Koprivshtitsa

This post is a blast from the (recent) past, as I'm showing some photos from a weekend trip many of the international faculty took back in October. I've been too busy to go through the photos since then, but since I now am supposed to be grading final exams, this seems like a much more worthwhile activity!
Koprivshtitsa is one of at least a dozen or so "museum towns" spread around Bulgaria. Many of them had historical events occur there or important figures that lived there, and the buildings have been preserved as an architectural preserve of 18th and 19th century "Bulgarian National Revival" buildings. Koprivshtitsa is about 2 hours from Sofia (MAP), and we were able to enjoy some lovely fall colors on our trip (pictured below, on our hike).
There is not a lot to do in K-town except eat, drink, play cards, check out the old buildings, maybe take a hike and shoot some photos (check, check, check, check, and check). It's a cute village and makes a pleasant enough excursion.

Above: "I thought you knew where it was!" (wandering the streets, looking for our hotel)

History sidebar: Many of the most famous Bulgarian "founding father" types (think your Washingtons, Franklins, Adams, Reveres, etc) lived or spent some time in tiny Koprivshtitsa. In the mid-1800s, the population of Koprivshtitsa was roughly 12,000, at that point roughly the same size as Sofia was at the time. In April 1876, a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman Turks (who ruled Bulgaria for 500 years) started in Koprivshtitsa.

The painting above was a mural in a restaurant we ate at. I like the historical drama. Exhilirated rebels celebrate after shooting some Ottoman troops, a mother weeps, and the Ottomans write a sternly worded memo back to Istanbul (Click on the photo for a larger version to better appreciate the drama).

The rebellion spread across the country, but was soon completely and viciously repressed by the Turks (estimates differ wildly, but likely 30,000 or more were killed). Though the April Uprising was unsuccessful, the brutal suppression contributed to the general western European disapproval of the Ottomans, and also led indirectly to the Russians going to war with the Turks the next year, which in turn led to the creation of the current independent Bulgarian state in 1878. The beautiful Nevsky Cathedral in downtown Sofia was built by the Bulgarians to thank the Russians for "liberating" them from the Turks. Certainly the Russians had larger geopolitical goals than simply liberating the Bulgarians (this piece of land allowed Russian troops a land route to bypass the Ottoman-controlled Bosporus, and the Russians wanted "friendlies" here). Whatever the Russian motivations, Bulgarians appreciated it. I've pieced this history together from Lonely Planet Bulgaria guidebook, Wikipedia, and a variety of Balkan history books I've read. Sorry if I've incorrectly depicted any events.

Back to our weekend trip...we stayed in an old Bulgarian Revival guesthouse (it would have been part of the Ottoman Empire when it was built), hiked in the hills above town, and just wandered the pretty cobbled streets. Shannon reluctantly schooled the boys at poker, and much merriment was had.

Above: our guesthouse. Below: Shannon peering out from the guesthouse.

Below: Roma (the more PC term than "Gypsy") horse carts cruising through town. I have a goal to get a ride in one of these before I leave Bulgaria.

National Revival house prettiness, above and below.

No pants

"Hey Mr. J!" says the friendly voice of one of my female students (10th grade) in the hallway. I look over to reply, and realize she's not wearing pants.

"Hi, oh, er, ugh, hi" (look away, fumble with keys, open classroom, escape inside).

I'm not really sure how to respond to this situation. It happens a lot. There is much less of a concern about prudishness of all sorts here (nudity, drinking, sex, etc). There aren't really very good (any?) locker rooms at the school, and the students do real gym class here (Stoyan makes 'em run!). So after gym, they change back into their school clothes. In the hallway. Next to my classroom.
A few students try to be discreet, pulling over a sweater while they change their shirt, or turning their backs to the hallway, half-way hiding inside the locker. These students are the exceptions. Most are chatting with each other (boys and girls) and whoever walks by (like me) as they change, down to bras and underwear (the hallway is often COLD this time of year, so they don't exactly linger).
After teaching at an all-girls school in the litigation-heaven of California, I got very sensitive about not putting myself in compromising situations. I tried hard to never be alone with a student, never say or do or look any way that might possibly be construed the wrong way. When you work with kids, once you lose your reputation (whether accusations are ever proven or not), your career is over. So it has been a difficult transition here where lawsuits are much less common and personal boundaries apparently very different.
I don't want to be rude by not replying to the friendly student, or not making eye contact (it's also sometimes a guy in his underwear...I get uncomfortable either way), but also don't want to accidentally look too long or really carry on a conversation with a half-clothed minor. Yikes.
Suggestions?

Please comment! (But not you, weird Japanese spammer guy...)

We have changed our comment settings on our blog to make it easier to comment. You no longer have to have any sort of account. Just write a comment! It makes us happy to know you're out there. Like the photos? Want to hear more details about something? Remind you of that story Crazy Uncle Wilbur used to tell? Excellent. Let us know.

