Friday, March 26, 2010

Thursday, March 25, 2010

This has been a rough month..passing by too quickly with too many events and happenings. I haven’t really been able to enjoy the events as much as I like, since I’m always preparing or rushing off to the next thing. I have so much information that I’ve learned from workshops..and I’m excited to maybe have the time in April to start applying it to some of the NGO’s I work with.

The bad news..one of my best friends from back home is really sick..with cancer. It sucks that such bad things happen to such good people. It is also a little difficult now being away from home and hearing about all the changes in friends and families lives. While I have great new friends here in Bulgaria, it is my friends back home that really know me. I remember when I used to attend Brownies (this is the troop before you are old enough for Girl Scouts)we used to sing this song ‘Make new friends, but keep the old..one is silver and the others gold’. I couldn’t agree with that more. A good friend I met here in Bulgaria is from Germany..she just finished her assignment here and is returning back to Germany. I hope we can stay in touch. She’s a very good person.

The good news..the ideas just keep coming, and a few of them are finally coming to fruition. We are starting to receive responses to projects and they seem to be positive for the most part.

I had a great class the other day..on Wednesdays I teach English to students in a local village from 3-6th grade. It always surprises me which games they like to play (as well as the ones they don’t like). Yesterday we played ‘Mother (Miss T) May I, and Red light / Green light. Other times we play Simon Says, Twister (with chalk, Uno cards, and a hat with slips to tell them left/right hand/foot)..they also love this game called People to People. One that they really like is a simple Word Search..they had never done this before..and this clapping game Double, Double This That.

Oh..I’ve been asked a lot lately if I’m okay since I haven’t been online much. Yep..I’m fine, all’s well. I’ve just had so much to do I haven’t had time to chat lately. I’m looking forward to a break..maybe this summer..just a little

Before I forget..Saturday is Earth Hour. Make sure to turn out your lights at 8:30 p.m. for one hour on Saturday April 27th for Earth Hour. Take a look at this link to see what everyone is doing in Bulgaria for this (not sure if the link will work..) EarthHour. My business class will be discussing marketing of this event today.

Oh..and thank you Rene and Jay for the great packages! Very nice surprises!!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March is quickly passing by..

March is a busy month in Bulgaria..full of holidays and celebrations..I’ll try to talk to a few of them..but there are just too many. I partly attribute this busy month to the fact that in Bulgaria all the other months are known to be ‘Male’ months..March is the only ‘Female’ month here. And..it makes sense to me that it would take a female to get things started again. So, here in Bulgaria that female is known as Baba Marta. The common belief is that by wearing the red and white colours of the martenitsa people ask Baba Marta for mercy. They hope that it will make winter pass faster and bring spring..I’m not sure that will happen this year, since we just a nice beautiful snowfall over the last 2 days. We celebrated this holiday on March 1st..and everyone exchanges Martenitsa’s (some look like red and white friendship bracelets). If you look at the pictures on my pictures link at the bottom of the blog, you will see pictures of Baba Marta and also Martenitsa’s.


Ok..so, other holidays in Bulgaria this month include their Independence Day on March 3rd..a few of the other volunteers blogs have good information about this day..you can check them out on the left side of my blog.

I spent the weekend in the village I teach in..the woman’s club there put together a wonderful celebration at their discotheque there. They had a great turnout. One of my English students made me promise to write about this important day in Bulgaria..that day is March 8th – Women’s Day. Nope..not Mother’s Day, Women’s Day.

This is also the month the local High School celebrates their anniversary..I’m going to see a concert and go to their banquet this evening.

Next week is the 130th birthday of my city. This is a little confusing..but, before my city was a city, it was a town..and this is a celebration for that..Not to be confused with the annual city celebration at the end of June.

Two other interesting things on the agenda for this week..I start teaching Salsa..and a Business course. Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes okay 

Monday, March 8, 2010

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