Happy New Year

Chestita Nova Godina! We wish everyone a successful and happy New Year. Our holiday was spent in Bansko, a ski resort town in Bulgaria. Last year we didn't do anything but gaze wistfully out the windows of our apartment while people set off fireworks and this year we were determined not to miss out on the festivities. After a mini-break between holidays we set off once more for the other side of the country on an overnight train. This is notable because after a pretty crummy experience in our train car involving some loud-talking, chalga-music-video-playing drunk people, we have decided to never take the night train again :) We met up with our friends in Sofia and continued on to Bansko to an apartment we had rented from a British lady. It's very common for foreigners, especially the British to own property in Bulgaria and the apartment was AMAZING! It had heat in every room, new appliances and dishes, comfortable beds and couches and just about everything you could imagine including access to a jacuzzi and sauna. We passed our days there playing games, making hot cocoa coffee drinks, watching movies, taking walks and even headed up to the mountain for an afternoon of sledding. Bansko is situated at the foot of the Pirin Mountains, but the Rila Mountains are visible as well and everywhere you look you can see snow covered peaks. It was much larger than we thought it would be. It has been built up and developed a lot over the past ten years but still retains bits of its historic old-world charm. A lot of the buildings were built or renovated to resemble houses from the revival period and mehanas serving traditional Bulgarian food abound. Bansko gets a bad rap for being expensive and it was a little awkward to tell people we were going there because the assumption is that you will be paying a lot of money therefore you must be rich, but we cooked all our own meals and spent a lot less than we imagined! We didn't get to ski because it was pretty expensive, but after seeing the result of a couple ski mishaps most of us agreed it was probably for the best.

On New Years Eve people usually go to a restaurant, which would have been booked long in advance. There is a set menu with entertainment and the party lasts the whole night. At midnight in the center of town there are performances by singers and dancers, fireworks, a blessing by the priest, a televised address by the President of Bulgaria and horo dancing. Wil and I were so excited for the horo because we recently started taking dance classes and it is one of the only ones that we know. However, when the time came for this special dance called the Dunavsko Horo, we didn't even get to do it because most of the people there didn't know how and you have to start on the right beat in order to do it properly. Oh well. On New Years day people cook banitsa and put fortunes inside it that tell you something about your future for the coming year and kids go around with their Survachka tapping people and reciting good luck poems for money. In some towns Kukeri (men dressed in costumes of goat hair and bells) dance to scare away bad spirits. The next day we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow which made the views really nice on our train ride back through the mountains. A perfect start to our year.

White Christmas

Last week we traveled back to Kyustendil, our old training site, to celebrate Christmas with Wil's host family. Much to the disbelief of practically everyone, we love Kyustendil. Maybe it's the people, or the mountain, or the pace of life, but we always feel happy to go back. Christmas is a big family holiday in Bulgaria with lots of food and steeped in tradition. The main celebration takes place on Christmas Eve or Budni Vecher. It is always a vegetarian (and sometimes even vegan) affair. Some people even spend the weeks leading up to Christmas abstaining from meat and dairy products, but our families just observe this tradition on Christmas Eve. There always has to be an odd number of dishes served as even numbers are often reserved for bad luck and the dead. We arrived on Christmas Eve from Sofia and began by helping with preparations for dinner. Blaga is a good and patient cook and let me help so that I could learn how to make some of the dishes back in Bourgas. By the end of the day we had cooked many dishes made from peppers, rice, beans, and lots of sunflower oil. After all the food is set out on the table the oldest male in the house breaks the pogatchka or round bread. Inside this bread a coin is hidden and it is said that the person who finds it will have luck in the coming year. Bits of bread are broken off beginning with a piece for God, then the house, and then each person in descending age order. This year Pepe (Wil's host dad) found the money. After this, dinner officially begins and continues for at least another couple of hours. There is also a tradition that involves breaking a walnut. Each person cracks one open and those that have a full healthy nut will have good luck and those without a nut or whose nut has withered will of course have bad luck. One of the neatest things about eating food in smaller villages and towns in Bulgaria is that many times food has been grown, canned, or hunted by the families themselves. We enjoyed homemade wine and rakia, salads that had been canned in the fall and Wil even got to help make homemade sausage from wild pig that Pepe had hunted. At the end of the night the food is left on the table for deceased relatives and spirits to come and feast. Christmas day is spent relaxing and eating. Unlike in the U.S. all the stores are open and it is pretty common to go have coffee with friends and family. On Christmas night we went na gosti to the house of Wil's host brother's wife's parents. Bulgarians celebrate their name days (the day of the saint whose name is closest to theirs) and the 25th is a name day for anyone with a name derived from Christ. As we walked around town on Christmas Day we got a present I haven't had since I was a kid. We had a white Christmas.

