Bulgaria 2017 - 2018: November 2018

Mid-September onward would be classified as the Weeks of Training! From BEST Coach's Training to BEST MT Training, my weekends were jam-packed with information. However, I did manage to have a little fun and a few guests along the way.

The Stara Zagora Wine Festival

A Fulbright Bulgaria tradition, ETAs (English Teaching Assistants), Scholars, and Researchers alike converge in Stara Zagora (my current resident) in Mid-October to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor! Around 40 stands setup shop inside the regional history museum which provide samples of their finest wines. Essentially, you get bottomless glasses of fine wine for a whopping 5 leva ($3). Of course, I had to show the fam around Stara Zagora and the weekend was capped off with a group pizza party and some of the #classic apple crisp.

Peep the Roman Ruins in the back

The misshaped rocks and the mosaics on the floor made walking and drinking a perilous task

The Sawyers are very serious about their cooking

Stara Zagora Day

A week before the wine festival, the festivities in Stara Zagora continued with Stara Zagora Day! There was a festival, concert, and tons of fun but, more importantly, that week I finished decorating my classroom!

Kapana Fest

With the first BEST Coach's training in Plovdiv, we had to take advantage of the great weather and see the city! Kapana FEST, aptly named after the hip district characterized by narrow, cobblestones streets, was a success! Vendors selling trinkets and divine delights around every corner, Kapana FEST felt like a cool Autumn jamboree.

7 Rila Lakes

In mid-September, a group of us decided to head to the 7 Rila Lakes, a cluster of some of the highest fresh water lakes in Southwestern Bulgaria. Driving there in the AM, we shimmied up the 30 minutes ski lift and spent the next several hours catching the views!

Troyan Plum Festival

Is there such thing as too many festivals?? The day after hiking to the Rila Lakes, I headed to Troyan, a smaller city in the Stari Planina, to catch the Plum Festival, an event highlighting all the gems made from the fruit. Notably, Rakia, essentially, the national liquor of Bulgaria, has a rather dangerous(ly delicious) variety made from plums. We got to see some of the old-timey production and we certainly enjoyed the sweets along the way. The ride back through the Troyan Pass, one of my favorites, was with great company and beautiful views!

Rakia production

The Troyan Pass!

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Buzludja!

One of my favorite Bulgarian tales is as follows:

The Communists, attempting to seize control, created a plot to knock off a high-ranking general and then cause a little mayhem at the funeral. The general was indeed killed, and the government, king-and-all, were at his funeral when, at the beginning of the service, sharp, bombs went off. The entirety of the BG leadership was murdered; however, the monarchy survived! Why you might ask?

I'll let you ponder that, but the answer is simple: the King was a solid 15 minutes late. From then on, I've been told that being *a little late* in Bulgaria could save your life.

Now, I must confess that I have no idea whether this story is valid or not, but it lends a testament to time in Bulgaria. For that, I have found myself on Bulgarian time which is why my first blog post is a convenient 2 months after the start of my 2nd year with Fulbright Bulgaria. In attempts to process my own crazy doing's, I will do a 3 part serious highlighting the past two months starting from now and going back in time.

Elections

There are fewer things I love more than civic engagement. Seriously. As is my usual protocol as an educator on Election Day, I set up my voting box, had my ballots readied, and donned the walls with the Ohio flag! 89 students voted on two controversial topics: social media preferences and a monarchical reinstallation. Believe it or not, 42 students voted against the measure while 41 were in favor of bringing back the Bulgarian royalty. Of course, several specified I would earn the title (idk if I should be nervous or excited). A fav quote of mine from a colleague: "We already have a parliament. Why do we need another king? (translated)"

Travels

I had the great pleasure of having Natalie Davis--color commentator, friend, Buckeye, maverick, and Fulbrighter (Romania)--join me for class on Monday post-Media Literacy Conference (below). We rented a car, hit up class in the AM, and decided to take our travels northwards starting with the Thracian ruins in Stara Zagora, ancient Thracian tombs in Kazanluk, the Shipka momument, and Buzludja, and ending in Veliko Turnovo at Tsarevets! Also, the finest pizza i've yet to have outside of the US.

Hanging out with 6B

Thracian Tomb - Kazanluk : Sadly, this is a replica, but the original one about 10 steps away is a UNESCO World Heritage Site! It's also locked.

Shipka Monument is dedicated to the Russian and Bulgarian units who fought during the Russo-Turkish War!

Buzludja, a Communist playground, was a former Soviet conference hall now turned into a derelict UFO.

Ego Pizza and Cafe - Veliko Turnovo. You all dont understand how good this was.

Media Literacy Conference 2018

You're probably why I aptly titled this post '*Fact*street's Back'; Fulbright Bulgaria, in conjunction with the State Department, held a 3-day conference in Sofia discussing the role Media Literacy plays in classrooms throughout the Balkans. We had the pleasure of meeting fellow ETA's throughout the region, and I couldn't have had a better time! Barbara McCormack, VP for Education at the Newseum and, overall, gem, dropped in for some v fun activities! Perhaps, the best time I had was simply showing off Sofia to the other ETA's via bread-making, fire-walking, folk-dancing, ambassador-meeting, and rakia-'sipping'.

Jumping into Media Literacy like!

OSU Alumni and current Fulbrighters are very serious at Ambassador-hosted events!

Halloween

Pumpkins are incredibly cheap. 70 cents per pound which is absolutely insane. So when the Bulgarian gods give you pumpkins, you make jack-o-lanterns! I decided to buy 20 some and have a giant party with my 5th, 6th, and 7th graders in my primary school (Hristo Botev - Galabovo) and my 11th graders at my high school (PGEE- Galabovo). 100 kids later, we had oodles and noodles of fun with costumes, medenka (bulgarian cookies), and, obviously, a ton of pumpkins!