Thursday

After my language lesson yesterday, I stopped by the carpet museum and tourist information center. I’ve been running into the lady who runs it around town and hadn’t visited since I arrived. I’d like to work with her in the future and wanted to spend some time chatting with her about her work….Well, my meeting turned out much differently than I expected. She dressed me up in the national costume and had me pose for pictures throughout the museum with different props. It was in the 90s yesterday, I was wearing rolled up jeans and a shirt underneath several layers of wool dresses and I didn’t have a clue how she wanted me to hold the different carpet production props. She seemed to have a blast instructing me and taking photos. It was sweaty and awkward, but also awesome, I mean, when else could this possible happen? When I returned to work, we exchanged pictures from our impromptu photo session and different ones she’s taken of the area over the years. I plan to return soon to talk about tourism and to learn how to weave carpets.

After horo dancing at the cultural center, I went na gosti at a colleagues last night. Na gosti literally translates as: ‘to go be a guest,’ but means so much more and is a huge part of Bulgarian life. Bulgarians do it everyday. You don’t call ahead, but you usually bring a small gift, like chocolate or flowers. The host will supply food and rakia and it’s expected that you arrive hungry, thirsty, and ready to talk for hours. My colleague brings me fruit and vegetables from her garden often and has offered to let me use her washer machine. I figured it was due time to go na gosti and I wanted to return some of the hospitality. I attempted to bake chocolate chip cookies using my electric hot plate, this plan failed miserably, but I headed to her house anyways.

When I arrived, banitsa was in the oven and a table in the garden was ready for guests. We sat under the grape vines drinking a beverage mixed from homemade elderberry syrup and soda water. Elderberries grow in the mountains here. Their flowers are used for teas and syrups, their berries make natural dyes for carpet weaving. My colleague has an amazing garden and a huge cellar full of compotes, canned vegetables, and wine barrels. Shortly after the banitsa was cooled and placed on the table, her husband, neighbors, and two grown sons appeared. Her sons had with him the orthodox priest who runs the Chiprovtsi Monastery. All of us sat in the garden, eating banitsa and salads and talking until late. It was fantastic.

We made plans to picnic at the monastery and go blackberry picking. I am also expected to make pies, demonstrated in her kitchen, for the monastery. This was decided during dinner. The priest is very well read and knows quite a few English words. He mentioned pie, which all of them had seen on television and knew to be a ubiquitous American dish. Of course, they agreed, I must be skilled at preparing pies and since I don’t have an oven, I should prepare it here and teach at the same time. This should be interesting. I rarely cook or bake. I’ve never made a pie before. The only things I make regularly are variations of egg scrambles and three ingredient peanut butter cookies. But, I’m excited to learn. If I’m learning how to prepare Bulgarian food, dance horo, and weave carpets, I ought to have something to teach in return…something besides English and more interesting than using advanced features on Microsoft Excel that is. I returned home with a bag full of cucumbers and apples from the garden and a cola liter bottle full of fresh sheep milk. Can’t wait to find out what comes next.

Integration Tipping Point

Something clicked this week with integrating in my community. So far, everyone has been very warm and welcoming, but I was still spending a lot of time alone in my apartment or simply exchanging pleasantries on the street. I hadn’t been able to make the jump from acquaintance to friend. However, this week, the process changed and it seemed everything began at once. Tuesday was the tipping point.

I didn’t realize it, but my counterpart’s brother installs internet service so it was super easy to get it in my apartment. While on a coffee break with my counterpart and a colleague, my colleague mentioned I must be bored-no TV, internet, etc. My counterpart called her brother, we met him at the apartment, and, after a few hours of him rigging a cord through my balcony window and directing expletives towards my Mac (they're uncommon in Bulgaria), I had internet in my apartment! Having internet alone is fantastic, even if I’ve hardly had a chance to use it, but what was also nice was that during the several hours it took him to figure out the installation, my counterpart and I chatted and shared photos-excellent bonding time in a more relaxed environment.

On our walk back to the Obshtina, we ran into Isabel, a Bulgarian teacher at the school in Chiprovtsi, who also speaks English. We went to the café and now I have an amazing language tutor. My first lesson was yesterday and was exactly what I wanted. It was held in her house and had the perfect balance of grammar, speaking, and reading comprehension. I’ll have lessons everyday until mid-September when school begins. Although we’ll scale down the frequency of my classes when she returns to work, I’ll start helping once a week or so with the English classes at the school. It will be a great way to stay in touch with the kids I met at the camp, maintain my relationship with her, and add an peer exchange component to between the school here and the 6^th grade class I correspond with in America.

After work I went to dinner at the house of a retired couple in town. The husband’s name is Stalin, like Josef. Their grown son’s name is Elvis and he sings opera in America. They are an amazing family. I will have dinner there weekly and help her with her pronunciation. She can read English, but wants to be able to sing psalms. No worries, I won't pretend to be able to assist with the singing component.

