Day 40: Good-Bye, Hello

I'm sitting here in my hotel room at the Crystal Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria all packed and ready to go to the airport, but I thought I'd write one last time. My plane leaves early afternoon and I fly from Sofia to Frankfurt, have an hour lay-over, and then am off to Chicago.

Throughout this trip I have been gone for 40 days,

Moved around to 17 different hotels,

Met and become friends with 15 people,

Seen ancient ruins that date to 10,000 BC,

Learned basic Greek and Bulgarian,

and had a wonderful experience!

See you all hopefully soon!

Sincerely,

Ms. G

Day 39: Mountain Climbing and Dressing Up

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.

Anyway, we climbed up for a ways and then on the way we took a different path, which we learned pretty quickly wasn't really a path at all...it was more of man-made trail...and by man-made, I mean the leader in our group was making it! It was tough climbing and definitely took more time climbing down than climbing up the mountain! I ended up sliding a bit on some of the long grass. You can see from the picture how green everything is here on the mountain!

After climbing we sat at a cafe for an hour or so before lunch. Finally we had our Farewell Dinner which was at a really nice restaurant here downtown. I had heard from Ms. Lina that it was good, so I wasn't surprised when the food was fantastic. Besides having great food and wine, I had great company. I got to say good-bye to all the Fulbright staff along with my Fellow Fulbright-ers, whom I have now spent 39 days with.

This picture below is of Amy and me in the lobby of our hotel, waiting to get on the bus for dinner.

This picture seems to capture the excitement at our table. I can't take credit for the picture though.

Here is a picture of Mark, Amy, and I after our great dinner!

And finally, here is our group picture. We are standing behind the window which overlooks Vitshova Mountain (where we went climbing today).

Day 38: Shopping, Cafe-ing, and Lunching

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).

Unfortunately the shops weren't set up by 10 o'clock in the morning. Instead there were tons of people flocking to the Cathedral. There was a huge line of people, mostly women, carrying flowers. Besides the people lined up to go into the church, there were fire trucks, police officers, and military all around the area. It's weird being in a foreign country, not understanding the language and having NO idea what's going on. It sounded like a Communist take-over because of the man on the speaker-phone. Amy and I ended up going to the Folk Museum shop and after buying some gifts found out from the clerk that Bulgaria has three magical icons and all three had come to Nevski's Cathedral today. It is believed that by touching all three, the person will have good luck. 

Now that Amy and I were in the know, we went to a cafe for some pop. The picture to the left is of Amy, Bob (AKA "Prez") and me.

We spent a good two hours just talking...how European of us! Then we went to lunch and back out shopping. The tables were set up and I bought an icon and some Russian/Bulgarian Nesting Dolls...both of which I had been wanting to get.

Tomorrow we're off to the mountain and then it's to the airport for the 14 hour flight back to Chicago! Hope you're all well :)

Day 37: Shakespeare in Bulgarian

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.

At the end of the session, Myra, Kristen, Amy, and I had a surprise for our fellow Fulbright-ers: a slideshow of our trip! It definitely surprised people and it went over really well. First we played a game on PowerPoint called: How Well do you know your Fellow Fulbrighters? We all got all the answers right...GO US! I guess living, traveling, and learning with 15 other people for 40 days gets you to know people quickly! We then had a 15 minute slideshow with music that we played for everyone which was funny and sentimental at the same time. It reminded us how many places we have gone: Athens, Corinth, Nafplion, Olympia, Delphi, Kalambaka/Meteroa, Thessaloniki, Ouronoupolis, Lake Kerkini, Sofia, Veliko Turnovo, Arbanassi, Shumen, Aladja, Etura, Varna, Nessebar, Bourgas, Sozopol, Plovdiv, and Brestovista. Wow! The pictures to the left are of Myra and Kristen preparing to show our PowerPoint.

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 :)

Finally we went to see Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National Theatre just a few blocks away from our hotel. It was opening night and the whole thing was in Bulgarian. But it was wonderful! The actors were so great that I knew what was going on all the time. I took a picture of the theatre (to the left) at the end of the show -- I didn't take it at the beginning in case I would have to run away! :) The usher didn't seem to mind my picture-taking though; she actually came up to me after the show to tell me to take a look up on the second floor because of the beautiful chandeliers! The theatre was beautifully decorated in all gold and it's too bad the picture is so dark...but at least it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Well, Cheers for now! I only have two full days left until I'm headed back to Chicago!

