Back from the States

A nice easy to listen to Bulgarian song reccommended from a good friend:


So, I recently went home..back to the United States to visit friends and family after living here in Bulgaria for two years..one of these days, I'll try to sit and write a little about it.

There were so many great things, like spending time with my mom, and seeing my brothers bar for the first time, and meeting my nephew (who I had not yet met)..but surprisingly there were a few things that disappointed me as well. The food, for example. I was really looking forward to eating a big juicy hamburger..or drinking a Dunkin Donuts coffee again. I guess after 2 years of fresh fruits and vegetables, and a different food menu here, my taste buds have changed a little. Oh..and seeing the waste of food everywhere..that was disappointing. I guess the worst thing though was sitting for 9 friggin hours waiting for a Delta flight, that ended messing up all my flights..flying is never fun.

OK..so, I posted some new pictures I took while in the United States..To see them, scroll to the bottom of this page and click on Tricia's New Pics.

Also, I change the songs weekly (maybe monthly) on the left hand side. They are Bulgarian songs..just click the play button to listen!

Graduations and ants and other

When you graduate from High School in Bulgaria, several things happen:
1. You stop attending classes for the month of May, after the written tests have been taken (the classes are required, the students just don’t show up)
2. At the end of May, in my town center, there was a big celebration with the students (all dressed up), teachers, parents, and residents..followed by a banquet-type ordeal. The next the day, the students go on an overnight excursion..often to the Black Sea, where they celebrate a Ball
3. Throughout the day, you hear over and over and over (in Bulgarian) – ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12’...this is because they finally completed all 12 grades

..and not to complain too much, but there are ants everywhere. They are way worse this year. If only we would get paid, I can buy some ant spray or bait or something..I was telling my mom, they crawl right up on my laptop..they crawl on me..

I have been busy for some time now..but if you want to see more of what I’ve been up to, I labeled and posted some new pictures..just scroll to the bottom of this page and click on ‘Tricia’s new pics’. I’m going to try to get a few new ones up each day.

Oh..and for all my dear friends in the USA, I will be seeing you all soon!!

Oh..and also, I added a new BG song above..just click the play button.

And..if you have not seen the video of our performances at the traditional dance festival in Veliko Tarnovo called ‘Болярско Надиграване’, here is a link to watch all 3 of our dances. Our group name is Луда Мядо’ (crazy youth):
http://www.folklorika.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=819

And here is another link to another of my favorite groups ‘Люти чушки’ (hot peppers):
http://www.folklorika.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=797

Babi = Grandma (kind of)

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.

От BabiRcdg_Sofia

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.

20 Days of Service in Bulgaria – A Day in Nature

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.

Triglav, Spelling Bees

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.