Yes, this is the alphabet we tried to twist our tongues around for the two years of our service. To tell you the truth, learning the alphabet is not the difficult part. Once you got it, you got it because it is mostly phonetic, and there are no crazy spellings like in English. The hard part is trying to sound like a native. It is so strange for anyone other than a Bulgarian to speak Bulgarian, that at the slightest detection of an accent we were given funny or questioning looks. Now, I have to say after living there for two years, we got a few less “Kakvo’s?” (what’s?) or “molya’s” (please’s), but it was still hard to hide. Another tough aspect to Bulgarian is the grammar! It is tough and I won’t even attempt an explanation. But most days we enjoyed the challenge of communicating in another language, learning new words and communicating across cultures. I thought that I would never be doing something like this before. I marvel every time I was able to write a short note in Bulgarian. I can’t believe I was writing a letter in a different language. We didn’t profess to be the best at the language. Some volunteers were wonders! But because we taught English, our Bulgarian language skills were not that high in demand.

Another thing about the Alphabet is that Bulgarians are very proud of it. They will be sure to tell you that it is their original alphabet. There is even an official holiday celebrating the alphabet on May 24^th. The day is called Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, named after the two creators of the alphabet. Ong the holiday all the schools paraded down to the center of town carrying their school signs past the mayor and other officials. It was another unique Bulgarian holiday.