Album 08\07\2011, by Kristin Lindstrom

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Family/Friends

Last night we had dinner with Valya and her family. They have taken very good care of Megan while she has been here. I am grateful that Megan has them! It was nice that Valya speaks English so well. I didn't feel as out of place as I did with Mariana and her family, they spoke no English. Their curiosity of the United States and our traditions, foods we eat, and just people in general was interesting. I guess until you see both countries you really have no idea. Minnesota is so similar to Bulgaria in many ways. I think it would be easy to live here, except for the language thing. :) I have been surprised at the number of people that do speak some English. It's a treat when you find one of those people!

Lunch on Friday with the family Megan lived with for her first 3 months here. It was in the village of Popitsa. A 5 hour train/bus ride from where Megan lives now. This was the first time she had been back to visit with them in almost a year. She did see them at the B27 swearing in ceremony. What can I say? So MUCH food! I couldn't eat it all. We had cake, peanuts, icecream, watermelon and junkies before this was served! I was already stuffed! There was also bread and cantaloupe. They have 2 huge gardens! There was a storm a couple of days before we got there and they were still cleaning up from it. The gardens were still beautiful! So many vegatables and flowers.

In a couple of hours we will head to Sofia. The last of the train rides for me. We are planning on seeing the military museum this afternoon and the zoo and some of the churches tomorrow. It's hard to believe that my 2 weeks are up. They went by way to fast! It's been a bittersweet trip!

Pictures of Vratsa

The view from our motel.

Giant chess game in the center.

The horse statue I never thought we would get to!

A beautiful view.

I made it to the top of what felt like 4,000 stairs!!!!

Taking a break.

More stairs!

I'm not so sure I want to attempt this.

Vratsa

We toured Vratsa yesterday. The mountains are beautiful! I have had my picture taken with more statues in the last 10 days than I have in my lifetime. Some of them are so huge, you just can't imagine until you stand next to them. I can't put pictures on until we get back to Megan's house.

My legs and feet are tired today. We hiked up, what felt like 4,000 steps, to see the statue of the "guy on the horse". The view was amazing! I think if I wanted to see it again I would pay someone to drive me there! I'm sure they don't allow people to drive on the road that does go up there but it would be fun to try to find someone to do it.

Today, we are off to Popitsa to visit with Megan's host family. Hopefully, it will be a short visit and we will head back to Megan's. I feel like I have the deer in headlights look a lot. I have picked up on a few Bulgarian words but not much. It's always nice when they speak a little English, her host family does not.

The other day I was waiting outside of Megan's building for her to come down. A lady started talking to me in Bulgarian. I said the word English, she kept on talking and pointed to the other building. Luckily, I had met Lexi, another Peace Corps volunteer and knew that she lived in that building. I said Megan, and this lady got more excited, kept on talking away. Then I said the word mama and she really exploded! Come to find out it was the crazy cleaning lady I've heard so much about. Megan said she was probably telling me all about her grandson.

Another Train

Today we are off to Vratsa!  We are hoping for a little cooler weather there!  It did rain last night and cool things down a little. 
 
We didn't do much of anything yesterday.  Megan had to go to the police to get her identification card renewed.  It was nice to just hang out at her place for a day. 

A day at the park/zoo.

These pictures speak for themselves. TOURIST!!!

Birthday Dinner!

We went to an Italian restaurant for Megan's birthday. Eating out here is an experience. Megan ordered spaghetti with garlic bread and I ordered a pizza. My pizza was on the table in about 10 minutes the spaghetti came about 20 minutes later. The garlc bread never showed up any where but on the bill. Happy Birthday Megan!

Burgas and Sunny Beach

Pictures from Plovdiv

A few pictures from Plovdiv. Roman Stadium.

These stairs about killed me! It was late in the day for this old body to climb them, but I did it!

Sunny Beach

We are in the tourist area of the country. I guess I'm glad to see it once in my lifetime. This is definitely where the money is here. I prefer the normal part of the country.

It's so weird that we have put in a full day already and it is only 8:20 in the morning at home. We both managed to get a good sunburn! We decided not to go in the water today, it was pretty nasty looking until you got out about 30 yards and then the water was clear as could be. I don't know what all the green nasty stuff was, but not a chance I was going there.

