Patalenitsa festival/Sofia

Jen here. We performed in Patalenitsa, which our friend who has a daughter-in-law in Seattle informs us is the "Orange County" of Pazardzhik. There are nice properties and the mayor of Pazardzhik lives here (about 20 min. outside the center). It may be like Orange County as far as property values go, but I'm pretty sure there are no toilets like the one I experienced anywhere near Orange County!  We'll save you all the details, but as we neared the end of our trip, we were so happy to find restrooms with the basics: they flush, they're stocked with TP, there's soap, and a sink with running water. Any time we find one with all four, one of us shouts to the rest of the group, "It's a good one!"  

Here is where we performed, shortly after a giant thunderstorm. There were freshly fried doughnuts, 10 for 2 leva, which we devoured with powdered sugar before our performance.

It was such a thrill to perform for a small village -- everyone was gathered there. Smiling Bulgarian grandmothers, children, theater students visiting from England -- everyone was very welcoming. They seemed most pleased at our joint performance with the Pazardzhik Ensemble, Tzvetanka & Ivan. 

Our friend Sisi (Silvia) sang with her band, and Tzvetanka joined her on some duets.  The whole village joined in on one giant pravo, which I don't have a photo of because I was in it, too! 

Here are our friends from the Pazardzhik ensemble - sisters, who instead of being called Dolce & Gabbana, are jokingly referred to as Jordanche y Gergana, for their excellent fashion sense. 

At the end of the festival, we had dinner at a fancy hotel with a pool, and joked and laughed with our new friends in the Pazardzhik ensemble, amid clouds of cigarette smoke. The singer with the highest voice remarked, "If you smoke only at dinner, it'll make your voice higher!" If that were actually true, maybe we could all join the Pazardzhik ensemble! ;) 

We received wonderful gifts from Yanka, their director, but the most wonderful gift was sitting next to these powerful singers and learning from their vocal technique while learning songs together.  We're so grateful we got to work with them and hope to meet again soon! 

Next, we returned to Sofia. We did our final errands, like mailing postcards to our IndieGogo donors, and getting final souvenirs and sladolet (ice cream). 

We had a workshop with Binka Dobreva, who taught us some amazing Shope songs (all 3 sung at the same time!) 

We had the Last Supper, with snezhanka salad (also called Snow White salad, made with cucumbers, dill, onion & thick yogurt), lutenitsa (tomato & cheese sauce), bean salad, our final Shopska Salata, and grilled trout on the BBQ. I'm happy to report that I did indeed have Shopska salad every single day of our trip (14/14!) There were also chile relleno-esque stuffed peppers with egg & sirene cheese. So good! 

We were joined for dinner by the same musicians who played for us on our first night in Sofia, with the addition of Sasho on accordion, and Binka's lovely voice. 

Tzvetanka and Ivan had to leave for Burgas, so we were fortunate to have their friends take care of us on our last night in Bulgaria together.  Now, five of us are on our way back home with the Happiest Traveler. 

Many thanks to everyone who helped us get here, supported us from afar, and who await our return... Especially Scott, Dunes, Rik, Brian & Lydia, Rusty, Jon, David, Stuart, and Peter.

Singing with the Pazardzhik Ensemble Choir

Dina here. The last three days we've spent in Pazardzhik, Tzvetanka's home town, and made a dream of mine come true: Singing with the women's choir of the Pazardzhik Ensemble. Tzvetanka used to direct this choir when she lived here, and is still a respected guest teacher when she's in town. I got to visit a workshop she did with them two years ago, and was so blown away by the sound of these women that I decided I needed to somehow connect them with Dunava.

So here we are! For the past three days we've been rehearsing together, lead by Tzetze, learning new songs and synching up a couple we all know to sing together. The goal was to perform at the annual village festival in Patalenitsa nearby, but the end was secondary -- the means was the actual point. Just sitting next to these talented singers with strong voices was an education in itself. These women are professional in the truest sense -- they rehearse four hours a day, five days a week, and are paid. (We're told the salary is not high enough to make a living, so all singers have other jobs, teaching or performing with other groups, or non-musical professions.)

