This
past week has been fun, adventurous, and a little stressful.
First,
it was Alan's end of the year program and last day of school. He was with
this teacher for 3rd and 4th grades. She was a bit apprehensive in letting an
American that spoke little Bulgarian into her class, but said her granddaughter
had moved to Italy and a teacher had allowed her in and said, “Well, if she
learns anything, she’ll at least learn Italian.” That was our philosophy with Alan. He had already done 3rd grade with
me, so this was an infiltration into the language step, and I would take up the
slack with math and English at home. Last year he was a bit intimidated and
unsure, but we had a friend that was also in the class, and that helped.
This is Alan's first day of school on Sept. 15, 2012.
This
year his Bulgarian has blossomed and I couldn’t be more proud. He is not on grade level in the Bulgarian
language, which I would not expect him to be as it being a second language, but he earned good grades in Bulgarian and outstanding grades in math (which are mostly
in word problem form).
This is Alan giving his teacher flowers on the last day of 4th grade.
Alan and Jessie after the school program
Last
weekend Alan and I went up into the mountains of Bulgaria with our good friends
Stanimir and Borislava and their 3 children, Ande, Nadi, and Kati. It was nice to feel the temperature drop to
nice levels the further we went up. We
were up by Serbia in a village called Sredorek.
Their house has been around for a hundred years and his family has lived
in that village as far back as he knows.
It was fun listening to stories that he remembered going back to when
the Ottomans ruled Bulgaria. It was nice
lying in the hammock and going for a walk on the mountain trails. The only hiccup was forgetting toilet paper when
going to the outhouse. After a little
wait, Ande came out and I was able to yell for help. Always an adventure! Here are a few pictures…
Alan and the view of Kyustendil
An old school next door. People are living there now.
The sink
Wildflowers brought to us by the kiddos...so sweet
Nadanitsa for dinner
The old barn and hammock
The outhouse
The old workhouse probably 60 years old
Washing up the dishes after lunch. Stanimir's grandfather ran pipe from the mountain basin to the property himself with friends years ago.
It's funny on the drive up how many groups of animals you have to go around and dodge, sheep, goats, cows, horses, pigs.
Hours of fun for the kids...taking turns swinging each other in the hammock...good times.
Weeding the carrot garden
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