Bulgaria!!! A gem on the voyage :)
July 24-27, 2011
I enter Varna, Bulgaria with 2 feelings: 1) sad that I'm not in Egypt, and 2) excited about this new country that I know very little about! Again, my first adventure out is a field practica to visit a Roma community. I was a little confused at first as to why they we were going to a "Roma" community. We learned that it stood for gypsy! Our itinerary began with a heart warming visit to the poor community. It was a little confusing. We got off the bus to be welcomed by a small family who lead us to their one room home... But on the way we were shouted at in Bulgarian so we didn't understand. Our wonderful guide, Luba, told us that the neighbors were embarrassed that they had brought us here because they are so poor. We continued on to one of the ladies house where her and her 4 kids (one of which she took in because his mom died and no one wanted him because he is disabled) lived. It was a shack with one room with 2 couches that here whole family lived in. She was soooo warm and welcoming! As she showed us in, she took our hands and guided us to a spot to sit down at. Once we were all in, she pointed out her little house and gave each of us hugs. She pinched my cheek too! Her and her little family were so proud to have us in their home and share what they had! And they were happy to take pictures with us! As I left the house, I looked out the door and saw that there were many more kids outside!!
They wanted to meet all of us and when they saw that we were taking pictures, they became fascinated!! They all asked us, " photo? Photo?" Like I mentioned, they are a poor community and don't have hardly any electricity... Let alone electronics. They were astounded with these cameras that showed them the pictures and videos! They all wanted their picture taken and they wanted to take our pictures too! As I was walking the all wanted to hold my hand or hug my waist! Particularly, there was a little girl, Spavra and her little sister, Livia who followed me everywhere! They wanted to take me to their home and show me more things. They took me up a path to see their donkey and a friend :) we kept picking up more and more kids! We went into another ladies house. She was a single mother of 5 beautiful kids. Each of them came from someone who promised to help her live a better life, but after a baby was born they left! Her house was a little bigger because it had an entry room. One thing I noticed is that these people are soooo poor, yet their houses were very orderly and as clean as they could be! We walked around a bit more playing and hanging out wit true kids! We also met some kids around the age of 18 and they asked us for Skype! We were so surprised that they had access to skype, but I believe it was just that age group that knew about it. As we were leaving it was soo sad to say goodbye! Some of the little girls (and some mischievous boys) gave us sweet kisses to say goodbye! I gave Livia the only piece of candy I had and she smiled Big! I wished that I had more to give them :( but one other really great thing about them is that they were already happy with what they had!
we headed back on the bus to visit the middle class homes of the Roma community and, although it wasn't high class, we definitely found it to he an upgrade. They had a "roadway" unlike the skinny walking paths the other community had and their houses were much bigger with bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms. This family was very hospitable and welcomed us in offering cool glasses of water (yes, it was bottled... We are not encouraged to drink the tap water from this country). We kindly took it and they held an interesting discussion about their education access and the kinds of opportunities that they had as Roma people. It was interesting to find that most Romas were looked down upon. Even though they are offered free education until 8th grade, they often do jot because they are bullied so much. In addition, their family needs them to support the payments. We continued on with many more questions before running out of time... Then our guide walked us over to a small celebration hall, but made us stop before we got too close. All of our hosts ran ahead and our guide told us that they were preparing a ceremony for us and when they were ready, we proceeded. We walked up to the little building and the family was out presenting a basket of bread and they had a little girl dressed in a red gypsy outfit. She offered out professor 5 flowers, which is offered before you enter as a guest. They offer an odd number as a sign of friendship (An even number would be offered at funerals). As we entered and they broke off a piece of the bread, dipped it in honey, and give it to us :) yum! Walking in we saw a nice buffet of bulgarian food that they had prepared for us! We sat and enjoyed it and then were welcomed into the dance room where the girls wrapped their belly dancing scarves (with jingling coins) around us and taught us how to belly dance! Then we all just danced for about an hour or two before we had to leave the amazing community! This was by far the best trip I've been on! I was so happy to learn about the gypsys and talk to them! :)
Our second day I was happy to lead the jeep safari ride!!! It was fantastic! Our driver, Petar, took us off roadin, some of us flying out of our seats and others trying not to get smacked by attacking branches as we speeded by them!! We stopped by an endless bed of sunflowers to take some pictures!! We also also stopped to taste the Bulgarian brandy which tasted like you were swallowing fire!! Then we got to shoot a pellet gun... It fired back on me and now my arm is soar.. But it was all fun :) then we ended up going to get out barbq lunch! Yum!! It was roasted chicken kabobs with veggies :) at the end the drivers did a very special performance of traditional music with their jeep safari band :) they even played an American song in honor of us! Then before their grand finally they taught us an easy Bulgarian line dance which was fun!!! After everyone got back safe our tour guide interviewed a few of us for their tv news :) we latter met our guide, Nia, for dinner and then I had to head in for my on call night.
