Overland with Kids

Hello from Bulgaria!

Jessica says:

“Dear folks!

In Bulgaria we have been doing lots of work at a homestay house. We have had so much fun here. We have been feeding the goats Billy, Mary and baby. One of the chickens died. We will be staying here for another 2 weeks. When I’m older I want to live on a big farm with a big barn. I want 5 chickens, 2 roosters, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 10 goldfish, some horses, sheep, cows, 2 goats (so I don’t have to worry about mowing the grass). I don’t want a pig - they’re too smelly and I don’t want to have to kill it.”

AJ says:

“We played with the dogs. One is called Ruby. One is called Millie and we have to do lots of jobs in this house. I’m going to keep a pig so I can remember it but I’m not going to kill it. I want a farm in Spain maybe when I’m bigger and I’ll have 5 dogs, 6 chickens, 4 roosters, 2 horses, 1 cat and a bull.”

Andrew and Anne say:

Wwoofing stands for ‘Willing Workers On Organic Farms’.

On arrival to Bulgaria, we headed straight for the Black Sea coast to a fishing port called Balchick where we slept rough in a parking lot on the outskirts of town. We experienced no problems and felt that Bulgaria even though we crossed the border in the pitch black night time, was instantly welcoming and nice. Following a walk into town the following morning and breakfast in the harbour, we then whizzed through Varna to the edge of the Kampchia river where it meets the sea. We were able to camp securely there and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and beach which we had all to ourselves. The campsite is a large complex of differing huts - some a little bit shabby and others much more inviting. For 10 Euros we had showers, hot water and freedom for the children to do what they liked - and they wasted no time. Late evening we slept to the sounds of Bulgarian music and a beautiful, clear starry sky.

We are now currently based approx 4-5 hours inland, deep in the Targovishte countryside in a small village called Lomtsi which is sandwiched between the towns of Popovo and Razgrad. We are staying and working on a small farm performing a Helpx / Wwooofing / Work Exchange. Our hosts are Andy and Sheleen who, originally from the UK and having spent much time abroad as qualified Scuba Diving instructors, have made the pretty village of Lomtsi their home these past 3 years.

We decided to do a help exchange as a way of doing something different together with the children so we could all attempt to understand the culture and living within one country better. Jessica and AJ chose the farmstay themselves and so far we have all been loving every minute of our time here.  This in turn has also provided us time to get some ground under our feet, allow us to re-organise ourselves and the vehicle/s and help us to keep costs down.

Andrew’s main job the past few days has been to build an ‘OK Coral” style fence with gates from recycled wood, cover it in chicken wire and clear a path through the nettles and growth so the goats can be excercised safely and without wandering off the land. Anne has been housekeeper, school teacher and cook. Jessica and AJ’s jobs have been to feed the chickens, dogs and goats and make sure they have plenty of water 3 times a day. Both have been helping to water the new baby fruit trees which have just been planted. In between times, Jessica and AJ have been spending their time exhausting the life out of the dogs as well as exhausting Andy and Sheleen - it is one huge playground for them both here where they can run around freely - they are having a ball. They also have the duty of searching for and collecting up newly laid eggs that the chickens lay in their nests each day - very much a favourite occupation for them both as the chickens roam freely and lay eggs in secret nests about the place.

The countryside in Bulgaria is very lush and green, full of fruit trees, fishing lakes and is very beautiful. It is very relaxing and definately ‘up there’ on our list of loves since stepping across the border a few days ago. We wake each morning to cockerel ‘cockadoodledoing’ and a cuckoo ‘cuckooing’. Storks, turtles, hedgehogs, lizards and scorpions are the norm in the area we are staying. We have seen several huge storks nests. It is lovely and we are enjoying our surroundings very much not to mention Andy and Sheleen who are the most fantastic hosts.

