Day 33: Bourgas

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

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

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

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

Hope you're all doing well!

Day 32: Varna

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 31: Veliko Turnovo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Day 30: Bulgarian Literature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Day 29: Time to Put on your Dancing Shoes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(The student garden at the College)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 27: The Scary Taxi Ride and the Beautiful Music

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!