I took this photo of trainees from group BG26 learning how to play traditional Bulgarian folk dance during their Initial Orientation in Panichishte, Bulgaria on May 14th, 2010
I took this photo of Education sector Volunteers Shantay (left) and Jeng-Tyng (right) with a Roma child during PST Training event entitled Roma Culture Day in Kyustendil, Bulgaria on May 10th, 2008.
This picture was taken in early April, in a park off the pedestrian mall in Bulgaria. The men in the picture were taking turns playing chess in the late morning, getting ready to wrap it up for the day. They had been playing all morning, laughed...
Baba Mita was my next door neighbor. I used to help her in the garden and she would give me fresh vegetables at the end of the day. She taught me how to cook many traditional Bulgarian meals and make homemade wine. As most men in the village, her...
The town I spent my service in is named Nedelino. This view captures most of the town from a hotel on a nearby mountain. Nestled in the Rhodopi Mountains, Nedelino still uses Roman and Turkish bridges to cross the river, has both mosques and a...
Host community; Pre-service Training (PST); Children
Alex, a fellow Volunteer, is helping the kids from the local orphange at our training site sweep the debris off the asphalt so they can create a space to play soccer. They prefer playing soccer on asphalt as opposed to grass.
After visiting my host family for Christmas 2004, my now-husband and I were thinking about what to do for New Year's Eve. He remembered his grandfather was from a village nearby, deep in the Balkan mountains, and we decided to catch the bus there...
This photo was taken on the first day of school September 15, 2010 at Gimnasia Vasil Levski (high school). The first day of school in Bulgaria is a big celebration. There are speeches from teachers, the director and from students. My director...
During Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), our campers were paired with local orphans for a games day. This particular game consisted of a relay where participants had to race towards a plate of flour to out M&Ms with their mouths. Predictably, it...
This is a photo of my volunteer club, Together We Can Succeed. The kids are from a small village in Bulgaria, called Svoboda. We created the awareness ribbon cookies by hand, and wrapped them to be sold for future HIV/AIDS prevention projects. The...
This photo was taken in my first village, a small Bulgarian Muslim community in northeastern Bulgaria. I was playing in my yard one day with three of my girls, and we just enjoyed one another's company through games, eating apples, and air...
Host community friends; Traditional dress; Celebrations
This is my best friend in the village dressing me in traditional Turkish costume for a wedding. It was taken in March 2010 in my Bulgarian village which is almost completely inhabited by Turkish Bulgarians.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); Celebrations
The Aprilci Telecenter opened 15 September 2001, with Bulgarian and American flags flying. The photo shows the Mayor, Sawmill owner, Telecenter manager, and Volunteer.