Concert night.

Tonight we went to a very private concert at the National Art Gallery, the former Royal Palace building. In a little under 2 hours we saw 4 incredible performances.  The music seemed very traditional and authentic. It was wonderful to be surrounded with such lovely sounds. We felt like royalty this evening. The picture of the ladies is the "Denitsa" Quartet.  The goofy gentlemen are Mark, Paul, and Ralph.

A Walking Tour of Sofia

Mark -- This post is for you...

Hello! Today was a very informational day: we started by having lectures on Bulgarian history, economics, and politics. Then after lunch we had a walking tour of Sofia. Let me tell you a bit about what I learned today.  

First, the most interesting thing, is that of the name of the city. Remember a few days back when I blogged about how to pronounce Sofia? I told you the accent was on the "o". This is true when talking about the place, but I found out that Bulgarians pronounce Sophia with the accent on the "i" if referring to a person's name. The picture that you see to the left is Saint Sophia (accent on the "i"). This statue is in the main plaza in downtown Sofia, right next to the Parliament building and Presidential Offices. At the Presidential Offices stand two guards...I was lucky enough to see the changing of the guards while standing in front of the building. I am SO glad I'm not them though...they have to wear wool suits with big feather-y hats. And Keisha -- the weather here is hot! Not as hot as Greece, but we are still pretty close to the sun and it gets scorching hot out!

Across the street from the Presidential Offices is this white columned building. On the top of the building is the Bulgarian flag (a white strip, followed by a green strip, followed by a red strip). This was the old headquarters of the Communist Regime. The building used to have a large red star at the top of it, but a helicopter came by and whisked it away...no one knows where it is now (well, I guess at least one person has to know where it is!!!). I love the intrigue!

Sofia is also known in Bulgaria as having the best colleges. All public colleges are free because of the Communist influence. One college of

great importance is the Art College (where Ms. Lina attended school). The school is very prestigious, since only 5 art students are accepted each year. Throughout our tour of Sofia we saw many students sitting in the parks sketching the buildings around Sofia. I took a picture of three of them sitting by the fountains and sketching the Theatre building.

Sofia is a great walking city...it's easy to navigate and very beautiful...there are lots of trees, cobble stone paths, and gardens. But let me tell you a bit more about Bulgaria in general:

Sofia has been very influenced by the Ottoman Turks and much of the architecture looks Eastern. Also because the Turks ruled Bulgaria for over 500 years, there are many mosques here in the city (a little over 100). Ever since Bulgaria gained their independence (April 16, 1876) from the Turks, though, they have converted many of the mosques into other buildings. (The national religion is Orthodox). In a few days I will be visiting the Archeological Museum, which used to be a large mosque...so I'll show you a picture of that in a few days. Also, an interesting side note: the Christians during Turk reign were able to continue to practice their religion, but their churches could not be taller than a man on horseback. So many of the churches are very squat...or even were partially built underground so they would be short. While there are not as many Turks in Bulgaria, there is still a Turkish Party in the political system, who are called the "Movements of Rights and Freedoms".

A question for you: Do you think Turkey should become part of the European Union?

This question has been partially answered today in our lectures, although I will learn more about it tomorrow and will blog on it later. I'd be interested in your comments though.

Finally let me tell you a bit about the economic situation here in Bulgaria. You already know that salaries are very low here. This has created a problem since Bulgaria is now part of the EU and will go on the Euro January 2009. Inflation is at 15% right now and unemployment is at 8%. This is not necessarily bad...it seems natural for the country to be slightly unstable because of the transition into the EU...but people here are very worried about it. The GPD per person is only about $11,000, though.

Another problem in Bulgaria is the fact that the population is slowly disappearing. There are about 7.6 million people in Bulgaria and there are many deaths and a low birth rate. Also, many young educated people are moving to England, France, or German when they graduate college. This may be because in Communism, everything was provided for the people and so you were poor -- but everyone was poor. Now a days with democracy, there are a lot of poor people and a few rich people. I don't know how Bulgaria will solve this...although our lecturer today was very positive that Bulgaria only needs more time in the EU and then will be following the path similar to Hungry, Poland, and Romania.

