Back in August of 2005, when Andrea and I first arrived in Bulgaria, the Peace Corps placed us in separate host families in the small town of Kostenets. For 2 1/2 months, I completed my Peace Corps training, studied Bulgarian, and spent lots of time with my adoptive parents and brother.
The training and host family experience is a long story in itself. I’ll only say here that my family was kind, generous, gregarious, fun and patient. But by the end, I wanted my own apartment, and bad. Staying with any family for that long is a mine field.
Learning Bulgarian has always been a struggle for me. When the Peace Corps posted me in Sofia, so I could help out with a Bulgarian environmental website, the prospects of my eventual fluency diminished awfully. This was the organization where my skills applied the most, but they knew English well. Because speaking Bulgarian was actually a hindrance to my work, rather than a necessity, it became less and less habitual. I developed excellent shopping/taxi/restaurant Bulgarian, but all my relationships were built in English.
After a two year absence, I returned to Kostenets to visit my host family. I always expected to return earlier - just as soon as my Bulgarian got better. It didn’t. Now, faced with the prospect of never seeing them again, I swallowed my pride and caught a ride back to the village. The following video describes that journey.