Orthodox Easter

Last Sunday the Orthodox Church celebrated their Easter and since Bulgaria is mainly Orthodox it was a big holiday here. Easter is less commercial here than in the States but for most people it has very little to do with Jesus and more with tradition. It's probably the only day during the year when most Bulgarians go to church. Bulgarians dye eggs but instead of hiding them for kids to hunt for they have little egg battles where they knock their eggs against each other and the person whose egg doesn't break first is the winner.

The Easter service is held Saturday night at midnight. I went with a couple friends to the main Orthodox church in town. It seemed like everyone from Blagoevgrad was there, crowded in the courtyard and the surrounding streets. The priests would walk through the crowd with their candles, chanting something in Bulgarian, and everyone would light their candles on the priests'. Soon the entire courtyard was lit up with candle light and at midnight the bells rang and everyone said (in Bulgarian) "Christ is Risen" and then broke their eggs. It felt very cozy nestled in the crowd although there were several times I saw someone's hair almost get set on fire. And I feared for my own hair as well. It was kind of comical to watch Bulgarians try to smoke their cigarettes and hold a candle at the same time except those were also the moments when I envisioned the entire wood church going up in flames. Then everyone headed home with the goal of keeping their candles lit the entire way. It's to symbolize bringing the living Christ into your home but most Bulgarians think it will give them good luck. Needless to say it was a very nice experience.

I had a heck of a time trying to light my candle

The church

Everyone with lit candles

Update

I think I should probably update you on the happenings in the BG during the month of April. I had several choir concerts around the country - Blagoevgrad, Plovdiv, and Sofia (in the largest hall in all of Bulgaria). The choir has around 30 members and it's pretty good (not to brag or anything). We have a very wide range of songs in our repertoir, ranging from Mozart to Frank Sinatra (if you think it would be weird to hear "New York New York" sung by a choir, you'd be right) to traditional Bulgarian Orthodox hymns. When I first saw the choir uniforms (see below) I thought we all looked like waitresses. Later I found out the vests were donated by a restaurant in Macedonia, so I was close!!

My friend Maria and I with our Choir director, Hristo Krotev.



Martin, Savina, me, and Mitko at our concert in Plovdiv.

Dinner after a long concert in Plovdiv.

The AUBG choir 15th anniversary.

Other than that I've just been getting on with classes and spending time with people. There's only 2 1/2 weeks of the semester left. This Sunday is Orthodox Easter so I'm going to go to an Orthodox service (their Easter services are on Saturday night at 11pm). I'll let you all know how that goes.

I thought I might tell you a little of what I've learned about Bulgaria since I've been here (and the Balkans in general I think).
Lesson #1: People wear their wedding rings on their right hand ring finger. There's an American girl here this semester who is engaged but she was wearing her ring on her left hand and she kept getting hit on by Bulgarians, who didn't believe her when she told them she was engaged.
Lesson #2: Let's say your first class is supposed to start at 12:15. This is about the time people will wake up to go to the class. This means that everyone is perpetually late for everything, except free food.
Lesson #3: This one isn't very funny and is a problem for the Balkans in general. The gypsies (or Roma) and people from the villages still use horse drawn wagons to get around. We also always have gypsies going through the big dumpsters behind the dorms. They tie their horse up on the tree in the yard. We've named him Clippity Clop because that's the sound his hooves make on the stone roads.
Lesson #4: Don't pet the stray dogs because they'll follow you around for the rest of the day.

Au Revoir Paris!

The next day we visited Notre Dame. It was Palm Sunday so the church was filled with tourists and those actually going to Mass. It was really beautiful though to hear Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame. We also visited the Opera. The very Opera where Phantom of the Opera is set. I was basically jumping out of my skin with giddiness because this has been one of my favorite books for a long long time and we actually got to go in and see the grand staircase and the entryway. It's such a beautiful building; I'm sure I could have wandered around the rest of the day. But Krista and Sarah both had to catch their trains so we headed back to the hostel where we chilled until it was time to take the metro to their respective bus stations while I had to say goodbye and see them off.

I contemplated going out to see some of Paris but it was getting dark and didn't really want to walk the streets by myself so I headed back to the hostel. This was when I realized I had mastered the intricate metro system and was incredibly proud of myself. Sadly I had to leave Paris the next day.

So I had mastered the metro but I had NOT mastered Charles De Gaulle Airport. This is the most confusing, gigantic place I've ever been to. I knew my flight number but had no clue as to which one of the vast terminals I was supposed to depart from. Honestly I was really really scared that I would miss my flight but luckily I had plenty of time (although when you're kind of lost it doesn't seem like you have that much time). I wandered down one hallway and about halfway down remembered which terminal I had come in at so I headed back the opposite way hoping that I would fly out the same way I came in. Success! I found my gate, checked in, and made it through the ridiculous security. After finding my way around CDG I feel like I could climb Mount Everest. Then said goodbye to Paris and headed back to Bulgaria.

