He Could'a Pinned A Medal On Us For Bein' So Brave And Honest

Now that I've gotten my little rant out of the way, I can give you guys a real update (with pictures, though they don't seem to format properly. Check the URL if you want to see the whole thing). First:

From the time we got onto the bus in Philly, we were in transit for over 24 hours (once you include the layovers). This was not, as they say, much fun.



Ahhh, sweet freedom.







There were quite a few of us on that trip, and it was considerably more than a 3 hour tour.



Our arrival at Panichiste. A traditional Bulgarian offering of bread and salt.

Once we arrived, we had a basic run-down of what orientation was going to be like, had dinner, and got to explore a bit. The resort we were staying at was absolutely breathtaking.







In the winter, this place is a ski resort.





After 4 days of getting to know each other and a crash-course in what to expect, we went to Dupnitsa, where we met our host families (this was on Friday):



Eva and Pando. She's a retired teacher, he's a digger (I believe) who was a colonel in the Bulgarian military (drove tanks).





We basically had the weekend to get acclimated to the city, so Eva showed me around. On Sunday, Evan and I went to Rila Monastary with the son of one of Pando's friends. The monastary really is just beyond words, so I'll let my photos do most of the talking:



Rila mountain.



The outside of the monastary



The courtyard, with the church.







Panorama of the courtyard.















Some of the iconography on the outside of the church. The whole building was covered with it, outside and in. I thought that the Ufizi Gallery was impressive in using every surface, but that had nothing on this. The interior iconography incorporated giltwork (gold sun-discs, silver hands, that sort of thing). I can only imagine how long it must have taken.



Rila Monastary and mountain.



Tony, Eva ,Tony's sister and nephew (also named Alexander, or Sasho, interestingly enough).

This week, it's been back to heavy-duty Bulgarian lessons, as well as being introduced to the school where we'll be getting our TEFL practice. Should be fun. More updates as they happen, I suppose.

Later, all.