(411,1,'2008-11-29 23:08:32','2008-11-29 20:08:32','[caption id=\"attachment_414\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Giving-Thanks at Thanksgiving for New Friends \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04605.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-414\" title=\"CAE and Thanksgiving friend \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dsc04605.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Giving-Thanks at Thanksgiving for New Friends \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI had 12 people over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night.  It\'s not a federal holiday here like it is in the states so I went to work taught two 80 minute classes and then hurried home to get started on dinner.\n\nI took chocolates to school with me for the teachers.  It seemed appropriate.  I don\'t have a name day nor will I be teaching on my birthday so in the way that other teachers bring chocolates to celebrate these days I decided to bring chocolates to celebrate this very American holiday.  It was great.  I was very glad that I decided to bring the chocolate.  The one funny thing was that there are some teachers at my school that speak only a little bit of English they teach subjects at school that are required to be taught in Bulgarian--Bulgarian Literature, Bulgarian History, Math and PE--all kept wishing me, in Bulgarian, a Happy Birthday!\n\nI got a couple of birthday hugs and then I got to try to explain that it wasn\'t my birthday. Usually after stumbling around in Bulgarian for a minute or two some kind teacher would jump in and help me out.  The other thing was that everyone wanted to know what they should say back to me after I told them: Happy Thanksgiving.  They asked me should they say: congratulations, best wishes, or many happy returns? I told them that they could just say \"Happy Thanksgiving\" back to me.\n\nOn my way home from school I stopped by a butchers for some internal organs from a chicken in order to make gravy.  I bought store-roasted chickens for the dinner so there was no bag of internal organs to pull out of the cavity of the chicken to use for gravy.  I had asked one of the teachers at school to write down in Bulgarian what I needed to ask for at the butcher\'s shop.<!--more-->\n\nAs an on again of again vegetarian, this wasn\'t the easiest errand I\'ve run in Sofia.  Then it became clear that I wasn\'t going to be able to buy a small amount of chicken gizzards or liver.  I had to buy a half of a kilo of chicken gizzards and a half of a kilo of liver (which I think was actually beef liver--it\'s a huge piece of meat).  The good news is that all of this cost me less than 4 leva. Oh, and I did the whole exchange in German.\n\nSo given the fact I didn\'t use the piece of liver in the gravy and only a 1/2 of the chicken gizzards isn\'t that big of a deal.  Now I have a half of a kilo of liver in my fridge which I think I\'ll be tossing out soon and some chicken gizzard in my freezer (you know because I might use it to make more gravy... or more to the point, I just hate throwing things out).  So probably now you\'re wondering how the gravy turned out.  I think it was great.  It wasn\'t quite as rich without some of pan drippings from the roasted turkey but that\'s okay.  Oh and given the fact that more than half of the people at my dinner had never celebrated Thanksgiving it wasn\'t like they knew the difference.\n\nThe big challenge for me was my stove.  It\'s got two burners and a small oven.  So I had to think and plan accordingly for my pot use and the order of cooking the food.  In addition to making gravy, I made a vegetarian version of<a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/2008/11/mr-marquiss-marvelous-stuffing/\" target=\"_blank\"> Nick\'s stuffing</a>, mashed potatoes and I had to heat up the roasted chickens.  On top of all of this, I got home at 3:30 pm and was having my friends over for the pot-luck-style dinner at 6pm.\n\nAt 6:15 the door bell rang.  I was busying chasing potato pieces around a large bowl which I was trying to mash with a dinner fork.  Man, I really could have a used a mixer.  Aside from this thought, I couldn\'t help thinking: I bet the Pilgrims didn\'t make mashed potatoes--this is a really big pain.  I met my guests at the door, took their coats, offered them drinks and told them I had to finish mashing the potatoes.  I added some more milk and butter and somehow the potatoes turned out fairly smooth and rather fluffy.  And please note I did this all with a fork--I may yet be in the running for homemaker of the year.  Watch out Rachel Ray, watch out.  This said, I don\'t think that I\'ll be making mashed potatoes regularly but it\'s nice to know that you can make Thanksgiving with limited resources in a foreign country.\n\nThe dinner was great.  There was a pumpkin pie, a cabbage salad, a shopska inspired salad, bread, a cake, homemade Bulgarian cookies and plenty of alcohol--both wine and rakya.  We ate and ate.\n\nThis Thanksgiving there were no fancy linens on the table, no sterling sliver or china, and in no way shape or form did the drinking glasses match but it was Thanksgiving nonetheless.  I have a lot to be thankful for and this is what this day is really about.  Sure the food is a vehicle for sharing this thanks but for me, this holiday is really about friends and family.\n\nMy parents called during the middle of my Thanksgiving party to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving.  (Skype is really amazing.)  My dad thought that because my skype icon was active it meant that I wanted to talk--I was happy to talk but it was little to loud on my end to really talk.  Still it meant a lot to me that they would call and to know that all over the United States that my friends and family were celebrating the day together.\n\nThat\'s something pretty incredible to me.  I\'ve been lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with lots of different people over the last 27 years and I can imagine what all of those people are doing.  Thanksgiving is never exactly the same--no matter how much we want that.\n\nThis year my brother Nick, the middle child in our family, was for the first time the oldest and the youngest child at Thanksgiving in Walla Walla.  I bet as a middle child he never imagined that would be possible.  My sister Charlotte took my place in Washington DC and celebrated her very first Thanksgiving away from home.  She writes about preparing for this experience on <a href=\"http://charlotte-livingsimply.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">her blog</a>. My long standing Thanksgiving compatriots on W Street saw their numbers diminish this year but I can only imagine that the sweet potato pie tasted just as sweet and that smaller numbers means there was a lot more left over this year (you\'re a lucky, lucky man Scotty G)!\n\nSo what to say now? Well, if it\'s not already clear I am thankful for everyone who has touched my life over the last years--family, friends, colleagues and the students I\'ve worked with.  I am especially thankful for this opportunity to live abroad and for all the support I\'ve received for this seemingly crazy decision.\n\nBut living here for the last four months has also made me aware of how much I have to be thankful for the luck of being born in the US (not to mention to really great parents). I think that it\'s the access, the opportunities and the freedom to pursue these that I am the most grateful for.  I have had access to an excellent eduction from elementary school to college; my parents (and my country\'s health care system) have been able to provide me with outstanding health care and orthodontia; I have experienced both political and economic stability which has made it much easier for me to grow up relatively worry free; and more than this I am sincerely thankful that I\'ve been given both the opportunities and the freedom to explore my interests from moving half way across the country to go to college, to  volunteering for a year in Washington, to studying English Literature (for both my BA and MA and never having anyone tell me that I should study something practical); and this year specifically I am thankful for everyone who encouraged me and helped make it possible for me to take a leave of absence from my job at Georgetown, sell or move my things back home in order to move Bulgaria for a year.\n\nThe funny thing is--sometimes it\'s hard for me to believe that I am actually living in Sofia, Bulgaria.  I get your wonderful comments on my blog, I see your updates and photos on Facebook, talk to you on skype &amp; gmail chat and I get your funny emails in my inbox in the mornings when I wake up.  I know that I am living here and there are plenty of things to remind me of this--from my bathroom to the tolleybuses to the Bulgarian that regularly whizzes by me--but what makes this whole thing easier is knowing how connected I am to each of you.\n\nI laughed to myself in class this week when students were making lists of the things they were thankful for and included computers and the internet (among other things on this list were football/soccer, flowers, love, my parents, this school, music, food and friends) but now that I\'ve come to an end on this blog post I can\'t help but think: I am thankful for computers and the internet too.  Man, it must have been hard on the Pilgrims to sail for more than two months on a boat to America, to watch nearly half of the people on the boat die by the next year, to not know what foods to grow in their new country, and to be so very out of touch with the world they had known before climbing on the Mayflower to move to a new country.  So my final thank-you is to the computer and internet (and probably to my friend Melly who I think in someway is responsible for both of these things).','Pilgrams and Sofia','','publish','open','open','','pilgrams-and-sofia','','','2008-11-29 23:08:32','2008-11-29 20:08:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=411',0,'post','',4),(418,1,'2008-11-30 12:59:39','2008-11-30 09:59:39','I\'m a Bulgarian Fulbright scholar. I moved to Bulgaria in August 2008 for the 2008-09 Fulbright year. Now a year later, I live and work in Sofia. An American. An alumn of the Fulbright. A teacher. A writer.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"604\" caption=\"Fulbright year: D., M. &amp; Me\"]<img title=\"Fulbright year: D., M. &amp; Me\" src=\"http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs147.snc1/5454_802532201879_802705_46776675_7188494_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"604\" height=\"453\" />[/caption]\n\n<strong>So here\'s the story: </strong>\n\nTwo years ago, I decided that it was about time for something new.  I\'d been living in Washington DC for five years and working at Georgetown University for nearly four years.  For three of those years I\'d been working at the Associate Director of Fellowships helping and advising students to apply for Fulbright grants.  It struck me that summer after reading what felt like my bizillonth personal statement for the fellowship: why am I not applying? So I told my director what I was thinking.  He told me of course you should.  And I did.\n\nI made the application and tried not to think about it which is clearly an impossible task so I obsessed about it instead.  I was accepted to the Fulbright in April and by the end of July I\'d sent maybe 15 boxes of things home (books, journals and other mementos I couldn\'t live without), I\'d sold all of the other stuff (desk, bed, book shelves--you name it) and I gave my roommates the rest.   S. got three colored bowls from a four bowl set and some miscellaneous cooking utensils and N. got the food I couldn\'t figure out how to eat before I left (now he\'s got a <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/\">kick-ass food blog</a>).\n\nAll of this felt very normal to me until the day my roommate\'s girl friend drove me to the airport to catch my flight to Sofia.  I got out with my suitcases and carry-ons, looked at the airport and promptly thought: what am I doing? This is about the moment my stomach almost dropped out of my body.  Somehow I was able to keep it together and after standing in a huge line for check in and making it through the security check that was that.\n\nI landed in Sofia 15 plus hours later and this is where the real adventure and this is where the blog began.\n\nMy year as a Fulbright scholar ended in July 2009.  I was lucky enough to be able to stay on for a second year--today I am teaching English at the American College of Sofia.\n\nOh, and if you didn\'t catch this. I used to work at Georgetown in the Office of Fellowships and I spent hours obsessing over other people applications. Here\'s my take on this <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/fulbright-applications/\">whole crazy application thing</a>. I wrote this post about the application process a year ago.\n\n<strong>A Note on my Blog visa vie the Fulbright: </strong>\n\nI got an email from the Fulbright program in January 2009. The email gives us Fulbrighters who are blogging, using Facebook and/or other internet-based media guidance.  It made me laugh. They are offering me three points of <a href=\"http://www.cies.org/Fulbrightagency_files/BloggingGuidance.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">guidance for blogging</a>? Okay.\n\nThen I read this \"guidance\" and I decided what the memo describes as guidance are actually much more like a set of guidelines that we need to follow regarding our blogging and social networking--not guidance at all. I do think it\'s absolutely within their rights to ask us to do this I just get a kick out of the language used in the document sent to us.  Anyhow here are the three things I need to do and know:\n<ol>\n	<li>Avoid confusion by acknowledging that yours is not an official Department of State website, and the views and information presented are your own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State.</li>\n	<li>While participants in all U.S. State Department-sponsored academic exchange scholarships have full academic and artistic freedom to write, publish and create, they are also expected to maintain a standard of conduct that is in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Fulbright Program – to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.</li>\n	<li>Any Fulbright grantee who posts inappropriate or offensive material on the Internet in relation to the Fulbright program may be subject to revocation or termination of their grant. Be aware that what is deemed culturally acceptable in the United States (or, more specifically, on the Internet in the United States) may not be received well overseas. Describing the challenges of living in a foreign country is fine, but please refrain from using disparaging language to describe the country you are in and the people you live and work with.</li>\n</ol>\nYes, I am a Fulbrighter in Sofia; however, you should know that my blog is not an official Department of State website, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State.  Also if you happen to stumble across me on any of the multitude of social networking sites I participate in please know that I am just a person who won a Fulbright and not someone who represents the program.\n\nIn summary: I am a person.  I won a Fulbright. But this does not mean I am a person who represents the Fulbright. I am just a person who worked really hard, applied for a Fulbright and won one.  Now this program is paying for me to live and work abroad. (Thank-you. A lot.)\n\nI am also a person who loves coffee. I love coffee here in Sofia (and I loath that the first Starbucks just opened in Bulgaria and a second as well). But, this opinion is my own.  I represent only myself when I write: I understand the allure of Starbucks but I don\'t understand paying American prices for coffee when you can get a cup that is just as good for much, much less all over Sofia.\n\nFinally, if you find me on <a href=\"https://www.ravelry.com/account/login\" target=\"_blank\">ravelry</a> a social networking site for knitters and crocheters please do not think that my work represents either William J. Fulbright or Condoleezza Rice--I am sure that they are both much better knitters than I am.  As for Hillary Clinton the new Secretary of State? I\'d guess she\'s not knitter.','The Fulbright &amp; Me','','publish','open','open','','the-fulbright-me','','','2008-11-30 12:59:39','2008-11-30 09:59:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?page_id=418',2,'page','',23),(423,1,'2008-12-01 18:12:51','2008-12-01 15:12:51','Well I woke up this morning, made a cup of coffee and turned on my computer.  That\'s when it hit me.  I just spent my first weekend at home in four weeks.  Then I looked at the homepage of the New York Times and realized that the first week of December marks the start of my fifth month living in Bulgaria.\n\nI had a hard time believing that I could have actually lived here for four months already so I counted it out on my fingers to be sure.  I am an English major after all.  But it\'s true: I\'ve been living in Sofia for the last four months and this week marks the start of my fifth month.  I have a hunch that means that in the next two or three months I need to get my act together and start thinking about what\'s next for me.\n\nInstead, I decided yesterday that I need to start practicing yoga again.  There are a couple of really great yoga websites online like yoga today and itunes also has a fair number of podcasts you can download and practice along with.  So after practicing fairly regularly in DC for the last three years and a dozen times in the last four months, I unrolled my mat and did an hour of sun salutations.  Turns out this may not have been my best plan ever--maybe I should have started out a little slower.  <!--more-->\n\nWhen I woke up this morning, I was achy-sore.  I figured it wasn\'t anything some caffeine and a little slower paced yoga practice couldn\'t take care of.  Luckily, for the most part, I was right.  I felt taller all day walking around Sofia.  It\'s amazing that practicing yoga can do that to a girl.  The thing I maybe shouldn\'t have done was a huge number of sit-ups after my yoga today--maybe I should have just done half of what I did.\n\nWalking back from school this afternoon, I think I felt every ab muscle in my stomach.  I know that this is a good thing but when you\'re in the middle of it is feels more like a bad thing.  Also, it reminds me that I lost a lot of strength/endurance that I gained this summer when I was working with my personal trainer.  Oh well, I am getting back on track and by the end of this week, I will be back in the swing of things.\n\nThe funny thing about this whole yoga-business is that before I left DC a yoga instructor made some off hand comment about yoga practice; he said that \"practicing three times a week will make you noticeably stronger and that five times a week will change your life. \"  When he said this it struck a chord with me, I had been going to a yoga class once a week or maybe twice a week if I was lucky but I couldn\'t help but wonder if he was right.\n\nSo what\'s the point of this post? To rub in the fact that I can get out of bed at 8 in the morning do yoga, read the internet, write a blog post and then get on with my day? Um, no.  The post is giving me a chance to think about how we create habits and stick with things that are hard for us.\n\nThis is I think one of the things that is hardest to do.  Every year, usually in January and then again in June or July, I say to myself: I am going to learn how to do X this year.  I get started learning how to do X and then one day I don\'t feel like doing it.  So I don\'t.  Then the next day it\'s that much harder to get back to it. The end result is that I never really learn how to do X really well.\n\nOn top of all of this, I want to have a life long healthy habit.  For some people this is tennis or golf or dancing but I am not very good at any of those things.  Yoga, however, I like and I am fairly good at.  Okay, I am not going to be teaching any classes anytime soon but I like that it\'s something that you can do at your own pace; I like that you can choose poses depending on how you feel; I like that you control the intensity of each stretch and pose; I like that there is a little bit of something for everyone and that because of this, the practice is always a challenge.\n\nSo if living in Sofia, trying to learn Bulgarian and teaching English were not challenges enough, I am taking on the regular practice of yoga as a new challenge.  Wish me luck. Oh and if anyone knows a good yoga studio or two in Sofia--I\'d love to know the names of the studios.','A Yoga December','','publish','open','open','','a-yoga-december','','','2008-12-01 18:12:51','2008-12-01 15:12:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=423',0,'post','',3),(425,1,'2008-12-02 16:08:54','2008-12-02 13:08:54','I\'ve had a long standing love/hate relationship with toilets.  I grew up in a series of old beautiful houses most of which were built before 1930.  When you buy an old house, you are also buying old plumbing.  You can\'t get away from it--it\'s a part of bargain.  What does this mean?\n\nWell it means that I\'ve plunged a lot toilets, I\'ve taken the lid of the back of more toilets that I can name to check out their inner workings, I\'ve flushed dozens of times with my fingers crossed that nothing bad will happen and I\'ve had to cut the water to the toilet at the wall before as well.\n\nWhat does this kind of training and up-bringing do to a girl? For starters, I always look to see if there\'s a plunger near by--you truly never know when you are going to need it.  I think that it\'s folly to carpet a bathroom and I will never ever do this.  But it also means that when the handle to one of our toilets broke in DC on a Friday night of a long weekend, I was able to fix the problem with some dental floss and duct tape until the plumber could come on Tuesday.\n\nSo that\'s it: I am hyper-aware of toilets, plumbing and construction but I also live in constant fear of toilets.  They are one of those things that you need and you need to have working but there are so many things that can and do go wrong with them.  When something goes wrong you have to be ready and prepared and at some point, they will misbehave. And the rest of my post is about this: toilets and preparation. <!--more-->\n\nBefore I left DC, my old roommate told me a horror story of going to visit his grandmother this past summer and her incorrigible toilet.  The short story is that it turns out that the grandmother\'s toilet was acting up but she didn\'t own a plunger.  When I heard this I could only thing to myself: what kind of person doesn\'t own a plunger?\n\nWell, she had more people using her toilet than normal--a sure fire way to make a finicky toilet act up.  Of course, a toilet will always back up at the worst possible time.  In this case, when there are guests visiting.  My roommate offered to go and buy a plunger.  His grandmother declined, apparently she didn\'t think she needed to own one, and instead knocked on all of her neighbors doors until she found someone who would loan his plunger to her.\n\nI have a hunch he did so to get the crazy woman off of his front steps not because he actually wanted to loan her his plunger and they fixed the toilet.  Still I can\'t help but wonder: what kind of a person would prefer to broadcast the fact that her toilet is backed up to her entire neighborhood than spend the $10 necessary for a plunger of her own?  It\'s not like it\'s a bad investment (and it\'s her grandson\'s money).\n\nSo here I am living in Sofia in a great centerally located aparatment.  The bathroom is completely tiled--the floor and all four walls--my landlord said something to me on the first day about my bathroom being one big shower. Heck, there is even a drain in the middle of my bathroom floor as well as in my shower to support this idea.  The toilet though is older but up until this post we seem to have an understanding and it has yet to act up.\n\nFor this I am thankful.  I am thankful because I don\'t really know what I would do if there is a problem.  Rather than having a handle to flush my toilet and being able to look in to the back of the tank by removing the lid there is only a single button that sticks out of the wall behind the toilet.  I push this to flush the toilet.  Early on I was told not to push the button for too long and I try to abide by this. I try not to imagine what might happen if I pressed the button for too long.\n\nLuckily, I know where the water cut off is but still I worry about the night I get up to go the bathroom and something happens.  This will be the night I have to cut the water and call my landlord, wake him up and try to explain to him in BULGARIAN that there is something seriously wrong with my toilet.  This said, in the beginning I used the bathroom with trepidation and now it\'s just a nagging worry that most of the time I can push to the back of my mind.\n\nThis brings me to toilets in Europe.  There are so many different kinds and styles.  It strikes me as kind of strange.  I\'ve traveled widely in the United States and it seems to me that really we only have two different kinds of toilets.  The first is the kind that everyone has his their homes--usually porcelain with a tank and a small handle--and then there is the kind that you see in schools or in public rest stops on the highway--usually procelain without a tank and a big leaver that you can flush with your foot.  However here in Europe, there seems to me many, many different styles of toilets.\n\nThere is the toilet with the tank on the wall and you pull a string or chain to flush the toilet.  There is the toilet with the 1/2 flush and full flush button.  Note: I\'ve always tried to use the 1/2 flush and then compare it to the full flush but frankly, I can\'t tell the difference.  Some bathrooms you can flush the toilet paper down the toilet others, like my bathroom you have to throw it out in the waste bin next to the toilet.\n\nThen there are public toilets.  In Bulgaria, like most of Europe, you must pay to use these bathrooms.  After you\'ve paid you are usually entitled to a square or two of toilet paper and use of something resembling a western toilet--if you are lucky. If you are unlucky (or I guess lucky depending on how you look at it), you will find a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet\" target=\"_blank\">squatting toilet</a>.\n\nI knew about the squatting toilet before I came to Bulgaria.  I had read about it in travel guides and heard about it from friends who had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey but for me it wasn\'t until I saw one that I really began to think about how it works and how as the user I fit into the equation.  Also the first time you see a squatting toilet and you realize that you\'ve just paid money to use it, I think your heart kind of sinks or at least mine did.\n\nIt seems to me one thing to squat and pee outside when you are camping and a whole other thing to do so inside.  It\'s the logistics I think.  First the bathroom seems dirtier.  In part because the bathroom floor is always wet given the way flushing the toilet works.  This makes it hard to tell what\'s what.  Then comes the question of where you\'re supposed to stand and the best way to turn around in the bathroom stall to stand there.  The toilets do have \"markings\" for where you are supposed to stand but these seem preciously close to the hole and again everything is wet. Once you\'re in position the fear for me is what if I do something wrong and I pee on myself?\n\nFor me, this is not an unfounded fear.  First off, I haven\'t done a lot of squatting in my life--either camping or elsewhere.  Second, I usually have to use these toilets when I am traveling around Bulgaria (for example in the train station, hiking on Vitosha and on a trip to Greece) so what happens if there is a judgment error on my part--then what?  Finally, I didn\'t grow up using these toilets and I am kind of scared of trying new things.\n\nLuckily, to date, I haven\'t had any problems using one of these toilets but I do like to make sure that I have the bathroom door unlocked and ready to open before I flush the squatting toilet.  This way, if need be, I can get out of the stall <em>fast</em>. I don\'t want to know what could happen to my shoes if something went wrong with one of these toilets.  So I try to make my get away after flushing as quick as possible.\n\nIn conclusion, I think it should be noted here that it is always wise to carry around travel size kleenex as it is very, very likely that you will find yourself without toilet paper in Bulgaria.  At my school for example, teachers have a separate bathroom from the students and it\'s kept fairly clean but the school does not provide toilet paper for the user.  Also I like to carry around a little bottle of hand sanitizer with me because most bathrooms doesn\'t have hot water or soap.\n\nSo my motto: be prepared.  Be prepared for anything and send a little prayer to the toilet gods now and then for good measure.','Toilets','','publish','open','open','','toilets','','','2008-12-02 16:08:54','2008-12-02 13:08:54','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=425',0,'post','',9),(431,1,'2008-12-03 20:43:59','2008-12-03 17:43:59','Well it happened again.  I woke up early, went to school, taught three 80 minute classes, filled out some more paperwork and at 2:30pm my way home bought a piece of street-food roasted pumpkin.  At home, I made a grilled cheese sandwich to go with the roast pumpkin.  It\'s a great combo--part food of my childhood and part food of my current adventure.  The crispy cheesy sandwich pairs nicely with the smooth roast pumpkin making for a perfect lunch!\n\nThen, I took a nap on my couch.  I am beginning to think that this is the only thing I can do when I get home from teaching my Wednesday classes.  Strange.  They are good kids.  It\'s just a long day and I am finding it hard to teach exactly the same thing three times back-to-back.\n\nToday, I had this moment where I was like: hey I\'ve already written this on the board.  I stood back and looked.  I hadn\'t then.  Then I started writing double words on the board.  \"Hey, miss! I think you wrote take twice.\"  Yep I had.  Then I started leaving \"e\"s of the end of words.  They are kind of pesky: they do tak too much tim to writ.  (Really, why do we need them any way?)<!--more-->\n\nSo as soon as I finished lunch and sat down to send a few emails and write a post I got sleepy.  Eyes blurry and eye lids drooping tired, so I curled up on my couch and took an hour nap.  Upon waking, I decided that I should probably do something with myself.  I grabbed a copy of the film The Hours which I\'d watched years ago after reading the book by the same title. It\'s a great film but kind of depressing.\n\nAnyhow about 3/4 of the way in my MoM called on skype and I talked to her for 20 minutes or so.  Then I finished the movie and my dAd called.  I talked to him for an hour which the most time I\'ve spent talking to him in weeks.  It was good to talk to both of them.  While I was talking to my dAd, I realized that he hadn\'t seen a number of photos in my <a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/\" target=\"_blank\">Flickr photostream</a>.  I talked him through it and he said: I bet not everyone reading your blog knows these are all here.\n\nWell dAd, hard to say.  When I log into my Flickr account I can see that many of you are looking at my photos but I guess that it could just be my MoM looking at them over and over.  I know that she misses me--so maybe she just sits at her desk and hits refresh over and over--just kidding, MoM, I know that you are a busy bee at work.  It\'s hard work after all to keep dAd in the life style that he would like to be accustomed to.\n\nAnyhow, here\'s the run down for those who need it (I assume that this is family rather than friends so my apologies for anyone who knows this stuff already).  I can use Flickr and upload 100MB of photos for free each month and I try do so.  Usually it means I upload 10 or 15 photos at once, a couple of times a month so if you see a few new photos in the feed on my blog along the right hand side it more likely than not means that there are other new photos that are up on Flickr but not appearing in the three photo photostream.  So either click on the photo (or the link at the bottom) and when you get to Flickr then click on my name karolinka.sofia and you can then watch a slide show of the photos or you can look through them one by one. As of this afternoon, I have something like a 100 photos up and I\'ve tried to label them all so that you have some idea what you are looking at!!\n\nAnyhow I am meeting friends for dinner shortly so I\'m signing off.  Hope you\'re able to enjoy the photos--I know it\'t not the same as being here but I think that the photos will give you a sense of this beautiful country that I am living in.','Daily Life','','publish','open','open','','daily-life','','','2008-12-03 20:43:59','2008-12-03 17:43:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=431',0,'post','',2),(434,1,'2008-12-08 16:29:51','2008-12-08 13:29:51','Recently, I\'ve found myself thinking about the fact that here in Bulgaria I have more guy friends than girl friends.  This is the first time in my life that this has been the case.  In college, I joined a sorority and after college I worked on a MA in English--neither of these are institutions that are crawling with straight guys.  So this week I was in my pj\'s brushing my teeth and staring at myself the bathroom mirror wondering if I\'d been going about this all wrong for years.  It\'s not like I was purposefully was ignoring guys or uninterested in them--just the opposite but now without trying I have all of these really great and fun guys in my life.  Funny how it takes moving to a foreign country to put things in perspective.\n\nThese guys aren\'t from another planet.  They are well read, they like to listen to music and watch movies, they eat well and are in pursuit of strong drinks--enter rakia-- and a good time out at night.  I\'ve never been board hanging out with them, not once in four months.  The one thing is that they don\'t plan very far ahead and that\'s not really even a surprise to me after living with guys for the last few years in Washington DC.  These guys are just guys and all of a sudden I\'ve found myself one of the guys. Kind of.\n\nI think that part of this is that the stakes are different here in Bulgaria.  I came to see the country, to learn the language, to meet new people and to have an adventure--I didn\'t come to find true love.  Thus the pressures are different.  We worry about finding a great bar for the night or about where we\'ll meet for dinner.  In fact, none of my expat friends here are in serious relationships, none are engaged or getting married, none are buying houses or jockeying for better paying jobs.  We are here living in the \"new Europe\" as my director once put it and I am on an odyssey.<!--more-->\n\nWhile here, I\'ve been lucky enough to make some friends here in Bulgaria who are on similar journeys.  It just happens that these friends are nearly all guys.\n\nWhat does it mean that most of the expats that I know and spend time with are men? Well, I wondered at first if it had to with me.  Was I just not seeking out female friends? No that was not the case at all.  I have some good female friends who are Bulgarian.  So I started thinking about how many female expats I know in Bulgaria.  The list is pretty short.  I know fewer than five.  To put this in perspective, there was not a single girl in the language class that I took in August; there were six guys of varying ages and me.\n\nSo here I am on my odyssey, on my move-to-a-country-where-you-don\'t-know-the-language-adventure and for the first time in my life I don\'t have any female competitors--no classmates, no co-workers and no sorority sisters.  I am going this one alone but I can\'t help but wonder where have they all gone? Did I take a wrong turn? Did I miss a signal? How did I get separated from the pack? Have the sirens got me? Am I now going to be left behind?\n\nThe idea of an odyssey clearly comes from Homer\'s <em>The Odyssey</em>--an epic adventure-- but recently I was reminded of  David Brooks\' article which ran last fall in the NYT titled<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/opinion/09brooks.html\" target=\"_blank\"> \"The Odyssey Years.\"</a> He explains here that there is a new stage or phase in the life cycle.  He defines this as \"the odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.\"\n\nBrooks is right to think about this period in the lives of twenty-somethings.  I know that as a twenty-something myself I have unprecedented freedoms and access--I had a great job with a good salary and decent health care.  I was able to make the choice to live in a group house and in doing so I could to afford to go out to dinner, to meet my friends out for drinks and to see shows but I was also able to make the decision to live and travel abroad for a year.  At twenty-seven, I could undertake the serious but calculated risk of leaving my job to pursue a Fulbright.  To do so has been transformational.  But when Brooks talks about the odyssey years he describes them as a period of delay.\n\nBrooks highlights the way we twenty-somethings delay serious relationships with flirting on facebook or attending graduate school; he implies that we trade home ownership for the security of living with our parents, that we pick nights out with our friends over raising children and we hop from job to job rather than settling down for steady work for the same company.  He claims are extending our adolescence into the period of time that was once adulthood.\n\nBut what then are the markers that actually make us adults?  Can we really believe that the markers of marriage, home ownership and parenthood are the only markers that qualify us to become adults? Am I any less of an adult because I left my job, sold my furniture and moved some boxes of books, photos and clothes back to my parent\'s house?\n\nBut the problem with this argument is that the markers Brooks uses to identify and name adulthood are markers of another generation and another time.  He is using them as markers of responsibility--a wife, a family, a home, a good job.  These markers traditionally imply that one is able to think, act and behave responsibly but they don\'t require it. In fact, I think that many of us are skeptical when it comes to these traditional markers of adulthood.  We\'ve seen our parent\'s marriages end in divorce; we\'ve seen companies fire life-long employees without regard to this commitment; and most recently we\'ve watched the dream of home ownership unravel before our eyes.\n\nResponsibility then isn\'t about having things--a wife, a family, a home, or even a good job--it\'s about good choices.  I realize that this isn\'t such an easy distinction to make especially when it comes to discussing a whole generation of twenty-somethings.  So when Brooks implies that twenty-somethings in the odyssey phase of their are delaying their own responsibility, I respectfully have to disagree with him.\n\nInstead, I think that the odyssey years are about learning how to make good choices.  It\'s about distinguishing <em>things</em> from <em>happiness</em> and it\'s about having the time, money and freedom to figure out what it is that you aspire to.  Thus, what I am doing today and this year is not delay, procrastination or deferment.  Rather this year is far from a delay or a deferment--it is a part of my on going adult odyssey.\n\nThe paradigms of adulthood are shifting and expanding and the one thing that I think is safe to say is that the models that defined adulthood for the last fifty years will not be the models that exclusively define my life.  But that does not mean that I am adrift, lost or floating waiting around to turn thirty and to become an adult. I am an adult.  A twenty-something adult.  I am living, exploring and adventuring in a foreign country and this is a choice that I would make again in a heartbeat.','My Odyssey Year (a-la David Brooks)','','publish','open','open','','my-odyssey-year-a-la-david-brooks','','','2008-12-08 16:29:51','2008-12-08 13:29:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=434',0,'post','',6),(438,1,'2008-12-09 19:17:21','2008-12-09 16:17:21','Yesterday was Students\' Day in Bulgaria.  The university students have their own holiday.  They don\'t go to class and instead escape into the mountain resorts or the Sofia bars and clubs to celebrate their holiday.  Yes, it\'s a big drinking day.\n\nA couple of google searches revealed that Students\' Day had it\'s inception in 1903.  It was apparently the 15th anniversary of Sofia University.   Then at the end of WWII in 1944 the holiday was abolished and replaced with International Students\' Day which is celebrated on November 17.  In 1962, the holiday was re-instituted. Today students and former students celebrate on this day.\n\nSo did I.\n\nI didn\'t go to a resort in the mountains but I did venture out to Studentski Grad (student city) with friends about 9:00pm and didn\'t find myself at home and in my own bed until quarter to six.  This said, I feel like I should make it clear that I am not regularly a \"6-am-kind-of-girl.\" It\'s because I really didn\'t like leaving the club as the sun was coming up.  The sky should be black when I go to bed not gray.  But when in Bulgaria...<!--more-->\n\nA girl\'s got to celebrate with and like the Bulgarians and no I am not writing this to try to justify a rakia-fueled existence.  I am just saying that I\'ve never had a chance to celebrate Students\' Day in Bulgaria before so I took this opportunity seriously.\n\nI met at my friends house in the city center and three of us took a taxi to Studentski Grad.  It was a 6 leva and 15 minute long ride--not bad at all.  We met the rest of our group for dinner (salad and a rakia) and by 11:30pm we were in the club.\n\nThe thing about clubs in Bulgaria is that there is a strange level of pretension  and exclusivity for clubs that are only so-so. After waiting outside for about 20 minutes, we paid and $8 leva cover and then the guys got patted down and I was asked to show some ID.  Of course, I had no idea what this girl was asking for and then she asked me again in English.  I showed her my Bulgarian litchna karta--ha--that really caught her off guard.  All of this rigamaroll lead me to believe that the club was going to be packed.  In fact, at 11:30pm, it was far from crowded.\n\nWe were able to get a table after some back and forth in Bulgarian.  There was some question of whether or not we needed to buy a bottle for the table.  We did not and proceeded to order drinks.  In a place like Washington DC, the cocktail waitress would take someone\'s credit card as reserve for the drinks.  