Now, time to play catchup. OK, so since our Christmas/New Year's break some things have happened (as they tend to do over a two month period). School started back up and I returned with a new since of excitement and my students...did not. I have recently come up with a new grading system that I'm pretty excited about. It allows for the students to have more grades, but it also holds them accountable for more things. I put the fear of God in my 8a class when they looked in my notebook and saw failing grades by almost all of their names. I explained how it worked and they relaxed a bit, but now I'm hoping for better participation and actually completing assignments. I'll keep you updated on that.
In other school related news, I have a new tutor. My old tutor is in university in Sofia, so that made things more difficult to meet or have sessions over Skype. It's much easier having someone here in town. His name is Plamin and he's the Bulgarian Language teacher at my school. Oh, did I mention that he doesn't speak a word of English? Because he doesn't. This makes explaining things a little more difficult. However, it is also really exciting for me when he explains the meaning of a Bulgarian word IN Bulgarian and I understand it. We also have our sessions in the Teachers' Room in the school and often other teachers are in there during our sessions. At first, I was nervous because well, who wouldn't be? But, after a few sessions, I noticed that those teachers would talk to me more because they realized that I actually CAN speak Bulgarian. Once other teachers saw this, they began talking to me more often. It's nice to go to the school now and actually have conversations that go further than just "Hello, how are you?" (zdravae, kak si?). I also got my very own drawer in the Teachers' Room! Now, this might not sound like a big deal to those of you who have all the drawers you want at any given hour of the day, but I will have you know that storage is a HUGE deal to me here. I lack storage space, both, in my apartment and in the school. We got a new set of cabinets with more drawers than the last ones and so I was presented with one. My name is on it and everything. Of course, after I came back the next day it was filled with Plamin's things on top of my own...but the point is: I have a drawer just like the other teachers.
In Peace Corps news, I went to Sofia and attended a banquet in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps. The senior staff was there, as well as the very first Peace Corps Bulgaria staff, other volunteers, Bulgarian staff, new reporters and the American Ambassador. It was a nice event, though it didn't last very long. I can say that I hung out with the American Ambassador for Bulgaria and that's something that not everyone can say. Also as the school year is winding down, I must come up with something to occupy my time with over the summer. Now, what I'm thinking is...I have no idea. Rory said something about doing some kind of thing where we organize games at the stadium. But, if we do that, it needs to be before it gets too hot or else no one will show up. Other than that, I have no idea. If you guys have any ideas, feel free to post them and I'll be sure to give you credit in the name. :)
Something else you may be interested in is my recent trip to Greece. I went with Kerri and Adrienne and we went to Athens and Santorini. Let me begin by saying, if you ever decide to travel from Bulgaria to Greece, I suggest you DO NOT take a bus. We made this mistake. It was supposed to be an eleven hour bus ride from Sofia, Bulgaria to Athens, Greece...FOURTEEN hours later, we're still on the bus stuck in traffic. If trains are available, I suggest those...with sleeper cars. We got to Athens and got situated in our hostel (Athens Backpackers), which was awesome! We were right in the tourist center of the city and could see the Acropolis from our street. Amazing. We walked around for a little bit and then we went back and rested up before our night of unintentional partying. We had a nice, relaxing dinner at a little corner restauraunt and then decided to go to the sports bar that was owned by the hostel. Two words: Karaoke Night. We walked in and were greeted by Americans, Aussies and good drinks. We met some cool people and ended up heading over to a tiki bar until we finally headed back to the hostel. The next morning, we were woken up by the sound of the other girls in our room asking us if all of our stuff was still there. After checking around, we all said that it was and they told us that one of the girls had her purse stolen. She had locked it in her suitcase and it had been CUT out. The suspect (who we believe is still in question) was another girl in our room who was mysteriously missing that morning and never came back. Weird. Luckily, all of our stuff remained with us. That day was just spent wandering around the city and doing some light shopping. Our final day in Athens, we made it our mission to go see the Acropolis, however, because it was still "winter season", it closed at 2:30 (who does that?!) so we missed it. After a rather long, exhausting and ridiculous journey to a travel agency, we decided that after Santorini we would come back for another night in Athens and see the friggin' Acropolis. We may actually be the worst tourists ever.
The next day, we got up bright and early to catch a ferry to Santorini. We were under the impression that it would only be five hours...EIGHT hours later, we arrive. After the tossing of the ferry, I wanted to kiss the ground of the port, but I didn't because it was really gross. We hopped in a taxi and went all the way across the island to Perissa Beach, where our hostel (Stelio's Place) was. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. It had the prices of a hostel but it looked like a resort and it was right on the beach! It was perfect. There was a little restauraunt/bar that we ate at every night because it was our only option since it wasn't tourist season. It was nice, though, because we were basically the only people there we got things for free. Our first full day on the island we rented a car (because in a non-Peace Corps country we're allowed to drive) and drove to Fira, which is the capitol of the island, and Oia (pronounced like "ee-ya"), which is another bigger city. Both were pretty, but Oia was simply amazing. It looked like all of those postcards you've seen of Greece with the little houses with white walls and blue doors and rooftops. Yea, they're real. The next day, the sun was out and gorgeous, so we layed on the black sand beach for a while and got our sun on. After soaking up some sun, we took a little drive to Red Beach which is pretty much just what it sounds like. The beach is made of red volcanic rock, instead of black volcanic rock. The reflections of the blue sea and the red rock made for some amazing pictures (please see my Facebook page for these photos).
The next day we woke up early to catch our ferry back to Athens and at least this time we were prepared for the eight hours. The trip back wasn't nearly as bad as the trip there. We were inside in a nice seating area with comfortable chairs and a snack bar. We went back to the same hostel in Athens and had a nice, relaxing dinner. Our last day in Greece and we finally made it to the Acropolis! It was so awesome to be around one of the oldest structures on the planet. I wish there would've been more plaques around to tell more about it (or I wish that I had done more research before I went there), but that's my only complaint. That evening, we boarded a bus for another fourteen hour bus ride back to Bulgaria. Aside from our poor planning, the trip was absolutely amazing and I hope I'll get to go back to Santorini and live there forever because it's gorgeous...and WARM!
Well, that's pretty much what's been happening lately. Those are the main points, anyway. Look again soon for new stories. Don't give up on me. I'm sure my students will do something worth writing about!
