Peace Corps presents Christmas Vacation

Hey all… It’s been a little while since my last post, but it’s also been a little while since I’ve been home to even write one. I just returned from an epic vacation that I’m still kind of reeling from. This was my longest break yet, and well deserved if I might say so myself.

My final day in Preslav was spent running a talent show and game night for the children of the town in which I, once again, was somehow coaxed into dressing up as Diado Koleda/Santa Claus. Early the next morning I was off to the mountains far far away from my site. It took an overnight train and then an additional 5 hour bus ride, and then another 30 minute cab ride to reach the place, but the journey was worth it. We got in at night, so we couldn’t really see how beautiful the place was until we woke up the next morning. However, the amazing food that kept coming was as good a sight as any. Plus the company was fantastic. We basically relaxed by the fire, played games, watched movies, and sang songs the whole time. Basically a very laid back time, which was just what I needed.

This is the view I was greeted with out the window next to my bed when I woke up...


Delchevo is a small village high up in the mountains near the Greek border, looking down upon the regional center of Gotse Delchev. The place has been preserved as an ethnographic site, sealing its appearance as it might have looked 100 years ago. Cars cannot access most areas of the town, and all the houses are located along tiny cobblestone roads and old goat paths. In fact, goats freely wander the town, and old ladies with wispy beards talk about them to you as you wander.


The town seems to be in an interesting state of transition as many of the old houses are converted into fully renovated guesthouses and apartments. We stayed in one of these guesthouses, and it felt nicer than a lot of hotels I’ve stayed in. Right next door was a ramshackle barn that could have been over a hundred years old.

The main attraction, however, was Christmas dinner, made by none other than 2 of my fellow group members. A gigantic spread of every carb imaginable was presented to us, and it was amazing – baked ziti, cheesy potatoes with sausage, broccoli and rice, not to mention the dozens of desserts contributed by everyone. White elephant gift exchange was played, like last year, and I ended up with an amazing book, which I was pretty happy about and have been working on over the past couple weeks.

Alas, there was no snow, but there was no complaining from this Florida boy. The whole couple of days seemed Christmasy enough for me, spending time with good friends in a great place. But the vacation was not over just yet – I headed back to my site, only to turn back again a day later on an even longer trip down to Istanbul, which was a trip that I will not soon forget… and the topic of the next blog post…

Svinski Grip!

In case you haven't heard, the whole world is ducking under cover from the swine flu. Schools everywhere are closing, and people all over are, in general, losing their minds. In Bulgaria, as always, things are the same but different. Schools everywhere are closing, people are freaking out, but instead of complaining about the lack of vaccines (or whether vaccines should be administered, don't even get me started), people here deal with it in a bit of a different way. Almost everyone I know has holed themselves up in their house or little cement block room, refusing to come out until the threat has passed. The usual way the flu (or "grip" in Bulgarian... awesome) is dealt with is a good dose of isolation and by hurling jokes at it. In fact one tv station just called it "pianski grip" (drunken flu). That'll get 'em!

Meanwhile, the sheer numbers of people coming down with flu is staggering. The ministry of health has declared several regions within the amount needed to declare an epidemic. The others are under a "wide circulation of the virus" (and God knows what that means). As a result, many schools (including the ones in Preslav) have been shut down, including the preschool I work at, under the amazing title of "swine flu vacation." These closures are due to a rule that states schools have to close if 30% of the students don't show up. In addition, hospitals are turning away cases because they can't handle them all. At the orphanage, special rules have been put in place: can't have large gatherings of kids in one space, children should be confined to their rooms, staff is recommended to wear paper masks. This has put a little bit of a dent in the range of activities that I can do there, but we're still hanging in there. Tomorrow we'll be rebooting the life skills classes for the older kids, and since the kids can't do much else, we should actually have a good turnout (gotta look on the bright side).

