Zdra' veyte,

OK guys, it is my last night in Charlotte and I just finished packing my very last suitcase, hurray! I am leaving tomorrow for Washington D.C. for a one day orientation, this is where i will be meeting my fellow Bulgarian Peace Corps volunteers. How exciting! Then on Tuesday I am flying out of D.C. straight into Bulgaria, we land in Sofia, the capital and then we depart for a week long orientation in the mountains. During this time I probably won't be able to blog, what a pity. And speaking of pities I finally broke down and reactivated my face book! I know how could I? Well this will give me an opportunity to post lots of pictures and keep in touch with you all more easily. So if you want to friend me please do... yeah more friends.

I also would like to thank everyone who made it out to the park on Wednesday, it was a wonderful time that turned out even better than I planned. You all are so awesome and I am glad that I have so many loving people in my life. Thank you, I love you all.

OK so today's phrases are ( that's right boys and girls we are learning two phrases today, don't freak out its not that much and I am sure you will be able to use them in the next couple of days, if nothing else just to talk with me).

Do'vizhdane: goodbye
dob're dosh'li v Bulgaria: Welcome to Bulgaria

Zdra' veyte ( hello/ plural),

I am using the plural now because I think that more than one person is finally reading this blog. Yeah, more followers. Well today I realized just how many people I have in my life that care about me, and it is awesome. I love all of you as well. My summer swim team, Foxcroft East, here is the link to their site if you want to check them out http://www.fersc.com/ , was having swim team sign ups today and as the former coach I wanted to drop in and see everyone before I left. Well, unbeknownst to me they were all planning a surprise party afterwards at Brixx pizza, by the way one of my favorite pizza places in Charlotte. It was so wonderful to sit around and talk with people that actually care about you and what your doing in life, I just want to give a huge Coach Matt hug to each and everyone again. Thanks again it was perfect.

Okay so I have many more wonderful pictures to share with you guys from the dinner tonight but I am having difficulty figuring out how to put them all on this page. If you have any suggestions I am always willing to try. If not I might be forced to get a face book or something, nooooooo!

I think it will be fun to end each post with a little lesson, I know what a teacher thing to do but hey why not. So at the end of each post I will leave you another Bulgarian word to practice and maybe even use in your day to day life. Hopefully this will keep us all just a little closer, you know the fact that we are all learning Bulgarian together. YEAH!! Keep in mind that Bulgarian letters are different from ours so I am using the English pronunciation for each word, not having Bulgarian letters on my key board and all. So bare with me, thanks.

So today's word, which I think is appropriate for tonight's escapades, is: cheers

Naz'drave = cheers

Zdra vey,


Time is ticktock ticking away and today I finally bought some hiking shoes to take with me. It has taken me a while to decide but I ended up with a wonderful pair of Merrell's, gore-tex to boot. So hopefully they will keep my feet nice and dry as I hike the beautiful terrain of Bulgaria. I have been learning Bulgarian the past couple of weeks and I hope that I will have a jump on my language classes when I get into Bulgaria. Here is a little preview of what Bulgarian sounds like, no its not me speaking but maybe I'll post one of those later. Enjoy, I personally love the pictures that go along with the words.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPzQ1BcuBQY

Zdra'vey ( that's hello in Bulgarian),

Its about two weeks until I ship out for the Peace Corps in Bulgaria and I am getting extremely excited. I am leaving behind so many people that I love and that love me; I felt it would be a good idea to start a blog to keep everyone up to date with what is going on in my life, that is of course if I have Internet access where I live.

Well if you haven't seen my peace Corps acceptance video yet, or if you just want to watch it again here it is. http://www.vimeo.com/3573496