Signs of Spring in Blagoevgrad

Blagoevgrad has been moving toward spring, however stubbornly slowly, this winter.  The frigid temperatures and snow appear to be giving way to warmer days and sunshine.  There are other signs of spring as well.  Last Sunday, Bulgarians celebrated Sirni Zagovezni.  This celebration marks the last day before the beginning of the Orthodox season of 'Great Lent' (similar to the Catholic and Protestant ideas of Lent in that it includes fasting and sacrifice, but different in that it begins on "Clean Monday" rather than "Ash Wednesday."  Also, FYI, this year the Orthodox churches will not celebrate Easter on the same date as the churches in the west).

To prepare for the beginning of Great Lent, the people ask one another for forgiveness on Sirni Zagovezni.  As such, this holiday is also called "forgiveness Sunday."  If you have a long standing grudge, especially with a family member, this is the day to get it resolved.  However, the day is also a celebration, complete with a Sunday feast and games.  It is also sometimes called "cheesefare Sunday" (three names for one holiday - that's impressive) as it is the last day that the Orthodox people will eat cheese or meat until Easter.

Finally, there are some party elements to this holiday.  Some people in the country perform certain dances and start bonfires to keep up ancient traditions.  And of course, there is the traditional "make the kid catch the hard boiled egg on fishing line" game.  Good fun for all involved.

So close.....

Got it!!!

All things considered, it seemed to be a mix of Fat Tuesday and Yom Kippur.  With a hard boiled egg pinata element.  Interesting.

This holiday is certainly a sign of spring, but it is not the only one that popped up in town last week.  On Wednesday, Mark noticed a student protest on campus.  As Mark remembers from his days at Grinnell College, there was usually someone upset about something, but most of the protests were delayed until the weather got a little better.  Your "Hell no, we won't go!" has much greater credibility when the protesters are not shivering when they yell it.  Surely, this protest is as sure a sign of spring as a robin red-breast on the window sill.

Protesters storming the castle

Occupy AUBG?

Mark vaguely remembers Grinnellian protests against sweat shop products being sold in the college bookstore, the serving of meat in the dining halls (that was a tough sell in central Iowa, if memory serves), and the cancellation of a syndicated broadcast of the Simpsons.  Good times.  And it's good to see the spirit of protest alive and well with this group of today's students.

And for those who are interested, what was the issue at .... issue?  New meal plan policy.

Hell no, we won't .... eat!

So with all of these signs already apparent, the ultimate harbinger of spring cannot be far off.....  Spring break starts on Saturday.  No word on where Anne and Mark might be headed off to, but rumors are that they are working on their skills in the fields of speaking French and riding camels.   Any guesses?

Happy Baba Marta!!!

I'll take the red and white one.

Today, March 1, used to be celebrated as the first day of the new year.  (This was a long time ago before we moved all New Year's celebrations to Dec. 31/Jan. 1 to co-incide with the broadcast of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve program.)  Back then, and since it was before Dick Clark this must have been 800 or a 1000 years ago at least, spring was the beginning of the new year and March 1 was when they expected spring to get here.

In modern times, the Bulgarians still celebrate this holiday that isn't, but now they refer to it as Baba Marta day.  "Baba Marta" is roughly translated as "Grandma March."  And if you want the mythical Grandma March to bring you favor, as we all surely do, you wear a martenitsa on your wrist or elsewhere starting on March 1 until either March 22 or until you see a stork or until you see a tree with new buds on it.  This please Grandma March.  Good luck automatically ensues.

Mark's dainty wrist models the martenitsa.

There are not a lot of rules about what a martenitsa looks like other than that it must be red and white.  This is necessary to pay homage to a falcon that helped Huba find her brother Khan Asparuh in the new land called Bulgaria.  Or something like that.  Anyway, as long as you got that part down, the rest is up to the creativity of the ... martenista?  And there are many of them.  Craftspeople set up tables all around the pedestrian areas of town to peddle their martenitsas.

San Diego, San Francisco, San... Danski?

