Around Bulgaria, my home away from home in Iskar and even a driveway project!

Much has happenned over the past week or two and I havent had time to post pictures until now. There is internet at school, but some days it doesn't work, while other days I need to rush home after Bulgarian class for dinner. In any event, here are some pictures from the past few weeks-some generally of bulgaria, a wedding of my host family's friend's daughter and even where I am living and a driveway project we did last weekend. Enjoy!

The bride and groom feeding each other cake-the same in the states!

The bride and I.

My table at the wedding-all hunters who were friends of the father of the bride. Mariana and Tsvetan are with me on the left. Good Times!

A view over a town in Bulgaria. Sorry, i can't remember which one.

A shephard soaking up some rays.

Still common transportation in bulgaria but now they have to compete with cars.

Many people own plots of land outside of their towns (as well as having small gardens with their houses).

A view from the hill coming down into my town-ISKAR!

The Iskar town square

Another perspective of the town square. My fellow volunteers Chris and Anna are sitting in the left side of the picture.

Remnants of the old communist system are still prevalant.

The flags in the town square: Bulgaria, Iskar and the E.U. flag (the newest addition).

My street from the square to the house-a long straight walk home but beautiful!

My block-that's Mariana and Tsvetan's house there in the back.

Every house has a wall around it with a gate for a vehicle and one for pedestrians. This is just inside our gate looking inside on the property. It's amazing what they can do with so little space. 

The barn in the back of the last picture with the dog pens in front. They keep goats, a horse, a rooster and two pigs back there!

Tsvetan tending to the horse and cart in the yard (they also have an old soviet era car and jeep for hunting).

Mariana's beautiful flower garden.

A part of the vegetable garden between the vehicle and pedestrian entrance paths inside the gate.

The three hunting dogs and their pens. They are very good guard dogs and love to bark at everyone coming in the gate. Mariana and Tsvetan tell me to not get to close because they will bite. They are hunting dogs after all.

Aww.... a nice dog nap.

Two weekends ago we built a driveway out front for most of the day. It was a full days work but I was happy to help throughout the duration. Im not in any pictures, but I swear I helped out all day, ha.

Mixing the concrete by hand/shovel. There are no automatic mixers or hand-crank mixers readily available so we did it with pure man power.

Nearly done, it turned out great. Tsvetan's son on the left is an engineer of sorts and did a great job smoothing it out perfectly. A week later and it looks great. Some cats walked through it that night leaving their little paw prints behind but no one seems to mind. It was grea to learn how to do it without modern machines and such.

So what can I say folks, this is how we live over here. In some ways, it's no different than in the U.S. In other ways, it's a different world. Yet each day, for centuries, people survive and get by as best they can. A strong work ethic and a mentality of 'the whole' rather than the individual makes this possible. For example, the driveway project was completed with the help of friends spending 6+ hours in the sun, digging, bending, mixing and lifting. Seriously back breaking, sore for two days work...and I'm saying that as an adequately fit 29 year old. Was there payment involved? No. No money exchanged, only the comfort of a warm, plentiful meal and the unspoken promise that you would do the same for them in turn. Yes, this kind of giving happens in the States as well, but not as an everyday life occurance. Here, this is how people survive on a daily or weekly basis...I am my brother's keeper.
To end on another note, we finished this week before the Easter weekend with a Education program(Programa Obrosovanie) cluster gathering in Biala Slatina to discuss discipline in the Bulgarian classroom as well as have a Q and A with current education volunteers. It was great and very informational from those who have been here a while. Until next time!