babies

now i don't have lots of info on this subject but apparently in B when someone has a baby you don't get them presents or give them things before the baby's born.  one of the teachers at the english school is pregnant and today was her last day with us.  i stopped off at a magazine before i went to school and got a few things, not much but a small stuffed heart, baby powder, and a spoon and fork set.  after i gave it to her one of the teachers pointed out that in b it's not customary to give gifts before the birth.  this is something different b/c i can't say how many baby showere i've been to in my 39 yrs!  i really can't see this either b/c the reason we have showers pre-baby is b/c of all the things needed once the baby arrives and it's not like you can run out and get them!  i'll have to get more info on this; maybe she was just talking clothes.  even then tho the baby's going to need something those first days!   after eating lunch i was going home and left n, she and her family go to her apt in another town, and happened upon some students outside the hostel waiting to go home.  they are so eager to use their english and show me that they can talk in english!!  and i have to say some of the students are better than i thought they would be!  they yelled the common "have a good weekend" or "hello" and then started laughing when i stopped walking home and went over to talk to them.  i do have to say when nargis told me it's tiring translating, going from bulgarian to english and back,  i now understand that she is right!  there are coworkers at the english school who speak english and i speak english with them (i figured they'd want to exercise their english but i guess i could ask them which they prefer) and there are coworkers  who speak bulgarian and i speak b with them, or at least try to.  BUT...with the students i'm here to speak english with them so they can hear the native tongue and to help them learn.  sometimes i forget who i'm speaking to!  like when a student is leaving the stol, cafeteria, and says "cao" to my other collegues sometimes i forget to answer in english!  opa!   then there are people who i run into, like the other day in a magazine, shop, i like, that speak english and it takes awhile for me to switch to english and realize i can speak in english to that person.  or another thing i've run into, and this happens often, is someone has a friend or a relative visiting and wants to speak english with me.  the other day i was at the eng school with my class of 1 student and the door opened and the principal walked in.  the head of the muslims, who finances our school, was here and came to see me; i had missed him on the first day of school b/c i was traveling for the corps.  he motioned for me to follow him and we went into the principals office and then he left and another man came in.  he was from saudia arabia and spoke english and the principal wanted me to speak to him...in english.  you know, when i was in the dominican republic i looked at the American things and saw the dominican people wanting to be like us and got a little mad.  i saw them trying to stifle their culture and replaace it with ours b/c i thought they thought ours was better and i didn't necessarily agree!  it really kinda frustrated me b/c i didn't want them to stifle their culture!  now i have a little different view.     regardless of my thoughts on the subject english is becoming increasingly more popular.  to get anywhere you kinda have a need for english- i'm learning that now.  if you travel to another country and don't speak their language but know english, chances are you'll get by b/c someone will know english.  nargis asked me the other day, it's been awhile ago, if i was proud that everyone else wanted to learn my language.  i told her it depends on why they want to learn it.  if they want to learn english so they can move to an english speaking country and leave their native country b/c they don't like it or think the grass is greener than i'm not proud that you want to learn.  however, if someone wants to learn english b/c the world is gravitating towards english and knowing english will help you make a better life for your family or just like learning new things than yes, that i can get behind.  i just see lots of good and different things in this culture, and in the hispanic culture, and hate(d) the thought of someone wanting to lose that!   this is a long and i have to say pretty confusing entry based on the title.  i'm going to try to get lots done today for next week so i can concentrate on cleaning and other things this wknd!  preatin yekend!