Dear Family and Friends,
The time is winding down quickly but the to-do list seems to be getting longer. My top priority, though, is to get as much visiting in with my Bulgarian and Peace Corps friends as possible.
Food
I visit my dear friend Stefka about once a week. She was the substitute lower elementary English teacher last year. This year, she was my Bulgarian tutor. Her parents live and work in Italy, so we sort of adopted each other. It's a perfect relationship; I get to be
baba (grandmother) to her baby daughter, and she gets to cook for me. :)
Radostina which means "joy"
Stefka likes to share her Bulgarian recipes with me, even when she knows I won't like something, like
shkembay (tripe) soup. Her intention is to make sure I've tried as many traditional Bulgarian dishes as possible, and I am so willing to oblige. Yesterday, we had new potatoes, boiled then sauteed in butter with parsley and dill. Delicious! I was sent home with half a grocery bag of new potatoes which I fixed for lunch today. When I took a plateful to my landlady, she gave me a plateful of pork she had just prepared. I will miss these women.
Another Celebration
Yesterday was "the Day of Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture and Slavonic Script. It's the day Bulgarians honor the memory and the life work of the brothers Cyril and Methodius, 9th Century missioaries, called apostles to the Slavs, and fathers of Slavonic literature. The brothers created the Cyrillic alphabet, a unique graphic system meant to express the eccentric Slavic sounds and the language, incomprehensible to the Byzantine people. The new graphic system was based on a Slavic dialect spoken in Cyril's birthplace - Thessaloniki. The brothers Cyril and Methodius won Papal approval for the use of Slavonic in church liturgy. At that time Bulgarian became one of the four sacred languages in church service (the other three being Greek, Latin and Hebrew). It was used in diplomacy and commerce in Medieval Europe as well as for Christianizing Russia.
"The celebration of the Day of Cyril and Methodius dates from the 1330, when it was primarily a church holiday. In the middle of the 19th Century (1863) the celebration in honor of the apostles of Slavic culture was resumed after a long hiatus. Since then schools, libraries, community centers and houses in all villages and towns around Bulgaria are decorated with flowers on that day. The portraits and the icons of the Saints Cyril and Methodius are adorned with wreaths, and the hymn of Cyril and Methodius is performed." (Thanks to John Martin Taylor for lifting this from the Embassy newsletter to post on Facebook and saving me the trouble of research.)
The students brought bouquets of flowers to school on Thursday.
These two teachers stayed to make the flower boughs. I wanted to help but my hands were only in the way, so I ended up picking the thorns off the rose stems for them.
One of the boughs adorns the gate to the schoolyard, and another decorates the picture of the Saints Cyril and Methodius above the doors to the school.
The day started with a church service for both students and teachers, then we went to the community center for a program and celebration. This is a video of the brothers' anthem being sung.
Borovan
I visited my host family in Borovan last weekend, the town in the northwest part of the country where I lived the first three months and where I did my training with five other volunteers. My hosts were busy with all there is to do to survive on a pension in Bulgaria but made time for me with rest and relaxation built in. They wouldn't let me help much, so I watched as they planted tomatoes and parsley, tied a half acre of grape vines to their trellises, made cheese, and cleaned a slaughtered lamb's body parts.
I translated, "cleaning the stomach of a sheep," but it was a lamb.
Italy
I had the good fortune to return to Italy in April with some of my colleagues and twelve students. The good fortune may have been the result of my begging, but never-the-less, I got to go and had a wonderful time. The trip was part of my colleague's project sponsored by the European Union to "make the school attractive for children." The students and English teacher were also there to practice their English language skills while another teacher and the assistant director practiced their Italian. We visited Varese, near Milan, then went to Rome. To read more about this adventure and see photos, go to my blog that I shared with the students at Central Springs Elementary: travelswithstanley.blogspot.com
Correspondence
I was very disappointed when some of the post cards I sent out to thank people for the Christmas wishes were returned to me. Please know I appreciated each and every one.
End of Service
Over 26 months down and less than one to go. I'm slowly checking items off a list of things I must do before I leave: Description of Service (DOS), Volunteer Report Form (VRF), attachments B, E, F and G (I'm still wondering what happened to A, C, D and E) which all must be sent to the AA (administrative assistant) because the AO (administrative officer) has already transferred to PC Zambia, Close of Service (COS) medical exam, COS dental exam (bad news there), COS eye exam, get rid of all the ugly second-hand clothes I bought since I've been here (GROUC), and sort through the reams of documents I've collected in two years' time (STD). And pack. Then I will become a RPCV - Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. :) Sorry, I got started and couldn't stop.
Congratulations!
Best wishes and future success to my niece and great nephew on their graduation from high school. I'm very proud of them both for their accomplishments.
Thanks for reading.
Peace, love and see you soon!
Joan
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