Monday, January 18, 2010
Winter Life
Sometimes it snows, sometimes that snow melts, and sometimes it snows again. But on the whole, my village hasn't seen any snow or arctic days like Minnesota. Yesterday, there was a ski swap in Sofia. From the looks of it, a decent snowboard, boots, and bindings would have gone for less than 300 lev ($220.47 USD as of today). This would have been a pretty good deal, but with such a mild winter who knows if I could have used it by February?!
It hasn't been too difficult to stay busy though. I brought some books back from home, a new hard drive loaded with movies and TV shows, some charcoal pencils and a sketch pad, a few new records to listen to, and since it has been so cold hiking the mountains is still an option (and as outrageous as it may sound, indeed apart of my work!).
Before the holidays, my Peace Corps boss and my village bosses and myself had a meeting to discuss the next 6 months of my service. The result was to focus more on tourism development and less on teaching English to the kids. I'm not complaining about that. My English club once a week and occasionally guess teaching the English class is plenty.
Here are some photographs: Take note of the traditional Rhodope garments and artifacts. Kind of neat.
{winter life}-> This one is for you Tony. Thanks for getting me back on the Horse. or perhaps in my case, the donkey.)
It hasn't been too difficult to stay busy though. I brought some books back from home, a new hard drive loaded with movies and TV shows, some charcoal pencils and a sketch pad, a few new records to listen to, and since it has been so cold hiking the mountains is still an option (and as outrageous as it may sound, indeed apart of my work!).
Before the holidays, my Peace Corps boss and my village bosses and myself had a meeting to discuss the next 6 months of my service. The result was to focus more on tourism development and less on teaching English to the kids. I'm not complaining about that. My English club once a week and occasionally guess teaching the English class is plenty.
Here are some photographs: Take note of the traditional Rhodope garments and artifacts. Kind of neat.
{winter life}-> This one is for you Tony. Thanks for getting me back on the Horse. or perhaps in my case, the donkey.)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
in stich
unexpectedly, i didnt have to teach today; so i thought
i have a new camera and i should
climb a mountain
then there was this other time i climbed a mountain. it was warmer then.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Snow-you-didn’t!
So we have snow here now. And that is tremendous! (no picture ,slight camera issue, should be soon though...) The snow is great because it makes this tiny village on top of a mountain feel like some stylish resort in aspen. It is also exciting because there is always some special energy that accompanies the first snow of the season.
With the snow and the lower temperatures I have been using my wood stove. It is kind of fun to start a fire in your house, not to mention it can get quite warm in my two rooms. Strange how in my Peace Corps home,it will be warmer this winter than my home in the United States.
On Halloween weekend, I had the chance to go visit and celebrate with a bunch of other Peace Corps Volunteers. It was sweet! We haven’t had the chance to socialize with each other without any Peace Corps obligations in a real long time. We also played a game of American Football and that was radical.
Things I am looking forward too: Slowly but surely starting projects. Thursdays, I run an English club where we speak English or work on assignments. I will be starting a scouts group where we hang out and do scouts type of activities (un-official scouts, real scouts is expensive!) also there is an English class for adults in the works. All these projects, along with studying will really help my Bulgarian language progress. Once my Bulgarian is sufficient, then I will be able to move onto other projects in the business development and (hopefully) micro-finance.
Joke.
Q: What do you call an avid gardener?
A: Herb!
With the snow and the lower temperatures I have been using my wood stove. It is kind of fun to start a fire in your house, not to mention it can get quite warm in my two rooms. Strange how in my Peace Corps home,it will be warmer this winter than my home in the United States.
On Halloween weekend, I had the chance to go visit and celebrate with a bunch of other Peace Corps Volunteers. It was sweet! We haven’t had the chance to socialize with each other without any Peace Corps obligations in a real long time. We also played a game of American Football and that was radical.
Things I am looking forward too: Slowly but surely starting projects. Thursdays, I run an English club where we speak English or work on assignments. I will be starting a scouts group where we hang out and do scouts type of activities (un-official scouts, real scouts is expensive!) also there is an English class for adults in the works. All these projects, along with studying will really help my Bulgarian language progress. Once my Bulgarian is sufficient, then I will be able to move onto other projects in the business development and (hopefully) micro-finance.
