"Chestit Rozhden Den!" means Happy Birthday in Bulgarian. This phrase was one that I heard a lot on the lovely Wednesday of November 10. I woke up early because I had first class. This meant that I had to be at school before 7:30am. Not my idea of the beginning to a Happy Birthday. I was prepared, though, because in Bulgaria when it is your birthday, you must treat other people. It seems pretty backwards to me and I'm pretty sure I won't be bringing that tradition back home with me (so don't get any ideas, my loving friends and family). I had gone after school the day before and bought some chocolates to share with my fellow teachers. I got to school plenty of time before my class started and entered the teachers' room. I said my usual "Zdrasties" (Hello) and "Dobro Utroes" (Good morning) and then I began setting out my chocolates. Immediately, curiousity ensued and it was like, all of the sudden, I existed. The teachers began asking me what the chocolates were for. When I told them that it was my birthday, I was told that I was finally a Bulgarian because I was following the tradition. I was then asked a series of questions that I felt should have been asked a few months ago. However, I put on a smile and answered them, anyway. After I answered the question about how old I am (this was my 24th birthday for those of you who don't know) I was informed of a few teachers who had a son available. It was nice to feel part of the teacher community.
After I had successfully answered all of the questions that were thrown my way, I made my way up the stairs to my 8b class. Unfortunately for them, they had a test that day. But it was a nice little break for me. They were all still sweet in wishing me a Happy Birthday. When the bell rang, I went back to the teachers' room, where I spent the majority of my day. Wednesdays are the worst because I only have two classes and they're the first class and the last class. I don't like to go back home because I'm afraid that I will fall asleep and not wake up for my last class. It was relatively painless, though. I did get to talk to more of the teachers, so that was exciting. Finally, it was time for my 8a class. I went into the classroom and was greeted by more Happy Birthdays, some of them were even in English. I did notice, however, that about half of the class was missing. Almost as soon as I asked where everyone was, my missing students came in with these huge boquets of purple and white flowers for me. It was precious. One of my students in that class was celebrating her birthday as well, so we had an easy lesson.
After school, I was informed that I had a package waiting for me in the post office. This is good news no matter what kind of day you're having. I went to the post office and was pleased to find a sizable package with my name on it. I took it back to my apartment and just as I was getting ready to open it, I got a call from my parents on Skype to wish me a Happy Birthday. It was perfect timing and they got to watch me open my package. I was even more pleased to find out that there was a bigger and better package on the way. Gotta love birthdays. The package was filled with the essentials: non-perishable American foods, vitamins, and Bath & Body Works products. I talked to my parents for a while and the rest of my day was a perfectly lazy day and evening. Late that night I got to talk to Leslie, which was awesome! I hadn't gotten to talk to her in a long time and our birthday was the perfect time to reunite.
The next day, I went to school and it was business as usual. My first class was 9th grade and when I walked into the classroom with Nina (my team-teacher) the entire class was standing with balloons and they sang Happy Birthday to me...in English! They also gave me a gorgeous rose. It was such a great surprise. The rest of the day went smoothly and I even received the much-anticipated bigger and better birthday package. Betty went with me to the post office and carried this huge package all the way from the post office back to my apartment. I called her Superwoman and she thought it was fantastic. Later that night, I had my first na gosti at Betty's house without Rory. I was a little nervous about how much I wouldn't be able to understand. When the time came, though, it was actually great. It was just me, Betty and her family. There wasn't too much that I had trouble understanding and the food was delicious. After the na gosti, I got to talk to my sister on Skype and that was great too. I always like talking to her because we always laugh. A lot.
The next day, I had my two classes and then I was Vratsa bound. A few of my fellow girl volunteers and I were headed to our old stomping grounds to celebrate my birthday. I was set to meet Kerri on the train and Adrienne in Vratsa. Do to the not-so-punctual buses, I literally got to the train station just as the train was pulling up. I hopped on and found Kerri. We got to Vratsa around 7 and met Adrienne at the hotel. We decided on pizza for dinner and then went to our favorite Vratsa bar. Unfortunately, they closed early so we had to find somewhere else to hang out. We saw a sign that said "Piano Carmel" so, of course, we had to check that out. We found ourselves in a piano bar during the transition of the audience from old to young. We hung out there for a while and then headed back to the hotel.
