Heather Bartlett—July 1
In the heat of Bulgarian July, we trekked across from the dorms to the university pillaging local vendors for food. We have found a safe haven in the canteen of the university with the friendly lady smiling to meet us. She enjoys our attempt to speak Bulgarian as much as we enjoy her kindness in teaching it to us. Soon Kristin Grattan will become a native speaker and give lessons to us as we stumble through the language.
We were happy to see Evelina, our seven language speaking professor. Each day she amazes us with her knowledge and passion for teaching. She engages us in her lessons. Today I felt like a sponge just soaking up the information about the National Revival Period in Bulgaria. For those of you who have not read Crampton's Concise History of Bulgaria, this time period includes Bulgaria trying to find their independence from the Ottoman rule. It is similar to the American Revolution but different. Just like how we are finding the country similar and different to our own country.
After class, Ann Marie, Anne, Julie, Pat, Le, Pamela, and I headed down to the library to meet the director. She informed us the library was going to be closed July 4th as I stared at her Marge Simpson picture. Once again comparing and contrasting the countries together.
In our group we have people who like to run even though no one is chasing them. Kristen Holtschlag in her run this morning, found a grocery store. Some of us headed there after class to celebrate consumerism. The store was enormous compared to the local markets we have discovered so far on the trip. Our eyes quickly adjusted to the bright lights of the store. We attempted to order from the meat counter making farm animal noises for our requests. I do not think the lady stopped laughing with Julie making chicken sounds and her responding with pig sounds. I have a better understanding of Old McDonald. I can only image her dinner conversation tonight with her family talking about foreigners making chicken sounds and gestures.
After lunch the group met to tour a National Revival House. So some people, like myself, got lost in the process. When in doubt find someone who speaks English. We went to Margaret, the anthropologist at the Ethnographic Museum, to save the day. It is nice to have connections.
Shirley gave an excellent discussion on art and teaching it. The teacher and the setting were perfect. Sitting in a courtyard surrounded by art and discussing the teaching of it can not be beat. "What knowledge am I capturing while drawing?" served as the underlining theme.
The knowledge of learning continued with Larry's discussion about the foundation of American education compared to Bulgarian education. This topic lead to a lively discussion about education in general. We have a wide variety of teachers and backgrounds in our group. Some from urban settings while others from small towns. Each teacher contributed to the discussion. Karen, who teaches in Washington, D.C. wants to know about the minorities in Bulgaria and the education they receive. Larry, a college professor, wants to know the focus of education in Bulgaria. While Shirley discussed the educational system, how some students do quite well in high school but can not make the grade in college.
We decided that this discussion would be better with beer and food and we headed down to a restaurant to continue the discussion further.
Dinner was great and so were the drinks as we pondered our impact on our students and our Fulbright lessons yet to write.
We head back to the dorms hoping for another "block party" with our fellow students and Kosovo friends. The night is still young. . .
In the heat of Bulgarian July, we trekked across from the dorms to the university pillaging local vendors for food. We have found a safe haven in the canteen of the university with the friendly lady smiling to meet us. She enjoys our attempt to speak Bulgarian as much as we enjoy her kindness in teaching it to us. Soon Kristin Grattan will become a native speaker and give lessons to us as we stumble through the language.
We were happy to see Evelina, our seven language speaking professor. Each day she amazes us with her knowledge and passion for teaching. She engages us in her lessons. Today I felt like a sponge just soaking up the information about the National Revival Period in Bulgaria. For those of you who have not read Crampton's Concise History of Bulgaria, this time period includes Bulgaria trying to find their independence from the Ottoman rule. It is similar to the American Revolution but different. Just like how we are finding the country similar and different to our own country.
After class, Ann Marie, Anne, Julie, Pat, Le, Pamela, and I headed down to the library to meet the director. She informed us the library was going to be closed July 4th as I stared at her Marge Simpson picture. Once again comparing and contrasting the countries together.
In our group we have people who like to run even though no one is chasing them. Kristen Holtschlag in her run this morning, found a grocery store. Some of us headed there after class to celebrate consumerism. The store was enormous compared to the local markets we have discovered so far on the trip. Our eyes quickly adjusted to the bright lights of the store. We attempted to order from the meat counter making farm animal noises for our requests. I do not think the lady stopped laughing with Julie making chicken sounds and her responding with pig sounds. I have a better understanding of Old McDonald. I can only image her dinner conversation tonight with her family talking about foreigners making chicken sounds and gestures.
After lunch the group met to tour a National Revival House. So some people, like myself, got lost in the process. When in doubt find someone who speaks English. We went to Margaret, the anthropologist at the Ethnographic Museum, to save the day. It is nice to have connections.
Shirley gave an excellent discussion on art and teaching it. The teacher and the setting were perfect. Sitting in a courtyard surrounded by art and discussing the teaching of it can not be beat. "What knowledge am I capturing while drawing?" served as the underlining theme.
The knowledge of learning continued with Larry's discussion about the foundation of American education compared to Bulgarian education. This topic lead to a lively discussion about education in general. We have a wide variety of teachers and backgrounds in our group. Some from urban settings while others from small towns. Each teacher contributed to the discussion. Karen, who teaches in Washington, D.C. wants to know about the minorities in Bulgaria and the education they receive. Larry, a college professor, wants to know the focus of education in Bulgaria. While Shirley discussed the educational system, how some students do quite well in high school but can not make the grade in college.
We decided that this discussion would be better with beer and food and we headed down to a restaurant to continue the discussion further.
Dinner was great and so were the drinks as we pondered our impact on our students and our Fulbright lessons yet to write.
We head back to the dorms hoping for another "block party" with our fellow students and Kosovo friends. The night is still young. . .
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