I thought I'd give a brief overview of my weekly schedule - but then I started expanding on my days so now I'll divide a week up among several posts.
I spend time each week in three different villages – let’s
call them D1 (where I live), D2, and D3.
Monday – Before
work I hand wash some laundry so it can hang on the line and dry during the
heat of the day. I go to the “office” at
the community center – which is also the library – by 9:00. I have a desk there. This week the head secretary is out on
vacation, so I do as best I can when someone comes to return a book and/or
check out a new one. I can also help
with making copies. The word for copy in
Bulgarian is almost the same as in English.
I also help people use the computers.
This library received a grant last November and installed new 6
computers for the public to use. This is
great because a lot of village folks don’t have computers in their homes. It’s a great asset for the village. Checking Facebook and using Skype are two
popular activities for adults and kids.
Beginning next week I will teach English Saturday mornings. I will take Monday mornings as part of my
weekend and in the afternoon, teach one or two English classes to elementary
school-aged children, after school in the community center.
I go home for a two-hour lunch which always passes amazingly
quickly. I frequently have tomatoes,
cucumbers, peppers and sirene (sear-ah-nay) the Bulgarian version of feta (
cucumbers are now past their prime in the garden and scarcely available).
The afternoon – I’m back in the library. This week the kids are in the library often
(they have a one-hour limit on the computer).
Their energy was different for a while today and I paid attention. The
girls were giggling and forming group huddles around a monitor. I heard them
telling their names, ages and the town they live in. My hackles went up. Since I hadn’t heard this previously I was
pretty sure the secretary wouldn’t allow it.
So I told them they had to say “Ciao.”
Then I used Google translate and explained very briefly why it’s not a
good idea to give personal information to strangers over the internet. I felt good about being able to understand a
situation intuitively as much as with language and respond. Sometimes
communicating with words isn’t everything.
It’s good to know –being a foreigner living in another country and
working on learning the language, but still very much a beginner.
There is an interesting dynamic I see here in Bulgaria. The young girls are naïve and innocent in
some ways as girls are around the world.
On the other hand, selling “sexuality” is everywhere here. As an American woman who grew up in the 60s
and 70s when the woman’s movement was fighting against sexual objectification,
it’s difficult for me to have a clear understanding of this part of Bulgarian society. Bulgarians tend to take pride in how they
look and dress. Women here love to look beautiful
and sexy – tight short skirts, tight shirts and lots of cleavage, big hair,
lots of make-up, 4-inch heels (even in villages). And of course, the men love to look and
frequently make comments. Because I
don’t understand and I have the beliefs I have, it upsets me to see many young
girls (elementary school age) exhibit very provocative posturing and attitudes
about having a sexy body. I’m not making
any judgments, because I don’t understand it the way a Bulgarian understands
it, but it does make me uncomfortable. I
wish the girls could enjoy being children and not be in such a hurry to grow
up. (Am I showing my age here?)
After work, I head home with my big backpack (an
identifiable “American” trait I exhibit). I usually have some quiet time
meditating before making dinner (more tomatoes and ??). Then I’ve been going for earlier walks around
town – it’s getting dark much earlier now, around 8:15. A couple of months ago it wasn’t dark until
9:30.
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