This is such a great highlight of our trip. We've heard many true "village" ensembles, who preserve the music and singing in its traditional form; and here is a professional ensemble, which turns the village-style music into a refined art form. The original style is preserved, but the voice is trained. Plus, the multi-part arrangements are stunning, and there's nothing like singing a chord of stacked major and minor seconds and holding it at full volume!

We also had Tzvetanka to ourselves for a couple hours, where she talked more about Bulgarian singing technique and style, taught a four-part arrangement of a popular Shope duet, and at the same time bounced Eleanor so Meredith could focus on singing:

And outside of rehearsal there were other adventures: A visit to Plovdiv, a visit to the Pazardzhik zoo, some shopping, lots of ice cream (Raffy is our favorite brand!)... and of course the festival in Patalenitsa! I wonder who will blog next... :-)

Kyustendil's Silver Buckle Festival: Sreburna Pufta

Ramona writing: 

July 24th marked our debut performance at a Bulgarian festival. We were invited to attend the 10th annual International Folklore Festival "Silver Buckle" in Kyustendil. For this appearance, we are very grateful to have received at travel grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Three cheers for arts funding! (And again, thank you, to our private donors who helped us accomplish this great feat).

The drive from Bansko to Kyustendil was long and all the ladies were quite tired when we arrived. As we drove into Kyustendil it was rumored that we would visit with the Pautalia Chetalishte as they were the cultural center organizing the festival, however, as we were slightly late in arriving, it was happily decided that we would first eat lunch. The festival director himself, Valentine Kenov, as well as our festival liaison from the chetalishte and municipality, Ludmila "Lucy" Cheresharka, led us directly to our meal. It was served quicker than any other meal we have yet had and for that, we were quite grateful. Once we were shown to our hotel and given a moment to refresh and change into our performance clothing, we again hopped on the bus and gathered with all the other international performers. We all paraded through town and ended at the stage where the performances were held. All the other international groups were both musicians and dancers. This year the other international performers were from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey. We were the only choir group given the privilege of opening the festival!  Also, we are the first American group to perform there. The remainder of the choirs and dance groups who did not parade were from all over Bulgaria and they performed over the course of the next few days.

 The sun was bright, we were sweating profusely, and the sound system was not optimal. However, the songs we chose to sing surprised the audience and caught their attention so that despite the heat and poorer than expected sound, they were really engaged. Once, when we looked at the audience, we recognized the vice-mayor singing along as well as many other faces in the crowd. They enjoyed our "Shopski Pripevki" (medley from the Shope area) so much that there was clapping before the song even finished. Of all the songs we sang, this set of songs has ornamentation and melodies which are closest to the Kyustendil region's traditional songs. The audience really seemed to enjoy this in particular. One lady found us afterward and mentioned how excited she was to have seen us on TV earlier and then to realized that we had come in person to Kyustendil. It makes us feel like celebrities :) Dina was interviewed by one TV station and two other reporters after the parade finished and before the festival officially opened. We have been so busy that we have yet to see the filmed footage of this interview and our actual performance but the camera crew was there broadcasting all along.

 After we sang, we were presented with a very special award which you can see above and below. This is what a "Pafta" or "buckle" looks like and ours is quite heavy! The hosts of the festival were moved by our singing and we were so pleased to have sung well. When they presented the honor to us, everyone was very touched and emotional. Thank goodness our voices were still strong after so much intense traveling.

After we finished singing we were able to meet some of the other performance groups. Jen, in particular, made a potential connection with the group "Kargi" from Tbilisi, Georgia. I was most interested in connecting with the group "Karposh" from Krival Palanka, Macedonia in hopes that we would be able to perform at their home festival. Lucy, our liaison, also turns out to be a wonderful connection. She and Tsvetanka both studied at Kotel together, though they were a few years apart, and while we did not know this when we applied to perform at this festival, meeting her will hopefully be a great boon for us in the future. Dina met with the vice-mayor and her secretary at a special breakfast the following morning. All-in-all, it was a fabulous experience and we are so glad to have this opportunity to share our music with this audience. Thank you, MidAtlantic Arts Foundation and Pautalia Chetalishte's Sreburna Pafta!

