First Few Weeks Of March

On 3/5, the American Corner had an “in-reach” where they had a local middle school come in. I did the “Big Cities in America” presentation again. It was a bit hectic and rushed and I thought I had 30 minutes, but when I got there they told me I only had 10, but I needed to include everything. So I probably spoke too fast and they probably didn’t get any real information. Kids here are hard to read. They just stare and don’t really respond to your questions…But then they took a quiz about the state capitals and put together a puzzle. See pictures here.

On 3/7, at the American Corner, there was an event for International Women’s Day, where two Macedonian women and an US Embassy worker talked about being women in their professions. I can honestly never say I have felt a stronger need to discuss what feminism and women’s rights mean and how much that is truly needed in Macedonia. I had visited a few different NGOs that were discussing women’s rights, but I never know how much of the common woman’s views were similar to what they were like in the US in the early 1950s. Many of the women there thought is was normal and good for women to stay home and be mothers. And that, that was all they were supposed to want. And that there was nothing wrong with that. Or that when a woman CEO was treated as if she was only there to get coffee for the men, that she was just supposed to accept that and no one protested that she had been placed in a degraded position. Other women were talking about how they should always be a mother or a wife before they pursue their other goals. Also, all feminist are man hating people who only want women to rule the world. (By the way- this is totally wrong. Feminism is fighting for human rights and the idea that everyone should be equal regardless of sex, ethnicity, skin color, sexual orientation, or any other potential discriminatory quality. Feminists don’t all want only women to rule the world, although some do, but so do some men. Feminist generally just want everyone to be treated equal in the shortest definition of the word.) I left there totally saddened and enraged over the injustice that these women will face, and wondering how I could make a difference. I wish the American Corner wasn’t moving this year, so that I could do a workshop on what feminism and women’s rights is actually all about. You can see pictures here.

On 3/8, there was another event at the American Corner: “Dreams for My Daughter, Dreams for My Mother.” It was supposed to be a mother/daughter thing, but they invited me along to contribute to the conversation even though my mom was half way around the world. We had a good conversation. Julia, the US Ambassador’s daughter who is living here was supposed to come but she was super sick, so she wrote a letter to her mom. It almost made us all cry she is such a good writer!  See pictures here. (Have I mentioned how I like the fact that the American Corner takes a million pictures and posts them online so I don’t have to?)

On 3/14, I had an International Women’s Association meeting. These meetings have two components: a social hour and an actual meeting. At the social hour, sometimes we have someone selling stuff (like make-up this time), or we play a game. And then there is a meeting where they tell us about the upcoming events that they have going on. After the meeting we usually go to lunch. This week’s lunch was at Shanghai, one of two Chinese restaurants in town. Neither restaurant is good, actually both are pretty bad and have no good food. But they are nice people. Then I went over to the Opera and Ballet to buy tickets to Swan Lake. After that successful outing, Cecelia and I went to her house, where I met her kitty that I agreed to house sit this past weekend. The kitty kind of reminded me of Koshka, a little skittish (she did warm up by the end of the weekend).

Like this past week (3/12 to 3/16) all I did was lay around and recover from being sick the week before. And other than that, I basically laid in bed or sat on the couch recuperating and trying not to get sicker. I did go work at the new NGO, but that is part of what made me feel worse and stay in on Friday!

See you around the globe!

Plovdiv: Bulgaria Day Five

Well, I couldn’t sleep very well and felt sick all night. But I decided, that I was going and would just take medicine.  I woke up and 6 and thought it would be enough time to make it to the bus station by 7, well because I was sick and not moving too fast I missed the bus by about 2-4 minutes. So I got my ticket for the next bus and went and sat in the international bus terminal (next to the local one, but with free wifi) waiting for my bus.

Got on the bus and promptly fell asleep for the whole bus ride. All 1.5 hours.

We arrived at the bus station and I checked to see what time I could catch the last bus back to Sofia at (8 pm, but I decided that 6pm, to have some leeway if needed). Bought some breakfast (because at the hostel the night guy couldn’t open the place where they keep the filled croissants) and began my trek into town.

Plovdiv is hilly. Very hilly. I didn’t know this. And its streets are very confusing and you better have a map handy or be ok with looking lost.  Also the main thing to do is visit the house museums, or old “revival” style houses that now host museums.

