This post is mainly for Mama Bear, but you guys can read, too. Merve came over with flowers this Sunday for our weekly bake fest in honor of Mother's Day. We made brownies for all the Mama's in the neighborhood (thanks for the organic mix from the states, Roger!) and had a fun time experimenting with decorating the brownies with edible flowers!

Happy Mother's Day!

Merve and I...we are in our aprons that we wear every week

Merve cooking up a storm!

May is just packed full of fun holidays here in Bulgaria. From May 1-May 6th all kinds of fun things go on. This year some other fun volunteers came to join me! We started the trip off with a holiday/hike/wedding in a nearby village and then it only got crazier from there. Below are a few pics, but to get a real idea about the week, go to my awesome friend's blog to read more....http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=87572632679&h=Fl_gq&u=jttPX&ref=mf

Justin, our trusted tour guide throughout the entire trip

Sarah and I

The village from the high mountain peak that we climbed

The futbol match outside the school

Our friend doing a comedy skit about an Arabic Sheik in Bulgaria

Some kiddies dancing traditional dances for the holiday

There comes a time in every volunteers life when they just need to break away and have a relaxing, fun filled weekend. This entry, in part is about one of those. I want to start off by telling you about my amazing friend who's birthday we were celebrating on said weekend. Sarah is my neighbor, as much as you can be one here, and one of my best friends. Her village is a lot like mine as far as culture, language, and geography goes, and I can say first hand that it is hard at first to integrate. This girl has done the most amazing job of becoming part of her community and inspiring them to start programs and begin projects that would have taken me months if not years to start. I'm lucky to have such an enthusiastic example of strenght right next door! So anyway, for her birthday she decided to invite a few of us to Plovdiv to do a bit of celebrating. Now, I've been here a while and have been to Plovdiv more times than I can count. But, my visits there always entailed hopping from one bus to another, or running down the street like mad to catch a train. This time, we didn't have to rush...it was a relaxing weekend full of site seeing and shoe shopping.

James, John, Sarah and Noelle in front of the Museum in Plovdiv

Life and Art

Sarah, Noelle and I @ a restaurant before heading out to dance the night away

Sarah and I

It wouldn't be January without Merve's birthday! And wouldn't you know it, it was the warmest day we'd had in months! We started the morning off by treating her first grade class with games, dancing and a cake! Then later that day we made our way to Trigrad (Merve's choice, she'd never been) where we hung out with friends and had a great day :)

Us in Trigrad

The birthday cake....all the way from Devin!

Happy Birthday!

The birthday girl, herself in her 1st grade classroom :)

Happy Bairam!! December 8th was the second Bairam of the year...Courbon Bairam. Not the fun sugary one with the sweets, but the one where baby lambs are slain in my backyard and their cooked body parts are served to my neighbors. Mmm. Ok, so the actual cooking process is kind of interesting, but I digress. We also had a program through our Cultural Center to celebrate a great holiday and to show off our new costumes we acquired through the SPA grant. Below are some pictures of the traditional dancers and of the wonderful ballerinas that performed...I wonder where they were from?! :)

The kids dancing on stage

A couple of my ballerina's showcasing the skirts we made!

The older group in the new costumes we got through the SPA project

The director of our school playing a traditional instrument for the concert

My ballerinas in their traditional horo costumes

A group of us from my wonderful region got together to celebrate Thanksgiving together in Smilian, where another volunteer lives (here is your TRL shout out, Atown.) As luck would have it, it was also a great Bulgarian holiday that same weekend...the one we all know and love, The Smilian Bean Festival! That's right, the famous Smilian Beans have thier own holiday. The locals of the famed village held a great program in the municipality...there were readings about beans, kids sang song about beans, and there was cooking contest where the main ingredient was..you guessed it, BEANS. Afterwards we cooked a huge traditional Thanksgiving meal, and even went to play football the next day. A perfect way to celebrate my favorite holiday.

Going to play football

The AWESOME meal we cooked up

Rajun: "How can we mash these potatoes?"Nicolette: "Here's an empty beer bottle...."