Bansko (part 2)

Jen here. Here is the view from Bansko. As Hila mentioned, it's ski resort town, which at this time of year is pretty deserted. We managed to find an open market down the street from us in the pouring rain, and my Shopska Salata for the day was a very ripe tomato and some sirene cheese. 

Dinner with Banski Starcheta was delicious -- foodwise and musicwise! I missed the workshop, so I was even more excited to hear them perform for us... Especially the acappella songs with close, close harmony. I thought about Steve Borzilleri back home who would have enjoyed hearing these powerful men with loud, strong voices. He probably would have joined in and would have been appreciated for his bold voice! 

Dinner finished at a reasonable hour, so we walked around Bansko square and found more traditional musicians playing in an outdoor restaurant. We danced around lawn statues of mushrooms and trolls. The owner of the restaurant gave me a flag to lead the dance with that said, "Freedom or death!"  

Ramona and I continued dancing with the musicians, tipped them, and had a chat with them afterwards. They told Ramona that she danced very well and in the true Bulgarian style, which is accurate -- we've seen her beautiful dancing all over Bulgaria! 

This is the bell tower in Bansko square. If you look closely, you can see a stork nest in the upper left corner. We have been seeing storks everywhere! 

Here is a picture of the market that Hila mentioned that was between Tsigov Chark and Bansko. Bon bons galore! 

The Littlest Dunavite

Meredith here! Bringing a four month old baby along on a choir tour to Bulgaria was a bit of a gamble, to say the least. Friends and family expressed surprise, concern, tut-tuts and shakes of the head. However, I am happy to report that bringing Eleanor along has enriched our experience of Bulgaria in ways I don't think any of us could have predicted. A baby is a natural ice breaker. We are humanized and made approachable just by having her around, and she provides fodder for conversation in our somewhat shaky Bulgarian. Some useful words and phrases I have learned:

Chetiri mesetsa – four months (old)

Spi (spinka) – sleeping (sleepy, diminutive)

Momiche – girl

Sladko e – how sweet

I also discovered that superstition is very much alive and part of the culture here. The idea that many eyes are on baby Eleanor is cause for concern, because of the chance that this may attract the attention of evil spirits. In order to protect her, our new friends have offered many charms: a piece of red string tied round her wrist, a lengthy blessing, and countless "ptu, ptu, ptus."

With the help of Ivan, Tzvetanka, Tedy's sister Didi, and several others, there has always been a ready pair of arms to hold Eleanor so I am able to participate in the concerts and workshops. That's not to say that I haven't done some singing while wearing her in the carrier, but everyone has been so helpful taking turns with her.

Changing dirty diapers has sometimes been challenging. Some of the interesting places this has occurred include on the lap of a friend on a moving bus, under a public staircase, and on the floor in the middle of a workshop. All successful!

Our bus driver is one of Eleanor's biggest fans. "Dedo" (Grandpa) Neno sings her a special little song, we will try to record it to share with you. She always has smiles for him. In fact, Eleanor has been all smiles with everyone she meets. She has already received several gifts. Though she won't remember this amazing adventure, she has certainly helped make it memorable for all of us.

 

 

Bansko

Hila here. Yesterday we left Tsigov Chark and headed to Bansko. On the way we stopped at an outdoor market selling dainty wild strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry preserves, honey flavored with pine and mint and nuts, fresh blueberries and raspberries, and jars of sharena sol, fancy colorful Bulgarian salt.