Saturday was a relaxing day. Kerri met her Language Trainer for lunch and Adrienne and I had dooners. They were awesome. After lunch we just walked around Vratsa. It was a gorgeous day. We settled down at a cafe and Kerri came to meet us. A little while later, Kristin and Mary arrived in Vratsa and we met them at the hotel. We lounged for a little bit, got ready and headed out for the night. We had Chinese food for dinner and it was amazing. After dinner we headed back to our favorite bar. Kristin and Mary were interested in the piano bar, so we showed them. Turns out they were having a private party. Once we sat down, a lady came over and told us that we might not be able to stay. She went to go check on something, came back and told us that the people our table was reserved for weren't coming. We stayed for a few drinks and then decided it was time to come hit up the discotech. We went in and we were engulfed in Chalga music. Chalga is a form of music that is only popular in Bulgaria and it's a mixture of pop and folk. It's usually only sung by women made out of silicone and men with creepy facial hair. Usually, every other time we'd been to this disco, there had been more of us and the DJ had played some American music. That was not the case this night. All Chalga all night long. After a while, we decided that it was time to get going. I went to put something in my bag and when I turned around, there was an unfamiliar Bulgarian woman with an eyebrow ring dancing in my direction. At first, I didn't think anything about it so I danced back. Then, she pulled me in for the real thing and I understood. I laughed and said "Ne iskam" (I don't want it) and then she danced away. The other girls were doubled over in laughter and we exited the disco. We went back to the piano bar for a little while longer and then to the hotel.
Sunday, we all had lunch and went back to our respective sites. I'd say that my first Bulgarian birthday was nothing short of a great success. ;)
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
"Dyme Pet!"
This is the Bulgarian equivalent of "Gimme five!". Yesterday one of my students said this to me after I told another one of my students that he was being ridiculous and needed to write his vocabulary words and sentences. It was pretty funny at the time because I hadn't heard it yet. However, it quickly lost its humor when neither one of the students wrote their sentences. Such is the life of a TEFL Volunteer. I don't want to be discouraging, though, so the rest of this entry will be about the happy things that have been happening.
Halloween was a huge deal and an even huger success. The Friday before Halloween, Rory and I threw a massive Halloween party after school. The teachers and everyone were so excited that classes got cut short so that the kids would have time to go home and get their costumes ready. Luckily, I only had two classes that day and so I was done early so that I could go help Rory set up. The party was in the cafeteria of the school and once we got all of the decorations there, it really didn't take that long to set up. Once the classes were finished some of the kids came in and helped with balloons and stuff. They were so excited and eager to help. After a little while, we shooed them out of the room so we could finish up and all of the kids could enter together. It wasn't long before we had finished setting up the room and got into our costumes. Rory was the Grim Reaper complete with an awesome skull mask that he made himself. He looked pretty creepy. Cveti, Rory's girlfriend, was there too and she was a zombie princess. She looked great with her zombie make-up and a fabulous dress. I was just a cat. I painted whiskers on my face and I wore all black. I couldn't think of anything super creative to be. The time came for the kids to come in. There were probably over one hundred. It was great. There were a ton of little kids, so we had them come in shifts. The kids that already has costumes went trick-or-treating and the ones that didn't, came in and got their faces painted or made masks so that they could go later. We had spookey Halloween music playing, games, candy and the kids loved it all. Some of them had some really great costumes too. One girl came as "Autumn" and she had painted her face yellow and green, put leaves all in her hair, and wore some kind of sheet with fall leaves all over it. Another kid came as a member of Al Quida, which was actually kind of hilarious. He had on a robe with all kinds of different colors on it, a round of bullets across his chest, a fake gun and sunglasses. He also had painted a mustache on himself. I almost died when I saw him. A lot of the kids had some great masks too. It was cool to see that everyone went all out. I was also happy to see basically all of the teachers from school there. They looked like they were enjoying it too and a couple of them even played some of the games. After the party, my eighth graders wanted to go trick-or-treating and they wanted me to go with them. It was a lot of fun and I told them that I hadn't gone trick-or-treating in years. They're good kids, even if they don't always do their schoolwork.
