Live from Bulgaria...

Project update

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:03:00 +0000

It has been a while since we have updated everyone on our work activities, so that email will be coming in the next few days. But first we wanted to let you all know about an important opportunity to become involved in our work with the orphanage children here in Bulgaria.

We have recently been approved by the Peace Corps to start raising funds for our project "A Healthier Future for Children" through something called the "Peace Corps Partnership Project." The idea of the project is to raise 25% of the funds in our Bulgarian community and 75% of the funds from our family and friends back home. We have successfully raised the 25% here and are now looking to you to help up raise the rest of the funds needed for the project. Many of you have expressed the desire to support us in someway in our work here- and this is the best way! All funds can be donated online, are tax deductible and will be used to create a strategic project to improve the quality of life for the at-risk children we are working with.

Please check out our project description and online donation center at:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=313-122

If you have any questions about the project or advice for us as we begin our work, please don't hesitate to contact us!!

New Years

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:45:00 +0000

For NYE Stacie and I rented a cabin in Bansko with a few other PCVs. We all wanted to rent an apartment somewhere in the mountains and found a great little place right in the heart of the ski-town for $15/person/night (thanks to Jess!). It came fully equipped with sleeping arrangements for 6, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and entertainment center where we hooked up DDR for PS2. There was even a sauna and hot tub that we could use!

From New Years 2009

We relaxed quite a bit in the apartment and walked around the cute town. As we were walking around on the 1st we spotted bigfoot!

From New Years 2009

Actually this is a part of an old Bulgarian called "Kukeri" (See: Article).

Although we did not ski, we took the gondola up to the main area that the ski lifts started from and brought our sleds with us. The snow was pretty compacted, which meant for quite fast sledding! After we had spent $5 on hot cocoa and $6 on a hot dog we decided to head back the mountain. All around the town there were vendors selling all sorts of typical Bulgarian souvenirs including table cloths, socks, bags and rugs.

From New Years 2009

For the midnight celebration the city held a concert with a few famous Bulgarian singers. As you probably know by now, traditional Bulgarian concerts include the traditional Bulgarian dance the "horo". It is a fairly easy dance that includes holding hands in a circle and kicking your feet in unison with everyone else. There are easy dances and harder dances. For NYE they have a special dance and we were looking forward to learning it. But instead several Bulgarians dancing the horo, we found a bunch of drunk foreigners attempting to dance it. Their attempts were quite unsuccessful and at some points a little offensive because the alcohol had taken away a certain cultural tact. Oh well. We danced anyways.

On the way back from Bansko we rode on a train through the mountains. It was quite a beautiful ride, perhaps one of the most beautiful scenic routes in all of BG. A great trip overall and one that we won't soon forget!

Now for a few more cool pics!

From New Years 2009

How else to spend free time but with Settlers!

From New Years 2009

On the way up the mountain.

From New Years 2009

Footsteps in the snow.

From New Years 2009

Sledding!

From New Years 2009

Not a fair fight.

From New Years 2009

On the way home (thanks Jess for the pic!).

Christmas 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:45:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:23:00 +0000

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

The holidays are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:39:00 +0000

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!

The other side

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Tonight Stacie and I finally got home from our excursion to the other side of Bulgaria. We are glad to finally be home! The trip began with a 4.5 hour train ride to Sofia, then a 3 hour bus ride to Sandanski. That night we spent at a hostel in Sandanski and went hiking the next morning. The next day we were in a hija in the mountains (sort of like a large lodge/hostel). We shared a room with our friends from Burgas. There was just about zero heat in the whole hija, but Stacie convinced one of the workers to give us a heater for our room! That made the room quite a bit more comfortable!

After hiking, we went to the Peace Corps conference. It was really good to see everyone there and to catch up on how things have been going. Many of the people we had not seen for months, so we had quite a few good conversations. The sessions at MSC (Mid-Service Conference) were mostly typical Peace Corps style sessions and I don't have much to say about them here other than that it felt like being in PST again (the first two and a half months we were here in BG).

When the sessions ended Stacie and I headed a little further east to Kyustendil. It was crazy going back there. It felt like we had been away for so long. The last time we had been back was at Christmas. I think it felt so weird because we have been in Bulgaria for over a year now, and it was just weird to see it knowing we were in Bulgaria and having the same feelings that we would have had if we had visited the States. Weird.