Bansko is a ski town at the foot of the majestic Pirin mountains. For our northwest readers, it's reminiscent of Whistler or Leavenworth -- except the buildings of downtown Bansko are actually centuries old. Here's the view from Dina and my hotel room:

In the afternoon we attended a workshop with Atanas "Nasko" Yanchovichin, the director of Banski Starcheta. The name of the group translates to "The Old Men of Bansko," but some of them are quite young. We learned Rasti Bore and Drago mi e mome, two songs in the unique Bansko style -- one person on melody and the rest droning. I can't wait to add these songs to Dunava's repertoire and share them with Seattle audiences (as a reminder, our first formal opportunity for that will be November 8th 2014 at Town Hall, so please save the date!).

After the workshop, Banski Starcheta serenaded us at dinner.

On a (personal) musical note: I love complex choral pieces. One of the things that drew me to Dina's project in 2005 was the arrangements. I am always thrilled by one-person-per part, tight harmony singing with lots of crunchy chords. I've been collecting these kinds of arrangements -- the Kutevs and Ljondevs and Mutafchievs -- while we've been here. But I am also feeling like I finally understand the village sound that is their inspiration. Hearing each group display its unique regional sound has been an invaluable part of this trip -- so thank you again to everyone who made it possible.

Tsigov Chark/Boyana Ensemble

Jen again... Here is the view from our hotel window in Tsigov Chark. This is Lake Batak. It's thunderstorming here, with lightning and everything! After checking in to the hotel, we drove a few miles down the road to Kostandovo. 

We were greeted in Kostandovo by Boyana ensemble by with geranium leaves (for good health) and bread with chubritza.

 The 30 of them were dressed in full costume (men and women), which were different from the costumes I've seen in other regions. Boyana Ensemble's name comes from the story of a girl, Boyana, who chose to throw herself on the rocks in the town square and die a Christian rather than converting to Islam when the Turks came. 

They sang a mix of Pomashki, Rhodope and Macedonian songs, with tambura, accordion, and tupan, in a concert just for us. 

Baby Eleanor was gifted an embroidered linen called pishkir. You can see the men wearing it in the photo above. Traditionally, it was used in the kitchen, but now is worn on costumes or given as gifts, especially at a wedding. 

Today, we're off to Bansko for a workshop with Banski Starcheta. 

Kotel (part 2)

Jen here. Jill posted her version of Kotel and here is mine!

We had a wonderful time in Kotel, at the Filip Kutev music school up in the mountains. Tedy, Ivan, and Tzvetanka were all there as students once upon a time. The school is for students in 8th-12th grades, all studying music. There is a lot of history in the courtyard and in those mountains... I can imagine classes of gadulka and gaida players out on the terrace throughout the years. Apparently, there is always music happening at the school, at all hours. Kind of like at Mendocino Balkan camp, but for the entire year round!

Yesterday, we had four hours of private lessons back to back with the Abagar quartet singers (Nevjana, Dijana, Dessislava and Sofia), plus Sashka Chenkova. We had two evening workshops with Sashka where we learned some really beautiful songs that will no doubt make it into our Nov. concert at Seattle's Town Hall. In our private lessons, we worked on Rhodope, Shope, and Thracian style singing. It was wonderful to hear familiar voices singing new & beautiful things -- it wafted out the windows of the music hall and commingled in the courtyard. Breakfast was brought in for us into the school, since it is not in session. We had "malinki", which is the Kotel word for bread that is in little bites with powdered sugar. There were also fresh tomatoes & sirene cheese (so good!), Bulgarian yogurt, jam, and sausage. Our hosts supplied everything we needed and were so happy to have us visit the school.

In other news, I've been very happy to see the cats running about town... There were even two in the outdoor pizza place where we had dinner last night. The Bulgarian version of pizza is pretty close to the American one, but the cheese is delightfully rich, and of course, we had traditional Bulgarian salads with our pizzas. I've made it my personal goal to have Shopska Salata (Shopski salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and feta) every day that I'm here, and yesterday I was 7/7. I may never eat tomatoes back home in Seattle after eating them here. So delicious!

