My Twin is GONE!

And I am sad to report to yall that my sister from another mister (her words not mine...hahahaha) is GONe. Yes, my Jojo is already back in the states as I sit here and write this blog! She did not have permission to go to Istanbul and PC somehow found out and sent her home. Its really fucked up that it had to end like this. But whats done is done and we cant reverse time. I was thinkin about how different my time would be in Bulgaria without my BF.

We really did become so cool. Jojo is down to earth, fashionable, smart, funny, such a sweet heart and most of all as big a bitch as I am. We would just have fun laughin at so many different things and different people. If I had a problem she was always there to listen, and vice versa and we talked very often about numerous things. And what sucks the most is that I generally feel so lonely without her. I recently went to a seminar to learn how to do a program at my site and i'll be damned if I didnt feel like the TOKEN BLACK GIRL all the time. While everyone was chattin and cathcing up with friends and going to the pool, and laughing and drinkin together I was in my room or on the laptop or with my Bulgarian counterpart. And its not that no one likes me, its that I dont really like the others. And dont get me wrong, they are all nice people, and I talk with some of them. But there really isnt anyone else who I feel is compatible with my personality. No one likes to go to hip-hop clubs, everyone else like to smoke cigarettes and drink beer, they understand the slang I use, and I just dont click with anyone else the way I did with Jordan (hey Amanda!). We even like to drink green apple vodka ad cherry juice when we went out!

So for the seminar I felt like I was walkin around with Space Cadet Syndrome. I was so out of it all the time. I kept the convo with other volunteers very short if I spoke to anyone at all. I didnt hang out with anyone after the sessions and when it came time to eat dinner outside of the hotel, my counterpart went to meet up with other Bulgarians and I was the only American at the table. It was very frustrating becuase I felt so alone. But hey, thats how it is.

It will definately be rough without my right hand man so to speak, but I know she is in a better place and that makes me happy. She can now send me packages full of wonderful things that I cant buy in Bulgaria!

Turkey

The below pics are just a few from my turkish adventure. you can check the full album on facebook. But of course pics cant really capture what Turkey was all about. So if you ever wanted to visit Turkey or wondered what it was about this blog is for you....

Turkey was FAMAZING (fucking amazing)! The trip was very long but went by rather quickly. 8-9 hours by bus (better than to Athens). Jojo and I finally recooperated from the annoying Chlaga clips that were being BLASTED on the flip down screens on the bus. What people like about Chalga I have no idea, but hey whatevs.......So anyway we arrive at our hostel by the help of some nice gentleman on the street who spoke decent english. The Antique hostel was so cute and we were happy to be there.

Not before long Jordan and I went out to get a small bite to eat and stopped at this cute restaurant. The waiter apparently had a very unhealthy dose of love at first site cuz I couldnt eat a damn thing without feelin his eyes burnina whole thru my soul! lol He did give us some free apple tea (delicious) and gave me a scented rose he made from a napkin. Of course as we are leaving, he asks if we can hang out together that night. And like every other normal person, I LIED and said sure, we would come back. We met up with Amanda soon after.

While waiting for her at the hostel, we started talkin to 2 guys. One sexy Argentinian and a guy from Manchester. We kicked it for a while before deciding to head out to dinner and a bar. We went to this nice lil place for drink and I got a yummy salad, and drank wine. Next was the tattoo spot! The guy from Manchester was gettin a tat, and you know I was tryin be down and said I woud get one too along with Amanda. But when we got to the tattoo spot, it looked so random I quickly was against it. Amanda however got a sexy lil tat on her ribs, just under the breast and the guy got something on his wrist.

We found some random rock bar. Shots of Tequila, pics and booze! Next was some club that played hip-hop and rock music. We all got down on the floor and took more shots of tequila. Some lesbian chick was all on me and when I went to the bathroom she molested me altho I cant say I was totally against (hahahaha just jokin) (ok no I wasnt....) she wasnt very attractive! hahahaha we left there about 4-4:30 and dropped dead when we got back to the hostel......

On Friday we attempted to sightsee and go shopping. We hit up the Grand Bazaar which was just an open market for everything: clothes, scarfs, shoes, fake name-brand bags/shoes, small trinkets, hookahs, you name it. The bazaar was so big too it was ridiculous. Compared to the US dollar I was happy to be there (I took out 100 lira and that was only about 60 US dollars). There were so many things to buy but so little time. I did see some fake NIKE's that looked passable and considered getting them. I did buy some gloves and these really cute shoe boots.

