Photos From a Bulgarian Winter

Part of the fortress that looks over the city of Veliko Turnavo. I didn't get chance to actually go up there so it's for sure a place I'll drag my folks too when they arrive.

I went back to buy a knife from this shop the next day but it was closed.

Friday night prefunk Jager-bombs in between poker hands.

Guliama Bulgarski birra molya. (That's your Bulgarian lesson for today.)



A part of the old city. I really liked the colors between the old buildings and the newer ones going up. There seemed to be much more life and soul here than in Sofia.

A horse-drawn wagon, typical of those still used throughout the country.

The people of Veliko were big on their statues, just like everywhere else in this country.

Sasho and Miryana getting some practice on the drums.

It's actually rather hard to teach loads of beginners how to play percussion. I got them started on sheet music to help them learn counting but it's still tough.

This is probably the most people I had in the club at once. Unfortunately, I had to shut it down for about a month and a half while the Dracula production goes on. Hopefully, we will pick it up later in April.

This is Conner Lyon. His father Chad teaches English at the school. It's a good thing, because I don't think he would make it as a barber.

Kelly will be taking over my job next year. This will enable the whole Lyon family to move on campus.

Hiking up the upper slopes of Vitosha Mountain.

Gordon scopes out the kicker being constructed. Later the next week we would make another appearance.

Cooper and I getting ready to storm the Pink house party.

Here's several of the Bulgarian ladies that work hard at the school and even harder at the bar.

Car bombs!

Thanks to Dave (the guy in the middle) for giving me some of these pictures off his camera. The two lucky ladies are Ebru and Trisha.

What u lookin' at?

Dusty and Gordon Hanson.

Y.T., Derek, Jenn, and Kathryn.

Train tracks leading into the village of Lakatnik.

This is Cooper telling the kids to stay together and not to do anything stupid, like falling off a cliff.



The first flat section we reached put our group atop an area that gave us great views.


Lara, Trisha, and Kathryn

Everyone loves posing.

Djorf at the entrance to the cave. I was pretty impressed with the dimensions. It kept this rough shape for at least half a mile into the rock. We all appreciated that it was at least ten degrees warmer inside.








33 students and 8 teachers.

This hut is a rock climbing shelter. We saw some guys going up from the bottom as we hiked.

These are shots from the annual ACS talent show. This part showed off the skills of the modern dance club doing a flamenco routine.

Silver Flame
The first of two rock bands to preform.

The drummer is a dude named Viktor, one my favorite students. He also helps in the drumming club by teaching the newbies. The guy playing guitar is Vlado, their teacher adviser. Vlado and I often play music at parties together.



This is Christain Hammerdorfer, one of the sole American students at the school. His band, Tonsil Hockey, played last. He sung this song as an attempt to get his ex to "give him another try."

Other members of Tonsil Hockey, Misho, Ivan,and Elias. Misho is the drummer but he decided to give the vocals a shot. Elias is the oldest of my students living in the dorm.

These shots were taken during Gordon and I's last trip up to Vitosha. If you look you can see a paraglider coming down through the sky.


This little grom was only eleven years old and hucking the big air just as hard as the older dudes.

I went down and started shooting. It was pretty fun, trying to capture these guys as they flew through the air. I often got slapped with snow like in this picture.

I've never seen anyone take as much punishment as this skier did. He'd crash hard on his face only to give it another go. One one hit he left about a pint of blood on the snow.






This is looking down back at Sofia coming down the gondola.

Kathyrn and Dusty came up over the weekend to watch the boardecross with us.

These guys rode pretty hard that day but the race didn't start until late so we didn't get to see most of it.

Rock on.
So many pictures to choose from. Hope you like what you saw. I plan on shooting the shit out of Spain while I'm there so stay tuned for more.