Day 36: Heading back to Sofia

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)

Today we had a tour of Plovdiv and journeyed back to Sofia. When we toured around the old part of Plovdiv, I realized that I wished we had more time here in this city. It is a fascinating place with a very ancient and complicated history. The city used to be named Philipopolis after Philip II (whose tomb you saw a picture of when I was writing about Greece). Philip the second, as you will recall, was the father of Alexander the Great. People in Plovdiv will still call the city Philipopolis occasionally. 

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.

When we came to the Eagle Bride and the two bronze brothers sitting on the college steps of Sofia, I felt like I was home. I knew our hotel was only three blocks away and I was very excited. We stay here for about 4-5 days and then I come back to Chicago! This is definitely the beginning of the end...I'm very excited to come home and get into a routine, but traveling around these two countries has been an amazing experience. 

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 :)

Day 35: Sozopol and Plovdiv

So we’ve been on the Black Sea Coast for the past three or four days and now we start our journey westward: west to Plovdiv, west to Sofia, west to Germany, and finally west to Chicago. I’m glad that we’re on the last leg of our trip…I’m ready to come home, even though I’ve had a great time traveling through Greece and Bulgaria.

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! ☺

We then drove a good three to four hours to Plovdiv. As we passed through the countryside we saw lots of farms, but also saw lots of sunflower fields. Here in Bulgaria that is one of the commodities that is grown: sunflowers. So we would pass fields after fields of sunflower fields.

Finally in the evening we arrived at our final destination for the evening: Plovdiv. Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, with 4,000 people. It is a very European-looking city in the old part of the city. The buildings look newer and not box-y that is common for the Communist era (like the outskirts of the city). The town is over 8,000 years old. The Thracian tribe settled this area, which is in the valley of the mountains that cut Bulgaria in half from the northern and southern party.

Since we arrived later in the evening, we walked to dinner and are now getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we will be meeting some teachers at the Plovdiv University and having a tour of the old part of the city (the city is known for its embroidery and ceramics…so maybe more shopping will be in store???) and then traveling on to a winery and then back to Sofia (yay!).

Hope you’re all doing well!

Ms. G

Day 34: Education, School Bathrooms, and a Quiz: How American Are YOU?

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!

Day 33: Bourgas

Today we are heading to Bourgas, another city on the Black Sea Coast. It is about a two to three hour drive from Varna. On the way to Bourgas, though, we stopped at Alabja Monastery, which is unlike any other monastery we have visited so far. The monastery was in the caves of this mountain, as you can see from the top picture. The monks had carved out rooms and halls within this rock and used this as their living and praying quarters. When we visited the outer wall had been taken away and there were several oil paintings in each room depicting what it was used for.

In the picture to the left, Kristen is peeking through one of the passage ways. Hermits lived here starting in the Middle Ages, around 1300s. The caves also contain several tombs where people nowadays put coins on to honor these monks who are buried here. The cave monastery is two levels.

One the second level people who visit leave notes in the crevices of the cave. These notes are wishes and prayers to God. They believe that by leaving this, God will read and answer their prayer/wish in either 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 years. I decided to write a wish and wrote a few sentences on a yellow post-it note. Then I found a place in the wall and carefully placed my note in with all the others that were already there. The picture to the left is of my note (it's the yellow one).

We then had out bus ride to Bourgas where we all felt tired after traveling around so much, so I am not relaxing in my hotel room. We have moved to 15 different hotels on this trip so far and have several more to go! 

Hope you're all doing well!

Day 32: Varna

Today we arrived at the Black Sea coast! What a great time...the sea is beautiful, warm, and very sandy. The picture above is of Kristen, Amy, Ralph, and myself swimming in the Black Sea. The Black Sea has its name because 1. there are many storms on the sea (giving it the name "black" I guess) and 2. 2 meters under the water there is no living animal.

The town that we're in for today is called Varna. Varana means Black in Bulgarian. This is the third largest town in Bulgaria and is known as one of the best vacationing spots for Bulgarians on holiday. So far all I really know about the city is that the beach is across from our hotel and the water feels great on such a hot day!

