Wednesday, August 20, 2008

P.S.

Please note: The following was written in 2008 after our tour of the Balkans

We are home now in the green-chile drenched bosom of New Mexico. Our trip back was, ahem, longish: Sofia- Munich- Charlotte- Phoenix- Albuquerque...25 hours worth of screaming toddlers and Hollywood rom-coms...yikes! Even the food was dreadfuller than usual. But enough of that...


Our European trip was great. Four weeks for Joe and seven weeks for Jen. I ate like a pig (pizza, ice cream, sausage, bread, dumplings) and lost a pound! My kind of weight loss program! It feels good to be back eating crispy green salads and pulling crispy clothes out of the dryer. New Mexico looks lovely and we will be starting back on our "normal" lives as soon as next Monday when the semester begins at UNM.


We visited ten countries on this trip, most for the first time. We walked a lot of cobblestoned miles, took a lot of digital photos, ate a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers, spoke a crazy mixture of Russian, Bulgarian & German along w/ our excellent English, and met a lot of great people along the way. I don't know about Jen, but I'll probably be ready to go again real soon...

Multi-faceted Macedonia

Having lived in Slovenia, it is very hard to believe that both Slovenia and Macedonia used to be part of a common country, Yugoslavia. It is true that both have rolling hills and beautiful green forests, but the Albanian-influenced Macedonia, couldn't be more different from the Austrian-inspired Slovenia.

My impressions of Macedonia are based on our 2-day stay in Skopje, the birthplace of Mother Teresa. There is a statue and a monument to her and a cross high on a hill representing the Christian faith. Mother Teresa being its claim to fame, Skopje is a very funky city - I loved it! It is a place of discovery . . . there seemed to be no one in town - maybe all at the seaside for summer vacation. And although, at first glance, the city seems crumbly and indelibly marked with a strong "socialist realism" architecture, a.k.a. Soviet-style blocks and weirdly shaped experiments, it is charming in many ways.

We ambled through the medina-like ancient walled town around mosques and stalls with locals selling their wares. I had seen what looked like an ancient fortress on the hill, not mentioned in our guide book, and not on any of the postcards I had spied at the market. We decided to head up the steep incline to find a lovely archway which led to some ruins of a fortress and a beautiful view of the city. Seeing the smorgasbord of Ancient, Soviet, and more traditional European buildings from a distance kind of made the city look even more unusual. It dawned on me that most of the postcards had views taken from this fortress, not of this fortress, which I found to be one of the highlights of the area.

Now for the food report - fan-freakin'-tastic! (Can I say that?): Fresh veggies, delicious cheese and bacon stuffed chicken, sausages, potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The prices in Skopje where probably the cheapest of our whole trip which makes the food taste even better. And the people . . . surprisingly polite, classy, friendly, and they spoke quite a lot of English! They seemed rather unfazed by tourists (as there weren't any there!), but were very respectful. Shopkeepers as well as kids took the chance to practice the phrases they knew - "Here you go - here is your change." Wow! I was reminded by a Bulgarian, that even under Soviet times, the Yugoslavians were not directly connected with Russia. Therefore, their society was much more open and more people were able to learn English.

The one thing that was really expensive was the hotel. I mean, not really, but compared to other cities it was more. For instance, we were used to paying around 50 USD, and our hotel in Skopje was 70 USD. And, mind you, it was very simple- clean private hotel - but no frills. The reason being that there is no tourism there and the only visitors are international business people who don't bat an eyelash at those kinds of prices. We did have cable though and Joe's son's band came on MTV while we were there. It was an older video - but a goodie - I had never seen it. Check out Girls Not Grey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d5WlUR1T3k

OK, so I have a softspot for Skopje - it's my kinda town - cheap prices, friendly people, no crowds, and plenty to discover. I say, "Let me find the beauty! It's fun!"

Monday, August 18, 2008

Question: Where do all the Serbs go for summer Vacation?

