Field School: Wine Tasting and Traditional Bulgarian Dance

     One of the things I did not expect from going to field school: impromptu excursions and unscheduled dancing. Yesterday after the dig, we were told to meet in the restaurant at 4 p.m. for the wine tasting tour because Villa Terres is also a winery. Everyone but Nico went on the tour, and we started around 4:10 p.m. since we weren't sure if other people were coming, too. Once everyone had arrived, the woman began giving the tour in Bulgarian and Angela translated for us. We got to see where the wine was made and it was explained how they processed the grapes and the steps between grapes being processed and testing the wine for impurities during the fermentation process.
     After we had finished the tour, we were taken into the room where they stored the wines in the barrels while they fermented and had the walls lined with the bottled wines (we were shown how they bottled the wine as well). She said the wine cellar was kept at 18° Celsius (which is an ideal temperature for me, so I was very comfortable) and said we were going to try a few wines. She explained how to swirl the wine in the glass to see the color and release the flavors, then we had to sniff it and take a small sip, then swirl it around in our mouths, and swallow to see what the aftertaste is like (which is different from what I've seen where the last step is to spit out the wine into a bucket - but the buckets on the table were for us to dump out our wine before getting the next one if we didn't want to finish it). Instead of dumping out the remainder of the wines into the bucket, most of us just drank it faster before she brought us the next one.
     I liked the first wine the best and the second one was close behind, and then I don't know how to categorize the other two. They weren't terrible but weren't to my taste. Either way, we all finished about a total of two glasses of wine (each one was poured about 1/2 of the level you usually fill a wine glass to) before our lecture. Mathilde was definitely feeling the wine.
     We went from a room that was 18° C to a room that felt like it was boiling in comparison and I was pretty upset about it. Once everyone was there, they turned on the air conditioning, but it took a minute for it to kick on. The entire lecture I was pretty spaced out - I felt warm and slightly dissociated. She was talking about the different types of pottery used in the ancient world and found in Pistiros. It would have been really interesting, but it was a lot of information at once, and right after the wine tasting. After the lecture was over, I went with Cyrene to the little fruit stand across the way.
     The people who work at the hotel are part of a Bulgarian dancing troupe, and so Angela arranged for them to dance for us. They even wore their traditional clothing! (I'll be posting pictures later on my other social media sites, so stay tuned for that!)  One of the girls explained to us how the costume varies in different areas and they told us they were going to do a few dances for us. Three guys and four girls were dancing, and I got a few videos of that. One of the things I didn't know about Bulgarian dancing is that they do a type of yell when they dance, which startled me the first time, but after that, it was all smooth sailing.
     After about three or four dances, they invited us to learn to dance with them. I tried, but I was super bad at it - a few other people picked it up way easier because there were some dancers in our group, but it's been so long since I've had to learn a dance, it wasn't something I picked up right away. It was fun either way, and we kept doing the traditional dance, and the troupe let some people in our group put on the Bulgarian costumes. We have some pictures and videos of the group in the traditional clothing dancing.
     The music changed a little after that to more current music (well, aside from the Macarena, which is a song I don't remember being quite as long as we were doing it), and it became a bit of a dance party. Gena was doing the two-step and the worm and taught Donny (one of the dancers who is a waiter where we're staying) how to do it. He told me he wanted to do ballet, too, but his parents wouldn't let him (which is a shame, really, he's a very talented dancer). It was past 10:30 p.m. when we all decided it was time for bed.
     I told Angela that we would be asleep in our pits today, but luckily we all seemed rather awake during the dig time!    