But here in Bulgaria that doesn\'t happen.  Instead, when we\'d each had two drinks or so the cocktail waitress brought us our bill and told us we had to pay and didn\'t offer to get us anymore drinks.  We paid the bill but after this it wasn\'t clear if she would still be waiting on us or if we now had to go to the bar for drinks.\n\nI don\'t understand this country sometimes.  It was easier for me to check my coat than it was to get a drink.  Why wouldn\'t the bar make it as easy as possible for us to get a drink?  It\'s not like they are making enough money on the cover and coat check to run the club.\n\nAnyhow, Students\' Day seems to really be about the partying, dancing and talking that takes place on a night out with friends and not all of the tedious details so I am moving on.\n\nThe group I was out with was a lot of fun--mostly we talked, danced and drank all night.  In our group, there were two Americans, two Bulgarians and two Spaniards.  I speak English and some German with a little bit of Bulgarian sprinkled in.  The other American speaks English and Spanish.  One of the Bulgarians speaks great English and the other great Spanish.  As for the Spaniards, one speaks strong English and the other speaks strong Bulgarian.  Confusing I know but that\'s just to put the night in perspective.  We were busy speaking lots of different languages and the night was kind of a game of telephone: what? say that again? who? no way.  And so on and so on. It makes dancing look like a really good option.\n\nThe funny thing is after dancing with a number of Bulgarians who spoke varrying amounts of English, I ended the night pretty glad that I don\'t know much Bulgarian.  I think that at least one of the guys was saying kind of \"naughty\" things to me in Bulgarian--things that would probably embarrass me in English.  But I smiled, shrugged, told him a few times that I didn\'t understand what he was saying and then stopped dancing with him and returned to my friends.\n\nHe was persistent and kept coming over to dance with me but the conversation always went back to the same series of questions that I didn\'t understand.  <em>Sorry dude. </em> Also, I think that he had a funny accent--one which I\'ve never heard before in Sofia--and this made it that much harder for me to understand what he was saying.\n\nI met some other funny guys and danced and danced and danced.  The music the club played was something else.  It felt like one part high school dance and one part weekend MTV top music video countdown.  I don\'t remember all of the songs but here are some of the \"best of\" from last night.  We started with house and techno and then moved on to hip-hop and pop with an eclectic mix of songs that were throw backs. In no particular order, here\'s the list:\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://vbox7.com/play:f2b0532e\" target=\"_blank\">Sexy Girl</a> by Chocolate Puma some of the lyrics: you were just a sexy girl, nothing but a sexy girl</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://vbox7.com/play:de3ebbcf\" target=\"_blank\">Mercy </a>by Duffy some of the very repetitive lyrics: you\'ve got me begging for mercy...why won\'t you release me?</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckKFxMw6z0c\">Low</a> by <span class=\"description\"> Flo Rida the lyrics here are well not very complicated: the whole club was looking at her, she the flooora, next thing you know shorty got low, low, low....\n</span></li>\n	<li><span class=\"description\"><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rWk6XIkXCo&amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">California Love</a> by 2Pac  these lyrics are pretty straight forward: </span><span class=\"description\">California </span><span class=\"description\">knows how to party, California knows how to party... followed by lots of shake, shake it babies...\n</span></li>\n	<li><span class=\"description\"><a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10C68Gzd5GM\" target=\"_blank\">I will survive</a> the Cake version (I think) you know how this one goes: Oh no, not I, I will survive, as long as I know how to love, I know I\'ll stay alive!\n</span></li>\n	<li><span class=\"description\">Then these two songs which I\'ve heard now twice in two back to back nights out but haven\'t heard played in a bar in the states well maybe ever: YMCA by the Village People (Regrettably no one was making the arm motions.  So I tried to teach them.  It didn\'t seem to catch on.) and <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Al-icSBz8&amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">You\'re the one that I want</a> from Grease, the movie/musical.\n</span></li>\n</ul>\nAll of this music makes for a lot of wow! No wonder I was able to dance the night away; it was like the best of the last 20 years plus some house music that I am not as familiar with.  The night ended at 5am when most of the dance floor had started to clear out.\n\nWe caught a taxi pretty easily and were home in not time.  I went to bed and woke up when it was still morning thankful not to be fighting a hangover this afternoon and after a cup of coffee I ventured out for the best \"Bulgarian brunch\" ever: banitsa and ayran (a salty-cheese pastry and milky-yogurt drink).\n\nIt makes me wonder why we don\'t have a holiday like this in the States.','Students&#039; Day: Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','students-day-bulgaria','','','2008-12-09 19:17:21','2008-12-09 16:17:21','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=438',0,'post','',3),(444,1,'2008-12-12 20:24:28','2008-12-12 17:24:28','I didn\'t think that it was going to be a very busy Christmas for me but it turns out that is wrong.  So I have a hunch over\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_455\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"New Shoes and Sofia Friends! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-455\" title=\"CAE and boots\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/fb-cae-and-mh.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"New Shoes and Sofia Friends! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nthe next three weeks, my posts will be a little bit shorter.  Don\'t worry though I\'ll post as much as I can and the best stories that I have.\n\nLights have gone up all over the city.  There is plenty of Christmas cheer in store windows.  And some of the bigger pine trees around have been turned into huge Christmas trees.  I bought a poinsettia today. The one thing is that there\'s not so much Christmas music being played.  I didn\'t think that I would miss the Christmas songs but I kind of do.  To make matters worse, it turns out I have only three Christmas songs on my computer.  (I blame the grinch.) But really, how can I only have three songs!? Aside from the grinch, I blame my red-curly-haired-friend for always having and playing such good Christmas music that I never bothered to get my own and the same goes to my little sister.  <!--more-->\n\nNow here I am without Christmas music.  The weather has turned and I\'m dying for a good mix.\n\nYes, it\'s been getting colder and colder.  Last week I bought a pair of Bulgarian boots.  It was an experience.  First off, there are shoe stores every where but they don\'t carry a wide range of sizes.  I am a 40 or a 41 in the European sizing--this makes my foot big but not so big that I couldn\'t find shoes.  It just meant that I had to go to a number of stores to find both the style and the size I needed.\n\nAnyhow, I ended up buying the shoes at a shop very close to my house and the woman was really nice to me.  I was surprised by both of these things.  I\'ve gotten used to fairly poor service in stores and restaurants in Bulgaria.  So it made for a really pleasant experience to buy shoes and walk out of the store in an upbeat mood.  There\'s something bluch feeling about handing over money for something that you like to someone who hasn\'t treated you very nicely.  It makes you feel a strange kind of buyers remorse.  But I felt none of that this time walking out of the store with my new boots in a huge box.\n\nI got home and I had to put the shoes on.  This is when the buyers remorse struck.  My first thought was: oh no, these are too big.  Then I looked at them and thought: gasp, what if I have bad taste in shoes, these aren\'t very cute.  This was followed by: well, they\'ll get me where I need to go on snowy streets.  And finally, there was this: hey, I got great shoes for a great price.\n\nNow this week I\'ve been obsessed with shoes. I am happy to report: I did a great job buying my shoes.  The standard Bulgarian woman\'s boot is black, shinny and with a large stiletto heal.  My boot is black leather, a little slouchy with a tie on the side and no heal.  Perfect for my height and for snow while still being stylish.  (Either that or the shoe is really ugly and I am now making excuses for this)\n\nI\'ll have my friend, who\'s flying into Sofia, in a few hours confirm this.  Yes that\'s right! As we speak, I am getting ready for the arrival of my first visitor! It\'s a friend from my MA program at Georgetown.  She is a ton of fun and I am really excited to show her the best of Sofia and maybe even Bulgaria.  I was thinking thinking that we\'d make a day trip to some where like Plovdiv so that she can really see this place.\n\nAnd it wouldn\'t be a visit to Sofia if I didn\'t feed her lots of Bulgarian food and make her drink lots of rakia.','Christmas season in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','christmas-season-in-sofia','','','2008-12-12 20:24:28','2008-12-12 17:24:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=444',0,'post','',2),(451,1,'2008-12-13 18:40:53','2008-12-13 15:40:53','','Starbucks Mug','Starbucks Coffee Mug in Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc04667','','','2008-12-13 18:40:53','2008-12-13 15:40:53','',448,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04667.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(452,1,'2008-12-13 18:44:44','2008-12-13 15:44:44','','Sign Starbucks','Toffee Nut Latte Sign in Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc04669','','','2008-12-13 18:44:44','2008-12-13 15:44:44','',448,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04669.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(453,1,'2008-12-13 18:50:40','2008-12-13 15:50:40','','Cups','Short, Tall, Grande','inherit','open','open','','dsc04663','','','2008-12-13 18:50:40','2008-12-13 15:50:40','',448,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04663.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(448,1,'2008-12-13 18:54:51','2008-12-13 15:54:51','[caption id=\"attachment_451\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Starbucks Coffee Mug in Sofia \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-451\" title=\"Starbucks Mug \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04667.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Starbucks Coffee Mug in Sofia \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s official.  Starbucks opened in Sofia.  It\'s located at the corner of Levski and Gen. Y. V. Gurko.  I guess that there used to be a Pizza Hut in the present day location of the Starbucks but it closed and in it\'s placed opened another American symbol.\n\nAs I\'ve mentioned in other posts, I don\'t really see the need for a Starbucks in Sofia.  There\'s lots of other great coffee throughout the city that is a lot less money.  But then Starbucks opened.  The corner store looks like it could be anywhere in a big urban American city.  This in fact scares me.\n\nOnce inside, the Sofia store I noticed that every thing is the same in Sofia as it is in the states: the colors are the same, the bags of coffee in baskets are the same, the large round cookies appear to be the same (although I didn\'t see any with m&amp;m\'s), even the red holiday themed cups are the same.  I don\'t love Starbucks.  I would always rather support the small local guy but in a city like DC this was sometimes hard to do given the poor quality of the little guy\'s coffee.  Starbucks however always promises the same not superior but not offensive cup of coffee--latte--mocha or Americano.  It\'s the same cup whether you buy it in Walla Walla, Washington DC or now it turns out Sofia.<!--more-->\n\nThat\'s the thing about Starbucks.  It tries so hard not to be offensive with its decor, service, and coffee that there\'s not very much that is interesting left in the end.\n\nI however noticed a few interesting things.  In the States, Starbucks is taken to-go. I can\'t remember seeing real mugs\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_453\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Short, Tall, Grande\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-453\" title=\"Cups \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04663.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Short, Tall, Grande\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nor plates at any of the five or so Starbucks along the route I used to take to get to Georgetown University.  (Okay five is an exaggeration there were really only two but it felt like five).  Also two years ago the coffee size known as the Short was taken off the menu in the States.  It is still available but only if you know to ask for it otherwise the sizes are Tall, Grande and Venti.  Pretty funny if you think about it, Tall is now the smallest size in the States.\n\nWell here in Sofia, nearly everyone was drinking their coffee in the store out of real mugs! Real Mugs.  I had almost forgotten that you could drink your coffee out of a mug rather than a red holiday Starbucks mug.  These people are so civilized. Unlike American, this is a country of people who have a coffee culture and they don\'t need to be trained to enjoy coffee.  Additionally, the Starbucks here doesn\'t serve a Venti size.  (Gasp!) They have Short, Tall and Grande.  Somehow this seems the way it should be.  Who really needs 20+ ounces of coffee?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_452\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Toffee Nut Latte Sign in Sofia\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-452\" title=\"Sign Starbucks\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04669.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Toffee Nut Latte Sign in Sofia\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nSo after all of my belly-aching about Starbucks in Sofia, how did I end up there? Well, I went with a Bulgarian friend.  She really wanted to go and I really wanted to go and check it out (and the special that the first Starbucks in Bulgaria is sure to be out).  I hate to admit it but it was pretty fun.  Also, I may think that because after I ordered in Bulgarian, the girl who was taking my order told me, in Bulgarian, that I have good Bulgarian.  And there\'s nothing like a well placed complement to make a girl fee good about herself and to make her like a place that much more.\n\nThe one thing I will say, is that sitting there talking to my friend, drinking one of the holiday sugary-sweet lattes that I would never dare drink the the States because I am opposed to them and prefer to drink only Americanos, I had a good time.  Yes, I had a good time in Starbucks.  Of course, it helps that I was with a friend and that it was cold outside.  But really, who wouldn\'t be warmed by the combination of friends, a hot drink and some of the pre-packaged holiday sprit that Starbucks serves with their door wreaths and unoffensive pop-Christmas music? I know I was.','Starbucks Opened in Sofia, Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','starbucks-opened-in-sofia-bulgaria','','','2008-12-13 18:54:51','2008-12-13 15:54:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=448',0,'post','',0),(455,1,'2008-12-14 13:25:18','2008-12-14 10:25:18','','CAE and boots','New Shoes and Sofia Friends!','inherit','open','open','','fb-cae-and-mh','','','2008-12-14 13:25:18','2008-12-14 10:25:18','',444,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/fb-cae-and-mh.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(457,1,'2008-12-15 18:10:23','2008-12-15 15:10:23','Today I got up early and headed over to the Fulbright office to make a presentation for the \"100 Days in Bulgaria\" celebration.  I did a little math sitting there before the program started and (gasp!) I think I\'ve been here for 135 days.  My presentation was cut short by a power outage so I only got to show half of my powerpoint presentation but I think that\'s okay.  It wasn\'t the best work of my life.\n\nI had a hard time knowing what people would be interested in so I broke it up into three sections and figured that would be good enough--my experience with the students, with the teachers and the challenges and pleasures of teaching.  It was easy to give and I think that people were pretty interested in what I had to say.\n\nThe funny thing was when I realized how much of my life has been in some way or another connected to the Fulbright.  My first exposure came in 1st grade; my teacher was on a Fulbright exchange and was from the UK.  She taught us how to spell with extra \"u\"s.  Then I applied in college for a Fulbright but was unsuccessful.  This lead me to three years at Georgetown where I actually advised other students on Fulbright applications.  Finally I decided it was time to apply again and now here I am--living and teaching English in Bulgaria on a Fulbright fellowship.\n\nHow funny and wonderful it is that the Fulbright has shaped my life over the years.\n\nNow I am off to coffee and to the Fulbright Christmas Party.  Tis the season after all!','Fulbright Presentation and Christmas Party','','publish','open','open','','fulbright-presentation-and-christmas-party','','','2008-12-15 18:10:23','2008-12-15 15:10:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/fulbright-presentation-and-christmas-party/',0,'post','',0),(459,1,'2008-12-18 22:40:07','2008-12-18 19:40:07','','Rila Monastery','Rila in the wet snow','inherit','open','open','','dsc04751','','','2008-12-18 22:40:07','2008-12-18 19:40:07','',458,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04751.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(460,1,'2008-12-18 22:42:07','2008-12-18 19:42:07','','Rila Arches','Arches at Rila','inherit','open','open','','dsc04819','','','2008-12-18 22:42:07','2008-12-18 19:42:07','',458,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04819.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(461,1,'2008-12-18 22:45:27','2008-12-18 19:45:27','','CAE and Kate','Carolyn &amp; Kate at Rila','inherit','open','open','','dsc04787','','','2008-12-18 22:45:27','2008-12-18 19:45:27','',458,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04787.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(462,1,'2008-12-18 23:03:35','2008-12-18 20:03:35','','Rila Church','Paintings outside of the church at Rila','inherit','open','open','','dsc04765','','','2008-12-18 23:03:35','2008-12-18 20:03:35','',458,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04765.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(458,1,'2008-12-18 23:06:14','2008-12-18 20:06:14','[caption id=\"attachment_461\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Carolyn &amp; Kate at Rila\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-461\" title=\"CAE and Kate\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04787.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Carolyn &amp; Kate at Rila\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI went to Rila Monastery today with my friend Kate who\'s visiting and my friend from high school <a href=\"http://backinbulgaria.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Matty</a> and his girlfriend.  I think that a group of four was the perfect size to make the trip to Rila Monastery.  Also, I was happy to have Matty along.  His Bulgarian is much better than mine but given the trip I could have done this on my own as well.  It\'s just that I still get a little flustered when someone speaks to me to fast or I don\'t recognize any of the words they are saying to me.\n\nSo you can take a bus from the West bus station in Sofia right to the monastery--the round trip ride is 20 Leva. One important thing to know is that this is not the main (or central) bus station so depending where you are living in the city it might be a little bit out of the way.  Nonetheless, this is apparently an improvement from earlier days where you had to take one bus to the city of Rila and then another bus up the mountain to get to the monastery.\n\nThe bus that we took today was older and the seats didn\'t have enough leg room for me.  It was also very full.  When we left the station the bus was completely full.  So it\'s probably better to be there eariler than we were.  Oh you buy tickets on the bus so you should come prepared with the right change. The bus stopped many times along the side of the road to take on new passengers and to let off  current ones--it appears that frantic waving at the side of the road will cause the bus to stop and that when you want off you stand up walk to the front of the bus and wait.  You may also have to tell the bus driver where you want off.  Luckily for those of us going to the monastery, you just get on, sit down and wait until you get to the front gate of the monastery.  Don\'t worry though, even with these small stops the ride is only 2.5 hours so it\'s not absolutely horrible. <!--more-->\n\nAnd I have to say that I was very, very happy not to have to switch buses in the city of Rila because it was pouring rain.  However, a few minutes out of the city of Rila it started to snow.  Snow slush.  This was not supposed to be how our trip to Rila Monastery was to go. But apparently that\'s what we were going to get whether we liked it or not.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_459\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Rila in the wet snow\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-459\" title=\"Rila Monastery \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04751.jpg\" alt=\"Rila in the wet snow\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nThe pictures that I\'ve seen of Rila are all bright and sunny.  The sky is blue and the mountains are green.  The monastery itself is a wash of bright colors.  Even though I was going to Rila in December I somehow expected this.  Anyhow, by the time we got there the snow was sticking to the ground. The sun was not out but the day was pretty bright.  The trees were dusted in snow rather than being a bright verdant spring green.  But, it was great.\n\nThe monastery colors may not have been as bright given the snow but it was a very inspiring place.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_460\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Arches at Rila \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-460\" title=\"Rila Arches \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04819.jpg\" alt=\"Arches at Rila \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nGiven today, I really understood way one would chose to build a monastery where Rila is.  Well, that and apparently God chose the location and told them to build it there.  Either way, the monastery is beautiful and I hope that my pictures do the place justice.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_462\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Paintings outside of the church at Rila \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-462\" title=\"Rila Church \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04765.jpg\" alt=\"Paintings outside of the church at Rila \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]','Rila Monastery: Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','rila-monastery-bulgaria','','','2008-12-18 23:06:14','2008-12-18 20:06:14','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=458',0,'post','',7),(472,1,'2008-12-19 22:45:24','2008-12-19 19:45:24','','CAE Christmas','Christmas has come early this year!','inherit','open','open','','dsc04748','','','2008-12-19 22:45:24','2008-12-19 19:45:24','',469,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04748.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(474,1,'2008-12-19 23:04:41','2008-12-19 20:04:41','','carolyn-for-web','Christmas has come early this year!','inherit','open','open','','carolyn-for-web','','','2008-12-19 23:04:41','2008-12-19 20:04:41','',469,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/carolyn-for-web.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(469,1,'2008-12-19 23:06:34','2008-12-19 20:06:34','[caption id=\"attachment_474\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Christmas has come early this year! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-474\" title=\"carolyn-for-web\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/carolyn-for-web.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Christmas has come early this year! \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe post office in Sofia is a catch all.  It\'s like the drawer in your kitchen that is officially the junk-drawer.  But it\'s a junk-drawer in a good way.  You know, you go there to grab a pair of scissors, or a rubber band, a piece of string or a postage stamp.  The problem is that you don\'t always know if what you\'re looking for will be there or if it will be the right size, length or amount--so you dig through old playing cards, nails, bits left over from do it yourself Ikea projects where inexplicably at the end you have left over pieces...\n\nWell in Sofia, the post office is similar and I might add almost completely unusable if you don\'t speak Bulgarian.  At post offices in Bulgaria, you can do tons of different things.  You can play bills, you can bank and I think that given the number of windows you must be able do other things as well--like mail letters or pick up packages.  This means that there are tons of windows with disaffected employees sitting behind them to take your money.\n\nLuckily, I don\'t have to go to the post office to pay my utility bills.  My landlord does this for me and then brings me the receipts which I then reimburse him for.  I have a hunch it would be craze inducing to pay your bills in the post office if you were a Bulgarian let alone if I had to do so navigating in my limited Bulgarian.  And I think that this is how most people pay their bills--in person and in cash.  It should however be noted that I don\'t know this for sure.  In the states, I thought writing out checks and remembering to mail them each month was tedious.  Well now that I\'ve seen this other system, I think that writing a check isn\'t so bad.<!--more-->\n\nAlso, just so that you don\'t think I am being completely culturally insensitive, I do understand why this system has evolved and remains today.  Bulgaria is still a cash economy.  People have debit cards but they use them to withdraw cash.  Only twice have I ever seen anyone pay for anything with a debit card--once in the grocery store and once at a shoe store.  And let me tell you, the employees processing the debit card transaction didn\'t seem very happy about it.\n\nAnyhow, back to the post office, my parents sent me a package for Christmas in the beginning of December and about two weeks later I checked my mailbox and there was a slip of paper telling me that I had a package to pick up.  (Yeah!)\n\nThe slip gave me the address to pick up the package and the post office times.  So I marched out of my house at 8:15 am ready to pick up my package.  The night before I\'d looked up the location on bg maps and knew exactly where I was going--to the same place I mailed my ballot for Obama.  At the post office though, it wasn\'t clear which window I was supposed to go to.  I asked some people both behind glass windows and in the lobby.\n\nI felt like I had the prized golden ticket from Willy Wonka and the Cholcolate Factory only no one was very excited for me and I didn\'t know where I was supposed to go to collect my prize.  Finally I asked this man in a uniform of some sort who seemed to be guarding an elevator.  He looked at me with big eyes and told me very slowly that I had to back outside and turn right.  Okay.\n\nFunny how the room I ended up wasn\'t part of the building marked post office.  Anyhow I gave my slip to the man at the counter.  He said something that sounded like my name and told the woman he was working with a four-digit number.  Then he started looking through a lined paper notebook.  It\'s amazing to me that this seems to be the preferred system of organization through out the country.\n\nOf course what this means is that he doesn\'t find my name on the first try.  He thinks I am trying to pick up some man\'s package.  I show him my litchna karta.  I am not sure why but it just seems like the thing to do.  This seemed to do the trick.  Oh Karolina.... and then she finds my package.\n\nAt this point, I have 40 Leva in my pocket.  I\'ve been told that often you have to pay a tax to get your package.  I didn\'t know how much this going to be so I thought it was better to be prepared.  I didn\'t want to have to come back for my package because I didn\'t have enough money.  Well, the man smiles at me and hands me my package.  I don\'t have to pay a tax or anything.\n\nGood thing.  When I look at the package on my way out, I see that my dAd has addressed the package and I assume mailed it and on the mail-slip attached to the package it says: gift $50.  Really, do they never listen to me? I\'d been told that any box that was declared and labeled gift with a value would result in a tax at the post office that was 50% of the stated value.\n\nI couldn\'t help but wonder what my parents were sending me.  I love these two but they are known for being frugal and my mom doesn\'t love to shop so when she asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year I couldn\'t think of a thing.  She told me to think about it.  I didn\'t.  So when she asked me again via Skype at Thanksgiving with my aunts and uncles around I say: cherry chapstick and marshmallows.  Yes.  Marshmallows.\n\nAs a result, I got marshmellows in a couple of different forms: peeps, the chocolate santa filled with marshmallow cream and part of a bag of jet puffed green and red marshmallows in the shape of christmas trees and stars.  I also got two tubes of cherry chapstick, a great little notebook, a bar of chocolate and some other goodies.  Everything was individually wrapped! This alone was great.  And even better it was all stuffed into a stocking.\n\nAnd I can say now for the first time in all seriousness \"wow, Christmas has come early!\" (and not think of it as a slightly off putting pick-up line--which I do kind of miss hearing for the record.)','Post office adventures!','','publish','open','open','','post-office-adventures','','','2008-12-19 23:06:34','2008-12-19 20:06:34','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=469',0,'post','',6),(477,1,'2008-12-20 12:27:26','2008-12-20 09:27:26','','Xmas trees','Charlie Brown Trees!','inherit','open','open','','dsc04746','','','2008-12-20 12:27:26','2008-12-20 09:27:26','',476,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04746.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(476,1,'2008-12-20 12:31:08','2008-12-20 09:31:08','Hello everyone!\n\nUnlike past years where I\'ve gotten my act together and mailed my friends and family Christmas cards, this year I recorded you a video message.  I know, I know... I did the same thing for Thanksgiving.   But I have to say that it\'s quick and easy to do.  It\'s actually taking longer for me to upload the video to YouTube than it took for me to record the message.  I am not sure if that\'s good or bad.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V11BprG-1sY]\n\nOh and one last thing, I can\'t get enough of the Christmas trees here.  They are all Charlie Brown trees.  It\'s really wonderful.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_477\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Charlie Brown Trees! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-477\" title=\"Xmas trees\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dsc04746.jpg\" alt=\"Charlie Brown Trees! \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Seasons Greetings','','publish','open','open','','seasons-greetings','','','2008-12-20 12:31:08','2008-12-20 09:31:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=476',0,'post','',2),(481,1,'2008-12-25 18:19:44','2008-12-25 15:19:44','I\'ve been in Vienna since Monday afternoon.  It\'s a great city.  We took the Orange bus from Budapest to Vienna.  It was easy, quick and they serve coffee on board the bus.  (I don\'t know of any trains in Eastern Europe that do this!)\n\nThe rest of the week has been devoted to getting to know the city, seeing as many museums as possible and drinking mulled wine at every opportunity.  I read somewhere that Vienna is one of the 10 best museum/art cities--and it\'s true.  There is so much to see.  There are also Christmas-Markets everywhere so it\'s not to hard to find hot mulled wine either.  Oh but a word to the wise, the Lions Club has stands up all over the city and they make some of the best mulled wine/hot punch I\'ve had in Vienna--so look for them.  I assume that they are doing good things with the money they earn.\n\nThe big surprise has been that Bulgarian comes out of my mouth quicker and more automatically than German does.  Yes my vocabulary is much bigger in German but the it\'s the Bulgarian that is on the tip of my tongue.  It\'s made for a lot of laughs.  Well my friend Robyn laughs at me while who ever I am trying to talk to me just stares.  At this point,  I usually get embarrassed that I\'ve just said something indistinguishable in Bulgarian and then can\'t say anything in either German or English.  <!--more-->\n\nAfter the first two days it\'s gotten better but it\'s strange that the first greetings that come to mind now come in Bulgarian rather than in German.  I never thought that would happen.  But it has.  I am learning Bulgarian.\n\nAnyhow, what I really want to write about are the amazing museums in Vienna.  There\'s a great area of the city called the MusumsQuarter Wien or MQ for short.  We went to see the Leopold Museum and liked it so much that we are going to go back to see the Hopper exhibit in another one of the MQ museums.  The great thing about the Leopold Museum was that the art was well labeled in both German and English. We saw a retrospective of Christian Schad; he had a long varied career as an artist.  It\'s worth checking out.  Also in the museum\'s collection are a number of Schiele and Klimt pieces.  Apparently the museum has the world\'s largest Schiele collection.\n\nAfter this we went across the street to the Kunsthistorishes Museum.  The name of the museum is translated into English as the Museum of Fine Arts.  This museum has so, so much stuff.  First off the building is beautiful both inside and out but at Christmas time the windows that look out onto Maria Theresien Platz look down on a beautiful and well lighted Christmas Market.  Wow.  If that sight doesn\'t get you in the mood for Christmas there is something wrong with you.  We spent most of our tie in the Gallery of Paintings and then walked through the Egyptian-Oriental Collection.   Not being a museum curator or an art historian, I would also add that the Egyptian-Oriental Collection seemed to have a lot of Greek and Roman pieces as well but maybe I should have expected this.  I am not sure.\n\nThen on Wednesday, we got up early and took the metro and then a tram (number 71) to go to the Belvedere.  This is the upper and lower Palaces of Prince Eugene.  Now they are art museums and offer beautifully kept and maintained gardens and walks that you can also explore.  One thing to note is that it wasn\'t clear to us that we should buy the combined upper and lower ticket and by the time we figured it out we had already bought the upper ticket and then had to buy a second ticket.  Luckily we were able to qualify for the student ticket prices but we could have saved a fair amount of money by buying the combination ticket.  So buy both.  It\'s worth it.\n\nThere is a lot of art here--some of the rooms are labeled only in German and some in both English and German--but the main  focus of the Belvedere is once again the artist Gustav Klimt and his contemporaries.  He\'s one of Vienna\'s hometown boys and everyone seems to love him--from art enthusiasts to souvenir vendors.  They love him so much so that it seems like it would be sacrilegious not to come home with a piece of Klimt be it a postcard, a book, a printed tie or a rub on tattoo of the Kiss (yes, they make those).\n\nI have to say, seeing Klimt in person made me finally understand what all of the \"hype\" is about.  Sure I\'d seen copies of the Kiss before seeing it in person but the copies I\'d seen had always been hung on a the wall of one my college sorority sisters rooms--nice but cliche.  However to see the Kiss and frankly all of Klimt\'s other pieces in person changed the way I thought about him.  His paintings are electrifying and I\'ve never seen a print that does his work justice.\n\nFinally tomorrow we will be going to MAK (The Museum for Applied Arts and Contemporary Art).  They have an exhibit titled Recollecting: Raub und Restitution/Looted Art and Restitution.  Apparently the show \"presents art and everyday objects from Jewish possessions and their history between robbery and restitution.\"  I guess that this sounds like it could be a depressing show but it seems really interesting and appeals to me as the daughter of an antique store owner.  I think that history, art and the personal history of these objects in fascinating.  That and the posters that were created for this show are pretty catchy so we\'ll be checking this out too.\n\nHere ends what is the first of what I assume will be a couple of postings on Vienna!!\n\nOh yeah, and  if you can\'t tell I am having a great time!!','Museums in Vienna','','publish','open','open','','musuems-in-vienna','','','2008-12-25 18:19:44','2008-12-25 15:19:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=481',0,'post','',0),(490,1,'2009-01-03 16:09:03','2009-01-03 13:09:03','','CAE in Cafe','Me in a Cafe in Vienna','inherit','open','open','','dsc05061','','','2009-01-03 16:09:03','2009-01-03 13:09:03','',486,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05061.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(486,1,'2009-01-03 16:10:18','2009-01-03 13:10:18','[caption id=\"attachment_490\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me in a Cafe in Vienna\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-490\" title=\"CAE in Cafe\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05061.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Me in a Cafe in Vienna\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI received a copy of Ernest Hemingway\'s \"A Moveable Feast\" for Christmas this year. I started reading it in Vienna, continued reading it in Budapest and finished it on the airplane back to Sofia.  The book was published first in 1936 in Great Britain.  It\'s short only 125 pages and set in Paris in the 1920\'s.  Hemingway is writing about his experience after World War I being a poor, hungry and often cold struggling writer.\n\nWhile reading, I was struck by how lucky I am to be here in Eastern Europe on a Fulbright.  I am neither poor nor hungry.  But I\'ve found myself cold--not outside walking around cold but fingers and toes cold inside my own apartment cold.  This is I think the worst kind of cold.\n\nHemingway escapes this cold by writing in cafes.  I read about Hemingway\'s experience in Paris cafes and found myself amazed at the great American and British writers who showed up in these cafes and in Hemingway\'s life.  Sure most of it I knew but this time I was reading about it in Europe and found myself actually thinking about what it meant to be a writer traipsing through the Paris streets.  The allure of Paris was clear and I think it still exists. There is still a mystery about Paris for lovers, writers and travelers.  I haven\'t been to Paris but I understand what Hemingway is writing about.  It\'s about leaving the old behind and seeking yourself within something new.<!--more-->\n\nHe writes about how cold Paris was in winter.  I am not surprised by this--he doesn\'t have much money and they don\'t rent very nice apartments.  Also it\'s Paris in the 1920\'s, I can\'t imagine that central heating existed yet. Hemingway explains, \"when there were the three of us instead of just the two, it was the cold weather that finally drove us out of Paris in the winter time.\"  Before the baby, Hemingway could go to a cafe and write and his wife could play piano with a couple of extra sweaters but after the baby Hemingway can no longer do this; in fact, he writes, \"our Paris was too cold for him.\"  Instead they go to Austria to learn to ski at the Alpine Ski School.\n\nReally?! Austria was better than Paris.  I find this hard to believe.  After Christmas, I thought that Vienna became very cold.  We\'d bundle ourselves up head out to a museum or take a short walk and then find ourselves in a cafe drinking coffee.  Luckily Vienna is a city of museums.\n\nMuch the same can be said for my time in Budapest.  It was just as cold if not colder in Vienna.  We even got a few days of snow flurries.  Robyn recommended buying a pair of black leggings that can double as tights or as a second layer under jeans.  I bought a pair without hesitation.  They are great.  The weather in Budapest was cold and dry but the good thing was that the city was ours to explore.  And man, there is a lot to see in this city.\n\nWhen I got home to Sofia I was met with more snow.  Apparently it\'s winter in Eastern Europe.  The temperature yesterday was about 28 degrees fahrenheit.  My apartment was much colder.  I ran out to buy some food and then tried to start heating up my apartment.\n\nI felt like Hemingway.  (It should be noted, that this is a sentence I never ever imagined that I would write.) I was freezing cold.  Unlike Hemingway however, I don\'t have anyone to keep a bed warm with me.  So when I crawled into bed last night, I was wearing yoga pants and a hooded sweatshirt and I had had the space heater going for an hour and the room was only warmish.  Shivering between cold sheets, I set my alarm clock for an hour before I wanted to get up so that I could turn on the heater, get back in bed and get out of bed when it was warm.  This it turned out was a pretty good plan.  Such a good plan that I got up made tea and then read in bed for an hour while my living room heated up!\n\nThe one thing I can\'t figure out is the bathroom.  There\'s no heat source in there so when you have to go it feels like you are peeing in an outhouse.  I guess the good thing is, if this cold weather keeps up, I am going to learn to be really quick in the bathroom.