Hello everyone :)
So this last week, we spent some time in a city called Montana (Монтана), which is about 2 hours from Sofia. We lead worship with the people of the church our first Sunday morning there, and met some really great people :) Bulgarians don't know how friendly they are. We've experienced SO much warmth here, I love it.
Each day we had a place to visit.
Monday morning, we visited a kindergarden. We spent some time with the kids & played games, (the language barrier with 3 year olds is even worse, 'Simon Says' was a trainwreck, hahahaha) and then met with the principal of the school & learned about the Bulgarian school process and had a little question & answer time - complete with bonitsa, coffee & chocolate, 3 things a good Bulgarian would NEVER go without. (aka, we keep eating, & they keep offering, and we keep eating, and by the end we don't even want lunch.)
Tuesday morning, we went to a nursing home way out in the country. We gave our testimonies & sang some songs for them & just spent some time talking (attempting to talk) with them. They sang for us too, some told us about their grandkids, but most just wanted to know about America and were so impressed with us for coming to Bulgaria. Everyone is so curious about why we would ever come to a country like theirs... and I never know what to say. I just tell them I really like it here, cause I do! Of course we ended the morning with a meeting with the director & coffee & chocolate & bonitsa, surprise surprise ;) - SIDE NOTE -This took me back to when I was a kid, and my Grandmommy would take me to nursing homes to sing for all the grandmas & grandpas :) And the time I sang for some of her friends from a truck bed in the middle of a Cracker Barrel parking lot in some random interstate town on the way to Texas... THATS RIGHT GRANDMOMMY, don't think I forgot ;) And all that experience really paid off in Bulgaria!! Who woulda thought! Hahaha. Anyway, being there also brought back all my 'I think I want to go into Music Therapy' feelings even stronger. I've been looking at schools again. Maybe in a perfect world, I could practice in other countries? Is that a thing? I don't know. Maybe I'll just make it a thing :)
Wednesday morning we visiting a similar nursing home, but it was for the blind. It was a little harder to swallow, and we didn't get to spend as much time with them. But I met a man who spoke German! So we counted on our fingers in Bulgarian, German, Spanish & English. He kept asking me for whiskey. I told him I'd sneak it for him if I had any... hahaha the nurses didn't really like that, oh well. And then we were wisked away for coffee & chocolate. Some times people took pictures of us? Which was odd. Its so clear how few & far between Americans are in this country.
Luckily our afternoons were wonderfully relaxing, we spent some time at the pool with some of the teens from the Montana church, and a few evenings we spent with members who offered to make dinner for us. After dinner, we hung out at a pool hall with some of the girls from the church, and turns out, I'm pretty good at darts!! I had no idea. But my air-hockey skills are lacking. Oh well.
Friday afternoon we headed back to Sofia, which was a really nice change from the 2 weeks of chaos :) Sofia feels like home at this point. Its getting so close to time to leave... its really crazy. We said goodbye to our high school friends & our middle school friends, which was really sad, but also really weird. I didn't cry, but i felt unsettled. Sometimes if I think about how sad it is that there are people in this world that I may never ever see again? Ever? I get all bent out of shape & depressed. So we are just going to try our best to keep in touch over FB. I loved these kids. Oh, wait - these 'young adults' :)
Since Monday, we've been getting ready for our kids camp coming up this Monday-Friday (July 25-29). Its been wonderfully relaxed, so I got to sleep late, buy some souvenirs, got some 'me' time, and I explored Sofia even more. I really love parts of this city. I found a really great artsy area that I fell in love with - but OF COURSE I find it 3 days before its time to leave. :( Otherwise I've been planning craft time, each of us are teaching a bible study, we're singing songs & making lunch, and we're gonna be sweating to death. A W&W team is coming from Salem, Washington to be with us all week, so it should be so great!! We're picking them up from the airport in the AM to give them a short tour of Sofia, then we're headed to Стубел (the village we've been to 3 times now, right outside of Montana) tomorrow afternoon after church.
Then when we get back from Stubel (Стубел) next Monday, we have one day - ONE DAY- left in Sofia.
On Aug 3 we're catching the night train to Croatia.
Wow.
America, I'll see you soon.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Разград/Завет!
Hello everyone! Sorry its been so long, we've been busy - and we have a terrible internet connection...
Okay, so here are some background details, before I can tell you how I really feel ;)
This last week, we left Sofia & took the bus to (Разград) Razgrad (a town about 5 hours away), where another Trevecca team of 5 is living. Another team of 5 (from Видраре, or Vidrare) met us there too, so we became one big American family :) Tim Green, a professor from Trevecca, was also in town, he was teaching a Herminutics class for many Bulgarian pastors & laypeople at the Razgrad church. SO - needless to say, there was a lot going on! Us Americans took over the nearby hostel, and we stuck out like sore thumbs, as usual hahah.
