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December was a fulfilled month of Christmas cheer. In early December I spent a few days in the village of Zavet at the truancy boarding school. The boys there are from about 10 to 18. In the morning we watched a concert that they had prepared for us and passed out new shoes and winter socks that we bought with funds raised.

Preparing to watch the concert

Singing

passing out presents

Then we held an intense ping pong tournament, brackets and all. This is when I met Emil, my new favorite, I accidentally beat him in round one.

watching ping pong

After ping pong we broke for lunch. When we returned we split into two groups, me and Suzie were with the younger kids doing crafts while everyone else was with th elder kids in the gym doing HIV/AIDS awareness.

coloring

After that everyone played volleyball. I did for a few serves, but this was a group of competitive adolescent boys, I was not good enough. They were kind to me about it though, they never asked me to leave the game, I subbed out on my own. We shared dinner with them in their dinning hall and then Raf, another PC Volunteer who had been on Bulgarian X-Factor over the summer, sang with his guitar in English and Bulgarian. Some of the boys sang and danced and they all had big smiles. It was a good day for all of us.

Raf singing

  In Varna, we had a Christmas mall day full of Black Sea Pirate fun with Santa. There was an outdoor Christmas village too, with rides for the children, hot food stalls, and mulled wine.

Merry Christmas from the Black Sea Pirate

In my village for Christmas, I was also really busy. I taught the 5-8 graders "12 Day of Christmas" for the school Christmas concert, and had a lot of dance practice myself for the concert we had on the 23rd for Christmas and the 110 year anniversary of the community center. Also, in the midst of all this, I had a visitor.

Zachary!!!

So I had to go pick him up from Sofia. Luckily he got in the day before the concert and he got to see me dance! When mom and dad were here they only got to see me practice, so I was excited about that. There were several performances and a bake sale of traditional Bulgarian Christmas food. 

Celebrating 110 Years

Bake Sale

We, according to Hilbers tradition, made sugar cookies; which we passed out around town on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we spent in Varna. We went to the Cathedrale and the Black Sea before a dinner of two turkeys. Kerri made a turkey in the oven while the boys, Tim and Z, grilled one. It was a show down men vs woman. 

Black Sea in Varna

Turkey 1 going into the oven

New Years Eve I spent in Shumen, a city about an hour west of Varna. I have some good friends there who were hosting a party. We made party food and bought champagne.

food spread

 Shumen is a university town so there are a lot of young Bulgarians who speak pretty good English. I was a good mixture of people and a very good way to kick off 2012.

Currently I'm working on a presentation and artwork piece for the kids about MLK Day which is next Monday. We also have English spelling bee practice which starts soon. We will have a school wide bee, then a regional one, and then if one of my kids makes it nationals in Sofia.

Thanksgiving Round 2

This year I celebrated Thanksgiving Week with the students at the school by making a 'Thankful Turkey' and showing Pocahontas. While Disney's Pocahontas is very unlike what really took place its a good, kid friendly, film to illustrate the voyage over to the New World and the differences between the native culture and the settlers once they arrived. I managed to find it in Bulgarian, dubbed and not with subtitles, so the little kids could watch it without falling behind in reading. They seemed to enjoy it, the Meeko and Percy antics are universaly funny and they were laughing quite a bit.

The 'Thankful Turkey' was a group craft project that we put together. I cut out paper feathers and had the kids write down things that they were thankful for. I collected them all back and made them into turkeys. With all the feathers from 2nd-8th grade we had enough to make two turkeys and put them up in the hallway for everyone to read.

On actual Thanksgiving day I cooked a small dinner for myself and my landlady Stoika. I have been trying to explain what stuffing is since its one of my favorite holiday dishes and I thought it would be easier if I just made it. I had difficulty locating a turkey this year so we had roasted chicken, but everything else was traditional; stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Over the weekend I traveled to a friend's village to help with an event at her state run boarding school. We had different activities set up in different rooms/areas for them in the morning. We made hand turkeys and headdresses, silly putty, chocolate chip cookies and played sports ranging from football and American football to baseball. In the afternoon we all split up into four groups and had a scavenger hunt around the village. My team won.

This guy caught on quite well with football

Joe showing kids how to throw a football

making silly putty

making chocolate chip cookies

making chocolate chip cookies

headdress table

completed cookies

monkey in the middle in front of the school

Nichole before the Scavenger Hunt

The winning team before we were assigned our kids

scavenging

hunting

scavenger hunt fun

returning from the scavenger hunt

baseball

That night we all had a festive dinner in a closed down restaurant space in the center of the village. They let people use it for birthdays and celebrations and they let us have it for Thanksgiving. There was a ping pong table, darts and a very large area to set up a table; and dance later too. I brought a pumpkin pie, mulled wine and some cranberry sauce; everything else was supplied by the group. I helped with preparations; slicing and all that fun sou chef stuff when needed. We cooked three fresh turkeys purchased and dried in the village, mashed potatoes, zucchini casserole, carrot and orange salad, two types of stuffing, deviled eggs, baked pumpkin, root beer cookies, apple crumble and of course gravy.

Dinner Group Shot

Belgrade Serbia: Border Country

A few weeks ago I went to Belgrade to meet up with Stine for a long weekend. We didn't really know what to expect from the capital of Serbia but it surprised us. The people were friendly and I understood Serbian for the most part because of its similarity to Bulgarian. They city was clean and well kept. There was plenty of stuff to do and see, and for the most part the food was good.

Stine's Chocolate Lava Cake at one of our tea breaks

We saw the old fortress of Belgrade, which lies at the very defensible junction of the Danube and Sava rivers on the top of the hill.

