Travelling experiences in Bulgaria

by Laci Bodnár

To be an Evs volunteer is a very good opportunity for a young people without life experiecnce, becouse it is not only about the working and developing yourself, it is also about the traveling and discovering new countries. Usualy the easiest way of traveling is to book a ticket and hostel, and just go to the chosen destination, and enjoy all of the services. It is very nice, but in fact it needs a lot of money, witch means that this option is not very ideal for a volunteer. Before I came here I had a preparation training organized by my sending organization in Slovakia. I have learned a lot of useful things, and I have also some „lessons” about the ways of traveling suitable for volunteers. They suggested me to try a hitchhiking and the coachsurfing. To be honest in the past I was a bit sceptic with the hitchhikeing. When I came here fortunately I met some travel experts, and after sharing they experiences and memories, I have decided to try it. After absolveing my first trip in Bulgaria with hitchhike i felt in love with it. My first journey was to Sofia, and even further with two other volunteers. It was a nice beginig, becouse we had a luck with the drivers and we reached or destination relavitely very fast. We discussed a lot with the volunteers from other projects about the traveling, and the conclusion was that Bulgaria is very easy to hitchhike. Bulgarian drivers like to pick up foreigners, and they are very courious about our impressions usually. Sometimes there can be some comunication dificulties, but still it is possible to understand each other somehow. Usualy the drivers who picks up hitchhikers are sympatizants with this way of travelling and in lot of cases there are ex-hitchhikers, so for them it is kind of rewinding the nice memories from the past. Usualy like everything on the world, hitchhiking have also positive and negative sides. As I wrote it I am also a beginer with hitchhikeing, but I have alredy have some experiences, so now I will introduce the positive things according to my opinion: 1, It is for free 2, Sometimes is faster than the bus or the train 3, You have a opportunity to have new friends, becouse usually the drivers who picks up hitchhikers were travelling also with the same methods 3, You can have a nice conversations, and you can practice your language skills (in my case, I have learned a lot of Bulgarian during my hitchhikings) 4, Somtimes the driver can invite you for a coffe or tea, or even for a meal 5, Somtimes it is more comfortable 6, In some cases you can also book the trip to way back And of course there are more positive sides, but for me these are the most importants. Negative things: 1, Somtimes risky, and you can feel unconfortable if the driver is driveing to fast. 2, In case of long distances you can stuck even for a night 3, It depends ont he weather Some useful instructions: Choose this way of travelling only for holidays, not for catching the plane or meeting where you need to be on time. Always be positive, smile, have a good karma and nothing bad can happen. It is very important to find th ebest spot, it is usually the end or begining of the city. I think a best a combination to hitchhike is one boy and one girl. For girls it is easier to hitchhike, but you need to be more carefull and you need the control the unconfortable situations and in . According my personal opinion, the biggest chance to catch a car is if you are alone, or two, but if you are three somtimes it can be hard. Always good to have water with you, especially in summer, becouse you can stuck somewhere for a longer time. Be patient It is good to have map with you For long distances is better to make a sign (in Bulgaria make it in cyrilic), but for short distances is not necessary. For people who like adventures I suggest to try it, but maybe for the stresfull ones is not the best way of travelling. So „Get ready for the adventure, thumbs up and have a nice time”!

