It's had it's highs and it's lows but overall this school year has been wonderful. Today was my last day of school for the elementary students so it was time to say goodbye and celebrate a bit. Yesterday I celebrated with two of the classes and today it was time for the others. It was a fun day filled with smiles, hugs, flowers, games, and gifts which I will remember. I received some amazing things from students, teachers, and a few parents that I will cherish back in the US. We celebrated with Bingo and Kool-Aid, thanks mom and dad for sending it! After school some of the teachers and I went to lunch and they even treated me, thanks!

I don't quite know how to put in words my exact feelings about leaving in just 24 days since as much as I'm excited to see friends and family, this has been my home for the last two years. It'll definitely be a transition, with a few tears along the way, but I've known it's coming so I'm appreciating what time I have left. Now it's all about seeing everyone I want to see and going the places I've been wanting to before I leave Bulgaria. I also found out today that one of the teachers I work with will be starting a handcrafts class that I'm able to help with which will be a nice use of my time and good way to see some of the 3rd graders a bit more before I go :)

Tomorrow is Children's Day here in Bulgaria so I'll be attending a concert a few of my students are in. Also, I went to one of my students birthday parties yesterday which was fun. Always nice to see students outside of school :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Yesterday I was able to attend the 12th grader's prom/ball. After students graduate 12th grade most students have a ball to celebrate with their classmates, dates, and teachers. The students invite whichever teachers they want to attend the ball (just under 1/4 of my colleagues attended). Since there aren't a great deal of students in the upper grades at my school they are close to one another. It was great to see them all having a wonderful time together before they start their post-high school life. I didn't stay until the end but I'm sure they partied until morning.

After meeting up in the city garden everyone walked to the biggest square in town to take photos and gather. Then we all went to the hotel/restaurant they had chosen. There was dinner, drinks (they can all legally drink since the age here is 18), and dancing. They also brought fireworks which they lit off after the main course of dinner was served.

Random Fact: The national Bulgarian radio station plays the national anthem at midnight every night, I heard it in my taxi ride home.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

May 24th was a national holiday here in remembrance of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They are attributed with the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet which is the oldest known Slavic alphabet and was the precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. This day coincides with Sliven's annual International Children's Dance Festival in which different nations come to Sliven to share their traditional dances. Our school hosted Romania this year so they were a part of the school's morning festivities. Things started around 9am with songs, dances, and handing out academic awards as well as "student of the year" and "teacher of the year". It was a nice ceremony and it was fun to watch many of my 3rd grade students participate in one of the traditional dances.



After things wrapped up at our school, I headed to the city garden with some of the 7th grade class where all the different dance groups were meeting. We then all walked in parade form to the main city square where there was an official ceremony. This year they split the performances to two stages so after the ceremony I headed to the stage which showcases several local dance groups, Macadonia, Romania, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were all wonderful to watch and you can see all the photos I took by clicking HERE. My favorite of the groups abroad were the students from Bosnia-Herzegovina. They had a great opening and the best word I can think of to describe the dance was sprightly. There was also some great live music to accompany the dancers.

Tomorrow is my school's prom (only for seniors) which I will be attending. I didn't go last year so this one should be a good time :) Now for a few videos from yesterday's festivities :) The videos include the groups from Macedonia and Serbia along with a feature of the musical accompaniment to one of the Bulgarian groups (can you hear all the instruments?). Just leave me a message if you'd like to see part of the Bosnia-Herzegovina performance as the video got a bit too long to upload but it was a wonderful performance. Also, all the videos are much better quality if I email them rather than uploading them here :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend as things have been so busy lately. I'll start with last week. I traveled to Vratsa on Wednesday to have my 4th teaching workshop which was held Thursday, May 10th. Along with the teachers who attended, there were 3 Peace Corps Volunteers, 1 Fulbright, and one person from the TEFL Program Staff. The workshop went very well and I received lots of great feedback. To get you all up to date on numbers thus far, here are the statistics:

There are 32 Bulgarian TEFLs (Teachers of English as a Foreign Language), 1 Fulbright Scholar, 1 Peace Corps TEFL Program Staff, and 9 PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who have attended the workshops. These teachers are responsible for teaching over 3,5000 students. These numbers along with all the positive feedback has proved these workshops to be well worth their time and effort. Plus, there's one left!

