Part 5: Plovdiv August 29, 2011

Day 2 of our overnight started with some cheesy (as usual) egg pastry called Batia (possibly?  It definitely started with a “B”).  We then left Koprivshtitsa for Panagyurishte.  Panagyurishte is a larger town in the region of Bulgaria formerly known as Thrace.  This is where the Panagyurishte Golden Treasure was found.  This treasure mainly consists of several golden cups shaped like animals and the heads of women.  It is over 6 kg of gold and the treasure has traveled to exhibits around the world.  For those of you needing some context on the Thracians, Spartacus, who led a slave rebellion against the Romans before starring in a Hollywood movie, was Thracian. 

After our education on the Thracians, we continued on to Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv.  Plovdiv is one of the oldest constantly inhabited cities in Europe.  First settled by the Thracians in 5000 BC, it was then ruled by Romans, Bulgarians, Turks, Bulgarians (again), Soviets, and finally Bulgarians.  The city is famous for its shopping and the main road is car free so you can safely access the stores without the fear of being run over.  However, we were not there for shopping (though I did buy some sunglasses since I packed my sunglasses case but neglected to actually put my sunglasses inside before I left).   We proceeded through the cramped, uneven streets to the restored Roman Amphitheatre from the 2^nd century AD. 

The Amphitheatre seated 6,000 in its day and was uncovered during a freak landslide in 1972.  It was restored and is now used for concerts and other performances in Plovdiv. 

After taking in the Amphitheatre, we forged onward to one of the oldest churches in Bulgaria.  The St. Constantine and St. Helena Orthodox Church was first established in 337, although the current building dates from 1832.  The inside, like most Orthodox Churches was covered in detailed paintings and relics. 

Plovdiv is known as the city with 7 hills...big hills, so it was no surprise when we walked up another hill to the site of a Thracian Fortress dating from 5000 BC.  Not only is that cool in and of itself, but it also offers great views of the city from all sides. 

As we headed back towards the main street, we passed the Djumaya Mosque which is the oldest mosque in Europe outside of Spain.  After a briefly talking to some men sitting at a sidewalk café style table on the corner outside (neither of whom looked like the person in charge), we were admitted and told to  take as many pictures as we wanted, which is strange, since most religious buildings do not allow photographs inside.  It had very detailed paintings inside each of the vaulted ceilings as well as large, elaborate chandeleirs.  Plus, as an added bonus, the carpet felt really good on my tired feet. 

As we meandered our way towards the edge of town, we passed the city center which literally has the ruins of a Roman stadium plopped down in the middle of it. They are currently working to restore the structure, so it should be really nice in the future.  The long history that is literally everywhere you look in a country ruled by so many different groups of people, makes the simple act of walking a very educational experience. 

Lastly, we walked past the shops down the main street and boarded the van to head back to the school.  Our trip to Plovdiv, much like this blog entry, was quick and rather disjointed without any real cohesiveness or transitions, so I appologize for the random conglomeration of places and facts. 

Part 4: Koprivshtitsa August 28, 2011

To continue our orientation, all new teachers were taken on an overnight trip to a small village called Koprivshtitsa (ko-priv-sisht-ta, roughly).  As usual, our departure time was 10 am.  I don’t remember the last time I left on a trip that late in the morning.  My family runs on a slightly more military schedule for these types of things.  I loaded myself into the front of the bus and we headed up the mountains.

Koprivshtitsa is a lovely village located between Sofia and the Black Sea with a population of about 3,000 people.   The draw of Koprivshtitsa is its numerous historical buildings and its close ties to many leaders of the April Uprising in 1876.  This Uprising eventually led to Bulgaria’s independence from the Turks two years later.  The town itself was classified as a museum by the Bulgarian government and it features many house museums that you can go through that showcase classic Bulgarian architecture and interior design from the Bulgarian Revival of the 1800’s. 

After arriving in town, we ate lunch at a café.  I ordered grilled chicken as to avoid the copious amount of cheese that tends to be piled on most dishes.  We then set out for our tour of 4 of the 6 house museums. 

The first house we arrived at was the Oslekov House.  It was built in 1853 by Nencho Oslekov, a wealthy merchant, who took part in the planning and execution of the April Uprising and was eventually killed by the Turks.  The house itself is very typical to Bulgarian Revival architecture except that it is not symmetrical.  There is only one wing to the left of the entry because the neighbor on the right would not sell his house to Oslekov so the second wing could not be built.  The outside of the house features paintings of Padua, Rome and Venice and inside the walls are brightly colored and the furniture includes long padded benches along whole walls, typical of Bulgarian homes at the time.