I had just returned to my apartment when there was knocking at my door. Outside was a group of 6^th and 7^th graders from town wanting to go to the café. I knew some of the girls from the camp and I’d chatted with them and their friends around town. We went to the café, drank Fanta, and exchanged Skype details. They are so funny and message me all the time. I’m really excited to help them with their English and work with them in the future. I feel a bit overwhelmed with na gosti and picnic invites, but couldn't be happier.

Hiking around Chiprovtsi

Chiprovtsi is literally nestled in a valley with steep inclines on all sides. The hills are crisscrossed with narrow trails used for livestock (mostly sheep and goats-sadly, there are no water buffalo here). When the sun is rising, the mountains to the west turn pink and mist forms above the river that winds through town. At this time of day, Chiprovtsi looks like a fairy tale village, or like it belongs in a snow globe.

I live in the center of town. Walking in any direction will take me on a paved road bordered by closely built houses, a few small storefronts, and some empty buildings. After a few blocks, gravel and dirt roads will split off leading to the gardens that surround the village. Unlike Kravoder, where most of the homes had large yards with gardens, the houses in Chiprovtsi are close together, with little room for gardens. Many of the families have plots in the surrounding hills or homes in nearby villages with larger gardens. Beyond the gardens are the dirt paths winding up the mountains, leading through forests or meadows that the shepherds use or at one time did.

Since I’m not supposed to run along the paved road that leads in and out of Chiprovtsi because of stray dogs, I’ve been hiking and running on the mountain paths. I carry a whistle and a big stick when I go on long hikes just in case. I rarely see anyone else on them. Occasionally, when I’m close to town and the road is still wide and flat-ish, I’ll pass by a horse cart carrying wood or manure, or a person walking to their garden, but usually I’m alone.

There are so many trails in the hills surrounding Chiprovtsi, each one splitting off to somewhere else. I’ll often come across small shepherd sheds along the way or find the trail twists back onto itself. I don’t see many shepherds when I go hiking, but I also don’t seek them out. The sound of sheep bells carries far over the mountains and valleys and is a good warning signal. There are usually several large dogs scouting around the flock to protect it from the wolves and other predators in the forest—not something I want to meet on a walk. Some of the paths also lead to old monastery ruins or natural springs.

Leten Lager

Our hike to the Gushovski Monastery

The camp was excellent! The first day was the most challenging, but even that wasn’t so hard. I led the introductions and used some easy ice breaker games we learned during training. Then, we divided the 37 kids into three groups, one of which I led, to plan performances for the evening bonfire. Motivating a wide range of kids that don’t really know each other to come up with an idea that they will have to perform in front of a large group is a challenge under any conditions, but when your language skills are still in the ‘developmental’ stage, it’s really hard. Luckily, I have the best colleagues and one of them helped me with that activity, the kids were also really patient. The rest of the camp flew by: we hiked to a 17^th century monastery, played a ton of Bulgarian dodgeball, swam in the river, painted rocks-it was perfect. Even when it rained, the kids were easy to be around; they were plenty entertained trying to ask me questions about life in America, testing out random English words, or just playing cards in the giant army tents.

Painting rocks and making art from found objects

I’m really proud of myself for how it all went-not for planning or anything, I mostly just observed that, but for my role in interacting with the kids. I was intimidated about working at the camp. I’ve never been a camp counselor, or anything similar, before and despite living with an 8 and 2 year old for the last few months, I’m still nervous about being around children. My fears were totally unfounded! I got along great with them and they respected me. I even led a hike with all 37 of them by myself to a natural spring a kilometer away, no one cried or died on my watch. I’m excited about next year and am really looking forward to planning activities with the school in town.

Tents and sleeping mats before we put them together

I was very impressed at how well everyone did with the rustic conditions. There was no running water or even outhouse style toilets. We brushed our teeth in the river and the bathroom was the forest behind the last tent; yet no one complained and the food was incredible. Without a kitchen, vehicle, or fancy camping cooking gear, I was expecting a Bulgarian equivalent to mass produced spaghetti, powdered mashed potatoes, and peanut butter sandwiches; instead, we had fresh salads, grilled chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, kufteta, karnachi, banitsa, and fresh honeydew or watermelon for desert. One woman made all the food for three large hot meals and two snack breaks for 43 people each day over a fire with a makeshift grate and she didn’t seem to break a sweat about it. I helped was the dishes in the river and marveled at her culinary skills.