Joke.
Q: What do you call an avid gardener?
A: Herb!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mormons or Peace Corps?
There is something that is becoming increasingly clear to me. Bulgaria is small. Bulgaria is Duluth, MN small.
This has become apparent in the way that most people I encounter in Bulgaria knows, has known or known of a Peace Corps volunteer. This is really great, and I think says a lot about the work Peace Corps is doing in Bulgaria.
So, that brings me to yesterday (Saturday, October 17); a fellow volunteer and I met in Plovdiv to do a little exploring and eat some McDonalds! We were in the old town at a gift stand when the man working the stand heard us speaking English and could tell that we were American. He asked us “Mormons or Peace Corps?”
This has become apparent in the way that most people I encounter in Bulgaria knows, has known or known of a Peace Corps volunteer. This is really great, and I think says a lot about the work Peace Corps is doing in Bulgaria.
So, that brings me to yesterday (Saturday, October 17); a fellow volunteer and I met in Plovdiv to do a little exploring and eat some McDonalds! We were in the old town at a gift stand when the man working the stand heard us speaking English and could tell that we were American. He asked us “Mormons or Peace Corps?”
Sunday, October 4, 2009
4 of 26: Volunteer Report
This week the bi-annual Volunteer Report Form for Peace Corps workers was due. The report is Peace Corps’s way of tracking what the organization is accomplishing. Each volunteer has to give detailed descriptions of their activities and the number and demographic of the people they are working with. This time it was easy for us volunteers who started 2-months ago. We didn’t have a whole-lot to report, but I still thought some people might be interested in what I have been doing as far as work kind of things.
Teaching English
I have been helping teach English to 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders two days a week.
KUBB
Monday-Friday I have been playing sports with kids at the school. I have taught them a game that I play with friends from the US. The game is called Kubb. It involves throwing sticks at blocks of wood. The kids have really enjoyed the game and ask to play it often. The game has been especially good at equalizing talents of girls, boys and the younger kids. The competition is fair, so boys and girls play the game together. It is different when we play other sports. Most of the time, the boys’ are the only kids who play the sports.
Examples of ICT (Information/Communication Technology)
My landlord has a computer in his store. He was having problems with installing a new mouse and getting his internet to work. I was able to help him resolve his issues with the computer.
Four friends of mine, who live in the village, didn’t know much about the internet. I was able to help them sign up for Email accounts, Facebook accounts, and Skype accounts using my laptop. We also started a Facebook page for our village, and uploaded many photos to the page using my digital camera.
WID/GAD (Women in Development, Gender and Development)
I played volleyball with a group of the younger girls of the village. I was also able to introduce a game to those girls where they could fairly compete with the boys of the village.
Goal Two: “Promote understanding of Americans to peoples served”
When one of my friends had a birthday, I made Chocolate chip cookies and everyone enjoyed them a lot. I was able to show 7 of my friends an American dessert. Also, my friends are interested in American Football and we have been following the Minnesota Vikings a little bit.
Goal Three: “Promote understanding of Host country to Americans”
I have been maintaining a blog (dansarles.blogspot.com). The updates on the blog communicate observations that I have had made about Bulgaria and the people of Bulgaria. Also, I have been writing letters and Emails to friends and family in the US.
~~~
Another thing in particular that I seem to have been really lucky with is; in my village I have friends close to my age! A lot of Peace Corps workers are serving in villages where all the 20somthigns go off to larger towns to work. My friends were able to find work around the area, and they like living in the village. They have been excellent people to get to know!
Here is a picture with some of my friends from the town holiday.
Joke:
Q: What do you call a cow that just had a baby?
A: De-CAFEinated!!!!!
(THANKS JILL)
Teaching English
I have been helping teach English to 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders two days a week.
KUBB
Monday-Friday I have been playing sports with kids at the school. I have taught them a game that I play with friends from the US. The game is called Kubb. It involves throwing sticks at blocks of wood. The kids have really enjoyed the game and ask to play it often. The game has been especially good at equalizing talents of girls, boys and the younger kids. The competition is fair, so boys and girls play the game together. It is different when we play other sports. Most of the time, the boys’ are the only kids who play the sports.
