From Nakijin to Velingrad

So the talk of the school today was the letters from Okinawa that arrived from our pen pals at Hokuzan High School in Nakijin. Needless to say, the Hokuzan students did a great job and my students were thrilled to look at all of the pictures, puri kura, origami, etc.



Big ups to Mike Altwerger, the current ALT at Hokuzan, who was the driving force behind getting these letters in the mail. I seem to remember some of these students as being ichi-nenseis when I was there? Hmm, that doesn't seem possible. One Hokuzan student included with her letter a photo of me playing eisa, much to the amusement of my kids.

At the Clip of an IV Drip

With the return of spring, like-minded denizens of Velingrad head for the mountains for a little разходка (walking around). Here is some scenery from the горски път (mountain trail) in Kamenitza.



This is a mineral spring/monument although I forget what it commemorates.



As you might notice, a lot of the trees have been cleared out (for firewood?); this has the dubiously positive effect of allowing for more sweeping vistas.

Finally, here's a picture of the 10th graders who are participating in Junior Achievement. We will be travelling to Varna in May to present our business at the JA expo.

Hey Lady Put the Phone Down

Hi. Sorry about being a crap blogger. Actually I'm not sorry. There are worse things to be in the world.

There was an almost total eclipse of the sun today!!! This is what passes for excitement in my one donkey town. I tried to photograph the eclipse in all of its eerie glory and this is what I got:




Опа, that's not such a great one. I was in class for most of the eclipse. That's how it always goes. In class during eclipses. Here's one through smoked glass:




And if you want to see some more AWESOME photos of my school and our concerted effort to educate (indoctrinate?) our students about the EU, check out this web site and click on the Bulgarian flag amongst all of the other flags (it's the third from the left on the top line for those of you who don't know what the Bulgarian flag looks like, gawd).

One of the teachers said that back in the day they used to have to participate in similar information campaigns about the Soviet Union.

Cancel All Operations

Yesterday went to the history museum in Kamenitza, on the far end of town for the first Easter Egg painting seminar of the year. Here are some of the results from last year:



I was by far the oldest "kid" there actually participating in the painting, and of course there were TV cameras there. (seems like everywhere I go there are TV cameras these days).

Designed for Crashing Bores

There's a film being made in Velingrad - it's entitled "Edin Jivot" or "One Life" and the directors are Hristina and Nikolina Veleva. Anyways they shot some scenes in and around my apartment - I have the role of the mafia boss Vince.

Broken Chimneys Leak Smoke

There was a seminar at school which I ostensibly helped organize although the idea was someone else's and all i did was try to feed the kids information about the European Union and promise them vast rewards of wisdom and a chest of Spanish doubloons. I can't comment too honestly on the proceedings, because one doesn't know who reads these things. Let the photos do the talking:



Lets see, what else has been going on? Oh, do you want to see my breakfast almost every morning?




Banitsa and cafe. It's not that healthy, I know but boy is it tasty. At some point I will attempt to make a spinach banitsa - snacktastic!


And here's the lovely and talented 9-A class with whom I am doing an English newspaper (which needs to be finished this weekend, microsoft word don't fail me now!)

Sunlight Gilds the Houses

I usually go to school pretty early in the morning - early enough to catch the sunrise and have a coffee and banitsa before classes start. Sometimes the scene along the road to school is crushingly beautiful :



What this photo doesn't show is the full moon setting over the mountains to the west and the morning star still bright over the pink horizon. This factory, ugly as it can be in the daylight, has its moments.

So last week was the grand opening of our Junior Achievement business - it's a cafe - store type of thing where we sell sandwiches, snacks and school supplies (nice unintentional alliteration).



Note the posters of really terrible musicians on the walls.

We had a little opening party which was televised, apparently -

How Much for a Bag of Rock Salt???

There is a lag period between when I take these photos and when I get around to posting them. Right now the lag period is hovering around 2 weeks.

My director and I spent three days in Stara Zagora at the beginning of the month learning how to develop projects. This was our project design group:





Here is a typical Bulgarian / Greek Orthodox church, which we had a nice view of outside of our hotel window:




It's probably a lost cause trying to be coherent in English today - I was out till 4 in the morning celebrating Vasil Levski Day. So I'll leave it at that.

My Weariness Amazes Me

Don't take the heading of this post seriously: I just felt like quoting Dylan.

Continuing with the tour of the school, the teacher's room (or учителска стая) is where I spend most of my time between classes:



This is the material book (or материална книга) where we are required to write our lesson plans down.



I took these pictures between class when no one was around - the other teachers already think that I'm a spy.

Края на Първя Учебен Срок

Last week the first semester ended, and the teacher's room at my school was a frantic scene of teachers compiling grades and filling out forms for the next semester. The homeroom teachers, of course, bear the brunt of this paperwork.

One of my 11th grade students made a webpage about our school as an assignment for her IT class. Sorry, I don't have the link at the moment, but she used my camera to take some photos of the school, which I will now share with you.

Our school is named "Vasil Levski" after the 19th century bulgarian revolutionary. More about him in a later post. There are a lot of references to Levski around the school - this is a little shrine - statue thing in the foyer:



The multimedia room, paid for with Peace Corps money (check out the old school tape machine in the back):



One of the more bizarre painting/mural things (done by a student, of course):




Also coming soon - this blog, only in Bulgarian!!!