We glued individual beans to form a picture on a wall in hopes to be accepted in the Guiness Book of World's record for worlds biggest....for world's most....for something. Look how excited Thomas is! His blog link is on the side...go make fun.

Beans

Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving I was asked into Ms. Vassileva's 4th grade class to talk a little bit about our tradition and to come up with a craft for the holiday. As we had already done hand turkeys in the first grade (and 4th graders do all they can to seperate themselves from THAT immaturity) I decided on a Thanksgiving Tree. Bear with me here. All of the kids brought in random clothe that they had lying around the house. We made a tree trunk with brown clothe and cut out our hand shapes on different colored cloth for the leaves. We each wrote something we were thankful for on our hands...after a while we kept thinking of so many things that I told them to put everything on there! Below are pics!

Our finished product

Tracing our hands

Ms. Vassileva and I

Cutting out clothe with the 4th grade

For halloween this last year I went to Veliko Turnovo. A few volunteers had organized an annual Halloween party for all of the volunteers in country. Tons of people showed up and we had a great time. It was my first time in Veliko Turnovo and I was surprised at how modern and westernized it was. The scenery was really beautiful. A few of my closests and I spent the whole first day walking around the city, jumping in leaves, and enjoying grafitti. A few pics below.

The only pictures that shows my full costume...I was the Whoro...

The Halloween party @ the Guest House

This is Thomas and I at a church on a hill on VT (do you like how i never take pictures of actual sites? get over it)

Lauren and I having a great time in the leaves on our walk around the city

At a cafe in Veliko Turnovo after sleeping for about 3 hrs on a hardwood floor

Happy Fourth of July! A couple of days before the family left back for America we celebrated the fourth here in Grohotno. My mom brought over streamers, whistles, cups, little flags and everything you can think of! As luck would have it, it was also Hodja boy's 70th birthday! We started the day out by hiking up the mountain that faces the village to where my family (the bulgarian one) has a field with 10's of wild cherry trees. We spent the morning picking cherries, had an awesome picnic and then made cherry compot (canned juice) at home. After a quick rest, we began the holiday/birthday festivities. We had a huge dinner, and awesome cake, and then we danced horo and kuchek until the break of dawn...well...until 10pm anyway.

Birthday boy and his wifey

Us dancing horo with streamers, sparklers, and look who's decked out in red,white,and blue!

Picnic after a hard days work...it's true what they say: Everything tastes better in the Baiera

Bennas and I picking cherries...cody being a creeper in the tree.

Having my sister here for my ballet classes was such an awesome blessing! I started the classes, split into 3 groups by age in mid feb of 2008. I've taught dance for many years, but never to kids who have had absolutely no prior experience and who had never even been exposed to the art of classical ballet. By July, they had learned so much and were even grand jete' ing without a bucket in the middle of the floor. However, as they are children, ballet was getting a bit monotonous and I was in a creative draught. My sister twirled into the room bringing with her this beautiful new energy and tons of yummy new choreography. The ballerinas, like most people, clung to my sister and hung on her every word....I forgot at one point that they didn't even understand anything she was saying! I watched on like a proud big sister as Cody walked around the room fixing flexed feet, and spotting back bends. Everyonceinawhile she would turn to me and say, "How do you say your leg must be straighter?" Immediately followed by a thick accented, "Po prava, be...krakata." Though my sister went home, she left behind the enthusiasm that it takes to get through at least 5 minutes of needed stretching, to put up with a song even though it's slow and "boring", and to smile and be proud even when your arabesque is just a little wobbly. THANKS CODY!

My groupII ballerinas letting my sister know how much they missed her!

