Teaching is hard. Often times you end up in an adversarial relationship with students, or they fall asleep in your class, or they give you a hard time about grades. It's easy to start seeing them as your opponents, or as a mass of 140+ vessels to pour knowledge into. That's why it's important to occasionally have days like today.
Shannon was the lead organizer for our school's participation in a Bulgaria-wide volunteer day, sponsored in part by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria ("AmCham"). She decided our school would contribute by joining a clean-up in Vitosha Nature Park, on the big lovely mountain near Sofia. Shannon recruited over 70 teachers and students to give up their Saturday to go pick up trash in the woods. Almost half the group came associated with the hiking club, which I advise. Thankfully the weather was just stupendous for late October: not a cloud in the sky, crisp air (temps in the high 40s F), and painfully pretty fall colors all over the mountain (boy, since I'd lived out West so long, I didn't realize how much I'd missed living in a deciduous forest!). This weather was extra welcome as it was probably only the 3rd or 4th sunny day the entire month -- we've had a lot of cold rainy gloom.
We spent 4 hours wandering around in the woods, breaking up illegal fire rings, picking up beer bottles, plastic bags, broken glass, random scrap metal, bits of old high-voltage electrical wiring (!), some condoms, old nasty toilet paper, soda cans, chip bags, the whole bit. Because of all the leaves fallen in autumn, we had to kick the leaves around on the ground to uncover such finds. We had 60 kids hiking to pick up trash, for fun! The only real complaint for the day from most of them was that the places we were sent didn't have enough trash for them to pick up.It was great. The kids were having a grand old time wandering through the woods, searching for "buried treasure."
After teaching in litigation-happy California, I got used to trying to keep a close-eye on students, making sure things were in control. I had to be in less control here, partly because my poor Bulgarian skills mean I had to ask kids to interpret directions or signs, but also because the students here are just a lot more independent. Sometimes a few kids would wander off out of sight as they picked up trash, and I'd get a little nervous, then they happily come bouncing back 10 minutes with a few more items in their trash bags. Trustworthy, reliable, and good-natured.
After the 4 hour trash pick-up, about half the hiking club kids wanted to stick around to go for an actual hike. We took a rickety old chair lift up to the top of the ridge, then spent 3 delightful hours hiking back down to civilization. It was all-smiles, all-day. Happy kids, hiking in the woods. No one complained, just happy chatter on a lovely fall day. It was nice to just talk to them, to play, to enjoy being outside together, breathing fresh air, crunching fallen leaves underfoot. I even snuck in a few ecology lessons, but only if they didn't mind the school talk. :)
As we neared the suburb of Simeonovo at the end of our hike (almost 9 hours after we first met), we came to a popular picnic area that was suffering the effects of being a popular picnic area. There was plenty of trash here, more that we'd seen in most of the areas of our trash-pick-up session.
"Mr. J, do you have any more of those trash bags left? Are there any more latex gloves?"
At the end of a long day, with absolutely no prompting, the students decided to stop and pick up more trash.
They hit that area hard for 20 minutes, until we had to push them to leave because it was getting dark. All the way down to the bus stop they picked up trash, which got a little overwhelming as we got more and more into the city. It was inspiring.
Yeah, the kids are alright.
Showing posts with label vitosha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vitosha. Show all posts
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Clouds Lifting
The clouds lifted over Sofia today, and my spirits did as well. We've had 10 days or so of pretty much solid cold, drizzly, windy, misty nastiness. A few nights it got below freezing, and the heat is not yet turned on in our classrooms or offices. They have been trying to turn it on for a few days now, but it's an old, creaky system, and no significant amount of heat is coming out yet. Oh well...maybe next week (until then the little portable electric heater Shannon and I bought last weekend is coming in quite handy).
I'm leading a field trip tomorrow for my International Baccalaureate (IB) Biology class. Field trips are not a common thing at our school, to the extent that one of my students had to ask "What's a field trip?" We're studying ecology right now, and we've got this mountain with a national park just a few miles from campus, and it seemed a crime not to go outside a little. This time of year planning an outdoor field trip, especially one up a mountain, involves having a little luck with the weather gods. Fingers still crossed, but right now it is supposed to be clear and rather warm and pleasant tomorrow (highs in the 60s F down here, but of course cooler up top).
I've been freaking out trying to figure out how I would get my class there, where we would go, what we would do, all that stuff. I only have 5 students in that class, so I get to be a little flexible, but I still wanted to have some sort of a plan. I thought we would take the ski lift up, but it's down for maintenance during October, so I'm having the school driver take us up the access road in a van to the top of the ski lift. Problem is, I have never been up that road to see what ecological communities are along it that might be worth investigating, or what the logistics of such a trip would be.
