(2114,1,'2010-02-12 16:38:31','2010-02-12 13:38:31','It\'s time for a living on your leva update. Things have been going pretty well. It turns out that my cellphone wasn\'t dead after all. One of my students suggests that I wiggle the flip part of my flip phone and now the screen is again connected to the phone and I can both see the screen, make calls and send text messages. Um, thanks!\n\nI am pretty glad that I didn\'t have to buy a new phone.  Also, I really like my phone. I am a creature of habit, remember? So not having to get a new phone is nice on two fronts: first I don\'t have to buy a new phone and second and I don\'t have to learn/adjust to a new phone. In my book, that\'s pretty lucky.<!--more-->\n\nSo, phone aside, the budget hasn\'t been too difficult to stick to. I miss having a coffee in Onda with my colleagues much more than I miss the actual coffee. But my thermos of homemade coffee has been treating me pretty well. The one thing is that I think I am actually drinking more coffee now than I was before. I should probably cut back on the caffeine but I love coffee, so I am not.\n<ul>\n	<li><strong>Sunday, February 7th:</strong> Breakfast and lunch in Rome. Dinner lentil stew with rice. Cheep and easy. Given the size of the batch of soup I made and the inexpensive nature of the ingredients I\'d guess that dinner was not more than 2 leva. The one problem with making this much soup is that it\'s all I\'ve been eating. All week.</li>\n	<li><strong>Monday, February 8th: </strong>Breakfast, standard oatmeal, milk, banana, coffee at 1.20 leva. Lunch, lentil soup and bread at 2 leva. Don\'t ask me why I had lentils for lunch knowing that\'s what I\'d have for dinner. Snack, corny bar and coffee at 1.20 leva. Dinner, lentils and rice at 2 leva.</li>\n	<li><strong>Tuesday, February 9th:</strong> Breakfast, standard oatmeal, milk, banana, coffee at 1.20 leva. Lunch, stuffed peppers and bread 2.20 leva. Dinner (at 9pm at night after entering grades all afternoon and evening), bagel and an apple at 1.50 leva.</li>\n	<li><strong>Wednesday, February 10th: </strong>Breakfast (wosa, I change things up), coffee, bagel and a banana at 1.50 leva. Lunch, (I splurge--the cafeteria was serving two of my favorite things) potato cream soup and sesame chicken at 3.80. Dinner, lentils and rice (part 3) at 2 leva.</li>\n	<li><strong>Thursday, February 11th:</strong> Breakfast (turns out I liked breakfast yesterday so I have it again), coffee, bagel and a banana at 1.50 leva. Lunch, mushroom stew and bread 1.80 leva. I am still hungry so then I have a slice of cake made out of biscuit cookies and vanilla pudding at .60 leva. Snack: apple at .50 leva. Dinner: I decided to make lentil, lutinitsa, kashkaval cheese, brussel sprouts and green olive pizza. Don\'t ask me why. Sounds strange, I know. But it was good. Now I\'ve got 2/3 of a pizza left in my fridge. I\'d guess that the cost was pretty low on this dish--not more than 1.50 leva.</li>\n	<li><strong>Friday, February 12th:</strong> Breakfast, coffee, bagel and a banana at 1.50 leva. Lunch soup, bread, banana cream pudding at 2.20.</li>\n</ul>\nSo far so good. This \"week\" I\'ve spent 29.70 leva. More updates to come.','Living on Leva: Update','','publish','open','open','','living-on-leva-update','','','2010-02-12 16:38:31','2010-02-12 13:38:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2114',0,'post','',6),(2120,1,'2010-02-13 13:55:42','2010-02-13 10:55:42','','Wine Glasses','Here\'s either an artsy photo or a poor one. It\'s all in the eye of the beholder.','inherit','open','open','','dsc08979','','','2010-02-13 13:55:42','2010-02-13 10:55:42','',2118,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc08979.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2118,1,'2010-02-13 13:58:30','2010-02-13 10:58:30','[caption id=\"attachment_2120\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Here&#39;s either an artsy photo or a poor one. It&#39;s all in the eye of the beholder.\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc08979.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2120\" title=\"Wine Glasses \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc08979.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe best way to celebrate February 14th? Well, I plan to drink a full bodied red wine.  I am also not celebrating Valentine\'s Day.  Nope not me. Not because I don\'t have a boyfriend (I don\'t). Not because I hate the idea of groveling at the feet of Hallmark (I do). But because I see no reason to now that I live in Bulgaria.\n\nI\'d much rather drink a glass (or two) of red wine and toast Dionysus.  I\'d rather celebrate the Bulgarian saint, St. Trifon, who is the patron saint of wine-makers.  If you\'re a long time, devoted reader you may remember the post I wrote on this subject <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/st-trifon-dionysus-feb-14th/\">last year</a>. If not, I\'ll bring you up to speed right now.\n\nNo Valentine\'s Day.  Instead, the Bulgarians celebrate wine. The ancient Thracians, who honored the god Dionysus in this way and today the day vineyard owners cut their grape vines for the new year and then they drink wine.  Not bad but I am neither Thracian nor a vineyard owner.\n\nSo what\'s a girl to do? Well, I am not going let this stop me. Instead, I\'ll be drinking a nice glass of Bulgarian wine at home. I\'d encourage you to do the same.','February 14th','','publish','open','open','','february-14th','','','2010-02-13 13:58:30','2010-02-13 10:58:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2118',0,'post','',4),(2124,1,'2010-02-14 13:33:04','2010-02-14 10:33:04','','Restaurant and Friends','Restaurant and Friends','inherit','open','open','','dsc01487','','','2010-02-14 13:33:04','2010-02-14 10:33:04','',2123,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01487.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2125,1,'2010-02-14 13:34:44','2010-02-14 10:34:44','','At Memento','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01497','','','2010-02-14 13:34:44','2010-02-14 10:34:44','',2123,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01497.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2123,1,'2010-02-14 13:41:22','2010-02-14 10:41:22','I should be studying Bulgarian. But I am not (and now my tutor knows this).  I am procrastinating. I am the worst sort of student. I read the entire New York Times. I cleaned up my kitchen. I\'ve drank nearly a whole pot of coffee.  I started a load of laundry. I going to read The Crucible soon.I\'ve even thought about searching for an interesting recipe to make for dinner tonight. I checked facebook (um like 10 times). I made my bed (but I usually do that). Basically, I\'ve done a lot of other things today and now I am writing a blog post rather than  studying Bulgarian.\n\nBecause I am beginning to feel a little bit guilty about the whole thing I am promising myself this: write a short quick post, do homework and study Bulgarian more next week.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2124\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Restaurant and Friends \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01487.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2124\" title=\"Restaurant and Friends \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01487.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo, I went out last night with friends to celebrate St Trifon\'s/Valentine\'s day (metro downtown 1 leva). We had dinner (hearty salad and red wine 20 leva),  went for a cocktail at <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/memento-beans-grapes/\">Memento </a>(7 leva) and then went dancing (cover 4 leva, coat check 1 lev and two drinks 9 leva). It was great fun (split a taxi home 4 leva).  Total night: 46 leva and fun, fun, fun. However I did spend a chunk of my living on leva monthly budget out last night. Good thing I don\'t do this every weekend. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01497.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2125\" title=\"At Memento \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01497.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>','Out with Friends','','publish','open','open','','out-with-friends','','','2010-02-14 13:41:22','2010-02-14 10:41:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2123',0,'post','',0),(2136,1,'2010-02-15 07:51:23','2010-02-15 04:51:23','','Wash &amp; Go','Wash &amp; Go','inherit','open','open','','dsc01499','','','2010-02-15 07:51:23','2010-02-15 04:51:23','',2130,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01499.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2130,1,'2010-02-15 08:20:26','2010-02-15 05:20:26','I am downgrading. I realize that this isn\'t something that you hear much. Usually everyone is concerned with upgrading--getting the newest technology, the best phone, the super-sized hamburger meal. But I\'ve downgraded.  This week I converted to \"Wash &amp; Go\" shampoo. I used to be a devoted Nivea user. No more.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2136\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Wash &amp; Go \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01499.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2136\" title=\"Wash &amp; Go \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01499.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNow don\'t feel bad for me. I certainly don\'t.  I found the \"Wash &amp; Go\" shampoo on the bottom shelf of the shampoo isle at Billa at a lower price than Nivea and bigger volume.  <!--more-->I\'ve always like a deal so I like getting more shampoo for less. But the name doesn\'t really inspire confidence.  Don\'t have enough time to really take care of your hair? Buy this shampoo. Don\'t care about how your hair looks? Wash it, dry it with a towel and then go.  Not interested in spending time or money on your look? Use this shampoo.\n\nSo I bought the citrus shampoo. Name aside, it seemed pretty non-offensive.  Sure, there\'s nothing sexy about this shampoo but as long as it works I guess it doesn\'t much matter how much it is, what the bottle looks like or the name of the product.\n\nI am happy to report that the shampoo had nice suds and rinses out with little effort.  It\'s not heavily perfumed which is normally a plus in my  book.  Well, except for this morning, when after a night out in a smokey restaurant, bar and club my hair was saturated with stale smoke and even after washing my hair and drying it it still smelled faintly of smoke. Gross. But my hair just may be extra dry given the long cold dry winter--giving the smoke the perfect place to hide.\n\nWell, by now I guess you\'re wondering this: is her life really so boring that she\'s writing a blog post about shampoo? <em>Yes</em>. Okay, this is a good point. My life is kind of boring but actually I am writing because this experience confirms something that I\'ve long suspected.\n\nI\'ve suspected that shampoo is shampoo and that it doesn\'t much matter what name is on the bottle.  Sexiness and marketing aside, how different can shampoo actually be? My guess is the brands of shampoo are only minimally different. And that in the end, it\'s more about selling a feel and a lifestyle than selling the physical shampoo.\n\nMany shampoos on the market are simply selling and promoting a lifestyle that hints at something slightly more glamorous, sexy and interesting than the one promoted with the Wash &amp; Go name and bottle. And this is why I am downgrading. I feel no need to pay more for the same product and I don\'t need to reaffirm the sexy glamorous life (ha, ha) that I am living in Sofia with my shampoo.\n\nHere\'s to the downgrade (and feeling good about it)!\n\nOh but I hate how hard the lid is to open.','Living with Leva: The Downgrade','','publish','open','open','','living-with-leva-the-downgrade','','','2010-02-15 08:20:26','2010-02-15 05:20:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2130',0,'post','',2),(2138,1,'2010-02-15 20:05:33','2010-02-15 17:05:33','Without a ticket catches up with you. It happened to me today. This morning it was snowing. A lot. Actively snowing. I got on a very empty 111 bus, didn\'t stamp my ticket and at the next stop two or maybe three controllers climbed on.\n\nI didn\'t have a ticket. I smiled. He asked for my ticket. I said I didn\'t have one. (Not that I\'d been riding the bus for nearly four months without one which is much closer to the truth.)  I paid my fine of 10 leva.  He gave me a red ticket and change for my 20 leva note and told me to have a nice day.  I smiled.\n\nTruthfully, I felt kind of bad about the ticket thing and for him riding all over town in bad weather checking tickets. Also, I wasn\'t angry or anything because I deserve to pay a fine.  I did the math this morning.  <!--more-->I\'ve been riding the bus regularly since November and I\'m not in the habit of stamping tickets. I\'d guess that conservatively this means I\'ve ridden the bus 110 times (give or take) without tickets.\n\nI know, I know. That sounds like a lot when I write it out. I even double checked my math--I mean I am an English teacher.  But it\'s pretty sound.\n\nThe strangest thing is I don\'t gamble, I don\'t even bet on things but for whatever reason but I\'ve taken to riding the four or so stops from my house to school and back without a ticket.  Now the question is this: since I\'ve been caught, do I now start stamping tickets or because I am up about 100 rides do I continue riding without a ticket? I mean it would be annoying if I got checked the next ten times I ride the bus but I do owe the money.  This said, what\'s the chance that I\'ll get checked?\n\nHum, I wonder if there\'s an algorithm for this?\n\nMaybe thought it doesn\'t matter as I assume that shortly there will not be inches of snow, sheets of ice, slush, standing water and/or mud covering all of the sidewalks.  When this happens it will make walking to school much, much more pleasant.  And the thing is, I really do like walking. I like looking at things. I like thinking and walking. I come up with some of my best ideas walking.  I like the energy it gives me.  So truth be told come March I assume I\'ll once again be walking to school.','When Riding the Bus','','publish','open','open','','when-riding-the-bus','','','2010-02-15 20:05:33','2010-02-15 17:05:33','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2138',0,'post','',13),(2146,1,'2010-02-15 22:27:09','2010-02-15 19:27:09','','Scott and Nick','Scott and Nick: Wine Festival VA','inherit','open','open','','dsc02276','','','2010-02-15 22:27:09','2010-02-15 19:27:09','',2145,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc02276.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2148,1,'2010-02-16 23:38:18','2010-02-16 20:38:18','I am watching the American tv show \"What Not to Wear\" on Discovery Travel &amp; Living.  Basically here\'s what happens catty man and woman help/shame unsuspecting poorly dressed woman into a better wardrobe.  I was struck by the thought: what if this is me? Which was followed quickly but this one: do I have any friends in Bulgaria who would even tell me that I am dressing poorly? And then thought trampled on the others: do I have a sense of style?\n\nThen I wondered: why am I worrying about any of this?\n\nWell, probably because I spent 12+ hours at school. Yep. I got to school this morning before 7:45 am and didn\'t leave until nearly 8pm.  Why? Parent-teacher conferences. Don\'t get me wrong. I think parent-teacher conferences and I know that all of the parents who came to see me at been at work all day as well but phew. Being at work for 12 hours is draining.\n\nNow I am home, ate some soup for dinner, cleaned my apartment quickly, and then I started watching \"What Not to Wear\" and worrying. I am probably worrying pointlessly. Actually I know that I am.  Maybe this means it\'s time for bed.','What Not to Wear?!','','publish','open','open','','what-not-to-wear','','','2010-02-16 23:38:18','2010-02-16 20:38:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2148',0,'post','',2),(2155,1,'2010-02-17 21:17:31','2010-02-17 18:17:31','','Nova Camera Crew','Nova Camera Crew in Front of My Apartment','inherit','open','open','','dsc01500','','','2010-02-17 21:17:31','2010-02-17 18:17:31','',2151,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01500.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2151,1,'2010-02-17 21:24:56','2010-02-17 18:24:56','This morning two members of Nova television came to start filming me for a little project they are doing on foreigners living in Bulgaria.  Well it might just be a project about me and my life in Bulgaria. The hook is this: I\'m a foreigner living in Bulgaria who\'s decided to live on 400 leva for the month--something close to the average Bulgarian salary.  Hey, that sounds just like my blog project this month. Hum. People are into this?\n\nI started this project just to see what it\'s like--what choices and decisions one makes, where you can cut corners (and cut back) and how it feels to give certain things up and to make substitutions for the things you normally buy. At the same time, I knew it was an exercise in futility because this is not my life. I am not a Bulgarian.\n\nI really didn\'t think people would be that interested in it.  I figured that it was just a personal challenge that I\'d update my readers on once a week or so.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2155\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Nova Camera Crew in Front of My Apartment \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01500.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2155\" title=\"Nova Camera Crew \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNow I am going to be on Nova tv. This is strange to me. The whole thing is surreal.<!--more-->\n\nOh and I think it\'s going to be hysterical. From everything I was filmed doing today it\'s going to be a version of a version of my life.   Here\'s what I mean it\'s my life as described on my blog.  So it\'s me. Only it\'s going to blog-me.  On top of this, it\'s the story of a me that lives in Bulgaria and tries to make sense of this place with an American lens.  It\'s this story being retold by a Bulgarian.\n\nYou give up a lot of control of your story when you let someone film you like this but so far so good. The whole thing is so funny to me. It\'s pretty  ironic and decently silly.  I mean, me. Really? My blog isn\'t enough? You think that people want to actually see what my life is like?\n\nWell, I mean maybe, people do want to see my life but I think that it\'s part curiosity, part interest and part schadenfreude. But you know what? I okay with this. After all, there\'s a large part of my life that seems out of step with life in Bulgaria.  It\'s this--what\'s out of sync that is what makes my life funny and engaging for Bulgarians.\n\nDon\'t worry. I definitely wont be letting any of this go to my head. In fact, on Thursday, I am bringing Nova tv to my Balkan dance class. If I was a reasonable person I probably wouldn\'t do that--seeing as my dance skills are questionable at best but I am not. But I guess this will probably make for good tv as it\'s going to be both funny and painful enough to get people watching.\n\nOh the things you all have to look forward to!','Nova Television and Me','','publish','open','open','','nova-television-and-me','','','2010-02-17 21:24:56','2010-02-17 18:24:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2151',0,'post','',9),(2160,1,'2010-02-17 22:13:09','2010-02-17 19:13:09','','Polenta Bulgaria!','Polenta Bulgaria!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01503','','','2010-02-17 22:13:09','2010-02-17 19:13:09','',2159,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01503.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2161,1,'2010-02-17 22:22:34','2010-02-17 19:22:34','','More Polenta','More Polenta','inherit','open','open','','dsc01505','','','2010-02-17 22:22:34','2010-02-17 19:22:34','',2159,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01505.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2162,1,'2010-02-17 22:38:17','2010-02-17 19:38:17','','Polenta Covered Salt Shaker','Polenta Covered Salt Shaker','inherit','open','open','','dsc01507','','','2010-02-17 22:38:17','2010-02-17 19:38:17','',2159,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01507.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2159,1,'2010-02-18 08:18:19','2010-02-18 05:18:19','Um. Yum. This was one of the best dinners I\'ve made in a long time.  I owe a special thank-you to <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/dining/17mini.html?ref=dining\">the Minimalist</a> and <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/dining/17minirex1.html?ref=dining\">the NYT</a>. I\'ve never eaten polenta before but after reading the article and recipe in the NYT this afternoon, I figured that I have to git it a try. Mark Bittman says it\'s easy and all of Bittman\'s recipes are good so why not? Also, cornmeal is cheap, cheap.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2160\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Polenta Bulgaria! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01503.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2160\" title=\"Polenta Bulgaria! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01503.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOkay you do have to stir for like 20-30 minutes which is kind of a pain but one cup of cornmeal, a little salt, cheese and butter makes a pretty bang-up base for stir-fried veggies. <!--more-->Oh and a cup of cornmeal makes way more polenta than one girl can eat. I\'ll be cutting the recipe in half the next time I make it.\n\nHere\'s what you need:\n\n1 cup medium-to-coarse cornmeal\n\nSalt to taste\n\n1/2 to 1 cup  grated Kashaval cheese\n\n2 tablespoons butter\n\nFreshly ground black pepper\n\nPut cornmeal in a medium saucepan along with 1 cup water and whisk well to make a slurry; continue whisking mixture to eliminate any lumps. Put pan over medium-high heat, sprinkle with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, whisking frequently and adding water as needed to keep mixture loose and free of lumps, between 3 and 4 more cups. If mixture becomes too thick, simply add a bit more water; consistency should be similar to that of sour cream.\n\nPolenta will be done in 15 to 30 minutes, depending on grind. Add cheese and butter. Taste and add salt, if necessary, and lots of pepper; serve with anything you want on top. I decided to sauteed onions and mushrooms.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2162\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Polenta Covered Salt Shaker\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01507.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2162\" title=\"Polenta Covered Salt Shaker\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01507.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe only thing that would have made this better? Not dropping my salt shaker in the polenta and having to fish it out with a spoon. You know, you can\'t win them all. But you can make a great dinner for next to nothing.\n\nA bag of cornmeal cost me .95 leva and I used maybe 1/4 of it, two table spoons of butter .30 and 1/2 cup of cheese maybe 1 leva. An onion and 6 large mushrooms? I\'d say 1 leva. So the total cost for the dish? 2.60.  The best part I get leftovers tomorrow. Total cost of tonight\'s dinner? 1.30 leva. Not bad. Not bad.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"More Polenta\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01505.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2161\" title=\"More Polenta \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01505.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]','Creamy Polenta With Kashkaval, Onion &amp; Mushrooms','','publish','open','open','','creamy-polenta-with-kashkaval-onion-mushrooms','','','2010-02-18 08:18:19','2010-02-18 05:18:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2159',0,'post','',5),(2171,1,'2010-02-19 07:59:17','2010-02-19 04:59:17','','School Lunch','School Lunch','inherit','open','open','','dsc01509','','','2010-02-19 07:59:17','2010-02-19 04:59:17','',2170,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01509.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2172,1,'2010-02-19 08:01:46','2010-02-19 05:01:46','','Dessert at School','Dessert at School','inherit','open','open','','dsc01508','','','2010-02-19 08:01:46','2010-02-19 05:01:46','',2170,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01508.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2170,1,'2010-02-19 12:17:20','2010-02-19 09:17:20','Lunch at school.  It\'s more or less like all school lunches I\'ve ever eaten; it\'s fine. Not great. Not horrible. And not expensive. There are no little cardboard cartons of milk but you can buy a bottle of water or a glass of juice.\n\nThe menu changes every day but you can count on the fact that there will be some kind of soup, salad, main dish and dessert what these are any given day depends on the kitchen. Oh and there\'s always bread.  I think that\'s a given in Bulgaria. In the photo below, you\'ll see that the menu is in both English and Bulgarian.  English on top and Bulgarian on the bottom--sometimes there are really wonderful spelling mistakes in English but I can\'t think of an example right now.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2171\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"School Lunch\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01509.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2171\" title=\"School Lunch \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01509.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe lunch ladies only speak Bulgarian so depending on the lunch options sometimes you have to find what you want on the list in English and hope that you ask for the same option when you order in Bulgarian.<!--more--> Most of the time it\'s pretty easy.  But these ladies are like lunch ladies in the States--they don\'t have a lot of patience and they don\'t smile much. Oh and if you try to pay for lunch with a 20 leva note they get frustrated.  This sometimes happens with a 10 leva note as well.\n\nI mean, I do understand why. When your total lunch costs 1.80 leva or 2.20 or even 3.10 it is really annoying to pay with a 20 leva bill. But sometimes that\'s all a girl has and on these days I try to smile and order clearly in Bulgarian in an attempt to win over the lunch lady before she tells me my total and has to count out change for me. This works with varying degrees success.\n\nThen there\'s dessert. Yes. Dessert is getting its own paragraph. Dessert at school is good. There are lots of different options and generally I try to avoid buying dessert because well, it\'s just not that good for you. But there\'s one dessert that I love and I\'ve convinced myself isn\'t <em>so</em> bad. It\'s the banana cream pudding. It comes in a little cup with whole bananas and vanilla pudding covering the bananas.  Sometimes there are sprinkles on top, sometimes not.  I think it\'s <em>almost</em> good for me because it has bananas in it.  Oh and I love this dessert so much that everyone knows and when I come into the lunch room usually one of the other foreign teachers will tell me it\'s being served before I even see it.  <em>Thanks!</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2172\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Dessert at School \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01508.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2172\" title=\"Dessert at School \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01508.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOkay, okay. This dessert is not banana pudding but that\'s the thing not every day can be banana pudding day.\n\nNow, about the prices. I have some followers who have questioned the prices I pay for lunch in the cafeteria. So I asked few questions about this recently. Here\'s what I learned: the school doesn\'t aim to make a profit on lunch.  Thus the price we pay covers the cost of the food and cost of producing the lunch.  This means the lunch prices are relatively inexpensive.\n\nI wondered if previously if the lunch was somehow subsidized by the school but I am told it is not. And I don\'t doubt this.  I think that the lunch ladies make a lot from a little and often at the end of the week I see creative recycling of left overs--regularly in the shape of a creative pizza, a shepard\'s pie of sorts or a catch-all soup. And for an extra kick of sorts the pizza and shepard\'s pie are often spiced up with dill pickle.  Because apparently nothing say new and interesting like pickle does.\n\nAll in all, I think there\'s more to like about lunch at school than to dislike. First, is decent food for a good price. Second, someone else does the dishes. And third, there\'s banana cream pudding.','Living on Leva: School Lunch','','publish','open','open','','living-on-leva-school-lunch','','','2010-02-19 12:17:20','2010-02-19 09:17:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2170',0,'post','',2),(2175,1,'2010-02-21 13:50:24','2010-02-21 10:50:24','Okay this is not a post about me going on a diet. This is a post about my diet--generally what I eat in a day. I seem to have alarmed both my MoM and my aunt in the last week.  Here\'s how it worked: they read what I was posting on my living with leva series and a single recipe on polenta and assumed that I wasn\'t eating a well balanced diet.  I know how it happened. In one post, living with leva, I was focusing more on the cost of each meal rather than what was in each dish I was making and in the other instance, I was focusing solely on the new recipe I had decided to make based on a NYT food blog.\n\nIn this case, two things happened.  First, when I write a blog post I try to give it some focus and some coherence. Gasp. I try not to ramble. Although sometimes I am better at this then other times. And second, a blog post is only ever a single snap-shot of my life, of what interests me at a specific moment.  It is contained within time and context (money in the living with leva post and a new recipe within the polenta post).  What it comes down to is that as a writer you have to make choices. Not every idea I have, silly thing I do or bizarre conversation I have makes it onto my blog.  It\'s like a peep show. You get to see a fair amount of my life, you get a glimpse into my day but I also get to retain some degree of privacy.\n\nSo for those of you interested in peeping some more. Now\'s your chance to read about my diet.<!--more-->\n\nBreakfast: Oatmeal (homemade from whole grains and cinnamon), a banana, about a cup of milk and a cup or three of coffee.\n\nLunch (at school five days a week): soup or salad, a main dish of some sort and a slice of bread. On the weekends, I usually eat leftovers.\n\nDinner: takes a lot of different shapes.  Basically time, energy and groceries dictate what I am going to eat but usually it\'s something like:\n<ul>\n	<li>Pasta, tomatoes and assorted veggies.</li>\n	<li>Lentils loaded up with veggies served over rice.</li>\n	<li>Stir fried veggies, egg and rice.</li>\n	<li>Homemade pizza with a variety of veggies and cheese.</li>\n	<li>Cornbread and soup.</li>\n	<li>The raw veggie plate with cheese and almonds.</li>\n	<li>Yellow pea dahl with bread.</li>\n</ul>\nOnce in a while, I really go out on a limb and make breakfast for dinner--pancakes, banana bread and french toast are three of my breakfast for dinner standbys.  They are tasty and fun.\n\nAs for the catch-all: veggies. I am sure you\'re wondering what I mean by this.  Well, I eat a lot of different veggies.  Here\'s what I usually have on hand: mushrooms, onions, carrots, potatoes, zucchini and peppers--either red or green. I also have canned tomatoes and frozen spinach, green beans and brussel sprouts.  Other veggies come and go depending on the season and the quality--pumpkin, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, eggplant and the list goes on and on.  The one vegetable I dislike? Green peas both fresh and frozen.\n\nI also have a snack or two when I get home from work but before I eat dinner. Usually this is a handful of either almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, cashews or walnuts and either a small bowl of yogurt and/or an apple/orange or another fruit.\n\nSo what\'s the point of all of this? Just to prove to my MoM and aunt that I am eating my fruits and veggies? Nope.  I think it gets at something bigger than this.  For me, it\'s about a philosophy of sorts--a food manifesto? I don\'t think so but I think that my philosophy is this: integrate veggies into the dishes that you love.  I hardly ever eat a side of veggies just as veggies.  They are a serious part of my main meal.  I mean, it\'s hard for me to even think of something that sounds less appealing than a side of frozen spinach. Thought of this makes my skin crawl--mushy, dark green, amorphous frozen spinach. But spinach soup? great. Spinach and scrambled eggs? that sounds good.\n\nThe other thing you may notice if you were at my house poking around is this: I have very, very few processed foods in my cupboards and freezer.  There\'s no frozen pizza, no boxes of macaroni and cheese, no granola bars, no surgery cereal, no bags of cookies or chips.  It\'s just not my thing--sure I\'ll eat potato chips or pretzel sticks if I am at a party but they just aren\'t the kind of snacks or treats I keep at home. I do have a weak spot for chocolate so I usually have a bar of dark chocolate that I can break a piece off of to nibble after dinner.\n\nAm I a perfect eater? Far from it. Do I eat an average American diet? Nope.  Should I exercise more and drink less coffee? Probably.','My Blog and My Diet','','publish','open','open','','my-blog-and-my-diet','','','2010-02-21 13:50:24','2010-02-21 10:50:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2175',0,'post','',12),(2186,1,'2010-02-22 19:03:26','2010-02-22 16:03:26','','The NOVA crew 1','The crew in my living room','inherit','open','open','','dsc01510','','','2010-02-22 19:03:26','2010-02-22 16:03:26','',2184,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01510.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2187,1,'2010-02-22 19:06:34','2010-02-22 16:06:34','','The Nova Crew 2','The very large camera','inherit','open','open','','dsc01511','','','2010-02-22 19:06:34','2010-02-22 16:06:34','',2184,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01511.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2188,1,'2010-02-22 19:07:57','2010-02-22 16:07:57','','The Nova Crew 3','Capturing the Crew','inherit','open','open','','dsc01514','','','2010-02-22 19:07:57','2010-02-22 16:07:57','',2184,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01514.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2189,1,'2010-02-22 19:10:54','2010-02-22 16:10:54','','The Nova Crew 4','Playing Around','inherit','open','open','','dsc01521','','','2010-02-22 19:10:54','2010-02-22 16:10:54','',2184,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01521.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2184,1,'2010-02-22 19:13:38','2010-02-22 16:13:38','So I made my tv debut today! I made my big break into the morning news at 7:30am. Or at least that is what I hear.  I was well on my way to school at 7:30am.  That\'s the thing with being a teacher--you have to get to school before your students, you\'re supposed to have graded all of their papers and you should also be prepared to teach class.  So I am usually at school between 7:35 and 7:45 each morning.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2186\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The crew in my living room \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01510.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2186\" title=\"The NOVA crew 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01510.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNeedless to say, it\'s no so important that I actually see myself on tv.  I mean, I was there for the whole interview.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2187\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The very large camera \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01511.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2187\" title=\"The Nova Crew 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01511.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy students reported that they saw me on tv, as did many of their parents and a couple of colleagues from school.  They said it was nice. I apparently spent most of the five or so minutes making oatmeal.  It\'s not very sexy but then again making and eating oatmeal every morning for breakfast isn\'t very sexy.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2188\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Capturing the Crew \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01514.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2188\" title=\"The Nova Crew 3 \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01514.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI guess this too goes to show that if you somehow didn\'t think that I was human--this too will reinforce my humanness.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2189\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Playing Around \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01521.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2189\" title=\"The Nova Crew 4\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01521.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLuckily I had a pretty good time filming and I have a pretty good sense of humor.  So I don\'t think there\'s much of a chance I\'ll be disappointed by anything. I just hope that I am not embarrassed by anything.','My TV Debut','','publish','open','open','','my-tv-debut','','','2010-02-22 19:13:38','2010-02-22 16:13:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2184',0,'post','',9),(2194,1,'2010-02-23 07:15:51','2010-02-23 04:15:51','My 10th graders have been driving me crazy recently with \"Hristo Stoichkov\" speech.  They really like the phrase \"sometimes loon, sometimes win.\"  I would venture to guess that they\'ve been talking like him for about four weeks.\n\nIt makes my English-teacher-skin crawl. Then I watched Hristo Stoichkov on youtube. It\'s even worse. And even funnier than my students. You too should watch it.  This way you\'ll know what they\'ve been joking around about.\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6qMXi5n4I]\nI have to say, Hristo is giving it his all and never pauses or stumbles. That\'s what makes the whole thing so funny and slightly unbelievable. It\'s the utter confidence that is striking.<!--more--> He\'s utterly confident even when what he\'s saying makes very little sense and is riddled with mistakes.\n\nThe thing is I am pretty sure I must sound just as ridiculous speaking Bulgarian and I am not even sure that my Bulgarian is as coherent as Hristo\'s is.  Maybe it\'s time for me to learn a thing or two from him. He holds his head up high. He talks with confidence and never lets on that he\'s not sure about what he\'s saying.\n\nOkay, maybe this just makes him crazy. I mean his level of confidence is pretty high given what he\'s saying.  He\'s clearly not a modest man.  But maybe I can be modest and have enough confidence to actually speak Bulgarian. Hum, maybe there\'s a thing or two that I could learn from Hristo and maybe there\'s a thing or two I could teach him about English.','Hristo Stoichkov and English','','publish','open','open','','hristo-stoichkov-and-english','','','2010-02-23 07:15:51','2010-02-23 04:15:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2194',0,'post','',7),(2199,1,'2010-02-23 21:55:57','2010-02-23 18:55:57','Monday and Tuesday were seriously busy days.  I teach a full day of classes, take Bulgarian lessons, practice yoga and participate in Balkan dance class.  I haven\'t had an ounce of extra time. I didn\'t even get to see myself on Nova TV. I just had to hear about it from my students.  It\'s okay though.\n\nBecause, this video makes up for it. I owe loyal follower and commenter andreytcho a huge thank-you.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tgZPkPOjdQ]\n\nWow. I was literally doubled over by laughter. The editing done by Nova was good and made me smile.  The close up of the sign above my white board: Big Brother is Watching You and added later: And so is Ms. Emigh.  This really got my tickle-bone.  I also like the preview for Balkan dance because I appear to be on the right foot and this is something of a rarity for me.\n\nBut by far, the best part has got to be the speech bubbles that andreytcho added to the video clip.  These are priceless.\n\nMy sister tells me that the highlights are me speaking Bulgarian, me popping out of the shower and the section where the camera man catches me fumbling for my wallet.  According to her, this is cute. Thanks little sister!\n\nAnyhow, thanks everyone for watching and hope that you get a chuckle out of it.  I know that I did. I mean it is pretty funny that my life is being introduced on Bulgarian television like it\'s news.','Day 2: Nova TV','','publish','open','open','','day-2-nova-tv','','','2010-02-23 21:55:57','2010-02-23 18:55:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2199',0,'post','',3),(2204,1,'2010-02-24 08:20:59','2010-02-24 05:20:59','My living on leva challenge has almost come to an end.  As predicted, there are somethings I was really successful  with and other things that really tripped me up.\n\nOne of the big things that tripped me up wasn\'t something I\'d really thought much about before I started the project. It\'s this: your friends influence your spending.  Okay, okay. I know this shouldn\'t be shocking and it wasn\'t. I was just reminded about the role of friends in one\'s finances.\n\nHere\'s the thing, the majority of my friends are expats. We get paid expat salaries and on a whole most of us don\'t have to worry about whether we should buy the 15 leva bottle of wine or the 9 leva bottle. If we want to go to the movies we do. And it\'s generally no big deal to take a taxi. Oh and I never blinked at paying 2.50 for a cappuccino in Onda at school.\n\nBut then I decide to live for a month on 400 leva. For me, this meant no more Onda, few taxis, no movies and the 6 leva bottle of wine.  No big deal. I was actively making the choice to live more deliberately.  Sure, I had to tell a few colleagues that I couldn\'t grab a coffee with them at Onda but that\'s okay and they understood.<!--more-->\n\nThen I said no to the movies, a couple of different restaurants and skiing (okay, I don\'t ski so this one wasn\'t so hard).  Still I was struck by how much I was saying no to--or how many different creative ways I was saying no. Oh, I\'ve got plans. No I can\'t tonight. Thanks but I\'ve got to grade. I\'d love to but I have to do <em>X</em> early tomorrow.\n\nI didn\'t want anyone to feel bad about the choices they were making. The ways they were spending money.  But I also copped out. I didn\'t make other cheaper suggestions. There are a lot of good restaurants in Sofia that aren\'t expensive and I should have been suggesting these.  But I didn\'t.\n\nToday, it makes me wonder in what ways I unknowingly and without meaning to exclude Bulgarians from my life--my friends, colleagues and others. People who can\'t or don\'t say--hey, that\'s too expensive. Let\'s try this instead. For me, it\'s much less about the food and much more about the company but I am a creature of habit and it seems that I in my \"regular\" life I make choices to frequent restaurants, bars and clubs that aren\'t cheap. And I have a hunch I am excluding some really interesting people as a result.\n\nOf course, this problem is coupled by another.  The mid-level and slightly more expensive restaurants tend to be willing to take reservations over the phone in English and have better English language menus. And as an expat, I can say this is something I appreciate.  I can also say that as expats we don\'t want to be completely reliant on our foreign friends to help us make out the menu or to make reservations.  It\'s infantilizing. So, we make choices that give us more control even if it\'s more expensive.\n\nAnd so, this issue of negotiating restaurants choices with my friends (or not as the case maybe) has really gotten me thinking about my \"membership\" in the expat \"club\" in Sofia. It was hard for me to say--that\'s too expensive, when normally it\'s not something that concerns me much. And it\'s this that I think is most important to think about and investigate. What\'s difficult.\n\nWhen none of your friends are trying to stick to such a constrictive budget, they\'re not thinking much about cost.  It\'s like being on a diet when none of your friends are.  Your friends are ordering pizza, french fries or hamburgers and you\'re eating a salad.  The only different is that I\'m on leva diet.','Living on Leva: Friends','','publish','open','open','','living-on-leva-friends','','','2010-02-24 08:20:59','2010-02-24 05:20:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2204',0,'post','',6),(2209,1,'2010-02-25 08:11:27','2010-02-25 05:11:27','Here it is! For those of you who\'ve been waiting with bated breath for day three of me and Nova television. Oh and if you haven\'t checked out <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/day-2-nova-tv/\">day 2</a> you probably should. It turns out that I am part of my own video montage--that plays to American Woman by Lenny Kravitz.  It does make me wonder how did Nova Television know that\'s the song that runs through my head when I am getting ready in the mornings?! Oh, just kidding.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3g_6Ufg71c]\n\nOnce again I owe a <a href=\"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hugemongous\">hugemongous</a> thank-you to Andreytcho who it seems has not only an excellent sense of humor but the ability to edit and post the clip to youtube for all of you.\n\nAfter Day Three ran, my students came to me with three concerns: 1. My 11th graders wanted to know what kind of alcohol was in my fridge.  I smiled and shrugged. 2. One student (a boy I might add) wanted to know how to make banana bread because according to him, he has some bananas that would be perfect for it. Maybe I should post a recipe.  3. Many students took it upon themselves to explain the multiple ways that I could ride the bus legally.  Thank-you.  (However, I would like to suggest an electronic card that could be read by the metro, buses, trolleybuses and trams.  This would make public transportation uber-easy and would cut down on the cards/tickets/worry and by making it easy-peasy, it will increase revenue. I am just saying.)\n\nHope everyone is still getting a kick out of my appearances on tv!','Day 3: Nova, Me &amp; the Bus','','publish','open','open','','day-3-nova-me-the-bus','','','2010-02-25 08:11:27','2010-02-25 05:11:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2209',0,'post','',6),(2213,1,'2010-02-25 17:04:38','2010-02-25 14:04:38','Today in Carolyn\'s life: Balkan Dance!\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUkAvjZAfHc]\n\nIf you assumed my life an/or me doing Balkan dance is really sexy this video will challenge any of those assumptions.\n\nBut if you need a laugh, I think this will do the trick.\n\n(Thanks again, Andreytcho!!)','Day 4: I Dance!','','publish','open','open','','day-4-i-dance','','','2010-02-25 17:04:38','2010-02-25 14:04:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2213',0,'post','',5),(2216,1,'2010-02-26 08:18:38','2010-02-26 05:18:38','','CAE in Rome','My silly Adventure','inherit','open','open','','img_2110','','','2010-02-26 08:18:38','2010-02-26 05:18:38','',2215,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/img_2110.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2218,1,'2010-02-27 10:32:26','2010-02-27 07:32:26','This is it. The end of my TV fame (at least for now). I had a a hell of a good time but I am ready to get my life back to normal.  My students have asked me many more personal questions about my life than ever before and I\'ve totally failed this week to post anything on my blog of substance--aside from these hysterically funny Nova TV clips.\n\nSo, here\'s number five.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vGsRt-BEPc]\n\nOf all of the days, this is the one that I think edges in on being the most embarrassing. Not because of anything I do but because of what I don\'t know.  I think it\'s more embarrassing not to know something than doing something silly on tv, saying something dumb, or anything like this.  Here\'s the thing, after a year and a half, I still don\'t know many Bulgarian cultural or political figures.  Granted I am bad at name this celebrity/famous person in the States but watching myself on Bulgarian tv play the game adds a whole other level of ridiculousness to the whole thing.\n\nOh well. Such is life.','Day 5: The Wrap Up','','publish','open','open','','day-5-the-wrap-up','','','2010-02-27 10:32:26','2010-02-27 07:32:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2218',0,'post','',7),(2225,1,'2010-02-28 20:13:41','2010-02-28 17:13:41','Hello, Spring. Are you there?\n\nIt\'s me, Carolyn.\n\nI just bought nearly 25 leva worth of martenitsi.  I hope that this means you will come sooner than later.\n\nI know that in Bulgaria as the month of March, you\'re known as the woman\'s month because women are moody and cranky.  I think this is unfair assessment of the situation (and women in general) and as such, maybe you\'d be willing to consider skipping over this part and moving right to the April showers bring May flowers part.  I am not sure that you care about what I think (or that you read my blog) but I thought I\'d let you know: I\'d be okay with this. The showers and flowers part. In other words, bring on the spring.\n\nOn a similar note, I\'d be happy with rain if it means plenty of tulips and daffodils and later roses.  I also really like my pink and silver umbrella. So a few rainy days would be okay. Because my umbrella makes me smile when I use it so while I\'d rather have lots of sunny spring days a little rain wouldn\'t get me too down.\n\nFinally, I am looking forward to being able to get out my spring clothes.  I\'ve been getting pretty board with the same sweaters, scarves, pants, boots and sweatshirts recently. I am really ready to mix things up and wear a little lighter clothing. Don\'t get me wrong I adore wearing scarves but I really like scarves that are fashion accessories rather than cold weather necessities.\n\nSo, Spring if you\'re there, I ready and waiting.','Hello, Spring?','','publish','open','open','','hello-spring','','','2010-02-28 20:13:41','2010-02-28 17:13:41','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2225',0,'post','',3),(2238,1,'2010-02-28 22:49:22','2010-02-28 19:49:22','','Martenitsa 2010','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01552','','','2010-02-28 22:49:22','2010-02-28 19:49:22','',2234,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01552.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2239,1,'2010-02-28 22:53:05','2010-02-28 19:53:05','','Martenitsa 2 2010','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01553','','','2010-02-28 22:53:05','2010-02-28 19:53:05','',2234,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01553.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2246,1,'2010-03-01 07:53:17','2010-03-01 04:53:17','','Martenitsa 3 2010','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01562','','','2010-03-01 07:53:17','2010-03-01 04:53:17','',2234,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01562.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2247,1,'2010-03-01 08:09:20','2010-03-01 05:09:20','','Martenitsa 4 2010','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01556','','','2010-03-01 08:09:20','2010-03-01 05:09:20','',2234,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01556.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2234,1,'2010-03-01 08:14:21','2010-03-01 05:14:21','<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01553.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2239\" title=\"Martenitsa 2 2010\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01553.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>It\'s March 1st! Excellent. Today I\'ll be telling everyone: Chestita Baba Marta.\n\nI don\'t really know how to say this in English.  It\'s something like Happy Grandmother March. Yeah I know. It sounds pretty awkward in English and it doesn\'t really mean anything in English.  I guess that you might also be able to \"translate\" it as something like Happy First of March--but this seems to me to be a stretch. But we do celebrate this day on March 1st so it\'s not horribly wrong. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01562.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2246\" title=\"Martenitsa 3 2010\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01562.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n\nI think it\'s safe to say that at its most basic this is a holiday that celebrates the coming of spring.\n\nThere are lots of stories, myths, tales and stories that float around about this holiday. <!--more--> The stories cover such things as the two main colors red and white, the use of string, spotting birds and new buds on trees, Bulgaria, the month of March and maybe a few other things like good luck and good health.  Yep, it\'s a lot of power for one holiday.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01552.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2238\" title=\"Martenitsa 2010\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01552.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>So what does this mean in practice? Martenitsi! Martenitsi everywhere. These little things are for sale on the street corners, in the main book square and even outside of bus stops.  The martenitsi cost between .10 leva for a little bracelet and 20 leva for a giant martenitsa for your wall.  You\'re supposed to buy one for your friends and family.\n\nI am not sure that it\'s always been a commercial holiday but it\'s unquestionably one today. I guess there\'s a chance it\'s always been this way seeing as this is only my second March 1st in Bulgaria but I am assuming in the past one must have made a basic bracelet at home for friends.  However today, there are a huge number of people selling martenitsi on every street corner and many of the martenitsi are now made in China. Oh, capitalism and globalism.\n\nWhat\'s interesting to me is that this doesn\'t seem to be a gender specific holiday. One may think that wearing red and white bracelets or little red and white girls and boys, is something only girls would do but this is not the case.  Everybody does.  Little boys, big boys, teenagers and grown men. I think that\'s pretty great. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01556.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2247\" title=\"Martenitsa 4 2010\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01556.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n\nSo, you may wonder what the Baba Marta story is. I do too. I\'ve head so many different versions.\n\nThe common denominator seems to be this: concerns about spring ensue (hey, I know that feeling), March however is a mixed up month going hot and cold, then a  bird of some sort probably a stork shows up with a branch/twig/sign of spring attached to it everyone is very happy (I guess that when the stork isn\'t delivering babies he can also deliver spring).  The result is that today we exchange martenitsi as a symbol of the coming of spring. Then, when we see a stork or the first bloom we hang our martenitsa on a tree branch.\n\nWhat is your Baba Marta story?','Chestita Baba Marta','','publish','open','open','','chestita-baba-marta','','','2010-03-01 08:14:21','2010-03-01 05:14:21','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2234',0,'post','',9),(2255,1,'2010-03-02 07:41:35','2010-03-02 04:41:35','','Me and Martenitsi!','Me in martenitsi.  Thanks to my students and colleauges. Sorry about the poor light/photo quality.','inherit','open','open','','dsc01564','','','2010-03-02 07:41:35','2010-03-02 04:41:35','',2252,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01564.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2252,1,'2010-03-02 08:00:52','2010-03-02 05:00:52','It was a fever pitch of martenitsi at school yesterday.  I thought it was great fun to watch and to be a part of the exchange and social negotiation of these red and white trinkets.\n\nThere were martenitsi everywhere. Arms, sweatshirts, coats.  The students had bags of them. It\'s really wonderful. And also really funny.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2255\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in martenitsi.  Thanks to my students and colleauges. Sorry about the poor light/photo quality. \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01564.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2255\" title=\"Me and Martenitsi! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01564.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI have a few hysterical moments and memories from today. They follow: <!--more-->\n\nOne student says to me: Are you sure you can afford to give us martenitsi? What about your 400 leva budget?\n\nHappy Grandmother March. (Yeah, it really doesn\'t sound that great in English.)\n\nAnother student hands out martenitsi to classmates by throwing them at his peers and saying: here you are. I am not sure this is in the spirit of the holiday.  Also it\'s really hard to tie your own martenitsa on your arm.\n\nStudents complement me on my martenitsi. I say thank-you because I am wearing them. Not because I picked them out.\n\nOne young man, takes the time to tie a martenitsa on the arm of everyone in class.  He arrives in my classroom about 7 minutes before class and it takes him a good 10 minutes. He was committed to his task.\n\nA female student tells me: Thank-you for the martenitsa. You\'re the first American to ever give me one.\n\nAt home today, I look at all of the martenitsi on my arm and pinned to my blouse and think: what a lovely holiday. Life, luck, health and Spring. It doesn\'t get much better than that.  I am thankful for my students sharing this holiday with me.\n\nBut, I am afraid that I wont be able to wear an armful of martenitsi for an entire month.  I think I am going to have to pare back.  I do wonder if this means I am going to be pairing back on my luck and health as well?','Martenitsa Fever Pitch','','publish','open','open','','martenitsa-fever-pitch','','','2010-03-02 08:00:52','2010-03-02 05:00:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2252',0,'post','',8),(2259,1,'2010-03-03 11:59:59','2010-03-03 08:59:59','<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Under the Yoke\" src=\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hYTkVdy3mY4/Shh0WO9--uI/AAAAAAAAAwk/xTs8mnFMKng/s400/Under_the_yoke.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" />Yesterday I decided that I should track down a copy of <em>Under the Yoke</em>.  I was returning a long overdue library book. Yes, I love books but I also love to forget to return them. I read them and promptly forget about them.\n\nAnyhow, today Bulgaria is celebrating Liberation Day--liberation from the Ottoman Empire.  So I figured what better way to spend a part of this national holiday than by reading <em>Under the Yoke</em>?\n\nWell it turns out that our library has copies of the novel in Bulgarian (as it should) and in French (really?!) but we don\'t have an English language copy (um, yes, this is the American College of Sofia and we don\'t have a copy in English).  I look inquisitively at the librarian, she shrugs and I go back to my classroom.  It looks like I wont be reading <em>Under the Yoke </em>this holiday.  Foiled.<!--more-->\n\nAt home I decided to see if I can get a copy of <em>Under the Yoke</em> for my Kindle. Nope. But I do send the publisher a request even though it\'s clearly a long shot. I\'ve never heard of the publisher. I do learn that <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Under-Yoke-Bulgarian-Liberty-Introduction/dp/0543691780/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1267604572&amp;sr=8-2\">amazon.com</a> has copies of the novel for $24 however this seems like a lot for a paperback.  Oh and I notice that the book has no reviews on amazon and that it\'s #709,410 on the amazon.com best seller\'s list.\n\nNow here\'s the thing, I didn\'t expect the novel to be a best seller. Hell, I wasn\'t even sure I\'d be able to find a copy on amazon. It\'s not like this is a popular title in the English speaking world. But it is interesting.\n\nThis novel, <em>Under the Yoke</em> by Ivan Vasov is credited as being  Bulgaria\'s first novel. As I understand it, it\'s a novel about life in Bulgaria while still under Ottoman rule or as the title implies the life of a people under the yoke of slavery.  It has elements of romance, war, rebellion and I am told there\'s even a section of the novel about education. It\'s a novel that is credited with helping to shape and solidify the national identity and psyche of the country.\n\nI told one of my Bulgarian friends about my failure to get my hands on a copy of the novel and she laughed. Then she told me that I should just plan on reading it in April.  Apparently it\'s the perfect book to read in April given the  aptly named<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Uprising\"> April Uprising</a>.\n\nPerfect. Now all I need is a copy of the novel. In English.\n\nSo before I spend an entire Saturday visiting every book store in Sofia looking for an English language copy of <em>Under the Yoke</em>, I thought I\'d ask my loyal Bulgarian readers if anyone has seen a copy of the novel in a bookstore recently. I\'d also encourage you to get your hands on a copy of the novel and you can read or re-read the novel along with me during the month of April.  Yep, that\'s a challenge.','Under the Yoke','','publish','open','open','','under-the-yoke','','','2010-03-03 11:59:59','2010-03-03 08:59:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2259',0,'post','',25),(2265,1,'2010-03-04 18:18:50','2010-03-04 15:18:50','I get a huge kick out of the blog <a href=\"http://www.sofiastreetstyle.com/\">Sofia Street Style</a>. Some days are better than others but on a whole, I can\'t get enough of checking other people\'s outfits, hair and accessories out.\n\nI like the voyeuristic nature of the blog. I like the way most people show off their outfits. I like the sense of humor that generally comes through in the photos. And I like the variety of styles that end up on the blog.\n\nBut what gets me the most is the way that Bulgaria comes through in most of the photos. Sometimes it\'s in the setting, the background, sometimes the hair but other times it\'s simply in the gaze. The whole thing is fascinating to me.\n\nI almost never read the comments each photo garners and I only really the description if I can make out the first sentence--otherwise, I give up.  Interestingly, this isn\'t a blog I would ever check in on if it wasn\'t a blog I subscribed to (thanks, google reader) as I tend to think: I don\'t have time to waste on things like this. But I have to say, I\'m glad I subscribe.\n\nToday for example, the post made me smile and made me think: Carolyn, it\'s time to shopping. You hate everything in your closet.  That\'s when I realized I have the winter-clothes blues. It happens when it\'s not yet spring but you hate all of your winter clothes after, well, wearing them all winter.\n\nLuckily for me the weekend is almost here, as is spring, and I expect that I\'ll be able to find something new and interesting shopping on Saturday.','Blog: Sofia Street Style','','publish','open','open','','blog-sofia-street-style','','','2010-03-04 18:18:50','2010-03-04 15:18:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2265',0,'post','',7),(2269,1,'2010-03-05 10:10:27','2010-03-05 07:10:27','My students were using the word cosmopolitan recently.  I think it\'s a nice word. The etymology is pretty straight forward.  