Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Panties, Holidays and Photoshoots

Happy Women's Day!
In honor of this holiday my counterpart gave me some panties.  Very lacy panties. It was just about as weird as it sounds.  I thanked her (with a laughing smile on my face) and went down stairs with the underwear in one hand and a plate of baklava in the other. 

I'd been having an incredibly unproductive time in the village the past couple of weeks. The weather has been depressing and then my internet went out for a week.  I read a lot and watched a lot of TV. I finally started watching "The Office."  No joke, until last week, I'd never watched it. I might have seen an episode here or there but I'm now three episodes away from finishing Season 02 and moving onto Season 03.

(During this time of unproductivity, I did throw in some trips to the Chitalishte and the Kindergarten.)

March 1st is a holiday in BG known as Baba Marta Day / Grandmother March.  She's supposed to bring the end of winter and the beginning of spring. So far, she's not doing so well in bringing on spring.  But I did go to the KG and give all the five and six year olds martenitsis.  (Red and white bracelets that symbolize health and happiness.)  No pictures though.

March 3rd is another holiday. Bulgaria's Liberation Day.  (From the Turks.)  I'm pretty sure I didn't leave my house that day.

March 4th was my village's holiday! There was a concert with the Men and Women folklore groups and the Men's group from Sandanski came to perform as well. Afterwards there was a banquet for the folklore groups and the people who work with the Chitalishte.  It... was... awesome.

The Men and Women's folklore group.

Vili, Krum and me.

March 6th was another Kukeri festival in Karlovo and a group from Bachevo went.  No one actually informed there was anyone going but ya know... whatever.  Some really strange events happened and some girls I know from PC/EVS ended up jumping on the bus with the group from my village and hitching a ride here to spend some quality time with me! I was so happy!

(The next four pictures are from Meg. A PCV who found my village at the Kukeri festival!)

Raminta and Meg with two of the performers.



Needless to say, Maria wanted us to come to the Chitalishte.  We went. We were immediately told to change into traditional Bulgarian dresses and had an impromptu photo shoot. It was hilarious and awkward all at once.  We were getting bossed all over the place, being told to pose all the while they took my camera and were snapping away.

(Pictures are of me, Meg, Raminta from Lithuania and Katia from Austria)


And to keep the holiday theme going Saturday is Todorov Den.  Let the horse races begin. (Seriously, Saturday there are horse races in my village. It's going to be great.) The 17th is Saint Patrick's Day. Then my birthday. Then April. Whoa.




3 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, I can't stop laughing. Panties and dress up days... Holy moly, you have had an eventful week. Thanks for FINALLY updating the rest of the world.

Unknown said...

Sounds like the week that just won't stop!! Are you a participant in the horse races? If not, be there with your camera in hand! You enjoy these last few months in the Bulg!

Lyndsey said...

Excellent choice of title! Glad you came up with one that does justice to the story. And sorry again about how much I was laughing. :)