https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A7vqOqYV9Cs#t=14s

Well, I hope this works.  This is a video I just received from a volunteer who served here a couple years ago and now is back as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer, like me.  Most of these shots are from her very small mostly muslim village near the Greek border.  Its very typical of the rural parts of Bulgaria, tho.  The green leaves you see them working on are tobacco leaves.  Too much sheep footage for my liking and not enough of the kids... but it is terriffic.

Hope you enjoy it...and hope the link works.

OMG, I always panic a little when Google tries to upgrade..... but I think this blog will work pretty much the same way.  I have some more photos for you. 

This is a taxi ( tacsi) called OK, Supertrans.  This is just another example of the Cyrillic alphabet...it just intrigues me. If you're intrested....the p has the r sound, the c  has the s sound, the upside down  u has the p sound and the h has the n sound...its so intersting.  Incidentally, Peace Corps recommends we use this company.

..

This is the entrance to the local market....my neighborhood is called Krasno Selo and that sign says " Pazzar ( Bazzar) Krasno Selo"

 . The backward 3 is a z... Its a slow day..Sunday..

This and the next photo are views of downtown Sofia whici  I took from the restaurant on the top of the conference center which I have a picture of later.



This is a tram stop near my apt.  Their public transportation is very good

A service dog on the Metro

This is the entrance to the "Military Club".  Its a huge building with a couple restaurants and a big theate

 r type room and I b elieve several floors of office space.  This evening a Mardi Gras type band was playing as part of the program by the US Embassy Cultural Affairs attache.  Apparently Bulgaria at one time had a huge and very powerful military, but not now, and this building is a holdover from earlier times. It is beautiful and very well maintained as are a lot of the older buildings in downtown sofia....they call it city center. 

This is a bakery that I have to pass each day.....not easy !!!!!

THis is their conference center...pretty fantastic.  You can see Mt. Vitosha in the background...they have skiing there.

This is the Sofia Art Gallery.  They were set up for a free Bluegrass concert sponsored by the Irish Embassy in honor of St. Patrick's day, see the next picture.

This is the lead singer and the bass player of the band " Lily of the West".  The lead singer is coming to Nashville in August on a Fulbright.  There were also a mandolin and a guitar player. They also had a guy playing drums which is pretty weird for bluegrass  They sang most of the songs in English but did a few in Bulgarian.  The seats were all full with SRO.  It was a big success but their actual music was not too polished...but it was OK.

I am still working in the clinic with the kids with Disbilities 4 days a week and next week I'll start every afternoon in an English instruction school working with some of their teachers.  Life is a lot easier here than it was in Nicaragua but there are still challenges....just fewer and much more manageable.  Its a very good experience.  Thank you for paying your taxes  :)

This is Felicia giving some info to teachers about the upcoming Spelling Bee.  Nice classrooms thanks to money from the EU and the teachers are very friendly...just like our teachers..underpaid, overworked and real friendly

A relic from the communist era at the entrance to the bus/train station. Not sure what it is......big.  At the bottom is a fountain but its not working right now...winter.

This is the kitty of my language teacher.  Its a calico "persian" or long haired...very cute

Not a very good picture but this lady was classic....fur coat and hat...very Bulgarian looking

These are the credentials of the man who cleaned my watch....he has a degree in mechanical engineering and htat is a photo of a watch or what  he calls a "computer" he worked on at a university in Berlin.  I think he is  a tad over educated to be a watch repair guy but that is a prob lem here....lots of highly educated people but not much work for them. Part of the document is his transcript...the grades he got in his various engineering classes. 

This is my apt. building.   Its home.....

These are now abandoned buildings that were part of the communist cooperative effort.  I am told that the communists built the places and all the people had to bring their animals here and they were housed together and then the products of them were shared among all the people.   Now, its just abandoned.  don't know if all worked out as planned or not...but, now ...nothing.  These are in that community referred to above, Dragoman.

This is the stage in the community of Dragoman where i went with Felicia, my PC friend.  They were having this celebration of their liberation from Turkish occupation in the late 1800s.  They do this every year on or around March 3.  This is a group of babas ( grandmothers) who sang a lot.  They looked like they were having fun.

Young girls in native dress doing traditional dancing.  Very very nice and lots of community involvement.

This is a swamp in that same community, Dragoman, which is very near the Serbian border.  The communists drained the swamp to use the water for irrigating fields nearby but when they were deposed, an NGO came in and has been working to reclaim the swamp...they started with only 2 bird species and now have over 200

Culture shock....this is the interior of the Bulgaria Mall which is right across the street in Sofia from that sorry looking building I had a picture of earlier.  The mall is beautiful !!!!!

This is back in Dragoman...a stork nest that is used year after year.  They aren't here yet...don't know where they go but they come later in march, I think.

 

Another shot of the interior of that mall.

That says "Picadilly" above the word Daily.  Its another grocery store.  Its that cyrillic alphabet...very interesting.

I have seen this sweet doggie here several times waiting for his owner to come out of this groceery store that is downstairs.

That says " Parking" and thats a Citroen, lots of them here. 

These three musicians were making cheerful music so I gave them a little money and took their photo.  I have no idea what that sign says but this is the entrance to one of the undergound pedestrian passageways that keep  pedestrians out of the traffic at busy intersections....good idea.

This is one of the buildings tat was constructed during the communist times, still fully occupied but no one maintains the exterior.  I am sure the interiors are perfectly nice.  Its right across the street from the new Bulgaria Mall which I have photos of later.

One of the underground passagways for pedestrians, lot of graffiti but no trash and no homeless people

That says " fantastico" and its a grocery store.

 

This is one of many vendors of Martinitzas...little red and white things they give to each other in anticipation of the arrival of spring.  Notice RayBan right behind it....

The bus police caught thislady ( the one leaning on the window) on the bus without a ticket and they tried to get her off to write a her a fine/ ticket, but she refused to move so they finally gave up.  They got off the bus and she rode a couple more stops and then got off.  I guess she does not fear the Bulgarian police the way we do....of course, these were just bus police !! I ALWAYS buy a ticket...taking no chances !!!!



This is the road in front of the New Bulgarian University.  I wanted to show the horse cart but didn 't want them to see me taking the photo.  These folks are  called Roma...I think they are who we thought of as the gypsies.  Anyhow, they are clearly the underclass and live separately and very poorly.

This and the next photo were taken at a concert at the New Bulgarian University.  They set up and played in this gallery where these old painting are displayed.  I was told they are owned by a minister of some part of the current government and he is also on the board of trustees of the University.  I chatted with the bass player at the intermission and she gave me two tickets to another concert in Sofia the following night.  She is very charming and a great bass player.

This is Stanka,  the art therapist at the clinic where I am working .  She is doing a puppet show with  the kids and these are the puppets.  She made them...she is holding the owl, below is the turtle and at the bottom is the frog  She used leather and chunks of interesting wood burls, etc and painted on the eyes etc.  She is quite good with  the kids...they love when she comes.

Clearly this is a different experience than Nicaragua, but good, in very different ways.  I have been here a month already...time does fly.  We got snow last night so it is beautiful here now.  I have learned to say, " samo angliski" which means "only english."  Several people have come up to me to ask questions in Bulgarian and I have to say this...I always follow up with " isvinete" which means "sorry."  I think they understand and everyone has been really nice.