Surprise, surprise--it\'s Greek and comes from kosmos  which means \"world\" and polis which means \"city.\"\n\nSo when it\'s all put together a cosmopolitan is a \"citizen of the world.\"  Cosmopolitan can be either a noun or an adjective.\n\nWhen I looked up the definition in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (because I like to do things like this and I think dictionaries are great), I couldn\'t help but laugh the definition for the cosmopolitan as a now is this: <a href=\"//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmopolitan&quot;&gt;cosmopolitan&lt;/a&gt;\">cosmoplite</a> (yep, that\'s a cosmopolitan person).\n\nLuckily, the adjective definition is much, much more helpful.\n<blockquote>\n<div>Main Entry: <strong><sup>2</sup>cosmopolitan</strong></div>\n<div>Function:  <em>adjective</em></div>\n<div>Date: 1798</div>\n<strong>1</strong> <strong>:</strong> having worldwide rather than limited or provincial scope or bearing\n<strong>2</strong> <strong>:</strong> having wide international sophistication <strong>:</strong> <a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worldly\">worldly</a>\n<strong>3</strong> <strong>:</strong> composed of persons, constituents, or elements from all or many parts of the world</blockquote>\nHere\'s to adjectives!\n\nAt this point, I think I need to clarify that this is not just a blog post on the etymology and definition of a single word.  Even though, I see nothing wrong with that.\n\nRather this is now a post where I am going to lament the loss of the word.<!--more-->\n\nThis word cosmopolitan is, in many ways, the perfect word for me. I am living in the world--neither fully American in my view of the world nor Bulgarian. I am concerned about global issues. I am an American abroad.  Most would probably call me an expat but I don\'t think of myself as an expat in the classical meaning. I\'ve not been exiled here. Banished to Bulgaria. I am not planning on renouncing my allegiance to my country any time soon (thanks, Barack Obama).\n\nBut this word cosmopolitan, which seems perfect, has been usurped by a women\'s magazine dedicated to fashion and sex and a cocktail--both of the same name: cosmopolitan. Today, at least in my mind, the word cosmopolitan has become steeped in shades of pink, the now all too familiar font Franklin Gothic Extra condensed of the magazine\'s name and the ubiquitous drink: mix 2 parts lemon vodka to one part triple sec combined with one part cranberry and the juice of half a lime. It\'s not a word that in good conscious I can use.\n\nSo, that\'s that. I\'ve lost a perfectly good word to a women\'s magazine and a cocktail. I guess it could be worse.  But then again, who knows, maybe I\'ll use it tonight. I mean, after all of this discussion of the word a cosmopolitan is sounding pretty good right now.','Cosmopolitan','','publish','open','open','','cosmopolitan','','','2010-03-05 10:10:27','2010-03-05 07:10:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2269',0,'post','',1),(2276,1,'2010-03-06 21:15:14','2010-03-06 18:15:14','','Rome Architecture','','inherit','open','open','','img_1895','','','2010-03-06 21:15:14','2010-03-06 18:15:14','',2274,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_1895.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2274,1,'2010-03-06 21:16:11','2010-03-06 18:16:11','I am taking a photography class which I am really excited about.  I like taking pictures but frankly I know next to nothing about the science behind it, the lingo or formal techniques.  Basically, my style is this: take lots of pictures of what you like and hope that a handful turn out.  Most of the time this plan/strategy works out okay but this summer I bought a new digital camera.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2276\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Detail on a Building in Rome\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_1895.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2276\" title=\"Rome Architecture\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_1895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI bought the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi. It\'s a really wonderful camera but I think it\'s smarter than I am. It takes great pictures. Or maybe I take great pictures with it. Either way, the one thing I know for sure is that it can do more than I\'ve been letting it do and this is because I don\'t know enough about the camera or photography to really optimize my use of the camera.\n\nSo when I had a chance to learn more about photography, practice new techniques and get feedback on my photos I jumped at the opportunity. <!--more-->It\'s also great motivation to get my camera out, look at the world with a creative/artistic eye and actually do something with all of the photos I\'ve taken over the last year and a half.\n\nI\'ve been using <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/\">flickr.com</a> to share and store my photos. On a whole, I like flickr but here\'s the question: do I upgrade to a pro-account? It\'s $25 a year for unlimited photo uploads and storage.  What\'s good about the pro-account besides unlimited photo storage? Well, you can make folders to store and to sort you photos, access to the original files and even stats on my flickr account.  The other thing that\'s really prompted me to consider this upgrade is this message: Once you hit 200 photos, you\'ll need to upgrade to a Flickr Pro account or you\'ll only be able to see your most recent 200 photos. Right now I am at 171 photos so I am getting close to the 200 photo limit.\n\nThoughts? Ideas? Advice? Do you love flickr? Is there some better option?\n\nAnyhow more on my photography class to come! (And I hope some great photos to follow as well!!)','Photography Class','','publish','open','open','','photography-class','','','2010-03-06 21:16:11','2010-03-06 18:16:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2274',0,'post','',14),(2280,1,'2010-03-07 12:05:12','2010-03-07 09:05:12','','Starbucks and Nescafe','Starbucks and Nescafe','inherit','open','open','','dsc01584','','','2010-03-07 12:05:12','2010-03-07 09:05:12','',2279,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01584.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2279,1,'2010-03-07 13:48:09','2010-03-07 10:48:09','I found myself in a desperate situation this morning. I got out of bed this morning with this plan: read the newspaper, drink coffee and eat some breakfast. The internet was working so I had access to multiple newspapers (good), I\'d bought breakfast the day before at the Dutch bakery downtown (delicious) but I\'d forgotten to buy any coffee (oh, no).  At seven-thirty on a Sunday morning, there\'s not a lot that you can do about this giant, horrible, no-good problem.\n\nThen I remembered I have something stored away for moments just like this:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2280\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Starbucks and Nescafe\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01584.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2280\" title=\"Starbucks and Nescafe\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01584.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNescafe 3 in 1. Now this is not great coffee. In fact, it is far from good coffee but in a pinch it will do. For those of you unfamiliar with this product, which I assume is more or less anyone who has an American passport, it\'s instant coffee that\'s pre-measured in individual servings and comes with both sugar and milk in the instant coffee mix. In practice what this means is that Nescafe coffee is similar to the too sugary gas station coffee machines in the States.  It\'s coffee but just barely.\n\nBut at 7:30 am on a Sunday morning when your options are Nescafe 3 in 1 or orange juice and you\'re dying for a cup of coffee you\'re in no position to turn your nose down to the 3 in 1.  In fact, the Nescafe 3 in 1 seems like a <a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/godsend\">godsend</a> (yep, I had to double check that this was actually a word so then I decided to link it for you because I am nice like that or maybe nuts. I think it\'s probably a pretty fine line).\n\nAfter my first cup of 3 in 1, I remember that ever since Christmas I\'ve been carrying around in my purse Starbucks Via Ready Brew packets.  <em>What? </em>you may ask.<!--more-->\n\nI know I did. In fact, I did a double take in December. There were these boxes of little packets of coffee at the register. Packets that looked remarkably like Nescafe 3 in 1 packets.  The big difference being that the Starbucks packets are only coffee--no creamer, no sugar--one in one if you will. I thought: <em>Really?!</em> Where am I? And, what is Starbucks doing stooping to the level of instant coffee?! <em>INSTANT COFFEE?! </em>\n\nI\'d always thought that an coffee institution like Starbucks was well above instant coffee.  I mean for better or worse Starbucks sets the standard for coffee in the States. They control the lingo, the sizing, the branding, and even the image of the liberal double-shot, skinny latte drinking soccer mom. And here they are selling instant coffee.\n\nAfter receiving my tall iced Americano with room for cream, I asked the barista about the little coffee packets.  Sure enough they\'re instant coffee. He gave me a couple of these packets as samples.  The packaging is pretty funny: smooth, nutty flavor any place, any time. Apparently these are for those of us who can\'t, for some reason, make it to Starbucks fast enough despite the fact that Starbucks is seemingly every where.  I was inside one of the local grocery stores picking up some bread and veggies when the Starbucks stand was calling out my name and I had to stop for an Americano.\n\nThe ingredients? Soluble and Microground Coffee. That struck me as kind of weird. I am not really into drinking pieces of ground coffee but who am I to be picky? I mean I\'ve had my fair share of instant Nescafe.\n\nSo today after a cup of Nescafe 3 in 1, I gave the Starbucks Via Ready Brew a shot.  It wasn\'t half bad.  It was a nicely bold full bodied coffee and I didn\'t notice any of the microground coffee while I was drinking it or at the bottom of my cup after I\'d finished drinking the coffee.\n\nI still think it\'s totally weird that Starbucks is selling instant coffee  I mean it doesn\'t get much more instant that going into Starbucks and ordering a latte but who am I to complain.  I was in desperate need of a coffee (or two) this morning and happily both Nescafe and Starbucks pulled through for me. <em>Thank-you</em>.\n\nNow, however, I must go grocery shopping and I cannot forget to buy coffee.','Coffee, STAT!','','publish','open','open','','coffee-stat','','','2010-03-07 13:48:09','2010-03-07 10:48:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2279',0,'post','',7),(2285,1,'2010-03-07 23:17:43','2010-03-07 20:17:43','','Flowers for Women&#039;s Day','Flowers for Women\'s Day','inherit','open','open','','dsc01586','','','2010-03-07 23:17:43','2010-03-07 20:17:43','',2284,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01586.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2284,1,'2010-03-08 07:50:22','2010-03-08 04:50:22','Happy Women\'s Day!\n\nSure enough, it\'s once again March 8th and International Women\'s Day.\n\nWishing each of you a wonderful day male or female alike--or I guess if you\'re forgetful this is a reminder to call your mother or buy that special girl in your life flowers or if you don\'t buy into holidays like this make her a card, leave her a note or make sure that you do the dishes.\n\nThis is however a holiday, I\'ve never celebrated and as a result I don\'t know much about it. I\'d like to know more about it but I don\'t.  What I do know a lot about is Mother\'s Day--which is the second Sunday of May in the States. As kids, we\'d make breakfast in bed for my MoM and then get in bed with her and eat it. Yep, we were pretty awesome kids and she\'s a pretty awesome mom. Something about this family tradition strikes me as not very Bulgarian--maybe because we always made pancakes, waffles or cinnamon rolls with a side of bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs fro breakfast.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2285\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Flowers for Women&#39;s Day \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01586.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2285\" title=\"Flowers for Women\'s Day \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01586.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnyhow, back to Women\'s Day.  <!--more-->I truly know nothing about this holiday aside from the fact that men give women flowers but rather than this day being limited to only mothers it\'s a little more equal opportunity as it\'s a day for all women. <em>That\'s nice</em>.\n\nI also think that it\'s some how related to communism but I don\'t know why I think that.\n\nA quick good search turned up this:\n<blockquote>The International Women\'s Day established itself as an official holiday in Bulgaria with the arrival of the Socialist regime in Bulgaria in 1944, but its popularity grew immensely in the 1960s. Nowadays the holiday is mostly about paying a tribute to mothers.</blockquote>\nAhh, so, I\'ve clearly made the connection between Women\'s Day and communism because of this.  It\'s still unclear to me if this is a socialist holiday or just a European holiday that we\'ve deliberately chosen not to celebrate in the States. Or maybe Hallmark just couldn\'t co-opt this holiday.  Hard to say.\n\nI am told that the flower sellers here in Bulgaria mark up all of the prices of flowers for this holiday because men are expected to buy flowers for the women in their lives.  That to me is very funny, very Bulgarian and a great take on capitalism.\n\nToday, there are lots of different kinds of flowers available but I\'ve also heard that during communism the only flowers that were available on this day were daffodils and that men would stand in long lines waiting for them. Hum. I like daffodils.','Women&#039;s Day','','publish','open','open','','womens-day','','','2010-03-08 07:50:22','2010-03-08 04:50:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2284',0,'post','',11),(2292,1,'2010-03-08 19:02:25','2010-03-08 16:02:25','','My madmen icon','Me as a Madmen Icon','inherit','open','open','','madmen_icon','','','2010-03-08 19:02:25','2010-03-08 16:02:25','',2291,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_icon.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2296,1,'2010-03-08 19:09:56','2010-03-08 16:09:56','','Me from Head to Toe!','Me from Head to Toe!','inherit','open','open','','madmen_fullbody','','','2010-03-08 19:09:56','2010-03-08 16:09:56','',2291,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_fullbody.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2291,1,'2010-03-08 19:15:36','2010-03-08 16:15:36','Grading papers. Instead, I just took a grading break and made this:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2292\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Me as a Madmen Icon \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_icon.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2292\" title=\"My madmen icon\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_icon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd now I am writing a quick blog post instead of grading papers. I\'d encourage you to do the same. It\'s really fun.  Also, you get to see how you\'d look as a character from the tv show Mad Men--a US program set in the 1960s.\n\nI look great in cat\'s eye glasses. If I do say so myself.\n\nBut you should see the rest of my outfit.\n\nOh, wait. You can. Because I also happened to made this:<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2296\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"450\" caption=\"Me from Head to Toe!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_fullbody.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2296 \" title=\"Me from Head to Toe!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/madmen_fullbody.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"675\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNow it\'s official. I\'ve got to get back to grading papers. But at least it was great fun and super-duper easy to Mad Men Myself! I clearly would have rocked the 1960\'s.','I should be...','','publish','open','open','','i-should-be','','','2010-03-08 19:15:36','2010-03-08 16:15:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2291',0,'post','',4),(2303,1,'2010-03-08 20:37:06','2010-03-08 17:37:06','','English Billboard','English Billboard','inherit','open','open','','dsc01554','','','2010-03-08 20:37:06','2010-03-08 17:37:06','',2302,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01554.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2302,1,'2010-03-09 07:28:26','2010-03-09 04:28:26','Who will get the job?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2303\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"English Billboard \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01554.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2303\" title=\"English Billboard \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01554.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHard to say. Based on the billboard, I have no idea which of the three the billboard is suggesting will get the job. Well clearly the one who speaks the best English but really, how do you tell based on a single photo?<!--more-->\n\nSo I\'m left to ponder this. Is it the nervous woman with pink shoes on the end or maybe the confident but questioning woman in the middle? What about the slacker guy reading the newspaper? It\'s hard to tell by looking.  I mean unless maybe the newspaper is in English and I just can\'t see that it\'s the Financial Times or something.\n\nBut really who wants to work with the guy in a suit who looks like he could just as well be napping on the subway as sitting in a waiting room for a job interview? Not me.\n\nInteresting this billboard didn\'t have a very long shelf life--I snapped the photo a week ago at the Levski Metro Station and it\'s already come down.\n\nOh, billboards.','English Billboard','','publish','open','open','','english-billboard','','','2010-03-09 07:28:26','2010-03-09 04:28:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2302',0,'post','',2),(2312,1,'2010-03-10 08:23:47','2010-03-10 05:23:47','','IMG_1442','','inherit','open','open','','img_1442-2','','','2010-03-10 08:23:47','2010-03-10 05:23:47','',2311,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_1442.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2313,1,'2010-03-10 08:27:50','2010-03-10 05:27:50','','Char In DC','My Sister Char','inherit','open','open','','dsc01934','','','2010-03-10 08:27:50','2010-03-10 05:27:50','',2311,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01934.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2316,1,'2010-03-10 08:31:04','2010-03-10 05:31:04','','My Sister and Me','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01992','','','2010-03-10 08:31:04','2010-03-10 05:31:04','',2311,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01992.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2311,1,'2010-03-10 09:58:03','2010-03-10 06:58:03','So, you may not know my sister but if you did you\'d know that she is really damn funny. You\'d also know that she\'s smart, insightful and loves to talk which is why I think she\'s so funny. Here she is: <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01992.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2316\" title=\"My Sister and Me\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01992.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n\nShe doesn\'t send me a lot of emails.  Mostly we stay in touch via gchat, skype phone calls, silly facebook wall posts and the comments she leaves on my blog. Anyhow, this week I got an email from my little sister. I knew it was going to be a <a href=\"http://www.thefreedictionary.com/doozy\">doosy</a>. The title was: pop culture references to Bulgaria and the first part of the message read: Hey Kiki, I\'ve noticed a strange phenomenon ...\n\nAny email that starts of this way has got to be good. And I am not disappointed.  Yes, I am going to share it with you. I couldn\'t save something this good just for myself.\n\nHowever, before you start reading there are a two things you need to know. I am Carolyn but growing up I was Kiki (Carolyn is a hard name to say when you\'re learning to talk).  When I started preschool, at three years old, my teachers asked me if I wanted to be Kiki or Carolyn at school. I picked Carolyn and thus, for my entire professional career (yes, I realize I just claimed my professional life started at age 3) I\'ve always been Carolyn.  My sister Charlotte, of course, still calls me Kiki but that\'s okay because I call her Char. For a long time, I was embarrassed to be Kiki. Now I think it\'s funny and charming.\n\nBut here\'s the point where I think each of you is thinking: Hey, you--I don\'t care what your name is. Hurry up. Get to the point. Show us the letter!\n\n------\n\nHey Kiki,\n\nI\'ve noticed a strange phenomenon recently in American pop culture: references to Bulgaria.<!--more--> I\'ve noticed three major references in the last week and I wonder about this. You have been in Bulgaria for a year and a half, and I would think that I\'ve been attuned to Bulgaria for that whole time. While I hear about Bulgaria from time to time, its not usually this often. So why is Bulgaria becoming hot now? I mean, I do think that it is like learning a new vocabulary word, once you know its meaning you hear it everywhere. But why now I wonder?\n\nI\'ve heard a little bit about Bulgaria recently because of the Olympics. I think I even watched a little of the Bulgarian team competing at the luge when I was in a bar. However, its the pop culture references that stick out to me.\n\nLast week I was watching the show \"Psych\" on the USA network. Psych is a quirky show about a fake physic who is uses his skills of observation to get himself in and out of all kinds of situations. In this episode, the main character, Shawn, gets a phone call from someone in the Bulgarian consulate, and immediately begins speaking Spanish to the Bulgarian person on the phone.The audience can only hear Shawn\'s end of this conversation, but it goes on for a minute or two. And my Spanish isn\'t that great but I think the language he is speaking to this unseen Bulgarian person is more like Spanglish. This whole scene is just a small bit right at the end of the episode, but it got me thinking.\n\nThen last weekend I went to see this big blockbuster movie, Valentines Day (which has practically everyone famous in Hollywood in it, from Julia Roberts to Patrick Dempsey) and in it Ashton Kutcher\'s character owns a florist shop. In one scene the flower shop is packed with customers and has a line out the door and the woman at the front of the line is speaking a foreign language, finally identified as Bulgarian. Ashton Kutcher\'s character asks if anyone in the shop speaks Bulgarian, and a male customer does, and steps forward to translate, although we don\'t see it. A few minutes later, Ashton Kutcher walks by the Bulgarian couple and says something like, \"great, now you two can go start a Bulgarian village\" although not as unkindly as that sounds on paper.\n\nFinally today I was doing the dishes with the TV on and heard a references to a \"Bulgarian Taxi driver\" on a commercial, I came into the room to see what it was but I misses it. Maybe it is a Vonage phone commercial?\n\nSo anyway all of this gets me thinking. Why are jokes about Bulgaria and specifically speaking Bulgarian (supposedly) funny? Is it because Bulgarian speakers are so rare in America? But there are a lot of languages that must be true of. I think it has to do with the foreign quality of Bulgaria. Before you went there, I\'d barely heard of it. I don\'t think Bulgaria really has a reputation here. Or maybe does it and I just missed it?\n\nWhen I tell people that my big sister lives in Bulgaria, I almost always get the same reaction. People\'s eyes get big, and they ask \"why, what is she doing there?\" And I tell them about the Fulbright and that you are now teaching English. And then usually they don\'t have much to say. Now I\'m the one being a little unkind maybe, and this was less true when I was in Washington DC. Now, back in Oregon, people just don\'t have much to say about Bulgaria, and the subject often gets changed quickly.\n\nHowever, these examples seem to suggest that Bulgaria must have some kind of reputation here in the US. Unfortunately there does seem to be some kind of stereotyping going on here, especially in the Valentine\'s Day example. Language is the common factor here also. Both Psych and Valentines Day treat speaking (or not speaking) Bulgarian as a punch line.\n\nSo what does reaction does a mention of Bulgaria elicit for most Americans? Is is cozy little villages? Is the the post communist thing? I\'ve found most people have only a vague idea where Bulgaria even is located.  But why is it funny? I think maybe if it is funny its a cheap joke.\n\nAnyway this is just something I\'ve been thinking about. I\'ll keep my eyes and ears open for more references, and maybe I can come up with a more consolidated theory about this.\n\nLove,\n\nChar\n\n--------\n\nI read her email and thought: <em>Oh, Bulgaria</em>.\n\nFollowed by, my sister\'s got a good point and the thing is, I didn\'t really know how to respond to her email.  Is there something inherently funny about Bulgaria? Do we laugh because Bulgaria is the unknown other? Or are these references just cheep jokes at the expense of a nation that\'s not in the position to stand up and say: hey! that\'s not what life is like here... we\'re more than a nation of taxi cab drivers and villagers.\n\nSo I did what anyone writing a blog would do. I asked her if I could post her email. She said, yes. And now I am opening this up to you my readers.  Thoughts? Comments? Responses?','Pop culture references to Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','pop-culture-references-to-bulgaria','','','2010-03-10 09:58:03','2010-03-10 06:58:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2311',0,'post','',14),(2323,1,'2010-03-11 08:02:54','2010-03-11 05:02:54','The 14th Sofia International Film Festival is on this month. I\'ve been checking out <a href=\"http://www.sofiaiff.com/index.php?lang=en\">the program</a> online. It looks like there\'s some really great stuff playing.<img class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Sofia Film Festival: Eastern Plays\" src=\"http://sofiaecho.com/shimg/zx500y290_867960.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"290\" />\n\nI am planning on watching out at least one film this weekend. My one complaint is that online I can\'t seem to figure out which movies are playing with Bulgarian subtitles and which films have both English and Bulgarian subtitles.  This is pretty important for me--I mean watching a Polish film with Bulgarian subtitles for me would be, um, impossible because my vocabulary is pretty limited and it takes me too long to sound out subtitles in my head.  I would never know what anyone was saying.  Luckily for me the print material makes it clear which language or language the subtitles of each film are in.\n\nReading the movie listings has made me feel like I\'ve been living under a rock for the last year. I only recognize a handful of the titles.  This makes picking a film or two out especially difficult.  It\'s also really exciting because I more or less want to see everything.<!--more-->\n\nThis said, there seems to be a pretty good showing of Bulgarian films:\n<ul>\n	<li>If Somebody Loves You...</li>\n	<li>Voice Over</li>\n	<li>Nina and Mariyan (the Holy Family)</li>\n	<li>The Glass River</li>\n	<li>Eastern Plays</li>\n	<li>Hunting Park</li>\n	<li>The Forecast</li>\n	<li>Crayfish</li>\n	<li>Moon Lake</li>\n</ul>\nAnd there\'s an even longer list of Bulgarian Documentaries.\n\nIn fact there\'s a whole article in the <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2010/03/05/867959_sofia-film-feast\">Sofia Echo</a> giving the festival a shot out  and giving pretty enthusiastic reviews of Eastern Plays, Voice Over, Glass River and If Somebody Loves You... I mean you could read the article yourself if you want but basically the Sofia Echo says that there\'s no better time for a festival to focus on Bulgarian films seeing as there\'s been a transformation of Bulgarian film over the last few year. The language that the Sofia Echo uses is actually a little bit over the top but still kind:\n<blockquote>As Bulgarian cinema undergoes a revival of sorts – see Dzift, Eastern Plays and The World is Big – the 2010 Sofia International Film Festival can justifiably focus on Bulgarian filmmakers without the danger of appearing parochial.</blockquote>\nThe problem for me seems to be that there are more movies than time. This coupled with the fact that I am not very picky when it comes to watching movies makes the task of picking a movie pretty overwhelming. Generally, for me, if it\'s a good story the rest doesn\'t matter much.  As a result, I usually have an impossibly hard time picking out movies and I prefer to defer to my more opinionated movie going friends. I am not really sure what this says about me--that I am a passive movie goer--but I assume that it\'s something negative.\n\nSo now I have to try to make up my mind which movie I am going to see.  I am overwhelmed by choice and to top of this off, I just spent a better part of my night moving back and forth between the program website and their print material and now my head is spinning. There\'s something pretty funny about my inability to make a choice--I mean it\'s not like I am buying a house, a car or even a new computer. I am trying to pick out a movie.  Heck, I can order a coffee without even thinking about it, I know what I want to wear each morning without much contemplation and I can make travel plans without second guessing myself but I can\'t pick out a movie. <em>Ahh</em>.\n\nThis said, because  I am beginning to drive myself crazy with all of this back and forth over movies and because I do have an audience who might be able to help me out with this (that\'s you!).  I am now begging you for your input, insight and movie advice: has anyone been to see any of these movies? which did you like best?  any movie that you\'re dying to see but haven\'t made it to yet?','Sofia Film Festival','','publish','open','open','','sofia-film-festival','','','2010-03-11 08:02:54','2010-03-11 05:02:54','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2323',0,'post','',2),(2332,1,'2010-03-12 10:18:11','2010-03-12 07:18:11','Friday, Friday, I\'ve been waiting all week for you!  I am so glad that it\'s Friday. I\'ve had one of those weeks were nothing is really wrong but likewise nothing is really great. All in all, it\'s been kind of boring.\n\nI\'ve worked, I\'ve written some blah blog posts, I\'ve made dinner, I\'ve taken some photos and I\'ve thought a lot about how much I dislike winter when it\'s supposed to be spring--how I\'d much rather be wearing my raincoat and carrying my umbrella than wearing my winter coat and always searching for where I put down my gloves, hat and scarf every time I want to leave the house.\n\n<a href=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4422313375_0729841dba.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Plant \" src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4422313375_0729841dba.jpg\" alt=\"Plant in my classroom\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nI am antsy. I want winter to end and then I look at the weather forecast and realize that we\'re being threatened with snow for three more days. I hate the feeling that I am being held hostage by winter.  Okay I don\'t know what I\'d be doing if it wasn\'t snowy, cold and gray outside but I am sure it would be better than this past week.\n\n<a href=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4422309017_aaa7f4e9c8.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Coffee Cup \" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4422309017_aaa7f4e9c8.jpg\" alt=\"Coffee Cup \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nI think this series of photos which I took for my photography class sums up my week. This is my oh so titillating series titled: my classroom. It includes the following highlights: a dictionary, my radiator and a plant.  Yeah, it\'s been a slow week. <!--more-->\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Dictionary 1\" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/4423087244_e075c01a06.jpg\" alt=\"One of my classroom dictionaries\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /><a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/4422324103/\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Dictionary 2\" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4422324103_07278493d7.jpg\" alt=\"Dictionary \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a><a href=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4423091946_fb6ec77855.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Chairs \" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4423091946_fb6ec77855.jpg\" alt=\"Classroom chairs\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a></p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4422316757_9b50f43797.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Radiator \" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4422316757_9b50f43797.jpg\" alt=\"Classroom radiator \" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" /></a></p>','My Week','','publish','open','open','','my-week','','','2010-03-12 10:18:11','2010-03-12 07:18:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2332',0,'post','',3),(2337,1,'2010-03-13 11:12:47','2010-03-13 08:12:47','I saw Alice in Wonderland last night (or in Bulgarian <a href=\"http://programata.bg/?p=29&amp;l=1&amp;c=1&amp;id=57856\">Алиса в страната на чудесата</a>). It was great fun. I went with a couple of my teacher friends from school and we saw it in 3D. I really liked the modern retelling of the story. Alice was awesome--totally strong and take charge. Way to go Alice. Also, Alice, I loved the red dress that the Queen of Hearts had made for you.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Alice in Wonderland \" src=\"http://programata.bg/img/gallery/event_57856.jpg?1030475986\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"250\" />\n\nThe only strange slightly scary things at times were the Bulgarian subtitles.  Given the fact the movie was in 3D sometimes the subtitles felt like they were in my lap. That freaked me out once or twice and then sometimes the subtitles seemed like they were in the background. I more or less didn\'t pay any attention to them. But it did make me wonder how the Bulgarians were doing watching the film and reading the subtitles.','Alice in Wonderland','','publish','open','open','','alice-in-wonderland','','','2010-03-13 11:12:47','2010-03-13 08:12:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2337',0,'post','',4),(2341,1,'2010-03-14 11:40:52','2010-03-14 08:40:52','Yesterday I saw <a href=\"http://www.sofiaiff.com/index.php?page=movies&amp;id=57\">Eastern Plays (Източни пиеси)</a> directed by Kamen Kalev at the Cinema House in Sofia. It\'s a part of the Sofia Film Festival.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"460\" caption=\"Itso in Eastern Plays \"]<a href=\"http://www.programata.bg/?p=30&amp;c=1&amp;id=54917&amp;l=2\"><img title=\"Eastern Plays Film Fest 2010\" src=\"http://www.programata.bg/img/gallery/gallery_27078.jpg?845330736\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe film struck me as haunting and at the same time, completely engaging. I didn\'t really know what to expect.  The summary of the film on the festival website describes the film this way:\n<blockquote>Two brothers who have lost all contact are suddenly brought together  when they have opposite roles in a racist beating. While Georgi, who’s  recently joined a neonazi group participates in the violence, Itso  witnesses and rescues the Turkish family. Georgi, now being asked to  participate in larger events, starts to question his implication in the  movement and Itso wonders if the beautiful Turkish girl he saved could  be his ticket out from his sad life in Sofia. Only by reuniting will  the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.</blockquote>\nI went to see the film based on the summary above and while the summary is 100% correct it doesn\'t seem to do the film justice. I left the movie sad and confused. <!--more-->For good reason, it turns out the main character Christo--Itso--has a real life inspiration and what\'s more his real life counter part died last year.  As it turns out much of the film is real.  But because I apparently don\'t like to read past summaries of films I didn\'t catch this when I decided to see this film.\n\nHad I read a little bit further on the film festival website I\'d have learned this:\n<blockquote>While both brothers are floundering in existential solitude, Itso  projects a far deeper sense of being both lost and trapped. Perhaps it\'s  because tyro thesp Christov, an old friend of Kalev\'s, was the basis  for the script, and many details are taken directly from his life.  Kalev\'s sensitivity, combined with dialogue as truthful as it is  natural, leaves no room for vampiric verisimilitude; while it comes as a  shock to discover, in the end credits, that Christov tragically died  last year, the entire film is suffused with poignant respect.</blockquote>\nI am not sure that it makes much of a difference if you know background of the film--if you know the story is steeped in real life before you see it. For me didn\'t, it just made the ending that much more surprising--hopeful and at once heartbreaking.\n\nThe other thing the reviews don\'t spend much time on is the setting, Sofia. The film opens with the concrete gray and crumbling block apartment buildings found in the outskirts of the city and then moves into the city center. Many scenes were shot just blocks from my apartment last year in a neighborhood park and the outdoor cafe there. A cafe that I\'ve grown to think of as <em>mine</em>--an extension of my apartment.\n\nI was surprised by the visceral feeling that this is my city and not.  I know the neighborhoods, I know the cafes--hell I\'ve spent a lot of hours sitting outside in that cafe drinking coffee or beer, I recognize the streets but not the story.\n\nI don\'t know this story about hate, loss, dissatisfaction and youth.  This is a story on the edge of my consciousness.  I see graffiti on walls, I know that there is little propelling many teenagers to school, I hear racists jokes that make my skin crawl from well meaning friends, I scared by the nationalist political parties and I know that my Bulgarian peers struggle to find meaningful work but none of these things are central in my life. My Sofia is not the Sofia which appears in the film.\n\nThis contrast between my existence here and the film made me feel as if I am floating through my life in Sofia. Or that I am somehow a butterfly and I flit from flower to flower or tree to tree skipping over the dirt, the garbage--everything in between the flowers. This film however said: hold still, you\'re going to get a good look at life in Bulgaria--a life that you unwittingly look over.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/unwittingly\">Unwittingly </a>seems to be the perfect word to describe my relationship to this film.  I haven\'t done this on purpose. It\'s been inadvertent.  I haven\'t purposefully overlooked this part of Sofia--I\'ve just never had access to it. And at least for me, this is part of what is so powerful about this film.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.programata.bg/?p=30&amp;c=1&amp;id=54917&amp;l=2\">Programata</a> started their review of the film with this: Eastern Plays stabs you deep right in the heart. And I think they are exactly right.\n\nThis said, if you\'re living in Sofia and feel like you\'d like to be stabbed in the heart the film will be playing nearly everyday this next week as part of the film festival.  If you\'re elsewhere, I guess I am leaving you to your own devices--sorry.','Eastern Plays','','publish','open','open','','eastern-plays','','','2010-03-14 11:40:52','2010-03-14 08:40:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2341',0,'post','',3),(2354,1,'2010-03-15 08:00:18','2010-03-15 05:00:18','','Dog on a Wall','Dog on a Wall','inherit','open','open','','dsc01598','','','2010-03-15 08:00:18','2010-03-15 05:00:18','',2353,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01598.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2355,1,'2010-03-15 08:04:43','2010-03-15 05:04:43','','Dog on a Wall 2','More Dog on a Wall','inherit','open','open','','dsc01597','','','2010-03-15 08:04:43','2010-03-15 05:04:43','',2353,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01597.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2353,1,'2010-03-15 08:13:01','2010-03-15 05:13:01','I was walking home from my Bulgarian lesson on Sunday.  I was thinking about the fact that I\'d just had my 21st Bulgarian lesson. That\'s not bad if you ask me.  Before I started my lessons I\'d never really written anything in Bulgarian.  Then I started thinking about the fact that I still don\'t use Bulgarian as much as I\'d like to but this is when I happened to see this dog.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2354\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Dog on a Wall\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01598.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2354\" title=\"Dog on a Wall \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01598.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nYes.  I stopped and thought: what?! All thoughts of my Bulgarian lesson disappeared. <!--more-->Then I remembered that I have a camera in my purse. Double yes.  And yes, somehow this dog is up on a wall.  I\'ve  never seen anything like this before the wall is at least waist high.\n\nThe best part was that this dog was really happy to have me take his picture. As demonstrated by the second picture I took:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2355\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"More Dog on a Wall\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01597.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2355\" title=\"Dog on a Wall 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSome neighborhood people walked by while I was taking these pictures. They hardly looked at the dog.  It must be his thing. Standing on walls.  If it hadn\'t been so cold yesterday afternoon, I probably would have hung around to see how the dog gets off of the wall but it was too cold so I walked home.\n\nOh and not until I was posting these photos did I notice that the dog is wearing a martenitsa! Someone loves him. And he\'s a better Bulgarian than I am. I gave up on my martenitsi last week. I still have one on my coat and purse but I retired the bracelets. They were in the way.','Dog on a Wall','','publish','open','open','','dog-on-a-wall','','','2010-03-15 08:13:01','2010-03-15 05:13:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2353',0,'post','',4),(2359,1,'2010-03-16 07:30:16','2010-03-16 04:30:16','През пролетта ще имам ваканция.  През април аз няма да работя в училище и ще ходя в Мароко.  Моята приятелка А. ще ходя също.  Ние ще вървиме със самолет.  Аз искам да видим всичко! Ще правя много снимки. Ние ще спим на хотел и ще ядем в ресторанти.  Ше посетим музеи, църкви и джамии.  Няма да мислим за рапота, а само ще си почиваме.  Аз нямам търпение!!\n\nFor my non-Bulgarian speakers, here\'s the short version. Big news, big news: I am going to Morocco for spring break!\n\nI am super-duper excited about this but I am not really sure that it comes through in the Bulgarian.  But, I guess that\'s the problem with learning a new language.','през пролетта','','publish','open','open','','%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%b7-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%b5%d1%82%d1%82%d0%b0','','','2010-03-16 07:30:16','2010-03-16 04:30:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2359',0,'post','',13),(2367,1,'2010-03-17 09:15:23','2010-03-17 05:15:23','My blog post yesterday was 10 lines long in Bulgarian and I added four sentences in English for my MoM.  This post however garnered at least 11 comments.  Now, I\'ve nearly got more comments than sentences. That says something either about my Bulgarian, my readers or the nature of blogs--or maybe it something about all three.\n\nAnyhow, I\'ve always thought that posting in Bulgarian is pretty innocuous. That I\'d write about the things I am studying--which at this point is all pretty basic and that would be that. However it turns out that it\'s far from that.  I realized this when I read the following comment today in my email and nearly cried: why don’t you have a spellchecker ? And to this person\'s credit he or she even included a link to a mozilla addon that I could use.\n\nI read the comment and thought: oh. I don\'t use a spellchecker because I don\'t have one and I don\'t think it would help. Then I decided not to approve the comment because I thought it was too mean.  Yes, I thought the comment was too <em>mean</em>.\n\nMaybe it\'s a sign that I should have had another cup of coffee today, not gotten out of bed or maybe that I am too sensitive.  Then the thought passed through my head, maybe it\'s not me but the problem inherent in writing a blog.  My life is up for comment and criticism. Or in this case, my Bulgarian is up for comment and criticism.<!--more-->\n\nBut what it boils down to is this: it\'s a humbling thing to let other people have a glimpse at your life and to show in a hundred different ways each day that you\'re not perfect. Whatever facade once existed no longer does.  Don\'t get me wrong I am not seeking perfection but I\'d like to be good at things I do each day.\n\nGenerally I\'d say I am not very good each day about always washing my dishes, doing as much exercise as I should and I am not very good at Bulgarian.  So on a whole, I choose not to write blog posts about the things I don\'t do each day--what\'s the point of that?\n\nThen I decided to make a New Year\'s resolution--it was not exercise more or to wash my dishes right after dinner.  It was this: write a post once a week in Bulgarian.  I did it knowing that these things take work and time and that I won\'t get any better unless I practice so I write these silly and sometimes insipid posts in Bulgarian.\n\nOf course they are riddled with mistakes. I\'ve only been studying the language informally for a year but I do the best that I can.  And I try to use the things that I am learning.  If I didn\'t do that, what\'s the point? Still none of this makes it any easier to let other people see these posts and then comment on these mistakes.  None of it makes it any less humbling.  It\'s hard to put yourself out there in the world knowing that you\'re not good at what you\'re attempting but that you\'re doing it anyway.\n\nThe strangest part about this whole thing is that I\'ve never felt the way I did before today and I\'ve written lots of posts which have received more comments and criticism than yesterday\'s.  And I know, or at least I think, that the comments on yesterday\'s post are meant to be helpful not make me feel like crying.  Luckily for me, I have a pretty poor short term memory so after 80 minutes of teaching I didn\'t remember about the comment until later.\n\nSo I re-read the tabled comment.  I decided that it\'s actually a perfectly good one and I approved it then and there.  Then I told myself that I wouldn\'t get hung up on comments and criticism and that it\'s okay that my blog post in Bulgarian isn\'t perfect.  I am trying.  And that in and of itself is a good thing.  I also told myself that could buy myself a coffee at Onda today.  Happily coffee cures many different ailments or at least that\'s what I believe.\n\nNow, here\'s the post script, I write many of my blog posts the night before and publish them in the morning before I got to school.  It lets me write, sleep on it, read it again and edit/revise as necessary and the time lets me develop and clarify my ideas.  This morning I find myself struck by the way this post could seem weepy--woe is me, I write these posts in Bulgarian that then garner nearly more comments than the length of the original post.\n\nI am afraid that the most interesting idea (or maybe it\'s a reflection) is lost. Simply, it\'s this: my blog is personal in nature and in content but in comparison yesterday\'s post was extremely impersonal.  So why was the <em>this</em> blog post that made me think--ugg?\n\nEven today, I don\'t have the answer to that question.  But I do have this to say: every day I am amazed by the number of followers I have on this blog and the kinds of comments I receive from funny to insightful to helpful and even the occasional--wake up, Carolyn you\'ve got it wrong.  I knew when I started this project, that this was what blogging at it\'s best was about.  What I never imagined was that a year into my adventure I\'d have more than 500 views a day on my blog.  And a community of readers who were both American and Bulgarian.\n\nI\'ve got to run to school now so I\'ll end these ramblings here.  Please keep up with the comments--good, bad and ugly.  They make me a better writer, better observer and thinker and one day maybe even my  Bulgarian will be better because of it.  The art of blogging is an imperfect science and I am still getting the hang of it.  Thanks again for reading the blog and Happy St. Patrick\'s Day!','The art of blogging','','publish','open','open','','the-art-of-blogging','','','2010-03-17 09:15:23','2010-03-17 05:15:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2367',0,'post','',10),(2381,1,'2010-03-18 06:23:22','2010-03-18 05:23:22','I finally got a copy! 25 leva later I am the proud owner of Ivan Vasov\'s novel. And don\'t worry, I am going to blog about reading it.  If you<a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/under-the-yoke/\"> remember</a>, I thought I\'d start reading it for the March 3rd holiday in Bulgaria but that date came and went without me being able to track down a copy.\n\nLuckily, one of my Bulgarian friends told me I should read it during the month of April as homage to the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria. That sounded good to me.  So, I am going to be reading the novel over the month April.  Okay, I\'ve already read the first two chapters but I don\'t have as much time as I\'d like to read or I might have read the whole thing already.  I <em>love</em> reading.\n\nThen I thought: why should I read this alone?\n\nSo I made my MoM buy a copy on Amazon.com.  She\'s a good sport like that. I also told her that she\'d be left out if she didn\'t because I am going to be leading an \"Under the Yoke\" book club during the month of April.  No word on whether or not she\'s received her copy yet.  Oh and for the record, she\'s reading it in English--as am I.\n\nHere\'s the thing: two people a book club does not make (especially if three\'s a collection).  <!--more-->I think that a good book club requires at least five members.  I\'d also say that book club requires serious snacks and wine but seeing as this is going to be a blog book club you\'re going to have to be responsible for your own snacks and wine--oh and for reading (or re-reading) the novel.\n\nWhat I am thinking is this. I\'ll look through the novel divide our reading up into weeks. Then each week I\'ll post what I hope is a thoughtful post about the reading. Then we can discuss the reading in the comments section of the blog.  If I am really motivated, I\'ll even try to discuss historical references in the text but seeing as I\'ve never read the novel and my knowledge of Bulgarian history is pretty questionable, I may or may not be able to do this.\n\nSo what\'s in it for you? Well you get to read (or re-read) a novel, you get to feel like you\'re doing something productive with your time and maybe just maybe you\'ll get to learn something new. And really, what\'s better than this?\n\nMy American followers, you should still be able to buy a copy of the novel on Amazon.com.  Expats in Sofia, you may have a harder time getting your hands on a copy of the novel in English--I got mine after trips to three different book stores and it was the only copy on the shelf and when I had a Bulgarian colleague look online for me the English language copies were all sold out. And to my Bulgarian followers, I am sure that you can dig up a copy.  I also have a hunch that you might be tempted to not re-read the novel--but that would be just silly.\n\nSo, get ready, get ready. This is going to be great fun.  Oh, and don\'t feel like you have to join in on the book club my MoM and I will still have rocking good time.  At least I hope so.\n\nMoM: you\'d better keep up on the reading or I\'ll have to consider giving reading quizzes...','Me &amp; Under the Yoke','','publish','open','open','','me-under-the-yoke','','','2010-03-18 06:23:22','2010-03-18 05:23:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2381',0,'post','',5),(2388,1,'2010-03-18 19:20:11','2010-03-18 18:20:11','','Brownies','Homemade Brownies','inherit','open','open','','img_2666','','','2010-03-18 19:20:11','2010-03-18 18:20:11','',2375,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2666.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2390,1,'2010-03-18 19:22:40','2010-03-18 18:22:40','','Brownies 1','More Brownies!','inherit','open','open','','img_2668','','','2010-03-18 19:22:40','2010-03-18 18:22:40','',2375,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2668.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2391,1,'2010-03-18 19:25:00','2010-03-18 18:25:00','','Brownies 2','Yum, yum brownies','inherit','open','open','','img_2660','','','2010-03-18 19:25:00','2010-03-18 18:25:00','',2375,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2660.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2375,1,'2010-03-19 05:31:57','2010-03-19 04:31:57','Were floating through my head yesterday at school. I started dreaming of brownies and I couldn\'t stop.  And I was not dreaming about the cake-y kind of brownie. No sir, I was dreaming of the kind of chocolatey, soft, chewy brownies I remember my MoM making when I was growing up. (Oh and it turns out you can spell <a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chocolatey\">chocolatey</a> this way or this way chocolaty but somehow both look pretty silly to me.)\n\nIt was such a serious dream that I even started looking up recipes online.  What a daydream--right? I\'m supposed to be grading papers and instead I can\'t stop thinking about brownies.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2388\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Homemade Brownies\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2666.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2388\" title=\"Brownies\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2666.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI went downstairs to get something off the department printer and that\'s when I realized why I was dreaming about brownies.  The Onda at school is on the first floor of my building--they are in the perfect location for my coffee addiction but today they were also fueling my brownie fantasies.\n\nThey were baking brownies and filling both the first floor and second with the smell of brownies.  The thing is Onda has gotten me before this way but the brownies smell much better than they actually taste. So I put brownies of out my mind for the afternoon until I was on my way home and then I stopped into the grocery store and bought everything I needed to make my own.<!--more-->\n\nI had to improvise on a recipe--of course. Baking is I think one of the most frustrating parts of living in Bulgaria. The ingredients I am used to in the States just aren\'t always easy for me to find in Bulgaria.  Of course, it probably doesn\'t help that I start these baking/cooking projects at the last minute and usually as a direct result of a craving of some sort. Needless to say, I couldn\'t find cocoa powder or bittersweet chocolate. So I bought four bars of dark chocolate, some butter, flour, sugar and baking powder and figured I\'d give things ago.  And on a whim, I also added almonds, hazelnuts and dried cranberries to the shopping trip.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2390\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"More Brownies!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2668.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2390\" title=\"Brownies 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2668.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt home, I wondered: Carolyn, what have you gotten yourself into? I did a little math and figured that at worst I was out 6 or 7 leva and at best I was up one pan of brownies.\n\nI looked at a few more recipes and figured I\'d wing it.  I also figured that this was either going to be a really good plan or a really bad one.  There\'s not much in between when you decide to just give it a go. Oh and I think it\'s generally not recommended to just make a new recipe up on the fly when it comes to baking.\n\nThen I made these brownies.\n\nThey turned out pretty good but I might have over done things a little bit. I forgot that simplicity can be an amazing thing. So I added chopped nuts and dried cranberries.  I wish the brownies were chewier and not so cake-like but all in all for my first go making brownies abroad I am pretty happy.\n\nHere\'s what I did:\n<ul>\n	<li>175 grams of butter</li>\n	<li>2.5 bars of 100 gram dark chocolate</li>\n	<li>1/2 cup sugar</li>\n	<li>3/4 cup flour</li>\n	<li>3 eggs</li>\n	<li>1 tsp baking powder</li>\n	<li>50 grams each of chopped nuts and dried cranberries</li>\n</ul>\nI melted the chocolate and butter together on the stove and once these were combined I added the sugar and cooked it on low until everything was smooth. Then in a separate bowl I combined all of the dry ingredients together and I poured in the chocolate mixture. I stirred to incorporate the flour and then I added the eggs.  Once it was mixed together I poured it into a greased pan. I baked it at 180 degrees C. for 20 minutes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2391\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Yum, yum brownies\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2660.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2391\" title=\"Brownies 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2660.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI will be trying these again. The goal next time: less cakey more soft and chewy.','Visions of Brownies','','publish','open','open','','visions-of-brownies','','','2010-03-19 05:31:57','2010-03-19 04:31:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2375',0,'post','',7),(2397,1,'2010-03-20 09:52:56','2010-03-20 08:52:56','I don\'t have what it takes to drive in Bulgaria.  I\'ve known this for a while but today, I am sharing this with you, my readers.\n\nMy parents taught me how to drive when I was 15 1/2 years old. I passed a basic written test and was given a driver\'s permit.  It was then my parents who taught me everything I know.  We drove circles around the neighborhood, went out to drive on the streets around the airport where there was limited traffic and then we ventured downtown to the busy streets of Walla Walla.  Okay, in hindsight, none of the streets were so busy. I took a driver\'s education class at my high school and passed with flying colors.\n\nShortly after I turned 16 I passed another written test and then a driving test and received my driver\'s license.  That was that, I was driving!! It wasn\'t glamorous. I was driving a creme Chevy celebrity station wagon which my parents special ordered the year I was in kindergarten.  By the time I started driving it the radio was broken, the left turn signal wouldn\'t clear itself after a turn, the tailgate wouldn\'t stay open so there was a broom handle in the back to prop the tailgate open and the review mirror would fall off if you drove over speed bumps without holding onto.  But, I was driving.\n\nThe cost of all of this? Well aside from the years I\'m pretty sure I shaved off my mother\'s life, I think the total was probably less than $150.  She taught me how to drive while holding onto the passenger seat armrest--white knuckled. <!--more-->Aside from impact learning how to drive had on my MoM, I think that my permit cost $10 or 12, I have no idea how much the driver\'s class cost--maybe $100 and the actual license wasn\'t more than $20.  I don\'t know how much it cost to insure me as a young driver but whatever it was I think the cost was worth it--they no longer had to serve as my personal chauffeurs--driving me to after school sports practices, picking me up from friends houses and I could drive myself (and my brother) to high school.\n\nSo, I\'ve been driving for the past 14 years--cars (and the beloved station wagon of my youth), trucks, vans and even a combine.  Now, I\'ve never owned my own car but driving is one of those skills that once you learn you never forget.  I\'ve driven in cities and the country and after five years living in Washington DC, I am a pro at parallel parking.\n\nThis brings me to Bulgaria. Here, I\'m terrified of the idea of driving. There don\'t seem to be many rules.  The few that I can make out follow:\n<ul>\n	<li>If you can drive faster than the speed limit, do it. If you don\'t know what the speed limit is because it\'s not posted or you didn\'t bother to look for it, try to drive as fast or faster than the cars around you.</li>\n	<li>Pedestrians have no rights. No matter where they are, they are in the way. They are a nuisance and probably shouldn\'t be allowed to cross streets.</li>\n	<li>If you think you can make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic, do it.</li>\n	<li>Park wherever you can.  If it looks like there is space for your car, it\'s a parking space. If you need to park on the sidewalk in order for there to be room to park, that\'s okay.</li>\n	<li>Based on the size of your car, it\'s alright to drive in two lanes at one time.</li>\n	<li>Traffic lights are a guide but not a rule.  When in doubt, drive into the intersection. If you get stuck there once the light has changed it\'s more than acceptable to honk and honk your horn.  Proving it\'s not your fault that you\'re preventing other traffic from entering the intersection, but the drivers in front of you.</li>\n	<li>Buses, trams and trolleys are your enemies. Do anything and everything you can not to be stuck behind one of these.</li>\n	<li>Never, ever show your fear.</li>\n</ul>\nThe thing is, this is not how I learned to drive. It\'s hyper-aggressive and requires a kind of cunning and deviousness that I do not posses.','On Being Foreign: Driving','','publish','open','open','','on-being-foreign-driving','','','2010-03-20 09:52:56','2010-03-20 08:52:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2397',0,'post','',7),(2402,1,'2010-03-21 06:00:13','2010-03-21 05:00:13','Three hundred plus 7th grade students will be sitting for our entrance exam this morning. So it\'s Sunday morning at 6:15am and I\'m writing a quick post before I go to school.  The entrance exam is a system--just like any private school in the States.  Only I\'m a product of public schools in the Sates and today, I find myself in Bulgaria so it\'s a system that I don\'t really <em>get</em>.\n\nThis spring seventh graders all over the country will be taking entrance exams not only for the handful of private schools that exist in this country but also for all of the best public schools--math schools, language schools, art schools you name it.  If I understand everything correctly, this is the moment they\'ve been preparing for since their first day of elementary school and over the past year with expensive private lessons.\n\nToday, students will take a test that I know nothing about. It\'s may or may not surprise my American readers but the entire test is in Bulgarian. <!