What did get annoying however was how agressive the men on the street and people at the bazaar were. They try very hard to get your attention so they kept shouting things like Obama Obama, and asked if I was Beyonce, or Ms. Obama. When all three of us were together they shouting Spice Girls. It really got very annoying. Then one night when we went to dinner, some random guy on the street said "Excuse me can you help me. Im gay and I want to be normal again" That shit was not funny at all nor was it appropriate. I wanted to slap homeboy.....Then we were waiting to meet with Jojo's friend who plays basketball there and some guy tried to sell us doners. But we said we were waiting for someone else and he kept tryna talk to us. So he walks away and then comes back and says Im here, you were waiting for me right, lets go. So Im like no. Then he said again, come on lets go. So I said where are we supposed to be goin and this bastard says to go have sex. At that point I was so done. Aaron came quickly after and I was glad.....

Saturday was fun. We went on a bus tour to see the Dolmabache Palace and some other stuff. One of the most expensive hotels in the world are in Turkey. It costs upwards of like 10 thousand to stay for one night (breakfast included...hahaha) We also visited the Asian side for like a minute. Turkey literally sits between the Asian and European continents. There is a strait that goes through it and it is literally separated into the Asian side and the European side. Istanbul is on the European side but the Asian side houses about 60% of Turkeys population. It was very interesting to see the effects of Asia there. We met up the Jojo's friend again after dinner and headed to a bar then a hip-hop club. There were MAD black people there. Some basketball players and of course random African folks (cuz them MOFO's is everywhere). There were even several black females there (none cuter than me tho). I was so surprised. We partied for a while but the music was mediocre and it started to get very crowded. I was excited to meet a Kappa there. He had a frat sweater on and we started talkin immediately after I told him I was a Delta (oooo-oop) We got back late again after partyin and left early Sunday morning. I cant explain ever detail that happened on the trip, but trust and believe Istanbul was a great city and I enjoyed myself.

Oh and the apple tea there, its poppin!

Turkey

Kukeri Festival

Pernik (where I live in Bulgaria) is home to the International Kukeri Festival. This festival is dedicated to chasing away evil spirits and welcome good crops for the spring. People dress up in these huge elaborate masks designed to look as ugly as possible and jump around with huge bells on their waist. People come from different parts of Europe and partake in the festival as spectators or participants. It really was such a great thing to see. Here are some pics....

Men in there kukeri costumes.....

And randomly, the festival also included men dressed as women, or wearing black makeup or dressed in crazy costumes.....

Man wearing a wedding dress holding a plastic gun??? How is this scaring away the evil spirits?

You know I love the kids......

Sippin on some syzzurp

Ok, so those who know me know very well that I have a SWEET TOOTH. And I mean I would eat sugar out the damn bag if I could. So I was quite pleased when I got the hookup on some syrup. Especially since I love pancakes for breakfast (lunch or dinner too for that matter).


I was on the phone with Poppa, and he swears I cant cook. SO in yo face! And my pancakes came out light and fluffy, cuz thats how I do!


And just cause I love for yall to hate on me, I took pics of my french toast (above) and pancake (below) breakfast. Hope yall peeped that Aunt Jemima bottle in the background, how could you not.....

they kinda have a point tho....

Now from what I have heard, this Bill O'Reilly guy is indeed a racist/says racist comments pretty often. But I am not familiar with any of his rants or raves, and frankly dont watch this show at all (seeing as I am overseas). But thanks to the good people over at mediatakeout.com (sometimes they post straight BS, but its funny), I came across this video clip.

Now how this is news I do not know. But I suppose if people can say racist rants and comments against Barack Obama and the news reports that, than rants against Bush are fair game. For the record, I am agreeing partly with what they both said about the concert and the comments made by Jay-Z. I am totally against rappers and the like using the N word like its ok. That causes confusion for the people of Bulgaria (for example) who see poor volunteers like myself and think its cool to call me that. Frankly we need to banish this word from our vocabulary cuz its not cute to use, or to hear. And for someone like Jay-Z, altho the comments he made about Bush are his opinion and right to say, the N part is just ridiculous. But I suppose those Black folks who are from the hood and have been using the word practically all their lives, have no need or will to change how they use it (or educate themselves with better words). People actually listen to Jay-Z and yound Jeezy and try to be like them, so using this language is not a good look. Especially since they supported Obama up and down this election, and this really is not the message he would like to promote for our youth anywhere. And frankly there is a way to disagree with someone without being disrespectful (thanking the guy who threw shoes at Bush!) Come on Black folk, lets get it together!

