Kukeri Festival

Pernik (where I live in Bulgaria) is home to the International Kukeri Festival. This festival is dedicated to chasing away evil spirits and welcome good crops for the spring. People dress up in these huge elaborate masks designed to look as ugly as possible and jump around with huge bells on their waist. People come from different parts of Europe and partake in the festival as spectators or participants. It really was such a great thing to see. Here are some pics....

Men in there kukeri costumes.....

And randomly, the festival also included men dressed as women, or wearing black makeup or dressed in crazy costumes.....

Man wearing a wedding dress holding a plastic gun??? How is this scaring away the evil spirits?

You know I love the kids......

Sippin on some syzzurp

Ok, so those who know me know very well that I have a SWEET TOOTH. And I mean I would eat sugar out the damn bag if I could. So I was quite pleased when I got the hookup on some syrup. Especially since I love pancakes for breakfast (lunch or dinner too for that matter).


I was on the phone with Poppa, and he swears I cant cook. SO in yo face! And my pancakes came out light and fluffy, cuz thats how I do!


And just cause I love for yall to hate on me, I took pics of my french toast (above) and pancake (below) breakfast. Hope yall peeped that Aunt Jemima bottle in the background, how could you not.....

they kinda have a point tho....

Now from what I have heard, this Bill O'Reilly guy is indeed a racist/says racist comments pretty often. But I am not familiar with any of his rants or raves, and frankly dont watch this show at all (seeing as I am overseas). But thanks to the good people over at mediatakeout.com (sometimes they post straight BS, but its funny), I came across this video clip.

Now how this is news I do not know. But I suppose if people can say racist rants and comments against Barack Obama and the news reports that, than rants against Bush are fair game. For the record, I am agreeing partly with what they both said about the concert and the comments made by Jay-Z. I am totally against rappers and the like using the N word like its ok. That causes confusion for the people of Bulgaria (for example) who see poor volunteers like myself and think its cool to call me that. Frankly we need to banish this word from our vocabulary cuz its not cute to use, or to hear. And for someone like Jay-Z, altho the comments he made about Bush are his opinion and right to say, the N part is just ridiculous. But I suppose those Black folks who are from the hood and have been using the word practically all their lives, have no need or will to change how they use it (or educate themselves with better words). People actually listen to Jay-Z and yound Jeezy and try to be like them, so using this language is not a good look. Especially since they supported Obama up and down this election, and this really is not the message he would like to promote for our youth anywhere. And frankly there is a way to disagree with someone without being disrespectful (thanking the guy who threw shoes at Bush!) Come on Black folk, lets get it together!

Now, what I DISAGREE with, is the condescending tone in which Mr. O'Reilly uses to say these peoples names. His tone is one of outright disrespect for Jeezy and Jay-Z (whom he claims he met and thinks is a decent guy). But who the hell is Mr. O'Reilly to say Jay-Z should know better! And that what they said was "low class" when I believe he made a racist comment about Michelle Obama which could be also considered LOW CLASS. But of course he brushed that off his shoulders with some bullshit apology and explanation that his words were taken out of context!

And Dennis Miller, I was with you on the "hoes" bit! That was on point and the truth....im just sayin.....

Excuse my Language....

....But I FUCKIN HATE FLEAS! They are so disgusting and nasty. I honestly didnt even know that humans could get flea bites (I never had a dog). But in Bulgaria, there are so many stray dogs roaming the streets just chillin. And this is by no means anything new for current volunteers, but I HAD to blog about this.

Ive had some flea bites before. They itch so damn bad, that is just feels like heaven when I am scratching the irritated spot. Its a temporary moment of bliss. But then scratching causes the bite to inflame and get much bigger, and after a while it can scar and leave a mark. And for someone like me (who is black) the scars are clearly visible on my skin. My legs, once beautiful and sexy now look so disgusting cuz they are decorated with small scars everywhere. DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I HATE FLEAS?!?!