Perhaps the best part of our time in Kotel was that not only did we get to learn challenging and interesting songs from talented singers, but we also got to rest! We took long walks down the hill to dinner (including a stop at the convenience store for local chocolate & ice cream, of course) and we were able to get some sleep. Everyone was happy not to have to travel anywhere in the van. Now we're in the van on our way to Tsigov Chark, where we'll see Ensemble Boyana in concert and have dinner with them.

Singing and more

Jill: our two day stop at the music school in Kotel was full of singing. In addition to group and private lessons, we had a meal on our own and a meal with our voice teachers. I'll let others talk about their experiences, but it was pretty awesome. 

This is the school Tzvetanka, Ivan and our Tedy all attended. The reunion with their teachers and now colleagues was heart- warming.  

Meredith and I had a funny experience at the first dinner. I don't want to steal her thunder but will share the joke with you. She ordered hot tea, scallops (thinking sea scallops) and chips to share with me, meaning French fries. This is what she was served: iced tea, pork scallopini, and potato chips. The chips were the highlight, freshly cut and fried with bits of creamy potato inside the crust. I think Joy of Cooking calls them Saratoga chips. They were amazing!

Here is a (very dark) photo of Desislava, my music teacher. It was her first time teaching! She sings soprano professionally with the Philip Koutev Ensemble, is married with a two year old daughter, speaks excellent English, and is simply delightful.

 

We all walked to the center of town for pizza. In the middle of dinner we broke into song to welcome Tedy's father. One thing led to another and we soon chased away the other diners. 

Ramona and I walked back and aha gave me a lesson in star-gazing. We were so high in the mountains and there was very little light pollution. I learned the location of Spica and some other stars. Ramona is a good teacher whether it's music or constellations. 

We stopped to buy milk for Jody and I simply had to have ice cream. It was too delicious, chocolaty and creamy in a cone shape held by the wrapper. I covered my face in melted chocolate down to my chin! Haven't done that since my second birthday party when I planted my face in the cake, thereby starting a lifelong obsession.

 Others will post more on their lesson experiences. Thank you Radost for helping to make this possible. 

Burgas Rain and Sredets

Ramona writing this time.

What amazing opportunities come our way! This morning began a rushed, early breakfast at our Varna hotel Odessos, so that we might be filmed by NOVA television for their morning show "Wake Up" Subudi Se. We were mistakenly told to be ready by 8:30am to sing (whose singing voice works in the morning anyway?) but happily at 8:30am, the news reporter, Nikolai Vasilkovski, said we would not be on until 9:40am. This gave everyone time to finish breakfast and warm up their voices properly. Then, just because he seemed to be impressed with us, he asked us to sing parts of two more songs, and these were were recorded for a possible showing on the evening news. We'll check in a few minutes to see if it is shown. I hear that for those of you on facebook or who browse Youtube, the morning show is already there!

(Let me insert here, many thanks are due to our friends in Seattle who have helped connect us to these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. None of us expected that we would have a chance to sing live on the radio, be part of a cooking show of a famous chef, or be on the national news! You are amazing.)

After the filming finished and we managed to quickly pack, we herded our easily scatterable gaggle of geese, into the bus so we could travel to Bliznatsi, a smaller village outside Varna. Here, Nikolai Doctorov brought us to the most impressive summer home of Boris Tsonev Georgiev and Anka Georgieva (and family). Boris, a well known singer from Targovishte area, and his wife were so excited about our love of Bulgarian folk music and culture that they honored us with a special lunch. We exited the bus in song (a song which we are preparing for tonight's concert in Sredets) and both Boris and Anka welcomed us in full costume with a most delicious bread, rakia, and kisses of greeting. The table was set with woven fabrics, colorful pottery, and of course, tasty food; banitsa, a homemade goat and sheep cheese, homemade wine (even I, who never drinks wine, was impressed with this wine), rakia, a salad of homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers, melons, and more rolls. More impressive than the food was that Boris honored us with several songs while Nikolai played kaval. It turns out that this day is Tsvetanka and Ivan's wedding anniversary and so the mood was festive and congratulatory all around. Boris sand. Nikolai and Ivan (on gaida) played some songs together. Ts. and I. dueted, and girls from Dunava would add in songs whenever we could. (Nikolai, Tsvetanka, and Ivan are all old classmates from the music school in Kotel as well as sometime studying together at the Plovdiv music academy. Their ability to play well together is founded on many years of friendship).

