Christmas 2008

This year Stacie and I spent Christmas back in Kyustendil. When we got there to K-dill, it had just started snowing. They got an inch or so over the 3 days we spent there, and it even snowed a little on Christmas day! In Bulgaria, the traditionally more important day of Christmas is actually Christmas eve. On Christmas eve families usually celebrate by cooking a big dinner and spending time with each other. So we spend Christmas eve with my host family since we were with Stacie's host family last year.

From Christmas Eve Meal

It was a little tough navigating how much time we spent with each family since they both wanted us to be with them, but I think we all had a good time in the end. So now we are home for a few days and we'll be headed off to Bansko to do some skiing after the weekend for NYE. We'll be there with some other PCVs, so it'll be nice to be around some Americans for the next holiday.

The weather here has been quite cold, but we are not complaining too much. My family back in Seattle has had a much colder and more icky winter so far. It has snowed over 15 inches in many parts of Seattle which is not common at all. I am just hoping that we would get some of their luck and have an uncommonly snowy spell ourselves here in Sliven.

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow afternoon Stacie and I are headed off to Kyustendil for Christmas, then to Bansko for New Years. We wish the best to all and we'll post another message after the holidays with pictures of our celebrations.

Until next year,

Jason & Stacie

Thanksgiving and International AIDS Day

Ah, Thanksgiving! Unfortunately Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Bulgaria, but we were able to share our festivities with both Bulgarians and Americans. Getting our hands on the traditional meal is usually difficult. On the day of, Josh (the PCV here who is an English teacher) invited Stacie and I to spend thanksgiving with him and his class. He had his students cook many of the traditional foods, so we had quite the feast actually. Then on the weekend we traveled to Kazanlak to celebrate with a bunch of other PCVs. There was over 20 of us who crowded into one volunteers apartment for the dinner on that Saturday, it was fun to see that many Americans all in one place and to all be eating turkey together. We'll post pics in a few days on our picassa page about that and other more current happenings.

Then on the 1st of December was the international AIDS awareness day. Stacie and Josh organized a presentation in the Municipality building on the topics of Human Trafficking, AIDS awareness, and violence against women. Presentations were given both by students from the language school and by an officer from the US Embassy in Sofia. About 50 students attended the presentations. We also arranged for the speaker from the Embassy to present at one of the homes for children nearby to Sliven. 

Finally, last weekend Stacie and I spent two days up in the mountains about an hour and a half away from here. We were invited by Josh's class to hang out with them for the weekend. It was a nice little village and we were able to walk around and see many old style Bulgarian houses. We also introduced many of them to the wonders of Phase 10 and Rummikub. It was a fun weekend. 

Love,

Jason & Stacie