Thinking a bit lately...

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn beween a desire to save and savor the world. And this makes it difficult to plan the day." --E.B. White

The Peace Corps seminar director back at my initial orientation meeting in Philadelphia offered this quote to the newly gathered group of Peace Corps volunteers. The idea has really resonated with me lately; and I have come to enjoy my role as a PCV even more with this sense of serenity.

As I have mentioned before, I have struggled in the first few months in Ruse accepting the idea that I would be working at a school with priviliged students (relatively speaking) in a huge city (relatively speaking) that could and most certainly would go on existing the same way without me in it. How was I supposed to satisfy my desire to 'save the world?'

But the more I harped on this fact, the more it got under my skin. Until a week or so ago when I was looking back through a journal of mine and saw this quote I had taken down back in Philly. It was unbelievable when I read it because it spoke to me so strongly now (much more than when I was back in Philly during April '07).

'Savoring my world' is something I have not been doing enough. Certainly I have had some amazing opportunities since I have been in Bulgaria, and I have done some great things with some great people. But I realized I have not done enough savoring.

In class the other day my class started getting loud. Before Christmas Break, I probably would have raised my voice, told them to quiet down, and I would have become agitated for at least the rest of the class if not the rest of the school day. But with the idea of 'savoring' at the forefront, I simply smiled. I mean lets be honest, all they were doing was joking around. No one was getting hurt and no one was being ugly to anyone else. They were simply being carefree, fun-loving students. I realized I should feel lucky to have the opportunity to teach such warm people. Feeling miserable because they don't always want to learn English with the focus of an adult is self-destructive and unneccesary.

I am learning Bulgarian, meeting amazing people, helping really fun students, all while truly growing as a person; what is there not to savor?

So, I've had this thought of the save/savor complex with me for the past few weeks of my life and it really has made things more rewarding...and most importantly, more fun!

hit 'em straight in 2008

just thought i'd pass along a pretty
ridiculous experience i had earlier in the week...

so, after a great christmas vacation and a freshly restored level of will
I was ready to start the whole teaching thing again...

Tuesday morning I entered my first class with a meticulous lesson plan, a nice shirt and tie, and even a mini rah rah speech to start my students off with in the new year. 'CHALLENGE YOURSELF!' was going to be our new motto and I was going to write it on the board and simply point to it when the students got a little out of hand.

With the attendance book and text book in one hand, I turned the door handle with the other expecting to see 27 smiling faces atop 27 standing 8th graders with the same amount of fortitude that I promised myself I would maintain for at least the next 6 months.

Instead of this, what did I see? three boys and four girls in the back of the classroom 'supermanning that ho' and blaring this wonderful example of songwriting; while the other students were listening to the song on one boy's cell phone and bobbing their heads to the beat, studying this carefully coreographed dance routine.
...Generally speaking I take my role as a teacher over here serious, but at that
time I just had to laugh.

Its beginning to feel a lot like xmas

'i feel it in my fingers, i feel it in my toes, christmas is all around me, just like the saying goes!'

A few days ago I watched "Love Actually" for the first time and I haven't been able to get that 'one too many syllable' gingle out of my head. I definitely feel the christmas spirit is all around me...but, proverbially, maybe just one syllable off.

I've been pretty active over the past month not only during the week with the school year in full swing, but it seems like every weekend I have a full schedule. The Second weekend in November, I traveled with 4 other teachers and two of our classes from Geo Milev High School to a town in central Bulgaria: Gabrovo. Although it was raining litereally the whole time and the temperature was hovering right around freezing, we made the best of it. We went to the planetareum in Gabrovo where disappointingly the presentation failed to mention the recent renumeration of planets to exclude Pluto. I thought that was a rather blatant ommission of facts considering none of my students knew what I was talking about when I brought the subject to their attention. Also, Gabrovo is known throughout the country as the 'capital of humor.' Because of that, they have a Home of Humor with different famous Bulgarian Cartoonists and Satirists work on display as well as an exhibition of interesting Bulgarian sayings/adages. The one I liked the most was: "No matter what you produce, when you go to market you must sell yourself." Ambiguous maybe, but I liked it. On our excursion, we stayed in a Hotel with our students. Fortunately the night was rather uneventful (at least no one got hurt or drank too much according to my knowledge) but being so close to their age, I felt a little awkward for sure.

On our way back to Ruse, we stopped at an open air museum that was set up like an eighteenth century bulgarian village would be. This time in Bulgarian history is very popular/nostalgic for Bulgarians because this is the time immediately following their Rebirth from the Ottoman Empire. Once again, although it was miserable weather-wise, I enjoyed it as much as I could.

