New Foods and a New School

I'm bored. I'll admit it. I'm not bored all of the time. Just some of the time. Like when I'm alone in my apartment. Which is more often than I care to admit. But it's okay! Because I have found an activity that takes up a lot of time and is extremely rewarding: cooking! I spend most of my down time looking up recipes and trying new things. So far, I am having great success. I have learned how to make chicken stock and then how to use that chicken stock to make rice pilaf (which is delicious!). I have also learned innumerable ways to cook vegetables and chicken. Though I'm sure there are plenty more options out there for me to explore. This week, I learned how to make homemade applesauce and homemade refried beans. So delicious! I'm going to make applesauce all fall until the apples run out. It's so good, and it reminds me of home.

This past weekend, I visited my friend Ellen in Sofia. She showed me where to find American ketchup and frozen french fries. So, next time I get super homesick, I'm buying fries and ketchup. It was nice to visit with Ellen because I'm starting to get lonely, and it is nice to get out of my city and spend some time with another American who is going through the same experience. The honeymoon period has worn off, and I'm struggling to adjust to the daily realities of life in Bulgaria. I actually really love it here. I live in a beautiful city, and I have wonderful students. But I've never lived alone before. And I've certainly never lived in a city where I have to practice my mime skills on a daily basis. I knew before coming that most people would not speak English. But knowing and living with are two very different things. Luckily, I am beginning to pick up random words in Bulgarian along with a couple of useful phrases. And, my miming skills are becoming unrivaled. The other day, I went to the local store to get chicken. Before I left, I taught myself the Bulgarian word for chicken (pile). Upon arrival, I timidly scooted up to the counter and said in as confident a voice as I could muster, "ummm...pile?" The grocer smiled at me, went to the freezer, and began pulling out whole chickens while asking me in Bulgarian if I wanted a big one or a small one. At that point in time, I made the unhappy realization that I had forgotten to look up one very key phrase: chicken breast. I didn't want a whole chicken. So, I told the grocer, "ne...ummm...I want pile...ummm" and then gestured vaguely towards my chest. After blushing slightly, the grocer managed to tell me that he did not have any chicken breasts. Then, he asked me something in Bulgarian. I told him that I didn't understand. He looked really embarrassed and uncomfortable. Then, he mumbled, "Pile?" and gestured towards his thigh. I am not a huge fan of chicken thighs, but I quickly said, "Dobre! (good)", grabbed the thighs, paid, and ran away. Every day in Bulgaria is another adventure waiting to happen. But I love it. Or at least, I love it after the fact. Things are always much funnier AFTER I successfully make it through them.

School opened on September 15. When I say opened, I do not mean that classes started on the 15th. In Bulgaria, the first day of school is a time of celebration and welcome. Selected seniors give speeches and some of the kids perform dances and songs. I even got to hear a student play the Bulgarian bagpipes! After the ceremony, the teachers met upstairs for alcohol and snacks. At eleven in the morning. This is my kind of school! :P

After the opening ceremony, I headed back out into the city for a day of wandering and fun. I managed to find the remains of the Roman forum and theater! Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to get into the theater. The sign posted is in Bulgarian, and I cannot figure it out. So, I awkwardly stood at the gate for a few minutes hoping someone would miraculously appear to tell me where to go, but no such fairy appeared. Luckily, as I was walking away, I spotted the Regional History Museum. So, I went inside and got to enjoy an afternoon of nerdy history artifacts. I loved it! I'm probably going to go back several times. Even though I'm seen the whole thing. Because I like it. And I like history. Okay, nerd moment over. For the time being.

The Roman theater as seen from outside the stupid gate.

I started classes on Thursday. The Bulgarian school system is different from the American. Each grade is divided into three English classes (A,B,C), three French classes, and three German classes. Each class is assigned a classroom. Then, the teachers move around to the classrooms. So, teachers do not have their own rooms. Instead, they move to where the kids are. I teach nine classes a week. I teach all three classes of 9th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade once a week each. I teach 9a and 9b on Monday; 11c, 11a, 12b, and 12a on Tuesday; 9c on Wednesday; and 11b and 12c on Thursday. I am not teaching very much, but in addition to my regular classes, I will be making guest appearances in other classes and working with extracurricular groups as well. Overall, I should be kept fairly busy. I have now met all of my classes but one, and I have great students. Some classes are crazy energetic while other classes barely say a word. Both kinds offer their own unique challenges, and I am looking forward to working with them all. I do not have class tomorrow due to a National holiday, which means that I will not meet 9c until next week. That's a shame because it puts them a week behind their classmates. I will just have to double time to catch them up. I have learned, however, that I cannot move too fast. My students can't understand me when I speak too fast. They say my accent is confusing. What accent? I don't have an accent. Do I?

This weekend, I am off to Istanbul, Turkey. There is going to be a large gathering of Fulbrighters in the beautiful city of Istanbul. Ellen, Dena, and Kate are leaving tonight. Hillary and I (and hopefully Olivia!) will join them on Friday, and Katie and Keith are joining us at some point as well. Katie and Keith are couch surfing. Basically, there's a website where you can sign up to let strangers spend a night or two on your couch. Katie and Keith are far braver than I ever will be. While I am generally trusting of the goodwill of strangers, I wouldn't want to sleep on one's couch... I will be staying in a hostel with Hillary and whoever else wants to join us. Much better, in my humble opinion. For $20 a night, I get a lock on my door...

I am super excited to see Istanbul again. Last time I went, I was exhausted from two weeks straight of travelling and did not get a chance to truly appreciate the city. This time, I will be rested and revved up to go. Things I am looking forward to: the Latin alphabet, the spice market, the Underground Caverns. Hopefully, I will get to see all three.