Speaking of the bright side (and getting away from the grip), Halloween this year was a huuuge success... well at least in comparison to last year's, which involved bobbing for apples and costume wearing, neither of which quite went as planned. This year, the kids learned to say the phrase trick or treat in exchange for candy, and instead of costumes we did scary faces and masks. What came after was the true success though I think. After coming in possession of quite a few toothbrushes and toothpaste, I thought a bit of an educational activity could be thrown in there. The kids learned the proper way to brush their teeth, when and how, and they were actually into it! This was fantastic since the hygeine situation at the dom is for the most part appalling. It was one of those moments that made me feel really happy about what I'm doing right now. The kids are even saving the brushes!

Another high spot was the annual Halloween party in Veliko Turnovo. I went as Flo Rida, the much celebrated rapper from my much celebrated home state. I even had my own bling made from cardboard and tinfoil, which didn't quite come across, but still... Other highlights included the entire Ghostbusters squad, David the Gnome, and the cast of Mad Men. Needless to say it was a memorable time, and, to make things better, allowed many of us to avoid the grip explosion in our towns (not a big deal in Turnovo).

For now, I'll be doing what many others are doing - hiding out when I can, and trying to avoid coming down with this ridiculous virus. On the plus side, in my recollection I have never had the flu before, and I'm not planning on getting it now...

Until next time...

Halftime

Last week the B24s had our Mid-Service Conference, marking the halfway point of our service as volunteers in country. We’ve been in country for a bit longer than that (actually 3 months longer), but we’ve been at site for a whole year now. We celebrated the milestone in true Peace Corps fashion… going to a conference filled with service-related games, discussions about sustainability, and countless post-it notes. It was actually helpful to refocus my goals and to get some new ideas for the coming second year, and especially nice to hang out with the rest of my group, some of whom I haven’t seen in a while.

Before that, I survived my first ever experience with Bulgarian dentistry, having had a cleaning in Sofia. We as volunteers get to go to one of the best people around (as evidenced by the cards and pictures of ambassadors and other politicians lining the walls). After a thorough polishing with what seemed to be a sandblaster (the dentist made me wear protective goggles and close my eyes), my teeth have never felt cleaner. On top of that, no cavities! And on that note, I don’t have TB either! Woohoo! On the other end of MSC (after all the sessions), I got to go to Plovdiv (one of my favorite places in Bulgaria) to hang out with some good friends, see a movie, and just have a good time.

Now that I’ve been here a year, that means renewing all the documents required to stay here for another year. Last year’s process to obtain a lichna karta (Bulgarian ID card) was a huge, bureaucratic process that involved multiple trips over the police station in Shumen and the filling out of several forms. One would think that renewing it would be a much easier process, since all the paperwork is all on file. Instead, in true Bulgarian fashion, this time around it’s actually proving to be harder, with a whole mess of new paperwork to be filled out and signed by people all around town. I’m already up to two trips to Shumen and getting turned back around for various reasons… We’ll see if I can finally decipher this whole process.

The halfway point also means that fall is in full swing, just as it was when I got to site last year. I have to say, this time of year is my favorite of all – being not too hot or too cold. Good sweater weather. All the grapes are ripening and being plucked from over the sidewalks in town. Everyone’s getting in their last bit of work before the cold hits, creating a sense of liveliness around town that is a great thing to see around here. The kids are all getting in their last kicks outside, which has meant hiking or taking walks together and setting up speakers outside the orphanage and dancing. It seems everyone wants to enjoy the fall before holing up inside for a few months.

All in all it’s a strange feeling sitting here at the halfway point, looking forward at another year here in town and looking back at all the things that have happened this past year… How much has changed for me personally, and the successes achieved at the orphanage. Things here don’t seem so strange or scary to me anymore, and things that I considered major challenges to me last year I now embrace and invite. I feel that even if I left here tomorrow I’ll never be the same person I was before I stepped onto that plane to DC over a year ago, and this town will never be the same place it was before I stepped off the late bus for the first time almost exactly a year ago. And I have to say, that’s a great feeling to have.

Until next time…

Arch Camp!

Last week, another volunteer and I coordinated a camp involving kids from each of our orphanages. The plan was to have 10 kids from her orphanage in Dren, and 10 from mine here in Preslav staying together in the Preslav orphanage and doing archaeologically themed activities at the ruins and museum in town. With the help of about 7 other awesome volunteers, we spent the week going to the museum, playing lots of games, and exploring the area. It was about a half a year in the making and underwent countless last minute revisions due to schedule conflicts and general confusion, but we finally pulled it together.