--more--> Students don\'t have to know any English to be admitted to the school rather we admit students and then give them an English placement test later. All of this seems very fair to me. And a piece of me is looking forward to seeing nervous students and parents when I get to school today.\n\nBut it hasn\'t always been this way.  Twenty years ago, as I understand it, before the changes, placement at the best schools (the First English Language School included--where I taught last year) was gained by sitting for an entrance exam, family connections to the party and expensive private lessons from teachers in the know.  The process which on the surface has a semblance of fairness was far from fair. This is not to say that in the past no deserving students made into these schools, I am sure they did but access to the best schools was not a transparent process.\n\nThe whole thing makes me realize how lucky I am. How lucky I am to be a product of good public schools.  Sure I was also lucky to be born to well educated middle class parents for whom education is a priority and I know that my parents bought houses in good neighborhoods with good schools but this is different.\n\nI never felt the kind of pressure to succeed on a single test that the students today I am sure will feel. My parents didn\'t pay tutors thousands of dollars to prepare for an exam (or a series of entrance exams at cities all over the city).\n\nWhat is probably the most terrifying about this whole thing is that the quality of the schools in Sofia runs the gamete from excellent to questionable.  This realization make my stomach sink.  I\'ve spent most of my life with this single belief, no matter what you\'ve always got your education. It\'s the one thing that no one can take from you unless you never get it in the first place.\n\nSo this morning before going to school to help administer the exam, which I know nothing, I repeat <span style=\"text-decoration:underline;\">nothing</span> about, I am left to think about implicit and explicit <em>value</em> of eduction.  And what an education <em>costs</em>.','Entrance Exam','','publish','open','open','','entrance-exam','','','2010-03-21 06:00:13','2010-03-21 05:00:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2402',0,'post','',5),(2411,1,'2010-03-22 10:24:27','2010-03-22 09:24:27','','Macro flower from photography class','Macro flower from photography class','inherit','open','open','','img_2545','','','2010-03-22 10:24:27','2010-03-22 09:24:27','',2407,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2545.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2407,1,'2010-03-22 10:35:03','2010-03-22 09:35:03','[caption id=\"attachment_2411\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Macro flower from photography class\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2545.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2411\" title=\"Macro flower from photography class\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/img_2545.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nЛюбимият ми сезон е пролетта. Аз обичам цветятта и това хубаво време.  Днес не е нито много стъдено нито много топло.  Аз мога да ходя в парка с приятели. Аз искам да ям в ресторант с градина но мисля че, тази вечер ще бъде малко студено. Може би аз ще купя цветя след обед.\n\nThis is yet another post about spring. It\'s my favorite season. And I\'ve included a photo from my photography class.','Аз обичам цветята','','publish','open','open','','%d0%b0%d0%b7-%d0%be%d0%b1%d0%b8%d1%87%d0%b0%d0%bc-%d1%86%d0%b2%d0%b5%d1%82%d1%8f%d1%82%d0%b0','','','2010-03-22 10:35:03','2010-03-22 09:35:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2407',0,'post','',5),(2418,1,'2010-03-22 19:26:14','2010-03-22 18:26:14','','Yogen Früz','Yogen Früz','inherit','open','open','','dsc01599','','','2010-03-22 19:26:14','2010-03-22 18:26:14','',2417,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01599.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2419,1,'2010-03-22 19:27:34','2010-03-22 18:27:34','','S. Yogen Früz','S. at Yogen Früz','inherit','open','open','','dsc01600','','','2010-03-22 19:27:34','2010-03-22 18:27:34','',2417,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01600.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2420,1,'2010-03-22 19:30:07','2010-03-22 18:30:07','','My yogurt','Makes you smile doesn\'t it?','inherit','open','open','','dsc01602','','','2010-03-22 19:30:07','2010-03-22 18:30:07','',2417,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01602.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2421,1,'2010-03-22 19:40:47','2010-03-22 18:40:47','','me and my yogurt','Me &amp; my yogurt','inherit','open','open','','dsc01603','','','2010-03-22 19:40:47','2010-03-22 18:40:47','',2417,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01603.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2417,1,'2010-03-23 05:17:37','2010-03-23 04:17:37','[caption id=\"attachment_2418\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Yogen Früz\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01599.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2418\" title=\"Yogen Früz\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01599.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFrozen yogurt that makes you smile. Wow. I didn\'t know what to expect. But it\'s true. This is a dessert that will keep you smiling.\n\nMy friend S. and I hit up the new frozen yogurt shop, <a href=\"http://yogenfruz.bg/\">Yogen Früz</a>, this afternoon. The shop is in the Sofia University underpass/metro stop.  As luck would have it, it was perfect day to have frozen yogurt and the yogurt was excellent!! <!--more-->Oh yeah, and the shop is much better than the website.  They should probably work on this. Anyhow, back to the yogurt.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2419\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"S. at Yogen Früz\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01600.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2419\" title=\"S. Yogen Früz\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe got a huge kick out of shop. There are lots of great toppings for the tangy--not too sweet frozen yogurt. The one thing is that it requires a strange mix of English and Bulgarian in order to place an order. There are options on the menu in English like: top it, blend it and smoothies. And the listed sizes are S, M, L. There\'s also a lot on the menu only in Bulgarian. The girls at the shop this afternoon didn\'t seem to speak English. That\'s okay, I speak some Bulgarian.  And the girls today were pretty nice.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2420\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Makes you smile doesn&#39;t it?\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01602.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2420\" title=\"My yogurt\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01602.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe trying to use Bulgarian highlight for me: I tried to order a small frozen yogurt.  I mean the sizes are S, M, L--what\'s a girl to do? But I received a blank look. Maybe it was my \"moja li small\" that caught her off guard. Hard to say.  So then I ordered a malko with strawberries--yagodi.  S. ordered hers with kiwi. No problem. We ended up with exactly what we wanted.\n\nIt did lead us to discuss what the word for medium was in Bulgarian.  You know, had we actually wanted a medium frozen yogurt and not a small or a large.  Neither one of us knew the word. Oh well, no big deal, next time I am ordering a large anyway.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2421\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me &amp; my yogurt\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01603.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2421\" title=\"me and my yogurt\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01603.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nYum. Yum. Yum.','Found: Yogen Früz','','publish','open','open','','found-yogen-fruz','','','2010-03-23 05:17:37','2010-03-23 04:17:37','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2417',0,'post','',9),(2428,1,'2010-03-24 06:10:39','2010-03-24 05:10:39','','Kashkaval','Yeah, Kashkaval','inherit','open','open','','dsc01587','','','2010-03-24 06:10:39','2010-03-24 05:10:39','',0,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01587.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2429,1,'2010-03-24 07:24:19','2010-03-24 06:24:19','Sometimes I am embarrassed that I like cheese as much as I do but most of the time I think look at all of the cheese I have to choose from. How will I ever pick? Then in a recent trip to the grocery store I saw this cheese and I knew I had to have it. The packaging is very distinctive.\n\nYes, I bought is solely based on the packaging and my desire for a block of cheese. The packaging is both modern and clean a little bit retro all at once.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2428\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Yeah, Kashkaval\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01587.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2428\" title=\"Kashkaval\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01587.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe packaging is great and the cheese is also very tasty.<!--more--> In a country where the two main cheese are serine and kashkaval, I learned quickly that not all serine or kashkaval cheese is the same.  There are huge differences in within the kashkavals--some are soft making them difficult to grate and rather bland while other brands make a much firmer cheese that grates easily and has a little bite to it. The same goes for serine.\n\nOne of the most interesting things about the cheeses here in Bulgaria is the number of brands that make both cow\'s milk cheese and sheep\'s milk cheese. A few times, I\'ve gotten cheese home and thought: this doesn\'t taste like it did last time only to realize I bought sheep\'s milk serine.  I don\'t dislike this variety of serine but different in taste is noticable.\n\nAll of this said, I do think that this is my new favorite kashkaval--and why not it\'s made in one of my favorite Bulgarian towns Koprivshtitsa.','Cheese!','','publish','open','open','','cheese','','','2010-03-24 07:24:19','2010-03-24 06:24:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2429',0,'post','',1),(2432,1,'2010-03-25 16:24:11','2010-03-25 15:24:11','Аз обичам да ям сирене и кашкавал.  Шопска салата има сирене и пържни картофи има сирене също. Обичам да ям  пържни картофи със сирене.  Месиля, че сирене и кашкавал са наи-добри от България. В Америка няма сирене или кашкавал.\n----\nThis is a partner post to the post I wrote yesterday on cheese.  It turns out I don\'t have a lot more to say about cheese either in English or in Bulgarian. This said, for you cheese lovers out there don\'t expect to see another post on cheese any time soon--sorry.\n\nAlso, if you\'re a cheese lover and you live state-side, you should keep your eye out for Bulgarian sirene (sometimes know as Bulgarian feta).  It\'s delicious and very different in taste and texture from Greek feta. As for kashkaval, I\'ve never seen or heard of it in the states so I guess you\'d have to be damn lucky to find some of this cheese or maybe someone who works at the cheese counter at Whole Foods will read my post and figure out how to import kashkaval and open up a whole new window into life in Bulgaria.','Сирене и кашкавал','','publish','open','open','','%d1%81%d0%b8%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b5-%d0%b8-%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%88%d0%ba%d0%b0%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bb','','','2010-03-25 16:24:11','2010-03-25 15:24:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2432',0,'post','',6),(2435,1,'2010-03-25 18:56:35','2010-03-25 17:56:35','','Directions','Directions','inherit','open','open','','dsc01607','','','2010-03-25 18:56:35','2010-03-25 17:56:35','',2434,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01607.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2434,1,'2010-03-26 05:47:10','2010-03-26 04:47:10','Sometimes learning a new language is demoralizing. It\'s hard work. It\'s confusing. It feels impossible to remember and use all of the grammar and vocabulary.\n\nThen in class today in our chapter on <em>Directions</em> I saw this:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2435\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Directions \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01607.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2435\" title=\"Directions \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01607.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was board. How many times can you say to the right, to the left and straight ahead? So I flipped ahead to see what was next.  It was the above photo.\n\nUm. Really? I just about lost it. In the middle of class. I had to read the English instructions twice. Then I looked at the pictures again and thought, is this for real? It can\'t be real. But, it was. We matched up the directions North, South, East and West with the faces on the suns.\n\nIf you didn\'t take a good look at the faces you should now. <!--more-->\n\nYou\'ll notice that one looks like Santa.  That\'s kind of funny but then the other three are just appalling.  There\'s the Chinese sun with slanty eyes and buck teeth, the Indian Sun with a feather in his headband and the African sun with big lips and a nose ring.  Oh and it should be noted that this sun doesn\'t even get straight rays of sunlight coming off of it instead this sun gets curly hair.\n\nI just couldn\'t believe it. Aren\'t there enough hurtful racist stereotypes floating around in the world without this exercise in my Bulgarian textbook? Also, lets talk about who wrote the instructions in English: Which picture which direction fits? I hate being too English-teachery but this should really say: which picture fits which direction?\n\nAnd so I arrived at the following conclusion: completing an exercise like this as a nearly thirty year-old is totally demoralizing. It made me think: how can this be the best way to study the language? what\'s the point? why are these pictures so obviously racist? why am I doing this?\n\nLuckily, I just looked ahead and the next chapter is on<em> Shopping</em>.  I can handle that.','Studying Bulgarian','','publish','open','open','','studying-bulgarian','','','2010-03-26 05:47:10','2010-03-26 04:47:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2434',0,'post','',17),(2440,1,'2010-03-27 10:31:02','2010-03-27 09:31:02','','Bake Sale Treat','Bake Sale Treat','inherit','open','open','','dsc01608','','','2010-03-27 10:31:02','2010-03-27 09:31:02','',2439,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01608.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2439,1,'2010-03-27 11:08:01','2010-03-27 10:08:01','A group of students were hosting a bake sale for a charity in Sofia this week. Basically, they bring in homemade goods to sell at lunch in order to support their charity and then they try to convince everyone to buy their treats. Teachers are an easy target and regularly I get hit up to support a cause, buy a treat or the like.  It was no different this week.\n\nThe thing about bake sales at school is that these students don\'t sell traditional bake sale desserts. I\'ve never seen a frosted cupcake, a <a href=\"http://workinggirlskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/fond-memories-in-monster-cookie.html\">monster cookie with M&amp;Ms</a>, a brownie or a <a href=\"http://www.ricekrispies.com/recipes/the-original-treats.aspx#/recipes/the-original-treats\">Rice Krispy treat</a> (okay the last one doesn\'t surprise me much seeing as I\'ve never seen Rice Krispies or marshmallows on sale).\n\nAs a teacher, I feel like it\'s my obligation to make these kids tell me about what the purpose of the sale is but also to make them talk about what they are selling, which treat they recommend, what\'s selling best, who made what and what\'s in it.\n\nSo when a student told me that everything they were selling was \"devastatingly good\" I couldn\'t help but laugh.\n\nThere were three options for sale this week.  A dish that looked like a coffee cake but instead of having brown sugar and oats on top, it had spinach and sirene cheese.  That\'s not really my thing. I am sure it was good but when I think about a bake sale I think: sweet, sweet, sweet! Then there was a loaf pan with either a bread or a pound cake in it--it was yellow-ish in color.  The students just kept saying: it\'s Bulgarian. Um, okay.\n\nFinally there was this:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2440\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Bake Sale Treat\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01608.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2440\" title=\"Bake Sale Treat\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01608.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis one was the treat that the students told me was selling the best. <!--more-->In fact, there were only three left after I bought mine.\n\nI asked: what\'s the name of this cookie?\n\nThey told me: salami.\n\nMe: really?\n\nThem: yes.\n\nThey explained that often this treat is rolled into a log that looks like salami and then sliced rather than rolled into little balls.  I was told the treat is made of walnuts, crushed up cookie-biscuits, melted butter and then rolled in coconut.  Sounds good to me.\n\nSo I paid and took a big bite out of the cookie.  The kids wanted to confirm with me that the treat was good. It was but there was something else in it so I asked again about the recipe--what makes it so sweet? The girl who made it explained again walnuts, cookie-biscuits, melted butter, strawberry jam and an egg to hold the whole thing together.  <em>An egg</em>? I just about had a heart attack. This is not a cookie that is baked in the oven. That\'s when this refrain started running through my head: raw egg, raw egg, raw egg, raw egg, raw egg, raw egg, raw egg...\n\nAnd I realized that I was on the verge of becoming a crazy American.  I also has flash backs to elementary school when there was a frosting recipe floating around that used uncooked egg whites and was making lots of kids sick with salmonella. Everyone thought it must be the cafeteria but it turns out that the salmonella was being spread via homemade birthday cupcakes. There\'s nothing quite like bring cupcakes and salmonella to school to celebrate your birthday.\n\nOn my way back to my classroom I thought: oh man this might really be a devastating treat.  I also considered my options: throw away the treat and indulge in your crazy American ways or eat the treat and get over the egg--when in Bulgaria...  And probably against my better judgment, I ate the rest of the treat.\n\nNow I guess it will come as no surprise but I was okay.  This blog post would be very different had I fallen ill. Luckily I am okay. Now I know.','Devastatingly Good Bake Sale','','publish','open','open','','devastatingly-good-bake-sale','','','2010-03-27 11:08:01','2010-03-27 10:08:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2439',0,'post','',6),(2448,1,'2010-03-28 09:20:21','2010-03-28 08:20:21','','Money, Money','Money, Money','inherit','open','open','','dsc01623','','','2010-03-28 09:20:21','2010-03-28 08:20:21','',2447,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01623.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2447,1,'2010-03-28 09:51:17','2010-03-28 08:51:17','Yesterday I stood for what turned out to be an embarrassingly long time at Billa looking for a quarter in my wallet. This was embarrassing not because I didn\'t have enough money to pay my bill of 22.25 but because there isn\'t a quarter in Bulgaria.  So I stood that the checkout looking for a non-existent coin in my wallet while the cashier and everyone behind me in line was waiting for me to pay.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2448\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Money, Money\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01623.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2448\" title=\"Money, Money\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01623.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThen while digging through all of the coins looking for a quarter, I dug out a .50 coin and I had this realization that I was looking for something that doesn\'t exist.  Here and now. That what I am looking for is a remnant of another time and place. I thought: Carolyn, pay and get out of here. <!--more-->And so I paid with a 20 leva note, a 2 leva note and two .10 cent coins and a .05 cent coin, took my groceries and my receipt and went on my way.\n\nOn my way home I tried to think about what it means that after almost two years living here I was just standing at the checkout looking for a quarter in a country that doesn\'t do quarters.  I didn\'t come up with anything very insightful. Then I wondered what the purpose of the .20 cent and .50 cent coins were--I mean do you really need both when you could just have a quarter.  My musings ended on the lev coin when I had to wrestle the front door open with a bag full of groceries. My last thoughts were the lev coin it\'s a dollar coin rather than a bill. I like the lev--the size, the shape and even the two tone coloring. It\'s a practical coin. We should have one in the States.\n\nBut I digress.\n\nThis is a post about change. The change that you don\'t have, wish you had and what you have in reality. Yesterday the .20 cent coin and the .50 coin felt strange in my hands.  I thought: who needs a .20 cent coin? But today, I can\'t help but thinking: who needs a quarter? I guess what it comes down to is that in a country where no one ever seems to have enough coins to make you change it doesn\'t matter what denomination your coins are in it just matters that you have them.\n\nBut I also guess this is a post about changing and being changed by a place and the surprise you feel when the world you used to live in catches up to you in unexpected places and in unexpected ways.','Let me count the change','','publish','open','open','','let-me-count-the-change','','','2010-03-28 09:51:17','2010-03-28 08:51:17','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2447',0,'post','',14),(2455,1,'2010-03-29 10:27:04','2010-03-29 09:27:04','Daylight savings has come to Bulgaria. I am not sure why it happens in the States two weeks earlier than in Bulgaria but it does.  So for two weeks the time difference between my hometown Walla Walla and Bulgaria was 11 hours and now we\'re back to the standard 10 hour time difference. But this may not make a difference to anyone else but me and my MoM.\n\nI\'ll tell you what does make a difference: the loss of an hour.\n\nTime already seems to slip through my fingers without an adjustment for daylight savings.  Yesterday I wasn\'t too bothered by the change bu this morning the act of spring ahead seemed unduly cruel.  Luckily it wasn\'t something that a few cups of coffee couldn\'t cure.\n\nThen after cup number three I was reminded of this article from two weeks ago in the <a href=\"http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/03/daylight-savings-time-health-effects-sleep-.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BoosterShots+(Booster+Shots)\">LA Times</a>. The piece is about more than just fatigue cased by the loss of an hour. In fact, it claims that:\n<ul>\n	<li>The number of serious heart attacks jumps 6% to 10% on the first three workdays after the start of daylight saving time.</li>\n	<li>Men are more likely to commit suicide during the first few weeks of daylight saving time than they are during the rest of the year.</li>\n	<li>The number of traffic accidents in the U.S. spikes on the Monday after the clocks move forward. Canadian researchers have pegged the increase there at 8%. And in Sweden, it jumps by 11%.</li>\n	<li>Economists have found that sleep-deprived traders typically produce “large negative returns on financial-market indices” in the week following the shift to daylight saving time.</li>\n</ul>\nWosa.  Be careful out there!\n\nLuckily I know with a slightly earlier bed time for a night or two I\'ll be able to get my sleep schedule back on track.  Now the only that thing that will keep me awake at night will be wondering why Europe and America \"celebrate\" daylight savings time on different days. Or not.','Daylight Savings','','publish','open','open','','daylight-savings','','','2010-03-29 10:27:04','2010-03-29 09:27:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2455',0,'post','',3),(2468,1,'2010-03-29 19:59:15','2010-03-29 18:59:15','','M. &amp; Me at One More Bar','M. &amp; Me at One More Bar','inherit','open','open','','dsc01615','','','2010-03-29 19:59:15','2010-03-29 18:59:15','',2462,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01615.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2462,1,'2010-03-30 04:48:45','2010-03-30 03:48:45','I went out with some friends on Saturday night. We met up at One More Bar at #12 Shishman.  I think it\'s a relatively new bar/cafe/lunch spot. We had a good time. Once we found it.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"460\" caption=\"One More Bar\"]<a href=\"http://www.programata.bg/img/gallery/gallery_28216.jpg?142637206\"><img title=\"One More Bar\" src=\"http://www.programata.bg/img/gallery/gallery_28216.jpg?142637206\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"250\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHere\'s the thing, it\'s worth searching for.  Sure it does not have the best name ever but don\'t worry. Aside from the less than memorable name there\'s a lot to like. <!--more-->The bar is maybe two blocks from the National Assembly but set back from the street.  There\'s a fence on the sidewalk, a small bronze plaque with the bar number and name and beyond that a concrete patio before you make it into the actual bar.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2468\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"M. &amp; Me at One More Bar\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01615.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2468\" title=\"M. &amp; Me at One More Bar\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01615.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn fact, my friend and I walked up and down Shishman a few times one afternoon when we went scouting for the bar.  Yep, in broad daylight we missed the bar. Good thing we went looking for it and made a reservation there before we met friends on Saturday night.\n\nThe interior is great. It\'s fresh and open. The colors and patterns in the bar are eye catching--shades of blue, pine tables and the yellow and gray stripping is pretty hard to overlook.  Moreover, they\'ve got great control over both the lighting and the music within the space and adjusted both as necessary throughout the night.\n\nBut the thing I care the most about is service.  The service was pretty outstanding. The waiter was friendly, generally quick about things, and he spoke both Bulgarian and English. I guess the one drawback might be that the menu both drinks and food is only in Bulgarian. Luckily this wasn\'t a problem for me--turns out that after a year and half I can make out most menus in Bulgaria. (Wow! It\'s kind of like I am learning the language. Who knew!)\n\nI will say that the waiter was really kind and offered to talk through the food menu/translate if we had any questions or wanted any food.  I am not sure I\'ve ever been anywhere in which a waiter has offered this in Bulgaria so that was pretty impressive.  Maybe it was just the waiter but it\'s the kind of gesture that encourages one to return.  It\'s the kind of thing that brings a smile to your face. And that\'s a pretty good sign when it comes to bars in Sofia.\n\nOh and if you\'re trying to procrastinate, just want to know more or you don\'t think my review is good enough I guess that you could check out the <a href=\"http://www.programata.bg/?p=69&amp;l=2&amp;c=1&amp;id=5886\">programata review</a>. I mean it was good enough to convince me and my friends to go and check it out.','One More Bar--Shishman','','publish','open','open','','one-more-bar-shishman','','','2010-03-30 04:48:45','2010-03-30 03:48:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2462',0,'post','',2),(2475,1,'2010-03-31 05:10:25','2010-03-31 04:10:25','A year ago today, I wrote my most popular blog post of all time. To date, none has even come close to my post <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/things-i-dont-understand/\">Things I Don\'t Understand</a>.  I wrote it on a whim. I was having a bad day.  School was frustrating, my students were restless, my colleagues seemed unhelpful, the sidewalks were especially uneven that day and traffic was horrific.\n\nBy the time I\'d gotten home, I\'d written most of the post in my head channeling my anger and frustration into something more productive than the post I really wanted to write. Which was this: I hate blackboards. I hate that students never turn in their work on time and talk during class. I hate feeling like I never know what\'s going on. I hate not knowing the language. I hate the sidewalks I am walking on. All of this would have culminated in: I hate this country. And: What the *fill-in-with-an-expletive-of-your-choice* am I doing here?\n\nBut somehow after walking the length of Shishman on my way home, instead of writing the ranting post I\'d originally been dreaming of, I\'d managed to turn everything around.  That\'s the thing about living in a foreign country either you can let it get to or you can figure out how to live with the challenges you\'ve been presented with. It\'s much easier to say: this is not home and as such, not as good but in doing so you eliminate all of the nuance, the difference and the confusion and in my mind, that is what makes living in a foreign country so interesting.<!--more-->\n\nMy post became a list of things I don\'t understand in Bulgaria and things I don\'t understand and love. Here\'s the reader\'s condensed version:\n<ul>\n	<li>How can it be that I always go to the post office stand in line for  at least 10 minutes and then when it’s my turn to buy stamps there’s not  a single person in line behind me?</li>\n	<li>I have no idea how streets or rooms in buildings are numbered.  I  am not sure who numbered the streets but I can’t help wondering if he’d  been drinking rakia the night he started numbering.</li>\n	<li>Why don’t Bulgarians recycle?</li>\n	<li>What’s going on with the Bulgarian red?  How can every woman go to  the hair dresser and come out with the same color of hair? Does she say:  “oh give me what you just gave her” and point? Also, if I went to the  salon how would I look in that color?</li>\n	<li>How can it be that I never know the work schedule and why doens’t  anyone tell me what’s going on? It’s happened more than once that the  government will give us the day off and then have us make the days off  up on a Saturday. This is not a day off.</li>\n	<li>Why isn’t the Cyrillic alphabet cool? This also goes for the  Bulgarian language.  I’d love to have a planner that had the months and  days of the week in Bulgarian but after a 3 month search no luck.   Shouldn’t this be some hipster-cool thing? Alas, it’s not.</li>\n	<li> How this country can frustrate me to no end sometimes and still I  am trying to figure out to extend this year into a second one.</li>\n</ul>\nThis list is pretty representative of how I was feeling that day.  Rereading it even today, I still remember how frustrated I was with, um, everything. I wrote my anger into a loosely veiled post to vent but also in an attempt to be productive and the ultimate irony? This is the post that explodes and in one day nearly 5,000 people read it. Needless to say, I was glad I didn\'t write the post I was originally considering.\n\nThe part that stands out to me the most is the very last line.  This country can frustrate me to no end sometimes and still I  am trying  to figure out to extend this year into a second one. Yep, a year ago I was busy trying to figure out how to extend my stay.  How to transition from being a Fulbright scholar into, well, anything that would allow me to stay in Bulgaria.  And, look at me. I am still here.\n\nSo why am I here? The easy answer is because: I can be and  I wanted an adventure. The more difficult answer? Well, I guess that probably has to do with the fact that I am not very interested in doing the easy thing.  I gave up a good job, a retirement plan and a life I\'d built for myself in Washington DC for five years for this. For Bulgaria. But don\'t get me wrong, I would never say that it was a sacrifice.\n\nI guess that it should come as no surprise then that Bulgarians ask me all of the time if I \"feel alright in Bulgaria.\" And truth be told, I have an impossibly hard time answering the question. Yes is not enough but I don\'t know how to qualify the yes.  Sometimes it\'s a yes, and. Other times, it\'s a yes, but.  And more and more rarely these days, it\'s a no, but.  I like this place. I just don\'t always know how to put it into words.\n\nMaybe I don\'t even need to. Maybe I don\'t need to worry about not feeling like I can\'t put this thing into words. Maybe that\'s why I write this blog each day. In some ways, this blog is my answer to all of this. Each day, I am able to capture a little bit about what I think, how I feel and what I experience here in Bulgaria.  It\'s an imperfect science but it\'s probably better that way.\n\nBulgaria, Bulgaria. You\'re not the easiest country to live in. Half of the time I don\'t know what\'s going on. The other half of the time I can hardly believe that I am actually living here.  We\'re an unlikely pair, you and me.\n\nThis said, I can\'t think of a better time to share my good news: I\'ve signed a contract for a second year of teaching at ACS. So you\'re going to be stuck with me for a third year.','Bulgaria, Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','bulgaria-bulgaria','','','2010-03-31 05:10:25','2010-03-31 04:10:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2475',0,'post','',10),(2351,1,'2010-04-01 05:07:39','2010-04-01 04:07:39','Today is April 1st. Day One of my <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/me-under-the-yoke/\">Under the Yoke challenge and book club</a> in celebration of the April Uprising in Bulgaria (if <em>celebration</em> is actually the right word).\n\nBased on my last post, <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/me-under-the-yoke/\">Me &amp; Under the Yoke</a>, the current members seem to be me, my MoM, <cite></cite>Andreytcho and Martin.  We\'re going to have a blast.\n\nIt\'s not too late to join in or to simply read along with us in anonymity. I\'m not the boss of you, you can pick. But, I do believe that reading is good for you.  It\'s like coffee or dinner--both are more fun when you have someone to talk to and share the experience with. .\n\nWhat do you need? Well, the ability to read, a copy of the book and a little determination. A glass of wine and some snacks wouldn\'t hurt either and seeing as this is a virtual book-club you wont have to share these with anyone, unless you want to.\n\nThis said, I understand that this isn\'t for everyone.  Hell, living in Bulgaria isn\'t for everyone and neither is rakiya but I am still giving it a try. So I think that you should too but that\'s me.  My little sister took one look at the book and thought: it\'s too long and the names are too hard to remember. She\'s apparently not going to join us. I mean unless I can guilt her into it but she\'s pretty stubborn.\n\nAnyhow, you should know you\'ve got options.  It\'s in the public domain. You can download it and read it in English on your <a href=\"http://www.archive.org/details/underyokeromance00vazorich\">computer, kindle or even PDF.</a> You don\'t have to leave the comfort of your own home in order to read this book.  Yeah it doesn\'t really get much better than that.  I can only assume based on Andreytcho\'s comment that you can also get a copy in Bulgarian as well.  I just can\'t help you with that you\'ll have to look for this on your own.\n\nSo now what?<!--more-->\n\nWe\'ve got 317 pages to read according to my copy of text.  My guess is that we will be reading copies that do not match up when it comes to page numbers so I\'ll do my best to go by chapters rather than by pages. The book is broken down into three parts (part one, part two and part three) and lots and lots of chapters.  We\'ve also got 30 days in the months of April.  This breaks down to slightly more than 10 pages a day but if we only read 10 pages a day we\'ll never get into the book.  More over April has four weeks and four weeks seems like the perfect amount of time to read the novel.\n\nEach week, you should plan on reading about 80 pages of the book. Next Sunday, April 11th I\'ll post our first round of questions for book club and you all can in turn post comments/discussion additional questions/reflections/thoughts. Then we\'ll do the same Sunday, April 18, 25th and on Sunday May 2nd we\'ll finish up the novel.\n\nBy my count, this means we need to read to ChapterXVII--The Performance (pg 79) by April 11th.  Here are a couple of questions to think about as you start reading: What impact does the setting have on the story?   The role of culture seems hugely important how do you see Bulgarian, European and Turkish culture overlapping, clashing and influencing the characters, language and plot? Which scenes standout to you when you\'re reading? And finally, what themes and ides are developed in the first chapters of the novel?\n\nSo, now\'s the time to get excited! We\'re reading <em>Under the Yoke</em> by Ivan Vazov! Oh and if you think that you can skate by reading the spark notes summary of the novel--I should probably let you know now, there\'s not one.\n\nYou are going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Old school, if you will. <em></em>\n\n<em>Read it</em>.','It&#039;s starting: Under the Yoke!','','publish','open','open','','its-starting-under-the-yoke','','','2010-04-01 05:07:39','2010-04-01 04:07:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2351',0,'post','',15),(2488,1,'2010-04-02 06:28:42','2010-04-02 05:28:42','I am fascinated by how public garbage is in Sofia.  I am not talking about litter. I not really that concerned with the copious amounts litter on the streets and in the parks.  Maybe I should be. But I am not. What\'s really been holding my attention recently garbage--garbage cans (or maybe garbage dumpsters is a better word), bags of garbage and people digging through the garbage.\n\nThere\'s nothing private about garbage here. As soon as it\'s out of your apartment it\'s up for grabs. This is sort of shocking to me.  And it\'s all very centrally located in large dumpsters so that everyone in the blocks can toss their garbage out and makes for a series of hubs for garbage throughout the neighborhood.\n\nI\'ve never really thought of garbage as a having any value. Then I began to think about what I was throwing out.  Who wants that stuff? What do they think about me? Does my garbage look different than Bulgarian\'s garbage? What does my garbage say about me?<!--more-->\n\nMostly though I feel sad for the people I see sorting through the garbage with a stick or their hands.  I don\'t know what they are looking for and sometimes I wonder if I could make their work easier by putting certain kinds of garbage on top.  Looking into these people\'s bags or carts it\'s not clear to me what they are seeking. Maybe they don\'t know either. But they do get a pretty good look at my life, my habits, what I buy and what I throw out.\n\nNow that I am paying attention it seems that every morning I see someone sorting through the garbage while everyone else is on his or her way to work.  I can only assume that there is some sort of an economy circles around this searching, sorting, poking and prodding.\n\nThis said, I am much more careful now about what I throw out. I am careful to rip up atm receipts and not to toss out anything with my complete address on it.  The funny thing is I don\'t think that anyone could steal my identity here in Bulgaria which was something I worried a lot about during my years in Washington DC.  But I don\'t want too much information floating around for anyone to rescue from the garbage. Here, it\'s not as if I am being inundated with junk mail and credit card offers as I was in the States but still I am careful.\n\nIn some ways, I think I might be being more careful now that I live in Bulgarian than I was when I lived in Washington DC. This is probably backwards.  But the risk is more obvious here in Sofia than it was in Washington. Funny how that works. Garbage becomes more public and I worry more about it--when there\'s probably actually less to worry about.\n\nI guess it\'s the nature of garbage.  I throw out what I no longer want. I thought it was waste. I thought it was useless. However I\'d never thought much about what happens to the garbage after I toss it out.  Now I just hope that my garbage doesn\'t embarrass me--or say too much about me. And maybe just maybe, based on my garbage no one knows that it\'s the American\'s. But I\'m not crossing my fingers or holding my breath on that one.','The Public Nature of Garbage','','publish','open','open','','the-public-nature-of-garbage','','','2010-04-02 06:28:42','2010-04-02 05:28:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2488',0,'post','',9),(2536,1,'2010-04-03 12:49:59','2010-04-03 11:49:59','Spring break started on Friday. It\'s been a long time coming and I think I\'ve fully earned it.  I never thought that teaching full time was going to be easy but I also never guessed I\'d be dying for Spring Break.  By Thursday afternoon, I was desperate. I was dying for the holiday. And now it\'s here.\n\nThis means that shortly I won\'t be here any more.\n\nI am hopping on a plane to fly to Morocco.\n\nThen my friend A. and I are going to explore the country. We\'ll be back in a week. <em>Maybe. </em>\n\nI am looking forward to the warmer weather and to mint tea. Anything and everything else will be an added bonus. I don\'t know to expect, I don\'t know the language and I don\'t know how I got so lucky at to be going to Morocco for Spring Break. It doesn\'t really seem possible to me. But, apparently, it is and that\'s pretty exciting.\n\nSo what does this mean for you? Well, I won\'t be tied to my computer. Heck, I\'m not even taking my computer.  I am taking some clothes, my camera and that\'s about it.\n\nBut because, I am a nice person and obsessed with both blogging and my trip I\'ve written and set three posts to be automatically published this next week.  So I am not totally leaving you hanging for the week that I am away. This probably means that I am spoiling you and you\'ll grow to expect things like this all of the time.  Here\'s my warning: don\'t plan on getting used to this.  I am only going to break your heart.\n\nAnd speaking of break: Good-bye for now, Happy Easter--hope the Easter bunny brings you plenty of chocolate, and we\'ll be in touch in a week.\n\nUntil then, stay out of trouble. <em>Okay? </em>','Morocco &amp; Spring Break','','publish','open','open','','morocco-spring-break','','','2010-04-03 12:49:59','2010-04-03 11:49:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2536',0,'post','',2),(2499,1,'2010-04-05 07:27:04','2010-04-05 06:27:04','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Marrakesh\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakech\"><img title=\"Marrakesh\" src=\"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Koutbia.jpg/300px-Koutbia.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHello!\n\nWhen you read this, I\'ll have been on Spring Break for a few days. And while you\'re where ever you are, I am in Morocco--specifically Marrakesh.\n\nHoly Smokes.\n\nI am in Marrakesh.\n\nIn Northern Africa.\n\nIt\'s really hard to get my head around this.\n\nI grew up in a small town in the middle of Eastern Washington--Walla Walla.  Africa seemed (and still seems)  like 100 worlds away.  It\'s a place that you read about in National Geographic or the older you get maybe in the Travel Section of the NYT but it\'s not a place that I ever dreamed about visiting.  But I am.\n\nWant to learn a little more about Marrakesh?\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakesh\">A quick history</a></li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/11/11/travel/1111-36Hours_index.html\">A Photo Review of the City</a></li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/travel/11foodie.html\">Marrakesh and Food</a></li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/\">This beautiful blog on life in Marrakesh</a></li>\n</ul>\nI am going to be obsessed with Marrakesh for awhile. This much is clear. Look for more stories and photos when I return at the end of the week.','Marrakesh, Morocco','','publish','open','open','','marrakesh-morocco','','','2010-04-05 07:27:04','2010-04-05 06:27:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2499',0,'post','',0),(2509,1,'2010-04-07 08:00:40','2010-04-07 07:00:40','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Essaouira\"]<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaouira\"><img title=\"Essaouira \" src=\"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Ramparts_of_Essaouira.JPG/300px-Ramparts_of_Essaouira.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAside from Marrakesh, I\'ll also be in <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaouira\">Essaouira</a>. This is not a city I knew anything about before the trip.\n\nIt\'s on the ocean. It\'s old, old, old. And it appears to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.\n\nNeedless to say, I am thrilled to be visiting--to experience the colors, sounds and flavors of the city.\n\nMint tea, here I come.','Then there was Essaouira','','publish','open','open','','then-there-was-essaouira','','','2010-04-07 08:00:40','2010-04-07 07:00:40','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2509',0,'post','',0),(2515,1,'2010-04-09 07:10:08','2010-04-09 06:10:08','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\" caption=\"Reservations \"]<img title=\"Reservations \" src=\"http://www.bordeaux-quay.co.uk/images/main_pictures/230109_BordeauxQuay-144.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"377\" />[/caption]\n\nThe reservation is sacrosanct in Bulgaria. It\'s serious business.  I didn\'t get it in the beginning. This said, I am not that I <em>get it</em> now.\n\nHere are the basics: you make a reservation for a table to eat dinner or for drinks in a bar/club.  You give them your name, tell them what time you\'re coming and maybe pay a deposit. This should be pretty familiar for anyone reading the blog because surprise, surprise, it\'s exactly the same in the States.\n\nHowever, unlike in the States, in Bulgaria there\'s multiple bookings for the same table.  So it\'s not like the restaurant will take a reservation at 7pm for a table, 8:30pm for the same table and another reservation at 10pm. Turn over doesn\'t work in the same way.\n\nIn Sofia, there\'s no hovering waiter or waitress waiting to see if you want dessert, pressuring you to order your meal or ready to rush you the bill.  This is nice but it also means that you might walk into a restaurant at 7pm and half of the tables will be empty and you\'ll be turned away because the tables have been set aside for dinners who\'ve reserved the table but who wont appear until 9pm.<!--more-->\n\nOn the surface, this doesn\'t seem very practical to me.  It seems like there\'s got to be away to work things out so that I can eat dinner, the restaurant can make some money on my meal, and the others will also be able to eat.  This would be win-win.  (Or I guess seeing it would be good for three different groups of people it would be win-win-win but that\'s kind of a mouthful.)\n\nOnly, it doesn\'t work this way.  In Bulgaria, you make a reservation and you make it for the whole night. I mean that is nice but really, how to restaurants make it? I guess the answer is that they don\'t or they are scraping by--which is too bad really.\n\nThen again the restaurant culture is different here in Sofia than in the States. Often it is the night rather than just one part of the night.\n\nThe difference is that in the States we make the restaurant a stop along the way.  I guess that it\'s a double sided thing.  We influence restaurant culture and restaurant culture influences our plans as well. I\'ve been on my fair share of dates in the States where dinner was just part one followed by drinks or a movie or a house party. The pattern is the same with friends. We check out a new restaurant or an old favorite and then meet up with others for a show, at a bar or a house party.\n\nReservations at the restaurant? In DC, absolutely.  It\'s a see and be seen kind of town. Reservations at a bar? No way. No need.\n\nBut then again, we don\'t club/party in the same way Bulgarians do. I spent a large part of my Friday and Saturday nights in my twenties in hole-in-the-wall bars drinking beer out of pitchers or cheap rail drinks pre-mixed by the bartender.  No need for a table. No need for a dance floor. And get this, I was happy as a clam. I didn\'t know anything else.\n\nThe only place I know like this in Bulgaria is Bilkova on Shishman. It\'s one of the only bars I\'ve been to and suffered waves of nostalgia. They\'ve got it right--the music, the drinks, the feel--dancing too close to strangers. It\'s part hipster Brooklyn and part 14th Street more specifically Wonderland/Black Cat.  Often, I half expect that friends from my old life in DC will walk in.\n\nOn a whole, Bulgarians, it seems, prefer tables but tables require space and chairs. Don\'t get me wrong, there\'s nothing wrong with wanting  a table.  Actually, it\'s pretty civilized.  But as a result, the reservation is out in full force in Bulgaria.\n\nThe moral of this post? Woe unto you, if you make the mistake of not reserving a table and have a group of more than three or four.','The Reservation','','publish','open','open','','the-reservation','','','2010-04-09 07:10:08','2010-04-09 06:10:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2515',0,'post','',3),(2543,1,'2010-04-11 10:36:42','2010-04-11 09:36:42','','IMG_2836','','inherit','open','open','','img_2836','','','2010-04-11 10:36:42','2010-04-11 09:36:42','',2541,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_2836.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2545,1,'2010-04-11 10:45:10','2010-04-11 09:45:10','','Me in Casablanca','Me in Casablanca','inherit','open','open','','img_2836-2','','','2010-04-11 10:45:10','2010-04-11 09:45:10','',2541,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_28361.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2546,1,'2010-04-11 10:55:48','2010-04-11 09:55:48','','Me in Marrakech','Me in Marrakech','inherit','open','open','','img_3156','','','2010-04-11 10:55:48','2010-04-11 09:55:48','',2541,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3156.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2541,1,'2010-04-11 11:04:57','2010-04-11 10:04:57','[caption id=\"attachment_2545\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in Casablanca \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_28361.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2545\" title=\"Me in Casablanca \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_28361.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHello, hello. I\'m back and the funny part is that I feel like I\'ve forgotten how to blog. And it\'s only been a week. Gasp. I planned to blog last night but vacation has gotten the best of me. So I unpacked, examined all of my new treasures, started a load of laundry, rearranged my new Moroccan treasures, then I figured I should go to the grocery store.\n\nOn my way to Billa, I was struck by the feeling that Bulgaria is very organized and stayed compared to the streets of Morocco.  Then I got to Billa. They seem to be reorganizing the entire store--half of the shelves were empty and some of the isles had the strangest mix of things like olives and dippers, cookies and toilet paper and the list goes on and on.  Needless to say, everyone was confused and walking around trying to figure which way is up. I hope that Billa gets the new aisles worked out quickly.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2546\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in Marrakech \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3156.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2546\" title=\"Me in Marrakech \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3156.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut back to my trip. Morocco was lovely and completely overwhelming. It was exactly what I was looking for. The weather was excellent and we didn\'t experience any major surprises.  Things went relatively smoothly even if we were directionally challenged for most of the trip. We ate a ton of great food, took hundreds of photos, did our part to stimulate the economy and had a hell of a good time.\n\nUnfortunately, I\'ve got a serious to-do list today.  I\'ve got a Bulgarian lesson (and I\'ve got to do my homework still), a dozen papers to grade, class to prep for tomorrow, taxes to do, a serious skype-date with my MoM and dAd tonight and a hundred silly other things to do--so this is a short post.  I promise more in the coming week.\n\nOh yeah, it\'s nice to be home.','I am Back!','','publish','open','open','','i-am-back','','','2010-04-11 11:04:57','2010-04-11 10:04:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2541',0,'post','',2),(2553,1,'2010-04-12 05:05:46','2010-04-12 04:05:46','','Moroccan Spices','Moroccan Spices','inherit','open','open','','img_2922','','','2010-04-12 05:05:46','2010-04-12 04:05:46','',2550,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_2922.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2554,1,'2010-04-12 05:08:02','2010-04-12 04:08:02','','Medina in Marrakesh','Medina in Marrakesh','inherit','open','open','','img_3097','','','2010-04-12 05:08:02','2010-04-12 04:08:02','',2550,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3097.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2555,1,'2010-04-12 05:09:58','2010-04-12 04:09:58','','Music on Djemaa el-Fna','Music on Djemaa el-Fna','inherit','open','open','','img_3128','','','2010-04-12 05:09:58','2010-04-12 04:09:58','',2550,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3128.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2557,1,'2010-04-12 05:15:30','2010-04-12 04:15:30','','Moroccan Lamps','Moroccan Lamps','inherit','open','open','','img_3467','','','2010-04-12 05:15:30','2010-04-12 04:15:30','',2550,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3467.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2558,1,'2010-04-12 05:20:00','2010-04-12 04:20:00','','Flowers','These flowers were growing everywhere','inherit','open','open','','img_3504','','','2010-04-12 05:20:00','2010-04-12 04:20:00','',2550,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3504.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2550,1,'2010-04-12 05:23:38','2010-04-12 04:23:38','[caption id=\"attachment_2555\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Music on Djemaa el-Fna\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3128.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2555\" title=\"Music on Djemaa el-Fna\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3128.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn a single word, Marrakesh was overwhelming.  There are people everywhere. There\'s too much to see and too much to negotiate.  The colors are bright and in your face. The sound of drums, stringed instruments and wind instruments permeates the city center and the smells are something else from fresh squeezed orange juice and piles of mint to cooking meat and Moroccan spices.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2553\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moroccan Spices \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_2922.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2553\" title=\"Moroccan Spices \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_2922.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a lot to take in.  Then there are the overly enthusiastic (or some might say aggressive) sales men. And from everywhere and no where the endless stream of bold comments from hello to you\'re beautiful and the even more creative but grammatically questionable: sexy your ass.  It\'s a jumble of English, French, Arabic and even Spanish or German.  The whole thing is pretty incredible.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2554\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Medina in Marrakesh\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3097.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2554\" title=\"Medina in Marrakesh\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3097.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEven after visiting Istanbul last spring, I was unprepared for the streets of Marrakesh. There\'s just a lot going on in this city.  Everyone is trying to grab your attention.  The Medina is full of life.  This said, even when we wandered away from the touristy areas (yes, this is a euphemism for making a wrong turn or two and finding ourselves lost-ish), I never felt unsafe.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2557\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moroccan Lamps\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3467.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2557\" title=\"Moroccan Lamps \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3467.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe Medina was seemingly meant for photography but for me it was constant struggle to remember to take photos.  I was very distracted by pottery,  jewelry, pastries, scarves, lamps, tunics, mirrors, spices and even leather shoes.  But, I think that\'s what great about the city.  There\'s always more to see, to touch, to smell and to eat.  Well as long as you\'re willing to engage in friendly banter and some serious negotiating that is.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2558\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"These flowers were growing everywhere \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3504.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2558\" title=\"Flowers \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3504.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBy far the most exciting for me was the energy of the place and the way that the Djemaa el-Fna transforms itself from morning to afternoon and night.','Djemaa el-Fna, Marrakesh','','publish','open','open','','djemaa-el-fna-marrakesh','','','2010-04-12 05:23:38','2010-04-12 04:23:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2550',0,'post','',0),(2568,1,'2010-04-12 20:36:55','2010-04-12 19:36:55','','Lines','The one okay line (or train as the case may be)','inherit','open','open','','img_3672','','','2010-04-12 20:36:55','2010-04-12 19:36:55','',2564,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3672.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2564,1,'2010-04-13 04:22:33','2010-04-13 03:22:33','It official, I love a good line. Now don\'t get me wrong. I don\'t love standing in line. Actually, I really dislike that but I love standing in a good line. I never knew how much I appreciated a good well behaved, good mannered single file line until I moved to Bulgaria.  Then my most recent trip to Morocco confirmed this.\n\nAs a huge aside, it was also made clear to me that one acceptable time for a line not to function properly is if/when you\'re riding a camel on the beach in Morocco--it\'s way more fun that way. Don\'t worry there will be a whole post on my super-duper adventure riding camels on the beach! But now back to people-lines.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2568\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The one okay line (or train as the case may be)\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3672.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2568\" title=\"Lines \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI hate people who crowd, who bunch, who hover, who mob, who don\'t stand in line.  I believe in the line--in the order it promises, in taking turns. I despise cutting. I\'d like to yell at these people: Wait your turn. But I don\'t.<!--more-->\n\nStill, it\'s hard for me.  I\'d really like to enforce the line but most of the time I am not in the position to do so. Instead, I stew. And I think about how much better it would be if either I could cut in front of everyone or I didn\'t care.  Mostly, I try for the second.  Generally, I think that the latter is better for me.  It teaches me patience. It reminds me that I am not in control of everything--even if I\'d like to be.\n\nI spent plenty of time in lines over the last week--the Sofia, Milan and Casablanca airports, passport control in all three countries, train stations, bus stations and restaurants waiting for tables.  All of this time has made me think about the fact that I am a line kind of girl.  I\'d much rather wait my turn than hope that I can eventually elbow my way to the front of a mob-line.\n\nSo that\'s that. I love lines.  I\'d rather not stand in line but when I have to I\'d like it to be orderly, civilized.\n\nIt does make me wonder how it that some countries have citizens who are much better at standing in line than others.  Luckily I\'ll have a lot of time to think about this in Bulgaria--it doesn\'t tend to be a line friendly country.','I love a line','','publish','open','open','','i-love-a-line','','','2010-04-13 04:22:33','2010-04-13 03:22:33','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2564',0,'post','',2),(2573,1,'2010-04-13 15:50:59','2010-04-13 14:50:59','','Camel Parking Lot','Camel Parking Lot','inherit','open','open','','img_3602','','','2010-04-13 15:50:59','2010-04-13 14:50:59','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3602.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2574,1,'2010-04-13 15:52:48','2010-04-13 14:52:48','','My Camel&#039;s Head','My Camel\'s Head','inherit','open','open','','img_3621','','','2010-04-13 15:52:48','2010-04-13 14:52:48','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3621.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2575,1,'2010-04-13 15:54:45','2010-04-13 14:54:45','','Camel Crossing a River','Views from My Camel Crossing a River','inherit','open','open','','img_3640','','','2010-04-13 15:54:45','2010-04-13 14:54:45','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3640.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2576,1,'2010-04-13 15:56:26','2010-04-13 14:56:26','','Our Camels','Our Camels: Blanco and Cappiccano','inherit','open','open','','img_3670','','','2010-04-13 15:56:26','2010-04-13 14:56:26','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3670.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2579,1,'2010-04-13 15:59:45','2010-04-13 14:59:45','','At Jimi Hendrix&#039;s House','At Jimi Hendrix\'s House','inherit','open','open','','img_3691','','','2010-04-13 15:59:45','2010-04-13 14:59:45','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3691.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2580,1,'2010-04-13 16:01:19','2010-04-13 15:01:19','','Our Camel Guide','Our Camel Guide','inherit','open','open','','img_3682','','','2010-04-13 16:01:19','2010-04-13 15:01:19','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3682.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2583,1,'2010-04-13 16:06:07','2010-04-13 15:06:07','','Scenes from my Camel','Scenes from my Camel','inherit','open','open','','img_3664','','','2010-04-13 16:06:07','2010-04-13 15:06:07','',2572,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3664.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2572,1,'2010-04-13 16:12:15','2010-04-13 15:12:15','[caption id=\"attachment_2573\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Camel Parking Lot\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3602.