Next weekend was Thanksgiving weekend. I really began to feel homesick as the days began to end around 5pm and I yearned for the feeling of returning home from Blacksburg to experience the sights and sounds of The Bridge for a week. But I got over this the best way I knew how. I invited some of the teachers from my school over from my school for a thanksgiving dinner. I made a pumpkin pie, roasted a turkey, and made some delicious stuffing. Surprisingly the food was delicious! My friends loved it and we had a great night at my apartment. This was also the first weekend of the Ruse Teachers 3v3 Co-ed Basketball Tournament organized by the Municipality. Many factors led to Geo Milev absolutely dominating the tournament and winning first place. Among them being: I was about 10 years younger than the next youngest player, the other man on my team is about 6'5", and apparently not many of the teachers in Ruse have a thorough background in Basketball. We won a pretty nice-sized trophy that was awarded to us at an Awards Banquet/Holiday party.

That night was a lot of fun filled with folk dancing (horo), good food (a 3 course traditional bulgarian style dinner), and good drink (rakia).

One weekend, along with a couple of the men that work at the Youth Center in Ruse, I took some students to a nearby lake that is (or at least was) absolutely filthy. We spent the morning filling about 70 bags of trash and spent the afternoon playing football. One of the kids had a football that his mom brought him back from the states when she went on vacation this summer to Miami. It was a great time throwing the football. When I think about it, going a whole summer and fall without touching a football is a tragedy. But it was pretty fun tossing it around after all. It was also cool how everyone was seemingly dumbfounded how I could throw a spiral.

On Thursday, some of my students will perform a Christmas play that I wrote. Well, I didn't exactly write it. I adopted 'A Christmas Carole' by Charles Dickens into play form and shortened it while also making the English very easy. Either way, I'm definitely excited to see my students perform it on Thursday.

But my excitement for that doesn't come close to how excited I am for Ill nana to come. Will is coming to visit me for my Christmas break. I am going to meet him at the Sofia Airport on Xmas day and we are gonna travel from Sofia to Kyustendil to Plovdiv to Istanbul...in effect traveling across Bulgaria. I've heard nothing but great things about the sights in Istanbul so I can't wait to experience it with Will and some of the other PCVs who will be traveling with us.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

what a month!

he's ba-aaaaaaaack! Hello everyone! As of Tuesday, November 5th, 2007 the public school year began all across Bulgaria. Nearly, 2 months after the originally scheduled first day of school (September 15th) I am teaching in a high school full of the teachers holding class everyday and students (some energetically, some begrudgingly) coming to class everyday. I am continuing to teach my 8th and 9th grade classes and next week I will begin hosting an after school group with older students who would like to get more practice with their English and who would like to get more realistic English exposure (discussions of real world issues, films, music, current events, etc.)

Although I am assured whenever I make the comment (mnogo e studeno neska...its really cold today) that this winter will get much colder, the weather has gotten pretty damn cold already here in Ruse. I have a space heater in my apartment that I keep on 24/7 because it has recently been brought to my attention that my apartment block has no working central heating this winter. Awesome! But really I can't complain. The cold winter will balance out the extremely hot temperatures we got here during the summer. There has yet to be any substancial snowstorms but it has flurried a couple times.

So what else have I been up to since the last time I entered Blogworld? Other than teaching, frankly, not a whole lot....

The first week in October, I took a weekend trip to see my host family from Kyuestendil (the town close to the Macedonian border where I lived for my first 3 months in Bulgaria during my training). It was a great weekend. I felt a bit proud of myself when I could communicate with all of them leaps and bounds above the level I communicated with them when I lived with them during the summer. My host brother and sister, Velisar and Velislava, live in Sofia because they attend University there. After I saw my host parents in Kyuestendil on Friday night and Saturday, I traveled to Sofia (about a 2hour bus ride) to hang out with Velisar and Velislava. We had a great time painting 'Student City' - the section of Sofia where all of the students live - red. We met up with a bunch of their friends and ate, drank, and danced the HORO all night. The HORO is a style of traditional Bulgarian folk dance where everyone dances in a line side-by-side and follows the line around the room in a random pattern (in this case, it was the entire restaurant where we were). Its really a good time. But after many trips around restaurant, the DJ started playing more modern music and taking requests. At this point I took it upon myself to request classic American folk music....Michael Bolton. haha I laugh, but it happened.

Back in Ruse, I sometimes feel like a bit of a needle in a haystack. When I decided to join the Peace Corps I really didn't picture myself living in a city with 120,000-plus people, but that is the reality of it. I suffer sometimes from feeling like I'm not doing enough, not because I lack the desire, but because I lack the power/connections/know-how. At first, and even sometimes still, this lack of efficaciousness weighs heavily. But it really has helped me gain a more humble sense of serenity. Which is a good thing when coupled with the opportunities I do have...

