Roughin' It

Lately I've been thinking how life in Bulgaria for me is more luxurious than when I lived in the US. I pay a Baba $6 a month to do my laundry. You heard me; $6 for the entire month to do all my laundry. Bratsigovo doesn't have a dry cleaner, but that's ok because the municipality has chaufers and I send them out to take care of my dry cleaning for me. They also drive me to places I need to go. Just yesterday I went to Sofia, a two hour drive, to visit the Peace Corps office. If I need anything my counterpart calls up his connections and gets it for me. He also repairs my toilet and anything else that breaks down in my apartment.

I don't have to worry about bills. Peace Corps takes care of them for me. Ever since I got to Bulgaria Peace Corps has taken care of everything, setting up a bank account for me, providing transportation, and making sure the place I live is safe and secure. Some PCV's complain that Peace Corps is too over bearing, but-all in-all it's a pretty good deal. On top of that I've gotten free produce and groceries from markets and neighbors and one market that I frequent often has extended me a line of credit. That is if I don't have the money now, I can pay him later. I live in a great little town surrounded by mountains. I have a great little apartment. My bathroom has a great little heater. You don't know what a luxury that is here right now. And you should see the view from my balcony in person. Yeah....I'm roughin' it!