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2573\" title=\"Camel Parking Lot\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3602.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am pretty sure that as a liberal and nearly-vegetarian I am the kind of person who shouldn\'t like the idea of camel rides let alone want to ride one.  Oh well. I rode one this past week in Essaouira and loved it. I liked it so much that I\'ve been thinking about other vacations I can go on in order to ride camels. Yeah, I probably shouldn\'t be admitting that.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2574\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Camel&#39;s Head\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3621.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2574\" title=\"My Camel\'s Head\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3621.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nA. and I rode camels on the beach. They are pretty big animals and a little bit intimidating at first. But nearly as smelly as I assumed they would be. The scariest part was when your camel stands up or sits down with you on it. There\'s a sense that you\'re going to fall off the front. <!--more-->They stand up on their back legs first so you lurch forward and then they stand up on their front legs while you hold on tightly.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2575\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Views from My Camel Crossing a River\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3640.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2575\" title=\"Camel Crossing a River\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy camel was Blanco and A.\'s was Cappuccino. Blanco is older than Cappuccino. Cappuccino is still a teenager so Blanco took the lead.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2576\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Our Camels: Blanco and Cappiccano\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3670.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2576\" title=\"Our Camels \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3670.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAfter you\'re on the camel it\'s pretty easy going. Well, aside from the wind that threatened to blow me off my camel. Okay, maybe it wasn\'t <em>that</em> windy but it was windy and there was sand flying. I mean just look at my hair. It was windy out there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2579\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"At Jimi Hendrix&#39;s House\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3691.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2579\" title=\"At Jimi Hendrix\'s House\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3691.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe had a lot to see.  From sand, to the ocean, some Portuguese ruins and a house that Jimi Hendrix lived in for a couple of weeks which hippies now camp out.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2580\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Our Camel Guide\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3682.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2580\" title=\"Our Camel Guide\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe also had some galloping to do. Man, these camels can move. This was the most fun. I had no idea how fast these animals could go. I mean, they don\'t really come off as fast animals.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2583\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Scenes from my Camel\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3664.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2583\" title=\"Scenes from my Camel\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3664.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe also had some snacking to do. Blanco and Cappuccino loved to stop and snack on green things. What made this even better was that our camel guide like to say in thick English, \"Cappuccino\'s hungry!\" when ever the camels stopped to nibble on things. I got a huge kick out of it-- I also really liked encouraging my camel in Arabic.\n\nYalla - lets go!!','My Camel Ride','','publish','open','open','','my-camel-ride','','','2010-04-13 16:12:15','2010-04-13 15:12:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2572',0,'post','',27),(2589,1,'2010-04-14 04:55:20','2010-04-14 03:55:20','[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"614\" caption=\"Martenitsi @ ACS (thanks to isogloss for the photo)\"]<img title=\"Martenitsi on Campus (thanks to isogloss for the photo I\'ve been too lazy to take &amp; liberally linked to)\" src=\"http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4467925206_ef2e01f364_b.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"614\" height=\"461\" />[/caption]\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">I got back from Morocco to find out that Spring had come to Sofia without me. The luck. I\'ve been <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/who-needs-the-groundhog/\">waiting for Spring</a> for months now if you remember I was <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/chestita-baba-marta/\">thrilled for March 1st</a>. Sure it\'s not super warm and rain has been threatening all spring but isn\'t what we expect? A few beautiful days, sprinkles, some serious rain, green trees, green grass and finally some flowers.</p>\nIt doesn\'t look like I am going to be disappointed.\n\nThis morning though I woke up thinking about what I was going to wear and martenitsi.  I thought, it was kind of cold yesterday. Today I should wear a cardigan. Oh and I should hang up my martenitsi on a tree.<!--more-->\n\nNow all I have to do is find the perfect tree. I want to leave my martenitsi in the best tree possible. I just haven\'t found it yet. Then again I am not sure exactly what I am looking for in the perfect tree.\n\nApparently my colleagues think it\'s time for me to shed my martenitsi too because one asked me: why do you still have one on your purse? Me: Because it wasn\'t spring when I left for spring break. This was an acceptable answer.  But then she told me, I saw a stork this past weekend.\n\nI was instantly jealous. Storks are, I think, the pinnacle of good luck when it comes to the martenitsa tradition. That\'s when I thought: I want to see a stork too!\n\nWho needs a budding tree?! When you could just keep your eye out for a stork. I <em>want</em> to see a stork.\n\nLater, I realized the problem with this is that 1. I live in a city. 2. I don\'t really know what a stork looks like.  And 3. what if there was some confusion and the stork accidentally got the Bulgarian and American traditions confused or mixed up and he actually brought me a baby instead!?\n\nThis made me reconsider my lust for a stork. It turns out that I am very happy to settled for a nice sensible budding tree.','Spring has Sprung!','','publish','open','open','','spring-as-sprung','','','2010-04-14 04:55:20','2010-04-14 03:55:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2589',0,'post','',6),(2602,1,'2010-04-14 18:11:41','2010-04-14 17:11:41','','Food stall &amp; Grill smoke','','inherit','open','open','','img_3142','','','2010-04-14 18:11:41','2010-04-14 17:11:41','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3142.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2603,1,'2010-04-14 18:14:35','2010-04-14 17:14:35','','The Guys at the Grill and raw meat','The Guys at the Grill and raw meat','inherit','open','open','','img_3167','','','2010-04-14 18:14:35','2010-04-14 17:14:35','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3167.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2604,1,'2010-04-14 18:17:52','2010-04-14 17:17:52','','Me and the Guys','Me and the Guys','inherit','open','open','','img_3177','','','2010-04-14 18:17:52','2010-04-14 17:17:52','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3177.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2605,1,'2010-04-14 18:30:26','2010-04-14 17:30:26','','Me at another Stall','','inherit','open','open','','img_3478','','','2010-04-14 18:30:26','2010-04-14 17:30:26','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3478.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2606,1,'2010-04-14 18:43:43','2010-04-14 17:43:43','','A. Loves her Bread','A. Loves her Bread','inherit','open','open','','img_3470','','','2010-04-14 18:43:43','2010-04-14 17:43:43','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3470.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2607,1,'2010-04-14 18:49:44','2010-04-14 17:49:44','','Food to Grill','Food to Grill','inherit','open','open','','img_3169','','','2010-04-14 18:49:44','2010-04-14 17:49:44','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3169.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2610,1,'2010-04-14 19:00:06','2010-04-14 18:00:06','','Djemaa el-Fna at Night','Djemaa el-Fna at Night','inherit','open','open','','img_3187','','','2010-04-14 19:00:06','2010-04-14 18:00:06','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3187.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2611,1,'2010-04-14 19:04:19','2010-04-14 18:04:19','','Djemaa el-Fna at Dusk','Djemaa el-Fna at Dusk','inherit','open','open','','img_3136','','','2010-04-14 19:04:19','2010-04-14 18:04:19','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3136.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2614,1,'2010-04-14 19:12:00','2010-04-14 18:12:00','','Stalls on the Square','Stalls on the Square','inherit','open','open','','img_3147','','','2010-04-14 19:12:00','2010-04-14 18:12:00','',2600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3147.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2600,1,'2010-04-14 19:18:30','2010-04-14 18:18:30','[caption id=\"attachment_2611\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Djemaa el-Fna at Dusk\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3136.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2611\" title=\"Djemaa el-Fna at Dusk\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3136.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe food stalls on the Djemaa el-Fna in Marrakesh are incredible. They are incredibly overwhelming, incredibly lively, incredibly questionable and incredibly tasty.  They are in a word: an experience.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2603\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Guys at the Grill and Meat \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3167.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2603\" title=\"The Guys at the Grill and raw meat \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2604\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and the Guys \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3177.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2604\" title=\"Me and the Guys \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3177.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe stalls go up each day on the square in the late afternoon and by dusk they are up and running. By 11 o\'clock the cooking is slowing down and midnight, the square is emptying.  It\'s a production.  <!--more-->One that seems to run pretty seamlessly.  And in the morning there\'s no sign of the carts, the commotion or cooking from the night before. There are just the fresh-squeezed orange juice stands.<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3478.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2605\" title=\"Me at another Stall \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3478.jpg\" alt=\"Me at Stall 117\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nIt\'s also a show and there are plenty of actors. From the guys pushing their stands with clever sayings, laminated menus and desperate pleas to the waiters and the cooks. These guys are all having a good time. They clearly like what they do.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2606\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A. Loves her Bread\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3470.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2606\" title=\"A. Loves her Bread\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3470.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThey talk a good talk and they make pretty tasty food.  The biggest problem is just trying to pick a stall to eat at. Luckily these guys are here to push their stalls and sing refrain that you\'ll hear over and over throughout the square at dinner time: all the food\'s the same--they\'re just competition.  If this doesn\'t work they\'ll try to woo you with things like: you\'re so skinny you need to eat, look locals eat here, nice ass (admittedly, that one didn\'t really work at well) and we\'ve got free Berber whiskey... ahem... mint tea.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2607\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Food to Grill \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3169.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2607\" title=\"Food to Grill \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe first night eating out we were a little worried about cleanliness and made sure to order food we knew would be well cooked and washed it down with Fanta. After making it through night one, we couldn\'t be stopped the following two nights.  The owners of our Riad cautioned us about sea food, fresh veggies and eggs but really that\'s no fun. So we ate and ate. Only we didn\'t eat sheep\'s head--that was too much. But maybe I should have (and yes, I realize that\'s a lot easier to say miles and miles away from the grilled sheep\'s head).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2610\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Djemaa el-Fna at Night \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3187.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2610\" title=\"Djemaa el-Fna at Night \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI will say, if you go to dinner too late at night there are a lot of Moroccan children selling tissues and asking for food.  Like if you eat it and your hands or your fork aren\'t in it, then there are poor Moroccan children eye-level to the table with parents hovering in the background miming for your food.  Have 1/4 of your Fanta left? They\'ll ask for it--maybe they\'ll even have their hands on it. This was a bit much for me at first.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2614\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Stalls on the Square \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3147.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2614\" title=\"Stalls on the Square \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3147.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThen I realized, Carolyn, you\'re not going to eat this. So when an older woman asked for the bones of my chicken, I signaled that she could have it. Before I knew it she had the bones wrapped up in part of the paper tablecloth and in her hands. She was quick. She also ended up with the fish bones from the fried fish of some of the guys working at the stand. At this point, I was over saying no to kids so when a toddler came up dirty face and fingers miming for the leftover veggies and coscos I gave him the go ahead. It seemed the least I could do. He ate coscos by the handful. He also asked for my Fanta. I kept that.','Eating in Marrakesh','','publish','open','open','','eating-in-marrakesh','','','2010-04-14 19:18:30','2010-04-14 18:18:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2600',0,'post','',5),(2623,1,'2010-04-15 05:07:49','2010-04-15 04:07:49','','Moroccan Flower','Moroccan Flower','inherit','open','open','','img_3504-2','','','2010-04-15 05:07:49','2010-04-15 04:07:49','',2622,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_35041.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2622,1,'2010-04-15 05:12:42','2010-04-15 04:12:42','I miss seeing these vines crawling on walls or trellises in Morocco. The flowers were so vibrant and unexpected. Given their texture, they looked more like brightly colored leaves than the flower petals I grew-up with.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2628\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moroccan Flowers\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_35042.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2628\" title=\"Flowers M\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_35042.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nToo bad I have no idea what the name of this plant is or these plants as the case clearly is--a red flowering vine as well as the yellow flowering vine.','Moroccan Flowers','','publish','open','open','','moroccan-flowers','','','2010-04-15 05:12:42','2010-04-15 04:12:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2622',0,'post','',4),(2628,1,'2010-04-15 05:15:30','2010-04-15 04:15:30','','Flowers M','Moroccan Flowers','inherit','open','open','','img_3504-3','','','2010-04-15 05:15:30','2010-04-15 04:15:30','',2622,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_35042.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2618,1,'2010-04-15 19:48:20','2010-04-15 18:48:20','Hi Bulgaria,\n\nIt\'s me, Carolyn. I am back but I am afraid that you\'re going to start feeling neglected soon. I\'ve been writing an awful lot on my blog about how much I loved Morocco--the food, the camels, the shopping and even the succulent gardens (oh, wait that\'s coming tomorrow). Here\'s the thing, I want you to know that while I had a great time on vacation in Morocco, it\'s nice to be back.\n\nIt was great to land at the airport and be able to hop in an OK taxi and not worry too much about being a foreigner. It was wonderful to give directions to my apartment in Bulgarian and to be understood--okay at one point I said left when I should have said right but heck, I even caught that before it was a problem.\n\nBut man oh man, you\'re not making it easy for me to get over Morocco.<!--more-->\n\nTake the weather for example, is cold, gray and rainy really the best that you can do? I know that it\'s spring and that\'s part of the season but does it need to be cold as well? Why not rain and then clear the clouds out so that I can enjoy some sunshine? I mean the sky was gray the whole day.  That\'s not very interesting.\n\nSpeaking of gray. When the sky is gray the whole city seems to be dominated by a palate of grays and graphites.  I was surprised this afternoon by how gray the block buildings were, how gray the sidewalks were and how gray all of the cars seemed as well. It was a gray, gray city at dusk and in the drizzle. Don\'t get me wrong, I like gray but when buses and taxis start to look good and standout among the shades of blacks, grays and whites it might be too much.\n\nBut at the same time, I\'ve never seen anything like it. It\'s nothing if not eye catching. However it\'s kind of depressing.\n\nThen I started really looking around. The teenage boys sitting on pieces of newspaper on a set of stairs smoking cigarettes in the rain was also kind of depressing. As was the bus ride on the 76, old women with wet hair, dripping umbrellas, dirty floors and the smell of wet coats didn\'t help the mood much. Nor did the wet, shaggy stray dogs--the dogs were especially heart breaking today. To top it all off, everyone was hurrying around head down trying to block out the rain sans umbrella or bustling around with umbrellas trying to poke each others eyes out. Luckily I made it home with my both of my eyes and only sort of damp feet.\n\nBut really, enough is enough.\n\nI guess it\'s a good thing that I have memories of last May floating through my head and I can dream of sitting in an outdoor cafe drinking beer in the afternoon sunshine.  That does make this whole thing much more palatable.  The other thing that helps stave off the rain on my windows? The glass of Bulgarian red wine that I am enjoying and the fresh salad I just ate topped with lentils, red peppers, olives, avocado and orange slices are a pretty decent too.\n\nSo, now all I am looking for is the promise of a little sunshine. Okay? That\'s sort of how this works right? A little give and take.  Because really, how else am I supposed to commit to this?\n\nWith Love, Carolyn','To Bulgaria, With Love','','publish','open','open','','to-bulgaria-with-love','','','2010-04-15 19:48:20','2010-04-15 18:48:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2618',0,'post','',2),(2640,1,'2010-04-17 09:32:10','2010-04-17 08:32:10','','IMG_3359','','inherit','open','open','','img_3359','','','2010-04-17 09:32:10','2010-04-17 08:32:10','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3359.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2642,1,'2010-04-17 16:09:48','2010-04-17 15:09:48','','Me in the Gardens','Me in the Gardens','inherit','open','open','','img_3359-2','','','2010-04-17 16:09:48','2010-04-17 15:09:48','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_33591.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2643,1,'2010-04-17 16:30:52','2010-04-17 15:30:52','','Pond 1','','inherit','open','open','','img_3239','','','2010-04-17 16:30:52','2010-04-17 15:30:52','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3239.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2644,1,'2010-04-17 16:53:55','2010-04-17 15:53:55','','The Fountain','','inherit','open','open','','img_3224','','','2010-04-17 16:53:55','2010-04-17 15:53:55','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3224.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2645,1,'2010-04-17 16:57:45','2010-04-17 15:57:45','','The Garden 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_3240','','','2010-04-17 16:57:45','2010-04-17 15:57:45','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3240.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2648,1,'2010-04-17 17:23:16','2010-04-17 16:23:16','','Flowers Morocco 1','','inherit','open','open','','img_3259','','','2010-04-17 17:23:16','2010-04-17 16:23:16','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3259.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2649,1,'2010-04-17 17:25:06','2010-04-17 16:25:06','','Flowers Morocco 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_3302','','','2010-04-17 17:25:06','2010-04-17 16:25:06','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3302.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2652,1,'2010-04-17 17:28:47','2010-04-17 16:28:47','','Flowers Morocco 3','','inherit','open','open','','img_3254','','','2010-04-17 17:28:47','2010-04-17 16:28:47','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3254.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2653,1,'2010-04-17 17:33:15','2010-04-17 16:33:15','','A. &amp; Me in the Garden','A. &amp; Me in the Garden','inherit','open','open','','img_3227','','','2010-04-17 17:33:15','2010-04-17 16:33:15','',2637,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3227.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2637,1,'2010-04-17 17:36:01','2010-04-17 16:36:01','[caption id=\"attachment_2642\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in the Gardens\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_33591.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2642\" title=\"Me in the Gardens\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_33591.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe <a href=\"http://www.jardinmajorelle.com/en/\">Jardin Majorelle</a> in Marrakesh is breath taking. It\'s a succulent tucked away in the northern part of the city. The major claim to fame seems to be that Yves Saint Laurent gave the garden to the city of Marrakesh upon his death.  He apparently bought the house when it was terrible repair and today there are over 300 plant species in the garden. Needless to say, my eye is not keen enough to pick out all of the species but it was a lot of fun to look for all of them.<!--more--><a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3224.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2644\" title=\"The Fountain \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a><a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3239.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2643\" title=\"Pond 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3240.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2645\" title=\"The Garden 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>The other thing that\'s striking about the garden are the colors. The house is a vibrant cobalt-blue. Pots around the garden are terracotta, blue, yellow and orange. It\'s really a sight. The center piece in my mind is a pool in the middle of the garden with a fountain.<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3259.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2648\" title=\"Flowers Morocco 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3259.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3302.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2649\" title=\"Flowers Morocco 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3302.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a><a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3254.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2652\" title=\"Flowers Morocco 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3254.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>Luckily for you, I took plenty of pictures.  Only in looking through them now, I am not sure that any one of my pictures really does the garden justice. Oh well, I guess you\'ll have to use a bit of your imagination as well.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2653\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A. &amp; Me in the Garden \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3227.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2653\" title=\"A. &amp; Me in the Garden \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/img_3227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]','Sucullent Garden','','publish','open','open','','sucullent-garden','','','2010-04-17 17:36:01','2010-04-17 16:36:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2637',0,'post','',0),(2658,1,'2010-04-18 17:56:37','2010-04-18 16:56:37','','SupaStar','SupaStar--two blocks down from the Radison','inherit','open','open','','dsc01634','','','2010-04-18 17:56:37','2010-04-18 16:56:37','',2656,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01634.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2659,1,'2010-04-18 17:59:48','2010-04-18 16:59:48','','My Lunch at SupaStar','My Lunch at SupaStar','inherit','open','open','','dsc01631','','','2010-04-18 17:59:48','2010-04-18 16:59:48','',2656,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01631.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2660,1,'2010-04-18 18:01:47','2010-04-18 17:01:47','','Inside SupaStar','Inside SupaStar','inherit','open','open','','dsc01632','','','2010-04-18 18:01:47','2010-04-18 17:01:47','',2656,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01632.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2661,1,'2010-04-18 18:05:57','2010-04-18 17:05:57','','Outside Looking In','Outside Looking In','inherit','open','open','','dsc01635','','','2010-04-18 18:05:57','2010-04-18 17:05:57','',2656,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01635.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2656,1,'2010-04-18 18:11:35','2010-04-18 17:11:35','I went to the new homemade soup and sandwich shop on Shishman yesterday (about two blocks down from the Radisson)--SupaStar! It\'s got a great name, great food and a great sense of style.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2658\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"SupaStar--two blocks down from the Radisson \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01634.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2658\" title=\"SupaStar\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01634.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe shop caught my eye even before it was open with it\'s clever name and sign. <em>And</em> I love both sandwiches and soup! It\'s like the shop was made for me.  However the problem of thinking things like this is that you run the risk of setting yourself up for disappointment.\n\nLuckily, I wasn\'t disappointed. In fact, it was better and tastier than I imagined. Yep. It\'s supa.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2659\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Lunch at SupaStar\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01631.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2659\" title=\"My Lunch at SupaStar\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01631.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOkay, all puns aside, the staff is friendly and helpful in both English and in Bulgarian.  You might be happy to know that I ordered all of my lunch in Bulgarian and only when my food was being rung up was there a switch to English--I didn\'t understand the question which was something to effect of: what kind of sandwich did you picked out?  I was pretty proud of myself.\n\nThe hardest part was that the signs on the soup are hand written and they weren\'t very easy for me to read.  Other than this the whole ordering, paying and eating part was <em>easy</em>.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2660\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Inside SupaStar \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01632.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2660\" title=\"Inside SupaStar \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01632.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI ended up with a carrot and coriander soup, a ham sandwich with coleslaw in it and a bottle of water for 7 leva.  The soup was in a giant bowl and the sandwich was big enough that I could only eat 1/2 of it.  I took the other half home for dinner.  I should have also bought some more soup--you can also do take away.\n\nThere are lots of seats in the shop. There\'s a bar along the big glass windows on the first floor and lots of cute tables and brightly colored chairs upstairs.  I picked out a little table by the window over looking Shishman.  That\'s where I decided this: I am in love with this little shop.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2661\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Outside Looking In \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01635.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2661\" title=\"Outside Looking In \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/dsc01635.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI liked it so much that I\'ll probably go back for lunch next weekend as well.','New Find: SupaStar','','publish','open','open','','new-find-supastar','','','2010-04-18 18:11:35','2010-04-18 17:11:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2656',0,'post','',8),(2665,1,'2010-04-19 18:24:02','2010-04-19 17:24:02','I read an article in the NYT yesterday that got me thinking. It popped up of all places in the Arts section and is titled <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/arts/18abroad.html?pagewanted=1\">\"Abroad: Do-It-Yourself Culture.\"</a> I read the headline and thought, I\'d better read this. Even though I have no idea what it\'s about based on the title.  I have a hunch lots of people skipped over this article Sunday morning because really what\'s going on with the title?\n\nIn the States, <span style=\"text-decoration:line-through;\">DYI</span> DIY (postscript--it turns out I am actually retarded and wrote the acronym out incorrectly every time I used it in my post. Thank -you, dear readers, for getting me straightened out.) generally refers to projects that you take on around the home yourself rather than say hiring someone to paint your bedroom, re-landscape your backyard, make your own elaborate birthday cake, sweater or other cutesy project rather than buying one at the store. But <span style=\"text-decoration:line-through;\">DYI </span>DIY culture? This seems like stretch, a reach. It seemed confusing.\n\nBut it turned out that this is an article about the globalization of culture. Oh. As a rule, I am not sure that this make so much more sense than an arts and crafts project that requires glue, construction paper and copious amounts of glitter but I\'ll go with it.\n\nIt\'s about the way that American culture is everywhere today--globalization no longer confines American culture (whatever that is) to the boarders of America and the lament that this has caused for many governments who see this as the death of their country\'s culture.  Sure I buy this. But the author veils this argument in language that is over the top,<!--more--> when he write things like:\n<blockquote>The integration of markets and the Internet have certainly brought  billions of people into closer contact. Everybody has access to the same  American movies and music now, and not just American, also Indian,  Romanian, South African and Chinese. But far from succumbing to some  devouring juggernaut, culture — and Europe, with its different  communities and nations living cheek by jowl, is a Petri dish to prove  the point — has only atomized lately as a consequence of the very same  globalizing forces that purportedly threaten to homogenize everything.</blockquote>\nThe argument, if I follow is simply that American culture is not homogenizing local cultures. Rather technology is for the first time letting people all over the world choose how they are \"known, seen, distinguished from others.\"  Interesting. This is apparently where the DYI comes in.\n\nWe now have access to mix, make and take what we want and share it with the world.  Thanks YouTube. It\'s not a bad argument. But I can\'t help but wonder what this looks like in a place like Bulgaria.\n\nBut maybe that\'s the point. This kind of self-made culture is harder to name and market. It\'s value is different. The article ends with this:\n<blockquote>Hollywood and Broadway, the major museums and art fairs and biennials  and galleries, buildings designed by celebrity architects and the music  business are all the traditional focus of big media, and they tell us a  lot about ourselves. They constitute our cultural firmament, the  constellation of our stars. But scientists say most of the universe is  composed not of stars but of dark matter. It is the powerful but  invisible force that exists everywhere and requires some leap of  imagination on our part, some effort, to identify.\n\nMost culture  is dark matter.</blockquote>\nThere\'s something lovely about this image. Culture as dark matter. Culture as the thing that is in between the constellations--in between the hits, the movies and the pop art. But I am not sure that it\'s totally helpful.  How do we talk about the dark matter? How do we share it? How do we value it? How do we interact with it?\n\nI am just at a loss for what this means for those of us who live and work abroad.  Those of us who interact with and react to a different culture everyday.  The thing is I am negotiate a life in two cultures--like many people are.  But maybe this is where <span style=\"text-decoration:line-through;\">DYI</span> DIY culture comes into play. Hum.','Culture--DIY?','','publish','open','open','','culture-dyi','','','2010-04-19 18:24:02','2010-04-19 17:24:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2665',0,'post','',4),(2620,1,'2010-04-20 05:10:19','2010-04-20 04:10:19','It\'s only Tuesday.\n\nI woke up tired and the worst part is that coffee doesn\'t seem to be doing the trick today. Gasp. And, it\'s the third rainy-ish day in a row.  What\'s  a girl to do?\n\nWell, I decided to dream about a lovely spring day and the 10 things I could if it was actually not cold, gray and a work day.\n<ol>\n	<li><strong>Coffee at Colours and Flavours</strong>. This is a top favorite whether the weather is good or not.</li>\n	<li><strong>The Cafe in the park in front of the National Theater. </strong>Bad coffee but great people watching. I guess it\'s a trade off.</li>\n	<li><strong>Sit by the Fountain in the park</strong> in front of the National Theater and <strong>drink Colours and Flavours coffee to-go</strong>.  Hum. This isn\'t such a bad option. Actually it might be the best of options 1 and 2.</li>\n	<li>Stop by the <strong>Sofia City Art Gallery</strong>. It\'s free and usually up to something interesting. <!--more--></li>\n	<li><strong>Chill in the Cafe </strong>in the Park <strong>in front of the church</strong> and<strong> behind the fruit and veggies stalls on Graf Ignativ</strong>.  I love this cafe. The tables never look clean. You now have to order your coffee at the bar and the girls who work there are unhelpful and unreceptive but it\'s the first cafe I ever went to in Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li>Walk around the city center looking for signs of spring and <strong>swing into the Nevski Cathedral</strong>. You know just to see how it is, maybe light a candle and to marvel at the space.</li>\n	<li><strong>A Cafe on Vitosha.</strong> Where I can the do some serious people watching and look for some new fashion trends.</li>\n	<li><strong>Buy flowers</strong>.</li>\n	<li>Grab a little park space in <strong>Borislava Gardina </strong>and<strong> have a picnic</strong>! I\'d also add toss around a frisbee but I don\'t have one and my aim isn\'t very good.</li>\n	<li>And after 3:30pm you can do all of the above but <strong>instead of coffee you can substitute a beer</strong>! Oh but instead of going to Colours and Flavours you\'ll have to walk down the street to Memento.</li>\n</ol>\nOkay, I am off to work now! Wishing each of you a great day. Oh and feel free to add to this post with your other favorite things to do on a sunny spring day...','Sun, Cafes &amp; the Weekend','','publish','open','open','','sun-cafes-the-weekend','','','2010-04-20 05:10:19','2010-04-20 04:10:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2620',0,'post','',5),(2676,1,'2010-04-21 10:26:11','2010-04-21 09:26:11','Two of my really great friends (N. and B.)  from Washington DC got married last weekend. Cheers you two!\n\nThis was a wedding I was sad to miss it but it wasn\'t until I stalked Facebook on Monday (and Tuesday) obsessively I might add that I realized how sad I was to have missed it. And as a side note: really, none of my friends who went to the wedding aside from M. could be bothered to post even a few pictures?! What is this world coming to?\n\nDon\'t get me wrong, living abroad is pretty great but it\'s not always easy. Duh. Still there are some hard things about living abroad (and not having the time or money to do everything).  One of the hardest things for me has been missing these big moments in my friends lives--namely, weddings and now babies as well.\n\nSure when I moved to Bulgaria, I knew I was going to miss things <!--more-->but I also knew that much of my life in Washington DC was routine.  It\'s not as if my friends get married every weekend.\n\nNow two years into my adventure abroad, I\'ve missed at least half a dozen weddings. The first one I thought: oh, that\'s too bad.  Before the second one I was struck by the <a href=\"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snarky\">snarky</a> thought: well, at least I don\'t have to buy a dress, an airplane ticket, rent a hotel room and buy a gift. But the day of the wedding, I was sad to miss it. The same feeling of sadness has struck me on or before every subsequent wedding.\n\nStill it was this most recent wedding that really got me thinking about friends, my life in the States, the value of celebrations, and the choices that you make when you decide to live abroad. It\'s hard to know that a celebration is going on without you and that you can\'t be there. (Even though I was soothed by the thought that even if I had tickets I wouldn\'t have gotten there thanks to a volcano spewing ash over most of Europe.)  But I do know that there will be other moments that I do get to celebrate with these friends and this makes it a little bit easier not to be there now.\n\nSo that\'s that. When you live abroad, you miss things--sometimes you miss things that you desperately wish you weren\'t missing but there\'s not a lot you can do about that. And the thing is this is a problem that doesn\'t really have a solution.  I simply could not be there no matter how much I wanted to be.  I\'ve got commitments here in Sofia.  But isn\'t not all bad.\n\nHard? Yes.\n\nBut bad? No way.\n\nI mean, this month I was in Mocorro and next month I\'m going to Paris. Not that this makes up for missing the wedding. It just makes it a little easier.\n\nAnyhow, no need to cry for me. I am clearly doing okay. I am just rambling about weddings, friends and living abroad.','Notes From Sofia: Missed Your Wedding','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-missed-your-wedding','','','2010-04-21 10:26:11','2010-04-21 09:26:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2676',0,'post','',10),(2682,1,'2010-04-22 05:03:01','2010-04-22 04:03:01','I\'ve found myself confronted with the conflict American and European views of sex and violence in the media recently.\n\nI am teaching an elective this semester titled: American Culture and American Television.  It\'s a take on the elective I taught in the fall American Culture and American Magazines. The idea is for the Television course is simply this--why not use American Television as a lens to discuss American culture, as a medium to improve vocabulary and fluency and as a way to engage students in a discussion of class, race, religion and gender as it appears (or does not) in a variety of different programs.\n\nBut what\'s surprised me are how prevalent the topics of sex and violence have become in our discussions. It\'s not shocking but it\'s become notable. Moreover, my time away from the States has given me the space to recognize the fact that violence is much more acceptable in American television than sex is. In some ways this is to be expected.\n\nI grew up in a country whose constitution guarantees its citizens the right to bear arms. This right is guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights. <!--more-->The right to bear arms as a part of the Second Amendment is proceeded only by the First Amendment which ensures our freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and the freedom to petition government. Yep, guns are part of our history, our culture, our ethos and for better or worse a part of our national psyche as well.  And as fate would have it, guns and violence go hand in hand.  The Second Amendment is certainly not the reason that we\'re a violent country--it\'s definitely more complex than that but it\'s part of it.\n\nViolence it seems <em>is</em>. It is everywhere. It is common place. It is a given. Sex, however, isn\'t.\n\nWhat really struck this home was the day that I was explaining the <a href=\"www.tvguidelines.org\">TV Parental Guidelines</a> which are posted on a program on the hour and half hour in the States ostensibly for parents who want to monitor what their children are watching but don\'t want to watch tv with them.  My students said: Oh, just like movies. Kind of. Then we talked about the basic acronyms for suitable audiences from Y (youth) to G (general) and MA (mature audience). Next we discussed the content acronyms D for suggestive dialogue (which usually means talking about sex), L for coarse language, S for sexual  situations and V for violence.\n\nThis was the moment that shocked my kids. First off, they were interested in the fact that American parents might want monitor what their children are watching on tv--seemingly implying that their own parents don\'t. But mostly they were shocked by the fact that of the four content acronyms, three are concerned with sex and only one violence.  I tried to explain that coarse language could be either swearing or maybe something sexual but my students were having none of that.  And frankly, I get it.\n\nOn a whole, we are much more concerned with monitoring, limiting and controlling sex than we are violence.  But how do you explain this to students?\n\nMaybe it\'s our Puritan past or maybe it\'s that we still don\'t have a decent amendment protecting the sexual rights and freedoms of all Americans.  But what ever it is-- sex is scarier than violence.\n\nYes. I just wrote: for Americans sex is scarier than violence. As a whole we spend a lot of time hiding sex, pretending that it doesn\'t happen and trying to protect our children (but also ourselves) from it. But at the same time we\'re obsessed by it. We fight about about abortion rights, about gay rights and even abstinence only education. We\'re obsessed by the kind of sex that everyone else is having but at the same time we want to relegate it to backrooms or bedrooms and R or MA audiences.\n\nHow I am supposed to distill something like this for my students? Frankly, I am not sure that this is a problem I can explain with a  white board, a marker and some American television programs.\n\nFor my students this whole thing was problematic.  They didn\'t get it.  It didn\'t seem possible to them that America--this country that they see as fairly liberal would be more concerned with protecting its children and teenagers from sex rather than violence.  <em>I know, Right? </em>','Sex &amp; Violence','','publish','open','open','','sex-and-violence','','','2010-04-22 05:03:01','2010-04-22 04:03:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2682',0,'post','',11),(2692,1,'2010-04-23 05:20:51','2010-04-23 04:20:51','<a href=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/21/dining/21minispan-1/21minispan-1-articleLarge.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Mark\'s Pad Thai\" src=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/21/dining/21minispan-1/21minispan-1-articleLarge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"331\" /></a>Sometimes, I think that the minimalist Mark Bittman (from the NYT) and I should be BFF.  Yes BFF--that\'s best friends forever (fyi, MoM). But I am worried that now that I\'ve written it, the magic is going to be lost forever and it will never happen. Okay, this wouldn\'t be the end of the world. I mean,d I don\'t actually know Mark making it hard for me to truly be BFF with him. Just as long as he keeps writing his column in the NYT The Minimalist I will be a happier camper.\n\nWhy you may ask?\n\nWell because Mark Bittman is a no nonsense kitchen rock star. He makes tasty and beautiful dishes with just a couple of ingredients (which I can generally find Bulgaria).  Moreover, the recipes are easy to follow and usually quick to put together (which I like because I am cooking for one). There\'s little to no pretense and usually you can also watch a short video of him cooking up everything. Even better, usually he includes awesome variations which turns one dish into three or four (which I love because at the end of the day I\'ve got about zero creativity left).\n\nThis week I just about died when I saw his <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/dining/21minirex.html?ref=dining\">recipe: Pad Thai</a>. It was also the moment that I realized that Mark and I will never be BFF. I\'ve got a food crush on him.<!--more-->\n\nHe wrote this about the dish:\n<blockquote>IN the last 20 years or so, pad Thai has gone from being virtually  unknown in this country (America) to being a restaurant and takeout staple. It’s  easy to see why: the tangy, crunchy, slightly sweet noodles are  irresistible. But it’s difficult to understand why more people don’t  make it at home, since pad Thai is essentially a stir-fry (in Thailand  they refer to it as a Chinese noodle dish). It requires little more than  chopping and stirring, and comes together in less than a half-hour.</blockquote>\nI <em>love </em>Pad Thai. Which is interesting because before I moved to Washington DC a few years ago, I\'d never heard of it.  Pad Thai is maybe the quintessential Thai dish--noodles, veggies, lemon/lime flavors, a little spicy, a little savory and vegetarian or not depending on your inclination. And I miss it.\n\nIn Sofia, you can get a lot of Bulgarianized international cuisine--Chinese, Italian, Mexican, French, Indian and the list goes on and on but there\'s no Thai. Until now! Okay actually there\'s still no Thai restaurant but I\'m going to give the Bittman recipe it a shot.\n\nIt\'s going to require a trip to the Asian food shop (or maybe it\'s just the Chinese food shop) off of Maria Louisa Blvd. Some creative substitutions, I am sure. And a lot of heart. But because Mark makes it look so easy, I am going to give it a whirl. Please don\'t break my heart Mark.','Pad Thai and Mark Bittman','','publish','open','open','','pad-thai-and-mark-bittman','','','2010-04-23 05:20:51','2010-04-23 04:20:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2692',0,'post','',3),(2697,1,'2010-04-25 18:45:12','2010-04-25 17:45:12','It turns out the life of a teacher is neither as exciting nor as glamorous as you may think.  This weekend, I\'ve been hunkered down grading as the quarter ended on Wednesday and grades and comments are due tomorrow.  As such, I haven\'t done much but grade, grade, grade and drink way more coffee than I should. But that\'s okay. I like coffee and grading is not the worst thing. It\'s not like this was a surprise to me--it\'s a part of the  job.\n\nI just didn\'t realize I\'d spend a whole weekend in my sweats grading to the exclusion of everything else.  Even this blog.\n\nOh well. That\'s how it works it works sometimes.  So, maybe tomorrow I\'ll have something more interesting to write about. Something more engaging. Something more than just a quick up-date.\n\nHope that each of you had a more exciting weekend than I did.','The Life of a Teacher','','publish','open','open','','the-life-of-a-teacher','','','2010-04-25 18:45:12','2010-04-25 17:45:12','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2697',0,'post','',1),(2701,1,'2010-04-26 19:21:28','2010-04-26 18:21:28','I just went to the grocery store to buy five tubs of cream cheese to make two cheesecakes for a party on Wednesday. It turns out philadelphia cream cheese is on sale but there\'s not a single tub on the shelf. Of course not. No cream cheese.\n\nIt made me think: Oh Bulgaria.\n\nThanks for reminding me that I am living in Bulgaria.\n\nAnd, Hum. Cheesecake. You\'re going to be difficult aren\'t you!?\n\nSo now I am looking up some recipes that don\'t require as much cream cheese--maybe I\'ll make a <a href=\"http://www.bakingandbooks.com/2009/04/09/honey-ricotta-cheesecake-with-almond-crust-plus-7-tips-for-perfect-cheesecake/\">honey ricotta cheesecake</a>. Or maybe just maybe Hit, Kaufland and/or Billa will have cream cheese tomorrow. Fingers crossed.\n\nOr if all goes horribly wrong and all of my well laid plans are foiled, maybe just maybe I\'ll be making <a href=\"http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/lemon-bars/\">lemon squares</a> instead. No cream cheese required. Just lots of lemon.','Oh, Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','oh-bulgaria','','','2010-04-26 19:21:28','2010-04-26 18:21:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2701',0,'post','',3),(2705,1,'2010-04-28 05:36:56','2010-04-28 04:36:56','I generally like the underdog--I like the dark horse. I like trying new things.  I guess this is in part why I am here in Bulgaria. On a whole, I think there\'s a lot to like here and half of it is figuring out how to access it.\n\nRecently the NYT and other newspapers have been spending time exploring Eastern European wines.  There was this article on <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/dining/10pour.html?scp=1&amp;sq=wine%20hungary&amp;st=cse\">Hungarian whites in February</a> and another that I can\'t find on Slovakian wine (which I am beginning to wonder if I made up because I can\'t find it).  And these two articles got me thinking about wine and the American interest in Eastern European wine.\n\nPart of the interest seems to rest in the fact that Eastern Europe is relatively unexplored by many Americans but it\'s accessible now. People chatter about things like holidays in Prague or Budapest and want to drink wine from these areas as a reminder of their travel. But wine is also a status thing--something to be discovered, discussed and shown off. The more exotic the better. I think that the Eastern European wine craze is a convergence of these two things. (Oh and I think there\'s some pretty good wine being made and now, exported to the States as well).\n\nOf course, all of this makes me wonder: what about Bulgaria? But I guess by now this doesn\'t surprise you. Well, so what about Bulgaria?<!--more-->\n\nHere\'s the thing, I don\'t know.\n\nI see lots of Bulgarian wine in grocery stores and shops at the 6 to 20 leva range but I don\'t hear much discussion of wine tasting in Bulgaria. Nor do I hear much about wine outside of the under 20 leva price range.\n\nA quick search reveals tasting at Todoroff Winery and a lot of rather questionable \"food and wine tours.\"  One of the questionable food and wine tours has my favorite bad Bulgarian of the day... when \"in 1936 Bulgaria got down under Turkish slavery.\"  I can only assume that Bulgaria was in fact not dancing or enjoying the \"Turkish slavery\" a lot but I digress.\n\nSo what\'s the story?\n\nAre there wine shops in Sofia hosting Bulgarian wine tastings? Are there tasting rooms?  If a girl had a map, a car and some friends what wineries could we visit? And which ones are worth a visit?  Or if the answer is meh, wine isn\'t very accessible in Bulgaria--why?\n\nOh and as a footnote, I\'ve been to Melnik five times in less than two years and while I like it, a girl can only go so many times to Bulgaria\'s smallest town.\n\nSo here\'s to trying new things, to learning more about Bulgarian wines (and grapes) and to enjoying spring--spring is after all the seemingly perfect time to spend a Saturday or a weekend wine tasting. Now if I only knew how to go about doing this.','Wine Tasting','','publish','open','open','','wine-tasting','','','2010-04-28 05:36:56','2010-04-28 04:36:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2705',0,'post','',8),(2710,1,'2010-04-29 07:30:56','2010-04-29 06:30:56','I woke up this morning and realized I\'d been dreaming in Bulgarian.\n\nWow. Right?\n\nI mean many people say this is the first sign that you\'re actually becoming fluent when you can dream in the language you\'re studying, learning or living. However in my case this dream was really just an extension of my real life--me stumbling and fumbling around. Only in this case, I was doing a good job conjugating verbs and I seemed to have a bigger vocabulary than I normally do.\n\nThis said, my dream was a pretty basic representation of my day-to-day life. The big difference was that instead of my interactions happening in real life--this time I was dreaming them up. There was nothing fantastic about my dream. Trust me, it was just me stumbling through Bulgarian.\n\nIt seems unnecessarily cruel that I\'ve now started dreaming about this. As if I don\'t do enough of this during the day, I now have to dream about it as well? <em>Great</em>.<!--more-->\n\nThe dream was combination of the following two conversations.\n\nScene 1: The setting is this--I am out dancing on a Saturday night with friends.\n<ul>\n	<li>Guy speaking Bulgarian into my ear which sounds to me like: Mahwhaa aa la, la, la....</li>\n	<li>Me, in Bulgarian: Excuse me?</li>\n	<li>Guy, louder in my ear: Mahwhaa aa la, la, la... But this time I also hear his name!</li>\n	<li>Me assuming I know what he\'s just said and filling in a lot of blanks in between respond in Bulgarian: My name is Carolyn. Nice to meet you.</li>\n	<li>Guy, more: Mahwhaa aa la, la, la...</li>\n	<li>Repeat of the first half of the conversation.</li>\n	<li>Me in Bulgarian: I don\'t understand.</li>\n	<li>Guy this time in pretty accent-less English: You dance well.</li>\n	<li>Me: Um, thanks.</li>\n</ul>\n..........................................\n\nScene 2: The setting is a rainy weekend afternoon buying veggies at an outdoor market. I pick out two different kinds of lettuce.  Please note, the following dialogue is all in Bulgarian.\n<ul>\n	<li>Vegetable guy: Good afternoon.</li>\n	<li>Me: Good afternoon.</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy looks at me and asks me : Mahwhaa aa la, la, li... onion?</li>\n	<li>Me: What?</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy points at green onions and asks me some version of the question again.</li>\n	<li>Me: No, I don\'t want onions.</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy tells me my total: 1 leva. And I pay.</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy: Mahwhaa aa la, la, li...?</li>\n	<li>Me: What?</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy: Mahwhaa aa li... and this time he adds are you a French woman or German woman?</li>\n	<li>Me: Oh, no. I am an American.</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy #1 to Vegetable guy #2: Hey, she\'s an American!</li>\n	<li>Vegetable guy #2: An American?</li>\n	<li>Me: Yes.</li>\n</ul>\n..........................................\n\nMy dream was basically a version of the two conversations above--a one sided dialogue. One where I was trying to rent a new apartment and order a cheese sandwich at the same time. Don\'t ask me why. And I only understood part of what people were telling and asking of me. I ended up just repeating I want it with sirene.  That\'s when I realized it was a dream.\n\nSo that\'s that.  I keep finding myself in situations where I have a vague understanding of the kinds of things one would probably be saying to me based on the context or the setting but I don\'t actually hear or understand what is being said to me. There are a number of external factors that influence my understanding from music to weather to accents and then there\'s my limited vocabulary.  My vocabulary allows me to survive in Bulgaria but gives me the sense that I am always living in a haze of sorts.\n\nA haze that allows me to see, to touch (if I wanted to) and to hear whoever is speaking to me but it prevents me from understanding them. It\'s a dream-like haze if you will. Only I am not dreaming and luckily for me the haze isn\'t<em> as</em> thick as it was when I first arrived in Bulgaria.\n\nWell, I take that back. Most of the time I am not dreaming.','Dreaming in Bulgarian','','publish','open','open','','dreaming-in-bulgarian','','','2010-04-29 07:30:56','2010-04-29 06:30:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2710',0,'post','',6),(2716,1,'2010-04-30 15:07:46','2010-04-30 14:07:46','Ever find yourself wondering: hey, what\'s going on in the Bulgarian pop scene? Or thinking: I\'ve really got to catch up on the latest Bulgarian pop.  <em>No</em>? Okay, I haven\'\'t spend much time thinking about it either. Sorry.\n\nThen last night, I was doing dishes and watching/listening to \"the Voice.\" Sofia\'s not-mtv but also not-chalga station for music videos. Generally they play really bad American pop music--which is lucky for me (as MTV seems to have gotten out of the business of playing music videos--go figure). Because it turns out, now that I live abroad, I have a very fond spot for bad American pop music in my heart.\n\nAnyhow a song that I didn\'t recognize came on. So I turned to see who it was. I had no idea. But he was singing about coffee and you all know how much I love coffee. I stopped doing dishes and started watching. The video is pretty straightforward--angsty guy at piano--but I couldn\'t make out what his accent was or what his nationality was. I wondered if he was German.\n\nHa. Turns out that he\'s Bulgarian. Who knew? His name is Monyx.  Here\'s his video:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8AY9n9NSvM&amp;feature=youtube_gdata]\n\nAs luck would have it both youtube and the Bulgarian version of youtube--vbox--have the video. VBox also has a <a href=\"http://vbox7.com/play:6659a4f9\">version with subtitles</a>. But, don\'t ask me why an English language music video has English subtitles. I just don\'t know. It would be much easier to understand if the video had Bulgarian subtitles but Monyx sings in English and his English is pretty accent-less. So that\'s that I have no idea what\'s going on with the subtitles.\n\nI still don\'t really know anything about Bulgarian pop. So this post is basically a report. Yes. There is Bulgarian pop. And here is a video. It\'s proof.','Catching Up','','publish','open','open','','catching-up','','','2010-04-30 15:07:46','2010-04-30 14:07:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2716',0,'post','',1),(2723,1,'2010-05-01 07:33:49','2010-05-01 06:33:49','','Spring Daisy','Spring Daisy','inherit','open','open','','img_3984','','','2010-05-01 07:33:49','2010-05-01 06:33:49','',2722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_3984.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2722,1,'2010-05-01 07:43:04','2010-05-01 06:43:04','Well, I am happy to report that spring is in full swing (and it turns out, so are my allergies). I\'ve spent the better part of the last week sneezing and digging through my bag for kleenex. Awesome. But at least spring is here in Sofia. And I couldn\'t be happier. <em>Really</em>.\n\nStill I am not sure how it got to be May already. It just doesn\'t seem possible. May 2010. Happy May Day!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2723\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Spring Daisy \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_3984.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2723\" title=\"Spring Daisy \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_3984.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere\'s a lot coming up this month and a lot to look forward to.  I am turning (gasp) 29 in the middle of this month. Which is pretty funny because most of the time I don\'t feel any older than I did at 24.  There are two four day weekends this month. The first I\'ll be exploring Bulgaria and the second, I\'ll be hopping on a plane and visiting Paris. This is a first for me and I\'m really excited about seeing the city.\n\nWell, I\'ve got a lot to do today--so I\'d better go get started. I\'ve got to \"tidy up the nursery,\" to do some grading, get outside to enjoy the good weather and do a little shopping. Hope everyone is enjoying the first day of May!!','Sofia, Spring and Sneezing','','publish','open','open','','sofia-spring-and-sneezing','','','2010-05-01 07:43:04','2010-05-01 06:43:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2722',0,'post','',1),(2727,1,'2010-05-02 10:15:46','2010-05-02 09:15:46','Colours &amp; Flavours is no more. It\'s a shame and I sincerely hate to write this sentence. I thought when friends told me this last weekend that it must be a mistake. I mean how could my favorite coffee shop close and not tell me? But it turns out that they were right.\n\nTwo weeks ago the shop closed suddenly and it\'s a loss for the neighborhood. When I followed up with the owner, I was told that there was some disagreement/discrepancy regarding the physical space and there was little to do to prevent the closure of the shop. I also understand that the decision is under review but that this could take months.\n\nWhat\'s a girl to do? <!--more-->\n\nSure shops close all of the time and I assume that this is more common for coffee shops--given the prices that you can charge for coffee versus the expense of rent, employees and the product. But, in my mind, what make the closing especially sad is the fact that the shop was forced to close. It was not a matter of choice.\n\nI\'ll miss Colours and Flavours.  It was a little oasis of good service, kind staff and coffee tucked away not far from the national theater and the central post office.In my mind it was a bright spot in these blocks of gray office buildings and cracked sidewalks.  I think it was good for the neighborhood--it had a following of regulars, great coffee and a wonderful atmosphere. Now the corner space that was Colours and Flavours is closed with advertising in the windows.  There\'s little trace of the coffee shop that was.