On the way back we learned that the train schedule had been changed a little, so we would now be adding 1.5 hours to our trip! In total, it took 3 hours to get to Sofia from Kyustendil, a 1.5 hour layover, then it took another 6 hours to get to Sliven from Sofia. I think we could have made it most of the way back home had we jumped on a flight instead : ) That is crazy talk though.

The 2nd half of September

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:33:00 +0000

The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit different for Stacie and I. Our plans will take us out of Sliven for about 10 days where we will go on a few hikes, attend our Mid-Service Conference, and see our host-families all in the southwest region of Bulgaria. It seems like we have not been home very many weekends these last few months, so hopefully when we get back at the end of September we'll be home for a while.

Jason & Stacie

Trip to Sofia

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:54:00 +0000

Last night Stacie and I got home from Sofia after our longest visit to the big city yet. We were there from Tuesday until Thursday for a visit to the dentist, checkup at the doctor, and a short training from Junior Achievement.

We took the 4.5 hour train ride at 7am and took a taxi to the dentists office for our appointments. After that we went to the Peace Corps office for our medical checkups and to see what new books had been returned by the other volunteers. On Tuesday night we ate out at a place called Olives (http://www.olives.bg/) and had burgers and fries, they were great! Then we saw the movie Get Smart. Instead of spending the night at a hostel, Stacie found a hotel for 40lv off of http://bghotelite.com/index_en.php, which would have been the same price as two beds in a hostel. The room was ok but the bathroom was really nice, and it was good to have it all to ourselves!

On Wednesday we bought two all day tram passes so we were able to travel all around the city a bit quicker. I brought a map of the tram schedule with us, so it was not too difficult navigating our way around the city. After our training with Junior Achievement we had dinner at a Sushi restaurant called Sushi Bar (http://sofia.zavedenia.com/?id=105). It was very tasty! Then we spent the night in a hotel care of Junior Achievement.

On Thursday we slept in a little and then headed to the mall for some American style coffee! After window shopping for a while we met with my counterpart (who has been working in Sofia on a project with Habitat for Humanity) for lunch and headed to catch our train. But when we got to the train station we realized that we had left our ID cards at the front desk in the hotel! We missed our train, but since we already had purchased our tickets they let us use them for next one later that evening. We had enough time in between trains to see another movie, so we went and saw Mamma Mia after stopping by Duncan Donuts :)

Overall it was a good trip, but we are happy to be back in Sliven. Being in the big city is quite an experience because it is so different (and more expensive) than our hometown. There are so many cars, people, and shops that it can be overwhelming! But we had fun.

On Monday Stacie will be headed to Dupnitsa to give a training with her counterpart to the new group of volunteers. So she'll have to make the whole trip again but this time without me. So wish her luck with that!

Love,

Jason & Stacie

Google Translate

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:46:00 +0000

I know that many people have probably already had their chance to review this handy little miracle, but I though't I'd put my two cents in.

Ever since Stacie discovered this site, I have used it frequently as an aid to my ever-improving Bulgarian language skills. Admittedly, I still talk like a four year old (and likely could not understand a four year old because of all of the hip slang they use). But this tool has allowed me to understand things that I would never have otherwise had the chance - at least without spending hours in front of a dictionary. The thing about Bulgarian is when you are translating it into English using the miracle, it is actually pretty easy for the miracle to understand what is being said. Although it does mess up some words, you can't expect a computer to get everything right, right? For fun click on this link: http://novini.dir.bg/2008/03/16/news2777036c.html and paste the text into the translate page (http://translate.google.com/translate_t) to see what it says about us.

The funny thing is that it says that I am married to someone named Fergie. I guess it is not the best way to translate names :)

Jason

Summer comes to a close

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Hello Family and Friends!

We are writing this email at the close of a long and eventful summer. We hope that you are all doing well and have enjoyed your summer. Happy Labor Day, by the way. :) Summer in Bulgaria is wonderful…it means trips to the seaside, fresh and delicious fruits and vegetables and sunny days.

Our summer started off with a trip to the states. Stacie was a bridesmaid in a good friends’ wedding and we were also able to visit family and friends during our week-long stay. It was nice to be home- but of course way too short!

