Bulgarski Futbol

So I don't get to watch my favorite teams every Saturday and Sunday. So I'm missing the Rays' first trip to the World Series. So what? I'm in Bulgaria where soccer (futbol) is king.

This weekend I made it out to a game played between my town's team, FK Preslav (FK = Futbol Klub) and a big city somewhat close to me, Dobrich. Dobrich is a city with over 100,000 people, and Preslav has probably somewhere around 9000. Despite this size disparity, the teams are somehow in the same division.

I didn't think our odds were too great coming in, but I had my mind set on finally getting out and watching some sports. Even though it was a cold and rainy day, I'm glad I did. It was a fun game to watch with a lot of slipping and sliding around the field. However, this made the play a bit sloppy and a lot of fouls were called for both teams throughout the match (one guy even pushed a ref). The game remained scoreless until the last 15 minutes of the game, when Preslav scored. They were able to hang on to the victory despite some close calls for the 1-0 upset win.

Preslav's jersey is navy blue with red trim, and Dobrich is in Packers colors (yellow and green). It was therefore very easy for me to join the rest of the crowd in rooting against them.

Lining up the shot for the game's only goal

I guess home field advantage paid off… Our crowd was fierce, and the other team just couldn’t handle the pressure…

In Bulgarian soccer there are 3 tiers - A group (the premier/professional league), B group (the winner of B group gets to move up into A, and the worst in A group gets demoted to B), and V group (the winner of V group gets to move into B group, etc.). Preslav is in V group...

The biggest rivalry in the country is FK Levski vs. CSKA (both play in Sofia in different stadiums), and dang it is intense. It seems everyone in the country is at a 50/50 split as to which team they support, and they might as well be the only two teams in the league. Levski has won the Bulgarian championship (called the Bulgarian Cup) something like 26 times, and CSKA has won it around 20 or so. The team that has won it the 3rd most only has 6…

All in all Bulgarian soccer hasn’t been too competitive with the rest of the world or even with Europe. Their one success (which is still talked about by people here) was in the 1994 World Cup, when Bulgaria stunned everyone and placed 4th. FK Levski is the only team to have made it to the group stage of the UEFA Champion’s League. Unfortunately their group conisted of legendary teams like Chelsea and Barcelona and they got blown out in all 6 of their group games.

There is however, one shining light for the Bulgarians – Dimitar Berbatov. He’s the captain of the Bulgarian national team, and plays (and starts!) as a forward/striker for none other than the world famous Manchester United. He's also played for Tottenham Hotspur, Bayer Leverkusen, and CSKA Sofia. Needless to say the Bulgarians are really proud of him, and he has risen to national hero status. This guy’s face is everywhere, and he’s on the news and sports highlight reels pretty much every night, even if he didn’t do anything remarkable.

Maybe someday in the far future, FK Preslav will move up through the ranks to reach Bulgarian Super Cup glory, or play in the Champions League, but for now the people of Preslav and I are just happy to have something to watch on Saturdays.

Until next time...

Adventures in Horrible English

This is an actual, verbatim excerpt from an English language textbook that one of my kids is using. Nothing was changed.

Christy: Hi Daniel, what's that in your pocket?
Daniel: Ah, this? It's my new Busta Rhymes CD. It's awesome! Do you want to see it?
Christy: Nope. BR's not my favourite.
Daniel: Isn't he? Who's your favourite then?
Christy: I haven't got a favourite.
Daniel: You don't like rap music?
Christy: No, not at all.
Daniel: What kind of music do you like?
Christy: Actually I'm not keen on music. I like computer games. No, I love computer games. I play non-stop.
Daniel: You don't! You don't play on the bus! And I listen to music every where.
Christy: You don't! You don't listen to music in class.

Can anyone tell me what the heck this is supposed to teach kids, or when this situation would arise?

This is Preslav: Chapter 1

So I’ve finally settled into life here in Preslav, starting to get into routines, starting to see the same people every day. This is only a good thing, as I keep telling myself every day. Even though I have a while to go before I’m fully “integrated” (PC buzzword) here, I’m certainly starting to become somewhat comfortable in this somewhat new place.