The next day was the much anticipated Volunteer Halloween party in Veliko Tarnovo. I met Kristin in Cherven Bryag and we took the train together to another city and then to VT (Veliko Tarnovo). We got there around dinner time and went to the hostel where some other volunteers were staying. We gathered a small group and made our way to the house where the party was to take place. We arrived at the house and were greeted by our friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. There ended up being probably, one hundred volunteers there. We went up to one of the bedrooms and got into our costumes. Lexi and I had decided to go as two other volunteers, Kevin and Drew. They are frat boys who talk about nothing but football and fitness. So, naturally, they're easy to make fun of. Make no mistake, though, they're still friends and they took our joke extremely well. We borrowed jerseys from them (and they had no idea why) and put their names on the back of them, the we put on the black eye stuff and had footballs with us at all times. We made our grand entrance into the room everyone was in and started acting like Kevin and Drew with the football and we got an applause at the end. It was a lot of fun and I was glad that they took it so well. The rest of the party was a blast and people came up with some really cool costume ideas. One group came as a bunch of little Rubix Cubes and wore all different colored articles of clothing. By the time the night was over, the all had to be one color. We had some people dress up like the cast of Jersey Shore, some boys were KISS, and even Justin Beiber showed up. It was great.
The next morning/afternoon when we all woke up at the hostel, a group of us decided to stay another day (since we didn't have school on Monday) and explore the lovely town of Veliko Tarnovo. Kristin, Kerri, Adrienne, Katelyn and myself went to this castel way up on a hill and did the whole tourist thing. It was nice to be a tourist. We got to eat at a nice restaurant where the waiter spoke English and then explore the castle at our own pace. We went to the top where it overlooked the city and it was absolutely gorgeous. After our trek to the castle and back down, we decided it was time for a little nap. We went back to the hostel and rested for a while. After our rest we decided to treat ourselves to a movie. We went to the mall, which was also pretty impressive, and saw the movie "Easy A". I highly reccommend it and it was just what all of us needed. After the movie, we went to the supermarket that was also located in the mall and got a bunch of stuff to make sandwiches and shopska salad. We headed back to the hostel for dinner. We had a delicious dinner of sandwiches, shopska salad, pudding and wine. We had to keep it classy.
The next day we all traveled back to our respective sites and spent the day resting. The past two weeks have been good. This past weekend was Rory's birthday and we had a nice dinner over at Betty's house. It was a lot of fun and I came out with a jar of honey and homemade lutenitza (which is a red pepper kind of spread that is delicious). Now I'm looking forward to this coming weekend and my birthday in Vratsa! It should be a good time and I will be sure to report how that goes too. Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I'm excited to spend my first birthday in Bulgaria. I already bought the chocolates to give to all of my fellow teachers!
Halloween was a huge deal and an even huger success. The Friday before Halloween, Rory and I threw a massive Halloween party after school. The teachers and everyone were so excited that classes got cut short so that the kids would have time to go home and get their costumes ready. Luckily, I only had two classes that day and so I was done early so that I could go help Rory set up. The party was in the cafeteria of the school and once we got all of the decorations there, it really didn't take that long to set up. Once the classes were finished some of the kids came in and helped with balloons and stuff. They were so excited and eager to help. After a little while, we shooed them out of the room so we could finish up and all of the kids could enter together. It wasn't long before we had finished setting up the room and got into our costumes. Rory was the Grim Reaper complete with an awesome skull mask that he made himself. He looked pretty creepy. Cveti, Rory's girlfriend, was there too and she was a zombie princess. She looked great with her zombie make-up and a fabulous dress. I was just a cat. I painted whiskers on my face and I wore all black. I couldn't think of anything super creative to be. The time came for the kids to come in. There were probably over one hundred. It was great. There were a ton of little kids, so we had them come in shifts. The kids that already has costumes went trick-or-treating and the ones that didn't, came in and got their faces painted or made masks so that they could go later. We had spookey Halloween music playing, games, candy and the kids loved it all. Some of them had some really great costumes too. One girl came as "Autumn" and she had painted her face yellow and green, put leaves all in her hair, and wore some kind of sheet with fall leaves all over it. Another kid came as a member of Al Quida, which was actually kind of hilarious. He had on a robe with all kinds of different colors on it, a round of bullets across his chest, a fake gun and sunglasses. He also had painted a mustache on himself. I almost died when I saw him. A lot of the kids had some great masks too. It was cool to see that everyone went all out. I was also happy to see basically all of the teachers from school there. They looked like they were enjoying it too and a couple of them even played some of the games. After the party, my eighth graders wanted to go trick-or-treating and they wanted me to go with them. It was a lot of fun and I told them that I hadn't gone trick-or-treating in years. They're good kids, even if they don't always do their schoolwork.
