Selska Rabota: Village Stuff

Spring is here and people are beginning to emerge from their winter hibernation. It's still too early to start planting most things, but the fields have to be fertilized, cleared, and tilled. Yesterday was sunny and beautiful so I went for a long walk--here are the things I saw:

This is what you do with your martinitsi when you see a budding tree

Terraced fields

This is the path I was on...I've lived here for 8 months now and still can't get over these views!






The second grader gets a turn with the shovel while her family takes a rest


Fields marked with boundary stones


Using horses to transport fertilizer to the fields




I thought sheep only looked this pastoral and perfect in story books


A couple other interesting things...
Ramadan and Rufie let me participate with them in a "Martli Kortli" ritual. It involves lighting little fires with hay and then dancing around/over them while ringing a large bell and singing a song to scare away snakes and other evil things for the year. We made fires all around their house and then went to the kindergarten too.

Derya, my landlords' granddaughter had her 2nd birthday recently. Her big surprise present was a real rabbit from her older cousin :)

Baba Mart

There's no lack of holidays in Bulgaria. On the 1st of March we celebrate Baba Mart (Grandmother March) by making martinitsi--creations with red and white pieces of string. They are most often made into bracelets which you wear until you see the first stork--a sure sign that spring has arrived. Here are some pics from a martinitsa-making contest in the library with the kids:

Another recent activity for kids in the library was a contest to commemorate one of their revolutionary heroes--Vasil Levsky. Rufie wrote up a test with trivia from Levsky's life and then we had the kids work in pairs at the computers. They were supposed to answer the questions they knew and look for the ones that they didn't on-line. Whoever finished first with 100% accuracy was the winning team.

The 8th of March is Women's Day. In Bulgaria it's celebrated somewhat like Mother's Day in the states. The chitalishte (cultural center/library) put on a program for widows and single mothers. It was hosted at the school with lots of food, drinks, and dancing--including dances performed by the kids.

And then there was the program in the kindergarten for the mothers...

Last Saturday I was able to escape Gyovren by catching a ride with the bread delivery man at 5:50am (there are no weekend buses). His route took me within a few kilometers of a ski resort. When we left, it was snowing, but by mid-morning the sky was piercingly blue and the slopes were covered with fresh powder.

In case you're worried that all I do is celebrate holidays and play (not far from the truth!), here are some pictures from the project that Rufie and I submitted in mid-February. We applied for funding to make a garden/tourist rest area near the entrance to the village, next to a historical mosque. The land is currently undeveloped and there is no information about the mosque or the village from the main road. But, since during tourist season up to 1000 cars pass by this spot everyday on their way to visit a nearby cave, there is big potential to attract tourists who previously just didn't know Gyovren existed. We will find out next week if we are approved for the funding.