Saturday morning? I got up earlier than I like on the weekend, had three cups of coffee, put on a bright yellow ACS t-shirt and got ready for a day of dancing. I met up with three other international teachers and we made our way to Studentski grad.

We weren't sure how easy it would be for us to find the “Hristo Botev” sports hall.  We got an email from a colleague with bus numbers that we could take which is super helpful but then it turned out that one of my colleagues was able to drive. Only the "directions" we got were something like: go to Studentski grad and ask where the sports hall is. Um, <em>okay</em>. This would probably work but it doesn't seem fool proof.

We looked up directions on google maps. <em>Thanks, google!</em> Luckily, this neighborhood, Studentski grad, isn't far from Mladost and google didn't lead us astray. We were there within minutes. It took us longer to find a place to park.

[caption id="attachment_3798" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Must dance, Must park on the Corner "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3798" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3798"><img class="size-large wp-image-3798 " title="Parking on the Corner " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02043-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Then we parked in the most "Bulgarian" parking spot ever. We parked on a corner. Yeah, I realize that it's kind of sketchy but really it was the only place we could find. We'd been honked at a lot and finally it boils down to this: when you're in Bulgaria and you need to go to a horo competition you might just have to park on a corner. We did.

[caption id="attachment_3795" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Horo V Sofia "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3795" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3795"><img class="size-large wp-image-3795 " title="Horo v Sofia " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02044-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Anyhow the hall was full of dancers. I've never seen anything like it before. It was great fun. People were in a range of clothing from traditional costumes, to matching t-shirts and black plants, to modified traditional costumes and even modern dress.

[caption id="attachment_3791" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="ACS v the Horo"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3791" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3791"><img class="size-large wp-image-3791 " title="ACS v the Horo" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02045-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

I had a great time today at the Sofia v Horo event.  Our group pulled the 26th spot of 42 teams and by 1pm we had yet to dance. We went on about 1:15pm. The event was scheduled to run from 10-2pm but who knows when it wrapped up.

We danced, took some pictures and then went to lunch.

[caption id="attachment_3792" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="More of ACS v the Horo"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3792" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=3792"><img class="size-large wp-image-3792 " title="More of ACS v the Horo" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC02046-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

The dancing went well. I didn't get too confused at any point. I danced next to one of the school librarians who was really kind to me and made sure that one of my two arms was doing what it was supposed to be doing. I have a hard time focusing on both my feet and my arms at the same time.

The whole day reinforced two things: one, I need a traditional Bulgarian folk costume and two, I don't know how I am ever going to pick which one I want. They are all so different and so pretty. <em>What am I going to do? </em>

Anyhow, I understand that there are some video clips of our group dancing. I'll try to post one (or maybe more) when I get a chance. Until then, a couple of photos will have to do.  Sorry I don't have any action shots. It's just kind of hard to take pictures when you're dancing.

Finally, thanks so much to my loyal reader Bobby who showed up to watch <em>AND</em> brought be homemade strawberry jam. That was really cool and I can't wait to try to the jam. I don't have any bread or yogurt at home right now but I am kind of thinking of just having a spoon full of it.