Tour of the monasteries..and my birthday

  It is long overdue for a blog update..with almost only two months remaining of my time in Bulgaria, life becomes overwhelming, trying to plan for the future, finish activities and projects here in Bulgaria, and start saying my good-bye’s. 

Recently with Trapezitsa 1902’s hiking club, Paskal and I finished presenting the second half of our monastery tour around Veliko Tarnovo.  For more information and pictures about our tours click the above link labeled ‘Monasteries – Veliko Tarnovo region’. 

A week before Orthodox Easter, Bulgarians celebrate Lazaruv Day.  At Christmas time, young boys go from house to house and businesses, singing and performing..The Lazarki are the female equivalent before Easter.  Here is a clip of their performance when our bus pulled over to greet them.

..and, I was informed that this year 'Luck' would be with me after finding my first 4-leaf clover!

The weather during the hike was beautiful, hot even, but we were cooled off by a brief rainshower when visiting our last monastery.

 

This weekend also happened to be the weekend of my birthday!  I think I’ve mentioned in prior blogs that in Bulgaria, when it is your birthday, you are required to ‘chirpia’ (treat) others, so I made banitsa for the first time (a Bulgarian staple) and homemade cinnamon rolls..and with the hiking group we always have a festive evening of food, rakia / wine, and dancing

..we had so many things to celebrate that evening..not only was it my birthday..Batko (that’s how they say Big Brother in Bulgarian) Kolyo was also celebrating his upcoming birthday

It was also a holiday in Bulgaria to show Appreciation for Nurses, and we had two nurses with us.

I was touched by the gifts and thoughtful wishes from everyone, and could not have been happier.   

I even gave an impromptu speech of thankfulness for having the opportunity to meet so many great people, and tour so many sites in Bulgaria (in Bulgarian) after being presented with a first place cup and medal (as the most active foreign hiker in the club :)

The following day, April 8^th was Easter (for the Catholic church – but this year in Bulgaria, the Orthodox Easter fell on the following weekend, April 16^th)..but, Sunday morning I looked outside my window to see this picture (taken by Asen, another hiker)..and thought of the Easter bunny..

..and after getting back from the monastery hike, I had a na gosti (visit) with batko Vasil..we had agreed to celebrate our birthday’s together (our birthday’s are 2 days apart)..That is Vasil on the right, with a huge piece of meat (it is the leg of a pig killed and cured last year).