Last week was my first time outside of Bulgaria for 8 months. The European Union funds international youth projects, and an NGO in Romania is hosting such a project on how to fight discrimination in the media. I went there for a two-day meeting to prepare for the project that will be in July, and I'll take two Bulgarian kids from my organisation with me then. There were people from 8 different countries there, with me representing Bulgaria. All of these international projects are in English, and everyone was impressed with how well I spoke the language :-) But then the organizer told them I was an American and everyone became impressed with how well I speak Bulgarian :-) I had a really good time. We talked about the meeting in July, and we visited some newspaper offices and a TV new-station office. Then we went sight-seeing and took lots of pictures. We had a barbeque and a ping-pong tournament (which I won!) and basically had a lot of fun enjoying each other's company. I'm very excited about taking my volunteers in the summer; I think this will be an incredible experience for them.
This last weekend was Easter, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with lots of friends. I was hoping to visit my Bulgarian family for the holiday, but I didn't plan for it enough in advance and was unable to. But I had a lot of friends in Lovech who invited me to do different things with them, so I was out all day Saturday and Sunday. I went walking with friends on Saturday, and Saturday night we went to church at 11:00 to prepare for the midnight celebration. For Easter, people dye eggs, and the first one they always dye red. This red one they bring to church on Saturday night and give it to God (I didn't dye eggs, though, so I didn't bring any). I bought a candle, though, with everyone else, and we all lit them at midnight and walked around the church three times. There were hundred of people, though, in this tiny church, so it took forever to do this. Then we all went home. I'm not exactly sure if there's any spiritual significance to this practice (I assume there is), but I don't know it.On Sunday I went to a nearby monastery with some friends. We lit candles again, and then we all went out for beers and french fries. I had my first beer, and it wasn't bad. My tastes are definately changing in Bulgaria, though I still prefer juice or water. While we were relaxing, we broke our eggs. This is a Bulgarian tradition where everyone takes an egg and bangs it on everyone else's eggs. If your egg doesn't break, you have good luck. Generally, I have good luck with all of the Bulgarian traditions, but with this one, all of my eggs broke on the first try. Oh well. I guess it's good to share the luck.
I also went on a really great 4 hour hike with a group of volunteer friends later that day. I saw parts of Lovech that I've never seen before, and it was beautiful. I definately plan to go hiking there more often. But probably the best part of this hike was that I was able to actively participate in all of the conversations... yeah!!!!! I still have a lot to learn of the language, but it's coming along!
