it's official -- it's summer. i know because today i saw a first for the season-the man's capri pant. it was my colleague, and he was standing in the center. as i walked by i surveyed his outfit, and my eyes got quite a pleasant shock when i saw the denim of his trousers stop precisely 4 inches above the ankle. and then there were the mandals, more commonly known as man sandals.

it seems it was only yesterday i was shoveling snow and crying as my able bodied young male friends drove their cars by me and smiled (or even dared to laugh; curse their laziness!) and now with one nice day and the unveiling of many a bare arm and ankle, i am all at once reminded of Bulgarian Summer. today i got out my own pairs of shorts from their hiding place under my bed, and may have danced around the room when i put on my hotpants at they actually fit! a year ago, i was dying of heat exhaustion on a daily basis, covered in fleas, and gaining kilos by the minute thanks to the consistent chorus of my host mother and baba. YASH! YASH! EAT! EAT!
EAT ANOTHER DONUT!

so yeah, life really has come full circle. sometime in the next day or two a group of 80 million (but seriously, around 80) new volunteers will be landing in the Sofia airport just as scared and dumbfounded as i was a year ago. they will be transported to the same mountain resort to start their training, and by all the luck in the universe I will be there to regale them with stories of what to expect in training, in Bulgaria, and in their lives for the next two years. here's my first observation, piece of advice for them:

Bulgarian men seem to hate taking their shirts off. it gets HOT in BG, like clothes sticking to skin hot, but in general if a male here overheats he makes the effort to lift his shirt OVER his belly. just above the belly. sometimes if you are lucky, you make spot one who also lifts it over his chest, but not his head. SOMETIMES, if you have been extra good and the universe wants to reward you, you will see ONE ARM out of its sleeve while the shirt rests on the opposite shoulder. BUT VERY RARELY will you ever see a BG dude ACTUALLY TAKE THE ENTIRE SHIRT OFF.

Summer 2010.

the forest and the trees

"before you know it it will be summer, and then it will be fall, and then it will be winter all over again."

without being terribly cliche, i'm finding it hard to describe exactly how wonderful it is to continue to turn and live in this circle of seasons. we had our first village wedding this weekend, a precursor of what is to be the primary diversion for summer weekends, what was my favorite activity last summer, and what will continue to happen every summer into infinity and so on and so on.
life is turning its wheel, and we are living. work, play, vacations, weddings, naps, laundry, grocery shopping. life.

I got all dressed up on Friday night!

"...and the seasons they go round and round..." -joni mitchell, the circle game

snow day

my first official snow/ice day as a teacher, and i think i spent it well:

1 outing to razgrad with a family from the village

1 hour in the cafe and free drinks from a dyado

1 haircut, also free of charge (because now i should come back every month!)

40 minutes of intense piano practice in preparation for our Christmas Program (12.24.09!)

20 minutes trying to light the stove

2 episodes of the office

1 grilled kashkaval made ON the fire

1 overdue shower

and now it's 9 o'clock, it must be almost bed time.

leka--

in general

oh baby. last week the aunties from school installed my brand new stove, and since then we have been building a truly affectionate relationship. luckily i was quick on the learning curve and usually have no problem getting a fire started, so i have moved on to a more important lesson: how to never let the fire go out. it's warm and cozy in this one room, and so i, like most of the other people in the village, are settling in for the long winter with cords of stacked wood and a lot of television watching.

swine flu has reached us, finally, throwing the country into a weird psuedo-epidemic. regions are being shut down, meaning schools are closed for several days on end. every morning our director carefully counts the absences, and everyone seems to be bracing for it to hit our area next. some of the smarter kids are already picking up on this panic, feigning illness in order to get out of school and do, i don't know, what they please, i guess. is it really any fun to be free when everyone else is busy? anyway, here's a map of where svinski grip (H1N1) has hit so far:

we are in the northeastern quadrant and while our area is not highlighted, we are surrounded on THREE SIDES (Силистра, Шумен and Търговищe) with the dreaded sneezes. today a teacher remarked, "why do we have to be so healthy?" indeed. anyway, i broke open a care package this morning and offered the hand sanitizer my mom had sent me, explaining that every teacher in America has a legitimate supply of it anyway. THANKS MOM!

in other, less topical news, our chitalishte Ivan Vasov is submitting its proposal for 2010 and a budget request. as a paid member of the chitalishte, i attended the meeting, and it's a good thing i did since only 5 other people bothered to show. anyway, the plan includes more piano lessons, enlgish classes, movie nights and halloween/other holiday discotechs for the kiddies. they are once again asking for money for a very desperately needed renovation, but as we discussed the other night, chances of getting funding are slim to none.

happy november everyone! i hope that halloween was swell for all of you and that you are now preparing your bellies for the feast that is thanksgiving. keep the swine flu in check and talk to you soon!

happy halloween!

well, it's almost the end of october, and the village has entered into a no-holds-barred lovely autumn. mornings are frigid, the kids have all adjusted themselves back into the routine of the school year, and coffee breaks have become necessary as opposed to simply social.

to me, and to many americans, autumn has a pretty specific culmination-- Halloween Night. while the actual holiday and origins have proven difficult to explain-- So then the kids go door to door and ask for candy. Why? I, don't really know-- the traditions that are dear to me translate very well. Here are some clips from pumpkin/watermelon carving yesterday, and there are more photos here. all the kids were really good at it, especially those who carved the featured watermelon, which fell and cracked and was then sewn back together with twine.

stay tuned for our Halloween Ball pictures- the dance is on next friday.