When I was at the bottom of the first hill/mountain, I went to take a picture of this little church, only to find that my SD card had never made it back in my camera! I had put in the place holder of my computer and when I glanced, I thought it was the SD card. Luckily I carry my HTC Evo with me to use at wifi hotspots and it has a camera on it. So I was able to take pictures.

I walked up the hill and into the floor of the Roman Stadium. It was so cool to see the area that people sat in and watched things unfold so many years ago. And the city still uses it for performances, like they did the night before. However, to get out I had to climb this:

And let me tell you those steps are steep- like half of my leg or higher steep. But the view from the top was nice:

 Then I tried to find my way downtown (well I was kinda already there, but still). I passed the Larartine house. Named after this French poet that stayed her for 3 days way back when. Yes you read that correctly- 3 days. Lol

I then walked down to the heart of Old Plovdiv and went into the Sveti Sveti Konstantin i Elena (church).

As I was about to go into the church, a slew of black cars with flashing lights and diplomatic flags and police cars drove by. Everyone stopped and looked. Apparently the Bulgarian Prime Minister and the Austiran Consular General were dedicating a new power plant outside of the city. So while I didn’t see them, I saw their cars. Lol

 {ast the church to go check out the Ethnographic Musuem. I only had 30 minutes before it closed for lunch and I didn’t want to limit myself, so I went through the Hissar Kapiya (the best preserved gateway of the 6meter tall fortress walls built during the reign of the Roman emperors Marcus Trajanus and Marcus Aurelius.

I went into the Musuem of the Revial/Geogiadi House that is a “splendid architectural museum” according to the free map at the tourist info center. It showed the history of the ciy with stories and information about a few different periods of time. (all mostly modern) And all of the museums have a student price of 1 leva. I was able to take some pictures inside:

 Then it was next door to the Nedkovich house which showed how the “upper class” lived during olden times. A few snapshots. The lady opened up the house for me and I was the only in it when I went through.

Then I went to the Sveti Nedelya (Nedelya Church) because it had, and I quote the Lonely Planet guide, “a frekin’ dragon slaying mural” inside. And churches are free. You had to cross some construction to get there, but the door was open and no matter what way you wnet in you had to cross this construction, and there were footprints, so I figured why not. So glad I did, it was very well preserved and beautiful! See:

Then it was onwards to the Zlatyu Boyadzhiev museum. Where I ate lunch in the courtyard and rested (which I had kind of been doing all day because I still felt pretty sick and out of it).  According to Wikipedia, he was a famous Bulgarian painter known for his portraits and landscapes. What stuck me is that he was painting during the communist times and his work is so soul searching and about religion- not typical for that time period. Also there was two paintings in a tree stump. Some examples:

Then it was back to the ethnographic museum. So cool. Two stories of clothes and tools of the area around Plovdiv. A must see by the way. On the first floor in the main area Tsocho Peev was having an exhibit.  He is a cartoonist from Bulgaria and his paintings made me laugh. They were really good. There was one with the painting slipping from the frame, only to realize that it was a painting of a painting slipping from the frame and hanging on for dear life. Or this:

After that I wandered towards the Ancient Roam Stadium (the largest roman structure in the Balkans which had a capacity of over 30,000 people, but you can only see 13 steps of it now.) Passing by the Balabanov House and the Hindliyan House and the slew of black cars parked outside some place.

Then I saw the Dzhumaya Mosque, “one of the biggest and oldest mosques of Bulgaria.” And the Stadium. Which is currently under constuction.

 I walked down the main street on my way back to the bus station hoping to catch the 3pm bus.

Which I did. I stayed awake for a bit, but then took a nap. Countryside is the same no matter where you are- trees, fields, a few mountains in the back ground. It actually looked a lot like Southern California in the Hills nears Palm Springs. I woke up about 20-30 minutes before we arrived in Sofia and go to see part of the Vitoshia (a mountain) Nature Park.

Then it was back to the hostel with a yummy Japanese dinner of cucumber rolls, miso soup, and Coca-Cola on the way. More blog updating, and phone talking.

I went to brush my teeth for bed, but the bathrooms were in use. Apparently the other people had eaten some bad fish and threw up. I told Borts (I think) that I had a weak stomach and didn’t feel good and was going to bed. So he said I should drink Coke Light and promptly poured me a glass. So I drank  it and watched Bulgarian TV with him. He is super nice and lets me practice my Macedonian/Bulgarian but is willing to speak in English if I don’t know the Bulgarian word. We watched TV for about an hour as I finished my Coke Light. Surprisingly it worked! Brushed my teeth and went to bed.

