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.