Friday, May 27, 2005
Holiday in Bulgaria!
Well i really have to hand it to the bulgarians...they know how to celebrate their holidays! Sat was the day of celebration for the birth of the Cyrillic alphabet! There was a huge festival held in the center of town with greek & bulgarian dance & music troupes! And the greek dancers were awesome...some ended up with bloody knees afterwards...yup it was just that hardcore! the greeks take their dancing seriously! so, then we all migrated to the school yard, a few hundred meters nearby, and this dude raked out hot coals and performed a pagan bulgarian tradition of coal walking! It was totally awesome...and probably the most intense cultural practice i've experienced in bulgaria...absolutely amazing! So afterwards while the entire town danced the horo around the town center, i observed from the sidelines and relaxed with a brewski...when a bulgarin dude i work with introduced me to his friend from sofia, Ani. She spoke perfect english and had even lived in Santa Cruz for 6mos and traveled around america! She was super cool and we hung out all night and went to the discoteka in strumyani that i didnt even know exisited! Now let me tell you what my definition of cool is, when a chick is down to let me pour vodka from a bottle down her throat i know she's the shiz-nizzle...oh and a ton of the greeks from the festival came and partied with us, actually they bought the bottle of vodka...so it turned into an international world wide par-lay in Strumyani of all places!
So after 6am rolled around i figured it was time for sleepy poo and i headed back to my apt...of course escorted by this bulgarian dude who i said id teach him english on mon (silly me! mondays another holiday and i already had plans...OOPS) Well, he leans in for a goodnight kiss as im munching away and on a bag of potatoe chips and i'm all "hey! what do you think youre doing" and then he wants to rub noses and says "you do that in america!" and i say "NO WE DONT! I'm from america we dont do that!" and then i laughed at him and went up stairs to eat my potato chips and pass out...all in all it was a lovely evening.
So sunday i wake up and eat some mac & cheese (the last box mommy!!!) and then passed out, when around 3pm Ani called me for some coffee and we chatted and made plans to meet in blatgoevgrad on monday.
I headed for petrich after the coffee...which happened to turn into a little mini adventure in itself...
So i have no idea when a bus for petrich is going by so i decided to head out the stop and wait for it because usually there's one every hour or so...so im waiting waiting waiting an hour and a 1/2 passes and finally i see the petrich bus comin down the road...so i wave my arms frantically to get it to stop and WOOSH it drives right by...bad thing is, that was the last bus to petrich...so i call my pcv friend and tell her "so the bus came, didnt stop, and that's the last bus" and i really wanted to get to petrich so i could tell her about my awesome night in strumyani! THen i think "hey there's a train station here, ill go check that out" so ive been in this town what, 6 mos? and i had no idea where the train station is, i ask a ton of people and finally i find it...and im in luck, there's a train in 10min for petrich...so i buy my ticket and talk with some old bulgarian dudes and stun them with my mad bulgarski skills...then the train comes and i jump on board....
"YEE HA" i love bulgarian trains because you can pull the windows down...so ive got my headphones on, shades, and my head sticking out the window...and it was a lovely day...
so i get to petrich and hangout with chrissy, and on monday we head for blagoevgrad. When we get there we meet up with another volunteer and then my friend Ani and her friends and have a few brews. Then we head over to the pool hall and shoot some stick.
After that Chrissy and head over to a neat little cafe called "Rock House" and have a few more beers. Well, this old man comes by with his button up shirt all hangin open and his sexy white chest hair stickin out, and hands all the ladies in the cafe a bunch of pansies, that we're pretty sure he picked from a planter box in the center...then he just stands there and im all "oh that was nice, i think he wants some stotinki (change), I'll give him some" so i hand him him like 20 bulgarian cents which i guess turned into an invitaiton to sit with us, and he's talking and talking and Chrissy and i just pretend we dont understand bulgarian...we he gets up and leaves and comes back with a bunch of leaves from a tree and hands them to me, then he gets up and leaves again, and this time comes back with a bunch of roses from somebodies yard!!! he even cut all the thorns off for me! Im like great, does he want more stotinki...? So we get up to leave and get some food, and the dude kisses chrisy's hand and then tries to like make out with my shoulder! and i freak out and start running...and end up with a bunch of roses, pansies, and leaves...
then we went for some pasta and met an amereica proffessor and he came over to our table and chatted with us. Then we went to karaoke and he came along too...it's always fun to meet non-peace corps americans...
So chrissy and i sang "welcome to the jungle" "me and bobby mcgee' "tainted love" "american woman" and man i know we sang a ton more, i just cant remember! it was super fun though!
after karaoke we went to the underground, and danced and i met the owner and tried to talk im into letting me DJ and electro-clash/80s night...and he said "well, make me a cd and bring it on sat" but now i realize, i dont think bulgarians will dig the elektro clash as much as i do...
so we get back to my place again around 6am and sleep sleep sleep some more...i woke up and made us some breakfast and then chrissy went home back to petrich... (so by now it's tuesday)
tuesday, i pretty much lie on my couch all day and watch movies and eat candy...
wednesday, i actually get up off my but and clean my apt...which was absolutely neccessary
thursday, i go to work and tell them ill be working from home and then nap and clean some more and play tony hawk, later have coffee with a bulgarian friend, pesho, write some things for a new project at work (yes i did do some 'work') and then paint and watch more movies and then pass out
Friday, Finally back at work!