First week of work

My first week of work was great! Even though most of what I did was working on personal logistics—getting my alien resident ID card, borrowing the Obshtina’s vacuum cleaner, etc.—I was able to help with planning for the 3 day sleep away camp we’re having next week and participate in some work parties. So far, 37 children, aged 7-12, have signed up for our camp. We wrote the food budget, planned activities, found tents (we’re borrowing 10 person ones from the Army), and took a day trip to Montana for supplies this week. I will be leading introduction activities and sports games at the camp. I’m nervous. I hope my language is good enough to communicate. It will be an intense couple of days

My counterpart, who is my guide, mentor, and primary working partner at my assignment, is great. She's smart and fun and has the two cutest kids. I share a large office with her and two others in the Obshtina. The Obshtina has 40 something employees. Of those I've met, everyone has been super nice and patient. My counterpart's birthday was on Tuesday and she brought in sweets and soda to treat everyone. There was also a retirement party on Monday. The retirement party lasted all afternoon and included beer, rakia, and wild boar. It was my first time eating wild boar...and I liked it. I did think this was an interesting fact: in Bulgaria, the retirement age for men differs from that of women. Anyways, I love celebrations in Bulgaria. Since name days and birthdays are celebrated by treating those around you, and everyone has both, you have a pretty good chance of encountering someone who will give you chocolate.

Every Thursday night the cultural center in town has horo dancing. Horo is the traditional form of dance in Bulgaria. Everyone holds hands and follows the leader in synchronized steps to the beat of the music. I think I included some pictures in an earlier post where we danced the horo in Neysa’s backyard for her baba’s birthday party. I attended the horo dancing this past week and had a fantastic time. There were about 30 women and girls, from around ten years old up to babas, and two musicians, one on keyboards, one on the horn. The horos started off easy, steps I was familiar with thanks to parties in Kravoder and evenings with the family. But, about half an hour into the 90 minutes of dancing, it got tough. Like REALLY difficult, with kicks and shuffles and hops. I tried my best and laughed a lot, as did everyone else, and had a really good time. Though I’m confident no one was impressed by my dancing skills, I’m pretty sure they were pleased I knew some horo and wanted to learn more. It was a lot of fun and I plan to make a habit of it over then next two years.

Not a Towel

I’m planning to buy most of my supplies this weekend in Montana—it’s the nearest large city, about 45 minutes by bus, and is similar in size to Vratsa— but wanted to get a few things around town so I could bond with the local shop owners etc. One of these items was supposed to be a bath towel. Although the apartment had a towel, it’s more of a hand towel size and it’s pretty chilly in the mornings. I wanted something to wrap myself in and planned on using the hand towel in the kitchen. Well… I went to the magazine (magazines are Bulgarian stores) that sells some household goods, with my list in hand. Of course, I should have translated it to Bulgarian first, but most of the words I knew and I figured it wasn’t that big of a store, I could just point something out if I wanted it. In these types of smaller stores, you usually don’t get most of the items yourself—no carts and aisles, you tell the cashier the items you want and she gets them for you from behind the counter.

After getting most of my list taken care of: clothespins, cutting knife, can opener, dish soap, etc., I pointed at what appeared to be a giant fluffy towel in clear plastic wrapping. The clerk raised her eyebrows and asked me if it was what I really wanted. “Yes,” I replied. “It’s for the bath, right?” She nodded and added it to my tab. Next, on my list was a bucket with holes to use for holding my shower stuff. The shower sprays everywhere and doesn’t drain very fast. I needed something to put my shampoo in so it wouldn’t float away that wouldn’t get soggy from water. They didn’t have anything that would work, but the conversation was difficult and lasted a solid 10 minutes. I was getting sort of stressed and ready to go when I asked for the bill. It was higher than I’d expected, but I figured that maybe things were just more expensive than I’d calculated.

When I returned to the apartment and took the ‘bath towel’ out of the plastic wrap, I saw that it was, in fact, not a towel, but an expensive bath/lounging robe. It was already dark and I didn’t feel like enduring the embarrassment of walking back across town with a opened robe package to explain to the attendant, who had just endured a 10 minute conversation about buckets with holes in broken Bulgarian with me, that I thought the Hugh Hefner style robe was actually a towel, and could she please give me refund. So, now I have a fancy robe, that doubles as a bath towel. It’s really quite comfortable and even has a hood that I can sort of dry my hair with. I wear it as much as possible to get the full benefit of every Lev I spent on it.

New Apartment

My new apartment is huge and really nice…definitely a bit more ‘posh corps’ than Peace Corps…I’ll move into very ‘Peace Corps-ish,’ place on the second floor of an unused building in October. The temporary apartment I’m in until then is where the Obshtina usually houses its visitors. I have 8 beds and 45 rakia glasses, but no water glasses and, for the first few days, no stove or refrigerator either. Of course no internet, TV, or washer machine—I was living the high life in Kravoder. For entertainment, I bought a clock radio. It sort of picks up two stations: slow 50s and 60s American pop and one that sounds like soap operas. I tried out sleeping in different beds the first few nights and have decided to mostly live between two rooms and sleep in the kitchen. Yes, there is a bed in the kitchen. I’ll try to take some pictures of it soon…it needs to be cleaned a bit more.

Sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer

Leaving Kravoder and finishing PST was sad, but I'm looking forward the upcoming experiences I'll have during my two years of service. My host family drove me to Chiprovtsi on Sunday. The drive went by much too fast. It took less than an hour, but I feel much farther away. I'm very far away from what had become my 'Bulgarian Comfort Zone.' However, this past weekend was filled with so much; I hardly had time to think twice about the new reality I’d be entering.

Friday was the swearing in ceremony. It was held in the Obshtini (government building) in Vratsa. Despite being early in the day, it was super hot. I felt like a sweaty mess before it even began. Sitting in the front row on the crowded stage (all 85 trainees plus our director, the ambassador, distinguished guests, etc.) trying to be very careful not to move around too much or slide out of my chair was tough, but the ceremony was great. It was quick and well executed. The two volunteers that prepared a speech on behalf of all of us did an excellent job. Charity, one of my good friends from Kravoder, sang ‘Moya Strana’ at the end of ceremony, bringing many in the audience to tears. Moya Strana is sort of the ‘America the Beautiful’ of Bulgaria, but holds probably an even greater importance to the Bulgarian people. Charity sang beautifully and we followed along during the refrains.

Here is a link to a news article that has recordings of the song and speeches: http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=565086

We also made the nightly news:http://tv-vratsa.bg/index.php?lang=bg&r=home/tvvratza/t140/t308

After the ceremony everyone was bouncing between conversations, trying to make plans, say goodbyes, take photos, hugging, crying, etc. During training we’ve all become very close and rely on each other for support. Now, we won’t see each other for three months and will be on our own, without our families, language trainers, or each other. It’s a bit overwhelming. My training group will be 6, 8, 10, and 13 hours of bus/train travel away. I don’t much like rushed goodbyes in huge groups, and didn’t mind when my host parents were soon ready to depart. I’d said most of my goodbyes earlier and knew I’d see a few people later. My host parents took me to lunch at a peaceful restaurant near Vratsa. It was lovely-just the three of us sitting at a table overlooking a lake and the Vrachanski cliffs.

Group Kravoder. My host family and I before the swearing in ceremony.

When we returned to Kravoder, I dressed up in the traditional costume they’d bought me. It’s beautiful. They had several colors at the place where I was fitted, but the bright red I chose is traditional for the Kravoder region. That’s where I consider my Bulgarian home to be so I thought it appropriate to choose that color.

The rest of the Kravoder group departed for their permanent sites on Friday and Saturday. Since Chiprovtsi is so close and my family drove me, I had an extra day. Nevertheless, I’m grateful I didn’t have to spend it in my room thinking about being alone. We spent the day at a family member’s 80^th birthday party in Cherni Vruh (Black Peak). It is a tiny village an hour and a half away, with no mountains or peaks in site. It’s named after the 4^th biggest mountain in Bulgaria, and is one of the most visited by tourists. The northern village we went to is flat and I didn’t see any tourists. It was nice to be around some of my extended host family. My two host brothers, who have been with their other grandma this past week, as well as their cousin Sarah, were there.

My party buddies.

I spent most of the day in Cherni Vruk helping Kristian with his summer math homework and playing with the little kids. Kris is brilliant at math. He’s only 8, but is doing 5^th grade math with very little instruction. He needed some assistance with word problems and it was nice to feel like I was helping, but I was mostly just someone the kids could spend time with. They don’t have as many neighbor friends there as they do in Kravoder and it’s a much more rustic setting. Leaving at the end of the day was difficult. The kids didn’t want me to leave and I knew I wouldn’t see them again.

Kiril and I prepping the looty chushki (spicy peppers).

Packing didn’t take too long. Since Chiprovtsi is so close, I was able to leave some of my winter clothes and random things I don’t need there to pick up later. I had to leave room for the box of vegetables and fruits, the dozen jars of homemade water buffalo yogurt, and the three-dozen eggs my host family had prepared for me to bring to my new home. I am so grateful for them. I must have the best host family ever. It is a big risk to welcome a stranger into one’s home, especially one from another country who doesn’t speak their language. I hope they realize how much I appreciate all they have done for me and their incredibly generosity.

Nearing the end of PST

This picture was taken from my bedroom window. It is a water buffalo. It walks past my house twice a day.

Only a few days left before I officially swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer! Today was my language proficiency exam, a 30 minute individual Q & A with a Peace Corps Bulgaria staff member designed to assess if we’ve learned enough to stay in as a volunteer. It was intense, but I don’t think I’ll be on an early flight back to America. Next week this time, I will be in my new apartment after a full day of work at the Obshtina in Chiprovtsi!