Jimmy Carter Redux

Please read this review of Jimmy Carter's new book by Garry Wills.

They Ruined My Looks For the Old Main Drag

This is my LAST post with pictures from England - if you thought they were boring, wait 'til I continue with photos depicting the minutiae of my life in Bulgaria. And I will try to be more consistent with my posting - how else can I expect to rocket to the top of the blogosphere?

OK these are some pretty pictures that I took my last few days in London.

Chinatown, Soho, at dusk:



The Union Jack as seen through the glass dome of the British Museum:



"Oxford Man" by a sculptor from Benin(?):




Caroline and Mike looking at an installation of contemporary African art:

Where Taxi Drivers Never Stop Talking

It's been announced that they are closing schools in my area today because of the bitter cold that is descending on us from the north. We will be out of school until the thirtieth, so I thought I should try to get one more update in (we'll see if the school internet connection cooperates).

Back to the holiday pictures.

For New Year's Eve, Dave, Chris and I went to a little nightclub / cinema place with a hippie vibe in Bristol called The Cube.

The DJ was from Mexico (I forget his name) doing laptop ambient stuff - I thought for sure that he was playing solitaire the whole time:




Which one of these guys is the sober one? (Hint - the camera adds three beers)



People getting down:



Note to the children: don't mix champagne and absinthe




Later that evening, at the kebab stand, a fixture of British culture:




Good NYT editorial decrying the fascination with American Idol - that shining example of the vapidity of US pop culture. (I do kind of like that one Kelly Clarkson song, however).

In the Desert of the Heart

After Christmas met Dave back in London and spent a night downing pints with him, after which we went to Bristol to celebrate the New Years and eat sausages and mash and drink cider.

Dave's flatmate's name is Chris who was also on JET in Nagasaki-ken.

Dave and Chris on the motorway:



On New Year's Eve we drove to South Wales to see Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle. There's a Wordsworth poem with Tintern Abbey in the title, but if you read it you'll see that nowhere in the poem does he actually mention the abbey itself. Regardless, it's a beautiful place, and as we were approaching the clouds broke and a rainbow shone down directly on the ruins:



Walking around the ruins of the abbey put me in a pensive mood, (here lost in contemplation):




While Dave and Chris were merely gobsmacked:




Next post: microdancing and armchair raving!!

A Very Whitby Christmas

Rode up to Whitby (via Cambridge) on Christmas with Dr. Finn, a friend of Llew's who I met in Okinawa. Whitby is in north Yorkshire on the east coast of England, facing the north sea.

On Christmas day we had turkey, Christmas crackers and loads of dynamic action from Llew on the piano.

Llew and Futaba slaving over the Christmas meal:



For Boxing Day, we went round Llew's aunt and uncle's place where is extended family had gathered for more great food, conversation, beer:



On the 27th we took a walk up to the abbey and along the dramatic seacliffs from Whitby to another little town further south called Robin Hood's Bay.

Whitby Abbey and graveyard:



View of Whitby from above:



Llew and Fu on the sea cliff, with the Abbey in the background:

A Dream Can Mean Anything

I also made the obligatory trip down to the Embankment to get some shots of Big Ben and Parliament, fighting the hordes of Chinese tourists all the while.



Finally went to the Tate Modern as well: it's impressively housed in an old power station on the southern shore of the Thames, almost directly across the river from the City and St. Paul's Cathedral. As in the old Tate, the curators keep a big installation in the main hall, this one by Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread:



These boxes represent a box she found in her grandmother's attic, and painting them white is supposed to evoke a sense of mystery as to their contents. The whiteness and the kids running around in between them made me think of a penguin ice factory. My first impression was "nice gimmick", as I think that with such a huge space it's hard not to make something that's visually impressive. Looking back at my photos, and the scale of the piles of boxes next to the patrons in the museum, I wouldn't be surprised if this image isn't lodged deep in my subconscious somewhere.

It was also somewhat ironic that the museum, or NatWest, had installed an ice slide for the kiddies right outside the main entrance of the gallery:



Finally, here's a shot of St. Paul's and the new pedestrian bridge that connects the City to the Tate Modern: old London meets new London?

Holiday Wrapup Part 1

Hi everyone, or anyone, I'm back safe and sound in Velingrad. Had a really wonderful time in England - special thanks go out to Llew, Caroline and Dave and their significant others Fu, Mike and Chris, for the hospitality and light entertainment.

When I first arrived in London I had a couple of days to reacquaint myself with the city - here are some of my old haunts:

This is my former place of business:




My former street, York Terrace East:




And my former doorway, number 17.




My street was very posh, my apartment somewhat less so.

On wednesday, internet gods willing, more sightseeing pics! I know you can't wait!

Весели Празници!!!

(Veceli Praznitsi or happy holidays)

So I had a little party on Friday night and got out the old camera to document the merrymaking:



The director of my school is the one waving his hands in the air like he just doesn't care.

Here are two American volunteers from the neighboring town of Rakitovo, Brandy and Apryl, who also attended the festivities.



Velingrad was buried in snow again over the weekend, and I trekked around town with my camera yesterday in order to document for you guys how crazy deep the snow gets here:



So I'm leaving for London Wednesday morning and I'm still debating whether I should bring my laptop (I probably won't) - so it will doubtful whether there will be any new updates until after the holidays. I hope everyone has a joyous holiday season, and I'll see you in 2006.