Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Travels to a Българска Сватба

I had been invited to Dupnitsa for the resource fair of the new TEFL volunteers (B23s). I was asked to present environmental education materials since most of the work I have done in site has been teaching local youth about recycling, animal habitats and respecting the local environment. I Traveled to Dupnitsa through Plovdiv and Sofia. It was very nice meeting the new trainees and soon to be volunteers. It was the day before they were sworn in and I had the opportunity to speak with them and see some of their last minute jitters. They seemed very excited and ready to head to their new homes.

The next morning I woke up very early to head back towards Sofia and then onto Plovdiv to meet with other volunteers who were traveling with me down south almost to Greece for a Wedding. The wedding was in a small Bulgarian village named Slashten. A volunteer and a Bulgarian tied the knot in Bulgarian tradition.

Before the wedding I decided to take a shower..............should have thought twice. This bathroom had a clogged drain and I was unaware of the flood of water flowing out of the door. By the time I was finished, all the floor outside the bathroom was covered in standing water and confused Bulgarians. I apologized over and over and tried to help clean it up but they just smiled and seemed to say that it has happened before................the floor was tile making it easy for cleaning.
Early in the morning we met outside the home where the bride had been since midnight. It is tradition for the bride to hide so that her groom cannot see her the day of the wedding before she comes out in her dress. We all waited outside patiently for the bride and groom to make their appearance. When they came out a baba sprinkled them with herb water, local musicians played music and candy was thrown as we all walked through the village into the square.
Later came dancing and then signing of the marriage documents. We spent the rest of the day eating and dancing, eating and dancing until we were just about stuffed. At one point the dance group the bride danced with in Chirpan became the even entertainment. The bride changed out of her dress into a traditional Bulgarian costume along with her sitemate and those from the group who made the trip. Late we took a small break, then went to a small cafe where the other volunteers, the bride's family and the groom ate left overs from the wedding feast.

We sent the new couplke off with wishes of luck and happiness.
The next morning started early. Time to head back to site.........seems easy enough right? Well all the volunteers who came to the wedding and I hopped onto a little micro bus headed to the next large town where we would get on another bus to Sofia. On the trip, a group of men got on the bus but had not closed the door to the luggage bin correctly. The bag of one volunteer fell out and is believed to have been stolen by a passing car. After almost an hour talking about it outside the bus we got back on and headed to our destination. We took the driver to the local police station where Peace Corps (on the phone) , the police and the driver spent an hour or so discussing the next steps. The volunteer probably wont get his bag and belongings back but thankfully will be able to have the bus company reimburse him for the majority of his lost items.

Now that I'm back to work after a long and expensive trip (Bus fare is a killer) I have been meeting soo many foreigners who are hiking and traveling through Karlovo. I work at a tourism center so when they walk in I have to assume they are Bulgarian (this is Bulgaria) so I begin speaking in Bulgarian. When I get the awkward face I used to give when I didn't understand, I switch to English and that tends to be more productive. Just yesterday I met a young French boy who had been hiking from Italy and wanted to travel over the Balkans through Karlovo. I provided him with a map and took him to the beginning of the train up to peak Botev and then up and over.
The weather is hot and sweltering. Had to buy a fan so that I could sleep at night. Work is going well and my projects and ideas are rolling along. It may be warm but I'm staying busy and that's what makes a good day.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Smell the Roses

This past weekend was the Festival of the Rose in Karlovo. Two volunteers came for the event; Jim and Emma. I had never been to the rose festival before and wasn't sure if it would be very entertaining..........turns out there was nothing to worry about. When they arrived Friday night, we went for dinner at a local restaurant and talked about Peace Corps experiences and did a little catching up. After dinner we walked through the center. We were met by a local doctor from Soput outside Restaurant Karlovo. He and I are working on a project together to get medical supplies for the local hospitals. This evening was apparently an auction to raise money for children. It was a lavish event with banquet style seating, flowers and lots of food and drink. The doctor invited us to join and paraded us into the restaurant passed the front tables telling everyone we were Americans from the Peace Corps and lead us into the back where all the municipal leadership was sitting.........to say the least we were all surprised to see each other. The night continued with a few awkward hellos and introductions. The waiter brought us out cake and poured us water in wine glasses. The doctor, who was very drunk at this point in the night kept coming over with wine for our glasses. The entertainment for the night began not much after we arrived. There were women in Vegas style costumes dancing to Broadway music and a man who swallowed fire and had Jim step on his chest while laying on a bed of nails. Emma described it as what she expected to happen if she was ever tripping on Acid. I was pretty sure that no matter how much fun the next few days were this evening would be hard to top.


The next morning we woke up early and met the past volunteer and my dance group to go to the outside of town to the rose fields. Here we saw the tradition of the rose queen and her court, traditional dancing, singing and drank rose rakia......which honestly was more like cool aid with rose flavoring.
After the events in the rose fields there was a presentation in the center with the rose queen and the mayor. This was followed by kukeri dancing and singing. We decided to go for a walk around Karlovo to see the waterfall and a local rakia distillery. This distillery made rose rakia and rose water. They were giving demonstrations and tasting. Later that night, there was a concert in the center. It was an early 90's hair band. They played alot of covers and at one point played the first 3 or 4 minutes of several popular rock ballads which was a bit confusing but that might have been all the knew for those songs. At one point we only heard the drummer playing, this was because the other group members decided to take a smoke break in the middle of the concert.
Emma headed back to her town Sunday morning and Jim and I enjoyed a lazy afternoon. We made french toast and attempted to make banana bread in my testy oven. We made a crazy decision to go to Plovdiv for McDonalds. I spent almost 10 leva on food and it was worth every stutinki.
Yesterday I had an Eco club project with the kids I went with on excursion a few weeks ago. There was a presentation from a volunteer who lives in Gabrovo (just over the mountains) and we played a game about food chains then they made masks with natural and recyclable materials and finished the event with two films; one about hedgehogs and the other about lady bugs. At one point in each movie the animals were getting a bit physical.......the kids were giggling and we had to explain that is what happens in nature so there can be more hedgehogs and ladybugs. Hehe!
The class and their teacher had brought me a bouquet of flowers........it really made me feel special and welcome. After the event I was given some startling news. Thankfully the visiting volunteer had better Bulgarian skills then I and was able to clue me in on what she was saying. He just had this look on him that something was wrong. I understood that she was talking about a student and a mom but it wasn't until she used the work "monkey" in Bulgarian that I was able to piece the puzzle together. The problem was that there was a student in her class who did not come to the event because he was upset. After our trip around Bulgaria he went home crying saying that apparently I had called him a monkey. This of course was not true and not something I would ever do to anyone let alone a 10 year old child. He has a complex about his larger ears. I was told that he tends to think people are always talking about him and his ears. I assume he heard me say something to the other kids, or misunderstood something I said thinking it was related to him and his ears. I don't know where he would have come up with this idea. The teacher explained that she knew this was not in my character and even the students explained it had not happened. The mother of this student was upset as I can imagine and had contacted the teacher about the incident. I offered to speak with the mother if it would help. Even though the accusations were completely off the wall and false it certainly put a damper in my day to think that not only one of the students but also their parents thought I was capable of this.
Today was back to the real world. I started work in the information center. They have been itching for an English speaker to be working here for all of the foreign tourists asking for information regarding the town and the mountains. There has already been a man in today from Switzerland. he wants to make a film about the rose festivals in Karlovo and Kazanlak. I was sorry to say that he had missed the festival in Karlovo but had all week to enjoy the festivities in Kazanluk. I also put him in contact with the volunteer in that town.
It is a beautiful day on Waterfall street.