Answer: Montenegro
Another Question: Why does a former Yugoslavian territory have an Italian name?
Another Answer: It means "black mountain" and comes from the age when Venetians ruled the area in the Middle Ages.

So, using this information as a backdrop, let me explain our trip to Montenegro . . . . First of all, Montenegro is the world's newest country having separated from Serbia in June 2006 - Historically, Serbs go there on vacation as it is very beautiful and they used to be part of the same country: Serbia-Montenegro, and before that Yugoslavia. Little did we know that in August, every single Serbian man, woman, and child is there to enjoy some seaside action.

To get there, we took a bus from Sarajevo through the most incredibly windy road that snaked through sheer cliffs and a rainstorm. We came upon a dam - reminiscent to me of Lake Powell - not that it looked like the Southwestern US at all, but amazing natural beauty abounded. Green trees in forests on high mountains. We were headed for a beach town called Herzig Novi - a lesser known beach town not as frequented by tourists (or so we thought). After passing through the "see and be seen" beach town called Budva - we ended up in a terrible traffic jam. After 20 minutes we realized that the way to Herzig Novi involved a 20 minute ferry that the bus was waiting to board. I, not being a good bus or boat traveler at all (severe motion sickness can occur, and has in the past), I had drugged myself up on some amazing tablets my friend gets from England, called Kwells. Therefore, sitting on a bus, that was on a ferry, that was on the sea proved not quite comfortable but bearable. We got out of the bus and caught some fresh air before our boat landed. Some lovely views from that ferry!

We finally got to Herzig Novi . . . . we trudged with backpacks in tow through the picturesque little town (there are some ups and downs among the streets there!), only to hear travel agency after travel agency say, "There are no rooms anywhere tonight . . . not one. . . . everything is booked!" Well, having seen some little old ladies and men at the bus station trying to scoop up backpackers . . . we headed back there. The little old people seemed to have gone back home to bed, as we couldn't see anyone trying to "sell" a room in their house.

Finally, I got up the courage to speak in my limited Russian to a woman who was sitting beside us on a bench. "I'm looking for a room", I think I said. She whistled across the bus lot, "Oy, Zhilka!" Another lady, with a bit of alcohol on her breath came and arranged for us to stay across the street in her own flat. We agreed on 30 euros for the night (she could have really asked for the moon and we'd have paid it!). So, we slept in a Soviet-style flat with a great view, if you could see past the laundry, of the Adriatic Sea.

After rising, we decided to head out of crowded beach land - not before snapping some photos, of course. We spent the day in a fabulous ancient Venetian old town of sorts in the town of Kotor. There is no beach there, but the old buildings and ruins are a true treat for any photographer. The heat was a bit overbearing and many people found relief in an old but functioning fountain soaking their faces and splashing their whole bodies with ice cold well water.

Overall, Montenegro is a unique place to say you've been to . . . but don't go in August - too crowded, too hot, and too much traffic!

Sarajevo At Last

We were physically hammered when we pulled into the Sarajevo station. Eight hours on a "train from hell" will do that to a person. Eight hours in a boiling train car full of ciggie smoke, rationing water while dreaming of escape...I fully considered jumping off the train in Croatia and striking off in any direction, just to escape that infernal train. As it was, I stood up in the aisle the entire way, my face in front of the barely cracked window, trying to breathe as I poured sweat.
Luckily, Sarajevo turned out to be a balm for the weary traveller. Our guesthouse in the old town was perfectly situated and very comfortable, and the town itself was a wonderful place to spend a few days wandering. Sarajevo is located in a long valley with steep hills on either side, so there are lovely views from all angles. A mostly Muslim city, there are mosques everywhere, although they are surprisingly quiet (the call to prayer can be really loud). It is really different to see "white" Muslims, fair-haired and blue-eyed for the most part, especially the women, many of whom wear the head scarf and traditional garb. People in Sarajavo seem really composed, taking the tourists in stride, just going about their business. People are friendly and calm, making for a very relaxing vibe. The city's recent history seems that much more tragic in light of its current atmosphere.
There are traces of the war's effects - burned out buildings, bullet holes in walls, guys in wheelchairs with missing limbs- but overall, the destruction is not that obvious to the traveller. Bosnia is divided roughly 50-50 into Muslim/Croat regions and Serb regions. We travelled through both, and there is no physical division between them. When we departed Sarajevo, we had to take a city trolleybus to the station to catch our long-distance bus to Montenegro. At some point on our trip through the city, we passed into a Serb suburb where the station was located. I wouldn't have noticed except for the Orthodox church and the ATM which offered instructions in "English" or "Srpski".

