Never told you about the 20th Anniversary of Fulbright in Bulgaria!!:
As I arrived in Sofia I was tremendously lucky about the
time of my trip that I got sick. Bulgaria having been a previously communist
nation that American’s were not allowed to visit, has now had Fulbright here
for 20 years. Thus they were having a celebration for the 20th
Anniversary of Fulbright in Sofia. Which is why I was lucky enough that when I
got sick I could stay there fore free, with friends who would watch out for me,
and let me actually get to participate in a ceremony that previously I would not
have been able to attend because I would be teaching those days instead.
I arrived at the hotel and saw some of my friends instantly,
it was the prefect timing to arrive and I felt like I was home with them. They
got me to my room since I couldn’t walk and as Sam said “You’re all sick and
dying”, then they got me to McDonald’s, where I ate completely unhealthy food
but hey food is food when you are so sick! It was really great to see them and
joke with them.
Very true!
Stately is still trying to work on his project and his
facial expressions when you ask him about it are priceless. He’s one of my
favorite Fulbrighters’. He has this really fun sense of humor but he’s also
down to earth, so perfect mixture of fun and intelligence that I enjoy being
around him. I was telling him that I’m not doing so great with mine either when
Sam said with sarcasm and humor: “of course you’re doing a research project.”
Statements like that remind me that I am completely insane, and ok with it.
Love my Fulbrighters!!
Coolest mug ever!
It was a good time, the next day Aviva refused to wake me
for the panels so I could sleep and go to the Doctor. When I finally made it I
had hiked it to a pharmacy and gotten a bandage from my foot though I still had
to stop every 2 minutes because it hurt so much. (Of course I find out later my
ankle wasn’t sprained, my foot was dislocated so, you know, makes sense.) I got
to the event and there was bright, sunshine-ey Iliana just a breath of joy. She
gave me a fun set of gifts for the 20th including a bag, mug, and
shirt. Now you are probably thinking “so it’s like what you get at a business
convention, what’s so special?” but this mug is the mug I have worked years
for. That bag will be with me until I die, and that shirt may only be worn with
total pride and self-confidence because ladies and gentlemen I made it. I am a
Fulbrighter. You have no idea what that means to me. After so many people I
trusted betrayed me and made me question everything about myself, here I am on
the other side realizing just how capable, intelligent, and successful I am and
can be; and god am I happy! These small tokens are incredibly important to me.
Being a part of the 20th was so important to me. Honestly I think
that God or fate wanted me to go to the celebration and gave me a little push
(down the stairs.) Totally worth the dislocated ankle!!
Kicking it with the masks!
That night we had a private performance from the Bulgarian
orchestra playing songs from a past American Fulbrighter who came to Bulgaria.
It was amazing to the point I didn’t care that I had to keep leaving to vomit.
It was so beautiful and the music reminded me of home to the point that I
enjoyed being able to bring my two worlds together. There are moments in your
life that you’ll never forget and getting a private performance to celebrate
such a big thing was fantastic. In some ways I felt like that student that the
school brings to the symphony in Boston so that they start to cultivate an
appreciation for “adult things” and then I realized I am an adult, this isn’t a
field trip, and I am a guest at a wonderful event. Really beautiful
realization. It was completely worth "going the distance" not only from Romania back to Bulgaria but to Bulgaria in general.
I totally wish I'd had a fez at the event
Basically, my luck
Then Kaity got me into a taxi and back to the hotel where we
went right around the corner to the grocery store to get me bland foods so I
could go up and relax. I took a nice long hot bath, ice my ankle, got into bed
after packing up and just took a moment to appreciate my life and all I’ve
gotten to see lately. In the morning
Always sad later
we all met in the lobby for breakfast and
final goodbyes before taking our buses to our homes.
It is always sad to leave each other. In many ways we are
each others rocks. But it is our missions that we are returning to and so we
depart and look forward to the next time we will meet.
Taking that bus ride back is very long and gives me time to
contemplate life here, and where I am going. I figured out from the 20th
that it doesn’t much matter if I know exactly where I am headed right now
because I am truly prepare for anything, so as the Beatle’s say: “Let It Be.”
