First off, for all the spelling kids. Print the list of words from the link below and read the rules!

Rules

2012 Words

Now onto what's been happening lately. Yesterday I got home from a weekend in Sofia as I ended up staying an extra day due to the Peace Corps imposing a travel ban due to the amount of snow. It was a good weekend of catching up with other volunteers, enjoying some delicious food, and meeting with my program staff about what I've been up to.

It's definitely winter as the temperature has been low and we've had quite a bit of snow within the last week and a half. Today there are 54 mph winds here in Sliven with a temperature of 25 degrees F though it feels like 4 degrees F. One to three inches of snow is expected tomorrow and the temperature is expected to drop to 7 degrees F. The wind will also continue. What all that says to me is it's time to stay inside working on my side projects, knitting, and of course a bit of movies or TV. The mayor here in Sliven even declared tomorrow a no study day.

I’m definitely stayingbusy with a plethora of teaching, after school spelling practice, and sideprojects. I’m currently working on planning and logistics for my PCPP (thanks again to everyone who helped to fund the project). TheEnglish Enrichment workshops will happen in April and May. As of now, threecities are set and I’m still waiting on a few schools to respond whether theywill be able to partner or not. It’s a lot of getting materials together andorganizing computer files in a logical and efficient way.

Another project I’m working on is a lesson plan for anAmerican Culture Club. I’m creating 27 lessons aimed at advanced middle schoolstudents here in Bulgaria who want to learn about the United States through English. Here inBulgaria students occasionally have an extra class each week based on a topicof interest. With this lesson plan an English teacher will be able tofacilitate lesson plans in a fun and interactive manner. It will help theEnglish skills of the students as well as their knowledge of American culture.Every state will be covered as well as topics such as currency, national parks, Michael Jackson, Presidents, and so on.

The third main project I’m working on is an “AllAbout Bulgaria” small group/individual unit for American middle schoolstudents. These lessons have no need to be sequential and are designed forstudents to be able to read and complete with minimal adult assistance.Students can work individually or in a group and are able to turn inanswers and projects to their teacher or parent. It’s a great way to get moresocial studies topics into students’ daily lives. Topics range from theBulgarian alphabet to roses to creating a 3D map of Bulgaria. My goal is forthe lessons to be fun and also make students think critically about a countrythey may not even know exists.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week, now for a few photos...

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

It's time again for the Bulgarian National English Spelling Bee, or BNES. Only 25 students are able to participate in our local school spelling bee this year so the numbers need to be narrowed down, therefore the pretest. All 5th through 7th graders who are interested will be taking a test this week to determine if their English skills are good enough to participate (4th grade students will also participate however a different teacher is helping them practice). From this week on I will meet with the students once a week to practice from the local words for the 2012 BNES.

For all students who will be in the Spelling Bee (or if you're just interested), please go to the links below.

Read this: 2012 Spelling Bee Rules

Print this: 2012 BNES Local Word List (This list is what you need to begin studying from!)

Here are some optional spelling games to play:

Spelling City

Spelling Bowl

This year I am organizing an additional spelling bee for the 3rd grade students. This will give them a taste of what the spelling bee is and allow me to answer questions for them and their teachers so they are ready to participate next year. I have created a word list for them to study and we will have our 3rd Grade Bee in March. I will have a date for the 3rd grade bee and the 2012 BNES when it gets closer to March.

-And again, a BIG THANKS to everyone who helped to fund my PCPP, planning for the EFL Enrichment workshops has begun. I'm currently in the process of getting 4 schools (other than mine) to host, purchasing materials, and creating games. So far, Plovidiv is set!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Inhonor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this post is dedicated to tolerance(specifically within the US). The amount of violence and disrespectfulbehavior related to hatred and intolerance in the U.S. astounds me. The onlything I can attribute this behavior to is a lack of education and interactions with diverse groups of people. In my personal experienceand in the news I read about the U.S. I see some of the biggest problems with people’sview toward minority communities, specifically Muslims and people who identify themselves within the LGBTcommunity.

Inreference to the Muslim community of the United States, they have such a longhistory of living in America that I find it incredibly unfortunate there iscurrently so much Islamophobia. September 11th, 2001, affected all Americans but this event greatly affected our American Muslims. Personally, I find most religions to have farmore similarities than differences therefore the amount of violent acts towardAmerican Muslims are astounding to me. I’m grateful for Muslims who are able to putthemselves into the public eye in the attempt of educating other Americans. Ibelieve shows like All-American Muslim on TLC are great ways to get people whomany have never interacted with someone of a different religion to see whattheir lives are like. I have enjoyed watching every episode of this show and was saddened to hear of the behavior of companies like Lowe's and Kayak who pulled their advertisements from the episodes. You can read more about these events HERE. Suhailia, who is a part of All-American Muslim wrote a wonderful blog recently about 9/11. You can read that post here, and a short video can be found here. Media projects and films such as My Fellow American are also excellent ways of educating Americans and uniting communities. I say this because there is a lot of power in education and I feel most people simply are afraid of what they don’t know. It’s this fear that can cause unacceptable behavior and violence toward “other” groups of people. I also find the intolerance many Americans hold toward Muslims to be somewhat ironic because among other reasons, didn't Europeans come to North America for religious freedom?

Furthermore, the amount of violence not only physically but emotionally toward the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community is worrying. We as Americans need to unite in educating each other in order to end the amount of bullying LGBT youth face. LGBT Americans should not be the only ones working toward the goals of tolerance and acceptance. Straight Americans also need to stand up, homophobic jokes and slurs are not okay. I don't know how many times I heard people use the phrase "that's so gay" or "don't be gay" when what they meant was "that's so stupid" or "don't be stupid" growing up; but, it was far too many. What is okay is standing up to this type of behavior and not allowing it to occur anymore. Our suicide rate in the U.S. is outrageous and it can only be decreased through empowering one another and teaching each other the power of words. There are some amazing organizations in the states including The Trevor Project, We Give a Damn, and countless others. Please commit to making our community a better place for everyone by choosing to be kind and supporting a tolerant community.

Finally, though these words may have been spoken in 1968, I feel they still ring true today. Please take a few minutes to listen to the words of Robert F. Kennedy.

The Mindless Menace of Violence

What will you do to spread peace and tolerance?

If you're looking for materials on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Day of Service connected with him. Here's a great site: MLK Day.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity :)

Today was a nice, easy day of 3rd grade. All the kids were pretty well behaved and the lessons weren't too challenging for them (for the most part). Best of all though in one of the classes not only did a kid ask me what the word "stunt" meant but recently learned what the phrase "roger that" means and used it off and on throughout class. Also, in their homework for today they were to write the word snake and bridge (among others) 10 times. I never realized how close the words "shake" and "bride" were. The kids had a nice laugh when they realized the mistakes they made and what words they were actually writing.

Best of all for the day though and the reason I wanted to put up a quick post...

During one of the classes, a student's phone went off not once, not twice, but three times in one class period and his ring tone was none other than...thriller! Nothing like a little M.J. to spice up the day :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I was able to travel to Poland for a week's vacation with a friend which turned out to be a fabulous trip. If you enjoy history, especially related to WW2, Poland is a great place to visit. Every day was packed with plenty to do and I enjoyed all of it. There is a link at the end of this post to all of the photos. But first, I'll fill you in on the day by day. I've tried to include links so you can learn more about things if something sounds interesting to you.

Tuesday, December 27th

We traveled to Warsaw via LOT Polish Air in the afternoon. Even though the flight was less than 2 hours there they gave us beverages and two delicious snacks. After we picked up our bags we took a bus to find our hostel. We dropped off or things at Oki Doki Hostel and then walked to "Frida" where we had a delicious dinner of Mexican food. After dinner we walked around the city a bit and then we were back at Oki Doki to get some rest.

Wednesday, December 28th

In the morning we headed out to see some of the sights of Warsaw. We walked to several churches and then headed to the Old Town where we had a brunch of coffee and toasted sandwiches which were delicious. The Old Town was destroyed during WW2 however was reconstructed and now looks almost as it did before the war. The morning light made for beautiful light and highlighted the wonderful scenery.

After seeing the old town and doing some shopping we headed to see one of the Palaces and large parks of Warsaw. It was a beautiful place filled with lots of birds and beauty. We even saw an extremely friendly squirrel being fed by a sweet old lady.

After seeing the park we headed back to Oki Doki to pick up our bags and then took a train to Krakow. The train ride was wonderful. We ended up having our own cabin and our ticket price even included coffee, tea, and/or water and a biscuit which we weren't expecting. I spent the ride writing postcards and listening to music. After arriving in Warsaw we headed out to find our hostel, Globtrotter. It was a nice evening and found our hostel pretty easily. Our hostel was wonderful and I would highly recommend it to anyone heading to Krakow. It was quiet, the staff were friendly and we had our own room complete with bathroom. After dropping off our things we walked down the street to have our first Polish food. I had three types of perogies and Jenn had some potato pancakes. Everything was delicious. Then it was time for bed to get ready for the next day.

Thursday, December 29th

In the morning we had a light breakfast and took the city bus over to the Wieliczka Salt Mine (Vee-leech-ka). The Salt Mine is included on UNESCO's World Heritage List and was well worth the time. Our guide was fabulous, teaching us many things about the mine and it's history. It was beautiful inside and we were able to tour the first three levels, there are nine levels in total. The mine contained beautiful rock salt sculptures and several chapels. There are even areas which can be rented for weddings, parties, or eventy.

After touring the mine we had a late lunch of delicious pizza at a nearby restaurant. Then we headed back to Krakow, stopped by the hostel, had some coffee, and then walked around the main market square. There were many tents with food, crafts, and other gifts which were fun to look at. We ended up eating Indian food for dinner which was a nice change in pace.

Friday, December 30th

This was one of the most meaningful days of the trip as we planned a tour to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. We picked up breakfast at a delicious bakery and then got on the bus. On the way to the museum we watched a documentary about Auschwitz. We had a big tour group however the museum gave us headsets to use which was much better as we were always able to hear even if we weren't very close to the guide. It was a very cold, dreary day with rain on and off. It was fitting weather for the place we were visiting and learning about. It's a hard experience to put into words as it is such a tragic place if misery. There was so much I didn't know and so many moving displays and exhibits. I'm very happy we were able to visit and witness a place that was once filled with so much hate now filled with empathy and compassion.

After our tour we headed back to Krakow and stopped by the hostel before heading out for a dinner of Polish food followed by a walk around the city and then cheesecake and hot chocolate.

Saturday, December 31st

We had a delicious breakfast of coffee drinks and paninis. Then we walked around, stopped at the post office, and went to the National Museum. There were two temporary exhibits and three permanent exhibits. Though we had checked online and thought the museum was open until 4 pm, it turned out it was going to close at 1pm so we only had an hour. I managed to get to 4 of the galleries and greatly enjoyed what I was able to see. The museum was also child friendly as many of the galleries had pieces that were able to be tried on like military items or swords that were able to be held and so forth.

After the museum we headed to the Jewish district where we had some delicious traditionally Jewish snacks and a coffee. Since it was New Years Eve we then went back to the hostel and hung out a bit before going to dinner.

After dinner we hung out at a hookah bar before going to the main market square for fireworks. There was a great mix of popular music playing and countdown was projected onto one of the buildings. The show was great and afterward we got a snack of chocolate covered marshmallows and chocolate covered bananas and then went back to our hostel. It was a great night.

Sunday, January 1st

Not much was open in the morning but we found a cafe were I had a gingerbread latte and a bagel sandwich. Then we walked to Wawel (Vaw-vel) Castle. The castle was beautiful and holds a great legend about a dragon who was causing havoc before the people of Krakow killed him. After the castle we went to the Jewish district to go to Galicia Jewish Museum. The museum held a nice history through photos of Polish Jews pre-WW2, during WW2, and present day. There was also a temporary photo exhibit of Ze'ev Aleksandrowicz which was well worth the time. I learned a great deal about Polish Jews and their treatment as well as perspective.

Afterward we had something to eat and then headed back to the hostel. We had a delicious Polish dinner followed by some dessert and then called it a night. It was a wonderful trip. We left Krakow on the morning of January 2nd and I arrived back in Sliven last night. Finally for a few videos showing random footage of our time in Poland. It's a place I would definitely go back to and would recommend to anyone interested in history or may be in a neighboring country and has some time to stop by.