On Second Thought Maybe Not...

The other day for eco-club Wil and I thought we would do a little presentation on reduce, reuse, recycle and then make some Holiday cards with old Newsweeks that we've been collecting since we've been here. So we went through the magazines and cut out some letters and shapes to make snowmen and trees for an example for our classes. We thought it would be a good use for these magazines we aren't sure what to do with. Bulgaria doesn't do recycling yet in most cities and we didn't just want to throw them in the trash. So we explained the purpose and how to go about it and set the kids loose. Now, Bulgaria isn't what you would call a puritanical country. Most days I am on the bus I could look over at just about anyone reading a newspaper and see literally half naked ladies baring their "goodies" for all the world to see, so we didn't bother to go through the Newsweeks before handing them out- assuming they would all be appropriate. However, less than 30 seconds after handing them out I began to hear things like "Goli Hora" (naked people) and lots of laughing. From time to time Newsweek does articles on African tribes, but they also have done the bulk of their reporting on war recently and later in the day, as I flipped absentmindedly through some magazines to help Wil finish his card, I was a little surprised to see holes where executioners and other "not so cheery" men had once been. Needless to say I'm just a tad worried that I have a bunch of kids who will be giving their parents a "You Better Have a Merry Freakin' Gitmo Christmas" Card this year.

How You Know It's Winter in Bulgaria

You've started to live in one room because the others will never warm up to your liking. ***** The winter mold has returned and started to creep up your walls, forcing you to spray bleach and then leave your windows open all day...did I mention it's winter? ***** Vegetables start disappearing at the pazar and what's there just doesn't taste right. ***** You begin to notice all sorts of things you never realized were there - a symptom of naked trees. ***** You start sporting outdoor wear inside. It's not normal to wear gloves and hats indoors? ***** Your daydreams shift from lazy days on the beach or in a cafe to knitting and legwarmers. How could they possibly ever have gone out of style? ***** The cat population appears to diminish and you can't seem to find your favorites on the street anymore. ***** People start to string popcorn and dried fruit on tree branches. ***** The speakers by the municipality building are blaring "Woof Woof Woof" to the tune of Jingle Bells. ***** Wil gets asked to dress up as Santa...twice! ***** Work begins to slow (if it hasn't already halted) for a two week vacation for just about everyone. ***** Your clothes don't dry outdoors anymore; in fact they freeze on the line. Even indoors they take five days! ***** You come home reeking of cigarette smoke as people can no longer stand to smoke outside. ***** You think nothing of dropping 50 leva on baba socks. ***** Baking takes on a whole new dimension - it's for food AND house warmth. ***** You begin to reconsider showering - that streak from the bathroom to the warm room is just too painful. ***** You think nothing of wasting a day in bed watching movies or t.v. shows. ***** You oversleep everyday because waking up at 7 just doesn't feel right anymore. It can't be 7. It's still dark. ***** On the old buses there is precipitation INSIDE the bus, not just outdoors. ***** AND It's time to visit the host families again :)

Nikulden

December 6th was Nikulden - or the Day of St. Nicholas. He is the patron saint of children (yes, he is that St. Nick) and of fishermen. Since Bourgas is on the coast, he also happens to be the patron saint of the city. That night a lighting ceremony of the city's decorations accompanied a concert and some words by the mayor and a dazzling display of fireworks. Afterwards, we went to a na gosti. When you visit someone for dinner or coffee, it is called a na gosti. It is customary to bring chocolates and wine. We brought homemade pumpkin soup - by request. It's a little dish I've learned to make while here, and judging by the number of requests for the recipe, it's a good one. They had a ton of food on the table when we arrived. Bulgarian meals are always 'family style' - where the bowls are set on the main table that everyone sits at and you just take what you want from the big bowls and put it on your plate. There were salads, potatoes, wine, bread, and at least five different types of fish, the biggest being a carp that was filled with beans and seasoning - I read that the cross on the skull of this fish makes it sacred and that some people will bury the skull in their yard after the meal for good luck!