\n\nOkay, this is just a quick post to get back into the swing of things after no blogging for nearly eight days.  I\'ll be writing more about my travels over this next week.\n\nOh and after writing this whole post, I thought I\'d check up on the NYT and saw this awesome headline: <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/01/03/world/international-us-russia-ukraine-gas.html?_r=1&amp;hp\" target=\"_blank\">Gas Dispute Spreads to Bulgaria</a>.  It looks like Russia has been reducing gas flow to Bulgaria after cutting off Ukraine altogether on January 1st.   I can only hope things don\'t get worse here in Bulgaria. What a mess that would be.\n\nThis is not to say that I think the cold in my apartment is related to this reduced gas flow--far from it.  I think that it\'s due to the fact that my apartment used be on the communisit centeral heat: parno and now is not.  This is probably good for my heating bill but the alternative is just okay not outstanding.   Good thing it\'s easy to double up on socks.','Hemingway and the New Year','','publish','open','open','','hemingway-and-the-new-year','','','2009-01-03 16:10:18','2009-01-03 13:10:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=486',0,'post','',4),(496,1,'2009-01-04 23:01:10','2009-01-04 20:01:10','','MAK Museum','MAK Museum: the old &amp; the new','inherit','open','open','','dsc05082','','','2009-01-04 23:01:10','2009-01-04 20:01:10','',492,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05082.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(497,1,'2009-01-04 23:03:53','2009-01-04 20:03:53','','MAK the old','MAK Museum: the architecture','inherit','open','open','','dsc05083','','','2009-01-04 23:03:53','2009-01-04 20:03:53','',492,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05083.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(492,1,'2009-01-04 23:09:25','2009-01-04 20:09:25','[caption id=\"attachment_497\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"MAK Museum: the architecture\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-497\" title=\"MAK the old\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05083.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"the architecture\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe best museums I went to in Vienna was the <a href=\"http://mak.at/e/jetzt/f_jetzt.htm\" target=\"_blank\">MAK</a>--short for the Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art.  The Museum is very modern.  They have a serious collection of art (of all shapes and sizes) and in many instances they ask artists to curate the exhibits.  This means that much of the art is shown off in nontraditional ways--using space, color and design to enhance or complicate the original piece of art.  In addition to this, each exhibit has a description of the choices that that the curator made in order to put the exhibit together.\n\nThese descriptions really added a lot to the museum going experience for me.  After visiting a huge number of more traditional museums in Vienna like the Leopold, Kunsthistorishes Museum and the Belvedere, it was a treat to see what people were thinking, considering and contemplating as they decided how to arrange, display and present the art in the MAK.  I guess this approach may not interest the people who go to museums to see \"the Picasso,\" \"the Klimt\" or \"the Egger-Lienz\" because a guide book says that they should in order to be cultured but for those of us for whom this has little appeal the MAK museum is different.  The curators of the museum give the exhibits depth and in this way I got a lot out of both the exhibits and layout of the museum.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_496\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"MAK Museum: the old &amp; the new\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-496\" title=\"MAK Museum \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05082.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"the old &amp; the new\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe current treasure of the museum is the exhibit titled <a href=\"http://www.mak.at/mysql/ausstellungen_show_page.php?a_id=821\" target=\"_blank\">Recollecting: Raub und Restitution</a> (or in English the title is Recollecting: Looted Art and Restitution).  It\'s only running until February 15th, 2009 so if you\'ll be in Vienna in the next month and a half--you must go.\n\nThe exhibit is about the restitution (or lack there of ) of Jewish art and artifacts after WWII.  The art came into the hands of the Nazis in a few different ways.  Some lost their art when the Jewish owners fled Vienna packing up their art to be stored or to be shipped and upon inspection of the goods the Nazis halted their transfer.  Others lost their collections when they were forced to leave their homes and everything of value was auctioned off.  Sometimes the owners received a small amount of money for the sale of their belongings but after the war it was determined that these were forced auctions.  Then there were those who were \"lucky\" enough to own art that Hitler wanted for his Fuhrer Museum.  For the most part, these pieces of art weathered the war in a salt mine in Austria.  I am sure that people lost their art, artifacts and collections in other ways as well but these stand out to me as the major ways that the art was stripped from original owners.\n\nWhat made the exhibition possible though was the fact that the Nazis documented everything they took very methodically.  They made lists of everything an apartment had of value--each list was written out neatly, numbered and in tidy columns.  Ironically, it\'s these lists that make the restitution of the looted art possible as well as the exhibition.\n\nThe exhibition ties together the big picture of the history of the theft with the loss of individuals.  This is done through film and narration of the history behind the Nazi theft and the assembly of private histories of Jewish families and individuals.  It is the use of the private and the individual narratives that make the exhibit.\n\nThis is done through the use of primary documents like receipts of purchase and pictures of a family\'s home and relatives before and after the looting.  These documents were then paired with the Nazi paperwork from the theft; the Nazi paperwork was either type written or written out by hand.  But the start of each individual narrative was often the original pieces of  looted art (now on loan to the MAK) and in many cases video narrative from the descendants.\n\nThe collection of these objects in one place is powerful.  You see not only the art object but also the life attached to it.  They are not steril pieces of precious art--as in other museums where they are stripped of history, family and ownership and hung on a wall with a plaque which reads something like: Egon Schiele, Self-portrait, pencil, 1911.\n\nIt should be noted that I just made this painting title up but the Leopold Museum also in Vienna does refuse the restitution of works from both Egon Schiele and Albin Egger-Lienz.  Apparently, they are a private museum and they argue that the rules of restitution do not apply to them.   In other words, hung on their museum walls are pieces of art looted by the Nazis during World War II.  But the MAK exhibit explains that it\'s not just museums that are guilty of this, a number of Austrian libraries ended up with huge collections of books stolen off the private library shelves of Viennese Jews.  They now argue that these books are a vital part of their collections and that it would be a loss to the public to turn over these books to private hands.  So that some of the books have been returned and others have not--even though they have inside their front cover the nameplates of the person they were stolen from.\n\nThe question the exhibit seems to ask over and over again is: so now what? Some of the art has been returned to it\'s rightful owners, some of the owners cannot be identified or their descendants cannot be found but for others their lost objects line the walls of museums and the shelves of libraries.  They know exactly where their art is but cannot take it home.  It\'s a complicated question <em>now what? </em>\n\nMaybe it\'s enough to get us thinking about the issue.  Maybe it\'s enough when we wonder: where did this come from? Maybe it\'s enough when we in turn ask museums: where did this come from? how do you account for it? and now what?\n\nAll of this said, I am not sure that any museum can ever be completely free from the charge that something in one of their collections was stolen, looted or otherwise obtained illegally.  Just this past month an op-ed ran in the NYT regarding the rightful ownership of \"the treasures of antiquity\" in New York\'s Metropolitian Museum.  Sharon Waxman argues in her piece <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01waxman.html?ref=opinion&amp;pagewanted=all\" target=\"_blank\">\"How did that vase end up in the Metropolitan\"</a> for transparency.  And frankly after attending the exhibition at the MAK, I can\'t agree more.\n\nThe transparency of the exhibit gave the art life and memory and while the exhibit was depressing, I loved it.\n\nI think I loved it because I don\'t own art, real art.  I don\'t come from a family that owns art.  And frankly I can\'t imagine living a life where I would be in the position to buy, commission or own a piece by the likes of Klemt or Schiele but I do know loss.  I\'ve had petty inconsequential things stolen from me both in Washington DC and in Walla Walla and at the time they felt pretty major.  Still, I\'ve never had my freedom taken from me and when we think about the loss of freedom and the theft of a painting the loss of a painting seems pretty inconsequential.  But thing about art is that, if it is really good art, it will last longer than any one of us.  It has a memory greater than our own. Most of the people who lost their art collections during the war are no longer alive but that does not mean that their loss was any less.\n\nThis art, their art, retains this great history and this greater memory.  However when we strip it of this history and this memory we do a great disservice to the artist, the owners (past and present) and the public.  We should, I think, know where our art comes from.  This doesn\'t make the work any more or less beautiful rather it makes us as collectors, purveyors, consumers and aficionados of art more accountable.\n\nAnd in the end, this what the MAK exhibit <a href=\"http://www.mak.at/mysql/ausstellungen_show_page.php?a_id=821\" target=\"_blank\">Recollecting: Raub und Restitution</a> asks of us: to be accountable and transparent even if it reveals an ugly side of the act of collecting.','MAK: Recollecting, Looted Art and Restitution','','publish','open','open','','mak-recollecting-looted-art-and-restitution','','','2009-01-04 23:09:25','2009-01-04 20:09:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=492',0,'post','',2),(501,1,'2009-01-05 18:22:18','2009-01-05 15:22:18','','dsc04879','','inherit','open','open','','dsc04879','','','2009-01-05 18:22:18','2009-01-05 15:22:18','',569,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc04879.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(503,1,'2009-01-05 18:33:29','2009-01-05 15:33:29','','dsc048791','','inherit','open','open','','dsc048791','','','2009-01-05 18:33:29','2009-01-05 15:33:29','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc048791.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(504,1,'2009-01-05 18:48:23','2009-01-05 15:48:23','','Parliament Budapest','Parliament in Budapest as seen from the Danube','inherit','open','open','','dsc048792','','','2009-01-05 18:48:23','2009-01-05 15:48:23','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc048792.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(506,1,'2009-01-05 19:09:51','2009-01-05 16:09:51','','Museum of Applied Arts','Museum of Applied Arts','inherit','open','open','','dsc04842','','','2009-01-05 19:09:51','2009-01-05 16:09:51','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc04842.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(508,1,'2009-01-05 20:08:00','2009-01-05 17:08:00','','Train Station','Eiffel\'s Train Station','inherit','open','open','','dsc05305','','','2009-01-05 20:08:00','2009-01-05 17:08:00','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05305.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(509,1,'2009-01-05 20:14:44','2009-01-05 17:14:44','','Budapest Bridge','A Bridge over the Danube','inherit','open','open','','dsc05152','','','2009-01-05 20:14:44','2009-01-05 17:14:44','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05152.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(510,1,'2009-01-05 20:24:47','2009-01-05 17:24:47','','Budapest at Night','Lights along the 4/6 tram line','inherit','open','open','','dsc05302','','','2009-01-05 20:24:47','2009-01-05 17:24:47','',502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05302.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(502,1,'2009-01-05 20:32:06','2009-01-05 17:32:06','I read a lot about Budapest before going to visit and explore but still one thing surprised me about the city--the architecture.  I guess that I was imagining a slightly richer Sofia because economically since the change Hungary has done slightly better at adjusting than Bulgaria has.  But because both countries lived for nearly 50 under communism, I expected block buildings, dirty streets and graffiti.  I wasn\'t disappointed but I was surprised.\n\nParliament was beautiful.  Some might argue a little bit over the top but come on you can\'t tell me that this isn\'t an impressive building.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_504\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Parliament in Budapest as seen from the Danube\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-504\" title=\"Parliament Budapest \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc048792.jpg\" alt=\"Parliament in Budapest as seen from the Danube\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThe size, the architecture, the location--this is a serious building.  And based on the architecture in Sofia, I didn\'t expect this.  In hindsight, I should have.  Had I spent a little more time thinking about the history of Hungary and less about the food and wine I wouldn\'t have been as surprised.  Hungary after all spent 50 plus years as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburgs.  The influences of this union is clear.  It\'s especially clear to me after visiting both Vienna and Budapest.<!--more-->\n\nThen there are the beautiful ceramic-tile roofs that both Vienna and Budapest have.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_506\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Museum of Applied Arts \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-506\" title=\"Museum of Applied Arts \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc04842.jpg\" alt=\"Museum of Applied Arts \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nOne great example of the roofs is the Museum of Applied Arts but there is also the Matyas Church.  The Matyas church is currently under construction so it wasn\'t easy for me to get a good picture of the roof but the tiles are at least as pretty there as on the Museum of Applied Arts.  I think that it\'s worth noting that much of Budapest had to be rebuilt after World War II.  Originally, Hungary sided with the Nazis but at the end of the war when it was clear that Germany was going to be defeated Hungary switched sides.  In response, the Nazis bombed the entire city churches, bridges, other major buildings nothing escaped the dropping bombs.  Major things were rebuilt but still some ruins remain (some have even become bars).\n\nThe train station was designed by Gustave Eiffel.  Yes the same man who designed the, get this, Eiffel Tower in Paris.  The station is glass and steel. I put it on my list of things to see.  I am glad that I saw it but as my friend Robyn put it: inside it\'s just a scary, dirty train station like every other one in Europe.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_508\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Eiffel&#39;s Train Station\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-508\" title=\"Train Station \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05305.jpg\" alt=\"Eiffel\'s Train Station\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nOf course there are a number of bridges which everyone one who lives in Budapest knows the names of but I spent more time taking pictures of the bridges than trying to remember their names.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_509\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A Bridge over the Danube\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-509\" title=\"Budapest Bridge\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05152.jpg\" alt=\"A Bridge over the Danube\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nFinally I would be remiss if I didn\'t mention how pretty Budapest is at night.  As you can see during the in the bridge picture the sky is a nice color of steel gray, the water is a darker shade of the same color and the buildings are similarly neutral.  It was like that every day I was in Budapest except the first when I was lucky enough to take the  pictures of the parliament and the museum; on this day the sky was blue and the sun was out.  These days are apparently the exception to the rule.  So I guess to counter act the gray--they light up the city.  Trees, buildings, boulevards--if you can string lights and there\'s an electrical source man these Budapest-ians will do it.\n\nUnfortunately the lights don\'t make the city any warmer but they do make it very pretty after dark.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_510\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Lights along the 4/6 tram line\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-510\" title=\"Budapest at Night \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05302.jpg\" alt=\"Lights along the 4/6 tram line\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]','Budapest: Architecture and Photos','','publish','open','open','','architecture-and-photos','','','2009-01-05 20:32:06','2009-01-05 17:32:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=502',0,'post','',3),(515,1,'2009-01-06 19:12:08','2009-01-06 16:12:08','One of my Bulgarian friends posted this great youtube piece to facebook recently.  I watched it and then watched it again.  It\'s a tribute to Bulgaria\'s membership in the EU.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YRATI__jKU]\n\nI wondered what the little boy at the end was saying and a friend wrote it out for me. The text in Bulgarian says: \"bratya vsichki lyude stavat, / shtom s krila poveesh ti\" or in English: \"Beggars become Princes\' brothers / Where thy gentle wing abides\".\n\nThen I had to read a huge number of the 500 plus comments.  What stood out to me were the two sets of responses.  Many were kind and welcoming.  People writing things like Welcome to the EU Bulgaria! While other responses were hateful and said derogatory things about the gypsies, the Turks and even gay people.  The commenters often used fragmentary pieces of history to support their arguments.  After reading a number of the pieces it was hard for me to enjoy the youtube piece even thought it\'s set to Beethoven\'s Ode to Joy.\n\nIt really got me thinking. <!--more-->\n\nBulgaria joined the EU on January 1st, 2007.  It\'s be a rocky go for the first two years.  Corruption has halted some EU funds earmarked for projects in Bulgaria and prices for everyday goods continues to increase while the salaries remain the lowest in the EU. I don\'t think that the country is any worse off for joining the EU but I don\'t think that the average person they are any better off.  And that\'s tough.\n\nMy students complain about the quality of the transportation, the high levels of pollution, and wide spread corruption.  All of this seems completely normal to them.  Their parents bemoan the same things.  And frankly, I can\'t blame them.  Things do look a lot better in the other EU countries I\'ve been to this year (and for the most part they all have new, more modern public transportation).\n\nThe last two years prove that EU membership is far from a golden ticket.  I read somewhere recently that EU membership is a compact, a deal, an exchange and I think that this is a new kind of accountability for the country.  My sense is that for too many years this country functioned on an old boy\'s network of sorts.  Wink-wink nudge-nudge.  Everybody knows what\'s going on but it\'s to no ones benefit to do anything about it given the way that networks and personal associations function in this country.\n\nCorruption and accountability don\'t go hand in  hand.  So it was only a matter of time before the EU stepped in and said: Hey you\'re mismanaging our money.  The projects you are supposed to be completing are behind schedule or not even started yet.  Worse yet, you can\'t account for all of the money we\'ve given you.  It was a long time coming but still everyone acted shocked when it happened.\n\nI can\'t help but wonder if they are shocked that the EU stopped the flow of money or if they were shocked to be caught.  Sure it hurts the country not have the EU money but does it hurt them enough to take a firm stance on corruption?\n\nSo it seems to me that now Bulgaria stands at a crossroad.  They made it over the first hurdle--EU membership but there are still tough decissions to made, decissions that will likely be unpopular.  This said, I am still hopeful.  It\'s not going to be easy that much is clear but I think that everyday people make it clear that they want more from their country and their government than they are currently getting.','Bulgaria and EU Membership','','publish','open','open','','bulgaria-and-eu-membership','','','2009-01-06 19:12:08','2009-01-06 16:12:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=515',0,'post','',0),(523,1,'2009-01-07 20:19:22','2009-01-07 17:19:22','I have a hunch that things are going to get exciting here in Bulgaria.  There have been reports all week that the natural gas supply in Bulgaria from Russia has been reduced.  Then yesterday it was clear that the country is entering a gas crisis.  The country has limited gas reserves and gas flow to residential areas was being cut.\n\nThis morning I woke up and turned on the tv.  The news was reporting on the taxi cabs that run on natural gas.  The footage was of lines and lines of taxis waiting in hopes of filling their tanks.  Tanks that they have converted to run on natural gas given the high prices of petrol in the country.\n\nMind you the country is blanketed in about 8 inches of snow and the temperature floats around between 18 and 26 degrees Fahrenheit.   It\'s damn cold.  The kind of cold that makes you think you should wear two turtlenecks (which I\'ve been doing), put on an extra pair of socks (check) and even contemplate putting on your yoga pants under your jeans (to date, I\'ve just been thinking about doing this but I am not above it).\n\nSo after having coffee with friends today, I decided that I\'d better write a post about this gas cut.  Oh and I also turned on my hot water heater so that I can take a shower just in case we start having rolling electricity outages.  Apparently this is a real possibility.  The funny thing is I am a little freaked out about this whole thing and my Bulgarian friends are pretty blase about it.  Then again maybe they are just heartier than I am after living through the 1990\'s after the fall of communism maybe the fact that our gas has been cut in the middle of winter is merely an annoyance.\n\nOnce I was home the situation didn\'t seem as dire.  I think part of the reason I was a little freaked out is because 90% of the news on the gas cut is in Bulgarian.  It means that I have to rely on other people to tell me what\'s going on and I am someone who understands and makes sense of a situation by gathering as much information as possible.  <!--more-->\n\nI knew that things weren\'t great but after reading the piece on the NYT <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/world/europe/08gazprom.html?_r=1&amp;hp\" target=\"_blank\">\"Ukraine says Russia shuts down all gas supplies to Europe\"</a> which never mentions Bulgaria, I thought okay.  Things aren\'t so bad.  Then I read two pieces on the BBC \"<a href=\"http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7812860.stm\" target=\"_blank\">European gas supplies disrupted</a>\" and \"<a href=\"http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7814743.stm\" target=\"_blank\">Dispute hits Europe gas supplies</a>.\" The first published yesterday doesn\'t mention Bulgaria and the second published today mentions Bulgaria and the fact that we only have enough gas for a couple of more days.  This fact didn\'t mean too much to me at the time because I was busy being angry with the NYT because I expect better reporting. Really, no mention of Bulgaria in your entire article?\n\nThen I got an email from the US Embassy in Bulgaria. An excerpt follows:\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\"><span style=\"color:#008080;\">The U.S. Embassy would like to make Americans in Bulgaria aware that supplies of Russian gas to Bulgaria were cut off as of early Tuesday morning, January 6.  The Bulgarian Council of Ministers met to discuss a response and the Government put in place consumption restrictions for the entire country.</span></p>\n\n<span style=\"color:#008080;\">There are reports of heating disruptions in cities throughout Bulgaria, with the effects particularly acute in large cities - with residential buildings experiencing dramatic drops or loss of heating and either lowered hot water pressure or loss of hot water altogether.  Many residents are attempting to heat their homes and offices with electrical heaters, placing greater demand on stretched electricity grids and possibly leading to rolling power brownouts.</span>\n\n<span style=\"color:#008080;\">The U.S. Embassy urges Americans to keep abreast of local news on this issue and be prepared for outages in heat, electricity and hot water.</span>\n\nSounds great.  I\'ll see what I can do.\n\nBack to point, how awesome is it that the dispute Russia and Ukraine are having over natural gas lines and stolen gas result in natural gas being cut or drastically reduced all over Europe.  As if it couldn\'t get any better, Georgi Purvanov, Bulgaria\'s president, apparently suggested yesterday that Bulgaria should restart a nuclear reactor that the EU deemed unsafe too help get the country through this crisis.  Sounds great, lets restart an unsafe nuclear reactor.  The thing is this is a communist era reactor that Bulgaria had to turn-off as a part of EU membership but given energy prices there are people here who think the risk is worth the reward. It seems to me, however, Purvanov is taking advantage of the situation to try to restart reactor that should not be restarted.\n\nSo to recap, in Bulgaria a huge part of the country relies on centralized heat (thank-you communism).  So if and when the gas goes out whole buildings will be without heat. Luckily, my apartment is not connected to centralized heat which is both good and bad.\n\nIt means that I rely on electricity to heat my home and if/when the gas runs out everyone who used to be heating their homes visa vie centralized heat will plug in electric space heaters. (Sweet.)  If/when this happens, it appears very likely that the electric grid wont support the added demand and we\'ll have rolling electric outages.  (God this is going to get exciting.)  Of course, what this means is that those of us without electricity will now be without electricity and heat.  I have a hunch that this will also be when you\'ll be able to find me  layering up.  I\'ll be wearing: two pairs of smartwool socks, leggings under jeans, two turtlenecks and a wool sweater and probably for the first time, I\'ll be thinking: Really?! Carolyn, you chose to move here!?! Ahhh.....\n\nBut you know what the worst thing is about this whole gas cut and potential electricity outage is? I won\'t be able to use to my coffee machine.','Moscow: why cut the gas?','','publish','open','open','','moscow-why-cut-the-gas','','','2009-01-07 20:19:22','2009-01-07 17:19:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=523',0,'post','',7),(528,1,'2009-01-08 21:52:28','2009-01-08 18:52:28','I went to school this morning fully prepared to teach without any heat.  The walk to school normally takes about 20-25 minutes but today given the melting snow and icy patches it took more like 30 minutes.  By the time I was at school I was pretty warm after the walk but I was also greeted by heat. (Phew)\n\nThis morning I had read online at the Sofia Echo, the English language newspaper, that 28 schools yesterday requested permission to close because of insufficient heat.  <a href=\"http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/schools-in-bulgaria-s-capital-to-close-because-of-lack-of-heating/id_33883/catid_66\" target=\"_blank\">The article</a> explained that three had been given permission to do so.  I figured that my school was pretty serious so unless they absolutely had to we\'d be teaching today.\n\nMy two classes went great.  My students were clearly hoping for something to come up so that they could go home early but no luck in my morning class.  In my afternoon class, there were a number of students who arrived late.  Not a great way to start off the new year but then again the roads were not great and it had started to snow once more.\n\nAfter class I headed into the teachers lounge to do some paperwork.  Our principle came in to tell us that she would be coming around to take the temperature in our classrooms.  If the temperatures fell too low they would shorten the class day like they did yesterday.  Apparently, the last two classes of the day yesterday went from being 90 minutes long to 60 minutes.  I am not sure why the rational was to shorten the classes rather than to send people home but then again I don\'t understand a lot of choices that are made in this country.  <!--more-->\n\nIn this case, I guess that the school and the teachers want to teach because if they don\'t then it will have to be made up at the end of the year.  It seems strange to me that a school would say it\'s too cold to sit here in this room for 90 minutes but it\'s totally okay to sit here for 60 minutes.  We\'ll just teach through the cold.  I think the breaking point is if the room dips below 18 degrees Celsius. Man, that seems pretty cold to me.\n\nBy the time I left school at 3pm, the snow had been coming down steadily for the last hour.  I don\'t know if the school shortened the day but I can only assume that did.  It took me maybe 35 minutes to get to the city center from my school and at points the snow was blowing right into my face.  Not fun.  It snowed until about 6pm.\n\nI stocked up on some food after my MoM\'s comment on my last post <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/moscow-why-cut-the-gas/\" target=\"_blank\">(Moscow: why cut the gas?</a>) And then set about reading up on the heating crisis we are having in Bulgaria right now.\n\nBrussels seems to be stepping in and to help look for a solution to the natural gas problem.  The NYT is reporting on a <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/europe/09gazprom.html?hp\" target=\"_blank\">\"Possible deal in Gazprom dispute.\"</a> Nothing is set in stone yet but it looks like some independent monitors will be sent to Ukraine to make sure that Ukraine isn\'t stealing gas and then Russia will once again up the flow of natural gas to Europe.\n\nBased on conversations I have had with Bulgarians they seem to believe that it\'s pretty lucky that non-Eastern block countries (aka France, Austria and Germany) have been impacted by the reduced gas flow from Russia to Ukraine or no solution would be on the horizon.  Pretty depressing if you think about it.\n\nNow that I am home, my apartment is a reasonable temperature and I\'ve had a chance to defrost after sometime out in the snow running errands--I\'ve had a chance to really think about the situation.  The fight that Russia and Ukraine are locked in seems on the surface to be about three things\n<ol>\n	<li>the price of natural gas (apparently Gazprom wants to raise the price to $450 per 1,000 cubic meters from $179.50) ,</li>\n	<li>late payment on previous shipments of natural gas and</li>\n	<li>a question of whether or not the Ukraine is siphoning gas out of the pipelines that run through their country.</li>\n</ol>\nBut there seems to be something else happening here.  Russia seems to be testing it\'s limits--pushing the line to see how far and how much they can get away with.  In a year, they\'ve more than doubled the price of natural gas and they push the issue to the brink at moment when the rest of Europe needs natural gas the most. <em>The middle of winter</em>.\n\nIt begs the question: how much can they get away with? This is a question that can only be answered with another question:  how much do we need the gas?  And at this point, it\'s pretty clear how dependent we are on the gas and that we are in desperate need of it.\n\nUntil now the idea of energy security was extremely abstract to me.  I got it in principle but in the states, I mostly heard talk of energy security in relationship to petrol/gasoline.  The high prices at gas stations were shocking for a country that has relied on cheap gasoline for so long but in many ways it was our own fault.  We bought inefficient cars and chose not to invest heavily in green technology.  The situation stunk but we could have been smarter about the whole thing earlier.\n\nHere however, I finally get the issue of energy security in a real and practical way.  This country is without natural gas and we cannot (or are struggling to) heat our homes, schools and businesses.  It means that the elderly and the sick in Bulgaria are at risk.  I am not an economist but I also assume that the economy is at risk in already uncertain times. We are it seems wholly dependent on outside natural gas.  And it\'s this dependence on another country that is I think the scariest.\n\nDo I think that re-starting one of Bulgaria\'s communist era nuclear reactors which was deemed unsafe by the EU is a solution? No not at all.  Do I think that a country like Bulgaria (or really any country for that matter) can ever be completely independent when it comes to energy? No.   But I it has become clear to me that this will be one of the major issues that will shape the political and economic structures of the early 21st century.  I just didn\'t expect to be living in this reality so soon.','Natural Gas Update','','publish','open','open','','natural-gas-update','','','2009-01-08 21:52:28','2009-01-08 18:52:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=528',0,'post','',3),(532,1,'2009-01-10 14:52:56','2009-01-10 11:52:56','In Bulgaria, there is a tradition of name days (<em>immen den </em>in Bulgarian<em>)</em>.  These name days are different than your birthday.  Based on what I understand, you can celebrate both your birthday and your name day.  Your name day you celebrate with everyone else who shares your name--usually a name related to a Saint of the Orthodox Christian Church.\n\nI\'ve been invited to my first name day party and I\'ll be going tomorrow afternoon.  It\'s for the wife of my landlord.  Her name is Anne for short but her full name is <span class=\"style1\">Ivanka.  Technically January 7th was her name day but she\'s celebrating it on Sunday.  I have a hunch it will be like most Bulgarian dinners/parties that I\'ve been to--lots of food, lots to drink and me trying to use some Bulgarian. </span>\n\n<span class=\"style1\">It should be a lot of fun.  I\'ve got a little gift for her and something for my landlord\'s family from Vienna.  So hopefully I\'ve got my bases covered.  These people have been so nice to me which makes me feel like I want to be the best guest possible. </span>\n\n<span class=\"style1\">I am running out to meet friends for coffee right now and then there\'s a party tonight to send off one of my new Bulgarian friends to the states.  She\'s moving to Washington to work and study for a semester through a joint program with Georgetown University and the Center for American Studies (or something like that). </span>\n\n<span class=\"style1\">I\'ll aim for a longer post tomorrow.\n</span>','The Tradition of Name Days','','publish','open','open','','the-tradition-of-name-days','','','2009-01-10 14:52:56','2009-01-10 11:52:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=532',0,'post','',2),(539,1,'2009-01-12 11:43:13','2009-01-12 08:43:13','It\'s been a cold weekend here in Bulgaria.  Yesterday temperatures hovered around -12 degrees Celsius.  Not good considering that the country has no heat. Oh, and agreements for gas have been stalled.\n\nAs I\'ve mentioned, my apartment has been okay because I my heat is electric but for others it\'s becoming a serious problem.\n\nI went to my landlord\'s house for dinner yesterday.  They have a single space heater that sits on a stool--it\'s no bigger than an American coffee pot.  The heater puts out a little heat but it was noticeably cold in the apartment.  It doesn\'t help that her apartment is a corner apartment meaning that they don\'t share as many walls with neighbors to help insulate the apartment.  They live in a giant block with 14 floors and I can only assume that the other apartments are just as cold. The block has 14 floors and is divided into A and B each half of the block has four apartments on the floor so that\'s 112 apartments without heat in a single block.  And the neighborhood that they live in is sprinkled with blocks I would guess that from their apartment window I could see a dozen block buildings just like theirs. If you stop to think about it--that\'s a lot of people without heat.\n\nMy landlord\'s wife, Anne, complained about not having hot water all week and showed me just how little heat was coming out of the radiators.  Normally you couldn\'t keep your hand on the radiator because it would be hot to the touch.  Yesterday it was barely warm.  Anne speaks really no English but no matter--I understood was she was saying.  She was angry, really angry, with Russia.  This seems to be the emotion that most older Bulgarians have.  <!--more-->\n\nThen I went and met two twenty-something friends for drinks--a Bulgarian and a Spaniard.  The Spaniard has heat luckily his apartment is heated with electricity.  But my Bulgarian friend said that she\'s only heating one room in her family\'s large apartment--the living room (her parents now live outside of the city in a home they built with plenty of fireplaces).  The unheated rooms in her apartment are about 14 degrees Celsius.  She jokingly told me that it helps her make her mind up about what to wear each day.  However later in the evening when we returned to the subject about the heat, she said that she\'s pulled out a stationery-exercise bike and when she starts to feel cold she hops on the bike for 10 minutes until she\'s warm again.\n\nI decided then and there that I would be a really unhappy camper if I lived in an apartment without heat and I think that I would become a heat-refugee and go and live with someone who had a nice warm apartment.\n\nBy Friday last week, it looked like Brussels had helped to negotiate an agreement between Russia and Ukraine.  But over the weekend this seems to have fallen apart.  Great.\n\nWhat appears to have happened is that Vladimir Putin, Russia\'s now prime minister, signed an agreement which was then given to Ukraine\'s prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko to sign.  She did but according to the NYT she wrote next to her signature “<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/world/europe/12gazprom.html?hp\" target=\"_blank\">with declaration attached</a>.”  This of course didn\'t make Russia happy and their President, Dmitri Madvedev, declared that he would not uphold the agreement.\n\nI guess that this is fair considering it was a sneaky thing for Tymoshenko to do.  NYT writes that the declaration states that \"Ukraine had not been guilty of stealing gas from the export pipelines, a statement essentially asking Moscow to backpedal on the allegation that had underpinned its justification for halting shipments to Europe.\"  Strange thing to do considering this is what most of the fight is about and I can\'t imagine why Russia would ever agree to the declaration.  Clearly it was a power move.\n\nThis said, it\'s making the prospect of Bulgaria receiving natural gas early this week look less and less possible.  Both the NYT and the BBC report that Tymoshenko has been convinced to separate the declaration from the original agreement but it\'s still uncertain when the gas will come back on.  (This is in part due to the fact that experts assume that it will take at least three days for pressure to build up again and for the gas lines to be fully functioning again.)\n\nAt this point, we\'re waiting.  There\'s a scheduled meeting in Brussels this afternoon and there are EU moniters in Ukraine who are also waiting to see if some kind of an agreement can be worked out.  Until then, most of Bulgaria finds itself in the cold but life goes on here--only we\'re wearing more layers and drinking more coffee...oh and by the time evening rolls around if a little bit of rakia can\'t warm a Bulgarians soul in this cold weather, I am not sure that anything can.','Agreements for Gas Stalled','','publish','open','open','','agreements-for-gas-stalled','','','2009-01-12 11:43:13','2009-01-12 08:43:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=539',0,'post','',3),(543,1,'2009-01-12 15:33:42','2009-01-12 12:33:42','Baby it\'s cold outside.  And the New York Times is finally writing about Bulgaria.  We\'ve been without gas since last Tuesday.  That\'s January 6th for anyone counting and so it\'s official we\'ve been without gas for seven days.  Early on Bulgaria had a small gas reserve and we may still but the huge problem is that our country is 100% dependent on Russia for natural gas.\n\nThis morning the New York Times (NYT) finally decided to write about what it means for Bulgarians not to have natural gas in the article <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/world/europe/12bulgaria.html?hp\" target=\"_blank\">Memo from Sofia: Without gas, Bulgaria turns icy to old ally</a>.  (The article made the front page of the online edition with a photo and everything and when I saw it I thought, it\'s about time.)<!--more-->\n\nThe story tells about one old woman who huddles near her electric stove for warmth and a young mother with a brand new baby.  It also mentions that major industries in Bulgaria have closed because they can\'t keep up with production without natural gas--these industries include glass, steel and beer. Then there\'s the alliance with Russia that has been strengthened over the past few years by pro-Russian Bulgarian politicians.  