so i finally figured out how to post pics on blogspot. here are a few pics from earlier that i have taken. unfortunatly i can only upload them one at a time, which takes forever so i cant post a lot yet. this first one is me, my host family and two of the other trainees in simitli

this is the rila monastary that we visited a couple of weeks ago. it is a very impressive building and the inside of it looks equally cool, but you are not allowed to take pictures. you will just have to go there to see it yourself (or take my work for it)

here is the courtyard and surrounding structure around the middle sanctuary. this outside building is where all the priests and monks live.

This is me and my baba (grandma) in the backyard. she showed me how to pick grapes and in the afternoons she often helps me study and practice my bulgarian.

this pic is taken from the garden up in the mountains that the family owns. up here is where the bee houses are and many different kinds of fruit trees. down below on the right side of the pic is simitli, and in the back ground is pirin mountain.

this is the back of the house where we used to eat all of our meals before it started getting colder out. there is an outdoor sink for preparing food and right now my host father is building a new outdoor kitchen just to the right of where the picture is taken. overhead is all the grapevines that provide shade and good food.

travels

So I just got back from another whirlwind week of traveling around Bulgaria. I spent two days in Dupnitsa going over more training and information before I took off to Gabrovo to meet and shadow a current volunteer. Gabrovo pretty much in the exact center of the country, and it took about five or six hours to get there. It is a pretty city with lots of traditional architecture surrounded by low mountains.
The volunteer there works for the central Balkan national park, and I spent the day getting a feel for what his day is like and what kind of projects he is working for. Nature Park Strandja, the park that I will be working, for has more land area than Central Balkan National Park, but has a smaller budget and staff because it is not a national park. So my job will vary depending on what kind of projects I want to work on and because there is less infrastructure, but I am excited about it because I will have the opportunity to make more of an impact. I also got to meet a bunch of the people that work for two of the different parks in central Bulgaria, which might be useful later if I ever need to network with them later for a project.
Also living right now in Gabrovo is Casey and Lindsay, a married couple that trained in the same town as me last year. I got to hangout with them for a while and on Friday night we all went over to their place and had a big dinner. It was nice to just relax for a while and take a break from everything.
On Saturday I headed out to Veliko Turnovo, one of the ancient capitals of Bulgaria. It is a sweet city, all built on the side of a steep mountain above a winding river. Buildings were practically built on top of each other, and two parallel streets less than a block from each other could be ten floors different in elevation. The city is also famous for a huge walled castle complex built on a small mountain on the edge of the city. It was a huge fortification, and at the very top with a view of the whole area was the craziest small cathedral like church that I have ever seen. It was normal brick from the outside and the inside was covered with murals and portraits. The strange part was that the paintings resembled more of a gothic frank miller graphic novel (think sin city) than it did traditional religious artwork.
Anyway, other than seeing the castle I really didn’t have a whole lot of time to do stuff in Veliko Turnovo, but I really would like to go back if I get a chance. So far I think that it is the most interesting city that I have been to yet in the country, and there is a lot of history there that I would like to learn more about. Yesterday I headed back to Simitli and will be here for a few days before I head back to dupnitsa for more training. No time for a break i guess. there is only about two and a half weeks now until i move out to malko turnovo for good, so my time here is winding down. I have no other real interesting stories to tell other than my travels, but I will try to write again soon. later