Education

Both - A large aspect of our time has been spent learning about traditional Bulgarian style bee-keeping - how bees are collected and transferred to new hives, smoking the bees in preparation, looking at the honey being produced, how to make new boards for the hives, differences between a bee and a wasp, the waggle dance they do, how far they will go to find food and how they find their way home, how long bees live, the Queen bee, guard bees and the protective clothing used. After talking to them in more detail both ran around pretending to be bees - doing a waggle dance and licking each other, pretending to pass on the Queen bee’s serum - it was very funny to watch. Our mossie net hats provided as a going away present by our friend Max also came in really handy as provided protective bee covering for our heads - thank you Max!

Both have been learning about plant life in relation to a cherry tree. Journal writing. Reading. Making a birthday card and pictures of one of the goats (Billy) and the rooster (Henry) using feathers, plant seeds, flower petals and colour pastels in time for Sheleen’s birthday. Making a spherical parabolic reflector to create a solar furnace and choosing the best place to situate this in the sun. Using a magnifying glass to try to melt candle wax. Using a glass of water and plain paper to try to get the sun rays to reflect the colour rainbow spectrum. Using a thermometer to gage temperature. Both did some writing and drawing exercises about bee keeping and solar parabolic reflection.

AJ - Learning about the 5 human senses (seeing, feeling, tasting, hearing, smelling) followed by written simple questions/answers about these. Studying and drawing parts of a plant (leaf, stem, root, flower) and their functions. Some questions and answers about these. Reading ‘Kipper’s Toybox’. Reading comprehension (fiction, non-fiction and fact finding within small story passages).

Jessica - Words of the week - ‘Parabolic’, ‘Understatement’, ‘Meticulously’ and ‘Sinister’. Decoding cryptic messages. A simple crossword. Reading more of the book ‘The Boy in the Dress’ by David Walliams. Looking at the Beaufort Scale for learning more about wind speed in terms of what happens to trees at differing mph and the importance placed in knowing this for e.g. measuring toward air traffic and sea controls - the sea part of which Andy and Sheleen were able to contribute loads with. Speed trial times table quiz and writing out the times table grid. Attempting to make a solar chicken box for hatching eggs but Sheleen persuaded Jessica that maybe we should read and understand more about the subject first as maybe an incubator would also be required.

Other

Card tricks. Jessica sitting on an egg pretending to be a real chicken - needless to say, the egg broke in less than two minutes! Making tents inside the caravan - becoming a real favourite. Watching a dead hen been plucked and disected - ugh! yuck! They enjoyed the spectacle and even took photos showing eggs still inside the dead hen.

An on the road gameplay hint from our friend Terry Hann in Australia (though us girls disagree with the boys are better bit :

“Hi all
We have a game in Australia called cricket (you may have heard of it?). We’ve adapted it to road cricket. 2 teams, you had better mix them up as boys are much better at it than girls and the fairer sex may need some help. One team bats the other bowls. Use the oncoming traffic as your score makers. A motorbike coming towards you is a wicket, a four wheel drive is 4 runs, a normal car is 1 run and a truck is 6 runs. Jessica and AJ can both have score cards to keep count.
This can be changed around to suit, eg teams change from batting to bowling after 3 wickets, too many motorbikes so red cars are wickets etc.
Don’t argue too much, the losers only have to do the dishes.

Terry.”

Mileage

3,135

Land Rover Issues

Since arrival to Bulgaria - loss of power/trouble starting-up - starts chugging due to faulty intake valve. Replaced with plastic tube and silicon
Alternator - battery light permanently on. Alternator (from spares) replaced
Bulb light gone. Replaced from spares.

None of the above caused us any show stoppers but had we tried to move on from where we are now, we reckon we could have had some serious problems. We also landed on our feet being with Andy and Sheleen as Andy is a dab hand with vehicles and did all our repairs for us - thanks Andy!

Satelitte Tracker Issue

Our satelitte tracker (findmespot) was giving us grief last week but seems to be OK now. But, we won’t be using daily for the time being as we are stationary for the next couple of weeks.

On the Road Costs

To follow next week.

(Sorry to say we are still having trouble downloading photos from previous post re: Moldova)

Bye for now!

Lots of love

A, A, J and AJ

xxxx

Diary (Blog)