\n\nLuckily, for me, the espresso machine and first rate baristas have moved down the street to Memento. So I can still get the same top-notch coffee.  But Memento is not and was never meant to be Colours and Flavours. The feeling is different. Not bad just different. Memento is much less of a neighborhood coffee shop and more up-scale cafe.\n\nFor a creature of habit like me, change like this is hard. But, change is good. I had my first coffee outside yesterday at Memento and I have to admit, it was pretty good. The weather was wonderful and to sit outside on the covered patio was nice.  Also nice? The easily accessible toilet. Oh and I think there\'s free wifi which I have yet to test out but it\'s nice to know that it\'s there if I ever want it.\n\nSo, I guess this is it--adieu Colours and Flavours.','Good-bye Colours &amp; Flavours','','publish','open','open','','good-bye-colours-flavours','','','2010-05-02 10:15:46','2010-05-02 09:15:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2727',0,'post','',4),(2731,1,'2010-05-03 06:27:58','2010-05-03 05:27:58','I\'ve been confronted with a dilemma. Basically it\'s this: do I buy a crimping iron or a food processor? Okay I realize that I am comparing apples and oranges in contemplating this question but these are the two appliances I\'ve been dreaming about recently.\n\nTo date, my big purchases over the last year and a half were an iron and a hairdryer.  I\'ve thought about buying some real wine glasses but frankly what\'s the point if you can drink wine equally well out of a water glass? Moreover, I\'ve been trying to live more simply--with fewer things now that I am living abroad but it\'s not always easy.\n\nThen the nagging question surfaced: crimping iron or food processor?\n\nI know, I know. This is a strange decision to be confronted with but of course there\'s a story behind it. <!--more-->\n\nThis weekend I was looking up a number of recipes for a \"nacho competición\" some of the international teachers at school are holding on May 5th--Cinco de Mayo. Most of the different recipes make quick work of the chopping and blending with a food processor.  Then I started dreaming of <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/03/hummus-two-ways/\">homemade hummus</a>, soups and other dishes which would be so much easier and so much more fun with a food processor. I mean I could even <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/04/small-batch-peanut-butter/\">make my own peanut butter</a> if I wanted to.\n\nBy 9am on Saturday, I had determined that I was going to buy a food processor. I mean, clearly, I need one. But it\'s thinking like this that made me say: whoa, Carolyn slow things down a little bit.\n\nSo instead I went downtown, had a coffee at Memento (rather than Colours and Flavours. See <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/good-bye-colours-flavours/\">yesterday\'s post</a> for more info on that) and then I bought a few new spring time tops and a skirt.  While I was pretending to finish re-reading the Heart of Darkness for school at Memento, I was actually busy checking out everyone\'s new spring styles.\n\nThis was the moment I realized: I need a crimping iron.  Yes, everyone it seems is rocking the crimp. But unlike the \'80s this time around it\'s selective crimping. There\'s a lot of crimping around the roots to add volume at the top but in many cases it looks like the crimping is even being hidden slightly by hair that has been hairsprayed in place over the crimped sections. Yes, it\'s pretty serious. If you will, it\'s edgy-modern crimping.\n\nI have for the record decided to forgo the other big look I saw on Saturday: shorts and nylons. I saw more of this look on Saturday than I ever needed to see and spring is just getting started. Oh dear.I thought: edit, edit edit. You girls don\'t need the nylons so take them off.\n\nAnd this sole idea brings me full circle. To need. It made me realize that I probably don\'t <em>need</em> either the food processor or the crimping iron.  So I am going to make the nachos the old fashioned way with my cutting board and a knife. I figure this will give me a chance to really think through whether or not I need a food processor.  As for the crimping iron? While I do kind of want one, it seems a bit much.','To need, to want','','publish','open','open','','to-need-to-want','','','2010-05-03 06:27:58','2010-05-03 05:27:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2731',0,'post','',13),(2735,1,'2010-05-03 19:47:56','2010-05-03 18:47:56','','Look how red these Strawberries are!','Look how red these Strawberries are!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01647','','','2010-05-03 19:47:56','2010-05-03 18:47:56','',2734,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01647.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2736,1,'2010-05-03 19:51:55','2010-05-03 18:51:55','','The strawberries are red all the way to the middle!','The strawberries are red all the way to the middle!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01648','','','2010-05-03 19:51:55','2010-05-03 18:51:55','',2734,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01648.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2737,1,'2010-05-03 19:58:46','2010-05-03 18:58:46','','Strawberry Breakfast!','Strawberry Breakfast!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01649','','','2010-05-03 19:58:46','2010-05-03 18:58:46','',2734,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01649.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2734,1,'2010-05-04 04:33:07','2010-05-04 03:33:07','I <em>love </em>May and Strawberries. A lot.\n\nStrawberries are a quintessential part of spring for me. I guess this is because strawberries are in season in the Pacific Northwest between May and July.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2735\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Look how red these Strawberries are! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01647.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2735\" title=\"Look how red these Strawberries are! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01647.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nTo me, they taste like sunshine, spring, rain and a little bit of earth. So when I saw strawberries at Billa at the end of April I thought--too early. But then I bought 500g anyway. They were surprisingly good.  I don\'t know if I\'ve ever bought strawberries in the grocery store--a big chain grocery store that were as ripe as these. I mean these strawberries out they are red all the way to middle. It\'s unheard of in the states to buy strawberries that are red in the middle from a big chain--by far the norm is strawberries from the grocery store are largely white in the middle.  Not these!<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2736\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The strawberries are red all the way to the middle! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01648.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2736\" title=\"The strawberries are red all the way to the middle! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01648.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSince last week, I\'ve eaten lots of strawberries.  Strawberries on yogurt, strawberries in salads, strawberries and cheese, strawberries whole straight from the box.  It\'s the life. I tell you, strawberries make everything better. In fact, it\'s like having magic in my refrigerator. Okay, okay.  Now I am sure you\'re thinking: gesh, stop exaggerating Carolyn.  But this is probably just because you\'re jealous. So I am excusing you.\n\nI mean, check out what I had for breakfast:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2737\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Strawberry Breakfast!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01649.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2737\" title=\"Strawberry Breakfast! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01649.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am <em>almost</em> jealous.  And, I ate it for breakfast.\n\nSee how the strawberries are turning the yogurt red? That\'s the sign of a good strawberry. And I know my strawberries after picking my fair share of u-pick strawberries when I was younger and working at a fruit and berry stand when I was in high school and college.\n\nSo the only thing left? Well, now I\'ve got to whip up a batch of strawberry short cakes with cream. That seems like a great way to celebrate spring. On top of that it seems pretty wholesome and like a fairly American pursuit.','Strawberries!','','publish','open','open','','strawberries','','','2010-05-04 04:33:07','2010-05-04 03:33:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2734',0,'post','',5),(2746,1,'2010-05-06 09:02:54','2010-05-06 08:02:54','So I\'ve been thinking about my experiences here in Bulgaria on the Fulbright and this week I got an email from a candidate who has just been offered a Fulbright to Bulgaria.\n\nI thought, well, now\'s the perfect time to write down some memories, share some insight and generally ramble. Then I decided, I can do one better. I am going to make a litmus test.  Yep, I just made a magazine quality test so that you can test your ability to make it in Bulgaria.\n\nBut before the test let me say this.\n\nFor me, the Fulbright experience was an excellent one. (I mean, I am still here and I am getting ready for year three!) I knew next to nothing about the country when I accepted the grant and aside from a few moments of homesickness I\'ve never regretted the move or the experience.\n\nIs it easy? No. But if you\'re up for an adventure and a challenge I don\'t think that you\'ll ever regret doing a Fulbright in a country. This said, attitude matters a lot.<!--more-->\n\nUltimately, I guess what it comes down to is attitude. My blog is an extension of this attitude.  If you\'ve lived abroad before you probably know this but I jumped into the deep-end. I\'d never lived abroad or for that matter really ever traveled abroad before I moved to Bulgaria. None of this play-it-safe in a Western European country or English speaking country. I went straight to Eastern Europe and a country whose alphabet is Cyrillic.\n\nAside from attitude, I think the other important thing is adjusting your expectations.  You\'ll never learn the language as quickly as you want to. Everything takes longer to do than you think it should. People never speak English when you\'re desperate for them to. Bulgaria is part of the European Union but you can\'t mistake this for being European.\n\nIn the last 150 years Bulgaria went from Ottoman rule to communism and now membership in the EU.  That\'s a lot of change in not very many years.  This (relatively) quick transition makes Bulgaria both very exciting and often terribly confusing.\n\nFirst things first, I guess you have to decide if Bulgaria for you.  Bulgaria is certainly not for everyone.\n\nA quick litmus test? Okay, here it goes:\n<ul>\n	<li>Do you like tomatoes and cucumbers?</li>\n	<li>Are you lactose intolerant?</li>\n	<li>Do you know your dress size in British, European, Italian and Bulgarian sizing?</li>\n	<li>Are overcrowded buses charming or scary?</li>\n	<li>Is cigarette smoke a problem for you?</li>\n	<li>Can you roll with last minute changes and adjustments to everything?</li>\n	<li>Are you good at party games like charades, pictionary and guesstures?</li>\n	<li>Do you require a sidewalk to walk places by foot?</li>\n	<li>Could you get used to nodding the American \"no\" for \"yes\"?</li>\n	<li>Do you like standing in lines?</li>\n	<li>Are you okay with drinking coffee out of plastic cups?</li>\n	<li>Do you like the color gray?</li>\n	<li>Are old cars, buildings, buses, streets depressing or interesting?</li>\n	<li>Do you like music from the early \'90s?</li>\n	<li>Are you down with homemade alcohol?</li>\n	<li>Are you willing to eat anything and then tell the maker of said dish/treat/preserves delicious?</li>\n	<li>Will strip clubs, sex shops and/or pornography on sale at news stands shock you?</li>\n	<li>Do you own a crimping iron? (Okay, I don\'t. <em>Yet</em>.)</li>\n	<li>Are you okay with ordering straight from a menu without making any changes or special requests?</li>\n	<li>What do you think about pastry and cheese? Amazing combination?</li>\n	<li>How do you feel about garbage? And garbage that doesn\'t make into a garbage can?</li>\n	<li>Does the thought of bureaucracy make you smile or shudder?</li>\n	<li>Are leggings pants?</li>\n	<li>Looking for something undiscovered, a little bit grimy and full of character?</li>\n	<li>Are you quick to laugh? to see the humor in the absurd?</li>\n</ul>\nOkay, this is probably where I should give you a key of some sort to make sense of the series of questions I just posed but I am not really sure how to do that. This is probably because I am not good at black and white and I see shades of gray in everything. So I\'ll leave you to think about the above.\n\nGood luck and let me know, dear readers, if you\'ve got questions, suggestions or additional insight.  That is after all what the comments section is for!!','My Litmus Test &amp; Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','my-litmus-test-bulgaria','','','2010-05-06 09:02:54','2010-05-06 08:02:54','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2746',0,'post','',9),(2756,1,'2010-05-07 17:44:58','2010-05-07 16:44:58','','Lemon Avocado Cookies','Lemon Avocado Cookies','inherit','open','open','','dsc01659','','','2010-05-07 17:44:58','2010-05-07 16:44:58','',2754,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01659.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2754,1,'2010-05-07 17:51:07','2010-05-07 16:51:07','It\'s a long weekend. Yeah. I am here in Sofia. Yeah. Relaxing and trying to catch-up on a 1000 different things. Mostly though, I\'ve been drinking coffee and reading books.  Yeah. It\'s the life.\n\nThen I decided to really shake things up and make cookies. I can\'t remember the last time I\'ve baked cookies. Brownies, cheese cakes, banana bread, an apple pie and bagels? Well that\'s a different story.  But there\'s something so nice about making a treat that requires just a few simple ingredients, a bowl and some stirring.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2756\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Lemon Avocado Cookies\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01659.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2756\" title=\"Lemon Avocado Cookies\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01659.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOnly I looked in my fridge and I didn\'t have enough butter to make cookies--but I did have half an avocado.  And really why shouldn\'t I make an avocado cookie I thought to myself.  I did a quick internet search for avocado cookies and butter-avocado substitutions.\n\nHere\'s what I came up with. <!--more-->It\'s a lemon-avocado refrigerator cookie.  Yep. It\'s got both fruit and veggies!! Okay, okay avocado is probably a fruit and not a vegetable but it\'s still an awesome cookie and I ate two this morning for breakfast.\n\nLemon-Avocado Refrigerator Cookies:\n<ul>\n	<li>1/4 cup butter softened</li>\n	<li>1/2 an avocado mashed</li>\n	<li>1 egg</li>\n	<li>3/4 cup white sugar</li>\n	<li>1/2 tsp vanilla</li>\n	<li>1/2 tsp lemon juice</li>\n	<li>1 tsp lemon peal</li>\n	<li>1 3/4 cups flour</li>\n	<li>1/2 tsp baking powder</li>\n</ul>\n<ol>\n	<li> Beat the butter, avocado,  sugar, vanilla and lemon juice together in a bowl until  creamy and smooth, and stir in the egg until well incorporated. Stir in  the flour, lemon peal, and baking powder  until well blended. Cut the dough into 2 equal-sized pieces, and shape  each piece into a log about 1 1/4-inch in diameter. Wrap the logs in  plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or place in freezer for  about 1 hour.</li>\n	<li> Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).</li>\n	<li> Cut the logs of dough into thin slices, 1/8 to  1/4-inch thick. Bake  until the cookies are set and the edges turn  golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on baking sheets  before removing to wire racks to finish cooling.</li>\n</ol>\nAnyhow, I hope that you get a kick out of this recipe.  It makes tasty chewy cookies that are lightly lemony and with the slightest hint of avocado. Yum, yum, yum.','Baking Cookies','','publish','open','open','','baking-cookies','','','2010-05-07 17:51:07','2010-05-07 16:51:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2754',0,'post','',2),(2760,1,'2010-05-08 07:38:29','2010-05-08 06:38:29','Guantanamo detainee! Bulgaria has a Guantanamo detainee of it\'s very own. The detainee has been granted refugee status in Bulgaria and now the government is working to help him (and his wife) get settled.\n\nFirst thing first, thanks Bulgaria. This Guantanamo Bay thing got out of control during the Bush-Cheney years.  Now 10 or so years later, it\'s beginning to seem like this mess is never going to get worked out. At least this is one small step to closing Guantanamo Bay.\n\nThis morning I was gmail chatting with my sister and told her about the blog post I was working on. She thought it was interesting that Bulgaria would chose to accept a detainee.  I think so too.  But I\'ve written about this already in a <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/bulgaria-and-guantanamo/\">post on February 1st</a>.\n\nToday it was this headline that caught my eye: <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=115984\">Resettled Guantanamo Prisoner\'s First Words in Bulgaria</a>. I read the article with excitement--what are his first words going to be? <!--more-->Here\'s a quick review of the best five I came up with:\n<ul>\n	<li>Thank-you, Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li>My name is .... (fill in name)</li>\n	<li>I am from ....  (fill in Syria)</li>\n	<li>I am a .... (fill in occupation)</li>\n	<li>This is much better than America.</li>\n</ul>\nI came up with this list based on the opening chapters of most \"Bulgarian for Foreigners\" text books.  Basically you learn some greetings, how to say some basic things in present tense about yourself and a long list of Bulgarian food. It\'s enough.\n\nWell, it turns out that the detainees first words in Bulgarian were reported by the Sofia News Agency this way:\n<blockquote>Interestingly enough, the sentence that the former prisoner uttered in  Bulgarian after the immediate start of his language training was, \"I  want back in Guantanamo!\"</blockquote>\nReally?! Is this for real? <em>This</em> was his first sentence in Bulgarian.  It\'s nearly unbelievable.  I wonder what text book he\'s studying from. But moreover, what does this even mean?\n\nIs he saying that life was better in Guantanamo? Or that he dislikes Bulgaria? Or maybe he\'s frustrated with learning Bulgarian.  I understand that feeling.\n\nBut really, who\'s teaching this man and helping him integrate? It seems like a strategic mistake has been made.\n\nSomehow this man hasn\'t been exposed to the wide variety of dairy products this country has to offer. I mean, give the man some sirine.  Because as we all know, his first sentence in Bulgarian should have been either: I love sirine or I love shopksa salad.\n\nOkay, all of this banter aside, I sincerely hope that things are going well for this detainee.  What strange mixed up journey he\'s been on and I can only imagine that life in Bulgaria will be a shocking adjustment for him. As for the cheese thing, I am serious about that too--get this man some Bulgarian cheese and yogurt.','It&#039;s official, it&#039;s a....','','publish','open','open','','its-official-its-a','','','2010-05-08 07:38:29','2010-05-08 06:38:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2760',0,'post','',1),(2768,1,'2010-05-09 08:16:41','2010-05-09 07:16:41','','My Pad Thai','My Pad Thai','inherit','open','open','','dsc01666','','','2010-05-09 08:16:41','2010-05-09 07:16:41','',2766,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01666.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2769,1,'2010-05-09 09:54:53','2010-05-09 08:54:53','','Making Thai Food','Making Thai Food','inherit','open','open','','dsc01662','','','2010-05-09 09:54:53','2010-05-09 08:54:53','',2766,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01662.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2766,1,'2010-05-09 10:03:28','2010-05-09 09:03:28','More than a week ago, I saw Mark Bittman\'s recipe for Pad Thai in the NYT. I love Bittman and Pad Thai. It was like the article was written just for me.\n\nThe big challenge was finding all of the ingredients to make the dish in Sofia, Bulgaria. I kept thinking I was going to make a trip to the Chinese food shop but then between Hit and Billa I found nearly everything I needed to make the recipe. Who knew? Truthfully I was kind of surprised but in a good way.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2768\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Pad Thai\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01666.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2768\" title=\"My Pad Thai\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01666.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOn Friday afternoon at Billa, I was buying some last minute ingredients.  I ended in the checkout line of this sort of nutty woman. She\'s got tons of dyed black hair and always wears a little too much lipstick.  A few weeks ago she started telling me my total in Bulgarian and then saying in English: only and the price.  Then she smiles very proud of herself. I smile too because I am proud of her and I think it\'s funny.\n\nWell, Friday we go through this same routine.  Only this time, in Bulgarian, she asks me what I am cooking. (Wow! All of my smiles and have a good-days have paid off.) I don\'t know how to tell her Thai food so I tell her Chinese food.  She nods knowingly.  I nod back. Then she asks me if I have kids. I am not sure how cooking Chinese food leads to asking me if I have kids but I am not sure about how a lot of things work here. I tell her no but I am a teacher. She smiles and asks me at the American College of Sofia? Yes!\n\nAnyhow, it was a really nice conversation even if I don\'t understand the connection between Chinese food and children.\n\nAt home, I threw together the Pad Thai.  <!--more-->It turned out great. It wasn\'t quite restaurant-perfect but that\'s okay. Heck, it\'s nice to have something to work on. But I mostly I was overcome by the thought: I\'ve got you Pad Thai. I am the boss of you. Then my only thought was this: why, oh, why didn\'t I make more of you? Thank-you, Mark Bittman, thank-you!\n\nA few hard to find ingredients, a lot of chopping and a little bit of cooking later and I had at-home-pad thai worth writing about.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2769\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Making Thai Food \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01662.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2769\" title=\"Making Thai Food \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01662.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHere\'s my take on the Bittman recipe with some Bulgarian substitutions.  Make it. You won\'t be sorry. It\'s the perfect mix of tangy and sweet with a crunch of vegetable.  I will not be opening a Thai food restaurant any time soon but I\'ll be adding this recipe to my repertoire.\n\n<strong>Pad Thai</strong>\n<div>\n\n4 ounces fettuccine-width rice stick noodles\n\n1/4 cup peanut  oil (Bulgarian substitution sunflower oil)\n\n2 to 4 tablespoons tamarind paste (Bulgarian substitution two tbs lime juice and 1 tbs ketchup)\n\n1/4 cup fish sauce  (nam pla) (Bulgarian substitution soy sauce--although I am sure fish sauce would be better)\n\n1/3 cup honey\n\n2 tablespoons rice vinegar (Bulgarian substitution white wine vinegar)\n\n1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste\n\n1/4 cup chopped  scallions (Bulgarian substitution spring green onions)\n\n1 garlic clove, minced\n\n2 eggs\n\n1 small head  Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)\n\n1 cup mung bean sprouts\n\n1/2 pound peeled shrimp, pressed <a title=\"More articles about tofu.\" href=\"http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/tofu/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier\">tofu</a> or a combination\n\n1/2  cup roasted peanuts, chopped\n\n1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro\n\n2  limes, quartered\n\n</div>\n1.  Put noodles in a large bowl and add boiling  water to cover. Let sit until noodles are just tender; check every 5  minutes or so to make sure  they do not get too soft. Drain, drizzle  with one tablespoon oil to keep from sticking and set aside.  Meanwhile, put tamarind paste, fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small  saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Stir in red  pepper flakes and set aside.\n\n2.  Put   remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat;  when  oil shimmers, add scallions and garlic and cook for about a  minute. Add eggs to  pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until  just done. Add cabbage and bean sprouts and continue to cook until  cabbage begins to wilt, then add  shrimp or tofu (or both).\n\n3.  When  shrimp begin to turn pink and  tofu  begins to brown, add drained noodles to  pan along with  sauce. Toss  everything together to coat with  tamarind sauce and combine well. When   noodles are warmed through, serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts  and garnishing with  cilantro and lime wedges.\n\nYield:  4 servings.','Pad Thai-esque','','publish','open','open','','pad-thai-esque','','','2010-05-09 10:03:28','2010-05-09 09:03:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2766',0,'post','',6),(2744,1,'2010-05-10 04:51:01','2010-05-10 03:51:01','I\'ve got a new obsession. Seat belts. I think everyone should use them. I especially think that children should be in the backseat and buckled in.\n\nYesterday morning I wanted to yell at a dad driving a pretty nice car down the street: Hey, you! Buckle your child up when you\'re in the car. You may think that you\'re a good driver (and not think you are a bad driver) but not everyone else is. So use the seat belt!\n\nI realize that safety standards are different in the States than many other countries and that many American parents worry needlessly about a 100 different things each hour that don\'t cross the minds of Bulgarian parents. We\'re crazy in the States about safety, allergies, germs, diseases and even things like organic snacks.\n\nBut really, you\'re killing me.<!--more-->\n\nEvery time I see a child not buckled in my heart breaks. It takes almost no time. I believe that seat belts save lives.  Um, yes. There is a whole public safety campaign with this slogan and I just shamelessly stole it from them. But it\'s good. Buckle up for safety.\n\nIt\'s easy. Really, easy. It only takes a minute (or less).  And I think that you should be doing it every time. Lord knows, I\'ve seen the drivers in this country, the quality of the streets, the attention (or lack there of) to traffic laws not to mention the two headed monsters driving around and backing their trucks into brick walls.\n\nOh wait. I think that last one it\'s from a different stage of my life. Yep. Sure enough. There are a number of seat belts skits from Sesame Street which may also help me to further my case and support my obsession.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Jy1gMWHfA]\n\nHey, you. Buckle up your seat belt. And your child\'s.\n\nDo. It okay?!\n\nYou make me nervous. You make me worry about your children. And you make me think (because culturally I\'ve been trained to think this) that you\'re being negligent. You\'re not protecting your child.','Use your seat belt','','publish','open','open','','use-your-seat-belt','','','2010-05-10 04:51:01','2010-05-10 03:51:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2744',0,'post','',4),(2783,1,'2010-05-11 04:51:20','2010-05-11 03:51:20','','Young girl and grandfather','Young girl and grandfather','inherit','open','open','','dsc01650','','','2010-05-11 04:51:20','2010-05-11 03:51:20','',2782,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01650.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2784,1,'2010-05-11 04:53:36','2010-05-11 03:53:36','','Close up: Young girl and grandfather','Close up: Young girl and grandfather','inherit','open','open','','dsc01651','','','2010-05-11 04:53:36','2010-05-11 03:53:36','',2782,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01651.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2782,1,'2010-05-11 05:08:46','2010-05-11 04:08:46','Most days I have my camera with me but of course, when you see the most amazing things you don\'t have it, can\'t find it your bag or while you\'re digging around you miss the moment. All of the above happen to me more than I\'d like to admit but recently I caught these two photos.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2783\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Young girl and grandfather \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01650.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2783\" title=\"Young girl and grandfather \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01650.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNotice the coordinating track suit-esque outfits? <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2784\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Close up: Young girl and grandfather \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01651.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2784\" title=\"Close up: Young girl and grandfather \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01651.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe subjects, the shirt and the billboard seemed too perfect for words. Look at how well the young girl matches the McDonald\'s billboard and Grandpa\'s shirt couldn\'t be better in the 5 o\'clock rush hour/traffic jam in Mladost. You should know that I had to stop to paw through my bag in order to get my camera out and my subjects didn\'t stop so I was the crazy blond-girl chasing after this pair with my camera. Lots of people turned to look. Oh well, it was worth it.\n\nBasically, these two photos sum up my walk home from school most afternoons. Traffic, interesting people for me to stare at, cars and buses backed up for blocks, honking (okay my photo didn\'t capture that) and these little moments of hand holding and cracked concrete sidewalks.','Mladost in May','','publish','open','open','','mladost-in-may','','','2010-05-11 05:08:46','2010-05-11 04:08:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2782',0,'post','',0),(2788,1,'2010-05-12 05:18:55','2010-05-12 04:18:55','Well, it\'s a slow day for news.\n\nI have been teaching, grading and teaching again and it\'s going to be like this all week. And I am going to be working on Saturday as well. (Thanks, Boyko Borissov.) In May there are two, four day weekends for various holidays and now we\'re making up one of these \"holidays\" on Saturday. You know because otherwise the country might loose money by not working.  <em>Awesome. </em>\n\nIt feels like much less of a holiday when this happens.\n\nAnyhow, I know that I\'ve written about this phenomena before so I won\'t lament this too much more but I can\'t help but think: ug. (Or maybe even double ug.)\n\nI guess what it comes down to is that I think the weekend is mine. I look forward to it. I look forward to managing my own time, doing what I want to and wearing my sweatpants.<!--more-->\n\nWhat\'s interesting to me is that Americans are generally known for living to work while Europeans are thought of as working to live.  It\'s said that regularly Americans often don\'t take all of their earned holiday time each year (maybe two weeks) while Europeans take their earned holiday time (maybe three weeks) each year. Europeans are held up as a standard for many Americans to consider as it\'s thought that the best employees are those who take care of themselves--these men and women make fewer mistakes on the job, are more productive and better looking. Okay I made that last one up but seriously, they take care of themselves and make time to vacation.\n\nBut working on a Saturday? I am not even sure how this fits into the equation. Oh well.\n\nSo what\'s a girl to do? Well, as I don\'t foresee the Saturday \"make-up\" day disappearing anytime soon, I guess I\'ve got to make the best of the holiday time I\'m given and I\'ll fuel up on coffee this Saturday, put on a smile and get ready to teach.','Working on Saturday','','publish','open','open','','working-on-saturday','','','2010-05-12 05:18:55','2010-05-12 04:18:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2788',0,'post','',4),(2795,1,'2010-05-13 09:49:52','2010-05-13 08:49:52','This is just to say.\n\nI\'ve noticed recently that every time I take a taxi in Sofia the driver is listening to chalga.  But nine times out of ten, shortly after I climb in and give directions, he will change the music to either \'80s rock or bad pop music. Is the assumption that I couldn\'t possibly want to listen to chalga?\n\nOh, the mysterious ways of taxis in Sofia.','Taxis and Chalga','','publish','open','open','','taxis-and-chalga','','','2010-05-13 09:49:52','2010-05-13 08:49:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2795',0,'post','',7),(2798,1,'2010-05-14 15:31:15','2010-05-14 14:31:15','I\'m going to see AC/DC tonight in Sofia. It\'s the first time that the band has ever played in Bulgaria. And frankly, I can\'t wait. I think it\'s going to be priceless. Like, unbelievable.\n\nYes I think it\'s going to be unbelievably good. I am looking forward to seeing the concert but also to doing some serious people watching. I really pumped up to check out what people are wearing, who\'s in attendance and the like. I have a hunch it\'s going to be a strange little rock and roll theater tonight.\n\nIn order to prepare I\'ve been listening to AC/DC this afternoon. Not that this will surprise you much but there\'s an amazing collection of AC/DC on youtube--and some especially clever covers of their songs.\n\nHere\'s the thing AC/DC is probably not a band I\'d buy tickets for the in the States but this seemed too good to pass up.  And listening to AC/DC all afternoon has gotten me really pumped up for the show.\n\nNow if you\'ll excuse me, I\'ve got a concert to get ready for. And for this, I\'ve got to wiggle into some too-tight and overly bleached jeans, tease my hair and cut the sleeves off an otherwise good t-shirt. This is going to be awesome.\n\nTo everyone joining me tonight, hope that you have a great time. For everyone else, don\'t worry I\'ll report back.','AC/DC in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','acdc-in-sofia','','','2010-05-14 15:31:15','2010-05-14 14:31:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2798',0,'post','',4),(2801,1,'2010-05-15 14:44:38','2010-05-15 13:44:38','The AC/DC concert was just as amazing as I expected it would be! The crowd was lively and very, um, Bulgarian--but in a good way. <em>And </em>the band really rocked--they played a good mix of classic AC/DC and some of their new album (who knew?). But there should be no illusions, the old stuff was by far the favorite.\n\nI am happy to report that there was plenty of fist pumping, lots of black denim and tons of AC/DC t-shirts. The Sofia Echo reported the event as a <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2010/05/15/901307_acdc-perform-phenomenal-show-in-sofia-and-sofia-saluted\" target=\"_self\">\"heavy rock orgasm.\"</a> I am not sure it was <em>that</em> great.\n\nBecause, in my mind, there wasn\'t enough dancing.  Okay, I\'m in Bulgaria. So I am not really surprised by this but if you\'re not going to dance to classic AC/DC when are you going to dance?\n\nLuckily, we ended up next to this incredible guy. He was proficient at air guitar, drums and head banging.   He seemed to be channeling AC/DC. At the start of every new song, he\'d stand and listen for a moment and then he\'d stretch his hands over his head and as soon as the song would get going he\'d break is arms down and start playing his instrument of choice.  Usually air guitar.  He was really pumped about the concert.<!--more--> So much so, that he was also recording on his cellphone the play list of the concert.\n\nIt was really great to be standing in proximity to somebody who was so into the show.  I think that people like this make the whole show better.  In someways, I was more jazzed about the concert just because he was enjoying himself so much.  So to the guy next to me with the serious beard and arm tattoos (who I think was Greek)--thanks for rocking out!\n\nTo AC/DC, thanks for the concert. I had a hell of a good time. But I do have one complaint.  It\'s simply this, changing the to lyrics <em>You Shook Me All Night Long</em> was lame. The line as I am sure you know is \"knockin\' me out with those American thighs\" but when you changed it to \"knockin\' me out with those Bulgarian thighs\" you lost part of the integrity of the song.\n\nI mean did you not look around you before the concert? I think if you had, you\'d have realized how difficult it would be for a Bulgarian woman to knock anyone out let alone a Bulgarian man with their thighs. I am serious.\n\nI get why you did it. You were trying to connect with your Bulgarian audience but really at what cost? Now, today as I am writing this post I can\'t get the comical yet annoying image of a Bulgarian woman vice like trying to knock out a Bulgarian man with her legs--she\'s trying over and over again but without any luck. Thanks, AC/DC, thanks.  Okay I fully realize that I shouldn\'t be taking this literally but still.  Stick to the words.\n\nThanks AC/DC. Given all of the ways I could spend a Friday night, this one was pretty great!!','Observastions: AC/DC','','publish','open','open','','observastions-acdc','','','2010-05-15 14:44:38','2010-05-15 13:44:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2801',0,'post','',0),(2810,1,'2010-05-16 19:45:45','2010-05-16 18:45:45','','Friends at My Birthday','Friends at My Birthday','inherit','open','open','','dsc01690','','','2010-05-16 19:45:45','2010-05-16 18:45:45','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01690.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2811,1,'2010-05-16 19:48:02','2010-05-16 18:48:02','','My AC/DC Ticket','My AC/DC Ticket','inherit','open','open','','dsc01671','','','2010-05-16 19:48:02','2010-05-16 18:48:02','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01671.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2812,1,'2010-05-16 19:54:59','2010-05-16 18:54:59','','Me and My Bulgarian Tutor!','Me and My Bulgarian Tutor!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01687','','','2010-05-16 19:54:59','2010-05-16 18:54:59','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01687.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2813,1,'2010-05-16 19:57:10','2010-05-16 18:57:10','','Birthday Cupcakes!','Birthday Cupcakes!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01681','','','2010-05-16 19:57:10','2010-05-16 18:57:10','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01681.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2816,1,'2010-05-16 20:09:27','2010-05-16 19:09:27','','Cupcakes!','Cupcakes!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01680','','','2010-05-16 20:09:27','2010-05-16 19:09:27','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01680.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2817,1,'2010-05-16 20:15:33','2010-05-16 19:15:33','','Language School Friends!','Language School Friends!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01720','','','2010-05-16 20:15:33','2010-05-16 19:15:33','',2808,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01720.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2808,1,'2010-05-16 20:21:26','2010-05-16 19:21:26','I am celebrating early this year. My birthday is May 18th but somehow this year I haven\'t been able to limit it to a specific day. I seem to just barely be able to contain it within the month of May. It\'s been pretty great (and today is only the 16th).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2810\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Friends at My Birthday\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01690.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2810\" title=\"Friends at My Birthday\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01690.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n29, oh, 29.  I\'ve nearly completed my 20s.  Soon I won\'t be a twenty-something. But I am not worried.  I think that 29 is going to be better than 28 and it\'s not even my actual birthday yet.  Okay, okay. Maybe I am counting my chickens before they\'ve hatched but really, 29 is off to an auspicious start!<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2811\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My AC/DC Ticket\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01671.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2811\" title=\"My AC/DC Ticket\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01671.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis month I\'ve seen AC/DC in Sofia. It rocked. Enough said.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2812\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and My Bulgarian Tutor! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01687.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2812\" title=\"Me and My Bulgarian Tutor! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01687.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI celebrated my birthday with friends at Memento. Everyone was amazing. I feel really lucky to have spent my birthday with my friends.  It was great fun. I mean, heck, check out these beautiful cupcakes my friend A. made.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2816\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Cupcakes! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01680.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2816\" title=\"Cupcakes! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01680.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThey were almost too pretty to eat. But just <em>almost</em>. A rainbow of pinks, greens, oranges and blues. Lovely, lovely, lovely.  They were also delicious. Delicious, delicious, delicious.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2813\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Birthday Cupcakes! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01681.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2813\" title=\"Birthday Cupcakes! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01681.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd, I am going to Paris next weekend. I hope that volcano doesn\'t ruin my plans. Fingers crossed. I\'ve never been to Paris before.  I\'m looking forward to sight-seeing, museum going, lots of eating, strolling and hopefully enjoying spring in Paris.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2817\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Language School Friends! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01720.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2817\" title=\"Language School Friends! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nYep, it\'s been pretty great already and I don\'t actually turn 29 until Tuesday.\n\nSome people worry about getting older. Not me. I am thankful for all of the great things I was able to do last year and I am looking forward to everything that\'s in store for me as I navigate 29! It\'s shaping up to be a great year.','29 Is Looking Good!','','publish','open','open','','29-is-looking-good','','','2010-05-16 20:21:26','2010-05-16 19:21:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2808',0,'post','',3),(2821,1,'2010-05-18 05:05:09','2010-05-18 04:05:09','Traditionally, Bulgarians give  chocolate to their friends and colleagues on their birthdays (and namedays). What a  nice tradition and as a teacher I\'ve eaten plenty of chocolate this year. Thanks!\n\nAnyhow, today\'s my birthday.  But as distance and time would have it (and the fact that I don\'t actually know many of you), probably I wont see  you all to give you chocolate today.  Sorry.\n\nRather, why not treat yourself?!  I  think it\'s a great excuse! Eat some chocolate, have a coffee and try to get this cold rainy day in Sofia off to a good start.','Chocolate','','publish','open','open','','chocolate','','','2010-05-18 05:05:09','2010-05-18 04:05:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2821',0,'post','',9),(2826,1,'2010-05-18 18:38:01','2010-05-18 17:38:01','','Chocolates!','Chocolates!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01734','','','2010-05-18 18:38:01','2010-05-18 17:38:01','',2824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01734.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2827,1,'2010-05-18 18:41:28','2010-05-18 17:41:28','','Cookies with My Name','Cookies with My Name','inherit','open','open','','dsc01736','','','2010-05-18 18:41:28','2010-05-18 17:41:28','',2824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01736.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2824,1,'2010-05-18 18:51:13','2010-05-18 17:51:13','The chocolates were a hit today! My students thought it was wonderful that I was the one giving them chocolate rather than the other way around.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2826\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Chocolates!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01734.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2826\" title=\"Chocolates!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01734.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI told them that I was following the Bulgarian tradition by giving them chocolates. They were surprised by the fact that this wasn\'t a tradition in the States.  They wanted to know why we don\'t give our friends chocolate on our birthdays.  Well, I don\'t have an answer for this.\n\nIt\'s pretty great. First because you get to eat chocolate. But second because you get to tell everyone: Hey today\'s my birthday! Then people wish you health and happiness and all sorts of wonderful things.\n\nMy students and colleagues were all really wonderful today.  I got lots of warm wishes, smiles and laughs. That\'s pretty priceless. And in my mind makes for a great tradition. (Oh and I have some left over chocolate.  I never thought about how that might happen.)\n\nI got two pretty hysterical pieces of advice today.<!--more-->\n\nThe first was from one of my best students. This students works very hard and earns 6\'s. (Um, for everyone else who is unfamiliar with the Bulgarian grade scale this is like an \"A\" in the States.) She wishes me health, luck, love, wealth, happiness and 6\'s for all of my students.  Clearly, I had to tease her about this.  She laughed and said: Think about how great that would make your life. I said: I think that would make your life great. Her response: Yes. But students would love you. <em>Oh, right</em>.\n\nThen, on my way to my Bulgarian lesson at school, I ran into two of my favorite campus guards.  One doesn\'t speak English and the other one speaks a really good amount of English.  They are both at least 65 years old if not older and really cheerful and funny.  I had my box of chocolates with me so I stopped to give them chocolate.\n\nThey asked me how old I was.  Then we talked about my sign for a minute--Taurus--and how two of us have the same sign. Then I said: I have to go in for my Bulgarian lesson. And then they told me: You\'re old enough to know this now. At this moment, I can only think, this is going to be good.\n\nMe: Know what? English Speaking Guard: The best way to learn Bulgarian... in, well, two or three months... is, you know, with a Bulgarian. I laugh. The old men engage in winking and nudging each other like high school boys. <em>Yep</em>.\n\nAnd until then, I go to my lessons and think about how I really should study Bulgarian more regularly and seriously.  But the actual truth is that I just think about how funny old Bulgarian men are and try to pay attention in my lesson.\n\nI also got a plate of cookies with my name spelled out on them. That was cool. No one has ever done that for me before.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2827\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Cookies with My Name\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01736.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2827\" title=\"Cookies with My Name\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01736.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo that\'s that. Birthday number two in Bulgaria was pretty darn good! Thanks to each of you for all of the warm wishes.','Birthday Update','','publish','open','open','','birthday-update','','','2010-05-18 18:51:13','2010-05-18 17:51:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2824',0,'post','',2),(2833,1,'2010-05-19 16:48:02','2010-05-19 15:48:02','','Carpe Diem 2008','Carpe Diem 2008','inherit','open','open','','dsc01743','','','2010-05-19 16:48:02','2010-05-19 15:48:02','',2832,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01743.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2832,1,'2010-05-19 18:30:29','2010-05-19 17:30:29','Here\'s a shot of a bottle of birthday wine, I received from friends. As luck would have it, it\'s a lovely blend of  Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.\n\nAnd, yep, it\'s Bulgarian.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2833\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Carpe Diem 2008\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01743.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2833\" title=\"Carpe Diem 2008\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01743.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe wine glass is also notable.  It\'s new!  Thanks to one of my good friends (who is also a close reader of my blog), I now have wine glasses. They were such a wonderful surprise! Because they are both useful and thoughtful.\n\nMaybe <em>Carpe Diem</em> will have to be my motto this year.\n\nBut maybe that\'s too cliche for words.','Wine &amp; Wine Glasses','','publish','open','open','','wine-wine-glasses','','','2010-05-19 18:30:29','2010-05-19 17:30:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2832',0,'post','',0),(2837,1,'2010-05-20 05:15:01','2010-05-20 04:15:01','I think that guidebooks are dying--at least when it comes to places like Europe. There\'s no need for a guidebook when there are so many great internet based travel resources from google maps to pocket sized metro/subway maps, newspaper guides from places like the NYT and a myriad of different blogs. It\'s almost like there\'s too much information now.\n\nAs a result, I\'ve spent a couple of nights reading up on Paris--where I am going for the first time on Saturday for a long weekend.  Some of what I\'ve decided to do includes poking around the famed Sunday flea market (I am my father\'s daughter).  I\'ll also hit up that museum--the one that starts with an L-something--you know the one? (Ha, ha of course you do the Louvre).  I made a reservation last night for a lunch wine and cheese tasting which is sounds pretty darn great because I <em>love </em>both wine and cheese. I think I am going to love Paris. Finally, I heard talk of some tower that I should check out.\n\nOther than doing a little shopping, eating plenty of pastries and strolling through parks--which actually will keep me pretty busy--any thoughts? Something awesome that I\'d be sad to miss out on? or something that will blow my mind away? <!--more-->\n\nI am not necessarily looking for super-touristy things to do (even through, I am going to be doing those things).  Do you have a favorite neighborhood? a cafe? a bookstore? or a museum that\'s tucked away and worth finding?\n\nThe great part about this trip is that I am going by myself to explore the city so I can do whatever I want. I guess this might be scary for some people especially without a guidebook but really I think that exciting. Sure I still like to travel with friends but you see a city in a different way by yourself. For example, if I decide I don\'t feel like going to the Louvre when I get to Paris, well I don\'t have to.\n\nThe other thing is that when you take the advice of friends for what to see and do, it\'s like you get a chance to a piece of the city through their eyes in a way that you never would if you were exploring with a guidebook or with your friend right by your side. So, now\'s your chance to let me know what your favorites are!','Paris without Guidebooks','','publish','open','open','','paris-without-guidebooks','','','2010-05-20 05:15:01','2010-05-20 04:15:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2837',0,'post','',7),(2841,1,'2010-05-21 09:43:32','2010-05-21 08:43:32','One of the biggest challenges living abroad has got to be making friends.  There are a hundred obstacles to overcome. Given this fact, I am now going to boil it down to a few points. I guess the first one is figuring out how to meet people.  Followed by a close second, how to meet people who are interested in the same kinds of things that you are. And finally how to grow fledgling friendships in a country where you don\'t know the language or the culture let alone what you like and don\'t like in terms of things to do, restaurants or even places to go out.\n\nI went to coffee with a new expat friend (who found me on my blog--funny how that works) recently and we had a great time talking about Bulgaria, comparing and trading funny stories about work as we\'re both teachers, and American pop-culture.  We\'re both about the same age, we\'ve both lived in Bulgaria for a couple of years and it seems like we have similar senses of humor.\n\nWell, we ended up talking about making friends abroad and how difficult it is to make Bulgarian friends.\n\nInterestingly we both have a pretty well developed circle of expat friends but wish that we had more Bulgarian friends. In discussing the issue the language that we used was that it was hard to \"get your foot in the door.\"  It\'s hard to become part of a group of Bulgarian friends. <!--more-->\n\nIn comparison, expat friends are easy-peasy to make.  Clearly this has to do with their situation--expats look for each other because they are in similar situations. They are too are in a strange country where they don\'t know the place, the people or the language. They don\'t have friends and are looking for others to share this experience with.  But these aren\'t always people you\'d be friends with at home or in other situations.\n\nDoes that make them any less friend? No way. Actually, it\'s great.  These are people who invite you to do things you might not otherwise do.  Things like theater, opera, rock show, museums, parties, hiking and the like come to mind.\n\nBut the question remains, how do you make Bulgarian friends? What\'s the way in?\n\nThe thing is, I am not sure. I have a few good Bulgarian friends who I\'ve met through the Fulbright and friends who are the spouses/partners/girlfriends of expats. But I don\'t have have a group of Bulgarian friends. I have a hunch that part of the reason is that my Bulgarian isn\'t great.  This of course is the catch--how can my Bulgarian get better if I don\'t have Bulgarian friends and how I can I make Bulgarian friends if my Bulgarian isn\'t very good?\n\nMaybe though this isn\'t the problem--maybe I don\'t know to make Bulgarian friends.  In the States, I\'d say that we make friends through our existing friends, at work (or graduate school) and the other activities we participate in from book club to volunteering to things like co-ed sports like soccer or kickball. So when your existing friends are expats, you work with expats and the majority of activities you have access to are sponsored by expats, it\'s difficult at best to break out of this cycle.\n\nSo, what\'s a girl to do?\n\nWell, if I had the answer to that I\'d be writing a very different blog post right now.  But I am not.  So I guess the question is three fold. How do you make friends the older you get (when you\'re no longer friends due to the convenience of being in class with them day in and day out)? How do you make friends who are both expats and locals? And finally how do you do these things with out making yourself feel desperate?\n\nAll of this said, I guess the only thing that one can do is to is to be up front and take action.  If you meet someone you want to be friends with you should get their number and then you\'d better call them to do something.  It\'s really no different that when you\'re little and you\'re mom is setting up a play date for you. Only rather than having your mom call your friend\'s mom, you\'re the one who has to make the call. Then either you\'ll hit it off or you wont.  I guess on it\'s most basic level that\'s what making friends is all about.  So maybe there aren\'t a hundred obstacles to making new friends abroad.  Maybe there\'s only one. Overcoming your excuses and calling someone to hang out. I guess in theory it\'s that easy.','Making (Bulgarian) Friends Abroad','','publish','open','open','','making-bulgarian-friends-abroad','','','2010-05-21 09:43:32','2010-05-21 08:43:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2841',0,'post','',14),(2807,1,'2010-05-22 07:33:36','2010-05-22 06:33:36','I get a lot stupid skype spam from performance drugs to stock tips but this week I got this:\n<blockquote>European and American women are too arrogant for you? Are you looking for a sweet lady that will be caring and understanding? Then you came to the right place- here you can find a Russian lady that will love you with all her heart. Can\'t find a queen to rule your heart? How about beautiful Russian ladies that have royal blood and royal look?</blockquote>\nToo arrogant for you? <em>Really, arrogant</em>?!? Someone caring and understanding? <em>What planet are you living on</em>? And rule your heart? <em>I don\'t even know what that means</em>. (Oh, and your grammar stinks.)\n\nThe whole thing was too much for me. Block user.\n\nHowever, I did make me think: Ug. It\'s not that American (or European) women are actually arrogant or uncaring. Rather this spam is directed to men who are looking for a women who will fulfill their idea of how a woman traditionally is supposed to act and behave. And it\'s a cutting attack directed towards those of us who are \"arrogant\" enough to pursue careers, equality in our relationships and still think that we are women. <em>Awesome</em>.<!--more-->\n\nAfter the feminist in me was done fuming--I did get a good laugh out of the second half of the spam about ruling a man\'s heart. I couldn\'t help but wonder if this was a nod towards sexual domination. Apparently this is spam that has a little bit something for everyone. That is kind of funny--I mean if you like spam. (Which I don\'t. Stop spamming me.)\n\nBut I was reminded of a comment one of my PhD-pursuing-sarcastic-as-I\'ll-get-out-friends made a couple of months ago. It was basically this:\n<blockquote>What\'s a nice girl like you doing in Bulgaria for another year? I wonder if you are ever coming home or if the paradise that is post-communist Europe will claim you as another victim.  Given my stereotypical and misinformed view of expats, I find it hard to believe you are still overseas.  I mean, you aren\'t looking for a wife and you aren\'t avoiding creditors.</blockquote>\nHa, ha.  The problem is it\'s only funny because it\'s <em>kind of true</em>. Certainly not all expats are looking for wives or escaping debts but I think that all of us expats know someone who fits loosely into one of these two categories.\n\nIn Bulgaria, I am not sure that men hunting for wives but I\'ve met plenty of slightly older American and British men who are reveling in their renewed bachelorhood with a new young pretty Bulgarian on their arms every time I see them. Men who are nice enough but clearly using their money and their nationality to \"trade-up\" in Bulgaria. There seems to be some arrogance in this as well--maybe it\'s not just American women who are arrogant.\n\nNone of this is, of course, a surprise.  Isn\'t the history of marriage and nation building in Western Europe? Using marriage to increase power, renew relationships and secure alliances as well as to maintain control of and limit female sexuality, to identify lines of heredity and inheritance and ostensibly to protect women.  Marriage as an institution to control and center power.\n\nI\'d like to think that in the 21st century we\'ve begun to move away from this. But seems in someways inevitable that unequal relationships like this will continue.  When the power structure is uneven and the access and opportunities are so different--it\'s a system that makes an exchange like marriage seem all the more attractive.  Inherently unequal but attractive nonetheless.\n\nI get it. I just don\'t like it. And I like it even less when the justification for it is the fact that American women are arrogant.','Really: Arrogant American Women?!','','publish','open','open','','really-arrogant-american-women','','','2010-05-22 07:33:36','2010-05-22 06:33:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2807',0,'post','',3),(2851,1,'2010-05-22 07:53:03','2010-05-22 06:53:03','','48 Hours?','48 Hours?','inherit','open','open','','dsc01745','','','2010-05-22 07:53:03','2010-05-22 06:53:03','',2850,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01745.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2850,1,'2010-05-23 09:59:59','2010-05-23 08:59:59','[caption id=\"attachment_2851\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"48 Hours? \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01745.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2851 \" title=\"48 Hours? \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01745.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was packing yesterday morning for my long weekend in Paris. Yep, by the time you\'re reading this I\'ll be in Paris. Just saying.\n\nWell, I was struck by the realization that I am a bad reader. I\'d never noticed that the deodorant I bought weeks ago says that it\'s good for 48 hours.\n\nI guess that\'s what you get when buy things because it was on sale.\n\nThen I pondered this question: who needs 48 hour deodorant?','Packing for Paris','','publish','open','open','','packing-for-paris','','','2010-05-23 09:59:59','2010-05-23 08:59:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2850',0,'post','',2),(2858,1,'2010-05-26 20:26:54','2010-05-26 19:26:54','','Paris I','','inherit','open','open','','img_4057','','','2010-05-26 20:26:54','2010-05-26 19:26:54','',2857,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4057.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2859,1,'2010-05-26 20:34:10','2010-05-26 19:34:10','','Paris II','','inherit','open','open','','img_4202','','','2010-05-26 20:34:10','2010-05-26 19:34:10','',2857,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4202.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2861,1,'2010-05-26 20:39:24','2010-05-26 19:39:24','','Paris III','','inherit','open','open','','img_4703','','','2010-05-26 20:39:24','2010-05-26 19:39:24','',2857,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4703.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2864,1,'2010-05-26 20:51:34','2010-05-26 19:51:34','','Paris IV','','inherit','open','open','','img_4090','','','2010-05-26 20:51:34','2010-05-26 19:51:34','',2857,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4090.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2857,1,'2010-05-26 20:53:35','2010-05-26 19:53:35','It\'s official--all of those people who say Paris is lovely are right. Okay, I didn\'t really doubt them before heading out on my trip but I wasn\'t sure what kind of a city Paris is that<em> everyone</em> can love it. I also worried, what if I was the one who didn\'t love it? Well, you\'ll be happy to know, I loved the city. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4057.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2858\" title=\"Paris I\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4057.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4202.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2859\" title=\"Paris II\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4202.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>Paris however wore me out. Between lots of walking around, a pretty sketchy hostel, the French wine and my perverse desire to see everything (even though I knew it was impossible)--I arrived home late last night completely satisfied with my trip and so very glad to be sleeping in my own bed. I could have used a day of vacation to recover from my vacation but no luck--instead, I was a busy, busy teacher. There are only three weeks of school left. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4703.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2861\" title=\"Paris III\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4703.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a><a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4090.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2864\" title=\"Paris IV\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4090.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nSo tonight\'s post is basically to say this: hey, MoM, I got home safely. Hey, blog-friends, thanks for all of your comments and I am looking forward to sharing some real Paris stories with you soon. Right now you\'ll just have to check out some photos.','Paris Wore Me Out','','publish','open','open','','paris-wore-me-out','','','2010-05-26 20:53:35','2010-05-26 19:53:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2857',0,'post','',3),(2869,1,'2010-05-27 18:04:32','2010-05-27 17:04:32','Yesterday morning on my way to work, I saw two girls bright shinny dresses, limp hair and their dates eating outside at McDonalds. They looked tired and happy. This morning I saw two girls hanging out in the parking lot of Billa in their prom dresses. They however looked sad and pathetic. Billa wasn\'t open and their make up was smudged on their faces.\n\nWhat I really wanted to tell them was go to home and go to bed--the party\'s over. But I just smiled and thought: phew, it\'s hard work being young.\n\nIt\'s prom season in Bulgaria. Heck, I guess it\'s prom season all over the world.  What does this mean in Bulgaria? Well, I\'d say it\'s American prom to the extreme.\n\nProm is a big deal. A <em>really</em> big deal. There are big dresses but also plenty of skin even bigger hair and lots photos, honking of car horns and all around cheer. Oh and there\'s plenty of alcohol.<!--more-->\n\nI get it. Graduating from high school is a mile stone as is prom.  But is it a <em>big </em>deal? I guess for some of us it is while for others, we knew all along we\'d graduate. Is it fun? Absolutely. But what\'s the role of alcohol in all of this?\n\nThe big difference seems to be that in Bulgaria our seniors are generally 19 years old as they start school a year later than we do in the States. And, and this is a big and, it\'s legal for our 12th graders to drink and drink they do. They also like to stay out all night and then show up the school the next day--no sleep, still drunk and in their party dresses.\n\nYep, you read that right.\n\nSure and the whole thing is tradition and I like traditions, a lot. But this one, it makes the adult in me tired just thinking about it. It also makes me wonder how a tradition like this condones and reinforces poor choices and bad behavior.\n\nIt\'s also gotten me thinking about the role of alcohol in a celebration like this.  Now, don\'t get me wrong, I am not a <a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teetotalism\">teetotaler</a> but it\'s hard for me to get my head around high schoolers drinking legally. Clearly a huge part of this has to do with the fact that I am an American and grew up in a country where the legal age of drinking is 21.  But moreover, I see these students every day and they just don\'t always make the best choices.  Which makes me wonder what kinds of choices these students make while drinking.\n\nWhat\'s most interesting to me though is how socially acceptable it is for our students who are normally so level headed to engage in this potentially dangerous and reckless behavior. Sure, far fewer of them can legally drive but it\'s not as if alcohol is risk free if you\'re not driving.   But that doesn\'t keep you from making bad decisions.\n\nI guess the thing that keeps you from making bad decisions are the people who teach you about drinking and who model good behavior for you. In the States, these people tend to be our peers because we learn about drinking either underage as high schoolers or at university.  In a word, we learn away from home.  On a whole, we drink in secret. We binge drink. We drink to get drunk.\n\nBut tonight, I can\'t help but wonder is it really any different in Bulgaria? Who teaches you how to drink? Does anyone model good behavior for you? What does that look like? What was the role of alcohol in your teenage life?','Alcohol and Prom Season','','publish','open','open','','alcohol-and-prom-season','','','2010-05-27 18:04:32','2010-05-27 17:04:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2869',0,'post','',7),(2878,1,'2010-05-28 04:46:50','2010-05-28 03:46:50','So one of my new favorite blogs, I have a hard time reading. Yep. I like a blog that I struggle reading.\n\nIs that weird? Probably.\n\nMostly I like the pictures. I also like pretending that I can read some of it. Sometimes I can. Most of the time, I can\'t. But that\'s okay.\n\nBecause, the thing is, I am really good at looking at pictures and this blog has lots of great photos.\n\nSo without further ado: <a href=\"http://stara-sofia.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Блог Стара София</a>\n\nI think the part I like the most are the old photos. I also like knowing the streets, sites and the places that pop up on the blog. More than this, I like the then and now nature of many of the posts. Sure, I could use google translate to make more sense of the blog but that would sort of ruin it. I like trying to read the posts, studying the photos and then trying to see if I can make sense of anything else.\n\nI don\'t link to many Bulgarian language blogs from my English language blog but this is one that I really get a kick out of every time it pops up in my google reader.  So for all of my English-only readers outside of Sofia, this may not be a blog that becomes one of your favorites but it\'s worth checking out!','New (to me) blog: Old Sofia','','publish','open','open','','new-to-me-blog-old-sofia','','','2010-05-28 04:46:50','2010-05-28 03:46:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2878',0,'post','',5),(2889,1,'2010-05-29 11:44:35','2010-05-29 10:44:35','','Eiffel Tower','Eiffel Tower','inherit','open','open','','img_4135','','','2010-05-29 11:44:35','2010-05-29 10:44:35','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4135.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2891,1,'2010-05-29 12:19:55','2010-05-29 11:19:55','','Notre Dame','Notre Dame','inherit','open','open','','img_4708','','','2010-05-29 12:19:55','2010-05-29 11:19:55','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4708.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2892,1,'2010-05-29 12:22:06','2010-05-29 11:22:06','','Street View of Paris','Street View of Paris','inherit','open','open','','img_4791','','','2010-05-29 12:22:06','2010-05-29 11:22:06','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4791.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2893,1,'2010-05-29 12:24:25','2010-05-29 11:24:25','','Flea Market','Flea Market','inherit','open','open','','img_4170','','','2010-05-29 12:24:25','2010-05-29 11:24:25','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4170.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2894,1,'2010-05-29 12:31:20','2010-05-29 11:31:20','','Moulin Rouge','Moulin Rouge','inherit','open','open','','img_4240','','','2010-05-29 12:31:20','2010-05-29 11:31:20','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4240.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2895,1,'2010-05-29 12:33:47','2010-05-29 11:33:47','','Metro','Metro','inherit','open','open','','img_4299','','','2010-05-29 12:33:47','2010-05-29 11:33:47','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4299.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2896,1,'2010-05-29 12:37:23','2010-05-29 11:37:23','','Sacre Coeur','Sacre Coeur','inherit','open','open','','img_4293','','','2010-05-29 12:37:23','2010-05-29 11:37:23','',2884,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4293.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2884,1,'2010-05-29 12:40:25','2010-05-29 11:40:25','Well, I couldn\'t get enough of Paris. It was a really wonderful trip.  I\'ve been dreaming of Paris all week.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2889\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Eiffel Tower \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4135.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2889\" title=\"Eiffel Tower \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4135.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe weather was incredibly good. I think it was in the 80s and while I brought both my raincoat and my umbrella--I never even need to think about them.  The sun was out and there was almost never a cloud in the sky. This it seems is the perfect weather for visiting Paris the first time.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2891\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Notre Dame\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4708.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2891\" title=\"Notre Dame \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4708.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn fact it\'s probably spoiled me--Paris will probably never live up to my first weekend there. But I guess that\'s for the best.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2892\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Street View of Paris \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4791.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2892\" title=\"Street View of Paris \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo what did I do? And what did I see? Of course, I wanted to see and do everything once I was in Paris but a long weekend was never going to be enough time for this.  I knew that and at this point in my life, I\'d rather have a great time doing a few wonderful things than feel rushed trying to squeeze in too much.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2893\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Flea Market \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4170.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2893\" title=\"Flea Market \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI decided that I\'d see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, the Hotel des Invalides, Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, check out the Sunday morning flea markets north of the city, wander around the city and go wine and cheese tasting.  Okay, now that I write all of that out the whole thing seems pretty ambitious especially when I also needed to eat my fair share of pastries and sit in parks.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2894\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moulin Rouge \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4240.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2894\" title=\"Moulin Rouge \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLuckily, Paris is a hopping city and it\'s easy to get around by metro or on foot.  Moreover, many of the sites and museums are open late.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2895\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Metro \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4299.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2895\" title=\"Metro \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4299.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI stayed in an unquestionably bad hostel--The Three Ducks--but I knew it going in.  The location was pretty good, the people staying there were fun but the cost-quality ration was skewed and the staff was surly. But that was okay--it made my whole Paris experience real rather than a fairytale.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2896\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Sacre Coeur\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4293.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2896\" title=\"Sacre Coeur\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/img_4293.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]','Paris in Spring','','publish','open','open','','paris-in-spring','','','2010-05-29 12:40:25','2010-05-29 11:40:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2884',0,'post','',2),(2902,1,'2010-05-30 09:43:40','2010-05-30 08:43:40','','Hamburger I','Hamburger Assembly','inherit','open','open','','dsc01747','','','2010-05-30 09:43:40','2010-05-30 08:43:40','',2900,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01747.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2903,1,'2010-05-30 09:45:21','2010-05-30 08:45:21','','Hamburger II','The First Hamburger of Spring!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01749','','','2010-05-30 09:45:21','2010-05-30 08:45:21','',2900,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01749.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2900,1,'2010-05-30 10:03:44','2010-05-30 09:03:44','Last night I celebrated a friend\'s birthday with a serious BBQ.  We grilled a lot of different things but the highlight was certainly the hamburgers.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2902\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Hamburger Assembly \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01747.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2902\" title=\"Hamburger I\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01747.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe weather was great, the company was in high spirits and the grilling/bbqing rivaled that of any American BBQ that\'s taking place this weekend in the States for Memorial Day.\n\nYes, that\'s how good the hamburgers were.  These were serious. As they should be.  They were not just ground beef rather they were ground beef with bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper, worcestershire sauce and diced onion.\n\nThe expert grilling added to the assembly of the hamburger. They were cooked well but not well-cooked (you know not rare but not hard and dry). It\'s not easy--standing by a pit of hot charcoal briquettes all afternoon tending raw meat.<!--more-->\n\nAnd the buns, well one of my Bulgarian friends described buying every roll at the mega-grocery store Hit before the BBQ.  Apparently, she headed straight for the rolls and then bought every single one. She reported that the rolls were a huge responsibility because you can\'t have a hamburger without them. Here\'s a girl who gets hamburgers!!\n\nThe hamburgers and buns were pulled together with a generous squirt of Heinz Ketchup.  It really doesn\'t get more American than that. I guess the only thing that would have made this BBQ more American would  have been drinking ice cold cans of Bud Light, Miller Light or Coors Light beer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2903\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The First Hamburger of Spring! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01749.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2903\" title=\"Hamburger II\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/dsc01749.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThese hamburgers were simple and satisfying--thick, juicy and topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion.  Basically they were so good that everything else paled in comparison.\n\nHere\'s to the first hamburger of spring!!','The First Hamburgers of Spring','','publish','open','open','','the-first-hamburgers-of-spring','','','2010-05-30 10:03:44','2010-05-30 09:03:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2900',0,'post','',1),(2911,1,'2010-05-31 07:25:18','2010-05-31 06:25:18','Dear Bulgaria,\n\nI have a friend visiting for three days and I just noticed that the weather forecast suggests that it will rain for the next three days.  Really? Any chance, you could postpone the rain a day or two? or just rain really hard on Monday and clear up for the majority of her visit?\n\nFor the record, I\'d be up for either of these options. And I think my friend K. would be fine with either of these as well.\n\nSure I am going to send her downtown with a map, an umbrella and a list of cool things to check out--some of which are museums but Sofia is much, much prettier in the sun rather than rain. K. is a good sport so I am sure she\'ll be up for whatever you throw her way but really it\'s hard enough for me to convince friends to come and visit and now it\'s going to rain?<!--more-->\n\nIt\'s not like I promised my friend sunshine, rainbows and puppies if she\'d come to visit but it would help if K. was able to report positively on both the country and the weather. I know better than to promise things like weather--here\'s what I offered: banitsa, french fries with serine, Bulgarian yogurt, Shopska salad, a wide variety of grilled meat and plenty of rakiya and inexpensive beer.  Oh and I also sold her on lots of concrete, outdoor cafes and good looking Bulgarians!\n\nSo, I get it. It\'s spring. Water makes for plenty of green grass and trees to enjoy all spring and summer but I am just asking for a little respite from rain.  Just think about it, okay? Thanks in advance!\n\nYours Truly, Carolyn\n\nPS I promise to talk up Alexander Nevski, St. Sofia Church, the National Theater and the Archeological Museum and I\'ll have her eat tarator soup and dish with plenty of pickles if there\'s good weather for part of her visit. Just let me know, okay','Does it have to Rain?','','publish','open','open','','does-it-have-to-rain','','','2010-05-31 07:25:18','2010-05-31 06:25:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2911',0,'post','',0),(2916,1,'2010-06-02 05:06:41','2010-06-02 04:06:41','','Dog on a piece of foam','Dog on a piece of foam','inherit','open','open','','dsc01744','','','2010-06-02 05:06:41','2010-06-02 04:06:41','',2915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01744.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2915,1,'2010-06-02 05:10:30','2010-06-02 04:10:30','This is the next photo I have for you in what has apparently become an on going series. Dog on A.  If you remember correctly the first is <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/dog-on-a-wall/\" target=\"_blank\">Dog on A Wall</a>.  This is the second in the series: Dog on A Piece of Foam.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2916\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Dog on a piece of foam \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01744.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2916\" title=\"Dog on a piece of foam \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01744.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe important thing in this photo is to notice how comfy the dog looks.  But what you can\'t see is that there is a huge garbage can only feet away from him.  Someone clearly pulled this piece of foam out of the garbage can for him. Go figure.','The Series: Dog on A','','publish','open','open','','the-series-dog-on-a','','','2010-06-02 05:10:30','2010-06-02 04:10:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2915',0,'post','',4),(2918,1,'2010-06-03 08:33:50','2010-06-03 07:33:50','There are a lot of things I obsessed with but about two years ago when I\'d just won my Fulbright and realized I was moving to Eastern Europe and more specifically to Bulgaria. One of these things was what to pack. I could take two suitcases and a carry on.  The big question was what did I did I need and what did I want?\n\nThis obsession and questions are still with me today. Maybe they always will given the fact that I am living abroad and trying to be mindful when it comes to consumerism but two years ago this all came to a head in the fact that I was moving to a country I\'d never been too and I\'d never lived abroad.\n\nIn preparation, I made an extensive list. Obsessing of over even the act of making the list. I checked my list. I made friends who had lived abroad look over my list. I gathered all of things I thought I\'d need and realized quickly that it was too much. So I made piles. I cut my things in half. Then I worried some more.\n\nThe three questions haunted me: What did I need? What could I live without? And, what could I get in Bulgaria?<!--more-->\n\nI worried that I wouldn\'t be able to find sizes that fit or styles that I liked for reasonable prices. What if I needed a pair of jeans? I\'ve always bought jeans with a long inseam in the States because my legs are so long. The \"what if\'s\" piled up so I emailed friends to see what they wished they\'d had when they\'d lived abroad. This was helpful but overwhelming.\n\nIt\'s sort of the last thing you need when you\'re also concerned with securing a visa, moving, leaving friends and your a job and all in all trying not to succumb to the anxieties that are linked to moving abroad. But, it\'s also fairly important--what <em>will</em> I need?\n\nUltimately, I think it boils down to a series of short term and long term considerations. Because, as luck would have it, you can get almost everything you could ever need or want in Bulgaria.  For example, I brought my winter coat but easily could have bought one here. Everything that is except Girl Scouts and their delicious Girl Scout Cookies. I haven\'t seen a thin mint in years.\n\nSo what\'s this post about? Girl Scout Cookies? Nope.Though that would make a great post. It\'s a little advice for anyone packing up their lives, trying to make sense of what they\'ve just decided to do and how they\'ll get their lives into two suitcases.\n\nRealistically what are you into? Do you like to hike and do outdoorsy things? or do you like to bake? Do you have a cat you\'re going to bring? or do you have small children? Are high quality sheets and towels important to you? or are you more concerned with high quality underwear? This is not to say that these questions are oppositions. I don\'t think that if you like to camp you wont like to bake or if you have a cat you won\'t have small children. Basically this is to say you do have to figure out what you\'re going to give priority to.\n\nMe? Well, I don\'t need a lot of fancy outdoor gear. While I like nature and enjoy a nice hike I am probably not going to be doing any serious hiking, skiing or mountaineering any time soon. I did however toss in my bag a set of measuring cups as I didn\'t want to be converting every recipe I ever made from cups and teaspoons or trying to eye-ball amounts.  That\'s a recipe for disaster.  I ended up trying to identify what was most important to me and stocking up on my creature comforts and trying to make sure that I had a good foundation for a year.\n\nI brought two pairs of jeans, three pairs of dress pants, a couple of dresses, two skirts, two blazers, my winter coat, three sweaters, two cardigans,  maybe two dozen tank tops and t-shirts, yoga thing, my robe and pjs, four to five pairs of shoes and plenty of socks and underwear.  I packed a few books, a purse, a quick drying towel, some make-up, a little pharmacy of American medicine, a box of tampons, a selection of accessories, a four pack of rubbermaid/tupperwear food storage containers and some power adapters/converters.\n\nFor the most part this was enough to get me started in Bulgaria. I\'ve bought some other things since arriving like a hair drier, winter boots, clothes as need and the like.  All of this stuff is pretty standard fare. I don\'t think there\'s a big surprise in any of this.\n\nAfter my first year in Bulgaria, hare a few things that I am glad I brought as well as things I\'ve missed, purchased or will buy when I am back in the States this summer.\n<ul>\n	<li>At Christmas I bought a<strong> Kindle</strong>. It makes books so easy get your hands on and even easier to read them. It\'s almost like living in the States. The down side is that not all titles are available. But really, I can\'t imagine living without it now.</li>\n	<li>In winter, buildings are generally are colder than the States so last summer I also brought back to Sofia more <strong>cold weather gear</strong>--from sweaters and sweatshirts to a great hat.  So that I\'d stay warm.</li>\n	<li>I am going to be purchasing<strong> a pair of  rubber rain boots </strong>this summer. I am tired of being muddy and dirty when it rains and I walk to school in Mladost. These may not be the most useful thing if you\'re trying to whittle down your belongings but they will really help me with the quality of my life on grey rainy muddy days.</li>\n	<li><strong>Salasa</strong> and <strong>dried black beans</strong>. I love good Mexican food.</li>\n	<li>If you\'re going to teach, buy a <strong>dry erase board eraser</strong> (and hope that your school uses dry erase boards and not chalk boards). I didn\'t have one at the beginning of the year and I forever had marker on my hands, my arms and my clothes. I bought one at Christmas and it might be the best thing I did for the second semester.</li>\n	<li>I am also going to bring back my <strong>fleece jacket</strong> and a <strong>rain-coat in a pouch</strong>. Yeah it turns out both of these things would be nice to have.</li>\n</ul>\nSomehow it seems to me that the list of \"to buys and to packs\" was longer than this when I imagined this post. Maybe I am forgetting something, maybe I don\'t need as much as I thought. Anyway, here\'s a little insight to packing, moving and obsessing. Hopefully, you got something from this. Other than the fact that, I seem to be a crazy girl who spends way too much time planning, making lists and obsessing rather than living her life and seeing what\'s going to come her way.\n\nAs always, please add to list list as you see fit!','Notes from Sofia: Moving to Bulgaria?','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-moving-to-bulgaria','','','2010-06-03 08:33:50','2010-06-03 07:33:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2918',0,'post','',8),(2883,1,'2010-06-03 20:03:46','2010-06-03 19:03:46','Okay, two weeks ago, I wrote about <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/making-bulgarian-friends-abroad/\" target=\"_blank\">making friends in Bulgaria</a>. My post garnered lots of insight and plenty of advice. I think that the advice was basically the same as what my MoM told me when I started kindergarten--or what I imagine she must have told me--smile at the other kids, ask the kids if they want to sit next to you, share your markers or play with you at recess but don\'t take their toys or pull their hair.\n\nThe adult version of this seems to be--take initiative, let other people know you want to be their friend and rather than seeing if someone wants to play with you at recess see if anyone wants to meet you for a coffee or a beer and do it in Bulgarian.  There\'s also some advice that my MoM didn\'t give me (Um, thanks Vergil) but you\'ll have to check out the comments section yourself.\n\nThen yesterday one of my loyal followers (Hi, andreytcho) reminded me of my plan for  \"hanging out with real Bulgarians.\" Yes, I\'ve been thinking about this. First I\'ve been thinking how funny and great it is that this isn\'t <em>actually</em> my plan but rather the idea of my readers. And second, I\'ve been thinking about how lucky I am to have such supportive readers of my blog. <!--more-->I never expected that this would be part of my blog experience when I started this. Still, it\'s really wonderful how all of this works. Thanks!\n\nSo now the question is when and where to meet some real Bulgarians. I\'d been thinking about the outdoor cafe behind the vegetable stands on Graf Ignativ and in front of the church of the many, many saints or outdoor bar in Borisova Gradina (but I have no idea what the name of the bar is-- it\'s the one that I think has some link to the bar Bilkova on Shishman) but the weather is threatening rain for the entire weekend. Then the planner in me worries that this weekend will be here um in 24 hours and this isn\'t enough time to organize people.\n\nWhat\'s a girl to do? Well, I guess I\'ll see what my readers think.  Is this weekend too soon? Would next weekend be better or maybe a weeknight after work? Just for the record, I\'ve got my Bulgarian lesson on Sunday afternoon from 3-4pm so I could easily meet up after this.  And given the impending rain (and my bad luck when it comes to the weather), where should we meet?\n\nOkay, I was going to write out part of this post in Bulgarian.  It seemed only appropriate given my desire to actually learn the language but somehow time has gotten away from me and I am yawning more and more so I\'m off to bed.  Hopefully we can work out plans in the next day or two! До скоро!','Some Real Buglarians?','','publish','open','open','','some-real-buglarians','','','2010-06-03 20:03:46','2010-06-03 19:03:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2883',0,'post','',8),(2935,1,'2010-06-04 12:36:46','2010-06-04 11:36:46','Okay, this is my bold move following up on my most recent blog post about friendship/practicing Bulgarian with native speakers who don\'t know me but who\'ve read my blog. <em></em>\n\n<em>Oh wait</em>. Now that I\'ve read that I sentence I think I have to revise that.  Actually, you know me, through my blog, but I don\'t know you. There\'s something sort of unfair about that.  But I guess that\'s the nature of blogging.\n\nAnyhow, back to the plan.\n\nI have my Bulgarian lesson on <strong>Sunday, June 6th</strong> at from 3-4pm but sometimes it runs over a little bit. (I\'ve got a lot of Bulgarian to learn still.)\n\nSo lets <strong>meet at the statue \"Popa\" at 4:45pm</strong>.  You know at the statue in the city center of the man who is wearing robes but who at first glance seems to be wearing a dress so I thought he was a woman for a while. He\'s right at the intersection of Graf Ignatiev/Levski/Evtimiy. <strong> </strong>\n\n<strong>At 5pm</strong>, we\'ll make plans for where we are going. This will give people time to make it to the meeting spot. Hopefully it will be sunny and we\'ll be happy waiting. If not waiting outside for 15 minutes will those of us who are punctual plenty of time to get wet.  This said, keep your fingers crossed that we\'ll have great weather and can be outside.\n\nHere\'s the best part: seeing as I won\'t know you, you\'ll have to look for me. I\'ll be the tall blond American with a green purse and maybe a tan raincoat. Funny how that works.\n\nOkay. Please don\'t stand me up.\n\nThat will hurt my self-esteem. A lot.','Lets meet!','','publish','open','open','','lets-meet','','','2010-06-04 12:36:46','2010-06-04 11:36:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2935',0,'post','',18),(2939,1,'2010-06-05 11:01:04','2010-06-05 10:01:04','I am not a smoker. In fact I\'ve probably smoked no more than a combined total of less than 5 cigarettes in my entire life. It\'s just not interesting to me. It\'s not my thing.  But I didn\'t realize how shockingly oblivious I\'d become to cigarette smoke until my friend K. was visiting this week.\n\nWe went to Pizza Ugo for dinner one night and half way through dinner she said: I feel like I am close to crying given all of the cigarette smoke. I looked around and thought: hey, she\'s right. There was a cloud of smoke and nearly every table had someone smoking.  In a year and a half it\'s become so common place that I no longer notice the smell or the smoke.  In fact, I don\'t even think twice about it.\n\nIn many ways, it just is. It just is in the same way the sidewalks are cracked, there are stray dogs and public transportation is dirty and smelly.\n\nI didn\'t really know what to say to K. about it.  So I think I mumbled an apology as if I was somehow responsible and then explained how much  Bulgarians like to smoke. <!--more-->We then talked about how great the smoking bans in the States are.\n\nAt home that night, I smelled my hair and clothes and thought: bluch.  Then I wondered since living in Bulgaria how many cigarettes worth of second hand smoke I\'d consumed. But that\'s probably not a question I really want to think about. This was followed by a quick google search. In hindsight, I probably shouldn\'t have done this as it confirmed what I already knew <a href=\"http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/ped_10_2x_secondhand_smoke-clean_indoor_air.asp\" target=\"_blank\">second hand smoke is scary</a>.\n\nThen just today I happened to stumble on a series of articles on the Sofia Echo about politics and a proposed <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2010/06/04/911666_eased-regulations-on-smoking-introduced-in-bulgaria\" target=\"_blank\">smoking ban</a>.  The only problem seems to be that no one (aside from me) really wants the smoking ban. Hum. Well, I guess the good thing is that the issue of smoking in public spaces is being discussed but it doesn\'t look likely that there will be a full ban in place any time soon.\n\nJust so you know, people smoke here. But apparently not as much as in Greece.\n\nI just had the <em>best</em> idea--maybe instead of medical or dental tourism Bulgaria should start smoking tourism but not Amsterdam style just good old fashioned cigarettes.  The good thing is that country is already well equipped for this. The slogan could be something like: Bulgaria! Mountains, monasteries and guilt free smoking!! <em>Or maybe not. </em>','Smoking in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','smoking-in-sofia','','','2010-06-05 11:01:04','2010-06-05 10:01:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2939',0,'post','',8),(2943,1,'2010-06-06 20:33:32','2010-06-06 19:33:32','','The Meet-Up','The Meet-Up','inherit','open','open','','dsc01759','','','2010-06-06 20:33:32','2010-06-06 19:33:32','',2942,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01759.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2942,1,'2010-06-06 20:56:18','2010-06-06 19:56:18','Thanks to everyone who came to the meet-up today!\n\nI was a little worried and for the few minutes that I was sitting waiting for others to appear.  It felt like an incredibly stupid plan. And then I thought, this is worse than a blind date. It\'s like I am about to go on a group blind date. Which lead me to wonder, what am I doing? Well, then everyone showed up with smiles on their faces and I thought:<em> okay, here we go</em>.\n\nWell I don\'t know what I was worried about because I thought that it was great to meet each of you and to talk to you about Bulgaria, music, English, space travel, Walla Walla, learning Bulgarian and a myriad of other topics. Oh and it was pretty great to see a Bulgarian quarter from 1951! You may (or may not) remember my blog post about the moment I was <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/let-me-count-the-change/\" target=\"_blank\">searching for a quarter to pay my grocery bill </a>and couldn\'t find one but luckily one of my readers did.\n\nHere\'s a picture of two of us from this afternoon.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2943\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Meet-Up\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01759.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2943\" title=\"The Meet-Up\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01759.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere were just five of us today but it was pretty perfect. No rain. And, it gave us all a chance to talk and and to get to know each other.\n\nI also understand that I was also competing against a rock concert--a Bulgarian one at that. And who am I to try to compete with a rock concert?! So, all things considered our little gathering fared pretty well. Thanks again to everyone who joined me.\n\nFinally, don\'t worry if you didn\'t or couldn\'t join us this time--you\'ll have another chance.','Meeting!','','publish','open','open','','meeting','','','2010-06-06 20:56:18','2010-06-06 19:56:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2942',0,'post','',5),(2948,1,'2010-06-07 16:13:46','2010-06-07 15:13:46','','DSC01758','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01758','','','2010-06-07 16:13:46','2010-06-07 15:13:46','',2947,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01758.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2947,1,'2010-06-07 16:26:22','2010-06-07 15:26:22','This graffiti caught my eye yesterday. I love seeing things like this:\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01758.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2948\" title=\"DSC01758\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01758.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>\n\nIt makes me smile. I like how someone looked at the wall and thought: I know what would be perfect here. A heart. That\'s pretty sweet.\n\nIt\'s also clever and I appreciate that. I like the way it looks different from each angle but when you stand at the corner of the building you can see the heart in full. I might not have thought of that.\n\nThe truth is I probably shouldn\'t like graffiti. But I do.\n\nI am not going to take it up because well, it\'s not my thing.  I have mixed feelings about spray painting public property. But, still, I like the heart.','Street Art?','','publish','open','open','','street-art','','','2010-06-07 16:26:22','2010-06-07 15:26:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2947',0,'post','',4),(2955,1,'2010-06-08 20:03:58','2010-06-08 19:03:58','Anyone checking out <a href=\"http://sofiadesignweek.com/en_home/\" target=\"_blank\">Sofia Design Week 2010</a> this week?  I am planning to do so after school tomorrow. Any must sees? I really had a great time last year but I haven\'t had as much time to check out the schedule this time around. It looks like the <a href=\"http://sofiadesignweek.com/en_program/en_izlojbi/en_more-or-less-exhibition/\">More or Less Exhibition</a> at the Sofia Art Gallery is a must but other than this thoughts?\n\nAlso it seems that <a href=\"http://edno.bg/en/pages/magazine\">One Magazine</a> (or Edno in Bulgarian) which is in part hosting/organizing/sponsoring Sofia Design Week has gone bilingual (and quarterly--but that\'s less exciting). Here\'s to a magazine in both Bulgarian and English!! But I\'ve never seen a copy of the magazine for sale.  How can I get my hands on a copy? I can only assume that the newspaper-magazine-kiosk at my regular bus stop in Mladost <em>isn\'t</em> carrying a copy of this artsy-hipster-cool-design-culture-lifestyle magazine.','Sofia Design Week?','','publish','open','open','','sofia-design-week-2','','','2010-06-08 20:03:58','2010-06-08 19:03:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2955',0,'post','',3),(2958,1,'2010-06-10 16:15:04','2010-06-10 15:15:04','I just freaked out and made the longest \"To Do List\" in recent memory. Then I posted it on my door so that I\'ll see it every time I leave the house. Yep. I am not sure if it will make me freak out more or less when I see it later today but I can only hope that it gets me going.\n\nI feel like I\'ve got a million of things to do over the next three weeks. It\'s kind of hard to imagine that I am going to be able to get it all done. But I have to. So I made a list.\n\nHere\'s the bad news, my blog didn\'t make the list. Anywhere.\n\nGasp, I know, I know. I\'ve trained you to check in daily and now I am going to have a hard time writing every day. For this I am truly sorry. And I promise that I\'ll grade as fast as I can so that I can get back to blogging but man, oh, man. I\'ve got tons of things to grade.\n\nThe good news is that next week is the last week of classes and then we have finals so the end is insight. It just feels so very far from where I am right now.\n\nOkay, wish me luck.','The To Do List','','publish','open','open','','the-to-do-list','','','2010-06-10 16:15:04','2010-06-10 15:15:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2958',0,'post','',1),(2966,1,'2010-06-13 19:18:39','2010-06-13 18:18:39','This weekend I had a single moment of clarity: life in Bulgaria is like swimsuit shopping. It happened on a slightly crowded metro on Friday night heading into the city.  I felt totally inspired by the idea. So I started making a list in my head in order to highlight the similarities. Here it goes.\n\nBulgaria is like that moment in the shop where you realize: this isn\'t so bad, there are so many suits to choose from. I\'ll find something like I like and you pull 5 or 6 swimsuits off the rack. <em>(It\'s like the moment you realize how many different salads can be made with some combination of tomatoes, cucumbers and serine cheese or yogurt.)</em>\n\nBut Bulgaria is also like that moment then in the dressing room, you catch yourself thinking: this looked so much better on the hanger, this really isn\'t my color, my style or my size. <em>(Or the morning you think, this bus didn\'t seem so crowded, dirty, smelly or hot from the bus stop as it is once you\'re in it.)<!--more--></em>Unfortunately, life in Bulgaria is also like the next crazy-girl-trying-on-swimsuits-in-a-body-obsessed-world moment when you\'re trying on suits in which the last concern morphs into a new series of concerns, where you wonder: Why are the lights so bright? Why is the dressing room so small? Followed by, could there be something wrong with the mirror? <em>(Which is pretty similar to the moment where you catch yourself worrying about a series of concerns that in the States you\'d never thought of entertaining: Will a breeze from the window and whether or not you\'ll be sick soon? Should I be drinking cold water or room temperature water--in Bulgarian the question Топло или студено which basically is hot or cold--why would room temperature bottled water be hot?!? Followed by one ice cube or two in my rakiya? And the classic concern: will the clash of natural light and overhead light hurt my eyes?)</em>\n\nLife in Bulgaria is also like that moment when your confronted with the question: That\'s not <em>me</em>, is it?!  Usually about this point, you also cannot help but lament: is that <em>really</em> how my (fill in the blank-body part) looks? <em>(Maybe I can crimp my hair to solve the problem.)</em>\n\nIt\'s just you and the swimsuit (and the five others hanging on the wall behind you that you\'re still considering).  In that moment, the rest of the world is very small as you consider the relative merits of the swimsuit and try to imagine wearing it at the pool and at the beach.  You\'re trying to decide if it\'s flattering, if it\'s a good fit.  Can you see yourself in it? <em>(Yep, then there\'s the moment where you come face to face with Bulgaria. Where everything else is behind you and you\'re staring at yourself in Bulgaria and the rest of the world is very small.  You think: Wow.  This will do. This is pretty great.)</em>\n\nAnd finally lie in Bulgaria is like that moment on your way out of the dressing room, soon to be new swimsuit in hand, and the promise you make to yourself. The promise to eat a little more healthy and to drink a little less wine. <em>(It\'s the same promise you make when meeting friends for dinner: eat the shopksa salad and turn down the french fries with serine cheese and don\'t let your friends peer-pressure you into \"just one more glass of wine.\")</em>\n\nSo, that\'s that. Life in Bulgaria is not unlike swimsuit shopping.\n\nAs for those of you who are disappointed with my extended metaphor, I am sincerely sorry. I mean I did warn you. I came up with the idea on a Friday evening after a long week of work on a semi-crowded but fully smelly metro car.  Then to top things off, my internet was down all weekend so the idea had way too much time to steep and grow. It may, just may, have gotten away from me.','Bulgaria is like...','','publish','open','open','','bulgaria-is-like','','','2010-06-13 19:18:39','2010-06-13 18:18:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2966',0,'post','',7),(2970,1,'2010-06-14 05:11:28','2010-06-14 04:11:28','It\'s the Fulbright time of year. I\'ve been getting emails from incoming Fulbrighters for this next year and they are asking a range of different questions.  Most of which are pretty straightforward but then there\'s the question about housing.  How do I find an apartment? Well, I got lucky, lucky and inherited one from a former Fulbrighter and then passed it on after my year to a current Fulbrighter.  But not everyone can be lucky.\n\nIt got me thinking, finding an apartment has got to be one of the big challenges for Fulbrighters. You don\'t speak the language, you don\'t know the city and you don\'t have any familiarity with the housing market. That\'s a recipe for, well, expensive expat housing. I\'d say that this is housing mainly in the city center that looks good--but is low quality--and you get to pay top dollar for it. Or I guess top leva, if you\'re a stickler for those kinds of things. <!--more-->\n\nI ended up writing this in response to a curious Fulbrighter this morning:\n<blockquote>Honestly, good housing for a good price is notoriously hard to find in Sofia. I\'d email current Fulbrighters and see if they would offer to connect you with their current landlords. If not, come to Sofia, stay in a hostel for a few days (or maybe even something more like a week) and look, look, look! You\'ll find something but standards in housing are not the same as in the states and when you move into the ex-pat housing market the prices go up but the quality doesn\'t necessarily go up at an equal rate. This said, you wont be homeless but the process is a trade off.</blockquote>\nBut frankly, it felt like a totally un-helpful response. Sure, I got across the idea that finding housing is a balancing act and that you\'ve got to consider what\'s the most important to you like central heating vs space heaters, location vs price or vintage circa 1980\'s Bulgaria-chic vs stark modern chic. However, these are all abstractions unless you can get your food into the housing market.\n\nSo, dear Bulgarian readers, knowing what you know of the rental market in Sofia and pretending to be a foreigner, like me, what steps would you take to secure a furnished apartment in the general city center area (not Mladost for example) at a price between 400 and 600 leva a month?','The Apartment Hunt','','publish','open','open','','the-apartment-hunt','','','2010-06-14 05:11:28','2010-06-14 04:11:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2970',0,'post','',7),(2976,1,'2010-06-15 18:58:56','2010-06-15 17:58:56','','Banana Bread','A pretty poor picture of my Banana Bread','inherit','open','open','','dsc01781','','','2010-06-15 18:58:56','2010-06-15 17:58:56','',2972,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01781.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2972,1,'2010-06-15 19:07:23','2010-06-15 18:07:23','I made a giant pan of banana bread for some students today. I made a triple recipe. I\'ve never made this much banana bread at once before. It turned into to a sort of banana bread-cake.  Well because frankly, it didn\'t look like bread but much more like a giant sheet cake. Last night baking it I worried that it wasn\'t going to turn out. But it was just fine.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2976\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A pretty poor picture of my Banana Bread\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01781.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2976\" title=\"Banana Bread \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01781.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMy students said, this isn\'t bread! Then one of my colleagues said, how can it be bread with something sweet like bananas? I don\'t know.  It\'s just bread. With bananas.\n\nThen everyone told me how great it was and how they really wanted the recipe. Here it comes. Well, after a little history. <!--more-->\n\nSo I came home and looked up the history of banana bread. Thanks <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_bread\" target=\"_blank\">wikipedia</a>. Turns out that banana bread made it\'s big break in the 1930\'s in America with the rise (and popularization) of baking soda and baking powder. Because apparently it wasn\'t until the 1840\'s when the first factory for baking soda was established in the States. (Who knew?!) And baking powder shortly followed suit. Banana bread is probably still popular in the States because of how easy it is to make.\n\nWhy call it bread? Well, I\'d have guessed because of the shape of the pan it bakes it but it turns out that banana bread is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_bread\" target=\"_blank\">quick bread</a>--meaning that it rises without yeast.  Why add bananas? Well, if there\'s a better way to eat old, mushy, turning brown bananas, I don\'t know of it.\n\nI made a<strong> Carolyn-inspired</strong> version of <strong>Banana Bread</strong> (<a href=\"http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html\">this recipe</a> originally from the foodnetwork)\n\n*  1 cup granulated sugar\n\n* 8 tablespoons vegetable oil\n\n* 2 large eggs\n\n* 3 medium ripe bananas (I used frozen bananas--from my freezer. Just pop them in when they\'re on the verge of going bad and you can use them easy-peasy in this recipe. Get them out 30 minutes before you want to use them.)\n\n* 1 tablespoon milk (or yogurt)\n\n* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon\n\n* 2 cups all-purpose flour\n\n* 1 teaspoon baking powder\n\n* 1 teaspoon baking soda\n\n<strong> Directions</strong>\n\nPreheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Mix the sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.','Banana Bread','','publish','open','open','','banana-bread','','','2010-06-15 19:07:23','2010-06-15 18:07:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2972',0,'post','',5),(2982,1,'2010-06-15 19:19:57','2010-06-15 18:19:57','','Me on the Wall','Black and White Version of Me','inherit','open','open','','dsc01764','','','2010-06-15 19:19:57','2010-06-15 18:19:57','',2981,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01764.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2981,1,'2010-06-16 10:48:23','2010-06-16 09:48:23','When I saw this on Friday afternoon:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2982\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Black and White Version of Me\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01764.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2982\" title=\"Me on the Wall \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/dsc01764.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nYeah. It\'s a giant picture of me. In the hallway at school. It\'s pretty wild. Also, pretty cool.\n\nA special thanks to the Photography Elective class who surprised me with this giant picture of myself!! (Also, thanks for letting me take the class with you all. I learned a ton this semester.)\n\nTruthfully, I sort of expected I\'d end up with a big mustache by the end of the first day it was up but to date my picture is still mustache free.\n\nWish you had a picture like this? Well, you can make one using the <a href=\"http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/\" target=\"_blank\">Raster(bator)</a>... just don\'t get me started on the name.','I just about lost it','','publish','open','open','','i-just-about-lost-it','','','2010-06-16 10:48:23','2010-06-16 09:48:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2981',0,'post','',8),(2989,1,'2010-06-18 04:45:39','2010-06-18 03:45:39','Wow! I can\'t believe that today is the last day of classes this year. It\'s been a busy, busy week . And somehow, I\'ve still got a few papers to grade for 3rd period today (but that\'s not what this post is about).  Then we have a week of final exams and lots of administrative things to do and by July 1st, I\'ll be on summer break. The end is insight.\n\nOne of my 10th grade sections said to me, you\'re teaching our last class of 10th grade. I thought,:<em>oh,that\'s cute</em> . Then I made them a quiz--just for good measure. No I am just kidding. There\'s no quiz. We\'re going to review for the final and then play a word game. I hope that they like it. We\'ll see.\n\nAnyhow, this is all just to say that I am going to be busy for a few more days and I am going to keep neglecting my blog for a little bit longer. But don\'t worry about me--I have two months of vacation in front of me and I\'ve been thinking about some great posts to write when I actually have time. Until then, stay cool!','Today&#039;s the Last Day of Class','','publish','open','open','','todays-the-last-day-of-class','','','2010-06-18 04:45:39','2010-06-18 03:45:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2989',0,'post','',0),(2792,1,'2010-06-19 10:33:11','2010-06-19 09:33:11','You may remember that I brought banana bread to school this past week.  It was the most basic banana bread--basically banana, four, sugar, baking powder oil and eggs.  I am not even sure it can get any easier than that.  Then one of my colleagues asked me if there were walnuts in it.  I thought: no but that would have been great. Then I told her that in the States when I am baking for a crowd, I never put nuts in my dishes because I don\'t want to confront any food allergy problems especially with nuts.\n\nMy colleague then reminded me: we don\'t have food allergies in Bulgaria.  Okay, I know this. In theory. I am sure there are some people with food allergies but it seems to be much, much less common than in the United States. So I could have put the walnuts in!  But I forget and more than this, I\'ve trained myself for baking in the States.\n\nFood Allergies are a funny thing. I know plenty of people in the States who are allergic to different foods. Heck, between food allergies and the vegetarians, vegans and other lifestyle diets, it\'s almost impossible to host a dinner party among friends. Don\'t get me wrong, I am not down on the meat free and dairy free diets--I am a near vegetarian myself. All I am saying is that it\'s a challenge.\n\nBut I\'ve wondered about food allergies. I mean, how did these happen? How is everyone allergic to something these days? And why doesn\'t anyone in Bulgaria seem to have food allergies?<!--more-->\n\nWell, given this <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/health/research/12allergies.html?src=me&amp;ref=general#\">piece in the NYT</a> maybe I need to rethink things--it suggests that about 30% of Americans <em>think</em> that they have a food allergy. This seems to be in part because of the kinds of testing that we do.  However, in reality the \"true incidence of food allergies is only about 8 percent for children  and less than 5 percent for adults.\"  Hum.\n\nSo there are a lot of people in the States who think they have food allergies when they probably do not. Is it a case of food allergy as fad? or food allergy as dislike? Hard to know and this article doesn\'t even touch on that.\n\nStill, this piece does clears things up a bit when it comes to Americans and food allergies. But what about Bulgarians?\n\nI don\'t know a single Bulgarian with food allergies either that or they don\'t talk about it.  But not talking about something like this seems un-Bulgarian.\n\nUnfortunately, I don\'t have an answer to a single question that I\'ve just asked.  Mostly this is just a post of observations.  Probably that\'s annoying but I am not qualified to answer these questions. I am really only qualified to ask them, muse about them and wonder--what\'s going on?\n\nAll of this leads me to think Americans must be crazy and that I am going to put walnuts in everything now. Food allergies be damned.','Food Allergies','','publish','open','open','','food-allergies','','','2010-06-19 10:33:11','2010-06-19 09:33:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2792',0,'post','',8),(2994,1,'2010-06-20 10:27:03','2010-06-20 09:27:03','Hey, dAd, Happy Father\'s Day!\n\nI was just reading the New York Times in my pjs and drinking coffee and I remembered: Today\'s Father\'s Day! I thought I should call you but then I remembered that the time difference is 10 hours and that calling you on skype right now would be cruel.  So a blog post will just have to do.\n\nOnce again, thanks for everything, dAd--from helping me with my homework, to teaching me how to build birdhouses, to always making me laugh and everything else in between.  But really dAd, this it seems is a big year for you.  This is the last year that you\'ll have been a non-dad for more time than you\'ve been a dad.  Next year you\'ve been a dad for exactly 50% of your life and the next year you\'ll have been a dad for more years than not.   Wow.\n\nAnyhow, this isn\'t supposed to be a post about how old you are.  It\'s supposed to be a post about how great you are but none of that cheesy \"World\'s Best Dad\" or \"#1 Dad\" business.\n\nHere it goes.  dAd, thanks for taking risks. <!--more--> Thanks for up-ending your life (and ours), moving to Walla Walla, starting an antique store and loving every minute of it (even when it\'s hard).\n\nThanks for seeing beauty (and new life) in the unexpected.  I never cease to be amazed by projects like reclaiming old barn wood and turning it to tables that are works of art.\n\nThanks for your determination and vision. Every time I come home and see the antique shop I am wowed by what you\'ve done with the building. And the way you\'ve begun to mix antiques and art in the same space.\n\nThanks for dreaming of the next great project and then making it happen.  I can\'t wait to see the garden space that you\'ve just created at the shop and I look forward to hearing more about what\'s next.\n\nAll of these things have really shaped my life and I don\'t think that I can really put this into words.  But, I am going to try. You see, for me, it\'s been really important to watch you (and MoM) start with a dream, take the necessary risks and see everything through to completion (and to make changes, adjustments and improvements).  This has made it a lot less scary for me to do the same in my own life.\n\nIn fact, I think that in someways I am here in Bulgaria today because of what I\'ve seen you and MoM do in your lives. Thanks for that.  It\'s made the choices I\'ve had to make a lot easier.  And in making these choices in my own life, I\'ve grown to respect you and MoM and the choices you\'ve made in your lives.  It\'s clearly not easy but you and MoM have made it look that way time and time again.\n\nSo thanks dAd, consistently setting such a high bar and for being such a great example!\n\nLove, Carolyn','Happy Father&#039;s Day','','publish','open','open','','happy-fathers-day','','','2010-06-20 10:27:03','2010-06-20 09:27:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2994',0,'post','',0),(3001,1,'2010-06-21 19:44:51','2010-06-21 18:44:51','This Saturday (June 26th) at 4:30pm I\'ll be at the at Lovers\' Bridge just across the National  Palace of Culture in order to show my support for the 3rd Annual Sofia Pride Parade. And I\'d encourage you to join me.\n\nSo, why I am doing this? Well for a lot of different reasons.  At this point, I guess that many of my American readers are thinking, so what? And Bulgarian readers are thinking thinking something a long the lines of, really?\n\nI guess that some of you may be thinking:  Carolyn, this isn\'t is your fight. You\'re a single white middle class American who self identifies as straight. Let this one go.\n\nOr you may be thinking: Carolyn, it isn\'t safe. Two years ago at the first Pride Parade 60 protesters were arrested after inciting violence.\n\nThen again maybe you\'re thinking: Carolyn, what\'s the point? One person won\'t make a difference.\n\nBut that\'s the thing, if I allow myself to be silenced, limited and contained before even getting out there those who have lobbied so heavily (and angrily) against homosexuality have won. If they stop me in my tracks before I\'ve even left my house, they get exactly what they want.  Theirs is a rhetoric of hate, violence, fear and shame. A rhetoric that I  believe has no place in the 21st century. A rhetoric that I cannot let shape my decisions or my actions.\n\nBy not going, by not speaking out, I let hate control me.  So I\'ll be at the parade because I refuse to be controlled, manipulated, limited or silenced by this kind of hate. Luckily a parade isn\'t just about resisting hate. It\'s about much more than this.<!--more-->\n\nA parade is a celebration.  I am going to be celebrating my friends, students, colleagues and peers both gay, straight and everything in between.  These are men and women who are incredible people and who have influenced my life, my thinking and my actions in a myriad of different ways. They\'ve taught me that the world is not black and white, that love comes in a variety of different shapes, colors and sizes, and that my life is richer with these voices, perspectives and people in it.\n\nSo I will celebrating that which gives us our shared humanity as well as that which makes us different. This is because, ultimately, I believe that diversity makes us stronger.  And that no one should be ashamed of his or her race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. I will be celebrating this diversity.\n\nIn the midst of all of this, I will also be standing up, supporting and celebrating those who are taking some of their first public steps in Bulgaria and saying: I am proud of being me no matter what anyone else thinks.  And that it seems is a wonderful and incredible thing.  It\'s not easy but it\'s worth doing.\n\nIt\'s for these reasons and more that I\'ll be at the parade on Saturday.  And once again, no matter what your sexual orientation is, I\'d urge you to join me.  This is not just a parade for gay people, this is a parade for all of us. It\'s a celebration of life and love and a refusal to let hate control us.','Notes from Sofia: Pride Parade','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-pride-parade','','','2010-06-21 19:44:51','2010-06-21 18:44:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3001',0,'post','',11),(3009,1,'2010-06-24 05:17:02','2010-06-24 04:17:02','I\'ve been downtown twice in the last two weeks for my Bulgarian ID card.  On a good day the office is crowded but recently they\'ve been monitoring flow into the building because it\'s been so crowded. Who knew so many people needed to get, update, renew and the like their Bulgarian ID?!\n\nLuckily, the American College has built some--dare I say--connections over the last 15 years.  I guess it\'s inevitable. At 9 to 15 new teachers in a given year and the fact that we all work on yearly contracts so that we have to go through the process each year for work permits, permission to stay and the Bulgarian ID, it\'s probably not a surprise that our school has built a relationship with this office.\n\nTo the best of my knowledge there aren\'t any short cuts, our school just makes the applications in bulk. As teacher we show up, sign documents in front of the appropriate person, they take our passports type some numbers into computers (glare at the screen) and thye joke around with our Bulgarian counterparts.\n\nI like to think they are dark jokes about bureaucracy.  But maybe they are laughing at the fact that as Americans we smile in our passport photos. This is a no-no in Bulgaria. No smiling in identification photos. I mean, this is <em>serious</em>. <!--more-->\n\nThis system saves time. Kind of. The thing is time generally isn\'t something that the Bulgarians at the the identification office seem to worry much about. So for the foreign teachers, the school\'s system gives us the impression of efficiency and saving time.  Generally I think it\'s true.The school tells us when to go, they take us, they tell us where to stand, where to sign and then they do the process again and again for each teacher.