After all, I get to meet with over 100 kids everyday who clearly express that they think the world of me. With this respect (well-deserved or not) that I get from my students, I have the chance to teach them the skill of the world's most international language that can do nothing but help improve their lives in the near future and in the long run. Whether it be translating a claimer from a travel website, or helping revise Motivational Letters for students that aspire to attend Univerisities that use English as the the language of discourse; I have learned to focus on the task at hand so that even if I may be only a 'needle' in the proverbial haystack, I am a hard-working and thoroughly-giving needle.

*****************************

I turned 23 on the 28th of October! This is the first of two birthdays that I will celebrate over here in Bulgaria. It just so happened that my birthday coincided with the nationwide celebration of Halloween by many of the PCVs in the town of Veliko Turnovo. We all had a great time dressing up and acting blatantly and obnoxiously American for a weekend in a guest house that we rented for 2 nights. I was a ninja. Ladies, don't get too excited when I say this, but was wearing tights. See the pictures on snapfish.com or facebook.com....

The next weekend, I ran in my first marathon. I ran it in Athens, Greece where the first marathon was ran 2500 years ago. Or at least this is according to the legend that was first recorded 1900 years ago. Sunday, November 4th, 2007 was and most assuredly will be one of the coolest days of my life. Marathons are such great experiences. The energy and excitement is almost tangible in a city that is hosting a marathon of over 7,000 participants. 8 other PCVs ran in the marathon as well and we all ran at different paces but with similar outcomes...great memories, promises that the next time we'll train harder, and inexplicable pain shooting through muscles we didn't know we had. Additionally, in my case, I hurt my left ankle during the race and could hardly walk from my hostel to the bus to catch the airport the next morning. But with that said, I have and always will have great memories of november 4th.

I believe thats all for now...I hope all of my friends/family/loved ones don't regret the time they took out to read the preceding randomness that is my life nowadays, and I thank you for thinking of me. In one way or another, I have thought of you and used our friendship and memories to help me in times of homesickness over the past 7 months. :)

god bless you all!

The school year is underway...

It is now the middle of my third week of teaching classes at Geo Milev 'High School' in Ruse, Bulgaria. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the classroom with my students, but the first few weeks of school have been anything but uneventful.

First of all, just like in America, the teachers of public schools are poorly underpaid. Although very few people (if any) are willing to justify this reality, it remains a fact of life; not only in the U.S. but in Bulgaria and - I would guess - the world over. Because of this, the teachers of Bulgaria have mobilized and have enacted a 'stachka' (bulgarian for STRIKE) to protest these unjustifiably low wages. But since I am paid by Peace Corps Bulgaria and as an organization we do not take any political stances, I continue to have classes (along with all of the other PCVs at their respective schools around the country).

There are a few teachers still holding classes along with me at school but for the most part, the teachers have told their students not to come to school because they will not be teaching anything. In protest, the striking teachers simply show up to school at 8am and 'sit in' until 4pm. This strike has now been underway for 12 days. That is 12 days worth of pay that the teachers will not receive. But most importantly, that is 12 days worth of school that the students have not received. Instead they will have to make up the lessons they have missed with extended days, on weekends, or worst of all, on holidays. So with all of this political turmoil...who wins? Well that remains to be seen if the Ministry of Education will increase the salaries of the teachers. But certainly, the losers are clearly the ones who have no control of the situation: the students.

So that is one thing that has made my fledgeling weeks very interesting. Other than that, I cannot say enough about how impressed I am with the level of my students' English. Although they have only been taking english lessons (in school) for a couple of years in primary school, I am able to explain things in simple English and they understand most of what I say. (Part of my instructions from my colleagues is to speak only in English during class. If the students really do not understand something when I explain it in English, they can ask me after class and I can try to explain it in Bulgarian)

As a whole the students are extremely enthusiastic about learning English in my class and are very curious about life in America? (i.e. Is everyone rich? Is high school like AMERICAN PIE? Do you like 50 cent?) by the way, Curtis Jackson did all of us teaching English a disservice by using that name. Students find it very confusing to say, The cookie costs 50 CENTS while also saying, I like to listen to 50 CENT. My mom and I are setting up a classroom exchange program where my 9th grade students in Bulgaria can communicate with her students at Woodbridge Middle. They are definitely excited about that. Although I hope they keep their curious minds somewhat censored when asking questions to her students.


