Postponing

Our fire was July 8th, or the neighbor's fire that spread to our house.  While nothing has happened at theirs, just slow progress back to nature or rat infested crack house (that's back to nature in our city), big renovations have begun at our place.  Our contractor started on Monday.  Of course, as renovation began, more damage was uncovered.  We are about $20k over the payment from insurance.  Some of that is because we had budgeted for the state credit on our new windows, which we have missed out on because the windows were not installed "in time."  We had also planned on replacing our boiler, that's a $2,800- $3,500 project we had planned on doing and purchased the supplies for before the fire. 
 I'll be heading to home depot tomorrow for new paint and lighting.  There are perks to the renovations, we aren't there to live through it- thanks to insurance we are at a hotel, and all of the rooms will be repainted and there will be updated and more electrical.
Our savings, which I had planned for the adoption are gone.  I was really hoping to be a parent by the time I was 35, but now that isn't a reality.  I'm really bummed.  Its frustrating that you can work really hard, plan carefully and that someone else's disaster ruins everything.  The most depressing part, is that we have no other options.  We can't have a child.  Our state contracts out all foster to adoption programs (and foster care), so that's not a cost effective option.  Private adoptions are expensive and there is no timeline.  We are all out of options.  We are either postponing.  In reality: giving up. 
I'll add pictures of the renovations later.  I guess this isn't an adoption blog anymore. 

Хайде играите хоро!

Let's dance the horo!  Its impossible to spend more than a week in Bulgaria without trying the horo.  We were there about 3-4 days when our Peace Corps trainers taught us a few basic ones.  Nearly every Bulgarian child takes tanz (dance) and have many opportunities to practice- weddings, birthdays, office parties, or even just a weekend at the pub or disco. 
When you learn horo, you count the steps starting with raz which is the Russian word for one, then you count forward in Bulgarian: dva, tree, cheteri, pet, shest and so on.  The most simple horo is Byala Roza or White Rose, which is 6 steps foward and 2 steps back, similar to Pravo.  Which is demonstrated here:

It's in Bulgarian, but its demonstrated with one dancer and illustrated with arrows.  They show the steps (krakata), which leg goes first and what to do with your arms (rutzete).
Da go videyat Let's watch!
My favorite horo is Dunavsko which is named for the Danube River which forms Bulgaria's Northern border with Romania and empties into the Black Sea.  While Pravo can be danced to a number of songs, Dunavsko is always danced to the same song. 

I am a bit winded, I need to practice before the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival and the Celebration of Peace Corps' 50th anniversary!  We'll be there next week to represent Peace Corps Bulgaria, check it out if you are around Washington, DC.
Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2011