Fulbright friends are now always worried for me!
I won’t be blogging for about a week as I am meeting my
sister in London to get things settled for her wedding and attend the Dr. Who
50th anniversary. But I will leave you with this song tonight: “Go the
Distance” (sung by Lucas Grabeel) because everyone should get to find where
they belong and I am so happy to have found where I belong!
It occurs to me that I never really tell you about day to
day life here. It’s amazing. People here don’t walk fast like Bostonians do,
and they don’t respect your personal space like New Englanders do (we stay a
foot away, seriously you come within 12 inches of someone and you need to be
really close friends.) People here live a really different life, and they have
no issue whatsoever getting intimate with other peoples lives. For instance:
How I feel when speaking Bulgarian!
Or at least not 6 am!
Any whovian knows that when someone knocks 4 times on your
door, you don’t answer because it has been prophesized that that foretells the
death of the Doctor. Here in Bulgaria, unlike Boston, neighbors ring your doorbell
all the time. And if you don’t answer that, because it’s 6 in the morning and
you don’t have work until 1:15 p.m., they will then knock. But my neighbors
don’t knock just once, they knock 4 times. I NEVER ANSWER. Can’t help it, it’s
ingrained. But it’s also my personality and my background. I grew up in a
situation that you couldn’t answer the door, it was too dangerous. If someone
rang out doorbell I had to hide and call my parents to tell them so they could
rush home and check it out. Here I live alone and it’s weird how safe I feel.
You’d think it would be the opposite but here I just don’t worry, I take the
normal precautions but I’m not laying awake panicking at night.
Me, alone on the lift!
But that doesn’t mean I just let go of my roots that easily.
When someone rings the doorbell or even
Me.
when they get on the lift with me I go
into total shut down mode. I just can’t deal with my space being invaded, and I
don’t do well with meeting people I’ve never met that way. At a conference?
Great. Work, perfect. Market place, sure. But literally one of my neighbors
kept ringing my doorbell to try and get me to hang out with his son from
America that I’m still not sure ever existed, I dodged him until he left
Bulgaria. And I can’t help it, I just prefer to know when someone is visiting.
Bulgarians don’t seem to understand that, and I have to admit while that can be
agitating, having a neighbor just decide to ring my bell, talk to me in a
language I don’t know and they know I don’t know it for 5 minutes, then turn
around and leave while I’m more confused than ever; it’s still really pleasant.
It’s a beautiful cultural interaction. Even though it's hysterical that when I tell them I don't understand what they are saying, they do what Americans do to foreigners (which I NEVER do out of protest,) they speak louder thinking then I'll understand. Yep, seriously love the irony! But, every day that I can hold the door to
the lift for the little old lady on my floor and make it easier for her, I feel
happy. Not something I’d get in Boston. And as I have opened my door more and more I am happy to get to know people, and I have successfully explored so much of Burgas that I feel like I've "left my tower." ;)
Boston motto. Mostly I just like to look at him
Then there’s teaching. I can’t describe how amazing it is
while being the single most frustrating experience of my life. Some of my
students are just brilliant, I look at them and want to tell them that they
could become political leaders, or rule the world. But at the same time I don’t
want to rush their childhoods. There are hard moments like when most of my
students don’t bring in their speeches and I have to fail them, or when half
the class won’t stop talking and are horribly disrespectful so I can’t be who I
want to be with them. I literally had to tell one of my 10th grade classes: I
don’t like seeing you every week. I really dread it. And I hate that, and I
dread it because you bring out my worst self. I can’t joke with you, I can’t
let you get away with small things, I can’t breathe with you because if I give
you an inch you steal home plate! I want to have fun with you while we learn,
can’t you please try to understand that?
Eventually they did, and we have been able to transition
into a good environment where some of them still act up but most try to get
their work done so we can enjoy our time. Some of my students are just bright
lights in my stay here. I’m working on learning all of their names, and I enjoy
when they even say “hi” to me on the street. I like being able to be “casual”
with them and still teach them
Creepy, but wonderful
what they need to know. I love getting to talk
about Josh Whedon and Dr. Who and read them the Gashly Crumb Tinies and just
include it all in my lesson plan so they learn but they learn in a fun way.
