German Christmas Market!

Today was the official opening of the new German Christmas Market in Sofia. It's a traditional wooden-hut affair, with lots of stalls selling bratwurst, pretzels, goulash, mulled wine, punch and all kinds of sweets. There are also Christmas decorations and other souvenirs for sale, such as hand-carved wooden nutcrackers. I went with a few friends in the afternoon and we stayed, keeping ourselves warm with glasses of mulled wine, until our feet had frozen and it was time to go. A friend of ours who works for a German company was helping to organize the event, and they did a spectacular job. Every day from now until December 22 it will be open, and there will be live music, puppet shows for children, and even special appearances made by Santa Claus. I think the market looks great in the evening, too, with all of the Christmas lights decorating the place. It's located in the square across from Sofia University and, as you can see in the photo, it's right behind Alexander Nevsky Cathedral as well. If you're in Sofia, you should definitely check it out!

Thanksgiving quotes

On Thursday during my Thanksgiving-themed lessons, I asked students at the First English Language High School in Sofia what they were thankful for. Some of their answers were predictable for teenagers, but others were surprisingly sweet and thoughtful. There were also a couple of really funny ones. Here are the “top ten” responses from my eighth grade classes:

1. “My TV, because it actually helped me learn English.”

 2. “My telephone, because I can’t live without it and if I haven’t got a phone I couldn’t talk with many people.”

3. “For my computer, because it helps me cheat on my homework.”

4. “Steve Jobs for everything he did and gives to the earth. RIP.”

 5. “The music, because I wouldn’t exist without my piano and my guitar.”

6. “For my education because when I grow up I will have a very good job.”

7. “I’m thankful for being in this school because I met some great new people and I worked really hard to get here.”

8. “All the reasons there are to smile.”

9. “My grandmother, because she is the strongest person I know.”

10. “For Sophia, because she taught me how to draw a turkey.” (This last one is real, I promise!)

My Thanksgiving was spent with lots of American, Bulgarian and European friends at an embassy event where we had some delicious holiday food, including pumpkin pie, which I have been thinking about for the last several weeks. I even took part in a mini-football game and was told by our host that one highlight of the afternoon was when I stepped outside in my dress and heels to play. Full disclosure: we only tossed the ball around for about twenty minutes because it was too cold to play for a long time. Even though I didn’t get to spend it at home (again) I still had a pretty great time on Thanksgiving. The rest of the weekend I hung out with friends in town for the event, and later on today we’re going to check out the German Christmas market that just opened. So far, a great start to the holiday season! 

Settled-ish

Yesterday something wonderful happened: my landlord delivered a nice, big couch with a hide-away bed to my apartment. This was after weeks of waiting for a convenient time to bring it over. I finally had to ask more insistently because I promised some friends that they could stay with me, and I feel bad making people sleep on the floor. To my surprise, I came home from school yesterday and there it was! It's a huge corner piece and definitely adds a lot of warmth and comfort to my living room. Looking around my new apartment at all of the tangible objects (mostly framed photos of family and friends, posters, postcards and tons of books) that have somehow come to represent my life, I feel a little more at home, like this situation is less temporary than it probably is. I just realized that I haven't lived in one place for more than nine months continuously since 2006. But who knows? Maybe I'll still be living here in a year or two. I like it a lot and feel very much at ease in my quiet little apartment by the park, in this city with which I share a name. I don't really have time to be bored, which can be both stressful and exhilarating. I make time to see friends often and I enjoy my routine, even the daily metro ride to work. One of my colleagues asked me yesterday if I'll actually want to come back to Sofia after going to Seattle for the holidays, and I can say that I definitely will, because I am happy here and this is my home. But I don't think I'm ready to settle down in one place permanently yet. At least now I can have as many visitors as I like to share this experience with. So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I guess that more than anything else this year I am thankful for my new couch and the great opportunity I have been given here.

What are you thankful for?    

Thanksgiving jokes

Since I am the only American teacher at school, I have been talking about Thanksgiving a lot lately. So much so that I almost can't wait for it to finally be over, already! But it has also reminded me how much I like this holiday. I love the food, good company, being thoughtful and thankful. This year, like last year, I'll be celebrating the holiday with other Fulbrighters in Sofia. But this time we are attending a big reception at the Deputy Chief of Mission's house, so it will be more of a formal embassy event. I have a few friends coming into town to stay with me, and we will get together with some of my other new friends in Sofia after the dinner. Every Thursday there is a cocktail party at a Spanish bar with lots of expats and Bulgarians, and we will probably head there later. Much to my own amusement, I have become a "regular" at this bar (having gone to this expat party 3 or 4 times now), to the extent that when making plans with friends they often say "I'll just see you on Thursday night, anyway." I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, though, and I usually meet some interesting people there.

