Greetings again, friends, family and other forced readers.
Spring is arriving quickly here in Bulgaria, particularly in Haskovo, which (locals say) has the most days of sunshine out of all the towns in Bulgaria. I actually believe them. The cafes are reopening their outdoor seating, people are taking long walks and the town is suddenly very populated. During winter people hid in their homes so much (self included) that the town seemed deserted. Now, it seems impossible that all of these people live here.
The first of March is called "Baba Marta Day" (meaning Grandma March). It's sort of a personification of the spring-developing process. There are all sorts of traditions that happen on Baba Marta Day: children jumping over small fires for good luck, fathers pretending to chop down the most fruitful tree only to be stopped by the cries of children who halt him and bring the tree good luck, lots of baked goods. The most common and widely practiced tradition though is giving a "martinita" to friends and family. It's a string or cloth bracelet with red (for health) and white (for luck) and sometimes other colors too. When you tie it on a person you wish them love, health, happiness and any number of other good things. As you tie it on someone they get to make a wish. It was one of those days - one of those joyous days to be in Bulgaria. There was so much good cheer. Also, it was like some funny Adult Friendship Bracelet Day. There were all of these serious and polished professionals with dozens of stringy bracelets hanging off their wrists. Hard to be reserved when that happens. The bracelets stay on until the first sign of spring. The first sign of spring is interpreted in any number of varying degrees: a few warm sunny days in a row, a blossoming tree, or seeing a stork or sparrow (oh yeah, there are storks here - lots). If you remove the bracelet and tie it to a blossoming tree you get to make another wish. There are tons of trees in town with bracelets hanging from them - it's really quite a thing to see.
The second celebration was Bulgarian Liberation Day (March 3). Let me just say this: in addition to being thankful for folks shrugging off those bloody Brits, you should be thankful that they did so in a month that's not freezing cold, where there is nothing you can do outdoors but shiver. AND...and you should be thankful that auditoriums have central heating, so that if you were to go to see a cultural show to celebrate the cold independence day, it wouldn't be so cold that you were shaking and could see the speaker's breath. Think about that when you are barbecuing and drinking cold beers in July.
Also in March (the 8th) was International Women's Day. It's celebrated with some amount of fanfare, though people link it to former socialist times or to "bad treatment 364 days, good treatment 1". Whatever the case, men (and women) give the women in their lives flowers, appreciation and good wishes. Flower stalls were everywhere and restaurants were booked well in advance. Not quite as fun as Baba Marta, Women's Day still made me realize that we Americans need to recognize more than life (birthdays, Mother's/Father's Day, etc), death (varying memorial days for past heroes and events) and love (anniversaries, Valentine's, etc).
The American holiday lacking in this list of March festivities is St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, they don't really do that here. See, superstition says that blue-eyed people like myself can give you the "evil eye" and curse you without even meaning to or knowing it. Can't really blame the people for not celebrating us evil eyers. There were some Americans and other expats who gathered in the capitol for it, but that was out of my budget for the month and I've come to doubt the fun of drinking with random volunteers, who are often badly behaved. I tried to find green food coloring, figuring I could introduce that to my workplace, but I couldn't even find that. I'll have to find a better way to recognize St. Pat's for next year.
Other things I've done: I met some friends in Veliko Turnovo for a fun weekend of exploring a town not exclusively populated by blok apartments. I met some gals in Sofia, the capitol, for shopping, eating non-Bulgarian food and hours of much needed girl talk. Frustrated with the way my program is run, I rewrote my Peace Corps program's project plan and submitted it (without being asked) to my Country Director and Program Director. It was rather ballsy, but it seems to have been appreciated and taken into consideration. I'll keep you posted on what comes of it. I'm also working on helping training be revamped to actually reflect the skills we come in with and the jobs we are going to do. Shock. Let you know what happens there too.
Future plans include a birthday celebration (I think I'm one of few adults who still likes getting older. I just figure "hey, that's crap I don't have to do ever again!"). My friend Megan is helping me coordinate a hiking weekend (my birthday falls on Orthodox Easter weekend here, making it 3 days). From May 7-14 I am also going to Copenhagen, Denmark. I need a break from just about everything so I'm going alone to explore, see art, shop, sit in cafes...and anything else I want to do (or not do, as the case may be). If you have any Copenhagen tips, please share, esp regarding lodging, which can be quite expensive.
On April 22nd a new batch of volunteers arrives. It's weird to think I've been here so long I'm no longer in the freshman class. Time has flown. With spring comes the willingness to travel more - to see other volunteers and other towns. Bulgaria, for all it's crazy backwardness, is a beautiful country. I can't wait to see more of it.
Hope you are well and spending time in the sunshine.
Jen
