Catch A Couch And You're Sitting On Top Of The World!

You've probably been asking this whole time, how does that Andrew kid keep finding those wonderful hosts he writes about? And if you haven't been asking, well then, you should be!

I've been participating in a project at http://www.couchsurfing.com/ that puts travelers in touch with one another. It's based on facilitating culture exchanges between travelers who want more than the typical tourist activities from their travels.

It works like this:

• If you're a traveler (a person who loves to travel), but you're not currently traveling - you offer up your couch for fellow travelers. This gives them a place to stay while you both engage in cross cultural exchanges. But it's not just for lodging. Some people are uncomfortable with letting strangers stay at their homes, so they simply meet them for coffee or a drink, or show them around their city. The main idea, though, is to facilitate culture exchange through dialogue - just like our Supercross08 project!
• If you're a traveler on the road, you can search a database of fellow travelers and find someone who is willing to host you!

The entire project is free on both sides, guest and host, but gifts are common and very polite. This can range from a trinket from your home town, to a bottle of wine, or even cooking a meal! Of course, none of this is necessary, but being that I'm super nice, I always try to find some way to give something of myself to my host.

You may now be asking, is that Andrew kid crazy? He's been staying with complete strangers this whole time! Ok, so it's true I've been staying at the homes of complete strangers, but it's not so crazy! It just takes a bit of openness and flexibility because each situation is completely different!

I've stayed in amazingly clean and new apartments, and I've stayed in apartments where everything inside has been salvaged from city dumpsters. I've used showers more high tech than I've ever seen, and I've had to take a bucket bath, or go without. I've slept on the floor in a hallway, and I've slept in super comfortable beds in separate rooms. I've had to share a bed with a drunk, snoring, puking guy, and I've gotten to share a bed with a beautiful woman. I've been handed keys to the flat and been told 'see ya', and I've been locked in (and out) of flats for hours at a time. I've also been accompanied, non-stop, by my host so there's no need for a key! I've had to walk miles following poor directions to find my host's home, and I've been picked up at the airport and greeted with a hug. I've stayed with hosts as old as 60, and as young as 18. I've stayed with a host for as long as two weeks, and I've stayed with a host for as little as three hours.

I've been surfing couches since before our project began, and on this trip, I haven't had to pay for a hotel or hostel since early March! I've stayed with students, doctors, nurses, journalists, writers, translators, bankers, managers, engineers, artists, psychologists, teachers, factory workers, sailors, computer programers, Peace Corps Volunteers, program coordinators, cashiers, retired folks, unemployed people, sales people, gay people, transsexual people, straight people, buddhists, and just about every type of person you could think of! I've cooked meals for my hosts, and I've received meals from my hosts. I've had conversations that challenge my mind, and I've had conversations that challenge my patience. I've been entertained by wild stories and crazy people, and I've been bored with people that I fail to click with. I've made friends for a weekend, and I've made friends for life. I've shared laughs, ideas, inspiration, motivation, stories, recipes, and my super cool jacket with various hosts along the way! Every experience is totally different, and it's an adventure each time!

Here is a typical account of couchsurfing (And when I say 'typical' I mean totally unique!):

My host met me at the bus station and we went back to her apartment to drop off my stuff. We talked about university coursework and the differences between universities in Europe and the United States. Then we went off to meet her friends. It started raining so we just hung out in their apartment, cooked dinner and drank wine! They didn't have a corkscrew so they used a screw and a pair of pliars to get the cork out of the wine bottle! Clever girls! Two nights later and one country to the south, I surfed the couch of the stage manager at The New Riga Theater, the largest theater in all of Latvia. I met my host at a landmark that we had talked about through emails. She took me to her flat and I dropped off my stuff and then we headed to the theater. It was the last performance of the season, Revizor (The Inspector General). She got me a free ticket in the second row and printed out summaries of the three acts in English. The opening scene went like this: The curtains were drawn and there were three roosters on the stage. Everything was silent. Suddenly, one cock mounted another and there was lots of unpleasant squawking! Everyone laughed! Then the actors came onto the stage, which was set up like an old Russian soup kitchen. They all did different things, working or eating, each making different noises that came together and made music! Music by kitchen utensils! I was taken, and it was intense! Then they started speaking Latvian and I had to consult my notes to figure out what was going on. Three hours later, the show finished and I became a new fan of theater performances! Since my host is connected, I got to spend the rest of the night at the after party with all the actors and managers and technicians! It was super cool! The very next night I was in a different city, a different country even, ice skating my brains out with my host and earning a quarter sized blister on the arch of my foot! Two days later, I used my sore foot to climb to the roof of a 15 story communist style apartment block that was never finished, to have donuts and tea for breakfast!Of course, it's not all smiles, laughs, and free dinners. I've been stranded by someone telling me that it was ok to come to their town, but they didn't show up to meet me, and wouldn't answer my calls. I didn't have a backup plan prepared so I was pretty much stuck. And then there was the time that a drunk guy crawled into bed with me, puked and started snoring. Cigarette smoke always kills me so I usually try to avoid smokers... but it doesn't always happen. There are also those random, nasty dogs that hump my leg...