Next came the Debelyanov House, built in 1830 by Dimcho Debelyanov’s parents.  Debelyanov is considered to be Bulgaria’s greatest poet.  He was born in Koprivshtitsa 1887 and moved frequently throughout his life.   He began getting his poetry published in 1906, but sadly he was killed in 1916 during a battle of WWI.  The statue out front represents his mother.  He wrote a very famous poem in which he talks about his mother waiting for his return, so that is how she sits, waiting.  There is a replica of this statue over Debelyanov’s grave as well.  This house is mostly a museum dedicated to the poet. 

Third on the tour was the Kableshkov House, built in 1845.  This house was owned by Lyuben Kableshkov’s parents.  Kableshkov owned a print shop and was a revolutionary.  He fired the first shot of the April Uprising and printed several papers to help the cause.  He was eventually caught by the Turks and committed suicide while in custody at the age of 25. 

The last house was the most beautiful.  The Lyutov House, built in 1854, is more representative of the style of home popular in Plovdiv at the time.  The paintings inside are still in excellent condition.   Inside the main entrance is an oval raised ceiling that has paintings by Lytutov himself of cities such as Istanbul and Alexandria. 

Other sites in Koprivshtitsa include the “Old Church,” built in 1817, the “New Church,” built in 1833, and the bridge where the first shots of the April Uprising were fired.  In the church yard of the Old Church, you can find the graves of Kableshkov and Debelyanov.  Also, a trip up the mountain side will yield really nice views of the entire village. 

We spent the night at a hotel in Koprivshtitsa and after trying Rakia (basically Bulgarian moonshine that makes your ears burn), we spent the evening dancing traditional Bulgarian dances with the slightly snockered Hungarians at the next table. 

Part 3: Rila Monastery August 27, 2011

As part of our orientation, the school took us to Rila Monastery.  This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria and also the most famous.  It is in the mountains about 70 miles south of Sofia.  After a rather unpleasant minibus ride up winding mountain roads, we stopped at a restaurant along a mountain stream for lunch.  It was beautiful.  I had some sort of salad with cheese (of course) and roasted peppers (that arrived cold ???) and French fries.  Yay for fried potatoes (without cheese)!

We then reboarded the bus and I chose a seat closer to the front for the last 10 minutes to the monastery.  The monastery was founded in 10^th century by Saint Ivan of Rila, however, the oldest parts still standing are a tower and the monastery gates, all from the 13^th century.  The original church from this period was destroyed by the Ottoman’s in the 15^th century.  A new church was built by 1469; however it was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1833.  The current church was constructed between 1834 and1862, during the Bulgarian renaissance, and is completely covered with beautiful paintings on every part of the walls inside and out. 

The Rila Monastery has historically been a refuge for the Bulgarian culture.   Bulgaria was ruled by the Turks for nearly 500 years before gaining its independence in 1878 only to be taken over by the Soviets after World War II.  During these times of outside rule, books, documents, religion, and cultural traditions were kept safe at the monastery.  The monastery received donations from many wealthy patrons and other Orthodox monasteries around the world.  This allowed the priests to offer generous gifts to the rulers that kept it and its contents safe.  In fact, books from my school were hidden at the monastery until the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90’s. 

Rila Monastery has a great museum with beautiful icons, scrolls, and robes and Rafail's Cross.  Carved by a monk from a solid piece of wood, the cross is covered with religious scenes and over 600 characters.  This is not a big cross either.  Most of the characters are about a centimeter tall.  It is an amazing piece of work that took Rafail 12 years to finish. 

You can also climb several steep stone steps to the 5^th floor of the tower.  There are some interesting artifacts, including a chapel from the 13^th century on the top floor that has very old paintings.  It also offers great views of the Monastery and surrounding mountains. 

Near the monastery is the cave where the monastery’s founder, Saint Ivan of Rila, lived out his life as a hermit and was eventually buried.  You have to hike up the side of a mountain and then you will find the cave.  Supposedly, only the righteous will be able to climb out the top of the cave.  The hole is very small and some sideways shifting is required, but I made it.  I guess that means I'm going to heaven and so is everyone else in my group, since it is not actually that hard to do.  It is definitely not a large cave, but I suppose if you are going to be a religious hermit, that is the point. 