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving Festivities

Most Bulgarians know about American holidays from movies and songs, so a few weeks before the fourth Thursday in November, we were asked what we were doing to celebrate Thanksgiving. So, of course, we said, 'We're having you over for a big American Thanksgiving meal!" Jess invited her co-workers and tutor and I invited mine. We cooked late into the night the Wednesday before, making homemade cider - juicing apples and boiling in the spices, preparing pumpkin soup, and cooking the cranberry nut-bread. That Thursday we made mashed potatoes (with garlic), stuffing (with bread we had cubed up and left out to dry), yellow corn, and I went out and bought 4!!! chickens from the store (along with some wine and almonds). We got roasted chickens because our oven isn't large enough for a Turkey, and to be honest, we had never prepared one before and didn't want our first attempt to be a bad first taste for all our Bulgarian friends. The food was ready just as all of our friends arrived (all at the same time) and before we ate I explained the tradition of Thanksgiving as best as I could in Bulgarian! That weekend, we gathered with the other Peace Corps Volunteers in our group and had a second large Thanksgiving meal. At this one, before the meal, each person shared what they were most thankful. What am I thankful for? "Jess, Jesus, and Obama" of course.

Train Ride

The other day I travelled by train to Sofia. Travel west about 6-7 hours by train and you will reach the capitol city where the Peace Corps office is located. When traveling in Bulgaria, there are a couple of options available for Peace Corps volunteers. And a couple options forbidden. For example, we cannot drive vehicles ourselves and we cannot ride horseback. Usually, we just stick to taxis, trains, and buses. From Bourgas to Sofia, Jess and I prefer to take a train. There are express trains, fast trains, and slow trains. If we take an express train, it only takes 15-30 minutes longer than a bus, but taking the slow passenger train can sometimes take an extra four hours. We like the train because we can use the toilet whenever we want and there's more space to stretch out. And most important, it's much cheaper - especially if you have a frequent rider card like we do. Occasionally, we need to take the bus. It is less spacious and you have to wait for the driver to stop (usually at the halfway point) to use the restroom. It is more expensive (sometimes twice as much), but is quicker and runs more frequent.

To give you an idea of what traveling is like, my trip to the dentist last week in Sofia went as follows: I woke up at 4:30, showered, grabbed a day bag, and walked ten minutes to the station. I bought my ticket at the cashier window and got on the train which left at 5:30 am. It arrived at 12 and I rushed to the tram stop (connected to the train station through a small underground tunnel). The trams have automated machines in them to buy tickets with computer screens that dish out ride-cards, but I have never seen anyone use them. Everyone just buys paper tickets and very carefully punches them and hopes that there is no problem when the tram officers come to check them. (It is always safest to punch two if you have a bag with you - if it is determined you have cheated the ticket punching system in some way, you can be physically removed from the tram and forced to pay ten times the ticket price). I got on the tram, punched my paper ticket, and rode to the dentist office. There I got a new fake tooth, which my counterpart jokes must be for my new microphone to communicate with the new president. After that, I rushed to a doctor's appointment at the Peace Corps office, grabbed some lunch, and then took the tram back to the train station to catch the 3:55 train back to Bourgas. I arrived in my city of residence at 10:30.

While on the train, I can usually read a small book. (It's about 13 hours of travel!) It's hard to write letters and I usually have a hard time sleeping, even with the gently rocking of the train car. Jess on the other hand has no problem sleeping the entire six hours. Outside, the countryside is amazing. This past week, I enjoyed watching hawks hunt in golden fields, then seeing freshly snow-topped mountains, passing through valleys and by rivers, then being surrounded by all-white fields and mountains again. We like travelling by trains, it's relaxing and peaceful but occasionally, we read a scary story about train accidents. Last year, several people died in a train car that caught fire, and just yesterday I read this story: "From Trud: The daily leads with the news about a potential train accident which reportedly was about to happen early Saturday morning, December 6, near the Lesicheri and Resen train stations. The accident which allegedly would have been caused by an oversight on the part of the Resen railroad dispatcher was prevented thanks to the quick reaction of the engine drivers of the two trains which were about run into each other. The daily notes that this is the second time that such incident is prevented by the engine drivers in the last 20 days." However, we have never personally encountered any problems and enjoy the opportunity to take public transportation - something not so readily available in the U.S.