What Couchsurfing is, though, is fantastic - every time! No matter the level of happiness I achieve as an outcome from my experiences with Couchsurfing, each experience is enlightening. And that is what the project is designed for. As with Supercross08, the ideals are based on cultural understanding through direct contact and exchange. In fact, Couchsurfing has helped a great deal with our Supercross08 project. Tim and I have organized entire discussion groups through Couchsurfing contacts! But beyond that, the project lets us facilitate our goals on an individual, and daily, basis rather than in large organized, but infrequent groups. It's a powerful tool that gives impressive insight into whichever cultures of the world you happen to find yourself in. And it allows for great opportunity to share yourself and your own culture with the world!

I have experienced the kindness of strangers, and it's a wonderful thing! And to complete the exchange, I try to give as much kindness of myself, in the role of a stranger, as I possibly can! As a final thought, I'll share a song that's been stuck in my head for a few days, "Oooh baby, baby, it's a wild world! But I can get by just upon a smile!" That's how my version of the song goes, anyway. =)

If I've captured your curiosity, sign up for, and support, this culture exchange project at http://www.couchsurfing.com/! If you're curious about my experiences with Couchsurfing, take a look at my profile and see where I've been, who've I've surfed with, and what they've said about me - just click here!

I Came To A Land Up Yonder!

I started applying for a Russian visa in Moldova, about a month ago. It required that I get an invitation from a Russian travel agency so I found one online willing to sell me one. They faxed me the invitation and I headed down to the embassy with high hopes!

I met with a big, unsmiling Russian man who spoke bits and pieces of English.
"This is not acceptable", he informed me. "We need the original invitation. Not a facsimile."
I explained that I don't have a mailing address and this was all I had access to. "Isn't there anything you can do?" I implied.
"No. This is our law."
Well son of a gun. A Russian telling me bribes are out of the question. Crap.

So I headed on to my next stop - Ukraine. The Russian embassy in Ukraine accepted my faxed copy of an invitation, but would only give me a 14 day visa. This, too, was not acceptable as I had calculated that I'd need the 30 day visa in order to see everything I wanted to see. The travel agency I bought the invitation from told me that the embassy in Finland was fax friendly and issued 30 day visas! Such inconsistency! Go Russia!

I traveled to Helsinki hoping to finish this hassle and a half that it's been trying to get a Russian visa worked out! Very frustrating, having to have to travel so far out of my way... but... Hot damn! Finland is cool! I haven´t breathed air this clean since the Great Portuguese Deluge of 08, when Tim and I witnessed the cleaning of the air by torrential rain falls as we tried to sleep under the clouds! It´s an amazing thing to have clear skies, clean streets, green all around, and air that is truly refreshing! And I´m staying in a capital city! It reminds me of a magical land called America. Or at least my part of America - the good old Pacific Northwest! The bad rap America gets for leading the world in pollution is overshadowing the fact that America is leading most of the world in environmental regulations.

On my way down to the embassy to get my visa for Russia, a bird shit on me. I thought to myself, 'Some cultures believe this to be a sign of good luck!' After four frustrating hours inside the embassy, I reminded myself, 'Some cultures also believe that eating the brains of your dead relatives gives you their wisdom...' I'm gonna make an effort to stick closer to my own culture from now on. And that means bird poop is bad - just like my luck.

I handed over my application documents (plural) and passport to the smiling lady at the Russian embassy.
"Oh," she said upon seeing my nationality. "You will have to wait two weeks to get your visa."
Two weeks!?!?
"Isn't there some kind of express service or something? I mean, there has to be another way! Isn't there anything we can do that's a little faster," I pleaded.
I'm running out of time and I don't have two weeks to wait!
"It's not a question about money," she answered without feeling. "It's the policy for all American citizens."
Nooowww I get it. Thanks Mr. Bush. Your failures continue to make my life abroad an interesting challenge.
Frown.
"Go sit down over there, this is going to take a while," she said. Yeah, two freakin weeks!
I sat and waited for her to process my papers and return with a bill for a visa. Some crazy old coot sat down next to me, as he and I were the only Americans in the joint.
"Yeah, I left the U.S. back in '55 when the politics started getting bad. Lived in Sweden til eight years ago. Been livin' in St. Petersburg ever since. I think Americans are the most brainwashed people I ever met. You ever heard of that aspartame? You know, aspartame? It's got that formaldehyde in it. It's in everything, too! What do you think they put it in food for?" Slight pause - finally. "I'll tell ya." Thanks. "It's for population control. It causes 92 symptoms and one of them is brain tumors!" What an introduction! And it continued! "You know that Jacque Cousteau fella? He said that we ought to be killing 360,000 people a day to keep the earth healthy, or clean, or green, or whatever. I'm not an expert."
"Hi. I'm Andrew." My introduction was quite a bit shorter than his, as I was pretty much speechless.
"Nice ta meet ya." He continued as I tried to figure out if anyone was paying attention around us. "Ya know, this world is run by three different groups of about 12 people and I can name 'em all. One of 'em is in Europe and the other two are in America. They control economies with their wealth!"
"Is that so?" I asked. "Then why is America's economy in the dumps right now?"
"You think they care about you?" he countered. "They don't care about you. These are 200 foot yacht people. Not 100 foot yacht people."
With a smile on my face at this situation, I said, "Well don't you think that if they had the chance, they'd like to be 300 foot yacht people?"
"I see your point," he said quietly. "But it's actually the credit industry that controls the world."