I wish you all a fabulous 2012! Thanks for reading. Here are the rest of the photos: On Holiday in Poland

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This weekend I was able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with another volunteer, Amy, in her village of Byala. We spent time with the family of a teacher Amy works with. We had lots of delicious food and drinks alongside playing with her kids and having a few spontaneous dance parties. It was a good time. Christmas day we had breakfast and just hung out at Amy's place knitting and watching a movie. I unfortunately have had a cold since Friday so I'm hoping it is almost fully cleared up by tomorrow as I'm heading to Poland! Woo hoo. However, as promised, I would like to share some photos and videos of all the Christmas festivities last week. I hope you enjoy them :)

There are links to the albums of most of my photos under the "Links of Interest" section. On to the videos:

Just let me know if you'd like to see the 11th/12th grade dance as I must email it to you since it is too long to be uploaded here. It's quite amazing. Leave a comment on this post with your email if you want to view it.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! See you in 2012 :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This week was filled with Christmas festivities including making Christmas cards, going to a few concerts, and attending the teacher's banquet. In order to celebrate but still work on a bit of English the students made Christmas cards for their families and then we played Christmas Bingo. They all had a good time and I even got to watch one of the classes perform a Christmas skit. With my 5th grade spelling group we also played Christmas Bingo after having a mock spelling bee for me to see what they can do. We've got a lot of work but they have definite potential. I brought Christmas cookies, candy canes, and gifts for some of my colleagues this week for Christmas and I also received many wonderful presents. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Wednesday and Thursday evening there were Christmas concerts at the school. I went both nights which was good because it was not the same show. The oldest students blew me away with their performance Thursday evening. Their dancing was amazing! Look for videos in my next post as I have not edited them quite yet. After the concert Thursday evening it was time for the teacher's banquet which was at a nice restaurant. The evening was filled with food, drinks, and dancing. Today school was shortened and I went with 3 classes of students to a restaurant near the school for their Christmas party. It was a good time however I'm exhausted and ready to relax a bit before Christmas Eve tomorrow. I'm so happy for the school break, both the students and the teachers were in need of some time away.

I'll be heading to Byala (a village nearby) in the morning to spend time with another volunteer and people she knows. I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May it be filled with happiness, joy, and people you love. Look for another post Sunday or Monday as I'll put something up before I head to Poland for vacation :)

The photos from the week can be found under the "Links of Interest" section titled "Christmas 2011 at SOU 11" a bit later.

Also, a big shout out to my uncle Tom and aunt Doris who sent me a lovely package of Christmas candies this week. Thank you to everyone else who has sent me a package, card, or wishes this month!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Oh what a day. Starting around 7:30 this morning I waspicked up by Vlady (my counterpart, colleague, friend) and her family to headto their village house. Since next Saturday is Christmas Eve, today was pigkilling day for them as well as many other people here in Bulgaria. I will explaina bit by saying pork is a traditional Christmas item here in Bulgaria. Yearsago people killed the pig on the actual day of Christmas as Christmas Eve wasreserved for a vegetarian feast. However now most people kill their pigs beforehandso they can relax on Christmas Day. The pig killing I was a part of today wasfor an entire family of grandpa and grandpa followed by their son, his wife,their son and daughter and their families. So this pig was for about 11 peopleplus all the food we ate today (the extra 5-6 people who were a part ofthings).

We got to the village house, unloaded the things and hungout for a bit. Once everyone was there it was time to get things in motion soall the men got everything ready. Now, before we got to the village I wasplanning to help actually kill it however looking at how large this pig was(the grandpa guessed about 200 kilos) I figured it would probably be best towatch this first time. Plus, I didn’t know all the people involved and taking aside role was just fine with me. So I was ready with my camera and video camerato catch all the day’s events. They actually didn’t kill it how I would haveexpected so it was a good thing I watched. I guessed they would slit its throathowever one man stabbed it on the side of its neck and then made a small cut.It took 6 men to hold the pig, and it was definitely something to see. I’m gladI was able to be a part of things. The really strange part was as they were killingthe pig there were definitely 4 or 5 pigs also being killed at the same time asI seemed to be hearing squeals from every direction. After the pig was dead ittook 6 or 7 men to drag it out of the pen and onto a wooden slab which was thenhoisted onto two sawhorses. The first thing we did was drink some hot Rakia(Bulgarian homemade whiskey) mixed with honey. Then they cleaned it off withsome water and started blowtorching all the hair and skin until it was charcoalblack. They did this to both sides of the pig. After this process they scrapedall the black off with the dull side of knives and then rubbed it with salt andvinegar. Then it was time to start butchering. They use most all of the meatfor something or another including minced meat mixed with onions and ricestuffed inside the intestines for sausage. During all of this we had not onlycoffee but also red and white wine and snacks of fire grilled pork. There areplenty of photos linked to this blog so look there for more on this part. I wantedto spare all of you who either don’t want to see the butchering or have a veryweak stomach. It was a very interesting process and though I didn’t help much Idid as many little things as I could. After the pig was completely butcheredcame the cooking of the pig and then we all ate together. I had a good timehanging out and playing with the 3 girls who were there. Plus, I got lots ofhomemade delicious food and got to know my Vlady’s family a bit more. Here is avideo and a link to all the photos from the day. I will warn you; in the videos you will see and hear a pig being killed, prepped, and butchered. There is no reason for 2 separate videos except for the fact that together it is too long to be uploaded in one shot.

PHOTOS

I got back to myplace at about 5:00 pm and I still smell like a campfire. They were heatingwater for the preparation and butchering of the pig all day long and thencooking on the same fire. Smells like the cabin.

In the days leading up to today I kept questioning whether Iwould personally be able to be the one to kill the pig and I had decided goinginto today that I would do it if given the chance. To me, killing anything is abig deal so I had to really think about it. I figure, who am I to eat meat if Iam unable to kill an animal? Since I do eat meat here in Bulgaria I thoughtabout this seriously. While I was not the one to kill the pig today I do feel Iam capable of doing it in the future. I currently only eat meat occasionallyand will continue to do this throughout my time in Bulgaria. However I do nothave a problem eating vegetarian. In the future one of my hopes it to have ahouse with enough outside space to have a chicken/turkey coop where I can raisethem not only for eggs but for meat as well. I think there’s a great amount ofpower in pride in raising and butchering your own food. I also plan to eat onlylocal meats and keep it to a special occasion or once a week basis. I simply donot feel eating meat regularly is a sustainable or healthy diet which is why Ichoose to limit my intake. Well enough of me going on.

Now it’s time to relax and go to bed, I’m exhausted. I hopeyou’re all having a great weekend and everyone is having a wonderful time at my Grandpa Bob's 80th birthday party!

Oh, by the way. The game we call “monkey in the middle” backin Minnesota where everyone is trying to keep the ball away from one person inthe middle, they call that “drunk carrot” here in Bulgaria. I found that quitehilarious today. I also laughed out loud when, as I was going to hit theshuttlecock with my Badminton racquet, the handle stayed in my hand while therest of it flew above the fence and into the neighbor’s property. Oh what funit is to play with crappy equipment :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I'm so happy it's Friday and I have the weekend to spend relaxing and getting ready for Christmas. It's been a bit of a crazy week for random reasons. First of all I found out that some of the 3rd grade parents think me pulling them out of English class is actually weakening their English rather than strengthening it. Let me explain, this year I work will all the four sections of 3rd grade team teaching with three different teachers. A few times a week I've been pulling kids into a resource room to work 2 on 1 and strengthen their English. We are not out of the room the entire lesson and we work on material they "should know" by this point. It's essentially an easy way for me to check their abilities not only with how much vocabulary or grammar they know but their pronunciation and listening abilities. Since some of the parents are not happy I have stopped for the time being and after we start again in January I will be asking parents to "sign their child up" if they want them to work with me. They only end up getting to be outside the classroom about one time a month as there are 20-25 students in each classroom. At this point I have gotten through all the students except one class. Each time I write a few sentences about what we did, where their strengths were, and what was most difficult. For the next round I will be actually checking skills off a list I have created so their teachers and parents know what they are capable of. Other than that the kids and teachers are obviously ready for winter break, there haven't been any no school days in over a month and it's showing. People are more restless and the kids have more energy.

Secondly one of the teachers I work with was ill this week and I had no idea she would not be coming until I walked into that section of 3rd grade and the teacher said we weren't going to have English the rest of the week due to the other teachers illness. Oh well I guess as I couldn't really do much about it. In the other sections we learned a winter song this week (thanks mom for creating it). For all of you who may be looking for something this song is to the tune of "I'm a little teapot" and the lyrics are:

I'm a little snowman,short and fat.Here are my buttons.Here is my hat. In the summertime, I cannot stay.I, just simply melt away.

And to show you how it's done. Here are the students from 3Б and 3B.

Today's after school English group went very well. We worked on some Christmas Cards and then played games. Below you'll find photos and a few videos of the day. We did the Hokey Pokey, played "Cat and Mouse", and danced some Horo.

A few more details on "Cat and Mouse' since it was a fun group game. One person is the mouse and one person is the cat. The rest of the people form a group surrounding the mouse and the cat goes outside the circle. The group members must hold hands as the object of the game is for the cat to tag the mouse by getting into the circle. The mouse can come and go as it pleases and the group members attempt to keep the cat outside the circle by moving their arms. However, the group members could form a bridge to let the cat in or the mouse out so everyone must be on the alert. It was very fun and a game almost any age could play.

Tonight I'm watching TV and knitting. Thanks again for the AMAZING package this week Mom and Dad! Tomorrow it's off to my counterpart's village to help kill the Christmas pig!

Also, a BIG Happy Birthday to my Grandpa Bob as he is celebrating his 80th birthday with family and friends this weekend. Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the Martens who will be getting together to celebrate :)

And if any of you are looking for something great to finish of your week. Here you are:

30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Goodness, the past few weeks have flown by and not for any particular reason. Plus, there's only about 7 months of my service left, so strange. The weather has been beautiful for the most part, definitely has felt more like fall than winter. Last week I was subbing for an English teacher who was ill and this week I had to travel to Sofia. I was in Sofia to get my flu shot which is a required part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. I never get them but I didn't really have much of a choice this time. It was actually a good time to be in Sofia since there is a lot of protesting going on in the country. There were over 150 tractors which were driven into the city to advocate for farmer's rights. Pensioners were also protesting against the new age requirements the government wants to place on retirement. I was also able to have lunch while I was at the capital with two of the volunteers I spent my time with during training which was nice. Here's a little clip of one of the protests and some photos from my day.

For what's going on with teaching 3rd grade we're moving right along with the book material. Here's the song we sang for the lesson today:

I'm looking forward to having some Christmas lessons soon and the Christmas concerts my school will put on. Things around the school and the city are decorated well for the holidays :) For another great video, here's the dance a group of girls made up for our "Days of the Week" song.

A BIG thanks to my wonderful family who sent me Christmas packages this week. Aunt Chris, Uncle Andy, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Bob, Amber, Jason, Rowan, and Braden, thank you!

Also, Happy Birthday to Miss Amy Eastin on the 13th!

Finally, if you know of anyone who can help fund a Peace Corps Project. Please visit my project which can be found here (every little bit helps and it's tax deductible): English Enrichment Workshop

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I wanted to put up a quick post this evening as I just got home from a lovely dinner with our fabulous country director, Mikel Herrington. I walked into my apartment and headed out into my terrace to take down some laundry I had hung up. As soon as I got back inside I happened to smell my hair and it reminds me of our family's cabin. Until I came to Bulgaria my only real interaction with a wood stove was there in the wintertime but living here provides me with the smell all winter long as many people still use wood stoves. I guess my future thoughts associated with burning wood will also have to include Bulgaria. I hope you're all having a wonderful evening.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This morning I learned I would be subbing for a fellow English teacher as she was ill. Therefore, today was a much different day than I had anticipated. Instead of teaching 3rd grade, I taught 5th, 6th, 7th, and 12th. Well, more like attempted to get something done as I had no plan. Everything went pretty well and I will also be taking her classes Wednesday and Friday. Therefore, no 3rd grade for me this week :( I'll miss them as I enjoy teaching their classes. However I met with one of the teachers today to show her a Days of the Week song as that's what they are focusing on this week along with some other materials. They're going to learn this one:

Days of the Week

After school I stopped by the grocery store for a few things and came back to my place. I had lunch while watching Dexter (I'm loving this season). After I got done eating there was a knock on the door with a random man from my building asking if his glove fell onto my terrace. I've got to say, I've never had someone come to my door to ask for their glove they had dropped from a few floors above. Sure enough, I walked outside and there it was. I found it an enjoyable addition to my afternoon as it definitely made me smile.

