Here it goes..trying to figure this whole blog thing out before I leave on May 19th for Bulgaria. The views posted in this blog are solely mine and do not represent the views of the Peace Corps.
This was one of those many times I understood the words, but misunderstood the meaning..I was thinking we were going to a folk festival in Sofia..it was actually a recording of the babi’s for a traditional Bulgarian show. Nonetheless, it was a fun day. Danche’s daughter Anelia was kind enough to show me around Sofia, and explain to me the different buildings, and pointed out many details of Icons when visiting a museum (until now they’ve been a bit of an anomaly)..It was nice being in Sofia without getting lost for a change.
We also saw ‘Buddy Bears’ that are currently visiting Bulgaria. These are large plastic molds of bears that each country has painted..representative of the country, promoting tolerance and peace; and all of these bears are currently in Sofia, Bulgaria. I didn’t completely understand Bulgaria’s bear; Ani and I had many guesses to the meaning behind it:
I’m sure you might guess the USA bear:
For more pics, click on ‘Tricia’s new pics’ link at the bottom of the page.
Later, we returned to the recording studio, full of dancers, singers, the host, and the crowd. Click on the picture below to see a clip of how nicely everything came together.
On the drive home, a song came on that in Bulgaria, I often hear. The singer Toni Dimitrova, and the song ‘Хората говорят за теб’ The people talk about you. I hear this song so often..at banquets, in the evenings after hikes with the hiking group, on the ride home from Sofia..the song is at the top of the screen if you’d like to hear it.
Also, thank you all for making my Birthday last week so very special. I had a busy, yet fun-filled week. I saw Krushuna waterfalls, Devetashki caves, and had a successful environmental initiative with ‘Trapezitsa’ 1902, and received many wonderful gifts that will always remind me of my good friends here, and danced a little salsa..and the traditional BG dance group was awesome..they sang Happy Birthday to me, and we danced my current favorite two Horo’s; Syrtaki and Karakachanska horo.
It’s great when you realize that your decision to work with an organization in the future is the right decision. I worked hard to prepare for this day, and it was equally obvious that they worked hard as well.
Today we had participants of all ages (from the veteran group at 8 am, then my tourist group, then the youngest group – munchkins, then middle schoolers, and finally the high schoolers) helping us clean eco-trails, planting trees, answering trivia questions about trees, and writing pledges for the environment..and once the day started, it was a whirlwind that finally ended in a pleasant roundtable with a group of 12th graders from Veliko Tarnovo.
I have put up my pictures from today (as usual, they can be found at the bottom of this page on the link 'Tricia's new pics', with further details about the day)..unfortunately in talking with everyone it was difficult to take many pictures..seriously, I don’t think I stopped talking for 8 hours straight. I am hoping to grab pictures from friends to add, so you can get the full impact of the day.
I am so proud and happy how smoothly everything went today..and I know it could not have been the success it was without the help of many, many people..so, I will try to identify as many of you as possible –
Thank you to: Georgi Dimitrov (Director of Trapezitsa), for helping organize and spread the word the entire event. None of this could have happened without his help. Stancho Rousev (President of our hiking club), for inviting so many of our groups to attend Paskal Paskalev (President of the Trapezitsa association), for joining us and helping with the days events Petia Koedjikova, for helping translate during meetings, and helping with final preparations the evening before Ilian Iliev – for translating the tree trivia questions Desislava Koleva, for helping me flesh out my ideas with discussions All my dear friends from the hiking club who came out today to help, and support this event..I was really surprised at they’re turnout. I know today was a working day for most people, and I really appreciate that they were able to come, even for a bit Lilyana and Atanas from Peace Corps, for helping represent Peace Corps, helping set up, and helping me translate when I my Bulgarian faltered Brian Corteville from the American embassy, for joining us, and speaking better Bulgarian than me, and making a speech about our environment Didka, Galia, and their 12th grade students, for helping plant trees and participating in our events The veterans hiking club, for beautifying the surroundings at Ksilifor and collecting many bags of trash The students from Hristo Botev school, for helping plant trees and participating in our Tree Trivia The students from the school Bacho Kiro, for helping plant trees, and participating in our Day in Nature The staff at Trapezitsa, and Ksilifor, who did a wonderful job in helping prepare for our events Tanya from Ksilifor, for helping paste together the ‘Tree of Pledges’
I know that I may be missing a few (there were more schools)..I apologize.
Thank you all for making such a great day to celebrate Peace Corps 20th Anniversary in Bulgaria/50th Anniversary in the world, and helping the environment.
The hiking group I often go with went to Triglav (3 heads – 3 summits) last weekend. I went with all my favorite hikers; including Bai-Stan (his real name is Stanimir, but in BG they add the Bai – pronounced By – as a sign of respect, kind of like Big Brother). Bai-Stan and I often reminisce about our childhoods..and they are always so different..after all, he grew up in communism and is 15-20 years older than me.