The country is 100% dependent on Russian natural gas and the article explains why every-day Bulgarians are angry about this.    It\'s a good article don\'t get me wrong but it seems to have missed something.\n\nThe complacency.\n\nWhile people express some anger about the situation, in day to day life mostly they treat it as a minor annoyance--no heat, no hot water.  Nonetheless, people still go about their lives--they go to work, eat out in restaurants and drink, drink, drink.  Maybe it\'s because there\'s not a lot else that they can do about it or in the relative scheme of things given life in Bulgaria for the last fifty years it\'s no big deal.  Still as an American it strikes me as strange.\n\nIn Washington DC, if the weather forecast suggests that a snow storm is on the way people get crazy about it.  You go to grocery store and the lines are into the food isles and people have their shopping carts full of milk, toilet paper and canned food as if the end of the world is coming rather than a few inches of snow.   Here in Sofia we\'ve got inches of snow, no end in sight to the cold weather and to top it off no gas and people are just sort of humph about the whole thing.\n\nWhat stands out to me, today, is the fact that the Bulgarians I\'ve talked to are more angry at Russia than their own government.  Even though, their own government is in part responsible for an energy policy that depends fully on natural gas from Russia.  The NYT piece ends suggesting that this natural gas crisis will change the shape of politics in Bulgaria and that the socialist government which was pro-Russia will be voted out and the new party will reorient Bulgaria to the politics of Europe and Washington. But given the relative complacency of the people I\'ve been talking to I wonder if this will actually materialize.\n\nThus, it\'s an interesting question: will this crisis be enough to shake up Bulgarian politics? I think that right now it will all rest on how cold it gets here, how long we are without gas and what the final solution is.','Notes from Sofia','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia','','','2009-01-12 15:33:42','2009-01-12 12:33:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=543',0,'post','',2),(549,1,'2009-01-14 23:43:13','2009-01-14 20:43:13','','riots','Protesters in Sofia Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)--I didn\'t stick around to take photos','inherit','open','open','','riots','','','2009-01-14 23:43:13','2009-01-14 20:43:13','',547,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/riots.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(547,1,'2009-01-14 23:48:29','2009-01-14 20:48:29','[caption id=\"attachment_549\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Protesters in Sofia the photo is by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)--I didn&#39;t stick around to take photos\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-549\" title=\"riots\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/riots.jpg\" alt=\"Protesters in Sofia Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)--I didn\'t stick around to take photos\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" />[/caption]\n\nEarlier this week, it seemed likely that Bulgaria would have gas by Friday.  But it\'s been kind of a mixed bag and it\'s only Wednesday.   This afternoon protesters outside of parliament (which I walk by to get to school) were teargas-ed by the police.  It doesn\'t seem that they were protesting anything in particular--just protesting.\n\nI guess that originally it was supposed to be a rally but it turned into a protest about nothing in particular--I saw lots of university students walking toward the rally and later I read on the Sofia Echo that there were also different political parties, young people and old people and there and event the farmers were present.\n\nOn my way to school this morning I knew that something was up because there were already police directing traffic at Narodno Sabranie Sq. not far from Alexander Nevski but only on my way home from school about 1pm today did I notice how many police officers there were and how much metal fence had been set up around the National Assembly.\n\nI\'ve seen protests at Nevski before--usually farmers but I\'d never seen the police wearing full riot gear.  These men were wearing vests, helmets with shields for the face and carrying batons.  I crossed under the walking subway and on the other side of Tsar Osvoboditel I was met by protesters.  I thought that maybe I could take my normal route home but decided against it.<!--more-->\n\nI am not really scared of being in crowds or being hurt but this morning there was a serious ice storm and all of the sidewalks had been covered with a sheet of ice and there are still piles of snow every where--now icy-snow and  the closer I got to my regular route the less and less I liked the atmosphere of the crowd.  So I turned back.  I figured it was smarter to take the longer route home.\n\nOn my way home, I passed lots and lots of university age men in dark clothing, with hooded sweatshirts, all heading toward the protest.  The tenor was serious and while I was interested in what was going on, I was glad to be on my way home.  I couldn\'t help but think about an observation I\'d written about recently on my blog--<a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/notes-from-sofia/#more-543\" target=\"_blank\">the complacency</a> of Bulgarians given the natural gas crisis.\n\nIt makes sense--people were bound to get cold and angry at some point.  The article in the Sofia Echo and another report from the Sofia News Agency make it sound like the protests were random--about nothing in particular. According to the <a href=\"http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/police-drives-off-protesters-outside-parliament-building/id_34014/catid_66\" target=\"_blank\">Sofia Echo</a>: the protesters gathered to \"express their discontent with Bulgaria\'s political and social establishment met stiff resistance from police who drove them away an hour and a half after the protest started.\" And the <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100452\" target=\"_blank\">Sofia News Agency</a> sums it up this way: the \"protest rally in downtown Sofia was a civic initiative, which served no one\'s political interests, and that is why it scared the government.\"\n\nWhat strikes me as strange is the fact that none of the articles mention the fact that the country has been without natural gas for more than a week.  This is seems might play a role in the protest.  This might also be the reason that is seems like the rally served no one\'s political interests.  I can\'t help but think maybe I was wrong about my complacency comment in my blog earlier this week.\n\nStill, should I believe that there is no link between the protests and the lack of natural gas?  Maybe the lack of gas is not casual but it\'s clearly a mounting problem.  Even after an agreement was reached between Russia and the Ukraine there is still no natural gas in Bulgaria.\n\nSure we knew it would take a few days but the natural gas supply to reach us but apparently the gas is flowing from Russia in such small quantities that the Ukraine claims that there\'s not enough gas to build up the appropriate level of pressure in the pipeline to transport the gas.  Or at least that\'s what the the article <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/01/14/world/international-us-russia-ukraine-gas.html\" target=\"_blank\">\"EU Premiers Plead With Ukraine And Russia For Gas\"</a> submitted to the NYT by Reutgrs says. I read it and thought: Great.  Then I read this article, also on the NYT, <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/europe/15gazprom.html\" target=\"_blank\">\"Gas Crisis in Europe Continues\"</a> by David Jolly and thought: Hey, what\'s really going on here?\n\nJolly\'s article states that, \"Naftogaz, [Gazprom\'s] Ukrainian counterpart, had refused Wednesday for a second day to accept natural gas from Russia for transit to Europe, despite the presence of European monitors whose work was meant to have ensured exports were flowing.\" So what\'s the deal? None of this helps me answer the question: why don\'t we have gas? Is it Russia who\'s not sending enough of it or is Naftogaz/Ukraine who is refusing the gas?\n\nThe thing is, I think that Bulgarians are more used to contradictions like this than I am.  They are skeptical of government and the media--for good reason.  But after a life-time in the states, I am not... yet.\n\nAnyhow, back to the protests.  From what I\'ve read, shortly after I decided to take the long way home the rally turned violent.  Protesters started throwing rocks and snowballs as well as bottles, homemade bombs (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail\" target=\"_blank\">Molotov cocktails</a>--is my guess) and the metal fences keeping the protesters from parliament. The articles don\'t say this but I assume given the condition of the snow in the area they were really throwing chunks of dirty brown-ice-snow which is much worse in my mind than snowballs--it hurts to get hit with ice.  And when their actions escalated and the police ended the demonstration with teargas, force and apparently over 150 people arrested.\n\nI just can\'t help thinking that seems like an awful lot of people to be arrested for protesting nothing of real political substance.  Maybe it\'s about more than politics.  Maybe it is actually about a civil initiative.','Give us Gas--not teargas','','publish','open','open','','give-us-gas-not-teargas','','','2009-01-14 23:48:29','2009-01-14 20:48:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=547',0,'post','',3),(552,1,'2009-01-15 11:27:31','2009-01-15 08:27:31','I just read a great article on the NYT which helps get at the heart of the natural gas issue.  Seeing as I am not an expert on the area, I am only living here for a year, it\'s hard to know where disputes like this get started.  It\'s been clear that what\'s at stake here in the gas conflict is about much more than just the gas what\'s not always been clear is what\'s motivating the two parties--Russia and Ukraine.  So if you want to know about the background and what\'s motivating Russia and Ukraine you should check out this article: <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/europe/14gazprom.html?ref=europe\" target=\"_blank\">Gas dispute runs deeper than pipes</a>.','NYT:Helps explain the Russia/Ukraine issue','','publish','open','open','','nythelps-explain-the-russiaukraine-issue','','','2009-01-15 11:27:31','2009-01-15 08:27:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/nythelps-explain-the-russiaukraine-issue/',0,'post','',1),(554,1,'2009-01-15 18:33:23','2009-01-15 15:33:23','I went to a cafe in my neighborhood to do some work--read some student papers and make lesson plans for next week.  I go there fairly often and was greeted with a \"good afternoon.\"  I ordered a long coffee and a bottle of water.\n\nThere are two non-smoking tables in the back of the cafe.  This has always made me laugh because it forces one to walk through the cigarette smoke and smokers to reach one of the \"non-smoking\" tables.  It\'s like this or worse in most cafes and restaurants in Bulgaria.  There\'s a perfunctory sign but it doesn\'t mean a lot.\n\nAfter an hour at a \"non-smoking\" table in a cafe in Sofia you\'ll still smell like you\'ve been smoking a cigarette--man the smoke really clings to your clothes and hair and I can\'t help but wonder what it\'s clinging to in my lungs.  Luckily at the end of this year, I\'ll be able to go back to the states and detox from second hand smoke.  <!--more-->\n\nThe really great part of today came when all of the table in the cafe were full.  An older man came in and both women working clearly knew him.  He asked to sit down with me.  I told him yes.  The waitress came over with his drink (what appeared to be a double vodka over ice) and pushed the no smoking sign on to my half of the table so that she could plop down an ashtray.  Sweet.\n\nNow only half of my table is non-smoking.\n\nNot that it really mattered anyway both women working had already been standing behind me smoking cigarette after cigarette.  It was just such a wonderfully funny thing to me.  The metal sign which say in English (on both sides) no smoking and has a picture of a circle with a line through it covering up the cigarette<strong> </strong>and right past the sign the ashtray and a 70 year old Bulgarian man drinking vodka and smoking.\n\nThis is probably an image I should keep in mind the next time I am frustrated by something in Bulgaria.  There are rules and then are there are <em>rules</em>.  Sometimes these are followed and sometimes not.  Or sometimes these rules are sort of followed.  It seems to me in this country that in someway almost everything is flexible.  And this is a hard lesson for me to learn.  Maybe it\'s a lesson I will never really learn but it\'s good to remember that not everything is always as it seems.','A Cafe kind of Afternoon','','publish','open','open','','a-cafe-kind-of-afternoon','','','2009-01-15 18:33:23','2009-01-15 15:33:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=554',0,'post','',3),(556,1,'2009-01-16 23:07:27','2009-01-16 20:07:27','After my last post about <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/toilets/\" target=\"_blank\">toilets</a>, I think, I promised my MoM that I wouldn\'t blog about toilets again.  Seemed like a pretty easy promise to keep.  Until this week.\n\nMy blog tracks how people come to my blog (mostly from google RSS feeds and facebook) but it also show me what terms people search to find my blog.  Well, this week my post on <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/toilets/\" target=\"_blank\">toilets</a> from more than a month ago started getting almost as many hits as my posts on the natural gas crisis.  I thought this was strange and then when this search showed up today: \"bulgaria the toilet of europe\" (along with \"bulgaria and squat toilet\" and \"bulgaria + turkish toilet\") I knew I had to write another post on toilets.\n\nHere\'s the thing, it turns out that Czech artist David Cerny created the concept a huge installation sculpture called \"Entropa\" which is a map of sorts of the 27 EU countries.  It was unveiled on Monday (January 12th)  in Brussels in \"honor\" of the Czech EU presidency.  The sculpture is described  by the<a href=\"http://praguemonitor.com/2009/01/13/czechs-unveil-controversial-map-europe-brussels\" target=\"_blank\"> Prague Daily Monitor</a> as being made up of puzzle pieces representing the stereotypes and cliches of each country.   Each individual country-puzzle-piece was made by an artist of the country.  <!--more-->\n\nBulgaria makes it\'s debut on the map as a big Turkish toilet.  And this is why my blog all of a sudden has lot of new traffic.\n\nI figure I\'d better look into the installation piece and found footage on youtube. You can check out the whole piece all 4+ minutes of it but it\'s kind of painful.  The resolution is pretty bad and the camera just tapes each country for a while.  Also, there\'s no sound only static.  So I watched the first 2:55 minutes of the clip so you don\'t have to--unless you\'re into that kind of thing.  At minute 2:57 or so, Bulgaria makes an appearance on the video.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SKLSM1cw4&amp;feature=channel]\n\nMaybe you wish you could see a better picture of Bulgaria.  I found one on <a href=\"http://dancull.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/entropa-fake-artists-and-offense-brilliant/\" target=\"_blank\">this blog</a> and another interesting take on the piece.  This blog suggests that the same artist David  Cerny did the whole piece.  Interesting.  I don\'t know if it\'s true or not.\n\nSo as you can see from the video, the good thing about one of these toilets is that on the porcelain on either side of the whole there are feet marks indicating where you should put your feet while you pee.  (Hint, Hint: covering the hole which a foot while you go is not a good plan.)\n\nIf you pause and study the clip, you will see that the whole surface area of Bulgaria is cover with squatting toilets all linked together.  I just want to clarify and reassure anyone thinking about coming to visit me (hint, hint) that the country is not actually covered in squatting toilets.  This piece is supposed to point out prejudices and stereotypes that Europeans hold about various country in the EU.  Just so you know, I\'ve only run into squatting toilets on Vitosha Mt, in the train station, in convenience stores/roadside stores while traveling and apparently they are still in the bathrooms students in my high school use.  Oh and most of these places you have to pay to use the squatting toilet and you\'re lucky if you get two squares of toilet paper.\n\nI guess squatting toilets are just a lot funnier than the rampant corruption our country is also know for (and it\'s pretty clear that no one in Brussels is laughing about that).   But is Bulgaria the toilet of Europe? No way.  There\'s a lot of great stuff happening here.','What!?! Bulgaria the toilet of Europe?!','','publish','open','open','','what-bulgaria-the-toilet-of-europe','','','2009-01-16 23:07:27','2009-01-16 20:07:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=556',0,'post','',5),(563,1,'2009-01-18 21:09:58','2009-01-18 18:09:58','','Hope','Hope we can believe in? I hope so But Barack you\'ve got a lot of work to do','inherit','open','open','','cae-hope','','','2009-01-18 21:09:58','2009-01-18 18:09:58','',562,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cae-hope.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(562,1,'2009-01-18 21:16:15','2009-01-18 18:16:15','[caption id=\"attachment_563\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"318\" caption=\"Hope we can believe in? I hope so But Barack you&#39;ve got a lot of work to do\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-563\" title=\"Hope \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cae-hope.gif\" alt=\"Hope we can believe in? I hope so But Barack you\'ve got a lot of work to do\" width=\"318\" height=\"472\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s been a pretty lazy Sunday for me.  I\'ve watched some tv, read a little, worked on a hat that I am knitting and then found myself playing around with <a href=\"http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/\" target=\"_blank\">this website</a>.\n\nYou can make your own Shepard Fairely\'s Obama-esque photo-poster.  It\'s pretty fun.  I got a big kick out of it and I think you might too.\n\nI\'ve been kind of bummed out that I won\'t be in DC for the inauguration.  My little sister got tickets (lucky she\'s from Eastern Washington) and my old roommate from Wyoming did as well. When I found out that both of them got tickets  I was really happy for them.  These are a hot commodity, a really hot commodity, and I found myself insanely jealous.  They were going to be there.  They were going to be able to say that they sat in freezing cold weather after arriving in the bitterly cold morning and being patted down by security to see the first black man be sworn in as president.  They had tickets to what may be one of the defining events of the 21 century.  They were going to sit through history and I was going to be 7 time zones away in Bulgaria (where we may or may not have natural gas next week).<!--more-->\n\nI felt like it was okay for me to jealous about this.  Sure I am having a good time in Sofia but a black man is being elected president and I am not sure how I\'m going to be able to watch because the Obama camp has sold the recording rights.  This is detailed in this article on the Washington Post: <a href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011604921.html\" target=\"_blank\">Inaugural Panel Sells Exclusive TV Rights</a>.  I read the article and thought: well what does this mean for me? and why should anyone be making money on this?\n\nThen I went to school.\n\nAt school, the secretary told me that she had a letter for me.  I wondered who knew that I worked there and thought it was better to deliver a letter for me there than at my apartment.  The return address told me that it was from the US Embassy in Sofia.  Also the letter didn\'t have a stamp and the envelope only said my name and on the next line the name of my school--those sneaky embassy people apparently they are not confined by things like stamps or zip codes.  (Oh and thanks for getting me the letter!)\n\nAnyhow, I\'ve been invited to a live viewing of the inauguration at the US Embassy in Sofia.\n\nOkay, it\'s not exactly like being in Washington DC for the big day but it\'s not too bad considering.  I guess it\'s kind of the like the Super Bowl--some people get tickets and freeze watching the game outside drinking small expensive beers and eating nachos with fake cheese and then there are the rest of us who watch from the comfort of our living rooms drinking good beer and eating great food in t-shirts and jeans.\n\nSo to my sister and roommate: I\'ll be thinking of you on Tuesday when I am eating little hors d\'oeuvres and drinking wine from the atrium of the US Embassy in Sofia. Heck, maybe I\'ll even look for the backs of your heads in the crowd when the cameras are panning around before the inauguration officially gets underway. (PS I do hope that you two have fun and aren\'t too cold out there on Tuesday.)\n\nThe only thing I have left to consider is:  can rock my yellow Obama shirt under a blazer with a skirt and heals and wear this outfit to the event at the US embassy?','Me, Sunday and Obama','','publish','open','open','','me-sunday-and-obama','','','2009-01-18 21:16:15','2009-01-18 18:16:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=562',0,'post','',3),(570,1,'2009-01-19 18:20:09','2009-01-19 15:20:09','','Snowy Sofia','Nevski Square in the Snow','inherit','open','open','','dsc05312','','','2009-01-19 18:20:09','2009-01-19 15:20:09','',569,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05312.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(569,1,'2009-01-19 18:27:16','2009-01-19 15:27:16','[caption id=\"attachment_570\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Nevski Square in the Snow \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-570\" title=\"Snowy Sofia\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05312.jpg\" alt=\"Nevski Square in the Snow \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been meaning to post about this funny run in I had with my students at school last week for days but then there were the protests and a couple of things took priority so what follows is a summary of my day teaching last week and the fun I had getting to give my students some official advice.  (Ha, ha).\n\nOn Wednesday, I had to walk to school while navigating a sheet of ice--you might call it ice skating.  In covered everything--cars, sidewalks and even piles of snow.  It was a mess.  I walked slowly and carefully and I got to school in one piece.\n\nI had a couple of students who where late to my 8am class but given the fact that I was nearly late, I let it slide.  It was gross outside.  If I didn\'t have to come to school that day, I might have considered not going outside that day.\n\nSo at the end of my final class, which is the last class of the morning block, I let the students out and while they put their notebooks away they didn\'t leave.  They milled around the classroom.  I wondered if they had something to ask me (or if something was going on) because normally they can\'t wait to get out of my class.<!--more-->\n\nAt this point, one of the students came up to me and asked me if I would be giving the safety talk.  What? I thought that he was joking.  His English is among the best in the class and it\'s clear that he pays close attention to American culture through movies and music.  He goes on to tell me that their regular English teacher told them that an official was going to come and give them instructions on how to get home in bad weather after the last class.\n\nStill I thought that he was teasing me or testing me--so I decide that the thing I should do is sing them a little song/rhyme that I learned when I was five or six at summer camp.  It goes like this: Stop look and listen before you cross the street. Use your eyes, use your ears before you use your feet.  As it turns out, this song didn\'t go over very well because everyone was serious about waiting around for instructions on how to get home from the official.\n\nAfter five or so minutes, it was pretty clear to me that no one was going to come but that my students were not going to leave the school without some instruction.  So they all wait like the good ex-communist kids they\'ve been raised to be.\n\nI figure that I can give them the talk.  I am not sure what makes me qualified to give a talk on road safety aside from the fact that I started driving at 16 and by age 22 I was living in Washington DC and walking all the time no matter what the weather was like.  So I give the them the basics I can remember from my traffic safety education class.  I tell them not to stand directly on the corner but to stand back from the corner.  I tell them to make sure that the car is stopped before they enter the intersection.  I tell them that it takes longer in bad weather for a car to stop so don\'t cross a street until a car is completely stopped.  I also told them they should walk closer to the building side of the sidewalk than the street side of the side walk if they can.\n\nGiven the fact that I was completely unprepared to give this talk, I thought I did a pretty good job.  The students were happy enough with what I told them and they put on their coats and backpacks and left.  To the best of my knowledge they all made it home in one piece.  Oh and now\'s probably a good time to add that after the sun came out and warmed things up 90% of the sidewalks were wet and not icy by the time we left school.  The 10% that were still icy were in the shadows of buildings and had not had a chance to melt yet.\n\nHowever on my walk home, I did realize that I left out the very best piece of advice I ever received about navigating inclement weather in the winter. Don\'t walk with your hands in your coat pockets.  This is of course the thing you want to do when you are cold but you want to have your hands out so that if you fall you can catch yourself before you break a tooth or something.  Hope my kids didn\'t break a tooth or anything on the way home.\n\nThen again, it\'s not like I\'ve been trained to dispense advice like this.  It just surprises me how many times I\'ve found myself dispensing advice like this to my students.   I guess that teachers do it all the time (as do parents) but I\'ve never thought of myself as a reliable authority on well anything before.  But my students apparently do--they\'re even willing to take instruction from me on crossing the street in icy weather.  Funny though, if you say what you think with a straight face and a strong voice nobody doubts you at all.','Official Advice: Snow, Ice and School','','publish','open','open','','official-advice-snow-ice-and-school','','','2009-01-19 18:27:16','2009-01-19 15:27:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=569',0,'post','',8),(574,1,'2009-01-20 18:21:42','2009-01-20 15:21:42','','cae-jan-obama','Me and Obama','inherit','open','open','','cae-jan-obama','','','2009-01-20 18:21:42','2009-01-20 15:21:42','',573,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cae-jan-obama.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(573,1,'2009-01-20 18:27:31','2009-01-20 15:27:31','[caption id=\"attachment_574\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"271\" caption=\"Me and Obama \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-574\" title=\"cae-jan-obama\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/cae-jan-obama.jpg?w=271\" alt=\"Me and Obama \" width=\"271\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI am heading out to the Presidential Inaugural Reception that I was invited to at the US Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria soon.  I\'ve decided to wear my Barack Obama shirt under a blazer.  It\'s a good thing too.  I think my tee shirt has seen the end of it\'s regular use--there\'s a stain that I\'ve tucked into my skirt and the yellow is beginning to look a little dingy.  But I am guessing that not too many people are going to be paying attention to how yellow-gray my shirt has become.\n\nI thought it was important to wear it at much as possible leading up to the election.  I wore it the day I got it, most of the summer in Washington DC (my roommates can attest to that), when I cast my ballot by mail from the Sofia Post Office, on election day and then to school the morning that McCain conceded the race to Obama (well it was morning here in Sofia!) and I am wearing it one last time in public to the US Embassy in Sofia for the Presidential Inaugural Reception.\n\nIt\'s about time.  Barack.  I\'ll be rooting for you today and for the next four year and I hope your presidency is higher quality than I the tee-shirt I bought is.','Presidential Inaugural Reception','','publish','open','open','','presidential-inaugural-reception','','','2009-01-20 18:27:31','2009-01-20 15:27:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=573',0,'post','',7),(577,1,'2009-01-21 22:12:30','2009-01-21 19:12:30','After three weeks of snow, ice and more snow, Sofia is finally starting to melt.  In practice, it means that this place is a one huge puddle.  And if you didn\'t know better you\'d think it was raining if you looked to the street or the sidewalk to determine the weather outside.  This is because all of the buildings are dripping dirty-snow water.\n\nI like the warmer weather a lot more.  It makes it pleasant to walk outside and the city seems like a much nicer place to be.  This is until you get hit by dripping water from buildings.  There\'s something about this dripping water which is much worse than rain to me.  I know that it\'s been sitting on top of this building for weeks in snow or ice form and that now that it\'s coming down in droplets it\'s because the temperature has warmed up.  But this water seems very, very dirty to me.\n\nAs I was walking to school and silently cursing being hit by dripping water (it\'s apparently impossible to avoid) I realized that I don\'t like it because I imagine it the same as the muddy brown snow pushed into piles on the Sofia streets.   This snow from the buildings while probably not snow you would want to eat has got to be cleaner that the sidewalk snow.  So, I didn\'t worry so much about being splatted by the water dripping off of buildings.\n\nThen I realized that I hate something much, much more than either sidewalk snow or melted-dripping snow.  That is: wet dog poop.  It\'s not as if I like regular dog poop but somehow it seems easier to avoid.  This wet dog poop is a hazard and, I know this is strong language, I hate it.  <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s more to this story.  Sofia is a city that has a problem with street dogs.  They are everywhere. They poop everywhere.  And because they don\'t have owners there\'s no one to clean up after them.  Even though I am not sure that this is a courtesy that regular dog-owning Bulgarians engage in.\n\nMaybe I can best highlight this problem with an example. Recently, I came home from the bar one night to find one sleeping on the mat in front of the door to my apartment--on the second floor of my building. I would like to make it clear, the dog was not sleeping in front of the building on the sidewalk rather this willy dog snuck in behind someone who didn\'t close the door firmly behind him and I found him sleeping on my mat blocking entry into my apartment.  I wasn\'t exactly sure what to do about a homeless street dog sleeping in front of my door.  They don\'t teach you this at the Fulbright orientation.  So I decided to climb up a few stairs and to yell at it in German (it\'s the meanest sounding language I know) and to stomp at lot at it.  I figured that I had to wake it up and I didn\'t want to block it\'s path down the stairs when I had done so.  This worked and I hurried into my apartment leaving the random street dog in the building for one of my unsuspecting neighbors to deal with upon their return home.\n\nLike I said, some how these dogs are everywhere.\n\nSo back to the dog poop.  I think that I hate the dog poop more than I hate the street dogs.  At least with the street dogs, you can see them.  You know where they are.  Sure you don\'t want to run into a pack of them but they are big enough that you can\'t miss them.  It\'s not the case with their poop.\n\nThese dogs poop where ever they want.  Not so bad in the snow.  The contrast is pretty good.  It\'s easy to see what\'s what.  But now that the snow is melting so is the poop.  It\'s horrible.  Really horrible.  Now I walk around trying not to accidentally step in poo but it\'s difficult to tell what\'s what as it all melts together in seas of dirty water on Sofia\'s streets.\n\nStill, I\'d like to think that I\'ve successfully navigated all of the dog poop but given the amount of it and the melting factor it\'s improbable.  I am a realist.\n\nI\'ve stepped in it.  But I\'d like to think that maybe by the time I get home each day it\'s mostly been washed off by the melting snow.  Again, I know this is unlikely but apparently I like to delude myself by making up stories and telling them to myself.\n\nAs a result, I am now a shoes off at the front door kind of girl.  Hey, I know where those shoes have been.  The funny thing is I never imagined that I would become one of those people.  In the states, I imagined the shoes off at the front door families as living in homes decorated in shades of beige with hyper-active mothers who would go to any length to protect their carpets.  And now I am one of them.  I take off my shoes and put on slippers.\n\nBulgaria is changing me.  What\'s next?','Sofia is a big puddle','','publish','open','open','','sofia-is-a-big-puddle','','','2009-01-21 22:12:30','2009-01-21 19:12:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=577',0,'post','',4),(581,1,'2009-01-22 15:46:53','2009-01-22 12:46:53','','CAE POEM','My membership in POEM is Official Now!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05323','','','2009-01-22 15:46:53','2009-01-22 12:46:53','',580,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05323.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(580,1,'2009-01-22 15:58:56','2009-01-22 12:58:56','A month ago my dAd asked me: what size tee shirt do you wear?\n\nMe: medium.\n\ndAd: OK.\n\nThat was the end of our conversation.  Then a week ago I got a package.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_581\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"My membership in POEM is Official Now! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-581\" title=\"CAE POEM\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05323.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"My membership in POEM is Official Now! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI am now a shirt wearing member of POEM... for those of you unfamiliar with the acronym it\'s the Professional Organization of English Majors.  Thanks dAd and thanks Garrison Keillor (of Prairie Home Companion fame).  <a href=\"http://www.prettygoodgoods.org/product/show/31755\" target=\"_blank\">The shirt</a> is apparently a best seller.\n\nOf course you can\'t see the back of the t-shirt--sheeish--how am I am supposed to take a picture of that while I am wearing it.  It\'s hard enough to get a good one of me and the t-shirt.  You\'d be surprised how hard it was for me to take a picture of myself and my t-shirt and to get both in the same picture.  It\'s probably a good thing that I am not taking up photo-blogging.\n\nAnyhow the back of the shirt is great (you clever, clever people at NPR) and if you have an English major in your life you really can\'t go wrong with this shirt as a gift.  I laugh every time I put it on.  But then again it\'s a English major joke so it might not be as funny if you say majored in physics or history.','Member of POEM','','publish','open','open','','member-of-poem','','','2009-01-22 15:58:56','2009-01-22 12:58:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=580',0,'post','',2),(586,1,'2009-01-23 19:09:30','2009-01-23 16:09:30','The Sofia Echo ran a short but hard hitting article on poverty in Bulgaria this morning.  The title is a \"<a href=\"http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/quarter-of-bulgaria-s-households-live-on-verge-of-poverty/id_34176/catid_66\" target=\"_blank\">Quarter of Bulgaria\'s households live on verge of poverty.</a>\" The numbers are stark.  A new report states that a family of four needs <span>1895 leva a month to cover basic expenses. </span><span>They write, \"this would roughly make 474 leva a person \" (or in US dollars $310).\n</span>\n\nThe thing that is striking is that at my school beginning teachers only make 350 leva a month.  That\'s nearly 125 leva less per month than it is estimated they need.  <span>Moreover, apparently only \"15.2 % of Bulgarian families live with more than 450 leva a person monthly allowance.\" It\'s almost hard to believe that these numbers are correct.\n</span>\n\n<span>These statistics beg the question: what are the other 85% of the Bulgarian population doing? How are they living? </span>\n\n<span>The answer seems to be not well.  The cost of living has apparently increased over the last year.  Food prices have risen nearly 7%, heating and electricity rates are up 12% and rent/home maintenance costs have also risen by this year by 16%.  These numbers make the situation in Bulgaria look pretty bleak.\n</span>\n\n<span>As if this weren\'t enough inflation also hit the country hard in 2008.  Inflation was apparently 12% last year in Bulgaria.  To put this in perspective, the </span><span>average inflation rate in the EU was 3.7%. </span>\n\n<span>What was the most eye opening to me was this number: </span><span>185 leva.  Apparently this the amount of money that one needs each month to \"physically survive.\"  Frankly I don\'t know what this number is counting but it seems like an impossible task to me.  As of today, the exchange rate would make this $121 US dollars. </span>\n\n<span>I knew that things were bad but this is shocking to me. </span>\n\n<span>The interesting thing is--I am not sure what the solution to this problem is.  And I haven\'t been able to get the situation out of my head all day.\n</span>','Notes from Sofia: Poverty and Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-poverty-and-bulgaria','','','2009-01-23 19:09:30','2009-01-23 16:09:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=586',0,'post','',6),(593,1,'2009-01-26 13:40:57','2009-01-26 10:40:57','','Art Gallery','National Gallery of Foreign Art Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc05340','','','2009-01-26 13:40:57','2009-01-26 10:40:57','',591,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05340.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(591,1,'2009-01-26 13:44:56','2009-01-26 10:44:56','[caption id=\"attachment_593\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"National Gallery of Foreign Art Sofia \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-593\" title=\"Art Gallery \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dsc05340.jpg\" alt=\"National Gallery of Foreign Art Sofia \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThere\'s a Picasso Exhibit open right now at the <a href=\"http://www.foreignartmuseum.bg/en/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">National Gallery of Foreign Art in Sofia</a>.  It\'s called: \"АЗ НЕ ТЪРСЯ. АЗ НАМИРАМ: ПАБЛО ПИКАСО\" or in English: \"I do not seek. I find. Pablo Picasso.\"\n\nThe exhibit opened in December and a Bulgaria told me recently that they\'d read the exhibit had already attracted 20,000 visitors.  These are apparently impressive numbers. I don\'t know if these are impressive numbers in a Bulgarian museum/gallery or if these are impressive numbers for a museum in general but I figured that I should visit and check out what the buzz was about.\n\nThe museum website is in both Bulgarian and English and is pretty user friendly.  This seemed to be an auspicious start to this adventure.  Also interesting is the fact that the cost of admission is 4 leva/2 leva for students and your ticket is good for two visits within a month.  Oh and the gallery is free on Mondays but I was going with my <a href=\"http://backinbulgaria.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Walla Walla friend Matt</a> and this was his last weekend in Sofia so we thought it would be better to go on a Sunday.\n\nJust to be up front, I like Picasso.  I think that it take a special kind of person to work at the edge of his field, to push innovation, to face criticism by many in you field and to eventually change the field you work in--and Picasso is one of those of people.  This is of course my own short summary of Picasso\'s career but it\'s been heavily influenced by Howard Gardner\'s book <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Minds-Creativity-Einstein-Stravinsky/dp/0465014542\">Creating Minds</a>.\n\nThis said, I was little disappointed with the Picasso exhibit.  <!--more-->It was good.  The engravings are amazing. But don\'t go expecting to see any serious paintings.  The National Gallery\'s website says that you get to see a mixture of Picasso\'s <a href=\"http://www.foreignartmuseum.bg/en/archive/temporary_exhibition.html\" target=\"_blank\">paintings, engravings, ceramics and photos </a>of Picasso by his friends but in practice the paintings in this exhibit are hum-drum.  They are not as complex or detailed as his blue or rose periods or his cubist pieces for example <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Demoiselles_d%27Avignon\" target=\"_blank\">Les Demoiselles d\'Avignon</a>.  Rather, the paintings at the Sofia exhibit are not done on canvas.  I would describe them as mixed media pieces.  They have some paint but also pencil and rather than canvas Picasso uses cardboard as his \"canvas.\"\n\nStill, I think the exhibit is worth visiting but I think it\'s misleading to say that you get to see Picasso as \"a painter.\"  What I found much more interesting were the engravings--or lithographs--these pieces are bold and through them you get a sense of Picasso\'s eye and his development as an artist.  I could see from each \"series\" on display how lines and forms change.  Using the same model or models from piece to piece it\'s almost as if Picasso is showing how he sees the world. You see the same female body and face move from round and feminine to angular and distorted from piece to piece in one case in a six month period and in another over about four years.