The last few weeks, well, all of 2012 in fact, have been unusually cold and nasty in Eastern Europe.  It usually gets cold here in the winter, but it does not usually STAY cold.  This winter has been consistently cold and snowy.  And because most winters do not have sustained cold and snow, Blagoevgrad is not particularly well suited to handle it.  As a result, it is difficult to get around and many people are spending more time in their homes.  Mark is happy to spend a little extra time at home now and again, but he has already read most of his English-language books and can only take so much of the local television.  I mean seriously, what is this?

Wow.

So, after a few weeks of this, a bit of cabin fever has snuck into the land.  To fight this off, Krassi and Zlatina planned a get-away weekend in Sandanski.  (*editor's note: "Sandanski" has two "n"s, not one, and has nothing to do with Penn State)

Sandanski is well known in Bulgaria as a spa town.  It does not have the weather of San Diego and is not so cosmopolitan as San Francisco, but you still know it must be a tourist hot spot because its name begins with "San."

The city dates back to pre-Roman times when the Thracians founded a settlement to utilize the water coming from the natural hot springs there.  Those springs are still bubbling up today and several hotels and resorts have sprung up around them offering spas and respite to weary Bulgarians and Greeks.  And Mark.

"Walk-through" style ruins from the fourth century.  According to the placard next to the ruins, this was the house of a bishop and the buildings that surrounded it.

There are several large hotels in Sandanski, but the particular resort Mark and the crew stayed at was called the  Sveti Vrach.

"Sveti Vrach"

This phrase is roughly translated as "Saint Doctor" or "Saint Healer."  Apparently, there used to be men who lived near the hot springs who claimed that the waters of the springs had healing powers.  If you had an ailment, you went to find of these men and asked them to heal you with the spring waters.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but the nickname for the healers stuck.

The resort is known as the retreat of the former president of Bulgaria.  Kind of like a socialist Kennebunkport.

Oh, if these walls could talk.    Actually, nevermind.  Even if they could talk, it would probably be in Bulgarian.

The top floor of the resort still has the same floor plan that the former president used, but now anyone can rent it out.  And it's not a terrible deal.  For about $500/night, you can live like a Cold War big-shot with your own suite consisting of a grand room, conference room, office (with red phone, now used to order room service) and six bedrooms, enough for you and most of your cabinet to spend a long weekend working out the issues of the day.

The master bathroom.  At the far end is the tub, then to the left is where you stand to use the shower (no curtain).  In the left foreground is the toilet.  Between the toilet and the shower is.... the drinking fountain?  These guys thought of everything.

The main attractions of the resort are the swimming pool filled with water from the hot springs and the outdoor hot tub.

Mark has been called, not inaccurately, an "avid indoorsman."  This is a fair characterization.  However, a hot tub overlooking the snow covered scene is not exactly the same as hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Rest assured, Mark made due.  In the hot tub (not hiking).

A photo of Zlatina taking a photo of Krassi.  Totally artsy.

Cultural Exchange

View from the cheap seats.

For those of you who do not know, Super Bowl XLVI was played this past weekend between the New York Giants and the New England Tom Bradys (at least that is what it seemed to be based on the commentary of the announcers calling the game).  Anyway, for those of you in the United States, you recognize that the game starts at the beginning of prime time (6:30 EST - Eastern Standard Time), following a brief 6-hour pre-game show. However, in Blagoevgrad, kickoff was just after 1:30 am (that's EEST - Eastern Europe Standard Time).  A few hours later, the Giants were awarded the Lombardi Trophy just before the sun rose over the Pirin Mountains.

However, despite this early Monday morning start time, as you can see in the photo above the student body of AUBG was out in force for this cultural experience/ sports holiday.  The AUBG American Football Club (Go Griffins!) arranged a Super Bowl party in the multi-purpose room of the dorms and put the game up on the big screen.

