Schoolhouse Global Rock

Day 40: Good-Bye, Hello

2008-07-07T00:26:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-06T10:22:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-05T14:51:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-05T07:45:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-05T07:19:00.007-05:00

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

2008-07-02T14:45:00.003-05:00

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?

2008-07-01T08:20:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-01T08:06:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-29T11:07:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-28T13:20:00.006-05:00

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

2008-06-27T09:43:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-06-26T15:46:00.006-05:00

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?

2008-06-25T15:32:00.007-05:00

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

2008-06-24T06:50:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-23T14:51:00.004-05:00

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!

Day 26: Sofia versus Sophia...and other Interesting Facts

2008-06-23T08:56:00.006-05:00

Hello! Today was a very informational day: we started by having lectures on Bulgarian history, economics, and politics. Then after lunch we had a walking tour of Sofia. Let me tell you a bit about what I learned today.

First, the most interesting thing, is that of the name of the city. Remember a few days back when I blogged about how to pronounce Sofia? I told you the accent was on the "o". This is true when talking about the place, but I found out that Bulgarians pronounce Sophia with the accent on the "i" if referring to a person's name. The picture that you see to the left is Saint Sophia (accent on the "i"). This statue is in the main plaza in downtown Sofia, right next to the Parliament building and Presidential Offices. At the Presidential Offices stand two guards...I was lucky enough to see the changing of the guards while standing in front of the building. I am SO glad I'm not them though...they have to wear wool suits with big feather-y hats. And Keisha -- the weather here is hot! Not as hot as Greece, but we are still pretty close to the sun and it gets scorching hot out!

Across the street from the Presidential Offices is this white columned building. On the top of the building is the Bulgarian flag (a white strip, followed by a green strip, followed by a red strip). This was the old headquarters of the Communist Regime. The building used to have a large red star at the top of it, but a helicopter came by and whisked it away...no one knows where it is now (well, I guess at least one person has to know where it is!!!). I love the intrigue!

Sofia is also known in Bulgaria as having the best colleges. All public colleges are free because of the Communist influence. One college of

great importance is the Art College (where Ms. Lina attended school). The school is very prestigious, since only 5 art students are accepted each year. Throughout our tour of Sofia we saw many students sitting in the parks sketching the buildings around Sofia. I took a picture of three of them sitting by the fountains and sketching the Theatre building.

Sofia is a great walking city...it's easy to navigate and very beautiful...there are lots of trees, cobble stone paths, and gardens. But let me tell you a bit more about Bulgaria in general:

Sofia has been very influenced by the Ottoman Turks and much of the architecture looks Eastern. Also because the Turks ruled Bulgaria for over 500 years, there are many mosques here in the city (a little over 100). Ever since Bulgaria gained their independence (April 16, 1876) from the Turks, though, they have converted many of the mosques into other buildings. (The national religion is Orthodox). In a few days I will be visiting the Archeological Museum, which used to be a large mosque...so I'll show you a picture of that in a few days. Also, an interesting side note: the Christians during Turk reign were able to continue to practice their religion, but their churches could not be taller than a man on horseback. So many of the churches are very squat...or even were partially built underground so they would be short. While there are not as many Turks in Bulgaria, there is still a Turkish Party in the political system, who are called the "Movements of Rights and Freedoms".

A question for you: Do you think Turkey should become part of the European Union?

This question has been partially answered today in our lectures, although I will learn more about it tomorrow and will blog on it later. I'd be interested in your comments though.

Finally let me tell you a bit about the economic situation here in Bulgaria. You already know that salaries are very low here. This has created a problem since Bulgaria is now part of the EU and will go on the Euro January 2009. Inflation is at 15% right now and unemployment is at 8%. This is not necessarily bad...it seems natural for the country to be slightly unstable because of the transition into the EU...but people here are very worried about it. The GPD per person is only about $11,000, though.

Another problem in Bulgaria is the fact that the population is slowly disappearing. There are about 7.6 million people in Bulgaria and there are many deaths and a low birth rate. Also, many young educated people are moving to England, France, or German when they graduate college. This may be because in Communism, everything was provided for the people and so you were poor -- but everyone was poor. Now a days with democracy, there are a lot of poor people and a few rich people. I don't know how Bulgaria will solve this...although our lecturer today was very positive that Bulgaria only needs more time in the EU and then will be following the path similar to Hungry, Poland, and Romania.

Bulgaria is a beautiful country though...I'm looking forward to going to the Black Sea coast. I have already heard many Bulgarians talking about it and telling me that it is definitely a resort area and a great vacation spot for most Bulgarians.

Jimothy -- A Bulgarian person definitely knows all about their country's history. The people here are very friendly and nice. If you came, you could expect to find people ready and willing to help you at all times!

Marbella -- Many of the families here stick closely together if possible; meaning they include grandparents as well. BUT since there has been so much economic despair, families in the rural areas end up sending their son or daughter here to Sofia (the capital) to get a good education. That means the child is sent to a boarding house, has a landlord who cooks for them, or lives by themselves. This is definitely a hardship on the kids.

Alright...sorry I wrote so much. I'm learning lots and want to share it with you, though!

Cheers!

Day 25: Exploring Sofia

2008-06-22T10:37:00.005-05:00

Today was a free day to explore Sofia and a group of us (Kristen, Myra, Bob, and I) decided to do a hike up Vitosha Mountain! We were able to reach the summit -- so Go Us! Although, I have to admit, we did take the Gondola up most of the way and then we hiked 30 minutes to the summit...BUT we did hike down 2 hours and then took another Gondola...so we did quite a bit of walking.

I made a bad decision...I didn't put on sunscreen. I think I was lazy and since it was windy and cold, I didn't think about the sun much. I now have a slightly weird sunburn on my arms and the back of my neck! It's a good thing that we'll be staying in the hotel having lectures most of this week :)

Hopefully I can even out my skin tone: at the moment I'm three-toned with very white, slightly tanned, and red. I look funny...although everyone else says I look fine (maybe they're just being nice to me???)

After the mountain we took a taxi to a laundry mat where we picked out our detergent and "scent" and we are now waiting the three hours for the laundry lady to do our wash and dry our clothes. I can't wait to have super-clean clothes. Even though I've been washing in the tub with my little bottle of concentrated All detergent, I don't feel like my clothes are really all that clean. It will be nice for it to be scented clean :)

Tonight I'm having dinner with Ms. Lina (your sub at the end of the school year). She is taking Myra and me out to a nice dinner with a view of the city. I'm sure it will be lovely!

Hope you're all doing well. I've been missing all of the comments on my blog though. I'm guessing you students have completely forgotten about your freshman English teacher...but I'd love to hear from some of the rest of you who are reading. Any funny laundry experiences when traveling abroad? Any questions about what Bulgaria is like that I can answer or find out the answer to? Any funny stories that I should know since I've been away for quite a while?

Day 24: Churches and Monasteries

2008-06-22T00:16:00.004-05:00

Today we visited Rila Monastery, the most visited site in Bulgaria, and Boyana Church, which includes the oldest and most brilliant of all the murals in the churches in this area (including Greece).

We first stopped off at Boyana Church. The church building is very short and plain because the Ottoman Turks required that the churches not recruit new believers and pretty much be out of sight. When we went into the church though, it was gorgeous. I couldn't take pictures inside, but they are similar to the pictures you will see for Rila Monastery in a minute. Our guide was very passionate about the church and would grab our arms and move us around the small little chapel to show us the different pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. It was a very intense experience.

Outside the church were old grave stones from the 1000s AD (when the church was first constructed). We wandered around the grounds with our guide as he told us more of the history of the church. We could only go into the actual church for 10 minutes and only 10 of us at a time because they want to preserve these beautiful murals on the walls for as long as possible. We had seen many murals like this in Greece, but none so brilliant and so old. It was a very neat experience.

We then traveled two hours south of Sofia to see Rila Monastery. At the moment there are only 7 monks currently living in the monastery, but there are a ton of tourists. The church is, obviously, the main focus of this monastery and the pictures to the right come from this building.