To catch you all up on the last week it's gone by very quickly. Last Tuesday I presented at the B27 (this year's group of volunteers) IST (In-service Training). My counterpart and I facilitated a team teaching session and I collaborated with another volunteer to present a session on extracurricular activities. It was an enjoyable day away from Sliven and a nice way to catch up with volunteers I don't get to see very often.

Last Friday I was able to do a Thanksgiving themed lesson with all the 3rd grade classes. They received quite a few new food words and things associated with the holiday. Plus they each got a mini-book to color and a printout of a cornucopia to bring home. It was a fun, enjoyable day.

This past weekend I was at Dragodonovo which is a village near Sliven to celebrate Thanksgiving with about 15 other volunteers. We had a great time hanging out, doing activities with the boarding school one of my fellow volunteers is at, and eating lots of delicious food. I made 4 batches of cookies and about 4 kilograms worth of apples for apple crisp. Needless to say everything was delicious!



I hope you all had a great holiday. Don't forget to check out the English Enrichment Workshops I'm trying to fund. I need the funds by January if the workshops are to be implemented.

English Enrichment Workshops

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This week flew by, yet I don't have an exact reason why. Well, it was a regular school week with a few additions. Monday I subbed for the 2nd grade English teacher which was a mostly enjoyable day.

Then, I was able to meet up with Amy (fellow volunteer) and her friend that was visiting for dinner that night. They also came to my school Thursday night for our annual "Мамо Татко и Аз" friendly competition. That's "Mom, Dad, and Me" for all of you would don't read Bulgarian. It's a competition where each class within the 1st grade competes against one another in relay races. First the kids compete against one another, then the moms, and finally the dads. It's a fun competition and between each round students perform songs and dances. Everything is based on time to figure out the final scores and then prizes are given accordingly to the classes.

I made cookies for a few of my after school classes this week because they've been working so hard and a few teachers and students asked for the recipe so here's the link (it's in metric too):

Sugar Cookies

Sometimes I add cinnamon to the recipe as well and I occasionally drizzle icing over them.

The 2nd thing I'd like to share is "Over It" written by Eve Ensler. I enjoyed reading her viewpoint on such an important global issue.

Over It

Third, another great article this week was written by Maya Lau who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. Her honestly shines through while she reflects on her time in the Peace Corps.

What the Peace Corps Taught Me About Failure

And last, I'm still looking for donations for EFL Enrichment Workshops so they can be implemented in the spring. Only 26 people need to donate $50 or 65 people need to donate $20 or 130 people need to donate $10 for it to be fully funded!

Enrichment Workshops

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Please consider donating to my Peace Corps Partnership Project. There are a lot of interested teachers who will be extremely happy to learn more about making their classrooms an engaging place to learn! Just click this link:

Enrichment Workshops

Any little bit helps!

Please email me with any questions or comments: katelynchristinemartens@gmail.com

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today I substituted for the woman who teaches English to the 2nd graders all morning. It was interesting to say the least. Most of the classes went well. We reviewed some of the vocabulary, letters, and numbers they have learned thus far. Then we played bingo with the letters A-O and numbers 1-5 on 2 x 4 grids. They had to get all 8 to get a bingo. It was a good time and the kids enjoyed it.

After school I met with about 1/2 the kids from 3"B" for spelling/speaking practice. We had a fun day filled with 24 vocabulary words, 2 conjugated verbs, and fun activities involving motions. Lots of smiles = a great class.

After spelling practice I headed to a local orphanage with one of the 12th grade students from my school. We met with the doctor who works there and were able to ask her some questions about it, the student was my translator when I didn't understand or wanted to ask something I wasn't quite sure how to. The orphanage is a small orphanage and is for children 0-3 years of age. They didn't actually want any future volunteer assistance due to having about 2 staff per one child there. I feel like that's a great problem to have and the visit went over well for the most part.

After that I did some grocery shopping, came back to my place, ate, and watched some TV.

Then I headed out to meet another volunteer during the early evening. We hung out at the bus station with a Bulgarian friend waiting for the other volunteer's friend to arrive here in Sliven. After her friend arrived we all went to a restaurant where we met up with another person and had a nice dinner together. Us four ladies and one man. Oh, did I mention, one of the people had a puppy! Great addition to the night. Plus, to top it all off he paid for our dinner. What a great ending to a great day.

Now it's time for bed as I'm exhausted. Until next time :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

One thing I appreciate about my school is the fact thatevery day there is a healthy snack for the elementary students. Though thestudents may buy a whole lot of junk food for themselves, the school providessomething good. Just this week I saw carrots one day, apples another, and kiwistoday. Every day each teacher sends a student down to the entrance of theschool where the security guard is in charge of the crates of fruit orvegetables. The class then has a mid-morning (or mid-afternoon) snack. I willsay that I have noticed sweet bread or plain rolls occasionally however I thinkit’s great that most days mean something good to eat. Speaking of something good to eat. My favorite snack lately has been slice apples with cinnamon and honey. Yum!

Other than that today was a nice day as the sun was shiningthe beautiful fall colors seemed to be coming from everywhere. I wish you all awonderful weekend and don’t forget today is Veteran’s Day back in the USA.Remember to thank a veteran for everything he or she has done for our country.

Also, good luck to all my fellow PCVs who are competing inthe Athens Marathon tomorrow!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

The documentary I just finished watching this evening was only fitting after the events of today.

This morning during my third grade lessons the students were learning how to say phrases related to money and what they "can buy" from a store pictured in their books. The students were grasping the new language fairly well when a boy mentioned he could buy the doll and the ball for the amount of money he was given. He was correct in how he answered the question and I was ready to move on. However, the teacher I was teaching with asked the entire class "Can he buy the doll?" to which I was confused and thankfully a lot of the students also were because he of course had enough money to buy it. She then went on to say that "boys can't buy dolls...he could buy one for his sister but he wouldn't want a doll". I'm sure my face said it all as I was very upset she told an entire class of 3rd graders this. Every time a gender stereotype comes up in school I have to think how to address it. For today, all I did was tell the class that I think boys can buy dolls because dolls are fun to play with. It frustrated me and made me very anxious to end that class and move on to something different.

Back to the documentary though, I just finished watching "Miss Representation". I enjoyed the film and feel it had some great insights into "the media’s misrepresentation of women [which] has led to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence." That last bit was taken from the website. I highly recommend watching the film, especially if you are a parent as today's media has such a strong influence on girls and boys. Learning how to be literate and a critical thinker in today's society is crucial. You can find more information and learn about the documentary here:

Miss Representation

The rest of my evening will be filled with knitting, music, and another documentary. I'm so happy to have a relaxing evening at my place :)

Have a great weekend!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I'm so thankful yesterday and today have been no school days because of how much work went into last week with all of the Halloween festivities. It's back to students tomorrow and I'm happy to get into more of a routine as the last few weeks have been hectic.There hasn't been school for the last two Mondays plus last week the schools in Sliven had no school Wednesday because it was our city holiday. That means a not a whole lot of English for my 3rd graders since I see them Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tomorrow I will resume a more regular schedule which will be nice. My teachers and I can get back into starting the lesson together, me bringing two students out to work on their speaking and comprehension skills, and then coming back together at the end to review the lesson or play a game.

To catch you all up on my weekend...Friday night I attended a hip hop dance performance here in Sliven which one of my students invited me to. It was nice and I enjoyed seeing what they were capable of as that is not something I've been to before here in Bulgaria. Then Saturday/Sunday I traveled to my host family's as it was the town holiday and I hadn't seen them since May. I finally got to meet my baba's grandaughter which was fun. Her name is Victoria though her nicknames are Vicky or Kiki. She is an adorable two year old who made things that much better. The other volunteer who lived with my family after me was also visiting so it was nice to all be together.

Other than that I've been able to relax a bit and do some catch up activities around my apartment. I've been knitting a lot lately which is fun. I'm trying to challenge myself with some more difficult patterns and I'm hopefully going to start on a sweater soon. I hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

As I sit down to write a blog about this week’s Halloween festivities I can’t help but thinking that this is the last HalloweenI will have here in Bulgaria. It’s somewhat bittersweet to know that every daybecomes that much closer to me leaving Bulgaria as I’m much closer to my closeof service date than I am to the date I became a volunteer. Every event is nowa last and so I want so badly for things to work as well as possible. However,things don’t always work out the way they are intended. Don’t get me wrong, I’mnot heading into a depressing, things didn’t work, not doing this again messagebecause this blog definitely is not about that. Though, while some things aboutyesterday’s carnival worked other things definitely did not.

After counting all the tickets, there were 238 students from1st through 4th grade who attended yesterday’s carnivalwith a parent or adult. That’s a lot of people at once but I had no idea when I first putup the posters how many of our elementary students would buy tickets. There areabout 500 students in 1st through 4th grade at my schoolso I’d say we had a great turnout for the first year. If you're a numbers person, or just plain interested, here you are:

The attendees included:

80 first graders (31 boys, 49 girls)63 second graders (35 boys, 28 girls)43 third graders (17 boys, 26 girls)43 fourth graders (21 boys, 22 girls)9 students did not mark their grade (3 boys, 6 girls)That's 107 total boys and 131 total girls equaling 238 children (who each brought an adult)I really hope my school tries again next year as I thinkmost of the activities were well received. The problems of yesterday inherentlystemmed from the carnival being a new thing at my school. It was organized instations and there were 15 different activities for kids to participate in.However, with so many people around, things got somewhat more chaotic at timesthan I’d hoped for. Also, we had a spur-of-the-moment “costume contest” whichdefinitely did not go very well since it wasn’t even planned for. I believe allthe kids had a great time and it was the parents who made things a bit moredifficult. The idea was for parents to help their kids and do things with themhowever there was a lot of standing around.

Several teachers along with students from 6th, 7th,and 12th grade helped out which was awesome! Our activities ended upbeing face painting, photo booth, hand ghosts, how-to-draw cat/bat/spider-web,bobbing for apples, word searches, mazes, coloring, making English words, stickthe mouth on the pumpkin, Bulgarian mad libs, basketball toss, football(soccer) kick, relay race, and bingo. It was a lot to organize and though Ireceived a few negative comments, I’d say it was a great first attempt and theycould hold a successful carnival next year only by having the students come bygrade and removing most of the parents from the mix. There were some awesomecostumes and many of the students brought carved pumpkins which was wonderful.All the comments I received today from students and staff were excellent sothat made me feel it was much more successful than I felt leaving schoolyesterday.

All of the Halloween Carnival photos can be accessed HERE or under the“links” section by clicking “Halloween Carnival 2011”.

Today we continued with the theme of Halloween in my 3rdgrade English classes through singing two different songs and playing letterbingo. If students got a bingo they won a piece of candy however all studentsreceived a spider ring at the end of class. It was a fun day. Here’s a few clips of 3 "V":

Not many of them knew I was videoing until the end:

This afternoon I met up with Amy (another volunteer) to havelunch and get photos from here that she took yesterday. Tonight I’m going to astudent’s dance performance which I’m excited about. It’s nice being invited toso many things this year. I hope all of you reading have a wonderful Halloween!

Also, don’t forget to check out my Peace Corps PartnershipProject I’m trying to fund at the moment. It can be found here (please email me if you know of any people who may be able to donate):

English Enrichment Workshops

And lastly, thank you for everyone who is reading as I havenow hit over 10,000 views!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

It's Sunday afternoon and I just had a delicious lunch of pears and cauliflower with cheese. This week was a regular school week except now I teach 3rd grade in the mornings instead of the afternoons as they have changed shifts. It will stay this way through December. There is no school tomorrow due to Sunday's elections which are taking place as I write this, so I have lots of time to finish things here at my place which is nice.

