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A chronicle of my experiences as a Peace Corps Community Organizational Development volunteer in Bulgaria.
Friday, September 17, 2004
A Night At The Opera
On Tuesday we were all gathered together in Pazardjik to meet our Counterparts and be escorted back to our permanent sites for a few days of orientation. My Counterpart is Darina Draganova, Project & Training Manager for the Stara Zagora Regional Economic Development Agency. We left Pazardjik and went to Stara Zagora Tuesday night and I spent the next two days being ushered from one meeting to the next. I've met half a dozen people who interact with our Agency in one way or another and they all seem to be looking forward to having me in the city. I didn't understand why until Darina and our Executive Director, Petya Atsinova, explained to me that as a PCV I'm a source of free labor and they can't afford to hire anyone right now. Free at last, free at last. I don't think MLK, Jr. had this in mind. The city of Stara Zagora has a reputation as the prettiest city in the country and it certainly is the nicest one I've seen so far. It has clean tree-lined European streets and I never saw one goat, cow or donkey the entire time I was there.
Stara Zagora is home to the Zagorka Brewery, makers of Bulgaria's most popular beer, two universities, a nationally recognized theater and opera, and the most famous puppet theater in Bulgaria. I'll have an apartment somewhere in the center of the city as soon as they locate one for me. The Agency will find it and rent it, but the PC will pay my bills. It brings tears to my eyes to think that my tax dollars are finally at work in a good cause, my own personal comfort. The city is also home to an archeological site containing two Neolithic houses. These have been dated back 8,000 years and are claimed to be the oldest known dwellings in any civilization. I think Darina has one of them in mind for my apartment.
The Agency does a variety of things including translation services, project design and implementation, market analysis and support for small and medium sized enterprises. I'm not entirely certain what it is that I'll be doing but I've seen my desk and it's full of papers so apparently I have work to do. The Agency consists of four ladies and me and we work with Municipalities and NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations) offering them any assistance needed to develop or create business in the Region.
My last night in town I went to the Opera. Aida was playing and it was somewhat of a surreal experience. It was held outdoors in the ruins of an ancient Roman Forum and it occured to me as I waited for the show to begin that I was sitting in a Roman Forum in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria watching an Italian opera about an Egyptian love triangle being sung by Bulgarians. The show was excellent and I'll cover a little of it for those of you who aren't as cultured as I hope to become. Okay, first the spear carriers and handmaidens take positions on opposite sides of the Forum. They strike poses and look nice. Now here I have to dispell an old myth, In Aida the fat lady sings almost right away and the show goes on for another three hours. I know it doesn't make sense, but there it is. Another thing that happens is that the handmaidens actually begin, at one point, to Walk Like An Egyptian. the band missed a wonderful opportunity here to break into that tune but they trudged on with Verdi. During the Second Act, ten or so Ballerinos (I'm guessing that this is the proper term for male ballerinas) begin to perform a dance taken right out of Monty Python. Allow me at this time to share some information, it turns out that at no point is it considered appropriate during a performance of Aida for one to laugh out loud and slap one's own knee. The ballerinos are being perfectly serious about their dance and don't appreciate having one find humor therein. Nor, it seems, do one's fellow opera buffs. That being said, the prima donna performed an aria or two, a triple salchow and one paseo de muerte and the opera was over. Next month I'm going to try to attend a performance of the puppet theater. Unfortunately, my picture is being circulated in the fine arts circles in Stara Zagora so I may have to resort to disguise.
Tomorrow I'm off to Sofia to visit my folks. Check out the new photos and tune in next week for more fun.
Stara Zagora is home to the Zagorka Brewery, makers of Bulgaria's most popular beer, two universities, a nationally recognized theater and opera, and the most famous puppet theater in Bulgaria. I'll have an apartment somewhere in the center of the city as soon as they locate one for me. The Agency will find it and rent it, but the PC will pay my bills. It brings tears to my eyes to think that my tax dollars are finally at work in a good cause, my own personal comfort. The city is also home to an archeological site containing two Neolithic houses. These have been dated back 8,000 years and are claimed to be the oldest known dwellings in any civilization. I think Darina has one of them in mind for my apartment.
The Agency does a variety of things including translation services, project design and implementation, market analysis and support for small and medium sized enterprises. I'm not entirely certain what it is that I'll be doing but I've seen my desk and it's full of papers so apparently I have work to do. The Agency consists of four ladies and me and we work with Municipalities and NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations) offering them any assistance needed to develop or create business in the Region.
My last night in town I went to the Opera. Aida was playing and it was somewhat of a surreal experience. It was held outdoors in the ruins of an ancient Roman Forum and it occured to me as I waited for the show to begin that I was sitting in a Roman Forum in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria watching an Italian opera about an Egyptian love triangle being sung by Bulgarians. The show was excellent and I'll cover a little of it for those of you who aren't as cultured as I hope to become. Okay, first the spear carriers and handmaidens take positions on opposite sides of the Forum. They strike poses and look nice. Now here I have to dispell an old myth, In Aida the fat lady sings almost right away and the show goes on for another three hours. I know it doesn't make sense, but there it is. Another thing that happens is that the handmaidens actually begin, at one point, to Walk Like An Egyptian. the band missed a wonderful opportunity here to break into that tune but they trudged on with Verdi. During the Second Act, ten or so Ballerinos (I'm guessing that this is the proper term for male ballerinas) begin to perform a dance taken right out of Monty Python. Allow me at this time to share some information, it turns out that at no point is it considered appropriate during a performance of Aida for one to laugh out loud and slap one's own knee. The ballerinos are being perfectly serious about their dance and don't appreciate having one find humor therein. Nor, it seems, do one's fellow opera buffs. That being said, the prima donna performed an aria or two, a triple salchow and one paseo de muerte and the opera was over. Next month I'm going to try to attend a performance of the puppet theater. Unfortunately, my picture is being circulated in the fine arts circles in Stara Zagora so I may have to resort to disguise.
Tomorrow I'm off to Sofia to visit my folks. Check out the new photos and tune in next week for more fun.
