So I found out where we will be spending my next 2 years!
I figure I won't need to hide this from you guys.
I am working in the towns of Septemvri and Varvara.
I'll tell you all more when I have more time.
This is the Peace Corps and they think I'm competent. Joke might be on them
-zack
EDIT 6/20: I've got about 400-500 pictures ready to release to you guys slowly. I'll let you guys see them once I get to each point. I'm publicizing the first picture of my satellite site Not-Amsterdam now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Zachary.Yap/NotAmsterdam#
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Deliciousness Follows!
Zdraveytey once again, everyone!
By popular demand, the topic for today will be FOOD. One quick linguistic digression before I begin: my greeting ‘zdraveytey’ is a common formal/plural greeting and the pronunciation (if you can do the IPA) is [zdravete]. In other words, it’s pronounced essentially just as I typed it. Of course it looks completely different in cyrilic: ЗДРАВЕЙТЕ. If the spelling is wrong, please correct me, my Bulgarian friends.
Onto the food. Deliciousness follows:
The first piece of food I wish to share with you is called Banitsa. This dessert is a traditional Bulgarian recipe (at least that’s what the Peace Corps wants us to believe) and every household tends to have a different recipe much like rakia. (If rakia sounds unfamiliar to you, look back a couple entries where I tell you how drunk it gets you. And by you I mean me.) It’s essentially a rolled pastry that contains fruit or cheese inside. You start by getting some very thin, read paper thin, bread. These are pretty similar to the kind you could get in an Ethiopian restaurant, I believe. Next, cover one sheet with a small layer of oil. In the household I learned this, we then placed another layer of bread on top and used a little more oil. Next we added the fruit (apple or pumpkin in this case) and spooned some crushed nuts mixed with cinnamon on top. Then we added two spoons of sugar for flavor enhancement. Finally we rolled it up and placed it into a baking pan. After about 8-10 rolls, the pan was filled and we tossed it into the oven for a while. It came out crispy and delicious. Imagine the thinnest and crispiest soft taco shell wrapped around fruit, nuts and cinnamon and when you bite into it, the damn thing feels like it melts in your mouth because it’s so fragile feeling. It’s pretty damn great.
The next one is another wrapped treat. This one is a lunch entrée that I’ve only found in the nearby city of… Budapest… This food is called a Diuner (or Dyuner depending on how you want to phoneticize it. Yeah. I verbed phonetics.) Start with a pita, preferably on the thick side. Fry one side of it to heat it up. Next add cucumbers, shredded lettuce or cabbage, and some kind of yogurt based sauce. This next part blows my mind. You place French fries and grilled chicken on top of all that. Add mayonnaise, ketchup, more yogurt sauce or chili powder as preferred, roll and serve wrapped in a napkin. I’m feeling pretty hungry just thinking about it. Best part: the small (yet very filling) size at the café I eat at sells them fresh for only 2 leva (the Bulgarian Currency). According to my ipod, in America-world that’s only $1.40. And the larger, much more luxurious and delicious size is still less than 2 bucks. I love Bulgaria.
One last thing to note, by request from someone who I believe to be Al Brown, I have begun brainstorming the story for Peace Corpse. It will be a romantic comedy set in the African wilderness. Once again, if you have anything else you wish to hear about, leave requests. Next week I’ll be finding out my permanent site and I think I’ll have more frequent updates.
This is the Peace Corps and I think I’m gaining weight.
-Zack
By popular demand, the topic for today will be FOOD. One quick linguistic digression before I begin: my greeting ‘zdraveytey’ is a common formal/plural greeting and the pronunciation (if you can do the IPA) is [zdravete]. In other words, it’s pronounced essentially just as I typed it. Of course it looks completely different in cyrilic: ЗДРАВЕЙТЕ. If the spelling is wrong, please correct me, my Bulgarian friends.
Onto the food. Deliciousness follows:
The first piece of food I wish to share with you is called Banitsa. This dessert is a traditional Bulgarian recipe (at least that’s what the Peace Corps wants us to believe) and every household tends to have a different recipe much like rakia. (If rakia sounds unfamiliar to you, look back a couple entries where I tell you how drunk it gets you. And by you I mean me.) It’s essentially a rolled pastry that contains fruit or cheese inside. You start by getting some very thin, read paper thin, bread. These are pretty similar to the kind you could get in an Ethiopian restaurant, I believe. Next, cover one sheet with a small layer of oil. In the household I learned this, we then placed another layer of bread on top and used a little more oil. Next we added the fruit (apple or pumpkin in this case) and spooned some crushed nuts mixed with cinnamon on top. Then we added two spoons of sugar for flavor enhancement. Finally we rolled it up and placed it into a baking pan. After about 8-10 rolls, the pan was filled and we tossed it into the oven for a while. It came out crispy and delicious. Imagine the thinnest and crispiest soft taco shell wrapped around fruit, nuts and cinnamon and when you bite into it, the damn thing feels like it melts in your mouth because it’s so fragile feeling. It’s pretty damn great.
