I didn't think that it was going to be a very busy Christmas for me but it turns out that is wrong.  So I have a hunch over

[caption id="attachment_455" align="alignright" width="225" caption="New Shoes and Sofia Friends! "]<img class="size-medium wp-image-455" title="CAE and boots" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/fb-cae-and-mh.jpg?w=225" alt="New Shoes and Sofia Friends! " width="225" height="300" />[/caption]

the next three weeks, my posts will be a little bit shorter.  Don't worry though I'll post as much as I can and the best stories that I have.

Lights have gone up all over the city.  There is plenty of Christmas cheer in store windows.  And some of the bigger pine trees around have been turned into huge Christmas trees.  I bought a poinsettia today. The one thing is that there's not so much Christmas music being played.  I didn't think that I would miss the Christmas songs but I kind of do.  To make matters worse, it turns out I have only three Christmas songs on my computer.  (I blame the grinch.) But really, how can I only have three songs!? Aside from the grinch, I blame my red-curly-haired-friend for always having and playing such good Christmas music that I never bothered to get my own and the same goes to my little sister.  <!--more-->

Now here I am without Christmas music.  The weather has turned and I'm dying for a good mix.

Yes, it's been getting colder and colder.  Last week I bought a pair of Bulgarian boots.  It was an experience.  First off, there are shoe stores every where but they don't carry a wide range of sizes.  I am a 40 or a 41 in the European sizing--this makes my foot big but not so big that I couldn't find shoes.  It just meant that I had to go to a number of stores to find both the style and the size I needed.

Anyhow, I ended up buying the shoes at a shop very close to my house and the woman was really nice to me.  I was surprised by both of these things.  I've gotten used to fairly poor service in stores and restaurants in Bulgaria.  So it made for a really pleasant experience to buy shoes and walk out of the store in an upbeat mood.  There's something bluch feeling about handing over money for something that you like to someone who hasn't treated you very nicely.  It makes you feel a strange kind of buyers remorse.  But I felt none of that this time walking out of the store with my new boots in a huge box.

I got home and I had to put the shoes on.  This is when the buyers remorse struck.  My first thought was: oh no, these are too big.  Then I looked at them and thought: gasp, what if I have bad taste in shoes, these aren't very cute.  This was followed by: well, they'll get me where I need to go on snowy streets.  And finally, there was this: hey, I got great shoes for a great price.

Now this week I've been obsessed with shoes. I am happy to report: I did a great job buying my shoes.  The standard Bulgarian woman's boot is black, shinny and with a large stiletto heal.  My boot is black leather, a little slouchy with a tie on the side and no heal.  Perfect for my height and for snow while still being stylish.  (Either that or the shoe is really ugly and I am now making excuses for this)

I'll have my friend, who's flying into Sofia, in a few hours confirm this.  Yes that's right! As we speak, I am getting ready for the arrival of my first visitor! It's a friend from my MA program at Georgetown.  She is a ton of fun and I am really excited to show her the best of Sofia and maybe even Bulgaria.  I was thinking thinking that we'd make a day trip to some where like Plovdiv so that she can really see this place.

And it wouldn't be a visit to Sofia if I didn't feed her lots of Bulgarian food and make her drink lots of rakia.