It was the largest church we have been in so far, but that is most likely due to the fact that the monastery was burned down in 1830 and rebuilt. The murals are very brilliant since the monastery is not very old, at least compared to the other monasteries and churches we have visited so far.

The thing you should notice is that the whole inside and outside of the church is covered in mural paintings. This is how Boyana Church looked in the inside as well as all the churches in the monasteries in Greece (Meteora, etc).

The top photograph is of a person who has died. The Orthodox Christians believe that for 40 days the soul wanders around trying to find it's place: heaven or hell. In this picture, the soul is in the middle (usually represented as a child) and the angel and devil are fighting over who gets the soul. You can notice in the hand of both the devil and angel are papers with writing of all the things the soul has done in the world.

Myra and I also got fried donuts, which are supposedly a specialty of this monastery, so I included a picture of us eating our donuts. They were good!

Cheers,

Ms. G

P.S. Hernan, Dominika, and Jazmin...this post has answered your questions about Bulgarian religion! Hope you three are having a nice summer!

Day 23: A Brief Summary of Bulgarian History

2008-06-20T14:53:00.004-05:00

The picture above is the National Museum of History in Sofia with the mountains in the background.

Today we learned a lot about Bulgarian history and I will just give you a brief summary for now. I'm sure I'll include more later :) Anyway, get ready to learn! (This is especially for Monica, Lonya, and Ismael.)

Bulgaria is a very old country, back in the 6000 BC time period the people living in Bulgaria were called Thracians. There are old Thracian towns and burial sites still that you can tour when you come to Bulgaria.

In terms of more recent history: Bulgaria included Macedonia (you remember this country from the history of Greece information, right?!?). In 1396 the Ottoman Turks invaded Bulgaria and ended up ruling for 500 years. When the Turks left Bulgaria they also left Serbia and Greece. These three countries ended up fighting over the Macedonia piece of land. BUT since the Bulgarian army was still in the East fighting the Turks out of their land, Greece and Serbia divided the Macedonia country between the two of them. Bulgaria was not very happy with this. When World War II breaks out in 1941, Bulgaria decides to fight on the side of the Germans because Hitler promised to give Macedonia back to Bulgaria. When Bulgaria realized that Hitler was going to loose though, they tried to back out and become neutral. The president of Bulgaria, Boris the Third, went to visit Hitler for this tense conversation. On the plane ride back to Bulgaria he died of a "heart attack". The people still aren't certain if he died of natural causes or was poisoned. Right after Boris' death the country becomes communist (1946). The building above was the old Communist Headquarters. In the main gallery there is a huge embellished sun on the ceiling, which was where the Communist leaders would hold banquets and balls.

In 1989 The Communist Party is defeated and democracy becomes the government of the country. Now in 2008, though, people look back fondly on Communism because now a days there is no funding for the arts, education, etc. The people seem to have less options of activities they can afford to do. BUT hopefully that will change because Bulgaria is now a part of the EU (as of 2007). They will be switching from the lev (Bulgarian currency -- This is the answer to your question, Yousef) to the Euro. The lev is about equal to the U.S. dollar at the moment. They will switch to the Euro starting January 2009.

As for the U.S., Bulgarians definitely do not like U.S. Policy (similar to the Greeks). But most people here who are educated have taken English language classes. I haven't had many problems communicating at all. It is difficult since the street signs are in the Cyrillic alphabet, but most younger people know at least Bulgarian and English (many times several languages even). That should answer Daysi's, Mari's, Cindy's, and Karla's questions about language. For more information read the previous post. I included a picture of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Anyway, as a side note: many of the main streets here are brick meaning for very bumpy rides. I have been taking my Dramamine every day when we go on long trips, but since today was going to be short I didn't. What a mistake! From now on I will take a Dramamine every morning even if it doesn't say we're going to be driving anywhere :) The picture to the left is of the brick streets here in Sofia.

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 22: Zdravey from Bulgaria!

2008-06-19T22:08:00.004-05:00

Hello from Sofia, Bulgaria: the capital of the country! If you take a look at the map to the Left you can find Sofia (when saying the name, the accent lies on the "O"). We will be staying here for about nine days, and then for a week traveling around the country to: Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Varna, Nesebar, Burgas, and Plovidiv. You can refer to this map whenever you're interested.

Anway, I am in a much better mood today and first have to say that JEFF, your comment in response to my Mom's comment made me laugh :) Who knows, maybe I'll come back a changed eater!

So we all said Farewell to Greece today (along with the Greek alphabet) and said Hello (or "Zdravey") to Bulgaria (and the Cyrillic alphabet). The Cyrillic alphabet is to your left. No worries if you don't really know how to read it...I don't either. Thankfully some of the signs are in English here. I have noticed that English is kind of the universal language. If one person knows Greek and another Bulgaria, they speak to each other in English. I am going to take my Bulgarian Phrase Book with me everywhere though. I was really bad about that in Greece and thankfully was able to get by, but I'm going to try harder here!

Brianna C -- Bulgaria is just north of Greece. It borders Romania to the North, Turkey and Greece to the South, and Serbia and Macedonia to the West. To the East is the Black Sea (which is like a resort/vacation spot that we'll be visiting in about a week or so.

Paula -- Bulgaria is its own nationality and so the country consists of mostly Bulgarians, some Greeks, and some Russians. Bulgaria is the national language though and the language the signs and menus are all written in. It is quite different than Greece, which has its own language and alphabet.

Zarai -- Many Bulgarians have traveled to the U.S. if they went to college. Our tour guide's name is Dani. She seems very sweet and knowledgeable. She has spent quite a bit of time in New England. I asked her if she had been to Chicago and she said that she had a friend there, but when she was in the States he was out of town, so she hasn't gone yet.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 21: Cranky and Crabby...and no, I'm not talking about the Buffalo

2008-06-19T22:05:00.003-05:00

Today has been a really hard day for me…I’ve been cranky all day. I try to make it a habit of not letting my mood affect other people, and I think I’ve done that fairly well today, BUT there has been some crabby stuff going on inside my head. It began with the fact that we had to wait on the side of the road for a taxi to bring two pieces of luggage that we left in Thessaloniki. Then we were supposed to eat lunch at 1 and didn’t eat until 3:30 (I have found on this trip that when I don’t eat I get very crabby). Then we got to the buffalo farm and there were no toilets and I really, really needed to go to the bathroom. Thankfully that was rectified quickly after I took a nice little “stroll” behind the buffalo pen with Annie as my look-out. I felt MUCH better after that. Finally I think I’m really homesick. Anyway, it’s been a long, hard day for me.

We did some interesting things here in Kerkini, though (even though I wasn’t in a good mood). We went on a boat ride in Lake Kerkimi which is a Bird Wild Life Marsh. We saw pelicans (which reminded me of _Finding Nemo_) and other birds. We also saw water buffalo (which reminded me of the “Everybody Wants a Water Buffalo” song from VeggieTales). After Lake Kerkini and a VERY late lunch, we went to a buffalo farm. I got the cutest buffalo picture when I was playing look-out for Myra and everyone else had gone to the bus. The buffalo were very curious and came to stand right next to me! Tonight I think we’re having buffalo meat for dinner…how sad, but yummy! ☺

I do want to update you about last night though too. Myra, Kristen, and I went on a Sweets Walk. Thessaloniki is known for their chocolates and honey sweets. The Lonely Planet guidebook (which is the best ever) had a Sweets Walk with the best shops. So we all got loaded up on sugar. I had the best tasting cream, pudding, cookie thing ever! It was divine. This is the place to come when you have a sweet tooth!

Alright, well writing this has made me feel much better. I miss you all and am definitely a little homesick now that it’s sunk in that I am only half way done with my trip. I’m learning a lot and enjoying everyone I’m traveling with, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what Bulgaria is like, but I miss you! Hope you’re all doing well!