The crazy day of this last week was Monday. We had a storm filled with rain and winds of 70 km/hour. Getting home from school made for quite a bit of difficulty Monday afternoon. All the taxi company phone lines were busy so I decided I would try for the bus. Well the bus was broken down (though still running) so I stayed there and waited and they finally got it to start. Then it was a slow journey to the stop closest to my apartment building since the rain "puddles" were higher than the bottom of the bus at times. Walking the short 5 minutes from the bus to my apartment meant I was soaked to the skin with cold rain everywhere except what was under my rain jacket. Needless to say I got home, changed clothes and sat next to my heater for a bit to warm up. The wind even blew open the door to my terrace and one of my windows a few times in the evening. It was so loud I even wore earplugs to sleep. Seeing the city after the storm meant many downed trees and dead birds. Also, many of the villages around the city had no power for up to 4 days. It was quite the weather and I'm glad it wasn't like that any other day of the week.



On to better news though...

Saturday night I was able to go to the children's musical of Thumbelina here in Sliven. One of my 3rd grade girls was part of the dance chorus. It was adorable and a well executed. There were several set and costume changes which flowed nicely throughout the performance. I went with another volunteer as my student's father is her Bulgarian tutor.

This weekend has been filled with knitting, online TV, movies, listening to music, and making things for school. I'm not even ashamed to say I've been playing Settlers of Catan online with a few other volunteers in the evenings. Last night we played a few games. I didn't win either but it was still fun, I just learned how to play this week so I have some catching up to do. I'm kind of excited to potentially play the game in person at some point and not just online to see which I prefer. I think it'd be easier to comment verbally than type everything out but otherwise I like the game.

I'm interested to see who wins the mayoral race here in Sliven. There are MANY candidates and posters have been strewn across the city for the last month. If you're at all interested in the elections here. There are a few articles you can find through these links:

Elections 1

Elections 2

Elections 3

I hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Forthe last few months I’ve been working on getting my PCPP submitted. What is aPCPP? Well it stands for Peace Corps Partnership Project and it is a way forPeace Corps to funnel donations straight to volunteer projects. I’m currentlyasking for funds to support “EFL Enrichment Workshops”(EFL = English as aForeign Language). The description of my project, which also can be found byclicking on the link at the bottom of this post, is as follows:

Offeringnew and innovative pedagogy has become one of my goals as a Peace CorpsVolunteer here in Bulgaria. While it is important to follow the guidelines ofthe Bulgarian Ministry of Education, it is essential to meet students’ variedlearning needs and styles through supplementary activities. Through daylong“EFL Enrichment Workshops” in the five cities of Sliven, Plovdiv, Kazanluk,Vratsa, and Varna; 75 Bulgarian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacherswill be invited to learn new ways to enhance their classrooms. I will lead theworkshops along with another Peace Corps Volunteer and a Bulgarian EFL Teacher.After the workshop, teachers will be provided with the materials necessary toimplement the games and activities discussed.

Inaddition to the activities, teachers will leave with the “Classroom SurvivalKit”. In many Bulgarian schools, students are responsible for their materials.If these students forget their materials or cannot afford them they often sitout during certain activities as there are not enough supplies to accommodateeveryone. To help remedy this issue, teachers will leave with a kit of extrasupplies to account for about five students coming unprepared.

Students will be more likely to engage duringclass if the material is presented in a fun, interactive manner and they haveall the resources necessary to participate. Upon arriving back to theircommunities, the attendees will be able to share their knowledge with fellowEFL teachers. Please consider contributing to this project to support EFLeducation.

Anyamount of donations are appreciated. My goal is to have this project funded bythe end of December. There is a great deal of interest in this project by Bulgarian teachers; therefore, I'm excited to see this project funded and assist future generations of English learners through their EFL teachers.

Pleaseshare this information with anyone you feel may be interested in donating andvisit here for more info:

EFL Enrichment Workshops

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

My bus ride to school today was definitely one of the bestyet. It’s just a short ride but since it takes me about 30-35 minutes to walkto school, I usually take the bus on the way there to cut some time. Anyways, Iwas immediately greeted by a “Hello Kate”. It turns out one of my 3rdgraders was on the bus with her grandma. I also learned that she has alwayslived with her grandma since something happened with her mother and/or father.She’s a very sweet girl and is very enjoyable to be around. I’m glad she has acaring person to live with.

At the next stop two women got on with a baby girl. The buswas packed so it was hard to find a place for them to sit however people moveda bit and they found a place. The woman who sat down with the baby wasbeautiful, someone who makes you look twice and not because of how they arestyled. I wish I could have taken a photo. The old women all sitting around herimmediately asked if it was her baby as she obviously was not very old. Shesaid it wasn’t, it was the other woman’s baby and she was just holding it. Shesaid she was 17 and was married but didn’t have any children. The baby was alsoadorable with her cute little pierced ears and interest in touching my hair. Theysimply made for a great ride that ended all too soon.

After arriving at school I had a spelling/speaking classwith my 3rd graders. Out of about 50 kids that could have come,there were 30 there so I’d say that’s a good turnout (this was the 2ndgroup of 3rd graders this week). There weren’t even enough chairs inthe room to fit them all. I’m going to have to figure out if we can get anythingaccomplished with that many or if I’ll have to find a way to split them intotwo groups. After spelling I had a bit of a break until my 1st classhowever since they were taking a test and the next class was as well, I wasn’treally needed. So I went into another room and worked on decorations for ourschool Halloween Carnival at the end of the month. I ended up making about 30pumpkins and a “Happy Halloween” sign. Plus I finished the “stick the mouth onthe pumpkin” pumpkin.

The surprise of the day in the 3rd grade wasseeing a very familiar face when I walked into one of the rooms. It turns outone of the boys who frequently begs for money at not only the train station butin the center of town is now going to my school. He’s not much older than therest of the 3rd graders but he hasn’t been in school for a while. I’mhoping he stays as he is obviously a smart kid, he just needs an education sohe stop begging for money. He’s sweet and wanted to talk to me quite a bit oncehe found out I would be helping to teach him English. He thought I spoke fluentBulgarian. Haha, no, I definitely do not but I get by.

The other two classes of third grade went well. I workedwith two kids out in the hallway during most of both classes and some of themsurprised me. They’re all great kids, it’s just hard to know what they know ina large classroom setting. We’re able to get things done so efficiently and Ican easily assess them while we’re working in a small group. I also got tons ofhugs and a few pictures from the kids today which are always nice. Now for a relaxing Friday evening of some dinner, onlineTV, skype, and probably a bit of knitting.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

After a lovely morning of picking up two packages from my wonderful parents I had lunch and was off to school for my afternoon classes. Though they were a bit hectic, everything went fine and after finishing my work I came back to my place. Upon getting on facebook I noticed all the postings about Steve Jobs and learned he died yesterday. He was such an innovative, brilliant mind of our current time. Though it is sad to see him go I can only be amazed by all he was able to accomplish during his life and what more he could have done had he been around a bit longer. He is a true inspiration and role model in many ways. From his work with technology to his thoughts on life, he was inspiring. This is one of my favorite quotes of his:

Thank you for all you have done and let your work inspire future generations to not only persevere but to pursue happiness.

For more information on Steve Jobs here are a few websites:

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

http://allaboutstevejobs.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today was International Teacher's Day which meant I was wished a "Happy Holiday" by several staff and students. However the best parts of the day were during my 3rd grade lessons. As I am fortunate enough to team teach everything for third grade, there is a bit of flexibility. I teach with three different women and we have recently started with the routine of we are both in the room for the first 10 minutes of class in which we go over new vocabulary, pronunciation, or dialogues. Then I go into the hallway with two students in order for me not only to assess their knowledge but to teach them some fun small group games and get to know them better. Then we come back into the room when there are 5 to 10 minutes left (classes are 40 minutes long) and we all go over information again or play a game.

Today, one girl reminded me that the photos I have taken of them are not online so they are now! They can be found under the "Links" section and are titled "3rd Grade". Enjoy!

Second, I received not only a card but some beads and a bracelet today all handmade from students which was extremely thoughtful and appreciated.

And third, after one of the classes was finished with their test we all sat in the front of the room looking at books (English Children's Literature). Three girls sat with me while I read them a few books and upon me leaving the room I received quite the group hug. Fabulous end to the day!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today I was able to spend some time with Amy (a fabulous volunteer who lives near me) here in Sliven. I met her at the market where we walked around and found some great knitted goods and pottery. We stopped for lunch afterwards where we had a lovely chat about potential future careers. It was a conversation that definitely made me appreciate being American and having ideas have the potential to become a reality more so than they would in other places. It turns out Amy and I are pretty much on the same page of what would be an amazing career for me. We'll see if it ever happens. It's so funny to me that we haven't even known each other for very long because I feel that she knows me pretty darn well. Maybe it's one of her gifts. No matter what, we seem to have a good time when we get together which I appreciate. She's definitely a major asset to me being so close and being such a great friend. Want to know what makes here even better? She enjoys playgrounds just as much as I do if not more. After we went to my place to drop off a few things we stopped by the Kindergarten in my neighborhood to have a little fun. After going down the slide a few times and taking some photos and man stopped by on his bike. Turns out he speaks English and offered to take a photo of the two of us. We kindly said "Yes, please" and he got a few of both of us. He was very sweet and told us he goes hiking with a group of people from Sliven (some of the people are English teachers in town) and to call him if we ever wanted to join them.

After the playground we headed toward the center to run our errands. I ended up finding some great postcards and we took a break for some crepes and coffee. Yum! Then Amy headed back to her village and I came back to my place. It was an overall great day. Thumbs up for good friends and nice fall days.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This post is a bit delayed however I think it's ready now. Last Thursday (September 22nd) was Independence Day here in Bulgaria which meant no school Thursday or Friday. (This is why we had school last Saturday.) I decided to use my time off of school to visit another volunteer who lives near me in her village of Byala. A few of us volunteers got together there and had a great time. We even got to go to a few na gostis (visits) with some of her friends in the village. One woman's house had a beautiful garden where we sat having grapes, pears, apples, berry liquor, cookies, and a few other pastries. We also were able to pick fresh raspberries and blueberries from the bushes around the yard, they were delicious. At another woman's house we were able to milk goats and we sat having a few drinks and plenty of grapes. Gotta love visiting the village.

This week is school as normal without my extra after/before school activities which will begin in October. I'm just fixing the schedule a bit and getting lists of how many kids will attend which things. I will be running a club composed of a small group of dedicated 6th and 7th graders to make videos and other information to share with the U.S. (specifically Minnesota) about Bulgaria. I will also have four or five different groups to practice spelling, speaking, and pronunciation. Finally, I will be meeting with one or two high schoolers to help them improve their English. This will all hopefully be topped off with me watching the 3rd and 4th grade students who practice traditional dance each week. Along with all this I'm busy working on getting a Halloween Carnival put together for all the elementary students at the end of the month and getting all my paperwork in for a grant.

I hope you're all having a beautiful last week of September, here are a few photos from the last week:

Extra Info:

September 22nd celebrated independence from the Ottoman Empire here in Bulgaria. Interested in Independence Days around the world? Click HERE.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

September 21st is World Peace Day! How are you going to celebrate? I'll be teaching all of my third graders the word "peace" in English along with leaving a poster about Peace in my school's teachers' room. I'll also be celebrating by having coffee with a few other Americans in my area. Want to learn more about this day? Here are a few websites you can access by clicking on the links.