This Super Bowl party was not unlike several others that Mark has attended.  There was at least one person wearing an NFL jersey (granted, it was a jersey of a kicker who was on a team that was not in any way involved in the game, but still....).  There were arguments about the game.  For example, there were arguments about whether Wes Welker should have caught that pass (he should have), whether Ahmad Bradshaw should have gone down before scoring (yes, he should have) and whether the Patriots' defense allowed Bradshaw to score with under a minute remaining.  Although the first two questions were eventually agreed upon, no consensus could be reached on what the Patriots' defense was doing, as the room was evenly split between those who believed they were allowing Bradshaw to score so Brady could get the ball back and try to win and those who believed that they were simply doing their best impression of the parting of the Red Sea.  Also, like most Super Bowl parties in the U.S., there were several people attending who cared more about the advertisements than about the football.  For the record, going strictly based on crowd reaction the biggest hits appeared to be the ad for skechers and the ad for Oikos Yogurt in which John Stamos gets lit up by his girlfriend via headbutt.

Marketing 101: You can not go wrong using a moonwalking bulldog to sell athletic shoes.

Have Mercy.  (If you get that reference, please don't tell anyone that it was made on this blog)

If you are interested in seeing John Stamos getting knocked on his bum, Anne and Mark advise you to check it out ASAP.  Apparently, the ad used music without attribution and someone is going to sue someone over it.  C'est la vie.  However, if this litigation is successful, this valuable John Stamos footage will be removed from the interwebs and we will only have photos like this to remember him by:

Ever miss the 80s?  

As "cultural ambassadors," Anne and Mark often bring small parts of American culture to the AUBG community.  It appears that the Super Bowl has caught on with at least a segment of the population, but that has little to do with anything Anne and Mark may have done.   

It is always nice to see that the people of AUBG have begun to appreciate some of the parts of American culture.  One person at AUBG decided to assemble a collage of photos of Justin Bieber, for example.  Here is a sample of it:

That's a lot of Bieber.

Now, we are not here to nit pick, but we do recognize that Mr. Bieber is actually Canadian, not American.  However, the effort is appreciated, so much so, in fact, that Anne and Mark will include another view of the collage....

Good looking collage.

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, er, Temperatures

View from El Yunque Rain Forest.  Could do worse...

Ever had that feeling where you wake up one day and know that you should stay right where you are, but you get out of bed anyway and go on with the plans you had made previously?  If you do not know this feeling, go to Puerto Rico in winter time, stay for a few days and enjoy the 82 degree temperatures every day, and then buy a plane ticket to return to Bulgaria.  Then you will know the feeling.

View from beach on northeast side of the island at sunset.  It ain't all bad...

This is not to say that Bulgaria is a bad place, but rather to say that in the course of a day you trade in landscapes like the two above for landscapes like the one pictured below:

View from Anne's and Mark's balcony.  Ugh.

Any takers on that trade?

While in Puerto Rico, Anne and Mark were blissfully unaware of the weather conditions in Eastern Europe or of those to come in late January.  Keep in mind that Bulgaria has basically a Mediterranean climate - there are palm trees in the town square, for crying out loud.  Last year on St. Trifon's Day (Feb. 14), Anne and Mark were invited to an outdoor celebration, basically a BBQ in mid-February.  Winter weather is not supposed to be frigid here.

However, this winter has been colder than most, according to locals with long memories.  I have heard reports that the temperature in Blagoevgrad was around -10 Celsius.  Many of us are unfamiliar with the Celsius scale, so to make this figure a bit more "real" Mark can report that '-10 Celsius' is what folks in Minnesota refer to "a bit nippy."  Still not cold per se ("It's only cold if your spit shatters when it hits the ground), but one can sense a definite chill in the air.

Normally, for a Minnesotan, especially one with Mark's level of ... "insulation," this would not be anything to write home about.  However, seeing this waterfall:

.... so soon after frolicking in this waterfall

makes it a much more difficult adjustment.  (yes, big men can "frolic")

All of these pictures of Puerto Rico leads Mark to daydream one last time about the warm adventures there while hiding from the cold here in Blagoevgrad.  Once such memory is of the weekend of January 12.  On that weekend, the city of San Juan celebrated the festival de la Calle de San Sebastian.

As suggested by the name of the festival, the party was centered around Calle de San Sebastian.  When Anne and Mark were at the car rental place getting helpful advice from the customer service staff ("You have to be tough to drive in Puerto Rico" and "Ever driven in New York?" were the ways that the guy described local drivers), the guy at the desk tried to explain the festival.  From what they could gather, Anne and Mark have concluded that the festival celebrates a saint who may have done something in Puerto Rico or somewhere else, and, much more importantly to the guy explaining to us, this festival was featured in the 1992 Martin Short-Kurt Russell comedy/docudrama tear-jerker Captain Ron.