My sister and I with the director fo the school and some of our younger ballerinas

Cody leading us on our barre excersizes

So, after an awesome visit in the states where I got to spend hours in the garden with my grandma, flea market with my grandpa and just kick it on the porch drinking Sangria with Diddy Bones I was blessed to have my mom and sister come out to see "how I'm livin'." They were here for a total of 21 days....19 really after they got over the jet lag and car sickness from the trip out. I didn't have a lot planned for them coming down. As soon as I gave the locals a date they were off and running...planning our every meal, every trip, and every move! I've talked to many other volunteers who have had family visit. It seems they are always running all around the country and trying to squeeze in trips to Bucharest, Istanbul, and Athens. I thought about this for awhile, but decided that they would have a lot more fun just kickin' it in my little village and I was right! Later, talking to them, they told me that their best memories were of Grohotno and the wonderful people right here.

This is us in one of the many Mosque's in Istanbul. We stayed there in the city with a family that is originally from Grohotno.

Mom, Cody and I in Plovdiv before catching our bus out to Istanbul

My sister showing the kids in my neighborhood how to fill water balloons (I now use those balloons as a tool to take out litterers from my terrace :)

Here, my friends, is where I apologize to you all. To be fair, I told you not to expect anything great from this blog....and did I deliver or did I deliver? So, it's been an entire year since I've updated you all on this thing (for those of you still watching the re-runs.) Lots has happened. I've decided to log in a few entries of exciting things that have happened over the past year and am giving you faithful readers (Mom) my word that I will update now that I have more time.

No, where did we leave off? After the wonderful holidays in May my cultural center was awarded a SPA grant that we wrote through the USAID organization for the creation of a traditional dance group and to stock up the library and center with stuff. After that I headed west to America because my bestest friend in the world, Colleen Goff Hannah, got married to one Mr. Jacob Hannah in NC. Here are a couple of pics of said events.

My favorite Hodja (priest) trying to look "American" (ps those are a Bulgarian's sunglasses and my cell phone is way less expensive than that one he's holding! haha)

Borino...this is during Grohotno vs. Dospot

Me and my girls @ 6amish

my girls deckin' me out in the latest forest fairy fashion

Gulu and I - here she is talking me through abtest (ps that's not the correct spelling)

So, May is a praznik (holiday) filled month if I've ever seen one. Our Easter break basically lasted from April 25th-May 7thish. From May 3rd-5th Borino, the biggest "village" in Bulgaria which also serves as its own municipality, held a football tournament. Luckily, Borino is only about 10 minutes away from here. So, everyday we loaded up in cars and vans and headed out to barbeque, watch some football, and close out everynight with some hot chalga concert and later an outdoor diskotek. Good times. May 6th was a different kind of holiday celebrating St. George. Typically, (right, saint?) Muslims do not celebrate the Christian holidays here, but St. George's day is different. We woke up and headed out into the woods at around 5:45am. We hiked for a good 15 minutes to a quiet creek in the woods. There, with a few of my friends we took "Abtest" in the river. Abtest is the ritual washing of the body, it starts with your hands, then goes to your head, arms and legs. I never remember the order and always have to be talked through it. After that, we took limbs off of a certain tree and tied it around our heads and waists. This is supposed to represent good health for the year, but I was just really stoked that I got to look like a forest fairy for a little while. If I'd known it was going to be that cool I totally would have brought my tu-tu. So, enjoy the pics!

About 2 weeks ago I went to Chirpan. Jimmy, the volunteer there held a charity football tournament to help out one of the organizations in his town. In order to enter the tournament each participate paid a small fee. Youth teams led by youth development volunteers turned out to play and we even had teams of just volunteers...in fact, team "Az sum muj" took the silver in the end! This is just one really great example of how volunteers can organize low cost events to help out a good cause. Wait a go, Jimmy :)

ps the pictures are really bad, in fact I didn't even get any action shots...then again, who am I kidding, mom you're the only person who reads this blog anyway! For better coverage check out Jimmy's blog.

A couple of McCoy's hanging out on the sidelines

Jimmy's counterpart and temporary ref

Andrew and Lauren showing thier team spirit...AZ SAM MUJ!