\n\nThe pottery wasn\'t breath taking but in looking at in relationship to the rest of the exhibit you get the sense of how active Picasso\'s mind was.  He was constantly creating.  There\'s a wonderful plate with a simple colorful rooster on it and when I saw it I thought, I\'d like a whole set of china designed by Picasso.  That\'s a thought I never imagined I would have.  Picasso was clearly not a commercial artist but even in a simple plate you can see that Picasso understands space, proportion and color.\n\nThe exhibit took about an hour to see.  All of the individual pieces were labeled in both Bulgarian and in English but the prose on the walls about Picasso as a painter, engraver, ceramicist and Picasso\'s life were only in Bulgarian.  This makes the exhibit much less accessible if you only speak English.  It\'s really a shame that the exhibit didn\'t also have the prose in English.  Frankly, I can understand why the permanent exhibits in the gallery don\'t have introductions in English but it seems a missed opportunity not to have English in this temporary exhibit.\n\nIn conclusion, I think that the exhibit is worth seeing but you should know that the National Gallery of Foreign Art is not up to the standards of other European museums.  As long as you know this, I don\'t think you\'ll be disappointed; in fact, I hope that you\'ll be surprised because really there is a gem hidden away in this rather antiquated gallery.','Picasso Exhibit in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','picasso-exhibit-in-sofia','','','2009-01-26 13:44:56','2009-01-26 10:44:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=591',0,'post','',2),(598,1,'2009-01-27 17:29:57','2009-01-27 14:29:57','I am taking a regular yoga class again at the <a href=\"http://www.yogabg.com/read.php?name=02&amp;lang=en\" target=\"_blank\">Bulgarian Yoga Association</a>.  I started practicing yoga about four years.  It\'s one of those things that was pretty regular in Washington DC and then I moved to Sofia with the best intentions of being dedicated to my yoga practice.\n\nHa, ha.  Somehow, there was always something else to do and I did that instead.  Well one of my Bulgarian friends signed up for a 12 week class and talked me into joining her.  Truthfully it wasn\'t too hard.\n\nOne of my favorite things is that yoga looks like this in Bulgarian: Йога\n\nWhat\'s been hard is the fact that I don\'t understand very much of what\'s happening in class.  The first day I expected that the instructor would give the names of the poses in Hindi and then in Bulgarian as the studios I\'ve practiced in the states do.   This isn\'t the case.\n\nSo I spent the first class in the front row... of course... not knowing what\'s going and not being able to see easily or discreetly what others are doing.  And for the record, I ended up in the front row by accident.  When I entered the room the mats were all down on the floor with one which seemed clear to me was the mat that the instructor would teach from.  Well, she decided to teach from the other side of the room.  This decision turned the back of the room into the front of the room.  Sweet.  I just hope that no one decided to try to follow me during that first class!  <!--more-->Luckily my Bulgarian friend asked me how much I understood at the end of the first class.  I told her not much.  I knew a few body parts but it wasn\'t nearly enough.  She sat down with me and told me lots of new body parts and many of the instructions that the teacher was saying.  I studied this a lot for the next class.\n\nLast week, for my second class, I thought that I was much better prepared and I found a better location in the room.  This class was better.  However I left frustrated.  The instructor talks in such a nice soothing, flowing and rhythmic voice that it\'s impossible for me to hear where she is placing the emphasis in her sentences.  I was more familiar with the routine we were doing so I didn\'t feel as lost as last time.\n\nI just expected to know more this time and I didn\'t necessarily feel like I knew more.  I felt about as inept as I had during the first class.  I left feeling a little bit stressed.  This isn\'t really the way you\'re supposed to feel after yoga.  It makes the whole thing seem pretty  counter intuitive.\n\nYesterday in class, however, I realized I am paying for the exercise and for the Bulgarian language practice.  I don\'t get to relax in the same way the other people do in my class do.  I have to stay more alert and practice listening to this woman.  When it was no longer about the exercise and relaxing as it is for me in the states, the practice was so much better.\n\nI\'ve got a lot more to learn but I am on my way.  The funniest thing yesterday day was that we were doing some poses on our stomachs with our arms above our heads and our faces on the mat.  This position makes it nearly impossible to tell what the people next to you are doing and I didn\'t know what the teacher was saying so I decided to practice breathing into my back and filling up the back of my body with air.  Anyhow after a few minutes of this, the teacher comes around and has to completely change my position; it must have been really clear to her how little I understand because she has to move my hands from over my head to under my hips and then she has to change my legs so that my feet and ankles are touching.\n\nThe thing is I wasn\'t embarrassed by it as I might have been at another point in my life.  I just thought--well at least I am here <em>and</em> I am making her life a lot less boring.  Hopefully after nine more classes, I\'ll be stronger physically and my Bulgarian will be stronger!','Sofia and My Йога Studio','','publish','open','open','','sofia-and-my-yoga-studio','','','2009-01-27 17:29:57','2009-01-27 14:29:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=598',0,'post','',5),(604,1,'2009-01-28 21:24:45','2009-01-28 18:24:45','I thought I had to teach this morning at 8am.  Silly me.  It turns out that there are no classes on the last day of the semester.  Why would there be classes on the last day of the semester? You might also wonder why no one told me there were no classes on the last day of the semester but that seems to be an unanswerable question\n\nGood thing I worked really hard to finish reading, correcting and responding to student papers and preparing my lesson plans for class today.\n\nWhen I got to school, there were three students standing outside of our classroom.  The hallway lights were dark and the door was locked.  This should have been when I thought: hum, what\'s going on.  But for some reason this was not the case. It was instead the start to a unexpectedly long day. <!--more-->My students tell me that they didn\'t think the others are coming today.  I should have asked why they were there at 8am if their peers were not but again this may have been a question with no answer.  This said, I like these kids and it\'s not often that you just get to talk to them and hear them practice their English \"free-style\"--if you will.\n\nWe talked for a while and then when it was clear that no one else was coming we went across the street for a coffee and to practice more English.  This was really fun.  It was good to hear them talking outside of the lessons that I work on them with because it gave me a sense of the other kinds of things that I need to work on with them.  Their vocabularies are getting big enough that they worry about finding the right word rather than a good word sometimes at the expense of the conversation.\n\nAfter an hour in the coffee shop we went back to school to see what was going on, at this point it was clear that there were no lessons today.  Gerr.  Anyhow, I was able to write down my schedule for next term--the term starts on Monday (next Monday--Monday, February 2nd) and I just got my schedule today.  For the record, it looks like it may have been posted since the beginning of the week but I didn\'t learn my schedule until today.\n\nI just don\'t know how the school can function when it seems to me that everything is done so last minute but it does make me wonder if it\'s a matter of perspective.  Yes, I am beginning to wonder if it\'s--me.  I know, I know.  It\'s crazy talk wondering: could it me? and not them?\n\nAnyhow, at this point I could be annoyed with the whole situation (day) or I can take it in stride.  I decided to try to do the second.  So when the school secretary asks me if I\'ll be attending the teacher\'s meeting and the party taking place today--<em>which I had never been told about</em>--I smile and say: of course.\n\nSo I had a second coffee to kill some time before the meeting and then sat through an hour and a half teacher\'s meeting of which I understood about 2%.  This means that I understood the class names and numbers that the teachers were reporting.  Then I learned that the schedule I had written down earlier was incorrect and all of the times I\'d written in my planner were off by an hour and 20 minutes.  Great.  I smiled at the teacher who told me this.\n\nSure, I\'ll be happy that I didn\'t show up to class early or late next week but then had to cross out 14+ classes and times that I\'d written in my planner and the worst thing about this is that I hate making a mess of my planner.  Oh and I am going to be reminded of it for the next four weeks until I get through the days I had to cross out and re-write.  It could be worse.  I could have spent the entire teacher\'s meeting writing in my then incorrect schedule into my planner for the rest of the school year.  Thank-god I didn\'t do that.\n\nAfter the teacher\'s meeting, I had to wait around for another hour plus for the party to start.  I knew that based on the last party we had in the teacher\'s room, there would be alcohol to drink.  I was not disappointed.  I had a whisky and coke, ate some food and then walked home in the cold gray rain.\n\nAt home, I checked my email, decided not to respond to any of them and then melted into a human puddle on my couch for an hour.  What a day, what a day.  Luckily, we\'ve got the next two days off from school.  It is the end of the semester after all.  This is good for me--considering the day I had.\n\nIt\'s the kind of day that if I had a bottle of wine at home, I would probably be drinking it straight from the bottle--no glass necessary.  Only, I don\'t have a bottle of wine and the box of wine I do have is too difficult to drink from alone without a glass.  So I\'m left to recount my day on my blog.  And what a day it\'s been.','Of course, there&#039;re no classes today','','publish','open','open','','of-course-therere-no-classes-today','','','2009-01-28 21:24:45','2009-01-28 18:24:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=604',0,'post','',3),(606,1,'2009-01-29 19:45:06','2009-01-29 16:45:06','I just spent way more time than I would like to admit watching a Bulgarian soap opera.  And I really got a kick out of it.  I\'ve found that lots of Bulgarian is modeled after western tv shows or are just western tv shows dubbed into Bulgarian and even one Spanish program just has Bulgarian subtitles.\n\nThe programs that are in Bulgarian only are the easiest for me to understand.  They talk slower and the pacing is easier to follow than when the programs are dubbed into Bulgarian.  In these programs, you can always hear the original language being spoken--generally English but also German and Spanish.\n\nThe news is still too hard for me to follow.  The subjects being covered on the news require a bigger vocabulary than I have right now--or ever may have.  It\'s a little easier for me to follow some of the tv game shows but just like in the states some times it\'s too painful to watch these shows. This is why I think Bulgarian soap operas may be my new thing.  <!--more-->Sure, there\'s a version of Deal or No Deal here in Bulgaria.  Why not really? It\'s a pretty straightforward game.  In the states, we play up the game show, Deal or No Deal, with lights, girls in sexy dresses who hold or stand behind brief cases.   However here in Bulgaria, it looks like I could produce the tv show out of my basement.  Rather than beautiful girls in revealing dresses with brief cases the show has shoe boxes covered in wrapping paper and ordinary people looking after the boxes.  That\'s no where near as fun or sexy as the soap I got sucked into today.\n\nFirst, the soap opera that I was watching was much better produced. Does that make it good? Of course not.  I just makes it better produced which truthfully isn\'t hard.\n\nWas it trite and conceived? Of course.  But I think that\'s a basic requirement for the medium! All of the basic tropes were there--mothers and daughters fighting, the good girl-bad boy relationship, office politics, drama producing cocktail/dinner party, a near death encounter (trapped in a sauna), sneaky behavior and an ill/dying parent.  All of these things combine to make for pretty good tv--if you ask me.\n\nSure it probably helps that I don\'t speak enough Bulgarian to understand all of the ridiculous things that the actors are saying but I still stand behind my belief that given what\'s on tv at 4pm this is pretty good tv. What also helps is the fact that the acting is pretty bad so the emotions the actors express are pretty easy to read no matter whether you understand everything being said or not.\n\nThe one thing I was disappointed by is the fact that there was no manipulative sex, fear of pregnancy or illicit drug use in the hour and a half of the soap opera that I watched (or at least, I don\'t think there was).  I am hoping that this was just an off day and that these soap opera staples happened yesterday or will be present in tomorrow\'s episode.  If not I am not sure how much I\'ll actually be able to watch this show in the future.\n\nI am sure that you all are now dying to know which Bulgarian soap opera I was watching, and frankly so I am. So that you can youtube it but I didn\'t catch the beginning of the episode so I don\'t know what the name is.  Sorry. I am especially sorry because it will make it that much harder for me to watch again in the future.\n\nAll of this said, I was pleasantly surprised how much I could understand.  I think it helps that the plots are pretty straightforward from soap opera to soap opera.  Does that mean that watching soap operas is good for you? (ha, ha)\n\nIn conclusion, I can only imagine what an awesome vocabulary I could have if I decided to learn Bulgarian solely by watching Bulgarian soap operas. Wow.  And there\'s something about that idea that doesn\'t seem half bad...','Buglarian Soap Opera','','publish','open','open','','buglarian-soap-opera','','','2009-01-29 19:45:06','2009-01-29 16:45:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=606',0,'post','',2),(608,1,'2009-01-31 00:14:36','2009-01-30 21:14:36','This is gasp... my 100th post.  This morning I woke up with the best intentions to write a post about the 100 things I am thankful but I decided against it.  Somehow that seemed like a tedious task and I couldn\'t imagine that anyone would actually read all of those.  Rather I\'ve decided to do some math and add up everything I am thankful for with the hope of doing my math correctly and eventually reaching a total of 100 things rather than a list of one hundred things.\n\nI am thankful for...\n<ul>\n	<li>my parents, brother and sister (that\'s 4 people total) who were nothing if not supportive when I told them I was leaving my job, moving to Bulgaria to teach English, learn the language, travel throughout the country and write about my experience.</li>\n	<li>the 6 months I\'ve lived in Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li>the two weeks I spent in Tryavna with the Fulbright attending the Fulbright International Summer Institute (FISI).</li>\n	<li>the 3 packages I\'ve picked up at the post office!</li>\n	<li>the 13 sites I\'ve visited and gotten stamps for out of the top 100 cultural, political and historical sites in the best of Bulgaria book.</li>\n	<li>the 4 new countries I\'ve visited.</li>\n	<li>the 20 stotinki  or .20 leva (which I previously wrote out as studentki... opps) that it takes to get a good coffee from the machine in my kitchen.</li>\n	<li>the 4 times that I\'ve been to my landlord\'s house for dinner.</li>\n	<li>the 3 weeks of language class that I took in August.</li>\n	<li>the one friend I\'ve had visit me thus far.</li>\n	<li>the 7 books I\'ve been meaning to read and have finally had the time to read (and counting).</li>\n	<li>the 8 trains, 8 regular buses, 10 minibuses and four airplanes that I\'ve been on since arriving in Europe allowing me to see so much of Bulgaria and Europe.</li>\n	<li>the 2 live plants my landlord and his wife gave me to make my apartment feel more like home.</li>\n	<li>my language tutor in Washington DC who taught me the Cyrillic alphabet and my numbers in Bulgarian.</li>\n	<li>Skype.  <em>Oh that\'s free.</em></li>\n	<li>the Fulbright program.</li>\n</ul>\nThere you have it.  The total is 100.  Sure there are other things I am thankful for (like all of my friends, students and colleagues at school) but I think that this list covers most things, gives you an idea of what I\'ve been up to and aside from the serious things I am thankful for in my life--this is just a clever way to celebrate 100 blog posts.  And, hey, that\'s not a small achievement.','100 Things I am Thankful for','','publish','open','open','','100-things-i-am-thankful-for','','','2009-01-31 00:14:36','2009-01-30 21:14:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=608',0,'post','',7),(613,1,'2009-02-03 22:06:33','2009-02-03 19:06:33','There\'s no romance story here. This weekend out with friends at one of our favorite bars, I was talking to a Bulgarian guy who told me that the town he grew up in is a sex-stained industrial ex-communist city.  His family no longer lives there and he avoids going home. It\'s too depressing.\n\nI am not sure what the appropriate response to this comment would have been but I am pretty sure that three Maker\'s Marks in I didn\'t make it.  Sure I grew up in a crumbling farming town (which now seems to be remaking itself on the back of the wine grape) but none of this helped me think of anything to say.  I can\'t even pretend to know what that feels like.\n\nThis story dovetails with another.  Before I moved to Bulgaria, I made a snide joke to my roommate about writing and love.  It was something about after moving to Bulgaria I\'ll finally have enough time on my hands to write--to write seriously for the first time in my life.  I followed this up with: a Bulgarian Romance Novel.  At the time, it seemed like a funny thing to say.  The romance genre is seen by many as silly and trite and I\'d been reading serious works and novels for the last three years for my MA in English Literature and given the country\'s history, Bulgaria didn\'t really seem like a romance reading culture.  Insert joke, some laughing and it became a passing memory. Until I was reminded me of this joke recently.  It gave me pause.  It reminded me of my own naivety.\n\nYet at the same time, I couldn\'t help but laugh.  I am having boy problems.<!--more-->\n\nThere\'s a lot that\'s confusing in and about this country and my blog chronicles many of these: the Cyrillic alphabet, which lines to stand in at the post office, the metric system, the bus schedule, why both cheeses serine and kashkaval are white in color but one gets translated into English as white cheese and the other as yellow cheese, and the fact that for some reason no one ever seems to have change.  Now I\'ll add to this to the list: guys.\n\nI am a realist and fiercely independent to boot.  I don\'t get hung up on guys--either they call me or they don\'t, either I like them or I don\'t--sure there\'s a little more nuance than I\'ve just expressed but really what\'s the point of wasting your time on a guy who\'s not on the same page you are?  I think it\'s pretty clear, I didn\'t move to this country expecting to find love.  I didn\'t have visions of some foreign fairytale floating through my head.\n\nBefore I left, I can\'t say that I spent much time thinking about dating, relationships or love in Bulgaria but plenty of other people did this for me.  Some fantasized about me finding a dark haired Balkan man and falling in love, others told me to find a nice Bulgarian guy because that\'s the only way to learn the language while others were more realistic.  I heard from one friend: be careful, they have STDs there that we\'ve never heard of (though I am not sure that\'s actually true).\n\nSo, I figured that dating here would be some, probably funnier, version of my life in Washington DC.  My love life in Washington wasn\'t spectacular but it wasn\'t boring.  I met a lot of interesting guys, went out with some of them and dated a few of them seriously.  It\'s not as if I was moving to Sofia with unreasonable expectations.  I am just as happy to meet friends out at a bar as I am to spend time one on one with a guy.\n\nThen I met this new guy at a house party--a friend of a friend--smart, funny, charming.  He seemed into me.  I was into him and we kissed at the end of the night.  He left with my number.  Only he never called.  Fine.  Until a group of us get together for dinner last weekend.\n\nAgain, he seems into me--flirting, touching my arm and later out for drinks always standing next to me.  These are, I thought, universal clues that he likes me.  I wonder if I shouldn\'t be so annoyed that he didn\'t call and I decide to chalk it up to some cultural misunderstanding.  I don\'t know the flirting-dating-mating mores in this country.  Hell, I don\'t really even know the language.  The least I can do is be nice to him and see if this whole thing is going anywhere.\n\nSilly me.  Our group moves to a club to dance and drink some more.  Within 30 minutes, he\'s making out with another fairly aggressive Bulgarian girl from the group we went out with against a wall in the back of the club (who I know has a boyfriend but who I also know is a big girl and can make her own decisions).  Curses! Being tall and being able to see everything.  He leaves about 20 minutes later without her.  As he gets his coat, he grabs my hand and tells me one thing: sorry.  I just shake my head.  Lots of bad things come to mind but I don\'t say any of them.  What\'s the point? Everybody knows what\'s happened.  I can either be angry or brush it off.  I pick the latter and end up dancing all night.  It was great.\n\nThe next morning he texts me.  To say that he hopes I am not mad at him and that he\'s sorry.  I write back and a couple of text messages later things seem okay.  He\'s apologized, I\'m not so mad/annoyed and one of my Fulbright friends has convinced me that I might have been a little bit harsh in my first text message.  I figure that\'s that.  Then I get a text on Monday inviting me to his birthday party.\n\nAt yoga, I tell my friend the situation and she thinks I should go.  She tells me at least I know where I stand.  This seems to make sense to me so I text him that I am going to come.  He replies and I turn around to walk back to the tram stop.  I read his message a couple of times: I wanted to tell you that she\'s coming later.  I want you to know.  I don\'t want to hurt your feelings again...  It made my choice pretty easy.  I am done with that.\n\nBut the thing is I don\'t like to be jerked around.  I\'m a modern girl--I know that relationships are hard and I know that the dating culture is dying but really, this is it? We\'re trading the possibility of romance for quick-dirty sex.  Maybe this country needs a good romance novel after all.','A Bulgarian Romance Novel?','','publish','open','open','','a-bulgarian-romance-novel','','','2009-02-03 22:06:33','2009-02-03 19:06:33','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=613',0,'post','',10),(625,1,'2009-02-04 22:36:39','2009-02-04 19:36:39','','CAE and Pumpkin-Bulgur Patty','Because I am not writing a food blog I can take a silly picture of me and my meal!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05400','','','2009-02-04 22:36:39','2009-02-04 19:36:39','',624,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05400.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(624,1,'2009-02-04 22:49:45','2009-02-04 19:49:45','[caption id=\"attachment_625\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Because I am not writing a food blog I can take a silly picture of me and my meal! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-625\" title=\"CAE and Pumpkin-Bulgur Patty\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05400.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Because I am not writing a food blog I can take a silly picture of me and my meal! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI just made the best dish I\'ve had in a long time.  Spicy pumpkin and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgur_wheat\" target=\"_blank\">bulgur</a> wheat patties.  I know that this may sound meh to some people but it was easy and they are very tasty and very good for you.  I read about 5 different recipes and then did my own thing. It\'s better that way.\n\nAlso, that\'s how I\'ve been living my life for the last six months and it seems to be working for me.  Oh and lots of the recipes had things that I thought would be hard to get a hold of and I didn\'t want to spend my day chasing down silly ingredients which I thought were extra or unnecessary any way.  I don\'t want to go to a lot of extra work for dinner--I just want something that is pretty easy to make, wont require to many pans (my stove only has two burners), and I want to use as many seasonal ingredients as possible. Is that too much to ask?\n\nNot at all it turns out.  My dish was great.  I am happy and well fed and now I get to write about it while finishing a glass of Bulgarian red wine.  I\'d recommend that pairing if you decide to make this dish at home.  The Bulgarian reds are really lovely.\n\nSo here\'s what I did:<!--more-->\n<ol>\n	<li>I roasted 1.5 pounds of pumpkin chunks for 90 minutes until they were soft and then I mashed it with a fork. But all of the recipes I read said that you could also use a can of pumpkin (just not the pumpkin pie filling).</li>\n	<li>I cooked 1 cup of dry bulgur wheat according to the bad (or at least I think I did.  The bag is in Cyrillic so I just cooked it with slightly more water than I would rice and then I drained of the excess water.)</li>\n	<li>While the bulgur was cooking, I chopped up one medium red onion and 4 cloves of garlic and sauteed this on the stove until they were soft.</li>\n	<li>After mashing the pumpkin, cooking the bulgur and the onion &amp; garlic it was time for the patties.  In a big bowl (the bowl I mashed the pumpkin in), I added the cooked bulgur, the sauteed onion and garlic, 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, two tablespoons of lime juice, one big tablespoon of dijon mustard, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a teaspoon of coriander, a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of salt.</li>\n	<li>At this point it was clear that I needed to add 2 eggs to bind the mess of things in my bowl together and about a 1/2 cup of flour.  (If I had bread crumbs I would have used these because I think that would have added a nice flavor.)</li>\n	<li>Then after a good stir, I formed the mixture into patties using my fingers.  (The consistency wasn\'t that different from making hamburger patties--maybe a little bit moister).  It made about 20 medium sized patties.</li>\n	<li>Now this step is important.  You can either bake the patties or you can fry the patties.  I am more of a baking girl so this is what I did.</li>\n	<li>You can bake these at 350 F.  Just make sure that you grease the pan you are cooking the patties on well--my first batch were a little bit hard to turn over--and you\'ll need to turn these over after the first 12-15 minutes.  Both sides should get between 12 and 15 minutes for a total cook time of 24-30 minutes. (If you\'re going to fry them. I\'d aim for about 8 minutes a side).</li>\n	<li>I ate mine with a cabbage salad and some mustard on the side.  This said they would be great with baby spinach salad and a cucumber-yogurt dressing.</li>\n</ol>\nAnyhow, I had a great time making these.  Sure, it was more than a 30 minute meal but it was well worth it and nothing was too hard--mostly it\'s just waiting.  Oh and both pumpkin and bulgur are amazingly good for you and good for your wallet.  Unfortunately, they don\'t show up on this list <a href=\"http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/52070\" target=\"_blank\">\"The 20 Healthist Foods for Under $1\"</a> but I think that they both should!\n\nNow all I have to decide is whether I should call my friend or not...  I told a friend that he could come over tomorrow for leftovers but now I am debating telling him there aren\'t any (wink, wink).','Amazing Dinner: Pumpkin and Bulgur','','publish','open','open','','amazing-dinner-pumpkin-and-bulgur','','','2009-02-04 22:49:45','2009-02-04 19:49:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=624',0,'post','',3),(629,1,'2009-02-05 16:56:06','2009-02-05 13:56:06','An American?! You\'re from the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?!?\n\nI had this hysterical conversation last night with a drunk Bulgarian out last night at Bilkova Bar (22 Shishman, Sofia).  I\'ve never had someone get so excited about me being an American.  (It\'s true there are people in this country who still like Americans!) Also I couldn\'t help but wonder if this is what being famous is like and if it is, I\'ll pass.\n\nI guess I should start the story at the beginning.  It goes like this: there are two guy at the bar and one is making eyes at my Bulgarian friend.  There is nothing discreet about it.  They both come over to talk.  Only I don\'t speak Bulgarian.  Sorry. We start talking in English.  He asks me where I am from and when I tell him the United States he grabs my hand, takes one step back and yells at me: Oh my God, you\'re an American! You\'re from the United States?!?\n\nWosa, is he asking me a question or is he making a statement? Yes, I am from the United States--that is what I just said.  I look at him and laugh.  Everyone in the bar is now looking at us  too.  Glancing over at my Bulgarian friend, she\'s doubled over laughing at the scene.<!--more-->\n\nSo he asks me why I am here and I tell him that I am living in Sofia.  He says: you\'re not visiting? Nope.  I am here teaching English.  He says: Oh you\'re here teaching Bulgarian. No. I am not teaching Bulgarian.  I am teaching English. I think to myself: do you think I would be talking to you in English right now if I was qualified to teach Bulgarian?!\n\nWe go around like this a couple of times and I decided to break out my Bulgarian.  In Bulgarian, he finally gets that I am teaching English and not Bulgarian.  He laughs and starts asking me some basic questions that I can answer like where do you work and where do you live.\n\nThen he tells me that he likes to listen to me speak Bulgarian--that is sounds really cute.  I know that he\'s telling me this to be nice but he says it in such a way that I become more self conscious of my Bulgarian than I normally am.  It\'s infantilizing.  All of a sudden, I feel like a little baby that people are cooing over rather than an adult.\n\nThe thing is I am not something to be coo-ed over; I am not a party trick.  I am just a girl trying to learn enough Bulgarian to understand what\'s going on around me and to communicate with people.  This language isn\'t easy but I am trying--and it doesn\'t help instill confidence in my abilities when you tell me it\'s cute to hear me speak Bulgarian.\n\nBut it turns out that he gets it.  He looks around the bar and tells me I bet only 1/4 of these people speak English.  I am not sure if this is true but he continues on.  It would be different in Europe.  The implication is that more people speak English there and that people don\'t speak English here because they are backwards or stupid.  Again I don\'t think this is true but it\'s an interesting observation.\n\nAbout this time an awkward man comes up to me.  He tells me he couldn\'t help but hear that I was an American (I knew it--the other guy was yelling really loud!). He\'s a nice enough guy and I learn that he\'s been living in Sofia with his Bulgarian wife for the last three years and he teaches Business English.  We talk for a little bit about teaching and life in Bulgaria.  At some point in the conversation, I realized that he was giving me \"the American personal space\" space.  I thought wow.  I\'ve been here awhile now that \"the Bulgarian no peronal space\" thing is compeletly normal to me.\n\nI go to the bar to get a beer and stand there for only a minute before another guy is speaking to me in English.  I guess this is what happens when you\'ve been identified as The American.  I order my beer in Bulgarian.  The Stella is 2.40 leva.  I try to pay with a 5 leva note (not a 10 or a 20 the other two options I have). The bartender looks at me and asks me in Bulgarian if I have any thing smaller (like what?!). <em>Oh yeah.  I am in Bulgaria.</em> Clearly he wants me to pay with a 2 leva note but I don\'t have one.\n\nI dig through the change section of my wallet and scrounge up a 1 leva coin, 2 .50 pieces,  and 2 .20 pieces.  The bartender stands there waiting for me to find the correct amount as if I\'m putting him out by not having exact change.  I can\'t help but thinking while I am digging for change around the bottom of my purse, which seems really big at this moment: this would never happen in the states.  Then again I\'d never pay so little for such a big beer in the states.','Oh my God you&#039;re...','','publish','open','open','','oh-my-god-youre','','','2009-02-05 16:56:06','2009-02-05 13:56:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=629',0,'post','',1),(636,1,'2009-02-09 20:36:19','2009-02-09 17:36:19','','outside monestary','Outside the Monastery','inherit','open','open','','dsc05417','','','2009-02-09 20:36:19','2009-02-09 17:36:19','',635,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05417.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(637,1,'2009-02-09 20:47:15','2009-02-09 17:47:15','','Functioning Fountain','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05439','','','2009-02-09 20:47:15','2009-02-09 17:47:15','',635,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05439.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(638,1,'2009-02-09 20:51:46','2009-02-09 17:51:46','','Up to the second floor!','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05423','','','2009-02-09 20:51:46','2009-02-09 17:51:46','',635,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05423.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(639,1,'2009-02-09 21:05:53','2009-02-09 18:05:53','','Me, my wine and my Fulbright Friend.','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05489','','','2009-02-09 21:05:53','2009-02-09 18:05:53','',635,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05489.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(635,1,'2009-02-09 21:31:47','2009-02-09 18:31:47','<img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-637\" title=\"Functioning Fountain \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05439.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Functioning Fountain \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />I went to Melnik for a second time this year.  I still love the place.  It\'s a wonderful little town with one main street, lots of places to stay the night, to eat and to buy wine.  I don\'t think a girl needs much more than this.  Oh and there\'s a monastery not far away if you think you need to do a little repenting before you start in on the wine tasting.\n\nThis time the Fulbright organized the trip.  We made a day trip of it.  In hindsight an overnight may have made more sense but such is life.  It\'s a three hour bus ride so we met at 7:45 and talked all the way to Melnik.  I love to talk so this was good for me.\n\nWe went first to the monastery Rozhen.  It\'s about 20 minutes car ride outside of Melnik.<!--more-->\n\nIt doesn\'t look like much from outside but inside you get a sense of how peaceful it is there.  That and lots of people come to see the icon.  The story goes that there is an icon of Mary and baby Jesus.  It was going to be destroyed by (who else) the Turks.  So the owner of the icon saved it by slipping out with it in the dead of the night.  The owner put it in the Black <img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-638\" title=\"Up to the second floor! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05423.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Up to the second floor! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />Sea and it floated--upright of course--to Bulgaria. (It should be noted that this is my retelling of the story that I read on the wall at the monastery so it may not be 100% historically or culturally accurate.  Also it has been condensed and I am just retelling the highlights.  If you read it for yourself at the monastery, it\'s about 10 paragraphs in rather small font.)\n\nIs the story true? Hard to say for sure.  I am a skeptic but the last time I was there people were lined up around the church to be able to kiss the icon or to touch Mary\'s hand.  It was really moving to see so many people lining up to pay their respects to this icon.  So I this time around, I figured I\'d light a candle for my loved ones and try out touching Mary\'s hand.  I am not ready to start kissing icons.  Yet.\n\nI did notice that the Bulgarian women before me left a 50 leva bill at the base of the icon.  That\'s a lot of money in this country.  I couldn\'t help but wonder what she was praying for.\n\nThere\'s also a great spring in the monastery.  The water comes slowly but it is cold and fresh.  The Bulgarians always fill up their water bottles at this fountains or they drink from the fountain with the communal cup.  So I filled up my water bottle.  Again, I am not into the communal cut, at least not yet.\n\nFrom here we went into the city of Melnik.  We had lunch at a traditional little restaurant.  They all seem to serve about the same thing so you really can\'t go wrong.  The best thing we had was dessert.  This was a thick rich yogurt topped with green fig jam.  Wow.  It was so good that I bought my own jar of green fig jam so that I could eat this dish at home.  Lucky for me there are lots of old women who sell jars of homemade jam and honey and the like. (I know that the Bulgarians who read my blog will hate what I am about to write but I am doing it anyway... I think that the closest way to try this at home in the states is with fig jam and Greek yogurt.  This is because you want the yogurt to be really thick and creamy.  But just for the record, I am not saying that Greek yogurt and the Bulgarian yogurt...кисело мляко..are the same but what I am saying is that in the States this would be a good substitute.)\n\n<img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-639\" title=\"Me, my wine and my Fulbright Friend. \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05489.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me, my wine and my Fulbright Friend. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />Also lucky for me the Bulgarians know how to drink.  I bought a three litter bottle of Melnik red wine.  I couldn\'t not.  The whole bottle was only 15 leva.  That\'s a lot of wine for not much money.  In other words: a deal!\n\nI felt a little silly carrying it around so I made my Fulbright friend Max do the heavy lifting.  It was especially funny seeing that this year we\'ve got two Fulbrighers with nearly brand new babies.  They are lugging around babies while I am lugging around a giant plastic bottle of wine.  Oh to be twenty something living in Sofia.\n\nNow the challenge is drinking all of the wine before it goes bad.  Good thing I am up for the task.','Melnik: Smallest town in Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','melnik-smallest-town-in-bulgaria','','','2009-02-09 21:31:47','2009-02-09 18:31:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=635',0,'post','',2),(656,1,'2009-02-11 12:48:21','2009-02-11 09:48:21','','Customs 1','Window 23','inherit','open','open','','02-10-09_1338','','','2009-02-11 12:48:21','2009-02-11 09:48:21','',650,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1338.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(657,1,'2009-02-11 12:49:35','2009-02-11 09:49:35','','Customs 2','Dark and Damp Hallway','inherit','open','open','','02-10-09_1347','','','2009-02-11 12:49:35','2009-02-11 09:49:35','',650,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1347.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(658,1,'2009-02-11 12:50:40','2009-02-11 09:50:40','','Customs 3','Shot of Husqvarna Girl','inherit','open','open','','02-10-09_1348','','','2009-02-11 12:50:40','2009-02-11 09:50:40','',650,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1348.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(650,1,'2009-02-11 12:57:18','2009-02-11 09:57:18','I got a package slip on Monday afternoon.  Tuesday at school I confirmed with one of my teachers that the package was not at my local post office (where I\'ve picked up other packages) but in fact at customs.  So after I finished teaching I bought a banitsa and a bottle of water--appropriate hydration and sustenance is important when you\'re starting an adventure.\n\nI made a wrong turn or two and the street the office is on dead-ends into a wear house at one point but after a telephone call to a friend, I got all straightened out and found the post office/customs building.  Once inside, the first thing that happens to me is that I cannot find window 23.  I look around following the numbers twice and then I figure I\'d better ask someone. I stop a woman with a big package in her arms to ask where the window is.  She gives me lots of instructions--I understand about 25% but it\'s just enough to figure out I have to walk down an unmarked hall and then turn a little bit to the left.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_656\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Window 23\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-656\" title=\"Customs 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1338.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Window 23\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nFollowing her directions, I find it! Ta-da!  I wait in line behind three very big Bulgarian men with my package slip out and my litchna karta (my id card).  At the window, the woman talks to me very quickly and it turns out that I have to fill out the back of the package slip.  I want to tell her that at my post office in the city center someone behind the window always fills it out for me but I don\'t know how to say that and all of a sudden it makes me wonder if they fill it out in my post office for me and tell me where to sign because it\'s easier than dealing with me in Bulgarian.