I had thought I might do a scouting trip a few days ago, but the weather continued to be lousy. Finally, today, the clouds parted, and the sun came out, revealing a lovely snowy mountaintop.
After school, I weighed my options. On my mountain map it shows a public bus line running up the mountain road, although I've been unable to determine how often it comes, where or when it stops. I decided to take a taxi. That's right: I took a taxi up the mountain today. :) Growing up in Michigan I think I took one taxi before the age of 18, so I never thought I'd be taking one up a mountain.
The driver was friendly enough, but spoke very little English (a common theme of taxi drivers around here, you'll notice). We managed to communicate that I spoke some German, and his daughter was fluent in German. He called his daughter on his cell while he was battling ring road traffic (scary). I attempted to explain to her in German, then English (I discovered her English was better than my German, at the moment) where I wanted to go, and then she translated for her father. It was pretty comical. I was surprised at how hard it was for me to speak German all of a sudden, especially since I keep trying to use German or Spanish phrases when I'm wracking my brain for Bulgarian words.
It was a beautiful drive up the mountain...fall colors, a clear view of the city, and no other cars. It was about a 30 minute trip from my house, and my total bill was about $15, including tip. Not bad, and if there were two of us it probably would have been cheaper than the gondola ride.
I didn't really have a plan of what I was doing at the top (there are hotels/restaurants up there, but all closed in this off-season between summer hiking and winter skiing). Mostly I wanted to poke around, see where some trails went, look at the vegetation, figure out where to take my students. I also wanted to be able to get home, and not freeze. I had not dressed warmly enough (that's twice in a row now for Vitosha...that mountain keeps surprising me).
Once again we called the cab driver's daughter. I asked her to ask her father if he knew if the one and only bus was still running that time of day, and if so when/where it might come. She translated for her father, who found some random guy outside and asked him in Bulgarian. The verdict was that I should be able to pick up a bus back down in 30 minutes or 1.5 hours. Though I didn't really believe I could catch this bus (if only catching buses were as easy as catching colds...), I felt confident with my new cell phone in my pocket that I could extricate myself from most unforeseen circumstances, so I paid the driver (with a healthy tip) and set off. As I walked away, I asked a bystander if spoke English (a little), and if he knew anything about the fabled bus (he didn't). I thanked him and moved on.
I walked around aimlessly for about 30 minutes, getting chilly but enjoying being out of the city on a silly after-school adventure. I considered walking down the mountain to a new town I hadn't been to yet, but thought better of it. I talked to a random maintenance guy about the bus, who was confident that I had definitely missed the last bus for the day, but I could probably hitch a ride if I walked down along the road. I decided I would walk down a forest path that frequently intersected the road, so that I could bail and hitch a ride (or call another taxi) if I wanted, or (hopefully) have a pleasant woodsy walk back to town if things went well.
Right about as I was about to set off down the path, I discovered the first gentleman I had encountered and asked about the bus. He was waiting in his late-model Audi (engine running) with his wife and kids in the back seat (empty passenger seat).
"You go to Sofia?"
"Yes."
"Want ride?"
[of course]
"Get in."
This nice man had actually tried to follow me on my walk to hail me back, to warn me that I had missed the bus (I had seen some weird guy whistling and waving in the distance, but didn't know he was trying to get my attention). When he couldn't get my attention, he waited for me, just so that he could give me a ride back home! (A ride that I hadn't asked for, and didn't expect!)
"I like mountains, and I like people. I want to help you," he said.
Turns out he owns a construction firm, he didn't work today because his kids were sick (they were coughing all over me from the back seat...yay, swine flu!), and he likes to ski. He learned some English back in the early 1990s by living in Cyprus. I didn't know that Cypriots speak English, but now I do. He drove me all the way back to campus (I kept offering to get out and catch a bus/taxi once we were in "civilization," but he wouldn't let me). We exchanged phone numbers (so happy to finally have a phone!) and said he wants to take me skiing this winter. Nice.
So...a taxi up the mountain for $15, a free ride down. Not bad for a Wednesday afternoon. I didn't really get a hike in, but just knowing for the future that I could get to a trailhead or three on my own makes me feel so much more independent. This is my first time in 10 years I haven't had a car, and my first time since age 5 that I haven't had a bike. It's a hard adjustment for my independence, especially as it's been hard to figure out the public transit system. The knowledge that I can call a taxi (yay, cell phone) and go hiking after school for a reasonable fee makes me feel very happy, even if that road will close for the winter soon. At least I know it's there.