Vratsa AttendeesFriday, May 11th I had my exit interview with one of the staff in the office which was mainly just about how I feel my service has gone, things I will take away from Peace Corps, and memories. It went well and then I spent the day with other volunteers.

Saturday, May 12th was the Bulgarian National English Spelling Bee which I had a student competing in. He ended up getting 5th place, congratulations Danny! There were over 4,000 spellers competing to get to the national competition so that was quite the accomplishment. Plus, he's only in 6th grade so he's got another year to compete and I hope he continues to do well. After the bee I had lunch with a group of volunteers at a fabulous Chinese restaurant and then later in the evening most of us attended a fundraiser at a restaurant for a girls' summer camp called GLOW.

Sunday there wasn't anything I had to do so I mainly just hung out at the hostel since Monday I had my eye exam, physical, and dental appointment. All went well and then I came back to sliven on an evening bus.

The reason I had all my appointments on one day and headed back late instead of staying another day was because all of the 3rd graders at my school went on an excursion yesterday that I was able to attend as well. We traveled to Kalofer which is the birthplace of Hristo Botev who was a poet and revolutionary. Then to Kalofer which is the birthplace of Vasil Levski who was a revolutionary and continues to be a national hero. Then we stopped in Sopot which is the birthplace of Ivan Vasov who was a poet, novelist, and playwright. Finally, we went to Kazanluk to see the Tomb of Seuthus III which was uncovered in just 2004 and also at the museum which contains the authentic items found inside the tomb (there are only replicas inside the actual location). It was a long day as we left the school at 8:30 and didn't get back to Sliven until about 7:30 but it was fun and good to see lots of historical places. You'll find all my photos by clicking on the link below:

Excursion

Today is back to a regular school day and since I only have two more weeks with the 3rd graders I'm going to try and appreciate every minute of them. The last day for elementary students is the end of this month. I hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I realized my last post was about a week and a half ago so here's an update since then...

I had my 2nd and 3rd EFL Enrichment Workshops in Kazanluk and Plovdiv. Though they were small groups things were great and the teachers all had positive feedback to share which was a major plus. A BIG THANKS yet again to everyone who donated to these workshops, the teachers have been thrilled to actually receive materials along with information. I have not publicized what materials I'm giving away as my experience going to teaching seminars has shown me that many people show up just for the potential gift rather than for the information. I want teachers who want to be better teachers to receive quality items and materials so they can be even more effective. So far it's been working quite well :) It was a busy few days of travel and presenting but also very enjoyable as I not only was about to see more of my PCPP realized however was able to spend time with some wonderful volunteers along the way. Thanks so much for the hospitality Naomi Brooks, Joy Mason, and Randall Mason!

My next workshop is May 10th and it will be in Vratsa. It will be my largest workshop as there are already about 20 people expected to come. Every time I present I learn a little bit more and work to make each presentation that much better.

We had a break Monday and Tuesday of this week from school which was nice to rest and to catch up with things back here in Sliven after a few days away. Otherwise the rest of the week went well with the students being happy to see me and they were pleased to end the week with some Alphabet Bingo :) I also found out the entire 3rd grade will be going on a one day excursion in just over a week. So, I rescheduled some things and am now about to go with them! I'm excited to hang out with them for the day, see some new places, and takes lots of photos.

