American Network Television in Bulgaria!?!

A few weeks ago, I discovered that I could download all of my favorite prime-time network TV shows that are aired in The States. Interestingly enough, I didn’t have any favorite American shows until I got to Bulgaria. Did it take me coming to Bulgaria to become addicted to American television? Since my discovery, we have become up to date with many popular prime-time shows, including: Alias, Lost, The OC, Prison Break, and The Sopranos. I watched the first couple episodes of Rome, but found them a little too risqué to continue that series. I guess I worked too many hours in the states to worry about TV. What’s great is that I can hook up the laptop to our TV and watch the episodes in near perfect quality! -- just like being at home . . kind of. Here, I have really become involved in each series. We can download each recent episode only hours after it airs in The States. Alias is our favorite and probably what fostered our addiction. Everyone probably knows, but it is about a covert ops team of spies called SD6. If you haven’t seen it and you are interested in spy flicks, be sure to check it out. There is talk that this will be the last season though. The season premieres on ABC next Thursday (8:00pm EST) and on my computer next Friday (Bulgarian Time)!

Gloomy Weather

Sorry, Sorry!! I do read your comments and have been thinking about writing an entry. I just have not felt up to it recently and I have been busy.

Our trip to our host families was successful. It was great to see them again and they were very excited to have us. There was a big festival in the square of Saedinenie for Unification Day. It seemed like everyone from the town and surrounding villages were there. During the day there were wrestling matches. A calf was the grand prize. At night, we went to a small fair. There we saw a military parade and fireworks with AK gunfire throughout. YES, on the way home from this trip we bought a new TV. The price was not bad, but we all know that John has to have the best.

Our next big event was the start of school. On September 15^th students arrive at school for a celebration and to meet their class teachers. It was raining that morning, so my school had a small celebration only with the students from 1^st to 4^th class. I thought it was interesting that here it is GOOD luck when it rains. After the celebration it is tradition to go to a restaurant with your colleagues and share lunch.

John and I both had class this past week. The children in my classes are all relatively well behaved. I started each class by going over the rules. I decided to speak only in English for my 5^th and 6^th classes. They understand me, but act like they don’t sometimes. I think it is because they are still unsure of their skills. I am positive that this will improve with time, because I won’t let them off the hook that easily. One thing is, I will have to teach them what pair/group work is, because they don’t do that in Bulgaria. On October 1^st four more classes will start. These are optional lessons for 3^rd and 4^th grades. We will see how those go later.

It has been cold and gloomy here for the past five days. One day it was high 70’s and sunny and the next it was 50’s and pouring down rain. As soon as the weather went downhill, John got a bad cold. And of course, married couples share everything so I got the cold two days later. We were planning on traveling this weekend, a four day weekend, but between us being sick and the ugly weather, we have camped out on our couch for the last two days. Maybe we will head somewhere tomorrow.

Oh, and “Ne Raboti” is something like “it doesn’t work” in English.

Oops!

Oops! A word of advice from what is now my experience . . . Always check what cords are plugged into the computer before you move it!

Yes, unfortunately I had to learn this lesson with harsh reality. Also, televisions don’t work to well after a 3 foot fall, face first onto a hardwood floor. The bad news is, the TV “Не Работи”. The good news is I haven’t bought a guitar yet, so we can afford to replace it. Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is because some lessons are better to learn secondhand.

The Next Two Days

So, I have survived my first two days of school. As I logically knew, everything went well. I walked into a teachers meeting 30 minutes late. While, I was walking in my director said “Relax” and then went on introducing me. When he was done he told everyone to speak to me only in Bulgarian. GREAT! Luckily, that request did not last long. All of the English teachers told me that it is their job to better their English. HaHa. We have finally straightened the classes that I will be teaching. I will be teaching three groups of fifth graders for five hours a week each, a group of third graders and a group of fourth graders one hour a week, and American history/ geography class one hour a week. This schedule should keep me busy.

We have a long weekend. September 6^th, Tuesday, is unification day here. We are leaving tomorrow to visit Saedinenie, our training site. They have a big celebration every September 6^th. Saedinenie means United in Bulgarian. The town was the gathering point for revolutionaries who helped declare Unification of Eastern Rumelia, now Southern Bulgarian, with the Principality of Bulgaria. It should be fun to see friends and join in the festivities.

On a different note, the pictures and stories coming out of the south are surreal. CNN and the internet are our only sources of news. I just pray God helps calm the situation and order is restored.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!!!