My fave. He died of boredom!
This week I substituted for 6 lessons and it was hard,
because I don’t normally teach them grammar and had never even seen their
textbook. On one assignment I had them write out their hopes and fears for the
future to practice future simple, and one boy said, “Can’t we just talk about
it? Wouldn’t that be better?” Now I know a lot of them didn’t want to have to
write, but I just lit up at the fact that 3 months ago I would need to pull
teeth to get them to talk at all and now they were choosing it.
My reaction to them wanting to talk!
What was even
better was one of my students said that if she could
hope for anything in the future it would be an end to racism, she was really
explicit on hating how people are judged. Which lead to a debate about the
gypsies who are hated here in Bulgaria and I tend to not discuss them with
students. I agree there are problems but hating a group of people really sets
my stomach on edge no matter what.
My first instinct to hearing this
Unfortunately my students got rather heated about why it was
ok to be racist against gypsies and one of my students said Hitler had the
right idea and to exterminate them. I wanted to be angry, I wanted to scream, I
wanted to tell them about how I still have nightmares of touring Auschwitz,
about how I was asked to never learn German by a Holocaust survivor I know because
he knew it to be that “hateful
language” (even though I find it beautiful.) Instead of getting angry, as the
Holocaust historian who literally studied this in depth since 1995 inside me wanted to; I said ok let's talk about this. Yes you
have some valid complaints, but how far are you willing to take those? Will you
experiment on gypsies as Hitler did? To which they responded: no, he only
experimented on Jews.
Now anyone who has studied the
Holocaust or toured Auschwitz knows that to be a lie, but instead of getting
angry again I recognized they were kids. They only know what they’ve been
taught, so let’s teach them the truth. I told them all about my research on the
Holocaust, I told them about traveling to Poland, I told them everything I
thought they could handle and at the end they were so floored by what they
never knew or what they assumed that they sat quietly thinking and I said: I'm
not telling you, you can't dislike someone, I am merely telling you that all
human life has worth and you damn well better consider that before you allow
hatred to turn you into something you don't want to be. They all agreed and there was this total
transformation. I don’t think they would have even listened to me 3 months ago,
this is a huge step. We have wonderful moments like this that make everything
better.
Yay progress!
Then there are the frustrating moments
that make me wonder if I will ever do any good. Like how I can’t get a
classroom right now for my extra classes on Tuesday that I volunteer to teach.
So I was told I could use the library. Then, I send the students there to meet
me and arrive to be told the librarian is in Turkey and the library is locked.
Which is when I want to explode. Who locks up a school library for a week? What
do the students do? Where do they go for materials? Why can’t someone else
unlock it? Why is it that if one person is out they are never replaced and so
students suffer? I was ready to lose it when my students still wanted to study.
So we ended up sitting on the bench on the second floor with out legs in the
air while the janitor mopped under us, still having my lesson. It was
completely worth it. Cultural adjustments need to be made, but sometimes I have
to get angry first in my head then move on and keep perspective: I want to help
these kids become fluent and I want to help them pursue their dreams. Suck it
up Andrews.
Therefore whatever happens just go with it
Then today was the volleyball
game. I was excited to be told by one of my students about it and asked the gym
teacher how to get a ticket, she offered to bring me and I met her at school
today. It was great! I got to cheer on my students and join in with my
colleagues. I realized about 15 minutes in the gym teacher and I always had the
same verbal reactions. We weren’t using words but sounds like “aaah!” or “ugh”
and yet I love how those expressions transcend language boundaries and how we
didn’t even mean to be the same. Really cool moment. But mostly it was just
good to see my students supporting each other and get to talk to the vice
Principal about the team. He even drove me home so I didn’t have to walk in the
rain, and we talked about school pride and inspiring students to
Matt Smith Wants YOU! (I Wish)
attend more
games. In Bulgaria, sports aren’t a huge thing at school. I kinda like that
because I always hated how the cheerleaders and the jocks ran the high schools
in America. Here there aren’t cliques like that, it’s a totally different feel.