Before arriving in Varna, though, we stopped in two other towns. The first was Arbanassi which is the historic part of Veliko Turnovo (where I was yesterday). We visited an old, historic house that was re-furnished to look like the 1400s. The house had huge Turkish and Oriental influences. Instead of beds and sofas they had bed-sofas: big mattresses where they would entertain guests and eat. 

We then went to Shumen on our way to Varna. We stopped in Shumen for lunch. The town looked like it hadn't been updated since Communism (the picture to the left is of one of the concrete apartment buildings in the city). All the buildings are made of concrete and if there were paint on the buildings, the paint is now peeling, so badly that you can't really tell what color the building used to be. Shumen is known as a very accepting city though because Shumen has many Turkish and Roma people living there and the Bulgarians are very good at welcoming and accepting them into their community.

We have been spending a lot of time on the bus. Here's a picture of Paul, Bob, and Hope during our ride today!

Alright, well I hope you are all enjoying your summer and able to get to the beach occasionally like me! Cheers!

Day 31: Veliko Turnovo

On our way to Veliko Turnovo, we stopped for lunch at Etur, which is where I will start my post. The picture above is one of the potters in the village where I made some purchases! While driving into the town there are many abandoned factories: huge buildings without windows and run-down. They used to be huge factories during the Communist time period but are now not used and abandoned. I am fascinated how in every place we go here in Bulgaria I learn more and more about Communism and see how much it has affected the country. Anyway, Etur is an old, reconstructed 19th century Bulgarian village. You can think to Colonial Williamsburg because it has that feeling. There are craftsmen working on pottery, bronze-making, jewelry-making, and weaving. Our group strolled down the streets of this old village talking to the shopkeepers, buying souvenirs, and enjoying the scorching sun!

We then continued on to Veliko Turnovo (pictured above). Turnovo is almost in the center of Bulgaria and was the capital of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1393). Turnovo is also called The City of Czars because the fortress on the top of the hill was where the Czars lived during this time period. In 1393 the city fell to Ottoman domination and was destroyed. When Bulgaria re-claimed its independence, the city was rebuilt since it had such an important place in history.

The old part of the city is called Tsarevets Fortress, which is situated at the top of one of the hills here in Turnovo. At the top of the hill is the Church of the Blessed Saviour. The Church was originally built in 1235 but was restored in the 1950s. Then around 1976 a muralist painted the walls and ceiling of the church. The murals depict the history of Bulgaria from the 14th and 15th century. The Church of the Blessed Saviour is no longer a practicing church, so I was able to take pictures (when I paid the 3 lev fee). I found the murals so intriguing that I decided to take many pictures of the murals and share them with you. The reason they are so different from other murals on the churches we have seen in Greece and Bulgaria is because they were painted during the Communist Era (which you now know all about because of my blog!). Here are a few of the pictures I took:

This is the Virgin Mary which is up at the front of the church near the alter. It is known locally as the "Erotic Virgin Mary" because her shoulders are bare. Notice the harshness of the colors and the modernistic perspective. It is quite different than the murals I've posted from Rila Monastery, Boyana Church, and Meteroa.

This mural was on one of the columns of the church. It depicts a man bound by rope on his hands and feet. I'm very curious to know what in Bulgarian history this is showing. It was during Ottoman domination, so maybe was the cruelties the Bulgarians faced from the Turks?

I found this part of the mural to be very interesting because the man has such long, bony fingers and is painted in all gray colors. It reminds me a little bit of Lord Voldemort, which is an interesting association with a church mural.

Finally this last mural is of a woman. To me it looks like she's wearing diaphanous clothing and pouring water (???) over herself.

I would be interested to know your opinions of the murals as well. The things to remember are that these murals are in a church (or it used to be a church) and they were created during Communism.

Cheers!

Day 30: Bulgarian Literature

This picture is from Boyana Church. I was unable to take pictures in the church, but received some pictures from Boyan Dobrev, who I met yesterday, and wanted to share with you. If you look back at my previous post on Boyana you will learn more about this church.

Anyway, todays post is dedicated to Bulgarian Literature, which was what our lectures were devoted on today. We also were fortunate enough to meet two prominent Bulgarian writers: Kristin Dimitrova and Alek Popov.

