Day 32: Varna

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 31: Veliko Turnovo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Day 30: Bulgarian Literature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Day 29: Time to Put on your Dancing Shoes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(The student garden at the College)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 27: The Scary Taxi Ride and the Beautiful Music

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Dinner and Music

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

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

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

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

Have a good night!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!