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Buda + Pest = Tourists

Joe wants me to write about our experiences in Hungary. To be fair we were only in Budapest (grand capital) and Pecs (a smaller city further south), however I did get some impressions. First of all, Budapest (which is actually made up of two parts: Buda and Pest - who knew?) is full of tourists. The line to buy metro tickets from the train station to the hotel had about 20 people in it... no kidding! A one way fair (without changing trains) is around 2 USD. A far cry from the 10 cents we used to pay to ride the metro with unlimited train changes around Kyiv! Anyhow, we found our hostel which seemed clean and well-located. However, it was very expensive - in fact all things in Budapest, and Hungary in general, seemed very high priced.

Once settled, we ventured out on a huge city full of huge buildings. The architecture is incredible and most of the buildings are in pretty good if not fully renovated condition. After a while we found ourselves exhausted after walking and walking through the streets of looming buildings. Finally, we arrived at the top of a hill where the grand palace is located. The payoff was not only the buildings atop the hill, but the panoramic views of the city below. We could see all the big churches, the parliament house, and other buildings as parts of a greater picture. For a moment, we were the masters of all we surveyed. But, alas the feeling of being something other than a tourist quickly dissipated when we found that it cost 1 USD to use the public toilet. It was clean, but a patch of foliage would have done the trick almost as well. However, in order not to be too avant guarde, we obeyed and paid. Which is what I felt we did a lot of in Budapest.

After decided to leave after 2 nights, we headed for a smalled town called Pecs, pronounced PAYCH. It was more reasonable there with less tourist fanfare and ripoff feel. I caught a few great photos while milling around the streets looking for a pension to stay in. One of a group of girls in period attire waiting for their cue for a local movie that was being made about a famous Hungarian. The McCafe was good (a McDonalds sponsored cappucino joint) - I know I know - tacky! But the prices were good and all travelers know the bathrooms are great! We stayed in a private room which an elderly lady rented out nightly. Her name was Judith (YU-DIT), and she enjoyed engaging Joe in conversations which included a smattering of English, German, and Hungarian. Hungarian, by the way, is related only to Finnish in some distant way, not to Slavic or Romance languages at all! So it is really tough to communicate with those who spoke no English. Just for starters: Egan means yes; Nem means no; Kersernerm means thank you. Anything seem familiar?

So after a night, we left Judith and headed by train to Sarajevo. To make a long story short, we were victims of the old train Okey-doke. Due to an "accident" with the regular express international airconditioned train, we were shuffled onto an old Soviet-style train in 100 degree heat with windows that barely cracked open. The Hungarian guys, 20-somethings off on their summer vacation, who ended up in our compartment told us it looked like a train that had originally been designed for Air-conditioning (being that the windows barely opened), but the AC unit was missing. Did someone re-distribute it in a bureaucrats office somewhere? Who knows, but all were sweltering in the train for over 9 long hours. The conductor felt sorry for a few of us with limited water supplies and escorted us to a small shop to buy bottled water at the Croatian border!

