?

Аз съм от моя ум!!!!!

Това е друг свят и се чувствам благословHA!!

Обичам хората в моя животA!

Един ден по време и аз ще обичам тези деца повече с всеки ден!

Бог ми даде сила, мъдростA, и толерантностA!!! Аз съм тук, защото аз съм необходим!

Покажи ми как........ Обичам те............Благодаря ви за живота!!

BOH!!

Hmmmmmm......

For starters I was bored today at the office and decided to turn up the song by pussycat dolls "London Bridge" and asked the ladies if they wanted to start a discotech right here and without any hesitation we were all dancing around the room to London Bridges, Ciara 1, 2, step, Missy Elliott, and Single Ladies by Beyonce. Don't worry, I showed them the Vonski and they went CRAZY with excitement! After I dusted the floor for one woman I work with to make her move, I thought to myself, I am really going to fit in here!! I have been working on translating A-tip information and games for the kids to play. So far, that is going well! My cat is doing well I found out that she really likes to eat scrammbled eggs! That's my GIRL! She also gets a kick out of climbing up my leg and chasing her tail...she's not the brightest crayon in the box but she is mine! The other day I noticed I now had about 25-30 flies in my apt and I did not have a fly swatter....of course! So i made a fly swatter out of a wire hanger, a card board piece of a nesquick cereal box, and tape! To my amazement it worked and their are now about 4 flies left, but I have a feeling that they won't last long! A couple of days a go I received a very strange phone call from a man who knew my number, full name, and that I lived in Dolna Banya and it made me very nervous. I asked him who he was and he just kept repeating are you Ashley Stanard who lives in Dolna Banya! The peace corp office called me for something un-related and I asked if I was suppose to report these things. They said yes becuase it is common. I went to work and about two hours later a man walks in and opens the door where I was having a meeting with three directors. We were discussing my role here! He said is their an Ashley Stanard here and they all pointed at me. He disappeared and came back with beautiful flowers....This man then gos off in Bulgarian and they all start laughing and I am just sitting their bright red and smiling. They of course were from my lovely boyfriend Chris and at this point I was very glad that I had not reported this to the PC yet....hahaha! Thanks Chris for the adventure and SURPRISE!!!

Von

Zdravei!!

Well, I have had an adventurous last three days or so! I decided to adopt a kitten because she looked as if she was going to die and she didn't even know how to eat on her own. She is gray and white and I named her жалая! That means wish in Bulgarian!! So here is what happened! The kids were all going on a vacation for ten days and they where just going to leave her in a box. So I had to take her that day obviously and I was calling around to see where and if their was a vet in DB and their was! So after work a colleague of mine walked me a mile to the vet and when I got their the lady had literally just fallen and broken her arm! She was in agony and still gave the cat its vaccination and tried really hard to help me understand in Bulgarian what the H I was suppose to do with this cat!! Of course, I kept her there longer than I should have because I kept double checking with her because like all new mother's I was terrified!! =) I also believe the lady was talking to the local hospital to see when she could get her arm checked out!! CRAZY RIGHT!! Any who, I then walked another mile back to the orphanage and had the kids hold the cat until I could buy a toilet and food for the kitten! She is literally 4 weeks old! So after I convinced a women in a "store" to let me buy the rubber container she was using to hold her soil in to sell, I now had the cat's toilet. I then went and found cat food! I then looked in the street for жалая kitty litter which, I then had to De-ant before I took it inside!! I also bought a big plastic spoon with holes so I could clean the litter box!! When I got жалая home she didn't move all night! Then I woke up to her having diarrhea in her box and the smell could have cleared the room.....BLAH! She doesn't know how to eat or drink on her own! So then I gave her a Medicine bath with the medicine from the vet because she had bugs crawling everywhere! She really hated that! Then after two days of still bathing her in the medicine I decided to act like a monkey mother and sit there with a bowl of water and I started picking the bugs out one by one and drowning them!! It took a few hours but I was determined!! My baby looked miserable!! So Now everyday I put dry kitten food milk and warm water in a bowl and mush it up with my hands and then put it in a syringe and force her to eat!! I of course freaked out that she wasn't eating and I fed her too much because later that night she puked it all back up....YUMMY! I called Jill and my grandma Lee on skype and told then I needed advice because at this point my kitty was ready to die! She couldn't even walk on her own anymore she was so weak and scared!! I finally was told my Jill and my grandma who talked to a vet in Nebraska that I needed to feed her a lot of sugar with water to get her blood sugar up and to get her appetite going! I did and I really thought she was going to die the way she looked ....ahhhh I can't get her face out of my head!! So after two days of every two hours of force feeding today is the first day I have heard her meow and she was walking around and following me everywhere! My baby is going to live!! She now tries to eat when I give her the syringe and she still doesn't know know how to drink water! She also has about five different forts I have made for her around the apt!! She is really living now!! She is now bug free and walking around!! She is starting to have a real personality!

On another note back to the chicken incident I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and opened the oven where the chicken was and out came millions of ants!! At this point I was fed up with feeling and seeing tiny bugs crawling everywhere!! So I lost my mind for a sec and with a outburst of laughter I said "IT'S ON!!" I shut the door to the oven and turned the heat on high!! I waited for the smart ants to make their way out and when they did I killed them one at a time ahhahahahahahaha!! Again this took a good two hours seeing as I had lost my mind and was talking to myself whenever I killed each one!! Saying things like you can't run from me....how are your brothers and sisters are they burning alive .......WOW!!! These are the things that I do in my spare time!! Then later that day I was at work and some lady I work with walks over and asks me to translate this pamphlet that's only in English to her in Bulgarian!! OK... I said!! I Will try when I read it I see the word pregnancy and told her in Bulgarian oh I am on these kinds to "birth control" they all stopped looked at me and laughed and said why are you on these pills? With a confused looked I kept reading and come to find out it was medicine she wanted to take for menopause hahahahaha!!! opps! And in Bulgarian I translated when she was suppose to take the pills, what where the symptoms she should look out for, and when and if she needed to call a doctor and so on.....THIS IS MY LIFE!!

On a more serious note I was talking with a child in the orphanage who is leaving soon because he will turn 18 and when I asked where he was gong to go he said he was going to stay with a friend and I said oh that's great news! Later that night he walks in the room with a cell phone and tells me that his friend wants to talk to me because he can speak English! I said ok and we talked for a while and I had a very strange vibe from this man!! After I got off the phone I asked the child how long he knew him and where he met him. The child said he knew him from the Internet, he was 37, and that he's only known him for 4 months!!! RED FLAG!!!!! I looked up the word for be careful in Bulgarian and by the time I found it he was on the phone with this guy again!! I waited as long as I could and then had to leave because the orphanage was looking up for the night. So I pointed at the word and said because you have only known him for 4 months off the Internet!! He told the guy on the phone what I had said and all I know is that guy was really pissed and defensive because the child kept saying relax relax she just doesn't understand!! I talked to the PC about it and they gave me some advice on some anti-trafficking techniques and resources for the child so he knows he has other options.....It is official that my work starts NOW!!! I love you all and I hope all is well!!

Keeping it Real

Von