Blossoming Basswoods

It seems everywhere I walked today I smelled the blooming basswood trees. I can even smell them in my apartment as I write this. Before coming to Bulgaria I had no idea the use of this tree however I now know the long, thin leaves can be used to make tea. Go ahead and try it if you've got one around where you live :)

Moving on though to a few other things that happened today which made my Monday absolutely lovely...I went to school in the morning and was surprised to learn some of the students had put together a small farewell concert for me in one of the classrooms. They ask me to come to the room and they presented me with a bouquet of roses one of the 6th grade girls had arranged along with several singing performances. It was very sweet and yet another reason I'm so happy I was placed here in Sliven at SOU 11 as I've had a good few years and will definitely miss the school community.

During the afternoon I was able to help a fellow teacher with her summer class that started today. For the next 3 weeks she will meet every afternoon with a group of 12 students who just finished 3rd grade to make a variety of handcrafts. Today we made bookmarks from ribbon and paper and then wreathes from recycled cardboard and egg cartons. We turned the egg cartons into flowers. The kids had an excellent time doing it with some of them getting very creative. I also made a few which was fun. I'll be helping with this group of students for my last weeks here in Bulgaria :)

It's so strange that I leave 2 weeks from tomorrow. Time is flying by.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.