The next one is another wrapped treat. This one is a lunch entrée that I’ve only found in the nearby city of… Budapest… This food is called a Diuner (or Dyuner depending on how you want to phoneticize it. Yeah. I verbed phonetics.) Start with a pita, preferably on the thick side. Fry one side of it to heat it up. Next add cucumbers, shredded lettuce or cabbage, and some kind of yogurt based sauce. This next part blows my mind. You place French fries and grilled chicken on top of all that. Add mayonnaise, ketchup, more yogurt sauce or chili powder as preferred, roll and serve wrapped in a napkin. I’m feeling pretty hungry just thinking about it. Best part: the small (yet very filling) size at the café I eat at sells them fresh for only 2 leva (the Bulgarian Currency). According to my ipod, in America-world that’s only $1.40. And the larger, much more luxurious and delicious size is still less than 2 bucks. I love Bulgaria.
One last thing to note, by request from someone who I believe to be Al Brown, I have begun brainstorming the story for Peace Corpse. It will be a romantic comedy set in the African wilderness. Once again, if you have anything else you wish to hear about, leave requests. Next week I’ll be finding out my permanent site and I think I’ll have more frequent updates.
This is the Peace Corps and I think I’m gaining weight.
-Zack
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Town!
Zdraveytey again, folks!
I’m assuming from the lack of responses to my last post that my poo was not as interesting as I thought it was so let’s move on to a different topic. So last time I basically spoke about my home. I’ll also make this post a little shorter so it’s easier to digest. Now let’s talk about Amsterdam and what’s in it.
First, I’d like to say that have photos that prove that I’m actually in the Peace Corps rather than just chilling out at home or something faking it. I do. I just need to upload them to the internetz. That may take some time if the internet trips out like it’s doing right now. Not a big deal.
Well it’s certainly beautiful. I’m currently writing from outside the town center where there is a decent wifi connection. It trips out more than occasionally but it’s reasonably fast. I’m writing from under a tree on the grounds and it is wonderful. To the right of me there are 2 large columns dedicated to the heroes of the town. Across from me is the town municipality containing the mayor’s office, the post office and a couple mini-markets. If you go down either main road, you’ll find farms and animals. Off of these roads you’ll find other not so main roads probably made of either cobblestone remains or dirt. Sometimes the roads are just paths that have two small trenches that the carts will just roll through. Along these paths are more farms and animals. Amsterdam is a town with nothing. No banks, atms or movie theaters, either. It’s a very old fashioned town. The best way to picture this town is to imagine the opening to Beauty and The Beast. The little French town is very similar. I see the same people every morning and they all poke their heads over their fence to say Bonjour. Well Dobro Ootro, anyway. I like it here. I like it and its bazillion tiny farms.
Eventually I plan on making a photo album using one of those online programs so you can see my pictures. I’ll do so once I get an internet connection that I can rely on.
One last thing before I go, I’m going to be touching on a lot of subjects but I want to know what you guys want to read. If you care to, leave a comment with a request and I’ll try to comply.
This is the Peace Corps. It’s like I’m in a Disney musical… or a horror movie.
-Zack
I’m assuming from the lack of responses to my last post that my poo was not as interesting as I thought it was so let’s move on to a different topic. So last time I basically spoke about my home. I’ll also make this post a little shorter so it’s easier to digest. Now let’s talk about Amsterdam and what’s in it.
First, I’d like to say that have photos that prove that I’m actually in the Peace Corps rather than just chilling out at home or something faking it. I do. I just need to upload them to the internetz. That may take some time if the internet trips out like it’s doing right now. Not a big deal.
Well it’s certainly beautiful. I’m currently writing from outside the town center where there is a decent wifi connection. It trips out more than occasionally but it’s reasonably fast. I’m writing from under a tree on the grounds and it is wonderful. To the right of me there are 2 large columns dedicated to the heroes of the town. Across from me is the town municipality containing the mayor’s office, the post office and a couple mini-markets. If you go down either main road, you’ll find farms and animals. Off of these roads you’ll find other not so main roads probably made of either cobblestone remains or dirt. Sometimes the roads are just paths that have two small trenches that the carts will just roll through. Along these paths are more farms and animals. Amsterdam is a town with nothing. No banks, atms or movie theaters, either. It’s a very old fashioned town. The best way to picture this town is to imagine the opening to Beauty and The Beast. The little French town is very similar. I see the same people every morning and they all poke their heads over their fence to say Bonjour. Well Dobro Ootro, anyway. I like it here. I like it and its bazillion tiny farms.
Eventually I plan on making a photo album using one of those online programs so you can see my pictures. I’ll do so once I get an internet connection that I can rely on.
One last thing before I go, I’m going to be touching on a lot of subjects but I want to know what you guys want to read. If you care to, leave a comment with a request and I’ll try to comply.
This is the Peace Corps. It’s like I’m in a Disney musical… or a horror movie.
-Zack
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