You can tell from above that the music and camaraderie  was beautiful, but let me also take time to describe the grounds of this home to you. Boris and Anka (and whomever else works the garden) must be master gardeners. They appreciate the aesthetic as well as the practical. Let me explain. Bulgarian houses often have yards, but these yards are most always gardens of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, melons, etc, without lawn or flower beds. This particular garden was thriving from good care. The tomato plants were giant, there were vines of fruit, vegetables and flowers on every upright pole, and an outdoor summer kitchen with covered seating for at least 20 people. There was also a full greenhouse and chicken shed, and large variety of fruit trees throughout. Quite impressive.
They were so hospitable, and I am happy to report that we've been invited back next year...now if only we can come again!

After our rest at the Tsonev house, we continued south along the road to Burgas. The remainder of the windy drive south took us through Nesseber, Pomorie, Byala and other coast resort towns. Upon arrival in Burgas a deluge began and we rushed quickly into our new hotel, Atagen. It is yet undecided whether we will sing in our big concert tonight in Sredets or not, as it was meant to be outdoors. Regardless, we will have dinner with the musicians and singers we were meant to perform with.

Until later,
Mnogo pozdravi ot Burgas

Varna dinner by the sea!

Jen here. We're hearing some pretty epic gaida solos at our dinner by the Black Sea. We're still in Varna, just down the road from our hotel (which did we mention, is walking distance from the beach?) and are being serenaded by some of the finest musicians in Bulgaria. Ramona & I have been dancing around the very long table, careful not to fall off the ledge into the street... Triti Puti, Rachenitsa, Graovsko, Daichovo, Thracian Rachenitsa, and on and on! We also have met up with the Swiss Bulgarian choir, Sedjanka, who are also here. We found a few songs in common -- Ergen Dedo, Brala Moma, Oj mori Kavale, etc.

Earlier today we were interviewed for "Life is Beautiful and Delicious", a cooking show with Uti. We sang a few songs in the park for the camera, and were interviewed one by one about our favorite foods, songs, and dances. We also had a swim in the Black Sea in the morning, which was delightfully cool. Before dinner, we performed in the local square for an audience in the light rain. We were presented with flowers and souvenir gift bags - how nice!

Tomorrow morning, we'll be on Bulgarian National Television from 9:30-10, singing a 30 minute set. If you're in Bulgaria, you should tune in!

The trip to Varna

Hila here. As Jill mentioned, Neno ferried us across country, past endless fields of sunflowers, through the old capital of Veliko Tarnovo, to Varna on the Black Sea. We didn't stop in Veliko Tarnovo but it was beautiful -- a green mountain town. We also passed a field busy with storks, picnicking on whatever a tractor was overturning. Tzvetanka said that sighting a stork is good luck.

We spent our bus ride talking and singing, and Tzvetanka taught us a heavily ornamented song from the Strandzha Mountains.

We stopped for lunch (kebabche, kefte, and moussaka from the party the night before, bread, and yogurt) in the village of Antonovo. Ramona and I went on a walk and found a mulberry tree with very high fruit. We tried to get the berries fireman-style, with Ramona holding my shawl below and me jumping to grab hold of a branch to shake down the berries. We got just one ripe white berry when we spotted some boys driving a horse cart and Ramona flagged them over to help. We thought to use their cart but one boy climbed the tree for us and started tearing off whole branches to throw in my shawl. Yield: about 10 berries. One of the Cristos (they insisted that they were all named Cristo) blew pretty impressive rings with his cigarette smoke. They can't have been older than 12.