In any event, Anne and Mark still do not know much about Saint Sebastian, but if they had to guess based on this festival, he is probably the patron saint of stilt-dancers, regular dancers, people walking in parades even though they are not "in" the parade, the queen of the festival and her creepy, Johnny Cash-wannabe uncle, odd over-sized head costumes, and super awesome dance troupes (ok, maybe there was only one, but it was sufficiently awesome to made the video twice).  And.... roll clip!

Puerto Rico 101

When visiting new places, Anne and Mark almost always learn new things.  Sometimes tour guides or locals explain things to Anne and Mark, but usually they just figure it out on their own.  This is the case in any new place they visit, but for some reason they feel like they may have learned an extra large amount on their visit to Puerto Rico.  For example, in the photo above, a local lizard poses on a sign that says "Bienvenidos."  After taking the picture, Anne and Mark realized that they had just learned not only that lizards could pose for pictures, but also that apparently, 'Bienvenidos' is the magic command that makes them stand perfectly still.  Who knew?

Not every lesson was quite that profound.  For example, one day on the beach, Anne and Mark learned the importance of knowing where your light source is when taking a picture.  

At least we think this is Anne and Mark...

They are still not sure where the light source is supposed to be relative to the subject of the photo, but they did learn that this arrangement doesn't really work.  Live and learn.

They also learned some specific things about religion and the holidays in Puerto Rico.  For example, they learned that even in January, it can be too sunny to take a decent picture of the Christmas tree.

El Tannenbaum?

One day, Anne and Mark visited a local landmark cathedral that dated back to the Spanish colonial days.  There was certainly a lot for them to learn there.  For example, they learned that angels can have multiple different haircuts ...

Cherubim with the 'bowl cut,' Seraphim get the curls?

... and that some religious sculptures include territorial flags (Anne and Mark had of course seen religious sculpture with state and national flags, but never flying the colors of a territory).

Mary, Jesus and La Bandera

Anne and Mark also visited some of the national monuments located on Puerto Rico.  In the old section of San Juan, Anne and Mark visited the two old Spanish forts there, the Castillo San Cristobal and the Castillo San Filipe Del Morro.  While touring these facilities now under the control of the US National Park Service, Mark learned that if you fall down on the staircase (even as a joke) ....

.... a park ranger will come over to check on you and offer assistance.

"Um, no, I was just joking, no need for an ambulance...."

In addition to the protection and service of the national park service, Anne and Mark also learned a bit about the services provided by the local governmental authorities.  In particular, Anne and Mark learned that the authorities governing the public beaches in Puerto Rico are wildly optimistic, but a bit strict.  Consider this (actual, non-photoshopped) photo of a sign taken at a public beach on the eastern end of the island:

Notice anything noteworthy?  That the sign is all in Spanish?  True, but this is not that surprising since most everything on the island is in Spanish.  It's what they speak there.  Anything else?  That word - Bienvenidos - they must be telling a lizard to pose...  Anything else?  How about that picture on the top row, on the left.

Seems a bit optimistic to expect enough snow, especially this close to the El Nino year...

Admittedly, Anne is an Iowa native and Mark is from the great state of Minnesota, so they may be biased.  But to our midwestern adventurers, that looks an awful lot like a snowmobile.  

And consider this other symbol on the sign:

As you can imagine, Anne and Mark did not frolic on this particular beach.  Two reasons.  First, the beach appears to prohibit.... well, women and men.  Bummer.  Second, the beach appears to allow snowmobiles.  While Anne and Mark did remember their cameras and flip-flops, they could not fit the snowmobile into the carry-on.  Too bad.

Lastly, and most importantly, Anne and Mark learned a few things about the people who actually live in Puerto Rico.  All in all, they were very friendly.  They seemed to be having a great time and enjoying life.  For example this guy:

Anne and Mark also learned that this guy was not moving until he got a dollar.