And while I love that, I still wish they were more into school pride. But I
also noticed I started saying things like “they are killing us” or “we can do
it.” It’s nice to really feel like a part of this school. It’s a dream come
true.
So there you have it so far: I
rarely answer my door, still take the lift alone, teaching can either make me
want to sleep for days or rev me up, and I am finally feeling like I have a
place here! Pretty great so far ;)
My Mantra!
Highlights of the week:
(I was sitting under the map on
the wall, where it says Colombia and someone wrote “cocaine”) student: You have
cocaine in your hair.
“It’s my new conditioner”
Me: Puts the cards away!
Student puts them away then
another student walks into my room and asks to borrow them and everyone laughs
Me: Well, they aren’t out
anymore at least!
Me: Why do you all always swear
in English??
Student: it’s English class we
like to be consistent
Me: How thoughtful
Student: We don’t have baseball
in Bulgaria but I’ve heard about the Yankees, can you tell me about them?
Me: I’m from Boston, so to me
the Yankees will lose to us every time and can’t play. I’m sorry, that’s just
how it is…kinda awkward.
Student: So your team is better?
Me: (paused for morals check,
then decided to forget it) Yes, yes it is.
Final thoughts on leaving my flat some days
Tonight’s song it “When will my
life begin?” from Tangled, which I remember seeing in a theater in Main with my
dear friend Cayla Thompson! I remember seeing this scene and wondering “when
will my life begin really?” and I can say that after the game today I know my
life is well under way!
Yesterday marked my 3 month anniversary of living in
Bulgaria!I have been living here
for one quarter of a year, how incredible is that? I was reflecting on it today
and everything that has happened in these 3 months.
How I feel at the end of loooong days at the school!
Keep Moving Forward!
When you think on it the first month is just chaos, I was
learning Bulgarian language, and teaching strategies, living in Pravets for
half of it then traveling around after barely throwing my stuff into my flat!
Month two is like dealing with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, you never get a
straight answer to anything, and you are never sure what is going on, you just
hope that you can get through and make a differences without hitting
exhaustion. But month three is like the settling in point. I know the area, I
have a firm grip on my classes and plans to help them improve, I am set in my
flat, and all the quirks that you noticed before don’t even register. Yep month
three is definitely the month that you feel, “I am here, I am not going
anywhere for a long time, and I am beyond ok with that!”
Just keep tuttling through!
However with all of this comes some reflection:
Supporting my students helps me find myself
I never realized just how far I could push myself, or how I
could make my self adapt so easily until taking this journey. Students will
send me messages at 3 a.m. asking about what major they should do or where they
should go and suddenly I am becoming an expert in all of these fields. Not
because I am “faking” it, but because I reach out to anyone who can give me an
educated answer so that I can help out my students in literally any possible
field. But I work around the clock and while I am used to that, this is the
first time that I can actually see that it is having a truly positive effect
when I see students improving or when I hear them say they are happy.
I miss people, but I'm happy
Christmas pictures make me so happy! It's home!
I thought it would be harder living on my own for the first
time. But it’s surprisingly easy. Suddenly it’s my decision when laundry is
done or dishes and I love that. I love being able to clean my flat and know it
will stay clean, and I love not having to hide my things so that my dad
wouldn’t steal them. I love not having to deal with him coming home at night
and I just love living alone. Being able to laugh as something really loud
without worrying I’ll upset someone, or not being woken up by someone coming in
late. It’s really great. It’s pretty easy and it feels like I have been doing
this all along.
Never, Never, Quit
No matter how many good days you have, there will always be
bad days. Like yesterday when so many of my students didn’t bring in the
speeches they had weeks to prepare and instead of being sorry half of them were
rude and flippant. And no matter how I dress the staff at my school will always
remark how young I look to the point it makes me feel like maybe there is
something wrong with that. But you know what? Doesn’t matter if there is, I am
here and I am dedicated to my job and if I look young well then I have to
remember William Wilberforce’s quote: We are too young to know that some things
are impossible, so we will do them anyways.