Two days after arriving back in Bulgaria from the states, we started our summer camp for teens in the mountains near Sliven. With the help of 5 other volunteers, we led 22 teenagers on a 5-day wilderness camp. For most of the time, the campers were divided into a boys group and a girls group. The boys’ camp was called “Camp Survivor” and focused on wilderness survival training. The girls’ camp was called “Camp Blue Rocks” and focused on leadership, peer pressure, and women’s empowerment. All in all, the camp was a success. Summer camp is a rare concept in Bulgaria. Many of the teens had never slept in a tent before. I am proud to say that everyone survived and felt more self-confident afterwards!

After the camp, we took a much needed break on the seaside. We stayed for 4 days and were able to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.

Next, we were off to another summer camp. This camp was by the seaside and was for the teenage orphanage we’ve been helping out with. Our group consisted of 11 kids and 2 Bulgarian teachers. It was quite the experience for us! The orphanage itself is Bulgaria’s version of juvenile hall and the kids have all committed some sort of petty crime to be placed there. Needless to say, the kids kept us busy….between fighting, stealing and running out of our sight. It was, however, a very special time for us. We had many deep conversations with the kids. Our eyes were opened to their desperate lives- abusive parents, addictions, lack of opportunities, and discrimination. It was a gift to get to spend 7 days with these kids and hopefully speak hope into their lives.

After the camp, we dove into project writing. We each completed a grant application for the “Small Project Assistance” program through the Peace Corps. One project is for the sensory room for autistic children and the other is for the prevention of human trafficking. We find out soon if our projects will be funded- we’ll let you know how things go!

At the beginning of August we took a trip to Veliko Turnovo to celebrate Jason’s birthday. The city is the ancient capital of Bulgaria. While there we explored ruins from a fort and church. We also went to the movies, as the city has a movie theater and a mall!

In mid-August Stacie attended a week-long seminar on HIV/AIDS education. The seminar was based on the concept of peer education, so each Peace Corps volunteer brought a teen with us to the training. Together we learned how to make presentations to high school students and made a plan for starting this work in the fall.

Our last event of the summer was a camp last week for disabled children. The camp was very unique because it gave the children the opportunity to have horse therapy sessions daily for 5 days. The children learned basic horse riding techniques as well as how to balance and do different physical therapy exercises while riding. The most amazing thing about this camp was that for many of the kids, this was their first time away from home ever. They did great!

We are now back in Sliven and getting ready for fall to start. Here in Bulgaria, many people take vacation time in August to go to the seaside. In the next week or two, everyone will come back home and school will start again. We are looking forward to a few new things starting this fall. One will be an English class in the Roma neighborhood, another will be writing a project to connect local teens in Sliven with kids in orphanages in the villages.

We hope you are all doing well and would love to hear from you. Thank you so much for your love and prayers, they are always needed.

Love,

Stacie and Jason

Updates?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:46:00 +0000

As you can tell by now, it has been way too long since this blog has been updated. So in an effort to become better at blogging, we are starting with a new format to our blog site. Updates are on the way!

January-March Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:38:00 +0000

Hello friends and family!

Our apologies for not having an update at the end of January...or February for that matter! We have had a very busy schedule, but here is what has been happening.

January was sort of a slow month for both me and Stacie. We got most of our Christmas boxes in early January and enjoyed our goodies very much! Our cat also enjoyed all of her gifts! We also had some snow flurries here in Sliven a few times which was pretty fun. There were even a few days we spent home from work because of the weather, but nothing too bad. During the bulk of the winter we have had plenty of heat and have been very comfortable. However, the winter here really takes a toll on the food. There is a very big difference in the amount of veggies and fruits available in the store. But it has not been too much for us to handle :) Things at my job were slow as I was trying to get stuff started with Junior Achievement. But at the end of the month I was able to meet with them at the Sofia office and make plans to start a program soon. Stacie continued to be busy at her office coordinating youth exchanges and hosting English clubs. One great thing that we discovered in January was that there is a basketball team here in Sliven and the team has two Americans on it! We have met both of them and they are very nice! They are often busy, but we try to meet up with them once every few weeks.