The town itself is a nice one despite its somewhat small size. In fact I had the realization the other day on my way to the bus station that the entire town might actually be smaller than the campus of Florida State. I can walk the town from one end to the other in 20 minutes. Regardless, the town is surprisingly dense, having a lot of cafes and shops, and there is a lot to keep me occupied outside of the walls of the orphanage.

The town is the seat of the municipality ("Obshtina" in Bulgarian). For a comparison to America, if each region in Bulgaria were a state, the Obshtinas would be like counties.


The fact that the town is the seat of the Obshtina is just about the only power this once great city (former capitol of Bulgaria) has left. Even so, there's still a lot of history and beauty here. The church in the center boasts having the only frescoes in Northeastern Bulgaria, and dates back to the mid 1800s. It's probably my favorite building in town, and can be seen from most places around town.

The town center is located right in the middle of the Chitalishte, the Obshtina, town hall, and the church. Most of the things to do here (shops, cafes, restaurants) are located either on or very close to here.
There is also a small park behind the center, overlooking the church.
This gigantic statue of the former king of Bulgaria serves as a reminder of the once great status of Preslav. Even though I think it's Communist era (looks that way at least), it really is a big presence in the town and it seems to be a source of pride of the residents here. Plus it looks really cool.
While the center pretty much lives up to its name, in that pretty much everything is located around it, there's a lot to do outside of it as well. There's the Sunday bazaar, the school and orphanage, and of course, the ruins of the old capitol, but those are all topics for another day.

I'll start posting more info on the orphanage at which I work soon. I'm still kind of feeling out the situation there, meeting the kids, and trying to get into some sort of routine. I'm in a sort of experimentation phase - seeing what works and what fails miserably - and documenting everything that I can. I already feel like I'm differentiating myself from the previous volunteer... More on that later.

Until next time...

Cribs - Bulgaria Edition

Hey everyone. Ever wonder what life in a former communist blok is like? I know I did before I came here. Now I’m living the dream in one of my own! All kidding aside, it’s actually a pretty nice place and I’m liking it so far. Here’s the tour... in video format!

The grand tour is also available in picture form on facebook...

Right now I’m still settling in to my new place, but I start working at the orphanage on Monday. There's a lot of kinks to work out - all the normal ones associated with moving to a new place, and then there's also some extra little surprises thrown in the mix since of course "this is Bulgaria" (a favorite phrase of Bulgarians). All in all I'm having a good time, and it's nice to finally be out on my own.

On a different note, I'm on Skype now, so you can call me for free if you have the internet and a microphone. My skype name is pretty easy: greg.herb so drop me a line sometime. Just remember I'm 7-10 hours ahead of you. I'm also on AIM (moxwax) still.

Until next time...

Dom Sweet Dom

Hey everyone... just a quick update. I'm all moved in to my little bloc apartment here in Preslav. Settling in here will be a whole different beast, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll get a more detailed post up later, but just wanted to let people know that I did in fact make it out here. I also have regular internet service now! Woohoo! If you want my address, shoot me an email or a facebook message.

More coming soon.

Snow Alert

It's the beginning of October and the hills near my village are covered in snow. Here we go...

In other news, training is wrapping up. Here's a look at what I'll be up to for the next few days:

Today I take my final language test - the LPI (Language Proficiency Interview... sounds intense, right?). I have to score at an intermediate-low level. Wish me luck...

Tomorrow I'm taking a trip with some other volunteers to Melnik, the wine capital of Bulgaria, and Sandanski, the birthplace of Spartacus.

On Wednesday, we have our final HUB session in Dupnitsa, reflect on how our training went, make final preparations for service, and have one last good time together before heading out to our sites.

Thursday is swearing-in, and my departure to my home for the next 2 years.

Some stats from the last 11 weeks of training:
Hours of language classes taken: too many
murals painted: 1
Bulgarian landmarks seen: 5
football games of home teams missed: 10
hamburgers eaten: 1 (I caved in Sofia... it was pretty disappointing)
pounds lost: somewhere between 10 - 15

More details to come.

Until next time...