How i feel I would react if I returned
I thought it would be lonelier over here. In truth I don’t
have many friends in my area, mostly just a few teachers who have been lovely
but thankfully have also respected my space; and my students. I live alone
here, and I don’t really speak the language, try as I may, but it’s not lonely.
I miss America right now because the holiday season is my favorite and there
are so many fun things to do, but I don’t really miss living there, just those
fun events. It feels like living here is what I was always destined to do, and
so while I live alone and am alone; there is a tranquility in that, that I can
never explain if you haven’t felt it.
I found my favorite food here, it’s this chocolate crepe
thing that’s called a pancake and I am obsessed with it. But I am always
embarrassed to order it because I can’t figure out how to in Bulgarian, so I
reserve it for special moments.
They just don't know it yet!
My students are amazing and make my life. One of them saw my
leg was badly hurting me and offered me her shoulder to get down the stairs.
While others are just wonderful at reaching out and seeing me as a human and
not just an adult sent here to “wreck their lives.” Some classes I barely know
any students, while others I can name you most of them and comment on things I
notice about their lives. With 450 I never expected to get to know them all,
but I am deeply honored and touched that so many of them have allowed me to get
to know them as well as they have. I’m here for them, I didn’t have to apply to
be an ETA, I wanted to. It’s everything I ever wanted and knowing them will
truly be one of the highlights of my life. I wish I could tell them that, I
wish I could get them to understand that while I still have to grade them and
keep them from going insane, in reality I care most about who they are as
people and how I can help them achieve their dreams.
So many said to relax...I never listened!
Being lazy is pretty ok. I spent this last weekend just
lounging around getting tons of work done and it was amazing. I’ve literally
never just let myself watch an entire season of a TV show (13 episodes!!) while
getting work done and just let myself be. I am so used to going like the
Energizer bunny that it was weird and very enjoyable. But of course I go
straight back to being crazy.
There are days when literally all I can think is “lulzgaria”
like when I have my Fulbright visit and they stop talking about me because no one
has an issue with me and they think I’m an improvement over past teachers so
they start talking about the weather in Bulgarian while I sit there. Or when
they won’t give me a classroom for extra lessons and say use the library so
when I go to use the library I find out that my librarian is in Turkey on a
student trip and I think:
Always something different!
“What school has a librarian go to Turkey and shuts
down the library while she’s away? Who closes a library? Aren’t they supposed
to stay open? Why is this what I’m dealing with? Will there ever not be road
blocks?” But you have to appreciate the radical difference between what I am
used to in America and what happens in Bulgaria. I love having to adapt and
just think on my feet; even if it means balancing my backpack on my legs in the
air while a janitor mops under my legs on a bench in the hall with two students
so I can teach them TOEFL prep.
Literally how I feel when trying to make sense of things here
All in all it has been a marvelous 3 months of great
weather, traveling around, bonding with my friends, finding my place at my
school, and enjoy the area. I am so glad I have so much time left to enjoy, and can't wait to see what else comes my way!
To almost 8 more months!
Tonight’s song is"Little Wonders" (my second favorite song) because you truly do not appreciate a moment until you look back and see what an impact it has had on your life. I know that I appreciate my time here now, but I also know I will be forever grateful and still discovering things about this time here when I'm in my 80's.
Annnnnnnd guess who spent Halloween weekend at Dracula’s
castle in Romania? Yep, your faithful blogger/total crazy person over here!
I shared it with amazing new people!
Home for the night!
Music makes a home, as the VonTrapps
So let’s do this right. First I took a bus to Varna and
stayed in this pirate themed hostel, and after I got up very early to take a 7
am bus to Bucharest. It took about 6 hours to get there, we stopped in Rousse
along the way which was interesting. The bus driver kept speaking to me in
Bulgarian and before I could even say “I speak very little Bulgarian” literally
all the bus yelled at him that I didn’t speak Bulgarian so cut it out. He
wasn’t the nicest guy. But this couple behind me spoke English and he demanded
they translate so I got the gist. And 6 hours later I was in the International
bus station in Bucharest. Where….my debit and credit cards were turned off. I
call my companies and they say
“We know you are in Bulgaria but…”
Me: No, I’m in Romania
Companies: ….they aren’t the same country?