He got cut off by the mean lady who told me I would have to wait two weeks as she called him up to collect his papers. I was next.

She handed everything back to me and said, "You will have to go back to your country of origin to apply for a visa."
What?!?!?! Insane!!! I asked her if there was any reason why.
"Oh, sure. Lots of reasons!" she said with a strange exclamation.
"Well can I know them?" I asked, completely dumbfounded at this situation.
"I'm sorry. I can't discuss it with you."

Hhhhh...... This is all that damned bird's fault.

I priced out a ticket back home and figured it would be cheaper to just head south to Estonia to try for a visa there. 'How Many Russian Embassies Can Andrew Find?' will be the title of my book.

I walked up to the window, now forcing a smile as natural ones have all been spent, and handed the lady my documents that I had downloaded from their website. She threw them away and handed me a couple different ones that weren't available online. I filled them out and returned them. She stamped some things and cut some others and then told me to go stand over there. I said, "OK", which in Russian translates to 'Yes ma'am!'

After only a couple hours, she returned with a bill! Woo hoo! I had to pay some guy some money and they took my passport away! That may sound like a bad combination of events, but to me, it was the pure feeling of relief! No more Russian embassies! So now I wait. 15 days. They'll let me enter Russia on June 25, but I have to leave by July 5. My 30 day Russian trip is now nine. It's a pretty big country to cross in only nine days so I've decided not to sleep while I'm there.

Although I still don't have a visa in hand (or a passport for that matter), I'm still considering myself successful! After only four embassies and five or six weeks of trying! Not bad! And I've been witness to some amazing things along the way - as I've surely written about. Though some things I haven't written about. My time in Finland, for example. In this case, I'm gonna let the pictures do the typing.




Plenty more of these pictures, with a slight description if you click here!

Now then, be happy for me! I'm going to Russia!

Ukraine in the Membrane! Ukraine in the Brain!

A lot happened for me in Ukraine, unfortunately, nothing ended up being a Supercross08 project.

So instead of writing about my lack of cultural exchange activities, I will present photodocumentation of a beautiful and exciting place!

I stayed with a guy named Robert Jackson. I met Robert in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria - we were from different groups, but lived in the same city. Robert teaches photography in Kiev and has a few development projects going on.This is a picture of the Arsenal factory in Kiev - one of the last strongholds of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Every weekend in Kiev, the town closes this main strip of the center, near Maidan, to traffic and opens it to pedestrians!
This picture is after a full day of people walking through town with their beers and vodkas listening to different street music, and a couple live concerts!

I got to see the campaign for the mayoral elections of Kiev and compare them to our own election processes. There were 76 candidates but the incumbent mayor managed to maintain his seat.
All over the city, the candidates put up booths like these and hired people to hand out propaganda. One popular trick empolyed by these candidates was to find a "friend" with the same name as an opposing candidate and pay them to run in the race! Clever!

Ukrainian fashion reminded me of a magical place called Bulgaria.
Hooray for Eastern Europe!

We spent five hours at a junk market searching for random camera things and just taking in the experience.
It was interesting to see what kinds of things would sell in Ukraine.

Robert took me to a village 70 kilometers outside of Kiev. We spent the day there hanging out with Robert's photography friend, Igor.
We hiked through the countryside to a resevoir and tried to get the perfect picture of the oncoming storm that almost took us over!

Spent a day checking out the Lavra - a religious site with lots of caves and orthodox churches and such.


Also checked out the war museum, topped with a monument of a towering metal woman holding a shield bearing the Soviet symbol of a hammer and sickle.










Here's a picture of a bit of discord in a place of unity!That was Ukraine according to me. There's more, of course. But if you want to know about it, you'll just have to go there and see it yourself.

More to come about my unending adventure called, "Trying to get into Russia!"

Unity In A Place Of Discord!

My time in Moldova was extremely enlightening. Moldova is a complex mix of cultures, people, and politics, struggling for their own identity. Before World War Two, this region was called, “Romania”… or at least, the Moldavian province of Romania. But then the Soviets moved in and claimed it as their own. The Moldavian province of Romania became a ‘proud’ part of the Soviet Union! At least until communism proved itself by falling apart. In 1989 Moldova became its own independent state and denied Romania’s offer to return to its territory.