The next day was the much anticipated Volunteer Halloween party in Veliko Tarnovo. I met Kristin in Cherven Bryag and we took the train together to another city and then to VT (Veliko Tarnovo). We got there around dinner time and went to the hostel where some other volunteers were staying. We gathered a small group and made our way to the house where the party was to take place. We arrived at the house and were greeted by our friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. There ended up being probably, one hundred volunteers there. We went up to one of the bedrooms and got into our costumes. Lexi and I had decided to go as two other volunteers, Kevin and Drew. They are frat boys who talk about nothing but football and fitness. So, naturally, they're easy to make fun of. Make no mistake, though, they're still friends and they took our joke extremely well. We borrowed jerseys from them (and they had no idea why) and put their names on the back of them, the we put on the black eye stuff and had footballs with us at all times. We made our grand entrance into the room everyone was in and started acting like Kevin and Drew with the football and we got an applause at the end. It was a lot of fun and I was glad that they took it so well. The rest of the party was a blast and people came up with some really cool costume ideas. One group came as a bunch of little Rubix Cubes and wore all different colored articles of clothing. By the time the night was over, the all had to be one color. We had some people dress up like the cast of Jersey Shore, some boys were KISS, and even Justin Beiber showed up. It was great.
The next morning/afternoon when we all woke up at the hostel, a group of us decided to stay another day (since we didn't have school on Monday) and explore the lovely town of Veliko Tarnovo. Kristin, Kerri, Adrienne, Katelyn and myself went to this castel way up on a hill and did the whole tourist thing. It was nice to be a tourist. We got to eat at a nice restaurant where the waiter spoke English and then explore the castle at our own pace. We went to the top where it overlooked the city and it was absolutely gorgeous. After our trek to the castle and back down, we decided it was time for a little nap. We went back to the hostel and rested for a while. After our rest we decided to treat ourselves to a movie. We went to the mall, which was also pretty impressive, and saw the movie "Easy A". I highly reccommend it and it was just what all of us needed. After the movie, we went to the supermarket that was also located in the mall and got a bunch of stuff to make sandwiches and shopska salad. We headed back to the hostel for dinner. We had a delicious dinner of sandwiches, shopska salad, pudding and wine. We had to keep it classy.
The next day we all traveled back to our respective sites and spent the day resting. The past two weeks have been good. This past weekend was Rory's birthday and we had a nice dinner over at Betty's house. It was a lot of fun and I came out with a jar of honey and homemade lutenitza (which is a red pepper kind of spread that is delicious). Now I'm looking forward to this coming weekend and my birthday in Vratsa! It should be a good time and I will be sure to report how that goes too. Tomorrow is my actual birthday and I'm excited to spend my first birthday in Bulgaria. I already bought the chocolates to give to all of my fellow teachers!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Home, Sweet Village
Hello again family and friends! I apologize (again!) for it taking so long for me to update. It turns out that being a high school teacher is quite the time suck. On most days I'm pretty exhausted after school so I take a little nap. That little nap usually turns into a longer-than-I-intended nap. By the time I wake up it's around dinner time, so I fix myself some dinner (usually a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich thanks to Mom and Dad) and eat while watching TV or talking to Lexi on Skype. After dinner I search through the deepest, darkest corners of my mind and the Internet to come up with new and interesting ways to make the next day's lesson fun. Sometimes I'm successful and other times I just decide that we'll play UNO. Why UNO? Because, for whatever reason, kids here LOVE UNO. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great game. But they never ever EVER tire of it. However, I've made the mistake of introducing all of my classes to this game and now it's all they want to do. Everyday I walk into the classroom and I have ten to fifteen voices shouting "Gospozha! Moje li igrya na karti?!" Which roughly translates to "Teacher! Can we play cards!?" I'll admit, I give in more often than I should, but this week I'm turning over a new leaf. Now that I have books for all of my classes, learning English will now be taking place in all of my classes. Sorry kids.
