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"