July 3 Wedding
Congratulations to my son and his wife on the occasion of their marriage! I am very happy to welcome Amanda into our family. The wedding was splendid, and it was so fun seeing family, visiting with Jacob and Amanda's friends, getting acquainted with Jacob's new in-laws, and being in Las Vegas! What a trip...so to speak!
 |
| The Planet Hollywood chapel was really pretty, and the jp was very professional. (I think I was expecting tacky.) |
She stole my heart with the red high heels!
July 18 Terrorist Attack
You've probably already heard about the bombing in Burgas on the Black Sea. It seems to have been an Iranian attack on Israelis who had come to the sea to vacation, although the Iranian Ambassador to Bulgaria has denied Iranian responsibility, according to news reports. Peace Corps staff have been keeping a vigilant eye on the situation and asked us to keep a low profile. I feel confident they will let us know and evacuate us immediately if they think we are in danger. I believe this was an isolated incident and do not feel any threat.
June
That said, I spent four lovely days at a resort near Varna the last week of June. Varna is another large city on the Black Sea coast north of Burgas. All the volunteers in my group were there for Peace Corps Bulgaria's last mid-service conference. Last because we are the last group of volunteers to be sent here.
 |
| First glimpse from the train of Varna's harbor. |
 |
| Balcony view of Varna |
Spelling Bee Camp
The National Bulgarian English Spelling Bee was held in early spring. It started at the local level, those winners went to the regional competition, and those winners went to the national competition, and yes, they spelled English words in English! Spelling Bee Camp was incentive and a reward for all the regional winners and their teachers. It was held last week at a ski resort near Razlog in the Pirin Mountains, and I volunteered to help. It turned out to be a very rewarding experience, even though I really had a difficult time getting into it at first as I went there from Las Vegas and was still in a daze from all the wedding excitement. I had the opportunity to get acquainted with or better acquainted with many volunteers, and I have to tell ya', there are some great Americans serving our country over here.
I worked mostly with the Bulgarian teachers at the camp, hopefully giving them some ideas and resources that will be helpful to them in their classrooms, but what was really fun was tie-dyeing with the kids. The Nora Springs kindergartners were never as excited doing their shirts (if you can imagine)! And the teachers who were lucky enough to get a blank shirt were just as excited.
View of the Pirin Mountains
 |
| We took an excursion into Bansko one afternoon, a famous skiing destination that's gorgeous during the summertime. |
 |
| Another day we took a hike up the mountainside to a lake called "The Eye." |
 |
| The teachers were excited about making it to The Eye. I was, too, as I almost gave it up at one point during the hike. The lake is in the background on the left. |
 |
| I took the "slow train" home from Razlog. People warned me it would take forever. It did. What probably would have taken two hours by car took five hours, but the scenery was gorgeous and I never tired of looking at it, even through the filthy train window which made good photos impossible. This was snapped through a window that opened just enough to get my camera through. |
This week I have been teaching an hour of summer school at my school here in Rakovski. I'm reading Flat Stanley with 3 eager students. It hasn't been easy for them because they have to do most of the translating. (I help with a translate app on my iPod :)
 |
| Two stayed afterward one day to draw Stanley. |
Next week I will be in Blagoevgrad which looks on the map to sit in a valley between the Pirin and Rila Mountains very near the Macedonian border. I'll be teaching creative writing to students ages 14 to 18 at the American University in Bulgaria's summer camp for kids from all over Europe. That should give me something to write about for my next entry.
Hoping for rain along with all of you.
Peace,
Joan
No comments:
Post a Comment