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.

Another Plea for Brownie Mix

Ever wonder how we make American foods we crave whose ingredients traditionally cannot be found in Bulgaria? Often, we use material mailed to us from the States (like when we make tuna-mac), but sometimes we attempt to do the best we can with what we can find here. Last night I attempted to make brownies from scratch. Brownie mix is not available here in Bulgaria, but I did find what I thought looked like a nice recipe online using cocoa powder, sugar, butter, and flour. I was cooking pumpkin soup for dinner - since it is delicious, there are lots of funny shaped pumpkins at the bazaar, and I rather enjoy enjoy making it (a note for would-be followers of this same recipe - I usually double it since Jess often eats about 6 bowls and I also don't add the water the recipe calls for because we like the soup thick!)
So last night, while I was making the soup I also began to make the brownies. I wanted to surprise Jess so every time she entered the kitchen I chased her out with a ladle. She worried that I might try to change the soup recipe because I have a tendency to try and 'improve' recipes that often don't need improving, but in fact, I was doing a test run on making brownies because we were out of mix from America and we are holding a Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment Thursday night and wanted to have some for dessert. (Most Bulgarians have never eaten a brownie!) So the mix started well enough. The cocoa and sugar and butter mix was chocolate looking, the eggs turned the mix slimy, but the flour turned the mix more into a cookie dough consistency. I thought perhaps I should add some oil or water, but having already heard a few admonitions to stick to the recipe regarding the soup, I thought it best to shrug it off and just put it in the oven. This is when things got weird. Every time I opened the oven door to check on the brownies they were sizzling. A lot. Especially in the low spots (the dough was very thick and even though I spread it out as best I could, there were a few valleys in the pan.) So I would think to myself, 'that's odd,' shut the door, and hope when I returned they would look normal. Eventually, I thought, 'sizzling or no sizzling, I should take them out, they must be done!!!' I now believe the sizzling was the butter in the mix, evaporating like water in the desert and taking all the flavor with it. For when I cut the concoction and tasted it, it was indeed dry, desolate, and in need of много moisture. Since I spent so many hours in preparation, I felt obligated to eat one or two, but in the end, my home-made brownies ended up in the trash, not in my belly. Ah well, it was fun, but I think we will stick to home-made chocolate chip cookies in the future and wait to make brownies only we after receive boxes from home!

Chorapi Keeping My Feet Warm

The nights seem to get chillier as they grow longer. We try and sit close to the plug-in radiators, but we've found that in addition to wearing a pull-over and possibly a sock-cap, it is absolutely necessary to have a nice pair of what we affectionately refer to as 'baba-socks.' The name refers to the older ladies who usually make and sell them. 'Baba' means 'grandmother' and also refers to older ladies. In most cities or villages, there is a bazaar or just people selling their wares on the street; if you're lucky you can find a kind old lady who has sown together a pair you like. They don't always have a large selection, so if you are picky you may have to hunt around. But I would say that these toastily-warm woven wool socks are essential for surviving the impeding chill. Last year, I was told horror stories from other volunteers who lived further inland and who found that they had to put their water in the refrigerator overnight because if they left it on the counter in their kitchen it would be a block of ice in the morning! Most volunteers only manage to heat one room during the cold winter and spend most of their time in that one room, so you can see, these socks really are essential. The memory of the many chilly evenings of last winter has me wanting to gather as many 'baba-socks' or чорапи in my sock drawers as possible this autumn before I begin to see my breath in the living room again!

Making the Protected Black Sea Shoreline Pristine

The volunteers I see every week at our Wednesday Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds in Burgas meetings are a passionate bunch. From all walks of life - high school students, pensioners, working professionals, university students, and guests visiting from other environmentally-minded groups in Bulgaria - they are united by their desire to learn more about birds and if possible, have a positive impact in preserving Bulgaria's rich natural heritage. During the summer, tourists would often ask me how Bulgarians felt about nature. Usually, I would tell them that it's probably similar to how people in their own country felt about nature. Some people must not care, because there is trash lining the sea-shores and plastic bag orchards on some stretches of road, but that I was surrounded by volunteers who were actively trying to improve the health of their natural parks and engaged in projects that would encourage population restoration of threatened species. In the year I've lived in Bulgaria, I have gone on bird monitoring trips, attended a week long work-camp to watch summer migration, and participated in several 'volunteer work days' - including creating nest-boxes, re-marking protected area boundaries, and several clean-up days.

Most recently, BSPB joined forces with a couple of other organizations to clean up the protected bay of Ченгене – скеле in honor of the International Day of the Black Sea. Напълниха се над 30 чувала с отпадъци - over thirty bags of waste were filled! We were on Bulgarian TV news and got the peace-filled satisfaction of being able to walk along a pristine Black Seashore that hours before had been covered in plastic and nylon.