I have pictures!

Here are some pictures of my kindergarteners, the Valentine's dance competition that I helped judge and the snowfall. On February 13th one of the amazing volunteers in Razgrad, Abeth, organized a dance competition at her school including: modern, kiyuchek, ruchenitsa, biala rosa (horo) and break. The kids had numbers on their backs and every participant went on stage to dance, from goofy first grader to knee-high boots wearing twelfth grader. And the best part of being a judge is declaring an immediate dance-off. "You. You. Kiychek. 3 minutes. Wow me."

 

Smeeli eating breakfast.

 

It's hard to get Dobi's natural smile because whenever I take out the camera this is his go-to expression.

 

Princess and Prince.

 

The princesses posing.

 

Dancing the kiyuchek.

 

Crowning the princess.

 

 

My gate- see how high the snow is!

 

The outhouse in the back of my house. How many of you can say you have an outhouse?

 

My snowman!

 

Mariana and Zhivko working at the store.

 

Dobi pelting me with snowballs.

 

 

 

My neighbor Baba Nikolina.

You Talk Like the Movies.

"How did you get to Bulgaria from America? Car, train…?"
"Um, by plane."
"What?! That's scary."

What I wanted to say was, "By dolphin."

Many Bulgarians, especially the young people in the villages cannot grasp the magnitude of the country that is the United States. Some questions I receive:
"Does it snow in America?"
"Is America big?"
"Do you have beans in America?"
"Where does Arnold Schwarzenegger live?"
"How big is Virginia?"
-"As big as Bulgaria."
-"Wait…WHAT!"
"Do you have parents?"
"Do you like Arnold Schwarzenegger?"
"Do you have bananas in America?"
"Who is that actor governor?"

Usually a day doesn't go by when someone doesn't have a question for me and I'm always ready for a little cross-cultural exchange. People are always excited to hear that I have a family. "You have a brother! You have parents! You have grandparents!" They seem to think that I'm an orphan girl dropped in Bulgaria whom they must immediately adopt and feed.

My parents sent me a fluffy, singing, dancing dog for Christmas that I brought to the kindergarten for the kids to enjoy. Every visitor that came was introduced to the dog and forced to watch it sing and dance to "Shout". "It's from America." Oooo, wow, America.

One really awkward question that I get a lot is, "Which do you like better, Bulgaria or America?" I always respond, "I love both!" But it doesn't stop there. Yesterday I was asked which was better "Bulgarian honey or American honey?"
"Which is better, Bulgarian food or American food?"
"Which is better, Bulgarian music or American music?"
"Who are better looking, Bulgarian men or American men?"

Through music, TV shows and the news people create a perception of America. I've heard many comments about America:
-That all Americans are fat. Really fat.
-We all carry around pistols and shoot turkeys for Thanksgiving.
-There are black people there.
-Everyone is rich there.
-We don't know how to light fires.
-All Americans eat hamburgers and can't get enough of them.
-Cowboys are really really cool.

The best thing I've heard was told to me three times, twice by Bulgarians and once by a Norwegian Brit in a hostel. They heard me speak and said, "Wow, you talk like the movies!" Since most of the movies they see are American then my English sounds familiar to them. One person told me that "American English sounds so beautiful." Then they added, "British English sounds weird." Hehehe. I've never heard that before, but I'll take it. I think it might be because Americans are loud and we speak with a lot of emotion, so our language sounds like it has life to it. Also the Brits, the Germans, the Italians, and so on have languages with more rhythm compared to the intoned Slavic tongue.