January in Eastern Europe: Halfway Done

It's really hard to believe that I'm two works days away from being halfway done with my Fulbright. This Friday marks the end of the first term, and then we have a week off for winter break. I like the whole holiday break + winter break thing. The U.S. should get into that one. 

And what a winter it has been. Blagoevgrad, located in southwestern Bulgaria, is supposed to be somewhat shielded from the cold continental climate, but things seemed to change this year (at least for the past few weeks. There was a small-ish snowfall in early January (around 6 inches) which was nice and pretty...

The first snowfall: a sign of things to come. 

But a few weeks later, the skies dumped what I measured to be around a foot to a foot and a half. And the snow wasn't the worst part: the cold was the worst part. It got down to 2 degrees one night and some days failed to reach 20 for a high. That would be fine if I had a nice, warm apartment but my apartment doesn't do the heating thing well. I had the radiator on full blast and could still see my breath in the middle of the night. And a warm car is also not an option (see the Lada below). Having to walk everywhere (for groceries, school - which doesn't get cancelled - and other errands) was miserable. One things that helps (besides Smokey, see below) is a pair of knitted wool socks that a student's grandmother made for me. Thank God for these socks.

The second snowfall

Blagoevgrad's reaction to the snow reminded me of Memphis's: unprepared. The roads did get cleared but there has been absolutely no salt or cleaning up of the sidewalks. The worst part is that for a few days, it warmed up, so some of the snow melted, but at night it froze again. Walking on the sidewalks has been truly an adventure, like something out of a video game. Everyone I see has their heads pointed straight down, shuffling in small footsteps with arms out for balance. I had a grand total of two falls (but I am getting pretty good at it - Ithaca, watch out).

Why not just buy some ice skates? 

My biggest savior in the cold-weather times has been good old Smokey. I feel bad for him being in a cold apartment, but then I remember the alternative is him living outside like his siblings and other animals. The cat paws in the snow on the lean-to next to my window are heart-breaking. But I and others have tried to feed the cats. I laid down a piece of cardboard for a large dog to have at least a dry place to sleep. 

Smokey and I have fallen into a routine. He lets me get into bed, read, and turn the lights off. Once I settle down, he gets on my side and falls asleep. Sometimes he moves down between my ankles. When the sun rises, he gets up and walks around (and looks out the window for hours) but doesn't try to wake me up. When my alarm goes off, however, he comes and jumps back up on my shoulders. No meowing for food, but just a "Good morning, human!" It's a nice way to warm up before getting out of bed. 

I've also taken him to a vet close to AUBG for some shots. He didn't whine the entire time, even though there was an aggressive and large dog in there at the same time. I'm sure on the streets he met his fair share of dogs and has gotten used to them. From our visit to the vet, Smokey got his "pet passport" which shows all of the vaccinations and tests that he's been given. He seemed to be proud of it (or just wanted to put his scent all over it). It was so cute to see his name written in Cyrillic in the passport (Смоуки Брансфорд). The doctor also said he was around 8-9 months old, so we "settled" on a birthday of April 1st. 

Other things going on include seeing what is called a "Kukeri" festival. It's a long-standing Bulgarian tradition that happens in different cities at the beginning of the year. The purpose is to scare away evil spirits and prepare for a good harvest. I met another Fulbrighter from Plovdiv who came down to Blagoevgrad to see the festival. Words or pictures really can't describe how interesting and strange it was. 

Speech and Debate is still going strong, but there have been some major changes that have made my life easier and I think will be better in the long run if the team has an ETA who is not willing to put in much effort for the team. Before the holiday break, we decided to set up a varsity/novice mentor program. Novice members (8th and 9th graders) are partnered with varsity members (10th-12th) who volunteered to help the youngin's. So the new students first go to their mentor with questions about their piece selection, speeches, etc. It's great because they are able to talk in Bulgarian and probably have more useful conversations than with me. 

I help out along the way with different edits and meeting with students, but I am now seeing novice students who are ready to start actually practicing their events. That means a lot fewer times that I spend 3 hours before school starts. I can't thank the varsity members enough. I'm excited to see how our team does at the tournament in Pernik in early March (on my birthday) and the national tournament in Plovdiv. I am also looking forward to seeing some of the students qualify for the U.S. tournament which will be held in Salt Lake City next summer. The U.S. Qualifier tournament is right here in good old Blagoevgrad. 

This was definitely an interesting debate...

I'm ending the term by doing some fun lessons (in my opinion) on different American accents. Student seem to have enjoyed seeing that not everyone talks quite like me. I think the New York accent was the most surprising to people. I hope in the next term to do more interesting lessons that bring in American and Bulgarian cultures into the language-learning process. 

Next week I'm off to enjoy Sweden and Denmark. Thanks, WizzAir for the cheap flight! Stay warm and dry, everyone back home! I miss you all and will see you later this year!