I woke up with 8, COUNT EM 8 flea bites this morning. On my thighs, foot, legs and hand. EEWWW So I am making my bed when I see the culprit just chillin like its on vacation. So I run and get the bug spray provided to me by trusty PC, and attempt to end that fuckers life by sprayin it like crazy in a fit of rage. Dont you know this lil mutha fucker was practically 2-steppin on my damn sheets, as if to say "its a celebration bitches (in that Chapelle voice)" or "hahaha Im still alive heifer" I was SOOOOOOOOO mad! So of course I start to spray even more, and it honestly slowed the flea down, but then it just kept on jumpin! I finally took my damn shoe off and hit the flea. IT DIED! HAHAHAHAHAHA Then I had to change my sheets.....

I bought some RAID after school. I went spray crazy, and got choked up a bit from the fumes. Thats a sign that thats the good stuff......

Hey you

Well I hope you enjoy my blog. I really do try my best to keep it current, full of relevant posts and of course, keep it HILARIOUS! I have a feeling you will keep me on my toes in just about everything I do cuz I already admire your intellect. So if you are reading this, thank you for stoppin in and checkin me out. Best believe, Im already checkin for you......and just an FYI, Pink has never been my thing, but its growing on me already!

Test Today

Well I gave my students a test today. And honestly, I had the biggest smile on my face! Why you ask? Well simply put, it was one of those moments of sheer SATISFACTION that I felt being a teacher in Bulgaria.

Why you ask again? Well day in and day out I try my hardest to make my lessons fun and interesteing so that the students pay more attention. And before just a short while ago, I really felt some sort of way cuz the students weren't interested. EVEN IF we played games. They were into them for a while, but the same old behavior came shining through: heads rested on hands, heads on desks, sucking of teeth, talking, laughing extremely loud and nothing really THAT funny etc. Oh and my favorite, WRITING on the board very clearly only to turn around and see the student slookin at you like you have shit on your shirt. Oh wait I have another favorite, writing something on the board (for example the definition of candid) and when you do REVIEW the next day the students AGAIN are lookin at you liek you have shit on your shirt (ME: for REVIEW use candid in a sentence, STUDNTS: what's candid?)

So needless to say althought I did my very best to give my students the heads up about the test and what to study for it, many of them STILL sat there stuck on stupid. And as HORRIBLE as it sounds, I just wanted to LAUGH (like this guy but with more teeth)!

you know what they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!

**Just a side note: who the hell is "they" (as in you know what they say.....)?

Oh really?!?!

Anybody wanna take a stab in the dark and guess what this is?

Give up?!?

Ok, it WAS my new gym ball. I decided to get off my lazy ass, and work out to the music videos I'm always watching instead of just sitting on my couch pretending I can sing. So I got all pumped up and bought this cute gym ball to get my ab exercises on. So on Mon I convinced myself to actually do some abs.

I did about 20. My stomach was hurtin so bad I thought I would die! Needless to say, I ate dinner, and continued on singing along to music videos. But I told myself tomorrow was a new day!

So this morning Im ironing my shirt for work and the gym ball was right near the iron. Dont you know that damn iron burned a hole in my gym ball and that shit started to deflate. Well me being MS. RESOURCEFUL, decided to just tape it up, you know, good as new. I got home after work, and this is what the gym ball looked like:


Yeah, its a wrap for that........Ill just starve myself to lose weight. That ALWAYS works......

Hello Mr. President

So I just couldnt help myself. I had to take pics of the TV because it was THAT serious. Besides the fact that the entire thing was kinda off schedule, and the judge messed up on the oath, it was spectacular. Mr. President and the first lady looked great and oh so classy. And those who know me know that I am not a big fan of green, let alone wearing it, but damn if Michelle didnt look on point in those green leather gloves (they was fire).