Then there were the episodes of stopping in small station after small station in Bosnia picking up the milk-run passengers, many of whom decided to smoke in our non-smoking car with windows that barely opened. Yes, Joe had some intercultural communications with a few folks. None of which resulted in the smokers moving to the other end of the car. In fact, one woman said, "I will not only have one cigarette here, but I will have two, or three!" Luckily, most folks here in Bosnia are not like her . . . . and I have more news to tell about Sarajevo. Coming soon . . .

Slow-Walkia

Slovakia, one of Jen's homelands, is nice. I wish we could have stayed longer and gone to more regions, but the road called us on. Not that it has been all kebapches and sladoled this past week- far from it. The story begins back in dear old Sofia...
We left Blago with a tear in our collective eye to spend a weekend in Sofia waiting for our flight to Vienna (a budget friendly 60 bucks on Sky Europe). We knocked around Sofia for a couple of days, meeting up Saturday with Jen's old student from Montana, Elena, and her boyfriend, Julian. Elena is now a doctor (one of the world's nicest MDs) and we had a great time catching up and having lunch. Sunday was uneventful and we ended up at "Mr. Pizza" for salad and cheese pizza.
About 3 in the morning, I awoke with a distended and burning stomach. I tried to wish it away for the rest of the night, but by 6 (our taxi was coming at 7), I knew the jig was up. The next 5 hours was spent staggering from toilet to toilet, heaving up my shoe soles, the climax being a delightful session at 30,000 feet en route to Vienna. It finally subsided, but I was wrecked from lack of sleep, dehydration and general stomach trauma. The one hour bus trip to Bratislava was relaxing and our old friend Jaroslav picked us up at the bus station and delivered us to his in-laws' rentable flat in the suburbs. I slept for a few hours, but got sick again that night and was pretty useless.
Jen and I went to the old city (Stare Mesto) Tuesday morning and walked around (slowly). Jen dubbed it Slow-walkia - get it? The Stare Mesto is very impressive, IMO, and quite the tourist draw. There are several picturesque squares, nice architecture, a big castle looming above, and the Danube ruunning along the edge. Also, it has two McDonalds into which I dashed frequently with intestinal distress. Later that night, we met up with Jaro for beers and a reminiscing session while looking at photos from Jen's first triumphant 1998 engagement in Blagoevgrad. Saying goodbye to Jaro (who is now a rising film director in Bratislava), we got a good night's sleep for our train trip to the provinces.
We had decided we wanted to get out of the big city and see the "real" Slovakia. I had read nice things about Banska Bistrica in the Bradt guide, although it is not mentioned in our Lonely Planet. The 3 1/2 hour train trip was scenic and smooth. The town was a revelation. It was lovely. Its setting is beautiful with thickly wooded hills, low mountains, Austro-Hungarian architecture, lots of cafes and charming backstreets, and friendly, unaffected people. We got a room with an old couple who have a nice big house near the center (35 bucks)...an excellent deal. We spent a couple of days wandering around, snapping photos and just enjoying the relaxing vibe. We got to eat some delicious Slovak food as well, although my stomach was a constant enemy. Finally, in desperation, we went to the pharmacy and the lady gave me some French homeopathic pills that worked liked a charm on my burning gut. Yippee! One other thing about Banska Bistrica, they have a new, flashy shopping mall that is astounding. It is 10 times nicer than any mall in Albuquerque.
On our way to Budapest, we missed a train connection in Southern Slovakia and had to kill a couple of hours in a small town. We walked into the nearest restaurant and the nice people whipped up a fresh salad and killer omelette for us. We eventually caught our train for the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Bye-bye Blago...

We left Blagoevgrad this morning. We have a lot of affection for the town and its inhabitants, but we have places to go and people to see. A couple of days in the gritty capital, Sofia, and then on to places north and south. We have the feeling we'll return to Blago someday...I think we miss it a little already!

Bulgarian Voices - listen to this!

We are leaving Blagoevgrad soon and will be heading for Vienna via Sofia. As a going away present, the director of the English Language Institute, Elena, gave us a CD of Le Mistere des Voix Bulgares (a choir of Bulgarian singers). It is incredibly original music that was actually played in space - check out the youtube video. Great stuff!