February was much more crazy than January was this year. We had a trip to Thailand so that we could see Stacie's family that was at a conference there. On the 6th we had a flight from Istanbul to Dubai, so we got to Istanbul a little bit early and were able to see some of the famous landmarks there. On the way to Dubai however, our flight was delayed and we ended up getting to Thailand a full day later (without baggage!). And to compound the problems, both of our trips (the bus from Sliven to Istanbul, and the plane from Istanbul to Dubai) were overnight trips and we only slept for an hour in a 60 hour period!!! But everything worked itself out and it ended up being a wonderful time. We rode on elephants, went snorkeling, ate tons of food, and got a tan in the sunny weather! Amazing. Then on the way back we had a layover in Dubai for about 6 hours so we were able to get out into the city and take cabs around to see the different sights. It was pretty amazing seeing all of the construction that is going on there. In 2009 Dubai will be home to the biggest building in the world and we have pictures! We also saw the famous hotel that is built on an island, quite an amazing sight! There were no problems with our flights on the way back thank goodness! We arrived back into Istanbul on the 12th and then took an overnight sleeper train from Istanbul to Plovdiv for a Peace Corps conference. It was great to sleep on the train because otherwise we probably would not have slept at all again! The conference was pretty typical for a Peace Corps conference and we were very glad to finally make it home on the 14th.

More recently, we both have had quite a bit happening. We have been able to go to 2 orphanages here in Sliven and have started teaching English at one of them. We go as often as we can, but because of the director's schedules we have only been going on the weekends. One of the orphanage is for kids that are disabled and the other is for kids who have trouble with the law (this also includes kids that ran away from home or were left by their parents). These places certainly have been on the forefront of our minds and we hope to devote even more of our time to improving these organizations. We have some ideas for projects there but also pray for direction and for favor with the powers that be. Email us if you want more info about these projects specifically. We have started two other projects that are in full swing. I am working on something called "Мениджър за един ден". Which in English is "Manager for a day". It is a project through Junior Achievement that involves young people job shadowing business leaders in the Sliven community to find out what it is like being a manager. The day is on March 18th so it is very soon! Last night was the first sign up for students and we had 33 high schoolers sign up, a tremendous success!

Stacie has been working on a project called "Щастлива Река" which means "Happy River". This project involves cleaning up on of the rivers in Sliven that currently has a bunch of trash and overgrowth around it. We have several partners including businesses, the municipality, Stacie's organization, and a few schools! For the next several weeks up until Earth day we will be cleaning the river on the weekends and planting flowers and trees. Many people are excited about this project and we even have the media covering the rivers transformation! We will forward the press so that you can track it too! We think the best part about this project is that it does not cost anything!

Another project that is coming up with Stacie's organization is an international youth exchange in two weeks. About 30 youth from Italy, Spain, and the Czech Republic will be coming to Sliven to focus on social and ecological problems. Stacie has also been working with a school for disabled children to develop a sensory room for autistic children. There is only one other sensory room in Bulgaria but it is in Sofia which is 5 hours away. So we have found one organization that is willing to donate some equipment for the room and we have also applied for training for the teachers through another organization. We are still looking for a few other partners to give donations so we can begin officially creating the new room.

Also in the near future we hope to be starting another project on increasing the awareness here in Sliven to the issue of human trafficking. It is quite shocking the impact that it has on this part of the world. The Bulgarian government estimates that each year there are 10,000 girls/women that leave Bulgaria for the purpose of being a prostitute (whether willing or unwilling). Additionally, 45% of the girls that trafficked from Bulgaria cities and towns actually end up in a Bulgarian brothel (likely in touristy areas of the country). According to one organization, just one prostitute can guarantee a 'business owner' up to 50,000 leva a month. The average salary in Sofia is 840 leva a month. So you can imagine the creative ideas that these criminals come up with to lure victims into this trap. Our plan is to create a curriculum for high school students and give presentations in every classroom in Sliven with the help of community volunteers (all 20+ schools!). We hope to increase awareness of the problem and decrease its impact on this part of the country.

So lots has been happening! We are currently making plans to go back to the States for our good friend's wedding in Fallon. We won't be home long unfortunately, but long enough to spend some quality time with family. We also plan to make our way up to Seattle to see my family there. We hope all of you are doing well and look forward to your responses!

Love,

Jason and Stacie Smith

Seahawks

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:18:00 +0000

The Seahawks have their first playoff game on Saturday at Green Bay. Show them what we're made of!!!

Look here! Jason is Famous!

Christmas and New Years

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 08:59:00 +0000

Our first Christmas and New Years in Bulgaria is finished! We went back to our training site in Kyustendil for Christmas to visit the families that we lived with during training. But first, we spent a night in Dupnitsa with some other volunteers that we had not seen for about two months. It was good to exchange stories about the differences between life here and life back in the states. When we arrived in K-dill we were surprised by weather a little - it was much colder and had more snow than Sliven. We were glad we took some warm clothes!

