Stoyan is an 11 year-old boy who lives in western Bulgaria. But before I tell you any more about him, let me describe his home to you. Bulgaria is in Europe, about 5,000 miles east of the east coast of the United States. It is north of the country of Greece and south of Romania. The Danube River separates Bulgaria and Romania.
East of Bulgaria is the Black Sea and to the southeast is the country Turkey. The Black Sea is large and is surrounded by several countries including Ukraine to the north, to the east and Turkey to the south. It is connected to the Mediterranean Sea in the south. The west coast of the Black Sea is beautiful.
Even though Bulgaria is parallel to Italy and just north of sunny Greece, winter in Bulgaria is pretty cold. This is because much of Bulgaria is mountainous. In summer, it gets warm but it never gets as hot as nearby Greece. All those mountains are part of the reason Bulgaria is so beautiful but it does make winter difficult as many roads become ice or snow covered for long periods of time. It also adds to the costs of living for the many poor Bulgarians as they have to pay to heat their homes.
The capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, is in the west central part of Bulgaria. Stoyan’s family lives about 30 miles west of Sofia. This is a mountainous area but his family lives in a village that is in the foothills or shorter mountains in the area. His house is made of a heavy wooden outer frame filled with cement between the squared logs. This is called a half-timbered home and it is a very old building style.
There are two stories to his house with five small bedrooms on top and a large living area and kitchen on the bottom. Nearby is a barn where Stoyan’s family keeps their horse, a cow, a flock of chickens, three goats and their flock of 25 sheep. They also have a large garden behind the barn is a sunny spot but the family’s main livelihood is based on their flock of sheep and the garden only provides enough food for the family.
You may wonder why there are so many bedrooms in Stoyan’s house. This is because Stoyan’s grandparents live with them. These are his father’s parents and they help with the care of the sheep and with the garden. They also tend the grape vines and many flowers such as the famous Bulgarian roses they grow. Two of Stoyan’s aunts also live with him. They are the sisters of his mother. Ludmilla and Verita also help with the sheep sometimes, but both of them work in the village. Ludmilla works at the bank and Verita at the Social Welfare office, helping to prepare meals for the older people who aren’t able to shop or cook and have no family to help them. Stoyan’s father works on the farm but also cuts wood and sells it, plus he makes some furniture for people living in the villages.
So Stoyan’s parents sleep in one bedroom, his grandparents in another and his aunts in another. Stoyan shares a bedroom with his older brother Strahil. The other bedroom is very small and Stoyan’s sister Rumyana has it to herself. Each bedroom has a window and it’s possible to see the mountains from every one of those windows although the best view is from the grandparent’s room.
Although he goes to school, Stoyan also helps his father care for their sheep and goats. He’s been doing that for 2 years now and knows a lot about sheep, or at least a lot more than most 11 year-old children. This is an important job because the wool and milk from the sheep is the family’s main source of income. If anything happens to even one little lamb, it can have a big effect on his family’s finances.
Unlike pigs and chickens, sheep and goats have to be brought to the fields each day to graze on grass. Like cows, female sheep (ewes) and goats can be milked. That’s another part of Stoyan’s daily duties.
One day this last summer Stoyan was getting ready to bring the flocks back to his family’s home. As he put some items into his shepherd’s bag, he wondered what his mother had made for supper that night. The night before they had pork stew with freshly baked bread. There were may vegatbles in the garden that were ripe so he guess that they would probably have Shopska salad,- a salad with chunks of tomatoes and cucumber mixed with olive oil, onions and Feta cheese. He was hoping they’d have red peppers stuffed with cheese and fried. That was his favorite food. That would make up for his bad day in the field.
It was not a very good day because he was tending the sheep and goats in a field with a lot of rocks and holes. Twice he had twisted his left ankle and once he tripped on a rock and fallen, badly bruising his right knee.
Just as he finished packing his bag, Stoyan heard a cry from one of the lambs. When he ran over to tend the lamb, he saw it had fallen into a hole with some branches from a bush with thorns. The lamb’s mother became very upset and started to make a loud sound as if she were saying the word “bleet” over and over again. Stoyan worked fast to free the little lamb, cutting the thorny bush branches with his knife. The mother of the little lamb continued with her complaining “bleet” and the little lamb kept twisting, making it more difficult to free him. Stoyan spoke in a soothing voice to the lamb and stroked its head so that it would stop twisting. Finally the lamb was freed but it was still frightened so Stoyan carried him home around his neck. When he finally got home, Stoyan right knee and left ankle hurt badly but the lamb was sound asleep.