To begin with, the Bulgarian literature scene is quite different than the American one. In America there is a huge market for books: book shops now have cafes and people tend to flock to them to relax and read. In Bulgaria there is a very narrow market for literature and writers are not able to support themselves just by being writers.

Because of the political transformations happening in this country in the past twenty years, literature has also transformed. The 1990s was the most difficult time period for literature because of the new opening of freedom, but the lack of an audience. Writers began to write about things that had been forbidden during Communism, such as condemning Communism, sexual promiscuity, and parodying the Bulgarian classic literature.

But while the 1990s was a bad time for novels, poetry was beginning to flourish...even though not many people were buying it. Authors began to experiment with plot and created more of a post-modernist approach to literature. At the same time Russia's influence was declining and the West's influence was gaining a greater foothold in the literary community. Authors were beginning to experiment with West-styled ideas with writing and were making allusions to Anglo-Saxon literature.

Today there still is not much of a market for Bulgarian literature. The government has tried to curb this by creating literature prizes for authors each year, though. The prize is to have their piece of literature translated into English. Unfortunately none of the American publishing companies have been interested in picking up any of this literature for publication. But two of the authors who read some of their work to us today were wonderful! I'm looking forward to using some of their material in my classes and starting to promote Bulgarian literature: there are some really exciting things going on with the literature scene here in Sofia!

Well, I am almost finished with student questions: two left and then I'm done! Throughout the past 30 days I've answered a TON of them...almost all 150 of my students asked a question. So let me answer the last two:

Laura -- The tourists sights in Bulgaria definitely include two regions: Sofia and the Black Sea Coast. Sofia is the center of the country and a great place to come to meet people and see what life is like for the typical person. There are great sights around Sofia to visit as well including the sights that I have blogged about already: Boyana Church, Nevski Cathedral, The Archeological Museum, the Museum of History, Rila Monastery, and Vitosha Mountain. One place I won't get to visit is the Thracian caves in northern Bulgaria, which are a great tourist sight as well. The Black Sea Coast is where all Bulgarians go for vacation. The sea is there for swimming and there is good shopping and historical city centers to see. You'll see pictures of these places soon since for the next five days I will be traveling around Bulgaria visiting the coast.

Shanisha -- Bulgaria is famous for their history: it is very similar to Greek history since the countries share borders. Bulgaria also is known for their friendly people!

Well tomorrow we leave Sofia for a bit and travel around the country. Saturday I will be in Veliko Turnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria. I look forward to telling you all about it tomorrow!

Cheers!

Day 29: Time to Put on your Dancing Shoes!

It was a cultural explosion day: all about music and dance. We had lectures on music and dance, we sang and actually did some dancing, and then we topped off out night by going out to a restaurant that had live music, dancing, and ended with fire dancing!

The woman to the left is Daniela Ivanova, a lead scholar in Bulgarian Folk Dance and Music. She led our group in a two our "lecture" which included lots of singing and dancing. I was a little nervous though while we were dancing: I was standing between Paul and Mark at one point and both guys were kind of going in different directions as we were dancing around the circle and I was scared I would be squished! :) I learned several dances though...and how to "whoop" really well -- just like a traditional Bulgarian!

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Vodenitsata which had live music and dancing. The pictures to the left are of the dancers. The man in the mask was great. He came out and danced with bells on his waist. He then picked out three people of the "audience" to dance with him. He picked two in our group: Annie and Ralph! First Annie danced and shimmied her hips very well! Ralph was hilarious and such a great sport -- he has good dancing ability as well. I was impressed!

Finally the restaurant got really quite and the lights went out. Behind me had been a big bonfire that was now gone (the wood at least was gone). The ashes were still red hot. Two people: a man and woman came out and started spreading the hot ash all over the circular pit. Then the music started and the man brought out an icon of Jesus Christ. Julia (our Fulbright host here) told me that the pagans used to fire dance and now it is the very religious Christians who are able to concentrate and have this mystical power over their bodies. The man held the icon over his head and circled the pit several times. Then he and his partner held hands and began dancing on the fire.

At one point the man came over and picked up a woman in the audience and held her over the fire, which is what you see in this picture to the left. They both danced for about ten minutes and it was a very awe-some experience.