Anyway, to get back to Thanksgiving, I've learned a couple of funny things from talking about the holiday with my students this week. One is that gravy, when you describe how it's made, actually sounds pretty disgusting. One girl exclaimed "Yuck! I can't believe I ate that!" although I've only ever seen it at KFC here. Another is that the Bulgarian word for turkey, or puika, has another meaning: a person who is flashy, pompous and smug (the male form would be puiak). But that doesn't account for the highly suspicious level of snickering in one of my tenth grade classes. My friend K. has a theory that they might have been substituting one letter to make it into another word, which is much nastier. And I think he might be right. Oh, teenagers... And my favorite thing that I learned is about the Bulgarian version of pumpkin pie, which is more of a flaky pastry filled with pumpkin and sugar, called tikvenik. If you call someone a tikvenik, you are calling them an idiot. Kind of like saying "you pumpkin-head!" but sounding less like a character from Peanuts.

 

Market time

My friend E. and I went to the Women's Market (Zhenski Pazar) in Sofia on Sunday to buy veggies and herbs. It was wonderful. I love going to the market, and how cheap it is! For example, I bought a kilo of pumpkin (I'm too lazy to cut it up on my own) along with some onions, chili peppers, beets and lots of fruit for a grand total of five leva, which is about $3.50. Across the street from the market we found a shop that sells all sorts of tea, coffee and spices AND a Turkish shop that has lots of amazing imported stuff like hummus, basmati rice and Turkish delights. I spent a little more money there than I did at the market, but it was totally worth it. Apparently there is also a Russian grocery nearby where you can find Polish-style pierogi! And, if I can find it one day, I'll visit the Polish grocery in Sofia, too. Don't get me wrong, I love Bulgarian food. And Zhenski Pazar is one of the places where I love to go because I can find fresh local produce and even special things like home-made honey. But it's always good to have a little variety, and it's nice to know that there are so many places to find something different. Next week is Thanksgiving, and to continue our tradition from last year, there will be a party with all the American Fulbrighters who want to join here in Sofia. My friend L promised to bring cranberry sauce and she's even baking a pumpkin pie! Now how's that for "exotic" cuisine? 

Hot beer, gingerbread and unlikely encounters

More on my recent trip to Poland! The day before Halloween I traveled from Warsaw to Torun, one of the bigger and certainly more beautiful cities there, to visit a Bulgarian friend, V. She is currently living in a small village near Bydgoszcz (yeah, I can pronounce that) with the European Volunteer Service program. I've met EVS volunteers here in Bulgaria, too, and it sounds like a pretty cool program. It's basically a shorter-term European version of the Peace Corps, but all the volunteers are under 26. She works for an adult group home for people with disabilities, and loves her job. All the volunteers live together, and come from lots of different countries, so it's an excellent opportunity to make new friends, too. We decided to meet in Torun because it's halfway between Warsaw and Bydgoszcz.

While it definitely has all the tourist kitsch necessary to make it a major holiday destination, Torun seemed a lot more relaxed and less crowded than Krakow. It has gorgeous architecture, a beautiful location on the Vistula River and a rich history. Like Gdansk, it was once part of the Hanseatic League. It was also the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus, whose house is now a museum. Another famous attraction is Torun's gingerbread (or piernik in Polish). I loved wandering around the winding back-alleys and medieval ruins of the old town while scarfing down these delicious cookies. And, appropriate for the weather at this time of year, we also drank a lot of hot beer, which gets mixed with different spices and even comes in flavors like strawberry or raspberry. Needless to say we had a pretty great time.

I had some difficulty getting back to Warsaw because when I arrived at the train station in Torun I found out that the 15:30 train listed on the departures board not only didn't run that day, but no longer existed. So much for relying on printed schedules! In future I plan to always ask someone to make sure I know where I'm going (and when). So I took a later train that included an hour-long stopover in an even smaller town called Kutno. Since it was dark already and I only saw the train station, I don't know much about the place. I do know that the main building is currently undergoing repairs, because there was nothing open and passengers had to wait on the platforms for the trains rather than inside. That would have been fine if there was any information about the platform numbers for trains to Warsaw written in plain sight. So there I was, freezing my butt off at platform number one, hoping to find someone who could help me find my train before it left without me, when I was approached by two Catholic priests. That's pretty normal in Poland but the weird thing is that they were Americans. And, ironically, they asked me if I could help them find their train! After realizing that I was just as lost as they were, one of the priests found someone who spoke English and could point me in the right direction. My train came almost immediately after that, so I had to hurry, and I have no idea where they were from or what they were doing in Poland. But I'm glad they were there and I hope that they found their train platform, too. When I got home and told my aunt this story, she was delighted, saying that it just goes to show how lucky I am (we talk about this a lot, because I get lost a lot) to have been offered help by priests. Of course. This is Poland, after all.

