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!

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!

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.

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 . . .

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"