My favorite story from him this time was when the village he grew up in got their first television – around 1963. Two of the first shows he remembers are Fury (about a white horse), and Lassie (I remember Lassie). There was only the one television in the entire village, with one channel..and as soon as Fury came on, he would run outside yelling ‘Fury, Fury..Fury is on”, and all the village kids would come running. The TV was set on a windowsill facing outside so everyone could watch it.
While travelling to the hike we saw a field of storks..and everyone cheered. They cheered because storks are a sign of Spring..and good luck. When they see a stork fly, they can finally remove the martenitsa..and hang it on a fruit tree..and make 3 wishes..if they saw the stork while it was in flight, it is even better luck. Martenitsas are worn from the first of March, Baba Marta Den (a BG holiday), until you see a stork. Martenitsa’s are bracelets made of red and white thread intertwined..sometimes with beads. The red thread symbolizes Health, and the white symbolizes a long life ahead..but, when talking to different Bulgarians, you will hear many different meanings of the red and white threads, very different from this.
Also, from this weekend is a favorite line I heard often ‘бяло вино, бяло вино, защо ти не си червено вино’..that is ‘White wine, white wine, why are you not red wine’. They explained that every song about wine is about red wine..and one day, someone decided to write a song about white wine..but in the end, it always comes back to the red wine.
The hike itself was nice..a little foggy, but we got a couple of great views. Once we were waiting, and waiting for the fog to lift..and finally the cold got to us..and as soon as we started walking away..up it lifted to reveal high cliffs and the top of the waterfall. I added some new pictures of the hike..the Spelling Bees’, and my kindergarten English class..you can find the link to the pictures at the bottom of the page labeled ‘Tricia’s new pictures’.
This week there are local Spelling Bees being held all over Bulgaria. In my town and villages, we are holding 4 of them..it has been pleasantly surprising how well many of the students spelled..I still have 2 more this week, and then they will have the regional competition mid-April. I think that spelling English words are particularly difficult, since in Bulgarian all their letters are always pronounced the same, weather spelling them, or saying them in a word. They don’t have a different sound when read..for example for them to spell ‘cat’ , instead of spelling it like C-A-T, they would spell it Kuh-aa-tuh..using the sounds of the letters.
Hahaha..I have to share this. There are many times when talking in Bulgarian with Bulgarians, there are miscommunications..due to the grammar, and the sentence structures, and the many words I don’t know; and every once in a while I misunderstand what someone is asking or telling me (especially Bulgarian proverbs and jokes).
moje6 li da mi napi6e6 na agliiski.......pla4a za teb...... Tricia Terrones: kato tova? napi6i na angliiski izre4enieto
pla4a za teb Tricia Terrones: you want me to write a sentence in English?
Tricia Terrones: Is that good?
Tricia Terrones: or do you want me to write more in English? :) Is that good......kak se prevejda tova Tricia Terrones: това добре, ли е? az ne razbrah....molq otnovo....
pla4a za teb Tricia Terrones: I like ice cream and popcorn
Tricia Terrones: Харесвам сладолед и поканки abe...seriozna sam
napi6i mi.............pla4a za teb
Tricia Terrones: но..не разбирам..какво ме искаш да пиша на английски? Tri6a.....napi6i mi na angliiski izre4enieto.................Az pla4a za teb.............
razbra li me Tricia Terrones: My name is Tricia
Tricia Terrones: I am from Boston abe Tricia Terrones: I like Bulgaria neeeeeee Tricia Terrones: ok..ne ti razbiram az pla4a za teb........tova e izre4enieto.........napi6i mi go na angliiski Tricia Terrones: this is a sentence
Tricia Terrones: sentence this is a sentence------tova se privejda...az pla4a za teb.....taka li Tricia Terrones: da ok...mersi....
Basically, what this text says, is she’s asking me to write in English..
I think she means to write in Latin characters, but still Bulgarian (because she only knows a few words in English)
Nope..she asks again..I’m begging you..can you write a sentence in English
So I make up a few questions.
..and she asks me for the translation
Nope..still not what she’s looking for
Ok..so, it continues on like this for a good 10 minutes, and I’m starting wonder..is someone pulling a gag on me..what am I not understanding?
Oooh..she was asking me to write ‘sentence’ in English..i still wonder if she’s for real..i’ll have to ask her on Wednesday.
This weekend was my favorite hike yet..a little adrenaline rushing, a little challenging..but so worth it.
First off, I have to thank so many BG hikers for making it possible. I borrowed a trekking pole from Stela (later to be traded for 2 trekking poles from Bai-Stan), sunglasses from Zarya, gaiters from Reneta, crampons from Stancho (for the ice).