The Opera Garnier

Me, very exited to be standing in front of the Grand Staircase at the Opera.

Notre Dame. I can't claim this picture - Krista took it.

Sarah and Krista in front of Notre Dame.

This is the warning that they put on the metro doors. It says - Attention! Do not put your hands in the door: You risk having them pinched very hard. I think it's rather funny that they use a rabbit. Funny, confusing, and mildly disturbing.

More Paris

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted anything! I'll continue with my trip to France...

Saturday morning Krista, Sarah, and I eat a delightful French breakfast of baguettes and drink American coffee (which made me really really happy because all they seem to have in Europe is espresso). Then we headed to a really amazing modern photography museum. I was really excited for this because it's not something that everyone gets to do when they visit Paris. The museum was in the historical bohemian Marais district and we walked around and window shopped and then ate a very French lunch of savory crepes (with ham and cheese) and sweet crepes (chocolate...mmm).

After our lunch Sarah took us the the upscale St. Germaine Street to do more window shopping! Two of the most famous Parisian cafes are on this street - Les Deux Magots, and the other one, which I can't remember. After trying on some clothes that we definitely could not afford we decided to take a pause (as the French call it) and rest our feet at a cafe where we drank espresso with a shot of orange flavor and watched a rugby match on the TV. We formulated an amazing plan to watch the Eiffel Tower light up while drinking champagne and eating Chinese food because we were starving. We get Chinese takeout, buy the Champagne (we also decided to buy strawberries and chocolate, why not right?) and take the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately the weather decided not to cooperate and rain on our little picnic. But our brilliant plan would not be thwarted so we persevered through the rain with our food, huddled under umbrellas.

The Eiffel Tower sparkles and shimmers and is absolutely breathtaking at night. We gaze at it for awhile, realize our Chinese is getting cold, and find a bench to sit on. Well, we're smart girls so we grabbed a sacrificial towel from the hostel to put on the wet bench to sit on. It was quite a riot, us three huddled on a wet bench, under the amazing Tower (which we couldn't really see because of our umbrellas) trying to eat Chinese. By the time the food was gone we resembled drowned cold rats and decided to drink the champagne back in the comfort of the hostel. We headed back and enjoyed the night in each others company and my first bottle of real champagne!

She's so sparkly and pretty!

Under the umbrellas...in front of the Eiffel Tower!

Trying to eat Chinese food in the rain is tricky!

Our champagne toast!

I love Paris in the spring time

The second weekend of March I was lucky enough to spend in the city of lights with two of my good friends from Lincoln, Sarah and Krista. Sarah is studying this semester in France and Krista studying in Spain and we decided to meet one weekend during the semester and we chose Paris as our destination.


Krista and I arrived by plane Thursday night and met in the airport. This was very good otherwise I would have probably gotten lost in Charles De Gaulle (which is huge) and still be trying to figure out the RER transport system that gets you into Paris. But Krista and I conquerd it AND the Paris metro (two very different things). It took about an hour to get from CDG to our hip new hostel Sarah found for us. I was able to practice my french when Krista and I went for dinner and the waiter said I spoke very well! And I should hope so after almost 3 years of college French.


Sarah arrived the next morning and we were off to explore the city. We visited the Arc de Triomphe, which in my opinion (and Sarah's), has the best view of Paris because you can see the Eiffel Tower. We gallavanted down the famously expensive and ritzy Champs Elysses and paused for some brief window shopping at Cartier, drawing looks from passers by with our ooohs and ahhs. We ate some delicious French food at an outside cafe. Then we took the metro to Sacre Coeur. We took a turn around the bohemian and artsy Montmartre quarter, looking at artists' paintings. I've been to Paris before but it's still very surreal to see all the famous monuments and realize I'm in Paris with two of my best friends! Krista kept wondering how we got to be old enough to do something like this.


The Louvre is free for students on Friday nights so we headed there next. I think I could spend weeks in this place. We saw the famous works of art for Krista, whose never been here before. We looked at the ancient Egyptian artifacts for me, who still secretly wants to be an egyptologist. After they kicked us out of the museum we walked down the Seine to the Latin Quarter, traditionally where the students hang out. The streets are narrow and filled with bright colors and the breaking of dishes as waiters try to entice visitors into their restaurants. We ate an amazing dinner of coucous, vegetables, and beef and shared my first bottle of French wine at a Moroccan restaurant.

Paris from the top of the L'Arc de Triomph

Me, Sarah, and Krista. We're in Paris!

You can buy chocolate crepes on the street. Mmmm. This picture is in Montmartre.

At the Louvre in front of the glass pyramid entrance designed by I.M. Pei.

Me trying to be artsy with the camera.