Friday, July 25, 2008

Thank God for Scooby-Doo

This past weekend Jen and I took an excursion to Thessaloniki, Greece. Thessaloniki (Solun in Bulgarian) is Greece's second largest city and is only a couple of hundred kilometres away from Blagoevgrad. The comfortable bus picked us up out on the highway at 6:30 for the four hour journey.
Needless to say, we were the only gringos out of about 50 day-trippers and the tour guide refused to speak English to us, although we knew she could. However, her eleven year-old son, Ivan, was along for the ride and spoke dynamite English. Jen asked him where he learned such great English and he blithely replied, "The Cartoon Network". Really, this kid's accent and natural delivery were very impressive.
It was hot in Thessaloniki. We had 3 or 4 hours to walk around the main part of town near the waterfront. The city does not give the greatest impression, as it consists of mile after mile of 10-story characterless apartment buildings. There are some cool Roman ruins and beautiful old churches, but since the old city burned in 1917, there isn't an historic center, per se.
We wandered around, ate an awesome gyro, went to the flavorful local market, and again boarded the bus for a trip around the city's historical sites. We climbed up the steep hills behind the harbor and finally reached the Roman walls, which were very cool and offered great views of the city. There were some more picturesque neighborhoods up there as well.
Soon it was time for our 4 hour trip back to Blago. There is a lot of beautiful scenery along the way, with Bulgaria being noticeably greener (and less developed) than Greece. We got back to Blagoevgrad around 10 o'clock and had a couple of well-deserved beers. It was a nice, exhausting trip and well worth the 20 bucks apiece. We thanked little Ivan for the help and urged him to keep up the good work...Cartoon Network, that is!

Postscript: We were chatting with one of my students today and asked her how she learned English (she is an excellent speaker). She answered immediately: "Cartoon Network".
Holy mackerel!

Friday, July 18, 2008

It's Been A While

Blagoevgrad has changed quite a bit since we were here in 1998. It’s not that it’s unrecognizable – there are still lovely views to the hills and mountains beyond; the pretty little river still runs through the middle of town – but there is a lot more commercial activity everywhere. There are a ridiculous number of cafes on every block in the center of town and an untold number of new stores and shops, many with flashy signs in English. Having first come to Bulgaria in 1993, it’s amazing how the capitalist ideal, once unleashed has taken over.

My first shock on this trip came when I touched down at the shiny new airport in Sofia. The old Sofia airport was nightmarish – the worst I’d ever encountered. The new one is super, and was almost deserted when I flew in Sunday evening. The lovely Jennie was there to get me (along with the driver) and we enjoyed our reunion and the two hour cruise south to Blago.

I was a bit apprehensive about having to teach two classes the following morning, however. I got approximately 30 minutes of sleep on the flight from Denver and I knew the rubber-headed jetlag syndrome that was in store for me. Jen had agreed to cover my classes if I was just to incapacitated to teach, but that seemed a cruel fate for her, as she had a full load of classes herself. I slept a few hours Sunday night, woke up at around 4 a.m. and started brainstorming activities to do in class that morning. I somehow stumbled through my two classes of teenagers, but after my adrenaline subsided, I felt dumb, wobbly, and ready for a nice nap. Ahhhh….

My lag has evaporated by now, I’m sleeping normally and my excuses for goofy behavior have run out. I teach in the mornings, meet Jen for lunch, after which she goes off to teach her classes. I’ve abandoned my afternoon nap and have been rambling about Blago in the afternoons. It has been really hot despite a cool and windy day or two.

