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 . . .