The Day of the Woman

Yesterday was Women's Day in Bulgaria. Not Mother's Day. Not Grandmother's Day. Women's Day. Ден на Жена. The Day of the Woman.

Needless to say, I loved this day.

First, the 2nd grade teacher invited the mother's of all her students to the school for a morning of flowers, poems, songs, and cuteness. Ridiculous amounts of cuteness. She asked me to teach the students a song in English that they could sing to their mothers. We decided on "You Are My Sunshine." They learned it quickly, sang it beautifully, and one student was even able to translate it into Bulgarian - amazing.

After OD'ing on the sweetness of the morning, I went to teach my normal classes and received flowers and Честит Осми Март's from all my students. They even behaved...kinda. To make it through the terror that is seventh grade, I decided to teach the lesson to myself. It was about Ireland and their traditions. Occasionally, when a student would get really loud and yell at another student cuz he cheated at poker, which is what they play while I teach...yup, I would say something like, "I know! I'm excited too! Ireland and it's traditions are so interesting I can barely contain myself as well! I love the enthusiasm, keep it up!" They think I'm crazy. I told my mom that sometimes the school is like a circus and seventh grade are the clowns. She said, "and what are you?" - - - "The English teacher." Naturally. Just try and imagine teaching English to a group of clowns...while they're performing.

Anyway. Sheesh, it seems like I'm always giving seventh grade the spotlight (that's probably how the lion-tamer feels. Damn clowns.)

After school, all of the other teachers and I went to the local restaurant to celebrate the awesomeness that is us and all the things that make us amazing women (like teaching seventh grade. There I go again!) and I had a really great time. I got to practice my Bulgarian, see my colleaugues in a more casual and carefree setting, and dance horo.

Dancing horo is no simple task. Especially if you have no feet-brain coordination like myself.

Towards the beginning of the evening, I danced an easy one on purpose to get it out of the way so I wouldn't have to dance again but, later on, I was tricked into dancing once more. A woman stood up and asked others to "go" and I thought we were leaving so I stood up and began to gather my things. She wasn't leaving. She was dancing. And she thought the American had bravely volunteered. Well, shit. What choice did I have. I blushed, joined the line of dancing women and horo'd for what seemed like hours. The song really did last FOREVER. I kept asking my colleague, Lenka(sweetest lady in the world), if we were going to be dancing forever. She just laughed. Which wasn't an answer. At some point she asked if I was tired and wanted to stop. I said in what was probably terrible Bulgarian, "Аз не мога да спи преди бабите,"(I can't stop before the old ladies) which instantly made me the funniest person in the room. I like being that person.

We ate good food, drank good wine, danced until our faces were red, and enjoyed being the beautiful women we are - it was nice. I really enjoyed Bulgaria on that particular day.

Also, there is no Day of the Man. Just saying.

One more also, a few women at the restaurant got drunk off rekia and started "sexy" dancing all over the place. Then one of them did a cartwheel. She almost killed a few people. There wasn't a whole lot of dancing after that. It was awesome.

-Age