So far the food’s been tasty, the beer is good and cold, and the people are friendly. In the olden days, the Bulgarians were not so cheerful and open to strangers. I get my morning espresso from a little hut run by an old gentleman who has taken to practicing his English with me as I blurt rudimentary Bulgarian at him (I used to speak it better, honest!). The other night, at a down-home Bulgarian eatery, the young waitress started speaking Russian with Jen. I t turned out her mother was Russian and she had family in Ukraine. I was hearing a stew-like mélange of Russian, English and Bulgarian, which resulted in some tasty chicken fillet, fried potatoes and cold beer. By the way, my vaunted low-carbohydrate diet is shot. Hopefully, I can keep from blimping out on the rib-sticking local cuisine.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Did you know . . . ?

. . . that Blagoevgrad was named after Dimitar Blageov, the first communist leader in Bulgaria? And . . . this was one of the only (if not THE only) city that did not change it's name after the fall of communisim. AND . . . Did you know that Sandanski (a town about an hour south of Blagoevgrad by bus) was the birthplace of Spartacus? Now, these claims sound impressive enough that I am going to "Google" them both to see if I can confirm them!

I'm now in the middle of week two. Work is going well. My classes are great, and today we had fun with movie reviews. Yes Brad and Angelina are even big here - Yikes! Al Pacino was a favorite too - and Enrique Iglesias. Teenagers are becoming more and more similar the world over. However, it is refreshing to see that the girls both young and old still hold hands like they did when we were here 15 years ago. Joe and I taught in a small town north of Sofia, called Montana. We taught high school way back then. Life was much harder - we only had 4 hours per day of water and had to plan our day around these times - washing clothes, bodies, and dishes. Now water is plentiful, and hot, in our dorm room. The pressure is amazing (Joe you'll be happy to read this!).

People seem friendlier than I remember. It could be for a number of reasons: We are in a university town (not to mention, the American University where subjects are taught in English), there is greater access to Europe and influences through media, I am more assertive trying to communicate in my broken Russian, or more people speak English - I still haven't put my finger on it. Oh well, the main thing is that people are very accommodating and happy to help (or try to understand enough to help me!).

I ventured out this past weekend. I wanted to see the countryside, so I decided to head for a nearby town called Sandanski. I showed up at the bus station with absolutly no clue when the bus came or where it picked up. I asked a young girl with headphones on if she spoke English. Turns out . . . not only was she going to Sandanski (just by chance!), but she was a student in our summer school program! She was thrilled to practice her English and escorted me all the way to my destination before she departed with her uncle to an even smaller town to spend the weekend with her "babushka". You can see a photo of her in the Sandanski album. Her name was Mariya. It was funny because at one point we were talking about the fact that I had been to Bulgaria 15 years ago. I was saying how things had been really different. She shook her head (which is like nodding in agreement - try to picture it...) and said, "Well that means you were here in 1993; I was born in 1992, so I can't remember very well." No doubt! I forgot she was only 16! They had some ancient ruins between shops on the pedestrian boulevard. I would have missed them if I hadn't seen a postcard of them and asked a woman where they were - hiding in plain sight!

Sunday, I went to the Aqua-park - an amazing Vegas-style swimming pool in Blagoevgrad. It attracts bathers from all over the region - about 7 dollars gets you a full day of lounge chairs, umbrellas, cool water, and if you're lucky, only a slight sunburn. It was relaxing and a great chance to swim long laps. I haven't done that for ages. My morning classes have been complaining about waking up early, but now they've discovered that classes are over before noon and that means they can go to the pool! Starting next week the groups will flip-flop and their classes will be starting at 1pm. They say, "Be careful what you wish for . . ."

I combed the town looking for a tourist agency to give me some ideas for next Saturday. I finally stumbled upon a lady named Lyuba (which means "love") who works at AUBG as an instructor in the tourism department. She actually leads tours to Greece - yes, you can go over there for the day! Sounds good to me. I'll get the details tomorrow. On Sunday I'm riding to Sofia, the capital, with the driver to get . . . . Joe! Yay! He'll be flying in from the USA after finishing up a gruelling semester of 3 courses. This is when the real fun begins . . . Stay tuned . . .

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes . . .

So here's the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). It is an impressive building (former headquarters for the communist party . . . really!), but it's not where I'm teaching. My classroom it right next to the dorm where I'm staying, also property of AUBG.

School started Monday and the program has a total of 400 students enrolled with 25 teachers! Most of the kids are pre-college age hoping to improve their English enough to get into a good university. Most are Bulgarian, but I have one German student; there are a few foreigners scattered around but not many.

My classes have around 17 students each and they are really great, taking to pairwork and group work quickly. Not to say that they are constantly at full throttle, being teenagers, some sleepwalk into class at 8am having stayed at the disco too long the night before. But, I am being strict with taking roll at the beginning of class and they are getting better and better. Coffee and espresso can be had for around 30 cents here, so there are really no excuses! :)

As you may know, Joe and I were here 10 years ago. It is interesting to see how Bulgaria has changed now that it is part of the European Union. They supposedly use the Euro, but I haven't seen anyone exchanging anything but Leva around here. There are a lot more signs with both latin characters and cyrillic letters. That is, the restaurant I eat at for dinner is called "Happy Day". Although the gypsy horse-drawn carts still go through town (haven't been bold enough to snap a photo), there are newly affixed signs indicating "no horse-drawn carts" on the main highways. It's funny to see the shiny signs on old rusty poles.

The town seems quite properous having the university here and all. There are a lot of shops and much more of a selection of goods and services than before. There is even a huge new supermarket near the dorms. Back in the early nineties, one of my colleagues said, selection was non-existent. You could rarely find what you wanted in the shops; you never knew what they had. In those days (it makes it seem sooo long ago), glass bottles were saved and taken to the shop for rebates on the glass. When my colleague sent her daughter off with the bottles, she'd say, "Buy whatever they have." Usually it was eggs, butter, or something like milk. One time, the daughter returned with 24 tubes of toothpaste! It was all that the shop had had to sell!! Well, that has definitely changed, not to mention, now the EU has installed sorter dumpsters in different colors. You just drop your bottles into the bin for glass (I wish the US would get it together and do this!).

Aside from the new 'luxuries' are some remnants from the old days. I took a walk up a hill in town to the zoo, "Zoopark" in Bulgarian, pronounced "zoh-oh-park". Although the setting was beautiful, the animals were kept in poor conditions. It only cost about 35 cents to get in, so what should I have expected. I tried to see it as more of an information gathering experience than a truly pleasurable experience. There were many gypsies working there which makes sense as the "gypsy neighborhood" is just in the valley below the zoo. Overall, I haven't been bothered by gypsies at all. 15 years ago when we were in Bulgaria, we saw gangs of kids constantly begging for money. I haven't seen any of that this time, although I still see the gangs of young boys running together through town.

Unless, I'm right around the university area, where many students work part-time in restaurants and cafes, there are still many people who don't speak any English. Because nodding means "yes" here, and shaking the head means "no", I am constantly befuddled by the responses I get when I ask someone if they speak English or if they serve cappucino. Now that Bulgaria has had more exposure to other cultures and Europeans, some people nod for yes and shake for no. I though there must be some kind of age cut-off point, i.e. Young people do the latter and older do the former. But, my students do the former way too (opposite from me). So I need a show of hands when I ask, "Did you do your homework?" I'm so confused!

Language-wise, Russian is not really working for me . . . unless I find an old man or two. I had luck communicating with a tour bus up on the hill near the zoo. I conversed with the driver about being a little lost, he consulted with his co-pilot, they invited me in the tour bus and drove me down the hill. They were very excited that I spoke the language of the communist days. Although Bulgaria was never a Soviet country, it was though of as Russia's little brother and everyone studied Russian as a second language here. I met yet another old man last night, a shepherd. He spoke Russian too, and some English he had learned from the Mormons, he told me. I'm not going to give up my Russian . . . I will soldier on. There are many congnates and it does help me get my point across here. If I were to switch to studying Bulgarian, I think I would lose my mometum with pa-russky! By the way, an interesting phenomenon, that existed before EU inclusion, was that Bulgarians have adopted "merci" for thanks and "chao" for bye. I am getting pretty good with those terms . . .