Field School: The Dig, Day 5

     My morning started off with an intense cramp in my right leg that woke me up; I wasn't surprised because we had walked nearly 20,000 steps in Plovdiv yesterday. Since it was 5:30 a.m., I thought I would get up and begin my day so that I would be able to get some things done, since I hadn't finished some of my other blog posts yet, so I worked on them a bit. It was the first time I was not the first person at lunch because I went down a little closer to 6:40 a.m. instead of right at 6:30 a.m., which is when breakfast is supposed to start. One of the things that was exciting about breakfast was that a person had messaged me on Instagram asking me about how I got to an archaeological dig and what I had done for school because he was interested in Ancient Rome, so I talked up the program and offered to help in the future if he ever needed it. It was a good feeling!
     It looked like everyone was pretty beat because of how much we did in Plovdiv, we were less rested than usual, even compared to when we stay up late. We got our shoes, took the bus to the site, and started working. We were all on the one side of a square while Ivan was doing something different with a feature that was sticking out of the wall of the square. Mathilde, Siyu, Jianing, and I were all working in stripes or rotating who was checking the dirt for findings and taking the wheelbarrow. I dug in two different places, but I was mostly at the wheelbarrow today.
     Our break went by super quick. I didn't drink any tea because I had plenty of water and I just ate the tea biscuits because I was tired and had finally changed which pants I was wearing so I forgot to bring a power bar to eat. The tea biscuits are fine enough, but I want something to fill me before we have our late lunch at 2 p.m. It says 1 p.m. on the schedule, but it's usually 2 p.m. by the time we eat, and if you know me, you know that's my limit before I get extremely cranky about lack of a meal.
     We got back to work, and right after the break, it began raining! It was a light rain but there was a lot of it, so we were worried we would have to pack up again, but it passed quickly enough. (A fun fact we learned when it was raining that our supervisor told us was that in Bulgaria they say that if the sun is shining when it's raining, that's when the bears get married; she doesn't know why they say this, but they do - she said it was most likely just a folk belief.) Luckily, I had brought my raincoat and decided to cover my bag and my water under it to keep dirt off of both, but mostly because my waters kept getting too warm in the sun. I put my field journal and Angela's notebook and pen under my jacket as well along with Siyu's bag so that they wouldn't get wet. As soon as the rain subsided, we got back to working more intensely.
     The mass material was most of what we've found thus far, so our special finds have been pretty slim. The first of our special finds wasn't even found by us, it was found by one of the supervisors with his metal detector in our pile of dirt, but I believe that was on Saturday. I don't think we've found anything since then.
     We stopped at 1 p.m. and sketched the part of the square we were working in and wrote all the information about it in the field journal. I don't think my field journal is as intense as it could be, but part of my problem with the field journal is that I have to write on pages that are squares and not lines. If I had a field journal that had graphing type paper on the left and lines on the right, I would have an easier time. Additionally, the standard size of paper in Europe is something called A4, which is about 8.27 × 11.69 inches, so none of the papers I'm given fit into my notebooks, which is frustrating.
     The sketch and the journal entry didn't take me long and I packed up and took two of the boxes to carry back to the barrack. Jianying saw me struggling and took one off my hands for me, and Siyu grabbed something that was haphazardly on top of the other box I was still carrying, which was just trash. We put everything away in the barrack and Alex, the son of one of the instructors, helped us put things away. Everyone else was still doing their field journals, so I washed my hands and got onto the bus when Gena mentioned it.
     The ride back to the hotel, I sat with Shahruz and talked with him for a bit, but everyone seemed very tired and hungry, and a lot of people seemed cranky. We got to the hotel, and Angela told us that our bus would be back to take us to the museum for the lecture at 4:40 p.m. Today, we had cold cucumber soup again, chicken and potatoes in some kind of sauce, and then fruit for dessert. I can only eat so much of the cucumber soup before I have to stop; I don't mind it, but it's mixed with yogurt and it's cold, and I'm technically lactose intolerant, so I don't want to go overboard. I had most of the chicken, but the skin fell off into the sauce so I didn't bother with it, and the potatoes were good, but all of it was so hot, it was hard to eat, and I was impatient, so I just burnt my mouth instead. I don't eat peaches, so I thought that this would be a good time to go upstairs and get my shower.
     After my shower, I took some time to catch up on the blogs that I haven't been able to publish because the nights or days I wanted to write them, I was either too busy or too tired to finish them. We were told to meet for the bus a little earlier than it showed up, so I was one of the first people out waiting.
     We went to the museum for a lecture about coins and coin minting in Thracian areas; I assumed this meant we would be walking in the galleries and talking about those coins, but we ended up in a basement with a long table. This frustrated me because I didn't bother bringing my notebook because I thought we would be standing the whole time. So, instead, I just listened and tried not to nod off. During the lecture, we did learn that the hotel we're staying at, Villa Terres, was named after Teres II, the king of the Odrysians in middle Thrace from 351 B.C.E. to 342 B.C.E. Angela pointed out that the owner spelled the name wrong and doesn't know why he had spelled it with two R's when traditionally it's only one R.
     On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the supermarket first, and I spent nearly forty leva on chocolate and some pop - they had Elderflower Fanta, I had to try it. Also, I got a big Cherry Coke so I would stop buying them from the hotel bar. Everything else was candy, chocolate, and paprika flavored Ruffles.
     We all had dinner (during which I cleared up a misinterpretation I had this morning when I thought Ivan had said "that's a bit much" in response to me saying "Good morrow, fellows," but the bit much was in reference to the I <3 Bulgaria bag I bought in Plovdiv to replace my other bag that began to die...) and then gathered together and managed to get The Prince of Egypt to play on the big television. We were told the drinking game that went along with it, and my drink was almost gone before the first five minutes of the movie, but I stuck with only one beer.
     It was time for a quick shower and then some YouTube and a chat with Folklore Fiancé before bed.