Shannon also noted new-found independence today. She ran some errands that included taking a bus, calling her Bulgarian tailor on the phone (who doesn't speak English), and then going to the grocery store. Today was apparently the first time Shannon has left campus alone since coming to Bulgaria, venturing into the strange, strange world we live in without assistance (I hadn't realized until now that she hadn't done this yet!) Having her cell phone helped give her the confidence to do that also (who knew how reliant we have become on our phones?). We both felt proud/satisfied with our after school activities today. Gaining independence makes everything feel more surmountable.
One more thing that makes me happy: I downloaded on my cell phone a bulgarian-english dictionary which came in very very useful for my pidgin communications today. Yay, technological gadgets!
G'night, all!
I'm leading a field trip tomorrow for my International Baccalaureate (IB) Biology class. Field trips are not a common thing at our school, to the extent that one of my students had to ask "What's a field trip?" We're studying ecology right now, and we've got this mountain with a national park just a few miles from campus, and it seemed a crime not to go outside a little. This time of year planning an outdoor field trip, especially one up a mountain, involves having a little luck with the weather gods. Fingers still crossed, but right now it is supposed to be clear and rather warm and pleasant tomorrow (highs in the 60s F down here, but of course cooler up top).
I've been freaking out trying to figure out how I would get my class there, where we would go, what we would do, all that stuff. I only have 5 students in that class, so I get to be a little flexible, but I still wanted to have some sort of a plan. I thought we would take the ski lift up, but it's down for maintenance during October, so I'm having the school driver take us up the access road in a van to the top of the ski lift. Problem is, I have never been up that road to see what ecological communities are along it that might be worth investigating, or what the logistics of such a trip would be.
I had thought I might do a scouting trip a few days ago, but the weather continued to be lousy. Finally, today, the clouds parted, and the sun came out, revealing a lovely snowy mountaintop.
After school, I weighed my options. On my mountain map it shows a public bus line running up the mountain road, although I've been unable to determine how often it comes, where or when it stops. I decided to take a taxi. That's right: I took a taxi up the mountain today. :) Growing up in Michigan I think I took one taxi before the age of 18, so I never thought I'd be taking one up a mountain.
The driver was friendly enough, but spoke very little English (a common theme of taxi drivers around here, you'll notice). We managed to communicate that I spoke some German, and his daughter was fluent in German. He called his daughter on his cell while he was battling ring road traffic (scary). I attempted to explain to her in German, then English (I discovered her English was better than my German, at the moment) where I wanted to go, and then she translated for her father. It was pretty comical. I was surprised at how hard it was for me to speak German all of a sudden, especially since I keep trying to use German or Spanish phrases when I'm wracking my brain for Bulgarian words.
It was a beautiful drive up the mountain...fall colors, a clear view of the city, and no other cars. It was about a 30 minute trip from my house, and my total bill was about $15, including tip. Not bad, and if there were two of us it probably would have been cheaper than the gondola ride.
I didn't really have a plan of what I was doing at the top (there are hotels/restaurants up there, but all closed in this off-season between summer hiking and winter skiing). Mostly I wanted to poke around, see where some trails went, look at the vegetation, figure out where to take my students. I also wanted to be able to get home, and not freeze. I had not dressed warmly enough (that's twice in a row now for Vitosha...that mountain keeps surprising me).
Once again we called the cab driver's daughter. I asked her to ask her father if he knew if the one and only bus was still running that time of day, and if so when/where it might come. She translated for her father, who found some random guy outside and asked him in Bulgarian. The verdict was that I should be able to pick up a bus back down in 30 minutes or 1.5 hours. Though I didn't really believe I could catch this bus (if only catching buses were as easy as catching colds...), I felt confident with my new cell phone in my pocket that I could extricate myself from most unforeseen circumstances, so I paid the driver (with a healthy tip) and set off. As I walked away, I asked a bystander if spoke English (a little), and if he knew anything about the fabled bus (he didn't). I thanked him and moved on.
I walked around aimlessly for about 30 minutes, getting chilly but enjoying being out of the city on a silly after-school adventure. I considered walking down the mountain to a new town I hadn't been to yet, but thought better of it. I talked to a random maintenance guy about the bus, who was confident that I had definitely missed the last bus for the day, but I could probably hitch a ride if I walked down along the road. I decided I would walk down a forest path that frequently intersected the road, so that I could bail and hitch a ride (or call another taxi) if I wanted, or (hopefully) have a pleasant woodsy walk back to town if things went well.