The other day, I asked a local what has changed most. She said that now Bulgarians and Greeks can freely go in and out of each others' countries. The Bulgarians go to the beach in Greece, and the Greeks come to Bulgaria to fish and pick mushrooms.
Check out the slide show of more of my pix! "Chao"

Friday, June 27, 2008

Blagoevgrad at last!

It's Friday afternoon and I'm finally in Blagoevgrad, set up in a computer lab, and printing handouts for Monday's classes. I met my co-teacher as one of us (the Bulgarian teacher) will be covering the grammar, and the other one of us (the American teacher) will be covering the other stuff. It's my understanding that that means I'll be organizing more speaking activities. I'll teach two groups of upper-intermediate in the mornings. On Wednesday afteroons, I'll conduct teacher development workshops, much like in Ukraine. Oops gotta run as the secretary is going to show me where the paper cutter and hole punch are...

OK, all set. Just a quick explanation of why I say "at last" in the entry title. My flight to Phoenix went off without a hitch - then Phoenix to Denver went OK (after much running around to see which airlines partnered with Lufthansa - turns out it was United, but it didn't say that ANYWHERE on my ticket!). Had 30 minutes to make my connection in Denver to my Frankfurt flight. Of course, I was in the very very last row next to the window, so I couldn't have been further away from escaping to make that connection. I did manage to swap with a nice lady for a mid-plane seat. Once we landed, I raced for the flight to Frankfurt only to find that it was delayed 4 hours to to the fact that the plane had been hit by lightening earlier in the day. They wanted to inspect it to be sure it was not damage. Go ahead . . . inspect away!

We finally got from Denver to Frankfurt - I even slept about 5 hours. Of course, by the time we hit Frankfurt, the connecting flight to Sofia had been long gone. So, I had to wait 5 more hours at that airport before the next scheduled flight to Sofia. Not to mention, I had to make a couple of phone calls to make sure the driver didn't come to get me too early. Poor guy - the European soccer finals were on TV and he was obligated to come pick me up at 11:30pm. As the drive to Blagoevgrad is around 2 hours, I was in bed at my spacious dormitory by 2am. I feel pretty good today all things considered and even took a walk this morning. As you may know, Joe and I were here exactly 10 years ago, so it is interesting to see how things have changed. More impressions to come . . . .

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Adventure coming soon . . .

Well, it's the day of departure and I'm waiting for my dear "media naranja" to pick me up and take me to the airport. Joe's going to keep the Bulgarian language book to study for the next couple weeks. My sweet friend Melissa sent me a pocket-sized Bulgarian language book all the way from England! Thanks Missy! I'll be looking it over on the plane to see what corresponds (or doesn't!) to Russky-yazik (Russian language, that is).

I finished my Russian book, but I'll be bringing it with to review. Well, wish me well on my trip to Phoenix, Denver (35 minute connection!), Frankfurt, and Sofia (and then, I almost forgot, by car to Blagoevgrad).

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Waiting to go . . .

Well, we are still in the USA but headed for Bulgaria soon. Joe's now immersed in his MA studies, and I'm hitting the Russian books hard! Although they speak Bulgarian in Bulgaria, Georgian in Georgia, and Armenian in Armenia, many people speak Russian. My lack of language skills while in Ukraine made me determined to study a language that could help me out in all these countries. We'll see if I've made some improvements!

I have two, yes only TWO!, more chapters in my "Take off in Russian" language book (exercises and CDs). I plan to also bring my Bulgarian book to brush up, or would I be confusing myself? Maybe Joe should take the reins on the Bulgarian stuff.

Well, just thought I'd start of the "Where are the Herrins" blog before I take off - which will be next week!!!