Since then, Moldova has been dealing with some kind of identity issue. A quick example of this is the language: Russian or Romanian? Most people speak both. But depending on who you talk to, and their background, social class, city, family name, etc, it may be inappropriate to speak one or the other. Romanian is the official language of Moldova, but it’s called Moldovan. It’s as much Romanian in Moldova as it is English in Louisiana. I’m not picking on Louisiana – I’m simply saying that because of an accent, and an identity issue, it’s called Moldovan.

An interesting identity phenomenon in Moldova is a small piece of land called Transnistria. Transnistria is an ‘independent’ country between Moldova and Ukraine. It has its own police, military, currency, and politicians. The only thing it doesn’t have is respect! Transnistria isn’t recognized as a country by any other nation on the planet. It’s officially part of Moldova, but the people there claim that they’re part of the USSR. Not positive, but I assume they have modern things such as newspapers to inform them that the USSR doesn’t exist anymore. But I’ve been wrong before.

In Belti, Moldova, the non-Soviet part of the former Soviet state, I carried on the Supercross08 flame like a communist stamping documents and denying requests!

I managed to find one Jennifer Nelson, a current Peace Corps Volunteer, who ironically, is from Vancouver, WA! Through her, I met up with a youth group called Council for Unity. It’s a mixture of high school kids, nearly 60 strong. Though, on the particular day of my visit, only a handful showed up. A handful of enthused and smiling students were plenty for a nice discussion!

The Council for Unity is a few years old and works on many different projects within the community. Its members are all volunteers who donate their time to participate in several project areas: mass media, sport, and culture. Under these three departments have come many successful projects, including: a big brother/big sister program with the local orphanage, summer sports camps, running a school newspaper, debate competitions between students and teachers, community cleanups, as well as anti-smoking and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns! We had a chat about being a volunteer in the community and what motivated them to become active.It reminded me of the meeting Tim and I had in Cairo with Resala when we talked about Islam with a bunch of community volunteers at an orphanage. But unlike that meeting, none of these kids cited religion as being a factor for motivating them to be active.

My first question was simple: Why did you decide to join the Council for Unity? The first gal I asked, said that she joined the council for social reasons. She explained that she has lots of fun volunteering and gets an opportunity to meet new friends who share a similar interest. It’s a refreshing perspective on youth entertainment and very far from the norm of video games and time spent in front of the TV. The second guy in the circle we sat in said that he joined the council because he wanted to be a part of the change happening in his community. Or more specifically, he wanted to help influence that change. I love being active and I love it even more when I meet people who share the same passion for being active in their community! The rest of the responses were more or less the same as these two, or slight variations of them. We then focused on the specifics of the change they wanted in society.

Like other countries in this region, Moldova has its share of corruption and mafia. This corruption/development-anchor exists at many levels here. Even for high school students. Paying for grades, as they told me, is a common practice among their peers. It’s something students do to be able to compete for a place in a university. Their grades are on a 1 to 10 scale, and they said that if you’re good in history and get a 10, but bad in chemistry and get a 7, then you can’t get into college to study history. So a simple solution is to pay the teacher to give you a better grade in chemistry. After all, when is a historian likely to use chemistry? An interesting argument, I mused, realizing that I said the same thing when I was in high school, only I reversed the chemistry and history in my perspective. I explained to them that in hindsight, it wasn’t history that the history teachers were trying to teach me. They were trying to teach me how to learn so that when I finally made it to a university or life, I’d be ready to study and learn whatever came my way.

We talked about ways to have a positive affect on this particular aspect of corruption and discussed the possibility of the Council for Unity uniting students to boycott this ‘paying for grades’ practice. They key, they decided, was to get people to be responsible, to take responsibility for their actions. And the best way to do that was to increase participation in the community.

If you sit on the sidelines or manipulate the system for your advantage, you don’t have a personal connection with the way things happen in your community. But if you’re active in your community and participate in local events and clubs, then your connection to how society functions is increased and responsibility seems to fall into place as an obligatory part of the equation.The Council for Unity was created by youth leaders and is maintained by them as well. They’re fulfilling their duty with impressive efficiency, as their community participants are ever increasing and the change in their community becomes more evident with each project they complete. They’re responsible for the future of the community, and it’s a responsibility that they’ve proven they can handle.

Back in the USSR!

After four hours of fun train ride, I ended up at the wrong station in a town called Iasi (pronounced: yash). I had to walk to the next one and when I found it, it was also the wrong one. I got yelled at for walking over a red carpet in the station that had been rolled out, but apparently not for me. After giving my best lost-looks, I finally found where I needed to be to cross the border into Moldova.

