Having graduated from college, I've decided to set out on an adventure: a year in Bulgaria. I'll be teaching English at a city in central Bulgaria, and I'll be travelling as much as possible. Stop by for updates!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

London, Take Two

Here's the rest of our time in London, by photograph:

The British Museum

The Elgin Marbles! I've also seen the blank spot on the Parthenon in Athens where they're supposed to go. Now, the puzzle is complete. :)

The Egyptian goddess Hathor

War Horse, the play we saw in London. It was incredible. It's set in WWI and had huge puppets of horses. The whole thing was just absolutely amazing. I can't even describe it.

Warming up with lattes while waiting for the theatre to open.

I miss the theatre!!!

The Tate Modern. I don't have any pictures from inside, but it was one of the best put together modern art exhibits I've ever seen. I'm not a huge modern art fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this museum.

Shakespeare's Globe. Drool.

Crossing the pedestrian bridge to the other half of London. It was super windy and cold!

Egyptian obelisk! You can't really see it in this picture, but it's there!

See? I told you so. And you doubted me...

So. Good.

Trafalgar Square by night. I love this city.

London Part 1

I've decided to separate London into two posts because there are so many pictures involved! Even though Ellen and I were only in London for two and a half days, we managed to see an incredible amount of stuff. We went to the Imperial War Museum, the British Museum, the Tate Modern Art Museum, a play, and a showing of Harry Potter. Plus, we walked all over the place just soaking in the view and being surrounded by native English speakers. I love Bulgaria, but at times, I really miss hearing English spoken all around me everywhere I go. It's hard not being able to understand the majority of what's going on around me. Mike and Deb let us stay with them while we were in London, and it was great to see them again as well. It feels like just yesterday that I was visiting them from Malta, but it's actually been almost three years now. Time flies! Anyways, on to the pictures!


Mike and Deb. I swear, they never age. This is exactly how I remember them looking eighteen years ago.

Jazz! She was adorable, but she made me miss my puppies back home!

Waiting for the train into London

Looking adorable and ready for a day in London

My favorite place in all of London - the Imperial War Museum

Truth.

One of my absolute favorite posters of all time

Recreation of the trenches

Bulgarian soldier, WWI

Bad form, Peter. Bad form.

Cruising around Krakow

I hope you're all ready for some image overload. Krakow was a beautiful city, and I took tons of amazing pictures there. I've narrowed the list down to some of my favorites, but it's still a lot of photos. Do not be misled, however. I was in Krakow for a conference, and I spent most of my time in class. These pictures were taken during lunch and dinner breaks. Most of my time was spent in the hotel conference room stuffing myself on delicious Polish snacks and way too much coffee while listening to presenters and trading advice and ideas. The conference was quite interesting. I took away a lot of useful information and also discarded some advice that did not apply to my situation. I think that most conferences go that way, though. Some ideas and activities really click well and prove useful, and then there are other ideas or activities that you would probably never use. I'm happy to have participated not only because I learned from my classes but because it gave me the opportunity to talk to my colleagues around Eastern Europe. The conference was for all of the Fulbright ETA's teaching in Eastern Europe, and I got to learn about their classrooms and what they have found useful as well as share my own stories and successes. While I disagreed with some of the management advice given, I walked away with a lot of ideas for activities and lessons that I hope will prove useful, especially with the ninth graders. I'm hoping to implement some of my new ideas in the spring. In the meantime, enjoy some beautiful pictures of Krakow!

The church in the center of Krakow

Same church, different angle

Love this building!

Central market where you can buy amber and pottery and other souvenirs

This used to be the town hall, but only the tower is still standing

On our way to visit Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in Europe

Rocking my nerdy smile

Inside the courtyard of the university

I want one of these! You put a book on each little shelf thing, and then you can spin the wheel and access up to six books at one time. So cool!

Playing the artsy Chopin piano with my friend Laura

We found a cupcake store! So yummy!!

Krakow at night. Look at the way the light throws up a bat signal on the opposite building. :P

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

April Uprising


In the late 1300's, Bulgaria was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and remained subject to the Ottoman Turks until 1878. From April to May of 1876, Bulgarians rose up, unsuccessfully, against the Turks in what is now known as the April Uprising. Although the Uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, the violent repression of the Bulgarian rebels created sympathy for the Bulgarian liberation movement across Europe and the United States. In 1877-78, the Russians came to the aid of the Bulgarians in the Russo-Turkish War, and the Bulgarians finally achieved independence. The April Uprising began in the small town of Koprivshtitsa, and Fulbright took a trip to the town to see some of the houses of the rebels.