\n\nBut given the huge amount of time invested in the process, I am not sure how much time is ever saved. In fact between time it takes to fill out the huge amount of paperwork these documents require and the time it takes to wait for the paperwork to be processed between trips downtown it\'s sort of incredible to think that anyone ever gets a Bulgarian ID.\n\nOn top of all of this, the Bulgarians have gotten serious about identification. This year they\'ve implemented digital photos.  Wosa! I know, for my first two years in Bulgaria, I had to take in appropriate hard copy photos. This is no longer the case. For my American readers who are used to going to the DMV and smiling and walking out of the office with a new driver\'s license in hand--Bulgaria\'s not quite there but what\'s the point of comparing.\n\nIn addition to the digital photos, Bulgaria is also collecting finger prints. I am of two minds when it comes to this. It was really cool how easy it was for Bulgaria to collect the finger prints but at the same time, it was almost too easy. What are they going to do with these prints? Also, what does it mean that the Bulgarian government now has more information about me than my own government?\n\nNow I am back to a waiting phase. The picture has been taken, the paperwork has been made and now I wait for my new identification. Luckily, I am getting better and better at waiting. Oh the things Bulgaria has been teaching me.','Bulgarian ID','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-id','','','2010-06-24 05:17:02','2010-06-24 04:17:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3009',0,'post','',6),(3013,1,'2010-06-25 05:18:14','2010-06-25 04:18:14','This week, I\'ve been working on getting new glasses and contacts.  I\'ve been rolling with the same prescription for the last two and a half years and two things things happened. First I didn\'t think that I was seeing as well as I used to and second, I am desperate for new contacts for this summer as I am currently wearing my last pair.\n\nSo I lined up a friend to come along with me to pick out new frames. Then another friend tagged along as well. All things considered, the whole process was pretty easy for the three of us.  We tried on lots of different frames and giggled, we picked out lens type based on the price and the country they are made in and I had an eye exam.  Pretty standard.\n\nThe eye exam was probably the funniest part for me.  You should know that even in the Sates I usually get nervous that something will happen during my eye exam and I wont get the right prescription. It\'s usually about the time that I am being asked \"is this better?\" switch \"or is this better?\" Um, I am not sure. So I make them switch back to the first one and this process continues for the remainder of the exam. And I begin to worry, what if I make a bad choice? What if I end up with a bad prescription? <!--more-->\n\nAnyhow, I knew that I\'d have to answer the standard questions: what\'s on row one? row two? But I also knew that the alphabet was in Cyrillic so it\'s just an extra challenge. I\'ve never taken an eye exam in Cyrillic before. Well, after being stripped of my glasses and sitting for a bit with none on, it was time for the eye test.  First row. I think to myself okay. I can see these.  I real off some answers. I few I can\'t make out. I say I don\'t know.\n\nLady looks at me. In Bulgarian she says: you don\'t know or you can\'t see? Me: I can\'t see. She switches the prescription. Again. Read row one. This is good because I can even make out row two. I read row one again. She\'s still not happy with my answers which are going something like this: Б, ug I don\'t know, В, I don\'t know and  О.  Switches the prescription again.\n\nAt some point in all of this, she says Б or 5? And that\'s when I realize that all of the letters in row one are actually numbers.<em> Oh</em>. That helps the situation a lot. Row one was actually something like 5, 2, 8, 4 and 0.  <em>Awesome.</em> To my credit the letter Б (b) the number 5 and the letter В (v) and the number 8 aren\'t <em>actually</em> that different looking.\n\nThere was a little piece of me that wanted to laugh and laugh and then there was the piece of me that was still worrying about getting the right prescription.  I think that I\'ll probably only be able to laugh when I have my new glasses in hand and can see clearly out of them.  So now all I\'ve got to do is to wait for Monday.\n\nAs a post script, you should also be waiting, excitedly, for Monday/Tuesday because then I get to unveil my new glasses!','Here&#039;s looking at you!','','publish','open','open','','heres-looking-at-you','','','2010-06-25 05:18:14','2010-06-25 04:18:14','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3013',0,'post','',3),(3017,1,'2010-06-26 13:05:47','2010-06-26 12:05:47','It\'s soccer season, football season, soccer, football... I don\'t even know. I do know that it\'s World Cup season. Can I say that? <em>World Cup season</em>? Who knows.\n\nI certainly don\'t.\n\nI am a fair weather fan. I know the rules to most major sports and can follow along on tv but on a whole, I am not a serious fan of any sport. Heck it doesn\'t even much matter to me if I refer to this current sport as football or soccer. I don\'t care much one way or the other.\n\nSo what\'s a girl to do when all of Europe seems to have World Cup fever?\n\nDo I brush up on the rules? No. Do I try to figure out what color each team is? Too much work. Do I pay any attention to match times? Not likely.\n\nHeck, I can\'t name a single player from a single team playing in the World Cup. And I think that\'s just fine. Why should I brush up on football/soccer for the World Cup when I could care less about the sport any other time?\n\nDoes this mean that I have been sitting at home alone watching bad made for tv movies on the Hallmark Channel while my friends are out watching the endless stream of games?\n\nNope.\n\nI do what I\'ve always done when it comes to sporting events. I show up, I drink a beer and I cheer. And I generally try not to annoy any serious fans. That seems only fair. <!--more-->\n\nGenerally this strategy generally works pretty well for me. But it turns out with so many games and teams playing in the World Cup, I don\'t always know who I am cheering for.  And sometimes I cheer for the \"wrong\" team.  And I find myself clapping for a goal and everyone else is staring at me.I tell myself that it\'s okay when this happens because really, it was hard work no matter who scored.\n\nLuckily it\'s easy to brush these things off.  I mean it happens when you don\'t pay that much attention to a sport and you try not to ask too many questions. Because really, I don\'t care that much about the answers.\n\nBasically I am a seriously disinterested observer ever. Still I do like going to watch matches with friends.  I like the energy around sporting events and I like the enthusiasm of the fans. I like camaraderie of sports.\n\nSo, in honor of the World Cup, I\'ve been going to various bars with friends to watch men chase a small-ish ball around a large-ish field and to drink beer.  And when you think about it that way, I could be doing a lot dumber things with my time. There you have it.\n\nGo, football. Go, World Cup!!','Go, World Cup','','publish','open','open','','go-world-cup','','','2010-06-26 13:05:47','2010-06-26 12:05:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3017',0,'post','',1),(3021,1,'2010-06-27 20:16:46','2010-06-27 19:16:46','I\'ve got a week of school things left and then I am free for the summer. I couldn\'t be happier. This has been a great year. it\'s been busy with plenty of ups and downs, books and essays, work and travel and lots of laughing students and colleagues. I am looking forward to having a little more time to myself, to doing some serious traveling and to seeing my family.\n\nSummer break will be here before I know it.\n\nLuckily I already know how I\'ll be spending my summer. It\'s going to be the thing keeping me going this next week. <!--more-->\n\nI\'ll be meeting my good friend R. in Budapest on July 10th and from there we will begin our Balkan Adventure. You may remember her from my blog posts on Christmas in Budapest and Vienna, the Fulbright conference in Berlin, or our adventures in Sofia and Istanbul.  The highlights of our newest adventure will include Serbia (Belgrade), Montenegro (Kotor and Budva), Albania (Tirana), Macadonia (Lake Ohrid and Skopje) and Kosovo (Prishtina and Prizren). The trip will end in Sofia where R. tells me she wants shopska salad and banitsa!\n\nThen in August, I\'ll hop on a flight to Seattle where my MoM will meet me and we\'ll drive the 5 or so hours across the state to Walla Walla! I can only imagine that I\'ll proceed to sleep for a day and then I\'ll take up residence by the swimming pool or prowling the streets of town to see what\'s new and great with an iced Americano in hand. I bet we\'ll do some wine tasting and spend a night or two at our cabin in the Blue Mountains outside of town as well. Yeah it\'s going to be pretty great.\n\nAfter a week, I\'ll catch a flight that will take me from the dry heat of Eastern Washington to the muggy humidity of Washington DC where I\'ll stay with friend and attend a conference at the Library of Congress.  I am really pumped up about this because the conference is about integrating research into the classroom and I\'ll be able to catch up with all of my friends. And I haven\'t seen many of them for two years!!\n\nThe conference will wrap up and I\'ll grab a flight back to Walla Walla. I\'ll throw on a party dress and a smile in order to attend one of my good friend\'s weddings.  I\'ll have a second week with my family and then it will be back to Sofia!\n\nIt\'s funny. I am really excited to travel, to see new things, to see my family and to soak up some sun (but don\'t worry I\'ll be wearing sun screen!!). But I can\'t believe how I can boil down the next two months into four paragraphs! What\'s more, when I look at it this way, it kind of makes me think that I am going to need a vacation from my vacation.\n\nStill, I can\'t complain about a thing. Well, aside from the fact that the forecast suggests that there\'s another week of rainy weather ahead for those of us living in Sofia.','Summer Approaches','','publish','open','open','','summer-approaches','','','2010-06-27 20:16:46','2010-06-27 19:16:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3021',0,'post','',0),(3024,1,'2010-06-28 21:11:29','2010-06-28 20:11:29','I realized last week that I get things wrong a lot.  (<em>Shocker right?</em>)\n\nStill I couldn\'t help thinking about it.  Being wrong. But because I am not always <em>right</em>. Yeah, you might be wondering what I am talking about right now. Right? Wrong? I know, I know. This post doesn\'t seem to be going anywhere. And why is she admitting to being wrong.\n\n<em>Heck, why does she care about something like wrongness!?</em>\n\nWell, I\'d never really thought much about how often I am wrong and in how many different ways I am wrong each day until I read this great interview on <a href=\"http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/thewrongstuff/archive/2010/06/07/on-air-and-on-error-this-american-life-s-ira-glass-on-being-wrong.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Slate with Ira Glass called The Wrong Stuff--On Air and On Error</a>.\n\nThe first question in the interview made me think: Oh my gosh. This is why people like my blog. I am narrating wrongness.\n<blockquote><strong>Do you consciously think about wrongness as a narrative device?</strong>\n\nI don\'t go looking for stories with the idea of wrongness in my head,  no. But the fact is, a lot of great stories hinge on people being  wrong.</blockquote>\nIt was strange to see myself and what I am doing with this blog reflected in this interview. And it was even stranger to think: Ah-ha. That\'s right. It\'s wrongness. A huge amount of what I am writing about the moments I am wrong--when I don\'t understand something, when I am embarrassed because of something I\'ve done or when I feel the crush of living between two cultures.<!--more-->\n\nSo in fact, I guess I am narrating a huge part of my own story on this blog in terms of wrongness. It\'s about trying, not quite getting it and trying again. But I it\'s not like I have a market or a corner on wrongness. I\'d just rather laugh about my wrongness than to get hung up on it.\n\nAnd as many of you, my readers have pointed out over the last two year, I am wrong a lot. My brother and sister will tell you that I\'ve been wrong even before I started writing this blog. Now, given my life abroad, in this wonderfully mixed up country, I have an opportunity to be wrong that much more.  So this part of the interview also jumped off the page at me:\n<blockquote><strong>I think some kinds of wrongness can be intensely pleasurable or  useful or revelatory or transformative. </strong>That makes me think of something I\'ve noticed in this writer we used  to have on the show all the time, David Sedaris. He would tell stories  about his family, and in those stories he was always the one who was the  butt of the joke. He was the one who was wrong and everybody else in  the family was right.\n\nAfter he went through the most dramatic stories of his childhood he  had to figure out what his next book was going to be about. So what did  he do? He moved to France, where he would always be wrong again. I don\'t  know if he thought it through this way or if it simply happened—I  think it\'s the latter—but he couldn\'t have written that book [<em><a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316776963?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=slatmaga-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0316776963\">Me  Talk Pretty One Day</a></em>] in New York, where he knows his way around  and speaks the language and feels at home. Whereas living in France was  just constant wrongness. He was always going to be the butt of the joke  again. I guess what I\'m saying is that that being wrong turns out to be  a very natural place for a lot of people to write from.</blockquote>\nThis it seems to me is exactly right. The way that there\'s a sense that you\'re always wrong when you\'re living abroad. It also made me think: Carolyn, buy this book. <em>ASAP</em>. Luckily I can do these things--thanks Kindle. And again, this part of the interview reinforced my sense that I am writing this blog and narrating my experiences from a place of wrongness.\n\nThe best part?\n\nWhen I realized that you guys like me even when I am wrong.  Or, maybe, you like me <em>because</em> I am wrong.\n\nOr maybe you like me because of my dashing good looks...\n\nEither way, that\'s pretty great!','Wrongness','','publish','open','open','','wrongness','','','2010-06-28 21:11:29','2010-06-28 20:11:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3024',0,'post','',4),(3034,1,'2010-06-29 18:59:24','2010-06-29 17:59:24','Hey, has anyone read this book, <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Snap-Cynthia-Morrison-Phoel/dp/0870745611/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&amp;coliid=I23EPUM10NHODS&amp;colid=6TXOV5ELE9GB\" target=\"_blank\">Cold Snap</a> by Cynthia Morrison Phoel? What did you think?\n\nFor those of you not in the know, which was me just yesterday, it\'s a new book or collection of short stories set in Bulgaria. Apparently it just came out in May and is written by a former Peace Corps volunteer who lived in Bulgaria between the years of 1994 and 1996.\n\nWhat\'s the most interesting is that the book is fiction. She even goes so far as to make up the town the book is set on. It seems like a good read.  I can\'t wait to get my hands on it but it\'s not a Kindle book (which is a shame!). So, I\'ll have to wait until August and add it to my \"to-buy\" list in the States this summer.\n\nMostly I am interested in how other people are imagining, re-imaging and narrating stories set in Bulgaria. I mean, it\'s not such a big field of literature so it\'s also pretty easy for me to keep up.','Cold Snap?','','publish','open','open','','cold-snap','','','2010-06-29 18:59:24','2010-06-29 17:59:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3034',0,'post','',5),(3039,1,'2010-07-03 10:08:47','2010-07-03 09:08:47','My mom wrote to me yesterday. The subject line of the email you may wonder? It was: <em>Are you there? </em>Her email was just as simple and straightforward:\n<blockquote>Really, no blog post since June 29<sup>th</sup> and it is July 2<sup>nd</sup> already. What is a MoM on summer vacation supposed  to do?\n\nLove,\n\nMoM</blockquote>\nI read it and thought? No way. I must have written a post in the last three days. Turns out my MoM was right. Frustratingly so. How is it possible that moms are seemingly always right?\n\nThen I wrote back to her. That\'s what you\'re supposed to do, you know. It also seemed like the least I could do. She was right after all.\n\nBut it did make me laugh. I knew my MoM reads my blog but I didn\'t think of her as keeping tabs on me through my blog.\n\nSo yes, it\'s been a few days since I\'ve written. That\'s what happens when you\'re as busy as I\'ve been. It\'s just been two weeks of go, go, go. School has required lots of time, I\'ve been getting ready for my summer adventure and I\'ve been trying to keep myself up as well. This said, I\'ve been thinking about writing. <!--more-->\n\nThe thing is it hasn\'t moved from the thinking stage to the doing stage. Until now. And I am afraid that this isn\'t the most riveting post. Don\'t worry, I have a few posts up my sleeve and I\'ll write them asap. I\'ve just got some errands to run right now. Then watch out world!\n\nHowever, I guess that now\'s as good a time as any to remind everyone that my posts are going to be less frequent in July and August as I\'ll be traveling so much and for the July part of my travels, I am not taking my computer with me.  I mean, I\'ll write when and where I can but I can\'t promise too much.  Don\'t worry though, I\'ll be back full force at the end of August!\n\nSo now\'s the perfect time to add me to your google reader (or any other reader that you\'re using) and this way you won\'t miss a single post. And hey if my MoM can use google reader--so can you!','Hello World (and MoM)!','','publish','open','open','','hello-world-and-mom','','','2010-07-03 10:08:47','2010-07-03 09:08:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3039',0,'post','',0),(3044,1,'2010-07-03 17:50:30','2010-07-03 16:50:30','This past week I\'ve been going to school a little later in the morning that I normally do. That\'s when the magic happened! Well, magic might be too strong of a word but it a little funny.\n\nHere\'s the story. Usually I leave my house between 7 and 7:15am to get to school early enough to do a few things and be prepared to teach. But this past week, with final exams over and me devoting my entire week to grading, entering grades electronically and entering them a second time in hard-copy in the dnevnitsi, I let myself head to school a little later in the morning between 8:15 and 8:30am.\n\nAnyhow, the people on the bus are totally different an hour later than the normal people you ride the bus with--go figure. So spent the whole week doing people watching on the 111 or the 76 buses. It was great fun.\n\nThen on Thursday (or Friday--I can\'t remember) I climbed on the 111.  It wasn\'t too crowded which is perfect for people watching because when it\'s too crowded it\'s hard to get the whole effect.\n\nSo I notice this guy in a little bit too tight black tee shirt with a gold necklace, baggy-ish jeans and tennis shoes.  Now this look alone isn\'t very surprising but he\'s talking a mile a minute on his blackberry and checking messages.  This was serious multi-tasking. He also had a full beard, a shaved head and too large diamond earrings in making for a pretty distinctive look. Then I notice that he has no arm hair--like it\'s gone--and a fancy-pants watch.\n\nThe whole thing is fascinating to me because he seems to be oblivious to everyone on the bus around him and at the same time, he doesn\'t seem to belong on the bus. It\'s an odd mix.  A piece of me really wants to take a picture but that\'s creepy so I just think: awesome and get off at my stop.\n\nFine. That\'s that.\n\nUntil this morning! Yes, this morning, when I was cleaning my apartment and watching music videos and who\'s on the Voice but Mr. Bus-Guy. <em><!--more-->Yeah, I named him Mr. Bus Guy in my head</em>. He\'s being interviewed. I do a double take. It can\'t be the same guy. But the hairless arm and the watch convince me otherwise. It turns out that Mr. Bus-Guy is a Bulgarian rapper.\n\nThat\'s when I just about lost it. What was he doing on the bus? Buses in Bulgaria are depressing. Sure the 111 is better than most but really?! He\'s taking the bus? <em>He\'s just like me? </em>\n\nOr, maybe this speaks to the status of rap in the country. I\'m on bus staring at this guy\'s shocking hairless arms and head while he\'s rocking a full beard. Because I think it\'s a striking look. Not because he\'s a rap start. And everyone else? Well, they\'re staring out the windows. Apparently totally unaware of Mr. Bus-Guy.\n\nAlso, it turns out that his name is not Mr. Bus-Guy--as my title suggests--it\'s <a href=\"http://www.myspace.com/mechoka\" target=\"_blank\">Mechoka</a>. This link will take you to his myspace page--just in case you\'re too lazy to look it up.  I felt the need to stalk him online after I figured out what his name was.Yeah, I know that\'s creepy but I chalked it up to research for my blog. That\'s okay, right?\n\nSo, Mechoka, you\'ve got a great look but I am not really digging your rap. For better or worse, I am more inclined to giggle than to take you seriously. But this said, I am not generally a fan of rap. So don\'t take this the wrong way. Frankly, I am in no way, shape or form qualified or prepared to review, rate or judge your music.  Apparently what I am good at is staring at you and subsequently googling your name--which sounds nicer than stalking and frankly that\'s all I felt like doing.\n\nSo, readers, you too could google Mechoka, but I already did it for you. You know, researching this blog post. In case you\'re interested you can check out much of Mechoka work on youtube--his amazingly hairless arms are less clear but the shaved head, full beard and ear rings are pretty prominent.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cExzLlAQF9Y&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1]\n\nAnd that\'s all I have on Mechoka. However it does make me wonder what other interesting, famous, or otherwise noteworthy people I pass each day but simply know. Maybe I need to take up reading Bulgarian tabloids. Actually that would be great.\n\nNote to self: consider this for one of my \"year-three-in-Bulgaria resolutions.\"','Rapper: Mechoka','','publish','open','open','','rapper-mechoka','','','2010-07-03 17:50:30','2010-07-03 16:50:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3044',0,'post','',3),(3052,1,'2010-07-04 09:32:28','2010-07-04 08:32:28','','New glasses in Brown','My New glasses in Brown','inherit','open','open','','dsc01792','','','2010-07-04 09:32:28','2010-07-04 08:32:28','',3051,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01792.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3053,1,'2010-07-04 09:34:49','2010-07-04 08:34:49','','New glasses in Purple and Black','My New glasses in Purple and Black','inherit','open','open','','dsc01803','','','2010-07-04 09:34:49','2010-07-04 08:34:49','',3051,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01803.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3059,1,'2010-07-04 09:51:24','2010-07-04 08:51:24','','My new cut and color','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01805','','','2010-07-04 09:51:24','2010-07-04 08:51:24','',3058,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01805.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3062,1,'2010-07-04 09:53:56','2010-07-04 08:53:56','','My new haircut and color 2','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01806','','','2010-07-04 09:53:56','2010-07-04 08:53:56','',3058,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01806.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3063,1,'2010-07-04 09:57:53','2010-07-04 08:57:53','','My new haircut and color 3','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01809','','','2010-07-04 09:57:53','2010-07-04 08:57:53','',3058,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01809.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3065,1,'2010-07-04 10:26:35','2010-07-04 09:26:35','','My Haircut &amp; color 3','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01807','','','2010-07-04 10:26:35','2010-07-04 09:26:35','',3058,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01807.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3066,1,'2010-07-04 10:28:41','2010-07-04 09:28:41','','DSC01810','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01810','','','2010-07-04 10:28:41','2010-07-04 09:28:41','',3058,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01810.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3075,1,'2010-07-04 11:06:59','2010-07-04 10:06:59','','Oreos','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01804','','','2010-07-04 11:06:59','2010-07-04 10:06:59','',3073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01804.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3085,1,'2010-07-04 11:25:34','2010-07-04 10:25:34','Happy Birthday America!\n\nSo I am looking forward to this holiday--even in Bulgaria. I\'ll be celebrating with friends this evening. The American Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce hosts a big shin-dig at the American College of Sofia. Based on all of the tickets, the huge number of tents being put together on Friday and the band that\'s going to be be present--I think it\'s going be great.\n\nWhile it would be great to be grilling hamburgers in my parent\'s backyard or attending a baseball game, I think celebrating the 4th of July Bulgarian style is going to be a hoot.\n\nPictures will follow. At some point.\n\nI guess this is the time where I\'ve also got tell you that as of Monday (yep, that\'s tomorrow July 5th) I am going to be traveling. And I won\'t be posting regularly. I did write and set a few posts be active over the next week but I know that this won\'t make up for my not blogging. This said, I am on vacation, I am thrilled about and I simply won\'t be posting as much.\n\nSo check in, there will be posts. Just not daily posts.\n\nXOXO, Carolyn','Happy 4th of July!','','publish','open','open','','happy-4th-of-july','','','2010-07-04 11:25:34','2010-07-04 10:25:34','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3085',0,'post','',2),(3051,1,'2010-07-06 08:43:06','2010-07-06 07:43:06','Hey, here\'s proof of my new glasses. I got two pairs. I am not really sure which ones I like better. I think it just depends on my mood.\n\nThe first pair--the pair in brown--the youngish sales woman told me were for old people. I smiled and then bought them anyway. As if old people should have a corner on the cool glasses!! Take that old people. I am wearing your glasses.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3052\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My New glasses in Brown \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01792.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3052\" title=\"New glasses in Brown \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01792.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nDon\'t worry, you also get to see the second pair. The only real difference is the glasses. Same pose, same couch, same well everything. <!--more-->\n\nThe purple and black pair below, I bought on a whim. They just seemed so fun and Bulgarian. What I mean is that I see a lot of really cool hip Bulgarian girls wearing bright bold frames and they made me want my own pair. So now I have them.  And I think that they are pretty great.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3053\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My New glasses in Purple and Black \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01803.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3053\" title=\"New glasses in Purple and Black \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01803.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn conclusion, I\'ve two great new pairs of glasses and I can\'t believe it put if off for so long. Hey, I mean, it\'s nice to be able to see the world clearly again! Also thanks to my friends and glasses-shopping-buddies S. and S. who encouraged me to get the purple pair and who laughed with me when I bought old lady glasses!!','New Glasses!','','publish','open','open','','new-glasses','','','2010-07-06 08:43:06','2010-07-06 07:43:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3051',0,'post','',12),(3058,1,'2010-07-08 08:29:12','2010-07-08 07:29:12','I just got a new hair cut and I feel like a whole new person. I\'ve been wanting a cut for a while but I am kind of lazy when it comes to things like this. So generally, I think: hey if I pull it back not one will know that I need a haircut. Needless to say, I\'ve needed a haircut for probably the last two months.\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01805.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3059\" title=\"My new cut and color\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01805.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01806.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3062\" title=\"My new haircut and color 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01806.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>Well, I did it and it looks great. If I do say so myself. Also, I looked at these pictures this morning and thought: I look so young. The cut is flattering and it seems to have shaved at least five years off my age. <!--more-->Wow. That\'s really all I can say. Also, this should probably serve as a reminder to me that when I think I should get my hair cut, I need to do it and not put it off.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01809.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3063\" title=\"My new haircut and color 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01809.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01807.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3065\" title=\"My Haircut &amp; color 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01807.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>But the part I love is the color. I got amazing highlights--one is two shades lighter than my blond and the other is two shades darker than my normal color but it also has a slight purple tint. Yeah, pretty cool. The purple was inspired by my purple glasses. The whole thing is pretty wonderful if you ask me.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01810.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3066\" title=\"DSC01810\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01810.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>So now every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror my thought is: hello, summer. It\'s the perfect cut and color to get me really excited about summer--youthful, fun and light!!','I am a whole new person!','','publish','open','open','','i-am-a-whole-new-person','','','2010-07-08 08:29:12','2010-07-08 07:29:12','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3058',0,'post','',5),(3070,1,'2010-07-09 08:33:17','2010-07-09 07:33:17','<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Me at the Sofia Pride Parade \" src=\"http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs326.ash1/28467_1472974115414_1565506440_31145712_5659505_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"481\" height=\"720\" />Hey, I know that this is a late post but my MoM said that people in the States want to know about the parade. So something like two weeks late, here\'s my post. Yeah, I had the best of intentions but somehow in the last two weeks there was never enough time. I guess it\'s better late than never.\n\nI went to the parade with a group of teachers from ACS. There were probably 20 of us total and then we joined up with some non-ACSers. So it was a nice sized group. We met at the metro and then walked to NDK--the national palace of culture where the parade was starting. Arriving at NDK was interesting, there was a huge police presence and when we got there they weren\'t letting people gather on the bridge which was the gathering site. So we waited. Then they slowly let people through and all of the walkers received an arm band. I guess as a security measure.\n\nThen the waiting started. More and more people showed up. There were rainbows, signs and flags. The whole event seemed very well put together. I guess that there were more than 700 participants. That\'s pretty great--something like double the number from last year. <!--more-->\n\nGenerally though I was surprised by two things: how many police officers were out and how much media there was covering the event.  There was almost as much media as police.  Okay I know that this was only the third annual parade but I didn\'t expect the media to be out in full force.\n\nWhile marching, I ran into my camera guy from the Nova television series. He wasn\'t filming when I said hi to him. He recognized me and said hello back. Then he asked me why I was there. <em>Um, to march?</em> I told him that I was walking with friends from school. He nodded and then made it very clear to me that he was there for work. <em>Okay</em>.\n\nLuckily the whole parade was pretty uneventful. No violence, no running required. Marchers were encouraged to wear tennis shoes just in case. There were some protesters--with signs in Bulgarian and crosses. I assume religious protesters. And there were apparently some neo-nazis but I didn\'t see them.\n\nWhat was there? Plenty of smiling faces, loud music, lots of dancing and generally a sense of enthusiasm for the day. And lots of people who support diversity in all shapes and sizes. It was really inspiring to see.\n\nBut this was just a single day. So, now what? Well, I will continue to be supportive of sexual, racial, and religious diversity (just to name a a few).  And in a more concrete expression of this day, I will be buying safe space stickers to bring back for interested teachers and administrators at school.','Update: Pride Parade','','publish','open','open','','update-pride-parade','','','2010-07-09 08:33:17','2010-07-09 07:33:17','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3070',0,'post','',4),(3073,1,'2010-07-10 08:11:50','2010-07-10 07:11:50','Oreos are bursting onto the scene here in Bulgaria.  I like an oreo as much as the next girl but the whole thing is kind of sad too. Is nothing sacred? Can\'t a girl go anywhere without being bombarded by images of American consumerism and obesity?\n\nHere\'s the thing, all of the signs advertising Oreos are all about teaching Bulgarians how to enjoy the cookie. Yep, this knowledge is being transmitted via billboards, commercials and construction sites.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01804.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3075\" title=\"Oreos \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dsc01804.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Oreos in Bulgaria\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>You can\'t see the whole add in this picture but you get the idea. And frankly I was more interested in how big the advertising is than the instructions: Twist, lick, dunk.\n\nThis is the point where I feel the need to make some strangely colonist remark--something to the effect of here we are bringing light, wisdom and the oreo to the unknowing masses in Bulgaria. Aren\'t they lucky?\n\nNow they have the oreo and they know what to do with it!\n\nThank-god.\n\nBut double-stuffed?! That\'s going to blow their minds.','Oreos in Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','oreos-in-bulgaria','','','2010-07-10 08:11:50','2010-07-10 07:11:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3073',0,'post','',11),(3089,1,'2010-07-20 16:36:45','2010-07-20 15:36:45','After celebrating the fourth of July, I hopped on a train to the Black Sea and spent a week there. That\'s why my blogging has been infrequent at best. Sinemorets was lovely. The weather and the sun combined with friends and the food made it the perfect way to start my travel. Then I popped into Budapest for a few days to meet up with some friends and and now my friend R. and I are traveling through the Balkans. Or as Lonely Planet puts it the western Balkans. We hit  Beograd/Belgrade for a couple of days and then took the train to the Montenegrin coast--Kotor, Perast and Budva to name the highlights. Today we arrived in Albania. Yeah. I am in Albania right now. Two years ago I never guessed I\'d say that.\n\nAll in all our travel has been going pretty smoothly but things got off to a bang in Sinemorets. There was some confusion over the bus schedule to Burgas--when the summer schedule started and the like. And as luck would have it I missed the last bus o Burgas. Normally I wouldn\'t worry but I had to be at the airport early the next morning and I couldn\'t take the morning bus because I wouldn\'t get to the airport in time to catch my flight.\n\nMy friend G. who I was staying with was upset and yelling and the bus driver but really, what\'s he going to do about it? So I said to G. do you think that there\'s anyone who\'s driving to Burgas tonight or tomorrow and I could catch a ride with them?\n\nWell, this is perfect because she looks at me and says: yes. The fruit and vegetable man goes every night. So we march over to his stand they talk for a minute and agree that I can go with him at 10pm. Of course, he doesn\'t really speak English so I had my longest conversation ever in Bulgarian. I spoke for nearly an hour and a half. Yeah, that\'s a pretty big deal for me. And I think my Bulgarian tutor I. will be proud of me!\n\nSo to recap: I ended up getting a ride with a guy who sells fruits and veggies from the little town I was staying in on the Black Sea to Burgas where I was then flying to Budapest. The bus schedule wasn\'t posted correctly so I missed the bus that I was supposed to take and ended up at 10 pm riding an hour and a half to Burgras with a random local that my friend G. knew. <em>Luckily</em>. Not a bad start to this current adventure!!','Travel, travel','','publish','open','open','','travel-travel','','','2010-07-20 16:36:45','2010-07-20 15:36:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3089',0,'post','',4),(3092,1,'2010-07-30 14:00:17','2010-07-30 13:00:17','Phew. I am back home. Hello, Sofia!! It\'s good to be sitting in my own apartment. Now all I have to do is a few loads of laundry, take a shower and buy some groceries. Then I\'ll feel like a real human being again.\n\nAll I have to say is watch out Sofia, here I come. And even better?! I\'ve got my friend R. in tow!!','Hello, Sofia!','','publish','open','open','','hello-sofia','','','2010-07-30 14:00:17','2010-07-30 13:00:17','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3092',0,'post','',1),(3097,1,'2010-08-01 07:20:06','2010-08-01 06:20:06','','View from a Beach Front Bar','View from a Beach Front Bar','inherit','open','open','','img_4815','','','2010-08-01 07:20:06','2010-08-01 06:20:06','',3095,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4815.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3098,1,'2010-08-01 07:27:05','2010-08-01 06:27:05','','Sinemorets','','inherit','open','open','','img_4819','','','2010-08-01 07:27:05','2010-08-01 06:27:05','',3095,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4819.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3100,1,'2010-08-01 07:29:36','2010-08-01 06:29:36','','Wine at the Beach','Wine at the Beach','inherit','open','open','','img_4817','','','2010-08-01 07:29:36','2010-08-01 06:29:36','',3095,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4817.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3101,1,'2010-08-01 07:30:42','2010-08-01 06:30:42','','The Ocean in July','The Ocean in July','inherit','open','open','','img_4812','','','2010-08-01 07:30:42','2010-08-01 06:30:42','',3095,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4812.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3095,1,'2010-08-01 07:33:16','2010-08-01 06:33:16','It\'s funny, I spent the last month more or less without the internet and now that I am back in Sofia it\'s hard to make myself write. It was me, my friend R., buses, hostels, sun and beer.  And on top of all of this there wasn\'t much of a timeline or many expectations except to see cool things, eat plenty of awesome food and to find a few treasures to remember our trip by.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3097\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"View from a Beach Front Bar \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4815.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3097\" title=\"View from a Beach Front Bar \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4815.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe trip started for me with five days on the Black Sea Coast. It was exactly what I needed--relaxing, laid back and sunny. I\'d heard a lot of great things about the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Basically it was this: the north is being run over by Brits and other foreigners who are looking for an inexpensive place to party.  So places in and around say Varna are crawling with tourists, pumping with either pop, techno or chalga music and the beaches are an endless rows of bodies and beach umbrellas. This however isn\'t really my thing.<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4819.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3098\" title=\"Sinemorets \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4819.jpg\" alt=\"Sinemorets \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nSo I fled south to Sinemorets. <!--more-->It\'s a tiny beach side town with a couple of main streets, a handful of restaurants and plenty of beach.  When I was there in early July the town was still waiting for the tourists to arrive but it\'s the kind of town that I can\'t imagine is ever actually overrun by tourists.  In part this clearly has to do with the limited public transportation to this sea side town but more than this, Sinemorets it seems is the kind of town that foreigners looking for a vacation of beer, loud music and sex wouldn\'t find very attractive.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3100\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Wine at the Beach \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4817.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3100\" title=\"Wine at the Beach \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4817.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe beach that the locals flock to takes a bit of energy to get to and the sand is more pebbles and shells than fine sand but the water is clear and cold.  This made for the perfect combination of dip, sun, swim, sun, dip again. But the greatest part was the sense that you had a little piece of the beach and the water to yourself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3101\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Ocean in July \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4812.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3101\" title=\"The Ocean in July \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4812.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis of course is the fantasy of going to the beach--having the place to yourself, something unexplored, undiscovered mixed with the heat of the sun, the breeze and the cool of the salt water on your skin. And I have to say that in this respect Sinemorets doesn\'t disappoint.','The Black Sea in July','','publish','open','open','','the-black-sea-in-july','','','2010-08-01 07:33:16','2010-08-01 06:33:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3095',0,'post','',4),(3108,1,'2010-08-01 20:39:40','2010-08-01 19:39:40','Traveling in the Balkans is relatively easy.  There\'s a strong network of hostels throughout the region, plenty of backpackers, a decent network of buses and everyone is willing to tell you what they think you should do, can\'t miss or what you should have done.  It\'s a pretty incredible system all things considered.\n\nSo when it comes to traveling all you have to do is get linked into a good hostel, smile and talk about your trip with other travelers and basically the rest will work itself out. Okay this might be oversimplifying things a little bit but I swear not by much. Sure you also have to be prepared for smelly shared dorm rooms, early morning packers/late night drunks, poor shower pressure and instant coffee but really it\'s worth it.\n\nIt might not be for everyone but if you can take the good with the bad then traveling through the Balkans via buses and hostels you\'re bound to have a great time. Yes, even at nearly-thirty I am singing the praises of hostels in Eastern Europe.\n\nAnyhow, on this most recent trip, my friend R. and I were stuck by the fact that given the route we were taking we were either following or being followed by fellow backpackers.  It\'s pretty great.  It gives you a built in network of friends. We ran into Brits, Aussies and Canadians but only one other American.\n\nAnd you know what? Canadians are great fun. <!--more-->Truthfully, I haven\'t spent much time thinking about Canada. Don\'t get me wrong, I don\'t dislike Canadians.  Mostly, because I don\'t know much about about the country or the people. Sure I know the highlights, I know a number of different cities, and I know that it\'s cold and that everyone eats maple syrup.  Then one of my new Canadian backpacker-friends C. began to teach me more about Canada.\n\nSpecifically she referenced a series of public service announcements that run on Canadian public television called \"A Part of our Heritage.\"  And you know what? They are pretty great. Thanks Canada!!\n\nHere, check this one out about Superman:\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9GYWbhBoHM]\n\nOkay, I am not sure that I know much more of substance about Canadian history but at a minute a pop, they make for a pretty good laugh and a great distraction.  You might also want to check out the one on \"Irish Names,\" \"Basketball,\" \"Women in Medicine,\" and \"Maple Syrup.\"\n\nBut it turns out that Canada is awesome. (I mean, if you didn\'t already know that.)','Hostels, Friends and Canada','','publish','open','open','','hostels-friends-and-canada','','','2010-08-01 20:39:40','2010-08-01 19:39:40','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3108',0,'post','',0),(3111,1,'2010-08-02 14:27:40','2010-08-02 13:27:40','I dropped my friend R. off at the airport today and it got me thinking.\n\nThere\'s a lot that I like about living in Sofia. One of those things is the airport--specifically Terminal 2. I like how clean and modern it is, I like how easy it is to navigate, I like that it\'s well air conditioned. I am a simple girl.\n\nHowever there are a few things that I dislike as well.  There are never enough seats if you\'re waiting for a flight to arrive.  And I think that a 5-plus leva coffee is nuts but at 6am what\'s a girl to do? I also dislike Terminal 1 but that\'s a whole different post.\n\nBut the big surprise today was that the road to the airport is currently under construction.  <!--more-->The funny thing is of all of the roads in Sofia this isn\'t one that struck me as being in bad shape but these things happen.  Anyhow, now you have to skirt along the road that\'s under construction. I guess it\'s really not that big of a deal because it\'s not like <em>I\'m</em> driving to the airport.\n\nToday, we took a taxi and it was approximately the same price as I normally pay from Mladost.  The ride just felt longer and more haphazard. But I guess that\'s nothing new in Bulgaria.\n\nAfter making sure that every thing was set with my friend\'s flight, I decided to take the 284 (?) bus to the city center. I had a coffee, read my book and generally tried to put off coming home to pack for my month in the States.  Don\'t get me wrong, I am really excited to be going home for a few weeks.  It\'s just that I really hate packing.\n\nRight now I have my suitcase out with things tossed in and I am trying to edit my collection of clothes, gifts and nik-nacs down to a reasonable number and weight. Phew. Wish me luck!','Sofia Airport','','publish','open','open','','sofia-airport','','','2010-08-02 14:27:40','2010-08-02 13:27:40','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3111',0,'post','',6),(3113,1,'2010-08-05 18:25:52','2010-08-05 17:25:52','After a long six or so months, I am back in Walla Walla. It\'s a city where things don\'t ever seem to change too dramatically so even after 10+ years of living away from my home town whenever I return it still feels like home.\n\nSure things change but the feel of the place is still the same. But I don\'t necessarily expect that things will always be this way. That\'s the problem with time, distance, memory and nostalgia.\n\nSo the highlights? Well, I guess I\'ll make a quick list to summarize. Then I\'ll make a longer, fuller, more developed post later.\n<ul>\n	<li>The flight attendants from Chicago to Seattle looked like they\'d be more at home in a dinner in the mid-west than serving soda on an airplane. There was nothing cosmopolitan, worldly, sexy or classy about these ladies.  On a whole their hair was too blond and their roots too brown, their lipstick too bright and poorly applied and the honey-ies and darlings were a little over the top. I mean, where did they find these women?<!--more--></li>\n	<li>There\'s a billboard on the highway from Seattle to Walla Walla that welcomes you to the city of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakima,_Washington\" target=\"_blank\">Yakima</a> it declares that: Yakima is the Palm Springs of Washington. I am not sure about that. And I couldn\'t believe that this was the first time I\'d ever seen this sign. The Pam Springs of Washington?! What does that even mean?</li>\n	<li>But the best billboard about 45 miles from my hometown said: Walla Walla wine is rock\'n roll.  Yep. The wine is \"rock\'n roll.\" I can\'t help but wonder if that makes it too cool for me. But I hope not. I like wine.</li>\n	<li>We stopped at a dairy factory called <a href=\"http://www.darigold.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Darigold </a>between Yakima and Richland and bough cheese curds. These are delicious and when they are room temperature they squeak when you eat them. I think that any food that\'s both fun and tasty wins a special place in my heart.</li>\n	<li>In Walla Walla, the traffic is seemingly nonexistent. It\'s amazing. No cars honking. No traffic jams. No speeding. And a couple of times at intersections we were the only car there. Oh and the sidewalks are even.</li>\n	<li>Finally, there\'s My Bed. To date, this has been the biggest highlight. When you\'re suffering from a difference of 10 hours between Sofia, Bulgaria and Walla Walla, Washington visions of beds just dance through your head.  And as my MoM and dAd can attest, I\'ve been making full use of my bed falling asleep shortly after dinner and getting up just in time to join them for their morning walk.</li>\n</ul>\nSo, all in all, things in Walla Walla are pretty great. Now I am going to go grocery shopping with my mom. Then maybe I\'ll have a coffee and I expect to spend the afternoon by the pool.  It\'s pretty great to be on vacation for 2+ months. And even better to spend part of it with your family!!','At Home in Walla Walla','','publish','open','open','','at-home-in-walla-walla','','','2010-08-05 18:25:52','2010-08-05 17:25:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3113',0,'post','',3),(3117,1,'2010-08-06 17:12:31','2010-08-06 16:12:31','I am having kind of a hard go of things in Walla Walla. The jet lag has hit hard and I feel like all I want to do is to sleep or eat at weird times. On top of all of this, I\'ve been up since five o\'clock this morning.\n\nIt\'s kind of lonely at 5am so I read a magazine, re-heated and drank yesterday\'s coffee because I didn\'t know where everything I needed was to make my own, I ate a bagel and waited for everyone else to get up.  I only had to wait an hour until my MoM got up and then I roped her into making a new pot of coffee. The good news is that now I know what I am doing and where everything is so that tomorrow morning I can make my own coffee.\n\nBeing back in Walla Walla is pretty great. I\'ve gone on a morning walks with my parents, done a little shopping and plenty of relaxing.  But the transition hasn\'t been seamless.\n\nI guess that the more time you spend away from home the harder it is to get back in the swing of things. Which is kind of strange because I feel like I know this place and everything I want to do should be second nature to me but as it turns out it isn\'t.<!--more-->\n\nThis morning I was opening some windows and the front door to get an early morning breeze moving through the house and I found myself totally surprised by the fact that our front door dead-bolt lock only turns once rather than the two turns of a key that most Bulgarian doors require.\n\nIn the early morning sunlight, I also had a sense of quiet for the first time in days. And I realized that I\'ve been bombarded by English recently. I can hear everyone\'s conversations and I find myself listening to them. Which I guess is actually eavesdropping on them but it seems justified given the fact that I haven\'t been able to really eavesdrop on another conversation in months. Still, it\'s overwhelming to understand everything all at once from signs to the radio, to conversation in coffee shops and the like.  I\'ve come to this conclusion: most of what people have to say is inane and rather silly.\n\nMaybe the best moment recently was when my MoM and I snuck off recently have a doughnut. The bill for two doughnuts was $2.48.  I decided to pay for the treat and plunked down two $1 bills and a quarter.  I pushed it across to the sales girl and she told me the total again. I looked at her and smiled and push the money further towards her.  She looked at me, I looked at her and I was confused about why she wasn\'t giving me 2 pennies in change.\n\nThis is when my MoM stepped in. She apparently looked at the sales girl\'s face and knew that something was going on but couldn\'t tell what it was. So MoM looks at the money and says to me: Carolyn, the total is $2.48. I said: I know. She said: you don\'t have enough money out. I look down and realize that I\'ve mistaken the quarter for a 50 cent piece.\n\nI am embarrassed by this because in America we don\'t have a 50 cent piece. I laugh. My MoM tells the sales girl: she\'s been living in Bulgaria. I am not really sure the sales girl understands what this means but she\'s polite and takes my money once I have two quarters out.  I grab the doughnuts and napkins and head for the door thinking: <em>damn quarter! </em>\n\nSo I guess that\'s what happens when you spend a substantial amount of time living abroad (and you\'re still suffering from jet lag)--you do stupid things, things that seem utterly day to day, things that you\'d never imagine were possible but apparently are.  Funny how that works.','Bulgarian-isms in Walla Walla','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-isms-in-walla-walla','','','2010-08-06 17:12:31','2010-08-06 16:12:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3117',0,'post','',4),(3123,1,'2010-08-08 17:19:42','2010-08-08 16:19:42','I\'ve been in Walla Walla now for about five days. So far so good.  It is funny-strange to go from living by yourself to traveling with a college friend and then spending all of your time with your family but all in all I feel pretty lucky to have a summer like this one.\r\n\r\nOn and off over the last two years, I\'ve gotten the question why do you refer to your parents as \"MoM &amp; dAd\"? But mostly this was from friends who thought I was somehow mis-typing their names and wanted to correct me.\r\n\r\nHowever, yesterday a reader posed this question to me and I figured now is as good a time as any to explain why I call my parents \"MoM  &amp; dAd\" on this blog.\r\n\r\nI am not sure it\'s the most interesting story ever but that happens from time to time on a blog.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nMy parents both have a great sense of humor.  Growing up my dad\'s was always a little bit bigger, a little bit stranger, a little bit more out there than my mom\'s which is more understated but just to be clear she\'s got a great sense of humor as well (I mean she has put up with my dad for 30+ years of marriage).\r\n\r\nAnyhow I grew up with the joking, the teasing, the banter so I never thought much about it but at some point you realize that not everyone\'s families are like this (which is kind of a shame). Then I went to college. And realized how lucky I am to have my parents as my parents.\r\n\r\nThen they started emailing me.\r\n\r\nMy mom would email me things like: are you going to call this weekend or when is Christmas break? And my dad would email me ridiculous stories about things that were happening at the Antique Store or in Walla Walla.\r\n\r\nHowever it wasn\'t until my sister went to college (and email etiquette started changing) that my dad started getting creative (and silly). I still signed my emails Carolyn but my sister Charlotte signed her emails \"char.\" Then one day, I think (but this is not confirmed) not to be out done by his youngest daughter in cuteness and creativity, I received an email from \"dAd.\"\r\n\r\nI didn\'t think much about it the first time. But then every single email started arriving this way. Funny guy. I mean, what\'s he up to? It would be weird if my dad all of a sudden felt the need to distinguish himself from every other dad emailing me by signing his emails dAd.  I mean, there aren\'t any other dads emailing me. Just him. I didn\'t say anything about this to him and he persisted.\r\n\r\nThe kicker was when he started signing emails from both parents Love, dAd &amp; MoM.\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, it stuck. Then my mom started signing her emails to us kids as MoM. I started writing to both of them as MoM and dAd.\r\n\r\nMy mom claims that she didn\'t jump on the band wagon right away but adopted the new signature \"MoM\" because of my dAd. <em>Aw.</em> For the record, I think that she likes it now.\r\n\r\nWhen I started by blog, I referred to them them as MoM and dAd because it\'s silly and I am a silly person. I also figured it was an inside joke that I could take with me to Bulgaria.\r\n\r\nThe thing is, now I am in the habit of referring to them as MoM and dAd even though it\'s not at all natural to type.  In fact it really slows me down to type their names like this but I do it because that\'s how I think of them now.  I also do it because I love them and I figure it\'s a quick and easy sign of this when sometimes I am too busy to email or skype.  It\'s my short hand.\r\n\r\nAnd now you know.','MoM &amp; dAd','','publish','open','open','','mom-dad','','','2011-06-12 09:58:20','2011-06-12 07:58:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3123',0,'post','',3),(3131,1,'2010-08-09 22:47:20','2010-08-09 21:47:20','','Sweet Onions','Sweet Onions','inherit','open','open','','img_5639','','','2010-08-09 22:47:20','2010-08-09 21:47:20','',3130,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5639.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3134,1,'2010-08-09 22:50:53','2010-08-09 21:50:53','','Close up: Walla Walla Sweets','Close up: Walla Walla Sweets','inherit','open','open','','img_5640','','','2010-08-09 22:50:53','2010-08-09 21:50:53','',3130,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5640.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3130,1,'2010-08-09 23:00:55','2010-08-09 22:00:55','One of the things I love about Walla Walla are the onions! I know what you\'re thinking: Carolyn, you love onions? The answer is yes. Yes, I love onions.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3131\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Sweet Onions \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5639.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3131\" title=\"Sweet Onions \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5639.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut these aren\'t just any onions that I love. I love Walla Walla Sweet Onions. <!--more-->These onions are special. They\'re sweet. They\'re bigger than the average onion--the best ones are softball size. And when you cut them, they don\'t make your eyes water nor are they spicy when you eat them raw. These are amazing onions.\n\nI haven\'t always loved them. I mean what kid admits to loving onions? But now they taste like summer in Walla Walla to me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3134\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Close up: Walla Walla Sweets \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5640.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3134\" title=\"Close up: Walla Walla Sweets \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOn top of being tasty. The onions are also pretty cool. Apparently they are sweet because of the variety, the soil in Walla Walla and the high water content (which is why I think they\'re so big).  There\'s a little bit more information on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_onion\">wikipedia </a>but I don\'t think it\'s the most helpful entry eve. I\'d think about editing it to make it better but I don\'t actually know that much about sweet onions. Except that I like them.\n\nSome people say that you can eat sweet onions like an apple. But that\'s not my thing.','Walla Walla Sweets!','','publish','open','open','','walla-walla-sweets','','','2010-08-09 23:00:55','2010-08-09 22:00:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3130',0,'post','',1),(3139,1,'2010-08-11 18:05:45','2010-08-11 17:05:45','I think that I can count the number of rainy days I\'ve had this summer on one hand. Three. Today is the third. I\'ve been trying to get myself geared up to stand up, to get off the couch, to take a shower, to run some errands and to complete some to-dos. But so far I\'ve been unsuccessful as I am still here on the couch writing this post.\n\nAll things considered three rainy days in one summer is pretty good.  One rainy day on the Black Sea, another in Kosovo and the third here in Walla Walla. So don\'t worry this is not a woe-is-me post.\n\nIn fact, I\'ve been feeling pretty lucky that I can sit around on the couch on a rainy day. That I can read the NYT and drink coffee. That I can poke around on Facebook. That I can add new books to my Kindle wishlist and that I can look through photos from my most recent travels. Life seems pretty great right now.\n\nAnd that\'s the thing about a rainy day. It lets you sit back and think about your life. All of the good things in it, all of the great things you\'ve been up to and everything you\'ve got to look forward to.','Rainy Day','','publish','open','open','','rainy-day-2','','','2010-08-11 18:05:45','2010-08-11 17:05:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3139',0,'post','',0),(3145,1,'2010-08-12 02:06:43','2010-08-12 01:06:43','<div><dl> <dt><a href=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4900.jpg\"><img title=\"CAE on Castle Hill \" src=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4900.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"313\" /></a></dt> <dd>Me on Castle Hill </dd> </dl></div>\nBudapest was lovely. As usual. I\'ve been to Budapest three  times--once in December a year ago and twice in July.  July 2009 and  2010. The first visit the city was cold. Damn cold. But beautiful. Last  summer it was hot and crawling with tourists. This summer it was just  right. Hot but not too hot and the tourists felt far and few between.<!--more-->\n<div><dl> <dt><a href=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4890.jpg\"><img title=\"View from Castle Hill \" src=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4890.