About the rescheduling...the day after my next workshop I have my exit interview with PC staff in Sofia. Then Saturday is the national spelling bee, which one of my students qualified for! Saturday night there is a fundraiser for Camp GLOW. Sunday is a day off but I'll still be in Sofia as I have all of my close of service medical appointments Monday - a physical, dental appointment, and an eye exam. I'm looking forward to a weekend at my place as time just keeps flying by.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Friday!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

A strange set of a emotions have started to set in as I’m realizing just how close I am to finishing my service here in Bulgaria. My COS (close of service) is two months from tomorrow. I’m extremely satisfied with my site and am glad for all the wonderful students and teachers I’ve been able to work with. I’ve been so busy with getting projects done and completing things for the teaching workshops I’m facilitating that I haven’t really taken the time to truly think about how I feel. While I’m excited to go back to the states, see my family and friends, and start graduate school, I’m also sad to be leaving the life I’ve known for the last two years. Plus, while I may travel back to Bulgaria to visit sometime in the future, I have no idea right now if that will actually happen. It will be hard to say goodbye to so many people who have become part of my life. Everyone at my school gives me such great feedback and the students are so kind (usually) that I’m guessing the end of the school year (end of May) will involve quite a bit of tears.

While I agree that service is what you put into it, my experiences here in Bulgaria have succeeded anything I imagined when I first set foot in country. I’ve had my ups and downs but there has been much more good than bad and many more positive experiences than negative ones. I’m truly happy and am trying to enjoying every day I’ve got left J

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today was the first of the five EFL Enrichment Workshops I am facilitating which happened right here in Sliven! I was very excited to finally get to see all of my work go into action. Everything went very well and I got a lot of great feedback. I only hope I get full attendance for the other workshops as I do believe it is helpful, useful information for any 2nd-6th EFL teacher here in Bulgaria.

Thanks again to everyone who donated to my PCPP as those are the funds paying for the materials and books the teachers received. The next four workshops will happen by the end of May and I'll make sure to post about each of them and give more statistics and information once I've received feedback from all participants. For now, I will mention that 13 Bulgarian teachers attended today and in total they teach over 1000 students. That's an awesome impact the teaching of English here in Bulgaria and it's only the first workshop :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Well it's officially spring break for me and I'm having a nice time staying here in Sliven and getting things done. A few things on my to-do list include:

-Finish purchasing materials and making teaching resources for my upcoming EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Enrichment Workshops

-Write a few cover letters and revise my resume for a few teaching/project assistant positions at Madison for my move in August

-Spring clean my apartment and get the walls ready for paint :)

My week before break ended well with a few Easter related activities in English class. One of the teachers I work with was ill so it was just me for two of the sections. Though their class teachers were a bit worried about the students' behavior with only me around things went very well. One of the students who is very good at initiating problems was actually on his best behavior, it was nice to see. Plus, the kids were so excited I didn't give them any homework and we all played Bingo Friday. In my Friday after school group we played hangman and drew some Easter and Spring themed pictures. Here's a few photos:

Easter is not today here in Bulgaria as we follow the Orthodox calendar, therefore we are off of school until April 16th. April 17th is the first day back and also my first EFL Enrichment workshop! Lots to do but it's a good kind of busy that I'm definitely enjoying :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I just wanted to put up a quick post since today was surprisingly satisfying. The first 2 sections of 3rd grade went as planned however surprise to me the teacher I usually teach with fir the second 2 sections was ill. The Director of the elementary portion of our school had talked with the teachers that they wouldn't have English however I was unaware of this. After the 1st classroom teacher checked she said it was fine for us to have English so even though we started a bit late things went okay. Generally the kids don't listen or follow directions as quickly with just me in the room because they know I'm not going to yell at them but things were good. However the surprise came with my last section. The class was more calm than normal and were very good listeners and also got everything done. I had to stop and just stare at them once they started working on the Easter related activity I had planned because it was going so smoothly. Needless to say, I look forward to Friday as I'm going to try to start class the same way as today since it worked so well.

