More Photos from Christmas and New Year's!

.: more Salzburg :.

The Mozart birthplace... tourist trap

This was on the side of a building next to a man who was vending Christmas trees.  This little "chart" displays the growth and development of the pine tree from cone to seedling to sapling!

I have never seen so many handpainted egg shells in one place in my life.  I don't even think the Easter Bunny has either! 

Egg shells for any occasion...

Yes, nuns ride their bikes too...

slightly inappropriate wood carving/sculpture... 

Mom, carrying home the largest sprig of mistletoe I have ever seen...

.: Bulgaria :. 

Boyana Church, outside Sofia.  This I think is the most magnificent thing I have seen yet while being here in Europe.  The most unassuming and non-pretentious building, there are inner frescoes which still remain in such exquisite detail and condition (after a 7 year renovation) that date to around 1250.... medieval times!!!

St. George's Church and Roman ruins, Sofia.  One of the most photographed images of the city. 

The family, pretty stoked about their beverage consumption in the movie theater!  The only downside is if you go to see a really long movie...

Outside of the National History Museum, which contains tons of history, archeologic and ethnographic relics in this HUGE building which was the former government palace at one point.  The building just screams communism....

... especially the war helicopter outside on the front lawn ...

a couple of sleepy world travelers! 

.: Plovdiv :.

Plovdiv Old Town architecture

new town architecture...

the gorgeous mosque near the middle of the city...

some overdue posts...

In all the hubbub of coming back from winter break, pretty much up until now, I have been pretty negligent to post some photos of some of the more recent events/travels/social events I have had here over the past month or so.  Here are a few highlights to bring us up to date on the whereabouts of this east coast girl...

Christmas/New Year's Vacation with my family in Salzburg and Sofia.

I met up with my mom, dad and sister in Salzburg a few days into Christmas vacation to stay through the holiday.  I flew, took a train from Vienna to Salzburg, and after a 15 minute public bus, found myself walking around the squares and cobble stone streets as if I was alive several centuries ago.  The "old city", we were staying near the Mozartplatz, was one of the more charming places I have been.  The old stone streets, storefronts, plazas, and of course the castle always looming overhead on the mountaintop, looking over all the streets below, were something that had been torn out of an old vintage magazine.  I loved it.  

I checked into the hotel to try to see if I could locate my family.  My phone was not working so I couldn't call my dad as we had planned on me doing to let them know I had arrived.  I found my sister fast asleep in the room she and I were sharing, with a note on the floor written by mom saying they had gone out for a walk.  I decided they probably had not gone too far, and so I also went out to try to look for them.  I walked out through Mozartplatz, a plaza with a larger than life statue of Wolfgang himself, which had taken on the very spirit of the season with a large ice skating rink, the Christmas market (which went on for a couple plazas) and little huts serving syrupy alcoholic beverages, with high back benches, complete with blankets to warm those wanting to sit and sip.  

After finding the family and catching up in person, we headed out for an evening on the town and had a delicious dinner together (I actually think it may have been Indian food).  The storefronts all screamed Christmas and we walked around the streets, side alleys, enjoying the holiday cheer and each other.  It was nice to be able to spend time with them over the holiday.  I think Christmas is my favorite holiday.  

After a "Mozart" dinner/performance, which was amazing, a hike and tour of the fortress over Salzburg, a walk into the other half of the city across the river, and plenty of time spent in the Christmas market, we certainly had a busy and yet relaxing vacation.  Christmas Eve was a bit of a scramble to try to find a place to eat, as the holiday is spent with family.  We did find an excellent family owned Italian restaurant that had some of the best anti-pasta and homemade pizza I have had in a really long time.  Probably since the last time I visited Boston's Little Italy...  Midnight mass we attended later on in the Dom (which is the main cathedral in the city)  It was unbelievable.  The service was entirely in German, but it was periodically interrupted with some of Mozart's best works.  At the end of the service, all the lights in the giant, cold cathedral went out, save the candles and some of the ambient lights near the top of the cupola. There was a male and female soloist, a violinist, and a acoustic guitar player, and the four of them, up in the little side balconies along the center aisle, sand and played the most beautiful rendition of Silent Night I have ever heard.  It truly made sitting through the very foreign mass worth it.  Christmas was a very nice and lazy day which we spent walking and then finished with a grand Christmas dinner at the Sacher Hotel (apparently where the sacher torte was created).  

