The To Do List

I just freaked out and made the longest “To Do List” in recent memory. Then I posted it on my door so that I’ll see it every time I leave the house. Yep. I am not sure if it will make me freak out more or less when I see it later today but I can only hope that it gets me going.

I feel like I’ve got a million of things to do over the next three weeks. It’s kind of hard to imagine that I am going to be able to get it all done. But I have to. So I made a list.

Here’s the bad news, my blog didn’t make the list. Anywhere.

Gasp, I know, I know. I’ve trained you to check in daily and now I am going to have a hard time writing every day. For this I am truly sorry. And I promise that I’ll grade as fast as I can so that I can get back to blogging but man, oh, man. I’ve got tons of things to grade.

The good news is that next week is the last week of classes and then we have finals so the end is insight. It just feels so very far from where I am right now.

Okay, wish me luck.

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Alcohol and Prom Season

Yesterday morning on my way to work, I saw two girls bright shinny dresses, limp hair and their dates eating outside at McDonalds. They looked tired and happy. This morning I saw two girls hanging out in the parking lot of Billa in their prom dresses. They however looked sad and pathetic. Billa wasn’t open and their make up was smudged on their faces.

What I really wanted to tell them was go to home and go to bed–the party’s over. But I just smiled and thought: phew, it’s hard work being young.

It’s prom season in Bulgaria. Heck, I guess it’s prom season all over the world.  What does this mean in Bulgaria? Well, I’d say it’s American prom to the extreme.

Prom is a big deal. A really big deal. There are big dresses but also plenty of skin even bigger hair and lots photos, honking of car horns and all around cheer. Oh and there’s plenty of alcohol.

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Birthday Update

The chocolates were a hit today! My students thought it was wonderful that I was the one giving them chocolate rather than the other way around.

Chocolates!

I told them that I was following the Bulgarian tradition by giving them chocolates. They were surprised by the fact that this wasn’t a tradition in the States.  They wanted to know why we don’t give our friends chocolate on our birthdays.  Well, I don’t have an answer for this.

It’s pretty great. First because you get to eat chocolate. But second because you get to tell everyone: Hey today’s my birthday! Then people wish you health and happiness and all sorts of wonderful things.

My students and colleagues were all really wonderful today.  I got lots of warm wishes, smiles and laughs. That’s pretty priceless. And in my mind makes for a great tradition. (Oh and I have some left over chocolate.  I never thought about how that might happen.)

I got two pretty hysterical pieces of advice today.

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Devastatingly Good Bake Sale

A group of students were hosting a bake sale for a charity in Sofia this week. Basically, they bring in homemade goods to sell at lunch in order to support their charity and then they try to convince everyone to buy their treats. Teachers are an easy target and regularly I get hit up to support a cause, buy a treat or the like.  It was no different this week.

The thing about bake sales at school is that these students don’t sell traditional bake sale desserts. I’ve never seen a frosted cupcake, a monster cookie with M&Ms, a brownie or a Rice Krispy treat (okay the last one doesn’t surprise me much seeing as I’ve never seen Rice Krispies or marshmallows on sale).

As a teacher, I feel like it’s my obligation to make these kids tell me about what the purpose of the sale is but also to make them talk about what they are selling, which treat they recommend, what’s selling best, who made what and what’s in it.

So when a student told me that everything they were selling was “devastatingly good” I couldn’t help but laugh.

There were three options for sale this week.  A dish that looked like a coffee cake but instead of having brown sugar and oats on top, it had spinach and sirene cheese.  That’s not really my thing. I am sure it was good but when I think about a bake sale I think: sweet, sweet, sweet! Then there was a loaf pan with either a bread or a pound cake in it–it was yellow-ish in color.  The students just kept saying: it’s Bulgarian. Um, okay.

Finally there was this:

Bake Sale Treat

This one was the treat that the students told me was selling the best.

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Entrance Exam

Three hundred plus 7th grade students will be sitting for our entrance exam this morning. So it’s Sunday morning at 6:15am and I’m writing a quick post before I go to school.  The entrance exam is a system–just like any private school in the States.  Only I’m a product of public schools in the Sates and today, I find myself in Bulgaria so it’s a system that I don’t really get.

This spring seventh graders all over the country will be taking entrance exams not only for the handful of private schools that exist in this country but also for all of the best public schools–math schools, language schools, art schools you name it.  If I understand everything correctly, this is the moment they’ve been preparing for since their first day of elementary school and over the past year with expensive private lessons.

Today, students will take a test that I know nothing about. It’s may or may not surprise my American readers but the entire test is in Bulgarian. 

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Under the Yoke

Yesterday I decided that I should track down a copy of Under the Yoke.  I was returning a long overdue library book. Yes, I love books but I also love to forget to return them. I read them and promptly forget about them.

Anyhow, today Bulgaria is celebrating Liberation Day–liberation from the Ottoman Empire.  So I figured what better way to spend a part of this national holiday than by reading Under the Yoke?

Well it turns out that our library has copies of the novel in Bulgarian (as it should) and in French (really?!) but we don’t have an English language copy (um, yes, this is the American College of Sofia and we don’t have a copy in English).  I look inquisitively at the librarian, she shrugs and I go back to my classroom.  It looks like I wont be reading Under the Yoke this holiday.  Foiled.

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Martenitsa Fever Pitch

It was a fever pitch of martenitsi at school yesterday.  I thought it was great fun to watch and to be a part of the exchange and social negotiation of these red and white trinkets.

There were martenitsi everywhere. Arms, sweatshirts, coats.  The students had bags of them. It’s really wonderful. And also really funny.

Me in martenitsi. Thanks to my students and colleauges. Sorry about the poor light/photo quality.

I have a few hysterical moments and memories from today. They follow:

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Hristo Stoichkov and English

My 10th graders have been driving me crazy recently with “Hristo Stoichkov” speech.  They really like the phrase “sometimes loon, sometimes win.”  I would venture to guess that they’ve been talking like him for about four weeks.

It makes my English-teacher-skin crawl. Then I watched Hristo Stoichkov on youtube. It’s even worse. And even funnier than my students. You too should watch it.  This way you’ll know what they’ve been joking around about.

I have to say, Hristo is giving it his all and never pauses or stumbles. That’s what makes the whole thing so funny and slightly unbelievable. It’s the utter confidence that is striking.

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Living on Leva: School Lunch

Lunch at school. It’s more or less like all school lunches I’ve ever eaten; it’s fine. Not great. Not horrible. And not expensive. There are no little cardboard cartons of milk but you can buy a bottle of water or a glass of juice.

The menu changes every day but you can count on the fact that there will be some kind of soup, salad, main dish and dessert what these are any given day depends on the kitchen. Oh and there’s always bread. I think that’s a given in Bulgaria. In the photo below, you’ll see that the menu is in both English and Bulgarian. English on top and Bulgarian on the bottom–sometimes there are really wonderful spelling mistakes in English but I can’t think of an example right now.

School Lunch

The lunch ladies only speak Bulgarian so depending on the lunch options sometimes you have to find what you want on the list in English and hope that you ask for the same option when you order in Bulgarian.

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Balkan Dance Debut

I am not sure that many of you are kept awake at night wishing you could Balkan dance or have dreams of traditional dresses dancing through your head but if you do, this blog post is for you. It’s your lucky night.

Me, Sarah and Abby

I made my Bulgarian National dance debut tonight. I got to wear traditional clothing!! And I danced two dances with the moms and other international teachers from school at the American College of Sofia’s Christmas Concert for parents and alumni. It went okay. I danced with a lot of heart but I was far from perfect. It helps when you’re wearing really great clothes as well.

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