So that has been my week, we finally got paid after having to scrounge for practically the whole month...so tomorrow i will come into work for awhile and then head to blagoevgrad and buy some cheap new clothes...woo hoo! and maybe go to the underground too! :)
Well, hope you enjoyed reading about my life here...love you all! Shaina Rose
So after 6am rolled around i figured it was time for sleepy poo and i headed back to my apt...of course escorted by this bulgarian dude who i said id teach him english on mon (silly me! mondays another holiday and i already had plans...OOPS) Well, he leans in for a goodnight kiss as im munching away and on a bag of potatoe chips and i'm all "hey! what do you think youre doing" and then he wants to rub noses and says "you do that in america!" and i say "NO WE DONT! I'm from america we dont do that!" and then i laughed at him and went up stairs to eat my potato chips and pass out...all in all it was a lovely evening.
So sunday i wake up and eat some mac & cheese (the last box mommy!!!) and then passed out, when around 3pm Ani called me for some coffee and we chatted and made plans to meet in blatgoevgrad on monday.
I headed for petrich after the coffee...which happened to turn into a little mini adventure in itself...
So i have no idea when a bus for petrich is going by so i decided to head out the stop and wait for it because usually there's one every hour or so...so im waiting waiting waiting an hour and a 1/2 passes and finally i see the petrich bus comin down the road...so i wave my arms frantically to get it to stop and WOOSH it drives right by...bad thing is, that was the last bus to petrich...so i call my pcv friend and tell her "so the bus came, didnt stop, and that's the last bus" and i really wanted to get to petrich so i could tell her about my awesome night in strumyani! THen i think "hey there's a train station here, ill go check that out" so ive been in this town what, 6 mos? and i had no idea where the train station is, i ask a ton of people and finally i find it...and im in luck, there's a train in 10min for petrich...so i buy my ticket and talk with some old bulgarian dudes and stun them with my mad bulgarski skills...then the train comes and i jump on board....
"YEE HA" i love bulgarian trains because you can pull the windows down...so ive got my headphones on, shades, and my head sticking out the window...and it was a lovely day...
so i get to petrich and hangout with chrissy, and on monday we head for blagoevgrad. When we get there we meet up with another volunteer and then my friend Ani and her friends and have a few brews. Then we head over to the pool hall and shoot some stick.
After that Chrissy and head over to a neat little cafe called "Rock House" and have a few more beers. Well, this old man comes by with his button up shirt all hangin open and his sexy white chest hair stickin out, and hands all the ladies in the cafe a bunch of pansies, that we're pretty sure he picked from a planter box in the center...then he just stands there and im all "oh that was nice, i think he wants some stotinki (change), I'll give him some" so i hand him him like 20 bulgarian cents which i guess turned into an invitaiton to sit with us, and he's talking and talking and Chrissy and i just pretend we dont understand bulgarian...we he gets up and leaves and comes back with a bunch of leaves from a tree and hands them to me, then he gets up and leaves again, and this time comes back with a bunch of roses from somebodies yard!!! he even cut all the thorns off for me! Im like great, does he want more stotinki...? So we get up to leave and get some food, and the dude kisses chrisy's hand and then tries to like make out with my shoulder! and i freak out and start running...and end up with a bunch of roses, pansies, and leaves...
then we went for some pasta and met an amereica proffessor and he came over to our table and chatted with us. Then we went to karaoke and he came along too...it's always fun to meet non-peace corps americans...
So chrissy and i sang "welcome to the jungle" "me and bobby mcgee' "tainted love" "american woman" and man i know we sang a ton more, i just cant remember! it was super fun though!
after karaoke we went to the underground, and danced and i met the owner and tried to talk im into letting me DJ and electro-clash/80s night...and he said "well, make me a cd and bring it on sat" but now i realize, i dont think bulgarians will dig the elektro clash as much as i do...
so we get back to my place again around 6am and sleep sleep sleep some more...i woke up and made us some breakfast and then chrissy went home back to petrich... (so by now it's tuesday)
tuesday, i pretty much lie on my couch all day and watch movies and eat candy...
wednesday, i actually get up off my but and clean my apt...which was absolutely neccessary
thursday, i go to work and tell them ill be working from home and then nap and clean some more and play tony hawk, later have coffee with a bulgarian friend, pesho, write some things for a new project at work (yes i did do some 'work') and then paint and watch more movies and then pass out
Friday, Finally back at work!
So that has been my week, we finally got paid after having to scrounge for practically the whole month...so tomorrow i will come into work for awhile and then head to blagoevgrad and buy some cheap new clothes...woo hoo! and maybe go to the underground too! :)
Well, hope you enjoyed reading about my life here...love you all! Shaina Rose
