Hi there, we are Anne and Fleur, both volunteering for two months in Shipka. We arrived at the end of September. Anne is from the Netherlands and Fleur is from Belgium. Here’s what we did during the month of October.
The month started mostly with garden work. We harvested pears and apples, cut branches to use for mulching in the garden, and turned the hot compost. We also went to the ‘jungle’ to collect rotten apples and cut weeds and painted the windows of the museum.
Apart from gardening and painting, we taught at the school every Wednesday. Anne has a degree in chemistry and Fleur in physics, so we decided to teach the children some science! So far, we have taught lessons on fire, water, tornados, the microscope, and rainbows. We also do experiments related to the topic. For example: letting water rise in a glass with a candle, bending a stream of water with a balloon, using the microscope to study different objects and learning how a rainbow is created using a wine glass filled with water.
Luckily there is also free time during which we can explore the country. On the weekends we have been on a lot of trips, no wonder Lillian-Beth is out of
money! One weekend we went to Sofia so Guillaume could run the half marathon and we joined to run the 10K.
The next weekend we went to Plovdiv, where we enjoyed the old town very much.
We also went to the Seven Lakes, staying in a mountain hut for 2 nights. The views were absolutely amazing.
The last weekend of October we had some theory lessons on permaculture and organized a Halloween party. There is no better way to close off the month of October!
