Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Thanksgiving (Also Know As: More Bloodshed in Bulgaria)

For our first holiday in Bulgaira, seven of us volunteers decided to head up to the town of Mezdra for the weekend to celebrate together. Mezdra is a beautiful little town North of Sofia where a fellow volunteer, Mike Burrows, lives and works.

We all arrived at varying time on Friday afternoon, due to the fact that for some odd reason, Bulgarians don't recognize or celebrate the holiday. After some pizza, beer, and a little belot, the men headed over to the house of one of Mike's colleagues, who was at the time housing our turkey. We sat around swapping stories, eating and drinking rakia for an hour or two before we went out to lay our eyes on the beast. In an all but morbid display of affection we took the turkey out and took turns holding it and taking pictures. The fear of an emminent death shown through the birds hollow eyes.

We arose early and groggy the next morning at eight to head back to the slaughtering grounds. In the end, it was decided that Josh would be the one to kill our feast. None of us are quite sure how this decision was come to but as far as we can tell, he was simply handed the knife. The following video is a pure representation of what followed:

*Warning: Vegetarians and PETA activists, you might not want to watch this*


In a act of true Bulgarian hospitality, Ivan insisted on plucking, cooking, and delivering turkey for us without us lifting a finger to help. (only a knife) To pluck the turkey, Ivan placed the turkey into a bucket full of steaming hot water for five minutes which apparently expedited the process of pulling of its feathers. The turkey was then stuffed with rice, mushrooms, and meat and at six o'clock, the turkey arrived at our doorstep. In the meantime, the ladies had cooked up a feast of garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables while Ryan provided the homeade stuffing. Where was I during all of this? I was enjoying my stress-free day off and really, isn't mashing potatoes enough work for one day?

The dinner itself was a great time in the company of good friends, food, and wine, with the sweet sounds of Chalie Parker on the stereo. Although it wasn't quite the same as being back home with family, I couldn't have asked for a better time or better people to spend it with. To conclude, many of you may by wondering why we went through all the extravagance of finding and killing our own turkey. The fact of the matter is that frozen turkeys aren't available in Bulgaria so we had to take matters into our own hands. That's a lie, they are available, and for quite cheap... but why would I want to post a video of us buying a frozen turkey?

Currently Reading: "Ignorance" by Milan Kundera
Currently Listening to: "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" by Brand New

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Bulgarian Washing Machines


Two nights ago, I had the privilege of doing my first proper load of laundry in my new apartment in Bratsigovo. I've heard from my counterparty, that the previous volunteer who lived here did not actually do his own laundry but paid a local lady ten leva (about six US dollars) a month to do his laundry for him. Either out of stubbornness, or thriftiness, I quickly decided that I would be doing my own laundry.

Arriving at my apartment my first night in Bulgaria, I was shown by Petiya what she described as a washing machine sitting in my closet. To me, this machine looked much more like a failed high school science project but I figured, "why not?" I'll give it a try. As you can see from the picture, this "washing machine" is a large, circular bucket that has a hose running from the base of the bucket, to the top. On the back side of the machine is a dial which can be set anywhere from one to six minutes, depending on just how long you want your clothes to swirl around in the bucket. This all of course, is plugged into the wall by an old, patched, and probably quite dangerous cord.

"How did it go?" you may be asking yourself. Well, it went... As far as can tell, this machine is used solely to swirl your clothes around in soapy water. There is no rinse cycle, no dry cycle, simply a swirl cycle. I was then forced to rinse my clothes by hand, ring them out, and hang them on the clotheslines on my balcony. Overall, I'd say it was a smashing success.


Currently Reading: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
Currently Listening to: "Crane Wife" by The Decemberists

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

High School Skills and Bare Apartments


Coming into the Peace Corps as a community and organizational development volunteer with a recent degree in business administration, one would think I would be using my recently developed business skills here in Bulgaria. Though I'm sure that time will come, it was ironic that for my first true project in Bratsigovo I was asked to design a logo for a local NPO, calling on my AP art skills from my days in high school.

The logo I was asked to draw is for an NPO called "Достоен За Всеки" or loosely "A Worthy Life for Everyone." The NPO is an organization which works to provide food for the needy as well as various educational resources to help Bulgarians gain job-related skills to improve their lives. Overall, I'm quite happy with how the logo turned out, as is the organization.

In other news, I now have an official mailing address so for those who are so inclined as to send me things, it is now possible. The address is as follows:

Ерик Хелмз
Ул. Атанас Кабов 6А
Брацигово 4579
България

This should be all you need so send away if your heart desires. Along those lines, my apartment is quite bare so any photos, posters, and flags would be greatly appreciated.

Currently Reading: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand
Currently Listening to: "Live in Portland" by Elliott Smith