The days leading up to the camp involved a lot of running around and coordinating different organizations to help out with the activities we had planned. At the same time, the camp was being changed from 5 days to 7 days to 4 days, back to 7 days, and then to 5 days again, before we finally settled on 4 days of activities and then a sort of free day. This system worked out pretty well, not only because the kids from Dren would be able to get back easier, but because it would allow us to plan fuller days of activities.


Day 1: Museum Day and the Scavenger Hunt – We got all the kids together for the first time outside of the orphanage and played some games like the human knot and duck-duck-goose. We then walked up to the museum where we got a talk from one of the archeologists in residence there, as well as a tour of all the exhibits (including one housed in a vault behind a foot thick metal door). After looking around a bit, we started the day’s main activity, the museum scavenger hunt, in which the kids were to look through the exhibits for certain things and the team with the highest amount of points wins. The kids got really into it, and we actually went over our planned allotted time. The museum actually asked to have copies of the scavenger hunt for future visitors, so I would say it was an all around success. While we were sitting around counting points at the end, everyone was kind of bummed that nobody found one of the clues on the list – a pony. Just as everyone was almost done counting, guess what pulls up… that’s right a pony and mother horse pulling a cart together. Everyone went crazy, and it was the perfect cap to a hugely successful activity. After that, the kids had a picnic in the park and we spent the rest of the day playing sports and doing arts and crafts and things with the other kids.


Day 2: Ruins and the dig site – We walked to the ruins of the citadel of Preslav just outside of town where there was a huge team of archaeologists digging for artifacts. The archaeology major in our group (the volunteer who coordinated the camp with me) was freaking out because of the haphazard digging methods at the site. One of the methods was to throw a whole bunch of dirt from the site into a pile and run a metal detector over it. Another involved chipping away fragile wall-looking areas with a pick axe. Good job, guys… Anyway, the kids were able to ask the archaeologists questions, and we even got the head professor to come out and talk to the kids about what was going on at the site. From there we walked up to another section of ruins where they actually let people climb up into a reconstructed area of the old fortress. The kids really got a kick out of that and played around for a bit. We then reached the last part of the ruins, the golden church of Tsar Simeon, where we rested for a bit and played some good old American football.


Day 3: The hike to Patleyna…. Sort of – We had planned to have everyone in the camp come hiking with us up to Patleyna (which I wrote about in a previous entry). However, several of the older children and the 2 supervisors refused to come with us because they thought it was too long. So we left without them. Apparently the activity the orphanage people thought up for them was to clean the building, so the people who went on the hike were pretty happy. The kids seemed to really enjoy the old 10th century monastery up there, and we even got to poke around at the newer monastery, where we found a bit of old Communist propaganda (“The party of Lenin is our vanguard!”). The kids that came with us also had a great time at the miniature zoo they have up there which featured doves and peacocks. I think some of the kids were actually kind of scared of the peacock since they hadn’t really seen anything like it before. Tired after a couple of hours walking round-trip, we finished out the day with some group games, baseball and volleyball. Baseball was especially interesting, as the kids were really getting into the home-run derby setup we started. After a couple hours of playing, the man who runs the stadium comes in shouting at us and telling us we have to leave. Confused, since we were being very good, and the kids were having a great time, we asked him why we had to leave. His answer was that we were making holes in the ground with the bats. Bewildered, we decided not to argue and left…


Day 4: Capture the flag and Time Capsule – We started off the day by going up to the stadium to play some relay games. We played a game featuring spoons and ping pong balls (which they weren’t that into) and did the dizzy-bat relay (which they were into, but we ended a bit prematurely as a lot of kids were falling all over the place). We then went to the park and introduced capture the flag, a game that the kids had never heard of before. They really enjoyed it, and the kids were actually filling their roles on the team quite well (i.e. prison guards acting like actual prison guards). It seemed that the game had reached a standstill, when one of the teams tried for a huge push and ended up getting a lot of their team captured, allowing the other to go in and take the flag pretty easily after about 10 minutes. I think this game was one of the most successful things we did and definitely one of the highlights. The kids from my orphanage are already asking when we’re going to play it again. During the afternoon, we made a time capsule, in which the kids wrote down their favorite memories from the camp and what they envision for themselves 20 years in the future. We then took pictures in front of the monument in the center of town, effectively putting a cap on the main portion of the camp.