The past 10 days have been full of activities: trying to stay cool (my bedroom was 85 degrees when I woke up this morning), fighting a losing war with fleas, studying Bulgarian, and finishing up the final pre-service training assignments.

Even though I’m anxious to start my new job and move to my permanent site, I’m a little sad the end of PST is so near. The past 11 weeks has been a really unique time. When else do you have the opportunity to live in a completely foreign environment with a family that, despite not being related, takes care of you and your primary responsibilities are to trying to learn to speak a new language and integrate into a new culture—tasks most easily accomplished by hanging out at cafes and playing soccer with local kids? I can’t think of any other such opportunity. I also am fully aware that next week I will be living by myself in an apartment without my Bulgarian family or American friends nearby, without a garden that produces more fresh fruit and vegetables than I could ever eat. That I will have to go to work everyday in an office with colleagues I still can’t really understand and will have to really start figuring out how to do community and organizational development in a small village. I will also have to do laundry without a machine. Knowing this makes want to appreciate every moment of training: my host family, my training group, my language trainer-they are amazing.

English Lesson

On Saturday, my training group and I taught an English lesson in the Roma mahala. It went well. I’ve never taught a class before, but we’d received some instruction on lesson planning during one of our prior conferences. We made posters with translations and phonetic pronunciations of basic phrases: “Hello, my name is…” “What is your name?” “I’m from Bulgaria” “Where are you from?” It took 90 minutes to get these sort of down. About 10-15 people attended our lesson. It was held outside and anyone who wanted to could attend. Our students’ ages ranged from a few 5 year olds that just wanted to play with us to a woman in her mid-40s. Some of the kids were sort of familiar with English from school, others really struggled. It was rewarding when I ran into one of the men who’d attended the lesson this morning at the cafe and he said, “hello, my name is…” in English. I’m not sure he would have gotten the “Where are you from” question, but it was neat to hear him speak words in English that he didn’t know prior to our class.

Bulgarian B-day

We had regular language classes until Friday when we headed back to Vratsa for another session with the community and organizational development group. This time the focus was tourism promotion and small business development. It was very interesting and inspiring. There is so much I want to do at my permanent site. It is such a beautiful place. I want people to want to visit, stay in one of the bed in breakfasts in town, take a carpet weaving class, hike or mountain bike to the waterfall or one of the old monasteries, eat homemade cheese, drink homemade wine, buy a carpet or two. Anyways, now I have even more ideas about future projects for the next two years and better understand the resources that are available to me.

After the conference, we celebrated the birthday of one of host mom of one of the volunteers in my my training group. Birthdays are celebrated a bit differently in Bulgaria. It is the responsibility of the person having the birthday to treat everyone else. They usually carry chocolates with them and hand them out to people that wish them ‘Chestit Rozhdenden’ throughout the day. Then the birthday person prepares enough food, wine, and rakia for any well-wishers that stop by. People still give presents to the birthday person, like clothes or flowers. But, if you give flowers in Bulgaria, they should be an number, even numbers of flowers are given only at funerals. I made peanut butter cookies for my gift (thanks for care package with Jif!). The party was a blast. All the neighbors came as well as her family and the training group. We ate outside at a long picnic table and danced different variations of the horo, the traditional Bulgarian dance until late.

Birthday Toasts...Dancing the Horo...Bread: the ever present companion to all meals...

If you toast with a non-alcoholic beverage in Bulgaria, it is believed you will have ugly children.

Sofia in a Day

On Monday, my training group took a cab to Vratsa at 5:50 am to catch the 7 am bus to Sofia. It was full. The 7:15, 7:30, and 7:45 buses were also full. We had to be at Peace Corps HQ by noon and were getting tight on time. So, we walked to the train station and took a train instead. After this experience, I want to always travel by train. The views were incredible-no cars that may or may not swerve out of their lanes, no hairpin turns, no potholes, no diesel fumes-there was also plenty of space to stretch your legs and walk around. Plus, the slight breeze from the windows on the train was far superior to that which I’ve experienced on the buses.

In front of the Presidential residence in Sofia.

After we arrived at the Sofia train station, we took two trams to the Peace Corps Headquarters where we had our final interview with senior staff. These went well. Then we went to McDonald’s. I wasn’t a fan of fast food when I lived in America and didn’t really want a big mac and fries, but I had been craving a fountain soda and an ice cream cone. Plus, sitting down to your big mac on an outdoor terrace in a European capital city is a much different experience than driving through the golden arches stateside (I know it’s really not, but it makes me feel better to qualify the experience in this way. I am already suffering from flea bites and don’t want to dwell on it). Anyways, it was worth it.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Sofia is a big city, much larger and more spread out than I’d realized when I flew into its airport 3 months ago. It is the 12^th largest city in the EU and has a population of 1.4 million people. It’s also an old city, having been continuously inhabited since the 7^th century. Its center is paved with yellow Viennese cobblestones. There are quite a few destinations to see in Sofia. We rode the trams and walked to a bunch of the big sites: the president’s house, National Assembly Square, Kentucky Fried Chicken-Bulgaria, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Eagles Bridge, a commemoration statue to Russian liberation (from the oft-referenced Turkish yoke), etc.