Field School: Villa Terres

     Yesterday, I checked out of Ibis Hotel Sofia Airport around one, and I was told I owed €0.50 for city tax, which is fine, but I wished I had known that beforehand. I thought I had pre-paid everything, so what if I didn't have that on me? They really need to get themselves together with that one. It's the second time I was not told something or told something incorrect even though it would have been easy to tell me about the charge before I had even stayed. What if I hadn't had any money on me yet? So, I was irritated about it, but it wasn't a lot of money, and I had it with me, so I gave it to her. She told me her colleague was about to leave for the airport, so she asked him to wait to take me with them. I went to Terminal 2 on the shuttle and then I had to wait for a while. Of course, the Sofia Airport didn't have any internet reception where I was waiting, so I began to read some of the handbook with a highlighter.
     Once I couldn't concentrate anymore, I went to find a bathroom because I was beginning to feel the dairy I had had earlier in the day. One of the great things about European bathrooms, especially in their airports, is that the doors are low to the ground, the sides aren't open at all, and I can fit two suitcases and my laptop case in there. So, after taking care of that, I finally got some reception and decided to use the ATM to get some Bulgarian lev before I was picked up. The internet finally allowed my cell phone to connect to the internet, where I checked the money. It looked like, even with the fees, I would be able to take out 300 Bulgarian leva. It didn't seem like enough for two weeks, so I set a budget of 20 leva per day which seemed a reasonable amount, especially because our meals are included with the trip.
     Worried that I wouldn't be able to do anything if I sat back down, I went over to the little souvenir shop and bought a surprise for Folklore Fiancé and ten postcards that I want to write out and send to the U.S. as soon as possible. I found a seat in the arrival area, and I heard two girls speaking English, so I wanted to say something, but I wanted to wait until they said something more obvious that would confirm my suspicions that they were here for the dig. My computer finally connected to the internet on that side of the airport, so I was messing around online until I heard them mention a group.
     That's when I asked if they were there for the Balkan Heritage Field School, and they said yes! Their names were Mathilde, from Switzerland, and Gena from the U.S. I'm not sure if Gena spells her name that way, but it's shortened from a name starting with a G, but it sounds like Jenna. We began to talk and get to know each other before the fellow who was driving the shuttle for us showed up. We were waiting for some other people, but two people on a flight were delayed, and someone else missed their flight. We all got into the shuttle, and we were on our way.
     We arrived at the Villa Terres hotel about an hour and a half later. After we got our luggage, we all waited to be shown to our rooms. My room was on the second floor, all the way at the end of the hallway. I have a double bed and a balcony all to myself! The balconies have cute little tables set up, and I love sitting on the balcony to write, but people keep smoking below me, so once that happens, I have to go inside because I'm allergic to the cigarette smoke. (I was trying to finish this post outside where it is cool and refreshing, but someone had to ruin it with their godsforsaken cigarette. Please keep your stick of bullshit away from me, thanks.)
     Our dinner was soon after we arrived, but it wasn't a lot. I was actually kind of disappointed in the dinner. It was just a bunch of vegetables, which I guess was because I was sitting next to folks who ate vegan and vegetarian and didn't find out that there was even chicken until it was almost gone, but I did get one little piece. At least I brought some snacks with me here. We got wine with dinner, and we talked a lot. I talked with Cyrene, who was from L.A., for a while on my balcony and eventually we all went to put our feet in the pool, and we were wondering when we would be able to swim. Apparently, we needed to sign something before we went into the pool, so we weren't allowed to swim in it yet. Some of the other folks were tipsy and just went right in with their clothes on. I wanted to do the same, so badly, but I decided it was probably best that I didn't.
     It was nearly midnight when we decided to go back to our rooms, so I tried to sleep, but I ended up talking to Folklore Fiancé instead because they were still awake. We talked for a bit, and I messaged some other people, and I couldn't fall asleep at first. I set the alarm and finally passed out. My alarm woke me up at 6 a.m., which I shut off and promptly fell back asleep. At 8 a.m., I woke up in a panic, thinking I had missed the breakfast, but it was at 8:30 a.m. today, so I went out to the landing and Mathilde was reading Circe (the same book I'm reading!) and waiting for others to come out. We all went down for breakfast together.
     My breakfast was an apple,  bread with cheese and sausage, two other bits of some type of sausage links(?), bread with honey, and a lot of water. We took a short walk after breakfast and then we all went to our rooms to get ready for the welcome orientation and introduction to everyone on the trip. We have lunch and siesta from one until four o'clock, and then we come back for a lecture.
     I will let you know how those go!