Every day, I come home to the same struggle of figuring out which one of my four keys unlock the the pearly gate zealously guarding my Italian villa. I stand there with a certain degree of patience meticulously going through every key before it 'clicks'. But, on one day, as I continued doing the same ritual, I stood there and laughed. I couldn't help it. The raucous rose from my throat like a stampede of elephants. I wasn't laughing because of something particularly humorous or the fact that I should know by now that the largest key opens the gate (I figured that out week 2). No, for me, it 'clicked'.
Lately, my life has been like a set of keys, particularly teaching. Teaching is like having 1,000 keys for 23 different locks, and, somehow, you have to unlock those locks and, miraculously, all at once! My life was/is/has become/will always be the master key; the unsung messiah trying to bless all my students the gift of English. If only it was easy as turning your water cup into the wine glass.
As all my fellow educators can relate, you can comb through every lesson plan only to have everything become a catastrophe on game day. In one particular class, it seemed that way. My multilevel class became a multilevel disaster, but, by the following lesson, something happened; students began forming sentences and even had a conversation! How much can I attribute to me waving my magical key (read: student centered games)? I don't know! But progress is just that: progress.
As for my language learning, that's an even funnier story. For a little context, Bulgarian is a Slavic language that, like Russian, uses the Cyrillic alphabet; ipso facto, it's phonetic! Yay! Unfortunately, Bulgarian has gendered nouns (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and I seem to be utterly incapable of assigning the correct definite article to each noun despite my weekly lessons. Now, you're probably still looking for the funny part, right? Well, this past fall break I visited Serbia, and Bosnia & Hercegovina. These particular countries speak BCS (Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian) or Serbo-Croat or Bosnian or Serbian or Croatian or whatever you want to call them because language politics is too complicated for a single blog post, but what you need to know is that they speak the same language! Anyways, BCS happens to be a relative of Bulgarian. Now, to revisit the key analogy, sometimes we all have doors in our lives that can be unlocked, but it must be forced. Maybe you have to push the door in, or turn a key a certain way. There is certain amount of effort--excruciating or otherwise--but the door still opens. And that is exactly what happened. Here is a snapshot of a conversation (translated from Bulgarian) with Serbians and Bosnians alike.
Hello.
Hello.
I want one borek (delicious pastry).
What?
I would like one borek.
Ah! Yes.
*says something* or cheese?
Uhhh Cheese.
What?
Cheese.
Oh! Cheese!
Sorry, I dont know BCS, I know Bulgarian.
Oh, it's no problem. I don't understand Bulgarian. I know BCS.
Goodbye
Goodbye
The frequencies of these conversations is slightly alarming. I didn't really understand people, but, despite speaking different languages we managed!
Now to drop the analogies, and get to the fun part! Here are some pictures of my trip! I spent 4 days in Serbia (3 in Belgrade, 1 in Novi Sad), and another 4 days in Bosnia & Hercegovina (3 days in Sarajevo and 1 in Mostar). As most people may know, these 2 particular countries--or, rather, peoples-- are well known for the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995. I will not get into details, but it's clear to this day the damage inflicted and the difficulties of reconciliation (or lack thereof). I loved my time in both places, and met some incredibly friendly folks. Needless to say, I can't wait to go back! In the meantime, I encourage everyone to visit and look into the history of the region from the Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians, Yugoslavia, the 1984 Olympic games in Sarajevo, Srebenica, NATO, and beyond!
Serbia
 |
| Kalemeydan, an Otttoman fortress in Belgrade |
 |
| Looking a little pensive since the other tourist didn't actually tell me when he was taking the photo |
 |
| Saint Saba's Serbian Orthodox Church! Belgrade! |
 |
| Due to construction, the church was unfinished, but this was the crypt! |
 |
| Drawing of Yugoslavia in the Museum of Yugoslavia - Belgrade |
 |
| Grave of Tito, former leader of Yugoslavia |
 |
| St. Marks Cathedral - Belgrade |
 |
| Belgrade is known for being a hip city with a swanky art scene |
 |
| Serbian breakfast featuring many varieties of salami! |
 |
| Fortress in Novi Sad! |
 |
| City center - Novi Sad |
 |
| In general, Novi Sad was very picturesque! |
 |
| City Square - Novi Sad |
 |
| Synagogue - Novi Sad |
 |
| Sarajevo! |
 |
| Old city Sarajevo |
 |
| BOREK! |
 |
| Bosnian coffee (like Turkish coffee) and Baklava! |
 |
| 'Stari Most' which literally means 'Old Bridge'! Mostar! |
 |
| Old town Mostar featuring unsuspecting tourists |
 |
| Mosque in Mostar! |
 |
| Tunnel of Hope - Sarajevo |
 |
| My favorite part of Sarajevo! The abandoned 1984 Olympic bobsled track! |
 |
| Ready for my next olympics #Luge |
 |
| Fulbright Bulgaria meets Fulbright Bosnia! I had the chance of meeting Valerie, an ETA in Sarajevo, and her son! |
 |
| Like many parts of the country, you can still see bullet holes/shrapnel and other damage from the war! This is the Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo! |
 |
| Sunset over Sarajevo |
This site FulbrightBlogaria.blogspot.com is not an official Fulbright Program site. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of Keegan Scott and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State or any of its partner organizations.
No comments:
Post a Comment