finding andy in jordan?

I will be gone for the next two weeks. I will be visiting family in Jordan, riding camels, floating in the Dead Sea and pretending I am Indiana Jones in Petra. I will try to post some stuff while I'm there but my cousin tells me she has a slower internet connection than I do in Bobov Dol so we'll see. Have a great couple of weeks; to all you teachers and students, have a great vacation, and see you later!

i'm holding my breath...

     It looks like another terrorist group has decided to try the political route. ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna or "Basque Homeland and Freedom”), a Basque terrorist group on the border of Spain and France has recently announced that it will call a cease-fire, as a prerequisite for entering into a political process. I am interested to see how this goes, maybe if these guys can lay down their weapons and enter into the civil arena, there might be hope for Palestine and Israel.

"say hello to my little friend!"

Well, today I woke up with a headache from a na-gosti with my upstairs neighbors and didn't feel like going to school. But I noticed something different this morning: I could see! The sun got up before me! That meant only one thing, spring is here!

Still, my head was throbbing and even this little good news couldn't shake it. But, then what was that that just whizzed by my window? Could it be? Yes, it was! The first swallow of the year! As Krali freaked out, trying to pounce through the window, I threw open the curtains to make sure. Yes, it was, the very first swallow!
Normally, I don't get that excited by seeing a little bird, but this year, I am celebrating Baba Marta and still wearing 14 martenitsi on my wrists. With the arrival of this swallow, I was now allowed to take of these red and white (and stinky) bracelets and pins and hang them on trees. And so I did. All the way to school...

I hope you have a great day, (Especially you Sarah, all this pain will pass...). Here in Bobov Dol it is nice and sunny and I can even believe that winter is over. Welcome spring, good riddence Baba Marta, and hello
life without long-johns!

happy st. patrick(ov) day!

     I’ve been celebrating so many Bulgarian holidays lately that I figured I would go all out and celebrate a holiday I’m familiar with. Thus begin Bobov Dol’s first St. Patrick’s Day. I’ll admit it was pretty lame; there were no parades, no corned beef and cabbage, no green beer (though Bobov Dol was introduced to its first Irish coffee…), there wasn’t even an Irish tricolor in sight. But still I think people won’t soon forget it.
     I woke up this morning dreading going to school. I don’t know why besides the fact that I have been having this feeling of dread/ anxiety for the last couple of weeks. This feeling was compounded by the fact that because of a change in the schedule this week I had a class today, though usually today is a day off for me. I realized, however, as I was standing in my long underwear trying to figure out what to wear that I was sick of feeling like this. I looked at the green tie, suit jacket and slacks in my closet and had an idea. I quickly put together the tackiest greenest outfit I have ever worn (green shirt, green tie, green jacket, green pants and green socks. Each a slightly different shade of green…) and scribbled a quick “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” (“Честит Св. Патриков Ден!”) sign and walked to school.
     My outfit was quickly noticed by… everyone. At first I was a little sheepish, but after a little while, I forgot I was even wearing it. Bulgaria celebrates many Saint Days and so it was easy to explain this one. But I think people thought the tie and jacket was a little strange…
I guess St. Patrick must have enjoyed my little display, because my day went really well. I went in with a colleague to help her teach a third grade class. If I’m not busy on Fridays, I go in and help her teach this class. The students are the sweetest things I have ever seen and they absolutely love me. They energize me to teach for the next week. Today, I introduced them to “Old MacDonald” and they loved it. Despite the fact that my voice is somewhat akin to the sound a cat in heat makes, we had a great time. They had to try hard from falling out of their seats at different parts. I don’t know what else they learned in class, but I know they went home singing “Here a moo! there a moo! everywhere a moo-moo!” most likely at the top of their lungs.
My next class was my dreaded 8th graders. I had a plan to do some boring activity from the book, but when I walked in they saw my suit, and whistled and clapped. I knew what I had to do. I spent the rest of the class explaining the traditions of this day and, while I almost had to pinch myself to believe it, they understood what I was saying, and (and!) I asked some comprehension questions at the end of the class and they answered! Correctly!
I had lunch with some neighbors, had the world’s best éclair (no exaggeration, whatsoever…), talked about life during communist times and religion in Bulgaria. They even had a shamrock plant (from where, I have no bloody idea) and they pinned a leaf on my jacket.  All in all it was a great day. Hope you all have a great St. Patrick’s Day, and whoever you are, wherever you are, take a moment to share a little of the green!

i need a friend today

Had a crappy day.
Found a pet that *doesn't* try on an hourly basis to rip my face off.
Posted it on my website.
Enjoy.

adopt your own virtual pet!

"happy 3rd of march!" or "how andy ended up at an ataka rally"

Last Friday was National Liberation Day here in Bulgaria, similar in many respects to our Independence Day, only colder. I was in Sofia for some work and managed to see some interesting things. Here, in pictures, is my day:
I actually forgot that it was National Liberation Day. We had the day off from school, but because I usually have Fridays off anyway I forgot. But when I got to Sofia, I rounded a corner that leads to the Alexander Nevski Cathedral and saw this. There were representatives from each branch of the military in dress uniforms doing a traditional parade march.