The Immerse teams were in charge of a boys camp at a juvenile detention center in Завет (Zavet) for Monday-Friday. These boys were slightly well behaved, but most were pretty rough around the edges. The majority of the boys were in trouble for theft, but a few others were at the home for more serious matters like assault, being accused of rape, etc. We planned our days with the theme of 'friendship', and included bible stories, crafts, games, snacks and a mural project.
WELLLLLLLLL, ya know???? Things change. Enter more 'flexibility' lessons for Kathleen :)
Our first morning at the center, the director (Mrs. Caroline) found out that I'm an art minor. (She didn't really understand that its technically an art THERAPY minor... totally different ball game - oh, language barriers.) So in her mind, I'm a painting EXPERT**. I mean, I'm flattered and all, and I have taken classes but.... yikes. And after 20 minutes or so, she has laid out the plans for our group to paint 6 murals**. And a poster**. Ummmm, did I mention we had ONE planned? I panicked a little, but I figured we could attempt, and on Thursday when it was clear to Mrs. Caroline that she'd asked too much of us, everything would be fine. Hahahah, THATS FUNNY.
**denotes things that are crazy nerve wracking & incredibly stressful to think about, until you have had a successful lunch and 2 hour nap... or attempt at one.
See, I had planned most of our crafts for the week, because I do really enjoy crafty things. I'm always looking for a reason to make something, so when our team took charge of the painting & crafts, I naturally went into overload :) Our ideas included (very manly) friendship bracelets with hemp, a 'found objects' box with spray paint & super glue, clay work & mosaics made out of plates the boys smashed themselves. (Smashing the plates became a huge event... it turned out really well but we were all a little scared a riot could break out hahah) My team & I knew we really wanted to get to know these boys, so we kept our ideas simple, so we could still have conversations while working on the projects. Our mural idea had the 'friendship' feel, but it was simple enough for all the boys to help. We came totally prepared, (with what felt like 2424535 lbs of craft supplies) but the director kinda de-railed our plans.
She meant well, and she wasn't rude about any of it... It was just a little frustrating to be surprised like that. But I knew we were here to do what they needed from us :) So I told her (through the lovely Jessica) that we would try our best. Somehow, by Monday afternoon, I was a painting expert, and I was basically running the show until Friday... or at least thats how it felt. I was excited, but also worried about getting it all done & I'm not used to telling people what to do & I know I'm a perfectionist so I was worried about the boys helping when the murals the director wanted were NOT easy & she wanted a poster too so I knew I'd have to work on it in the afternoons and thats when we had free time usually before cooking dinner & we didn't have paint yet & we need a certain computer for the projector to work and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I obviously hadn't learned a thing yet. :)
So, for the rest of the week (till Thursday night) - it was splicing & tracing from the projector, mixing paint, outlining, art supplies stores & delegating. Jessica (our team 'leader', she's lived here in Bulgaria for 2 years, working with the Church of the Nazarene... I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before??) taught me all about delegation. Which I quickly learned, I'm terrible at. I tend to want to try to do EVERY job possible all by myself... aka perfectionism... which is impossible when you're 'in charge' & 36 people are trying to talk to you at once. So I made rounds :) I taught some boys about mixing primary colors to make other colors, obsessively put tops on paint canisters (oops), asked for paper towels a million times, talked about what brushes are best for what texture, went up and down the stairs, approved wall placements and all sorts of other 'Person In Charge' jobs. It was weird. I've never done ANYTHING like that before. Everyone said I did a good job... but I really was worried about being bossy and annoying the whole time. Being in charge is hard!! And I don't really know if I was always clear about what my plans were. But I really am so thankful for the opportunity - because now I know that if I can just keep myself from feeling overwhelmed, I am able to lead a group enough to get the job done. Thats exciting. I learned a lot.
I was pretty disappointed that my week wasn't all about the boys (for me)... but turns out, it might have been better that way. Mrs. Caroline was constantly asking me if I could ever come back and help her fix up the school even more. She kept saying "oh, Katy. (She consistantly yelled my name, hahah. like KEH-TEE') Just join the peace corps - I can pull some strings, and you could come here for a year!!" I'll be honest - the peace corps really has began to feel like an option - i've been researching like crazy. She gave me a necklace & bracelet at the end of the week. She was precious. And I was tired.