After school the day continued to go well as four boys from the 6th grade came to help me with some activities I needed to get done for the upcoming teacher workshops I will be facilitating. We just hung out coloring, writing, and putting things together for almost 2 hours and the time seemed to fly by. I love kids willing to help out with nothing but satisfaction in return :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful day! I'll post photos this weekend when our Easter crafts are complete :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

This week was busy busy busy. Beginning on Sunday afternoon volunteers from my B26 group arrived in Sliven for our COS (Close of Service) conference. I was thankful to also be able to stay in the hotel even though the conference was in my city. I'll take time with friends and a bathtub over my place for a few days :) We didn't have a schedule on Sunday so I was able to have dinner with a group of people and just hang out. Monday morning started the conference with sessions all day. However, we were free for dinner so I was able to spend some time with the volunteers I trained with at a local restaurant. Tuesday was sessions all day again followed by our official dinner that evening. Some of the students from my school were able to dance for us to start things off which was wonderful. I always enjoy watching them. We ate on and off but the main festivities included a presentation from our amazing country director Mikel Herrington, a slide show, the presentation of our certificates, the receiving of new PC pins, and then the talent show. The talent show was filled with a variety of acts from singing to dancing to the reading of poems. It was a nice evening though ended all too soon as the hotel made us leave the hall just after midnight. However, I've wanted to complete Ellen's "Dance Dare" a few times behind some PCVs which was fun. Here's the proof:

Our COS conference ended at noon on Wednesday so I came back to my place to check on my cats however was then back at the hotel as I was asked to participate in the Legacy conference which started that afternoon. Since PC will be finished in Bulgaria in 2013 there are many plans on how to leave the best legacy, who to give our resources to, and who will be able to take over successful projects. This conference invited a small group of interested Bulgarians to learn more about what we have available and network. I presented on Thursday with the American Culture Club lesson plan I created along with the dates of the teaching workshops I will be facilitating this April and May. It was nice to be a part of such a positive group of Bulgarians who want their country to be successful.

Then came Thursday night which meant my school's spelling bee :) I was fortunate enough to have a few volunteers come with me to help judge and photograph the event. Things went extremely well thanks to my counterpart who did all the logistics for the event. Our school's winner Danny is a 6th grade student who won with the word "finally" :)

Friday meant a 2nd spelling bee for me to dictate and judge at another school in the center of Sliven. Their kids were more advanced than mine with the words and the bee lasted much longer. A girl ended up winning with the word "unbelievable" :)

After the busy week I'm happy to have a relaxing weekend just watching TV, looking into job opportunities and housing for Madison, and my to-do list.

Also, late Friday night there was an earthquake! According to the European Seismology Center the quake was a magnitude of 4, its epicenter was 10 km outside of Sliven, and it was a depth of 3 km. It was definitely a strange feeling and the cats were a on edge but it didn't last too long and I'm not aware of any damage so all is good.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

The weather has been beautiful and spring has arrived. Since I already posted a bit about my birthday I'll keep this post short and sweet. My week was made even better by finding out I got into Madison! I'm so excited to be able to start working toward my Masters in Library and Information Sciences this fall :) It feels great to have a post Peace Corps plan. Tomorrow is the start of my COS (Close of Service) Conference which goes through Wednesday where I'll get to catch up with my fellow B26 volunteers, then Wednesday marks the beginning of another conference I'm helping with for Bulgarians, plus I'm helping with 2 spelling bees this week. It's going to be busy :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Okay, so the alliteration is for my mom but I am having a wonderful birthday!

The day's note even finished and my birthday is splendid (to usethe word Mr. Erik Kraft wished me). Yesterday I made about 100 cookies of onerecipe for the third grade students, about 50 cookies of another recipe forthe teachers, and about 50 more cookies of a 3rd recipe also for theteachers. Today they were enjoyed. When I was visiting each 3rdgrade class to give them treats I was presented with cards, flowers, and gifts.It made for a lovely start of the day. They all enjoyed the cookies, or atleast if anyone didn’t they said nothing, so guess what we’re doing duringEnglish tomorrow? Sugar cookie recipe J

Then I got all the goodies for the teachers ready in theteachers’ room. There were the cookies I made, popcorn, nuts, dried fruit, chocolates,hard candies, soda, and iced tea. Little did I know they had a HUGE surpriseplanned for me. Something I’ve definitely been wanting. They gave me atraditional Bulgarian outfit/costume from my region. It’s beautiful and I love it! I can't wait to show it off and wear if I get the chance to present about Bulgaria with students :) Iwas also gifted several other things including rakia, cards, and a traditional puppet/doll representing thewomen of villages who is wearing traditional dress. I love the history and traditionsof this country. It’s something I think the US lacks. The whole morning was rather wonderful. This may be one of my best birthdays ever, dare I say.

