First, it went straight from summer to the dead of winter. This week we saw some sun but about two weeks ago the cold and bitter rain invaded Bulgaria. Everyone said it would get warm again but it never did. There were nights where I was shivering under 4 layers of blankets. There was no respite from the cold because even indoors I couldn't feel my fingers. Then this past weekend my family installed the wood burning stove in the living room and my host mom gave me a heater for my room (so glorious!). Throughout the village you can hear the splitting of wood as families prepare for the winter season.
Baba Elka showed us how to make banitsa but it will take two years for me to learn how to do it myself. Banitsa is delicious wrapped up in filo dough which is usually filled with cirene (Bulgarian feta cheese) and eggs. It is impossible to make a recipe for banitsa because it can only be made from measurements and skills learned from a baba.
We had a Roma minority culture day and we went to a village where the Roma people are very integrated into the community. Roma people are also known as gypsies but that is an outdated and even offensive word. They come from a region in India and there are four castes of Roma living in Bulgaria. They tend to be very traditional, many are poor and they live in separate communities called the Mahala. Many PCVs work in Roma communities and they try to elevate the Roma communities' own opinion of themselves and to bring about more tolerance and cooperation among the Roma and Bulgarians.
Last week I went to a local village to help a group of trainees with their community project. They painted a large mural on the wall of the cultural center with the help of people from the village. They also got the kids to pick up trash in the center with the incentive being a nice soccer ball. The mural was along the main road so many people turned their heads to stare at us. A baba and diado pitched in, one kid cried but managed to paint a star and the media showed up to film us (check it out on Rila TV).
This past Saturday was our Sporten Den (Sport Day), also known as the Sport Extravaganza! We did some really good advertising. Someone had the genius idea of passing out fliers as the kids got off of the school bus. So on Wednesday we had fliers in hand as the bus rolled up and we talked up our Sporten Den. Luckily anything we Americans do is already considered new and exciting so we had that on our side. The next day when they returned home from school we had candy and as we passed it out we reminded them about our super cool Sporten Den.
Saturday came and we had 5 bottles of Derby Cola which is about the nastiest soda in existence (the lemonade flavor tastes like Pine Sol, or at least my idea of what Pine Sol tastes like), but hey the kids like it. We had tons of sweets and Billy baked some chocolate chip cookies. About 26 kids arrived and it was a wild good time, with emphasis on the wild. We started off with dodgeball which they had never seen before. We did a demonstration for them and as they saw us hurling balls at each other their faces lit up in anticipation. Next we did an egg relay which was fun but due to some minor cheating no winner was determined. After that we did a three-legged race which was quite amusing. A lot of the older kids got their strings undone but they all still enjoyed the game. Then we did tug-o-war which was the most fun to watch. The kids loved this game even though they sustained minor rug burns on their palms. When a side lost some volunteers would help them the next round so we had volunteers going back and forth and getting into the game as much as the kids.
Lastly, we broke up into four teams and had an hour long photo scavenger hunt around the village. We gave each team a list of 30 items with varying points attached to them. An example of things you had to take a picture of: a baba (2 pts), the waterfall (3 pts), someone working in the garden (3 pts), everyone standing on one leg (1 pt), etc. The team with the most points won prizes. I had three girls on my team, Borislava, Svetlana and Petia. The moment the timer started every team raced off. My girls were amazing. We made it to the waterfall and back before anybody else, Borislava convinced her shy aunt to come out and pose in the garden for us, and the girls actually climbed into a horse cart for one picture. We made it in second place but had enough prizes for them. The kids were so excited by the end that it was hard to say the Sporten Den was over. Now when we walk around the village we know all of the kids and they never hesitate to come up and say hello.
On Monday we made a quick day trip up to Sofia which is about an hour and a half away. It was a nice day to walk around the city and visit the PC Bulgaria headquarters. For lunch we went to an American themed restaurant and had delicious burgers and fries. Then we went to McDonald's for some McFlurries which was kind of McDisgusting because it was mixed with Nesquik. Here are some pretty pictures of the sites there:
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