You can say what you want about communist governments, but they sure knew how to do military displays. The former communist military history was very apparent in this march, from the high goose-stepping to the running marches to guy with the bullhorn.








Then the climax came and they raised the flag at the eternal flame. I got a picture of the President examining the troops but I erased later in the day when I needed to free up some memory because I walked right into the middle of...








A BULGARIAN NATIONALIST RALLY!!!That's right. As I was leaving Sofia in mid-afternoon, I crossed back through the center, and ran smack dab into a huge Ataka meeting. For those not in the know, Ataka is the Bulgarian far-right nationalist party whose platform consists primarly of blaming everything on the Turks and Roma.
I don't know how many of you have been in the middle of a huge nationalist rally but I've been to two and they were both scary (I admit I was a bit more frightened at this one. The Republicans don't have quite the same fear Ataka has, though they are working on it...)
There was a lot of booing, and cheering "Ataka!" and playing of that Ataka Charge! song. One of the people who got up to speak greeted the crowd by saying "welcome to those who truly love Bulgaria!" which was followed quickly by "Ataka! Ataka! Ataka!" and lots of "Down with Gypsies, Down with Turks!" Surrounded by the thousands of people, a simple thing as a "boo!" can turn into a very ugly, and hateful thing. Especially being a foreigner. I was thinking of asking people why they were supporting a party that offers little beside scapegoating but I realized that the middle of a xenophobic political rally was not the ideal place for a foreigner to be asking a lot of questions. I just imagined someone shouting "Foreigner" and beating this little liberal to a broken pulp. I was able to smile, however, at a sign someone was holding. It was a movie poster from a movie called "Age of the Han," a movie about the founder of Bulgaria, Han Asparuh (see previous post). Under the picture of the actor was written, "a true Bulgarian." The irony, of course, is that the movie is English, the dialogue is all in English and I think even the actor who played the "true Bulgarian" is, you guessed it, English. But Ataka, like most far-right parties, can't be tripped up by a little thing like the truth...
Moral of the story: (Former) Communists can make a good military parade, but no one throws a rally like Fascists.

"if it wasn't for bad luck, i wouldn't have no luck at all"

There is a family here in Bobov Dol who is always asking me to come over and visit. I’ll see them on the street and they’ll ask when I’m coming to visit and we’ll decide on a time either later that day or the next day. That time will come around and I’ll go and we’ll have a great visit. The father will break out the chess and absolutely destroy me, or he’ll try to teach me a card game in Bulgarian and I won’t understand a single thing. Or the mother will stuff me until I can’t up with home canned fruits, the most tender meat I have ever had or homemade yoghurt with homemade honey. Those times are great, and though they make me stay longer than I want, and embarrass me with generosity I love visiting them.

The other times, though, it is always awkward. Whenever I leave they always tell me that I don’t need an invitation, just come over whenever. When I do that though, I always pick the worst times to come over. One time I rang the bell and the father came out unshaven in his boxers. Another time, I woke them up (they are older and like to sleep in the afternoon). Today, even though I told them I was coming over this weekend, I caught them right as they were leaving to go visit their parents. So they dropped everything and invited me in and made coffee, and brought out homemade sweets and chocolates and we ended up talking for an hour. The whole time I was thinking, “ohman they hate me.” Once, just once, I would like to pick a time when they didn’t open the door and say “oh, hi, Andy, it’s uh… good to see you…” (Translated from Bulgarian…)

Happy Grandma March (Late)

Wednesday was March 1st, or in Bulgaria Баба Марта (Baba Marta, "Grandma March"). This is a purely Bulgarian holiday to celebrate the coming spring, but few are sure how it started. Some say it has a historical connection to the founding father of Bulgaria, Han Asparouk. But today the holiday is celebrated by giving red and white bracelets or pins (Мартеници, Martenitsi) to friends and loved ones. They have all kinds of Martenitsi too, some have tassels, some have blue clasps, others have chalga singers, football teams or, my favorite, Alf. The white is supposed to symbolize a long life and red, health. According to tradition, when you see the first stork or swallow of the year, you are supposed to tie your martenitsa to a tree or bury it under a rock and you will have good health for the rest of the year.


I went a little overboard with Martenitsi. I am currently wearing 14 on my wrists. I just kept getting them as gifts from people and I didn't want to offend anyone so I kept putting them on. Now I am stuck with them until I see a swallow or stork. Or the end of March, whichever comes first. It's a neat tradition though, because now wherever you go you see people sporting these things. Little kids, police officers, bus drivers, drunk old guys, everyone! Even the guys at the Atacka rally {see next post}... 11th grade gave me a huge Martenitsa with two traditional figures: the guy is Пижо (Pijo) and the woman is Пенда (Penda). I'm not wearing this martenitsa though, I'm not that hard core...