To top things off I received a beautiful short-sleevedsweater from my Bulgarian Baba in the mail yesterday which I was able to weartoday. I also got to skype with my wonderful parents and amazing friend MissKrista Ryan. The day was great and I received many wishes of health, happiness,and love. If today is an indication of the upcoming year, 26 is going to befantastic!

Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate weather is was in person, online, or through the mail :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

It's official, less than 100 days until I get on a plane back to Minnesota and reality is setting in. I'm really enjoying my time in Bulgaria these days which is wonderful. I've been thinking the last few days and I've come up with a just a few things and people I'm going to miss when I'm back in the US:

-My third graders smiles, compliments, and optimism.

-Being gifted random homemade products and food without any particular holiday or celebration attached.

-The mountains.

-My counterpart and the teachers I'm able to work with that go the extra mile.

-Chatting with my PCV friends about daily life.

-My cats (they'll be staying here).

-The traditions of Bulgaria. I love watching my students sing and dance.

-Horo, traditional Bulgarian Dance. I love the femininity the women possess and the strength the men possess while dancing gracefully together.

-Being able to pretend I don't understand when I want to get out of a conversation.

Just a few things I've been thinking about :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

It's springtime, one of my favorite times of the year. Though the weather has been cold and dreary today was a beautiful, sunny day which was perfect timing as it was my school's Sports Day. The swimming races were inside though I was glad the weather was good since the track is outside. The whole week has been wonderful as we've had lots of events going on.This week marked the school's anniversary so last night there was an anniversary/spring concert which was wonderful. I've added another album of photos titled "March 2012 at SOU 11". Check out the photos under the links section. I'm happy it's Friday, now some time at home to work on my side projects.

Highlights of the day:

-Seeing students from each grade level win their relay races on the track and in the pool.

-Teaching my 3rd graders "track suit" as part of their clothing vocabulary.

-The 3rd grade boys not believing I could play football (soccer).

-A student's mom telling me how much the 3rd graders love having me as their teacher.

And I'll leave you with a few videos of the performances from last night:

The traditional dance performance by the students in high school is unfortunately too long to upload but it is wonderful and leave me a comment if you'd like to view it as I can send it via FlipShare :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

For any of you reading who don't know, the school I work at is named "Konstantin Konstantinov". It is a 1-12 public school and this week is our school's anniversary!

For a brief history of K. Konstantinov...he was born in 1890 here in Sliven and went on to gradate from Sofia University with a degree in law in 1911. He worked as a judge, prosecutor, legal advisor, attorney, and was a chairman in the "Literature" section of the House of Science and Art. He began publishing his own works including short stories, essays, memoirs, and novels. He was also the author of several books for children which are well respected. Finally he is known as own of the biggest translators of Russian and French. He died in 1970 in Sofia. He is commemorated through a national award which was established in 2004 and is given for lifetime achievement, publishing, writing, and illustration.

Today started the celebration with the elementary students. Each grade celebrated by getting all the kids together into one large room and then getting on with the show. I went with my 3rd graders to their time slot. Things began with a PowerPoint presentation narrated by about 12 students (some from each of the 4 classes). The PowerPoint was not only about K. Konstantinov but also about Sliven and things unique to our school. Then a different group of students came to the front with one girl reading questions pertaining to the school and the other students reading their answers they had written. Afterward a third group of students all drew numbers and stood in a line in the front of the room (in the order they had drawn). They all had one of K. Konstantinov's stories and starting with #1 they began reading. A teacher would ring a bell signaling the next student to read. After this there were certificates given and our school's anthem was played with all students standing and singing along (the words were projected). It was a nice day and nice way to celebrate. There will also be a concert this Thursday so I'm sure I'll put up another blog Friday or Saturday. Have a wonderful week! Now for some photos:

For any teachers, students, Bulgarian friends, check the links to the side if you want to see more photos of the 3rd graders. There is one album for each class and one with a mixture of students.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Today was International Women's Day, a holiday I enjoy here in Bulgaria. I started off the day meeting another volunteer for coffee. I then went to school and after school there was a concert for all the teachers put on by several different student groups. After dinner we all went out to lunch at a local restaurant. It's a great holiday filled with flowers, good wishes, and smiles. In total I received 2 carnations, 2 handmade candy flowers, a hyacinth plant, and several cards. Now for a few photos from the day.

The cards I made (above) and the cards another teacher made (below). One of the students wishing the Director (Principal) a Happy Women's Day. A skit complete with song by one of the student groups.

Enjoying lunch together.

If you'd like a bit more info about the holiday, check out this link:

A bit of history

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

Happy Grandma March! Честита Баба Марта!

Today is one of my favorite holidays here in Bulgaria. It is celebrated with people giving one another red and white bracelets, necklaces, or pendants in honor of spring coming and customs associated with Grandma March. This year I was given over 100 items. What a wonderful day :) Now for the photos:

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful leap day as mine hasbeen going very well. I woke up to a beautiful, clear sunrise filled with warmpinks and reds, then caught the bus to school, at school I got a bit of workdone before classes with the 3rd graders began. English went wellfor the most part and all the students were full of hugs and compliments. Afterschool the spelling group did better than they previously had during our mockspelling bee which was good to see. We’ve got some nice rivalries going. Then Iwas able to walk home in the snow. There are currently large, fluffy flakesfloating down. My hair was quite the sight by the time I got to my apartment.Anyway, since it’s leap day and all here’s a little something extra:

-According to an old Irish legend, St. Bridget made a deal with St. Patrick so that women could propose to men on Leap Day. This was to help balance the roles of men and women just as how Leap Day balances the calendar.

-In Scotland it is considered unlucky to be born on Leap Day.

-In Greece, it's unlucky for couples to be married during a leap year and especially on Leap Day.

-Dinah Shore was born on Leap Day in 1916 (American singer).

-Egyptians were the first group of people to add a Leap Day every four years. However, the Romans chose February 29th as the official date.

-A person's chance of being born on a Leap Day is approximately 1 in 1500.

Have a wonderful leap day!

Tomorrow is a big holiday here in Bulgaria so I'm sure I'll have another post up this weekend if not before about the day's festivities. It's one of my favorites :)

It's also currently Peace Corps Week as we celebrate the anniversary tomorrow, March 1st. And to celebrate I even got a letter today from congressman Tim Walz who represents the 1st district of MN. Thanks!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I wanted to post a few videos from the week that make me smile. The clips are from two sections of 3rd grade and feature the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" as well as playing Letter Bingo. Enjoy!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

My day started off with sleeping in since I currentlyteach 2nd shift (this means 1:20 - 5:30 regular classes). After doing some work, watching Glee, and eatinglunch, I walked to work. My teaching day started at 1pm with the afterschool spelling group (3rd and 4th grade are the only ones who trade off for morning or afternoon shift, everyone else is in the morning). This group is comprised of 4th through 6thgrade students and each week we have a spelling bee based on a certain numberof words from the wordlist. Today’s bee was from all the A-C words. Whatstarted off as a good, energetic group soon became problematic. In the middle ofthe spelling bee, I ended up asking two students to leave. One of the students was simplycontinuously talkative and noisy even after several warnings that he needed tobe quiet. The other student continued to use language inappropriate for alearning environment (who has been told many times in the past that he needs torefrain from speaking with such words during school). I think it is the most seriousthe students have ever seen me get though I was happy I was able to continuesitting in my “judges” chair and watch them walk out. This was all thanks tothe other students in the room. You see my spelling kids are there to learn andthey honestly want to not only do well in the competition but also learnEnglish. I was happy they were all on my side and happy to see the boys leave. We then had a wonderful class. The boys are welcome to come back next week however I hope they now understand theseverity of their actions. Therefore, my school day didn’t start out in thebest way however once the 2 boys had left everything was good and we finishedour bee with the top 3 kids choosing prizes from a poster, track bag, andsticker sheet.

