Not last weekend but the weekend before, I went to Teteven to celebrate my Bulgarian tutor I.'s birthday. If you've been reading my blog for awhile now you probably know that every Sunday I have a Bulgarian lesson with I. She's really great. And, as you can probably guess, I am really lucky that she's my tutor.

[caption id="attachment_4320" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Hiking to Hija Rosi"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4320" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4320"><img class="size-large wp-image-4320 " title="Hiking to Hija Rosi" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02281-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

You may not know how we met.  Don't worry. I'll tell you.

My blog.

Yep. I wrote in at the beginning of year two in Bulgaria that this was my year to learn Bulgarian. Luckily, I. wrote to me on my blog that she'd be willing to teach me Bulgarian. So two years later I speak a lot more Bulgarian than when we started and I have new friend.

See this blog is good for something!!

[caption id="attachment_4321" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Backpacks!"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4321" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4321"><img class="size-large wp-image-4321 " title="Backpacks!" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02279-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Now meet once a week. She makes me grammar handouts (and coffee) and gives me homework. I show up with a big smile on my face and some (if not all) of the homework completed and stumble through the completed exercises, reading tasks, dictations and anything else I. decides we should be doing. I am generally okay at the grammar exercises and the reading tasks but the dictations?! That's a different story. Luckily for me, a girl can live a long rich life even if she's not very good at dictations.

Anyhow, I. is really kind and even when I am having a bad day or the grammar is hard she has a smile on her face. And these days the grammar is always hard. It's like she gets a kick out of adding one

So when I. asked me if I'd like to go with her, her boyfriend J. and some of their friends to Teteven to celebrate her birthday I said yes right away. Then I. told me that we'd all drive to Teteven, up a hill behind the city, park and then walk for about 40 minutes up a big hill, through a meadow and over some rolling hills to Hija Rosa. Okay. I just decided to pack light.

[caption id="attachment_4322" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Road to Hija Rosi"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4322" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4322"><img class="size-large wp-image-4322 " title="Road to Hija Rosi" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02289-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

I am really glad that I said yes. I am also really glad that we had such nice weather. It was sunny and relatively warm. And the road which is dirt also was only muddy in a few places. Who could ask for anything more?!

[caption id="attachment_4323" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Hija Rosi "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4323" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4323"><img class="size-large wp-image-4323 " title="Hija Rosi " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02282-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Teteven is in the Stari Planina and the landscape surrounding the city is wild and beautiful. The walk to the hija was muddy but not very hard. A hija is translated roughly from Bulgarian as a mountain hut or maybe a mountain cabin. This hija was pretty great--with a big kitchen, a suite of seventeen different beds divided between a number of rooms and two horses.  Oh, yeah and really nice owners.

[caption id="attachment_4324" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="I. and J. at dinner"]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4324" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4324"><img class="size-large wp-image-4324 " title="I. and J. at dinner" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02358-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

We all met up on Saturday morning divided up between 5 cars and drove the two or so hours to Teteven. We hiked in, ate lunch and then some of us rode horses.

I. told her friends to speak to me in Bulgarian. That was great in theory but in practice it was totally impossible for me to keep up with people and conversations. So I spoke a little bit of Bulgarian, a little bit more English and I spent a lot of time listening to Bulgarian wishing I knew what people were talking about. Note to self: must learn Bulgarian.

[caption id="attachment_4325" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Happy (late) Birthday I.! "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-4325" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/?attachment_id=4325"><img class="size-large wp-image-4325 " title="Happy (late) Birthday I.! " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC02353-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="614" height="461" /></a>[/caption]

Between walking around in the mountain, eating a lot of great food, taking some pictures, riding a horse and generally relaxing, I had a great time.