That night we had a picnic at the president’s house where I did not have to eat any cheese. 

Part 2: Settling In August 25-26, 2011

Ah, the Pink House.  My current residence that is not actually pink.  It was built in 1923 and for a long time, housed only girls, and, due to color stereotyping, was named the pink house.  It is next to the Black House, which is not actually black but named after Floyd Black, the school’s founder, and is down the road from the Cat House which has no feline residents, but a dog that sleeps on the porch. 

My room is huge.  It has three closets, enough room for a king-sized bed, armchair, dresser, bookshelf, and desk.  Plus, it has access to a very nice porch.  This is a little awkward, however, since my roommate’s room has windows out to the porch that do not have curtains.  Overall, I really love the house.  It has much more space that what I was used to in Prairie Village where my bed and dresser barely squeaked into my room. 

I met some of the other teachers that were already there later that evening and enjoyed talking with them about Bulgaria and what to expect from our students.  After a much needed shower, a teacher about to start his 3^rd year here took me to Luciano’s for dinner.  Luckily, the menu had descriptions in English (since it is just down the road from ACS) but I felt completely helpless as he had to order for me and basically take care of all waitress interactions.  I had my first Shopska salad:  cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and cheese… lots of cheese.  I had Shopska again the next day, but Natalia, a member of the school’s public relations team, got me the cheese on the side. 

I am completely illiterate and need to get started on learning the Cyrillic alphabet so I can become a little more self-sufficient.  Luckily, many people here speak English, but most signs are in Bulgarian only.   Also, the head shaking anomaly of this country is extremely confusing.  Side to side (although it is more of a sideways bobble) means “yes” and up and down means “no.”  So, I tend to think everyone is responding very negatively to me in spite of them saying “da (yes)” over and over again.  Plus, when I shake my head when I say “no,” I get really confused looks.  This head shake reprogram is going to be difficult. 

The school’s president’s wife, Thersea, took the new teachers to Technopolis and Hit.  I bought an alarm clock and some groceries.  Cereal is very expensive, but I love it so much, I will pay the price.  You also have to buy things like Tylenol over the counter.  It can’t just be thrown into your shopping cart and it comes in teeny tiny packages of about 10 pills.  I miss jumbo sizes.

That night, all the teachers went downtown for dinner to a place called Motto.  I had vegetarian lasagna and it was really good.  Also, it didn’t have much cheese on it, which in Bulgaria, is hard to come by.

Part 1: Getting There, August 24-25, 2011

My morning started off with a 5 am run, which, being a teacher, isn’t an uncommon time for me to be running.  I did my final load of laundry and we managed to make it out of the house by 7 am, but we knew we would because my dad’s fortune cookie the night before said he would meet his goal, and fortune cookies do two things:  1) become really inappropriate when the phrase “in bed” is added to the end.  2)  Never lie (Right?  Hmm, just me?).  We arrived at the St. Louis airport and after a minor moment of panic that I might not be allowed entry into the country due to my visa not being quite what it was supposed to be, I was saying “goodbye” to my parents and approaching the security check as a crying mess which made the man in front of me extremely uncomfortable.

I got it together and enjoyed my cramped flight to Newark by listening to the Germans behind me comment on the St. Louis arch and the number of baseball fields that were visible.  Baseball must truly be America’s past-time because I counted seven visible through my window and one time and I had just finished counting over 11 in the 60 seconds before that.  The adventure continued in Newark when the air train didn’t actually stop at terminal B.  So, I got to see the whole airport in addition to a lovely view of the New York skyline. 

My flight to Brussels was aboard Jet Airways, and Indian airline that offered us hot towels, chapattis with dinner, and a wide selection of Hollywood and Bollywood movies.  Much as I enjoyed the in flight extras, it arrived late causing me to miss my Bulgarian Air connection to Sofia.  This where I met Kevin, another new international teacher.  Our first European adventure took place in the Brussels airport as we were reassigned to Lufthansa airlines to Munich and then, finally, Sofia.  My passport is now full of stamps from places I haven’t actually visited.  I feel like I cheated.

I was picked up at the airport by Ani, a achool secretary, and Ivov, the school's driver.  Kevin and I were extremely glad to see them.  After dropping Kevin off at his apartment off campus, I finally arrived at the Pink House, my home for the next two years.