Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Today I walked to school with a herd of goats – about 20 of them, actually. I know I grew up surrounded by farms and animals, but I was still so entertained by this that it just made my day. I guess it is still amusing to see how the animals share the roads and sidewalks with everyone else.

Speaking of sharing the roads…I very quickly became acquainted with the very non-pedestrian friendly roads here in Bulgaria. Bulgarian drivers are absolutely mad. I had read somewhere that putting on your seatbelt in someone else’s car might actually offend the driver, implying that he or she is a bad driver. ???? The first time I got in the car with Maria, I habitually reached for my seatbelt, and before I could even get it halfway pulled down, she said “ne, ne, ne, Kaloyanovo, ne”. I figured she had a point – what few streets Kaloyanovo does have are in pretty bad condition and with all of the potholes and random people/animals/whatever else in the road, one can’t gain much speed anyway. But every time since then, I habitually reach for my seat belt, and every time she protests. Last night I went on some errands with her in a different town, and as we got on the highway I went ahead and put it on, and she just looked over, sighed, and said “okay”. Maybe I did offend her??? I have found it interesting (but mainly just frightening) that Bulgarians are fond of creating a “third lane” on two lane highways; that is a lane right down the middle, straddling the center line. I suppose it is a more efficient way to pass – you avoid going back and forth – so why not? I am curious what happens when a driver in the oncoming traffic has the same idea…whoever gets there first wins? I am not sure.

Maybe I shouldn’t be sharing stories like these? I am afraid I might give mom a heart attack. Don’t worry, though, no one in my family drives like that, I promise!

My language teacher, Margarita, came to visit our house tonight to check on things like the boiler and fuses, so it was nice to have a translator for a brief period. We sat down to have tea, and Tsetsa and Margarita began chatting, and with the few words I do know, I could tell they were discussing Americans, the Peace Corps, etc. Margarita turned to me and said, “Tsetsa doesn’t understand why the Americans are here.” This was a question I had dreaded since I arrived here. I figured that at some point, I would have to face someone who viewed the Peace Corps as just a way of Americans imposing values, cultures, beliefs, etc. on these poor, small countries. I took a deep breath and thought for a moment about exactly how I would respond to this, explaining why I wanted to teach English without confirming exactly what they were thinking. But Margarita continued, “Tsetsa says that to her, America is a magical place, like a fairytale. She doesn’t understand why you would want to leave.” I was nearly speechless, because I don’t think I had ever thought of my home as a fairytale. But, I guess at that moment, it helped make real one thing I had hoped to learn in the Peace Corps. I tried to explain this to Margarita – that maybe we don’t realize what we do have until you have a different perspective on it. Even more so, in Kaloyanovo, where things are slow paced and life is simple (I like to compare it to Wamego – sigh ), their happiness is having a four hour dinner with lots people and plenty of Rakia (the homemade whisky that every Bulgarian has in their home – they have finally given up on getting me to drink it!) and even having a Wal-Mart down the street to sell them a gazillion different things can’t make it any better (not to say I don’t shop at Wal-Mart too!).

While I am thinking about it, I realized I hadn’t shared one of the most bizarre things I have come across in Bulgaria so far: the showers. The bathrooms do not have bathtubs, shower stalls, or even shower curtains. There is shower head on the wall and a drain in the floor. So, everything gets wet. The toilet paper has a plastic cover, so I guess everything else you don’t worry about, because it will all dry. It was a strange thing to get used to!

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Again, I have been neglecting my journal, I know. They had warned us that these first 11 weeks would be pretty crazy, and, yep, they are. They are cramming all of the language training, teacher training, and teaching practice in that they can. When I do have any down time, it seems that Maria is right there to fill it – which is wonderful, because I enjoy her and her friends/family so much; I just hope I don’t wear down! I have decided I must be the kid sister Maria never had, because she takes me everywhere with her. She doesn’t speak a word of English (okay, she knows shopping and house – but that doesn’t get us too far!), but she knows exactly which Bulgarian words I know, and using those (very few) words, the dictionary that never leaves my side, and lots of body language, we can communicate beautifully (which is a relative term, but we’ll just say I am certainly open for improvement!).