It was a wonderful and delicious vacation, and after Christmas we made our way a little further east to Sofia, where I was able to show my parents around my city and some of the sights.  I think we spent about an hour and a half in the ethnographic museum gift shop, which sells almost strictly handmade Bulgarian crafts.... pottery, weavings, silver jewelry and woodwork. Mom and Abby I think muddled over pottery for about 90% of the time, trying to decide how they were going to pack their things home, which clothes and shoes they would have to leave for me to ship back, and also which shade of light blue design did they like best :-)  It was a very well spent afternoon of sightseeing and wallet shrinking...

We took a little day trip on the train out east to the city of Plovdiv, a place which is pretty well known for its "old town" section.  We wandered around those cobbled streets, checking out the restored and preserved houses which are representative of the Nationalist revival period of Bulgarian history.   I loved the mosque that they have in the center of the major pedestrian areas;  it had beautiful fresco-like paintings all along the inside of the room.  Stunning and very impressive.  Plovdiv is also home to many Roman ruins dating back to the second and third centuries.  The amphitheater had been completely sealed and forgotten about until the 1970's when a landslide in the city revealed the Roman remains.  Pretty crazy that something like that could go on unremembered for so long...

New Year's Eve in Sofia was pretty tame for us, although I think it usually is a pretty low key holiday for me.  We went to see Australia in the nearby theater, and we ended up being the only ones seeing the movie.  My dad was pretty pumped about being allowed to consume beer in the movie theater! (or kino as we in the Bulgaria sector call the movies).  

It was a great vacation, restful and fun.  I was very happy to be able to spend time with my fam, and sad to see them go, but school was starting back up in a few days, and there was plenty for me to do between before then...

Here are some photos to document our time on break:

Up in the fortress!!!...

A creepy torture tool, which the tour recording said was one of the worst torture devises used in the fortress.  The torture room we went in, never was used for these activities, according to the guide, however is just named that because it houses all of the tools used against enemies of the Salzburgian state... lovely. 

Crazy little marionette museum room... with antique puppets.

Dad with the crazy marionette puppets...

Peterskellar...The extremely old monastery, which I believe inspired the setting for the scene in the Sound of Music where the VonTrapps are hiding in the graveyard from the Nazi's.  Very cool, very old, and built right into the side of the mountain...

so, I had meant that post to be for my class blog, but it is interesting, so I guess I will leave it up for everyone!  :-)

Deepest Hole Ever Drilled?

Someone in one of my classes asked today what was the deepest human's have ever drilled into the Earth's crust, and the answer I can find online is 12,261 m.  The Russians in the 1970's built a drill called the Kola Superdeep Borehole, with the intent to sample the region between the crust and the mantle, called the "Moho" short for the Mohorovičić discontinuity. They never made it to their goal, but the project has given scientists and geologists and immense amount of information about the Earth's crust, as well as giving new information, changing what we thought we knew before about the structure of the crust.  

A few links, if you are interested:

International Scientific Continental Drilling Program

Wikipedia-Kola Superdeep Borehole

Another drilling project through a thin area of the earth's crust:

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

Hopefully this doesn't come true

Yesterday, during school, the administration decided we would operate this week on a compressed schedule, meaning that we would star and hour later each morning, and end classes at about the same time.  It has been so cold in the mornings, that the classrooms have not had a chance to warm up before people get here.  (I think yesterday it was -14 C in the morning)  The radiators were on, but they just were not projecting any heat.  On top of trying to heat up the buildings after they had been cold since Wednesday, it was cold enough all day to the point of when you walked outside, you lost your breath and the hairs in your nostrils would freeze.  It was borderline to being too cold... 

I was just highly amused this morning when I awoke this morning and while I attempted to piece together the various dreams of the evening, I remembered one (which I never do, so I thought it was amusing).  I had a dream that Russia refused to turn the heat back on in Bulgaria until people moved from their houses and into these row houses. The row houses are everywhere, a lot of them built in communism, and still existing in a dilapidated state.  Russia wanted to be able to control exactly who could receive heat and who couldn't and apparently they could do that if we all lived in these apartment buildings.  The school made us move too, out of our nice, toasty warm apartments and houses.... so, I am hoping that plan doesn't actually come to fruition... 

Utilities Update

After a few days without water, the water returned, hot and steamy.  However, as most of you probably know (and if you don't, I recommend checking out some cnn.com or bbc.com for the full story) Wednesday morning at work, I was greeted by a cold wall of air upon unlocking the door to the classroom.  My classroom was ice cold.  The radiators were not pumping any heat out, as they usually do at full force.  

Soon, I realize and find out through some news reading, that due to Russia's beef with the Ukraine and their lack of payment for their fuel supply (allegedly) Russia retaliated by closing off the supply of natural gas to the Ukraine, which ultimately closes off fuel supply to Bulgaria, since we are dependent almost completely upon that life line.  