Bulgaria is a beautiful country though...I'm looking forward to going to the Black Sea coast. I have already heard many Bulgarians talking about it and telling me that it is definitely a resort area and a great vacation spot for most Bulgarians.

Alright...sorry I wrote so much. I'm learning lots and want to share it with you, though!

Cheers!
Janna

Ok, so you're a Monk...

Meteora, Tuesday, June 10
(click any photograph for a larger view) (I think)


I suppose if you were looking to isolate yourself from the world, Meteora would be the place for it. Or would have been, before the roads started bringing up busloads of tourists and Fulbright Scholars. These are huge, imposing conglomerate rock formations, starkly different from the surrounding mountains and plains, a horizontal, alien landscape. Not quite inaccessible, but close enough... before a changing economy paved a winding road up to the summits, to the icons, architecture, and magnificent views, and of course to the monastery gift shop.

We visited the convent (formerly a monastery) below; look carefully at the bridge visible in the photograph; it is not for vehicular traffic, and prior to its construction, one had to climb the steep path all the way from the bottom.

Or you could take the cable ride up--formerly the only "quick way" to the top. If it looks like a setting from a James Bond movie, you are close--that monastery is one rock over. The photograph below shows the view of the cable-drawn net from below. We did not see it in use, but we are told it is still used.

The same, but this is the view from above. And no, I was not going to get any closer to get a better view.




There are no photographs allowed inside, or I would be sharing with you some lovely Byzantine Icons like this one (taken outside, so it is ok).

When there is time, I can show you some similar icons from a museum.

Instead, for now, here are some other photos from the beautiful and fragrant grounds of the convent. Hey, at least the roses (maybe the bugs, too) were raised by the sisters of the convent.

Catching up a bit--June 1&2

Catching up just a bit...

Monday (June 2), we visited the Athens Center and met with the Greek Fulbright people--every one of whom has been wonderful. I see that my paid internet connection is about to run out (it takes a while to upload photos sometimes!!), so I will write more about them later. This is the view of the Acropolis from the rooftop of the Athens Center. To reach it, one climbs a spiral staircase, beside which is a plum tree that grew from a discarded pit from a scholar many years ago. The plums are delicious, and the view spectacular.



But that was not our first view of the Acropolis. That came during our walking tour of the Plaka on Sunday (June 1). Everything around us was so interesting, and we were attending so closely, that it was a complete surprise when we turned a corner and were presented with this view:



The building in the foreground is undergoing repairs, and offered us a glimpse into the architecture of typical period homes, but of course what took our breath away was the Acropolis itself. This was among the first of countless moments of absolute and utter awe. More on some of those later--for now, my connection tells me I had better post this!

Musical Instruments and Greek Mythology

Yesterday we visited the Acropolis Center where we learned all about this ancient monument. One of the things we learned about was the musical instruments the Greeks used to play. 

Mark was a good sport and showed us all how to play the horn-like instrument.

Besides playing instruments, all of us teachers received museum boxes to bring back to our classrooms and use! I'm very excited.

After learning about the Acropolis, we journeyed over to the Onassis Foundation where we learned about Mythological Mapping and had lunch with some lovely Foundation members.

It was a great day learning all about the mythology of the people and it definitely got us all ready for our walk up to the Acropolis today!

Cheers,

Janna Gartland

Thursday Night--Bulgarian Food and Dancing

What it looked like:

What it felt like:


As I write, we are sitting in O'Hare, waiting to board our flight. As a desk representative for another airline just patiently explained to a confused fellow flier, "You'll know when Lufthansa is here--about a dozen tall blonde women wearing blue and yellow will show up."

The Bulgarian food Thursday was, as expected, wonderful. What was unexpected for me (with two left feet) was how much fun the Bulgarian and Greek dancing was. We are going to have a lot of fun on this trip--it will be a close race between the food fattening us up and the walking and dancing thinning us down.

Chicago!

The view from the Club Quarters. Or at least, my view.