Wishlist

I added a wishlist for an NGO I represent called the Center for Sustainable Development of Bratsigovo Municipality. The items on this wishlist will help with many of the projects I am working on. Check it out and if you know of a source where I can get these from as an in-kind donation, let me know.

1st Day of Spring

(Celebrating with co-workers on the 1st day of spring)

On the 1st day of spring I went to one of the orphanages to celebrate with the kids. A man from the US Military who helped re-model the orphanage a few years back sent some money to me to treat the kids to pizza. Thanks again Bob! After dinner some of the kids had singing lessons and I sat in to listen to them sing traditional Bulgarian songs.

After that I met up with some co-workers at a restaurant and was out until about midnight. All in all, it was a pretty nice way to welcome in the spring. Especially since back home, I usually don't celebrate this day at all. I also got to take off all those martinitsa bracelets they gave me on the 1st of March. This means no more snow and here comes the rain. Now I enter California's winter.

Happy Trails

(An old Roman road in the Bratsigovo Mountains)

Last week I visited the town of Kalofer for a seminar on creating a tourism center. Bratsigovo is interested in creating one of these to disseminate information on business developments as well as tourism. It was interesting and informative. I wish one of my co-workers would have attended. In any case I have made some contacts to help me with this project and will fill my colleagues in on what I learned.

After the seminar we went on a hike through the mountains in Kalofer. It had pretty nice scenery with a river and waterfalls. I wish I could show you, but I left my camera at home.

Pumped up from our little hike, me and a couple volunteers, decided to go to Bratsigovo and do a little hiking there. It was a little difficult because there were no maps marking the trails. We ended up having to turn around many times when a river got in our way or we just didn't know where we were going. We did pass through a little village called Rosovo in search of a resevoir. Never did find that resevoir. A cool project I can work on now is disovering many of the trails and creating a map.

I added a link to Peace Corp Bulgaria Photo blog under the about Bulgaria section. It has a collection of photos taken by current Peace Corps Bulgaria volunteers.

One Week Later

This Peace Corps life is a rollercoaster of emotions. I never know what's in store as the new week starts. What a difference this week is from last. Last week snow lined every nook and cranny. Outside was dark and dreary. I didn't know when winter would end or what was to come. Now the cold and lonely winter seems to be over.

This week the weather has warmed up and the sun is shinning. I feel like I am in Mr. Rogers neighborhood and about to break out in song. People have returned to the streets. I say hello as I pass them by and sometimes stop to talk. People wave to me as they drive by in their cars or horse wagons.

On top of that work has picked up and I finally found a good set of friends. Soooo, "it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood a beautiful day in the neighborhood, won't you, won't you....."

New Store in Town

OMG! I am so exited. Bratsigovo just got a video rental store. I've never known life with out a video rental place in the states. This must be how people felt when videos first came out. They even have little membeship cards.

The great part is that since they usually use subtitles instead of dubbing, all the movies are in English. I just rented my first movie for less than a dollar called "Efectut na Peperudata" with Ashton Kutcher. I think it is the "Butterfly effect." All I have to do is change the region code on my computer.

You think this will ruin my streak of reading books? Hope not, but after a long day of work it is nice to just sit, relax, and watch tv(or my computer screen).

Happy Cell Phone Day

I finally got a cell phone today. I was one of the last volunteers to hold out. I think I should get some sort of prize for that. My Mom sent me her old cell from the states and all I had to do is buy a new sim card.

Email me a text at 359885257029@sms.mtel.net to send a little love my way.

Service here is expensive, so a lot of people usually send text messages. The good thing about service here is if someone calls you, you don't pay. Like landlines in the states.

Kookeri Festival

I went to a Kookeri Festival this weekend in Kostenets. It's a Bulgarian tradition that pays homage to past tribal Bulgaria. Groups dress up in bear skins, pose as different types of animals, and perform tribal dances. It was very interesting. The best way to tell you about it, is to show pictures. I will put up some pictures of the festival within a couple of weeks. Till then click this link. It has a few pictures of what I'm talking about. It's in Bulgarian, so to get to the next picture just click the link at the very bottom of the page that says "следващата."

Gmail Offer

I know a lot of people out there are still looking to get an invitation to open a Gmail account. I have a 100 invitations. If you are interested in one, all I ask is that you donate at least $3 to help support one of the projects I am working on.

This small fund raiser is not affiliated with the Peace Corps organization and is supported by the Center for Sustainable Development of Bratsigovo Municipality, a Non-governmental organization serving the Municipality of Bratsigovo. For more information send an email to mwahlgren@usfca.edu or post a comment.

Click here or in my profile to view an updated spreadsheet of the charitable projects that I am searching funding for and subsequently implementing.

One Bulgarian Rose

The Womens day celebration on Tuesday was pretty cool. Yes, we had the typical traditons of dancing, including the horo. Fortunately that guy who always tries to start a dance competition with me, didn't dance much. He made up for it on the the bus ride back. He likes to ask me dumb and really obscene questions. Not to get an answer, but just to make fun of my youth. My Bulgarian is getting better though, so he better watch out. You don't walk away from a job at a grocery store for 6 years without learning how to be a smart ass. Thankyou Safeway. LOL!

This time instead of that one lady dragging me out on the dance floor, I was the one dragging people out on the dance floor. Ha ha! I guess I figured if I can't beat her, join her.