Thursday the elementary school cancelled classes in order to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the schools founding. They had all sorts of activities in each classroom for the students to compete in – different art projects, beautiful food dish preparation, a pet show, hair styling, flower arrangements, cake decorating, etc. The English teacher, Katia, took us to see the cakes, and there were about 5 or 6 beautiful cakes sitting out to be judged. The students and teachers were all gathered around to see them, and when we came in, they insisted we tell them which we liked best, sat us down, and made us be the first to try the cake. I feel like sometimes they treat us like royalty.

The first time we came to the school to observe Katia’s classes, she told us that the school director wanted to meet us. Katia had us sit in the teacher’s lounge, where we got to meet all of the teachers and the director, Tanya. They had brought out the traditional welcoming bread – a big loaf of bread that is dipped in plate of salt, red pepper, and thyme (I think) presented as the stripes of the Bulgarian flag (white, green, and red). We had also done this when we arrived in Strelcha, but they wanted us to know that they only do this at Christmas or for very special visitors, so it was a wonderful gesture to let us know we were welcomed.

The students have also been welcoming, but maybe show it a little differently. It seems that wherever we go, there is a swarm of 10 or so students close behind. Now when I see them on the street, they recognize me and say “Hello!” or maybe even “How are you?” from the brave ones. Today I actually heard “Hello, Gina!”. Gina is one of the other volunteers here , so at least I know they are paying attention to something! I know that we are the first volunteers to be here in Kaloyanovo, and I am glad that they are excited to have us.

Friday class was also cancelled, this time for St. George’s Day. St. George was a famous dragon fighter, and is known as the patron saint of the Army. So, it is also known as Army Day, and I guess is a pretty big holiday here. Most people were off work, but we still had class, so Maria picked me up from class at 12:30 to go to our holiday dinner. Traditionally, every family sacrifices a lamb, a sort of offering of the first fruit of the season (I think?). Today, they still eat lamb on the holiday, and a neighborhood will cook it together. It looked to me that there are ovens of some sort built into the walls outside the houses. Everyone from the neighborhood brings their lamb to cook there, and they all stand around and hang out while its cooking. So, after class, we went and picked up Rangil and the lamb, and took it back to Rangil/Maria/Rangil’s parents’ house for lunch. Rangil’s sister (I still cannot remember her name!) and her husband Toni came, as well as some others, and again there was so much food I was just about miserable. But it was good!

We left from there (after about 5 hours!) to go to the 17th birthday party of Maria’s cousin. They had the party in a little lodge/restaurant/discotheque up in the mountains, and it was beautiful. Again, I found someone that spoke English (!), Maggie, so she got to do a little translating for me. Her boyfriend is in the Bulgarian military, and so we started chatting a little (as much as one can with limited translation) about that, and he informed me that in June his base is going to start preparing for the American troops to move in this August. I asked him how he felt about that, and he just simply said that it didn’t really matter what he felt, because they were coming either way. I tried to tell him a little bit about what Klint does, and he was very interested and wants to meet him, so I guess Klint is already starting to make some friends here, too .

My host parents’ son, Robert has been in London with his girlfriend, Ginka, for the past two years, and she just got into town last week, so I got to meet her on Saturday. Although he doesn’t speak English, hers is nearly flawless, but she came back home for at least a few months, maybe permanently, to help her parents with a new building supply store they just opened. Ginka, Maria, and I went to Plovdiv, the second largest city in the country, to meet up with Maria’s sister-in-law and to do some shopping. Although it was rainy, windy, and cold (unusual for this time of year), what we did manage to see of the city was very pretty and reminded me of cities you might see in western Europe. It was an interesting experience, though. I think I can safely say that I am probably in one of the few Peace Corps countries in which your weekend activities include shopping for designer clothes. That is just what we were doing on Saturday – looking at things I can’t afford at home. I am not entirely sure what to make of things like this. I had heard when I first arrived in Chicago that Peace Corps Bulgaria is also known as the “Posh Corps”, as many volunteers live in apartments nicer than their homes in the states. Bulgaria certainly has a lot of progress to be made, but it seems that everyone around me is living a very comfortable life. I am interested if this is just the disparity between rich and poor??? It makes for an interesting Peace Corps experience. So much to take in right now…

Sunday I got to go to my first ever Bulgarian wedding. It was a Catholic wedding, and it was the first time I got to visit Kaloyanovo’s brand new church – I think it is only a year or two old. The church was fairly modern in style, and the wedding was much the same as a Catholic wedding at home – except that they don’t have the huge wedding party, just two witnesses wearing regular clothes. At the end of the ceremony, everyone came outside to the street where there was a saxophone, accordion, and drum playing traditional Bulgarian music. The bride and groom and their families formed a line/horseshoe around the musicians, holding hands, and danced their traditional step dances (like the ones we had learned in Strelcha and saw performed by the children’s group). It was a neat tradition. I found it amusing that one of the ice cream ladies in town (who has a little cart selling ice cream cones for 50 stotinki) set up shop right there in the middle of the crowd. I guess it was a good spot for business.