All in all - we finished all 6. Everyone on our Immerse team was involved, and they took up most of our time, but we somehow got everything accomplished!? The first was in the main hallway, a globe with multi-colored 'stick figure' men surrounding it, which represented unity. The second was 4 puzzle pieces next to the first floor of bedrooms, each piece was connected, and had a word inside - friendship, trust, love & unity - in Bulgarian. The 3rd, 4th & 5th were all in the kitchens. The 1st floor was 3 cartoon figures in Bulgarian-flag color clothing, dancing over a globe. The 2nd floor was a more abstract picture of 4 friends holding hands in a circle. The 3rd floor was 7 kids of all different nationalities holding hands in a circle - each mural went along with the 'togetherness and love' theme, a lesson a lot of these boys need to learn. The 6th one was in the gym, of a kid playing different sports... that one was mostly for appearances' sake. The poster was a smaller replica of the 3rd kitchen mural that Lauren & I worked on every afternoon. And - lots of the boys got to help paint, which I was excited about. (I'll post pictures on Facebook soon, once we have a more reliable internet connection)
So - it was a good week. But it was also the first time I felt stressed & truly frustrated with the Bulgarian way of thinking. Deep down, I really try to appreciate the differences in every person I meet. I want to, anyway... though I might not always do it very quickly. We all problem solve SO differently, and flexibility is the only option... I've learned that 236836 times in this one week, I think. :) I know I'm not always right, but sometimes its REALLY hard to let go of perfectionism... especially with artwork. But we did, as a team. And all the murals turned out GREAT!!! Then we had a picnic out in the woods friday afternoon to end our time together. And we drove through miles of sunflower fields every afternoon on our way back to our hostel. And I had 4 diet Dr. Peppers in 1 week. And I got to have deep conversations with Tim Green over the best pizza of my life. I couldn't complain if I tried :)
Saturday morning, we left (Разград) Razgrad for Montana, a city about 2.5 hours from Sofia. We're here for a week, so I'll update you on what we're doing here soon - I promise!!
Okay, so here are some background details, before I can tell you how I really feel ;)
This last week, we left Sofia & took the bus to (Разград) Razgrad (a town about 5 hours away), where another Trevecca team of 5 is living. Another team of 5 (from Видраре, or Vidrare) met us there too, so we became one big American family :) Tim Green, a professor from Trevecca, was also in town, he was teaching a Herminutics class for many Bulgarian pastors & laypeople at the Razgrad church. SO - needless to say, there was a lot going on! Us Americans took over the nearby hostel, and we stuck out like sore thumbs, as usual hahah.
The Immerse teams were in charge of a boys camp at a juvenile detention center in Завет (Zavet) for Monday-Friday. These boys were slightly well behaved, but most were pretty rough around the edges. The majority of the boys were in trouble for theft, but a few others were at the home for more serious matters like assault, being accused of rape, etc. We planned our days with the theme of 'friendship', and included bible stories, crafts, games, snacks and a mural project.
WELLLLLLLLL, ya know???? Things change. Enter more 'flexibility' lessons for Kathleen :)
Our first morning at the center, the director (Mrs. Caroline) found out that I'm an art minor. (She didn't really understand that its technically an art THERAPY minor... totally different ball game - oh, language barriers.) So in her mind, I'm a painting EXPERT**. I mean, I'm flattered and all, and I have taken classes but.... yikes. And after 20 minutes or so, she has laid out the plans for our group to paint 6 murals**. And a poster**. Ummmm, did I mention we had ONE planned? I panicked a little, but I figured we could attempt, and on Thursday when it was clear to Mrs. Caroline that she'd asked too much of us, everything would be fine. Hahahah, THATS FUNNY.
**denotes things that are crazy nerve wracking & incredibly stressful to think about, until you have had a successful lunch and 2 hour nap... or attempt at one.
See, I had planned most of our crafts for the week, because I do really enjoy crafty things. I'm always looking for a reason to make something, so when our team took charge of the painting & crafts, I naturally went into overload :) Our ideas included (very manly) friendship bracelets with hemp, a 'found objects' box with spray paint & super glue, clay work & mosaics made out of plates the boys smashed themselves. (Smashing the plates became a huge event... it turned out really well but we were all a little scared a riot could break out hahah) My team & I knew we really wanted to get to know these boys, so we kept our ideas simple, so we could still have conversations while working on the projects. Our mural idea had the 'friendship' feel, but it was simple enough for all the boys to help. We came totally prepared, (with what felt like 2424535 lbs of craft supplies) but the director kinda de-railed our plans.