I flirted my way through the Romanian customs line and got onto a small slow train that shuttles people across the border. On the train, there were a bunch of old babas smuggling not cigarettes, but colorful bathroom towels and baby toys into Moldova. I found it very funny, and later saw a large collection of these towels for sale at a local market. The Moldova border guard didn't know what to do with my passport. She kept holding it up to the light to see if it was real. She finally let me through, but customs didn't know what to do with me either. The guy sat me down and had me fill out some documents and told me to list all the currency and financial assets I had. I listed some Euro that I now keep as backup. He looked at the form, looked at me, and said, "Present".

I'm terrified of being asked for bribes, and my normal paranoia about spending money influenced me to hear, "Present?" I was slightly panicked, as there was no one else around, and if some customs guard wanted to take advantage of me, what rights did I have?

I looked at him like, 'Are you kidding me?' and waited for his response. It happened as "Present!" with the stress on the first syllable, as in 'show me'! haha!

It was raining and I was in a tiny, tiny border town, but I managed to find an ATM for some local currency. I conquered the bus system (stood around till someone offered to help me) and then took a bus to Balti. At the final stop the bus driver turned to me and said the name of the town. I got off and got my stuff out of the back, proud that I had finally made it here! I looked up at the driver who looked at me as if to say - 'Now what are you gonna do, kid?' so I smiled and showed him the address of my next host.

There were some university students standing near and offered to help with their English skills. I told them where I wanted to go and the driver motioned for me to get back in his little mini-bus. The two students came along and translated a conversation. The driver was hugely excited to be driving around an American! I don't think he'd ever met one before. He said something and I asked for a translation. The university student said, "He wants to know if you have any chewing gum." I felt like I was back in WW2 or something! It was hilarious!Welcome to Moldova!

On the Road Again!

Leaving Bulgaria was a hard thing for me to do. I've become quite attached to the lifestyle and of course, to the people with whom I've bonded. Reflecting on my departure I found a feeling almost identical to the one I have when I leave the states. I'm leaving my comfort zone. No longer secure. No longer absolutely safe. No longer in the company of my wonderful friends. Good news is, in most cases, friends are easy to come by when you're on the road!

I arrived in Bucharest, Romania to a rainy Monday morning. It was cold, I was hungry, I was tired, and my bank card wouldn't work in any of the four ATMs I tried. It's not the best combination of circumstances to be in. I went into a bank thinking that perhaps they could find a solution for me, being that banking is their business and all. "Nothing's wrong with our machine! Go try another ATM!", was the defensive response I got to my plea for help. "Gee wiz! Another ATM? Why, I've only thought of that four times already. Thanks for the advice, Mr. Banker! I'll be on my way now!" On my way to find someone else, that is!

I found a police officer that spoke great English and I asked him for some help. I decided that getting to my host was the best option. From there I could email my bank and complain properly. But I had to get there, and I had no money. I showed the cop the address I had to get to and asked if it was walkable.
"Oh no!", he said, "You'll need to take the subway or a bus."
"But I don't have any money." I explained.
"Well, you'll have to pay for the subway. But... You don't always have to pay for the bus." I laughed cause I knew where this was going. He continued, "You only need a ticket if the ticket control people come by and check to see if you have a ticket."
"What if they 'catch me' with out a ticket?", I inquired. He shrugged as if to say that I was on my own at that point. Great.

Basically, the lessons of the morning were: banks never make mistakes, except when they do, and although police men are employed to enforce the law, they don't always know it.

Luckily, I'm more prepared than a boyscout. I had some Euro on me, and used it to buy some local currency. Enough to get me some food and a bus ticket!

I wandered the city for several hours trying to figure out the buses, the street signs, and how to avoid the damned stray dogs that kept trying to bite me. After some rough sketches, an equation or two, and some great mime, I was able to conquer the bus system. I couldn't find the street sign I needed to save my life. Finally, about the 40th person I asked was nice old man who told me, "It's over there." Things were coming together, however, I still could not pass a stray dog that wouldn't bark at me, though there were a few that didn't try to bite me!

It's a good thing to travel. Your eyes are opened to so many wondrous places, people, cultures, and landscapes! Not only do you get constant adventure and excitement, but you really get a sense of deep appreciation for the comforts of life back home. Try to learn that in your fancy pants colleges!

I found myself in Focsani (pronounced: fok-shan), Romania (pronounced: romania) staying at the home of a couple Peace Corps Volunteers. They were good guys and I enjoyed hearing their PC experiences. They let me tag along to the birthday partry of one of their students. She was turning 19, so we bought her an appropriate gift: two bottles of wine and some Simpsons candy.

I kind of expected the night to go over like a typical Bulgarian party - or similarly anyway, being that they're neighbors and all. But just like the languages, the parties are completely different! Oana's mom cooked up a huge feed for all to enjoy. There were all kinds of foods that I've never tried before. Ok, so I've had eggplant before, but eggplant here is translated to 'blue tomato' and I've never had it in the form that I had it here! Mmmm! =) We ate and drank as the night progressed and then the music began!

