The holidays are coming!

Hello Everyone!

The leaves have been turning, the air has been crisper, and we are having to turn up the heat just a bit more in our apartment...all signs that winter is quickly approaching and so are the holidays.

This has been a busy part of the year since school has started and in general people want to begin things like clubs and extra curricular classes. We also had our share of Peace Corps trainings. There is so much to talk about, so we are just going to highlight the most important things. You can assume that the other days that we have not talked about are just normal regular days :)

On October 7th I FINALLY started the long awaited business club for high schoolers! We had 27 high school students show up and with that have 5 different working groups - which recently dropped to 4 as one team decided they could not continue. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday in the afternoon. Within these groups they have thought of business ideas and developed a business plan and soon they will begin implementing the operations portion of their businesses (I am hoping this will happen by December 1st). On the 18th I had all of the students present their business plans to the director of my organization and she gave them some very good advice for how to improve their ideas. I am very excited about these students and am excited about how their businesses will turn out!

October 14-17th We were in a little town called Troyan for another training on teaching HIV/AIDS awareness on a local level. We worked with a teenage girl from Stacie's organization to come up with a small project and we'll be applying for some funding to implement the project in the high risk high schools here in Sliven. This project will likely begin after the holidays.

On October 24th A man from England came to visit the orphanage for disabled kids near Sliven. Stacie had contacted him quite a while ago and since then he has been planning this trip. He was able to go to Metro (Bulgaria's version of Costco) and buy things that the orphanage director asked for like shoes, sheets, and warm bed-time clothes for all 52 kids. We were very grateful that he could come and buy so much with his own money and money from his donors. He is also planning to visit other orphanages in Bulgaria to do the same again. Stacie and I have been going to the orphanage in Dragodanovo on a weekly regular basis (we have not been able to go this often up until now). We have ideas for two projects through the Peace Corps. The first is for the home in Dragodanovo. We will remodel a room in their facility to be a fitness/workout room. These kids do not have anything organized to do during their free time and often find themselves getting into trouble because of it. This room will provide a way to teach health and fitness to the kids as well as give them more structure. The second project will be for the orphanage for disabled kids and will include a few trainings, some equipment, and some art supplies. We have spoken with the director there and she is excited to work with us. Both of these projects still have to be approved through the Peace Corps but then the funding will be from private donors - such as yourself! - through the Peace Corps website. When we have final approval we will post a link and you will be able to give online with a credit card.

On October 30th Stacie hosted a Halloween party for the students at her organization and we all played several games and had lots of candy! The two other volunteers who are English teachers in Sliven also came. It was a lot of fun!

November 6-9th We rode a bus to Greece! After a grueling 12 hours we woke up in wonderful mid-70's Athens. With two other Peace Corps volunteers we stayed in a hostel and were able to do all of the major touristy stuff in the time that we had. We were able to visit the Acropolis and other historical sites such as the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Apollo and the National Archeological Museum. We even had the chance to ride a ferry one day to the island of Aegina, where we enjoyed seafood and lots of island-grown pistachios.

November 12th: We celebrated Stacie's birthday! We had two other volunteers come over for dinner that night and we were also able to have a skype chat with our second grade class pen pals in Fallon! The kids all sang Happy Birthday to Stacie and it helped us both feel closer to home! Over the weekend, we had two other volunteers come to visit to celebrate her birthday as well.

November 20th: Stacie's organization hosted a joint holiday celebration. Together with local teenagers, we celebrated the Bulgarian holiday of the Christian Family and American Thanksgiving. Stacie gave a speech (in Bulgarian) about the first Thanksgiving and showed a power point presentation. We cooked two pumpkin pies and three chickens - which were half as much as a turkey here, and everything turned out pretty good.

The other American's in Sliven

November 22-23rd: We went to Kazanlak which is an hour and a half west towards Sofia for a potluck with some other Peace Corps volunteers. We ate a bunch of tacos and played mafia for a few hours!

English lessons: Every Monday Stacie teaches an English class for blind kids at a local school, on Tuesdays Stacie teaches an hour long class for 2nd graders and Jason teaches a class in the Roma community, and on Wednesdays Jason and Stacie both teach a joint class for adults at Jason's organization after work.

Looking forward: We are also looking forward to an event on December 1st to commemorate the International Day of HIV/AIDS awareness and the International Day to End Violence against Women. We will have a special guest come to Sliven from the US Embassy to give presentations on the topic as well as sponsor an English Creative Writing Contest for high school students. We are also looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with other American volunteers and Christmas with our host families in the town of Kyustendil.

We have been trying to keep up to date with our pictures online, just go to http://picasaweb.google.com/stacenjas to see them. We have some new ones of Greece and Veliko Turnovo. Also, check out our blog at http://stacenjas.blogspot.com/. We have been trying to keep up to date, but this is the latest update in a while. We'll do more as we have more time :)

That's about it, now you know what has been going on since fall started! We hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and we are looking forward to hearing from you soon!

With love,
Jason & Stacie

P.S. If you are planning to send a box to us here in Bulgaria, please contact us before sending it. There are a few new requirements that we need to inform you about before it is sent. Thanks!