Orphanages, Concerts, Surf & Turf, and Beaches (again)…

Orphanages. So, I am in the process of finishing my first real project in Shoumen. The local orphanage has had problems with people (mostly drunk) banging on the windows of the first floor. The project will, hopefully, work to deter this. I guess I mention it because this is a fairly typical thing I will be doing.

Nothing landmark and defiantly not as romantic as the images ‘Peace Corps’ brings to mind. But, it is doing some good. That is all you can really as for: to leave the place better off than it was when you got there.

Concerts. For the last month, there have been weekly concerts put on by the municipality. These concerts feature the Shoumen symphony. The concert ‘hall’ is a huge concave cliff – though they call it a cave. The acoustics are supposed to be very similar to a manmade band shell. But, never mind the physics of it, the concert was great. It was nice to attend an outdoor concert and see that Shumen puts such a high priority on music.

Surf and Turf. A friend of mine was passing though and stayed the weekend in Shoumen. We decided to go to the ‘Billa,’ which is a super-westernized food store.

In it you can find: frozen pizzas, fresh bakery, a deli, cereal, a candy isle, and the ingredients for surf and turf. A picture tells the story better than I.

Beaches (again). Well, if you haven’t clued in quite yet, I really like the beaches here. A while back we went to a placed call Senamoritz. And, because one of the other volunteers (with the environmental group) works in the nature preserve there, we got permission to camp on the beach. It was amazing. The hike to the beach (we pretty much had it to ourselves) was beautiful. It really reminded me of the ‘Cinqua Terra’ hike in Northern Italy.

So, we built a fire and spent the night under the stars and next to the Black Sea. One problem: it started raining. So, here we are - highly content in our practice of spontaneity and enjoying life simply - when the sky opens up. I had no tent, sleeping bag, tarp… you get the idea. The routine turned into this, we stood in our swimsuits by the fire during the rain (with clothes under some beach rafts we had picked up earlier) and waited it out. Once it died to a drizzle, we would toss on our clothes to warm up. Then it would rain again. And we would repeat. It was great. We didn’t have any complainers and we just made the best of it. Luckily, the next day was beautiful and we had a full day of sun. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Hope all is well and take care,

Mark

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