It really does feel good to see Mr. Obama become the president. And for those of you who dont really get it, ill try to break it down for you: Not only have Black people had to work as slaves to build this country, we had to deal with the ramifications of a racist environment after the fact. No rights, no respect, not even the acknowledgement of being human at one point. And although Barack Obama was raised way different than most Black people, went to Harvard, became a Senator and has money, when people look at that man, they see a Black person. His skin is dark, so anyone who chooses NOT to talk to him or get to know him could write him off as another nigger (dont act like there arent people out there who still think like this). And seriously, the make-up of America and what people see as American is White, lets keep it really real. Most big box office hits include white actors/actresses in lead roles (Oh hey Will Smith), a hand full of none white actors/actresses win Oscars, most big named super models are white (I see you Jourdann Dunn and Chanel Iman, Tyra and that chick that threw the phone at her housekeeper), most of the billionaires or more wealthy people are white (Im sure they worked hard for their money, but again Blacks needed things like "affirmative action" to even get a job let alone a damn college education). Oh, and Black history month? Are you serious (let me school you for a sec) What started as a week to honor African Americans by Carter G. Woodson (the author of the Miseducation of the Negro) in February was expanded to a month. But Blacks (like myself) shouldn't need just a month to be honored because I am American just like anyone else.

The point of that tangent I just went on was to say that this moment is so "historic" because it really is a phenomenon that a Black person (amidst on-going racist logic/policies/thoughts/attitudes) can be elected president. And although we come from 2 different places, his skin looks like mine. Im sure that man can tell you some stories about how he was disrespected or mistreated because of the color of his skin (just as I can). People like to think that this is no big deal, and that Blacks are mistaken if they think they will get special treatment because Mr. Obama is Black. The fact of the matter is just like Sidney Poitier opened the doors and made it ok for Black actors to be recognized for their talent, Barack Obama is making it ok for all Blacks or ANYONE for that matter to aspire to the highest position in the world (just like Hilary Clinton did for women). I just wanted to get that out the way. Most folks kinda dance around that fact that racism still exists. But my philosophy is once people realize it does and can openly admit it, then maybe, just MAYBE we can actually get past it. The above was to explain the sentiment of Blacks and why this is so very important. With that being said, lets pay close attention to what the new Pres SAID HE WOULD DO and HOLD IT TO HIM(cuz when I get back in 2010 Im ready to get this paper). We shouldn't be lookin at his color, but what his policies and plans are for gettin the economy back together, or the Gaza conflict, or looming terrorism, or anti-American sentiment, or diminishing natural resources, or the current gas problem, education, health care and the list goes on and on and on. Hopefully this really is a new day......

**DISCLAIMER** Now Black people, dont be holdin on to the new Pres like he owe you something. He worked hard to get where he is. Let him be an example and nothing more. Do not depend on him to pay your bills or give you special treatment because you deserve none.

Oh, and can we please stop talkin about Michelle Obama's fashion sense. I gave her props earlier for them gloves, cuz yall know I aint no hater (but the oufit was eehh). But isn't she a lawyer? Doesn't she have a brain? Can we start talkin about what we want to see her do as a first Lady instead of what fashion designer she gon put on the map......

Ok Im done......

Oh wait, if there was even a MINUTE chance that the Pres or someone he knows read MY BLOG, and is planning to come to Bulgaria (Im not sure why you would do that) but can you please do so BEFORE I leave here (by June 2010). I'm just sayin......

Ok, im really done......

Australian Open

Good Luck Serena! She is my fav tennis player and I hope she does well in the Australian Open. Her pic to the right is when she beat the World #1 Jankovic in 2008. You can do it again!

Happy King Day!

Today I taught my students who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was. I was kinda appalled that only one student out of 26 knew who he was. It seemed odd. But then again when I was talkin to them about racism, barely a handful of them knew what the Holocaust was (that shocked me too). Anyway, it felt so good to explain to them why Dr. King was so important to AMERICAN history. So here is the speech just in case you missed it, never heard it before or just wanted to refresh your memory. Enjoy it folks......



I was tryna post the vid here, but just follow the link:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA