Sirene: Behind the scenes

Pictures are from Didi Ignatova.

Bulgarian Cuisine

Great information, reflections, and experiences related to Bulgarian food. Hoppin John's Blog 

Stamboliski Dam Camp

I travelled this past week to Stamboliski Reservoir for a summer camp organized by two PCVs from towns along the Danube. The 20 or so kids that participated camp were older (middle-high school aged), and had lots of responsibilities. I was so impressed: they cooked, cleaned, and cut firewood. 

The location was perfect. Our tents were set up right by the reservoir and I was got to go swimming for the first time in over a year! It felt amazing to be in the water. The kids also boated and fished. One day we hiked to the top of the cliffs overlooking the reservoir. The views were spectacular.

It was a longer camp and there were quite a few learning sessions for participants including ones on compasses and orienteering, knot-tying, starting fires and safety, and peer pressure. It was great to see how some of the topics were taught so I can share them with the kids in Chiprovtsi. I also learned to juggle. Seriously. With three tennis balls in the air at the same time. I’m up to 6 throws without dropping. So, if the whole law/grad school plan doesn’t work out… 

Holiday of the Balkan Mountains

The celebrations began on September 1st with the opening of an exhibition for local artisans. Wood carvings, books, metalwork, and woven tapestries and carpets were displayed in the exhibit hall of the municipality.

September 4th was the “Three Chuki” bike race, organized by Adventura Ltd. and the municipality.  The race is an annual event, with elite and children's categories. More information on the course and how to participate next year can be found here: Bike Race

 For me, the real celebrations began on Monday, September 5th, with the Banitsa Festival held in the town center. Despite super hot weather, tons of people showed up to try traditional foods from Chiprovtsi, surrounding villages, and Acenovo. The center was so full of people!

In addition to the various local cuisines, there was a table dedicated to Chiprovtsi-style banitsa, homemade jams, yogurt, and cheeses for sale, and an area for kids to learn about birds and make their own toy from Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB).

The Banitsa and food was followed by a children’s presentation and folk festival in the center. Visiting dancers and singers, decendants of Chiprovtsi’s pre-1688 uprising, performed to traditional Banat-Bulgarian, and Romanian songs. This was followed by a commemoration of the 410 anniversary of Peter Bogdan. Bogdan, a Catholic Bishop and important National Revival figure, is one of Chiprovtsi’s major historical heroes. In the evening, a concert by the “Bulgare” was held in the Cultural Center.

On Tuesday, I went with Jordanka and her family to celebrate the Festival of the Gushovski Monastery on the mountains. The carpets were displayed on top of the mountain like last year and the weather was gorgeous. 

First we lit candles at the stone crosses at the foot and top of the monastery hill. Then the Bishop from Vidin gave his blessings. 

 Next came the shkembe chorba, or tripe soup. We picniked at Jordanka's family's hizha nearby. 

After xoro dancing, we hiked back to town. 

September 6th is celebrated nationwide in Bulgaria as Unification Day. This article gives a good explanation of the holiday. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=131825

Dragodonovo Birthday and Gurkovo Donkeys

Getting ready for the donkey races in Gurkovo

I travelled to Dragodonovo on Friday to celebrate Neysa’s birthday with her village.  We chatted with friends in the village center and she cherpi-ed drinks and snacks for everyone. She showed me the building where she and colleagues are working on a PCPP project to create a rec/fitness center for the community. It looks fantastic. Later in the evening we went na gosti with friends for her birthday dinner, practicing our xoro dancing skills in the garden until late.

Gurkovo Biorali

The next day, we departed for the Gurkovo Donkey Races. Way more than just donkey races, the annual Biorali included donkey soccer, donkey tug of war, and theme decorated donkey carts. The Peace Corps volunteer in Gurkovo arranged volunteer accommodations and decorated a Peace Corps donkey cart. The Peace Corps donkey, Pencho, didn’t participate in most of the events (he’s 18 years old-a very old donkey). He did, however, receive lots of cheers during his introduction and loop around the racetrack.

Donkey Tug-of-War

Twenty-four donkeys participated in the events. Awards were given for best decoration, rapid harness/un-harness, cart race, strength (tug-of-war), and naked riding (without a harness). The winner, champion of the biorali for the 6th time, took home 500 BGN cash, a baby cow, bio-fuel (alfalfa, hay, etc.), and wooden boards. Several thousand spectators attended and there was a large vendor area with cotton candy, BBQ, and other bazaar-type items. Gurkovo began the Biorali in 1971 and is also home to a donkey museum.

 

Donkey Futbol

Celebrations Begin: 25th Birthday

Celebrating my 25^th birthday in Bulgaria was fantastic.

I was super excited about the cake that Palma and Vladi made. It was awesome. The candles read "2-5"     

The day before, I prepped two family size pans of brownies for cherpi-ing* at work and made banitsa and tarator for my cousin’s arrival. My cousin, Brett, was in town for a few days during his epic trip around the world. Unfortunately for him, all my cooking skills were used on adding oil and eggs to the brownie mixes--the brownies were excellent. The banitsa (way too salty) and tarator (way too much garlic and dill) were awful. I also prepared bags of drinks, snacks, and more brownies to bring for my birthday party in the neighboring village. 

*Cherpi-ing basically means ‘treating.’ As in, it’s my birthday, so I’m treating my friends and colleagues to chocolate, cola, chips, or whatever you choose (chocolate is more or less mandatory though). In return, they shake your hand and wish you a happy birthday, with health, happiness, good luck, love, lots of babies, etc. It’s tradition to ‘cherpi’ not only on your birthday, but also your nameday, or whenever something wonderful happens to you (new grandchild or winning the lottery). 

My dear friend, Didi, wove this bag to give to me for my birthday. It's too beautiful to use. I'll keep it forever to remember friends from my time here. 

My brownies were a hit at work and I spent some time googling and translating recipes for colleagues. Between handshakes and cherp-ing, preparations for the celebrations on the 5th and 6th of September kept me super busy. I was able to get away for lunch with Brett at Torlacite (not wanting to attempt cooking again) and to take him to the Historical Musuem. After I finished work, we hiked to Velin Del, a mountaintop overlooking the border peaks with Serbia, then carried supplies to the neighboring village for the birthday party one of my friends organized.

Brett and I eating with friends before the party. 

It meant a lot to me how many people remembered that it was my birthday (even if Facebook is to thank). The birthday flowers, presents, and wishes from my friends in Chiprovtsi were very special. And I’d never imagined someone would throw me a party. It was a day when I truly felt that this is real life, my real friends, real experiences. A great birthday. 

Relay Races/Team Building/Icebreakers

Icebreaker Activities:

In a circle…

Introductions and Favorite Things:

In a circle, each person stands, states their name, age, hometown, and three things they like (nature, ice cream, tennis).

Pass the ball/hula hoops

Stand, hold hands, introduce a ball or hula hoop to be passed around the circle without hands letting go. Add another ball the other direction.

Run to the center if…

A leader reads phrases (you have brown eyes/you like Fanta better than Coca Cola, etc.). If it’s true, participants run to the center. They return to the circle for the next phrase.

Birthday Lineup

Participants line up according to birthdays. Leader points out January and December, then lets the participants figure it out.

Molecules

This game was new to me and was my favorite Icebreaker from the camp. It begins with the leader calling out a number, for example “4,” and everyone forms groups with 4 people. The number should divide the group evenly to begin. Once groups are formed, the leader calls out: “Molecules, molecules, now we’re in groups of 7.” Everyone must run around and find people to make their group 7. Whoever doesn’t find a group in time, is out. The game continues until there are just a few people left. It is an excellent icebreaker and requires no materials. 

Teambuilding Games:

Square Puzzle

Needed: 2 pieces of construction paper/team

I made these puzzles by cutting construction paper into large squares, then cutting the squares into 10 pieces. Each member of the team was given at least one piece and the team worked together to fit the pieces back into a square shape. This worked very well.

Trolley Walk with Ropes only

Needed: 2 long pieces of rope/team

Because we didn’t have the long boards typically used in team building retreats for the trolley walk, I thought that just tying the kids legs together with rope would work. It sort of did except for when the first person on a team took off at full speed and nearly took off the legs of their teammates. Using only ropes would be fine, but the method of tying the legs together needs to be such that the rope won’t tighten on their ankles if pulled.

Lift the Bucket

Needed: 1 bucket filled with water/team

The idea is that the teams lift the bucket with their feet together—their hands must stay on the ground—and the team that can hold their bucket in the air the longest wins. In practice, this activity was much more tortuous than anticipated. I’d modify this activity by adding different instructions “lift, move as a group to the left, set down, lift;” adding more water; and placing the emphasis on spilling not endurance.

Straw Tower

Needed: 1 pack of straws/team, 1 roll of tape/team

Teams have 10 minutes to build a tower from the straws and tape as high as possible. When time is called, the team must not touch the towers. 30 seconds are called out. The highest tower that stays standing for at least 30 seconds wins. This worked very well.

Relay Races:

Balloon Pop

Lots of balloons, supplies for whatever is written on the instructions. We used 1 apple, 1 spoon, 1 coin, 1 bucket, and 10 balloons per team.

Way more complicated than necessary. Children raced to the bucket, popped a balloon, and followed instructions written on a slip of paper inside. There were 5 variations: walk on your hands and feet like a crab, hop on one foot, spin 5 times and sing the alphabet, balance a coin on your nose, and balance an apple on a spoon. It would have been easier to just choose one of these tasks and have a traditional race, the different instructions made it difficult to monitor and confused the smaller children.

Sponge Race

Needed: 1 bucket/team, 1 sponge/team; 1 “fill” bucket of water

This was super easy and worked very well. Each team was given a sponge and a bucket. At the opposite end of the field was a bucket with water. Like a traditional relay race, team members took turns racing to the fill bucket, filling their sponge with water, racing back and squeezing into their teams bucket. The game ends when there is no more water in the fill bucket. The team bucket with the most water wins.






Useful Websites: 
Herb identification in Bulgaria
Fire Safety for kids in Bulgarian
Games and activities for kids in Bulgarian

Camp Forest Kingdom III

Hiking to the camp

The summer camp in Chiprovtsi--the big project I've been working on with colleagues this summer--was great! 43 children, 5 PCVs, and 10 adults from the local community participated in the camp.

The Day Before…

T. and I went shopping in Sofia for last minute supplies the day before the camp while N. managed the set up of tents and tables at Pilatovets (the name of the camp area). Everything pictured in the garage (2 grills, 39 sleeping bags, sleeping mats, 50 t-shirts, etc.) we managed to fit in a 5 person Skoda…along with three people wearing seatbelts. It was impressive.

Aerial View from Tower

After unloading supplies, I met Neysa, Ben, Amy, and Joe at the bus stop. We made tofu pad thai and salad. It was great to have them here to help with the camp. Though there were lots of local volunteers and colleagues, they helped keep me not crazy. 

At 7 am, we headed to the Municipality to load the laska for its first trip to the camp site. Neysa and Joe stayed up at the top to help unload baggage and assemble the grills. Ben, Amy, and I hiked up with the 43 kids  and two colleagues. The rest of my colleagues and local volunteers were already at the camp. For breaks, we stopped to hang the new signs for the camp.

The kids were divided into 5 teams, each with a leader and assistant leader. Different colored bracelets identified teams. Leaders were chosen from participants in the 3-day leadership camp during the first week of August. In theory, leaders were responsible for keeping track of their teams, especially when it was their turn to serve a meal or gather everyone for a hike.  

After lunch, the teams competed in relay races. We tried to balance traditional relay races with ones geared for teambuilding. Different icebreakers, teambuilding, and relay race activities we used are here.

Narodna Topka, Jump Rope, Tug of war, and Frisbee Drunken Carrot worked best for free time games. So did French braiding, yoga, and variations on Charades. This website as a lot of play-acting games and other group activities for kids in Bulgarian:

Sessions on emergency first aid and camp fire safety were also held on the first day. Here is a link for fire safety in Bulgarian. 

After dinner, we made s’mores, assembly line style with the kids. Yulka, the chef of the camp, taught the kids folk songs and traditional games. At the end of the night, Ben brought out his guitar and sang. It was a very long, but lovely first day.

