Now they've done it. Now they've really done it. My eighth classes took their finals today and my other classes have been pushed back to the afternoon, which explains why I'm at the internet club a bit early. This means that the eighth graders will only be noisier and less compliant over these last two weeks. Since I'm finished teaching them from the textbook this will mostly mean that these last days will be full of games in English and discussion about life and all that. This will all be made possible by my having some of the greatest students I've heard of in Bulgaria. They may be noisy, they may be non-compliant at times, but at least they're always willing to speak in English, and if I jab at them enough they'll even do the work I ask them to.
So that's that, and it comes on a day where summer is, for the first time really, making itself felt. The thermometer on Silistra's town hall read 32 C today around noon which means it just brushed 90 F. It'll get hotter, but coming after last week where the days were dominated by cool rain, I think this heat caught the people here off-guard. There were sagging shoulders and people mopping their faces all over the city center.
Somehow, it's cool in the internet club, and I've been waiting out the heat here. Other than all that, there isn't that much to report, fortunately. I paid off the bills today (Something that, in Bulgarian, always gives me this little shiver of success), and will play basketball tonight. My "no to TVs" plan is working well. I've gotten through three books and half of Shakespeare's history plays since my TV broke down. I've also been working out more, listening to classical music, and seen a rebirth in my desire to master Bulgarian. Seriously. I've asked my tutor to start testing me on vocab. Seriously. And the TV sits there, staring, and I pay my cable bill, just like everything's normal. Only I'm not watching TV much, or at all. The plan is working and the TV addiction is ending without withdrawals. I never thought it could work so well.
Posted by Rob at June 8, 2004 02:26 PMHey Rob: Your site's not boring at all. I keep coming back, and appreciate your continual posts. When I would write home from Bulgaria, people would really groove on the descriptions of daily events, because that's the real life you're facing.
And congratulations on the separation from TV. I haven't watched TV much since 2000 and have never been happier.
Julie
Posted by: Julie at June 9, 2004 09:53 PMI'm not writing this site to entertain the masses, Jimbob, but to talk about my life in Peace Corps-Bulgaria. So yes, it can get boring, and yes, the TV paragraph came from my being mostly bored, Jimbob. I'll admit it hasn't been the most exciting week. But the thing is, until I start saving puppies or leaping tall buildings in a single bound, this is the content you're going to get. And I'm glad you read it, such as it is.
Someday, I'll get to that Raymond Carver point where I can make the most dull situation seem enlightening (although I know that some people think Carver's pretty dull himself), but until then, enjoy today's not-all-that-groundbreaking post about the perfect pick-up game. And relax, or make a website of your own where Jimbob goes on amazing adventures. But again, thanks for reading about the TV.
Posted by: Rob at June 9, 2004 06:43 PMactually, its just SO lame. all of these posts are SO lame and boring. and so are you vasil.so are you.
Posted by: jimbob at June 9, 2004 04:45 PMJimbob, it isn't clear from your comment, is he a moron for not watching TV (because then I'm ... I don't know what, I haven't watched TV in about 3 years, and it feels great), or you just find it boring that he's telling to the world that he hadn't watched TV in a month? If you get so bored, why do you read it at all ?:)
Posted by: Vasil Kolev at June 9, 2004 01:52 PMAre you just bored?Or are you just boring? "No tv for a month", wow, you must be some kind of hero. People will talk through the ages about the moron who didnt watch tv. bravo, bravo.
Posted by: Jimbob at June 9, 2004 09:56 AM