Jimbob's stats:
address: Central Square 1, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria
e-mail: nss@ITDNet.net
nic-hdl: NS806-RIPE
changed: nss@ITDNet.net 19990908
source: RIPE
At first I thought he was from Amsterdam, but that proved a little hokey, so I looked a little deeper on the RIPE server and it turns out that our dear Jimbob, who's been knocking around the comments section imitating my beloved readers, is probably a Bulgarian. Working from an internet club in Plovdiv, most likely.
It all makes more sense, but makes him seem a little less important in my book. I wanted the person who came up with the ingenious idea of linking me to Sasquatch (I have big feet and I'm tall. Yegads! It seems so obvious to me now!) to be someone who would, in some way, be worth my time. I was hoping to be known internationally as a boring, self-important blogger who forces people to read his arcane, dull, and mindless observations about life in Bulgaria. Now I'll have to settle for being boring to a couple of people in New Jersey, Massachussettes, and Bulgaria...hardly record-setting. Sigh. Life must, somehow, go on.
The Lakers are looking pretty bad...also not good.
Oh, oh, but I went to the orphanage this weekend. Jeff was in town (bored. It's a recurring theme, apparently) and was pretty much suckered into coming and helping out. He didn't quite believe me when I told him that the kids would instantly run to him and that he'd really have to not think about anything while he was there. He didn't believe me when I said they'd want nothing but attention and basketball and piggyback rides and spinning around. But he learned that it was all true and as soon as he walked through the gate, as soon as we got out of the cab with fifteen watermelons to split among the 60 some orphans, they mobbed us and treated us like the best friends they would ever have.
Debbie, the B-12 sitemate who will be leaving for America next month, came for her last visit to the orphanage and we had two days of celebration and excitement in the heat of the first days of Silistra's summer. It was fun, but, as always, the basketball and the piggyback rides and the spinning left me exhausted. I'm still a little tired and sore. It hurts, but its a good kinda' hurt. And with two weeks left of school, I can afford to drag a little in the classroom. I'm taking it easy in my classes, and letting the students take it easy, too. We're still speaking in English, but it's all conversational, and I'm not pounding them with too much grammar.
So that's where I stand at the beginning of another hot summer week. Jimbob, this one was for you.
Yes, there are three orphanages here. One raises newborns and really young kids, another-near the river-has a mission I don't altogether understand, although I think it focuses on disabilities, and the one I visit frequently--"Dom za Detsa i Unoshi" works with kids between 6 and 18.
The other two have great directors, great common spaces, and great outdoor activities. But "my" orphanage has two glaring flaws. 1.) As many as 76 kids are usually vying for the attention of two employees, and 2.) although the outdoor spaces are huge and well-developed, the indoor commons area is the size of my living room and bedroom and each of the bedrooms the size of a college dormroom. At nights and during the winter all the kids are effectively locked into this tiny space.
The kids crave attention and I'm usually more than happy to give it whenever I can make my way up there. Rumor has it that Bulgaria wants to shift to a more social services-oriented system, which will close many of the orphanages in exchange for a foster care type system. It's in the future, but it also means we aren't focusing on raising money to put up a new wing in an orphanage that might soon shut down.
That's the orphanage story in a nutshell. More later.
Posted by: Rob at June 16, 2004 07:08 PMI have adopted a beautiful child from Dom Maika e Dete in Silistra. I enjoyed reading your post on visiting an orphanage there, it seems that there are more than one orphangages in Silistra. I'm sure the director and most importantly the kids enjoy such visits.
Keep up the good work.
Lina
Posted by: Lina at June 15, 2004 10:10 PM