<!--more-->\n\nI fill it out and realize that my handwriting in Cyrillic looks like a 7 year old who doesn\'t know cursive yet.  Meah.  What\'s a girl to do? The woman take the slip and my litchna karta and studies both for a while.  She gives me back my card and passes the paper work across the desk to window 24.  I move down to window 24.  Here the woman tells me I have to pay for my package.  The first time I think she says 14 leva and I wonder what on earth someone has sent me.  I hand her a 20 leva note.  She asks me if I have anything smaller.  That\'s when I realize she must have told me 4 leva--not 14. I confirm this suspicion and give her a 5 leva note.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_657\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Dark and Damp Hallway\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-657\" title=\"Customs 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1347.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Dark and Damp Hallway\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe thing about this set up is--all I know is that the package is from the States.  So frankly, I am going to pay whatever amount she tells me to pay.  For the record, I was willing to pay 14 leva but was much happier to only pay 4 leva.  Even after the money snafu, she mumbles something to me very quickly.  I feel a little bit like I am listening to the teacher in Charlie Brown \"mahwa, mahwa, mahwa....\"  I ask here where I am supposed to go with the receipt she\'s handed me and a slip of paper with a stamp on it and some numbers.  Window 30 it turns out.\n\nStanding in line at window 23 and later at window 30, I realize how sad and old the customs section of the post office is.  Things are falling apart.  I snapped some photos with my cellphone camera.  Nothing is new here in Bulgaria but this was depressing.  I couldn\'t imagine working there.  That and a number of walls were covered with large <a href=\"http://www.bg.husqvarna.com/node1073.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Husqvarna</a> posters of half naked women and outdoor power tools.  I had a lot of time to check these out as I was waiting for my package.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_658\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Shot of Husqvarna Girl\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-658\" title=\"Customs 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/02-10-09_1348.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Shot of Husqvarna Girl\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nMy first thought was these posters aren\'t work place appropriate.  I took a four hour long online  sexual harassment training course at my last job--I should know.  Then I looked around and all of the employees that I could see were women.  Hum.  Then I wondered what the posters were covering up.  These nearly naked women with power tools don\'t seem like the kind of thing an office of women would decided to hang up unless there was something worse that they were hiding with the posters--like mold, unfinished walls or maybe completely naked girls?\n\nThe woman came back to the window with a large box wrapped in white butcher\'s paper and right away I recognized my Aunt Jane\'s handwriting.  It was a wonderful surprise.  The thing I most wanted to do was open the box right there in customs but then I would have to figure out how to get the box home.  Instead, I tucked it under my arm and walked 20+ blocks home with the box under my arm.\n\nThe whole walk home, I kept thinking: somebody loves me, somebody loves me.  And I had the box as an outward sign of this love.  Stopped at one light waiting to cross, I shook it.  It made a dull clattering noise.  I hoped that nothing had broken it the trip across two continents.  Two blocks away from home, I stopped to buy a coke.  I was thirsty at this point.  The woman in the store offered me a plastic bag for my package but I told that I was almost home.\n\nAt home, I took off my shoes, went to the bathroom and opened my package.  Little did I know that in addition to feeling loved by receiving a package, I was also getting a whole box of love.  The package was full of Valentine\'s Day paraphernalia.  This included five boxes of paper Valentines--the kind we use to give to each other in elementary school, 12 small boxes of conversation hearts and two large bags of conversation hearts.\n\nIt almost made me want to cover a shoe box in pink and red hearts and put it out on my desk.  The only problem is that I don\'t think I\'d get cards from anyone else.  It\'s funny, I used to spend hours pouring over boxes of valentines picking out one for everyone in my class and I\'d take mine home to decipher the coded messages (how does this person feel about me?) I couldn\'t figure out those little cardboard cards then and now I wish for that simplicity.\n\nWhat a wonderful gift.  I promptly ate too many conversation hearts and washed these down with coke.  In hindsight, this was not the best combination ever.  It gave me heartburn.\n\nBut then again, I guess that this is holiday about love, heart break and sticky sweetness.','Finding love in Customs','','publish','open','open','','finding-love-in-customs','','','2009-02-11 12:57:18','2009-02-11 09:57:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=650',0,'post','',3),(667,1,'2009-02-11 14:55:38','2009-02-11 11:55:38','that I was following another Sofia blogger, Elenko, around yesterday at the customs office.  Who knew? I got an email from him this afternoon.  Turns out he wrote a <a href=\"http://www.eenk.com/?p=2247\" target=\"_blank\">post</a> about his experience as well and his pictures are much, much better than mine--especially the Husqvarna girl.  I think he captured his on an iphone (I know this because I was standing right next to him when he took one of his photos--yes I realize how creepy this is).  I, on the other hand, was just using my bright pink motorola flip phone and the quality is exactly what you would expect.  I guess this is just a sign that the experience is so well <em>awesome</em> that you can\'t not write about it.  I am glad because sometime I just think that these lines, stamps and windows are only funny and frustrating to me because of my language ability.  Turns out, it\'s universal.\n\n<em>(Oh and if you\'d like to me have the experience again--you can mail me a package.)</em>','Turns out...','','publish','open','open','','turns-out','','','2009-02-11 14:55:38','2009-02-11 11:55:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=667',0,'post','',1),(645,1,'2009-02-12 18:15:34','2009-02-12 15:15:34','I announced to one of my friends recently that February 14th is a drinking holiday in Bulgaria.  He told me: it\'s a drinking holiday in the states too.  Maybe.  February 14th is St Valentine\'s Day in the States.  I would argue that it\'s a day for lovers, boxes of chocolate, red roses, expensive dinners and diamonds.  Drinking is I think secondary.\n\nIn Bulgaria however, February 14th is St. Trifon\'s day.  St. Trifon is the patron saint of wine-makers and publicans.  As such, it\'s said that the entire country pays respect to him on the 14th of February. This, I would argue, makes February 14th an official drinking holiday.\n\nSt. Valentine\'s Day may include drinking but it\'s secondary to celebrating love.  St. Trifon\'s Day, on the other hand, celebrates wine drinking.  I think that\'s great.\n\nBeing a new comer in this country, I don\'t know much about this holiday.  <!--more-->Heck I haven\'t even celebrated it yet but I have to say that any holiday which focuses specifically on wine drinking can\'t be a bad thing.  Well, maybe February 15th isn\'t so fun but my hunch is that nobody is thinking about that on the 14th.\n\nThis is a holiday I would like to take back to the States with me.  It seems like the prefect theme for a single-kids party on February 14th.  I\'ve been single for 27 Valentine\'s Days (for anyone wondering--that\'s all of them) and I figure when I am living in the States next year this would be the perfect way to introduce my friends to Bulgaria and to this superior holiday.\n\nSo I did some informal and highly unscientific research (I asked a few Bulgarian friends and did a google search). Here\'s what I learned. 1) It\'s said that the tradition is a leftover from the ancient Thracians, who honored the god Dionysus in this way. 2) This is the day that vineyard owners cut their grape vines and then they drink wine.  A lot of it.  3). Even if you don\'t own a vineyard you can still celebrate by imbuing wine on this day. 4) Apparently, Valentine\'s Day is also starting to sneak into Bulgaria and some people celebrate both.\n\nStill, it\'s a simple uncomplicated holiday. I like that. You\'re not obligated to feel bad about yourself because you\'re single; you don\'t have to worry about whether you should buy red roses, expensive chocolates or jewelry; nor do you have to call weeks in advance for reservations at a romantic restaurant.  It seems to me that all you have to be able to do is raise your glass to your lips.  You might also want to be able to ask for a glass of wine (Moje li chasha bialo/cherveno vino?) Oh and you might want to be able to say cheers!... наздраве!.... Nazdrave!!\n\nHere\'s to the nectar of the gods!','St Trifon, Dionysus &amp; Feb 14th','','publish','open','open','','st-trifon-dionysus-feb-14th','','','2009-02-12 18:15:34','2009-02-12 15:15:34','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=645',0,'post','',3),(673,1,'2009-02-13 18:53:53','2009-02-13 15:53:53','I made a coffee cake this past week.  Then I ate the whole thing--well and I had some friends help me.  Here\'s what is great about this recipe: it doesn\'t have very many ingredients so it\'s stupidly easy to make--even for a girl living in Sofia, Bulgaria with a tiny kitchen and limited pots, pans and other utensils.\n\nI looked at a lot of recipes online for coffee cakes but many of the recipes called for ingredients that I either didn\'t have or couldn\'t find easily at the two small markets/grocery stores where I do my shopping. So you\'ll notice that my recipe doesn\'t use brown sugar or baking powder.  Still it turned out great and got rave reviews.\n\nThe other great thing is that the recipe goes together in about 10 minutes so in something a little over an hour you can be enjoying fresh hot coffee cake.  I know I should have taken pictures but it disappeared too fast.  So enjoy!<!--more-->\n\nCrumb Topping:\n<ul>\n	<li>Mix together: 1/2 cup chopped nuts (like walnuts), 1/2 cup  honey, 1/2 cup oatmeal and 2 tsp cinnamon</li>\n	<li>Mixture will be clumpy that\'s okay</li>\n</ul>\nCake Batter:\n<ul>\n	<li>Cream together the following ingredients one at a time making sure to incorporate well before adding another ingredient:  1/2 cup butter, 1 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla and 1 cup of thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt or sour cream)</li>\n	<li>Stir in 2 cups flour, 1 cup chopped nuts (like walnuts), 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt.  Don\'t over mix</li>\n	<li>At this point, I also added some dried lemon peal (1 tsp) because I had it on hand.  You could also add a cup of fruit like blue berries.</li>\n</ul>\nBake:\n<ul>\n	<li>Make sure that you do a good job greasing your pan.  I used one that was round and maybe 9\" in diameter.</li>\n	<li>Pour in cake batter and top with crumb topping (use your fingers to break this up if you have to in order to distribute fairly evenly).</li>\n	<li>Your oven should be hot.  375 degrees (F) should do the trick.  I cooked mine at about 250 degrees (C).</li>\n	<li>You know the cake is done when you insert a knife into the cake and it comes out clean with no gooey batter stuck to the knife.  This took about 45-50 minutes.</li>\n</ul>\nConclusion:\n<ul>\n	<li>Share with friends</li>\n	<li>And serve with coffee!</li>\n</ul>','Quick and Stupidly Easy: Coffee Cake','','publish','open','open','','quick-and-stupidly-easy-coffee-cake','','','2009-02-13 18:53:53','2009-02-13 15:53:53','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=673',0,'post','',3),(678,1,'2009-02-18 11:22:09','2009-02-18 08:22:09','My aunt sent me a box of Valentines including bags of conversation hearts.  I\'ve gotten a huge kick out of these.  Aside from the fact that I love bad holiday candy, it was great fun watching Bulgarians read the messages on these candies for the first time.\n\nIf you\'re American, you know the drill.  The little heart shaped candies in pastel colors say things like: love you, you flirt, call me, awesome, hug me, URA 10, kiss me and so on. Sure the messages are a little cheesy but that\'s half of the fun.  It\'s like a whole box of fortune cookies--only you don\'t have to eat the entire cookie to find out what your fortune is. They are two word messages.\n\nBut it turns out that the conversation hearts left some of the people I shared the candy with confused.  They could read the message and they knew the words but what the heart was telling them still wasn\'t clear. It was messages like: dear one, get ready, sun shine, lover boy, sweetie pie, cloud nine, sweet talk and my girl that resulted in people holding their candy, looking at me, looking at their candy and then giving me some face that said: huna?   <!--more-->\n\nMost of the adults got a good laugh out of it after a little explanation.  The kids on the other hand (the ones I thought would like it the most) were pretty blase about the whole thing.  A few of them giggled but most of them looked at the candy, didn\'t understand what their candy was saying and then ate it rather than ask me what it meant.\n\nOn some level, I get it.  These students see two or maybe three words on a candy and they don\'t know what it means.  They\'ve been doing a lot harder work in class so it\'s probably disheartening to see something like this and know what the words mean but not \"get it.\"  Also, problematic is the fact that the candy hearts contain a lot of idioms, pet names and puns that native speakers of English would be familiar with but that non-natives might not be familiar with (\"get real\" for example).\n\nOn another level, I don\'t get it.  I am the girl who gets a box of conversation hearts and then I dump them all out on the table to see what all of the candies say.  I want to read them, line them up and laugh at them all collectively before I eat them. I love words and word play. I also love the colors pink, purple, green and yellow. This means that for me, these candies are a lot of fun.\n\nLuckily for me, most of my friends understood this and encouraged my love of these little heart candies.\n\nThis leaves me with two final remarks--first, Sofia, Bulgaria may not be the next big market for conversation hearts and second, Necco candy people, you need to make sure that you get your conversation heart typewriter lined up on the candies better next year--lots of your candy was missing a message or the message was smudged or only half of the message was on the heart.','Conversation Hearts','','publish','open','open','','conversation-hearts','','','2009-02-18 11:22:09','2009-02-18 08:22:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=678',0,'post','',2),(681,1,'2009-02-18 22:17:32','2009-02-18 19:17:32','Ever wonder what I do on a day to day basis? Well, I am here on a Fulbright Fellowship and I am teaching English at the <a href=\"http://www.fels-sofia.org/\" target=\"_blank\">First English Language High School</a> in Sofia, Bulgaria. I teach English conversation to 7 classes of 8th graders.  It means that I get to work with them on topics related to American culture, to pronunciation, to vocabulary usage and more.\n\nThe school I work at I am told is one of the best public schools in Sofia.  The school used to have the reputation as the best school in Bulgaria (this may be changing but I don\'t know how these things are judged).  Based on what I\'ve seen, I think it is still a very good school (the thing is that I don\'t have experience or exposure in any other schools in Sofia or Bulgaria to compare to).  What\'s exciting about my school is that the teachers are serious, their knowledge of English is excellent, their commitment to their students is high and the resources at the school are good (not excellent but good).  What seems to be the most telling about the quality of the school, the teachers and the students is that even though the students I teach have only been studying English for six months, I\'ve seen tremendous improvement in their spoken and written English.\n\nThe funny thing is--I tell people all of the time that I am a teacher of English (учителка по английски) but I didn\'t really think of myself as a teacher until this week when I saw a picture of myself in the <a href=\"http://bulgaria.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/zkdNOsnjhgFWxS8NWuKg9w/newsletter_jan09_en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">US Embassy Newsletter</a> for January/February (page 4).  The class had a visitor from the Embassy before Christmas.  She came to talk about the holidays in the States and brought a staff assistant and a photographer with her.  So the photo he captured of me might not be the most flattering photo but I look like a teacher.\n\nI guess it\'s official.  I am a teacher.','Hey! I&#039;m a teacher','','publish','open','open','','hey-im-a-teacher','','','2009-02-18 22:17:32','2009-02-18 19:17:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=681',0,'post','',6),(683,1,'2009-02-19 12:05:10','2009-02-19 09:05:10','I\'ve been thinking a lot about how I can learn more Bulgarian and more about traditional Bulgarian cuisine.  It came to me recently.  I need my own Baba.  But how does an American girl go about this?  I know a few teachers at school but they are busy with their families. I know a number of 20-something Bulgarians but their English is so good that they usually talk to me in English. And I know 210 8th graders but I don\'t think they can really cook yet.\n\nWhat I need to do is to adopt my own Baba but that\'s easier said than done.  It seems like one option is just to start talking to older people and see what happens but I really don\'t want to come across as the creepy American girl hitting on Babas in coffee shops--that and I don\'t actually know which haunts the Babas hang-out in.\n\nThat\'s why I\'ve written this:<!--more-->\n<p style=\"padding-left:90px;\">Wanted: a patient, kind and understanding Bulgarian Baba to teach me, an American girl in her late 20\'s, how to cook traditional Bulgarian cuisine and to converse with me in Bulgarian.  Me? I bring to the table a smile, my fairly bad Bulgarian as well as a desire to learn more Bulgarian through conversation and to learn how to cook Bulgarian food.  Also, I\'ll bring all of the ingredients.</p>\n<p style=\"padding-left:90px;\">As of today, I am happy accepting applications or referrals for this position. I would like to fill this position ASAP.</p>\n\nWhile you may think that my want ad is tongue in-cheek (and it is, a little), in all seriousness, I would love to be connected with a Baba who would be willing to teach me how to make Bulgarian food and who would also be willing to put up with my pretty bad Bulgarian (this would, I assume, mean that she is either very patient or a little bit deaf).\n\nThe only problem is that I am not sure how to get my advertisement to the appropriate demographic.  I don\'t think I have a following of Bulgarian Babas who regularly read my blog--surprise, surprise.  My demographic is comprised mainly of 20-something adults, English speakers and/or people related to me.  This makes it difficult for me to connect with an appropriate Baba--that and my written Bulgarian is by far worse than my spoken Bulgarian. So I am left with posting this ad on my blog and hoping that someone stumbles across it who can help me with my search.\n\nNow seems like a good time to add the fact that generally people like me (young people and old people alike).  I am friendly, I like to talk, I also like to drink coffee and I feel like I am missing out by living in Bulgaria and not knowing any older Bulgarians.  I am also tall so I can get things off of high shelves and this week I managed to open a really, really hard to open jar all by myself.\n\nIn conclusion, if you have a Baba in your life or know someone who you think fits my description, please contact me. This said, the easiest way to contact me is probably by commenting on my blog.  When you post on my blog, I am notified by email and the email address you submit on the comment form is sent to me.  In this way I can reply to you via email.\n\nThank-you in advance for your help with this matter.','Wanted: One Baba (баба)','','publish','open','open','','wanted-one-baba-%d0%b1%d0%b0%d0%b1%d0%b0','','','2009-02-19 12:05:10','2009-02-19 09:05:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=683',0,'post','',6),(693,1,'2009-02-21 20:08:53','2009-02-21 17:08:53','','Snow and Sofia University','The view from my Sofia University Classroom','inherit','open','open','','dsc05552','','','2009-02-21 20:08:53','2009-02-21 17:08:53','',691,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05552.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(691,1,'2009-02-21 20:22:25','2009-02-21 17:22:25','[caption id=\"attachment_693\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The view from my Sofia University Classroom\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-693\" title=\"Snow and Sofia University \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05552.jpg\" alt=\"The view from my Sofia University Classroom\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nWe\'ve got centimeters of snow here in Sofia.  One of my students at Sofia University told me this recently.  It\'s true.  But I couldn\'t help laughing inside when I heard it.\n\nI would say that over the last two days we\'ve gotten between 10 and 12 inches of snow.  It\'s more or less snowed for two days straight.  In my book, that means I can say whether or not it\'s exactly 100% true that we\'ve got a foot of snow on the ground.<!--more-->\n\nIn my very American mind, this sounds like much, much more snow than centimeters of snow.  Certainly it\'s not incorrect to say that we\'ve got centimeters of snow but it just sounds so funny to me.  It\'s clearly because the metric system is funny and foreign to me.  I\'ve grown up thinking of centimeters a much smaller than inches.  Is that true? Well yes but size and perception of size changes the older--centimeters used to be in my mind very, very small and inches--well inches--so now that I am an adult, I know exactly how many centimeters are in an inch but it still makes me giggle to hear the huge amount of snow we have collected on every outside surface in Sofia described in centimeters.\n\nI realize that I\'ve now just written an entire post on my musing on snow.  Hopefully I\'ll be able to write about something more interesting tomorrow.  This said, they say that you should write abut what you know and man with this much snow, I\'ve been thinking about it, studying it and hoping that I wont fall down in it so if that doesn\'t make me qualified to write this post I don\'t know what does.\n\nOne final thought, my cousin wrote recently that living is Moscow is like living in a giant snow globe.  I couldn\'t agree more after the two snowy, blustery days I\'ve had here in Sofia.  I can\'t help but think about those poor snow globe figures--forever trapped in a wintry landscape (wintry can also be spelled wintery according to the <a href=\"http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wintry\" target=\"_blank\">Merriam Webster Dictionary</a> see reading this blog is also making you smarter).  Luckily spring is around the corner.  I hope.','Centimeters of Snow','','publish','open','open','','centimeters-of-snow','','','2009-02-21 20:22:25','2009-02-21 17:22:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=691',0,'post','',6),(699,1,'2009-02-24 19:27:32','2009-02-24 16:27:32','I just taught my first regular class of the semester at Sofia University.  The students were great--I didn\'t know what to expect because I\'ve heard a range of stories about the students, the program and the university.  This said, the students had great English, worked well in small groups brainstorming, seemed excited to engage in both reading and writing activities, and best of all they didn\'t let on that they thought I was too crazy (phew). Thus I would say that things are off to an auspicious start.\n\nI am teaching a class on Intercultural Communications.  Apparently, being an American in Bulgaria with a background in English Literature makes me qualified to teach this class--seriously.  Luckily, I love to read and I\'ve been pulling together materials to teach a course grounded in critical theory, some literature and a lot of contemporary essays and articles--something that I\'ve been well trained to do over the years. We\'re going to use MLK Jr as a jumping off point and go from there.\n\nRight now I am super excited about the class, the students and teaching at the university.  The class seems like it\'s going to be awesome.  Lucky me.','Sofia University','','publish','open','open','','sofia-university','','','2009-02-24 19:27:32','2009-02-24 16:27:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/sofia-university/',0,'post','',3),(700,1,'2009-02-25 19:32:46','2009-02-25 16:32:46','My Uncle Doug wrote an email to me recently.  He asked me:  \"Is there much or any homelessness in Sofia?  You haven\'t mentioned that but of course it is not something one would trumpet on a blog.\"  It\'s true.  Homelessness isn\'t very sexy and I haven\'t written about it on my blog.  Maybe the closest I\'ve come was a post in January on the <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/notes-from-sofia-poverty-and-bulgaria/\" target=\"_blank\">cost of living in Bulgaria</a>.\n\nHere\'s the thing, homelessness in Sofia isn\'t a topic that I know much about.  I see people who look homeless every day on the streets, in front of Orthodox churches and even sitting on the stairs in the underpasses but I don\'t know what services or support networks if any there are for homeless people.  I also don\'t know who to give money to or not when people beg me for change so I don\'t give anyone my change.\n\nI worked for a year in Washington DC as a caseworker in a nonprofit committed to serving the homeless and near homeless.  I learned a lot about homelessness in the city.  I saw a lot of depressing things in <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacostia\" target=\"_blank\">Anacostia</a> the neighborhood I worked in.  And, I met a lot interesting people with complex and complicated stories about their long journey to  homelessness.  What I learned is that there is nothing cut and dry about homelessness and what I saw revealed how hard it is to escape the cycle of homelessness once you\'ve entered it.\n\nBut the haves and the have nots are a lot clearer in a city like Washington DC.  The differences between a neighborhood in NW Washington and Anacostia are plain.  One can ride the 30-series  from Upper NW to Anacosita though I\'d venture to guess that not many people have and watch the city be transformed from wealthy white neighborhoods to government buildings and finally to the crumbling housing projects of Anacosita.  It almost doesn\'t seem like it could be possible in one 75 minute bus ride but the buildings change, the greenery changes, the number of grocery stores change, the color of the people change and still you are in the same city.\n\nThings doesn\'t seem to be as cut and dry here in Sofia.  <!--more-->The haves and the have nots are not as obvious--well unless you find yourself walking on Vitosha Blvd--most people have older coats, shoes that are worn down around the edges and tired looks on their faces.  Life is different here.  Does it mean that there aren\'t homeless people here in Sofia? Of course not, it\'s just harder to know by looking who is actually homeless and who is part of the living and working poor.\n\nI see people daily digging through the garbage bins in my neighborhood.  I assume they are looking for glass, recyclables or other items of value.  Sometimes I think these people are Roma (if you can tell by looking--I am not convinced that I can), sometimes I think they are older people--pensioners who need more than their meger pension can provide for them and then other times, I think I see truly homeless people picking through the garbage bins.  But what do I know? Not much.  These are all just observations.\n\nSo I did what any self respecting blogger would.  I googled.  I found out my uncle and I were not alone in our interest in homelessness in Sofia.  In fact, the Sofia Echo, an English Language newspaper, ran an article on February 6th about this exact issue.  The title of the article is <a href=\"http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/02/06/670157_a-homeless-odyssey\" target=\"_blank\">\"A Homeless Odyssey.\"</a>\n\nAfter reading the article, I think the title might be a little misleading. It\'s not really about any one specific odyssey but about homeless in general and some of the services available to the homeless in Sofia.  This said, the article is really well written and it gave me a better sense of what\'s happening here in Sofia with the issue of homelessness.  If this is a topic you are interested in you should read the article but also if you\'d like to see the darker side of life in the capitol, I\'d also read this article. But what I was really struck by was the universality of this issue. The Bulgarian social worker was talking about the same kinds of problems that social workers in Washington DC are concerned with when it comes to homelessness.\n\nOnce again, I feel extremely lucky to have a roof over my head, a good education and a strong social network to rely on.  So, Uncle Doug: yes there is homelessness here in Sofia.  Maybe not more or less homelessness than in the states in a large urban city but it looks different here.  The people look older, smell dirtier and break my heart a little bit more than they do in the states.  And here I feel much less empowered to help them.','Notes from Sofia: Homelessness','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-homelessness','','','2009-02-25 19:32:46','2009-02-25 16:32:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=700',0,'post','',5),(704,1,'2009-02-26 18:54:18','2009-02-26 15:54:18','','Martenitsas','Me buying Martenitsas--Thanks for the uber-flattering picture of both of us, Max. We are both actually much better looking in person.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05628','','','2009-02-26 18:54:18','2009-02-26 15:54:18','',703,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05628.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(703,1,'2009-02-26 19:04:02','2009-02-26 16:04:02','[caption id=\"attachment_704\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me buying Martenitsas--Thanks for the uber-flattering picture of both of us, Max. We are both actually much better looking in person.\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-704\" title=\"Martenitsas\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05628.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me buying Martenitsas--Thanks for the uber-flattering picture of both of us, Max. We are both actually much better looking in person.\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nTwo weeks ago table started appearing all over Sofia.  The tables were full of red and white do-hickies and priced from .10 -1.00 Leva or maybe slightly more.  Martenitsas had arrived.  <span lang=\"bg\">The <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martenitsa\" target=\"_blank\">мартеница</a> are everywhere. </span>\n\n<span lang=\"bg\">They are made out of red and white string.  I am told that the red and white represent life (red) and purity (white) but I\'ve also heard that the red protects you from disease and the white makes you live longer.  Either way they are supposed to bring the wearer good luck.  Some are worn on the wrist like a bracelet while others are pinned on near the neck with a safety pin.\n</span>\n\nMartenitsas are part of the tradition of spring in Bulgaria.  You buy them (or make them) and give them to friends, family and colleagues on (or slightly after) the First of March.  You are supposed to always give the martenitsas away--you don\'t buy one for yourself. Then you wear the martenitsa.  I think this is especially true if you are a child.<!--more-->\n\nThen you wear the martenitsa until spring has arrived this is marked by seeing a stork or a sparrow or a blossoming tree or by the date March 22nd.  Then when you see one of these birds, a blooming tree or when the 22nd of March arrives you hang your martenitsa on a tree branch or you put it under a rock. This is important.  It\'s supposed to determine your luck for the year.  I am not exactly sure how this part works but I can attest to seeing lots of martenitsas hanging in the low branches of bare trees this winter so it\'s clear that people do take this part of the tradition seriously.\n\nThe word martenitsa derives from the name of the month of March in Bulgarian Mart (март).  There\'s also something going on with an old woman known as Baba Marta (<strong> </strong>баба март) or Grandmother March but as of today, I am not really sure what her deal is.  One<a href=\"http://storksmojo.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/grandmother-march-and-the-stork/\" target=\"_blank\"> blog</a>, I read says that: in the Bulgarian folklore, she is an old grumpy grandma and her mood swings bring sunshine or freezing snowy weather.  (Poor grandmother.)\n\nI bought some today from a woman selling them near the Women\'s Bazaar.  She told me all about them.  I understood only a little bit of what she was saying but she told me I could buy them for the children in my life (hum, not yet) and my colleagues.  Luckily my landlord has invited me over for lunch on March 1st to celebrate so I bought a few martenitsas for his family and I bought a few for my own family as well.  Only they wont get them until I return to the States.','March &amp; Martenitsas','','publish','open','open','','march-martenitsas','','','2009-02-26 19:04:02','2009-02-26 16:04:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=703',0,'post','',1),(710,1,'2009-02-28 21:16:24','2009-02-28 18:16:24','','dsc05640','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05640','','','2009-02-28 21:16:24','2009-02-28 18:16:24','',709,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05640.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(711,1,'2009-02-28 21:29:46','2009-02-28 18:29:46','','Thread in Red and White','','inherit','open','open','','dsc056401','','','2009-02-28 21:29:46','2009-02-28 18:29:46','',709,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc056401.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(713,1,'2009-02-28 21:34:24','2009-02-28 18:34:24','','dsc05642','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05642','','','2009-02-28 21:34:24','2009-02-28 18:34:24','',709,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05642.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(714,1,'2009-02-28 21:46:20','2009-02-28 18:46:20','','Completed Martenitsa','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05657','','','2009-02-28 21:46:20','2009-02-28 18:46:20','',709,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05657.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(717,1,'2009-02-28 21:59:29','2009-02-28 18:59:29','','Cutting the Thread','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05643','','','2009-02-28 21:59:29','2009-02-28 18:59:29','',709,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05643.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(709,1,'2009-02-28 22:00:40','2009-02-28 19:00:40','So this afternoon, I went out to buy a few martenitsas and some groceries.  I ended up with more than 20 leva in martenitsas.  They are so cute and it seems so festive.  Also this a truly Bulgarian holiday.\n\nWhen I got home and figured that I would give making my own martenistas a go.  I bought colored thread/string in red and white.  These are the traditional colors.  Every martenista I saw today had at least these two colors.  Some had additional colors like yellow, blue or orange but these colors were accents.  Red and white are musts.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-711\" title=\"Thread in Red and White\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc056401.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Thread in Red and White\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />\n\n<!--more-->Then you\'ve got to cut off the right amount of thread to work with.  Hopefully this goes better for you then it did for me.  The white thread was easy to work with.  The red, well, this turned out to be well messy.  I ended up just having to pull on a loose end until I got enough red to work with.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-713\" title=\"dsc05642\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05642.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"dsc05642\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />\n\nI cut my stings into about 12 inch long pieces.  I made two different styles.  One--the friendship bracelet inspired martenitsa--took four pieces of thread and the other a braided style only required three pieces of thread.  The braided martenitsas were the easiest to make so this is what I\'ll describe.  If you want to make a friendship bracelet inspired martenitsa you should be able to follow these <a href=\"http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/friendship/mbracelets.htm\" target=\"_blank\">directions</a> pretty easily.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-717\" title=\"Cutting the Thread\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05643.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Cutting the Thread\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />Once you\'ve got the thread cut then you need take you\'re three pieces of thread and fold them in half in the middle.  Tie a knot and when you\'ve done so you\'ll have a loop at the top of and six strands of thread to work with.  Then start braiding.  Probably you have either four strands of red and two strands of white or vice versa.  Group the strands so that you have pairs two reds, two, whites and two reds.  Then braid until you\'ve got an inch of string left.  Stop.  Tie an end knot. The only thing you have to know is how to braid. Easy-peasy.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-714\" title=\"Completed Martenitsa \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dsc05657.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Completed Martenitsa \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />Now if you wanted you could add to the standard martenista I\'ve described by adding beads either in the braiding of the martenitsa or you could add them on as little tails to the martenista.  Many of the beads I saw today were blue and white evil eyes.  Finish your martenista off with a safety pin through the loop at the top and instruct the wearer to position it on the chest near the face for good luck.  Or you could make the martenitsa longer and wear it as bracelet.\n\nI think the hardest part is giving the martenista away after you\'ve made it.  This said, given the fact that you can buy martenitsas at every street corner in Sofia I think that people will really appreaicate your effort in making your own martenitsas and if you don\'t live in Bulgaria, I think you\'ll have to make your own martenitsas if you want to give them away on March 1st.  Good luck.','Martenitsa: How To','','publish','open','open','','martenitsa-how-to','','','2009-02-28 22:00:40','2009-02-28 19:00:40','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=709',0,'post','',3),(723,1,'2009-03-02 19:35:03','2009-03-02 16:35:03','','M for Sale','Martenitsa Stands in Slaveykov Square','inherit','open','open','','dsc05678','','','2009-03-02 19:35:03','2009-03-02 16:35:03','',722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05678.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(724,1,'2009-03-02 19:40:09','2009-03-02 16:40:09','','Me and Martenitsas','Friends give you Martenitsas.  Then you wear them. These are mine.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05699','','','2009-03-02 19:40:09','2009-03-02 16:40:09','',722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05699.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(725,1,'2009-03-02 19:48:50','2009-03-02 16:48:50','','Boy and girl Martenitsa','The little boy &amp; girl figures are so cute.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05728','','','2009-03-02 19:48:50','2009-03-02 16:48:50','',722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05728.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(727,1,'2009-03-02 20:03:35','2009-03-02 17:03:35','','Little Red','One of the cutest martenitsas I received.  She\'s holding a basket of flowers!!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05705','','','2009-03-02 20:03:35','2009-03-02 17:03:35','',722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05705.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(728,1,'2009-03-02 20:11:51','2009-03-02 17:11:51','','Bulgarian Girl Martenitsa','So cute.  So cute.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05702','','','2009-03-02 20:11:51','2009-03-02 17:11:51','',722,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05702.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(722,1,'2009-03-02 20:20:30','2009-03-02 17:20:30','My new favorite holiday is March First: Честита баба марта!!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_723\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Martenitsa Stands in Slaveykov Square\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-723\" title=\"M for Sale \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05678.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Martenitsa Stands in Slaveykov Square\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe day was just beautiful on Sunday, March 1st.  We had snow the week before and on March First the sun was out and shinning.  It was warm enough for the first time in two weeks to wear just a rain coat.  What a wonderful start to the month of March.  (Today for the record, there\'s been no hint of the sun.)  <!--more--><span>_</span>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_724\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Friends give you Martenitsas.  Then you wear them. These are mine. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-724\" title=\"Me and Martenitsas\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05699.