Like Christmas, without notice, I was asked to do an impromptu speech. Thankfully my Bulgarian is a little better now. I was interupted many times with cheers. They asked me to dedicate a song to all the women at the party. I chose "One Bulgarian Rose." This song is one of pride among many Bulgarians. The restaurant didn't have the song though, so I lead them in singing it. Actually they sang it and I tried to sing it. When we finished singing, the mayor handed me a rose. Yes, it was one of those kumbaya moments. I guess my speech wasn't so bad.

First Grant

(The town of Bratsigovo)

I got my first grant last week. Well, kind of. Back in 2002 a group from the US Military came to Bratsigovo to help remodel one of the orphanages. The director of the orphange still gets emails from a few of the people in this group and I tranlate the emails between them. One of the men in this group sent an email expressing that he would like to treat the kids to a pizza party. Just to brighten them up a little and let them know that someone cares about them.

I located a bakery in town that makes pizza, found out how much it cost, and this man sent me the money. He also included some extra money for one of the kids he met at the orphanage. I gave her the money Monday. I don't think she quite understood why this person was giving her money, but she was greatful none the less.

We will have the party on the 22nd of March to welcome in spring. Thanks to Bob Anderson of Tennessee! Lets all raise a toast to him and the kids at the orphanage on this day. With what? Jack Daniels, of course. "The nectar of Gods." Bob would say.

Zhenski Den

(At a party with co-workers)

Happy Womens Day! I guess there is really no need to explain this holiday. It's a day to celebrate women. They have a Man day too. It was on February 2nd, but I didn't hear about it until yesterday. I guess it's not that popular. Today after 12pm we have the rest of the day off and will go celebrate in Peshtera, a neighboring city. I wonder if I will get dragged out to the dance floor by that lady again and tossed into a dance competition with that man (read here and here for more on that). I hope he doesn't try to strip again. I'll be sure and report if anything interesting happens.

More opposites

Back in September after I had been in Bulgaria for a couple months, I presented an Introduction to the Opposites. Well, after being here for seven months now, I have discoverd some more. So jump down that rabbit whole with me agian for a few more, but watch out for the rabid dogs.

When deciding on what projects to undertake for the municipality, instead of determining what is needed, my colleagues often search for grants on the internet first to see what projects organizations are funding. If they find an organization they think they can get money from, then they decide to do that particular project described by the funding organization.

Bulgarian weddings include a lot of celebration and can often last several days. When a man finally slips the ring on his brides finger he slips it on her right hand, not left.

At restaurants drinks are often displayed in the front of the menu, not the back.

The "other week" means next week, not last.

Cars are parked on the sidewalk and people often walk in the middle of the street.

Men wear capri's, not women. Volunteers often call these "manpri's."

Now you know a little more about the world I live in. I hope you didn't get bit, but if you did maybe I'll see you in Bulgaria soon. I hear my family got bit.

Shopska Selada

I've been meaning to add some Bulgarian recipies that I make and enjoy often. I think shopska selada is an easy one to start with. It's a cucumber and tomato salad. All you need to do is slice some cucumbers and cut some tomatoes into wedges and put them together. If your feeling fancy you can add a little diced yellow or red onion and maybe a little bell pepper cut into small squares. After that dress it with vinegar & oil, and crumble a little fetta cheese on top. That's it!

While I'm talking about easy recipies, I might as well tell you how to make purzheni kartofi. Go to McDonalds and buy the big thing of fries. Dump them on to a big enough plate, top with crumbled fetta cheese, and eat with a fork.

Expect more challenging recipes next time. Until then....

Nahsdrave!

Life as a Celebrity

(Me Dancin' The Horo)

Being the only foreigner living in a small town of 5,000 can be nice. Remember the TV show "Cheers." They sang, "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name." Bratsigovo is that place for me. I am sorry to say I can't remember all of their names. It's so difficult because the names are so different. I don't know if she is Desislava or Tvetanka. If he's Trendafil or Karamfil.

This celebritydom does bring a lot of attention with it. Highschool girls love to say "hi" to me from accross the street and call me "sexy." Ha ha! At parties, I am often the main attraction. Sometimes it's because they think of me as a novelty and other times it's genuine interest. When I walk in a bar, I often encounter a record skipping moment. ReWeeRT! Everyones eyes are on me. I don't know what they're thinking. Maybe, "Oooh look! It's the Amerikanets!" I also don't know what they say about me, but I'm not sure I want to know.

I'm sure they think I'm very different (especially when I am wearing those orange traction grips on my feet to keep from falling in the snow), but when I go to their parties and do the Horo with them for five hours, it makes them see me as being like them. Going over and visiting some of the people I meet for Na Gosti helps a lot too. These can last a long time, but once the initial stage of "Do they have this in America" passes, it's not so bad. Plus they usually give me some things to take home with me. Maybe I should Na Gosti more often.

Of course there are the bad parts too. Like the lady who always drags me out on the dance floor at every party or the guy that wants a dance competiton with me and does all these extra hip movements to show it. But more or less, even for a shy guy like me, the attention is pretty nice.

Chestita Baba Marta!

On March 1st Bulgarians celebrate the coming of spring by making red and white bracelets made of string and tying them around the wrists of their family and friends. These bracelets are called martinitza's. They wish them a long and healthy life. They don't take off the bracelets until they see the first stork, which signifies the beginning of spring. I guess it's a little like ground hogs day. This holiday is called Grandma March.

I decided to visit the elementary school and orphanage on this day. The kids sang for me and tied the little red and white bracelets around my wrist. I knew this holiday was coming but I really didn't know how it was celebrated. Next year I will be prepared to hand out some martinitza's as well


Mnogo zdrave! Mnogo Shtactie! Lots of health! Lots of bliss!