Dear Family, Friends and Enemies,
Greetings from Bulgaria. I hope you are enjoying your summer and it hasn’t been
to hot for you. The summer days are long and slow here in northeast Bulgaria. It
was very humid for four days, but two big storms helped cool things off. Now it
is actually a bit cold.
I am finally settled in my new town, Zavet. I will live here for the next two
years working as the English teacher. I still don’t know for sure what grades I
will be teaching, but I think it will be 6th, 7th and 8th graders. There isn’t
much for me to do right now so my days are filled with reading, solitaire and
playing basketball. Here are a few things that have happened in the past three
weeks or so. Also, I redesigned my website and I reformatted the photos so that
they load faster. And, since checking e-mail has become the highlight of my day,
please send me updates on what is going on with you!
Zavet Life
This town has around 3,000 people but it is relatively remote because the roads
are so bad. An interesting aspect is the high number of Turks living here. In
fact, the town is 50 percent Turkish. This adds a different dynamic to the
community. Many of them speak Bulgarian and Turkish, and although nobody here is
fanatical about religion, some Islamic traditions are alive and well. In
particular, women are not treated as equals in the household. I cannot tell the
difference between a Turk and a Bulgarian by sight, although locals here say
they can. I can only tell by the name. Apparently I have assimilated well here.
I still get long stares when I walk down the street. But the other day when I
rode the bus I gave the incorrect amount for the ticket. I was one lev short,
but I didn’t hear the driver. He repeated his request, but this time in Turkish,
thinking I was some Turk who didn’t speak Bulgarian too well.
About 13 kilometers outside of town are some famous tombs that are very old.
It’s supposed to be interesting. Another unique place is the national game park.
It’s right outside of town and is run by the government. It costs around 8 leva
to walk around. But if you want to hunt, it’s closer to 1,000 leva. I guess
there are Bulgarian buffalo, deer, wild pigs, and other exotic animals that live
in the park. During the Communist days, famous Russian officials used to hunt
here. Even Fidel Castro flew in here to hunt in park.
BASKETBALL IN ZAVET
One of my first purchases here was a basketball. It cost 27 leva. Basketball is
popular here, but no one plays. I think I am the only person in town who
actually has a ball. There is one hoop in town and that is at the technical
school on the outskirts of town. Luckily I know the guy who has the key, so
we’ve played a lot. Most of you would laugh at the conditions of the gym. The
floor is caked with dirt. At mid-court there is straw, dirt and bird poop
because birds have made a big nest in the light fixtures above. The hoop isn’t
quite 10 feet and there isn’t any net. The backboard is wood. In one corner
there is wet carpet because the roof leaks. Despite all this, we get some decent
games going. However, sticking with your man on defense is very difficult for
them. I can’t seem to teach this concept. Often they just follow the ball
wherever it goes. It drives me crazy! Also, explaining how to “check” the ball
after each point was something new. Then explaining why was even harder. But my
goal is to have some hoops installed at the school some time this fall. At the
school there are eight poles where hoops used to be. Some have backboards, but
none have rims. According to locals, the Roma stole them. This is a popular
answer (although not always true) for many things that happen here.
INTERESTING PHOTO SELECTION
Every morning I go to have coffee at the café with friends. This is a Bulgarian
tradition – sit, drink coffee and watch the world go by. Anyway, we had the
newspaper from the nearest big city. On the cover I noticed a photo that isn’t
so common in American newspapers – three naked boys standing in water. These
boys were probably ages 8-13. The photo was quite large and it showed
everything. Then, above the photo was another photo of these old women looking
and pointing. I asked what was going on with this story. My friend, Velichko,
who speaks English, said it was a kind of photo story about the hot weather and
that these were Roma boys who had been swimming in the water. That was it. No
more explanation than that. He didn’t seem too shocked by it. Today, in another
big newspaper, there was a big double-truck (two-page section in the middle)
about how to cure anorexia. It included many graphic photos of this naked girl.
It wasn’t pretty. Anyway, I they always have interesting photo selections here.
And Americans think they have a liberal media.
GOING TO THE MOVIES
Every so often they will show a movie at the local theater here in Zavet. Last
week I saw the critically acclaimed “Torque” starring Ice Cube. It’s a
heartwarming tale about motorcycle gangsters who chase one another around on
their cycles, fight while on their motorcycles then get in huge wrecks without
breaking any bones. For all who haven’t seen it, it’s all action, little
dialogue.
It was fun to watch my Bulgarian friends some times laugh at the jokes or
explain what they liked. Almost everyone there thought it was really, really
good. One guy next to me kept saying, “This is a very interesting film” as
though some dramatic story was unfolding. I’m not making fun of their reactions,
but Bulgarians love action films. They love Arnold, Stallone, Bruce Willis,
Steven Segal and Jackie Chan. They love the big chase scenes and the one-liners.
The translations are some times a little off, but Bulgarians understand most of
them. In fact, most of them know a lot of English cuss words this way, although
often they don’t know what they mean.
I laughed out loud when there was a scene between the this guy and girl. It’s
supposed to be humorous as it shows this woman, in her underwear, and she’s
wearing a motorcycle helmet. I jokingly said to my friend in Bulgarian, “They
are playing, maybe?” He responded in broken English, “Why don’t they get a
room!” Maybe you had to be there, but to hear a Bulgarian use that expression
was pretty funny.