I think it's important to do what's hard.

I moved to Bulgaria when it would have been easier to stay in Washington DC especially seeing as I didn't know anyone, the language or even the alphabet. I stayed for year two and then year three when it probably would have been easier to go back to the States. I've traveled through most of Eastern Europe by myself and I've crossed a couple of these boarders on foot.

Each of these things has been difficult for me. Difficult for different reasons but difficult nonetheless.

The last big thing remains learning Bulgarian.

Recently a friend told me that I am just too comfortable--that I am not going to learn Bulgarian the rate that I am going. This isn't necessarily what you want to hear from your friends.  Especially over a coffee on a beautiful May afternoon after a long day of work--but really who else is going to tell you these things?! And because the comment came from a pretty reliable source, I decided to listen up.

The thing is, he's right. I've got put myself in an uncomfortable position. I've got to live my life in such a way that not speaking Bulgarian is not an option. And given my job as an English teacher at an English language school, it's not that easy. Sure I take regular Bulgarian lessons and communicate as necessary in Bulgarian but I guess that in a given day I speak Bulgarian no more 5% of my average day. And it's true at this rate, I am never going to learn Bulgarian.

Enter this summer.

I am going to the States for three weeks. Then at the end of July I'll be back in Bulgaria. Rather than traveling in, around or through greater Europe like I have the past two summers, this summer I'll be here in Bulgaria.

I'll be here to learn Bulgarian. The thing is--it's not going to be easy.It's not easy on a couple of different levels. First because I actually have to find something to do. Second because then I am going to actually have to speak Bulgarian. And third, because I am determined to have as much fun as I can doing all of this which may or may not be difficult. I guess this will depend on how uncomfortable I am and the level of frustration this produces in me and/or the number of tears this ultimately produces in me.

So first things first.

I am looking for something interesting to do this summer.  I really need to find myself doing something where I am speaking Bulgarian at 75% of my day. Don't ask me where 75% came from. I just made it up but it seems like about the right thing to shoot for.

So here's the deal, I've thought about moving to a village. It seems like fewer people will speak English there but then what would I do with myself in a village for four weeks? And how will I speak more Bulgarian than I currently do in Sofia at the grocery store, in restaurants, cafes and taxi cabs?

Then I thought about about volunteering. Our school has a number of connections with different orphanages but I am not really sure what kind of Bulgarian I'll learn there. I probably shouldn't worry about that.

I've considered volunteering on a farm but I don't really have any connections nor do I have a lot of skills. Well aside from one summer when I was in college and I looked after all of the flower beds at our local fair-grounds planting, growing, watering and weeding the flowers. This said the flowers looked great. I am at watering things.

Here's the good news is for the first time in my life I don't need to work for money so that's not a limiting factor. Basically, I'm looking for something interesting and engaging to do where I get to speak a lot more Bulgarian than I currently do.  I would probably also help to be working/volunteering/living/doing something with Bulgarians who are more patient than less patient and willing to correct me when I make mistakes.

Yep. It's going to be quite a summer. But this is where I need some help.

I would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions that you have on ways to make this summer happen. Is anyone out there working for a non-profit that might need help? Or does someone have connections in a village or on a farm that might prove interesting? If you can think of anything leave me a comment on the blog okay--if you enter a valid email I can follow up with you this way