Clarifications

I shared my blog with some Bulgarian friends, and after reading it, one of them corrected me about some comments I made in a previous post. So I wanted to make sure that I clarified some things based on her comments. Going na gosti (or on a visit to someone's house) is an important Bulgarian tradition that I particularly enjoy. And when going na gosti, it is important to bring something as a gift. It can be a plant, or a watermelon, a picture, sweets from the store, or something that you baked, or just about anything. My friends and I in Kraynitsi always brought wine and rakia because it was easily available and that's what we liked to drink. So it's not like people expect you to bring rakia every time and get drunk on it or anything. Far from that, it's just a time to enjoy the company of good friends. So in case any of you were misled by the way I described things earlier, hopefully this clarifies things. It's good to have Bulgarians read what I write to make sure that I understand things correctly. And I think it's interesting and humorous for them to see an outsiders take on things. One of my Bulgarian friends said that she thought my blog was really funny, and I'm glad she thought so. It's also interesting to have Bulgarians read my blog because I don't generally write correct English, I write like I talk. When I talk with Bulgarians in English I usually have to think pretty hard about what would be the correct way of saying something without using any strange idioims or anything. It's been interesting learning a new language as well as talking with people who are at different levels of learning English. And soon I'll be teaching English to my coworkers. This is going to be interesting. I'll keep you posted on how that progresses. Anyway, the pictures I posted here are all from a visit to the zoo I went on with some kids from an orphanage. I work with Ecomission, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that basically does all kinds of philanthropic work. They generally focus on doing environmental things and working with youth. They write a ton of grant proprosals to get funding for all kinds of projects that they come up with. They have a whole lot of really great project ideas, and they've already done a lot of really great projects. Right now we're in the middle of a project working with an orphanage to provide opportunities to youth there to learn more about the environment. There's like five different topics; water, animals, fire, and two others, I don't remember what. The kids watch a film on each one and have a discussion about it. Then they go on a trip somewhere representing each topic. The pictures here are at the zoo and go with the animal topic. Ecomission also has a bunch of youth volunteers from ages 15 to 24 or so. They help out a lot with implementing the projects that Ecomission gets funds for, and they're a bunch of really great people. They went to the zoo with us too, and we had a good time. It was a really beautiful fall day that day. I'm always amazed at how beautiful Bulgaria is. I know some of this information about my work may be a repeat, but after talking with my family, I'm not sure I described it well, so here's another way of describing it, perhaps another clarification. Anyway, that's all for now. Until next post!

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.

Getting Used to the Cold

So, I had a pretty interesting weekend last weekend. It all started on Thursday night when I realized that the radiator in my bedroom wasn't working and I was freezing. I figured the next night I would sleep in my living room where I have another radiator until I could get this one fixed. Well, then I had a pretty good day going on an excursion to a nearby monastery and some museums with Sonya, a coworker (the one in red in the picture), and her second grade class. It was really cold and snowy, but I had a good time learning about Bulgarian culture. I'm really glad Sonya speaks English because, well because she's a pretty awesome person, but also because she told me some really interesting stories from Bulgarian legends that were depicted in the wood sculptures. Anyway, we had a good time going together, and I told her about my radiator that doesn't work. Well, when I got home that evening I discovered that my other radiator didn't work either and my boiler wasn't working. So no heat and no hot water. It was a crazy cold night. The next morning, Nelly, another coworker (the one in the picture on the left), and her family took me to Pleven, a bigger city with bigger, less expensive stores. Nelly's husband, Mitko, was really great and helped me figure out what the problem was with my heat and water. Apparently, I had both heaters going, the water boiler, and my oven at the same time and you're not supposed to do that in Bulgaria. Ooops! So my fuses blew and I bought some new ones while we were out. I also considered getting a space heater, but decided not to since Peace Corps says we can't have one. Instead, I bought a new, small, portable radiator, and it's awesome. It works better than either of the radiators I have, and is not as likely to blow a fuse because it's new. So now I have heat and hot water and know to use only one or maybe two things at a time between the radiator, water boiler, and oven. And I also know to only use the heat at night and unplug it during the day because it's more expensive during the day. Things are different in Bulgaria, and I think it's going to be a cold winter. But you can get used to anything, right?

My Family

We spent a lot of time as a family outside working to prepare food for winter. Danche is working with peppers, and Tereza is working with tomatoes. We made tomatoe sauce and another tomatoe food for winter that I really like called lutinitsa. In this picture, Stoicho is drinking rakia, a very popular alcohol in Bulgaria, with our family parrot, Andy. This parrot was a great conversation piece in our family. He talks a lot, and one of his favorite things to whistle is the theme song to one of the soccer teams in Bulgaria, Sesika. However, most people in this region like another team, Levski, so it makes watching soccer between these teams interesting. Andy's had many death threats.

Finally, Pictures

Below is my Bulgarian family and the woman on the left is my language trainer, Daniela. She's awesome, and so's my family. My host father is Stoicho, mother is Danche, and sister is Tereza. I have another sister who's married and has a ten month old baby, but they live in another village and weren't with us this night. The other volunteers in my group and I treated our families out to dinner in the only restaurant in the town a couple days before we left. And this is it. We had a good time. We spent a few hours there, talking, drinking wine, and dancing the Horo, a traditional Bulgarian dance of which there are several kinds. In the picture on the right we're dancing the easiest one. For all Horos, everyone holds hands and dances the same steps in a really long line (usually this is done at weddings and big celebrations with hundreds of people in the line). I only know how to do one horo, but I hope to learn more during my years here. The steps get really complicated, but my coworkers assure me that they can teach me. I just need some opportunities to practice.