PST Activities: Monastery Visit, Hiking, Cow Milking

On the Friday after our community project, we had another conference in Vratsa. This one was great because a lot of the current Bulgaria volunteers presented on different projects they’re working on, discussed challenges they’ve faced, and answered questions. After Hub we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant. I had a salad made with fake crabmeat, tomatoes, yogurt dressing, and eggs. I never encountered anything similar when I was in Italy, but it was really good and I have a new found appreciation for fake crab.

Sunday was a full day of homestay-type activities. I woke up late and had breakfast with my family. My host mom made crepes (palachinki) with nutella. They are the perfect start to a day. Then she took me, my two little host brothers, and another volunteer from my training group, to the Klisurski Monastery. After candle lighting and walking around we went to Varshets to fill 10 giant jugs with spring water and have lunch at a café. When we returned, the other volunteer and I went for a 10 mile hike in the fields sunflower and wheat fields that surround our village. After being chased by shepherd dogs and running out of water, we stopped off in a nearby village for water, banitsa (a pastry made from yogurt, filo dough, cheese, and eggs), and pears from a Baba that saw us passing by. After dinner, I milked a cow.

Community Project

Stage Before Stage After

We had our group project this week and it was a success! Our community meeting last month made clear the village wanted something done with the stage in the center of town. The stage is structurally sound and well placed between the mayor’s office and café, but was aesthetically unappealing and underutilized by the village. Our project: “Inspiring the Arts in K...,” we hoped, would inspire individual initiative despite limited financial resources and time, encourage volunteerism, and create awareness among K’s residents of the village’s human and physical resources.

The kindergarten director offered to sketch a mural and volunteers from the village helped paint it on the back of the stage. Painting was completed Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, we hosted a celebration for the grand reopening of the stage. It almost didn’t happen. Our primary performers, the ladies folk singing group, didn’t want to get on stage due to the hot weather. They said they would rather sing just for us in our classroom. Two of the volunteers have Babas in the group. After 20 minutes of cheek kissing and on the spot a cappella renditions of “My Bulgaria,” they agreed to sing three songs. Which was enough, the chocolate was melting and the children’s enthusiasm was waning. The rest of the celebration was flawless. Everyone loved the super sugary cookies and brand-less cola type drinks and was excited to see what we were doing.

The celebration’s turnout was significant, especially for 11:30 on Wednesday and I think everyone who attended, around 100 people, appreciated the project. The artistic interpretation of the EU flag design is a bit of a stretch, but we didn’t see the final touches until the morning of the celebration. Plus, how do you bring that up? There is an actual EU flag hanging from the mayor’s building less than 50 feet away…. Yet the stars on our mural and those on the real flag follow quite different patterns. Anyways, I think our project was a success: we made a tangible improvement to a central landmark through collaboration with local volunteers, provided a forum for the artistic talents of local residents, and held a memorable event that will hopefully set a precedent for future community presentations.

Roma Weekend

This past Saturday was Roma Culture Day in Vratsa. Roma Culture Day is a Peace Corps celebration, not a Bulgarian one. Although my permanent site has very few minorities, it was good to learn about their culture and some of the specific challenges they face. It also helped place our work with marginalized groups in greater context. After panels and discussions, we were let out to play games with children from an orphanage in Vratsa.

On Sunday, the I and the other volunteers in my village went to church in the Roma community across the river. It was housed in a small metal trailer held up by rocks and wood planks. The outside was painted bright yellow a very long time ago. Inside, there were 7 wooden benches and a wood cross. In addition to the 5 of us, around 5 women, 10 children, 2 male teens attended. People came and went during the service. Songs were sung from a hand written book.

It began about half an hour late with reading from the bible in Bulgarian. The minister (?), who is also works in the mayor’s office, the school, and is always around town, spoke for a while. Then there was repetition of prayers and an elderly woman was blessed with oil. The minister also blessed us. I sat between two children. The small boy next to me whispered instructions when to stand, when to sit, etc. We were guests of honor. In front of me sat a woman with a baby and a seriously handicapped young girl. The baby was teething on a stapler.

It lasted about an hour. When we were leaving, he gave me a children’s bible in Bulgarian and invited us to return. We will be holding an intro to English language class in the trailer in a few weeks for the Roma community.