In Bulgaria there are many traditions and superstitions that surround Christmas. The big day of celebration, however, is Christmas eve when they await the birth of Jesus. Traditionally, families eat meals that day without meat. Some people even fast meat (vegan style) for 40 days before Christmas. The evening meal must have 7, 9, 11, or 13 dishes for luck, and must include pumpkin banitsa (click here for pics)! It is believed that they way Christmas eve goes will be a prediction for the way the rest of the next year will go, so they work very hard to make sure things are perfect. Needless to say we had a great time with our friends and we look forward to making another trip back to Kyustendil.

For the New Year's celebration we went to a party of one of Stacie's friends from the Youth House. Stacie and I stayed at the party until about 3am, but most everyone else left even later than that! We were very surprised by the level of celebrations here. The best part though was right at 12am when everyone started lighting fireworks. We were on a street lined with apartments and at 12 everyone went to their balcony and started throwing large explosive devices onto the street below. The explosions lasted for several hours, but were for the most part done with by 3 :) It was quite a sight!

Christmas Time is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:48:00 +0000

Merry Christmas (Vesela Koleda) and Happy New Year (Chestita Nova Godina)! We trust this update finds you well this holiday season! Click here for our Christmas card. We are celebrating Christmas Bulgarian style this year!

Since our last update, Jason and I have gotten more involved in the community of Sliven. We have found a few friends, attended a few "Na Gostis" (which are dinner parties) and even started to attend a Latino Dance Class! We are thankful for our continued good relationships with our co-workers, language tutor, landlords and other contacts within the community.

We spent the month of November adjusting to life in Sliven. Stacie was able to give many HIV/AIDS awareness presentations to high school students in preparation for international aids awareness day on December 1st. She continued running her English discussion clubs as well. Jason continued to work closely with Kiva as well as a new partnering organization - Mikrofund. We were lucky enough to have two Thanksgiving dinners this year as well! The first was with our site mate Josh and his high school English class. Everyone in the class volunteered to make a different American Thanksgiving dish. For many of them, it was their first time to taste turkey! Needless to say, most of the dishes were delicious. However, some of the students' interpretation of stuffing was interesting...hard brownie-like stuffing bars topped with tea leaves! Our second Thanksgiving dinner was in a town about an hour away. 18 Peace Corps volunteers gathered together to create the most Americanish Thanksgiving dinner possible! It was a great time of eating, laughing and catching up! Jason and I made pumpkin pies- from scratch- quite the feat! I am happy to say they turned out great :)

December has been spent preoccupied with Christmas! I am glad to say that Bulgarians celebrate Christmas just as much- or more- than we do! We have had 6 Christmas parties to go to this season! The center of the city is decorated beautifully for Christmas with garlands, lights and even a real Christmas tree in front of the municipality building. On Saturday, we will head out for a much needed holiday break. We will spend Saturday and Sunday in the town of Dupnitsa with other Peace Corps volunteers. We will go out to pizza and catch up on all the news. On Sunday we will travel back to Kyustendil to be with our host families for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On the 26th we will head back to Sliven, just in time for Jason's office party that night.

We are excited to celebrate our first Christmas in Bulgaria and learn about their unique traditions. We are thankful to God for so much this year. We are thankful for our safe travels and adventures here in Bulgaria, our new Bulgarian friends and "family" and the opportunity to share our lives with the Bulgarian people. Please remember to keep us in your prayers- it is extremely common to be homesick during the holidays. We continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers as well!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2008!

We love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:02:00 +0000

Hey there readers! I have to apologize, I have not been as up to date on here as I have hoped. But in an effort to make up for lost time, here are a few updates that we have sent out over the last two months or so. Enjoy!

From: November 16, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

We are happy to say that we are now settled into our new apartment and jobs in Sliven, Bulgaria!! This is our permanent site, so we won't be doing quite as much travel as we have been in the last few months. It has been nice to have a little more free time in our schedule. In Sliven, there is a Chinese restaurant, three large supermarkets, lots of cafe's, etc. It is a fairly modern city- not what we imagined when signing up for the Peace Corps!

Our apartment is pretty nice for Bulgarian standards. We have a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a large enclosed terrace area. We did a pretty thorough cleaning when we moved in, so it is clean now too! Click here for a virtual tour!