Our third day was a treat! We headed out to the natural healing mud baths of Bulgaria! We were told that these baths were created by a complicated process as the result from the impact of water, minerals,soil, bacteria, and a few other things. We sat in a smelly but natural medical lye bath for 10 min and scrubbed the salt from beneath the fusha waters on our skin. We could already feel the effects of it as our skin became smoother than a baby's bottom! Then we headed over to the muddy waters where we covered our while bodies in the mud. Of course we had some fun and took pictures too! Once covered, we headed to the beach to lay out to let the mud dry (it's supposed to be for 30 min) before we ran into the ocean to scrub off, feeling amazing! Afterwards we went to the city of Nessebar to grab a bite to eat and shop around. This country had so many unique potter and knickknacks! I loved it. Wrapping up the trip, we graves some post cards and road back to Varna :) then the SeaHort/GradPack headed out for a fun evening!
My last day was a relaxed one walking the city and eventually hopping into the Black Sea for a day at the beach :) it was a nice end to such a great country!!
Sea ya latter,
Jenni
Sent from my iPod
July 24-27, 2011
I enter Varna, Bulgaria with 2 feelings: 1) sad that I'm not in Egypt, and 2) excited about this new country that I know very little about! Again, my first adventure out is a field practica to visit a Roma community. I was a little confused at first as to why they we were going to a "Roma" community. We learned that it stood for gypsy! Our itinerary began with a heart warming visit to the poor community. It was a little confusing. We got off the bus to be welcomed by a small family who lead us to their one room home... But on the way we were shouted at in Bulgarian so we didn't understand. Our wonderful guide, Luba, told us that the neighbors were embarrassed that they had brought us here because they are so poor. We continued on to one of the ladies house where her and her 4 kids (one of which she took in because his mom died and no one wanted him because he is disabled) lived. It was a shack with one room with 2 couches that here whole family lived in. She was soooo warm and welcoming! As she showed us in, she took our hands and guided us to a spot to sit down at. Once we were all in, she pointed out her little house and gave each of us hugs. She pinched my cheek too! Her and her little family were so proud to have us in their home and share what they had! And they were happy to take pictures with us! As I left the house, I looked out the door and saw that there were many more kids outside!!
They wanted to meet all of us and when they saw that we were taking pictures, they became fascinated!! They all asked us, " photo? Photo?" Like I mentioned, they are a poor community and don't have hardly any electricity... Let alone electronics. They were astounded with these cameras that showed them the pictures and videos! They all wanted their picture taken and they wanted to take our pictures too! As I was walking the all wanted to hold my hand or hug my waist! Particularly, there was a little girl, Spavra and her little sister, Livia who followed me everywhere! They wanted to take me to their home and show me more things. They took me up a path to see their donkey and a friend :) we kept picking up more and more kids! We went into another ladies house. She was a single mother of 5 beautiful kids. Each of them came from someone who promised to help her live a better life, but after a baby was born they left! Her house was a little bigger because it had an entry room. One thing I noticed is that these people are soooo poor, yet their houses were very orderly and as clean as they could be! We walked around a bit more playing and hanging out wit true kids! We also met some kids around the age of 18 and they asked us for Skype! We were so surprised that they had access to skype, but I believe it was just that age group that knew about it. As we were leaving it was soo sad to say goodbye! Some of the little girls (and some mischievous boys) gave us sweet kisses to say goodbye! I gave Livia the only piece of candy I had and she smiled Big! I wished that I had more to give them :( but one other really great thing about them is that they were already happy with what they had!