I proceeded through my day, teaching with my jacket on, as my students also remained bundled in their jackets and scarves.  Near the end of the day, we all received an email from the director, saying that they had cancelled school for the following two days, Thursday and Friday, because they did not expect the heat to return by then.  I have heard that Bulgaria is attempting to switch over the fuel supply from natural gas to diesel, which we must have some reserve supplies in.  

Lucky for me, our house, my bosses house, and another house on campus, are probably three of a hundred houses that actually have heat!  I don't know why we do, but I think we have our own source of fuel here on campus, which we run on.

Things actually have not closed down as much as I had expected them too with this fuel crisis.  We went bowling and out to dinner last night, and tomorrow I am planning on going hiking with Meg and Cooper.  It should certainly be a nice hike in the snow. :-)

So, in case you were wondering, we are currently doing okay with everything... Nothing like a little utilities crisis to remind me I still am living a little East of civilization... 

 

Happy 2009!!

In a moment of New Year celebration reflection, all I have to say is Wow.  What a year.  What a pivotal, life changing year this has been...  I made the decision to accept a job in a foreign country; I finished my final semester of university; I graduated from said university and moved the life I had established over the past 5 years back home; moved to said foreign country and have settled down to my new life here.  New country, new culture, new language, new job, new friends, new decisions for myself... Now, I am pretty close to halfway done with my first year of teaching, and I have met amazing people, have made amazing friends, and have seen some breath-taking places in the world... What a wild and crazy journey this has been!

It is insane how much one decision- my decision to teach abroad- can change the life I have... And I love it.  It is exciting and intimidating at the same time, and sometimes scary, to think about how one decision can totally affect your life... I love it :-)

I had a great Christmas and New Year's with my family in Austria and Sofia... more on that to come.  Now it have been snowing this beautiful, light, dry, fluffy snow (gorgeous!) and we have not had any water in my house since yesterday morning... Maintenance said we would probably not have water for 2 days...Now there are two large plastic water drums in out basement and three boxes of bottled water by the front door representing our water supply...

Who said I loved Bulgaria? Haha... No I love it here.  Just what a grand adventure this all is!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  May 2009 bring you wonderful things! 

I am hoping for water right now... Especially considering that I teach tomorrow, and thus need a shower.

Merry Christmas!

So, tomorrow morning I am leaving to meet up with my family in Salzburg, Austria.  I am so excited to see them and to celebrate Christmas with them in Austria.  I think it will be absolutely beautiful and quintessential Christmas! :-)

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Safe travels for all of you who are visiting family and exploring new places!! 

Love you! Happy Holidays!

Christmas Break is finally here!

Oh what a week.  Serendipitously (and lucky for me) my students were doing group work, so the work load this week was not too heavy.  I would have thought that Thanksgiving vacation would have offered some respite, but it only made me more anxious for Christmas to come.  Ahhhh... the feeling of knowing you are on vacation.  It is so wonderful :-)

This past weekend was filled of Christmas engagements, a few basketball games, and lots of work as well as play.  Friday night was the faculty Christmas party at the "Floyd Black House".  Floyd Black was the founder of the school, and so the Presidents' house is named in his honor.  The Cangiano's hosted a wonderful party, complete with the passing of our final Secret Santa gifts, a little bit of appetizers, and well stocked bar (as the Bulgarians do a party well).  I was certainly surprised by who my S.S. was, and received this adorable single serve tea pot with cup.  It was a very cute gift.  Saturday night, our friends hosted a small gathering at their house for some more Christmas cheer, good company, good stories, food and drinks.  I made some mulled wine (yummmm!) and it seemed that most people enjoyed it!  (at least I hope they did.  I thought it was pretty good)

During the afternoon on Saturday (between the two evenings of Christmas parties) we had a 3 v 3 basketball tournament

 where Erin and myself played as the "exhibition game" against the winning female group.  Needless to say

 that NEITHER of us have EVER played on an organized bball team, and have very limited experience on the court.   Maybe except for the occasional game of H-O-R-S-E with a sibling or in

 gym class.... So, I thought we played really well.  Only lost 10-0 but we played very hard- great defense, just no offense.  It is kind of a necessary skill.  Oh well. It was a wonderful and fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  The men's exhibition team, however had more skill and definitely more talent, and more players than the team Erin and I made up.  I think that the men's team was definitively winning up until the last 5 minutes, where one of the students scored 3 3-pointers.  It was certainly a close finish, and definitely a good fight. 

