Гости in the House

We have had visitors at the school this past week - ten kids and six teachers from England, Wales and Turkey. The school has been apart of a EU project called Commensius this past year where they have been sharing cultures and traditions. During the course of this two year project the kids and teachers will have the opportunity to visit each other's countries as well as make holiday cards, calendars, multi-language dictionary resources and exchange recipes and learn about traditions that are important to each other. Not being from a European country, I'm a little jealous that the kids/school have the opportunity to participate in things like this. I think it's probably a priority of the EU to have these types of programs so that as they integrate the countries don't lose what makes them unique.

Last school year they had the planning meeting and the first trip to Turkey. I had seen some of the pictures but this was my first opportunity to participate and I had a really good time! I got to translate and help with Bulgarian and go on trips with the kids and teachers. It was a long week with a lot of meetings and late night dinners but it was really nice to share observations and swap information. Not having a lot of exposure to British English it was pretty funny sometimes when Bulgarians (who learn British not American English) could understand something better than me. During the week we went to multiple beaches, saw firedancers, visited Varna and old towns along the coast. The kids stayed with Bulgarian host familes and it was fun for me to see them connect even when they didn't know each other's language well. Although I won't be heavily involved in this project this year I was really grateful to have been able to participate in hosting. At the end of this school year there will be one last trip to Wales where the kids will exchange national dances and learn more about that country.