So, about a month ago we had the 2nd wedding since I've been here. So far we've had 3 and I here that in the summer there will be more. I know that for the people who are from my village, the engagements are really short (anywhere from a week to a few months) and the weddings follow the same format. The families wake up early and decorate the cars with balloons and what not. If the bride is from the village the groom goes to her house to sort of barter for her with her family members. This is just in honor of tradition the groom doesn't actually buy the bride anymore haha. If the bride is from another village or town they drive caravan style to pick her up and come back to the village with her. The weddings are usually held in the village of the groom. After that everyone in the village goes to the center of town to wait. The bride and groom and the closests relatives go into the mayor's office where the secretary performs a sort of ceremony and they sign the marriage certificate. When they come out they pop champagne and dance the horo. We then all walk together in a big happy mass to the school. Outside at the entrance of the school the bride and groom break a glass and then break pitka (it's sweet bread in a braided mold) over thier heads. Whoever gets the bulk of the pitka broken over thier head will more than likely rule the house. The bride and groom and relatives then go to wait inside the school in the foyer as we come in one by one giving gifts and money. Then we proceed to one of many rooms to eat together. The teenage boys who aren't married act as waitors. We hang out at the tables and eat for an hour or two. Afterwards we all go outside and dance the horo and kuchek until dark. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Everyone eating @ the school

Me with one of my favorites on our way to dance some mad horo

Everyone waiting on the bride and groom

The bride and groom

The band stands outside and plays where the whole village waits for the bride and groom to come out of the mayor's office...they continue to play until the wedding finally ends around...well, dark.

So, this past weekend was Easter or "Velik Den" in Bulgaria as per the Orthodox faith. As my village doesn't celebrate this Christian holiday I high tailed it to Sapareva Banya to celebrate with my host family and some other volunteers. Traditionally, on the Thursday before Easter families dye easter eggs. I didn't get to Sapareva Banya until Saturday so I missed out on that, but I did get to crack them! As you can see in the pictures below, you choose an easter egg from the bunch and crack them against someone else's whoever's egg cracks first loses. We also ate traditional easter cakes or "kozanak." Ani made a ton some with chocolate and some with these little jelly things inside. On Sunday we had a lunch of lamb and liver rice...so, I've come to the conclusion that it is impossible for a vegetarian to celebrate any holiday in Bulgaria as they all involve some kind of meat! All in all it was a really great vacation and a good celebration. Pics below.

Rajun

Joe Edno and Joe Dve cracking eggs.

Posing with MY beer...the chick on the bottle has blonde hair and blue eyes...by default we are twins.

Crackin' eggs with Joe...I lost EVERY TIME

Kozanak...Ani made like 8 loaves. I probably put away about 3.

All us kids together from right to left: Patty, Joe Dve (2), Me and Joe Edno (1)

So, after the concert I got invited by some of my neighbors to go on a picnic. The weather wasn't too cold (though, it wasn't too warm either!) We jumped in my neighbor's Lada and off we went to a nearby village called Teshel. There by the lake is a tiny little gazeebo (sp?) with a table and a grill. Once the picnic was over we all still had alot of energy so off we went to another nearby village Giuveren. This village is actually smaller than mine (what?!) but they, too are Turkish Muslims. Again, below are some pics. :)

My language tutor and best friend on the far right with the doctor (middle) and his wife, the nurse :)

A pic from the cafe in Giuveren

With my neighbors by the lake where we had our picnic.

Neighbors by the gazeebo.

With just another one of my adopted families by the grill :)

So, happy March 8th! For those of you who don't know, March 8th is International Women's Day. It's celebrated differently in every country and not at all in some *clears throat* (America.) Here in Grohotno this is quite a big deal. It seems to me that it is a sort of blend of Mother's Day and Valentines Day. Children give gifts to their mothers and boyfriends give gifts to their girlfriends...you get the idea. In honor of this holiday our cultural center put on a concert. We invited the kindergarten and elementary school to help us out. The kindergarten put on a short little program with songs and poems, and the school graced us with traditional songs accompanied by the accordian. Our own cultural center's dance groups also performed. Below are some pics...enjoy!

This is our auditorium connected to the cultural center...it was a full house of about 250-300!