Ms. G

Day 20: Alexander the Great

2008-06-17T08:24:00.005-05:00

Okay, time to think about Indiana Jones. Start playing the theme song in your head and imagine a white haired man in the 1970s finding a huge mound in the middle of the plane. He begins to wonder what is under the hill and starts to dig. What he finds is miraculous. Is the theme song still playing in your head? Good! Because what this man finds is pretty cool: it's the tomb of Philip the II, the father of Alexander the Great. But the tomb hasn't been looted or decaying, instead it is fully intact. When the archeologists continues to digs he uncovers a huge tomb made of marble columns with beautiful decorations above the door. The blues are still radiant and the reds still brilliant. The door is at least 24 feet high and is pure white. When he walks into the tomb he finds bones of horses and a gold chest. Inside the chest are the ashes of Philip the II...the legendary king of Macedonia whose father was supposedly Zeus!

Philip the II was a very successful king, but also was very confident and waged war on many different peoples. In 326 BC things were relatively peaceful for him and he attended the marriage of his daughter, Cleopatra, to another royal. When Philip II entered the theatre where the marriage was to take place, one of his body guards assassinated him! His assassin tried to escape and run to place where his friends were waiting with a chariot, but was caught by three of Philip's other body guards and killed.

Alexander the Great arranged the funeral for his father, which was said to be the most elaborate funeral every seen.

But where did this whole story start? In Pella, about an hours drive from Vergina where the tomb lies. Pella was the capital of the Macedonian state (remember way back in the BC times there was no country of Greece, instead there were city-states like Athens, Corinth, Macedonia, etc -- which is actually a huge reason why there is the huge conflict between Greece and Macedonia now; see my previous post). The city is supposedly the birthplace of Alexander the Great and was where Philip II lived. It consists still of doric columns and intricate murals on the floor.

Pella is also famous as being the place where Helen was abducted from. Helen was abducted from this house in Pella by the son of King of Troy, which began to Trojan War. The picture to the left is of Pella, or what remains of it. At the moment the archeologists are still excavating the area around the site and will definitely find more ruins.

One of the most interesting finds they have found so far was a curse written on lead and found in the hand of one of the corpses. In the nine lines of the curse, the dead curses any woman who sleeps with her husband!

I unfortunately could not take pictures inside Philips II, but if you're interested in this subject you can google it and find more information.

Joey and Herbierto -- The Greek government is similar to the German and French system. There is a Prime Minister and Cabinet who has most of the power and the president does other executive duties. Orlando -- Yes, the government has a lot of problems similar to ours here in the U.S. There don't seem to be really strict laws though. I'm thinking specifically about the traffic police...everyone drives crazy here and there are no tickets, etc. (at least as far as I can tell!)

Diego, Jerrod, Ashley, Beatriz, Darnell -- You all asked about education. Students go to school September through June. All students have to go to school until 16. They have public schools, although they are not very good and most families try to get their children into private education. The government chooses the textbooks for the students and then every single student in the country uses that textbook in that specific grade. Most students now-a-days learn English as a second language.

Shannon -- I don't know what Greeks would say is the worst thing about Greece; everyone here is VERY proud to be Greek! It's a great country...you should visit at some point in your life.

Hope you're all doing well and the weather isn't quite as warm as it is here!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 19: Mount Olympus

2008-06-16T09:49:00.009-05:00

Mount Olympus is the home of the Greek gods; it is a holy place where temples were erected for the gods and altars created in order to sacrifice animals to the gods. At the base of the mountain is a town called Dion. Dion is named after Zeus because Zeus was the most important god and "dios" means god, hence Dion. Today we went to visit the ruins of the ancient town of Dion. The whole area is a forest preserve and it was beautiful walking along the ancient stoned streets of the town. The air is really crisp and clean and there are tons of dragonflies. Dragonflies symbolized the purify of the earth and was good luck for the town.

When you enter Dion you first come to the Temple of Demeter. She is the goddess of the Earth and is first and foremost revered in this holy place. What still is left of the ruins are a few statues and the outlines of the temples. Beyond Demeter's temple is the Altar of Zeus which looks up at the peak of Mount Olympus. Strangely enough, further along is the Temple of Isis, the Egyptian goddess. I found out that Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Egyptian mythology, and Christianity are all closely linked.

After the Romans conquered Greece the empire continued to spread to Egypt. The Greeks and Romans became familiar with these Egyptian gods and goddesses and some of the Greeks decided to worship the Egyptian gods instead of the Greek ones because the Greek ones had not been favorable to them. So Demeter's Temple eventually became a temple for Isis. Really it was just a way to get a new god who would, hopefully, like you more and grant your request. This was all occurring during the beginning of the first century AD and so Christianity was beginning to spread as well.

The Apostle Paul came to Dion to speak to the people and he did so in front of one of these temples. The temple had become the Temple of the Unknown God because the townspeople had changed gods so rapidly and they would go to the temple and worship whomever they thought would help them the most. Paul stood in front of this temple and told the people of Dion that the God they were seeking was Jesus Christ and they did not have to feel like the God they were worshipping was Unknown any more. Interesting, hum?

After visiting the temples and spiritual part of the city, we walked to the agora (marketplace). Close to the marketplace was where men would go to the bathroom...it's like the modern version of reading the newspaper because as you can see in the picture, all the men would sit right next to each other to do their business! It really must have smelled bad (although they did have a sewage system and water would come clean the waste). If you look at the pictures to the left you'll see the bathroom. It consists of a long stone bench with several holes. Zoila -- I would NOT want to go living in ancient times. They were dirty all the time, I'm guessing!

The Greeks also knew how to heat buildings. In the picture to the left you can see the outlines of a big shop and throughout the whole building it has little posts coming up from the ground and in the center of the building is a fireplace. The floor would go on top of these short posts and water would be filled beneath the floor. Then they would light the fire and the water would heat up and steam would rise and the floor would get really warm...then warming the rest of the room!

After lunch we went part way up Mount Olympus (to Pieria) and did some hiking. It was absolutely gorgeous! To hike up to the summit would take twelve hours...although I found some horses that would take me up and thought that wouldn't be too bad :)

So I haven't answered questions for a few days, so let me answer a few of them:

Mom -- I guess I should have said the Greeks don't like U.S. policy. They have been very nice to us so far. Although the Greeks do tend to push. I don't necessarily like a stranger touching me and pushing me forward, so I've tried to stay away from really crowded stores...when several older Greek ladies are all crowded together, you can bet that you will be shoved! I think that's just the way here though...not a way to be impolite.

Jeff -- No rugby here unfortunately. I even asked Demitrious and he said it's only really soccer and basketball that people watch and play. Maybe in Bulgaria?

Jose -- I don't know a ton about the health care, but I do know they're part of a universal care system. The pharmacies always have green crosses outside their doors and there isn't anything like Walgreens or CVS. Pharmacies are strictly for getting your medication.

Brandon F -- Greeks LOVE to eat. A typical meal includes appetizers, a Greek salad, a main course of meat (usuallly lamb or veal) and potatoes, and dessert.

Thomas -- Greeks spend their money just like you and me. Here in Greece since they are part of the European Union, they use the Euro so everything is expensive, though.

Louella -- A lot of the stores are open-air stores. Clothes racks line the side walks and the owners usually clump around a little table close to their stores and play backgammon. Then when they see you approaching they come up to help you.

Callie and Kyle -- Today is Holy Spirit Day which is a huge tradition and holiday here in Greece. The Greeks are celebrating the day when God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. All the shops are closed.

Jeanette -- Greek teenagers listen to the same kinds of music you all do and dance similarly. I've passed by many loud, throbbing teen clubs.

Jasmine -- The Greeks have technology just like us except that they don't have their own computers. Most teens go to the internet cafe for a couple hours, it seems, to do gaming, etc.

Finally, Enrique and Thalia -- I'm guessing you've gotten a nice dose of Greek history through the 19 days I've been here in Greece. I only have two more left, but hopefully you've been enjoying the pictures and information!

Day 18: No Women Allowed

2008-06-15T13:47:00.005-05:00

FYI: I posted two new posts today (this one and the previous) since I was not able to access the internet yesterday.

