Week 27: кийганов ден (Keegan's Name Day)

Jokingly, I always tell my colleagues, "всеки ден е празник в българия!" which literally translates to, "Every day is a holiday in Bulgaria!" As the daily consumption of chocolates and sweets in the teacher's lounge can attest to, there is a slight grain of truth to my statement . . . :D

One of my favorite parts of living and working in Bulgaria are the 'Name Days'. Bulgaria uniquely celebrates the "names" of people based on the Eastern Orthodox saints. For example, "Ivanov Day" is January 7th which prompts all of those with the names of Ivan, Yoan, Ivana, etc. to bring chocolate to their companions. As a teacher with a room full of Ivans (I have 4 in 1 particular class), you better believe I'm slowly becoming a gingerbread man! With all of the birthdays and name days, I decided to treat my colleagues to something special. Since my birthday will never fall on the school calendar, I decided to haphazardly declare March 9th (my half birthday) as Keeganov Den and--as tradition dictates--I brought in plenty of sweet treats! More importantly, International Women's Day is widely celebrated in Bulgaria on March 8th! With a bouquet of flowers and chocolates, everyone gave colleagues, mothers, and women(!) a treat for this day. It's very similar to Mother's Day in the US.

In other news, March has been incredibly busy. From my previous posts, you might have caught a glimpse of my time at the Berlin Conference, but another awesome highlight included a Q & A session between U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria, Eric Rubin, and my PGEE students this past Wednesday! My corporate sponsor, Contour Global, hosted the event and it was quite something!

On March 9th and 10th, 3 of my lovely PGEE students competed in the final East division tournament in Dobrich. Both my duo performance and my prose didn't move on to semi-finals, but we had so much fun hanging out and chatting with the other teams. I'm incredibly proud of the work they put into their pieces. [I've mentioned BEST (Bulgarian English Speech and Debate tournaments) previously, but I'll wait until Nationals in April to give you a more detailed account of such an awesome competition :D ]

As a person who loves Spelling Bees, I was so excited that the weeks of practice with my primary school students during Spelling Bee club culminated into the actual event! March 6th was a busy day and I'm so proud of my 2 students who moved on. Shout out to Bojidara who placed 9th at the regional spelling bee afterwards :D

Today, Friday, March 30th, is the last day before Spring Break consumes all next week and the subsequent Monday. Easter (Velik Den) is celebrated on April 7th since Bulgaria is a predominantly Orthodox nation. That in mind, I decided to do a lesson today on colors with my 9A students all while decorating eggs.

Cooking club is going really well. I put pineapple on pizza and changed lives. Now, my students want me to open up a pizza place. As the old adage goes, "You don't need a Master's when ya got mozzerella." That's an actual saying, right? Sorry for being so CHEESY ;)

Last but not least, i've been going over shapes, sizes, and critical thinking with my students with toothpicks of all things! I've been challenging students to remove/move a certain amount of sticks to get certain shapes. I've been loving those 'aha' moments!

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.

Belgique & Nederland

Because I can't just stay in 1 place for too long . . . . I decided to take the rest of the week off after the Berlin Conference and head to the Netherlands and Belgium!! Allons-y! (And whatever the phrase 'Let's Go' is in Dutch)!

Wednesday, March 21st & Thursday, 22nd: Amsterdam

Canals as far as the eye can see

I hopped off the plane in Amsterdam Schipol with a dream and my cardigan (??). Sadly, the wind chill was brutal, but that didn't stop me from catching a few views that evening. Certainly, the 22nd was a much better day! Starting from the windmill in the east, I hit the Dutch Royal Residence, the Dutch Resistance museum, all the parks imaginable, and some great pics of the architecture! I absolutely loved the canals, the cyclists, and the constant cuteness of the city. I'm upset I didn't stay longer or get a ticket for the Anne Frank museum, but I saw everything that I could! Amsterdam is a must!

Windmill!

The Dutch Royal Residence was absolutely gorgeous

Rijksmuseum!

Poster in the Dutch Resistance museum

Friday, March 23rd: Antwerp & Gent

Taking the bus to Belgium, I stopped for only a few hours in Antwerp. Antwerp had a cute city center, but it wasn't something I was impressed with. On the other hand, Gent was AMAZING! After my short stint in Antwerp, I took the rather efficient train there. Boy was I excited when I found out that those under the age of 26 get a student discount on the trains! Instead of paying 10 Euros, I paid 6 and change! Ballin' on a budget, those 4 Euros meant everything.

Castle in Antwerp

Center Square Antwerp

Train Station Antwerp

Anyway, I accidentally got off at the wrong stop in Gent which was totally okay because I took the scenic route in the city. What was meant to be a 30 minute stroll to my hostel lasted about 2 hours because I kept seeing another cool church/castle/building and simply kept wandering. My love for the city persisted with 2 of the best Belgian waffles (gauffre) I ever had! Belgian waffles with Belgian chocolate is a thing and one of the best reasons to go back.

Castle Gent

Belgian Beer (I enjoyed a rather good one in Brussels later on)

Love of my life: simple yet so delicious

Ghent still charming

Gent still showing off

Europe's best kept secret: Gent

Honestly, the city is that photogenic

March 24th: Brussels

Because I can't get enough of trains, I took another gem to Belgium's sparkling capital for some more fun. Brussels is much more of a city while Gent comes off as a cutesy village. I loved the parks, the churches, and, of course, the waffles! I caught a glimpse of the EU parliament, the Palais de Justice, the city square at sundown, and the Cinquaintenaire! The evening couldn't have been better without a ~soiree avec mes amies~ in a cafe that night. Shoutout to Brunelle and Camille for seeing me while I was there! The next morning I caught that 7 o'clock flight to Sofia! It's good to be 'home' :D

Cinquaintenaire

I think this was a part of the Belgian palace??