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"313\" /></a></dt> <dd>View from Castle Hill: Parliment </dd> </dl></div>\nI am not really sure how to put the city into words. It gets lumped into Eastern Europe. Heck, it is <em>in</em> Eastern Europe but it doesn\'t feel like (or look like) the Eastern  Europe that I know.  I guess that maybe it would be better to group  cities like Budapest and Prague in Central Europe along with cities like  Vienna and Berlin.  Or maybe I shouldn\'t worry about distinctions like  this.\n<div><dl> <dt><a href=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4918.jpg\"><img title=\"Szimpla \" src=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4918.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"313\" /></a></dt> <dd>Two cheers for Szimpla </dd> </dl></div>\nWhat is clear to me is that for better or worse the city\'s buildings  owe a lot to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Those guy knew \"wow.\" The  Hapsburgs had a great eye, a strong sense of proportion and liked things  big--big buildings, wide streets and a huge river--okay they aren\'t  responsible for the river but it helps.\n\nSo on my most recent trip to Budapest, I didn\'t feel pressed to be a  tourist. I\'ve already done that. Instead, I had a great time catching up  with some of my Hungarian-Fulbright friends, climbing Castle Hill (by  bus), walking the bridges at night, doing some shopping, hanging out at  Szimpla and drinking Hungarian wine and palinka.\n<div><dl> <dt><a href=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4950.jpg\"><img title=\"Budapest Bridge at Night\" src=\"http://conversationsandquestions.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_4950.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"470\" height=\"313\" /></a></dt> <dd>Budapest Bridge at Night</dd> </dl></div>','Budapest in July','','publish','open','open','','budapest-in-july','','','2010-08-12 02:06:43','2010-08-12 01:06:43','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3145',0,'post','',0),(3151,1,'2010-08-12 17:09:32','2010-08-12 16:09:32','','R. and Szimpla','R. and Szimpla','inherit','open','open','','img_4919','','','2010-08-12 17:09:32','2010-08-12 16:09:32','',3150,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4919.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3153,1,'2010-08-12 17:11:17','2010-08-12 16:11:17','','Inside Szimpla','Inside Szimpla','inherit','open','open','','img_4922','','','2010-08-12 17:11:17','2010-08-12 16:11:17','',3150,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4922.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3154,1,'2010-08-12 17:14:15','2010-08-12 16:14:15','','R. in front of Szimpla','R. in front of Szimpla','inherit','open','open','','img_4920','','','2010-08-12 17:14:15','2010-08-12 16:14:15','',3150,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4920.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3150,1,'2010-08-12 17:18:39','2010-08-12 16:18:39','[caption id=\"attachment_3154\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"R. in front of Szimpla \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4920.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-3154\" title=\"R. in front of Szimpla \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4920.jpg?w=200\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNormally I write my blog in the privacy of my own apartment. I open wordpress, check my messages, look at my stats, open a new page to write my post and then I either write or I procrastinate. Sometimes I also drink a cup (or three) of coffee.  This summer it\'s been different. I\'ve tried to write some updates in the busy common rooms of hostels; I\'ve pounded out a few while making my friend R. wait around before feeding her banitsa; and now I am in Walla Walla writing from my parent\'s living room.\n\nYesterday, my dAd kept asking me: when is your blog going to be done? Me: dAd, you can\'t rush these things. Finally, I finish and he starts reading it. Turns out he was done reading everything else on the internet and was waiting for my blog.  (Um, thanks dAd. I think.)\n\nWell, he reads for a bit, looks at the pictures and then from the computer across the room he asks: What\'s Szimpla? For the record, there\'s something totally strange about having him read the blog and then comment out loud about it. I wanted to tell him to leave the question in the comment section. I didn\'t.  But I thought about it.\n\nSo, what <em>is</em> Szimpla? <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3153\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Inside Szimpla \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4922.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3153\" title=\"Inside Szimpla \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4922.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor all of you with the same burning question, Szimpla is a bar in the Jewish Quarter in Budapest.  But to say that it\'s a bar and leave it at that isn\'t enough. This is a bar built in and around the ruins of a building damaged during WWII.  It\'s reclaimed, if you will.\n\nThe sign on the street is deceiving. There\'s a lot of bar behind the simple sign and the average door.  The bar has two floors, multiple bars to walk up to and a garden area.  The bar itself is a wash with color which primarily comes from mismatched tables and chairs that have been painted and repainted.  There are couches, a pommel horse but the highlight in my mind is the East German trabant which has the roof cut off and you can sit in it and drink.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"576\" caption=\"Me and the Trabant\"]<img class=\" \" title=\"Szimpla Trabant\" src=\"http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs023.snc4/33522_668272948505_1413925_38164612_8019982_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve heard but in no way shape or form have had this confirmed by anyone other than my American drinking buddies that Szimpla grew out of very humble origins. Basically the \"building\" was abandoned but probably the better word would be structure seeing as most of the building had been turned into rubble 40+ years earlier during the war. Then it was ignored. Until some college students decided to roll in a few kegs of beer and drink.  I guess that the tables and chairs followed and the bar as we know it today began to take shape.\n\nNow I understand that the bar is totally legit--or as legit as can be. It\'s gathered a pretty serious following and apparently a Szimpla has even opened in Berlin.\n\nThere\'s something pretty great about using a space like this for a bar. It makes it feel a little dirty, a bit rough around the edges and completely undiscovered. Except for the fact, that I discovered it and I am not <em>that </em>cool.  But what is cool, is that this bar was apparently part of the revitalization of the Jewish Quarter in Budapest.  A neighborhood that today is alive with people, bars, restaurants and hip design shops.  Szimpla fits right into this edgy but unsuspecting neighborhood.','What&#039;s Szimpla?','','publish','open','open','','whats-szimpla','','','2010-08-12 17:18:39','2010-08-12 16:18:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3150',0,'post','',3),(3161,1,'2010-08-13 01:44:21','2010-08-13 00:44:21','','Me giving an interview','Me giving the interview--on the floor','inherit','open','open','','img_5669','','','2010-08-13 01:44:21','2010-08-13 00:44:21','',3158,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5669.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3158,1,'2010-08-13 01:51:06','2010-08-13 00:51:06','Great news! I am going to be in the Bulgarian magazine Rouge in September. So keep your eyes peeled for it--well those of you living in Bulgaria.\n\nI had a really great interview with one of the editors at the magazine, Z. She asked a number of standard expat kind of questions from why Bulgaria? to what were my first impressions of the country? But she also asked some unexpected questions which were a lot of fun to answer.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me giving the interview--on the floor\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5669.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3161\" title=\"Me giving an interview \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5669.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe odd thing is that I get nervous before these interviews. Yep, I am human. I get nervous. Butterflies in the stomach nervous.  Okay, this is my second magazine interview so it\'s not like I do it all the time but it\'s not like I won\'t <em>know</em> the answer.<!--more-->\n\nIt is my life after all.  I guess I worry that I won\'t be articulate enough or that I\'ll say something horribly stupid that will then be in print.  You don\'t get to edit your answers in an interview like you get to edit, review, revise a blog.\n\nAnyhow, it didn\'t help much last week when skype wouldn\'t work on my parent\'s computer and then when I finally got my laptop up and running and the interview underway my dAd started taking pictures of me. Mind you he didn\'t just take one. Oh no, he took probably 25. <em>Sweet</em>.\n\nOr not.  I mean, it was pretty distracting.  Also, what I am I going to do with 25 pictures of me sitting on the floor giving an interview? Don\'t even get me started on how un-glamorous I am in these photos.\n\nSo once again, if you have some illusion of how glamorous my life is, I\'d urge you to take a look at the above photo and rethink this. I am in fact human.  Maybe I should add that when he was busy snapping photos it was only 7am. While I may not be uber-glamorous, at least this proves that I am a nice person because with the 10 hour time difference this was really the only way to make US-Bulgaria interview work.\n\nLuckily I was all dressed to go on a walk with my dAd after the interview. And we had a great walk. He asked me about the differences in style, fashion and taste between the United States and Bulgaria.  His questions were tough. I am glad the Rouge interview wasn\'t as tough.\n\nThen again it\'s probably a good thing. No Bulgarian in her right mind would take fashion advice from me. And frankly I probably shouldn\'t be dispensing it in a Bulgarian fashion/lifestyle magazine.','Me &amp; Rouge','','publish','open','open','','me-rouge','','','2010-08-13 01:51:06','2010-08-13 00:51:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3158',0,'post','',2),(3171,1,'2010-08-13 04:05:51','2010-08-13 03:05:51','','Beograd Main Square','Beograd Main Square','inherit','open','open','','img_4966','','','2010-08-13 04:05:51','2010-08-13 03:05:51','',3165,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4966.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3172,1,'2010-08-13 04:07:54','2010-08-13 03:07:54','','Tito&#039;s Museum: The road is always better than the inn...','Tito\'s Museum: The road is always better than the inn...','inherit','open','open','','img_4963','','','2010-08-13 04:07:54','2010-08-13 03:07:54','',3165,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4963.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3175,1,'2010-08-13 04:14:39','2010-08-13 03:14:39','','Watch out!','A warning on the streets of Belgrade: Watch out!','inherit','open','open','','img_4969','','','2010-08-13 04:14:39','2010-08-13 03:14:39','',3165,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4969.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3180,1,'2010-08-13 04:34:57','2010-08-13 03:34:57','','IMG_4984','','inherit','open','open','','img_4984','','','2010-08-13 04:34:57','2010-08-13 03:34:57','',3165,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4984.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3165,1,'2010-08-13 12:36:50','2010-08-13 11:36:50','Belgrade? Beograd? or Београд? Maybe it doesn\'t matter what you call this city or how you write it. Because it\'s a pretty great city. The kind of city that you have to dig into to really enjoy. It\'s not outwardly shiny but I think that it\'s worth exploring. We spent only a couple of days but we could have done much more. Especially if we\'d wanted to jump into the nightlife.  This said we still still had fun even just sticking our toes into test the water.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3171\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Beograd Main Square \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4966.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3171\" title=\"Beograd Main Square \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4966.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI guess if it\'s not already clear, I should make it so. I traveled with my friend R. for the entire month of July. We met up in Budapest and parted ways in Sofia. It was a pretty great adventure. Now you\'re going to see her and hear a lot about her as I recount our trip through the Balkans.  I just hope that I can capture all of the funny moments and probably some of the not so funny moments as well.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"403\" caption=\"R. &amp; C. in Beograd\"]<img title=\"R. &amp; C. in Beograd\" src=\"http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs133.ash2/39993_668276231925_1413925_38164666_4235462_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"403\" height=\"302\" />[/caption]\n\nFrom Budapest R. and I headed to Belgrade by train. It took us about 7 hours.  The first half of the trip was pretty straightforward. <!--more-->Then on the Serbian side of the border I couldn\'t remember where we were going when the asked by the passport control man. R. stepped into save me. Thanks! I got my passport stamped and we were on our way. Only about this time the train air conditioning went off and at Novi Sad a couple of hours from Belgrade the train filled up with EXIT festival goers making for a hotter smellier ride that I otherwise would have imagined. This meant that Belgrade was crawling with EXIT fest-ers.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"403\" caption=\"Unsmiling in front of the Tito Museum \"]<img title=\"Unsmiling in front of the Tito Museum \" src=\"http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs253.snc4/39993_668276221945_1413925_38164664_2365330_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"403\" height=\"302\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3172\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Tito&#039;s Museum: The road is always better than the inn...\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4963.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3172 \" title=\"Tito\'s Museum: The road is always better than the inn...\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4963.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLuckily, I\'d decided to reserve our hostel a few weeks earlier on hostelworld. We stayed at an amazing hostel: <a href=\"http://www.hostelchehostel.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Hostelche</a>.  It was small, friendly and ultra-hip. The staff were incredibly kind, funny and helpful. <em>And</em>, the hostel was clean. Yeah, that\'s a lot of great things happening in one space. Oh and coffee and breakfast as well.\n\nOh and the best thing was that the hostel is literately right next to one of my favorite restaurants in Belgrade. Restaurant \"?\" The restaurant is across from a big orthodox church \"Saborna crkva.\" The food is excellent. It\'s Serbian. (I will say though that Serbian food seems to be pretty closely related to Bulgarian food--gasp, gasp.)\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3175\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"A warning on the streets of Belgrade: Watch out! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4969.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-3175\" title=\"Watch out! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_4969.jpg?w=200\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'d been to Belgrade before so I more or less knew my way around but it was the first time for R. So we decided to hit up the Tito museum, the Tesla Museum and castle on the hill. We also drank Serbian beer, ate plenty of meat and topped it off with a couple of scoops of ice cream and some post cards.\n\nBelgrade is actually a city that I like a lot. It feels a little bit like Sofia but has a few more traces of the Hapsburgs.  The streets seem a little wider but the traffic is just as manic as Sofia.  The thing I continually got a kick out of was all of the signs in Cyrillic and in Latin--that I could read given my Bulgarian.\n\nThe hardest thing to see/swallow/stomach are the bombed out building from the NATO air strikes in the 1990\'s. The city still has these buildings standing in and around the downtown area.  You turn a corner and bam there it is. It takes my breath away every time I see it.\n\nI really like the Tito Museum. It\'s a little bit over the top. It\'s also appropriately kitsch. I bought a great Tito t-shirt using my \"bad Serbian\" which was actually Bulgarian. The old man working at the gift shop thought it was great fun that I was speaking to him in Bulgarian. He laughed and then gave me two Tito stickers. R. thought the whole thing was hysterical.  She also got a kitschy Tito tote bag. For the record I am hitting myself right now because I don\'t know why we didn\'t pose without gear on in front of the museum. What were we thinking?!\n\nFor better or worse, Belgrade was a quick stop on our way to Montenegro. We\'d planned to take a night train from Belgrade to Bar but the overnight train was completely booked. We ended up on the afternoon train. I think that we we left at 1pm or so. The downside? We didn\'t get to Bar until 11:30pm.  It was a long, hot train ride and this is not a train that\'s known for timeliness. It was later than Lonely Planet suggested, later than the posted train schedule and even later than our hostel guessed. Oh, and the train was hot. Really hot. It was is miserable at the time but a few weeks later it\'s gotten that much harder to remember.\n\nI guess that\'s a good thing.','Belgrade, Beograd or Београд?','','publish','open','open','','belgrade-beograd-or-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%be%d0%b3%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b4','','','2010-08-13 12:36:50','2010-08-13 11:36:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3165',0,'post','',0),(3185,1,'2010-08-14 20:50:58','2010-08-14 19:50:58','I made it to Washington DC. Super. Less super. I try to keep switching on bathrooms lights from the hallway. I wasn\'t doing this in Walla Walla. Probably because the placement of the light switches has been long ingrained in my mind--by memory if you will.  But in DC I don\'t know where my friends light switches are and I\'ve caught myself trying to turn on imaginary light switches in the hallway. It\'s kind of a problem. Mostly because it makes me feel silly. And because it reminds me of how long I\'ve been living in Europe.','Light Switches','','publish','open','open','','light-switches','','','2010-08-14 20:50:58','2010-08-14 19:50:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3185',0,'post','',4),(3188,1,'2010-08-18 13:12:27','2010-08-18 12:12:27','It\'s good to be back. I lived in Washington DC for 5 years after I graduated from college and now after two years in Bulgaria I am back here visiting. To return to a place that you\'ve lived is at times disconcerting.  You know the place but things change.  Some things are subtle and others are big and in your face.\n\nFor me its the subtle things that are the hardest. Big new buildings? Strange but no problem. Increase in the cost of the metro? Hate it. Different traffic patterns? Fine, hope that it helps.  Loss of an independent coffee house in my old neighborhood? Horrible. Just horrible. Still the district is looking good.\n\nBut I didn\'t return to Washington DC for these things.\n\nI came to visit my friends and to attend a conference at the <a href=\"http://www.loc.gov/index.html\">Library of Congress</a>.\n\nBy far the best thing is catching up with my friends. They are all doing so well.  It\'s like they are growing up without me.  (And I am so proud of them! Funny how that works.) Friends have gotten married or engaged, moved to new places, started new jobs and generally seem really happy. Frankly I couldn\'t be happier for them.\n\nThe conference at the Library of Congress kept me busy, busy yesterday and it seems likely that this will continue for the rest of the week. So far, so good. The best part? I am learning things.\n\nAnyhow, that\'s that. More from me later.','Howdy, DC!','','publish','open','open','','howdy-dc','','','2010-08-18 13:12:27','2010-08-18 12:12:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3188',0,'post','',1),(3195,1,'2010-08-24 18:05:10','2010-08-24 17:05:10','','Capote&#039;s Notebook','Capote\'s Notebook','inherit','open','open','','img_5875','','','2010-08-24 18:05:10','2010-08-24 17:05:10','',3194,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5875.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3196,1,'2010-08-24 18:06:09','2010-08-24 17:06:09','','T. Capote','T. Capote via the LOC','inherit','open','open','','t-capote','','','2010-08-24 18:06:09','2010-08-24 17:06:09','',3194,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/t-capote.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3194,1,'2010-08-24 18:13:05','2010-08-24 17:13:05','I\'ve been really caught up in my own life this past week. I made it back from my trip to Washington DC and my exploration within the Library of Congress just in time for a friends wedding and now I am getting ready to fly back to Bulgaria. What a busy summer.\n\nAnyhow, I\'d like to make it official. I\'m in love with Truman Capote and his novel <em>In Cold Blood</em>. Yeah, I know it\'s a little late for this confession seeing as he wrote and published the book 50 years ago, he\'s no longer living and he was probably not straight but as luck would have it that\'s okay with me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3196\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"239\" caption=\"T. Capote via the LOC\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/t-capote.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-3196\" title=\"T. Capote\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/t-capote.jpg?w=239\" alt=\"\" width=\"239\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNow don\'t get me wrong, I\'ve<em> liked</em> Truman and his novel for a while. Heck, I taught the book this past year in 11th grade but my recent experience at the Library of Congress has changed all of this.  It has elevated my <em>like</em> of this man to <em>love</em>.  Things like this don\'t happen to me very often but it has. I can\'t stop thinking about him.\n\nAbout how great he is. About how clever he is. About what bad handwriting he has.\n\n<em>His handwriting</em> you may be asking yourself. Yes. His handwriting.<!--more-->\n\nAs luck would have it, the <a href=\"http://lccn.loc.gov/mm81047043\">Library of Congress has a collection</a> of his papers, notes, interviews and drafts of the novel in their manuscript collection.  And I got to see it. No, actually it was better than this. I got to feel it, hold Truman\'s notebooks in my hands to try to make out his hand writing, and I got a glimpse at how Truman thought, wrote and asked questions.\n\nUm, yeah. It was great. Really, really great. When the librarian brought me three boxes of the Truman Capote papers I just about died. I hadn\'t really thought about what it would be like to actually see his hand writing. To read the first page of the novel written in his note books. To hold the same notebook that Truman held when he was in Kansas investigating, reporting and covering the Clutter murders. Or to see as a whole the process, growth and development of the novel.\n\nWhen I opened the first box my heart was racing and I felt like I might cry. These are Truman\'s papers!  These are <em>his </em>papers.  I also knew in this moment that this would not be everyone\'s reaction.  I knew that my choice to be an English major and later to pursue a masters degree in English Literature was being validated.  At the same time, this reaction was a little unexpected because I wasn\'t in love with Truman at this point. That came later.\n\nMore specifically it happened here. When I opened the cover of this notebook.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3195\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Capote&#039;s Notebook\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5875.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3195\" title=\"Capote\'s Notebook\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5875.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe notebook reads: Interview with Perry Smith. Perry is one of the two murders in the novel <em>In Cold Blood</em>. But just in case you don\'t know the novel, the crime or the back story. It\'s real. Perry Smith is a real man who murdered the Clutter family in rural Kansas in the 1950\'s. Truman becomes obsessed with the story and ends up traveling from New York City to Kansas to see what\'s going on for himself. Then he ends up in the right place at the right time and is able to interview Perry Smith along with other crucial players in the \"Law &amp; Order\" like nature of the crime.  This of course is pretty cool. But it\'s even cooler to read the primary documents written in Truman\'s own hand.\n\nI think that I like Truman all the more for his notebooks and his bad handwriting.  But the teacher in me is just glad I don\'t have to regularly grade his written work.  Ha, ha.\n\nAnyhow, now you know part of what I was up to when I was in Washington DC last week.\n\nOh and thanks to the Library of Congress for inviting me to the conference.  You really made my week. And then some.','Capote &amp; In Cold Blood','','publish','open','open','','capote-in-cold-blood','','','2010-08-24 18:13:05','2010-08-24 17:13:05','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3194',0,'post','',0),(3201,1,'2010-08-25 16:43:08','2010-08-25 15:43:08','Gasp. I woke up with a back-to-school nightmare this morning. It got me out of bed fast.  School started yesterday in Walla Walla and I think this may have something to do with it.\n\nKids were out and about in my neighborhood in their first day of school best and lugging backpacks behind them. The student crossing guards were out with their flags and yellow-orange reflective vests helping younger students cross the street.  Around schools even the cars had slowed down from their regular 30 miles an hour to 20 miles an hour between 7am and 4pm or so.  And the back to school ads on tv and in the news paper have dried up. School\'s started.\n\nIt turns out that I no longer dream about forgetting my high school English homework, missing a final exam at university or finding a fellowship application on my desk under a folder after having mailed in the others the day before.  Apparently what I dream about teaching--an out of control classroom, not having photocopies for the first day and not being able to remember anyone\'s names.  <!--more-->In my nightmare this was all topped off with a feeling of helplessness and frustration.  Luckily about the point in my dream where I felt like my only option was to yell at my class, I realized that I could also wake up. So I did that instead.\n\nPhew. I don\'t even need Freud to tell me what\'s going on. It\'s back to school time and my anxieties, worry and nervousness about a new school year with new students and all of the work I\'ve got ahead of me is rearing it\'s ugly head not in my day to day life but in my dreams. But seeing as I am in Walla Walla and my classroom is in Sofia there\'s not a lot that I can do about any of this right now.\n\nI mean, I\'ve done what I can do until I find myself back in Bulgaria and with a set of my classroom keys next week.  I picked up some index cards, some colored cardstock, sharpie markers and a large classroom calendar.  At this point it is what it is.\n\nI have a hunch that this dream is also a subtle or actually not so subtle reminder that my summer is coming to an end. Two months of travel and eight countries later apparently it\'s time to get back to work. I\'ve caught up with my family and friends. I\'ve eaten my way through the summer.  And I\'ve plowed through one book after another on my Kindle.\n\nSo I find myself in the lucky position to be able to say I couldn\'t imagine a better summer and I guess now, I am ready to get back to work, to have a routine and to catch up with my Sofia friends! Looking forward to seeing the city and everyone it holds very soon.','Back to School Nightmare','','publish','open','open','','back-to-school-nightmare','','','2010-08-25 16:43:08','2010-08-25 15:43:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3201',0,'post','',3),(3211,1,'2010-08-27 15:40:36','2010-08-27 14:40:36','','Blueberries on the Bush','Blueberries on the Bush','inherit','open','open','','img_5951','','','2010-08-27 15:40:36','2010-08-27 14:40:36','',3208,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5951.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3212,1,'2010-08-27 15:55:27','2010-08-27 14:55:27','','Blueberries in Hand','Blueberries in Hand','inherit','open','open','','img_5957','','','2010-08-27 15:55:27','2010-08-27 14:55:27','',3208,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5957.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3213,1,'2010-08-27 15:57:36','2010-08-27 14:57:36','','Homemade Blueberry Crisp','Homemade (MoM-made) Blueberry Crisp','inherit','open','open','','img_5993','','','2010-08-27 15:57:36','2010-08-27 14:57:36','',3208,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5993.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3208,1,'2010-08-27 16:02:56','2010-08-27 15:02:56','One of my favorite things to do in Walla Walla is to go blueberry picking. We have a cabin in the mountains outside of Walla Walla where we go to escape the heat of the city, the hustle and bustle of the city and generally relax. Probably the last of these things is the most convincing seeing as Walla Walla isn\'t actually that big.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3211\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Blueberries on the Bush\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5951.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3211\" title=\"Blueberries on the Bush \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5951.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnyhow we are lucky enough to have a cabin across the stream from a lovely blueberry farm.  And we know the farmers who raise, grow and coax the berries out each year.\n\nNow most blueberries are small but easy to pick. Or at least that\'s what I think. The great thing about these berries is that they are big, juicy and easy to pick.  Sure part of it this is due to the fact that the berry bushes are domestic--no wild berries for me but I think that the other part of it is that the bushes are in the mountains and there\'s a long growing season. More specifically, they are also well watered making for big plump berries.\n\nThis makes them especially good for picking. For eating. For making a crisp or a pie. For loving. <!--more-->\n\nThese berries are basically the size of your pinkey finger--that your small fifth finger. Given all of my various blueberry eating experiences that\'s pretty unheard of to have a blueberry that big.  But I guess that\'s what makes this blueberry farm so great.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3212\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Blueberries in Hand\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5957.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3212\" title=\"Blueberries in Hand\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5957.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAside from the size of the berries the other wonderful thing is going out with a bucket and picking berries. The air is fresh, the blueberries  are full of a days worth of sun when you pick them in the early evening and the sun is beginning to set. These are the tastiest berries.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3213\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Homemade (MoM-made) Blueberry Crisp \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5993.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3213\" title=\"Homemade Blueberry Crisp \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5993.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFrankly, I think that they taste better straight off the bush in the mountains than they do out of the bucket or a day later out of the fridge. Don\'t get me wrong the berries that you pick always taste better than store-bought berries but they\'ve got nothing on the berries that go straight from the bush into your mouth.\n\nThree cheers to summer, blueberries and family!','Blueberries in Walla Walla','','publish','open','open','','blueberries-in-walla-walla','','','2010-08-27 16:02:56','2010-08-27 15:02:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3208',0,'post','',3),(3218,1,'2010-08-27 16:44:01','2010-08-27 15:44:01','','My brother &amp; Me','My brother &amp; Me at the Cabin','inherit','open','open','','img_5966','','','2010-08-27 16:44:01','2010-08-27 15:44:01','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5966.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3219,1,'2010-08-27 16:53:35','2010-08-27 15:53:35','','dAd &amp; me','dAd &amp; me','inherit','open','open','','img_5978','','','2010-08-27 16:53:35','2010-08-27 15:53:35','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5978.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3220,1,'2010-08-27 16:55:35','2010-08-27 15:55:35','','dAd &amp; me 2','dAd &amp; me 2','inherit','open','open','','img_5979','','','2010-08-27 16:55:35','2010-08-27 15:55:35','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5979.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3221,1,'2010-08-27 16:57:08','2010-08-27 15:57:08','','dAd &amp; me 3','dAd &amp; me 3','inherit','open','open','','img_5980','','','2010-08-27 16:57:08','2010-08-27 15:57:08','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5980.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3222,1,'2010-08-27 17:00:39','2010-08-27 16:00:39','','Roasting the Hot Dogs','Roasting the Hot Dogs','inherit','open','open','','img_5983','','','2010-08-27 17:00:39','2010-08-27 16:00:39','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5983.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3223,1,'2010-08-27 17:05:23','2010-08-27 16:05:23','','s&#039;more','','inherit','open','open','','img_5995','','','2010-08-27 17:05:23','2010-08-27 16:05:23','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5995.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3224,1,'2010-08-27 17:06:43','2010-08-27 16:06:43','','s&#039;mores 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_5996','','','2010-08-27 17:06:43','2010-08-27 16:06:43','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5996.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3225,1,'2010-08-27 17:14:28','2010-08-27 16:14:28','','s&#039;mores 3','','inherit','open','open','','img_5997','','','2010-08-27 17:14:28','2010-08-27 16:14:28','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5997.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3226,1,'2010-08-27 17:15:37','2010-08-27 16:15:37','','S&#039;mores 4','Mummm, s\'more on my face','inherit','open','open','','img_5998','','','2010-08-27 17:15:37','2010-08-27 16:15:37','',3216,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5998.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3234,1,'2010-08-27 22:52:55','2010-08-27 21:52:55','','Blog w/dAd','','inherit','open','open','','img_6013','','','2010-08-27 22:52:55','2010-08-27 21:52:55','',3232,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6013.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3235,1,'2010-08-27 22:54:54','2010-08-27 21:54:54','','Blog w/dAd 1','','inherit','open','open','','img_6015','','','2010-08-27 22:54:54','2010-08-27 21:54:54','',3232,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6015.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3236,1,'2010-08-27 22:56:39','2010-08-27 21:56:39','','Blog w/dAd 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_6016','','','2010-08-27 22:56:39','2010-08-27 21:56:39','',3232,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6016.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3238,1,'2010-08-27 23:01:22','2010-08-27 22:01:22','','Blog w/dAd 3','','inherit','open','open','','img_6018','','','2010-08-27 23:01:22','2010-08-27 22:01:22','',3232,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6018.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3239,1,'2010-08-27 23:03:22','2010-08-27 22:03:22','','Blog w/dAd 5','','inherit','open','open','','img_6014','','','2010-08-27 23:03:22','2010-08-27 22:03:22','',3232,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6014.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3245,1,'2010-08-28 05:09:08','2010-08-28 04:09:08','I\'ve been so bad at writing this month on my blog. Part of this is because I am really enjoying traveling, catching up with friends, eating my dAd\'s bbq, going on walks with my parents, having coffee at odd times with my MoM and everything in between. I am flying back to Sofia this weekend.\n\nIt\'s been a great summer but I am looking forward to finding myself once again in a routine. I am looking forward to spending some time by myself. I am anxious to get re-settled in my apartment after living like a nomad (with a backpack or alternately a rolling suitcase) for the last two months. Oh and the thought of a shopska salad makes me smile.\n\nIn May, it seemed like summer would never come but tonight I can\'t believe that it\'s at its end.\n\nWe ate dinner in the backyard--grilled veggies, pork chops and bread with the freshest, tastiest salad of corn, cucumber and blueberries--but it was chilly.  I know what that means. Fall is around the corner. Tonight I\'ll have to sleep with my quilt rather than the sheet that\'s covered me most nights and while the valley may be blessed with an Indian summer in September fall is inevitable.  It is coming.\n\nBut maybe that\'s okay because I am going. I am going back to Bulgaria. I am returning to my now home.  Fall will find me in Sofia rather than in Walla Walla.  And I rather like that.\n\nI am ready for that.','Where did August go?','','publish','open','open','','where-did-august-go','','','2010-08-28 05:09:08','2010-08-28 04:09:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3245',0,'post','',0),(3216,1,'2010-08-28 07:24:03','2010-08-28 06:24:03','As I\'ve already mentioned, we have a little cabin outside of Walla Walla. It\'s really great. It\'s close to town but when you\'re there you\'d never know it. The feel is pretty rustic. My great-grandfather built the cabin in the 1920\'s using left over wood from a project at our family creamery. He built it because his wife my great-grandmother had relatives next door and she\'d spent her childhood summers there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3218\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My brother &amp; Me at the Cabin\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5966.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3218\" title=\"My brother &amp; Me\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5966.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nGenerally we go to relax and to take in nature.  Some of us go to fish while others go to pick wild mountain berries.  We also go to eat.\n\nBy eat you should have no illusions about what we\'re eating. I am not talking gourmet meals. No sir. I am talking cans of beer, grilled meat, potato salad, marshmallow and jello fruit salad (that\'s healthy, right?), corn on the cob, a green salad with ranch dressing, french bread, baked beans, dessert and then sometimes we top this off with <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%27more\">s\'mores</a>. <!--more-->\n\nSure there\'s a healthy (probably) and a fancy way to do this but why bother? It\'s not like we eat like this all of the time.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5978.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3219 alignleft\" title=\"dAd &amp; me\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5978.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5979.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3220 alignleft\" title=\"dAd &amp; me 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5979.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3221\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"dAd &amp; me \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5980.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3221\" title=\"dAd &amp; me 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5980.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3222\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Roasting the Hot Dogs \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5983.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3222\" title=\"Roasting the Hot Dogs \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5983.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd so, once or twice a year I eat a roasted hot dog and make a s\'more.\n\nI figure that my Bulgarian readership may be asking: what\'s a s\'more?\n\nWell I am glad that you asked. It\'s a dessert made with a graham cracker, three squares of Heresy\'s chocolate and two fire-roasted marshmallows.  It\'s said that the name is a contraction of: some more. As in, can I have some more? because the treat is so delicious you don\'t want to eat just one.\n\nBasically you roast the marshmallow until the outside is golden brown and bubbling and the center is hot and gooey. Then you break the graham cracker in half and put three squares of chocolate in the middle of what will be a graham cracker and chocolate-marshmallow sandwich. The hot marshmallow melts the chocolate so that it\'s soft and the graham crackers contain the hot sticky, melty mess of a dessert.\n\nThe trick of course is to not overcook your marshmallow. A little too long over the fire and it will go from gooey and golden to burning sugar on a stick. That\'s no good.  And then you have to start over again while everyone else is well on their way to a s\'more.  No one wants to be <em>that</em> guy.  Some people try to cover the mistake by saying that they like it burnt but really, who are they kidding?!\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5995.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3223\" title=\"s\'more\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5995.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5996.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3224\" title=\"s\'mores 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5996.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5997.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3225\" title=\"s\'mores 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5997.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3226\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mummm, s&#039;more on my face\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5998.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3226\" title=\"S\'mores 4\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_5998.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nA special shout out to my dAd who took all of these pictures! Well but not the ones he was in.  He\'s amazing but he\'s not that good.','S&#039;mores &amp; the Family Cabin','','publish','open','open','','smores-the-family-cabin','','','2010-08-28 07:24:03','2010-08-28 06:24:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3216',0,'post','',4),(3232,1,'2010-08-29 07:06:23','2010-08-29 06:06:23','My dAd announced this trip that he thought he needed a blog.\n\nMy original thought was: Um, okay.\n\nFollowed by: Awesome.\n\nMy dAd is going to start a blog. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6013.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3234\" title=\"Blog w/dAd\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6013.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6015.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3235\" title=\"Blog w/dAd 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6015.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6016.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3236\" title=\"Blog w/dAd 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6016.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\nNow I think that my dAd is pretty good with email.  That\'s about all you need these days to write a blog. But much beyond that and I think that my MoM steps in to help him.  My brother and I got our dAd a new digital camera this past Christmas and he has about 2000 photos and has yet to download a single one.\n\nSo the blog-thing is going to be interesting. <!--more--><!--more-->\n\nA couple of days ago I signed my dAd up for a gmail account and a wordpress.com blog. He was kind of annoyed that I made one of the letters in his password capitol and used both a character and a number. I told him it was for his own security. I am not sure he bought it.\n\nThen I got him lined up on his first post. He wrote probably 300 words. It was slow going. He was struggling to write on my laptop. Sorry, dAd. Then my MoM started to run computer circles around my dAd. She was the first commenter on his blog and she critiqued one of his links. It was broken.\n\ndAd was still trying to figure out which of the 100+ wordpress.com layouts he liked best.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6018.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3238\" title=\"Blog w/dAd 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6018.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6014.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3239\" title=\"Blog w/dAd 5\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_6014.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>It was great fun to drink a beer and teach my dAd about blogging. But I have a sense that I\'ve created a monster. This morning the very first thing he wanted to know was how many people viewed <a href=\"http://wallawallalocal.wordpress.com/\">his blog yesterday</a>. The answer 11. He went to work telling me that he was already plotting his next blog post. My poor mother.\n\nNeedless to say, I have no idea what to expect. My MoM thinks that it\'s going to take up all of his time. That if it\'s not already, shortly it will be an obsession. I am not sure what to think.  The only guess I feel like I wager right now is that he probably won\'t post more than twice a week. I\'d also venture to guess that he struggles with getting photos uploaded to start with seeing as he\'s never downloaded a photo from his camera.\n\nBut it will be good for him.','Teaching dAd to Blog','','publish','open','open','','teaching-dad-to-blog','','','2010-08-29 07:06:23','2010-08-29 06:06:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3232',0,'post','',2),(3247,1,'2010-08-30 07:44:57','2010-08-30 06:44:57','My blog has been feeling rather disjointed recently. I guess this happens when you don\'t have as much time to write as you\'d like because your spending all of it eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, drinking and traveling.  I logged a lot of hours on airplanes, trains and buses this summer.\n\nBut I also think that it happens when you\'re pushed and pulled in unexpected ways between two cultures, two language and a slew of different time zones.\n\nIt\'s made my speech disjointed like when I caught myself talking about \"the nature\" even though in English it\'s incorrect to say \"the nature.\" Or when my MoM rolls her eyes when I tell her I have to go and use the toilet rather than the bathroom.\n\nIt happens when I find that I want to correct other people\'s grammar. Frankly though this isn\'t okay to do to your friends or family. I mean if you want them to remain your friends.\n\nThere have also been moments where I am surprised to be able to read menus.  And I catch myself thinking: this is so <em>easy</em>. (But why is everything on the menu so expensive?!)\n\nI am equally thrilled when I order and the waitress shrugs with my order in recognition and I don\'t have to resort to pointing. Sometimes this makes me want to do a little dance but I don\'t. I have a little self respect. <!--more-->\n\nThen there was this week at the Chinese restaurant where I was speaking to the Chinese owner and caught myself agreeing with her by saying yes, yes and shaking my head with a Bulgarian yes (or in this case the American no).  I was glad that my English far outweighed the body language. Still I felt a little sheepish.\n\nIt\'s not easy this push and pull between cultures, places, attitudes and roles. This feeling that you might not actually belong anywhere.  That you are still you but the you, you are, isn\'t the you that you were and now you don\'t know what to do with yourself. <em>Sorry for using too many yous in that last sentence. </em>\n\nThat\'s the thing, I knew all of this going into my cross cultural experience but I didn\'t know how these feelings and thoughts about being disjointed were going to appear in my life. Now, I\'ve begun to think that this has been reflected on my blog over the last two months.\n\nIn some ways I feel a little bad about that. You come here expecting one thing--an American in Bulgaria and you end up with an American anywhere but Sofia for two months.\n\nInstead you\'ve got a series of posts about travel in the Balkans. Mostly the highlights. Mixed in with this are some rambling posts Walla Walla and Washington DC. So over the last week, I\'ve begun to feel a little bad about this but it helped me realize that this is life. My experience is disjointed and I am not sure that there\'s a neat way for me to wrap all of these stories, thoughts or posts together.  Rather this is what life is.\n\nSometimes it\'s an adventure. Sometimes it\'s not.  I guess that it\'s just about voicing what you know, what you\'ve done and how you\'ve attempted to make sense of all of it that really matters. So, this blog is about story telling. Me trying to capture and tell my own story and it\'s messy. But I guess that this totally to be expected.  This is after all part of the experience and it\'s not as if you can write this experience into being until you\'ve had it. Until you\'ve had a chance to think about it, process it and write through it.\n\nSo if you go back and read July and August as a whole, as I\'ve just done you\'ll see that I am struggling to make sense of the disjointed nature of my life in as seamless a process as I can.  But really what\'s the point? Life is messy. I narrative my life and my experiences as best I can but it\'s not as if I know where anything is headed in the moment I am living it or even in the moment that I am writing it. The narrative, the structure and the so whats, these all come later.\n\nAnd there you have it, I\'ve just justified everything I\'ve written on the blog in the last two months! I love it. But I can\'t promise you anything better in the next two months aside from the fact I\'ll actually be in Bulgaria.','Disjointed','','publish','open','open','','disjointed-blog','','','2010-08-30 07:44:57','2010-08-30 06:44:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3247',0,'post','',1),(3251,1,'2010-08-31 12:04:41','2010-08-31 11:04:41','Well, I am back in Sofia. And it takes a depressingly long time to fly from Seattle to Sofia, if you were wondering.  Yesterday the only thing of real merit I did was stumble to the grocery store in a jet-lag induced coma. It felt like a pretty big accomplishment at the time.\n\nHowever when I opened my fridge this morning, my only thought was: my oh my, what was I thinking?\n\nI have zucchini, green olives, brie, milk, orange juice, onions, hot peppers and yogurt.  Awesome. I don\'t even know what to do with these things.  I really can\'t imagine what I was thinking when I bought these yesterday. Sure they are all things that I like but I can\'t really put a meal together with these.  Needless to say, I\'ll be back at the grocery store sooner than later.\n\nSo I made a pot of coffee and decided to ignore my suitcase.  <!--more-->Reading is so much better than unpacking. Also, it\'s raining outside. That makes reading curled up on your couch a totally acceptable thing to do when you\'re recovering from jet lag and enjoying your last day off before school-work commitments pile up.  Only then I finished my book and felt like I had to do something.\n\nBut rather than unpack, I decided to rearrange the furniture in my apartment.  This doesn\'t take too long when you\'ve only got to move a table and chairs, a couch, a reclining chair and a coffee table. Still it feels good. The apartment has a new fresh feel to it. I think it\'s good to mix things up once in a while.  I also think it\'s okay to procrastinate.\n\nThe thing is a girl can\'t procrastinate forever, so I decided to take everything out of my suitcase and arrange it on my bed. Then I put my suitcase away.\n\nI wonder: does this mean I am finished unpacking?\n\nI decide that I am not. That declaring I am would be like declaring: mission accomplished (yeah, that\'s a slight to former president George W. Bush). So I put away my socks <em>and</em> underwear.\n\nThen I realize what I <em>really</em> need to do is write a blog post. Yeah, writing a blog post is so much better than trying to figure out where to put all of my things.  Maybe, I have too many things. Maybe it\'s the rain. Maybe I am just not done procrastinating. Or maybe I\'m brilliant. It\'s not like I can go to bed until I\'ve moved everything off my bed.\n\nMy oh my, it\'s good to be back.','My Oh My, Sofia','','publish','open','open','','my-oh-my-sofia','','','2010-08-31 12:04:41','2010-08-31 11:04:41','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3251',0,'post','',1),(3253,1,'2010-09-01 12:43:35','2010-09-01 11:43:35','Generally, September is a month that I like.  I like the shift from summer to fall. The days are still relatively long. The sun is still hot but the mornings are cool. I like the sense of change.\n\nI also like appearance of apples in markets and the start of school.\n\nFall seems to re-energize me. I think that it helps people are back in the city. There\'s also a renewed focus and interest in in  arts like the theater, orchestra, dance and opera. And I love that the cuisine begins to shift to warm hearty-winter foods.\n\nBut at the same time, fall means that I am staring back summer. This of course is bittersweet. I had a wonderful summer. In someways, I\'d it to go on and on but it\'s just not possible.\n\nLuckily for me, there\'s still plenty of watermelon for sale and I haven\'t yet seen a single pumpkin.  I love that summer is still hanging on.\n\nAnd so, here I am cheering for watermelons on a rather cold rainy day in Sofia.  Hum. Yeah. It seems pretty clear at this point that fall is on it\'s way.\n\nGood thing I like September.','September, September','','publish','open','open','','september-september','','','2010-09-01 12:43:35','2010-09-01 11:43:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3253',0,'post','',0),(3259,1,'2010-09-01 20:26:06','2010-09-01 19:26:06','It\'s pretty impossible to be a foreigner in Bulgaria and not notice the huge number of Bulgarian Rose products from rose oil to lotion, soap, bubble bath and even rose rakiya. These are it seems a staple of tourist shops. Heck, I too have brought back rose perfume in little carved wooden containers.  Kitch but still pretty great.\n\nSo today, a quick short article in the NYT Style section caught my eye.  It\'s on <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/dining/01power.html?ref=style\" target=\"_blank\">cooking with rose water</a>.  The article is apparently part of an ongoing discussion of power ingredients for cooking.\n\nThe headline grabbed me because of the rose water but the writing was pretty good so I kept reading.  Then I poured over the four tasty sounding recipes especially the <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/dining/01powerrex2.html?ref=dining\" target=\"_blank\">Grilled Rose Water Pound Cake</a>. <em>Holy smokes</em>.\n\nRose water sounds amazing. Check out these great ides:\n<blockquote>You can also just start freelancing. Taking a cue from 18th-century  bakers, substitute rose water for the vanilla in cupcakes, puddings or  scones. Or (a personal favorite) add a teaspoon or so to your next batch  of French toast batter. Put a drop or two in a glass of lemonade for a  remarkably refreshing summer drink — or make a rose martini in the same  manner.\n\nRose water matches uncannily well with many fruits, drawing out their  shy aromas. Try adding a bit to a bowl of strawberries, or sprinkling  sliced melon, plums or peaches with rose water mixed with a bit of  riesling.\n\nAnd if you make a salad of bitter greens dressed with a vinaigrette that  has been barely touched with rose water, you’ll quickly change your  mind about the versatility of this ingredient.</blockquote>\nSure, I already know that I like it. Enter rose lakum (Bulgarian Turkish delight--can I even say that? Well I just did). But I\'d never considered all of the other dishes and drinks that I could spice up with some rose water. <!--more-->\n\nNeedless today, it got me thinking about the dishes I could make but more specifically about Bulgarian rose water.\n\nHere\'s the thing in all of these Bulgarian tourist shops I\'ve seen cosmetic quality rose water but I don\'t think that I\'ve ever seen food quality rose water. Or Bulgarian rose water made specifically for cooking. Is there such a thing?\n\nHere\'s what my concern boils down to: most cosmetics I wouldn\'t want to eat--say lipstick or mascara. But I feel pretty confident that they are safe enough to apply to my face.  Does the same go for cosmetic quality rose water? Hard to say.\n\nCan I eat it? Or more specifically, can cook with it?\n\nAny idea what the difference is between rose water for cooking versus cosmetics? Is it the quality/purity of the water and the rose extract? Is the difference basically that rose water for cooking is meant to be consumed while rose water for cosmetics is considered topical and therefore less controlled?\n\nAnd the big question, can I get my hands on Bulgarian cooking quality rose water?\n\nI guess I\'ll have to hope that one of my loyal readers knows the answer to this. Or I\'ll have to keep my eyes peeled for a bottle.','Rose Water &amp; Cooking','','publish','open','open','','rose-water-cooking','','','2010-09-01 20:26:06','2010-09-01 19:26:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3259',0,'post','',6),(3266,1,'2010-09-01 20:47:31','2010-09-01 19:47:31','','Mladost McDonald&#039;s','Mladost McDonald\'s','inherit','open','open','','dsc01904','','','2010-09-01 20:47:31','2010-09-01 19:47:31','',3265,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01904.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3267,1,'2010-09-01 21:05:56','2010-09-01 20:05:56','','McCafe in Mladost','McCafe in Mladost','inherit','open','open','','dsc01906','','','2010-09-01 21:05:56','2010-09-01 20:05:56','',3265,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01906.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(3265,1,'2010-09-02 05:19:11','2010-09-02 04:19:11','I had a horrible realization on Tuesday. Mladost is ugly. Yes, the neighborhood I live and work is in ugly. And, somehow for a year this fact seems to have escaped me.\n\nNow this has probably escaped me because I genuinely like living here.  My apartment is close to work, to a good grocery store, to the metro and the airport. And it\'s not as if I was completely deluded. I knew Mladost wasn\'t <em>beautiful</em> but I definitely didn\'t think it was ugly.\n\nOn Monday upon returning to Sofia and grabbing a taxi for what is usually a 10 minute 5 leva ride, I was comforted by how little things seemed to have changed. I had a lot of time to think about this because my normal ride from the airport turned into an excruciatingly long ride as we sat in stop and go traffic. I was comforted to find that my neighborhood, my apartment and my grocery store were more or less how I\'d left them.\n\nI am not sure who left dirty dishes in my sink for a month but that\'s another story.\n\nBut on Tuesday, that\'s when I was confronted with a shocking discovery. The McDonald\'s in Mladost got a face lift while I was traveling this summer. And it was upgraded from <em>just</em> a McDonald\'s to a McDonald\'s with a <em>McCafe</em>. Wow.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3266\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mladost McDonald&#039;s\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01904.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3266\" title=\"Mladost McDonald\'s\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01904.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nNow here\'s the thing, I\'ve actually never been in this McDonald\'s.  <!--more-->\n\nNevertheless,  it\'s new modern-wooden exterior was a shock to me. Who decided that the McDonald\'s needed a face lift? The classic red and yellow color scheme has been replaced.  Too <em>fast-food</em> maybe.\n\nNow is probably the time that I need to clarify something.  McDonald\'s is an institution in my life. We rarely ate there as kids. The only times I really remember eating there was when my desperate parents succumbed to the siren like draw of the golden arches and whispered the secret phrase: happy meal to us when we were on the 6 plus hour car ride to my grandparent\'s house.\n\nHowever as an adult, it\'s existence doesn\'t much matter to me. I never go to McDonald\'s. I know. I\'ll give you a moment to catch your breath--<em>gasp, gasp</em>. Maybe I am not really an American? So that\'s that, the adult in my generally thinks that McDonald\'s is an appalling restaurant given the quality of their food but secretly the kid in me thinks that french fries and burgers taste pretty darn good.\n\nAnyhow, I digress. Let\'s get back to McDonald\'s. I don\'t really see the point of trying to make a restaurant like McDonald\'s into something it\'s not. But of course, one can\'t tack on a McCafe to a normal red and yellow McDonnald\'s.  It just doesn\'t go.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_3267\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"McCafe in Mladost \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01906.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3267\" title=\"McCafe in Mladost \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01906.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo now Mladost, has a shiny new-ish wood covered McDonald\'s complete with McCafe.The golden arches of the \"M\" more subtle than before and the name of the restaurant more understated in white.\n\nAfter gawking at the newly refurbished McDonald\'s I realized that if the whole thing wasn\'t so silly and absurd, it might actually be nice.  Almost tasteful.\n\nBut this was also the moment that I realized how ugly Mladost is. This newly landscaped McDonald\'s seems to be an oasis in the middle of neighborhood composed of concrete and asphalt being invaded by hoards of honking cars, buses, vans and large trucks.  McDonald\'s actually looked pretty compared to Mladost.\n\nI hated this thought the moment I had it.  But I couldn\'t shake it. Mladost is ugly.\n\nThe thing is, this morning I realized that while Mladost is not beautiful, it\'s also not necessarily ugly.  Mladost is real. Life happens here. Everyday. McDonald\'s on the other hand is fantasy.  It\'s selling a dream. When what you actually get are salty American hamburgers wrapped in paper and tucked into bags next to greasy french fries.  McDonald\'s is artifice while Mladost is anything but.','McDonald&#039;s in Mladost','','publish','open','open','','mcdonalds-in-mladost','','','2010-09-02 05:19:11','2010-09-02 04:19:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=3265',0,'post','',10),