Most of the volunteers left on Friday morning, but the supervisors took all the kids out to the fortress in Shumen to continue the archaeology theme. I saw the kids from the other place as they were leaving and may had made new friends and didn’t want to leave. So all in all, after all the hard work and stress, the camp was pretty successful, and we’re planning on doing something similar again next year. The supervisor from Dren actually invited our kids out there for next year, so we’ll see what we can get together. I know I learned a lot about how to run a successful camp, what works, and what fails miserably. I think that next time we’ll skew for a bit of a younger group as well. All in all, it was a great time, and while I’m glad it’s over, I’m also glad we were able to put together a successful camp (without many resources) that created new friendships for the kids and gave them some great experiences.

Until next time…


PS... Andrea took these pictures. My camera is once again out of commission... Thanks~

Volleyball Death Match

This weekend I went out to Turgovishte, a town pretty close to me, to go help a volunteer from another group with a fundraising project she has going. The idea was to have a Volunteer vs. Bulgarians volleyball match. Sounded fun, and in the end it actually was a lot of fun. However (just as many seemingly normal things here in BG turn out) the whole deal was an adventure.

I got into town at about 2pm and met the other players from the volunteer team. We were going to get together to play a bit and practice before the match. After buying possibly the greatest prize of all time (a plastic sword) to give to the winners of the match, we eventually made our way to the school where the game was going to go down.

As we waited for the doors to become unlocked, we watched a boys vs. girls dodgeball game going on outside the school. The girls were vicious, and the boys resorted to cheating (i.e. not leaving when they got hit, bringing in 2 people when they caught the balls). I have to say, between that game, and the little boy climbing nearby buildings, the time before the game was pretty entertaining.


Finally we get inside and start hitting the ball around, and get a quick practice game together. Only one person on the team had ever played on a volleyball team before, and the rest of us hadn’t played in a while, if at all. However, for not having any experience, we came together to field some sort of semi-respectable, rag tag team as the opposing team of Bulgarians walked into the gym.

After giving our strongest “USA!” cheer in a huddle we yielded the court so that they could get some practice in. This is when it became apparent that we were going to die. Previously unbeknownst to us, the team has recently won the regional championship. As we sat there watching as the other team practiced serving some of the hardest, most Olympic worthy serves I had ever seen, I got visions of the most mismatched events in sports history It was like the 1992 Basketball Dream Team against the scrubs of the rest of the world. The 0-14 1976 Buccaneers vs. the Steel Curtain…

A good crowd showed up, and the game got underway. We got our butts handed to us, unsurprisingly, but we actually got some good volleys in, and didn’t go scoreless which was nice. I sparked up a conversation with one of the Bulgarian players in between games, and he said, "So, I thought Americans were really good at volleyball,” referring to the dominating performance of the US team at this year’s Olympics. As I laughed to myself, I told him it depended on the region, and that beach volleyball is usually the version played (in Florida at least). Volleyball is serious business here in Bulgaria, and is very much a “man’s game.” Whereas in schools in America, girls usually play volleyball while the boys play basketball, it is interestingly exactly the opposite here.

Anyway, after a couple of games in which we Americans lost by huge lopsided margins, we mixed up the teams and played some mixed games, which yielded the most fun times of the tournament, and made up in part for the loss of confidence I had in my athletic skills. All in all it was an awesome time, and a huge success. The event brought in more money than was expected, and everyone had fun, despite the stinging red marks on our forearms…

Until next time…

Kukeri!

So over the long weekend I took the long trip back out to the beautiful Rodopi mountains. This time I traveled to the village of Shiroka Luka (about 10km from the place I went to last time), in which is located a famous folk music school. Also located there is an annual Kukeri festival, which was the main draw for the weekend, turning this sleepy mountain town of about 500 into a churning madhouse of music, dancing, and scary men running around in costumes threatening people with wooden swords.

There’s a logical explanation for all this, dating back through the ages. The closest tradition I can think of would be Halloween, which of course started as a way to scare away bad spirits. Similarly, the men behind the Kukeri masks (bizarre, hairy, freakishly tall costumes) come out and do everyone a favor every year and scare away all the bad spirits that might be lurking around just in time for spring.

The way they do it is at once terrifying (mission accomplished) and sometimes hilarious. The entry starts with the far off sound of bells being clanged together as the Kukeris rhythmically jump closer and closer. Finally, they're in the middle of the center and doing their dance in a circle and chanting, seemingly in a trance. Then the real fun starts - the Kukeri begin doing their duty and scaring the daylights out of any spirits who dare to get in the way, usually by dancing. Many of the groups had costumed manifestations of the bad spirits to illustrate that they were indeed being scared away. Included among these personifications of evil were a golden idol, impish demons, cross-dressers, and a group of lost backpackers (seriously).

The festival concluded with the costumed men triumphantly going back to the places from which they came, now loaded with wishes of “Zhiv I Zdrav” (Life and Health) from the mayor of the town and the appreciative crowd. Now that the demons had all successfully been exorcised, it was (of course) time to dance, and a 4 hour long horo commenced in the center almost immediately.

Other highlights of the weekend included a concert at the famous folklore school the day before the festival. The dancing was mind-blowingly good, and the music eardrum-blowing (but still quite impressive). It was, however, great to see what the place there is all about, and there is a lot of talent coming out of the little school. It’s also nice to see that the Bulgarians are committed to preserving the great folklore tradition in the country instead of just succumbing to the onslaught of chalga and Katie Perry. It was also, as always, nice to be with friends, and we met some new friends as well – members of the EU version of the Peace Corps (EVS – European Volunteer Service).

I promise to you that I took a ton of pictures and video. However I discovered upon returning to my place in Preslav that my camera had mysteriously broken. I’m sending it to a repair guy, but I still have the card on which all the pics are located, so hopefully I can get those out to you soon. However, it might also take up to a month, so be patient. They’re coming eventually, along with a stream of other updates… I promise!

Until next time...

A Very Merry PC Christmas Special

In the days leading up to Christmas, I was feeling pretty physically drained and emotionally burned out from an oh-so-fun combination of a full schedule at work and some overall frustrating developments around town among other things. It had been a rough week for me, and it was time for a break. I didn’t think I would be able to make it out to the Christmas get together, but luckily my schedule opened up and I was able to head out.

I took the night train to Pleven once again. Even though I was on time, and the train was well heated as snow fell on the tracks outside, I had to stand for the entire 3.5 hour journey since it was packed, proving once again to me that there is no such thing as a pleasant train ride in Bulgaria. I did however get to eat at the good Chinese place in Shumen before heading out, so all was not lost…

I got to my friend’s place at 8 in the morning on Christmas Eve, where I promptly collapsed and napped for a few hours while waiting for some of the other friends to arrive. The highlights of the day were trying to piece together a Norman Rockwell puzzle and drinking hot chocolate over some good conversation.

This was not the main event, however. We were treated to a rented out mehana (traditional BG restaurant) courtesy of my friend’s coworkers. The salads were good, and the liver… not so much, but it was eaten with happiness anyway. We were visited by carolers dressed in traditional Bulgarian clothes (and our friend who hosted the get together joined in on the action). Next up was the white elephant gift exchange, in which I got a jar of peanut butter, which I'm pretty excited about.

Christmas was spent in a more subdued manner, with good people and good conversation, and copious amounts of hot chocolate while inside watching the snow outside. It turned out to be a white Christmas after all, with huge flakes that piled up quickly. The snow buried Knezha under a gorgeous sparkling blanket throughout the course of the day that covered the rough patch I’d been going through with a cold clean beauty that was relaxing and refreshing.

