Nicole gets her Urban cowboy

Nicole gets her Urban cowboy

"Kidman has said she and Urban will set up home in Nashville when they return to the United States.

"'I've moved to Tennessee for my personal life,' she said last week. 'It's nice.'"



Maybe I'm a total sell out, but I'm excited about this new addition to the Nashville community. I don't know how Nashville thinks about it however. Perhaps because I think she's an amazing actress with her classic style. Perhaps it's because she has done two pieces with Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge! and the Chanel perfume ad). Perhaps because she seems to be an actress who picks films that please her, not for the numbers (like Dogville). Or perhaps because she's just so dern pretty! **Note to all Kidman/Luhrmann fans, according to IMDb.com, the two are supposed to work on a film costarring Hugh Jackman! Production is supposed to start in Febuary of '07.

But, I'm not all promoting that yucky girl Paris Hilton's video. Sorry Lucia, but I don't see the beauty in that clip. I will say it's cool that she's got sand on her face. It's just too cliche, the whole beach scene thing. Then she tries to dance? Gimme a break! It reminds me of the JLo clip for "Control Myself" where she jumps up on whats-his-name in a not sexy way. And WHAT is that white thing she's wearing (paris, not JLo)? uck! Okay, I'm about to start criticizing Madonna's new clip, so I feel pretty confident I'm not a sell out.

A Glossary of Southern Accents

A Glossary of Southern Accents

In my love of dialects, when I happened upon this site (thanks Carin) I just HAD to post it. The author makes the very good point that speaking in a dialect does not indicate ignorance of standard rules of grammar, but an adherance to an extra set. So in a way, we dialectual speakers are dually linguistically talented!

Cheers to dialects, banski, razlogshki, southern, northern, great lakes, whatevs!

Cheers to Personal Evolution!

I had the very great pleasure of organizing a girls' weekend recently. I love these weekends for many reasons including but not limited to: an excuse to pamper myself a bit, the fabulous company of friends, the opportunity to make new friends, good times at the disco, a nice hotel bed for not too many leva. So, my favorite of those reasons is either the disco or the new friends. I invited every woman in my group of B17s (some 20+ ladies). There were 11 of us in Blagoevgrad. I love these chances to break up from our comfortable groups (not cliques, we're not that bad) and make some new relationships.

I made a special effort to invite one person because I don't really know her and because I (with some help) recently made her feel very uncomfortable and I felt bad. Am I glad she came! We had fun and I got the chance to see a person without the shading of previous ideas.

One thing about Peace Corps is that stagnancy is not very prominent. People come and go constantly. We make friends from our group, groups before us, groups after us. They go home and leave us in tears. For some of us our best friendships get torn in two and suddenly our "group" is dissolved. Some of us have groups that have dwindled to nothing. Some people made friendships that either burnt bridges or caused bridges to never get built in the first place. I'm proud of people who step up and make new relationships rather than dwelling in the one of two that are left. I am surely grateful for the evolution of my friendships. Since I've been in PC Bulgaria I have gained and lost friends, but all the while learning and growing. I guess that's what it really is all about.

Special Day!

The daily poem from About.com today is "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. I love this poem.

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/ Are sweeter" I love this line. Why are unheard melodies sweeter? Because they are what you want them to be. Your memory of the song, the picture, the event can be better than the reality of it because it is yourse to recreate. That's the beauty of the Romantics.

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?


Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."


I also love the last five lines of this poem. It seems the speaker is telling us the beauty of these images will remain regardless of how the problems of the world grow, despite how we change, that beauty is forever ingrained in time. The idea that beauty is in our memory is contrasted with the permanence of beauty. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Or is beauty truth? What then is truth? Hmmm lovely questions to help you implode your own head! Ah the beauty of poetry.

what a cutie!

I just want to remind everyone what an adorible little thing my little sis is! Hey laynie, that first pic with the bunch of you standing in a line at the parthanon? I stand just like that too, like i'm about to fall forward.

I went to the gym for the first time since SEPTEMBER!! That was yesterday. I'm so sore tonight. I'm afraid of how sore I'll be tomorrow!

Yahoo! Photos - luciachan03's Photos - IMG_0081

Yahoo! Photos - luciachan03's Photos - greasy kiss link to the afore mentioned greasy kiss by a Swiss rugby player.

Yahoo! Photos - luciachan03's Photos - Maegen and Chris Adventures in Sofia

Yahoo! Photos - luciachan03's Photos - Maegen and Chris Adventures in Sofia One time Maegen (who was very sick and tired) met Lucia (who was very sad) in Sofia. To make each other feel better they bought a balloon bunny, named it Chris, and captured their adventures with him on digital eternity. enjoy

A little excursion...

I went on a bit of an excursion with Yulia's class of 5th graders, another 5th grade class, and a class of 6th graders. We visited Rupite, which was were a fortune teller lived and had a church constructed. This is the bell tower which is a seperate building
This is the church at Rupite. The art work at the church is incredibly unique. Normally the front of an orthodox church has icons of the 12 disciples- of their bust only. This church had 6 huge icons in front, two of which were women. I bought a postcard of the inside (since you can't take pics), so maybe I'll scan that and post it someday.

There are hot spring pools at Rupite as well. It is posted that the tempurature is 75 degrees Celsius. It felt pretty warm, but I don't know if it was 75C. It was pretty neat looking as the wind blew the steam across the grass. 

Learning to teach is FUN!

This is me, Lucia, and Jessie at the USAID training event we went to in Sofia. I had the chance to get to know Jessie and we had an extra good time! Plus the good food didn't hurt!
At this very good training event, I had the chance to catch up with my pal Lincoln. He had the pleasure of watching the girls play a rowdy game of phase 10, as well as a snooze on my 4 star hotel room floor.
This is my favorite pic! We were at an rugby afterparty in Sofia. One guy from the swiss team came over and gave me a leg of some animal. I think Lucia has a pic of the greasy kiss I received along with the leg. (note *When I didn't eat the leg he took it back. jerky)