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. 

Family Time!!!! Berlin Travels and exploration of my home!!!

Family Trip!!! 

Bucharest: 

My parents and Michelle flew into Bucharest and I met them there.

We stayed in a really lovely hotel.

Day one, we walked around Bucharest and saw the outside of lots of buildings. It was Christmas and therefore everything was closed. It was my parents first time in Europe and it was so nice to see how excited they were about the old buildings and the beauty of the country.

One of the three synagogues in Bucharest -
in front is a Holocaust memorial 

Another view of the synagogue

The Parliament - one of the largest buildings in the world 

In front of the Cathedral behind our hotel 

Day 2: Because everything was closed we decided to book a tour of two castles in nearby Bran and Sinia and visit Brasov. Our tour guide was wonderful! He was very knowledgable and was a fabulous driver! We saw Pelish castle in Sinia and a really ornate and beautiful monastery. We also saw Dracula's castle in Bran and ate moma liga (a traditional Romanian food that my mother wanted to try because her grandfather used to make it) along the way. 

Pelish Castle 

Varna: 

After Bucharest we took a car service to Varna. I booked my parents a room at the Grand Hotel Dimiyat and Michelle and I stayed in my apartment. The hotel is amazing and has one of the best views of Varna from their glass elevator. 

Friday we walked along the sea, explored the center of Varna, did some shopping and went to the open market. 

Me and Michelle by the sea 

My parents in front of the Christmas market

Picking up vegetables for shabbat dinner 

Friday night I made shabbat dinner in my apartment - which was really nice. 

Saturday we did more walking and Saturday night went out with some of my friends to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant. My parents loved my friends - and they also danced the hora with the best of them!!!

They played a song just for my parents 

Istanbul: 

Next, we had to get to Istanbul because that is where my parents and Michelle were flying back to America from.

A few weeks before my parents arrival Rachel and Ari (my other sister and her husband) decided to meet us in Istanbul with the kids.

It was so great!!! The kids are so cute and it was fun traveling with them.

(unfortunately these children are not allowed to have their photographs online - basically because they are too damn cute)

We hit all the highlights: Blue Masque, Hagia Sofia, The Palace, The Grand Bazar and The Spice Market

Palace 

Cistern 

Medusa - there is a sideways and upside down Medusa on a column 

Inside Hagia Sofia 

The Spice Market 

Me and Rachel in front of the Blue Masque

Berlin: 

After my family left I didn't have much time to get sad.
Immediately after they left I took an overnight bus to Sofia and then that afternoon took a flight with Katy to Berlin.

Berlin was great! It was really eye opening. There are some of the most amazing monuments and memorials I ever seen in honor of the Holocaust. People were really open and honest about their history and it was overall a really positive experience.

We stayed in a really cool hostel a little off from the center. We stayed in the same place as some other fulbrighters so hung out with them as well.

The first day, Katy, Sara (another fulbrighter) and I did the most amazing free walking tour and went to a really beautiful art museum in museum island.

Our tour guide was a Brit studying for his PhD in history in Berlin. He was really knowledgable and thoughtful! We loved him - small crushes/ high crushes!

The day begins! We are cold but happy! 

Sara in the art museum 

Our beautiful tour guide - smart, handsome, athletic (look how he is standing) 

On our way to a bar at the end of the day! 

Day 2:

Katy got a nose piercing and I got a new stud put in 

We went to the art fair and we went on a huge snow slide 

We ended the day with the topography of terror museum. The Museum is housed in the old headquarters of the SS and chronicles all of the devastating history from the end of WWI up until liberation after the Holochaust. It is a really heavy and thoughtful museum.

Day 3: 

Our third day in Berlin - we walked around to two of the large synagogues, went to the Jewish Museum (one of the best I have ever been to) and the gay museum. 

The Jewish museum was amazingly done. The architecture was built to fit the message of the museum and every element was purposeful and thoughtful. 

Outside of Jewish Museum

This was a tree of life to write something you liked about the museum  

This was a tree of life to write something you wish would be part of life

Gay Museum 

The metro in the area is rainbow!!!! 

