Gunshots?

So, I may not have mentioned before now how the school shares the entrance and is essentially surrounded on all sides of our campus by the Bulgarian Police Academy.  This means that at any time of the day there may or may not be gun shots, artillery and other such exploding loud noises going off.  It is kind of distracting.  And loud... well, what can we do.  I am pretty sure the explosions are all blanks, so no one is in any danger of being injured (which is good)...but still... loud explosions during the day, afternoons, and early evenings... 

Telecommunication

So, tonight, we went to the mall for a girls' evening of shopping/perusing the stores and a movie.  I brought my phone in hopes that I could purchase some minutes on a SIM card, with a new Bulgarian phone number, so I could get in touch with/be contacted more easily here...  A friend of mine had brought her old phone in and said that she bought an 8 leva SIM card, with 200 minutes... which is a great deal (8 leva = about $6).  So, I went to the M-tel store, talked with the woman who was very friendly and helpful, which was pleasant.  I bought the SIM card for 7 leva and 98 stotinki, put the new SIM card in my phone, turned it on, punched in the pin number for the new card, and then my phone asked me for the service password?!  Apparently Cingular has some sort of hold on my phone, which refuses that it is used outside with a new service provider?  Which, makes sense I guess... but is annoying to me because I am still without means of communicating, except through smoke signals, emails, and personal contact... My next course of action, would be to call Cingular, via Skype to talk to them to see what is going on, however I need to purchase a monthly calling plan with Skype.  I tried to do that the other day, but in order to pay with a credit card online, Skype sends a confirmation number to your cell phone, so you can then put the confirmation code into the website.  (do you see where I am going with this?...)  Without a cell phone that can receive messages, the process of using Skype as a means of communicating is difficult too.  Moral/message of the story = I need a cell phone.  

Good Morning ACS :)

The past few days on my way to school, we have had gorgeous sunrises.  :)  These are a few of the views from my classroom, and the pictures of the mountain are from my office windows... very nice way to start my mornings :)

Communism and Democracy

So, the other week I had two things happen to me, at separate times, which I thought together made a very amusing contrast and juxtaposition.  First, a few weeks ago, I went bowling at the alley down the street: the Science Department challenged the English Dept to bowl against us.  It was not the bowling with was the funny thing (although I REALLY have to work on my game...), but when I was walking into the building, this is what I found in the parking lot.  It is AWESOME! haha

Yes, Communist tendencies still roll strong and deep here.  I only shot a picture from the front, because I was already carrying my lacrosse stick (which gets odd looks from EVERYONE)  and I didn't want to draw more attention to myself taking a bunch of pictures of this amazing car.  However, I must add that on the trunk of the car, also painted in Communist Red, was "CCCP" which is the Cyrillic abbreviation for the USSR.  Like I said, amazing!  I love Communist Russia.

So, the juxtaposition to this encounter with the car in the parking lot, is that the following week, I received my absentee ballot for the Presidential Elections.  I  quickly filled out the ballot (well, after looking up the local Maine politicians) and it has been returned via FedEx.  I got confirmation that my ballot was received on Friday!  Yay Democracy!! :)

So, hooray for Democratic process enabling me to cast a vote from 5000 miles away.  But I have got to praise the Communist following here too.  Hammer and Sickle for life!

Success!

Ahhh, a successful weekend indeed!  

Thursday/Friday: To Greece and back, in 28 hours, 11 of which were spent in a van, which careened to and from Thessaloniki for the trip to get our Bulgarian visas.  There was no problem with this procedure, as it consisted of our stack of passports being passed through the gate, where they were to be held for about a half hour.  We went down the street in Thessaloniki to an adorable French coffee shop for some morning beverages, waiting for our passport visas to be stamped, processed, and officialized.  We returned to the consulate, where our passports were slipped through the gates once again, into our eager hands.  I was excited to see the large sticker of my visa which covered an entire page of the passport!  I am officially able to reside in Bulgaria without tourist status!  Woohoo!  

The trip certainly was short.  We did however, stop in a Bulgarian town, Melnik, which is fairly well know for their wine and traditional Bulgarian village architecture.  It was a beautiful place, and we had the perfect weather to wander around and poke in the gift shops, browsing the traditional crafts.  I purchased a set of nesting dolls/matryoshka (матрошка ...I think is the Bulgarian spelling)--they are so cute, blue and white with a small ladybug on the outer doll. :) I also bought a small piece of pottery, that is used to hold table spices for dipping bread or spicing a meal, however, I am using it to hold my rings and some jewelry...

Saturday, I went down to the park in town to practice lacrosse with some people.  I am the women's coach for the lacrosse federation (which is very small) and we have been doing some recruiting in the park, trying to generate some interest among the bystanders.  It is really funny, the looks that I get while riding the bus downtown from the school, toting this foreign metal and plastic stick contraption.  People just don't know what the game of lacrosse is, let alone how to play, or what equipment is needed.  Hopefully we can change this though :)

Saturday afternoon, I spent correcting and grading papers (woohoo...) and then got ready for the Bulgaria vs. Italy football game!  It was awesome!  I went to the game with my roommate and a few of the other avid football fans in the international teachers ring.  We had a great time!  Went to a Bulgarian pub right before the game for some snacks and a beer, and then made our way over, through the crowds, for the 9 pm kickoff.  There was quite the commotion when we got to our seats, though, because there were people sitting in some of them.  We (well, Derek) worked to get them to leave for a good 5 minutes, and when the imposers finally stood up to move, we could hear this resounding cheer from across the aisle..... there were about 10-15 of our students cheering Derek on for his persuasive talents.  haha.  After this, the national anthems were played, and right after the Italian anthem was played, some of the Italy fans began burning a Bulgarian flag in their section of seats.  Almost immediately, 50+ mob police rushed into the crowd.  I don't think I have seen so many people scatter so quickly!  Once the unruly fans were dispersed, some of the Bulgarians began throwing things, and getting a little excited.  The police also went into the crowd to settle them down, which was a fiasco complete with bully clubs... This certainly was the most exciting football (soccer) game I have ever been to!  

The game itself was pretty tame.  There were barely any shots on the goals, and we finished with a tie, 0-0.  After a post gaming event at a pizza place downtown, I made my way home, sharing a cab with friends, rolling into bed, ready to sleep after the craziest week I have had so far this semester.  

Sunday was lovely.  Woke up without an alarm later in the morning.  I made my way to the grocery store to buy some ingredients to make zucchini bread for the Canadian Thanksgiving celebration we had last night.  It was wonderful!  The bread came out pretty decently well (tasted great, although a little subpar on appearance).  Our oven burns everything on the top, so I just had to scrape the burnt parts off before serving... The dinner was awesome!  So much food!  Everyone seemed to have a great time, sharing food and company.  The night rounded out with a few hours of grading and planning for this week, as I am currently procrastinating the grading I have left for tonight!  haha oh well.  Pictures from Greece, et al., will have to come later, as I do not have the connector for my camera right now.  But they will come!  Promise!  I know the pictures are the fun part.  

Hope all is well with everyone!  Love and miss you all.

Ciao. 

Off to Greece, Part Dve!

Tomorrow after school, we are headed to Thessaloniki for the second time to pick up our visas and work permits, etc., which will thus make us official residents in the wonderful Balkan country of Bulgaria.  We should be back Friday night, so it is a really quick turnaround for the trip.  Anyways, another border crossing for me!