Another video to add to yesterday's post

This video was meant to go with the last post but I couldn't get it to upload last time. Here it is:

Also, I have to share a story:

Today was a great day for multiple reasons but most of all, the father of one of my students stopped me during one of my breaks to chat. Turns out he speaks pretty decent English so we could chat pretty well. He told me that his son loves coming to English because of me! It was a great compliment as he said his son did not like English at his last school and really enjoys having me. This is a kid who isn't even in the top half of the English class and consistently receives failing grades. I was so happy to hear it since teaching English is the main reason I'm here in Bulgaria! I hope you're all having a great day and week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's less than a week until Christmas and there is snow on the ground. I have heard from colleagues that Sliven doesn't generally get much snow but we at least have enough to make things a bit prettier for the time being. There are also decorations for the Christmas everywhere. All the restaurants, stores, and schools have things looking good for the holidays. We have a four day school week and then I will be headed to northwest Bulgaria to spend the holidays with my host family from training. I'm excited to see them and have a traditional Bulgarian Christmas. Another volunteer is also coming with my to my host family's house and then we will both visit with the other families we met during training. Plus, on Tuesday we are playing games and doing crafts with kids we know from training. It will be great to see them all again as well. Now, I just have to talk to my neighbor to see if she can check in on my cats while I'm away.

I wanted to post another entry to my blog today to show you some of the videos from a Christmas program I watched last week. On Thursday there was a collaborative Christmas concert between a Kindergarten, Special Needs Center for adults, and our 12th graders. Here are some videos from the day:

I wanted to post one more video but I couldn't get it to upload. I'll try to post it in the next post. 

Me and 2 of the other teachers in the teacher's room.

Practicing for the performance:

Two girls sang:

Two of the 12th graders in traditional attire:

One of the 12th graders with one of the women from the center next door:

Two men from the center and one of our 12th grade boys:

Two women performing a traditional dance:

12th grade girls:

Two of the 12th grade boys dancing and carrying on of the Kindergarten girls:

Traditional dancing:

Our school is having their concerts this week so I'll make sure to take videos and photos to blog on them later on. I hope you all had a great Sunday and have a great week!

Peace, love, and literacy.

Seven Months

I've now been in Bulgaria, away from Minnesota, for seven months. It's crazy to think about. I've never been away from my family, friends, and the actual state of Minnesota for this long. I definitely miss things everyday though I also appreciate the ability to be living here in Bulgaria. Thanks to the Peace Corps I have been able to:

- meet some amazing people
- become friends with wonderful people
- live with a Bulgarian family during training (who I will visit for Christmas)
- attempt to learn a new language, though I must say Bulgarian is hard
- teach English in a 1-12 Bulgarian school
- live in a block style apartment building
- try to understand the Bulgarian education system
- learn more about what I think is important within education systems
- learn more about myself
- learn about traditions and cultures here in Bulgaria
- communicate with classrooms and people back home about my experiences
- know that I can live away from the USA and still enjoy my life (thank goodness for skype when I've had a bad day)
- eat foods I never thought I would have
-and so much more

There are only 2 weeks left of school before Christmas and I'm excited. I will be visiting my host family for Christmas and then spending time with other volunteers for New Years. I'll be glad to have a break and finally spend some time with my Bulgarian family. I haven't seen them since the end of July and I'm looking forward to having a traditional Bulgarian Christmas and be somewhere there is snow. Though it's finally cold here in Sliven, we have tons of wind and no snow. It snowed Saturday but it didn't stick and the wind just blew it around.

If I don't post again beforehand, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Is it really December?

I can hardly believe I've been out of Minnesota for over 200 days and living in Sliven for over 4 months. I know it's been a few weeks since my last post but there have been quite a few "firsts".

For instance, this is the first year I have ever worked on Thanksgiving. It actually worked out well since Thursday is the day I have all four of my groups of students. For the 12th graders (and 11th graders) I did a lesson on Thanksgiving and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I talked about what Americans do on Thanksgiving and then we watched part of the parade and talked about it. It was a good day and some of the students actually talked. With my 5th and 6th grade classes I had a reading typed up about Thanksgiving that we read and translated. Then I asked the students what they were thankful for and after they knew and wrote it down on a leaf and were able to add their leaves to the tree I had put up in the classroom. The activity went well and I think most of the kids enjoyed themselves. On Thursday I also handed out small coloring sheets and the students were to complete them for Friday. On Friday we put them all up and the students voted on the best one. The winner won a quarter and a candy. Here are a few photos from the day:

The fifth graders working on their leaves:

I just loved this leaf. It was written by one of the most advanced sixth grade boys:

Colorings:

Another first came the night of Thanksgiving when the teachers from my teacher English class asked me out for beer and food at a nearby restaurant. They found out it was a holiday for me and they were like "why are we in class? we need to go out and celebrate". It was a great time because I was able to use my Bulgarian and they were able to try out their English in a relaxed setting. This was honestly the first time I have been invited out to hang out with a group of colleagues and I have actually enjoyed myself. Other than that I have only ever spend time one-on-one with a colleague. The night got even better because I was able to skype with family back home for a few hours while they were all together for Thanksgiving. I miss you and think of you often!

Some of you are even part of my classroom display:

This was also the first Thanksgiving I have not eaten dinner with my family but with friends. I was fortunate enough to be part of a great group of volunteers and celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with them in a nearby village. We spent all day Saturday with kids at the boarding school in town. By boarding school I do not mean a private school but a school where kids stay there and they are there because of a crime they committed or for bad discipline at their old school. Boys and girls aged 11-17 live there. Our dinner was fantastic, my contribution was a creamy pumpkin soup which I greatly enjoyed (made from a MN mix my mom sent in a package and spiced up with local vegetables and spices).

Here are a few photos from that day:

Woo hoo, it's Thanksgiving!

Meeting for a drink:

Food!

 A great game I learned to play at the Boarding school (rules follow):

One of the boys at the boarding school:

Reading about Thanksgiving:

The game again:

Me and one of the boys from the boarding school:

For the game I learned, it is a two person game where two people (x) stand on either side of a line and hold right hands (this means they are facing opposite directions). The object is for one of the people to lose their balance and step outside the lines in front and behind them. Each player can only use their right hand to force the other person off balance. It's extremely fun! Here is a layout of the game:

__________________________I_______________________

      I

(x)                  I            (x)

___________________________I________________________

      I

And for the final "firsts", I went to IST in Plovdiv. That's In-service training for all of you. My counterpart and I presented about team teaching (first), I stayed in a beautiful hotel (first), watched the new Harry Potter (first), had hummus at an Arabic restaurant (I love hummus and this was the first time in Bulgaria), and are you ready for this...........................I took a hot bath while drinking a Dr. Pepper and watching Dexter! Amazing night. Anyway, I'll leave you with a few IST photos and please feel free to comment on my blog and ask me any questions about Bulgaria!

The hotel was decorated beautifully:

And it had great mosaics all over the place:

Oh, and I have another cat, the new one is Tumnina and the one I had is Popitsa. They're great.

Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.