A picture of me at the Blue Mosque on my last trip to Turkey.

Time to go cook dinner. Ciao for now!

Settling in Stara

I realized today that I haven't updated my blog in a week and a half. Whoops! Time flies when you're having fun. And when you're trying to get adjusted to life in a new place. So far, I love where I'm living. The whole city is beautiful. There are trees and parks EVERYWHERE. It'ls amazing. My apartment is simple but nice. After living in a dorm room, it seems huge, and I love having my own space. I'm thinking about painting my living room. It's currently pink. That might need to change...

In addition to thinking about painting my apartment, I've been having fun exploring the city. And by exploring the city, I mean exploring the park near my apartment. In my first two days here, Mimi and Sylvia (two of my colleagues at Romain Rolland) showed me how to get to the small grocery store and vegetable stand near my house as well as to the big grocery store and huge market closer to the center. I have been loving the over abundance of farm fresh vegetables around here. And homemade honey. I made homemade chicken stock the other night after a delicious meal of chicken marinated in honey and spices. I am learning how to cook. Though for me, cooking generally means stir frying a ton of vegetables and then deciding what to do with said vegetables. What can I say? I love vegetables. I have to be the strangest human being alive to want to base every single meal I eat off of a ton of fresh vegetables. I don't know what I'm going to do when winter comes and vegetables suddenly become scarcer and far more expensive...

Sylvia and her family also took me out of the city to the nearby mineral baths, a remnant from when Stara Zagora was a Roman city (Augusta Trayana). I got to see an ancient altar that has recently been turned into the site of a Christian chapel and a place of pilgrimage due to a Virgin Mary sighting. They say she left her footprint in the rocks nearby. It's a very beautiful and serene spot, and there are lots of prayers to the Virgin Mary left in the form of little, white cloths tied to trees. We also went and saw the Roman Baths. They're a bit overgrown now, but it was still exciting to see. Not my first Roman Bath, but it was the first time I had to hop a fence to see them. I probably shouldn't admit to doing that...

Near my apartment is the gorgeous Ayazmo Park. Somewhere, buried in its depths, is a zoo. My goal is to find that zoo. So far, I am unsuccessful, but I am determined. And I like going for really long walks. So, not finding it isn't bad either. It just means that I get to explore a new area of the park. I think I am close to finding it. It's just a matter of going in the right direction long enough instead of getting distracted by side roads. :P

Excuse the mess in my bedroom. Still trying to find places for everything!

By an ancient sacrificial altar. Or, as Mark says, the slab on which the white witch killed Aslan. :P

On my favorite bench in the park. I can't wait for the leaves to start changing!

Surviving my first power outage AKA Friendly Bulgarian Neighbors

I was warned before arriving at my apartment that there tend to be random power outages. I was hoping that I would get a chance to settle in thoroughly before experiencing one, but I had no such luck. I arrived in my apartment last night and had my first power outage this evening. In the middle of cooking dinner. Luckily, I am an intelligent human being, and I unpacked my flashlight last night and put it in a very easy to find location. After finding my flashlight, I began to rummage around for my Bulgarian dictionary. I opened it up only to find that "electricity" is not considered an important enough word for my dictionary. So, I looked up "light." Bad news, there are five entries in my dictionary for light, and the first three were labeled as verbs while the last one was labelled "not heavy." The fourth option didn't have a label. I began trying to mumble the Bulgarian to myself as I put my shoes on and opened my front door, but when I stopped the first little old Bulgarian lady who smiled at me, my mind blanked. So, instead of trying to say the word for "light," I just stood there repeating "ne ...ummmm..." and then pointing at my apartment. Luckily, she figured out what I meant by that and called to an older Bulgarian man who looked a lot like my Grandpa Dave and who came to my rescue. After asking me several questions, to which I replied "ummm...ne Bulgarski?" he laughed and came into my apartment. Turns out I had blown a fuse, which is a much more complicated fix than I remember it being in the US. He got up on a chair to reach my fuse box, unscrewed a little dial, and then disappeared into his apartment to get another fuse. He must have replaced it while he was inside because he came back, screwed the dial back in, and presto chango - lights! It's nice to have friendly neighbors. I finished making dinner and am now sitting in my living room once again. I really hope my power doesn't go out again anytime soon...

A Crazy Two Weeks

I have spent the past two weeks working for STEP Bulgaria, an organization that works to teach English and business skills to orphans. It has been a crazy ride. I'm working with Group One - the kids who speak hardly any English at all. They range in age from 12 to 17, but most of them are 12-14. They love English classes. I've never worked with kids so enthusiastic to learn. It helps that they're only here for two weeks. So, their optimism and enthusiasm hasn't really run out. We've had a couple of problem kids, but the majority have been amazing. Before we arrived, some of the other volunteers warned us that the kids might be terrible and hard to work with and might steal things from us, etc. Turns out, the other volunteers were wrong. Some of the volunteers seem to be prejudiced against the kids because of their background as orphans, which is a shame since the kids are really quite wonderful. But I've heard some of the volunteers say some fairly negative things about the kids' abilities and intelligence based solely on the fact that they're orphans and poor and therefore "must" be stupid and lazy. In reality, the kids work really hard and have an incredible retention for English. I hear my kids all over the hotel asking the other volunteers "What is your favorite color" or "Where are you from?" They're amazing. I don't get internet in my room, which is why I haven't had the chance to update much in the past two weeks. But I move into my apartment on Friday, and I will hopefully have my internet up and running by next Tuesday. Then, I will have a lot more posts coming!!

I used Tigger to teach the kids prepositions. Tigger was on the table, under the table, etc.

And we used Battleship to teach them letters and numbers.

And the US Ambassador to Bulgaria visited the camp.