Arriving in Koprivshtitsa

The house of the merchant where the uniforms of the rebels were made

Awesome, hand-painted detailing


Love the view!


The house of Dimcho Debelyanov, a famous Bulgarian poet who died in WWI


A statue of Dimcho's mother, awaiting his return


Tiny doorways!


The bell that rang to announce the April uprising.


Todor Kableshkov, one of the leaders of the April Uprising. After the uprising began, he sent a letter to a nearby town to let them know that things had begun. After signing the letter, he drew a cross on it with the blood of the first Turk slain in the uprising. His tombstone has a gun and knife crossed on it. I'm both frightened and fascinated by this man...


Back again

Sorry! I haven't updated in awhile. I've been on the move again. I went to an education conference in Krakow, Poland followed by a visit to my godparents in London. Both were absolutely amazing, but I'm exhausted now! Six plane rides in seven days. Yikes! I am now back in Stara Zagora and settling back into my routine. My students had a free period last week while I was gone and some were a little overwhelmed by the idea that they have to work now that I'm back again. Luckily, they're all bright kids and will get right back into the routine. I have assigned my eleventh graders a 2-3 page essay on White Fang. They were horrified. Apparently, the thought of writing three whole pages is ludicrous. I have complete confidence in them. More so than they have in themselves, apparently. What a lot of them forget is that they wrote a 1-2 page essay for me that they did not do any research for. Add in a little bit of research, and 2-3 pages becomes easy as pie. I don't understand that expression, by the way. Pie is not all that easy. It's not as difficult as, say, a souffle, but it's not exactly a baked potato either.

Speaking of pie, Thanksgiving is in two days! I am having a few of my fellow teachers over tomorrow night for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner of roasted chicken, corn, and roast pumpkin. Plus, I'm considering attempting some traditional Bulgarian salads (Mlechna - a yogurt and cucumber salad and the ever present Shopska salata - cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheese). I'm having my Stara celebration a day early since I will be on a bus to Sofia Thursday night. I'm headed to Sofia in order to attend the Sofia opening of Harry Potter as well as the Fulbright Orphan Thanksgiving. A bunch of us Fulbrighters are getting together for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. I'm bringing pumpkin pie and white wine. I left a bunch of baking supplies with a friend in Sofia. So, all I have to do is roast and drain some pumpkin to bring with me on Thursday, and I'm set. Ellen is making the crusts, and I'm providing the filling. I'm capable of both, but we decided it would go much faster if we teamed up. That way, we can crank out two or three pies instead of just one. I'm so excited!

I'll be posting my photos and stories from Poland and England either today or tomorrow. So, keep an eye on things. :)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Halloween in Veliko Turnovo

Finally, my long awaited post on my Halloween trip to Veliko Turnovo. VT is a town about 120 km north of Stara Zagora, but it takes between three and four hours to get there because it's on the far side of an enormous mountain. Hillary lives an hour south, and we managed to make it onto the same bus up into the mountains. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive, and there was snow!!!!!!!!!! I love snow from a bus window. When I don't have to wade through the slush and be freezing. :P

Snow from the bus window!

Veliko Turnovo is the old capital of Bulgaria. It was conquered in the 1300's by the Ottoman Empire, but you can still see the remains of the old fortress. Hillary and I admired it from a distance the first day but waited to explore it fully until everyone else arrived.

Near the old fortress

There were several run down old buildings that had this crazy beauty in ruin.

Olivia, Laura Y, Dena, Kate, and Amanda showed up that night, and we had dinner and then went to the house where the Peace Corps Volunteers were staying. We got to meet a lot of them, and they all seemed fairly nice. It was nice to see some Americans again, and it was nice to be able to meet them in a relaxed environment before the Halloween party the next night. Saturday morning, we all woke up and went to tour the fortress. It was awesome! I love playing in old ruins...

Entering the fortress!!

An amazing view of the mountains.

That night, we all got fancied up and headed back to the PCV house for our Halloween Party. It was a lot of fun, but it made me miss the States like crazy! I can't wait for next year!

I was one cute Pippi Longstocking!