Today was another relaxing day. I got up early in the morning to swim in the pool and then we all went on a cruise around Mount Athos. Mount Athos is similar to the Vatican in the fact that it is its own territory. Their government is not the Greek government. The peninsula of Mount Athos has over 20 different monasteries where several 1000 of monks live. Because of the silence and tranquility, tourists are not allowed...and definitely NO WOMEN! Women have to stay at least 200 metres away from the land and so on the cruise we had to stay that far away as well. They said that this is because there should be no temptation for the men concerning celibacy, etc.

The cruise was three hours and when we got to the port I saw a super-cute pink hat with a little monkey on it and decided to buy it. I'm really glad that I did because I think it saved me from getting all sunburned on my cheeks! I included a picture of Kristin and me on the boat (me wearing my new hat).

The one really interesting thing about Greece is that it is so international. On our cruise we had the Mount Athos information narrated to us in Greek, German, and English--it took a while to get information to all of us. It's been like that everywhere in Greece though. Here at the hotel I have been hearing German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Chinese, and English.

Anyway, back to Mount Athos, in order to make money to live the monks create pottery and relics which they then sell for seeds for their gardens, etc.

Mount Athos means "Holy Mountain". The 20 monasteries have been around since before Meteora (1000 AD).

Lizandy -- The painting and sculpture the Greeks do is similar to that of the monks. Most of it is copies of ancient pottery from the BC times or religious relics.

Alright, well I hope all is well out there in Chicago, MN, and Iowa!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 17: Sea Urchin, Octopus, and Villages

2008-06-15T13:17:00.004-05:00

People here in Thessaloniki have their weekend trips out on the peninsula of Halkidiki. It has the best beaches in northern Greece, and this is where our Fulbright group spent our weekend. We were in a village called Ouranoupolis -- Polis means city AND Ouran means clouds, so Ouranouplis is City in the Clouds. It was gorgeous!

It took us 6.5 hours to get there (it only takes 3 but we were stopping often for coffee breaks and lunch). We stopped at one small village called Parthenon which was rediscovered only 15 years ago. It sits on the mountains above the Aegean Sea. Wealthy people were exploring and found the old ruins of the city and decided to rebuild it as a get-away spot. I got a biscuit with ice cream for my "coffee break" and it was absolutely heaven! See the picture to the top left of the cute village!

We also stopped for lunch where we got to try octopus. I tried some because my moto has been to try everything put in front of me. It wasn't horrible, but I couldn't get the fact that I was each an octopus with its suckers still on out of my head. It creeped me out a bit. But since we're close to the ocean we've been eating a lot of sea food and I'm getting more used to it.

When we got to Ouranoupolis we had the best hotel ever! A perfect view of the ocean and each of us had our own suites...not just rooms...but suites. I had a huge bath tub, balcony, the works. We of course ran down to the ocean to swim but immediately two people in our group got stung by Sea Urchins. I definitely ran out of the water and my friend, Kristen, and I went to the pool! (Yeah, no sea urchins or other animals ready to attack our feet!). The picture is from my balcony!

Brandon H -- Every male Greek has to be in the military for at least a year. It is part of their civic duty. But I don't know very much about it. I tried to talk to a man in uniform, but he unfortunately didn't know English (and I definitely don't know enough Greek to communicate with him!).

Today was a wonderful holiday break!

Day 16: Potatoes and Necklaces

2008-06-13T13:43:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone! I want to say a quick THANK YOU to:

Stephanie -- My faithful blog commenter and reader :) I'm glad you're sticking with me! The Meteora pictures do look like they can't be real, hum? I think that was the purpose...having the monasteries so high in the sky...to make them look untouchable!

Jackie -- Thanks for helping Grandma

Deb -- I love that you're keeping everyone updated!

Mom and Elizabeth -- I miss you and am glad you're commenting. It's so nice to hear from you all!

Today's posting is short, but requires you to be interactive. We went to a modern art museum and the whole theme was making the artwork speak to you. So I've posted a picture and I want you (in the comments) to tell me what it makes YOU think about. I will tell you my suspicions on Sunday when I post next (I will be away from my computer for a bit because we're becoming "weekenders" and going to Ouranoupolis tomorrow, which supposedly has the best beaches ever! So I will spend my Saturday in my swimsuit and Sunday boating around the islands!)

See you all Sunday. Let me know what you think about the potatoes and necklace (the more creative the better)!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 15: The Ancient Civilizations

2008-06-12T10:57:00.005-05:00

Today has been another busy day. We learned all about the ancient civilizations here in the north part of Greece and the Byzantine culture. Because this is the north part of Greece, there is a huge influence from the Turks and the Ottoman Empire. After the fall of Rome in 250 AD came the rise in the Byzantine Empire.

To me, the most interesting facts were those concerning the burial practices. When someone died they would put a gold piece of jewelry over the person's mouth, as shown in the picture.

I also saw some really well kept bones of a woman from 250 AD. If you enlarge the picture to the left enough you can see eye you can see her eyebrows still! (Try it and let me know if you have sharp enough eyes!)

Other interesting things at the museum included a tablet that has written on it the contract for a slave girl. The girl is only 2 months old though! TRANNY -- this is something that may interest you. The tablet was composed on the rock in 200 AD some time. (See the picture to the left).

Finally the museum had pieces of the pipe that was the water system and sewage system in ancient Greek times. All it included was poor fitting rock pipes together. It would totally have let all the sewage out! Yuck!

Lastly we went on a tour of the city of Thessaloniki today and saw the ancient agora (marketplace). It's so funny because as you're walking down the street suddenly there's a huge open space all roped off and you see ancient ruins dating back to the BC time period. The picture that you see on the right is of the agora where all the buying and selling was to be done. There is also a big theatre that was used for lectures and performances. It is also said that this was a place where the Apostle Paul spoke to the people of Thessaloniki (we also saw the church that was supposedly the first place Paul spoke in when coming to the city)! It is really awe-striking that I can be in a place where Paul stood thousands and thousands of years ago.

Well, hope you're all enjoying the summer. I hear it's pretty warm and humid in Chicago!

Ms. G

Day 14: Thessaloniki

2008-06-11T23:26:00.007-05:00

We're finally in Thessaloniki and I have internet access again! NOTE: I have posted four new blogs right in a row (I wrote them on my computer while traveling and now have had the access to post them). So while you see this post first, if you want to follow my journey in order you may want to start with Post 10.

Okay, well here we go...today has been busy and there is a lot to tell you!

First, we passed by Mount Olympus while traveling from Kalambaka to Thessaloniki today. Unfortunately the clouds were in the way, so you can't see the height of the mountain, but trust me there is snow at the top!

When we got to Thessaloniki we first went to the United States Consulate and met the Consulate General. Unfortunately we couldn't take our cameras into the building though. Security was really tight: we could only enter the building one at a time, went through the metal detector, had our bags scanned, then our bags were opened and looked through. But it was pretty cool to be the special guests of the Consulate General.

After visiting the Consulate we went on a little stroll through the city. One thing that is most interesting is the graffiti--it's everywhere. When I asked Dimitrious about it, he said it was all political. There aren't really any gangs in the city. So JERAUN -- there really aren't any colors that are offensive to Greeks.

The final thing we did today was listen to a few lectures by some of the university professors. One was very interesting because it was on the Macedonia issue, something that us Americans don't know all that much about, but is very important in our world. Actually, Obama has talked about it on the campaign a bit and says he is sympathetic to the Greek side of the issue. Here's what's going on:

Back during the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and other Balkan countries were part of the USSR. Greece was also under communist rule as well. When Russia fell and these countries were free, they began deciding on borders, etc. Macedonia is a provence in Greece (the northern part of the country where Thessaloniki is located is part of Macedonia). So when the Balkan people began dividing up the land there were lots of conflicts (think Kosovo and Bosnia). The problem was, of course, who had the right to claim all the parts of the land. At the moment the countries are divided up, but the other question then was how to name the countries. The people in Yugoslavia didn't want to keep the name because they wanted a new identity since they weren't communist any more. Since so many of the people came from northern Greece (Macedonia) they named their country Macedonia. Make sense so far? I know it's complicated :) I'm still learning about the issue too...so pardon any of my mistakes!

