In the News!

I was recently featured in a two-page article in one of the national papers here in Bulgaria so I figured I would share it with you. The article is titled "The Universal Favorite in Bratsigovo" and talks about my life and work here in Bratsigovo and why I decided to become a Peace Corps volunteer. All in all I'm quite excited I was selected to be interviewed for the article and will have a great souvenir to bring back to America.

P.S.: Have the "martenitsis" arrived yet?

Bulgarian Word of the Week: "Vestnik" (Вестник) = Newspaper

Chestita Baba Marta!

Every year March 1st marks the holiday of Baba Marta (Grandma March.) Baba Marta is a holiday filled with optimism and anticipation of the spring, fertility, and well-being. In order to celebrate this holiday it is custom on to give friends, family, and colleagues little red and white bracelets called "martenitsa." Although quite simple, martenitsas often include a few small blue beads to make each one unique. The common belief is that by wearing the red and white colours of the martenitsa people ask Baba Marta for mercy in the hope that it will make spring come quicker.

Martenitsas are generally worn until one of three things happen. First, and most common, people take off their martenitsas and tie them to the branch of a fruit tree when the trees begin to bud. This is done to ensure a good harvest for the upcoming season. Next, martenitsas are removed when the first stork of the year is seen flying around town. This one may be a bit more difficult in Colorado as I have never seen a stork flying around Littleton or Boulder but here in Bulgaria they are very common around the entire country. Finally, martenitsas are placed under rocks when spring arrives in order to ensure them good luck and health in the upcoming year.

As you can probably guess, the gifts which I sent to you all are traditional Bulgarian martenitsas. Although they will arrive a little later than is custom, when you receive them tie them onto your wrists until the spring arrives, or if you feel like being risky, until you see the first stork of the year.

Happy (Late) Holidays

Now that the holidays have passed and school has begun once again I figure it is time for a new blog post from Bulgaria. Much like in America, Bulgaria has many various traditions which are performed for Christmas. Although unlike America, they do not involve Christmas carols or setting out milk and cookies for Santa.

Similar to most events in Bulgaria, the holidays are a time to be with ones family and friends. Relatives travel from across the country to spend a few days with their families to celebrate the holidays and enjoy each others company. Unlike in America, most traditions in Bulgaria take place on Christmas Eve, as opposed to Christmas day. Every Christmas Eve families get together and have a large dinner. According to Bulgarian tradition, the dinner contains no meat and consists of nine different food items. These items typically involve bean soup, surmi (stuffed cabbage leaves,) banitsa (a Bulgarian pastry made with white cheese,) shopska salad, cabbage, bread and fruit.

At the beginning of the meal the head of the house hold divides a large home-baked piece of bread. Baked inside of the bread is a Bulgarian coin. In this tradition, the person or thing who receives the coin will be blessed for the upcoming year. The first piece of bread is “given” to God, then to the house, and then to the father, mother, sons and daughters (in order from oldest to youngest,) then to the guests.

On Christmas day Bulgarians spend the day relaxing and spending time with their families and friends. During the evening there is a large feast with the family’s friends and relatives from town and the surrounding area. At these feasts lamb, pork, and chicken are served in abundance and the dinner lasts late into the evening with dancing and singing, eating and drinking. One interesting tradition, similar to the one on Christmas Eve, involves families baking large portions of banitsa, some filled with cheese, others with pumpkin, and placing inside various fortunes. When the banitsa is cut and distributed, each person finds a little fortune inside telling them what to expect in the New Year. These fortunes include: success, luck, money, a new car, and a new love.

All in all, the holidays are a happy and joyful time in Bulgaria. They are a time to take a break from work and the demands of everyday life to enjoy the important things in life: one’s friends and family.

Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Vesila Koleda" (Весила Коледа) = Merry Christmas

Bulgarian Name Days

I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving two weeks ago. As you all know, Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here in Bulgaria but a few volunteers and myself were able to celebrate together over a long weekend in Northern Bulgaria and in Bucharest, Romania. This year, instead of opting for the traditional turkey dinner, we decided to make a Mexican feast of enchiladas, pork tacos, refried beans, jalapeño salsa, and guacamole. Although it wasn't quite the same as I would have experienced in America, it was a great time nonetheless.