We all headed outside to where they were barbequing up some chicken and sausages. Next to the cement barbeque was a picnic table filled with musical friends. They played guitars, bongos, a harmonica, moracas, and one of those tiny simble-shaker deals! The one guy sang all night long - different traditional folk songs, while everyone danced and laughed! It was a rockin' good time!After Oana blew out her birthday candles, her boyfriend grabbed her with the help of 3 other big guys. They proceeded to toss her into the air, 19 times, while everyone else cheered! Haha! She was a bit shaken up, but this is tradition, dammit!

I spent most of the night talking with her classmates/friends who were content to ask me all kinds of questions regarding the differences between Romania, Bulgaria, and the U.S. It was a similar conversation to ones I'd had in Bulgaria, but these kids seemed to have more optimism and faith in their country to develop properly. Granted, they'd be the first to admit there's corruption and other problems, but I was impressed that they were able to overlook those hurdles and expect more from their country!It was a far better time than I had expected to have in Romania as I'm traveling much too quickly to really see anything at the moment. The party lasted till morning and I finally got to bed at 4 AM. Just in time to wake up at 7:30 AM in order to catch my 8:30 train to Moldova!

Solar Energy! It's What Easter Is All About!

I had the wonderful opportunity to help install a solar electrical system and celebrate Easter, Orthodox style!

We spent a full day installing solar panels, which will be used to collect light energy from the sun and convert it through a very fascinating process to produce electrical energy!As far as alternative energy goes, solar energy is my favorite! I dig the scientific process of a light ray knocking off an electron from a silicone molecule, time and again, to produce a flow of electrons - which is electricity! It's fantastic! It's simple! And it's technology that's 50 years old or older! Unfortunately, this alternative energy is also the most polluting. That sounds shocking, but the truth is that the processes needed produce the silicone, solar cells is dependant on many toxic chemicals. Bummer! But in the end, you have a product that is inert to the environment and will produce "clean" electrical energy for many years!

In Bulgaria, electricity costs around 6.4 cents per kilowatt hour (according to today's exchange rates). However, European law dictates (in Bulgaria) that if you hook up solar panels from your home and introduce the electricity produced back into the grid, the electric company is bound by law to buy the electricity from you at 69.6 cents per kWh! It's a fantastic deal for the homeowner! Word on the street is that this is done to stimulate alternative energy production in Bulgaria. I personally feel that the law will change once the government finds out about it.I was a little bit bummed that the energy harnessed from this process was simply going to be sold back into the system rather than used at the home which holds them up. But realistically, I can see the economic incentive in what this project is about. Plus, when I rationalize that every kWh produced by these solar cells is one less kWh needed from hydroelectric or nuclear energy production, well, I feel mighty fine about the idea.

The idea of this project, which was written by PECSD, is to educate a small community that has never seen solar panels about different kinds of energy sources. In addition to that, the project is a test to see if a small, poor community can find it financially feasible to purchase and operate this kind of system. (The difference being that this is traditionally a system that one would find in the states, or Germany, where people have money and motivation to invest in such things.)

For a full day, we were installing these eight photovoltaic modules, and then the rest of the weekend was allowed to happen!In case you were wondering, the Orthodox Easter is celebrated near a month after the Catholic Easter. I, being without religion, don't really care about the significance of this. I was simply excited to partake in some kind of local, traditional festivities!

The celebration started with the whole family gathering around the table. Each of us selected a hardboiled egg that had been painted that morning. We then smashed our eggs together with the people sitting at the table to see who had the strongest egg. Iliyan kept saying it was a contest for the kids, but I could see that he dearly wanted to have the strongest egg. There's no prize, but glory, and he was going for it! Unfortunately, he lost to a six-year-old girl named Blagovesta. Better luck next year, Iliyan! Next came the food!We started with what appeared at the time to be an unending salad. Granddad was on one end of the table complaining that he can't eat salad on account of not having any teeth. The rest of the family yelled at him to just eat and pointed out that he does have teeth. Bulgarian family dynamics are quite different than in the states. Kids live at home until they're married. And sometimes, they still live at home even after they're married. The bonds between siblings and parents are much stronger than what I've observed in the states, but at the same time, it could appear to an outsider (me) that there's a complete lack of respect for one another. The situation can look like it changes on a dime, but in fact there is a deep respect for family members here. Any one of the kids would jump to be first to donate a liver to the drunken uncle - if only it were possible.

After the salad came a huge selection of meats to go along with the wine, which I forgot to mention that we were already drinking even before the salads came. The main course was a sort of rabbit stew that was amazing! I gorged myself properly but eventually found my limit. I finally stopped eating to the sound of, "Hey, why aren't you eating anymore? You're too skinny."