3 of my favorite girls and members of the dance team...they are wearing traditional Rhodopian dance costumes.

This is me in traditional garb as well....I may or may not have performed with the group :)

Another of my absolute favorites! She dances with the younger group and she, too is wearing traditional Western Rhodopian dress.

So, the weather is finally warming up a bit and you can even smell spring in the air. I invited Krissy over for a day to hang out with me because....well because I love her. I told a few people that she was coming and heard a unanimous "Aide na baera!" Which means in English (as per my trusty handy dandy dictionary) "Alright, let's all go to the hillhock." Yeah, so this one doesn't really translate...the "Baera" is just an area a few kilometers up a mountain where we spent the day and had a picnic. We hopped in my friends old jeep (which we ended up pushing halfway down the mountain later) and had an afternoon filled with good food, rakia, and yes even a little horo. Below are some pics...as always, enjoy.

Beautiful Krissy showing off our 30 yr old ride...yes that is indeed how we do. (ps don't worry peace corps...it still has seat belts :)

My wonderful friend and housemate, Erdinch!

Krissy and I helping out....you can tell by the look on my face that I'm an expert.

A couple of the boys nailing chickens to a stick...mmhmm.

Feb. 18th was Vasil Levski Day. For those of you who don't know, Vasil Levski was a Bulgarian revolutionary, ideologist, strategist, and theoretician of the Bulgarian national revolution and leader of the struggle for liberation from from Ottoman rule (so says Wikipedia.) The 3rd grade class at the school here put on a 20 minute program in honor of Mr. Levski. The program included songs, and poems and was performed for the rest of the school...I was very honored to have been invited :)

This is Asia a teacher at the school and one of my best friends here. She is usually the one in charge of these programs at the school and does an amazing job!

The 3rd grade class reciting poems.

So, I know I'm a little slow on this one...but ya know...what can a village girl do? This entry is about sledding. I'm in luck because the hill by my house is the most popular spot for the kids to sled. I'm not sure if you can tell in these pictures, but the sleds are pretty interesting. They are homemade...basically it's just a wooden board with ski blades welded to the bottom. There are all different variations. The kids have yet to talk me into jumping on to one of these things...I told them as soon as they figure out a way to add some "spiratchiki" or "brakes" I'm all for it. Ok, that's all for now...enjoy the pics :)

So, it's baby season. Since October I have been to almost 10 mulitfas. Everyone makes sure to tell me exactly when we are having them because I love them so much! Below are a few pics of my friend's mulitfa from a couple of weekends ago. I've decided that this is kind of like America's baby shower...except this one is waaaay more extravagant. I probably explained all this in an early post, but I'm gonna do it again, so...blah. First, four or five baba's (grandma's) set to cooking at about 5am or earlier. They cook pots and pots of beans, rice w/ pork, cabbage salad, and banitsa. We also eat "halva" which I think you can actually get in the states and I am totally obsessed with. Women start showing up around 11 and so starts the flow of visitors that lasts well into the evening. First, you go into the room where the baby and mother stay. You talk with the mother and give her money, sweets, and sometimes clothes for the baby. This usually depends on how close you are to the family. After that you go into a different part of the house, or maybe even to another house where every room is filled with long tables. There are always other members of the family running around serving you, and making sure you are comfortable and have everything you need. After you eat, you simply leave...and you've had a good day. Below are some pictures of the last mulitfa I attended...we have one more coming up and after that we are done for at least a couple of months as no one here is ready to pop anytime soon...sad, I know. Enjoy!

A few of us sitting around the table enjoying the yummy food and probably talking about how and why I don't eat meat.

That's halva there to the left and the rice concoction in the middle.

One of the baba's servin' up a plate of goodness.

Me with the baby and Jamle behind me about to say, "When are YOU going to have a mulitfa?" Yikes.