Bulgaria celebrates many of the same holidays as we do in America such as Christmas and Easter, but also has many others which are native to the country and region. One of the most popular holidays is "Name Day." Name days are certain days of the year which are meant to celebrate the life of a Bulgarian Orthodox saint. Traditionally, most Bulgarians are named after one of the many saints and therefore celebrate their Name Day on that day. A Name Day is treated very similar to a birthday in that the person generally invites his friends and family to either his house or a restaurant and treats them all to dinner. The guests bring small gifts such as religion icons, trinkets, food, or alcohol which they give to the host at the beginning of the night. Oddly enough, to many Bulgarians their name day is more important than their birthday. You can find a list of all the Name Days here. Look and see if you have a name day. (Although many names in Bulgarian are quite different than in English, there are some similarities such as George (May 6th,) David (June 26th,) Alex (November 24th,) and Stephen (December 27th.) Also, I added a few more pictures of Bratsigovo to the photo album if you guys are interested.

-Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Chestit Imen Den!" (Честит Имен Ден!) = Happy Name Day!

A Day in the Life...

A typical day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer differs greatly depending on where one is located and what type of organization the volunteer works for. Although I work as a community development volunteer here in Bratsigovo, there are other volunteers like myself who work all around the world. I have friends who are working as English teachers in elementary schools in Asia, teaching HIV and AIDS awareness to villagers in Africa, and teaching villagers how to best farm their land in Peru. That being said, here is the rundown of a "typical" day living and working here in Bratsigovo:

My work day begins at 8:30 AM although I generally go to the local cafe to have a cup of coffee with my colleagues a bit earlier. Cafes are a very important part of every day life in Bulgaria. It is here that friends and colleagues meet to talk about their families, share stories, and even to discuss work. Unlike America, where people simply run into the nearest Starbucks, order their drink, and leave, going to a cafe with friends or colleagues can last as long as two or three hours. I spend my mornings in my office which is a large room on the upper floor of the town's youth center. I work with together here with three women in the office of European integration. It is our job to write and manage various projects to help the wellbeing of the citizens of Bratsigovo and to help promote Bulgaria's integration into the European Union. In the past I have written and won projects involving the renovation of a pensioner's club and youth center, the creation of a youth scout group and "green patrol," the creation on an environmental information center, and a campaign to boost eco-tourism in the region.

After having lunch with my colleagues I generally leave the office and work with various groups in the community. In town there are two orphanages with a total of 200 kids. A few days a week I go to these orphanages to play soccer with the kids, do various crafts with them, or just hang out and talk. I have also recently started an English class which meets two days a week with the older kids from one of the orphanages. It has been great to see how interested and eager they are to learn! On the days which I don't visit the orphanages, I often head to the upper part of town to the Roma neighborhood. The Roma people, often known as gypsies in America, are an ethnically diverse minority group in Bulgaria who are greatly discriminated against. As a whole, the Roma community is much poorer and less educated than the Bulgarian community. There is very little work for them and the work that is available is underpaid labor. I am currently in the process of starting a new project to work with Roma teens in order to help them make healthier decisions in their lives.

When my work day ends I spend my free time in a wide range of ways. I enjoy hiking and jogging throughout the surrounding environment, playing basketball at the local school, reading on my balcony, cooking, and going out to a cafe with friends. On the weekends I often attend the local soccer matches in Bratsigovo and Plovdiv or travel around the country with friends. When the winter arrives I hope to be able to go snowboarding a few times in the Rhodope Mountains. I have snowboarded for most of my life and although I am not able to go up as much as I would like here, it is great to have the opportunity a few times a year.