Now, what I DISAGREE with, is the condescending tone in which Mr. O'Reilly uses to say these peoples names. His tone is one of outright disrespect for Jeezy and Jay-Z (whom he claims he met and thinks is a decent guy). But who the hell is Mr. O'Reilly to say Jay-Z should know better! And that what they said was "low class" when I believe he made a racist comment about Michelle Obama which could be also considered LOW CLASS. But of course he brushed that off his shoulders with some bullshit apology and explanation that his words were taken out of context!

And Dennis Miller, I was with you on the "hoes" bit! That was on point and the truth....im just sayin.....

Excuse my Language....

....But I FUCKIN HATE FLEAS! They are so disgusting and nasty. I honestly didnt even know that humans could get flea bites (I never had a dog). But in Bulgaria, there are so many stray dogs roaming the streets just chillin. And this is by no means anything new for current volunteers, but I HAD to blog about this.

Ive had some flea bites before. They itch so damn bad, that is just feels like heaven when I am scratching the irritated spot. Its a temporary moment of bliss. But then scratching causes the bite to inflame and get much bigger, and after a while it can scar and leave a mark. And for someone like me (who is black) the scars are clearly visible on my skin. My legs, once beautiful and sexy now look so disgusting cuz they are decorated with small scars everywhere. DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE FLEAS?!?!

I woke up with 8, COUNT EM 8 flea bites this morning. On my thighs, foot, legs and hand. EEWWW So I am making my bed when I see the culprit just chillin like its on vacation. So I run and get the bug spray provided to me by trusty PC, and attempt to end that fuckers life by sprayin it like crazy in a fit of rage. Dont you know this lil mutha fucker was practically 2-steppin on my damn sheets, as if to say "its a celebration bitches (in that Chapelle voice)" or "hahaha Im still alive heifer" I was SOOOOOOOOO mad! So of course I start to spray even more, and it honestly slowed the flea down, but then it just kept on jumpin! I finally took my damn shoe off and hit the flea. IT DIED! HAHAHAHAHAHA Then I had to change my sheets.....

I bought some RAID after school. I went spray crazy, and got choked up a bit from the fumes. Thats a sign that thats the good stuff......

Hey you

Well I hope you enjoy my blog. I really do try my best to keep it current, full of relevant posts and of course, keep it HILARIOUS! I have a feeling you will keep me on my toes in just about everything I do cuz I already admire your intellect. So if you are reading this, thank you for stoppin in and checkin me out. Best believe, Im already checkin for you......and just an FYI, Pink has never been my thing, but its growing on me already!

Test Today

Well I gave my students a test today. And honestly, I had the biggest smile on my face! Why you ask? Well simply put, it was one of those moments of sheer SATISFACTION that I felt being a teacher in Bulgaria.

Why you ask again? Well day in and day out I try my hardest to make my lessons fun and interesteing so that the students pay more attention. And before just a short while ago, I really felt some sort of way cuz the students weren't interested. EVEN IF we played games. They were into them for a while, but the same old behavior came shining through: heads rested on hands, heads on desks, sucking of teeth, talking, laughing extremely loud and nothing really THAT funny etc. Oh and my favorite, WRITING on the board very clearly only to turn around and see the student slookin at you like you have shit on your shirt. Oh wait I have another favorite, writing something on the board (for example the definition of candid) and when you do REVIEW the next day the students AGAIN are lookin at you liek you have shit on your shirt (ME: for REVIEW use candid in a sentence, STUDNTS: what's candid?)

So needless to say althought I did my very best to give my students the heads up about the test and what to study for it, many of them STILL sat there stuck on stupid. And as HORRIBLE as it sounds, I just wanted to LAUGH (like this guy but with more teeth)!

you know what they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!

**Just a side note: who the hell is "they" (as in you know what they say.....)?

Oh really?!?!

Anybody wanna take a stab in the dark and guess what this is?

Give up?!?

Ok, it WAS my new gym ball. I decided to get off my lazy ass, and work out to the music videos I'm always watching instead of just sitting on my couch pretending I can sing. So I got all pumped up and bought this cute gym ball to get my ab exercises on. So on Mon I convinced myself to actually do some abs.

I did about 20. My stomach was hurtin so bad I thought I would die! Needless to say, I ate dinner, and continued on singing along to music videos. But I told myself tomorrow was a new day!

So this morning Im ironing my shirt for work and the gym ball was right near the iron. Dont you know that damn iron burned a hole in my gym ball and that shit started to deflate. Well me being MS. RESOURCEFUL, decided to just tape it up, you know, good as new. I got home after work, and this is what the gym ball looked like:


Yeah, its a wrap for that........Ill just starve myself to lose weight. That ALWAYS works......