On the other hand, to prevent us from getting more weird spam comments and innappropriate links (like the one today to some random Asian "adult" site), we will now be moderating your comments. Not a big deal for you, but your comment will not appear on our site until we approve it (that's right, censorship!).
So, tell us what's on your mind...
Thanks
J+S

January Hiking on Vitosha, Part 1

While the rest of Europe (and much of the eastern U.S.) froze their New Year's tootsie's off, due to a cyclical weakening of the North Atlantic Oscillation, Sofia had spring-like weather. A week ago it was in the upper 50s F, warm enough that all our snow melted. Terrible skiing weather, but nice enough for some mountain hiking. ACS colleagues Brett and Betsy organized an outing, along with a new friend of ours Sam, an American working at the U.S. embassy, and one of his Bulgarian colleagues Alex.
The hike started from the village of Zhelenitsa, on the east flank of Vitosha, about a 25 minute drive from campus. We headed up through some trees for about 2 hours to a beautiful area above treeline (windy!). We had lunch at a surprisingly large hiija (hut/refuge), where you could spend the night as well as get a hot meal. There were a bunch of Bulgarians who had dragged their skis up here, only to trudge up 10 vertical feet to slide down an icy slope. Desperate for powder, I guess. The folks jumping off the windblown snow bank were having more fun, I think.




The view to the west, as we looked uphill. The hijja is not visible, but basically on the right side of that ridge.



Brett and Betsy (above)


Betsy getting blown by the wind (above), Brett enjoying the windiness (below).

The view to the south (below).


The view east, as Alex makes his way up the hill (below).


Not so fun: upper right of photo, folks trying to sidestep up gentle, icy slope to ski (Whee!) back down. More fun (foreground): Jumping off snowbank.


The mountain hostel/hut (hijja).



Totally unrelated to hiking (but saw this at the front gate of campus on our way home). Some of the stray dogs had puppies. That's what they do. This will obnoxious in a few months, but right now it's pretty cute.

Faculty-Student Basketball

So the coach of the boy's basketball team at our school sent out a request for suckers on the faculty to play in a little scrimmage against his team before they start playing other schools. Sure, I haven't really played basketball since I was 14, and I wasn't really that good then (didn't make the 8th grade team, never tried out after that). Paul D. could usually beat me in a driveway one-on-one growing up, despite my significant height advantage. Either way, I'm pretty much always game for a public humiliation, so I figured what the heck?
In the US, I can't really imagine a school where a basketball game that pitted the varsity team against the faculty wouldn't end up in an embarrassing blowout win for the students (at best), and ambulances for the faculty (at worst). But here things are a little different. The faculty that choose to move overseas tend to be a little younger, more active, more competitive, I think. The students, hustle though they do, really don't have a lifetime of basketball experience to draw on. (Watching out intramural basketball games here reminded me of what it must be like for Europeans watching American kids playing soccer.)
The game was after a faculty work day, meaning the students had been out of school for several hours by game time (most had gone home), giving us a distinct advantage in the crowd. I'll take the home court advantage. We were playing 4 10:00 quarters, they had a full set of refs, and thankfully, they were supposed to rotate varsity and JV teams against us. We had 10 faculty show up, including the school president. Considering I was never so great, and considering the last time I had really played my opponents weren't yet born, I expected to be a bench-warmer.

Game Time.

I started on the bench, and by the time I came in, we were down several points, despite some nice shooting by our school president. I probably can't shoot, and I haven't done that dribbling thing in a while, but I can still run, I can still get in their face, and I'm still taller than some of them. Crazy Defense Guy! I stole some balls, I grabbed some rebounds.
I got fouled. 0/2 from the line. Ouch. We were down 12-4 when the JV team came in. Now this is more like it. I'm taller than many of them, and several of them are my sophomore students. I really enjoyed boxing out my students or stuffing the ball back in their faces. We switched out faculty so everyone played about half the time, and after the JV quarter, we'd pulled ahead.
At halftime the students were getting a little discombobulated. I don't think they expected to be losing to their teachers. Our zone defense held the varsity to no scoring for many minutes (while I was riding the pine). When it was supposed to be time for the JV to come back in again, the students started more creative subbing. Still, we held close. Brett managed to score a 3 on a play that involved 3 "passes" between he and I that were mostly ridiculous errors, but it looked pretty cool (if only we'd planned it, or could do it again!).
Down to less than one minute, and we're up by 4. Our "defense specialists" (that included me, apparently) went in. Students nailed a 3, then later hit a free throw. Damn. Several fouls exchanged. I got to shoot more free throws. 0/2 again. Double damn. Gotta practice those free throws. Our "offense specialists" go in, but to no avail. Overtime.
Really? We took the students to overtime? You really can't expect this is going to favor the old and somewhat out-of-shape. Thus far we had been counting on lifetime experience, determination, and "wisdom" to overcome youth, practice, and teamwork. But could we hold out in overtime?
Little scoring right away (shooting skills could use some work on both sides). Then some traded baskets. Still close. With less than a minute, Matt hits a 3 for the teachers to go up by 4. This should put it away. But no! Fouls exchanged. Students hit a free throw. Teachers up by 3 as the clock ticks down. Students put up a long shot as the bell rings...it's good! But how long?
2-pointer! Only 2 points! Final score: 50-49, Teachers win!
Whee, that was fun. Of course tomorrow (and probably the next few days), I'll be limping, and the students will be fine. That's OK. Smug looks in the direction of a few of my students will be excellent pain reliever, I'm sure.