Walking around the fortress

hiding in a watch tower

the view over the rivers on a foggy day

together in a watch tower

We walked down the old bohemian quarter full of windy cobble stone streets and cafes as well as large wide pedestrian shopping zones full of stores I miss here in Bulgaria. There is also a student square and some new 'concept' stores/restaurants in the area of old town. Our favorite was 'Supermarket Concept Store' and we spent a lot of time there.

Zebra Crossing. So clever.

The churches in Belgrade are many and of the orthodox variety, but they're different then most of the ones I've seen. There was a tiny chapel near the fortress that had some of the best mosaics I've ever seen. The big cathedral, however, was barren on the inside. It had unfinished floors and no paintings on the walls or ceilings. Its beautiful on the outside, but very much so unfinished.

a small church with autumn leaves

Cathedral of Saint Sava

We went to the Nikola Tesla Museum, which was one of the best I've been to because it was so interactive, yet small and personal. There was guide that takes you through in English and some of Tesla's old machines from the World's Fair in Chicago are there and still operational as well as some models of the Niagara Falls Power Plant he helped design.

Stine at the Nikola Tesla Museum, in her Tesla Motors sweatshirt.
She Works for Tesla Motors.

It was a great trip, and not just to see Stine again even though that was the whole point. I did enjoy Belgrade and I recommend it to anyone.

Now I am back in Avren busy with Thanksgiving preparations and celebrations. I've been spending quite a bit of time at the school this week and last. I found Disney's Pocahontas in Bulgarian and I've had showings of it at the school, its a good way to introduce Native America Culture. We're also making a 'Thankful Turkey'. I cut out paper feathers and had the kids write down things that they're thankful for on them, and then I made them into a turkey. I still have more sessions tomorrow, and then we're going to hang up the turkeys in the corridors for everyone to see/read.

Halloween Fun Time

This year I held a Halloween week at the school, 3 days of American Holiday Show and Tell Time. This time though, most of the kids already had a background of what Halloween was, due to our celebrations last year, so we got to do more fun stuff and less/no presentation. I only really had to show the 1st graders the presentation explaining the origin and traditions of Halloween since they weren't around for last year's. This year was better though because it really was a show and tell, I made a jack-o-lantern and brought it in to show around.

This year we made masks in every grade, they got to pick form one of three styles. They varied greatly in creativity, so I helped out by making one in each class as an example. The cat/batman shape was the most popular after I told them its not just a cat, but also batman. Then all the boys wanted one.

5th Grade

5th Grade

With the younger ones (1-3 grade) we played the mummy game. They one we used to play at elementary school Halloween parties. Teams wrap one member with toilet paper so they look like a mummy, the first team done wins. I had Halloween themed rings as prizes; they were a hit. So much so that I had to give away all my Halloween themed stickers as consolation prizes so I would still be a class favorite.

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

With the 8th graders we did a word search in English of common Halloween words, and with the 1st graders jack-o-lantern origami. I also gave everyone American candies, Jolly Ranchers, since it seemed to be in the holiday spirit.

Tomorrow night I am in Veliko Turnovo for the annual Volunteer Halloween Party. My costume is awesome, pictures will come later.

September and half of October

I have been pretty busy lately with my town holiday and birthday, and I was busy during September too since my mommy and daddy came to visit!

So this is a recap.
Sept first weekend - Donkey Races in Gurkovo.

A friend of mine is a volunteer in Gurkovo and his town's holiday is actually a Bulgaria-wide known event, a Donkey Race. The donkeys pull carts, which are decorated by the owner/driver. We had a Peace Corps cart and donkey. Someone from the town let us barrow it for the occasion. It was really a fun day. There were food tents and stands for candy and small trinkety things.

Peace Corps cart with volunteers

Sept 11-18 - Parents Visit

My parents were here for about a week. They flew into Bucharest because it was cheaper and I took the train up there from Varna to meet them since I've never been there. We had a nice reunion dinner and walked around town the next day. They had rented a car so we then left for Bulgaria and had the freedom to go where we wanted when we wanted. I'm not used to this here but it was great since I got to take them to a lot of places I like, or have really wanted to go. We went to Ruse, Zavet, a monastery near Svishtov, Veliko Turnovo, Shumen, Madara, Avren, Kamchia Beach and Varna. During their visit it was the first day of school so my parents got to witness the holiday celebrate in Avren for it. They also got met a lot of my friends, watch one of my dance practices, and tried a lot of traditional Bulgarian food.

At the Madara Fortress

First Day of School

Bucharest

Kamchia Beach : Black Sea Swimming

with Stoika

Sept 23 - Yunak town holiday

Stoika, my land lady was in charge of make the food for the town holiday in Yunak, one of our smaller villages. I decided to help out and learn how they make fish soup, baked fish and small fried fish. We went down to the village in the morning and watched the concert, and then handed out the food.

Deputy Mayor giving a speech

Girls from my school dancing

October 14th - Birthday and Town Holiday

October 14th here is Petkov day, everyone with the name Petko, or Petka, have a "Name Day" celebrated similarly to a birthday. Our church is dedicated to St. Petko so the town has a holiday. The town holiday schedule started at 8am at the church, then a 10:30 concert in the community center where I got to perform with my dance group, and then a free holiday lunch. Afterward I met up with some friends in the Mehana (village restaurant), talked with the family over skype, bought everyone drinks at the Raven's Head (its Bulgarian tradition to treat others on your birthday), and went to visit some neighbors who made me two different kinds of cake and had some champagne. Then I treated my landlady, her daughter, and her brother to an American feast of chili, coleslaw and fresh fruit. Then I headed to the bar run by my friend Minka before ending the night at my friend's house for dinner. It was a long day, but a good one.

in my outfit

Dancing

presents

homegrown rose