Right about as I was about to set off down the path, I discovered the first gentleman I had encountered and asked about the bus. He was waiting in his late-model Audi (engine running) with his wife and kids in the back seat (empty passenger seat).
"You go to Sofia?"
"Yes."
"Want ride?"
[of course]
"Get in."
This nice man had actually tried to follow me on my walk to hail me back, to warn me that I had missed the bus (I had seen some weird guy whistling and waving in the distance, but didn't know he was trying to get my attention). When he couldn't get my attention, he waited for me, just so that he could give me a ride back home! (A ride that I hadn't asked for, and didn't expect!)
"I like mountains, and I like people. I want to help you," he said.
Turns out he owns a construction firm, he didn't work today because his kids were sick (they were coughing all over me from the back seat...yay, swine flu!), and he likes to ski. He learned some English back in the early 1990s by living in Cyprus. I didn't know that Cypriots speak English, but now I do. He drove me all the way back to campus (I kept offering to get out and catch a bus/taxi once we were in "civilization," but he wouldn't let me). We exchanged phone numbers (so happy to finally have a phone!) and said he wants to take me skiing this winter. Nice.
So...a taxi up the mountain for $15, a free ride down. Not bad for a Wednesday afternoon. I didn't really get a hike in, but just knowing for the future that I could get to a trailhead or three on my own makes me feel so much more independent. This is my first time in 10 years I haven't had a car, and my first time since age 5 that I haven't had a bike. It's a hard adjustment for my independence, especially as it's been hard to figure out the public transit system. The knowledge that I can call a taxi (yay, cell phone) and go hiking after school for a reasonable fee makes me feel very happy, even if that road will close for the winter soon. At least I know it's there.
Shannon also noted new-found independence today. She ran some errands that included taking a bus, calling her Bulgarian tailor on the phone (who doesn't speak English), and then going to the grocery store. Today was apparently the first time Shannon has left campus alone since coming to Bulgaria, venturing into the strange, strange world we live in without assistance (I hadn't realized until now that she hadn't done this yet!) Having her cell phone helped give her the confidence to do that also (who knew how reliant we have become on our phones?). We both felt proud/satisfied with our after school activities today. Gaining independence makes everything feel more surmountable.
One more thing that makes me happy: I downloaded on my cell phone a bulgarian-english dictionary which came in very very useful for my pidgin communications today. Yay, technological gadgets!
G'night, all!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
This is not the post you're looking for...
I still will post Greece pictures and stories, I swear. I even edited the hundreds of photos down to a semi-reasonable number. The whole thing just takes a while, and we've been busy.
Sorry for the non-post. I just didn't want all of our loyal followers to think we've abandoned this site. I've been pleasantly surprised since I installed the visitor counter a few days ago how many people have been stopping by our site, even though we haven't posted anything.
Life continues here in Sofia. We're trying to get our heads above water with lesson planning (and soon grading), advising, life in Bulgaria, etc, etc. I've been surprised at how hard this teaching transition has been for me, even though I've taught before. The schedule and resources are very different, not to mention the challenges of teaching to english-language-learners. Of course it's all been much more difficult still for Shannon, as a first-timer at most of this.
Life also got tragically crazy here too...one of the students at our school was killed in a car accident, causing much upheaval in the community. Though I was actually faculty advisor of this student, I'd only met him once (and didn't teach him), on the first day of school. I've been involved in helping various communities deal with trauma, but I felt very helpless this time around, as I didn't know the student and don't know the rest of the student community yet either. Hard to watch so much sadness. There were 500+ people in the auditorium when they made the announcement, and you could hear a pin drop. Needless to say, the school was pretty disrupted in many ways last week. I'm learning that other people's grief seems to bring up my own as well, things I thought were pushed down out of the way enough to let me live my day-to-day life. [Miss you mom...]
We've had two weekends where we've stuck around Sofia, mostly resting up, doing schoolwork, and taking care of chores.
One fun outing was when we climbed up Mt. Vitosha, the 7400 ft mountain just outside of town. It was fun to hike (we took a ski gondola up and then hiked about another 1.5 hours up), but the weather was cold, foggy, windy, with very low visibility. Just about every other day for the last two weeks I could clearly see the summit from campus. Oh well.
