Blagoevgrad has been great so far, but it's also been lonely. It's hard to go from being in Sofia for orientation with 30 other Americans to being the (seemingly) only American in town. Being in Sofia was somewhat like being a tourist, so we were shielded from a certain level of culture shock. But now everyone's hours and train rides and bus rides away, so it's been tough.
One nice part of Blagoevgrad has been my apartment. A German teacher at my school lived here for the prior 6 years, and he spent a lot of time, energy, and money upgrading it. I'm lucky to have things like AC and a beautifully-tiled bathroom. It looks like a communist-style block of apartments from the outside, but it has character and is spacious on the inside. Plus, my bed is huge. I know that my school went out of their way to make me a big enough bed, so I'm incredibly grateful for that.
It's also been hard because my teaching schedule is still so uncertain. I knew that was going to be difficult coming in; in Las Vegas, I enjoyed knowing my classes, knowing what I'd be teaching, and having an idea of how to do things like make copies, discipline students, etc. That information is a bit harder to get here, not helped by the language barrier. But I've met up with many of the Speech & Debate students several times, and they've made me feel so much more at home.
Today was the official first day of school, In Bulgaria it involves a ceremony with a whole bunch of flowers and speeches. I was so incredibly nervous on the walk to school: would I see my classes today? Would I know my schedule? I walked into the building and was recognized as the "American" and quickly whisked away into the director's office. She doesn't speak English but does speak Russian. We had an interesting conversation mixing Bulgarian, Russian, and even a bit of German. Whatever gets the message across - nonverbal communication works well, too!
For the ceremony, I was not actually there for long as my mentor teacher had prepared for me to go to the police station to register myself as a resident of Blagoevgrad. I was put into a green van with a man who spoke no English and taken to a cavernous building with long lines. Not a word was spoken in English, so I don't really know what happened, but I got my card stamped. And then day 1 of teaching was done!
So I decided to go on a walk. I could have either stayed in my apartment and sulked at the fact that I still didn't know my teaching schedule and was anxious about being in a new country, but I decided to get out. I didn't know where, but I wanted to walk around. Once I started, I decided "I'll head up." I kept winding my way up the roads until they turned to dirt roads and eventually trails. When I smelled the pine trees, I knew I had to keep going. I'd heard there was a cross overlooking Blagoevgrad, so when I saw the cross in the distance, I tried to keep heading in that direction (with some switchbacks, barbed wire fences, and abandoned-looking zoos thrown in there).
Oh and there was an elderly lady who forced me to take a peach. This was fairly far into the hike, so I was sweaty and probably looked tired, thirsty, and hungry. The peach was amazing.
Eventually, I made my way to the top. It was a tough hike, and I've done some hard hikes (Whitney, Charleston). It just kept going up. And not to mention I had no idea where I was really going and brought only a half Nalgene and no food.
At the top was a small Orthodox church that was surprisingly open. I walked inside and took some photos, which felt sacrilegious, but I did it anyways.
At the top was also the most serendipitous event of the day. There were two girls at the cross, and I overheard them speaking American English. I usually would keep to myself, but I was too excited at the sound of an American accent, so I approached them and asked, "Are you Americans?" They are both exchange students at the American University in Bulgaria and even expressed interest in doing "outdoorsy" things around Blagoevgrad. Loneliness takes a hit!
I'm off to meet one of the admissions officers at AUBG for dinner and will then try to stop overthinking the lack-of-information on teaching. Each day will reduce my anxiety as I learn more about my classes, my students, and the new city that I'm lucky to call home.
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