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Friends give you Martenitsas.  Then you wear them. These are mine. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe martenitsas come in lots of shapes and sizes.  Yesterday I received two that looked like little girls.  One in \"traditional\" Bulgarian dress.  You can see the apron on her if you look closely.  I also received one that was little red riding hood (look for her close up below).  I am also wearing a necklace martenitsa with a heart on it and not in the picture are a number of bracelets I received.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_727\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"One of the cutest martenitsas I received.  She&#39;s holding a basket of flowers!! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-727\" title=\"Little Red\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05705.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"One of the cutest martenitsas I received.  She\'s holding a basket of flowers!! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nTraditionally you give martenitsas made of either red and white tassels or two figures a boy and girl called \"Пижо и Пенда\" (Pizho and Penda).  I have no idea how they got these names.  The tassels and the boy and girl come in a range of different sizes.  Most of the ones I saw were attached to cardboard cards which said Честита баба марта and sometimes had flowers, birds or tree branches also printed on the cards.  The martenitsa is stapled to the card and the whole thing is protected in plastic.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_725\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"The little boy &amp; girl figures are so cute. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-725\" title=\"Boy and girl Martenitsa \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05728.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"The little boy &amp; girl figures are so cute. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nSee how cute the martenitsas are!? I loved these little things.  I love them so much that I bought many, many more than I probably should have.  So much so that I couldn\'t help but wonder after spending over $20 on martenitsas if I was becoming Bulgarian.  In the beginning, my affinity for the martenitsa was fairly secret. Then I told my friends how many I bought and they laughed at me.  Then, they got sucked in themselves.  The thing was, as I bought the martenitsas, I kept thinking: oh, I don\'t want to give this one away.  That\'s why I ended up with so many.\n\nBut when other people started giving me martenitsas things got really exciting.  I liked it a lot.  I can\'t really describe how cute and wonderful the various different martenitsas are.   Maybe I can go into the martenitsa import business in the States.   It seems like it would go perfectly with the banitsa shop and rakia distillery I am also thinking about opening...\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_728\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"So cute.  So cute. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-728\" title=\"Bulgarian Girl Martenitsa \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05702.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"So cute.  So cute. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIn conclusion: Ach, I love this holiday.  I can\'t get enough of it.  Also, the shirt I am wearing is new.  I like it a lot too.   I just might like martenitsas more than I like my new shirt which was for the record a steal and I always love things that are cute and a good deal. I hope this puts this holiday in perspective for you and maybe now you can understand how much I like this holiday.  So again: Happy March First and  Честита баба марта!!','March 1st','','publish','open','open','','march-1st','','','2009-03-02 20:20:30','2009-03-02 17:20:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=722',0,'post','',3),(732,1,'2009-03-04 12:55:41','2009-03-04 09:55:41','Language and history are complicated they often address either adequately or inadequately culturally loaded and culturally sensitive issues.  Bulgaria is an old country with a tumultuous history.  The history is marked by the Thracians, the first Bulgarian state, Byzantine rule, the second Bulgarian state, five centuries of Ottoman rule, a third Bulgarian state, Communist rule and then after 1989 we find ourselves in the present day.\n\nOn March 3rd, Bulgaria celebrated their Day of Independence (maybe better called <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=101653\" target=\"_blank\">National Liberation Day</a> thanks Sofia News Agency).  Given their history, it\'s important to note that they are celebrating independence from the Ottomans Empire--Turkey--and that this independence was brokered by Russia.  Bulgaria gained it\'s independence with the Treaty of San Stefano--a treaty signed on March 3, 1878 by Russia and the Ottoman Empire at the end of the <span class=\"mw-redirect\">Russo-Turkish War</span>.\n\nThus, it\'s been 131 years since Bulgaria gained independence from the Ottoman Empire after five centuries of foreign rule. <!--more-->Yesterday, many different countries congratulated  Bulgaria on her independence including both <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=101666\" target=\"_blank\">Russia</a> (thanks, Putin but I am not sure that this makes up for the gas crisis in January) and <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=101652\" target=\"_blank\">England</a> (thanks to you too, Queen Elizabeth).\n\nBulgarians are very proud of their country and their people.  For good reason, this a physically beautiful country and for the most part the people are incredibly kind.  Their leaders don\'t always make the best choices when it comes to politics and alliances but really, no country is perfect.  (And who am I to judge? My country legalized slavery, killed hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, interned Japanese during WWII, and my country is currently trampling my First Amendment rights in order to fight a nebulous \"war on terrorism.\")\n\nAs a foreigner (and an English major), what\'s interesting to me is the way that Bulgarians talk about the Ottoman rule.  Often people refer to it as the Ottoman yoke (one of the great Bulgarian novels by Ivan Vazov is aptly titled: <a href=\"http://www.bgbook.dir.bg/book.php?ID=18873\" target=\"_blank\">Under the Yoke</a>)  or I\'ve heard the era referred to as Ottoman domination as well.\n\nThe question this kind of language elicits is how should we talk about our past? How should we discuss and interpret our history? And who is responsible for this?\n\nWikipedia serves as an interesting example of these questions.  This first quote is from the Wikipedia entry <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria\" target=\"_blank\">\"Bulgaria:\"</a>\n<ul>\n	<li>The Ottomans decimated the Bulgarian population, which lost most of its cultural relics. Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses in order to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the nineteenth century.\"</li>\n</ul>\nAnd the second quote is from from the Wikipedia entry on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_Bulgaria#Settlement_of_Turks_in_Bulgaria_During_the_pre-Ottoman_Period\" target=\"_blank\">\"Turks in Bulgaria:\" </a>\n<ul>\n	<li>The Ottoman Empire used colonization as a very effective method to consolidate their position and power in the Balkans. The colonizers that were brought to the Balkans consisted of diverse elements, including soldiers, nomads, farmers, artisans and merchants, dervishes, preachers and other religious functionaries, and administrative personnel.</li>\n</ul>\nBut Wikipedia makes it clear that information and points of view in both of these sections are currently under dispute.  The discussion sections in both of these Wikipedia articles is worth checking out.  In the case of the \"Bulgaria\" entry, the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bulgaria\" target=\"_blank\">discussion section</a> is longer than the actual Wikipedia article. What are people debating? Well, history, content, language, tone, usage and even the appropriateness/correctness of translations from Bulgarian into English.\n\nIn other words, everything seems to be in question.  It seems to beg the question, where does the truth rest? and it returns me to my previous series of questions regarding how we should talk about the pastm, our shared history and our relationship to it now.\n\nGiven the level of debate that this issue can raise even on Wikipedia, it\'s clear that these aren\'t questions that we can answer easily or quickly.  These are it seems questions that will be worked out throughout this next generation and maybe the one that follows it.  Plainly, how we talk, think about and discuss this history will also shape how people use it in the future.  At stake right now, Turkey, EU membership and the Bulgarian nationalist party <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=101662\" target=\"_blank\">Ataka</a> which opposes Turkey\'s accession to the EU.','Independence Day Bulgaria Style','','publish','open','open','','independence-day-bulgaria-style','','','2009-03-04 12:55:41','2009-03-04 09:55:41','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=732',0,'post','',5),(737,1,'2009-03-05 20:45:32','2009-03-05 17:45:32','My cousin who lives in Moscow is coming to visit me! She wrote to me this week about a visit and I am meeting her at the airport tomorrow night.  She says that she never does impulsive things like this and I believe her.  The thing is making the choice to come to Sofia is an awesome decision.  And here\'s a top eleven list why Sofia, Bulgaria is totally worth a visit.  (I\'ve been influenced to write a top eleven list after reading this <a href=\"http://www.11points.com/\" target=\"_blank\">blog</a> apparently 10 item lists are for cowards.  Go figure.)\n<ol>\n	<li>Everything is free in Sofia! Well aside from most museums, toilets (and toilet paper), public transportation, restaurants, rent, and alcohol.  So actually, nothing is free but with the great exchange rate things seem oh so inexpensive.  And frankly, you can\'t beat that.</li>\n	<li>The money comes in all sorts of pretty colors.  None of this monotone green business like in the States.  This may be the reasons that people in the States use debit cards--they are so much more colorful than the currency is.  Be prepared to use cash.  All of the time--restaurants, bars, cafes, bookstores.  I haven\'t paid for anything with my debit or credit card ever here in Bulgaria but I also haven\'t stayed in a hotel.  Places like this will clearly take a card.</li>\n	<li>When you get a bill at a restaurant it\'s like winning a lottery.  This is especially true if you\'ve been living in a big city like Washington DC, New York City or any other major capitol in Western Europe.  Almost without a doubt you\'ll look at the bill to see what\'s accidentally been left off and then realize nothing.  It\'s just not that expensive to eat out in this country.  For example, my friend Matt and I went to a neighborhood restaurant the last week he was in Sofia and the bill was 28 leva total.  We each had salad, dinner, a drink and we shared a large bottle of water.  A bill in dollars (28) for this much food would be nearly unimaginable in the States and this bill was in leva!  (Oh and most places you can get a 500ml beer for 2 leva or about $1.50.)<!--more--></li>\n	<li>The coffee is cheaper and better in most cafes than it is in Starbucks! Take that Starbucks.  But for those of you who may think that Sofia isn\'t a very developed city we currently have not one but two Starbucks.  Yes, two!!) How many does Budapest have? (Answer: as of January when I was visiting none.)</li>\n	<li>This is the land of the banitsa. The Banitsa.  This is an amazing snack (or meal) any time of the day and they are sold almost everywhere.  You can\'t come to Sofia and not eat one.  I think they ask you at passport control about whether or not you ate one.... Okay, I made that up but there\'s really no reason to come to Bulgaria and not try the banitsa.  The same goes for the shopksa salad.</li>\n	<li>The nightlife.  In Sofia, the people never stop dancing and partying.  I know that this is a stereotype for residents of the Balkans but there\'s something to it.  It\'s almost like the Sofians are super human.  It would be easy to dance on a weekend well past 5 am.  If you come to visit me, don\'t expect that I can stay up much past 3am.  Apparently, I\'ve been too well trained after living in Washington DC for five years where all of the bars close at 3am.</li>\n	<li>By day you can explore the vestiges of life under communism.  There are lots of crumbling monuments to check out, the sidewalks don\'t seem to have been repaired since the fall of 1989 and there are a number outdoor stalls selling communist inspired trinkets.</li>\n	<li>The best place to look for these trinkets is out side of the Alexander Nevski Cathedral.  The Cathedral is impressive and I think it\'s a must for anyone visiting Sofia even for a day.  Also in the basement is the Crypt which houses a bunch of great icons.  I know, I know--lots of people say once you\'ve seen one icon you\'ve seen them all but I have to tell you that\'s not true.  The crypt has a wide range of icons from all over Bulgaria and their collection gives you a sense of the different styles and development of the art over the centuries.</li>\n	<li>If you\'re staying in the city center (hint, hint with me), then most everything you\'d want to see is incredibly walkable.  Oh and your tour guide (again, that\'s me) knows enough Bulgarian to ask for directions and order in restaurants!</li>\n	<li>Bulgaria is the only country in the EU that shakes their heads \"no\"  (American style) to say yes and \"yes\" to say no.  Think about that.</li>\n	<li>Buying Bulgarian pottery at the Women\'s Market.  The pottery is beautiful and comes in a range of different shapes and sizes.  There\'s something for everyone.  And if pottery isn\'t your thing there are also plenty of fresh fruits and vegetable to pick from.  Oh and shoes, nuts, jeans, wine, underwear and more....</li>\n</ol>\nHere in ends my top 11 awesome things about Sofia, Bulgaria.  Please feel free to add other things you like to do in Sofia in the comment section.','Expecting a Visitor!','','publish','open','open','','expecting-a-visitor','','','2009-03-05 20:45:32','2009-03-05 17:45:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=737',0,'post','',7),(739,1,'2009-03-06 16:25:42','2009-03-06 13:25:42','It turns out, I don\'t need my alarm clock anymore! Every morning this week I\'ve been woken up by the same car alarm.  Sweet. Urban living in Sofia, Bulgaria.\n\nYou might be wondering how I know it\'s the same car alarm.  Well, it goes through a seemingly never ending pattern of noise.  It\'s kind of like a metronome--it starts off slow and low and then it gets increasing louder and faster.  At first, I told myself: you can sleep through it but the way the alarm cycles through the pattern it\'s impossible to when it\'s on the high loud frequency.\n\nIt\'s like hitting snooze.  You know you\'ve only got a few minutes of interrupted sleep before the alarm goes off again and you have to decided whether or not to hit snooze again.\n\nThe one problem with relying on this car alarm as an alarm clock is that it\'s not very reliable. <!--more--> This morning it was going off about 7:30 am but yesterday it was more like a little after 8.  I guess for those of us who don\'t have a lot of early morning commitments it\'s okay but it\'s not very reliable.\n\nThis morning the alarm went off for nearly 15 minutes.  After the first five minutes, I decided that the alarm was obnoxious.  Ten minutes later I wished I knew what car was making such a horrible noise so that I could throw something at it.  I can\'t remember exactly when the alarm stopped blaring because just like after a loud concert I think my ears continued ringing long after the alarm had been turned off.\n\nThe thing is, looking at the cars on my street, it\'s hard to imagine which one of the cars has such an obnoxious alarm.  It\'s not as if any of the cars are new or in fact appear very valuable (but for the record, I am not a car person and I guess value is all in the eye of the beholder).\n\nSo this got me thinking, what kind of a person picks the worst, absolutely the worst alarm for their car and then apparently can never hear it to turn it off? I think it\'s the same person who picks the most current pop song from the top twenty charts and sets this as his ring tone on his cell phone. Of course no matter where this person is, he has his phone on--restaurant, cinema, bar--but he never hears it ringing thus forcing the rest of us to listen to his crappy pop song.\n\nThe thing that really gets me is this. I assume that you picked this song because you liked it. If you this were true, wouldn\'t you recognize it as the song you liked enough to download as your ring tone and answer your phone when you heard it?\n\nSo when you don\'t answer your phone there are only a few things I can assume.\n<ul>\n	<li>First that you downloaded the song to show off your good taste in pop music and to signal to others that you are hip, cool and current.  However when you don\'t recognize the fact your phone is ringing it signals to me that you are none of these things.</li>\n	<li>Second, I assume that you actually like the song and want to listen to as much of it as possible so you are delaying answering the phone.  If this is true, it just makes you a pain.  I don\'t want to listen to your ring tone.  Answer your phone.</li>\n	<li>Finally, when your phone rings and rings playing the same bad song over and over I am lead to believe that downloading a pop-song ringtone was a bad idea.  The problem it seems is that if a song isn\'t good to start with making it into a ringtone, downloading it to your phone and then putting the phone in your pocket in hope that you will hear it ring will never make the pop song better.  In fact, the song playing from you pocket on your phone is now at least 10-15 times worse than when it\'s playing on the radio or in a club.</li>\n</ul>\nSo in conclusion, I think that the guy with the horrible car alarm who lives on my street must also be the same guy who downloads top 20 pop ringtones for his cellphone.  The one thing I am immensely thankful for is the fact that you can\'t download top 20 pop ringtones for your car alarm.  That, that would be my worst nightmare.\n\n(Now that I\'ve completed my rant, I would like to say I am not an unreasonable person.  I do understand why so many cars have alarms here in Bulgaria.  We have a little problem with car theft and a car alarm is a pretty good deterrent but not a foolproof one. I know this based on my knowledge of car theft rings--which comes straight from American blockbuster movies.  Specifically, if a car thief wants your car badly enough not even a car alarm will stop him.  See Vin Diesel.)','Oh Car Alarms and Top-20 Pop Ringtones','','publish','open','open','','oh-car-alarms-and-top-20-pop-ringtones','','','2009-03-06 16:25:42','2009-03-06 13:25:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=739',0,'post','',3),(742,1,'2009-03-07 11:07:03','2009-03-07 08:07:03','','Garbage','Hum.  Look at this.  Garbage, Garbage everywhere!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05734','','','2009-03-07 11:07:03','2009-03-07 08:07:03','',741,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05734.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(741,1,'2009-03-07 11:49:26','2009-03-07 08:49:26','We seem to have a problem with garbage collection.  See picture:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_742\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Hum.  Look at this.  Garbage, Garbage everywhere! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-742\" title=\"Garbage \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05734.jpg\" alt=\"Hum.  Look at this.  Garbage, Garbage everywhere! \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nI noticed that most of our garbage cans are overflowing in downtown Sofia.  It seems like it\'s becoming a problem. Apparently, though the Mayor Borisov says that the <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=101636\" target=\"_blank\">capital Sofia faces no garbage crisis</a>.  Really? It must just be me then.','Garbage Man Where are You?','','publish','open','open','','garbage-man-where-are-you','','','2009-03-07 11:49:26','2009-03-07 08:49:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=741',0,'post','',1),(746,1,'2009-03-08 22:43:38','2009-03-08 19:43:38','','CAE at presidents','Me in front of the Presidency','inherit','open','open','','p1010813','','','2009-03-08 22:43:38','2009-03-08 19:43:38','',745,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/p1010813.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(745,1,'2009-03-08 23:43:37','2009-03-08 20:43:37','I\'ve been playing at being a tourist all weekend.  It\'s great.  First, I love taking pictures of things and it\'s lots easier not to feel dumb when you\'re clearly a tourist and second, I\'ve been able to surprise a number of waiters and what not with my Bulgarian and I like seeing the looks on their faces when I use Bulgarian.  Got-ya!\n\nBy far the best picture of the weekend is this one:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_746\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in front of the Presidency\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-746\" title=\"CAE at presidents \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/p1010813.jpg\" alt=\"Me in front of the Presidency\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s priceless.  Check out the guard\'s face.  He\'s clearly seen this before and isn\'t amused.  Oh well.   The picture was taken in front of the President\'s Office.  The building isn\'t very interesting.  Drab might be the best word to describe it.  The guards aren\'t much more interesting. <!--more--> They are wearing <a href=\"http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ruritanian\" target=\"_blank\">Ruritanian uniforms</a> (at least that\'s according to my Lonely Planet guide book).  I am told that on the hour (or maybe every 30 minutes) there\'s a changing of the guard--I guess it\'s impressive but it didn\'t look like it was going to be much when we went by.  Oh and for the record, we didn\'t stick around to watch after I made a fool of myself.\n\nWe tried to go to the Ethnographical Museum (Battenberg 1) but it\'s closed for remodeling (well the sign said \"Techical Reasons\"-- so, I am doing some interpreting).  Too bad. The sign gave no indication of when the museum would reopen.\n\nIt turns out this museum shares the same building as the National Art Gallery (Battenberg 1).  When you approach the building based on the signage outside it looks like you have to use the left hand door and staircase for the National Art Gallery and the right hand door and staircase for the Ethnographical Museum.  Turns out though that only one door opens and both doors (if they worked) would empty you into the same lobby.  The woman working at the ticket desk for the National Art Gallery (left hand side) spoke enough English to tell us the Ethnographical Museum was closed.  That was nice.\n\nWe decided not to go to the National Art Gallery--Lonely Planet describes it as disappointing.  Instead we went to Toba &amp; Co.  It\'s a great cafe/bar on the back side of the museums--I would have never know it was there but luckily I\'d been twice before with Bulgarian friends.  This time, we had coffees, chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere.  I have to say, after having gone to this cafe three different times, it\'s a really great place.  I\'ve been on a summer afternoon and sat outside, I\'ve been once in the evening for cocktails and dancing, and today we escaped the light rain and had a quiet coffee.  There\'re not a lot of places in Sofia that can multi-task quite like this.\n\nOn our walk home, we passed by the National Theater.  And then browsed through the isles of my neighborhood grocery store so that my cousin could compare the wares between Sofia and Moscow.  I think Sofia did pretty well.  I bought her 1 liter of Boza for .55 leva.  I hope she likes it.  (Oh and for those of you who know what this drink is--don\'t worry I plan on capaturing her face on camera when she tries the boza for the first time!)','Playing at Tourist','','publish','open','open','','playing-at-tourist','','','2009-03-08 23:43:37','2009-03-08 20:43:37','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=745',0,'post','',1),(750,1,'2009-03-10 15:07:36','2009-03-10 12:07:36','','dsc05660','','inherit','open','open','','dsc05660','','','2009-03-10 15:07:36','2009-03-10 12:07:36','',749,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05660.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(751,1,'2009-03-10 15:08:37','2009-03-10 12:08:37','','Boza','The drink Boza.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05798','','','2009-03-10 15:08:37','2009-03-10 12:08:37','',749,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05798.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(752,1,'2009-03-10 15:13:34','2009-03-10 12:13:34','','Boza face','My cousin trying Boza for the first time!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05804','','','2009-03-10 15:13:34','2009-03-10 12:13:34','',749,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05804.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(749,1,'2009-03-10 15:21:46','2009-03-10 12:21:46','[caption id=\"attachment_751\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"The drink Boza. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-751\" title=\"Boza \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05798.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"The drink Boza. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nBoza is a strange fermented wheat drink that you can find in almost every grocery store.  Very often you can also find it in Bantitsa shops.  I tried it once in August.  I didn\'t love it.  Actually I thought: holy smokes, people actually drink this stuff!?!\n\nBut my cousin is here visiting me and I am trying to give her a Bulgarian experience so I bought a bottle of it.  Thus far, we\'ve had shopska salad, shepard\'s salad, kebapche and kyufte, bantitsa, street pizza, frech fries with sirene cheese, and snezanka salad.  Today, I made her drink boza.\n\nThe thing about this drink is that it\'s slightly fermented and made out of wheat.  It\'s not alcoholic but it is really, really thick.  Texture-wise, it\'s kind of like drinking a yogurt smoothy in the States.  The flavor however is uncompareable.  <!--more-->\n\nWhat makes this drink kind of  strange is the conistency, the flavor and the color.  I guess the people could say the same thing about egg nog.  But just to be clear this drink does not taste anything like egg nog.  However, maybe a big spash of whisky would make the Boza more palitable.\n\nThe best part of this experience is this:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_752\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My cousin trying Boza for the first time! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-752\" title=\"Boza face \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05804.jpg\" alt=\"My cousin trying Boza for the first time! \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThis is her Boza-Face.  I couldn\'t help but laughing and laughing.  Lucky for me she\'s a good sport and is up for trying anything.  She didn\'t finish her Boza but then again, neither did I.  I have a hunch that she\'s not going to take up Boza drinking.\n\nAfter lunch, I did something I hate.  I threw out the nearly full bottle.  I bought the 1 liter bottle two days ago for .55 leva. This is next to nothing but I still hate not finishing things.  Only I knew that I would never finish this bottle.  Sorry Boza.','Drinking Boza','','publish','open','open','','drinking-boza','','','2009-03-10 15:21:46','2009-03-10 12:21:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=749',0,'post','',35),(758,1,'2009-03-11 19:36:57','2009-03-11 16:36:57','','Cookies','Bag of Cookies','inherit','open','open','','dsc05807','','','2009-03-11 19:36:57','2009-03-11 16:36:57','',757,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05807.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(759,1,'2009-03-11 19:43:54','2009-03-11 16:43:54','','Cookies 2','Kisses.','inherit','open','open','','dsc05808','','','2009-03-11 19:43:54','2009-03-11 16:43:54','',757,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05808.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(757,1,'2009-03-11 19:45:39','2009-03-11 16:45:39','I bought this bag of cookies at the store this past week:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_758\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Bag of Cookies \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-758\" title=\"Cookies \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05807.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Bag of Cookies \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIn the States we\'d called these cookies meringues.  Here in Bulgaria, these cookies are called целувки or Kisses:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_759\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kisses. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-759\" title=\"Cookies 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05808.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Kisses. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThere\'s something so sweet about that.','Kisses or целувки','','publish','open','open','','kisses-or-%d1%86%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%83%d0%b2%d0%ba%d0%b8','','','2009-03-11 19:45:39','2009-03-11 16:45:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=757',0,'post','',3),(762,1,'2009-03-12 15:06:10','2009-03-12 12:06:10','I went to Happy Bar &amp; Grill for the first time in Sofia.  It\'s like an Apple Bee\'s Restaurant in the States.  I\'ve walked by it a hundred times but I\'ve never been in.  It seems kind of like an American traveling abroad and then eating at McDonalds or KFC.\n\nTurns out though, I had a great time and the food wasn \'t bad either.    There\'s a good selection of salads, potato dishes, main meals including chicken, pizza, pasta, a smattering of Chinese inspired dishes, a sushi menu and dessert.  The menu I had was in Bulgaria, although I am sure they have English menus as well, so I read the names of the dishes and looked at the pictures.\n\nEvery dish has a picture.  So I kind of felt like I was ordering off the kids menu.  Anyhow, by the time I was eating dinner last night, I was really hungry.  Normally what I would do if I was this hungry would be to order something that I know already I like.  But this was my first time to the restaurant so instead I ordered food with the name Happy in it.<!--more-->\n\nThis means I had the Happy salad and the Happy Potatoes.  And guess what? I was very happy with this decision.\n\nThere seemed to be a lot of other good choices on the menu but it\'s hard to make a good decision when you\'re hungry.  Sometimes, I think that I am not making the best choices when my tummy is growling but this time I was very satisfied.  The Happy Salad had tomatoes, lettuce, boiled potato, chopped egg, peas, and slices of ham wrapped around serine cheese--oh and a creamy dressing.  Now that I write out the ingredients maybe it sounds a little bit weird but I thought it was great.  I also had the Happy potatoes.  These were basically jo-jos--potato wedges with spices on the outside.\n\nI would like to think that the salad balanced out the potatoes but I am willing to bet that my mother--the nutritionist--would disagree.  Still I was happy and had more than enough food to eat. So there are no complaints on my end.\n\nWell aside from the fact that the girls who were working as waitresses were all wearing the same tiny skirts with little slits up the front and matching shirts.  There\'s something so demeaning about that.  I thought wearing a vest with lots of silly pins and buttons was bad but this it seems to me is even worse.  You can check out their outfits <a href=\"http://www.happy.bg/\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.\n\nThe one strange thing that happened to me last night was that in the middle of dinner a Bulgarian girl stepped on my foot.  She was climbing out of a booth behind me (but not very close to the table I was sitting at) and tripped a little bit because of this she ended up stepping on my foot.  I was fine and she was fine but she looked at me, I looked at her and without skipping a beat she apologized in English.\n\nWowa.  She was clearly a Bulgarian.  Okay, maybe she heard me speaking English earlier but still, it was very weird and totally unexpected to hear her apologize in English.  Tripping and stepping on someone happens so fast that if it were me I thing I would have been so embarrassed by it that I would end up apologizing in my first language.  She however, apparently tripped, looked at me and in that split second decided to apologize in English.\n\nIt makes me jealous how quickly second languages come to other people.\n\nAll in all it was like stepping into a restaurant in the States.  The walls were decorated in the same way, the music was from the pop charts, and the food was starchy and fried.  The only difference was that nearly everyone else was speaking Bulgarian and like most restaurants our food came out at different times.  I don\'t think this restaurant will become a mainstay of mine but it was great fun and a little bit surreal last night.','Happy Bar &amp; Grill','','publish','open','open','','happy-bar-grill','','','2009-03-12 15:06:10','2009-03-12 12:06:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=762',0,'post','',5),(770,1,'2009-03-14 01:52:23','2009-03-13 22:52:23','Well, I am off to Berlin.  I\'ve got an early morning flight.  I should be in Germany by 9am and in the city center proper by 11am! Yeah.\n\nThe Fulbright commission in Sofia is sending me to the conference.  I am looking forward to it.  In part it\'s celebrating the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Wowa.  It seems like it must have been longer ago than that but it\'s not.  I  didn\'t really get what it meant then but after living here for seven months it\'s become real to me in ways I never could have imagined as a child watching the wall be torn down on television a world away.\n\nSo what does this mean for me? Well, I get to spend five days in Berlin and you may or may not get to read about it.  I am not sure how much time I\'ll have to post from the conference.  I plan to see as much of Berlin as I can and to eat as many doener kebabs and currywursts as possible while washing these down with copious amounts of German beer.\n\nAnd what does this mean for you? Well, I hope to have time to document my adventures on my blog but we\'ll see.  It may just have to wait.','Ich bin ein Berliner','','publish','open','open','','ich-bin-ein-berliner','','','2009-03-14 01:52:23','2009-03-13 22:52:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=770',0,'post','',1),(775,1,'2009-03-16 14:18:09','2009-03-16 11:18:09','','CAE in Berlin','Me in Germany!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05909','','','2009-03-16 14:18:09','2009-03-16 11:18:09','',773,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05909.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(773,1,'2009-03-16 14:18:47','2009-03-16 11:18:47','[caption id=\"attachment_775\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in Germany! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-775\" title=\"CAE in Berlin \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05909.jpg\" alt=\"Me in Germany! \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nThe conference is off to a great start.  Everyone is very interesting and the tours and welcome dinner we had last night were a great way to get to know people and to see Berlin.\n\nI am struck by the range of different people here.  There are recent college graduates, middle to late twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings and event Fulbright faculty members.  This mix seems to give a lot of energy to the events.\n\nOne of the best things so far is being able to talk to different people about their projects and their life in country.  The conference has American Fulbrighters from all over Europe.  I think that there are something like 17 different countries being represented here in Berlin.  Wow.\nThe conference schedule is pretty intense and right now I am paying to use the hotel internet (paying way too much I think).  But after a long walk around this morning trying a couple of different places and buying a couple of coffees I couldn\'t get any of the \"free\" internet to work.  So now I am hopped up on caffeine, writing a quick post and soon I\'ll be heading out to meet my friends who are doing touristy things while I cancel the class at Sofia University that I thought I had a friend lined up to teach... long story.\n\nAnyhow, my students will be happy not to have class, I\'ll be happy not to worry about it and to be able to enjoy the next three days in Berlin.  I\'d really forgotten what a wonderful city this is.','Berlin Fulbright Conference','','publish','open','open','','berlin-fulbright-conference','','','2009-03-16 14:18:47','2009-03-16 11:18:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=773',0,'post','',0),(778,1,'2009-03-20 12:43:17','2009-03-20 09:43:17','','CAE and Bike','Me and my bike \"Billy Holly\"','inherit','open','open','','dsc06078','','','2009-03-20 12:43:17','2009-03-20 09:43:17','',777,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06078.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(779,1,'2009-03-20 12:52:45','2009-03-20 09:52:45','','Brandenburg Gate','Three Bulgarian Fulbrighters at the Brandenburg Gate','inherit','open','open','','dsc06096','','','2009-03-20 12:52:45','2009-03-20 09:52:45','',777,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06096.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(780,1,'2009-03-20 13:04:22','2009-03-20 10:04:22','','CAE and the Wall','The Berlin Wall on my bike tour','inherit','open','open','','dsc06113','','','2009-03-20 13:04:22','2009-03-20 10:04:22','',777,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06113.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(777,1,'2009-03-20 13:48:00','2009-03-20 10:48:00','One of the most fun things I did in Berlin during the Fulbright Conference was to rent bikes with my two fellow Fulbrighters from Bulgaria and to ride around Berlin. There was a bike rental shop near our hotel on Alexanderplatz and we were able to rent our bikes for three hours for only 6 Euros.  The bikes were in great shape and I had so much fun riding around.  So much fun.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_778\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and my bike &quot;Billy Holly&quot;\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-778\" title=\"CAE and Bike \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06078.jpg\" alt=\"Me and my bike &quot;Billy Holly&quot;\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nWe didn\'t take an organized tour but instead traced a route through the city that let us ride down Unter den Linden, past the Holocaust memorial, past the remaining chunk of the Berlin wall, through Checkpoint Charlie and in and out of a number of interesting neighborhoods.  The was ideal for us because all of us had been in and around Berlin for the previous couple of days.  It allowed us to cruse through the city on our bikes and stop when we wanted a closer look at things but we didn\'t have to stop every where.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_779\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Three Bulgarian Fulbrighters at the Brandenburg Gate\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-779\" title=\"Brandenburg Gate\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06096.jpg\" alt=\"Three Bulgarian Fulbrighters at the Brandenburg Gate\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nI asked a German girl to take our photo at the Brandenburg Gate.  It seemed like the perfect picture to mark our time in Berlin.  She was happy to take the photo.  I knew however that I was in Germany when the girl gave me back my camera and told us to have a great afternoon.  She was both nice and friendly in a way that I am not accustomed to after living in Eastern Europe.\n\nBut really, how could we not have a great day? Look at how beautiful it was.  The sun was out, there wasn\'t a cloud in sight and we were riding bikes through Berlin.  Okay, it was fairly windy but it was still great.\n\nI haven\'t really ridden a bike in years. Luckily for me, Berlin is an incredibly bike friendly city.  After seven months in Sofia,  I was shocked by the divers in the city.  They gave both walkers and bike riders the right of way.  And, there are large designated bike paths.  It kind of felt like I was riding my bike in a fairytale.\n\nAll afternoon, I found myself thinking: long term, I need to live in a city where I can ride my bike around.  That city doesn\'t seem to be Sofia and it may not be many cities in the States.  Riding around the only city, I could think of in the States was Portland, Oregon.  I am sure there are other good bike riding cities in the States I just couldn\'t think of any of them.  Oh and there are certainly great bike riding cities all over Europe--I just don\'t happen to live in one this year.\n\nAs I said earlier, riding my bike around the city felt at times kind of like a fairytale.  The streets are wide and clean, the traffic is routine and the city feels well ordered.  But it certainly hasn\'t always been this way.  Berlin was a divided city and still there are signs of this.  Parts of the Berlin Wall remain to remind of this.  It\'s only been 20 years since the wall came down.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_780\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Berlin Wall on my bike tour\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-780\" title=\"CAE and the Wall \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06113.jpg\" alt=\"The Berlin Wall on my bike tour\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve seen the wall the before.  But this time it meant more.  It was incredibly powerful to me even though today there\'s not much of it standing. This wall was torn down at the end of 1989.  