Day 3 in Bulgaria

My third day in Bulgaria I visited the village of Dobroudja.  We were greeted by the mayor of the villages who informed us through a translator that a woman from the village had died that morning and so some of our day’s schedule would have to be changed.  Our first stop was into the cultural center of the town.  We sat down in a theater and the mayor explained the towns situation to us.  Basically, when the soviet’s had power in Bulgaria towns like Dobroudja thrived, now many younger people have moved away to find jobs and left the town with only 200 citizens, mostly older people.  We learned that the famous poet (who I had never heard of before) Dora Gabe comes from this town and we visited her museum inside the cultural center.  Also in the cultural center was a library with 600 books in it (3 times the number of townspeople). 

 

After the cultural center, we moved on to the local church.  We were greeted by the Priest of the church and Aunt Gina, a four foot tall woman over 80 who takes care of the altar.  We talked with the Priest, again through a translator, and he was telling us that he was baptized in 1983 in secret, his parents didn’t even know.  It had to be secret because this was during the Atheist Soviet rule.  We had some wonderful conversations with him and really enjoyed talking with Aunt Gina too.

 

From the church we went to the Mayor’s office.  During the Soviet rule the entire building had been full, but now the only rooms occupied in the entire building are the mayors room and a one room hospital (the doctor visits the town once a week and the hospital literally included a bed and a sink—that’s it). 

 

After our tour of the Mayor’s office we walked down the dirt road to the Mayor’s house.  It had been raining all morning and it was nice to walk in the cool of the afternoon.  At the Mayor’s house we were greeted by music, women and men in authentic village outfits, bread dipped in spices, communal wine, and a wreathe made of popcorn (for good luck).  We sat down to a wonderful lunch, all made in the Mayor’s kitchen and with the vegetables grown in the garden behind the house.  It was wonderful.  Our lunch was followed by more dancing.  It is tradition here, that when you leave someone’s house after a celebration you dance all the way home.  So, as a group we danced to our bus, sort of our home.  Dora Gabe said that “the whole of the town can fit into my soul,” and I agree.  This has been one of my best experiences so far on this entire trip.

 

After we returned from Dobroujda, Amanda, Caitlyn, Catherine and I went across the way to Captain Jack’s to celebrate Catherine’s 21^st birthday.  We actually had sushi, it was good but not great!!  But the evening was wonderful and fun!