We decided to take a walk out on a dock and ended up taking a boat ride to another tourist area. We hiked up to a church and ended up in the largest tourist trap every! It was kind of fun. We wandered around took a few pictures and eventually found our way out and back to the boats to take us back.

The beach...........still shaking my head............I have never seen so many sunburned people in my life. Not only should these people have been covered up from the sun but bikinis, speedos and thongs were not meant for everyone to wear.

We found Burger King for lunch! That was the closest thing to a real hamburger as you will find here.

Bulgaria, our motel in Plovdiv said they had air-conditioning, they did but it didn't work. This motel said restaurant attached, it's there, but it's not working either! This country is so laid back it's scary! You can always count on the buses and trains running on schedule though! You don't want to be late for those.

We are still undecided what we will be doing tomorrow. The castle or Megan's house.

Burgas

Well, we walked around and found the beach. The cities here are so confusing. Street signs are few and far between, when you do find one it is on the side of a building. The city is also a big circle with streets going in and out and around! The "center" is just that. There are no streets that run north/south or east/west.

Oh the sights I saw at the beach! There is no modesty or shame here. Enough said. This is a tourist town so I do have to be a little more careful about the comments I make, more people speak English here. Hehehehe!!!

I wish it would cool off just a bit. The plan is to go back to the beach tomorrow and hang out. (I won't be hanging out like the people that were there today!) Hopefully, I won't get too burned. It might make for a long train ride on Monday.

The plan was to go to see the castle on Monday but since the railways are under construction I think we will be heading back to Megan's. There is still lots to do there.

Bulgaria does have a few things over America! We really should take a few lessons from them. My favorite is at the hotel. With your key you get a metal keycard. You must put it in the little pocket inside the door for the electricity to work.

I hope all is well at home and everyone is staying cool! Looks like a scorcher there today!

The Black Sea

We made it! It's a little cooler here but it's still hot! I can't believe this country does not believe in ice. They think drinking cold things will make you sick.

I have been from the west coast to the east now. It amazes me just how poor the villages are. I have seen so many buildings with missing windows, roofs falling in and clothes hanging on the lines. There are so many things I would like to take pictures of but I don't want to offend anyone either. The fields are full of sunflowers and wheat. They are harvesting the wheat now. There were a few small fields of corn but, corn is for the animals. I saw herds of sheep, goats, and a couple herds of cows. So far the country looks a lot like Wisconsin.

I have had a lot of time to watch people. Men shave their body hair and carry man purses. Women think beauty is looking like a hooker from the 80's. I might have to find a load of those man purses for all the men on my shopping list!

It's been kind of nice with the role reversal! Since I can't speak the language I just put Megan in control of everything, I'm just along for the ride. It's been fun to beg like a little kid for ice-cream and trinkets!

I won't be able to put any new pictures on until we get back to Megan's house.

I wonder what we will have for dinner tonight? If I had to live here I would become a vegetarian. I've tried a lot of new things. I'm not a fan of the Bulgarian yogurt or meat. I think I could eat their tomato cucumber onion salad for every meal! I don't care for their white cheese they cover it with so now I get it without.

Now that we have cooled off a bit it's time for a wander around town.

Sorry

I've been trying to post some new pictures but haven't been successful. I am blaming it on third world internet! I'll try again tomorrow. We had a fun day in Plovdiv and will be heading out early in the morning for Burgas.

The view.

Looking out from Megan's terrace. Right across the street from her is a new building. It is the only building I have seen so far that has an asphalt roof on it. The copper gutters are beautiful. After admiring them, I looked around all of the buildings have them, they just aren't shiny and pretty anymore.

Church

Churches here are beautiful! Some are quite plain on the outside but once you walk in.......it's a different story. This is #35 on a list of 100 things that you must see while in Bulgaria. I wish you were allowed to take pictures inside. The carving and painting is absolutley amazing. There is nothing simple about the inside. We bought a couple of candles at the gift shop inside, yes I guess all the churches here have gift shops, and lit them in honor of Shane and Josh.

Yup, that's me! Just to prove I didn't get struck by lightning while inside the church!

Another church, we went inside this one as well. Not as fancy as the other but still beautiful. Off to find some luch!