Sofia, Day Four

On Thursday I woke up at 6am sick. Like my curl-up-in-a-ball-whenever-you-move-you-feel-nauseous sick. I thought that wouldn’t be a good day to leave my bed and go to another city 1.5 hour bus ride away. So I went back to sleep until 9. I decided to go try to get to the National History museum and try the Polytechnic museum (now that I knew where it was, thanks Google!). And I took medicine.

I asked the front desk guy if there was a way to use public transport to get to the museum or not and he said he would look. Apparently there is. A trolley-bus and a bus. So off I set hoping that this time it would be open.

It was!! You couldn’t take any picture inside it (and only a few on the outside- there were NO PASSING! NO PHOTOGRAPHY! Signs around the entire complex and some military looking smokestacks…hmmm…)

 This museum was awesome! It had stuff ranging from pre-Roman times up until the signing of Bulgaria joining the EU. Amazing. Some of the detail is just awe inspiring! I probably spent about 2 hours or so wandering the three floors of the museum. There was even a replicated house in there, as well as a school room. And an exhibit on cinema though the early 1900s. Almost all of the signs were in both Bulgarian and English.

Then I wandered outside and to the back to see if there was some shade I could sit in to eat my sandwich I had made with plastic-wear and nothing else. There was  a little café- so I got a Sprint and a popsicle because it was hot. And sat and ate a leisurely lunch.

 Passed a doggie waiting on Mommy or Daddy to get out of work. I had a little dog house, food and water and was in the shade. All in all, pretty happy. Sofia is a pretty dog friendly city, it's wonderful!

 And took a picture of the kid’s playground:

Yes, that is a nesquick sponser...

And then attempted to make my way back to town.

Did I mention that you had to walk up this to get to the musuem? and that there was no signs pointing to it? And that I was hoping the map was correct? no? Oh well...

Well, I did, with no problems, so I guess I should say, I made my way back to town? It was about 2:50 and I decided to try to find the polytechnic museum again because it closed at 5pm and was closed on Fridays.

 Once again= awesome museum. It had clocks, TVs, telescopes, space food, cars, telephones, satellites, mining and steel working stuff. It was cool. The “watch lady” (the people who usually walk around making sure you don’t touch stuff) was really nice and there was another American family there (dad and mom vising their son and his wife who live in Sofia). The “watch lady” showed us how much of the stuff worked. I wish I had been able to take a picture of the first computer developed in Bulgaria and my cell phone which could do more to show you the size difference!

The exhibit was just cool- especially if you like science museums. And a lot of the signs were in English, so I could actually understand what I was looking at! Wandered around for about an hour looking at their one floor exhibit. I would highly recommend this little gem.

Then I went back to the tram station to go back to the hostel, passing a post office and actually succeeding in getting four stamps to America. J For postcards.

Went back, dropped stuff off and went to go read in the park for a bit and then get dinner. Relaxing in a park is apparently the thing to do in Sofia in the afternoon- either with a book or friends and family either with or without alcohol.

As I was heading towards this restaurant that Lonely Plant had recommended and passed by this place called “Ego” advertising pasta for about $8, I decided I was tired of walking and just wanted to eat, so I stopped. Very nice place and I was severely underdressed, but they had an English menu. I got pasta with butter and parmesan and water. They came and poured the water into my glass when it was low. From a bottle on my table. Like wow. I also got a little bowl of different kind of breads with some olive oil.

Oh so yummy! I finished it all, it was a Cassidy sized portion!

Then back to the hostel to upload photos and blog (see a pattern here?). Talk to my mom for a bit and to bed early to try to get to Plovdiv the next day.

Sofia, Bulgaria, Day Three

So on Wed I decided to have a museum and church day and go explore all the churches we passed on the Free Sofia Tour and to the three maybe four museums I wanted to go to.

One problem- they were all closed for remodeling! Well, the museums that is. The churches were open.

I started my day leisurely, waking up around 8-9am, eating breakfast and then leaving to go explore. I wandered past the Alexander Church

Then tried to go to the ethnographic museum and National Art Gallery, but they were closed for restoration. So onwards to the City Art Gallery.