She meant well, and she wasn't rude about any of it... It was just a little frustrating to be surprised like that. But I knew we were here to do what they needed from us :) So I told her (through the lovely Jessica) that we would try our best. Somehow, by Monday afternoon, I was a painting expert, and I was basically running the show until Friday... or at least thats how it felt. I was excited, but also worried about getting it all done & I'm not used to telling people what to do & I know I'm a perfectionist so I was worried about the boys helping when the murals the director wanted were NOT easy & she wanted a poster too so I knew I'd have to work on it in the afternoons and thats when we had free time usually before cooking dinner & we didn't have paint yet & we need a certain computer for the projector to work and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I obviously hadn't learned a thing yet. :)
So, for the rest of the week (till Thursday night) - it was splicing & tracing from the projector, mixing paint, outlining, art supplies stores & delegating. Jessica (our team 'leader', she's lived here in Bulgaria for 2 years, working with the Church of the Nazarene... I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before??) taught me all about delegation. Which I quickly learned, I'm terrible at. I tend to want to try to do EVERY job possible all by myself... aka perfectionism... which is impossible when you're 'in charge' & 36 people are trying to talk to you at once. So I made rounds :) I taught some boys about mixing primary colors to make other colors, obsessively put tops on paint canisters (oops), asked for paper towels a million times, talked about what brushes are best for what texture, went up and down the stairs, approved wall placements and all sorts of other 'Person In Charge' jobs. It was weird. I've never done ANYTHING like that before. Everyone said I did a good job... but I really was worried about being bossy and annoying the whole time. Being in charge is hard!! And I don't really know if I was always clear about what my plans were. But I really am so thankful for the opportunity - because now I know that if I can just keep myself from feeling overwhelmed, I am able to lead a group enough to get the job done. Thats exciting. I learned a lot.
I was pretty disappointed that my week wasn't all about the boys (for me)... but turns out, it might have been better that way. Mrs. Caroline was constantly asking me if I could ever come back and help her fix up the school even more. She kept saying "oh, Katy. (She consistantly yelled my name, hahah. like KEH-TEE') Just join the peace corps - I can pull some strings, and you could come here for a year!!" I'll be honest - the peace corps really has began to feel like an option - i've been researching like crazy. She gave me a necklace & bracelet at the end of the week. She was precious. And I was tired.
All in all - we finished all 6. Everyone on our Immerse team was involved, and they took up most of our time, but we somehow got everything accomplished!? The first was in the main hallway, a globe with multi-colored 'stick figure' men surrounding it, which represented unity. The second was 4 puzzle pieces next to the first floor of bedrooms, each piece was connected, and had a word inside - friendship, trust, love & unity - in Bulgarian. The 3rd, 4th & 5th were all in the kitchens. The 1st floor was 3 cartoon figures in Bulgarian-flag color clothing, dancing over a globe. The 2nd floor was a more abstract picture of 4 friends holding hands in a circle. The 3rd floor was 7 kids of all different nationalities holding hands in a circle - each mural went along with the 'togetherness and love' theme, a lesson a lot of these boys need to learn. The 6th one was in the gym, of a kid playing different sports... that one was mostly for appearances' sake. The poster was a smaller replica of the 3rd kitchen mural that Lauren & I worked on every afternoon. And - lots of the boys got to help paint, which I was excited about. (I'll post pictures on Facebook soon, once we have a more reliable internet connection)
So - it was a good week. But it was also the first time I felt stressed & truly frustrated with the Bulgarian way of thinking. Deep down, I really try to appreciate the differences in every person I meet. I want to, anyway... though I might not always do it very quickly. We all problem solve SO differently, and flexibility is the only option... I've learned that 236836 times in this one week, I think. :) I know I'm not always right, but sometimes its REALLY hard to let go of perfectionism... especially with artwork. But we did, as a team. And all the murals turned out GREAT!!! Then we had a picnic out in the woods friday afternoon to end our time together. And we drove through miles of sunflower fields every afternoon on our way back to our hostel. And I had 4 diet Dr. Peppers in 1 week. And I got to have deep conversations with Tim Green over the best pizza of my life. I couldn't complain if I tried :)
Saturday morning, we left (Разград) Razgrad for Montana, a city about 2.5 hours from Sofia. We're here for a week, so I'll update you on what we're doing here soon - I promise!!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
YAYAY PARTYYY! wait, don't call it a party... they might bring beer...
All my Bulgarian high school friends
are coming over in an hour!!!
are coming over in an hour!!!
I'm so excited!!
We need balloons.
And plates.
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