However, it hasn't been all work work work. I still manage to have fun. When I can I travel around to other volunteers' sites and hang out. Last weekend I went back to Byala Slatina to visit the three volunteers that live there and my host family. Friday night Kristin, Mary, Rob, James and myself all went to the always-wonderful LPB for dinner and drinks. It was just like the good ol' days of PST. We ate, drank, laughed and compared teaching notes and ideas. It was nice to be back there. Everything was still fresh and familiar. The next day Mary went back to Knezha but I stayed. Kristin took on the task of coloring my hair and, I must say, she did a very good job. Then we went into the town and did a little shopping. Around 6 o'clock we made the trek all the way to my host family's house on the outskirts of town. It was great to see them again! I could tell that they were excited that I had come back to visit. I was also happy when they told me that my Bulgarian had gotten better. We had my favorite Bulgarian meal (musaka, pronounced "moosaka"), shopska salada, stuffed peppers, and rakia. For dessert we had ice cream. It was delicious. I really enjoyed being able to actually have a conversation with them as well. I could finally say more than just "Az sum ot America." (I am from America) or "Az obichum tanzoovum." (I love to dance). I plan on going back pretty often. I felt like it was also good for Kristin to meet them so that she could make some more contacts in Byala Slatina.
This past weekend, some of the volunteers who live close to me and I all made a trip to Pleven to do some shopping. The goal was to find some winter clothes. I came out with a lot of food that I can't get in Koynare and a new pair of super cute brown boots. Conclusion: success. It was nice to get to hang out with all the girls and hear the stories from their schools. I feel like I have it really easy. My main complaint was that my students don't speak as much English as theirs. But, overall, I think I have it the best. There was a mix up with some of the bus times so when it came time for everyone to go back to their respective towns, my bus never came. I waited and waited and the spot remained empty. Katelyn was the last one to wait with me and once she had boarded her bus I decided that it wasn't a big deal and I would just take a train. So I walked across the street to the train station and bought a ticket for the next train to Cherven Bryag (the bigger town about 10 minutes away from Koynare) which happened to be arriving in five minutes. I board the train and find a seat without any problem. I have all of my groceries which are completely thawed out by now and I'm staying alert to find the stop for Cherven Bryag in the darkness that was slowly taking over. We were finally slowing down to my stop so I began to gather my things and move toward the door. We arrived at the station and I waited for the train to stop. But it didn't. It just kept moving (slowly, but still). I didn't know what to do. I was hanging halfway out of the door and the men working at the train station were motioning something to me and yelling words in Bulgarian that I didn't know (or I knew but I was in too much of a panic to understand). I didn't know what was happening or what to do, so I jumped, with all of my groceries and my purse, off of the moving train. I landed easier than I expected and walked past the workers very calmly as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. They all stared at me with mouths gaping open as I made my way across the tracks and up the stairs to get myself a taxi. I secretly felt like Indiana Jones or someone cool and adventurous like that. I got in a taxi and made it back home safe and sound. The next day, I barely moved off of my fouton and it was glorious.
These next two weeks should be good, though. Rory and I are putting together a Halloween party for all the kids. Rory has a group of a few students who have been helping him with his projects and they are all in on this one too. Flyers have been made, materials have been bought, costumes are being thought of, and candy is being purchased. The party will be on the Friday before Halloween, after school. Kids will be encouraged to wear costumes for a costume contest, play games, get their faces painted, make masks, and hopefully watch a Halloween movie. Saturday afternoon, some of the cafes and magazines have agreed to give out candy to little kids who are dressed up so that they can experience Trick or Treating. It's exciting how the whole town is getting involved and how they are all excited for it. I have a feeling that there will be a great turn out at the party. I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes. I'll also try to be better at updating in general. Have a good week!
