Culture Thursday

So, "Culture Thursday" didn't go quite as planned the first time around. I had planned to further my integration skills by chatting with a neighbor I hadn't visited in awhile and telling her about my desire to write about Bulgarian culture.

Her response, "Why would you want to do that?"

I told her I want Americans to know more about Bulgaria. Not just what goes on in the schools but about the life of a small town and what's it's like inside a Bulgarian home. I offered to help her with cooking and gardening and canning fruits and veggies for the winter. She said that wasn't necessary or interesting and that she would simply give me the vegetables from the garden, the canned fruit she's making, and I could avoid all the ugly work involved.

As we were having this conversation, me trying hard to understand her rapid Bulgarian, there was a large, old, slightly rusted tub over a burning hot fire only a few feet away. Earlier that week, another one of our neighbors had brought her a large bag of pears from the tree in their yard and this tub was now full of jars and the jars were full of pear slices, water, and sugar. After boiling the jars for ten minutes they are then stored away for the winter. A cheap way to still enjoy fruit when there's snow everywhere, fruit is scarce, and the fruits the stores are carrying are very expensive. It's pretty smart though, according to her, ugly work.

She didn't understand my desire to learn about these practices because, to her, they aren't interesting or enjoyable. Basically, they suck.

I may have to rethink my tactics here.

I did find out that yesterday our church had a holiday to celebrate its name. And, because it was a Wednesday and you can't eat meat on a Wednesday (still not sure exactly why), they made bean soup and everyone went to buy a bowl (1 lev) and ate for good health and happiness. I knew nothing of this celebration until it was well over so I can't give a firsthand account though that's exactly the kind of thing I want to write about. I'll have to ask on a regular basis what's going on in my town in order to stay informed.

That's the thing about Bulgarians, for whatever reason they all assume that we Americans know exactly what's going on without actually ever telling us what's going on.

There's a half-day at school today? Who knew?

Today's is So-And-So's name day and we were all supposed to go to the cafe and celebrate? News to me.

There was a teacher's meeting yesterday at 5:00? Well, oops.

It takes a lot of effort to remain sufficiantly, even moderately, informed. I'll do my best so next week I'll have a real story for you. And pictures. A story should have pictures, it'll make it so much more real.

Don't give up on me just yet - I promise to make this a learning experience worth reading about.

-Age