It’s difficult to give any concrete numbers on Roma in Bulgaria because self-identification varies significantly from other numbers and even deciding a firm definition for ‘Roma’ is controversial. According to the 2009 numbers from World Bank, UN, amnesty international, and CIA there are between 700-800k Roma living in Bulgaria. Historically nomads, Roma (romanticized as gypsies in the America) were forcibly assimilated under communist regimes in the 1960s and 70s. These programs were unsuccessful and most Roma in Bulgaria live in segregated Mahalas (neighborhoods). These Mahalas are generally difficult to enter and cut off from the surrounding environment.

Bulgaria has several programs designed to improve the situation for its minority groups. It was a launching member of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, an EU program to give priority to develop policies addressing Roma education, employment, health, and housing. “The Land-source of incomes,” is a smaller NGO working near a large Bulgarian city to provide start up funds, training, and close guidance to Roma families, enabling them to achieve self-sufficiency with their own small business and market integration. They are doing some really neat work. Here is a link to their website in English: http://www.agrocenter.info/?id=2

More information about Roma and Bulgaria can be found at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/roma

http://www.romadecade.org/

My Bulgarian Family

I love my Bulgarian family. I never knew what it was like to have a crazy busy household with lots of siblings. I’m starting to learn. I now have three host brothers aged 22, 8, and 2. They are the grandkids of my host parents. The 22 year old lives in Sofia most of the time, but visits a lot. He speaks pretty good English and is into break dancing, Reiki, and meditation. The 8 year old and 2 year old are from Chicago and spending their summers here. The 8 year old speaks English and Bulgarian. He talks all of the time. The 2 year old is learning to speak in Bulgarian and calls me Kaka Meggi (Kaka is the familiar for big sister and Meggi has been decided as the short familiar form of my name).

I play soccer and cards with the 8 year old a lot. If he wins, everything is awesome. If he loses, he hates me and cries. There are a lot of emotions and talking at full speed and volume all of the time. Today, I was studying before class and told him I couldn’t play. He brought a giant beetle in my room and put it on my desk. Later, my host parents brought home a new kitten. He named it Meggi. The other two kittens are named for him and his younger brother. I am constantly distracted and saying no, but when the baby reaches out and says my name or the 8 year old rests his head on my shoulder while we watch the Jonas Brothers in Bulgarian, it is awesome...not sure if I could have handled it all the time forever, but it is definitely a great experience.

SITE PLACEMENT: CHIPROVTSI

The site placement and counterpart conference was this past weekend. Site assignment was a nerve wracking and exciting experience. None of the 80 volunteers had any idea where they would be placed. Our sites will be our homes and jobs for the next two years. HUGE DEAL!

After a few hours of talks on logistics and planning, we headed out to the school yard where a giant chalk map of Bulgaria had been drawn. We waited with our satellite groups as our names were drawn out of a bowl and our villages announced. Then, we walked to where our villages were marked on the map and were handed a file with information on our assignments. We stood there until all placements were announced. It was an intense experience.

The two girls from my satellite group are about as far away from me as possible in Bulgaria; they are in the far southeast of the country near the Turkish border and Black Sea, about 12 hours by bus. The two boys are directly south, in the Pirin Mountains near Bansko, also about 8 hours by bus. I’m sad I won’t be near them, but love the village to which I’ve been assigned. There are also several other volunteers from different groups nearby.

After receiving our assignments, the COD volunteers were taken by bus our hotel located near Vratsa in the Vrachanski Balkan. The Vrachanski Balkan, which includes the Ledenika caves I went to last week, is the highland region to the west of Vratsa.

Once settled, we were introduced to our Bulgarian counterparts, with whom we’ll be working for the next two years. The rest of the weekend conference focused on drafting our plan for the first few months and working on team building exercises. Dinners were fantastic Bulgarian food followed by Horo dancing. The area around the hotel was great for morning hikes with well maintained trails and some old Thracian ruins.

After the conference, we travelled with our counterparts to our permanent sites for three days. Mine new home for the will be Chiprovtsi. Chiprovtsi is the seat of the local municipality, which includes several other villages and has a population of around 4000. Chiprovtsi itself has around 2000, but the actual number is said to be much smaller, because many people list Chiprovtsi as their home, but live and work in the nearby city of Montana.

Chiprovtsi is located in valley in the northwest Balkan Mountains. It takes around six hours to hike to Serbia. In the 13^th century it was populated by Saxon Catholic immigrants and became one of the most important centers of gold- and silver- mining in the Balkans. The Catholic Church still stands in the town next to a newer Orthodox one. Though few Catholics remain, the inhabitants are proud of their multi-religious history. Their town crest even includes a lion with a split tail to symbolize their dual religious history. Chiprovtsi continued to be a wealthy town during Ottoman rule, but was destroyed after the Chiprovtsi uprising of 1688. The town was re-settled in 1737 and carpet weaving became the town’s main industry.