Of course, there were other Christmas highlights: We played football in the snow, in which Leslie made a Sportscenter worthy miracle catch that will probably live on in history as one of the greatest plays ever… Friends cooked up a nice meal together which was enjoyed by all… Getting to talk to the family back in the States through the wonderful creation that is Skype... Having a dance party that can only be described as “American…” However, the best part about the time there was the friendship – enjoying the connection with my other group members that I’ve described before as a big hilarious dysfunctional family, which is true, but they’re also some of the best people I’ve ever spent time with… Awww. (Thanks guys haha)

I got back into Preslav and into my now very frigid apartment feeling energized and ready to get back into the action, and I’ll be spending New Years at the orphanage with the kids, which should be both interesting and really fun. I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop about the coming events, and I also have some random other posts coming up as well.

Until next time…

Thanksgiving Bulgaria Style

Thanksgiving (ден на благодарност - den na blogodarnost - lit. "day of thankfulness") came and went without much fanfare in Veliki Preslav. People here have some idea of what it is after hearing from other volunteers about it, but it gets looked at kind of strangely from their point of view - "Day of Thankfulness? Turkey? football?" It doesn't quite come together the way we see it, which is a day to spend time with the family, and be thankful that we have people to lean on (in my opinion at least).

I didn't really do anything special the actual day of Thanksgiving. In fact, I had to go in to work since we volunteers don't get American holidays off. It was alright though... I baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies (more like chocolate chunk, since they don't have chocolate chips here... ended up just smashing a few chocolate bars) and handed those out to the staff. I also explained some Thanksgiving traditions and did some art stuff for the kids. They were more interested in the Pilgrims and Indians part than the turkey and family part ("Did the indians kill the people afterward?" No... Yay for movies!). That night I made hashbrowns and eggs haha.

However, over that weekend, I was able to get some real Thanksgiving food and spend some time with friends and enjoy the holiday. Even though we were thousands of miles from home, we managed to come together as a great big dysfunctional family for Thanksgiving. Coming together was a challenge though, starting with a missed train and an overnight ride in an unheated cabin and ending with missing the bus stop and having to walk (more slipping on the ice than walking) back into the town where we were supposed to get out. It all came together eventually - well worth the missteps - and a good time was had by all.

Turkey was brought in from Sofia, potatoes were mashed, cakes and pies were consumed, football was watched. Something was brought by each of the 20 volunteers that were there, making for a legit Thanksgiving meal, and an great time with great friends.

In other news, I started at the preschool yesterday. Well... to call it a preschool is a bit of a stretch. The kids are 2 and 3 years old and completely ridiculous. It should be interesting to see what I can do with them. I'm not really sure why I was assigned to work there, but at least it gives me something to do in the morning... More to come on that later.

Until next time...

Veliko Turnovo

This weekend I headed out for a couple of days to Veliko Turnovo, which was possibly the most beautiful city I've been to so far in Bulgaria. It was the first time I felt as though I was in Europe (i.e. not in a former Soviet country): clean, historic, plenty to do and see. An amazing city.

Veliko Turnovo was the capitol of Bulgaria (after Preslav) until 1867. There is therefore a great amount of history and beauty there - castles, monuments, and a pretty "old town" with small winding cobblestone streets and Bulgarian revival architecture.
Tsaravets is the old fortess that housed the royal palaces, and is as close as you can get to a castle in Bulgaria. This fortified walkway is on a ridge, and you can look down at the city on either side. The building at the top of the hill is a beautiful church filled with frescoes and paintings. Inside the well preserved walls are the remains of the medeival city.

This is what remains of the old palace structure. It's now topped with a gigantic Bulgarian flag, and is surrounded by remains of the old city. You can walk along roads that have been there for over 800 years, and peek into old battlements and towers.

This weeked was also notable because I got to celebrate Halloween with a lot of the other volunteers. Everyone got dressed up and we had a good time, despite the fact that we were a day late. It was nice to have some American traditions way out here in Bulgaria. Then I got a package from home for Halloween as well the next day! All in all an amazingly great weekend.

By the way I'm loving fall. The weather's great and the leaves are changing. Hopefully it'll last a while longer...

Until next time...