Me….NO…
Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho
Eventually it got sorted and using the wifi at the station I
contacted my hostel which was really fun (Umbrella Hostel, try it out!) and
they said to grab a taxi and come over. But all the taxi’s either wouldn’t take
me “that far” or would rip me off so instead I walked to the nearby mall to
grab some food (and found this really cool 90’s style sweatshirt that I am
loving!) and waited a bit before walking to my hostel. I walked awhile then
grabbed a cab and when I arrived it was totally worth the wait. I basically
morphed into Lorelai Gilmore at this hostel, the following are conversations
that occurred between me and the guy working throughout my stay:
Him: I managed to grab you a bottom bunk!
Me: That’s great, thanks, I probably won’t fall off now…most
likely
Him: You’re kidding right?
Me: yeah, like 95%, don’t judge me it’s been a hard day.
I left part of my heart in Romania!
Him: You got lost? How did you get lost!
2nd Star to the right and straight
on 'till morning
Me: I told you I needed the bigger map!
Him: You didn’t need the bigger map, you needed to not get
lost!
Me: Which I wouldn’t have if I had the bigger one I read
streets, not tiny little tree symbols that tell me I need to find a park.
Nature hates me. Seriously, ants plan out their attacks months in advance to
take me by surprise.
Him: Just read the map next time.
How instructive!
Him: (AsI
arrived) Did you just take a picture of the sign?
Me: yes…
Him: but inside has a better view
Me: And I’ll take a photo of that as well, where’s the sign
that says only one photo?
Him: …ok.
Long live the Revolution!
Yeah…if you were there you’d understand. But it was great. I
mean my dorm mates were boring and didn’t want to do anything. I took the map,
that had FEW street names btw, and hit the road. Got lost a bit but saw the
sites including the second biggest building in the world next to the pentagon.
It was their state house place I believe. Super cool, incredibly huge, and they
filmed an episode of Top Gear there! Went to a ton of book shops trying to find
a copy of Dracula in Romanian for my friend Kinney, but each time they thought
I was crazy since I don’t speak Romanian and unfortunately they didn’t have a
copy anyways.
Weird statue!
Toured the city and finally found the free walking tour which
was fantastic! I got to meet some Spaniards and we communicated using Spanish and English and I didn't realize how much I remembered so it was a wonderful experience of bonding. Plus, I mean really great, we saw all of old town, and the weird
statues that celebrities joke about, the churches that were moved, and statues
of Vlad. If you are ever in Romania take the free walking tour! I made a really
lovely friend, Linda. She works in Romania for a theater company working on
diction while teaching German. Honestly meeting her made my trip, she is just
so kind and it was wonderful taking the tour with her. She and I invited our
tour guide for some dinner after and we had a wonderful time trying Romanian
food and talking. I was sad when I had to head back and pack up.
Beautiful people!
Not my stop!
But the next day I grabbed a train to Brasov where Bran
castle is, the castle of Vlad Tepes, who you know as Dracula. Getting the train
was an adventure in itself and I am always worried I won’t get off at the right
stop but I’ve learned a few tricks now to help. I set an alarm for 20 minutes
before my ticket says I’ll arrive and then I get ready then, so I can enjoy the
country side without worry.
You don't find this at home!
When I got there I followed the instructions my hostel,
Kismet Dao, gave me to get there by taking a #4 bus, but it said get off on the
5th stop. Funny thing about Romanian buses, they can just skip a
stop if they like and so I got off a stop late because of this. Instead of
griping though I walked back and found my way really enjoying the view. It was
amazing to see Brasov. And I took my sunglasses off that have a rose tint, put
them in front of my camera and took pictures so I could always remember things
the way I saw them as I walked around.
I left without strangers!
I got to the hostel and got bad news, the bus that was
suppose to take me home no longer runs and so my return home got much more
complicated but hey, it’s me. I just said “ok, whatever it takes and can I have
a map to go site see please?” Then settled in. I was in the “Tiny room” which
wasn’t actually tiny at all but rather large. I tried to lie down and take a
nap for a bit, pretty tired from my journey but there were these two people in my
dorm talking and I decided to just sit up and join in. GREAT DECISION. Stephen
is form Australia, he has been working in London for awhile as a Physical
therapist from my understanding and is now returning home for his dads wedding,
and Lauren works in Paris as a type of guide who canoes, does rock climbing
etc. We got dinner together and it was fantastic!