Greg and Brianna M-- Many Bulgarians know how to do this type of traditional dance and are very interested in music and art as well. There are actually special art high school especially for student artists. These cultural things are definitely hobbies the Bulgarians as a whole seen to have.

Lisett -- The traditional music is composed of drums, stringed instruments similar to a small guitar, and singing. The singing includes lots of "yips" from the women and is quite beautiful. But in the cars and on the streets we have heard lots of American Music. We were told at one of the schools yesterday that the students learn British English, but since they listen to American music, see American movies, etc. they always try to mimic the American accent instead! :)

It's late now: almost midnight, but I'm so glad we went out! It was quite fun :)

Day 28: Learning Your ABCs in: Bulgarian, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. Can you keep up?

This post is all about the Bulgarian education system since today we visited two high schools here in Sofia: The First English Language School and the American College of Sofia.

The education system here in Bulgaria is slightly similar to the U.S. system because of all the standardized tests the students have to take, but the education system is not very organized at all. Unfortunately about 20% of students leave school after each "jump" in school (from Primary to Pre-High School, from Pre-High to High School). So only about 60% of Bulgarians enter into high school level education. Unfortunately in the rural communities this percentage is even lower. 

The Ministry of Education does not listen to the teachers on how to improve the education here, either. The teachers are quite disappointed and disillusioned by this. It seems to me like they felt like they were powerless. The country as a whole doesn't seem to fully respect them. Besides that, they get a very low salary. The lev is about equal to the U.S. dollar and most Bulgarian teachers in the public sector only receive 400 lev a month...not enough to really live on!

If students do go through to college, most of them leave Bulgaria because of the low wages. They can make five times more if they move to Germany or the U.K. (which are the top two countries Bulgarian students immigrate to). When students graduate high school about 60% go on to the University level although the best of the best go abroad.

(This is a picture of our tour guide at the American School of Sofia. She was adorable!)

One very interesting fact, though, is that these students have very high expectations! They come into the school knowing Bulgarian and maybe some English if they have been having private lessons (which many do at the schools we visited). Then by 7th grade (age 14...they are one year ahead of the U.S. system) they pick a second foreign language to learn. Remember: they already know Bulgarian and English at this point. The most common second languages are: German, Spanish, Russian, and Italian. Imagine knowing three languages by the time you graduated high school! And this is compulsory! I would never survive :) My Spanish is terrible! And I haven't even begun to start on a second foreign language (unless you count the 12 words I now know in Greek!).

(The student garden at the College)

Another interesting fact is that since the fall of Communism, Russian language teachers have retrained themselves to speak English and are now English teachers. Russian is usually not as common any more. I sat with a Bulgarian teacher at lunch today and she is a Russian Jew and she told me she never tells her students that she speaks Russian. The older people speak it, but the younger generation does not. This relationship between Russia and Bulgaria has interested me quite a bit.

My biggest question has been: Was Bulgaria better under communism? This takes a long answer though..but the short version that I have heard from Bulgarians so far is that during communism everyone was poor but you knew you would have food and someone would (kind of) take care of you. Now in democracy everyone has to fend for themselves and all their pensions and money is gone because of the high inflation rates and because banks went bankrupt after communism fell. Now there are some really poor people and some really rich people.

Bulgaria has been such an interesting country to learn about. The people are so friendly, the taxi drivers are crazy, and the food is delicious! 

Ben -- I think the most interesting thing about Bulgaria, so far, is the Bulgarian history. It's long, complicated, and interesting. I think you should do some studying on this for your summer reading :) I'm sure you'd get into it!

Elsa -- Bulgarian life style is similar to ours but definitely includes more time to eat and enjoy meals. The picture to the left is of the Bulgarian McDonalds (I thought it was great how they spelled it, so I took a picture for you). But most Bulgarians don't eat fast food. They always have breakfast which includes cheese, croissants, yogurt, fruit, and coffee or tea. They have a good hour and a half lunch and then a siesta. Finally they have at least two hours for dinner. It's a very relaxed pace of life...it's nice.

Jaz -- Many Bulgarians would like to visit Chicago or New York. Many students apply for study abroad or apply abroad for college. Most young people I have met here (20 or older) have been at least to New York and are hoping to travel around the U.S. more. Remember that the U.S. is MUCH bigger than Bulgaria, so it's overwhelming. Bulgaria is about the size of Ohio.