We also started our jobs after the first weekend here. The work style is much different here than in the states, so it will take some getting used to. As with many Peace Corps job placements, there has been quite a bit of ambiguity at the beginning. But as time goes by and as we learn more of the language both of our jobs will become more normal. Stacie has begun to teach English classes twice a week at the youth house, as well as teach health education sessions in the high schools. She is helping to plan an AIDS/HIV awareness campaign for December 1st. Jason is working a lot with KIVA, the micro lending organization. He has been creating spreadsheets to help organize all the information for the program. We are enjoying getting to know our co-workers and learning Bulgarian along the way!

This last weekend was the town holiday for Sliven. Every town in Bulgaria has a town holiday that they celebrate quite extravagantly with all kinds of festivities and ceremonies. There was a big carnival setup near downtown with bumper cars, a ferris wheel, an airplane/umbrella ride and many types of mobile games. We only went on the umbrella ride, because it looked the safest and wasn't overcrowded with people! During the evenings, each of the rides played its own music to attract customers. But the funny part was that the strategy of each ride was simply to play the loudest music. So as we walked around the carnival we could only hear each other if we yelled over the obnoxiously loud Chalga music!!! Additionally, Chalga music is something that you either love or hate. Although many Bulgarians would say that they hate it, we have yet to meet one that does not start to dance when it comes over the speakers! It is a mix of fold music put to pop music beats...it can get kinda annoying!

Finally, there is a new member in our family! Jason gave Stacie a kitten for her birthday! It was a big surprise, organized by Jason and a fellow co-worker! We are now busy taking care of him and learning how to "kitten-proof" our apartment! It has been fun to have a new pet- we are enjoying playing with him every day!

One last thing... we have found a church to go to here in Sliven! Our language tutor is a Christian and we will be going with him and his wife this Sunday. This was an answer to prayer for both of us!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We miss you all and look forward to catching up through email soon!

From: November 15, 2007

About Bulgarian Birthdays- it's actually backwards here- when it's your birthday, you treat everyone else. So you either have a big party at your house or take everyone out to dinner and pay for everyone's dinner! The other thing is that you have to give your co-workers and friends chocolates or other treats. Then they wish you several things (in Bulgarian of course) like love, luck, health, etc. after you give them the chocolate. It’s a fun tradition actually, but we like the American tradition too!

From: October 31, 2007

Hello Everyone! Happy Halloween! I hope that this email finds you well. Many people have been asking about our mailing address, so here it is:

Stacie and Jason Smith
Youth House Sliven
12 D-r. K. Stoilov St.
Sliven 8800
Bulgaria

This is my workplace address- it is better to send it there for some reason! When sending packages, it is important to remember to not insure it, and to write on it "for personal use only, no commercial value". This is because taxes and fees will be applied to packages over $50 in value. There was another volunteer who got sent a package from home that her family had insured for $500, and she had to pay about $150 at customs. Lastly, package any breakables well. It is a long ways from the US to Bulgaria and many volunteers have recieved broken things. But if you are only sending flat things, envelopes get here quite a bit faster than packages do.

We also have skype- a way to call people through the internet. If you don't already have skype- it is definitely worth it to download. (You can make free calls anywhere in the world and also chat) My skype name is: "Stacie Reimer Smith" and Jason's is "jasenman"...please find me! Anyways, hope everyone is well! Please keep in touch!

Our Hike

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:24:00 +0000

Last weekend, Stacie and I went on a hike in the Rila mountains. The view was amazing!!! We started at about 5000m above sea level, and hiked up to almost 9000m. When we got to the destination, we were on one of the tallest peaks in the Balkan mountains! I have posted pics, but still need to add captions. On the way up, it took about 7 hours, and on the way back it took about 4.5. But I have to say that it was the most difficult and beautiful hike I have ever done! Pretty awesome! There is a wiki page about them too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Rila_Lakes). I think our pics are much cooler because it was a little cloudy at times which made it look like we were floating above everything! We also got to watch a big cloud come in and it was sooooo neat to watch.

After the hike we were pretty tired and sore and it took a few days to recover! But it sure was worth it!

Hello from Kyustendil!

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:01:00 +0000

Stacie and I have been pretty busy lately, but wanted to give an update on how we have been doing. Within the last month or so we have continued our training and daily Bulgarian lessons, and our last day of training will be in the third week of October. We have taken many pictures of our experiences up to this point, so check out our picture page to see them. We included captions on many of them, so you can understand what is going on. Also, you can comment on them!

