Its been awhile

Hello family and friends,

Its been so long I am not sure where to start. I have traveled a lot since I last posted.
I have done a lot of exploring of Bulgaria and beyond.

I have also been doing a lot with my students.

I have started a women's club, which is probably one of my favorite things to do outside of school.
These high school girls amaze me - they are so incredibly smart and thoughtful and I cannot believe what they are able to understand and express at such a young age. The other day I brought in some monologues from the vagina monologues and they were comfortable reading them and one girl said she planned on making her boyfriend read it as well. Last year as a senior in college I struggled with talking to some of my friends about the vagina monologues and some of my friends so immaturely could not hear them being read without giggling or mocking the issues being presented. But these high school girls have a maturity I did not have at 17.

I have also started doing extra lessons for college prep and I love teaching extra courses because only the best students come who really care and want to learn.

Okay, on to some travels.

Abroad:

Over one of our long weekends I went to Serbia with my friend April - it was freezing but completely lovely. April is a wonderful travel buddy - we are on the same page about most things and are both very understanding of the other's needs. We both have dietary restrictions and sometimes needed to go to two places so that both of us could eat - it was kind of hilarious!

We started in Nis`
It was the strangest thing - our bus was so slow the whole way from Bulgaria but once we got close he started speeding up - the terrifying part was that we were driving along a cliff on the narrowest road ever - April and I decided it was best to close our eyes and pray rather than look out the window.

After Nis we went to Belgrade - which is a very beautiful old city.
We did the free walking tour and along the way our guide gave us Serbian Rakia - delicious!

Some highlights:

April eating street food - no fork and no bread - how to eat one's chicken... 

Skull tower - completely barbaric punishment of war criminals -
those are really skulls - with hair and teeth

Synagogue in Belgrade 

We had a weeklong holiday and I went with two friends (Jake and Blaine... Blake) continent hopping (literally). We went from Lille to Brussels to Tangier to Madrid - all in a weeks time.

Lille:
Two of Jake's friends live in Lille. It was awesome because they took us around the whole city and made us dinner both nights we were there. We also ate the most delicious breads and pastries - no one does croissants better than the French.

Center of Lille

Lille is famous for these pastries  

One of the most beautiful gothic churches I have seen
This picture does not do it justice 

Brussels: land of french fries, waffles and beer... We definitely over did it on that front.

Brussels was really cool - we went to an awesome museum and saw all the pissing statues.
Our hostel was very strange - there was this convention of prepubescent kids and our four person room was the three of us and this old lady who was constantly sleeping - except to say hello whenever we came in. Also... she and Blaine were basically sharing a bed.

Beautiful people 

Center of Brussels 

Delirium bar - over 2000 types of beers 

Genican piss 

We went to a brewery. It was extremely hard to find but definitely worth it.

The Atom 

Tangier is probably my favorite place I have been to so far - it is so incredibly beautiful and different from anything I have seen before.

African culture is very different. We got offered a lot of hash and one man even asked Jake how much Blaine and I cost - but besides for these minor inconveniences it was awesome.

We stayed in this amazing little hotel and the man who worked there at night taught us how to make Moroccan tea. We went to Assilah - this beautiful city 40 minutes from Tangier with all these gorgeous murals. We also rode camels and went to hercules' cave. Everywhere we went we saw something beautiful. And the food!!!! - we ate so much tangine and I got to have vegis! something sorely lacking after Brussels.

View from the roof of our hotel

on our roof - after no sleep

market 1 

market 2

cafe hafa - tea!! 

Pictures of Assilah!

Back in Tangier

Hercules' cave

fresh juice - he has one cup - its glass so you have to drink your juice on the spot

Finally, I got to spend passover with Rachel and her family in Israel. I feel so lucky to be so close. It was so great to be with family and it was so great to be in Israel!

Bulgarian travels.

I visited Razgrad to see Blaine. Rebecca and Duncan came as well - which was great!
As Blaine calls it - a staycation!

communist monument - chill! 

Roman ruins - being very awfully fixed up - ruining the ruins

I went to the Kukari festival in Yambol.
It begins with a parade - people from all over dress up in kukari costume and oddly - also lots of cross dressing.

And the great flood... my apartment flooded - literally 6 centimeters of water. I ran away to Bansko for the weekend with April, Sten and Bobi.

Land of Mexana's - traditional Bulgarian restaurants

- The only good thing about the great flood. I learned that I have amazing friends. Konstantin - my constant hero - came over and helped me drain all the water into buckets and let me spend Wednesday night at his house. He gave me a key - did my laundry and his girlfriend made me dinner. People are so nice.