They were closed for remodeling (putting up a new show). So on ward to the other churches in the center: Sveta Nedelya Church and Church of St Petka of the Saddlers.

Sveta Nedelya Church was beautiful and lovely both inside and outside. St. Petka- only beautiful on the outside. They tried to extort money from me, but ALL churches are free in Bulgaria- they only charge tourists. St. Petka is a small room about the size of my hostel room here, with some open tombs (no bodies) and very little light.

Ibought some souviners on my way to the next stop: I decided to check out the National Palace fo Culture. It’s on a bunch of maps as huge and on a bunch of postcards. About after an hour of wandering and an interesting postal experience I arrived. Only to find that it is a conference center, but it has free wifi. So I sat there for about 30-45 minutes using their wifi and eating a granola bar.

Then I decided to try to go to the Polytechnic museum. But I couldn’t find it. I apparently literally just walked right past it because I was so exhausted and tired and worried about breaking an ankle on their streets.

So I gave up and decided, well, I’m close to the bus station, why don’t I go look at it to find where I will catch the bus to Skopje on Monday.

Finally SUCCESS! I found the carrier, where to buy the ticket, and when they leave, how long it takes, etc., etc.!!! It will leave at 7am local time on Monday. So I plan on catching a taxi (well, calling a taxi to come pick me up) at 6am and then getting the ticket and waiting. Hopefully I get a whole 2 seat row to myself. Bus seats are really small and I have long legs.

Then I caught a tram downtown to try to find one of these two restaurants that our Free Sofia Tour guide had pointed out only to find that they weren’t there where he pointed them out. At least not that I could find.

But I found the farmer’s market and bought some fruit and veggies to make sandwiches, since I realized I hadn’t been eating correctly. (like basically no lunch except for granola bars. :/ )

 Then wandered past a book market, trying to find my way back home. Well, I had apparently taken a wrong turn and ended up downtown.

So since I was hungry, I decided to go to Happy, a bar/restaurant downtown. I figured I was going to go anyway and might as well do it the day I needed some happy.

Bad mistake. Horrible mistake. Worst $10 I have ever spent on food. When I arrived I was seated. 10 minutes later the first waitress walked up to me and brought me a menu and silverware and took my drink order. 10 minutes later she came back to take my food order (note- you need to close your menu to place and order, the waiter/waitress won’t come back to you until you do). I ordered rice and veggies and some fried cheese. I got the fried cheese within 10 minutes. Ate a few, saving room for the rice and veggies.

 And waited. And waited. And waited. 30 minutes later I figured they weren’t serving me the rest of the food and I was no longer that hungry- just fed up and wanting to go home. SO I wrapped up my left of cheese things, put them in a bag and waited for a waitress to come over. She asked if I wanted my check or dessert, and I told her check. When she brought it to me, it had the rice and veggies on it- so I asked her to take them off since I had never been served them. (however, the guy behind me who had also ordered the exact same rice and veggies was served within 10 minutes of having his order taken). That took 10 more minutes. Finally I paid and left, wandering back to the hostel.

 Funny postal story: I walked in and asked for 5 stamps to America. I knew she understood me (I know that much Macedonian!/Bulgarian) But she gave me “one” stamp to America. In the form of seven 0.05 leva stamps, one 0.65 leva stamp and one 0.40 leva stamp to add up to one 1.40 stamp. I didn’t try to explain that I wanted 4 more, I just smiled and took the stamps, laughing in my head.

 Also, when I was walking home someone stopped me to ask directions in Bulgarian, and I had to admit I didn’t understand. But the stopped me, I guess I had passed the “look” test that day.

 Now gang, I don’t want this to just tell you all the happy stuff and none of the bad stuff, because that is just not life.

 I was tired, sore and homesick.

 I’ve never really been homesick before I gather. I just wanted to be home. I would have rather been home in my small town than in Sofia this day. And I love traveling, but I missed my fiancé, mom, and pets. So I cried and called my fiancé to talk for a bit.

And uploaded photos and wrote for the blog a bit. I also was able to talk to another Fulbrighter in Moldova about the experience.

It was tough, guys. I was sad. I was crying, it wasn’t pretty. I just watch TV and finally tried to go to sleep because I wanted to go to Plovdiv tomorrow, hoping that it would be nice to get out of the city for a day.

But I couldn’t sleep.  About 1.5 hours later, I put on my “sleeping/calming music” and finally fell asleep.