Anyway, calling Yugoslavia Macedonia made the Greeks VERY unhappy since that is their name. Since Greece is part of the European Union and NATO, the country has the right to block any other country wanting to become part of these organizations. Macedonia/Yugoslavia wants to become part of the E.U. but knows that Greece will block them because of their name. At the moment the United Nations is mediating the conflict. Greece is asking Macedonia/Yugoslavia to add at least an adjective (like "New" or "Upper") to their name to make it different from the Greece Macedonia.

There is a lot of tension here in northern Greece about this issue and people are very passionate about it. The other concern (or issue) is that Macedonia is so unstable that it is possible it won't even exist after 10 years (which is supposedly what the Albanians are banking on since they want the land...and actually control most of the western part of Macedonia any ways).

The Balkan history is very interesting. I don't want to get into much more detail so I'll continue tomorrow.

One last interesting note before I end though: here in Thessaloniki the "Anti-American" rate is at 93%. Greeks here really dislike the U.S. Policy. They are all very interested in seeing what happens with Obama too, though!

Look at how much you've just learned! Hope you're all doing well. Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 13: Religion

2008-06-11T23:10:00.004-05:00

A picture of Barlaam Monastery in Meteora up high on the boulders.

Wow! Today we went to Meteora and probably saw the most beautiful site ever! Meteora means "in mid-air" and that is definitely what all of this looks like. In Meteora there are these huge boulders that reach up to the sky and on the top of them sit three separate monasteries. St. Athanasios (the founder of the first monastery) choose this site for the monastery because it seemed to be the highest place on the earth and looked like the monastery was actually touching heaven. The monasteries are from the 900 AD and are a place for prayer and meditation. (The word "monk" actually means alone).

We visited one of the monasteries and one nunnery. The monastery was named Barlaam and in order to get to it, we had to cross a very narrow bridge that went from one of the rocks to the next. When entering the chapel, you are amazed. The whole thing: walls and ceilings are painted with depictions from the Bible. The walls are black and then covered with lovely designs, pictures, and portraits of saints. It is a visual overload! I unfortunately couldn't take any pictures for you though. I bet if you google the chapel, you will be able to find pictures.

We then went to the nunnery which had two chapels. One of the smaller and older chapels had beautiful designs as well, BUT there were holes all over the pictures of the Virgin, Jesus, and the saints. Our tour guide, Stathis, said this was because when the Turks invaded in 1413 they came in and tried to destroy all the Christian monuments (the Turks were mainly Muslim). I'm so glad so much of it survived, though, because it looks like it would take years to paint all the scenes.

Greeks who are Christian are mainly Greek Orthodox, which is slightly different than Roman Catholic but they are still Catholic. This coming weekend is the Holy Spirit weekend, where everyone celebrates Jesus' gift of the Holy Spirit to humanity (Cristina, that's an answer to your question!).

Yaraisel -- I don't think the Greeks would leave for America now a days. The Greeks are very proud of their heritage and love to share their culture with us. They seem very content (at least in the places I have been so far) and don't seem anxious to leave their country.

Cheers!

Ms. G

Day 12: At "The Center of the World"

2008-06-11T22:54:00.004-05:00

Pictures: The first picture is of the Temple of Athena in Delphi. (Notice that the grayish parts are the reconstructed parts to give us an idea of what it would have looked like and the white part is the original Greek material). The second picture is all of us Fulbright-ers in front of the Temple, and the final picture is Amy and me in front of the mythical and healing waterfall (which, yes, I did touch....just for good luck!)

Hello! Today I am standing in the Center of the World, according to the ancient Greeks. The Greeks thought that Delphi, a small city in the mountains of central Greece, was where the center of the earth was. It's not hard to understand why: it's absolutely gorgeous here. I have the best view from my hotel room! There is the largest olive grove in Greece down in the valley of the mountains, the Gulf of Corinth in the distance, and mountains surrounding this town.

Delphi is also the beginning of the Pythian Games, which was the most famous festival in Greece after the Olympics. The Games commemorated Apollo's triumph over his oracular predecessor here, the snaky Python. Because Apollo (as you all know) was the god of music, the Pythian Games had more artistic contests than the athletics we have in the Olympics.

Within Delphi is the Temple of Apollo and a Temple of Athena. While the temples were made of columns, the ceiling have little knobs on it (making it look like a lego). This is because when the Greeks made buildings out of wood the place where they would hammer in the nail would not look pretty, so they would put a stud over it. They got so used to doing this and it made the ceiling look better, that even with the marble and lime of the temples, they would create artificial studs in the rock so the ceilings would look the same!

Sebastian -- Greeks do seem to know a lot about philosophy and history. It's so much apart of their history. Their history is really what binds them together as Greeks.

Maria -- No pyramids here...that's the Egyptians. There are lots of pagan temples though! If you see in the picture of the Temple of Athena, you'll see three reconstructed columns: Notice that the gray-ish material is the recently renovated part. The white parts of the columns are the original ancient Greek parts of the temple!

Adam -- All of the mythology stories are the ancient stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. All the Greeks are very knowledgeable in their mythology. I'm learning quite a bit about these gods and goddesses myself!

After Delphi, we all visited the cutest village every: Arahova. It is a mountain village 16 miles from Delphi. It is WAY up in the mountains and had beautiful views. This village is known for it's hand-loomed fluffy wool and all of the weaving takes place here in the village. After shopping we all had a 6 course dinner at a local restaurant. Yum! More fried zucchini! I can't wait to come back to Chicago and start cooking all this great Greek food :)

Hope you're all well!

Day 11: The Earthquake and Languages

2008-06-11T15:13:00.004-05:00

Pictures: A fellow Fulbright-er, Amy, and me on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth during a stop on the bus and a picture of the Sphinx that sat on top of a column in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Do you know what kind of animal walks first on four legs, then on two, and finally on three?

Today is a day of journeying from the Peloponnese back to the mainland of Greece. We are going to Delphi and stopping several times to visit small little port towns along the way. At one of our stops in Itea, I put my feet into the Gulf of Corinth (in the Mediterranean) and right afterwards felt an earthquake. I have never felt an earthquake before and I thought at first it was me just being dizzy from the bus ride. We found out later it was a 6.5 earthquake and the epicenter was near Olympia (where we were yesterday). Unfortunately there was a death, but little damage.

Berenice, Maria, Stephanie, and Wojciech -- All of you asked questions about the Greek language, so let me tell you a little bit about it. First, the language has a different alphabet than our Latin alphabet. All the street and shop signs are in this alphabet. The language has a very unusual sound to it: not like English, German, or Chinese...something very much its own.

While many people in Athens spoke English, older people do not and people in smaller towns do not. Here in Delphi there are very few people who speak English. I have gotten in the habit of pointing on the menu to what I want and then, of course, always saying "Efharisto" and "Parakalo" (Thank you and Please). In school most students learn German or Italian since it is closer than the States. The third most popular language people study is English.

Greek seems difficult to learn since their accents aren't always on the same syllable of each word and since the alphabet is so different.

Alright, well that's it for now. Tomorrow we visit the archeological site of Delphi with the Oracles! I'll tell you about it later :)

Ms. G

Day 10: The Olympics (and other Sports)

2008-06-11T15:01:00.004-05:00

Pictures: The entrance to the original Olympic Stadium and me running across the finish line (I know, I have a kind of whimpy run at the moment...it was a long way there and back and I stopped a little short of the finish line)!

Today we are in Olympia, which is on the opposite side of the Peloponnese than Nafplion (where we were yesterday). Olympia, as you probably can guess, is the home of the original Olympics (and where the current Olympic torch is lit every two years.

The coolest thing about Olympia was the fact that I got to run the track at the original stadium! How completely awesome :) I did pretty well in the race as well...I should start running when I get back to Chicago so I can keep up with Elizabeth!

Anyway, a bit about Olympia: the Games began to take place every 4 years and it began in 776 BC (that's almost 3000 years ago). Only men were allowed to participate in the games and if women were caught watching (they wouldn't ever get past the security, though, because all the men competed naked) they were thrown to death from a nearby mountain. Ouch!