Monday all 50 of us trainees met at our first “HUB” meeting in Pazardjik for an exhausting two days. This was where they really crammed in the meetings and training. We spent the night there, and although many of the guide books said to stay away from Pazardjik unless you want to get robbed (pickpocket here, as in the rest of Europe, are highly skilled professionals), the area around our hotel and meeting site was wonderful. There were blocks lined with shops and outdoor cafes, and there was a little city center with some different performances in the square – singing and dancing and whatnot. It was nice to be in a city for a change where there was so much going on!

So, finally, I am catching up on my journal entries! That leaves me with today…today was my first day teaching my own class, and I survived! I had the eighth grade, which I think could potentially be pretty dangerous with the attitudes and hormones and whatnot, but I thought that it went really well. I actually kind of enjoyed it. I don’t know why I was surprised by that, but I was, and I am looking forward to my 6th grade class tomorrow. As the weeks go by, we build up and teach more and more classes each week. Next week, though, we go back to Pazardjik, where we will find out our permanent placements. It seems so early – but we won’t actually be moving there until July. The Bulgarian teacher of English from our site, who will be our counterpart during the length of our service, will meet us in Pazardjik. We will travel back to our site with them and stay there for several days, meeting everyone, seeing the school, and teaching some. I am looking forward to next week very much.

I wanted to post my address and phone number, in case anyone was interested, and in case anyone had the wrong one. My address until July:

AMANDA JOHNSON (all caps or underlined)
P.O. Box 178
Central Post Office
Pazardjik, 4400
Bulgaria

If you send packages (not hinting), don’t declare that the items inside are worth over $50, because I will have to go get it in Sofia and pay a fee on it. No one should probably be sending anything of that much value anyway! You should also write “items for personal use, no commercial value” on any packages. Packages will take 3 wks. – 2 months to arrive, letters much more quickly. I think if you specify Airmail it will be much quicker. This will be my address until I move in July. I will still get the mail sent to this address after I move, but I will have to go pick it up. So, when that time comes, I will post my new address.

The whole phone thing can be tricky. Like I said, Maria gave me a cell phone to use while I am staying with her, but the batteries don’t really last longer than one or two conversations and I share the charger with her husband, so half the time, the phone is either dead or at Maria’s house charging. But, I will have this number until July:

From the states dial: 011359 887 486 401

My host family has a phone, but this can also be tricky, as sometimes it is hard to get through, and if you are lucky enough to get through, it can be a bit confusing when two people on opposite ends of the line are speaking different languages. Anyway, if you want it:

011359 3123 3191

Okay, so this can be pretty complicated, but actually calling from Bulgaria to the US is about 10 times more complicated, but I will spare you the details. It can be frustrating, though, and really expensive!

FYI, Bulgaria is 7 hours ahead of New York, 8 ahead of KS. And on that note, I really should go to bed – I have to wake up at 6 to be able to talk to Klint – long distance relationships with such a time difference can be complicated, so I guess we are learning flexibility! He is super busy, too, but he has been wonderful with all of this nonsense. Lucky me, I get to marry him!

One last thing…I wanted to apologize (in some cases ahead of time) for my delay in sending emails. I am very lucky to have internet in my town, and the internet club is actually right by my school (I guess in a small town everything is near each other), so its very easy to stop there, I just haven’t had much time, and when I do, I barely get through my inbox. Its difficult with the host family (on top of not being able to really tell them my schedule or anything), I still kind of feel like a teenager or even child in some respects, and I don’t ever want to be late for dinner or have them wonder where I am or anything, so I wouldn’t really spend too much time there anyway. I might get internet in my home after I move, but it all depends on where I am assigned…some towns don’t have internet at all. That will be a learning experience!