Today we visited the English Language High School. At the English Language High School we learned quite a bit more about education here in Bulgaria, and the current view is not very good...there is hope, but things are dire at the moment. The school puts out an English newspaper called The SCOOL Times and has some articles from teachers and students. One article reads: "Are we willing to change? ... in my opinion, [this] is simply a reflection of our society's problems. Here are the facts:
* We live in Bulgaria
* Bulgaria has problems
* Bulgaria has BIG problems
* In Bulgaria nobody cares about education"
It is very sad to hear the teachers and students here talk about education, since the government seems to value it so little. As I've told you before, the average teacher salary is 400 lev a month (a lev is almost equal to a U.S. dollar). A teacher here cannot live on this salary...prices are very similar here as in the U.S. and we definitely couldn't live on 400 Dollars a month!
A teacher writes, "I have worked in my school with passion and I can proudly say my work has brought many positive changes to the school environment and the lives of many students. It breaks my heart to watch my school go to rack and ruin, years of hard work go to waste. It hurts like hell to see the disillusionment in the eyes of my colleagues, the loss of motivation in both students and teachers. Have we really reached a dead end? Sadly, I see no easy solution and have little hope for the future of education in Bulgaria, unless some people at the top begin to realize that a country with bad education is doomed to failure."
In September and October of 2007 the teachers went on strike. The students here in Bourgas supported these teachers and so picketed with them. The were striking because of their non-living wage, growing violence, and complete lack of any materials. Any materials the teachers want to use, they have to pay for themselves: textbooks, multimedia, etc. The buildings are also falling down.
At this particular school there was no air conditioning at all, the paint was severely peeling, and there were no real materials for the students to use. The bathrooms were Turkish toilets (just a hole in the ground) and there was no toilet paper or sinks to wash your hands. Compare this to the bathrooms at Prosser...we definitely have it good. I haven't seen any flies in the girls' washroom! And there were tons here at the English High School. The consensus is here that most students would rather hold it and wait till they get home than go to the bathroom at school!
Anyway, on to a brighter point: the students attending this school are awesome. We met two of them (the rest are on summer holiday). The students attending this school are the brightest and about 90% of them plan to study abroad after graduating.
I read a bit more through the school newspaper and came across an interesting quiz called "How American Are You? Take the quiz and find out if you see eye to eye with an American teenager on life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Discover the truth about Americans' and Bulgarians' teen lifestyles."
Okay, so are you ready for the quiz? Do you fit into the norm?
1. Friday night is the best night to:
a. stay at home and sleep
b. do your homework
c. go to a movie
d. go out with friends all night
ANS: c (most American teens do this because they have a curfew and can't stay out all night long, but they always have a 'late night snack' at the movies!)
2. You want to know:
a. Is George Bush Democrat or Republican?
b. Who is George Bush?
c. When will there be another president?
d. Why do George Bush's policies reflect the non-realist approach to the middle-east crisis.
ANS: c (most American teens want and push for change. They believe there can be change and that things will get better in their lifetime).
3. Your favorite kind of movie is:
a. one with a happy ending
b. a true story based on real people
c. a black and white older film
d. a foreign film with subtitles
ANS: a (most American teens like happy endings because they feel like they deal with real life enough and want the fantasy of a good movie ending)
4. You have some free time, so you want to:
a. sit at a cafe
b. call some friends and go for a walk
c. go to your next activity early and wait
d. I don't have free time
ANS: d (most American teens have no free time because they are involved in so many activities. If they do have free time they would not sit at a cafe, like Bulgarian teens, because it would feel like doing nothing.)
5. Your friend tells you that your shirt is too small. You:
a. tell your friend that he/she is wrong
b. don't care
c. are hurt and avoid your friend for a while
d. are happy that your friend talked to you
ANS: c (most American teens tend to be sensitive and if your opinion isn't asked, you shouldn't give it to them.)
Have a good rest of your day! Cheers!
It was off to Vitshova Mountain again today...but this time with the whole Fulbright group. We ended up climbing up together on an "off-the-beaten-path" kind of trail. It was so much fun because we were really having to hop over the rocks! Dad, you would have loved it because of all the nature smells and the beautiful scenery. Today was definitely a day you would have enjoyed! By the way, the picture to the left is Bob climbing down the mountain.
I had a lovely day today: it was our free day and Amy and I relaxed and made the most of it! We started out walking around Nevski's Cathedral because there are usually tons of tables set up with antiques, Nazi paraphernalia, textiles, and icons. The picture to the left is of the shops. It's a great place to find lots of souvenirs (which I did! For myself and others).
We had our Wrap-Up Session today...the final lecture here in Bulgaria. It was a great time to talk about the things we've learned about Bulgarian history, art, and culture. During the Bulgaria part of the Fulbright, we have had seven wonderful women traveling with us and helping us out from the Fulbright Office. They are pictured to the left. They are: Anna, Iolanta, Anastasia, Julia, Rada, Maria, and Snejana.
We all then had lunch at the hotel. The hotel food is usually wonderful, but today was the first day I thought I may have to go hungry because the picture to the left is what came on my plate! I actually jumped a bit when the waiter put the fish in front of me, because the head was pointed right at me, the huge eyes staring at me, and the teeth gleaming. Yuck! Fortunately for me, though, Amy was sitting next to me and she cut it open and pulled out the meat for me. It had actually been cooked in lemon and then stuffed back into the fish, so I could push the actual face off my plate and just eat my fish. The only problem was Paul's fish staring at me...but I was still okay! Go me :)
This is a picture of our Fulbright group with several teachers from the English Department of Plovdiv University, who we met with today. (I'm on the left side with the pink shirt and green skirt)
Plovdiv was badly damaged, as were all other cities, during the Ottoman invasion. The Turks called the city Phiibe. Fortunately, though, several ancient landmarks are still around. One is the amphitheater which is in the middle of the town square. This theatre was used for lion battles during the Roman domination period!
When we got back to the hotel to pack up our luggage into our bus, we realized we had a different bus than the rest of our tour -- a small little red bus, which we nicknamed Little Red (Our Greece bus was named "Hays" and our old Bulgarian bus was "Cobra"). Anyway, Little Red was cute, but our luggage definitely did not fit! I don't think the tour company remembered that all sixteen of us packed for 6 weeks of travel...we have a lot of stuff! While some of us grumbled about the bus, I couldn't help but laugh at the predicament. We ended up having a two hour bus ride back to Sofia with luggage in the aisle of the bus...but we got back safely!
On the drive we saw lot of sunflower fields. They are very common here...it's one of the "farms" they have. They were beautiful fields, so I had to take some pictures from the bus window. I also learned that the farms were much better during Communism because all the farms were government-owned and so the farming tools were provided by the government. Now a days, farmers can't afford to buy new farming equipment because it's so expensive.
Well, I finally will leave you with a picture of Danitza and Petko, our Tour Guide and Bus Driver here in Bulgaria. Hope you're all doing well at home! See you soon :)
Today we had a long bus ride, but it was cut up between to great towns. We first visited Sozopol on the Black Sea Coast (pictured to the left). The town was quaint and pretty with lots of tourist shops. Most of the shops contained the basic tourist souvenirs, but I was lucky enough to walk through to the end of the town and found a great artist, whom I bought a piece of artwork from. It’s very original…I haven’t seen anything else like it.
Then Kristen, Myra, and I took up the European way of life and went to have a coffee on the beach at a little café. We sat and talked for over an hour, while having the sea as our view. We then went to eat lunch at a great little place on the sea coast called The Windmill where we ate (or at least everyone else but me ate) fish soup. The dessert was great though! ☺