The Olympics included: footraces, long and short jumps, wrestling, boxing, and chariot races. I competed in a footrace with my fellow Fulbright-ers. The length is about 400 meters going back and forth on the track.

Josh -- The Olympics were in Greece because the Greeks created them. The people wanted to show the pride they had in their city-states (each region of Greece was represented).

Within the Olympic area there is a Temple of Zeus and a Temple of Hera so that the competitors could pray to the gods before competing.

Joseph -- There were no coliseum fights where people were getting eaten by lions. That was the Romans. The Romans did rule Greece for a while, but it's not a Greek tradition.

Elvia, Evelyn, and Andris -- You all asked about fashion; here is what I've found out so far: The most interesting fact is that many men wear capris (which is quite different from the U.S.). Also women wear capris where the crotch of the pants go down to their knees. It looks very funny (I'll try to get a picture at some point). Women also are not afraid to show off skin. You know the tops where the girls' backs are bare and there are string tying the shirt together? The Greeks have shirts like that, except the ties are in the front and not the back. Hmmmm.... :)

Felipe -- Let me give you a little bit of history of some of the cities I've visited in Greece. Nafplion was conquered by the Venetians who influenced all the architecture in the city. Strolling down the streets definitely felt like we were in Italy with the balconies, etc. Nafplion was then taken over by the Turks. In Olympia the Greeks built the buildings and then were conquered by the Romans who rebuilt different buildings.

It is interesting to note that a lot of the ruins here in Olympia, and other places we have visited, that the structures were destroyed by the Christians (most of the time by the Fourth Crusade) because they wanted to knock down any temple that was erected for a pagan god.

Finally, RAFAL, I have not forgotten you. The Euro Cup is huge here! I took a picture of all the men sitting and watching the games. In all the shops we go in, the TV is turned to the games. So far I know the Czech Republic won the first game and I think Russia won the second game. I'm not sure about Poland. Do you get to see the games in the U.S.?

I hope you're all enjoying your summer. Keep reading and posting!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 9: History, Wine, Toilets, and Girls

2008-06-06T09:12:00.004-05:00

Pictures: Picture #1 and #2 are of the teen girls here in Nafplion. Picture #3 is of Ms. Kristen Margetson, another teacher on the trip, in the prison-cave at Palamidi Fortress. Picture #4 is for Ryan...it's his quintessential Greek car!

I am still in Nafplion, which I have to say is one of the most charming places I have ever been. It is a very small town with cobble-stoned streets and right on the water. Today we visited Palamidi Castle which was built by the Turks and Venetians (this town is so romantic because of the huge Venetian influence here). It was later used as a prison and I got to go inside one of the cells which was just a hole in the rock. It is said that one man was in the prison for over two years without light and almost went blind...I could completely see that being true! It was dark in the cave-jail :)

After the historical tour we went to a winery! It was wonderful because it's in the Nemea provence, which is supposedly where Hercules was born. They call the dark red wine that comes from this area "Hercules Blood." The grapes are St. George grapes which are special to this northern part of the Peloponnese. Our group was taught how to correctly taste the wine and then we sampled (and drank) four different kinds of wine. I bought three bottles (one for here in Greece and two to bring back with me to Chicago, so Jeff -- You can be prepared to help me drink the wine when I get home!). The windery we were at is named Skouras...when you're all old enough you'll have to try this kind of wine.

So today at breakfast we were all talking about the toilets here in Greece and I thought I would add a little comment for you all about the sewage and plumbing here. Since Greece is such an old country, the plumbing is also old. You can't ever throw any paper products (toilet paper included) in the toilet. I think the maids are the hotel should get a TON of money for having to clean out the trash in the bathroom every day for all the guests staying in their hotel. Don't you agree? I think that has to be the worst job imaginable...well, at least pretty gross of a job.

Tevin -- I have had the worst time getting you pictures of girls without looking creepy! I had everyone in our group on the look-out for teenage girls. Today at Palamidi Fortress there was a group of girls, though, and I got two semi-decent pictures for you. This is as good as it gets, I think! Enjoy :)

Ryan -- I know more about he cars and gas stations here in Greece now. First let me ask: how are you doing in class? Are you ready for your final next week? I hope you're not annoying Ms. Lina too much :) So I included a picture of a smart car for you. Everyone here drives crazy! I have almost gotten run over twice. Also the cars are all small. Gas here is about 1.30 Euro per liter ( a liter is about 1/4 of a gallon) -- which means gas is expensive!

Erika and Latiana -- Greeks seem to like their alcohol and having dinner the best here. They have long hour and a half / two hour lunches.

Yaslin -- Every day Greeks spend a long time for dinner. The dinner hour usually starts around 8 or 8:30 and lasts until at least 10. There are appetizers, then a Greek salad, the main couse, and finally dessert. Yum!

Terry -- The families in Greece are very close. Everyone is super-friendly and families stick close together...at least they do in the smaller towns. In Athens it is more like Chicago where some families are close and some not so close.

Hope you're all having a nice Friday!

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 8: The History of the Peloponnese

2008-06-05T11:26:00.005-05:00

Pictures: The first is of the Corinth Canal making the Peloponnesus a real island (= nesus in Greek). The second picture is of Agammenon's tomb hidden in a mountainside. The final is of me at the Theatre of Epidaurus, the most preserved of any ancient monument in the world!

Hello from Greece! I hope you're all doing well. Today has been a super-busy day of traveling. We traveled from Athens to the Peloponnese, which is an "island" in Greece. It's actually 99% surrounded by water (although the Greeks built a canal several years ago and it is now technically an island). Nesus means island in Greek and Pelopon was a King in Greece...meaning Peloponnese was named after the King and called an island. Look how much you're learning!

Here in the Peloponnese there are a ton of ancient ruins. We went to Mycenae where we saw the ruins of the old town where King Agamemnon (the King during the Trojan War) supposedly was. We also got to see Agamemon's tomb. It makes the myth seem almost real! Hmmm...I wonder if it is ;)

After traveling to Mycenae we went to Epidaurus, which is the old healing center. When people were really sick, they would go to Epidaurus to feel better. Do you all remember Easclepius? He was the god of health and sickness...the center was named after him. Ancient Greeks would go there to get better and in order to commune with nature. Communing with nature seemed to mean that you would get closer to the gods and be healed. Of course, if you had an injury, you were probably going to stay at the center for at least 40 days to get better! So in order to entertain everyone, they would be entertained with theatre. The theatre that is at Epidaurus is THE most preserved ancient ruins in all of the world! It was very cool to stand in the middle and talk...my voice vibrates!

Also in Agamemon's tomb, since it is circular, I can stand at one end of the tomb facing the wall and talk across to a friend on the other side and TOTALLY hear everything. It's pretty cool! I don't know the math and science of it, though...you all should ask Ms. Demmer or Mr. Neidig of how this works.

Melissa -- You asked about animals...well I don't know if this is animals, but there are some huge bugs here in the Peloponnese! They are bigger than June Bugs...they don't bite but they're huge.

Kennya -- The economy here is pretty good because Greece is on the Euro. The problem though is that everything is SO expensive (not just for Americans converting to the Euro, but even the Greeks themselves). The five euro is pretty much obsolete...you always have to keep a fifty in your pocket since things are so expensive. I'm lucky that Fulbright pays for most of my expenses! But when you come, be prepared with lots of spending money!

Allyson -- The Greeks definitely love their nationality. There are Greek flags everywhere and if you've seen _My Big Fat Greek Wedding_ where the dad says he can get the etymology of any word -- it's definitely like that. They tell us how the root of an English word is Greek!

Hope all is going well! I would love to hear from all of you reading :)

Ms. G

Day 7: Athen's Akropolis and the Islands

2008-06-04T23:52:00.006-05:00

Pictures: A picture of the Parthenon where the ancient Greeks worshipped Athena. And then a picture of the island Aegina. The Mediterranean Sea is gorgeous aqua water!!! I loved it :)

First off, Tevin -- I TOTALLY haven't forgotten about you and the Greek girls. I have had trouble though getting photographs of teenage girls here...I don't run into them much and me whipping out my camera to take a picture of them seems slightly slimy of me :) I will get a picture for you at some point in my two and a half weeks in Greece though!

