Yeah so I’m a horrible volunteer and I haven’t been sharing with the rest of the world about my experiences in Bulgaria…………..Here is me playing catch-up after a month of no blogging. Lets see, since March I have been crazy busy with projects, almost dieing in my bathroom, checking out a few more cities in the BG and playing around in the North EU.
On Sunday three of my first projects will have been implemented after several months of work and if you know me at all, a bit of stress. At the beginning of the month there was a youth art exhibit organized by a local high school student and myself. Students participated from every school in the Municipality, from first grade to their senior year. There were photographs, graphics, sculpture and paintings. Two poems of my poems were written on photos taken by another student………….they were in English so I had to do some explaining. So many people from the community came to show their support. Many leaders of the Municipality came and local teachers. We had problems finding funding from the community, and ended up accepting support from a local political party……..which means after organizing for 3 months I had to take the back seat and keep my name out of the event. As a volunteer I can’t be politically affiliated especially since I technically work for an office out of the municipality. The event was organized to sell the artwork and give the money earned to the local orphanage as well as get the local youth involved in a charity and bring the community together. It was a great success and I was really impressed with the hard work of the students and the support of the community.
Just a few days later (April 21 and 22 2008) was two days full of Earth day activities that I had organized with several local teachers, my organization (tourist society) and local students. The first day included painting over years of graffiti on the information center and planning trees and flowers around the property. The second day included 10 students from the local mahala and I making bird feeders and seedling planters. They really enjoyed themselves and I really felt that I helped to make a special day for them. Later in the day I painted two murals with several High School students on the side of the info center. One was Edelweiss and the other was a tree with the faces of youth under a banner that said in Bulgarian “Celebrate the Earth.”
For the last 4 months I have been working with the local English school specify on their American cultural day. My site mate and I have been helping the students to prepare projects and even teach them some American dances. The event will be this Sunday. A representative from the US embassy in Sofia will come, some staff from the Peace Corps and the community has also been invited to watch the event.
Other then work I have been living life in this little county. A few weeks ago I learned why people always wear sandals in their bathroom. I was trying to do a little home repair and fell on slick tile directly on my elbow and then my lower back. I’m ok now but after a trip to Sofia it just gave my boss something to tease me about………I mean who falls in their bathroom and messes up their elbow. It does feel funny though. The tip of my elbow where I fell is chipped.
As far as traveling, I went to a great city north of my site, Veliko Turnovo. It was absolutely beautiful. I went for a meeting with a Russian woman who is writing a book about tourist destinations in Bulgarian. Since I work for the tourist society and info center in Karlovo I figured it was a great opportunity. I met up with 3 other volunteers and stayed in a hostel owned by a RPCV. The town is built into a hill with so many historic buildings and structures. The same night we crashed at the hostel, a young English man was also staying in our room. He was hilarious and kept us entertained. He apparently has been working in many countries, with odd jobs just seeing the whole world. He told us about his American girlfriend who he has dated for 10 years long distance. She was coming just two weeks after we met. Little did she know he had just bought some property in a nearby village to VT. By that I mean that he bought a shack he was planning on adding a shower and a blow up mattress to before she came. I wished him luck for her arrival.
Just last week I went on another trip. This time I went out of the country to Latvia for a youth exchange. Five students and myself traveled by plane (some of them for the first time) to a country even smaller then the one I live in…………..if that is possible. The name of the exchange was called “Looking forward for open Europe.” Even though it was grammatically incorrect it was a good exchange. The organization and leadership could have been better but I really enjoyed the activities and the people I met. My favorite was the Portuguese group. One guy had a really long name beginning with G so we just called him Big G………such a funny guy. I’m planning to make a trip to Portugal to see them as soon as I can afford it. I will be traveling to Austria and Slovenia with Jim in August………so my money has been already spoken for.
