House Fire

Friday morning we were awakened to our next door neighbor's house on fire.  The fire started in their toddler's room and quickly spread throughout the house.  Luckily the family, including the baby, a 6 year old and an elderly great aunt were downstairs having breakfast and got out quickly and safely.  Unfortunately, all the boys' stuff is destroyed.  We got out safely and my husband was able to catch our cats before they spooked and ran off. 

firetruck in the alley

The good thing about living in an urban area is the emergency response time.  The firefighters were there with 2 ladder companies in about 90 seconds- one on the street and one in the alley.  The bad thing with urban housing is that row houses share a wall and fire spreads quickly.  The firefighters ran into our house and cut holes through the ceiling out on to the roof.  They doused everything with water.  Our house thankfully never caught on fire, but the damage is immense.  The dining room ceiling fell in, the nursery has a hole to the sky, the bathroom is damaged- all the rooms we worked on remodeling this year.  The water damage goes into the kitchen, dining room, the sun room, spare bedroom and the basement. 

Our bedroom

Although we've lost a lot of our things, we are all safe.  I am sad to see my Bulgaria pictures from Peace Corps and my Kniga za Pechati (stamp book for Bulgarian National Sites) destroyed, most of the things can be salvaged or replaced.  Some important things were ok- my husband was able to get his trumpet, an antique and gift from his grandfather who passed and our digital photos were backed up on a hard drive at his office.

The insurance company is like a parent who steps in and takes care of everything.  Immediately after the fire, they had a contractor out at our house boarding up windows, skylights and putting a temporary patch on our roof (you can't put a tarp on a flat roof).  They have put us in a hotel across town, not far from home.  The insurance company has hired a fire response company to catalog all our belongings, salvage and clean what they can and store them while the house is restored.  We can choose our own contractor, and we are choosing the contractor who did our bathroom.  He's reliable, experienced, honest and likes restoring this old row houses.  All the hardwood floors need to be replaced, the windows (yes, the new windows) need to be repaired/ replaced, the skylight, interior walls, electrical, etc.   They've already started moving our belongings out to their warehouse to be stored and cleaned and tearing up walls and floors to start drying everything before mold can grow.
It's been an inconvenience, but not a tragedy.  The fire happened on my husband's second day at a new job and my last at a part time assignment.  We've been stressed because we both have travel plans this summer: I'm heading to Bulgaria to visit some old friends and he's heading home to see his parents and grandmother who isn't doing so well.  I am thankful that we are all ok and that the insurance company will handle the clean up while we are out of town.  I am so grateful my husband installed smoke detectors when we moved in and replaced the batteries a few weeks ago.
I'm including the evolution of the nursery bedroom.  I am thankful that no one was hurt and that no child was asleep in the room during this. 


Nursery when we moved in





Remodel almost done, new lighting and door added later





as of now

The new furniture, ceiling fan, door, and the damage goes beyond it to the spare bedroom and the water seeped into the walls and floor and through the ceiling.

All we can do now is count our blessings and move forward.  Stuff can be repaired and replaced and no one was hurt.  I am grateful the fire department responded so quickly and saved our house.

Хайде играите хоро!

Let's dance the horo!  Its impossible to spend more than a week in Bulgaria without trying the horo.  We were there about 3-4 days when our Peace Corps trainers taught us a few basic ones.  Nearly every Bulgarian child takes tanz (dance) and have many opportunities to practice- weddings, birthdays, office parties, or even just a weekend at the pub or disco. 
When you learn horo, you count the steps starting with raz which is the Russian word for one, then you count forward in Bulgarian: dva, tree, cheteri, pet, shest and so on.  The most simple horo is Byala Roza or White Rose, which is 6 steps foward and 2 steps back, similar to Pravo.  Which is demonstrated here:

It's in Bulgarian, but its demonstrated with one dancer and illustrated with arrows.  They show the steps (krakata), which leg goes first and what to do with your arms (rutzete).
Da go videyat Let's watch!
My favorite horo is Dunavsko which is named for the Danube River which forms Bulgaria's Northern border with Romania and empties into the Black Sea.  While Pravo can be danced to a number of songs, Dunavsko is always danced to the same song. 

I am a bit winded, I need to practice before the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival and the Celebration of Peace Corps' 50th anniversary!  We'll be there next week to represent Peace Corps Bulgaria, check it out if you are around Washington, DC.
Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2011

Bulgarish-American Wedding

This weekend we went to a wedding in the Shenandoah Valley.  The groom is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) from Bulgaria.  It was great to see old friends, some of whom we hadn't seen since we left.  It was a beautiful setting, the ceremony was in a garden of an old manor house, with the reception under a big tent.
The couple decided to include a few Bulgarian traditions: The bride and groom tore a loaf of bread.  The tradition is the couple is given a whole loaf of bread to tear in half, and the spouse with the larger half is the "boss."  It came as no surprise that the bride walked away with about 3/4 of that loaf.
The other tradition done at all Bulgarian occasions- weddings, school parties, office parties, even in a pub in the evening was to dance the horo.  The horo is any number of dances where everyone holds hands and dances together, similar to the Greek, Hora.  Sounds simple enough, but some of them are really tricky.  Most Bulgarian kids take tanz, dance, in grade school and I had the oppurtunity to take a course while I was there.  Here's one of the easier horos.  Byala Roza or White Rose.  Its usually 6 steps to your left with a foot touch- Bulgarians swear its not a kick, merely touch your foot out, but don't touch the ground.  Then 2 steps back, with a foot touch.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

I like this youtube series for learning the horo, its in Bulgarian but they demonstrate each step:
Elenino Horo