May 24th

May 24th was a national holiday here in remembrance of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They are attributed with the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet which is the oldest known Slavic alphabet and was the precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. This day coincides with Sliven's annual International Children's Dance Festival in which different nations come to Sliven to share their traditional dances. Our school hosted Romania this year so they were a part of the school's morning festivities. Things started around 9am with songs, dances, and handing out academic awards as well as "student of the year" and "teacher of the year". It was a nice ceremony and it was fun to watch many of my 3rd grade students participate in one of the traditional dances.

 

After things wrapped up at our school, I headed to the city garden with some of the 7th grade class where all the different dance groups were meeting. We then all walked in parade form to the main city square where there was an official ceremony. This year they split the performances to two stages so after the ceremony I headed to the stage which showcases several local dance groups, Macadonia, Romania, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were all wonderful to watch and you can see all the photos I took by clicking HERE. My favorite of the groups abroad were the students from Bosnia-Herzegovina. They had a great opening and the best word I can think of to describe the dance was sprightly. There was also some great live music to accompany the dancers.

Tomorrow is my school's prom (only for seniors) which I will be attending. I didn't go last year so this one should be a good time :) Now for a few videos from yesterday's festivities :) The videos include the groups from Macedonia and Serbia along with a feature of the musical accompaniment to one of the Bulgarian groups (can you hear all the instruments?). Just leave me a message if you'd like to see part of the Bosnia-Herzegovina performance as the video got a bit too long to upload but it was a wonderful performance. Also, all the videos are much better quality if I email them rather than uploading them here :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.