During our pre-service training, or PST, we had the great fortune of a day trip with our host families to Rila. Rila is
home to the Rila Monastery - where Ivan Rilski settled. It's a beautiful place and like many other monasteries in the
country, its monks can be credited with preserving Bulgaria's history during the Ottoman Empire's 500-year
occupation of Bulgaria. Many of them not only made copies of various historical accounts, but they hid them as well
- only to be rediscovered after Bulgaria regained its independence - partially in the late 1870s, but completely in the
early 1920s. To date, the Bulgarians still aren't overly happy with the Turks, but their influence is felt as there are ethnic
Turkish communities as well as pomatsis, or Bulgarian muslims. Bulgaria is primarily eastern orthodox christian, but
about 10-15% of the population practices the muslim faith. People of these two religions tend to live in relative
harmony - a good example to remember when considering the world's current religious challenges. :-)
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