Quick little entry. Here are a couple of pics of our "pazar." This is sort of like America's version of a flea market. We have a pretty big pazar in Devin, the town closest to me on Wednesdays. Lots of people from the town go on that day, many take off work for it. You can get pretty much anything you want at most pazars. They sale anything from clothing (hot bulgarian fashion) to fruit (1 lev for a kilo of mandarins or apples...Mmmm) to household items (I bought an iron for 15 leva.) Prices are almost always negotiable at pazars. That's one reason I love them :) Our pazar here in Grohotno is a bit different. It is VERY small, and to my dismay there are no fruits or veggies for sale. But, it's a fun place for people to hang out when the weather is nice enough on Saturdays. I hear once spring and summer hit the pazar is a bit bigger...but for now, if I need sheets for my bed, or a hot wool sweater...this is where you can find me :)

SO, I spent my very first Christmas away from home this year. The holiday season was tough being so far away, but I made it through and had a great time. Because my village doesn't celebrate Christmas, I spent it in Sapareva Banya with my host fam and two other wonderful Peace Corps Volunteers (Joe 1 and Joe 2) who lived with my host fam before me. Christmas here wasn't TOO very different. I spent alot of my time cooking, as food is a big part of any event here. On the 24th we ate only vegan, so I was a happy happy girl. The next day, however, was a meet fest...only after we opened our presents from Santa. I spent the New Year here in Grohotno. Again, spent the entire day cooking with some of the women here in the village (Banitsa and Baklava...mmmmmm) and at 12 we went outside and danced in the street for hours to the light of fireworks. Below, I'm posting pics of a holiday program they had at the school, and some pics of Sapareva Banya.

Rajun :)

Making tikvi (pumpkin) banitsa Christmas Eve Morning with Joe2.

Writing my name on my very own stocking!

Christmas Eve Dinner

All of us in front of the tree we decorated

The 8th grade girls here doing traditional dances

Santa visiting the 2nd graders!

This is how far the cable reaches from my router (in that box) in through my second floor window and to my computer!

The router to the internet is sealed in that box and we nailed these two pieces of wood together so that it was tall enough to reach the signal from the dish.

Our first snow! This is the hill outside my house where all the kids sled.

First snow and a frozen creek outside my house

Ok, so I've already told most of you we got ALOT of snow in Grohotno. The weather is around negative 14 celcius and the snow hits me mid-thigh in most places. I know I'm a southern girl and live for the sun, but oddly enough, I'm kind of enjoying this winter. When it isn't dark and gray it's rather refreshing. Some of you have also been curious as to how I have internet in my village...I've put a few pics above to show you. Rajun :)

Hi All!

My apologies for not updating any sooner. To be fair, I warned you all that I’m really bad at this. Anyway, I finally have internet in my house. It’s not very dependable, but most of the time it comes through for me…so I’m a happy girl! I took a few pics of the place for you all so you can get a better idea of my living arrangements. Work is still well, but with BAIRAM (totally not the way you spell it, I know) coming up, everyone is planning for that. I’ll be going to Sapareva Banya (my old stomping ground) for Christmas to spend with my host family. I’m very excited!

I got a visit from my program manager last week. This is a routine visit that he, or other program staff make as a general check up. Everything went well, until he asked if I have had any guests yet. I explained to him that because of the village that I live in, I am not allowed to have male guests over for a visit. He talked with my counterpart to see if he could make some sort of compromise with her. I love the village that I live in, and want others to be able to experience it. After a long discussion between the three of us, we realized there would be little leniency. This is one village you do NOT want to be seen as morally corrupt in. They understand that I’m American and I do things quite a bit differently. For example, I like to run or walk quickly for fun (what?!), I don’t eat bread when I’m served French fries for dinner (for shame!), and I’m sorry, but I just can’t drink plain yogurt water (you must be sick, drink this.) As you can see I’m getting pretty brave, but this is one line I’m not quite willing to cross yet. I do, however, have the most amazing neighbors in the world! This family has been a God send, and they agreed (shocked that there was ever even any question) that any male visitor I had would be more than welcome to sleep in their spare bedroom. Problem solved. So, that’s it for now, pics are below….and, as always, keep me updated about what’s going on in the States!Rajun :)