Hike to Gushovski Monastery. The kids took turns with 3 binoculars and I'd prepared a nature scavenger hunt (the one we used at Matt and Grant's camp in Belasitsa) and mountain herb identification cards. We didn't get to the scavenger hunt, but the herb identification activity worked well. 

The nurse who came on the hike turned out to be something of an expert on the plants and herbs in the Balkan mountains. She helped us find examples of pretty much everything in bloom. I used this website to find some of the common mountain herbs in Bulgaria and information on when they're in bloom, how to find them, and what to use them for. 

Seeing what we found on the herb list. The yellow flowers in the foreground are St. John's Wort. We also gathered Stinging Nettle, Wild Thyme,  Chicory, Coltsfoot, Yarrow, Blackberries, and some I can't translate. 

Other activities: Viktorina: 15 questions about Bulgaria—geography, history, etc.—with small prizes for the first correct answer. Swim in the river. Yoga using sleeping mats as yoga mats. This turned out to be way more popular than I'd expected. 

Treasure Hunt: Ben made 5 maps leading to the treasure. We hid them early in the morning. We had them staggered on opposite ends of the camp so with each map they had to run to the opposite end of the site. It worked okay except that the sheep dogs were out and some of the maps were hidden a little ways from camp. We ran ahead to make sure there weren’t any problems. There weren’t. 

The treasure was hidden at the end of the rock wall on the far end of camp. The rock wall is part of 2nd/3rd century ruins that are around the camp from Roman times. Hence the name: Children’s Forest Kingdom.

Campers with certificates

The mayor of the municipality handed out certificates to the kids and the local press took pictures and video. After lunch we hiked back to Chiprovtsi.

On the community forum, Tsveti posted some great pictures from day 2. I used a few in these posts. Here's the link to the  website. 

Website now на български

Budzludza

I was at a restaurant with other volunteers during MSC, when Neysa comes over and tells me she just met a British woman in the bathroom who will take us to the spaceship on Friday. I nearly fell over laughing. I’ve heard some strange things, but this was an easy top 5. The spaceship she was referring to is actually Buzludzha, an old communist meeting place off the Shipka pass. 


Sitting above tree line on a peak (4,728 ft) in the middle of a nature reserve and shaped like a flying saucer with an unconnected tower, Buzludzha resembles a spaceship. It is not open for visitors, but is also not fenced in nor are there signs forbidding entry. This website has history of the building and more pictures.

Construction of Buzludzha was completed in 1981. It was unveiled on the 1300th anniversary of the creation of the first Bulgarian state. 90 years after the secret meeting that started organized socialist movement in Bulgaria was held on the mountain.

After our last MSC breakfast, we met the British woman and her husband under the clock tower in Tryavna. Buzludzha is about an hour’s drive away. We didn’t realize a road leads directly to it and parked in a turn-off beneath a large monument down the mountain. Then hiked the steep stone path up the mountain.


When we reached the building, there was a herd of horses, blocking the main entrance. We walked around looking for another way in. Not finding one, we returned to the building’s front and tried to think of ways to make the horses move.

Very large herd of horses. The graffiti above the door reads "FORGET YOUR PAST."

We’d been staring and making noises at the horses for about 20 minutes when a car drove up. A young Bulgarian couple with their dog got out. The man had been inside before and told us the entrance was actually through a dark creepy room on one side we’d passed by. He must have though us quite a site, sweating from our hike up the mountain, attempting to move a 40 wild horses from a locked door by clapping and whistling, stumbling back whenever one of the horses turned too look at us. We followed them through a dark room with metal door that had been bent backwards leaving just enough space for a person to climb through.

The passageway we stepped down into led to the downstairs hall of Buzludzha. Red felt hung sporadically from the walls and broken concrete was everywhere. 

Despite being in a pretty sorry state of destruction, the acoustics of the room were perfect. Standing in the middle, you could feel your voice reverberate around the room when speaking.

 The ceiling reads: “Proletariat of every country, unite!”

 The windows are blown out and the exterior murals destroyed.

The interior walls are also covered with murals, many of which have been destroyed. The face of Todor Zhivkov, the communist leader in Bulgaria for 35 year's, has been completely removed in the one below. 

What it used to look like: 

I took the pictures of the old Buzludzha from www.Budludja.com.