We passed the rest of the time laughing and joking and eating desert! Easter desert is a sweet bread called, 'Kozunak' and it's quite nice. We also spent a bunch of time talking about American politics. Of course, their news covers our elections, so they know exactly what's going on. The issue is, they don't understand any of it. I have to say, I'm in a bit of the same boat. I keep getting the question: "So who's gonna be the next president? The black man, or the white woman?" I've started telling people McCain. They love talking about American politics with an American, but alas it was time for me to go. My train was waiting for me at the station so I had to hit the road. I received some very pleasant goodbyes, and a bag of food that will probably last me a week! Iliyan's father walked me out to the street and with a tear in his eye, told me that I was his boy. It took me completely by surprise, as he's not the emotional type. Not even after all that wine. I gave him a hug and promised to return. And I will.

I left their home and headed for the train station, still drunk. Over the three day weekend, I had eaten more than I had in the full previous week! I forced food down, beyond what I thought was my limit. The food was absolutely delicious and my glass of wine was never less than half full!

My time in Bulgaria has been GREAT! It's like I never left! I love being here, and I love what I do when I am here! I got to help with the paper recycling campaign. I got to help with the biodiesel project that I started. I got to clean the beach. I got to install super solar cells! And I got to translate a whole bunch of documents and emails! I bonded with people who I see more as my family than as friends! Man, and I even got an amazing Easter dinner! It's hard to leave a place, and a feeling like this. But knowing that I'll be back someday makes it a bit easier to pack my bag. Plus I'm running out of time, and I already ran out of money... =)

The Buck Doesn't Stop Here!

Amongst Bulgaria's problems is a complete lack of governmental leadership. The government that currently exists is so corrupt that the EU has stopped most development funding. Many people here have a lack of faith in anything positive to come from either the EU or the Bulgarian government. I understand - it's tough to have faith when you live in the poorest EU country and see your politicians driving nicer cars than politicians from other EU countries. It's an odd situation in Bulgaria - communism hasn't yet been weeded out of politics, neither has corruption nor mafia influence - even after 19 years of "democracy"! The 45 years of communism that this country endured has really taken a toll on the mentality of its people. Bulgarians have been conditioned to leave the power in the hands of the government. Unfortunately, the government's hands are too tied up with mafia influence, communist bureaucracy, and outright corruption that there just isn't room on the agenda for any kind of progress for the country. That doesn't bode well for an elected official who actually wants to influence positive change! Lucky for Bulgarian politicians, that's not what they're interested in. Perhaps that's why anyone who plays a significant role in the advancement of Bulgaria is smart enough to not run for office!

For our Earth Day celebration, Supercross08 worked with Yo Ho Hostel to organize the best beach clean up that Varna, Bulgaria has ever seen! The just-hearted folks that run Yo Ho Hostel are constantly involving themselves in environmental projects! They even have plans to clean the beach again after the tourist season - no Earth Day necessary! Together, we set out to inspire people to take responsibility for their community!

We started off the day at 10 AM with about 25 people. Most of them came from the group of girls I wrote about in the previous posting. 25 isn't a lot. But as the day went on, we were joined by the Bulgarian Scouts, passers by, EVS (European Voluntary Services) and Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as other late risers! It was an extremely successful action! For nearly six hours we filled bag after bag after bag, until the beach was clean! Garbage bags were provided by a local trash company called Adian, and the Bulgarian Scouts brought along some gloves for people to use! The Bulgarian Scouts are like the Boy Scouts of America, but they include girls! Take note, BSA, tolerance, respect, and integration are fine values to instill upon youth in addition to tying knots!

We cleaned about a mile of coastline that hasn't yet been "purchased" by someone to open a club or a bar. Of course, the majority of the waste we collected was leftover from the nearby, already existing bars and clubs. For me, this is a sign of irresponsibility on the part of tourists, clients, bar/club owners, and particularly the local government for failing to enforce regulations.The "undeveloped" beach (the part without bars or clubs) has a nice pedestrian walkway. Pedestrians, often unwillingly, share it with cars as it runs the length of the beach. It's located about 40 or 50 meters from the water - the only thing separating the two, is sand. While collecting pollution from near the walkway, I continued to encounter construction debris. This was because of two things: 1) the walkway is being widened and 2) new bars/clubs are being developed. I asked one of the guys from Yo Ho Hostel whether we should be cleaning up their garbage, as they were still about, or should we leave it for them to throw away when they finish. His response was, "It doesn't matter who you ask or whose responsibility it is, everyone will tell you that it's someone else's job to clean this." Later in the day, I roped myself into a conversation with Kiril Yordanov, the mayor of Varna who has to have all his decisions approved by the Bulgarian mafia, though rumor has it he's allowed to take potti breaks and order from a menu on his own accord. I asked him about this destructive phenomenon. He competently answered, "Responsibility? What's that?"

It's a bit frustrating that most of the stuff we were finding came from existing, nearby establishments who are unwilling and uninterested in helping maintain the natural health of the environment. One would think that upon bestowing the perspective that it's more appealing for clientele to come to a nice place rather than one with litter all about, it would be enough to influence an owner to be responsible for the area around their establishment. Well, One is wrong! It's just a little glimpse at the bigger picture of how Bulgaria deals with environmental issues. It screams of careless, unsustainable practices as it yields a quick profit in the short term for a select few people who are "connected", and loads of problems for the rest of the community in the long term.