Varna is a pretty beach city, lots of open squares and a promenade of restaurants, girls in summer dresses, street vendors and buskers. Last night we visited Radio Varna for a performance and live recording of two tight vocal ensembles and some talented young instrumental groups. Then we performed a couple of songs live on Bulgarian radio. Our arrangements were not as complex as some of the ones we heard (hooray we can learn them) but we were so well-received. As soon as we sang the first phrase of Rano Ranila the audience began clapping -- perhaps a mix of surprise that a group of raggedy Americans (we sure felt raggedy after our day-long bus ride) could actually pull it off, and happiness that there are people out there studying Bulgarian music.

Driving across the country

Jill: We're spending the day driving from Sofia to Varna on the Black Sea. Rather, Neno our driver is doing the driving and we are entertaining ourselves with talk, games, singing and more singing.  I can't update you on last night's party because I crashed at 4 pm. 

We spent the day in downtown Sofia. Taking the year-old Metro was fun. Seattle could benefit from how quickly the Bulgarians worked out new public transportation. 

Ivan led us on a tour of St. Alexander Nevsky monumental cathedral. We shopped at a nearby open air market and bought treasures for friends and family (and ourselves).  After a quick lunch some of us continued on to the Sofia Synagogue, a building which combines Ashkenazi and Sefardi architectural styles. 

The cathedral

Inside the synagogue 

As I said, I crashed after all this walking but did sleep through the night. 

We should arrive in Varna within the hour. More later!

Jill, Hila, Meredith and baby E at the synagogue. Our little shtetl within Dunava!

We're in Sofia!

Jen here. We've made it to Sofia, where we were warmly greeted by Tzvetanka and Ivan Varimezovi at the airport midday.

It was exciting to read signs in Bulgarian! I'm glad that I studied before coming so I can read. (That only goes so far, though, when you don't know if you're putting salt or sugar in your coffee. Then you have to go old school, take a risk, and take a taste!) It turns out, "sol", even though you can read the word "ekstra", which might be extra-sugar -- "sol" still means salt.  :) 

Six of us walked around our neighborhood, Nadezhda, which means "hope" in Bulgarian. It has its share of run down, old Soviet era buildings, but is not short on charm.  Already, we've had some very lovely exchanges with shopkeepers & bank tellers. I successfully exchanged dollars for leva, learned the word for cents - "stotinki", and had fun purchasing cherry juice, "vishna". We observed lots of beautiful pastries that we will no doubt sample at some point. But, we were saving room for our big dinner at Tzvetanka's house. Good thing we did -- there were big chunks of feta, deep red tomatoes & fresh cucumber from the garden (which I turned in to "shopska salata"on my plate - so good!), freshly baked moussaka, dark black olives, salami and kashkaval cheese, lukanka (sausage) and of course, the most delicious part of the meal -- singing with Tzvetanka & Ivan after dinner.  

Most of us made it until about 8 pm for bed, and then crashed out until 4 am.  Most of us experienced the "lay flat, lie still, for just a little longer" phenomenon, but we had a lovely pre-breakfast of plums picked from the garden, apricot, cherry, and black currant juice, watermelon, and honeydew melon. There's banitsa waiting for us at T & I's house before we are off to sight see Sofia for the day.   

We have our first dinner with local musicians tonight -- hope we stay awake! 

 Ramona is jumping for plums!

 Moussaka! 

Leaving Monday

Jill: We leave for Bulgaria Monday morning (except Christy and Tedy, who are already there). We're hoping for safe travels, lots of great music, and an even more authentic Bulgarian sound. Thanks again to all those who helped fund this trip through their donations of both money and time. Blagodarya!

Packing and getting ready

Jill here: We have lists and lists of what to bring to Bulgaria! Clothing, shoes, music, folders for more music (in the A4 paper size), medicines, bathing suits, calls to banks, etc. It's getting close to take off time!

(Of course two Dunavites are already in Europe visiting family. But the rest of us depart a week from today.)

I personally think I have shopped enough, borrowed enough, and found the perfect stuff to bring. But then today I saw an RFID passport-sized wallet at the drugstore of all places and decided this was another must-have item.


Who knew international travel could be this complicated??