Our final day in Berlin we did a tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration right outside Berlin.

It was an extraordinarily cold day and we were all so physically uncomfortable - but this only made it more devastating to think about the prisoners. Sachsenhausen mostly held higher ranking prisoners but of course killed countless Jews, Gypsies and Gay people there. They also had ovens - although the main purpose of the camps was to work the prisoners to death.

Back to Reality: 

Some highlights since I've been back.

I went to Pobiti Kamani - or petrified forest.

It is a 7 km stone forest outside Varna. The stones are natural forming and have sand inside from when the sea went out that far.
- in order to get there we had to take a bus to this village 2 km away. The village was really tiny and very interesting to see.

How cool? 

Bobi giving the injured dog water and his second sandwich 

This past weekend I went to Veliko Turnovo - an ancient city in Bulgaria and the old capital. 

It snowed so we didn't get to see that much but we went to Tsarvets - a fortress which was super cool and actually really fun to trek through the snow to see. 

At the top - infront of the church at the top 

View from a lookout point (for shooting people)

Gorgeous!

sooo cold!!!! 

A move, new adventures and christmas parties

So what have I been doing for the past two and a half months???

It has actually been a crazy few months.

I moved into a new apartment about a month ago. I am so happy with the change. The apartment is much smaller - which is actually really good. It a studio with a small balcony and a really nice bathroom. It is in a much nicer area of Varna and now I am a 15 minute walk from school rather than a half hour bus ride.

- Across the street from my apartment is a MyMarket - there is a Billa down the block. I found a nice gym to join and a bakery - and obviously I have already made friends with the woman who works there.

What was really amazing was when I was moving I had so many people offer to help me move. In the end, Margo, her husband and my friend Konstantin all helped me. It was pretty absurd how much I had acquired in two months.

My place!!!! 

One of our long weekends I went to Macadonia with Sam, Jake, Victoria and Sam's friend Danny (who was awesome). We stayed at a really cool hostel and were treated so nicely. The guy who worked at the front liked us, so he bought us wine. We walked around skopie and then the best part - took a bus to Medka - this cape outside the city that leads to a gorgeous cave. It was wonderful!

Jake and me in front of one of the many statues/monument in Skopie 

The whole crew! 

Medka!

I have also been traveling around Bulgaria a bunch.

Tania, the teacher I mentioned previously, and her husband took me to Kavarna, Cape Kaliakra and Bolata.

Tanya's sweet husband - outside Kavarna

I went to Buzludzah, an old abandoned communist monument. You need to crawl through a small hole to get inside. It was really cool and different and something you could not see anywhere else. Getting there was a bitch though :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzludzha

For thanksgiving a bunch of fulbrighters gathered together in Plovdiv, the ancient capital of Bulgaria. It is a beautiful city, it is one of the oldest cities in Europe and has so much history. We walked around the old city and saw lots of beautiful buildings - true architecture - no communist blocks. We also all cooked food - Alex got a turkey (unfortunately not kosher - so still no meat for this guy) and it was really lovely though.

Thanksgiving with my Bulgarian family! 

Three weekends ago was the "fulbright 100 days in Bulgaria" gathering and christmas party. Everyone presented on their work and what they have been doing here. They also took us to the Rila monestary. The biggest and most famous monastery in Bulgaria. It was gorgeous!!!!

Me in front of Rila Monastery 

This week we had two teachers christmas parties. One was at a karaoke bar in Varna. The teachers really know how to party and it was really nice and fun. I also felt like it was a turning point for me and the other teachers. They were all happy that I was participating and dancing and they were particularly impressed when I did the hora - traditional bulgarian dance.

We also went away for a party - to this Russian owned complex outside Varna. We got a tour of the complex, went swimming in an indoor pool and had another crazy dancing party.

In regards to teaching - it has been a roller coaster. But some highlights. The club "coffee and conversation" I started has been really good. I have had students reach out to me more outside of class. And finally, I had my students evaluate my teaching and overall I can say it was very positive!!


a nice evaluation!

Me and some of my students 

Tomorrow I go to Bucharest to meet up with my parents and Michelle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!