Today we went to the Athens Akropolis which is from 4 BC. It means "City on a Hill". Part of the Akropolis is the Parthenon, which is the ancient temple where the Greeks worshipped Athena. Next to it is a temple where supposedly Athena and Poseidon had their huge battle! There is even a hole in the ceiling where Poseidon's trident came through. The Olive Tree next to it is the gift Athena gave the Athenian people.

After the Akropolis we went to the Agora which is the ancient marketplace. And from there we took the Metra and Ferry to a close Greek Island called Aegina. Aegina is the ancient capital of Greece...I mostly just laid on the beach though, to get that suntan that Jerrod says I need :)

Ashley, Jenise, and Latrice -- Living in Greece is awesome. The people are relaxed and take a long time for all their meals. Everyone is super-friendly.

Nick, Letisia, and Claudia -- The people don't still believe in mythology; they're mostly Catholic. (So they're monotheistic). Although, Claudia, the story above with Poseidon and Athena seems like there is evidence that the gods were real :)

Quristin -- Greeks should definitely be known for more than just mythology. They should be known for their relaxed demeanor, friendly attitude, and food! (I love the food here!!! I have already made a resolution that I will come back to Chicago with a cookbook and spend my summer cooking!)

Jelisa, Donnie, and Rafal -- Okay, I have to say I haven't heard a ton about the soccer stuff, but everyone is watching it here. When in Aegina yesterday my friends and I were sitting at a cafe eating ice cream and the game was on. All the Greek men were loving it! Soccer and basketball (surprisingly) seem to be the most-watched sport. So, Rafal, tell me more about the Soccer stuff that is going on so I can sound intelligent over here :)

Tranny -- The ancient Greeks did have slaves. Whenever they conquered a group of people, they would make them slaves. So it's not like in the U.S. where Americans went over to capture Africans and bring them back to be slaves, instead they went to war with another nation and if they won they put them into slavery. This happened to a lot of the middle eastern an eastern european peoples. I don't know much about it though, so I'll try to get more information when I can!

I hope you're all doing lovely! I hear that classes are going well. I would love updates though!

Miss you!

Ms. G

P.S. I added a link to "MYRA'S BLOG" which is a good friend of mine's blog here on the trip. She has been writing as well and since we're writing about different things, you may want to look hers up. She sometimes has some great pictures that I don't have...and some of the pictures I am in :)

Day 6: Conquering Athens

2008-06-03T23:43:00.006-05:00

Hi You All! Quick thing before I begin: I'm feeling slightly lonely here in BlogWorld. I would love to hear from you, even if it's only a quick hello or update in the comments section.

Okay, here we go:

A picture of the city of Athens from up near the Acropolis. I took this picture while on a historic walk with two of my new Fulbright friends. Notice the mountain in the background: Greece is very mountainous.
This is a picture of Plaka at night during dinnertime. It's very romantic because of all the white lights hanging from the trees and the live music wafting through the air. (See me answer to Darrell and Sikida's question.
Here is the old Temple of Zeus in the heart of Athens. This is all that remains of the ancient place of worship.

I feel like I have conquered Athens by now: I know all the major streets, have ridden the Metra, and know my favorite restaurants to eat at! I also know 7 Greek words (yippee, for me...I know it's not much). The words I know are:

neh = Yes

kalimera = Good Morning

kalispera = Good Evening

signomi = Sorry

parakalo = Please

efkharisto = Thank You

andio = Good-Bye

So today we learned all about the Acropolis (we visit it tomorrow) and Greek Mythology. Then I took a 3 hour walk around Athens. Every time you're walking here in Athens you turn the corner and BANG! -- you run into some ancient BC-type ruins. It's pretty cool!

Veronica -- Greek Mythology started because the Greeks needed to explain the natural occurrences that were happening in the world (ie. volcanoes, etc).

James and Moss -- Greeks are now Greek Orthodox, a type of Catholicism. They believe the world was created by the Christian God.

Meka -- THANKS FOR READING! I hear from Ms. Litowsky you've been on the blog, but haven't commented! Yay :) As for your question: The Athenians (people who live in Athens) love Athena. That's their favorite goddess because she saved the Athenian people from the angry Poseidon. They have jewelry here that looks like a spiral and if it turns clock-wise it symbolizes Poseidon and if the spiral turns counter-clock-wise it symbolizes Athena.

QUESTION FOR YOU ALL = Who remembers why Athens was saved by Athena? (Ben, I bet you know!!!)

Darrell and Sidika -- YES, Athens (at least) is very romantic :) I have seen lots of couples walking around and this is the perfect romantic spot. In the Plaka neighborhood (where I am staying) there are tons of small, winding cobble-stone streets great for mingling. Around 7:30 PM (dinner time) all the Greek men come out and ask me: "Do you want a boyfriend for the evening?" The restaurants are lined up on the curbs with tables outside and white lights hanging from all the trees. It's beautiful. There is usually live music being played as well. How romantic, hum? (You can tell that to DeMichael as well...he may be interested!) Athenians have the freedom to inter-marry, although this may be different when I get to the countryside.

I have one more day in Athens, and then we move to Corinth and Nfalion in the countryside.

Sincerely,

Ms. G

Day 5: The Whole History of Greece

2008-06-02T15:41:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of the Acropolis from a rooftop garden where we were having our lecture:
Today I attended a lecture on the history of Greece and Athens and then visited the Archeological Museum. At the museum I saw artifacts from over 10000 BC! There were quite a few statues of Athena and Poseidon.

The most interesting part of the history of Greece though, was that Athens was never really the capital of Greece. Way back in Greek Mythology times the country didn't exist. Instead there were city-states (one of which was Athens). The the Ottoman Empire took over Greece and the capital was Constantinople (Istanbul). When Greece gained their independence around 1821, the capital was Aegina, a city near the mainland. This was only the capital for a year though since it was so remote and hard to get to. The capital was then moved to Nafplion (the city I will be visiting starting on Thursday). But when Otto became King of Greece he moved the capital to Athens because the Acropolis was there and he felt like the capital should be near one of the greatest monuments in Greece.

The hotel I am staying at is very close to the acropolis. I can see it above on the hill (Acropolis means "City on a Hill"). I'm staying in the Plaka neighborhood, which is the oldest part of the city. I'll be walking around the streets and turn a corner and BOOM! there's an ancient greek column in the middle of the street. It's pretty cool.

Answers to Questions:

Ana, Anna, Jade, Amalia, and Dahlia -- The most beautiful sites in Greece so far are the acropolis and the islands. I would recommend making sure you see the Acropolis when you come to Greece...there's too much history in it not to see it.

Keisha -- The weather is very warm and muggy. It was in the 90s today and very humid. I think I got a little bit of a sun tan :)

Ryan -- Gas stations are very expensive. It's twelve euros (I think maybe that's liters???). But people are lined up around the street and corners to fill up their cars and mopeds.

P.S. Feel free to comment in the comment boxes. I have been answering your questions or responding to your comments when you post them.

Day 4: Sleep-Walking Through Athens

2008-06-02T00:24:00.007-05:00

Me on the airplane and down a street in Athens:

Yay! I'm in Athens. I'm sitting in the hotel's restaurant eating breakfast at the moment...you all are sleeping though (it's the middle of the night for you). I'm about to go to the Archeological Museum today :) First, though, let me say that I miss you all. I hope you're all set for your Romeo and Juliet essays!

So I have a question to ask you all first: What are some of your pre-conceived notions of Greece? (Think: what are some stereotypes you have of Greece?). Tranny, Jerrod, and Alan (my regular readers and commenters), tell the other students to log on and comment on this question. Then in a couple of days I will post on the topic.

Well it has been a VERY long time since I got to sleep. The last time I blogged I was in the airport and since then I didn't get to sleep for 34 hours. I was soooo tired :) Have you ever been up for 34 hours? I was crazy tired. I felt like a walking zombie through Athens.