When I decided to go on this hike, I never expected it to have such varying scenery. This 10 hour hike started from a small village, Vidima, and passed through the forest like most others..with snow and ice mixed in. Valentin patiently explained how to use the trekking poles in coordination with my steps when climbing steep icy patches. Later, after passing through the forest, we got to the first of the deeper snow. Sometimes we were walking on top of bushes, and sometimes a foot would slip further into the snow up to the knees..or sometimes, the trekking pole would get tangled in the bushes. And the mountain just continued looming ahead. From the parking lot the summit really didn’t seem that high. But every time I looked up, it was still no closer. When we finally made it to the ridge, it’s super sunny out (I don’t know if you can tell in the pics, but Stancho always strips down on hikes..and even on this one he went shirtless most of the time (until that wind hit us at the summit)..and I was so excited, because we were really close to the summit..just continue along the ridge ½ hour more, and surely we’ll be there
Darn..I didn’t see that valley that we have to go all the way down first, and then back up. My legs started to feel a little tight from going uphill for 5 hours straight now, in the snow. We stopped in at the hut at the bottom of the valley to eat a little, and leave our packs with our 4th person (Netka), so that we can summit the mountain quicker. The hike up was as expected..long and snowy..but the jog / skid back down the mountain was so much fun! I learned from Valentin – take bigger steps, but with your weight set back, and arms out front, so when you do fall, you don’t hurt yourself; but most of the time you’re pretty much skidding on your heels (until your shin hits a patch of ice..and that kinda hurt). By the time we get back to the hut, I’m starting to wonder how late it’s gonna be when we finally reach our final destination, Hija Pleven..this is where the remainder of our group went directly to, instead of summitting Botev with us. I mean, it was already 5 pm when we left the valley below Mt. Botev, and Stancho’s guesstimation was 3.5 more hours to the hut
By the time we reached the next peak (we’re now wearing crampons, because the melting snow has quickly turned hard and icy) we’re just in time to see a really beautiful sunset over all the different mountains in the distance..ok, but this also means that the next 3 hours are pretty much in the dark with our headlamps to guide us.
But it felt like we were maintaining a decent pace..when all of a sudden Valentin calls for me to stop so that the 4 of us can group up, and dress for the upcoming winds we will meet when descending the rocky ridge on the other side of the mountain. I’m thinking..how bad can it be. Hmmm..clearly, I had no clue. These were more like ice and snow covered boulders..and he was right, there was a pretty strong wind blowing as we started our descent. Some parts had a cable you could hang on to. Some parts, I would have one hand on the cable, and balance my steps with the pole in the other hand..and then sometimes, the rock were so steep and slick, you just had to hang on with both hands and do your best to maintain your footing..yet other times there would be no cable, or the boulder would be too big to acramble over, and that was the scariest, because even though it was dark out, I could still see the dropoff if I slipped or made a wrong step. (The guys later told me it’s even scarier during the day, when you can actually see where you’re descending). It really amazed me that no matter how tired I felt during parts of this hike, energy kept coming..I’d say during this rocky part, it might have been more adrenaline than energy. I tell you, I learned quickly many new Bulgarian words on this hike..many out of necessity during the descent.
So, we finally arrived one by one to the Pleven hut around 8:30pm. Everyone heads upstairs..except for me. I’d been waiting to have a beer since we reached the summit of Mt. Botev.
Our conversations that evening consisted of Tom & Jerry and the Pink Panther..they seemed to be pretty popular with this older generation. We also talked about Richard Glideman (or is it Glickman?). They also introduced me to their favorite Soviet-era cartoons (which after our discussions, I had to look up later to watch)..the three below I pulled from Youtube are pretty entertaining..
This one’s about a character Chebyrashka (чебурашка) – the monkey-like animal
This one is called Krokodilna Gena (крокодилна гена)
This is the translation someone posted of the song, since it’s not translated - Let pedestrians run clumsily through puddles And the water on the asphalt river It is not clear to passers-by in this day and bad weather Why am I so happy I play the harmonica at passers-by in sight Unfortunately birthday Only once a year Flies suddenly magician in the blue helicopter And free movie show Happy Birthday congratulate And probably leave me as a gift 500 Eskimo I play the harmonica at passers-by in sight Unfortunately birthday Only once a year
..and this one, absolutely everyone at the table seemed to like – N Y Pogodi (НУ Погоди)..there is no translation, but it’s not really needed. It kinda reminds me of the Wilde Coyote and the Road-runner..kinda
Stancho and I had a spirited debate about how much water the human body needs during a hike (I carry a 1.5 liter camelpack, and they carry a little 16 oz water bottle)..this was on after an earlier discussion on foods to eat during a hike – another topic where we think very differently; and finally Bai-stan assuring me that his calling me ‘monkey snot’ was meant as friendly banter. I love that this group strives to improve my Bulgarian with new words with every hike :)
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