It has been an interesting change for me moving from a large town such as Boulder to a small Bulgarian town with only 4,000 people. As you can imagine, the pace of life here is much slower than that in America but I have come to love it. It's hard to complain when most evenings I am able to sit on my balcony overlooking the town and watch the sunset over the Rhodope Mountains.

Bulgarian Food

Although there are some similarities between American and Bulgarian cuisine, overall the food is quite different and unique. One of the best aspects of Bulgarian food is that it is always fresh. Every family has their own personal garden and grow everything from tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to grapes, carrots, and pumpkins. Due to this, most meals are based heavily around vegetables and usually served with either chicken or pork. Here are a few typical Bulgarian meals and how to make them:

Tarator: Cold Cucumber Soup


Ingredients:
2 cucumbers
500 grams of plain yogurt
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of crushed walnuts
2 tablespoon of fresh dill
Salt, oil and water (optional)

1) Grate the cucumbers and place them in a bowl
2) Mash the yogurt with a fork into a liquid like consistency and pour over the cucumbers
3) Add the crushed garlic, dill, walnuts, and salt
4) For a more watery consistency, add 1/4-1/2 cup of cold water
5) Refrigerate and serve

Shopska Salad: My favorite Bulgarian meal


Ingredients
4 medium tomatoes, washed and diced
4 cucumbers, washed, peeled and diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 cup grated Bulgarian white cheese (cirene) or feta cheese
oil, vinegar, salt and pepper (to taste)

1) Put the already cut tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion and parsley into a large bowl and mix.
2) Pour the white cheese or feta over the top of the vegetables
3) Pour olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper over the cheese and enjoy!

Note: This is an extremely easy dish to make and is absolutely delicious.

Rhodopean Moussaka



Ingredients
.5 kilogram minced meat (pork and beef although just beef is alright)
1 kilogram potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1/3 cup parsley
3 medium sized eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons of flour
salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2) Cook the minced meat and onions in a pan over the stove until the meat is brown
3) Mix together the meat, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper together in a large baking dish
4) Bake uncovered for 45 minutes - 1 hour until the potatoes are fully cooked (you should quite easily be able to mash them with a fork)
5) Combine the eggs, yogurt and flour together in a bowl and pour the mixture over the top of the dish
6) Bake for 15 more minutes and serve warm!

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do. Be sure to have your parents help you when making them as they can get quite messy.

-Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Vkoosno" (Вкусно) = Delicious

A Little Background Information About Myself

Before starting to post information and stories about Bulgaria and my work here I've decided to tell you a little about myself and why I choose to become a Peace Corps volunteer.

I was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado along with my twin brother, Andrew, and younger sister, Staci. Andrew is currently living in Washington D.C. and attending graduate school at Georgetown University. Much like me, Andrew loves to travel and lived in Cairo, Egypt for six months before attending Georgetown. My sister Staci was adopted from South Korea when she was six months old and has been with us ever since. Last fall she started her first year of college at Colorado Christian University.

When I was in my first year of high school my Dad invited me to go with him to Guatemala on a trip to help provide clean water to a small village near the capital city. The trip was one of the hardest but most rewarding times of me life. We worked all day under the hot sun carrying pipes, digging wells, and building a shed for the equipment. By the time we ate dinner and went to bed we were all exhausted but thrilled that we were able to make such a great difference in the lives of others. It is because of this trip that I became interested in doing humanitarian work and spending my life helping those who are less fortunate than myself.


Throughout high school and college I went on many more trips such as this to villages in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico. I was also active in Colorado volunteering at the Denver Rescue Mission and helping to found a non-profit organization called With Love Inc. in Boulder. It was through these experiences that I realized I wanted to work to help people as a profession after I graduated from college.

I applied for the Peace Corps midway through my junior year of college and in July of 2006, was told that I would be spending the next two and a half years of my life in Bulgaria. A month and a half later I stepped onto a plane headed for Sofia and here I am today...

Bulgarian Phrase of the Week: "Kazvam se..." (Казвам се...) = My name is...

-See if you can introduce yourselves to each other in Bulgarian. For example, I would say "Kazvam se Eric."