Last week was an especially busy week because we visited our permanent placement location. Drum roll please……. We will be living in a city called Sliven! It is about twice the size of our current location (Kyustendil), and has a population of about 100,000. It is right on a main highway through Bulgaria, about four hours east of Sofia and an hour and a half west of the Black Sea. We will have two other volunteers with us in the city, and there are at least five more within an hour bus ride. You are welcome to come visit us! The Peace Corps has not decided on which apartment we will be living in yet, but it will be one that a previous volunteer has lived in before. They have pretty strict standards, so we aren't worried.

I will be working with an organization that helps small businesses by providing inexpensive rent and various classes on business ownership. More specifically, my job within this organization will be to work with the Roma community by making micro loans funded by an organization called Kiva. The Roma community in Bulgaria is a very poor minority group, unlike anything we have seen in the states. There is actually a fence around their community which separates them from the rest of the city.

Stacie will be working at a youth house. This is a non-profit organization which focuses on giving youth safe after school alternatives and leadership opportunities. She will be organizing summer and winter camps and will be starting an anti-drug and health campaign in the high schools. Also, she will be helping to get youth involved with the local orphanage and rest home. We will both be teaching English for a few hours a week, and hopefully get to work together on a few projects in the Roma community. Our main focus will be to help the Roma people integrate into the community as these two groups seldom ever interact.

Lastly, we got a cell phone! It is free for us if you call, so here is the number: (359) 088 699 2186. If this does not work, try a 0 before the 359. We are about 10 hours ahead of PST.

Check out these sites.....
Stacie's organization: www.youth-house.org
Jason's lending program: www.kiva.org
Sliven's Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliven
Kyustendil's Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyustendil
Our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/stacenjas

We love you and would like to hear from you soon,

Jason & Stacie

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:20:00 +0000

Yes, we are in Bulgaria and doing well! We have sent out an update email already, so send us an email if you want to get an update and you did not recieve an email. Stacenjas(at)gmail.com will be our official update email, and we can check it semi often.

When you send something, try to send it in an envelope (even a large one is good) because it will get here quicker. But the more important thing is that you make sure to note on the package that "The contents have no commercial value, and are for personal use only".

Hi from Bulgaria

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:17:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to send a note to let everyone know that we have arrived safely here in Bulgaria! We are living in a small town named Kyustendil. If you google this, you can see pictures of the area. We are doing quite well here and are enjoying experiencing a new culture. Here are some highlights:

We spent our first 5 days in a beautiful villiage on the top of a mountain. It is a good place for hiking and sightseeing. While we were there we had language and culture training, as well as getting to know the other Peace Corps volunteers and staff.

After this time, our group (40 volunteers) was split into smaller groups for language training. We are in a group of six and we all live with host families. Everyday we have language class from 9 am- 12:30 pm. Then in the afternoon we have cultural training and homework assignments. My host mom is a single lady and she is wonderful! She is a teacher and speaks quite a bit of English. We eat all our meals together and I am learning quite a bit of Bulgarian just living in the house. My worst experience so far was at her house- I bit into a pear from her own pear tree...and a live worm crawled out and jumped around on the table!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!! Now my host mom calls worms my "special friends." Ha ha!

This weekend we are planning on doing two things: Going to a wedding with Jason's host family and going hiking with my host mom's student. Both should be good experiences... I heard that the weddings here are boring!! We'll find out...

I am planning on writing more soon and also sending some pictures- the area is beautiful. The weather is also perfect- it is warm during the day and cools quite a bit at night. The people are very warm and welcoming here and I am able to communicate very basic things. Most of the food is great...although the goat cheese is too much for me :) Please send us a note if you have a chance, we would love to hear from you! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers...

Sincerely,

Stacie and Jason

Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:54:00 +0000

To see photos of our time in Bulgaria visit http://picasaweb.google.com/stacenjas

To see more of our other photos visit http://picasaweb.google.com/jasons803

Plans for June

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:52:00 +0000

We will be leaving to Nevada to spend time with Stacie's family for the month of July. Our plan is to hit the road on June 27th or 28th.

The first blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Stacie & Jason) — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:01:00 +0000

As the inaugural message: Welcome to our blog! We will be having updates as frequently as possible, especially as our Bulgarian adventure approaches!