Definitely the Belgian Royal Palace

Most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen! Eglise Notre Dame au Sablon

Porte de hal! Castles/Gates are everywhere!

EU Parliament

Sundown in the center square

Side street of Brussels!

Random Takeaways:

Many of the grocery stores in Amsterdam did NOT take cash which took me off guard; I could only pay with card. Along the same lines, I spent 6 Euros on bread, hummus, and a kilo of apples which lasted me several days! This would explain my lack of food pictures (except the waffles were well worth the 4 Euro!!) Because i'm anticipating these questions . . . the Red light district was a lot smaller than I expected and all rather surprising. Prostitution is legal and regulated there which made the area seem a lot more 'business professional' than I imagined. Of course, that was all ruined by the hordes of drunken British men. Overall, quite a learning experience indeed!

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.

Berlin Conference 2018

Every year, the Fulbright Germany commission hosts a grand European conference bringing in incredible speakers and hosting engaging seminars all while sharing a slice of Berlin! Myself and 6 other Bulgarian Fulbrighters had the privilege of going, and I'll try not to spare all of the important details, but SPOILER: it was tons of fun :D

Friday, March 16th: Arrival

Admittedly, we arrived really late in Berlin (the joys of flying low cost airlines), and the ride into the city was exhausting, but it was nice, warm, and clean on the U-Bahn (Berlin's transit system) #blessed

Saturday, March 17th: Meet, Greet & Eat!

Blurry-eyed and bushy-tailed, some of my fellow Bulgarian Fulbrighters--Nathan, & Patrick--and I set off from our hostel for a chill brunch before being interviewed with StoryCorps! Beforehand, StoryCorps had reached out to Patrick and I to record an interview of ourselves about our days as Fulbrighters in Bulgaria. We spent 30 minutes before registration laughing and joking about the delights and mishaps of our time here. Hopefully, it wasn't too embarrassing; our recording will be saved in the Library of Congress for future generations to enjoy!

Patrick and I for our StoryCorps interview

To kick off the conference, the 500+ Fulbrighters from a slew of European commissions were divided by states and subjects, and networked with German Fulbrighters studying in the US during the upcoming academic year. Unfortunately, I didn't find anyone studying at OSU (No Bucks, but Go Bucks!), but met plenty of cool peeps regardless! Andrea (hopefully she reads this!!) was telling me all about her time as the only Portugal Fulbright in the Azores!! How exciting!

We concluded the evening with a spectacular welcome from the heads of Fulbright Germany and a most scrumptious dinner & reception afterwards.

Sunday, March 18th: Turning Nations into People

The theme for this year's conference was "Turning Nations into People" which was certainly embodied with the discussions of Sunday! Our seminars celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Fulbright program in the UK, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece with talks on transatlantic partnerships and what the future of Fulbright looked in our respective countries. The day was capped off with a great workshop hosted by German Fulbright alumni highlighting media literacy and combating fake news!

Having some free time in the evening, Anna and I hit the town! Catching a glimpse of the Berlin Wall, and after snapping some pics at the Brandenburg Tor, the Reichstag, and Checkpoint Charlie, we met up with a friend of mine over some currywurst and mulled wine. Thanks, Marieke :D

Anna and I in front of the Fernsehturm Tower

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin wall!

Reichstag

Monday, March 19th: Festakt

Diving into the details, the morning workshop focused on Germany as an immigration destination while the afternoon seminars were presentations from Fulbrighters about their work. Bulgaria (and Romania's) own Kristina highlighted her research with population decline in Eastern Europe! In the evening, we could choose from a host of different events, and I learned about the lack of political representation in German and European society--particularly in government--of persons of color.

Friends from Fulbright Poland

Kristina: dropping a beat and her research!

The evening reception--Festakt--included a Fulbright Jazz Ensemble, a conversation-starter of a speech about "How to Heal (not only save) Western Democracy?" And, of course, the buffet was a filling!

Tuesday, March 20th: Townhall & Fulbright on Tour

My favorite day of the conference! We were bussed to Rotes Rathaus (Berlin's city hall) for a fascinating Q & A with Sawsan Chebli, one of Germany's highest ranking Muslim political figures of Palestinian descent, about her work confronting far-right parties like AfD.

Sawsan Chebli at the Rotes Rathaus

Afterwards, we joined our previously-selected tours of Berlin. I had the joy of heading to Kreuzberg, one of Berlin's most diverse neighborhoods, where a local showed us the changing character of the city through space and time! As many multilingual posters and signs dotted the landscape as kebab shops, and we learned about the troubled past and present of the local synagogue. Shout out to Max who taught me "Loss getts" which is an informal way of saying "Let's go" in German!

Tour of Kreuzberg (Loss gehts!!)

The entire conference wrapped up at Alte Pump, a hip bar/club venue, where I met some of my favorite Fulbrighters (on and off the dance floor)! FYI, I invited over 30 German Fulbrighters to Thanksgiving. Hope you're ready mom!

Alte Pumpe (not pictured: the best Au Gratin potatoes I ever tasted)

Wednesday, March 21st: ETA Workshop!

Before departure, the English Teaching Assistants got some great teaching tips! It was a great end to an awesome conference!

Overall, I give the conference a solid 12 out of 10. Scholars eagerly waiting to embark for the US swapped stories with Americans reminiscing of the memories made. Hearing experiences from Portugal to Poland, I felt like I not only traveled, but taught, across the continent! Danke schon Fulbright Deutschland, and a huge thank you to the Fulbright Bulgaria commission that sponsored all of us there.

"They're coming for the pecan pie, mom"

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.