Women's Soccer and Alexander the Great

Since returning to Bulgaria I have done very little traveling compared with last year. And I think that's a great thing, because I am really enjoying myself here and exploring more of the city (and meeting new friends!). But I have managed to leave the country twice so far. A few weeks before I went to Poland I went on a road trip with Laura and three new friends to Macedonia. I had been to Skopje and Ohrid before, but this time we also stopped in Prilep, which is a few hours south of the capital, to watch a soccer game. Okay, so sports aren't really my thing, but I had a good time. We watched the women's national team play Italy for a European Championship League qualifying match. Much to my disappointment, Macedonia lost 0-9. It would have been nice for them to score at least one goal, but I think their players were a lot less experienced than the Italian team, who played excellently. Prilep is a small but charming town. There's a large covered market, lots of beautiful 19th-century buildings and a lovely clock tower in the center. Later we found out that it's also home to the only Thai restaurant in the country (and maybe even the region) so a return trip might be in order sometime soon.

After exploring the center we drove to Skopje where we had a very nice Italian dinner and went to a bar called Damar in the old town. It was probably the single best bar I've been to in Bulgaria or Macedonia. The interior was all exposed brick and rough wooden rafters, the drinks were cheap, there was NO SMOKING inside, and best of all, it was gay-friendly! I think it was the only bar like it in Skopje, and it's hard to think of a similar comparison in Sofia, it it exists. We chatted with some locals and stayed until closing (which was unfortunately quite early, because bars in Skopje don't stay open very late). There is also a law which restricts the sale of alcohol after 7PM in Macedonia, which is very weird. So maybe the nightlife scene in Skopje isn't all that exciting, but I think that this bar really is a unique one for this part of Europe, and I would definitely go back.

Skopje's newest tourist attraction is a giant statue of Alexander the Great, who is this small country's claim to fame (and one reason behind its problematic relationship with Greece). Macedonia wants to join the European Union, but Greece has vetoed its membership application over a name dispute. Macedonia is an historical term for a much larger region that includes parts of Albania, Greece, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Because some Greeks consider the name Macedonia to be central to their own identity, the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was proposed as a compromise, which the Republic Macedonia has rejected. I had read about the statue before, and how its erection was controversial within Macedonia because of the price tag (9 million euros!) and the potential for worsening relations with its southern neighbor. I'm not sure what will happen regarding the name dispute and EU accession, but the statue certainly is impressive. Surrounded by four lions and an army of soldiers, a bronze-cast Alexander the Great sits atop his horse above a large fountain. At night the statue is lit up with colored lights and music timed with the water from the fountain. It kind of reminded me of Las Vegas. There's even a fake Arc de Triomphe around the corner to add to the magnitude of the main square.

  

It was a short trip, but a lot of fun. It's not a very long drive to Skopje, so visiting for a day or two is relatively easy. And there is definitely a lot more to see in Macedonia, so I hope to return very soon.

All Saints Day in Poland

I am in Warsaw this week, visiting my aunts and cousin. I also have a couple of friends living in Poland now, so it's good to go visit and catch up with them, too. I was also here at the same time last year (the last weekend in October always includes a four-day weekend in Bulgaria so I took advantage of some extra time off to take a "fall break" from school). I can say with absolute certainty that Halloween is definitely not a big deal in this country. Besides a few displays in cafes and shops, and a couple of posters advertising parties in Warsaw, I didn't notice much going on to celebrate the holiday. Which makes sense. It isn't something which has a tradition here, unlike in the States where we spend so much time and money on costumes, trick-or-treating and decorating our homes. However, the origins of Halloween (or All Hallow's Eve) are very closely linked to an important holiday in the Polish calendar: All Saints Day, celebrated on November 1st.

This is a public holiday, and most Poles visit the cemeteries to pay their respects to deceased loved ones. I was interested in the custom, so I went with my family to Powązki Cemetery, where my great-uncle Aleksander and his first wife are buried. The first thing I noticed about this holiday is how well-organized it is. Special bus routes are added to service the cemeteries in Warsaw, and transportation workers are available to direct passengers and traffic. We went relatively early in the day, but the crowds got worse as late morning arrived. Outside of the cemetery gates were vendors selling candles, tissues, flower arrangements, wreaths, and all kinds of candy and snacks. There were television crews set up outside the main entrance (being the most famous cemetery in the city, it is the final resting place of many well-known actors, musicians, writers and politicians). It's basically the Père Lachaise of Warsaw. More recently, is became the location for a somber memorial to the victims of the April 2010 plane crash which killed nearly a hundred people, including many prominent members of the government, the president and his wife. The memorial is made from two "wings" split in the middle and flanked on either side with the graves of some of the victims of the crash. On Tuesday there were many visitors to the site, leaving candles, photos and flowers in memory of the tragedy. The aftermath of the crash has had all kinds of repercussions for the direction of Polish politics, especially in the growing rise of more radically conservative nationalism. But on this day, people came to remember the individuals who lost their lives, along with loved ones. The whole day seemed more cathartic than depressing, because so many people came to perform these rituals, and then continued on with their lives. It also pointed out one of the major contentious issues of contemporary Polish society: the role of the Catholic Church in public life. While this institutionalized "day of remembrance" serves as a (probably) necessary outlet for grief, the teleological role of religion is also narrowing the possibilities for a plurality of identity within Poland. It's clear that this is already a divisive subject, not only between religious and secular groups but within the church itself. 


This is definitely something more to ponder than just jack-o-lanterns and costumes!