The rose festival is in just a few weeks and the previous volunteer from Karlovo will be coming back at the beginning of next week. I’m really looking forward to this festival. Tourists from all over the world come to see the traditions of the rose festival. I asked if I could be the rose queen which they crown every year, but apparently there is this rule she has to be Bulgarian……..Can you believe it? ;)
On Sunday three of my first projects will have been implemented after several months of work and if you know me at all, a bit of stress. At the beginning of the month there was a youth art exhibit organized by a local high school student and myself. Students participated from every school in the Municipality, from first grade to their senior year. There were photographs, graphics, sculpture and paintings. Two poems of my poems were written on photos taken by another student………….they were in English so I had to do some explaining. So many people from the community came to show their support. Many leaders of the Municipality came and local teachers. We had problems finding funding from the community, and ended up accepting support from a local political party……..which means after organizing for 3 months I had to take the back seat and keep my name out of the event. As a volunteer I can’t be politically affiliated especially since I technically work for an office out of the municipality. The event was organized to sell the artwork and give the money earned to the local orphanage as well as get the local youth involved in a charity and bring the community together. It was a great success and I was really impressed with the hard work of the students and the support of the community.
Just a few days later (April 21 and 22 2008) was two days full of Earth day activities that I had organized with several local teachers, my organization (tourist society) and local students. The first day included painting over years of graffiti on the information center and planning trees and flowers around the property. The second day included 10 students from the local mahala and I making bird feeders and seedling planters. They really enjoyed themselves and I really felt that I helped to make a special day for them. Later in the day I painted two murals with several High School students on the side of the info center. One was Edelweiss and the other was a tree with the faces of youth under a banner that said in Bulgarian “Celebrate the Earth.”For the last 4 months I have been working with the local English school specify on their American cultural day. My site mate and I have been helping the students to prepare projects and even teach them some American dances. The event will be this Sunday. A representative from the US embassy in Sofia will come, some staff from the Peace Corps and the community has also been invited to watch the event.
Other then work I have been living life in this little county. A few weeks ago I learned why people always wear sandals in their bathroom. I was trying to do a little home repair and fell on slick tile directly on my elbow and then my lower back. I’m ok now but after a trip to Sofia it just gave my boss something to tease me about………I mean who falls in their bathroom and messes up their elbow. It does feel funny though. The tip of my elbow where I fell is chipped.
As far as traveling, I went to a great city north of my site, Veliko Turnovo. It was absolutely beautiful. I went for a meeting with a Russian woman who is writing a book about tourist destinations in Bulgarian. Since I work for the tourist society and info center in Karlovo I figured it was a great opportunity. I met up with 3 other volunteers and stayed in a hostel owned by a RPCV. The town is built into a hill with so many historic buildings and structures. The same night we crashed at the hostel, a young English man was also staying in our room. He was hilarious and kept us entertained. He apparently has been working in many countries, with odd jobs just seeing the whole world. He told us about his American girlfriend who he has dated for 10 years long distance. She was coming just two weeks after we met. Little did she know he had just bought some property in a nearby village to VT. By that I mean that he bought a shack he was planning on adding a shower and a blow up mattress to before she came. I wished him luck for her arrival.
Just last week I went on another trip. This time I went out of the country to Latvia for a youth exchange. Five students and myself traveled by plane (some of them for the first time) to a country even smaller then the one I live in…………..if that is possible. The name of the exchange was called “Looking forward for open Europe.” Even though it was grammatically incorrect it was a good exchange. The organization and leadership could have been better but I really enjoyed the activities and the people I met. My favorite was the Portuguese group. One guy had a really long name beginning with G so we just called him Big G………such a funny guy. I’m planning to make a trip to Portugal to see them as soon as I can afford it. I will be traveling to Austria and Slovenia with Jim in August………so my money has been already spoken for.The rose festival is in just a few weeks and the previous volunteer from Karlovo will be coming back at the beginning of next week. I’m really looking forward to this festival. Tourists from all over the world come to see the traditions of the rose festival. I asked if I could be the rose queen which they crown every year, but apparently there is this rule she has to be Bulgarian……..Can you believe it? ;)
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