Missing home and Oscar Excitement

Last night I was able to skype with my family back home during my aunt's 50th birthday party. It was great to "see" family back home but also made me miss things as I definitely would have been there had I been back in MN. It's strange as being "homesick" here in Bulgaria comes in phases for me. Something small will remind me of home like big snowflakes falling down, a thunderstorm, watching Extreme Home Makeover, or the smell of peanut butter toast. I will miss things for a day or two and then I'm pretty much back to normal (whatever normal is). It seems to be every month to a month and a half I will have a day of missing things more than usual. Though, I have learned to appreciate the feeling of missing someone/something as it shows me that I do love people and places back in MN and can look forward to the time I will be living close to them again. Being on a completely different continent definitely makes it hard to visit and this is the longest I've ever been way from family and friends back home. March 10th marks ten months away from Minnesota. Strange.

Though, to make things a little more upbeat (as I've found it's definitely worth my time to focus on the great things here in Bulgaria). There have been quite a few birthdays lately of family and friends back home so once again:

Happy 50th Mary! I hope you enjoyed a delicious chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard.
Happy 25th Kelsey! I hope you enjoyed a relaxing day at home with your lovely family.
Happy 25th Krista! I hope you were able to celebrate and found it a little strange to be alive for a 1/4 of a century.

Last Friday I went to a few yarn stores to get some more knitting supplies and then I was able to meet with three other volunteers who live near me for pizza. We had a great time of talking and eating yummy food. It's always nice to see other volunteers as we all seem to live in such different places but go through such similar feelings and problems.

This weekend I've been hanging out, knitting, and watching more Oscar nominated films. It slightly bums me out that the Oscars are on while I'm sleeping as I usually enjoy watching them each year however I'll see who won tomorrow night. This weekend I have watched Exit through the Gift Shop, Gasland, 127 Hours, and Rabbit Hole. I wish Gasland good luck for the best Feature Documentary as it is truly a story that needs to be told and I appreciated every minute of it. I've seen a great deal of the films on the Oscar list this year and there are a lot of amazing films. I'll be interested to see who wins.

Well that's about all for what's happened lately in my life aside from teaching. This week is short as Thursday is a national holiday so there is no school Thursday or Friday. Plus, March celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps! Finally, I'll leave you with some photos.

Yum, Hibiscus Tea with honey on a cold day:

This week got colder again and the snow actually stuck for a few days:

Have a great week!

Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.