A Reflection

This weekend turned into a week.
This weekend was long and tiring as only the most specific weekends can be. It started on Thursday. I traveled to Bobov Dol to visit my host mother, the other host mothers, and the kids that became my friends. It took all day to travel there, but it is worth it. That afternoon, early evening when I finally arrived I had coffee with my friends in town and then with the host mothers too. Coffee is always an hours-long event which may or may not included any coffee. It usually consists of much smoking, some drinking of a beverage very slowly, talking loudly and not at all, poor service, and perhaps (if it's close to a meal time) a snack. This 'coffee' happens almost everyday. This morning it was with Lauren before her meetings and my bus; tonight it was with Dani, Irena, Sarah, Sehee, Nikola, and Vladi the people I have come to call my good friends here. Two 'coffees' per day is quite normal. Sometimes a whole day is spent just having coffee at the same cafe. It's comforting, even when there is silence there is friendship that seems to build in this silence. 'Coffee' or Cafe is a crucial part of society and life for me now. I can't imagine buying a 20 oz coffee of the day and running out the door with it or drinking it with a friend in less than an hour. Here it is the 1 oz espresso or 4 oz cappuccino, which is really a latte, that will last me for at least 2 hours and a Bulgarian at least 3 if there is especially good company.
It's Irena's 250 ml bottle of cherry juice that she still hasn't finished after 4 hours of 'cafeing' that says the most about our friendship.

At Fault

Drew already guessed the previous author! It was my favorite: William Faulkner. I guess I shouldn't be so obvious to pick my favorites first. So there's a new author now...it's harder I promise.

I had to let my cat go the other day. It was sad, and he keeps coming back which is even more sad. He just kept me up at night at first, but then he started scratching me while I was asleep. He also attacked my friends or me when we tried to pet him sometimes. So... it was time for him to go. For all you Bob Barker fans, he is neutered so there aren't going to be any little Teague's running around to scratch new people. Right after letting him go I went to my first Bulgarian futbol (soccer) game. It was interesting. I found out that most of the games are bought so that the referees favor one side. This game was obviously bought by the opposing team and we lost. It was a really unique experience though. There was a band that played for the first 15 minutes of each half and guys that waved flairs while the band played. The first half was really slow but the second half got much better! We still lost, but I had fun. There really isn't too much going on other than that. I think I'm gonna get to go to a rock concert this weekend in the mountains. That should be interesting. Raspberries are in season, meaning I just bought a kilo of them and baked my heart out today. And that's it from this side of the world!

Turnabout

For all you avid readers (or could I say fans?) of this blog I'm going to start a little all-in-fun competition of sorts. All the titles of my posts are going to be titles of short stories by the same author until someone guesses (by email or comment on the blog) that author. When a the author has been correctly identified I'll pick a new author and let you know who the old one was. Yes, it's quite dorky, but most of already know that I am, among many other things, a dork (or as I prefer to be called: a nerd).
The first author started with the previous post and will continue until someone guesses who it is. If no one guesses then I will probably become desperate, besides feeling that no one reads my blog, and start emailing my friends with tears in my eyes asking them to indulge me. This is really just for some literary fun! So have fun and guess away!

Country Mice

It's harder to write with a cat constantly nudging you for attention, but I'll try.

Here the country is much different. The towns and villages are sparsely placed throughout the landscape of fields. The center of town is just that, the center. It's where the life takes place. On Monday mornings it fills with people sitting at the cafes, gazing through the market, catching up on gossip. It's where you go to meet before you go anywhere else. It's the only place you can buy anything but the most basic groceries. Full of cafes and "Fshicko za 1 Lev" (yes, that's right they have "Everything's a Dollar" stores here too) the tree lined street is never rushed. Just outside the center the houses are very close together. They all have gardens closely knitted with vegetables and fruit trees. But the houses and their gardens occupy no more than half an acre and those are the biggest lots I've seen. It's amazing what can fit into less than a half an acre: tomatoes, cucumbers, pears, apples, walnuts, okra, beans, peas, grapes, zucchini, peppers, plums, peaches, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, corn... and that's just what I've seen planted I'm sure there's more. When you get past the houses you run into the bloks. Some are stark, monstrous, and foreboding, others are tree shaded with plant lined balconies. They are quite a change from the full and healthy gardens and quiet, tiny houses. They are practical and stave energy in the winter. Most people that live in the bloks have a house outside the "city" (which is to say bigger village) with a garden in a village near by. They bring some extra produce when it's in season and when they've fixed cakes or goodies they'll share those too. Beyond the bloks and houses there is nothing. There are fields of sunflowers or grazing cattle in a trash strewn field. And there is a road. In every direction there is a road to the next gathering of houses and bloks, a new center of some town.