Then it was on to third grade. Let me emphasize how much IENJOY teaching 3rd grade this year. No matter how disruptive a classmay get these are some extremely kind, caring, and compliment-filled children.Most days I get plenty of hugs and today one of the girls even gave me a kisson the cheek. Today we played Bingo at the end of each class which is always a good time and thestudents are usually super excited for prizes which always consist of stickersand something else. Today there were also toothbrushes and Justin BeiberValentines (complete with a temporary tattoo). Since I had lesson until thelast hour I also had the pleasure of walking away from school with severalstudents. They were very sweet and all wished me a nice break. We have Thursdayand Friday off of school. Anyways, I just wanted to share a day that went fromgood to okay to great. I hope you’re all having an enjoyable Wednesday :) I promise to post photos and videos in the next post.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

I figured some of you may be interested to see videos of what we do in English class, so here you are. The first one shows a typical English activity. Part of most lessons includes me reading the new text or dialogue while the students listen and follow along. Then the students repeat after me to improve their pronunciation.

The 2nd video shows students singing a song. About every other unit their is a song included. This averages out to twice a month typically. You'll notice a familiar tune however I'm teaching British English; therefore, this Old McDonald's got a farm.

And these videos show third grade students reading aloud their new text for Valentine's Day. After we went through the translation of the poem, they found it very funny to read to one another. Mistakes and all, I think they did wonderfully.

This week is a three day week for students which will hopefully allow me to get a significant portion of my side projects finished. I'm looking forward to a few days of time at my apartment to work on my long to-do list to accomplish during my short time left here in Bulgaria.

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity :)

This week I was able to celebrate Valentine's day with all of the 3rd grade students on Wednesday which turned out to be a great time. Not only did the students like the activities which included reading a poem, making a Valentine, and number/shape bingo but I was showered with compliments by many of them. I think my favorites were "You're a good person" and a coordinated "I love you" by a few girls. The one thing about bingo that usually surprises me is that if I have a toothbrush as part of the prizes it is usually the first thing to be chosen. Good for the kids and I'm glad they want them, thanks dad for including them in one of my packages and whichever insurance company was giving them away to advertise. Here are some photos of the lessons (there are videos but I don't want anyone to be embarrassed so I won't upload them):

For students from 3A, here are your photos: PHOTOS

For students from 3Б, here are your photos: PHOTOS

For students from 3B, here are your photos: PHOTOS

For students from 3Г, here are your photos: PHOTOS

Remember, all the photos of 3rd grade can be found under the Links section of my blog or HERE.

For all the spelling kids, remember to study the words from the list and practice your pronunciation of "i", "r", "c", "s", "u", and "y". Next week the spelling bee will be from the A-C words :)

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

After an unexpected national break from school due to the weather, it was nice to go back today. The kids were all in good moods which made for a great day. With my small spelling group of 3rd graders we made Valentine's cards today. i had planned the making of the cards in a simple step-by-step manner which made it that much simpler for the students to input their own style. Check out the process and amazing products:

Happy Valentine's Day!

During regular English lessons today I got a few random shots of the kids pretending to be frogs jumping into the pond. Today the lesson was focused on mine, yours, his, hers, and a song about 10 green frogs.

I will be doing Valentine's themed lessons on Wednesday with all the 3rd graders which will include making Valentines, playing number/shape bingo, and reading the poem:

Roses are red,

violets are blue,sugar is sweet, and so are you.

Roses are red,violets are blue,sugar is sweet,and I love you!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Peace, Love, Literacy, and Reckless Curiosity.

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.