The busy nature of the weekend just continued right into the week, which was a whirlwind of classes, last minute errands, making sure things are all set for when I come back from break, and just the act of teaching.  I also had m

y fill of the teenage drama--I really had not had the privilege yet of dealing with any overly emotional and/or anxiety-filled/stress-filled

students about the week before vacation.  This week I think 

I had my fill of the drama for the entire year.  I am sure that everything was just compounded with the fact that it is the week before Christmas break and so everyone is just ready to be gone.  It was interesting trying to get my students to do the things that I wanted them to in a timely manner, and everything seemed to work out.  I think we all will benefit from some time off. 

 I certainly am looking forward to it! 

Yesterday evening and this afternoon were the performances of the ACS Winter Concert.  There were several different acts:a few school bands, a rap, the debut of a couple songs from the spring musical (the school is doing a production of Hair), as well as a few songs and solos from the ACS Choir.  I thought all the students did  a really great job with each of the performances.  The last part of the concert was the balkan dances.  Erin, Jess, Andy and I were a few of the international teachers who took part in the winter celebrations.  We performed in the Balkan 

dance with about 40 other teachers, students and even a few parents.  The beautiful, colorful costumes, were made of this heavy wool material, and of course were multi-layered.  It was hot up on stage, but was so much fun, learning the steps to the dances, and being with other teachers, adults and of course students.  Some of my students were also dancing, and they said we were good.  I messed up a few of the steps, but not anything major.  

Apparently they have a show in the spring too, which I would like to do. 

Here are a couple video clips of the dances.  One if of us at practice, and the other is of the students on stage right before the dances I was in.  Enjoy!

Video of the students in full costume on stage:

After the performances were over, everyone was invited outside in a whole group dance.  

It was pretty neat see almost 100 people all doing the same steps in time with one another, as well as some people trying to just in to learn them (like me).  It was a pretty nice day; the rain was attempting to hold off from falling.  I have another short video of the group dancing outside too.  (Hopefully you are able to see all of these)

That wraps up, in a nutshell, the whirlwind of a week that I have had.  I cannot wait to leave on Monday to go meet up with my parents in Austria.  It is going to be a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas, and I cannot wait to see them and my sister.  After Christmas, we will come back here to Sofia and explore the city and hopefully some places outside the city.  :) 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!  and for some translation into Bulgarian:

Весела Коледа и Честита Нова Година

Koprivshtitsa... An overdue entry

The weekend of Halloween (yes I realize that this is over a month ago), we went on a trip outside of Sofia, a few hours to a mountain town of Koprivshtitsa.  It is a beautiful heritage village, with museum houses and good traditional Bulgarian restaurants.  I had the best "doughnuts" of my life there before we headed back onto the bus to return to the big city.  They are a little less like doughnuts and more like small rounds of fried dough (which I guess is what a doughnuts is but these have more of the "fried dough/funnel cake" consistency). They are served hot, with powdered sugar, and I am sure are terribly bad for you, but taste oh so yummy... 

We took a bus the morning after Halloween from Sofia, and arrived mid afternoon in this lovely town.  We- my roommates (Meg and Erin), their boyfriends (Cooper and Andy) as well as Meg's friends from England went; two other Mike and Kate also went as well.  We all perused the shops, antiques, Bulgarian crafts, touristy shops too, as well as a little "open market" in the main square, where some baba's were selling homemade jams, bottled honey, woodcrafts, etc.  It was a great afternoon to wander around and enjoy some of the slower pace of the small town.  

Our "hotel" was an adorable inn/house.  We had rented out a couple of apartments in this building which had been refurbished from an old house into a rentable residence.  It was absolutely precious.  The inside of the apartments were painted and furnished with Bulgarian furniture, tapestries, and decor.  The ceilings were also extremely low!  I felt almost like Alice in Wonderland, when she is in that little house and eats the different pieces of mushroom to grow or get smaller...

It was just such a neat place to stay for this weekend trip.  The house itself was adorable and had a wonderful view of the village below and the mountains across the way...

The night we arrived, after sitting down to a large dinner/late lunch Andy convinced everyone 

to hike up this hill to this horse statue that is supposed to symbolize the man who fired the first shot in an uprising that happened in or around Koprivshtitsa.  By the time we reached the top of the flight of large granite steps, the sun had set behind the mountain on the other side of the town.  From our perch, under the orange and lavender sunset, we had a wonderful view of all the chimneys pumping out smoke from the houses, up into the darkening sky.  Such a neat sight- hundreds of rooftops, chugging smoke out the top...

Erin, Andy and I woke up early on Sunday to go for a walk around the still sleepy town.

  Gorgeous pictures were taken, mostly of the sun rising over the beautifully painted buildings.  There were bright greens, blues, a purple church, all with the low hanging, brown shackled roof.  Such a trip back in time...