If I hadn't spent the day with optimistic, willing-to-help, responsible people, even I would lose hope for Bulgaria! Fortunately, these promising agents of change are the youth of this country. Meaning, they're tomorrow's leaders. And fine leaders they'll prove to be, too! They have the morale character that allows for the benefit of the many, and they have the aptitude needed to be able to influence others to do good! They are the solution to Bulgarias problems! Just so long as they stay out of Bulgarian politics!As we spent the day saving the world, it was fun and entertaining to receive the reactions of people walking by. The looks on their faces ranged from 'What are you doing?' or 'Why bother?' to 'Gee wiz, you guys are great!' and 'Can I help?' It was the positive reactions that I found inspiring and hopeful. This community is well ready for positive change. They just lack adequate political leadership to guide them.

At the end of the day, we celebrated with a concert! One of the owners of Yo Ho Hostel is the lead singer of a band called "Pizza" and they played a rockin' show that night! Ending a positive day with positive energy is my idea of success!

Here's Your Song and Dance!

Do you remember the holiday I kept going on and on about? Well here are a couple videos so you can feel like you too were there!


This is the "baba kick off" to the celebration that is lazarov den!


Young girls go from door to door singing and dancing for the community. They receive gifts of eggs, sweets, and money!

Sing a Little Song! Do a Little Dance!

Nearly a year ago, Tim and I were in a village called Asparuhavo for a week-long summer camp. (Click here to read about that wonderful experience.) Today's post, is an update on that story!

The letters that the children wrote to the Ministry of Culture and Education, which were written in an attempt to save the village's only school, were answered via a nationally televised press conference! I was sooo excited at news of this event! Go Democracy! Our Asparuhavo group got to meet with the minister and state their case as to why this 150 year old school should be saved. In fact, it's one of the oldest Bulgarian schools in existence due to the "destructive tendencies" of the Ottoman Empire. The minister listened to their plight and agreed that something should be done, but stated that unfortunately, the preservation of the school didn't lay within his jurisdiction. He instructed that they needed to convince the mayor of Asparuhovo to hear their cause. Their request to the mayor to save the school went unanswered for quite some time because of the normal speed of political happenings and an extra hurdle, local elections.

Almost our entire group traveled back to Asparuhavo, in part, to celebrate Lazarov Den but also to give a presentation to the community on the value of Asparuhavo's continued existence. This holiday consists of young women dressing up in traditional clothing and going from house to house to sing ancient songs. The owners of the houses would come out and give the girls money or sweets. It was fun to watch. But before those celebrations were to begin, presentations were to be made.
The whole thing started with a group of the young girls, all dressed up for success! They did a little song and dance and everyone entered the culture center for the presentation. A few key folks said some words of thanks and then a group of old grandmothers sang a few traditional songs. Finally, our group got the chance to present the significance of this particular village to the community.After the presentation, the girls asked the mayor if he had been able to come up with an idea for procuring funds for the school's continued existence. His response was translated to me by four or five kids at the same time. I think he said something to the affect of there not needing to be any more discussion on the matter and that he would not close the school. His response was met with laughter, and at the time I wasn't sure if the laughs were at his expense, or the student's question. It was later explained to me that through the actions of these children, the mayor had decided to not close the school! However, this turned out to be a typical, misleading politician's response, as he failed to mention that he would in fact discontinue public funding for the school. The trick being that he won't technically close the school, but after teachers' salaries are cut from the payroll it will be they who will close the school. He later took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this school's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" All the people answered, "Let it's blood be on us and on our children!"

Is there any better way to secure a future for your community than by taking away the tool with which to educate your youth? I think it was the Romans who said, "Let us destroy our schools so that the next generation will be adequately prepared to take over the leadership of our magnificent society. Without knowledge, our youth will be able to care for our aging population. Without education, we will continue to be a prosperous people."Closing the day, we all went back to the place where we had classes a year prior to hang out and reminisce. They made final plans for the next summer camp, which is to happen this summer, and they did 'the horo' and sang! It was a great day! I was stoked to see the group again! And I was excited to receive their excitement at seeing me! I wish more could be done to preserve this historic and much needed school but at the end of the day, there just isn't enough money. Of course, I believe that if Bulgaria was more responsible with how money was dealt with, then issues like the death of villages in a this country wouldn't exist. Can anything be done? Well, some British investors are increasingly playing a role in stabilizing village populations. Why, there are already plans to turn this particular school into a hotel!

Corruption has the ability to rain down upon us all and inconvenience our comfortable lives. But just when you think you're gonna catch a cold, the dry towel of foreign investment comes along to save the day. The only thing left to wonder is, did all that dirty and foreign money wash away the culture and traditions or just buff out a few tarnished spots?