International Day of Peace

Wikipedia on International Day of Peace

Peace One Day

Peace One Day Documentary

--September 21st is a more recent "World Peace Day", November 17th has also been celebrated in this way. If you can't think of anything to do to celebrate this day why not learn how to make a paper crane, instructions can be found HERE.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I don't believe I've quite emphasized enough how important it is to be flexible both as a Peace Corps Volunteer and just someone living in Bulgaria. Every day seems to bring something new where I just have to go with the flow and know things will work out one way or another. I've gotten pretty good at improv, in the classroom that is. I say all of this because today was yet another example. Today was the 1st day for actual teaching at school and I was meant to have all 4 sections of third grade (team teaching that is). However, I was informed about a 1/2 an hour before my 1st class that they were really busy with beginning of school year things, getting books, etc. and it'd be better if we didn't have English today. Therefore I had 2 hours free, good thing I have learned to plan for this and had quite a bit to print out and had brought along a book to read. My schedule remained the same for my 3rd and 4th classes of the day however they were flipped. That is, the one I was supposed to have 3rd was 4th and the one I was meant to have 4th was 3rd in line. I tell you, flexibility. I find it some what funny I'm blogging about this as I watched "Be a Volunteer" about Peace Corps and flexibility was one of the main things mentioned. No matter how much I plan or prepare, something always comes up. I've decided that it's just part of the fun, that's life. If any of you are interested in watching a great short movie (which features some Bulgaria volunteers) here's the link:

Be a Volunteer

As for the 2 classes I did end up having today, they went very well. I can already tell one of them is a much more extroverted, energetic group but it'll just make the year that much more interesting. I love the 3rd graders, they are all so sweet. I took photos of each one today and it was funny because one of the classes said I was taking mug shots (they were holding name tags in the photos). After the classes I dropped in on 2 of the parents meetings very quickly to say hello. They were very kind and one woman even spoke to me in English! Hooray for the new school year. Now to planning my after/before school schedule (all the 3rd grade classes are 2nd shift (13:00 - 17:30).

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

September 15th marks the first day of school in Bulgaria. At my school everyone started gathering around 8:30 and the ceremony began at 9:00. There was the presentation and raising of the flag, giving of flowers to the monoment of Konstantin Konstantinov (who are school is named after), singing, dancing, and speeches. Plus, there was a walkway to welcome the new 1st graders into the building. Almost every student brings a flower or bouquet for their class teacher (homeroom) and whomever else they would like which means most teachers have quite the load to carry. It's a lovely site. I was happy receive some flowers as they always make my day a little bit brighter.

Me with some of the kids from 7A.After the ceremony all the students go into the school to their homerooms and talk about the upcoming school year. They get their books, their schedule, talk about new school rules, and hang out a bit. Then the students leave and the teachers congregate in the teacher's room for a brief meeting and then some snacks. It was a lovely morning filled with friends, flowers, and photos. Check out the rest of my photos from the day under "15 September 2011" in the Links section of the blog.

On another note, the 1st day of school coincided with the public announcement that the Peace Corps will be phasing out of Bulgaria. The group of B27s who arrived this year will be the last group of volunteers in Bulgaria and will complete their service in June 2013, they are known as the Legacy Group. The Peace Corps has been in Bulgaria for 20 years and this announcement is bittersweet.

What does this mean for us volunteers? Well, it means that we want the Peace Corps to leave Bulgaria in the most positive way possible. This will occur through keeping our connections, remained integrated into our communities, and working to promote peace (Peace Corps Mission: Promote world peace and friendship). We all want to do as much as we can in the little time left to ensure sustainability, lasting relationships, and of course a bit of fun. We do this through following the 3 goals of the Peace corps. Goal 1, Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. Goal 2, Helping to promote a better understanding of American on the part of the peoples served. Goal 3, Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. Feel free to access one of these sites to learn more about Peace Corps Bulgaria (more information about the phasing out is sure to come as it was only announced today):

Peace Corps BulgariaPeace Corps Journals

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Where to start? Well, last Friday seems like a good place to start. I was in Sofia for a few reasons. First of all, I met with some of the fabulous Peace Corps Bulgaria Program staff to talk about a project I am hoping to have funded in the near future. I wanted some guidance as well as a critique of what I had finished thus far. Writing grants, making project budgets, and submitting proposals are not something I do very often; therefore, the meeting was well worth it. It was great to get some feedback and know I am on the right track. I hope to have everything submitted within the next two weeks so stay tuned at a later date to hear more about it. It is a project that will eventually be posted on the Peace Corps website and I will be looking for funding (in any amount). My second event of the day was a dental appointment. I went to Dr. Milen Dimitrov where I got x-rays and had my teeth cleaned. No cavities, hooray! Then I met up with some of the other Peace Corps volunteers at the amazing Hostel Mostel (where I was staying for the weekend) and just relaxed for a bit. After a bit I was hungry so I ended up walking to Taqueria which is a delicious burrito restaurant. After a delicious late lunch, early dinner I visited with other Peace Corps Volunteers as well as some of the other travelers staying at the hostel. That night I spent my time visiting with fellow PCVs over a few drinks nearby the hostel and didn't stay up too late.

Saturday morning I attended a meeting to learn more about GLBT/LGBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) issues in Bulgaria. Just as there are not equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual Americans, these communities also do not have the same rights here in Bulgaria. While the USA may have a longer history with the movement for equality involving the GLBT community, Bulgaria also has a history and it was great to learn more about it. I feel this is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time and I was happy to show my support. If you would like more information on the recent history involving the Obama Administration and the LGBT community please click HERE.

After the meeting I had a delicious lunch at Sun/Moon which is a vegetarian restaurant in Sofia. Then some of us went on a walk before stopping at a delicious danish bakery where I had a custard and raspberry pastry. After seeing some graffiti artists and skateboarders I headed back to my room at the hostel where some other PCVs were just hanging out relaxing and did the same (I also had a delicious cappuccino on the way). After laying down and chatting for a bit I got ready and five of us all went out for Moroccan food at a fabulous restaurant. I had some falafel and a green salad with avocado and tomato. We all also shared a mint hookah which was quite delicious. Afterwards we met up with some Bulgarian friends and then I headed over near the hostel to be with some other volunteers. It wasn't too late a night as I've had a cold and was pretty exhausted after a long day. I was just so happy to have a day filled with great friends, good food, and beautiful weather.

Sunday was a relaxing morning followed by lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then a train ride back to Sliven.

Today was a productive day of school and I'm happy to say that I'm looking forward to the new school year. There are so many projects that are already in the works. I'm glad I'm working with such great teachers and have a supportive school to really make the best of my 2nd year here in Bulgaria. This afternoon I'll be working from my apartment along with doing laundry and some much needed cleaning before working on the Peace Corps Reports I need to finish by Thursday. Oh how I love days like this, seriously :)

Lastly, I want to thank all my followers for bringing me to over 9,000 views! The top 10 countries you all are located in include the United States, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada, South Korea, Iran, and Chile (in order from highest to lowest). Thank you all for reading, I greatly appreciate your continued support :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This weekend I was able to attend a festival in Gurkovo, Bulgaria. It turns out there is an annual holiday which not only includes donkey racing (with carts) but also a donkey tug-of-war and donkey football (soccer for all you Americans reading). All the events took place Sunday however I traveled there Saturday and stayed the night at a beautiful hotel near the town. It was a fabulous weekend.

For some more details, Saturday we all met in Gurkovo and the town provided a bus for us to all get to our hotel. At the hotel we hung out, had dinner, and spent the night dancing, laughing, and just being together. It was a great group of people, I feel very lucky to have met all the people I have here in Bulgaria. They truly make experiences that much better and make me want the night to last so much longer.

On Sunday, we all headed to the stadium on the outskirts of town for the festival. The volunteer who lives in Gurkovo, Aaron, had arranged for there to be a "Peace Corps" donkey and cart in the race so we went down to meet the donkey and socialize a bit. The first event of the day was introducing all the contestants and then the race started. The festival was obviously created for a fun way to compete. Many of the donkey's had funny names and most of the carts were themed. Each donkey, cart, and driver went around the track once individually with someone timing them. The winner was declared after everyone had raced. The second event was the donkey tug-of-war which was extremely interesting to watch. Some of those donkeys are so strong. Afterwards came donkey football. I didn't end up watching much of the football as it was very hot and went outside the stadium to sit in the shade and catch up with my fellow volunteers.

We ended up finding a great place to sit down and relax with food and tap beer. As there were over 15 volunteers there we made for quite the site to some of the local people who are not used to so many foreigners in one place. There was a lot of staring and introductions however there was also great hospitality. The people working behind the counter wanted to help us with anything we needed and most people just wanted to say hello and get a photo or two taken. I felt very comfortable and happy to be with friends. Sometimes it's hard to remember I'm living in a foreign place and this was not my normal all that long ago. I'm sure this year is going to fly by as I am so excited to get projects underway and take advantage of seeing more of Bulgaria through my connections with other volunteers. I want to make use of what time I have left here in Bulgaria as who knows how often I'll see some of my favorite PCVs once my time in Bulgaria is complete. Weekends like these make me realize how much I love being with good friends. Sitting around talking late into the night, having massage trains, feeling completely relaxed, and just the feeling of complete happiness make life so much more fun. I will remember the great conversations of the weekend and especially the reference to people being "kindred spirits". This weekend will definitely go down as one of the best thus far in Bulgaria. Thanks to everyone who was there for making it so wonderful! Now, for some photos of the events (I did take a few videos however since they are not wanting to upload I'll have to postpone them for another day):

I also have to send my love to my cousin and her family whose family dog died over the weekend. To Amber, Jason, Rowan, and Braden - I understand how hard it is to lose someone/something you love and I hope that you are all able to celebrate the good times you had together. I don't feel it's something you get over as much as something you learn how to deal with. I love you!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today marked the first day of work of the new school year, for teachers that is. What a difference this one was compared to last year. Last year I was anxious, full of thoughts of who I would be working with, how things would go, what school would actually be like, etc. However this year is was more a feeling of excitement for my 2nd year here in Bulgaria and the comfort of knowing a lot of the "hows". Everyone at my school now knows me and I know everyone else (there faces that is as I do forget names occasionally). My school is a comfortable place for me to be and life in Sliven has become my new normal. It's strange to think I have less than a year left here.

Back to today, the morning began with meeting my counterpart at her room and then heading down to the teacher's room shortly after 8 am to greet one another, chat a bit, and wait for the first meeting of the school year. The director ended up starting the meeting around 9am and talked about the upcoming school year including vacation days, class (homeroom) teachers, students who changed schools, and many other things. After the meeting my counterpart and I worked on some classroom materials and then it was time to leave. I also discovered the mail I've been wondering about has been stuck in the Director's office so I got all of that today. Thanks Rowan for the letter!

This afternoon I ended up meeting Neysa, another volunteer, to have coffee and tag along to her hair appointment. We had a nice afternoon, despite the heat of today of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Now I'm ready to sit down and relax a bit and then work on a few projects before I head to bed. Since I won't be posting tomorrow...

Happy 24th Birthday Neysa!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I was watching videos on TED.org when I came across one by Jeremy Gilley titled "One day of peace". I enjoyed listening to his talk and afterwards immediately began reading more about this particular day. There has been an International Day of Peace in existence since September of 1982 thanks to the United Nations; however, the day being September 21st was decided in 2002 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. By 2012 there is the hope that we will have a global truce and everyone in the world can observe a day of peace. I believe this is a fantastic way to help make our world a more peaceful place. Mark the day on your calendar (it's less than a month away) and decide what you will do to be more peaceful. There are some great websites if you're looking for suggestions, maybe you want to do something in your workplace, in your classroom, or your neighborhood, there are plenty of ways to help initiate positive change and promote Peace. Please check out the websites linked below and remember to celebrate World Peace Day on September 21st!

Peace One Day

International Peace Day

And, some photos from my last day of summer English classes:

Bingo Prizes

Showing off some of their Bingo Prizes

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today in English class we made How To videos. Both videos are about how to make different popular summer foods here in Bulgaria. I've included the scripts below each video in case they are at all difficult to understand. Enjoy and let me know what you think if you make them yourself!

How to Make Shopska SaladMalomir: Shopska Salad is the most popular salad in Bulgaria.Marion: To make this salad for four people, you will need 8 tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 1 onion, 500 grams white cheese (feta), 8 olives, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/3 cup vinegar, ¼ cup oil.Mihaela: First chop the tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion into medium pieces.Nelly: Mix the vegetables in a large container.Tzvetomir: Pour the vinegar, oil, and salt into the mixture.Malomir: Grate the cheese onto the mixture.Marion: Put the olives on top.All: Serve and enjoy!