The airplane food was pretty good though AND the airplane was so huge that when you needed to go to the bathroom, you had to go downstairs. (It felt very Jodi Foster movie-ish with the stairs). We ended up stopping in Germany and it was beautiful -- so green. It was fun to have everything said in German and then English.

We got to Athens at 11:30 AM (the middle of the night Chicago time). It is beautiful here. The city is quite ancient and the streets are tiny and curvy. All the buildings are very close to the street. We're staying in the heart of the city, called Plaka. We went on a walking tour of the ancient part of the city last night. We saw an old cathedral from 1000s and the old Parliament building. Oh, and there are stray dogs here everywhere. I took pictures of one of them that was following us around for a while. (I'll post it when I'm able to get a better internet connection).

I also have some answers for some of your questions:

DeMichael -- The best time to come to Greece is May because it's not quite so hot. Now that it's June it's in the upper 90s. I'm warm and have to wear lots of sunscreen so I don't burn :)

Sylwia and Christian -- I have some pictures of my dinners uploaded in the Photo Essay.

David -- YES! Greeks do eat McDonalds. I ended up passing one and everyone was eating McDonalds outside on the picnic tables. I went into the restaurant to take a picture of part of the menu (which is in Greek) for you!

Kimionne -- My FAVORITE new Greek food is fried zucchini! YUM :) It's soooo good. You'll have to try it some time. (I took a picture of it).

Jacob -- Yes, people drink a lot of coffee, but there is always wine available at lunch and dinner (not that YOU could drink it yet). Also Ouzo is a great drink that I have yet to try, but have heard a lot about. I'll try it soon and let you know what I think.

Jorge -- The Euro is about one and a half dollars for the U.S. Dollars. So something that is $10 in the U.S. is a little over $15 in Greece. Everything is expensive.

Take a look at my Photo Essay (an essay of photographs...kind of like your _Romeo and Juliet_ essay, but with pictures).

Cheers,

Ms. G

P.S. All the other Fulbright teachers here with me say hi to you all!

P.P.S. I can't upload pictures...my internet isn't working well. I will upload later.

Day 3: We're Off!

2008-05-31T12:46:00.001-05:00

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know I'm at the airport and we'll be flying off in about half an hour. We fly to Munich, Germany and from there go to Athens. I will get to Athens at 11:30 AM on Sunday (that is about 3:30 AM your time).

Cheers,

Ms. G

Day 2: Say What?

2008-05-31T12:37:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone!

So yesterday (Friday) we learned how to Speak Greek. Wow! It happens to be a complicated language because I have to learn a whole new alphabet (the Cyrillic alphabet). I do know how to say hello: Kilamera and Sorry: signomi.

Frank -- So many Greek last names end with "s" because the names are for males. All males in Greece have last names ending in "s" because that's the masculine form of the verb. Interesting hum? Female last names end in "A". So a brother and sister would have slightly different last names.

Michael and Sandy -- Both of you asked about holidays in Greece and I found out about an interesting one already: Name Day. Instead of celebrating birthdays, the people celebrate the day of their name. All Greeks are named after a patron Saint, so whatever the Saint's Day is, that's their name day. Cool, right :)

Rafal -- Our Greek tour guide has already talked about Soccer. I guess there is a big world event going on when we're in Greece, so I'll tell you all about it when I get there.

The picture above is from the Hellenic Museum we went to yesterday. The art is very expressive, colorful, and we looked at a lot of religious art.

Anyway, wish me a good flight!

Ms. G

Day 1: Put on your Dancing Shoes...Here we Go!

2008-05-29T22:27:00.004-05:00

Today has been a super busy day. I learned how to dance traditional Greek and Bulgarian dances, the whole history of Bulgaria (yes, it was a long lecture...but informative!), and TRIED to learn the Cyrillic Alphabet (I'm not very good at it). Govyrete anglhski means Do you speak English? That one I have learned...it will be VERY useful!

Val -- You had asked a question about Gypsies and I have an answer for you already. There are gypsies in Bulgaria, but the word "gypsy" is inappropriate. (It's like calling someone the n-word). The proper name for these people are "Roma" which means "humans". They originated in India but most of the Roma in Bulgaria have been settled and are not transient.

Go through the pictures to see what I was up to today!

Night,

Ms. G

It's All About Greece!

2008-05-21T13:39:00.002-05:00

Hi Students!

So I finally got my itinerary for Greece! I will be arriving June 1st in Athens and that same day will get to see the Acropolis! :) I'm very excited. It also looks like I'll be going to many different types of restaurants in Greece, so for all of you who asked about the food in Greece...I'll make sure I post pictures so you can see what authentic Greek food looks like.

Besides walking around Athens, it sounds like our trip is going to focus on the archeology and history of the country, which is wonderful because I'll be able to pass on a lot of mythology information to you (the student experts!).

In my last post I said that I would be going to Olympia and it looks like I will not only be traveling to the home of the Olympics, but stay for several days in the city: visiting musuems and sites. Maybe I'll see some of the colleseums for Joseph??? :)

I will be out in the country as well and see some traditional villages and dress, so I'll make sure to post pictures when I get there around June 10th!

While I'm excited, I'm also really nervous though. I've never been away from home for more than a month at a time and this is about five and a half weeks. My packing list includes a swim suit, though, so I'm hoping I'll get to swim in the Mediterreanean Sea (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly...I'll check back). I will also need to switch my money over to Euros. It seems like I have so much to do before I leave and that gets me nervous! Wish me safe travels and good luck. I hope you write and look up on this blog to see how I'm doing as well...keep me company as I travel around the countries.

Cheers,
Ms. Gartland

Are the Girls Pretty?

2008-05-19T16:31:00.002-05:00

Students --

So I finally was able to look through all of your Global Experiences worksheets and some of them really made me laugh! For example, Tevin was very interested in the types of girls there are in Greece and Bulgaria. He asked me to see if they were pretty or not (I'll make sure I take some pictures of the townspeople in Greece for you, Tevin). Ryan asked about gas prices in Greece, which is a great question...I will look forward to finding out the answer to that question. I do know that traffic is absolutely awful in Athens though (the capital of Greece). I also just got my Greece and Bulgarian travel guide books and phrase books and saw that, yes Miguel, there is a Mount Olympus. It is in the north somewhat near Thessaloniki, which is one city I will be traveling to. If I get a chance and see the mountain, I will post a picture of it on the blog!

Other random things I've been learning include:

- Olympia (a place I will be traveling to) is the home of the Olympic Games

- For me to say: I'm sorry, but I don't speak Greek well, I have to learn to say: "Lipoume, alla then milao ellinika kala"

- In Bulgaria the river just north of the country is the Danube (I love the Danube River song...have you heard it?)

- The climate will be warm: I'm supposed to bring sunscreen! Yay :)

Stay tuned....I'll tell you what more I learn soon. I actually leave on the plan for Athens on the 29th of May, so I will start posting pictures after that!

-- Ms. Gartland

Introduction to Bulgaria!

2008-04-30T18:53:00.000-05:00

Dear Students,

Well I just read through the information sheets you gave me on traveling abroad and I have to say--I'm in the same boat as you where Bulgaria is concerned. I don't know much about the country as of yet. BUT I did get my itinerary for the country, so let me tell you some of the places I'll be visiting (then on the map you can see where I'll be traveling).

First we will be driving into Sophia (the capital) from Greece on the 19th of June. Here in Sophia we will learn about Ancient Civilizations, go to the National History Museum, visit some churches and monasteries, go to an Art Museum, and eat at many different restaurants along the way!

Next we will take a 3 hour bus trip to Veliko Turnovo (a city right in the middle of the country) and from there go to the city of Shumen. We will eat lunch at Shumen and then our final destination is the city of Varna on the Black Sea coast. In Varna we will be traveling to some monasteries.

After Varna I will visit Bourgas and have a day trip to Nessebar.

Finally we will be traveling to Brestovitsa for several days and then end back in Sophia. From Sophia I will fly back to Chicago.

It sounds like a lot, but we have three weeks to do all this traveling! I'll update you more when I find out more about the places I will be traveling!