Organizing and realizing the Eco fest from my point of view

by Laci Bodnár

During my being here in Bulgaria we made a lot of nice things, but the most important and the most interesting was definitely the Eco fest what we organized. It was great experience for all of the 15 volunteers participating in the project „Ecology development part 2”. The festival was held near to city Kazanlak in the place called Koprinka dam. Even it is a artificial lake, it is a very important part of the surrounding nature. The importance of the dam is not only about the regulating the water supplies, it is also a very famous place for tourists, and especially for people from surrounding cities and villages. The lake is very ideal for water sports, fishing, and swimming or just simply for having a good time. But unfortunately all of these activities left they mark on the nature. In the case of the Koprinka the biggest problem is with the rubbish left by people. Lot of local organizations was trying to do something against this problem, but unfortunately without success. I think that it is a global problem and the people should change they thinking and they attitude. But the question is how? According my personal opinion the best way how to teach the people is connected with the education and organizing different events. In the end of the April we organized an eco festival Koprinka. The main goal of the festival was the cleaning the surrounding nature from the garbage. The festival was organized second time. For me it was a big pleasure to take a part in the creating of the event. I think the best experience for a young person is to work together with people from different countries and with different ages. The reason why I am writing is that even we are all the same, but still we are a bit different. Everybody shared they own experiences, and we were trying to made a multicultural event, and in fact it was working. All of the participants had a chance to realize their ideas. In this time we were here Evs volunteers from 6 different countries, and for sure in the project were involved also a local volunteers from Kazanlak. Everybody from us had a different role in the creating process. Fortunately some volunteers were participants also on the first festival were part of the team so we had a good starting point. We had almost two months for preparing everything for the event. Some of us were responsible for making the commercial materials, some of us for making the program and some of us for arrange the things around the festival. Like always there were also some problems, but fortunately we found different solutions. Also Evs volunteers from other places were supporting the festival with propagation. In these times you could find posters or stickers almost in all big cities in Bulgaria. We were trying to involve as much people as it was possible, so we also went to the local schools to gather more participants. Few weeks before the festival and after several team meetings, we started prepare the area for the event. The first task was marking the zones for the cleaning. It was impossible to clean the whole coast, so we decided to mark only the most frequented places, witch were close to the dam. We marked also the places for camping and we made the toilets. The first day starts with the transportation of the people from Kazanlak to the lake. Some of people used the free bus, some of them were came by bikes, and there were some witch choose coming by walk or by hitchhiking. The briefing took a place next to the wall at 09:30, were all of the participants received the bags for collecting the garbage and the glows. It was nice to see that people from all ages came to participate on the event. The local people were helping to collect the full bags with the horse chariots. Thanks for one kayak club some of the participants was cleaning also the surface of the lake. After the cleaning part everybody had a chance to try different kind of activities. For those who like sports, there was an opportunity to try the slack-line, kayaking and the kenus, foot bag, Frisbee, ball games, horse riding, for those who likes more the arts, it was possible to join the volunteers int he trash- art corner, and the sympatizants of music could join the groups of musicians playing around the camp. The trash-art corner was very interesting and also educational, becouse everybody had a chance to see how to make something from the garbage or recycle it. The main result of their activity was the raft, what they made from the collected plastic bottles. The weather during the day was pretty warm, but somtimes the ugly black clouds appeared. Unfortunately int he evening our biggest fear fullfiled and the rain came. According the bad weather we had to cancel some of the concerts. But still it was fun, people were enjoying the nice time and nobody cared about the weather. The atmosphere was awesome! The next morning was very sad for me, like it used to be always ont he festival, becouse the people were packing and slowly leaving the place. Even the end was not that best, we can say like a final conclusion, that the festival was succesful. The feedback was also good, so we can say very proudly that we made something unforgetable. After few months we were a bit dissapointed, becouse the conditions were the same like before the cleaning, but still we did something for the nature. We all hope that next year we will meet each other int he same place with the same goal.

My first impressions about Bulgaria

by Laci Bodnár

I have never been to Bulgaria before, so in these few days I got my first impressions about the country. I arrived to Sofia and the town felt grey and uncozy, but after I saw the city center I thought to myself: It’s amazing! The second surprising thing was the weather. I imagined that it is always warm here, because for Slovaks and Hungarians Bulgaria is one the most popular warm holiday places. After discussing with locals I realized that these weather conditions are very extreme and unusual. The city of Kazanlak is very nice. They say that beautiful nature and surrounding mountains are amazing, but the hanging fog never allowed me to see it until now. I come from a small village, and that is why I fell better in Kazanlak, than in Sofia. It is small, cozy, quiet and friendly. The historical background and the culture of roses makes Kazanlak an attractive town. The Bulgarian language is not so strange for me, because it is also a Slavic language like Slovak, so I hope I will learn Bulgarian quick and easy. I am here for only 10 days, but I already understand a lot of words. The Cyrillic alphabet scares me a little, but I am sure I will learn it soon. What confuses me is the Bulgarian body language. This strange way to say yes by shaking your head is not normal for me, but I like it because It is very unique. I am a big fond of traditions, and was lucky to hear some traditional Bulgarian songs while in Sofia. I love Balkan tunes, rhythm and sounds. On my on-arrival training I had a chance to dance Racenica, and I think it is very cool. The Bulgarian food is very delicious. The best sentence to describe my relationship with Bulgarian dish is the “love at first sight”. I like this kind of healthy food which is made from vegetables and cheese. I am participating in the 8 month project with a funny title (“The New Begging”). My tasks are: working in the historical museum, visiting the Club Europa in the local professional school, working with local youngsters in the club of my hosting organization, participating in the eco project, writing a book about the volunteerism. Apart from these, I will have more tasks, which will be connected with my artistic competencies. I am really eager to discover Bulgaria, the traditions, the nature, the meet new interesting people, to learn more about the traditions, to travel and experience adventures. I am sure I am will have a great timeeeeee:D