Someday - any day - Mark hopes to be half as happy as that guy appeared to be.  Carry on, my friend.

And why would the people of Puerto Rico not be happy?  Great weather, no federal income taxes.  What else could you ask for?  Anne and Mark learned that in addition to the aforementioned tax advantages, the people of Puerto Rico also enjoy the finer things in life.  For example, a bottle of booze that goes for about $2K and air conditioning in their cars.

This is the life.

I'll have a case, please

Seems legit.

Wet and Wild

If you visit El Junque rain forest and it does not rain, you get your admission price refunded.

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island that is a territory of the United States.  San Juan is its capital city.  San Juan is also home to an airport that is serviced by AirTran Airlines.  Since Anne and Mark have been racking up frequent flier miles that they could now redeem from AirTran, they decided to spend the last week of winter break in Puerto Rico. 

Anne and Mark realize that some of the readers of this space may be somewhat geographically challenged, particularly on U.S. territories.  So, in an effort to help out, Anne and Mark have posted the approximate location of Puerto Rico (relative to some well-known landmarks).  You're welcome.

For orientation, this map shows the area directly south of Atlantis.

There are tons of recreational activities available on the island, as it boasts both beaches and a rain forest.  In a visit to either place, you are well advised to bring your swimming gear.  The rain forest is visited several times each day by, you guessed it, rain.  The beaches are generally clean and easily accessed and are suitable for all sorts of oceanside fun.

Anne and Mark first visited the El Junque National Forest.  This is the only legitimate rain forest in the United States.  As such, Anne and Mark (who are Americans), have spent some time in forests, but do not have a great deal of experience in rain forests.  So, on this visit they learned a few things.  First and foremost, the name - RAIN forest - is no joke.  It rains and stops and rains and stops and rains and stops.  Kind of like at the Rain Forest Cafe.  The difference is that the food at El Junque was a little better.  Go figure.

Before Mark attempted to climb it, this tree was perfectly vertical.  True story.

Mark was, as usual, tricked into hiking by the nefarious tactics of Anne.  As has been chronicled in this space on several occasions, Mark has a body type that is not built for hiking (or cardiovascular activity of any kind or vegetables or middle seats on airplanes or getting pushed around by small Venetian women or shirts that are XL or smaller or .... I could go on, but let's try to stay focused here).  After .7 kilometers (which is approximately "miles and miles" according to Mark's complaint filed with the El Junque National Forest) of hiking through "dense and undeveloped brush" (again, these are the terms taken from the complaint filed by Mark - the National Forest authority refers to the same path as a "partially paved trail"), Anne and Mark found the El Mina waterfall - one of the most popular sites for visitors in the forest.

For those of you who do not speak Spanish, 'El Mina' is Spanish for 'the Mina.'

Anne's death march through the jungle ("hike") began early in the morning, so when Anne and Mark arrived, no one else was present at the falls.  So, despite it being 7:30 am in early January, Anne and Mark switched over to swimming gear and jumped in the waterfall.

Mark takes advantage of 'nature's changing room' and shows off his sweet "6 months in Bulgaria" tan.

Anne's head floats into El Mina falls.

Later, on a separate day, in fact, Anne and Mark engaged in the beach variety of recreational activities that Puerto Rico had to offer.  They took a catamaran ride on the eastern side of the island (they were staying in a town called Ceiba, which is on the eastern side) and stopped off at a couple of places to snorkel.  At the second stop, Mark jumped in the water and, after a few minutes, spotted a stingray trolling on the sea floor.  Mark popped his head up to alert nearby snorkelers to this find.  One of the crew members on the catamaran heard Mark and suggested that Mark dive to the bottom and grab the ray on the outside of its fins and take a ride.  Needless to say, that catamaran company got a poor review on tripadvisor.com.

The other highlight of the snorkel adventure was probably the discovery of Anne's newfound calling as the fish whisperer.  While Mark splashed about in slow, lazy circles, Anne was consistently surrounded by fish of all stripes.  She even had them virtually eating out of her hand.

Nice grab, my friend.

After a long day of vacationing, there's no better way than to top it off with a walk on the beach.  Anne and Mark don't mind if they do.