I don't think that this will surprise anyone. I love Sofia even though it's a hard city to love. At times it's maddening (stray dogs, uneven sidewalks, crowded buses, poor snow removal and inefficiencies of all colors and stripes both big and small) but now that the first signs of spring have emerged the city seems vibrant and energetic.

Winter coats have all but disappeared and it's as if by shedding some of the winter layers the city also shed some of it's gloom. In my book, that's pretty magical.

So are trees in bloom. See how lovely the martenitsi are tied to the tree. Looking good, Mladost. Looking good.

<a href="http://instagr.am/p/JJhDVYmubv/"><img class="alignnone" title="Spotted in Mladost: a tree in bloom" src="http://distilleryimage11.instagram.com/7bca8928814411e1be6a12313820455d_7.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="490" /></a>

Anyhow, I've been reading this blog <a href="http://groundbeneathmyfeet.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Ground Beneath My Feet</a> for a while now and currently I'm in love with everything she's writing about Sofia. I think I originally found it through another blog <a href="http://www.themigrantbookclub.com/" target="_blank">The Migrant Book Club</a>.  Both of these blogs are written by Bulgarians in English and frankly I can't get enough of either one of them. They are thoughtful, insightful and well written.

These are blogs that speak to me.<!--more-->

This past week, I found myself thinking a lot about a post from The Ground Beneath My Feet titled <a href="http://groundbeneathmyfeet.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/balancing-on-top-of-the-dash-here-there-and-in-between/" target="_blank">Balancing on top of the dash: Here there and in between</a>. She's writing about the push and pull that so many young Bulgarians feel about their country and the opportunities or lack of opportunities here. The tug between living here or living elsewhere and what this inevitably does to one's heartstrings.

Two major questions seem to dominate this post. If you can leave, do you? But what if you chose to stay or even more boldly chose to return, then what? The subtext of these two questions seems to be what does Bulgaria have to offer you and is it enough to make you feel happy and satisfied? This said, the underlying problem seems to be one of responsibility--is it more responsible to take care of yourself or do you have some responsibility to your country as well?  What if your country seems to be irreparably broken--what then?

So I've found myself caught up in this web of questions where each one seems to lead back to another. I, of course, don't have an answer. It's a terribly hard place to be--to find yourself. Yet, by in large, the blog The Ground Beneath My Feet is positive in it's spirit and tone and that gives me hope.