Alright, finally I leave you with a picture of Kristen and Bob. Tonight we sat and chatted in Bob's room (he has the huge room and so we've started calling him Prez). I have been making quite a few good friends on this trip! Everyone is so nice; we are definitely a good group! 

Day 27: The Scary Taxi Ride and the Beautiful Music

Today was quite an adventure! Not only did I have the most terrifying taxi ride ever...but we all went to a concert that was especially for us Fulbrighters and it was delightful!

We started the day with three lectures where I learned a ton about the Roma (gypsy) population here in Bulgaria. It is very sad because only about how 23% of the Roma are completely illiterate and 48% only have a Basic Education (they stopped going to school by age 8). While driving around in the taxi yesterday we saw a horse and wagon. The wagon was filled with hay and here were Roma sleeping while going down the main street of Sofia. 29% of the Roma are below the poverty line and at the moment Bulgaria's poverty line is the same as a third world country (they were taken off the European line because of the low salaries and high unemployment rate). The poverty rate is earning less than $1 a day!

Bulgaria is a very interesting country though...similar, in a way, to the U.S. Because there is no "real" Bulgarian. Everyone has mixed ethnicities because of the wars and changing of country borders throughout the last 1500 years.

Anyway, after our lectures we went to lunch and when coming back, Ralph, Amy, Kristen, and I got in the crazy taxi driver's car. When we got in the car, I was sitting in the back middle spot -- so I could see right out in front of us (which may have been bad since I saw a good 10 times that we could have easily been in an accident!). I knew we were in trouble when we hadn't even gone one block and were speeding fast through the narrow street. (See the attached video at the top to get a "wave" from our taxi driver). A truck was pulling out of an alley and did not see us. I screamed and grabbed Kristen (where she now claims she will have a bruise...whoops!). The taxi driver continued driving and finally honked at the truck when we were already passed him.

Mr. Taxi Driver thought it was funny that I screamed though, so he started whirling the wheel...and it turned out to be quite fun (probably because I didn't die!). The taxi driver was funny because he kept turning around and waving at us with both hands -- he completely took his hands off the wheel! He also was playing loud rap / hip-hop music and dancing and singing. The music was in English and it was hilarious to watch! Since us three girls were in the back we did a little bit of dancing as well! 

I did think back to one of our lectures though where one of the professors was telling us how Bulgaria's population was decreasing because people were dying of high blood pressure AND car accidents! I'm glad I'm safe.

On a quieter, more peaceful note: we went to a concert tonight. It began with a quartet of men singing a cappella. (I ended up buying their CD -- so if anyone knows how to upload a small section of music onto a blog, let me know and then you all can hear some of it). After the quartet, an older gentleman played the violin and made me remember how much I want to learn how to play the violin. I wish there had been an orchestra at my high school! The third performer was a pianist...who played beautiful. She played some Claude Debussy which was fantastic. I HAVE to start taking piano lessons again.

The concert ended with four women in traditional Bulgarian dress singing National Folksongs for us. The picture to the left shows a little bit of the costumes of these four women. They had wonderful voices and were also a cappella (and in tune the whole time)! Amazing! Everything was beautiful. I thought I might get bored sitting and listening for 2 hours, but I could have listened for another 2 it was so good!

I'm enjoying Bulgaria quite a bit...although I'm glad that I am coming home to Chicago in a week and a half. I highly recommend you all to consider coming to Bulgaria for a vacation at some point!

Cheers!

Dinner and Music

A quick post about tonight: we went to a great restaurant that had wonderful food and great live music. The picture above is (right to left): Kristen, Annie, Mark, and me.

Alfredo -- The stew above is an authentic Bulgarian chicken stew. It was REALLY good! It was sweet and salty at the same time!

Ariana -- Authentic Bulgarian music sounds very much like an Irish jig. It is played fast and very lively. The picture above shows two of the four musicians who played for us at the restaurant.

This last picture I took because it reminded me of myself when I was young...I was always looking out for my little brother. This little girl was so cute: holding her brother's hand so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd! I couldn't resist taking the picture.

Have a good night!