How to Make Tarator*Malomir: Tarator is a popular summer soup. It’s served cold. Marion: You will need 2 cups plain yogurt, 2 or 3 cucumbers, 2 cups (cold) water, 1 tablespoon salt, ½ tablespoon oil, ¼ tablespoon dill, 1 clove garlicMihaela: Grate the cucumbers.Nelly: Mix the cucumbers with the yogurt in a large container.Tzvetomir: Pour the water into the mixture. Chop the garlic into small pieces.Mihaela: Pour the salt, oil, and dill into the mixture.All: Stir, serve, and enjoy!

*Some people add crushed walnuts to this soup as well.

And in photos:

Take some time to enjoy your locally grown summer produce!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today started with the beginning of my 3rd week of summer classes. We talked about food today along with writing sentences and hitting a few grammar issues. Then we wrote up a few recipes and played Bingo. Tomorrow I will be meeting them at Billa (a grocery store) to purchase the food needed to make the dishes and we will hopefully be filming how-to videos to send back to the US. I'm hoping it goes well!

Best of all though I was able to hang out with a girl from my neighborhood. We went and had coffee, walked around, took a LOT of photos, walked some more, had a snack, and took some more photos. By a lot of photos I will admit that upon uploading I realized just how many. The two of us, yes just two people, took 352 photos. After I made the initial edit of simply taking out everything blurry or just not something I want to keep it came down to 259. Now it's time to send the album to my neighbor to let her browse and take what she likes. I'm glad we both had a good time. Plus, my neighbor got some great shots. It was nice to be out in the evening and meet some of her friends (she's in high school). We also got a lot of great photos out of it. Here are some of the best:

This kid happened to run by while we were in the park grinning from ear to ear.

All my love from Bulgaria!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I've had a pretty relaxing Sunday filled with a lot of online TV, a documentary, making some themed memory games for vocab review, and a bit of food. It's been in the high 80s (Fahrenheit that is) but has been feeling like the 90s to me lately. Needless to say my little fan has been getting quite the workout.

Last Friday I was able to attend a teaching workshop in the city of Karnobat (about 45 minutes by bus away from me) with 3 of the teachers from my school. Lynn Lynch, a Peace Corps Volunteer who will be leaving in September, put on the workshop to share games, strategies, and idea for teaching English to elementary students. It was a great day of sharing and my teachers really enjoyed it. It's always nice to get new idea and share resources. It made me get excited for the new school year and ready to start making things. Which I have been doing of and on today. There were three Peace Corps Volunteers besides myself at the workshop along with about 10 Bulgarian teachers. I brought along some yummy dips and crackers to have another volunteer's place after the workshop had finished since I stayed there that night. Here are a few photos to sum up our day:

This week is my last for summer English Classes and I'm hopefully going to get the kids to make some fun how-to videos of a few popular Bulgarian summer foods. We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow is going to be a big review of vocabulary day along with spelling activities. All the kids for this week have finished 5th grade so we'll see how ready they are for 6th grade English.

Finally...

Thank you to my United States followers for hitting over 4,000 views!

Thank you to my Bulgarian followers for hitting over 3,200 views!

I wanted to send a big shout-out to Kara DeCook and Peter Brandt who got married this weekend. I wish you both the very best and am sure you'll have a great life together. Congratulations!

I hope you're all having a wonderful summer!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I'm sitting here drinking a delicious iced mocha. Yes, you read this correctly. I finally figured out the perfect combination for a yummy summer drink. Coffee + chocolate soy milk + ice = iced mocha. That's definitely one of the benefits of living in a big city here in Bulgaria.

I wanted to post a new entry because I've had a productive and enjoyable day thus far. I had classes this morning with some of my students and we focused on the topic of food. They had a warm-up of writing down any English word for each letter of the English alphabet. Then they all wrote as many words as they could related to the subject of food. After that I made 4 columns on the board and we organized all of their words into "Fruits and Vegetables", "Drinks", "Meats", and "Other". Then we had a break and afterward the students told me which foods were healthy and which were unhealthy from the lists to further organize them. Then they wrote sentences using "I like" or "I dislike" and finally I hit a bit of grammar by throwing in and vs. but. Finally all the students were able to make tables and draw different foods based on their own preferences.

After class I headed down to the teachers room where a few people were having chocolates, soda, and coffee in celebration of the name day of Maria and also the Assumption of Mary. After that a local policeman stopped by my school just to chat with me to make sure I wasn't having any problems and things were going well for me here in Sliven. I then got a ride to the center of town with him and went to the police station to check if my new ID card was ready, it wasn't but that's okay because it isn't supposed to be ready until next week. Then I headed to the market where I bought some beautiful nectarines, eggplants, and tomatoes.

Afterward I headed to Billa (grocery store) to get a few more things and finally was back at my apartment. After I dropped off my groceries I headed to the post office in my neighborhood where I mailed three letters and also bought some stamps to use with students back in the United States. I came back here and starting making lunch only to be surprised by my lovely neighbor with a huge tomato, two cucumbers, and fresh goat cheese from her village. It was very sweet of her and I used some of it to make this delicious lunch:

Now I'm working on some things for my classes tomorrow. Tomorrow's theme is going to be animals. To see more photos from my summer classes go to "Summer Classes 2011" under the Links section of my blog.

Have a wonderful day!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today has been pretty great so I figure I'd blog. After getting up and doing a few things I watched the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. I've loved this season of the show and thought all the final four contestants very much deserved their place. Also, I just can't get enough of Sonya Tayeh's choreography and must congratulate Melanie on winning and Sasha on being the runner up. After some food, knitting, and a little TV it was time to head to the post office. I mailed three letters and the woman working complimented my Bulgarian which made the day even better. Then I headed to the grocery store and along the way saw our school's art teacher at the bus station and chatted with her a little bit. She is a very kind and considerate woman and was waiting to head to her village. At the grocery store I got everything I needed and then took a taxi back to my apartment due to the heavy cat litter I had bought and not wanting to walk home with three bags of things.

Now I'm back at my place about to make some lunch and watch this week's Project Runway. I'm thinking it's a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich type of day. After that I plan on working on my plans for next week's summer English classes and getting my things ready to go visit another volunteer tomorrow who lives near me for the night. I'm hoping the weather stays nice so we can enjoy the pool and just hang out. Gotta love summertime :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

As I sit down to write this post it is almost noon yet it feels much later since I had a bit of a busy morning. After I was ready to go I had some water and a nectarine and was out the door.

I took a bus to school so I wouldn’t be dripping with sweat once I got there and had English with a few kids who are finished with 3rd grade from 9:00 – 11:00. Well we were meant to go until 11:00 however we got done at about 10:45. The kids did a Hidden Picture puzzle from highlights and all their vocabulary for the day was the list of items they needed to look for. We then made nametags, went through the word list, they wrote, they repeated, and then we went through the alphabet and played Alphabet Bingo. We also alphabetized all their vocabulary words for the day on a piece of paper so we can keep a running list of all new words for the week.

Then I left school for the post office where I paid my electricity and water bills for the last 2 months. My school actually pays for these things but I have to go pay and then I am reimbursed. After the post office, I walked to the smaller Billa (grocery store) in my school’s neighborhood in search for some Oreo Ice Cream. I broke down and bought some last week and after it was finished I was craving it, at least it’s on sale. Well, I got a few other items and it turns out that store was out of the Oreo Ice Cream. Not to fail though, there is a bigger Billa in town. Yes, you are reading correctly, I took another bus to head toward the center to the larger grocery store just to get the ice cream I wanted. There were only 2 containers left so I bought them both. I call that a score for the day. Plus I got some ciabatta bread and a few other items. I currently have a cheese, tomato, and onion sandwich grilling and am excited to have some rest time.

This afternoon is going to consist of lunch, cleaning my apartment, watching some online TV, and planning for tomorrow’s English class. Oh, and my cats are doing very well today, it’s almost as if they didn’t just have surgery Friday. Tumnina is chasing her ball around and Popitsa is taking a nap. I hope you’re all having a beautiful Monday!

*This would have been posted around noon on Monday however my internet didn’t work and finally is back working again today. And therefore I did not watch any television online but took a nap. Since this is already a post from the past I thought I’d catch you up to speed.

Tuesday, I ended up calling my internet provider since it still wasn’t working and found out that the soonest a technician could be at my place was Thursday. Major bummer L however it did force me to catch up on my reading since I don’t really have any other forms of entertainment. I stream TV and movies instead of downloading so I really had nothing to fall back on. Therefore I’m writing this in a word document and waiting to post until I can be online. I’ll also let you know that since I have a pay as you go plan for my phone I had to run to the store to fill it back up with money in the process of calling the helpline for my internet. On the plus side, when I was walking back to my building I went past a group of boys playing football in their underwear, yes it’s very hot out and it was a funny sight to see. I’m sure they were having a wonderful time. I also enjoyed some of my Oreo ice cream.

Wednesday, was my regional meeting for Peace Corps which was held right here in Sliven. We have never had one of these in all my time here however with the new group of volunteers who went to site in June it was great to catch up and see how people are doing. I felt the meeting was successful as policies were clarified and we were able to share our opinions about or service thus far. Plus, several of us hung out afterward and were able to get to know one another that much more.

Finally, my classes this week went extremely well with a small group of kids at each session. We worked on words, spelling, and having fun. Bingo was a huge hit as well as the Highlights “Hidden Picture Puzzles” for the week.



Overall it was a good week and a successful time spent here in Bulgaria. Plus, now my internet is working again thanks to the Vivacom technicians and I’ll be able to skype my wonderful mom and dad, get to some emails, catch up on some online TV, and maybe do a little knitting on this dreary day. Thanks to my thoughtful neighbor bringing me some tomatoes and peppers from her village garden I had a wonderful lunch. Here's what I just finished (It's a toasted sandwich of tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, and cream cheese):

All my love.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today my cats got spayed, woo hoo! This means that now my cats will not go into heat every 28 days and be a pure annoyance but will have more even keeled personalities (well hopefully at least). Plus, I can now say I am not contributing but helping to minimize the crazy amount of street cats in this country.

They're pretty exhausted looking cats but I'm sure they'll recover in a few days. I have them locked in my bathroom to try and force them to just relax and not try to move around a whole lot. The vet I took them to was very professional and spoke exceptional English. He's even got a website for his practice: Privet. I would definitely recommend him. Also, the vet tech said my cats were very well behaved so I'm happy about that. Now i'm hoping for a relaxing evening here at my place and that my cats aren't in too much pain. The funny thing is that my family's dog back in Minnesota, LeBron, also had surgery today though his was to fix a cracked tooth. Still, I hope things go well for his surgery and it's all good news with the pets in my family.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This week I was able to assist another volunteer at her 2 day camp in a village near Varna. For all of you wondering where Varna is, please click HERE. This is National Sea Week and so all the activities were focused on the environment.

The first day was focused on the Black Sea and pollution. The hands-on activity involved the kids each receiving a feather they were able to dip in regular water, then water with oil, and then they cleaned their feathers with dish soap and water. After the activity we watched "Ghost Ships of the Black Sea" by National Geographic. We also ended up playing football (soccer for all you Americans reading this) in the late afternoon with a few of the kids. It was fun and really made me miss playing football on grass, for fun. While I enjoy playing, I don't really enjoy playing on concrete which seems to be most common for pick-up games here in Sliven. Also, I like a little bit of competition but would rather just play for fun, once it gets really competitive, I tend to get less interested.



The second day was focused on waves and the hands-on activity was making a sea in a bottle. The kids seemed to greatly enjoy it and then we all watched "Shallow Seas" from the Planet Earth series. There was also a raffle that day in which one kid one a kite and playing cards just for attending which he seemed to enjoy outside (everyone else received stickers). It was great being able to help out another volunteer and learn some more ways to teach kids about our environment.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Quite a bit has happened since the last time I blogged therefore I will try to fill all of you in.

I ended up spending my 4th of July at the dentist in Sofia since I had chipped my tooth over the weekend and it needed a bit of fixing. Four and a half hours on the train there, a 10 minute cab ride, lunch with a few other PCVs, four and a half hours on the train again, and I was back in Sliven (I was out of town for almost exactly 12 hours). I wish I had a good story for it but I unfortunately do not. I was just eating and bit down wrong.

