Good Times with Food and Wine and Belot

So, usually I make a couple of big meals, like a casseral or something, on the weekends and that will last me for the whole week. Unfortunately, I tried to improvise with one of the recipes by substituting mixed vegetables like carrots, corn, and peas for leafy green vegetables, and the result was disastrous. I had to throw it away. So last night I ran out of the other casserol that I had made, and tonight I had to do something. I don't really have time to cook when I get home, and I'm usually so tired. But I had a thing of milk that I didn't know what to do with, and then I had the ingenious idea of buying some cereal! It was so great. So I went to the store knowing that Bulgarians don't really eat cereal but hoping that I live in a big enough town that they sell some in the stores. (I tend to find things that my coworkers don't even realize is available in Lovech, like peanut butter and cream cheese. When I went on the field trip with Sonya and her second grade class, I had made myself a PBJ for lunch but nobody knew what peantut butter was. And all the other kids had sandwiches with things that we don't have in America. It was so wierd.) Anyway, I lucked out and the store near me did sell some cereal. So my options were corn flakes, honey-nut cheerios, or several brands of cocoa puffs. Honey nut cheerios it was, and it was great. I ate my cheerios while listening to American music from my computer and it was so nice. I mean, I really love Bulgaria a lot - the people are awesome, the land is beautiful, and the culture is so rich - but sometimes it's just so nice to have an "American fix." And tonight, cereal and music was just right. It would have been better if it had been General Mills cheerios (this brand was Nestly), but that's just not available here. If any of you are thinking of sending me anything, some cheerios, kix, rice chex, or rice krispies would be awesome. Anyway ,these pictures are all of the trainees that I was with during pre-service training (pst). Those were good, good times. One picture is of me doing two things that I found I really, really like in Bulgaria: drinking wine and playing belot, a Bulgarian card game. Another picture is of two other volunteers, Ryan and Tracy, and I in the backseat of our language trainer, Daniel's, car. She had a tiny car, and it was a tight fit, but we made it work on several occasions. We tried not to have Ryan in the back, though, cause he just didn't fit easily. And the other picture is of us eating the dinner of traditional Bulgarian dishes that we made together for one of our assignments. It was a little crazy making it, but it ended up tasting really good, and then we drank wine and played belot afterward. Good times.