Chiprovtsi used to be a wealthier town benefitting from large mining operations in the surrounding mountains. Now that the mines have shut town, the town struggles to maintain its population and economic opportunities are more limited. It is, however, considered to be the most famous place in Bulgaria for rug weaving. Chiprovtsi rugs are bright and colorful with a lot of geometric shapes and bird motifs. One famous style is the Karakachki, or black-eyed woman. Because designs with depicting people were forbidden under Ottoman rule, they used geometric patterns such as this one below. Styles as well as looms are passed down through families so that many of the stylized patterns are the same as they have been for centuries.

My assignment is to work with the municipal office and its partners: the school, the cultural center, the museum, etc. My priorities are the development of small community projects, tourism, youth, and environmental awareness.

Misspeaks in another language

The bridging of a language barrier provides continued comedic relief. Here are some of the stories shared by friends and colleagues:

After language class one day, a volunteer made friends with a local man named Tsetsi. They made plans to get together and play soccer soon. The volunteer returned to his host family, excited to tell his Baba about his new friend. Using the broken Bulgarian phrases he knew, he told her that he liked his new friend, was excited to see him soon, and hoped to see a lot of him. His Baba couldn’t seem to understand what he was talking about and was getting distressed so the volunteer tried repeating again. It was unsuccessful, his Baba seemed very concerned, and the volunteer gave up and went to his room. Well… the volunteer had been saying Tsitsi instead of Tsetsi. Tsetsi is a name; Tsitsi means breasts. He’d been emphatically repeating how much he liked breasts, was excited to see them, and wanted to play with them. The volunteer, of course, didn’t realize this until the following day in language class when our trainer informed him of a call he’d received from the Baba. She was quite concerned that this young American boy, who had only been in the village a few weeks, had met breasts and wanted to spend time with breasts and see them often.

One of the Bulgarian colleagues recently returned from a three-week trip to America with representatives from 20 different countries to learn about local governance stateside. Meetings were held in English. During one of the debriefing discussions, a participant was comparing a local election in the U.S. to one that was coming up in his home village. He began by saying, “we have a very big erection coming up soon…” He continued to talk about the large erection and its enormous potential. Only one letter off, but the meaning was, I’d assume, completely distorted.

The Bulgarian word for shower is pronounced ‘doosh.’ Most of our host families don’t speak English and our Bulgarian, when we arrived, at our host families was limited to yes, no, thank you, hello. The first night, when they kept pointing to the bathroom and asking “Doosh? You want? You need? Doosh?” was very confusing.

Ledenika Caves

I visited the Ledenika Caves on Saturday. They were incredible. The five of us from K, left early in the morning and were the first group to arrive for a tour. Four older ladies joined our group. The tour was entirely in Bulgarian, but the guide made sure to wait for us at every stopping point and tried his best to help us understand the different geologic features of Ledenika. The largest room is the 'Concert Hall' and actually hosts concerts at different times. The inner rooms are a steady 45* F, but in the first room, 'Predverieto,' the temperature varies and crystalized icicle formations are present during the early spring. This is where the name Ledenika comes from. The entire tour took a little more than an hour.

Have a super busy week following a crazy weekend. On Saturday, one of the other volunteers and her Baba killed a chicken. I videoed. It was ridiculous. They used a knife that was not very sharp and it took over a minute to saw off the head. So wild.

On Sunday, I attended the christening of my host parents 2 grandsons from America. It was really neat to witness this Orthodox ceremony. Afterwards, there was a huge party in our yard and lots of soccer playing with the kids. This is a big week for me and the other volunteers. We have our community meeting where we meet with the mayor and other community members to come up with a project for the town. Then we have our site placement interviews with Peace Corps staff. Very nervous! I still have no idea the sort of place where I'd like to go for my permanent site.

Hristo Botev Day

Hristo Botev Day was yesterday, but we celebrated it in Vratsa on Tuesday. It was really incredible. There were fireworks so close that parts of them touched the ground. They lit up the sky behind the statue of Hristo Botev, national Bulgarian hero in the square in Vratsa. Prior to the fireworks the President of Bulgaria and some other politicians gave speeches. There were protestors from Ataka present as well as some other groups voicing their opinions.

Hristo Botev, was a poet and revolutionary hero in Bulgaria. He was born on January 6, 1848 in the town of Kalofer. He died on June 2, 1876 at the age of 28, during the defeat of the 1876 April Uprising against Ottoman domination.

Hristo Botev Day, June 2nd, is similar to Memorial Day in America. It is a day of commemoration for all of those who died for Bulgaria's freedom and independence. At noon, a siren goes off all over the country and a moment of silence is observed for the fallen.

My post from 17 May - Day Trip to Vratsa has a good picture of the Hristo Botev statue. I'll try to upload some from the celebration soon.