Then July 5th I traveled to Tryavna where my fellow B26ers and I had our mid-service conference. The conference went well, some of the highlights were:

Meeting our new country director, Mikel Herrington. You can read a bit more information about him by clicking on his name. Participating in a brief flash mob to Shakira's song "Waka Waka" during the first session of the day on Wednesday. Hanging out with my fellow volunteers in the evenings. Walking around Tryavna, it is one beautiful Bulgarian city made even better by being among good friends. I left the conference Thursday afternoon for Sofia as I had an early morning flight the next day headed back to the good old US of A. I stayed at a hostel in Sofia for the night, though my excitement got the best of me which led to little sleep.

Friday, July 8th I flew from Sofia, Bulgaria to Paris, France. Then from Paris, France to Minneapolis, MN. Both of my flights were great and I even slept most of the way on my second flight (thanks to allergy pills with side affects of drowsiness). My lovely parents were at the airport waiting for me to arrive. It was great to see them in person after not seeing them for a little over 14 months. We all left the airport, made a quick stop at Caribou coffee for a delicious blended camfire mocha and headed for Rochester, Minnesota where we went to Target and then ate delicious Mexican food. That evening I headed out to an old friend's parents' farm where the groom's dinner/party was being held for the wedding the next day. It was both strange and wonderful to see all those familiar faces and sit down for a homemade meal.

Saturday, July 9th was my friend's wedding day. I ended up doing her hair for the wedding and videotaping for her and the groom. Their wedding was held at Mayowood Farms which was a great location. It was a beautiful day and things at the wedding went very smoothly. Plus, the gift from me and three friends turned out beautifully (it's below).

I stayed the night at the lovely Mrs. Amanda Pfeilsticker's home where all of her guests from the wedding and myself stayed up talking late into the night.

Sunday came and I went to meet my lovely friend Krista Ryan (Her Amazingness) for some coffee, a quick hair cut from her mom, and a short game of Tanks on Wii. Oh, how I love you Krista. After spending some time with her I was off to have a late breakfast/early lunch with a Miss Andrea Corson, Miss Kelsey Underdahl, and the adorable Keeleigh Caldwell (I sure hope I spelled your name correctly). Kelsey, Keeleigh, and I then had a picnic lunch out at a park near where I grew up. We had a lovely day together and it was great to spend some time together.

Sunday night I also spent the night at Amanda's house where I was able to see all of her beautiful wedding photos from May (a wedding I was unfortunately unable to attend).

Monday morning I left for Minneapolis where I spent time reading at the Walker Sculpture Garden, then had a delicious lunch at Erbert and Gerberts, drove through the University of MN campus, stopped at Caribou Coffee, and headed to a friend's house to hang out and spend the night. We had a lovely evening and I truly enjoyed being at her place.

Tuesday morning I had a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. I hung out for a bit before heading for a late lunch at Panera. I then picked up the lovely Mrs. Keegan Korthauer from her bus to head to Plymouth to meet up with the beautiful Mrs. Sonya Giridhar. We had dinner together and then sat outside in the screened-in porch while drinking some delicious wine. It was great to see good friends and spend time together.

Wednesday, July 13th I headed to Colossal Cafe in Minneapolis to have lunch with some University friends. It was great to catch up and see what they're up to these days as we were all in the same Elementary Education program together. Then I headed to Mankato, MN to visit with my grandparents. We spent some time relaxing and then had a lovely dinner together. I spent the night at their house before leaving the next day for Fairmont (where my parents live). We spent some time just hanging out and helping a friend get ready for her daughter's upcoming wedding on Saturday.

Saturday, July 16th meant it was time for my 2nd wedding of my trip home. My parents' friends' daughter got married. I had helped arrange the flowers for the wedding, tie bows where they were needed, and did both the bride's and her daughter's hair. Here are a few photos from the day...

Sunday, July 17th I headed "Up North" to our family cabin in Northern Minnesota with my mom and aunt. We spent the night at my cousins house, it was great to catch up, have a glass of wine, and be together. We also stopped at Barnes and Noble that day.

Monday, July 18th we went the rest of the way to the cabin but not before stopping in Park Rapids to do a little shopping and have a delicious lunch at the Minnesoda Fountain.

Tuesday, July 19th my mom, my aunt, and I went to Bemidji to have dinner at my cousins house. I spent the night and they went back to the cabin. Then on Wednesday I hung out with my cousin and her kids and then we all met at the Headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park. The state may have been shutdown but they left one entrance to the park open with just enough road to get to Lake Itasca. It was a beautiful day.

At the bank Picnic Lunch

Pop Rocks

Thursday - Saturday was spent with my family at our cabin, plus an aunt and a few cousins. We had a great time boating, swimming, being outside, playing scrabble, eating good food, and chatting. I love Minnesota summers.

On the way back to Fairmont Saturday my mom and I stopped at Millner Heritage Winery which was nice. They had a nice selection of wines and we enjoyed the two bottles we bought later on in the evening with friends.

Sunday was a relaxing day in Fairmont. My mom and I saw the latest Harry Potter movie. I greatly enjoyed it, especially the special effects. Monday followed Sunday with a relaxing day alongside packing to come back to Bulgaria and having dinner with some friends.

Tuesday, July 26th it was time to head up to Minneapolis for my flight back though since I didn't fly out until the afternoon we had time to have lunch with some friends and a bit of time to chat.

Then I flew out of Minneapolis, had one short stop in Paris, and was back in Sofia! That about sums up my trip to catch all of you up. A HUGE thank you to everyone I saw at home. I'm so happy I have such great friends and family. I love you!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I can hardly believe it's already July 1st as I sit down to write this post. I've been here in Bulgaria for about 14 months and by the end of the month I will have lived here in Sliven for a year. It's strange to think how long I've been away because on the one hand it seems like just a few weeks have passed yet on the other it seems like I've been gone forever. Exactly one week from today I will be headed back to the good old US of A to visit my family and friends. I can't describe how excited I am to spend time with them all.

When I was first leaving for Bulgaria you couldn't have told me that I would be visiting MN in just over a year because I figured two years would be no problem. It turns out, I really miss seeing people back home and am so happy I have the vacation days available to make the trip. I feel like this is the perfect time to visit because I'm about halfway through my service and I feel like I will look forward to my 2nd year here in Bulgaria that much more by visiting home again. Email, letters, and skype are great and all but it's SO much better seeing people in person.

Getting away from my excitement to visit home I thought I'd focus on all things American since Monday marks Independence Day. I will be spending the 4th of July in a city nearby Sliven with a group of volunteers and local high schoolers, We will be hiking, doing a scavenger hunt, playing American jeopardy, and making our own soda just to name a few of the activities of the day. But to get back to things American again, my time here as a Peace Corps Volunteer has really made me appreciate being American. I feel that it's harder to figure out what "American" means while living in the United States since it's just a part of everyday life and we are an incredibly young nation. However, since I'm living here in Bulgaria things "American" have stood out in my mind more. I could go on and on with all things that are "American" to me however I felt it best to focus on one of our best qualities as a group of people.

We as Americans are truly diverse. We are filled with people of a different background, ethnicity, religion, native language, sexual orientation, and the list goes on and on. I truly appreciate this because I feel it leads us as citizens to be open to new ideas, ways of thinking, and possibilities. This of course is not true for every citizen however I come in contact with more diversity living in Minneapolis, Minnesota than here in Sliven, Bulgaria. I also feel this diversity helps allow people to dream and be creative because of the exposure to people different than themselves. Americans have no specific physical appearance which to me lends itself to being more of an inclusive community. Again, this is not true for everyone but I feel this is an incredible asset in working together toward a common goal. To me:

An American is someone like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Someone who stands for his beliefs and believes in peace.

An American is someone like Rachel Carson. Someone who works to make our world healthy and speaks out for the environment.

An American is someone like Howard Zinn. Someone who works to tell the stories of everyone involved in an event and not just those who have power or money.

An American is someone like Lady Gaga. Someone who strives to create original performances and fashion.

An American is someone like Dolly Parton. Someone who uses her fame, artistry, and resources to promote literacy.



An American is someone like Gloria Steinum. Someone who stands for equality between the sexes.

An American is someone like Oprah. Someone who proves you can be anything you want to be.

I could keep going with my list of people to exemplify being American; however, my questions to all of you Americans reading this post are:

How are you American?andWho do you think exemplifies the traits of an American and why?

Feel free to comment with your answer to this question and I wish you all an amazing Independence Day!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today I:

Had coffee with the lovely Miss Neysa Nankervis (volunteer who lives near me).Started the process of renewing my Bulgarian ID card for my 2nd year here with my counterpart.Extended my internet contract for a 2nd year with my counterpart.Bought lovely heels to go with the dress I am almost finished with.Had lunch with the lovely Miss Neysa Nankervis.Went to an orphanage with the lovely Miss Neysa Nankervis for youth ages 18+ who have disabilities.Bought delicious nectarines and raspberries at the market.Went to the grocery store for some miscellaneous items and cat food.Walked back to my place.There is now a lovely thunderstorm outside and I'm about to sit down to watch the season finale of The Killing (a great show I recently started watching and have been addicted to hosted on AMC) and last night's So You Think You Can Dance while I work on a few things I need to finish up. Today I even received a call from a friend's parents who are currently visiting Bulgaria which was fun. Thanks for the call Korthauers!

Before I do all of that though I would like to elaborate a bit on my time at the orphanage. Neysa and I went there just to hang out with the kids. We brought with coloring pages, markers they could draw on their windows and mirror with, and some matching puzzles. They are a good group of kids and here are a few photos of our time together:

The rest of the photos taken by myself and the residents can be found here:

June 30th

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Until now I haven't mentioned anything about the Rose Festival I was able to attend in Kazanluk Bulgaria or the end of the school year (at least the end for my 5th and 6th graders). Kazanluk is a city in central Bulgaria which happens to be located in the "Valley of the Roses". Therefore, each year they hold a rose festival in the city. The festival takes place over a week and includes a wide variety of rose products along with concerts, crowning of the Rose Queen, and a large parade. I was able to see the rose fields, watch a few of the concerts, and see the parade during the first weekend of June. I was happy to be there with a large group of volunteers and take everything in. We even got to do a little dancing which was fun. Also, there were a lot of tourists which was nice to see. Plus, we all got to meet the Mayor on Saturday morning and then have coffee with local high school students! I stayed both nights with a lovely volunteer who made us all not only delicious enchiladas but homemade banana pudding. I think it was the best pudding I've ever had, great job Naomi! I also learned that the pink roses are the best smelling and are used here for all the rose oil extraction. Here's a link to the album with my photos from the weekend:

Rose Festival 2011

The week of June 13th meant the last English classes of the school year for my 5th and 6th graders. This of course meant time for photos as I had taken some in the fall as well. I went to the end of year party with the students from 6A at a local cafe which was fun. All around, it was a great year! Here's the link to the album with photos from the last days of school:

Student Portraits6A Party

Sorry this one was a bit short, but check back for another post tomorrow!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Last Sunday I traveled to Topolitsa to go hiking and hang out with a few of the new volunteers in my area. Here's a map to show you were I went, it's not too far:

Sliven to Topolitsa

I traveled there by train with a volunteer who only lives 20 km away from me. It was nice to be with other volunteers and nice to be outside for most of the day. It was a new hike for all of us and it was a nice day to be outside as it was sunny but not too hot. After we got outside the village (and past the garbage dump) it was very beautiful. We walked for some time until the dried up river bed became an actual stream. There were several small waterfalls and pools we came to. I chose to sit near one of the pools while the other 3 volunteers walked a bit further. I found the pool to be the perfect habitat for frogs as it was full of tadpoles and I ended up seeing about 15 adult frogs. I even saw one eat a butterfly! There were also a few salamanders in the pond and a variety of large insects that came out as I sat there. I greatly enjoyed myself and took a LOT of photos which can be found under the album "Hiking in Topolitsa" under the links section. I met up with the other volunteers when they came back and we had a nice lunch together at the volunteers apartment. Then I headed back to Sliven.

Garbage dump outside of Topolitsa:

How many frogs can you see?

Perfect habitat for a frog:

This guy came out to visit:

And this one was slightly creepy:

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

The mission of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship. This is accomplished through these three goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

In addition to the mission and goals, there are ten “Core Expectations for Peace Corps Volunteers” in order to assist volunteers in meeting the mission of promoting world peace and friendship. I thought that for today’s post I would write how I have met, am continuing to meet, or plan to meet the core expectations.