A Selection of Questions from Aunt L.

How’s the weather this summer?

The weather has been a lot hotter than usual. The whole month of July there was no rain and there were only 8 days where the high was less than 90 F and over a weeks worth of days where it was well over 100. But the last day of July brought rain and normal temperatures highs in the low 80s, nights in the 60s or low 70s. So the past week has been great.

How’s the scenery?
The scenery is gorgeous. Around me it’s plain country side with lots of donkey/horse carts, but 30 mins away there are cliff-sided mountains and pretty much the whole country is just breath taking. Here’s the website to some of my pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/krista.greiner

How’s your health? Enjoying the food or having to get used to a lot of different foods?
My health is good. I do a lot of walking which is great. They eat lots and lots of meat and pork, and I was a vegetarian for a long time and still don’t care for meat that much. They like to use a lot of oil and salt in their cooking too. Lots of cheese (but they only have 2 kinds) and dairy but I’m lactose intolerant. I’m really glad that they grow a LOT of veggies here and in the summer they are really plentiful and I can easily eat only vegetarian food. The food I’m able to get and cook I love… I just don’t go out to eat much.

What do you do every day?
Right now… not much. Mon-Fri I teach teachers English from 9 am to 11 or 12. But really we talk in Bulgarian and look at American magazines or translate songs or poems. My main goal is to get to know them and that’s working out quite well… but if my goal was to teach them English I’d be a miserable failure. Then I go home and clean or do laundry or cook or read. On Mondays I go to the Pazar (outdoor market) and buy my veggies for the week. Usually at least 3 times a week I go out for coffee with some of my Bulgarian friends or students. Some nights I have people over for dinner or a na gosti.

What do you eat for breakfast every or most days?
Yogurt (they make a plain kind here with no sugars or flavors) with granola or fruit in it.

What do you eat for lunch?
This changes everyday. For the first few weeks it was grilled cheese 75% of the time. Now… eggplant and cheese sandwich, soup, eggplant parm, noodles with sauce, a few days it was so hot I just ate 2 cucumbers or a tomato, a sandwich of some sort.

What do you eat for dinner?
Eggplant parm, stuffed peppers (with mushrooms, cheese, and eggs), rice and chicken, pasta, something called kebabche which is basically a cross between a sausage and a meat stick.

Who are your best friends at this point?
Sehee, my sitemate and a PCV. Day, a PCV. Yordanka (Dani, Danche), Ireana

What do you love about being there?
Free time, I’ve got lots of it. A clean, beautiful apartment. The extensive selection of fresh fruit and veggies for a very cheap price.

What do you wish you had from the USA that you can’t get there?
Mexican Food/Restaurants, my friends, Ziploc bags

Have you found anything you want to take back when you leave?
Lace and pottery and maybe my cat.

Are you glad you are there?
Yes.

What do you do when you get homesick for America?
Wait it out. It never lasts too long.

Finally!! Rain!

For the past few days it's been raining here. The temperatures are now in the 70's and 60's. It's very overcast and I feel like I've greened a little, in a good way. I've also started English Classes with the teachers at my school. Only 2 come, but we have fun and I like them a lot. It's more of a social hour where they can ask me questions about English words, but my goal changed within the first day and now it is to get to know them and become friends. With a good start on my goal for teaching, nice green plants staring at me when I get outside, cool air coming into my apartment, and a very loving cat at home I am now fully settled in. And still the to-do list hangs over my head... I need to find a tutor. That's the big one. Most of the other to-do's involve studying and working with the language, which seems to be my downfall. I also need a game plan for the first few weeks of school, but I have plenty of time for that.
As the rain started I had the opportunity to go to a concert. It was the Slavi concert. Slavi has a Jay Leno/David Letterman type night show and is also a singer. He's got an amazing band and is very popular with the Bulgarians. The concert was great! The ticket only cost 6 leva (less than $5) and it was well worth it. The first few acts were from Music Idol (yes, American Idol shows are every where, there is no escape). Then there was an amazing traditional number with loads of traditional Bulgarian bagpipe-ish instruments and dancers; that was worth the 6 leva by itself. Then Slavi came on with fireworks and Las Vegas dancers complete with ridiculous headdresses. The music was mediocre but the show was great!
Other than all that the highlight of my day today was making peach pie. I went to the market. Which is every Monday and is the highlight of my Monday because what else would be. I was the first one there at a little before 8 am... and I thought they got an early start? I still can't get over the fact that I get 5 lbs of peaches for $2.50. The produce here, in summer alone, is amazing and wonderful. I'm also going to make stuffed zucchini with the single 2 lb zucchini I bought. It's a giant! King of all zucchini!