Last weekend we did a variety of chores, trying to acquire boring things like more teaching clothes, a bookcase, and cell phones. We were definitely foiled on the cell phone front. That's a confusing enough experience in the US, but far worse here. After nearly 2 hours (yes, 2 hours) in the cell phone store, talking through an employee at the store next door (who didn't know anything about the phones or the plans) acting as an interpreter (because he spoke a little bit of English), we threw our hands in the air and gave up. We'll have to do our homework on the internet (where there are often english-language webpages of Bulgarian companies, and Google Translate is a decent option when there isn't) and go in knowing exactly what we want. Asking detailed questions of salespeople is not a luxury we have here. Part of the problem is that we were considering getting "smartphones" (wi-fi, web browser, GPS), but didn't really know what we wanted. Any fancy phone recommendations out there? The phones are much more expensive here (the new i-phone runs close to $1000, for instance) due to the lack of large long-term-contract discounts.
We just started doing Balkan dancing and yoga classes, both taught after-school by other teachers here. I had fun, despite my lack of bendiness or coordination, but I'm going to be mighty sore tomorrow, as the classes were back-to-back today.
Well, we surely will post Greece pictures/stories soon, and maybe some other stories about life. Thanks for all that are thinking of us.
-jeff
p.s. Our thoughts and prayers go out to my Grandmother Helen, who is in intensive care after a nasty fall down some steps, breaking several bones. We love you and are wishing you a speedy recovery, Grandma!
Sorry for the non-post. I just didn't want all of our loyal followers to think we've abandoned this site. I've been pleasantly surprised since I installed the visitor counter a few days ago how many people have been stopping by our site, even though we haven't posted anything.
Life continues here in Sofia. We're trying to get our heads above water with lesson planning (and soon grading), advising, life in Bulgaria, etc, etc. I've been surprised at how hard this teaching transition has been for me, even though I've taught before. The schedule and resources are very different, not to mention the challenges of teaching to english-language-learners. Of course it's all been much more difficult still for Shannon, as a first-timer at most of this.
Life also got tragically crazy here too...one of the students at our school was killed in a car accident, causing much upheaval in the community. Though I was actually faculty advisor of this student, I'd only met him once (and didn't teach him), on the first day of school. I've been involved in helping various communities deal with trauma, but I felt very helpless this time around, as I didn't know the student and don't know the rest of the student community yet either. Hard to watch so much sadness. There were 500+ people in the auditorium when they made the announcement, and you could hear a pin drop. Needless to say, the school was pretty disrupted in many ways last week. I'm learning that other people's grief seems to bring up my own as well, things I thought were pushed down out of the way enough to let me live my day-to-day life. [Miss you mom...]
We've had two weekends where we've stuck around Sofia, mostly resting up, doing schoolwork, and taking care of chores.
One fun outing was when we climbed up Mt. Vitosha, the 7400 ft mountain just outside of town. It was fun to hike (we took a ski gondola up and then hiked about another 1.5 hours up), but the weather was cold, foggy, windy, with very low visibility. Just about every other day for the last two weeks I could clearly see the summit from campus. Oh well.
Last weekend we did a variety of chores, trying to acquire boring things like more teaching clothes, a bookcase, and cell phones. We were definitely foiled on the cell phone front. That's a confusing enough experience in the US, but far worse here. After nearly 2 hours (yes, 2 hours) in the cell phone store, talking through an employee at the store next door (who didn't know anything about the phones or the plans) acting as an interpreter (because he spoke a little bit of English), we threw our hands in the air and gave up. We'll have to do our homework on the internet (where there are often english-language webpages of Bulgarian companies, and Google Translate is a decent option when there isn't) and go in knowing exactly what we want. Asking detailed questions of salespeople is not a luxury we have here. Part of the problem is that we were considering getting "smartphones" (wi-fi, web browser, GPS), but didn't really know what we wanted. Any fancy phone recommendations out there? The phones are much more expensive here (the new i-phone runs close to $1000, for instance) due to the lack of large long-term-contract discounts.
We just started doing Balkan dancing and yoga classes, both taught after-school by other teachers here. I had fun, despite my lack of bendiness or coordination, but I'm going to be mighty sore tomorrow, as the classes were back-to-back today.
Well, we surely will post Greece pictures/stories soon, and maybe some other stories about life. Thanks for all that are thinking of us.
-jeff
p.s. Our thoughts and prayers go out to my Grandmother Helen, who is in intensive care after a nasty fall down some steps, breaking several bones. We love you and are wishing you a speedy recovery, Grandma!
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