My two hungry kitties, Shaker (Turkish for sugar) is on the left and Gubi (Bulgarian for mushrooms) is on the right

My kitchen

This is where the magic happens, ps that's not dirt it's rust haha

This is the shower, I have to plug in the boiler you see to the left for 3 hours for a 20 min. shower

This is the living room/bedroom...and those are my collages that I still can't figure out how to hang on these walls

So, as posted before, I hunted rosehips in the mountains last weekend. This weekend, I made nectar compot. It was kind of a long process, but definitely worth it. Isabelle, one of my best friends here, guided me through the whole process. We spent about 2 hours cutting the ends off of every tiny rosehip. After that, they soaked for an extra hour. They were then boiled together with apples, sugar, and “dulla.” I’m still not exactly sure what dulla is or if we have it in America, but it’s amazing. After boiling it, we spent about 4 hours mashing the rosehips and straining the juice. The next day we poured them into Queen’s juice bottles and sealed them in a cauldron outside. They should be all ready to drink this spring, so book your plane/train/bus tickets, kids!

PS I actually am working as well, it’s just not as interesting as what I do afterwards, sorry.

Till later,

Rajun

Isabelle

Squeezin' juice from the rosehips

Mustafa explaining something

Pretty self explanatory

Acting like it's actually hard work :)

So, today I didn’t have to go to my office (the museum) because it is the day after the election. This, of course, doesn’t mean that I didn’t work, in fact, I find myself working more and more in my house, rather than at the museum. I guess this is for a number of reasons. First, the museum is right in the center of town and it’s a prime “na gosti” location. At any random time I’m entertaining anywhere from 2 to 8 people in my office. Second, my boss has a tiny case of ADD, and can’t stand to sit for long periods of time and frequently says, “get up, we’re going for a walk.” Third, I don’t have internet in my office yet, and the majority of my work involves researching funding sources on the web, so I have to go to the school here (because it’s the only place in the village with internet) to search. So, today I woke up to a call from the director of the school who wanted me to come and translate “some documents” for him from Bulgarian to English. I was super excited because it sounded really profound, and I’ll be honest, I was kind of puffed up at the thought that this man trusted me to translate documents! When I got to the school, dictionary in hand, there he stood with a box of pain relieving gel from England. Nuts. I took a deep breath and with the best of my Bulgarian ability, told him that he was to rub this on his sore muscles twice a day. Not as official as I’d hoped, but hey…if I have to help Grohotno one torn ligament at a time…so be it. So, my friend Jemkata had a birthday today. She’s been talking about it all week, she was so excited! She made tons of banitsa and this huge cake for the occasion. One of the 3 local cafes shut down for about 4 hours and about 10 of us ladies hung out and ate, drank, and played horo. I don’t want to brag, but my sugar cookies were a pretty big hit, too. Posted a couple of pics below, so maybe you can get the jist of it all.

Ciao, ciao…

Reggi

this is the guy who owns the cafe we partied at

Misle, the birthday girl, and me

Playing Horo with the gals

Me trying to play "Kurchek" to no avail

So, I had a busy little weekend here in beautiful Grohotno. I considered this my first “real” weekend, as it was the first time I wasn’t completely dazed and confused. This past week I worked a lot at the museum. Working here is a lot different than in the states, obviously. I get to the museum at about 8:30. I talk with my boss for half an hour or so about what I did the night before, or I get filled in on the latest gossip. After that we head down to the café where we meet 3 or 4 other ladies and we have coffee for an hour or so. THEN, it’s time to get to work. Usually, if we work for an hour straight we have to take a “pucheefka” or break. This means more coffee and maybe visiting the school or someone’s house. It’s really hard to get used to as I was kind of a work horse in the states. I find myself doing research and translating museum stuff after hours at home. I have to get used to leaving thins undone at times I suppose.