For the most part, my life has been spent at school. After school, I go jogging (31 days until the Athens Marathon!!!) http://www.athensclassicmarathon.gr/default.1.asp And I try to cook different things using the amazingly delicious fruit and vegetables from the market that is just next to my apartment. I have cooked a couple of meals for friends and colleagues on the weekends and they seem to enjoy my cooking. For those of you all that are wondering...my cuisine has congealed into a somewhat more ordinary array of dishes. (I have yet to serve ramen/milk/mustard/chicken/chocolate sauce delight to anyone in Bulgaria like we used to do it at the PRC)

also....With the help of slingbox (and my brother despite the fact that he still hasn't bought an audio splitter or had the cable guy come fix his DVR), I have been able watch the beginning of the VT and redskin seasons. (I think I woke my neighbors up due to my yelp similar to that of an 8 year old child being spanked when Betts was stopped at the 1)

This weekend I am going to take the bus back to Kyuestendil to visit my host family and hopefully see my old language teacher Anni. (see my first blog entry; I heart Anni)

Thats about all for now...although I do not get to talk to you often, it really makes me feel great when you shoot me an email and tell me something funny/nice/new/cool/interesting about what you are up to or about life in general.

God Bless!

9/9/1947

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY DAD!

CHESTIT SHESTDECETI ROZHDEN DEN BASHTA MI!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

As far back as I can remember, the fall has felt like the REAL beginning of the year. Primarily because of the start of a new school year. Whether it be new school supplies, cool new shoes, or as is now the case, my new (Teachers Editions) English Language Textbooks for my 8th and 9th grade students; there is always something new and exciting to look forward to as the temperature starts to cool down and the days become just a bit shorter.

This year, I will be teaching 2 periods/week for each of the 5 different 8th grade classes and the 4 different 9th grade classes at Geo Milev English Language Lyceum. (A lyceum being a high school with grades 8-12 where students not only receive a traditional education but also focus on a specific skill: in Geo Milev's case, English). In addition, I will have an after-school class each day which will be a more relaxed environment for my students to practice their English and hopefully to help me practise my Bulgarian. I have been working on my lesson plans and meeting the teachers this past week as we all prepare for the start of the school year on September 15th. Yes, that is a Saturday. Every year, Bulgarian schools start on the 15th regardless what day it is. This first day of 'classes' is full of performances, ceremonies, music, and meet/greets to serve as the celebration of a new school year.

Last week I bought a 'SLINGBOX' off of a guy on eBay. Basically, a SLINGBOX is a new technology where you can hook up this patented device to a digital cable box on one end and an internet router on another end and you can broadcast local digital cable worldwide through the internet to a private network. Pretty insane, huh? So Mark set it up for me at his house in D.C. and I have been able to watch Washington area T.V. on my computer. Obviously, the reason why I got this thing was to watch the hokies and the skins this fall. I stayed up all night last night (the game started at 4:15am local time sunday morning) to watch tech/lsu. Although we got our asses handed to us on a stick, it was really exciting to be able to watch the game. <> Also, I will be able to watch the skins-dolphins game (8pm sunday local time)

I am so excited to have the capability to stay in touch with sports back home; but the whole situation is kinda odd for me.
First of all, watching the hokies play in the middle of the night while drinking Glenn Dorsey-knows-how-many cups of coffee does not begin to compare to watching it at the Delta Chi house with a keg, or in Lane Stadium with a bourbon and coke (wait, i mean, just plain coke ;) ) or at 503 with great people and great aristocrat.
Also, when I decided to serve in the Peace Corps, I did not picture this sort of set-up would be possible. I was willing and ready to go anywhere in the world where I could serve my 27 months without the ammenities of life at home in the states. So to have the capability to watch local television almost makes me feel like I'm cheating. As long as I just use the slingbox to watch my teams when they are on and not let it be a distraction from the purpose that I am here, I think it will be all good.

anyways...

Last Thursday was Unification Day in Bulgaria. On September 6, 1885 the recently liberated Bulgarian state acquired the region of eastern Rumelia from the Ottoman-Turks which still maintained control of this region as a principality to its fastly decreasing empire. Eastern Rumelia is the area of modern Bulgaria that stretches from southeast of Sofia all the way to the Black Sea to the east and Greece to the south. Because everyone had a day off of work, I went over to one of my colleague's houses and had lunch with her family. On Friday, I went to a celo (Bulgarian for a small village) with a couple of friends. Tabachka, the small village about 25 km south of Ruse is such a quaint little place like so many other small villages throughout Bulgaria. With only a small store to buy bread, beer, and select few other necessities, people grow all of their own fresh vegetables and get their fresh water from natural springs. After some hours of exploring the surrounding riverbeds and valleys, one of my friends grandmas prepared a delicious fresh lunch of fresh vegetables, home-grown walnuts, sausage, and home-made plum brandy. The brandy is known as Rakia in Bulgaria and it is somewhat of a write of passage for people from the villages to grow their own and argue about how it is far more superior (both in taste and alcohol proof) than any other rakia ever distilled before. That was a great, relaxing day that I will not soon forget!

So, I have been having some great experiences and meeting some great people lately. I am definitely ready for the start of my first school year in Bulgaria. Like every other fall, this year surely will bring new experiences, new knowledge, new challenges...and an early season loss for the hokies.