The Addam's Family came!
Readers if you haven’t backpacked anywhere before take it
from me, there is no sweeter moment than sitting at dinner with new friends and
realizing you never got their names because you were instantly just discussing
things in common or dying to know about what it is like to pass your kayak
exam. We got dinner and found this desert that I remembered having in Prague a
lot and shared it. We
I thought of my sister!
operated on the motto “if we get lost we get lost
together.” I was truly grateful to meet them and just have this joyous
experience of sharing out totally different lives from all over the world and
just enjoying. Lauren quit school at 15 and hit the road, while Stephen got his
license to do what I understand is PT. And I just sit there, the Bulgarian high
school teacher taking in this people that I am lucky to meet!
Stephen drinking the "blood"
Change me or Kill me?
We made it back to the hostel and then it was time for me to
find my way to Dracula’s castle for the Halloween party. It was a half an hour
away but the Australian came with me and it was amazing. We got to tour the
creepy castle at 11 at night, drink the “blood of the victims,” take pictures
with Vlad who was dropping in on our tour screaming, and then hit the Halloween
party on the grounds.
My first big Halloween party!
Paaaarty!
At midnight they played “Thriller” and it was crazy! You
have people from all different nations dancing with each other, celebrating
Halloween and magic. It was really great, and totally worth spraining my ankle
that night! (Which either happened when this woman accidentally kicked me and I
snapped down on it, or later when I fell down a staircase while being ill.)
Stephen and I grabbed a hot drink while we waited for our taxi driver to return
and it was the best hot chocolate I have ever had. AMAZING. We headed back to
the hostel and I realized I was getting very ill. I couldn’t sleep, I had to
keep dirnking tea and I fell down the stairs. Finally it hit me that I never
truly recovered from my virus a few weeks before and now it was back with full
force. I skype called my mom and she talked me into flying to Sofia instead of
taking an 18 hour bus (it was a very complex situation, you don’t want to know)
and I contacted Fulbright. Originally I was going to have to teach on Monday
and this was Saturday but I knew I needed a Dr. and couldn’t go back to Burgas
right away so I asked if I could still attend the 20th Anniversary
of Fulbright being in Bulgaria and stay in the hotel with the others.
Thankfully they had room for me and I packed up.
Tea makes everything better
The next day I went to a pharmacy and they told me my ankle
was badly sprained and the fact I could walk was a testament to my extreme pain
tolerance. I got on a train to Bucharest with Lauren and her friend Jace and we
kept each other sane on the train ride back, then grabbed Subway together
before I left for the airport and got on my plane to Sofia. Leaving behind the
Romania I had already become so attached to, and the beautiful people I had,
had the honor of meeting. Romania was Prague and Budapest put together and I
want to return one day for a much longer stay!
BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER
I bought a flag!
Don’t get me wrong there was tons of other stuff along the
way like the guy who stupidly tried to pick my pocket, the African sports team
that tried to talk to me but it just wouldn’t work across language lines, the
souvenir shop woman who helped me choose things for my family and told me I was
a good friend, and the security guard who didn’t get my Young Frankenstein joke
about “walking this way” when I had to hobble through security. But if I told
you all about my travels I would have no memories to hide away for myself, and
you would be reading for hours!
Halloween Party at Dracula's!!
I made it to Sofia, after literally throwing up in: Planes,
trains, and automobiles! I was very ill but I made it to the Renaissance hotel
and seeing my Fulbright friends has never felt so much like home. But more on
that in my “20th Anniversary of Fulbright in Romania” post!
Tonight’s song is “You’re My Home” because I realized on all
the trains I took, and the times I used my passport that it isn’t about having
a set home, it’s about the perspective of what a “home” is and how you perceive
it. <3
Anna
I love tagging in foreign countries, it enriches my journey!