Examples of ICT (Information/Communication Technology)
My landlord has a computer in his store. He was having problems with installing a new mouse and getting his internet to work. I was able to help him resolve his issues with the computer.
Four friends of mine, who live in the village, didn’t know much about the internet. I was able to help them sign up for Email accounts, Facebook accounts, and Skype accounts using my laptop. We also started a Facebook page for our village, and uploaded many photos to the page using my digital camera.
WID/GAD (Women in Development, Gender and Development)
I played volleyball with a group of the younger girls of the village. I was also able to introduce a game to those girls where they could fairly compete with the boys of the village.
Goal Two: “Promote understanding of Americans to peoples served”
When one of my friends had a birthday, I made Chocolate chip cookies and everyone enjoyed them a lot. I was able to show 7 of my friends an American dessert. Also, my friends are interested in American Football and we have been following the Minnesota Vikings a little bit.
Goal Three: “Promote understanding of Host country to Americans”
I have been maintaining a blog (dansarles.blogspot.com). The updates on the blog communicate observations that I have had made about Bulgaria and the people of Bulgaria. Also, I have been writing letters and Emails to friends and family in the US.
~~~
Another thing in particular that I seem to have been really lucky with is; in my village I have friends close to my age! A lot of Peace Corps workers are serving in villages where all the 20somthigns go off to larger towns to work. My friends were able to find work around the area, and they like living in the village. They have been excellent people to get to know!
Here is a picture with some of my friends from the town holiday.
Joke:
Q: What do you call a cow that just had a baby?
A: De-CAFEinated!!!!!
(THANKS JILL)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Fountain Head
When you think about digging trenches in the Peace Corps, you wouldn’t think they would be for your landlord’s new barbecue/fountain/picnic area. But, that is what I was working on yesterday.
My landlord is building a barbecue/fountain/picnic area on the road coming into our village. It isn’t too uncommon for people in my area to work on projects like this. In fact, on the 14 KM stretch of road leading into my village there are no fewer than 3 picnic areas (depending on if you count the tipped over cable-spool under a tree, which, I do) and at least 9 fountains.
It has been quite fascinating to see how to build a fountain. The fountains are supplied from natural springs that are all around the mountain. Once a source of water has been identified, rock, sand and plastic-sheets are used to create a collecting pool. Plastic pipe is ran from the collecting pool to the place the fountain is to be built.
Concrete is poured into the shape of the fountain. There is a reservoir to hold incoming water and a spout that pours water into a basin which holds the out going water. On some of the fountains, water flows out into troughs for animals to drink form. Every fountain has been dedicated to someone who has passed away.
The fountains make hiking around the mountain much more enjoyable. Not only do you not have to carry water but, they are all unique and fun to look at. Some of the older fountains have algae growing in their basins, some have many different spouts and some are quite useful at keeping bottles of beer cold. Each fountain has a different aspect to it that give it’s character.
Hopefully all this talk about fountains hasn’t made you too thirsty.
Joke:
-Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
-Because you don’t want to tell anyone you’re a miner!!!!!
My landlord is building a barbecue/fountain/picnic area on the road coming into our village. It isn’t too uncommon for people in my area to work on projects like this. In fact, on the 14 KM stretch of road leading into my village there are no fewer than 3 picnic areas (depending on if you count the tipped over cable-spool under a tree, which, I do) and at least 9 fountains.
It has been quite fascinating to see how to build a fountain. The fountains are supplied from natural springs that are all around the mountain. Once a source of water has been identified, rock, sand and plastic-sheets are used to create a collecting pool. Plastic pipe is ran from the collecting pool to the place the fountain is to be built.
Concrete is poured into the shape of the fountain. There is a reservoir to hold incoming water and a spout that pours water into a basin which holds the out going water. On some of the fountains, water flows out into troughs for animals to drink form. Every fountain has been dedicated to someone who has passed away.
The fountains make hiking around the mountain much more enjoyable. Not only do you not have to carry water but, they are all unique and fun to look at. Some of the older fountains have algae growing in their basins, some have many different spouts and some are quite useful at keeping bottles of beer cold. Each fountain has a different aspect to it that give it’s character.
Hopefully all this talk about fountains hasn’t made you too thirsty.
Joke:
-Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
-Because you don’t want to tell anyone you’re a miner!!!!!
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