we headed back on the bus to visit the middle class homes of the Roma community and, although it wasn't high class, we definitely found it to he an upgrade. They had a "roadway" unlike the skinny walking paths the other community had and their houses were much bigger with bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms. This family was very hospitable and welcomed us in offering cool glasses of water (yes, it was bottled... We are not encouraged to drink the tap water from this country). We kindly took it and they held an interesting discussion about their education access and the kinds of opportunities that they had as Roma people. It was interesting to find that most Romas were looked down upon. Even though they are offered free education until 8th grade, they often do jot because they are bullied so much. In addition, their family needs them to support the payments. We continued on with many more questions before running out of time... Then our guide walked us over to a small celebration hall, but made us stop before we got too close. All of our hosts ran ahead and our guide told us that they were preparing a ceremony for us and when they were ready, we proceeded. We walked up to the little building and the family was out presenting a basket of bread and they had a little girl dressed in a red gypsy outfit. She offered out professor 5 flowers, which is offered before you enter as a guest. They offer an odd number as a sign of friendship (An even number would be offered at funerals). As we entered and they broke off a piece of the bread, dipped it in honey, and give it to us :) yum! Walking in we saw a nice buffet of bulgarian food that they had prepared for us! We sat and enjoyed it and then were welcomed into the dance room where the girls wrapped their belly dancing scarves (with jingling coins) around us and taught us how to belly dance! Then we all just danced for about an hour or two before we had to leave the amazing community! This was by far the best trip I've been on! I was so happy to learn about the gypsys and talk to them! :)
Our second day I was happy to lead the jeep safari ride!!! It was fantastic! Our driver, Petar, took us off roadin, some of us flying out of our seats and others trying not to get smacked by attacking branches as we speeded by them!! We stopped by an endless bed of sunflowers to take some pictures!! We also also stopped to taste the Bulgarian brandy which tasted like you were swallowing fire!! Then we got to shoot a pellet gun... It fired back on me and now my arm is soar.. But it was all fun :) then we ended up going to get out barbq lunch! Yum!! It was roasted chicken kabobs with veggies :) at the end the drivers did a very special performance of traditional music with their jeep safari band :) they even played an American song in honor of us! Then before their grand finally they taught us an easy Bulgarian line dance which was fun!!! After everyone got back safe our tour guide interviewed a few of us for their tv news :) we latter met our guide, Nia, for dinner and then I had to head in for my on call night.
Our third day was a treat! We headed out to the natural healing mud baths of Bulgaria! We were told that these baths were created by a complicated process as the result from the impact of water, minerals,soil, bacteria, and a few other things. We sat in a smelly but natural medical lye bath for 10 min and scrubbed the salt from beneath the fusha waters on our skin. We could already feel the effects of it as our skin became smoother than a baby's bottom! Then we headed over to the muddy waters where we covered our while bodies in the mud. Of course we had some fun and took pictures too! Once covered, we headed to the beach to lay out to let the mud dry (it's supposed to be for 30 min) before we ran into the ocean to scrub off, feeling amazing! Afterwards we went to the city of Nessebar to grab a bite to eat and shop around. This country had so many unique potter and knickknacks! I loved it. Wrapping up the trip, we graves some post cards and road back to Varna :) then the SeaHort/GradPack headed out for a fun evening!
My last day was a relaxed one walking the city and eventually hopping into the Black Sea for a day at the beach :) it was a nice end to such a great country!!
Sea ya latter,
Jenni
Sent from my iPod
What an amazing adventure! I am happy you got to experience a different culture and that healing mud bath sounds awesome!
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