1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months.

While this expectation began when I first applied for the Peace Corps in August of 2009, there were many more milestones in this process. These milestones include receiving my nomination to serve in Eastern Europe in December of 2009, agreeing to serve as a volunteer in Bulgaria in March of 2010, and leaving for Bulgaria in May of 2010. I also helped meet this expectation by saying goodbye to my family and friends, deferring my student loans, and being confident in my decisions. Finally this expectation was met when I set foot in Bulgaria in May of 2010 with the decision that I would stay for a full 27 months.

2. Commit to improving the quality of life for the people with whom you live and work; and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them, and learn new skills as needed.

I have fulfilled this expectation in the fact that I am committed to my job here in Bulgaria however it is also one that is continually worked on because this incorporates all three of the Peace Corps goals. The main way I improve the “quality of life” of Bulgarians is by working effectively in my school teaching English. English is a great way for students to improve their lives as it gives them a much higher mobility. I also share skills with my colleagues in order to broaden their educational knowledge as well as my own. Finally, Peace Corps has helped me to learn and adapt my skills through trainings and the opportunity to live here in Bulgaria.

3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.

Flexibility is extremely important here in Bulgaria as I use it almost every day. The “conditions of hardship” element to this expectation in my mind is mainly mental here in Bulgaria. I do not necessarily have physical hardship because I live in an apartment, have electricity, have a hospital nearby, have public transportation, and have access to a wide variety of stores. However, it is mentally exhausting (at times) to live in a culture where the changes I see are very small scale. I am not building schools; I am helping children learn English. I am not digging wells; I am helping people to understand the importance of the environment, clean water, and recycling. I am not the first foreigner most people have met; I am trying to educate others that not all Americans are financially wealthy. Basically, all types of change have their own hardships but changing mindsets can be exhausting work.

4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture.

I have met this expectation in the sense that I recognize this and have almost completed my first year of service. My first year here in Bulgaria was a learning year. I have spent a great deal of time simply figuring out how to do things, what is important to the people I work with, what my student enjoy, and potentially why things have been done a particular way. The only way I feel Bulgarians can respect me if I respect them; therefore, I have tried to work similar to my colleagues this first year so that next year they will hopefully be more excited about trying things another way.

5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your personal conduct and professional performance.

It is an interesting feeling to know that I am representing “Americans” every day of my life here in Bulgaria. I may be the only American many of the people I know have ever had any type of relationship with which can be daunting in a way. While I do not feel that I dress differently than I would in the United States, I am a more reserved and quiet person here in Sliven, or at least to begin with. I feel I am pretty much the same person in a classroom setting however when it comes to interactions with community members and other Bulgarians I feel I am a bit more reserved. A great deal of this comes from not being fluent in Bulgarian however I also am more careful to not give a viewpoint on certain topics as Americans are very diverse and I don’t feel it’s always my place to give an opinion.

6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual learning, and respect.

This expectation is one that I find interesting even mentioned because it is both general and something I think all Americans should embody, one I hope I embody. In order to work cooperatively with anyone there needs to be respect and mutual understanding. Essentially, I hope this expectation is exemplified in many other places including schools, businesses, and communities (not only in the USA but around the world).

7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the country where you serve.

I fulfill this expectation by complying with the rules of the Peace Corps, the US Government, and the Bulgarian Government. This is part of living in a democracy.

8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health, safety, and well-being and that of others.

I fulfill this expectation by using the same common sense I do in Minnesota and every other place I’ve lived. First of all I try to trust my instincts because they’re usually right on target and secondly I listen to people in my community of places I should and shouldn’t be. This usually means only going places on foot during the day if it is somewhere I’ve never been before. I can’t be an effective volunteer if I cannot maintain my safety and health let alone someone else’s.

9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America.

I touched on this one a bit with expectation five because I feel they are very similar however I’ll go a bit further this time. There are a great deal of assumptions made about me simply because I’m American that I see from my colleagues, students, and other community members. I try to simply listen to what they think and answer questions as broadly as possible and to the best of my ability. I also try to emphasize that the things I say are from MY experience and that the United States is a huge country and there are all types of people there. It’s very interesting living in such an old culture and coming from such a young one. As an American I just don’t have the traditions and holidays that Bulgarians do so there really aren’t ways to compare the two sometimes.

10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of your host country and community to people in the United States both during and following your service.

This expectation is one I will continue to fulfill after my service. Currently I fulfill this goal by doing third goal activities which for me include blogging, skyping with people back home, writing letters and postcards to people at home, and answering any questions people in the US have about Bulgaria.

I hope to write a new post for each day of this week so check back again soon!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I just finished watching a documentary well worth my time called "Vanishing of the Bees" which was about the honey bee population's decline in not only the USA but around the world. I also want to thank all the small farmers, backyard gardeners, and anyone who writes to their legislator for supporting the world's honey bee population and keeping us healthy! If you would like to find out more about the problems honey bees are facing, are interested in the documentary, or want to know what you can do, please visit this site:

Vanishing Bees

In Bulgarian news...

June 15th marked the end of the school for my 5th and 6th graders. I can say both the teachers and the students were very happy to see this day had arrived. Even though it was an all around good school year, we all needed a break. The students' school year here in Bulgaria is interesting as the 12th graders were done the 2nd week of May, the 1st graders were done the 2nd to last week in May, the 2nd-4th graders were finished the last day of May, the 5th-8th graders were finished the 15th of June, and the 9th-11th graders have to have school until June 30th. Yet, all these students started the same day, September 15th. I can't quite give any reason for this except for: that's just the way it is. It was strange being at school today and yesterday with only a few classes of students in the building, it's just so quiet :) Also, yesterday I watched the ceremony for the 12th graders to get their diplomas. The ceremony is much different here at Konstantin Konstantinov than anything I've witnessed back in the states. First of all there are no caps and gowns; the students were just dressed in nice, casual clothing. Secondly, the Principal read their names and they came up to sign for their diploma and then were given it by the Principal. The diplomas here have all the students final grades printed in them along with a seal and signature from the school. Thirdly, the students sat in the audience with everyone who was there (which wasn't a big crowd, mainly students and teachers) and walked up to the front when their names were read. One similiarity was that the Valedictorian was recognised however she did not give a speech but was given a nice printer as a gift from the school for her achievements. All of the other students were given a small desk organizer as a congratulatory gift. Finally, there were two performances by students to celebrate the graduation. One performance was a singing duet by two boys and the other was a girl who sang a traditional Bulgarian song. It was a nice ceremony, short and sweet. This week I was also fortunate enough to watch a long and beautiful lunar eclipse. The eclipse was'nt visible from North America so for all of you back at home who didn't see it. Some great photos and information can be found on these sites:

June 2011 Lunar Eclipse

Watch the Eclipse in One Minute

This weekend I am excited to stay here in Sliven as last weekend I was in Vratsa for the B27 Swearing-in Ceremony and the weekend before I was in Kazanluk for the Rose Festival. While I love seeing other places and traveling, it gets exhausting. I need the weekend to catch up with things that have been neglected. This weekend I also plan on meeting with the new volunteer who is living close to Sliven to show her around the city a bit, chatting with a few friends back in MN, do a little knitting, and I hope to do a little hiking on the mountains. Finally I want to extend a HUGE congratulations to a few people back in MN. First of all, congrats to Miss Krista Ryan who is back in MN and recovering! Secondly, though they are both married women know, I will take me some time not to think of them as Miss Amanda Vanheuklom and Miss Ashley Loosbrock. Congratulations to both of you on your recent weddings and I can't wait to see you in July to congratulate you in person! I hope you're already enjoying your lives as married women. As Bulgarians would say, I wish you health, luck, and happiness!

Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.

Many things have happened here in Bulgaria since I last posted however things back in the States seem to be taking the forefront. While I am EXTREMELY happy one of my best friends, Krista Ryan, is recovering well from her bicycle accident, one of my Uncles had an accident of his own last week. He ended up on life support and made the decision that he did not want to live that way. Therefore, Thursday, June 9th, 2011 my Uncle, Peter Hoffman, died with family and friends in North Carolina. I happened to be in Vratsa (Bulgaria) for the swearing-in ceremony of the new group of volunteers when I heard the news and felt I should do something to honor him. I decided to buy a lily and place in on on the Kiril and Metodi statue in Vratsa. I felt this was fitting as they were the founders of the Cyrillic Alphabet and Uncle Pete was not only an educator for part of his life but a true inventor in many ways. This post is dedicated to my Uncle Pete, his wife Suzanne, and their daughter Tanya.

Uncle Pete has also been someone I've looked up to for his originality, creativity, and all around style. We also now share the commonality of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eastern Europe (he served in Poland in the early 1990s). From family videos to emails I received while here in Bulgaria, Uncle Pete has remained an inspiration. Plus, he chose to donate his body to science. He asked his wife and daughter to put his cremated ashes under a beautiful tree of their liking. His memory lives on through his family, friends, and all who dare to be different. Or, in other words, through all of us who dare to be ourselves. I hope his memorial service which will be in August turns out to be an extremely beautiful day because he deserves it. To all of Uncle Pete's family and friends back home, I will be thinking of you all and hoping you are able to learn on one another, focusing on the amazing life Uncle Pete led.

I will end this post with "We Die" by one of my favorite poets, Diane Ackerman:

We Die

for Carl Sagan

I

We die despite appointments and feuds,

while our toddler,

who recently learned to say No,

opens and shuts drawers

a hundred times a day

and our teen braces

for the rapids of romance.

We die despite the contracts

and business trips we planned,

when our desk is untidy,

despite a long list of things to do

which we keep simmering

like a pot of rich broth.

We die despite work we cherish,

marring whom we love,

piling up a star-spangled fortune,

basking on the Riviera of fame,

and achieving, that human participle

with no known object.

II

Life is not fair, the old saw goes.

We know, we know, but the saw glides slow,

one faint rasp, and then at length another.

When you died, I felt its jagged teeth rip.

Small heartwounds opened and bled,

closing as new ones opened ahead.

Horror welled, not from the how but the when.

You died at the top of your career,

happy, blessed by love, still young.

Playing by evolution's rules, you won:

prospered, bred, rose in your tribe,

did what the parent gods and society prized.

Yet it didn't save you, love or dough.

Even when it happens slow, it happens fast,

and then there's no tomorrow.

Time topples, the castle of cards collapses,

thoughts melt, the subscription lapses.

What a waste of life we spend in asking,

in wish and worry and want and sorrow.

A tall man, you lie low, now and forever

complete, your brilliant star eclipsed.

I remember our meeting, many gabfests ago,

at a crossroads of moment and mind.

In later years, touched by nostalgia,

I teased: "I knew you when

you were just a badly combed scientist."

With a grin, you added: "I knew you when

you were just a fledgling poet."

Lost friend, you taught me lessons

I longed to learn, and this final one I've learned

against my will: the one spoken in silence,

warning us to love hard and deep,

clutch dear ones tighter, ransom each day,

the horror lesson I saw out of the corner of my eye

but refused to believe until now: we die.

Since it was interesting to me I figured some of you reading may also be interested in the stats of my blog one year into my Peace Corps service (hint hint Keegan Korthauer). This week marked over 7,000 pageviews for my blog. I never would have thought I'd be there already so a huge THANK YOU to everyone who is reading. The two main reasons I began this blog were to share my experience here in Bulgaria and work toward Goal # 3 of Peace Corps volunteers:

Help Americans understand the peoples and cultures of other countries.

The life of my blog thus far:March 2011 had the most page views.My all-time audience is coming from, in order from highest to lowest (only countries with > 20 page views are listed):United States of AmericaBulgariaRussiaUnited KingdomGermanyCanadaSouth KoreaPolandChileNetherlandsThis month (May 2011) I've had viewers from (in order from highest to lowest) BulgariaBulgariaUnited States of AmericaUnited KingdomGermanyIranTurkeyCanadaSloveniaIndiaSwitzerlandWindows users outnumber Macs by a landslide.The top three browsers to view my blog are Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox.I've enjoyed creating every post.Thanks for reading!

Peace, love, literacy, and reckless curiosity.