Beautiful Bulgaria

Today was my first lesson teaching English to some of my colleagues at school. Seven teachers came today and there should be about five for tomorrow's lesson. I am teaching at two different times on different days to accommodate the schedules of the other teachers. I will have English for teachers every Wednesday at 1:15 and every Thursday at 5:00 for the rest of the year or at least until the end of the semester when there may be slight changes. Things went well, we went over a simple conversation and numbers today. The group is quite mixed on their knowledge as some know everything we went over today and others have never learned English. It was good though.

The main reason I wanted to blog today is that I met with two high school students for English purposes after the teacher's group. It was nice to meet with them and we had a decent conversation. One of the girls told me a story that I greatly enjoyed. She said that when God was making the world it was almost complete however Bulgaria wasn't finished. Since he had no materials left, he took a piece of heaven and brought it down to Earth. Thus, Bulgaria is one of the most beautiful places on Earth (if not the most). I felt this extremely fitting due to the environment of Bulgaria. There are multiple beautiful mountain ranges, access to the Black Sea, rivers, lakes, amazing caves, alongside plants and animals. It is a spectacular place to spend two years. I just can't wait to visit as much of Bulgaria as I can. I don't really feel the need to visit other countries at the moment as there is enough for me to see and learn about here.

Have a wonderful week! Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.

Friends becoming Family

This weekend I traveled to Sofia via bus (it is four hours one way) to be with some of the other Peace Core volunteers. It was a great weekend and I had a great time getting to know some of the volunteers I haven’t been able to spend time with thus far. It’s hard to find time to get together sometimes so when the opportunity arose, I was glad to make the trip. Plus, I was able to have some amazing food. I had some sushi and get this, a veggie patty FOOTLONG from SUBWAY! Yes, there is Subway in Bulgaria and it is amazing!

The other Peace Corps volunteers here in Bulgaria, along with my host family, really are getting to be like true family. They are the people I am able to depend on when I’m frustrated, want to chat, or want to relax and have fun. I love being with the other volunteers as it is essentially a no stress environment compared to teaching every day with kids chatting all hour and the occasional fight. Yes, I broke up my first official fight last Friday between a 5^th grade boy and a 5^th grade girl. No blood, but they were both crying. Hanging out with other volunteers allows for actual conversation that is not about if I’m married, why I’m not, when I plan to have children, how many siblings I have, where I come from, and every other little thing about my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to make small talk with people here in Bulgaria but it is frustrating that I can’t go much deeper into the conversation due to a lack of language. Therefore, I’m happy to be around other Americans or fluent English speakers and talk about other things.

What’s been happening in school? We’ve just been working from the curriculum and I continue to do spelling quizzes with the kids. They are getting better, it’s simply happening very slowly. I start my English class with the teachers this week which should be a good time. We are starting out with greetings, numbers, and introductions as I’m not sure how much all of them know. However, a lot of them do know a few words in English and they all want to be there so that is a plus. I have also started meeting with two 7^th graders on Mondays to work on their English, mainly spoken English. They are more advanced students for their grade and sought me out to spend time working with them. We found a time that works and are meeting on Mondays. It should be fun to meet with them as it is essentially tutoring for 45 minutes (that’s a class hour) once a week.

What else? Fall has been gorgeous here. The smell of freshly fallen leaves is strong and it has been fairly warm. We have had the occasional extremely windy or rainy day but overall it’s been good. It’s also made me miss Minnesota all the more. It’s so strange that I have been in Bulgaria for 6 months. Yes, it was 6 months on November 12^th. Though the days or weeks may seem to drag at times, the months seem to fly by. I miss you all at home and think of you often! Have a great week.

Can you find the K?

The gorgeous train ride from last weekend to the city of Pazardzhik.

One last thing, I promise this is the last thing for today. I received a package from family with some great music in it and simply cannot stop listening to The Wailin’ Jennys. My favorite song so far, Beautiful Dawn. 

Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone back in the U.S.A. It's not a holiday that is highly celebrated here in Bulgaria, though I have read about events in Sofia (the capital). Plus, any community with a Peace Corps Volunteer tends to get some sort of Halloween festivity, lesson, or presentation.

Thursday of last week both of the 5th grade classes had listened to and read an article about rats and were each given a rat cut-out to decorate for Friday. For the 6th graders, we read an article on bats and they were each given a bat cut-out. On Friday everyone voted on their favorite rat or bat and the top 2 students were the first to pick out something from the array of Halloween goodies (thanks to the previous volunteer who lived in Sliven and my parents).

Friday, October 29th I celebrated Halloween through games with my students in 5A, 5V, and 6A. We played Halloween BINGO, made toilet paper mummies, and played Pictionary with Halloween themed words. The kids seemed to really enjoy playing BINGO so I'll have to keep that in mind for future classroom activities. The 12th graders read an article earlier in the week and answered questions related to the holiday. Every kid received candy (some quite a bit by winning several times) and it was a good day.

BINGO with 6th grade:

Mummies with 6A:

6A bats:

5th grade rats:

5th grade mummies:

Yum, candy:

More rats:

Some of the fifth graders making each other into mummies:

 Then on Friday afternoon I left for Veliko Tarnovo to celebrate Halloween with other volunteers. We had a great weekend seeing parts of the city, hanging out, and celebrating Halloween! I arrived back in Sliven on Sunday afternoon and have been having a great Monday of relaxation (it's a holiday).

Veliko Tarnovo:

Sign for a lawyer:

Feeding the birds at the bus station:

Peace, Love, and Literacy.