However, it hasn't been all work work work. I still manage to have fun. When I can I travel around to other volunteers' sites and hang out. Last weekend I went back to Byala Slatina to visit the three volunteers that live there and my host family. Friday night Kristin, Mary, Rob, James and myself all went to the always-wonderful LPB for dinner and drinks. It was just like the good ol' days of PST. We ate, drank, laughed and compared teaching notes and ideas. It was nice to be back there. Everything was still fresh and familiar. The next day Mary went back to Knezha but I stayed. Kristin took on the task of coloring my hair and, I must say, she did a very good job. Then we went into the town and did a little shopping. Around 6 o'clock we made the trek all the way to my host family's house on the outskirts of town. It was great to see them again! I could tell that they were excited that I had come back to visit. I was also happy when they told me that my Bulgarian had gotten better. We had my favorite Bulgarian meal (musaka, pronounced "moosaka"), shopska salada, stuffed peppers, and rakia. For dessert we had ice cream. It was delicious. I really enjoyed being able to actually have a conversation with them as well. I could finally say more than just "Az sum ot America." (I am from America) or "Az obichum tanzoovum." (I love to dance). I plan on going back pretty often. I felt like it was also good for Kristin to meet them so that she could make some more contacts in Byala Slatina.
This past weekend, some of the volunteers who live close to me and I all made a trip to Pleven to do some shopping. The goal was to find some winter clothes. I came out with a lot of food that I can't get in Koynare and a new pair of super cute brown boots. Conclusion: success. It was nice to get to hang out with all the girls and hear the stories from their schools. I feel like I have it really easy. My main complaint was that my students don't speak as much English as theirs. But, overall, I think I have it the best. There was a mix up with some of the bus times so when it came time for everyone to go back to their respective towns, my bus never came. I waited and waited and the spot remained empty. Katelyn was the last one to wait with me and once she had boarded her bus I decided that it wasn't a big deal and I would just take a train. So I walked across the street to the train station and bought a ticket for the next train to Cherven Bryag (the bigger town about 10 minutes away from Koynare) which happened to be arriving in five minutes. I board the train and find a seat without any problem. I have all of my groceries which are completely thawed out by now and I'm staying alert to find the stop for Cherven Bryag in the darkness that was slowly taking over. We were finally slowing down to my stop so I began to gather my things and move toward the door. We arrived at the station and I waited for the train to stop. But it didn't. It just kept moving (slowly, but still). I didn't know what to do. I was hanging halfway out of the door and the men working at the train station were motioning something to me and yelling words in Bulgarian that I didn't know (or I knew but I was in too much of a panic to understand). I didn't know what was happening or what to do, so I jumped, with all of my groceries and my purse, off of the moving train. I landed easier than I expected and walked past the workers very calmly as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. They all stared at me with mouths gaping open as I made my way across the tracks and up the stairs to get myself a taxi. I secretly felt like Indiana Jones or someone cool and adventurous like that. I got in a taxi and made it back home safe and sound. The next day, I barely moved off of my fouton and it was glorious.
These next two weeks should be good, though. Rory and I are putting together a Halloween party for all the kids. Rory has a group of a few students who have been helping him with his projects and they are all in on this one too. Flyers have been made, materials have been bought, costumes are being thought of, and candy is being purchased. The party will be on the Friday before Halloween, after school. Kids will be encouraged to wear costumes for a costume contest, play games, get their faces painted, make masks, and hopefully watch a Halloween movie. Saturday afternoon, some of the cafes and magazines have agreed to give out candy to little kids who are dressed up so that they can experience Trick or Treating. It's exciting how the whole town is getting involved and how they are all excited for it. I have a feeling that there will be a great turn out at the party. I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes. I'll also try to be better at updating in general. Have a good week!
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