ANYWAY! This weekend. Saturday I went to something called a “Mulitfa.” This happens when a new baby is born in town. All of the women (no men allowed) go to the house of the new mother bearing gifts. Some people bring clothes and toys for the baby, money and sweets for the mother, and something to cook (pasta, veggies, beans, whatever) for the Baba’s. After we gave the gifts we sat and visited with the mother and baby for a bit, and then we were whisked away to a room with a long table and many chairs. There were 3 other rooms in the house set up just this way. Then, we were served tons of food that the Baba’s had been preparing all morning. Later, I attended a birthday party of Dulek who turned 1 this week. Everyone came bearing gifts again (I bought her a stuffed elephant, which I’m pretty sure was her favorite gift) and then we all sat around long tables and ate sweets, and random goodies. Just as I thought the party might be coming to an end, as I was stuffed and pretty tired, here comes the main course! What more food? You better believe it, we were there for hours, but it was a lot of fun. I really enjoying sitting and talking with the older women of the town, but it’s tough sometimes, as most of them know only Turkish or limited Bulgarian.

Sunday our clocks were rolled back and I had a knock on my door at 8am. It was Mustafa, my 17yr.old friend/tutor who said to get dressed, “You’re coming with my mother and I to the mountain.” Ok, I quickly got ready and was met outside by Isabelle with gloves and a bucket. We hiked about an hour up the mountain and picked rose hips for hours. It was so much fun and I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen in my life. I took pictures, but they don’t nearly do it justice.

So, that was my weekend. Till next time!

Guelshin helping me cook!

While picking rosehips we saw this lizard, apparently if it crawls across your hand it means good luck!

YEAY!

Babie's presents for Mulitfa

Baba's cookin' up a storm!

Everyone coming to see the Baby!

just a view

don't be jealous...it isn't attractive ;)

The Mosque

Love the leaves here in the fall!

View of the main...ok, the only street

My house is the tall one at the end

Ok, so after trying to recruit everyone I know to the wonderful world of facebook I, too, have succumb to the evil that is blogspot. I feel like this is going to be like the many journals I have in my parents basement all empty except for the first pages dated, “January 1st, whatever year” and reading, “Dear Diary, I’m going to write in you EVERYDAY this year.” Anyway, maybe I’ll surprise myself.

So, I’m here in BEAUTIFUL Grohotno, a small village in the Rhodope mountains of Bulgaria. I arrived last Thursday, and am loving it with all of my heart. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and the colors of the leaves right now are SO vivid. Since being here I’ve been overwhelmed with the hospitality of the locals. I haven’t had the chance to cook one meal in my new kitchen yet, because the families here have sort of taken me in and cook for me constantly. Just the other day I decided that I wanted to make some yummies for everyone as a surprise…a sort of thank you. I snuck into my house and started making apple crumb cake…I must have forgot to shut the window because before I knew it my little kitchen was FULL of people helping me, and awing at the beauty that is the sugar cookie. We ate a myriad of desserts that night for dinner and I was able to get rid of a few of my leftovers at least J

During the day I’m working with the local chitalishte, which is like a sort of cultural center. My office is in the museum, which is a loft above the chitalishte full of historic Turkish/Bulgarian artifacts. The ladies over the center already have a few project ideas for me to be working on, which is great. Besides translating the information cards in the museum, and teaching a couple of English classes, I’ll also be creating brochures and a website for Grohotno. The bigger projects include working in conjunction with the municipality for plans and possible funding sources for an eco path. There is also talk of coordinating a few cultural exchanges with groups in both Turkey and Greece, which I am super stoked about. It’s a bit overwhelming at the moment, but I’m really excited to get to work.

Besides that I’m just kind of wandering around finding people to hang out with. I have a wonderful group of 4 teenage girls who must think I’m at least a little cool, because they come over every night and teach me kurchek (Turkish belly dancing) and drink juice. I didn’t realize how much I depended on my former American site mates during PST and the anticipation of seeing the others in the group every two weeks at HUB. I was honestly blessed with the best site mates in the world, who I now consider family, and some other really amazing volunteers who have become really special to me. So, yeah, now my downtime is spent a little differently, but it’ all good :)

Till next time, or next year,

Rajun :)

ps above are a few random pics