I watched it on tv--this reunification of East and West Germany but at 8 years old I didn\'t know what it meant for the rest of Eastern Europe.  Hell, I am not even sure I knew what was at stake for the countries of Eastern Europe (or the names of those countries).\n\nNow I am living in one of those countries, Bulgaria, and we talk about the years following the fall of Berlin Wall as \"the change.\"  There was no physical wall to take a hammer to here; there was no reunification to celebrate.  There was just the abrupt end of communism and the complicated, messy process of democratization to undertake.  Shortly after the change in Bulgaria inflation soared, the country was faced with a severe food shortage and war broke out in neighboring countries.\n\nToday, the wall stands in Berlin crumbling, a relic and a reminder, but standing in front of the wall looking at the concrete and rebar that made the wall, I was reminded of the way my own city, Sofia, is exposed and crumbling.  My perspective has changed.  The wall didn\'t seem as big to me as it did the first time I stood in front of it five years ago.  It wasn\'t as powerful as it had been when I looked on it originally.\n\nI think that my time in Sofia numbed these feelings.  The wall came down in Berlin and Germany became one.  I know that this transition wasn\'t easy or seamless but Eastern German was taken in.  Integrated.  It was different here in Bulgaria and Sofia still bears the marks of this transition.  One day it was and the next it wasn\'t; only there wasn\'t a wall to take down.\n\nStanding at the wall this second time, it was clear to me how important the symbolism of fallen wall was for the Germans.  It is a point to move on from, a touch stone to look back to, a marker of history and the distance the city and country has come since 1989.  It made me wonder: how do we mark the passage of time here in Sofia? and what walls have we torn down or do we still need to?','Berlin Bike Tour','','publish','open','open','','berlin-bike-tour','','','2009-03-20 13:48:00','2009-03-20 10:48:00','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=777',0,'post','',4),(785,1,'2009-03-23 13:43:30','2009-03-23 10:43:30','','CAE church','CAE in front of Kaiser Wihelm Memorial Church','inherit','open','open','','dsc06151','','','2009-03-23 13:43:30','2009-03-23 10:43:30','',784,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06151.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(786,1,'2009-03-23 13:52:24','2009-03-23 10:52:24','','Charlottenburg Palace','Beautiful Charlottenburg Palace','inherit','open','open','','dsc06164','','','2009-03-23 13:52:24','2009-03-23 10:52:24','',784,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06164.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(787,1,'2009-03-23 13:56:49','2009-03-23 10:56:49','','Old and New','Mix of the old and the new in Berlin','inherit','open','open','','dsc05956','','','2009-03-23 13:56:49','2009-03-23 10:56:49','',784,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05956.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(784,1,'2009-03-23 14:03:23','2009-03-23 11:03:23','[caption id=\"attachment_785\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"CAE in front of Kaiser Wihelm Memorial Church\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-785\" title=\"CAE church \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06151.jpg\" alt=\"CAE in front of Kaiser Wihelm Memorial Church\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nI am back in Sofia now.  I loved Berlin and had a wonderful time there.  I\'ve had a lot of Bulgarians ask me: do you like Berlin or Sofia better.  That\'s an impossible question.  It seems to me that the two really aren\'t comparable.  Both cities are unique but they feel completely different.  Berlin it seems is a city that has been recreated both after World War II and after the wall came down.  Sofia on the other hand is a city that seems to have growing pains.  This city seems to have grown in starts and fits.  <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_787\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mix of the old and the new in Berlin \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-787\" title=\"Old and New\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05956.jpg\" alt=\"Mix of the old and the new in Berlin \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nI wont ever be able to say which I city I like more.  I think that Berlin has been well planed and the old and new meet in interesting and creative ways.  This doesn\'t seem to happen in the same ways in Sofia. Maybe because it takes money and planning--two things that Sofia never seems to have enough of.\n\nA Bulgarian friend asked me what I though of Berlin.  I wrote to her: I loved being in Berlin but it feels so contained and clean. Everything is just so--sterile. And here in Sofia there\'s a lot more energy--both good and bad--but there\'s more energy and life here and that\'s exciting.\n\nI came back to Sofia and was greeted with snow.  That made me long for the afternoon I spent riding my bike in Berlin but other than this, I am happy to be back.  This is, for better or worse, my city.\n\nOh and keep an eye out, I am going to upload a bunch of Berlin photos to my Flickr account this week. You\'ll be able to view them through the feed on the right.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_786\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Beautiful Charlottenburg Palace \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-786\" title=\"Charlottenburg Palace \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc06164.jpg\" alt=\"Beautiful Charlottenburg Palace \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]','Berlin Part II','','publish','open','open','','berlin-part-ii','','','2009-03-23 14:03:23','2009-03-23 11:03:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=784',0,'post','',0),(792,1,'2009-03-25 22:17:52','2009-03-25 19:17:52','','My Feet','My shoes on the street!','inherit','open','open','','dsc05889','','','2009-03-25 22:17:52','2009-03-25 19:17:52','',790,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05889.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(790,1,'2009-03-25 22:22:18','2009-03-25 19:22:18','[caption id=\"attachment_792\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"My shoes on the street!\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-792\" title=\"My Feet \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/dsc05889.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"My shoes on the street!\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve seen a lot of funny things recently.  Apparently when the weather is crazy the people are just as awesome.  So this post is a quick look at the funny, unexpected, strange and wonderful things that I\'ve seen when I\'ve been out and about--when I\'ve been hitting the streets.\n\nHere in Bulgaria, people say the March is a woman\'s month.  This is because women are moody, fickle and change their minds easily and March is apparently the same.  (Um, this doesn\'t just describe women or the month of March but that\'s another story.  Feminists haven\'t really taken a foothold here in Bulgaria.)\n\nMarch has however been full of surprises.  It\'s snowed a number of different times.  Only it doesn\'t stick.  It just snows enough to be annoying.  Like this morning when I woke up to snow flurries.  What? It\'s March 25th and it\'s snowing?! Well, it turns out that the snow just stuck to the cars and in turn made a wet mushy mess on the sidewalks.  We seem to be stuck in some limbo between winter and spring.  (Is this was Narnia was like?!)<!--more-->\n\nSo, yesterday on my way to school, I was crossing a street with tram lines--Graf Ignatif--and there is a tram coming.  Normally, I\'d cross in front of it but there were trams coming in both directions.  I waited on the curb.  As the tram comes towards me it\'s slowing down.  This is weird because there\'s no stop on the corner I was standing on.  The tram comes to a stop a few feet away from me. And, the lady tram driver hops out of the tram to use the ATM.\n\nApparently there are no other ATMs on either end of her route.  She\'s got to use this one.  What was the most interesting is that everyone on the tram just sat there and watched her.  I wished I\'d had my camera with me.  No such luck. Too bad.\n\nThen today, walking home from a meeting I see this guy with a baseball hat on.  This caught my eye because I don\'t see a lot of baseball caps here in Sofia.  (Believe it or not, most Bulgarians think that baseball is pretty boring. ) I am walking behind this guy and the closer I get to him it looks like he has something back on the back of his head.  I catch up to him at the corner and realize that he\'s completely bald and centered perfectly in the back of the baseball cap where there\'s the semi-circle gap he has a tattoo.  A barcode tattoo.\n\nHe turns and I walk straight.  For the next five or so blocks, I can\'t stop wondering: how do you choose which barcode to get tattooed on your head?  Maybe it\'s the barcode off your favorite box of cereal, a favorite cd, a product you created and made millions on, or maybe it\'s a code for your health record.  Then I spent a little bit of time wondering if it actually scans at the grocery store.  That would be pretty cool.  Here\'s to you, barcode-guy! Thanks for keeping me occupied for most of my walk home.\n\nThe final thing is kind of funny and kind of sad.  I think that my neighborhood is engaged in a street-dog turf war.  Garbage pick up has been only so-so recently.  Sometimes it gets picked up and sometimes it doesn\'t.  I am told there\'s a fight going on about the garbage--the city\'s breaking up a monopoly or something.  What this means in practice is that the garbage is overflowing the bins and at least once a week, when I take my garbage out, I have to put it next to the bin because there\'s no room in the bin.  As a result, the street-dogs are very happy to nose through the garbage on the street.\n\nIn fact, the dogs in my neighborhood it seems are well fed.  Lucky dogs.  But then about a week ago, I noticed that there were more dogs than there used to be, that some of the dogs were missing chunks of fur or bloody and at night I was hearing lots more barking and fighting than normal.  Poor dogs.  They seem to be fighting over their territory and the garbage. I don\'t really even like animals and I feel bad for these dogs.  It\'s no way to live--fighting over garbage and living on the streets.\n\nI can only hope that next week when the month of March comes to a close that all of the the craziness will have been worked out.','Trams, tattoos and other well stuff','','publish','open','open','','trams-tattoos-and-other-well-stuff','','','2009-03-25 22:22:18','2009-03-25 19:22:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=790',0,'post','',6),(795,1,'2009-03-26 22:51:31','2009-03-26 19:51:31','Wow.  Spring break is right around the corner and I couldn\'t be happier.  I have a Fulbrighter coming to visit me for the week and after we do some touring and shopping in Sofia we are heading to Istanbul to do some more shopping, sight seeing and eating.\n\nThe weather seems to be vacillating between spring and winter so I am sincerely hoping that the weather shapes up for my friend\'s visit.  (Hey, Baba Marta: I\'ve been wearing my martinetsas for three plus weeks now.  That\'s got to count for something!)  Or if not in Bulgaria, I can only hope that we get beautiful weather in Turkey.  I understand that we\'re heading to Istanbul right before the big tourist season starts so I guess that even if the weather isn\'t perfect at least we\'ll get to explore the city in the relative off season.\n\nThe funny thing is, I\'ve never been on \"spring break.\"  I spent four years in college and then worked at a university for four more and I\'ve never partied it up on a beach, backpacked through part of Europe or even spent the week hanging out with friends.  Now don\'t get me wrong, this isn\'t a woe is me kind of story.  I am just stating this because now for the first time in my life everything seems to have come together--the time, the money and the location--for me to spend part of my spring break exploring a new town with an old friend. And that seems pretty great to me. Oh and it doesn\'t hurt that it\'s Istanbul.<!--more-->\n\nToday during a teachers\' party after school, one of my teacher friends asked me what I was doing for the break.  I told her the basics.  She told me that I\'d have a great time but that the Turkish men would love me.  Please let the record state that I am suspicious when ever anyone makes a sweeping statement like this.  It turns on a bell in my head that says: oh yeah?! and the voice is dripping in sarcasm and disbelief.\n\nThe teacher friend follows this broadly sweeping comment with more specifics as if to make or reinforce her point.  Alright, I listen but I am not sure that she\'s going to really sell me on this.  I have a hunch that her point will rest on the blondness of my hair and the fairness of my skin.  This seems to be very obvious to people here in Bulgaria and they also generally like to point it out to me.  As if I might not have noticed how much blonder and fairer I am than most people in this country.\n\nWell it turns out that my teacher friend catches me off guard and I nearly spit half a Bulgarian meatball out on her when she tells me: Turkish men love women like you.  Blond, blue eyed, chubby.  What?! Okay, at this point, I am not sure what the appropriate response is.  So I ignore the chubby comment--I know I am not the thinnest girl in the room and I guess I should be happy that I\'ve just been called chubby rather than something else but now I can\'t get chubby fat baby wrists out of my mind (which is something that I like a lot but do not have).\n\nAs a result, I end up saying to my teacher friend: oh, don\'t worry the friend I am going will has really dark hair, skin and eyes.  She looked at me as if to say to me: I don\'t know what your judgment could be like given how fair you are.  And frankly she\'s right.  My friend isn\'t really very dark haired and neither are her eyes or skin.  She\'s Italian American.  She just darker than I am and I didn\'t know what else to say.\n\nSo, that\'s that.  I am going to Istanbul for spring break and I am really looking forward to it.  Oh and I\'ve been spending lots of time walking around and singing that song to myself, \"<a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vankaSlfSr0&amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">Istanbul not Constantinople</a>.\" I know it\'s horrible and I shouldn\'t really be singing this song but, well, I can\'t help it.  It is pretty catchy.  Hey at least I know: that Istanbul is Constantinople so if you\'ve got a date in Constantinople, she\'ll be waiting in Istanbul.','Spring Break in Istanbul','','publish','open','open','','spring-break-in-istanbul','','','2009-03-26 22:51:31','2009-03-26 19:51:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=795',0,'post','',3),(799,1,'2009-03-30 16:46:29','2009-03-30 13:46:29','This weekend I was told by one of my new friends and blog reader Emi (hi!) that based on my blog she didn\'t think that I was into or interested in shopping.  Really?! Because I love shopping.  I love finding a deal, a bargain or something on sale.  I am always hunting for something unique, something to set me apart from the crowd.  So I was surprised to hear her say that she didn\'t think I liked shopping.\n\nI assured her that in fact I love shopping and after our coffee we walked around and popped into a couple of shoe stores and then I showed her my new favorite scarf shop.  I am not sure that the shop has a name but it\'s on Graf Ignativ across from Slaveikov Square down a small little alley/walkway.  There\'s a mannequin at the corner of the walk way wearing a scarf and maybe 50 feet in on the right is the shop.  <!--more-->\n\nThe shop owner doesn\'t speak English but her prices are great and she is extremely friendly.  She told my friend that she used to be a ballerina and looking at her this doesn\'t surprise me one bit.  I guess now I\'ve got to admit that I found the shop on Thursday afternoon then I took a guy friend on Friday and I was back again on Saturday.  This might make me obsessed with the shop or it might just make me a regular.  The shop owner greats me each time with an even nicer smile and greeting--something that is relatively uncommon here in Bulgaria. I think it\'s because of her warm welcomes, the good selection of scarves and the super prices that I\'ve promised to take many of my other friends there as well.\n\nWhat\'s interesting to me is how much I like this shop.  Sure I like scarfs but there\'s more to it than this.  Even though I don\'t understand half of what this woman says to me she genuinely wants to help you find a scarf.  Some might say that she\'s doing it because she needs the money and it\'s good for sales.  This may be so but what\'s striking is how there\'s never anything forced about making a sale.\n\nThe first time I went in the shop I was by myself and I didn\'t even know that I was looking for a scarf.  I just saw the sign and followed it into the store.  In the store the shop owner was talking to another woman.  She greeted me and continued on in her conversation.  The other woman left.  At this point, I\'d been able to look at a lot of the scarves and was in the process of picking one to buy.  I took the scarf to her and she told me how pretty it was.\n\nNormally this is where she\'d stick it in a bag and tell me how much money I owed.  Instead, she takes the scarf and me outside to show much how much prettier it is outside.  Mind you, I am buying a 4 leva scarf.  That\'s a maximum of $3 and I\'ve clearly already decided to buy it but still she\'s showing me the scarf outside in the sunlight.  This example reveals just how much this woman loves her scarves (and just how inexpensive life in Sofia is).\n\nIn the grand scheme of things, buying a scarf isn\'t that big of a deal but it was a nice change from most of the service that I\'ve received in Bulgarian shops.  I guess on some level it proves that you really don\'t need to know the language to treat someone else well.  And for me the whole experience matters and I like leaving a store and feeling good about my purchase, myself and the way I was treated.\n\nMaybe I am more aware of these things because my parents, who own an antique store,  ingrained this in me when I was growing up or maybe it was taught to me working at a local coffee shop during the summers in college.  Whatever it is, this idea that the whole experience matters and is what brings people back to your shop is a fundamental part of a successful business.  Is this this is in part cultural? Yes, but is it good business practice? I think so.  Am I saying that all Bulgarian shops should change the way they treat customers? No.  To each his own really.  What I am saying is that there are shops that I will gladly return to because I have good memories of my shopping experience there and other stores that I will not return to.','Shopping for a Scarf in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','shopping-for-a-scarf-in-sofia','','','2009-03-30 16:46:29','2009-03-30 13:46:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=799',0,'post','',3),(801,1,'2009-03-31 20:01:35','2009-03-31 17:01:35','There\'s a lot that I like about living in Sofia.  There are somethings that I don\'t love as much (like the fact that after eight months here I still trip on uneven sidewalk tiles).  But this post is about things that I still don\'t really understand:\n<ol>\n	<li>Why doesn\'t my neighborhood grocery store carry the same brands from week to week? And more specifically, why is it that my favorite musli can be on the shelf for three or four weeks and then it will disappear for weeks on end.  At this point, I assume that I\'ll never see it again and that\'s the week say two bags show up on the shelf.  Also, when this happens why don\'t I buy both bags?!</li>\n	<li>What are the drivers thinking who slow down at crosswalks to let me cross?! It seems to me that most drivers see me trying to cross the street and speed up.  Somehow I can\'t help wondering if these well behaved drivers know the \"rules\" here.</li>\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? I know it doesn\'t seem possible but I\'ve never been to the post office when I haven\'t had to stand in line.  The good think about this is that it gives me plenty of time to think about what I am going to say. These women do<em> not</em> speak English.  <!--more--></li>\n	<li>I have no idea how streets or rooms in buildings are numbered.  In Sofia University for example all rooms no matter what floor they are on seem to be two-hundred and something.  Really, how does that help me find the room in the maze of a building that is Sofia University.  So every time I am there I\'m the tall blond girl walking all over the place.  The same goes for many of the streets in Sofia.  We don\'t seem to do the odds on one side of the street an evens on the other side.  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 are all of my 8th graders in to metal (bands I know but have never really bothered listening to)?</li>\n	<li>I used to wonder where all of the bad sweaters I gave my dad each year for Christmas went but now I understand that these somehow end up in thrift stores in Sofia and I occasionally have seen a dAd Dave special out on the streets.  So this mystery has been solved.  How they get here from Walla Walla I am not so clear on.</li>\n	<li>How did mozzarella cheese for pizzas get replaced with the Bulgarian yellow cheese--kashkaval? Sure the colors are similar and the texture is closer than the Bulgarian white cheese--sierne (or Greek feta)--but the flavors are very different and the two cheese melt differently as well.</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.  For example it\'s scheduled to happen in May.  We get off May 1-6th but we\'ve got to make up two days May 4th and 5th on two Saturdays later in May.  So we don\'t really get the 4th and 5th off after all...  I guess the good thing is that least I know this time.</li>\n</ol>\nThere are a few things that I don\'t understand and love.\n<ol>\n	<li>How can a bottle of beer be so big and so cheap? 500 ml and 2 leva.</li>\n	<li>Who is supporting all of the cafes? Man I love a good cup of coffee as much as the next girl and I get one at all times of the day but who are all of these other people? how are the cafes always busy?</li>\n	<li>How is it possible that the babas (grandmothers) that I see struggling to carry home kilos of fruits and veggies are able to eat it all before it goes bad?</li>\n	<li>Why people put up with me when my Bulgarian is so bad.</li>\n	<li>People selling things everywhere from hand shelled walnuts to bras to homemade wine in coke bottles and lots of socks, scarves, umbrellas and flowers.</li>\n	<li>When little kids say to me: I don\'t know the word for it in English and it turns out it\'s for some food or a person\'s name that we don\'t have English.</li>\n	<li>Why everything that\'s homemade tastes better--it\'s like somehow the Bulgarians are able to bake, cook or can sunshine into whatever they\'re making.  Jam, bread, pickled veggies you name it.</li>\n	<li>How can the simple combo of pastry and salty cheese be so amazing (banitsa... not to mention the other options cheese and spinach, cheese and green onion and even pumpkin) but in the States all of our pastries are sweet.   What\'s wrong with us?! Why don\'t we have a savory pastry?</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</ol>\nHope that you get a kick out of these two lists.','Things I Don&#039;t Understand','','publish','open','open','','things-i-dont-understand','','','2009-03-31 20:01:35','2009-03-31 17:01:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=801',0,'post','',51),(806,1,'2009-04-01 16:14:36','2009-04-01 13:14:36','I read in a guidebook before moving to Bulgaria that you could easily see Sofia in a day and then continue on to one of the surrounding countries. (Really!? This is how the guidebook is \"selling Sofia?) That was as you may imagine kind of depressing.  I\'d already made my commitments to the Fulbright and that was that.  I was moving here whether or not you could see Sofia in a day and frankly, now that I am here it\'s clear that a day wouldn\'t do Sofia justice.\n\nI\'ve got a friend coming to visit this weekend--R.  She\'s on a Fulbright too but she\'s living in Hungary. Budapest to be exact. At Christmas, I went to visit R. (and Vienna) and now R.\'s on her way to visit me (and Istanbul).  She told her Hungarian co-workers that I was coming for Christmas and get this, they told her: Oh she\'ll love Budapest after living in Sofia for five months.  (What?!)\n\nOf course what ensued was my friend and I engaging in a long drawn out back and forth (or battle if you will) about which city was better and why.  I told her that Bulgaria is awesome because every time you leave the country you get a stamp in your passport, that the night life is hopping, and there is tons of great shopping.  I can\'t remember what she told me about Budapest because well, Sofia is clearly better (sorry, R.). Oh and at one point at the end of my visit, I started crying after some point had been made that Sofia was dirty and backwards.  Hey, this is my city and I don\'t think you can say things like that until you\'ve visited.  So instead of using words to stand up for myself and my city, I started crying.\n\nNow I am determined to give Sofia a better sell than I did last time.  I also think  it helps that she\'ll be in my city and on my turf this time.  Sofia is I believe an easier sell in person.  Here\'s what I plan to do:<!--more-->First, I plan to pick her up at the airport (I wrote out my address and directions in Cyrillic and Latin for her but she still made me promise to come and meet her--apparently Cyrillic is scary and it is at first...).  Then I suggested that we go shopping, have coffee at some point, maybe a cocktail later, then we\'re going to meet friends at Veselo Selo for a traditional Bulgarian meal and probably go out dancing after that.\n\nSaturday I plan to take her to the major tourist spots so that we can do some serious sight seeing: Aleksander Nevski Cathedral, the Russian Church St Nikolai, the Church of Saint George, Sveta Nedelya Cathedral, the Mineral Baths, the Banya Bashi Mosque, the synagogue (the largest Sephardic synagogue in Europe), the Sofia monument and the Women\'s Market.  If all goes well and R. still feels like walking and drinking, we\'ll go to Griffin for dinner and then maybe grab some drinks at either Bilkova or Hambarat.\n\nSunday it seems will be a good day to explore a museum or two, to have a coffee at Toba &amp; Co and if the weather\'s good to walk through Borisova Gradina and maybe even by NDK.\n\nWhen asked my students at school all suggested that I take R. to the Mall of Sofia or to KFC.  I don\'t think either of those are on my \"to-do list\" but maybe I\'ll tempt her with Starbucks and Dunkin\' Donuts. If I remember correctly, Budapest doesn\'t have either one of these American chains.\n\nThe one thing R. asked to do was to go to a smaller city outside of Sofia for a day and I\'ve reserved Monday for this adventure.  I\'ve already been to Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo, Tryavna, Gabrovo, Melnik (twice), Rila, Koprivshtitsa (twice) and Pazardzhik.  So maybe we\'ll go to Kazanlak, Shipka or Vratsa.  But really I\'d be open to any other suggestions for a day trip or even to spend the night.  The most important thing in planning this day is that I have to teach at Sofia University on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm so I\'ve got to be back for that.\n\nAnd on Tuesday night, we\'ll head to Istanbul for the next leg of our adventure! If I am lucky, Istanbul will pale in comparison.  Okay, that\'s unlikely but what I\'d really like is for R. to leave at the end of the week and say: Bulgaria was a great unexpected surprise and then to tell of our other friends how great Bulgaria is. There\'s a lot to like here after all.','Selling Sofia','','publish','open','open','','selling-sofia','','','2009-04-01 16:14:36','2009-04-01 13:14:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=806',0,'post','',11),(810,1,'2009-04-02 19:02:15','2009-04-02 16:02:15','For the first time in my life, I\'ve found myself giving money to old women begging for money on the streets.  I can\'t help but think: communism wasn\'t easy but now look at what democracy is doing to them. I feel myself confronted with this need more now that it\'s spring.  Either there are more people out now that it\'s nicer and easier to stand outside for long periods of time or now that it\'s warmed up I am actually looking around as I walk outside rather than tucking my head into my coat and walking as fast as possible wherever I am going.\n\nI find myself surprised that I am stopping to give these women money or in one case turning back to give her money.  It\'s the first time in my entire life that I\'ve given money to people begging on the streets.  And I can\'t help but think: why now? <!--more-->\n\nWell, for starters I didn\'t grow up in a big city in the States where homelessness or need like this was on display.  My parents signed us up to volunteer our time at food banks sorting huge boxes of canned food, they helped us gather food for food drives in our elementary schools and they even took us to make and serve dinner in shelters.  I am sure that my parents gave money, when they could, to organizations that helped needy populations but they didn\'t talk about it much when we were little.\n\nThey seemed to prefer direct service.  In part because this kind of service requires that you really give of yourself--your time and your energy not just your money (not that this is a bad thing.  These organizations need money <em>and</em> people to survive)--but often this kind of direct contact with the people you are working with and for puts you in a position where you get to see and experience their need first hand.  The older you get the more it makes you aware of your shared humanity.\n\nDuring college it became clear to me just how lucky (and privileged) I was.  I grew up in a small town with a strong public high school, good after school activities and I was able to go to a college half way across the country because of a mix of grants, scholarships and federal student loans.  I had no money to be able to give back but I did have a great college education and I was able to work.  So I decided to take a year and volunteer in a low income, historically African-American, drug and violence riddled neighborhood in Washington DC.\n\nThe site I worked at helped our homeless and near homeless participants work towards self-sufficiency.  We helped them set goals (both short term and long term) and break these goals down into manageable steps. The belief was that giving people a set of skills to rely on was much better than merely giving money, clothes and food or a bus pass (even though we did this as well.  It\'s awfully hard to work on your goals if you\'re hungry or have no way to get to your job).  So after my year of volunteering was completed I continued to volunteer in different ways and when I had a real job, I started giving money to the same organization I\'d worked for.  Not a lot but every little bit counts.\n\nAnd now for the first time, I am giving money to little old women on the streets in Sofia.\n\nI think that I am doing it for a variety of different reasons.  The first is pretty straightforward.  It breaks my heart to see these women out standing on the sidewalks with a cup in hand asking people for money.  The second is a little less about the heart and more about the piratical.  I know just how little pensioners in Bulgaria receive.  It\'s laughable. I can\'t imagine how they live on this.  I can only imagine how bad it must be when you resort to asking strangers on the street for change.  Then there\'s the fact that I am not very well educated on the support network in Sofia for men and women like this and I can only imagine that if I tried to volunteer it would be a laughable affair given my \"restaurant-shopping-and-direction-giving-quality Bulgarian.\"\n\nSo there it is.  I am giving money to old women who ask because I feel bad for them and I don\'t have volunteer level Bulgarian.  Also, it helps that it\'s spring.  I feel alive.  I feel like I am finally getting the hang of this place and a Leva or two here and there doesn\'t make a very big difference to me.  There\'s a part of me that feels guilty about being alive, happy and enjoying this place when I am out and about.  I am not worry about buying food, paying for utilities or about the cost of transportation.\n\nI am out loving life in Sofia and I am met by these old women who\'ve spent their lives here (and I assume spent their lives working hard) and now they\'ve been reduced to begging in old age.  There\'s something supremely unfair about that.  I can\'t fix it but I guess I can make it a little bit better.  So I give them money.  I\'d like to say that I do it because I am a good person and I think that\'s part of it but I also do it because it also makes me feel better about how much I am enjoying myself here.  And frankly, I have mixed feelings about this mixed motivation.','Spring &amp; the Needy','','publish','open','open','','spring-the-needy','','','2009-04-02 19:02:15','2009-04-02 16:02:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=810',0,'post','',10),(815,1,'2009-04-03 11:53:49','2009-04-03 08:53:49','','CAE Tree + Martenitsa','Hanging up my martenitsa!','inherit','open','open','','dsc06191','','','2009-04-03 11:53:49','2009-04-03 08:53:49','',814,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06191.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(816,1,'2009-04-03 12:01:08','2009-04-03 09:01:08','','baba-marta','Misunderstanding of the Baba Marta custom','inherit','open','open','','baba-marta','','','2009-04-03 12:01:08','2009-04-03 09:01:08','',814,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/baba-marta.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(814,1,'2009-04-03 12:15:20','2009-04-03 09:15:20','[caption id=\"attachment_815\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Hanging up my martenitsa!\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-815\" title=\"CAE Tree + Martenitsa \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06191.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Hanging up my martenitsa!\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nSpring is here! Officially, I think.  Thank-you Baba Marta!\n\nSo everyone is shedding their martenitsas.  I feel bittersweet about this.  I love the tradition.  I think that it\'s the mix of giving and receiving the martenitsas that I like the most.  Oh and I love how cute each one is which is probably the reason I spent over 20 leva on them in March.\n\nAnyhow now that it\'s spring and there\'s green in the trees and birds in the sky you\'ve got to take off your martenitsas and hang them in trees or stow them under rocks.   I\'ve been looking forward to this part of the tradition ever since my martenitsas started fraying and looking shabby--about two weeks ago.  That and I really wanted spring to finally come.  Baba Marta really threw us for a loop in March with snow a couple of different times mixed with bright sunny weather and grey cold days as well.\n\nI know, I know. I chose a questionable tree to hang my martenitsa on. <!--more-->But I figured that if you\'re doing this in part for your luck it\'s better to keep your luck close to home and these are the trees that line a street close to my apartment.  And for the record they looked lots, lots better a few weeks ago before they had their untimely haircut.  Someone went a little bit overboard on the pruning of these trees, if you ask me.  So I left my martenitsa here.  Hopefully it will be good luck for me and the tree.  It looks like it\'s going to need it.\n\nThen there\'s this photo.  Taken by a photographer who will remain nameless.  But I am sure as soon as you look at the\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_816\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Misunderstanding of the Baba Marta custom\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-816\" title=\"baba-marta\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/baba-marta.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Misunderstanding of the Baba Marta custom\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nphoto you\'ll know that a guy took this photo.  It was shared with me recently via Facebook.  The caption simply read: Misunderstanding of Baba Marta custom.  <em>No kidding.</em>\n\nHere\'s the thing for everyone unfamiliar with the custom (not that you should be considering how much I\'ve written about it): when you see a stork returning from the south or the first green on a tree you\'re supposed to hang or tie your martenitsa to a tree or tuck it under a rock.  And clearly what\'s happening in this photo is not that.\n\nAs a new convert to the Baba Marta/Martenitsa tradition I got really fired up about this photo (even more so when I learned it was the martenitsa I\'d MADE for the photographer).  After I punched him and his buddies in the arm a few times, I was told that the bird was dead and lying on the ground when they found it.  They assured me over and over that is was no way shape or form living when they found it.  I can only say now: leave it to boys to see a dead bird on the groud and instead of walking around it think: hey, this will make a clever photo.','The Martenitsa Conclusion','','publish','open','open','','the-martenitsa-conclusion','','','2009-04-03 12:15:20','2009-04-03 09:15:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=814',0,'post','',7),(819,1,'2009-04-05 12:14:41','2009-04-05 09:14:41','','R at Museum','R &amp; the Archaeological Museum','inherit','open','open','','dsc06335','','','2009-04-05 12:14:41','2009-04-05 09:14:41','',818,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06335.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(818,1,'2009-04-05 12:28:00','2009-04-05 09:28:00','We didn\'t just go shopping or sight seeing for R.\'s big visit.  We\'ve also been supporting local cafes and buying fresh produce.  In addition to this, we decided to get a little smarter.  Here she is at the Archaeological Museum.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_819\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"R &amp; the Archaeological Museum\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-819\" title=\"R at Museum\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06335.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"R &amp; the Archaeological Museum\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe address is Saborna 2 and normally tickets are 5 leva.  The Lonely Planet guidebook doesn\'t not mention student ticket prices but it\'s worth asking because we got with our id cards for 2 leva each.  The great thing is that from the outside of the museum it doesn\'t look like much but inside there are a number of really interesting things and it was easy to see it all in 90 minutes.\n\nThis Saturday there were maybe only 10 other people in the whole museum. I, of course, still managed to set off an alarm while looking at an icon fresco hanging on the wall.  This seems to be a new problem of mine.  I want to get a better look at something and all of a sudden the alarm is going off.  The alarm for the frescoes is highly sensitive and very loud so be warned.\n\nWhat was also nice is that the pieces are all labeled in English and in Bulgarian (Thank-you!!).\n\nThe piece that R. and I agree we would both like is the golden leaf crown found in Bulgaria around 1850.  The leaves have such amazing detail and in looking at it you can almost imagine yourself wearing it.  As we left the museum we were joking about how we\'d like to take it.  Well, not really take it but given all the shopping we\'ve been doing we wondered: would they wrap it for us?\n\nSeriously though the museum is worth a visit and there\'s a wide range of things to see.  Also, the cafe behind the musuem would make a great stop for a coffee on a busy afternoon of sight seeing and tourism.','Archaeological Museum','','publish','open','open','','archaeological-museum','','','2009-04-05 12:28:00','2009-04-05 09:28:00','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=818',0,'post','',3),(825,1,'2009-04-07 15:25:03','2009-04-07 12:25:03','','CAE at the Tomb','Me, my guide book and the sign for the Thracian Tomb','inherit','open','open','','dsc06414','','','2009-04-07 15:25:03','2009-04-07 12:25:03','',824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06414.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(826,1,'2009-04-07 15:30:01','2009-04-07 12:30:01','','R and our hotel','Our Hotel: Hotel Roza','inherit','open','open','','dsc06507','','','2009-04-07 15:30:01','2009-04-07 12:30:01','',824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06507.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(827,1,'2009-04-07 15:32:36','2009-04-07 12:32:36','','Shipka Chruch','Shipka Memorial Church also called the Shipka Monastery','inherit','open','open','','dsc06452','','','2009-04-07 15:32:36','2009-04-07 12:32:36','',824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06452.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(828,1,'2009-04-07 15:38:50','2009-04-07 12:38:50','','CAE and Shipka','The view from Shipka Monastery','inherit','open','open','','dsc06447','','','2009-04-07 15:38:50','2009-04-07 12:38:50','',824,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06447.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(824,1,'2009-04-07 15:40:15','2009-04-07 12:40:15','Robyn and I just back from a day and night in Kazanlak.  We had great fun.  I think.  After a three hour bus ride and one dead horse by the side of the road we made it to the town of Kazanlak.  Kazanlak is know for being part of the \"Land of Roses\" where rose oil is made but also for a great old Thracian Tomb which was found in 1944 while soldiers were trying to dig a bomb shelter.\n\nThe tomb was amazing--sure we had to pay 20 leva to see it but it was well worth it.  I think we got to spend about 15 minutes in the tomb which is a World UNESCO site.  The one funny thing is that you have to go to a museum to pay for your ticket and to be let in.  We were clearly the only visitors on Monday and we had to wait around a little bit to see the tomb.  Oh and at the museum they really only speak Bulgarian and German.  Good thing my German is better than my Bulgarian.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_825\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me, my guide book and the sign for the Thracian Tomb\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-825\" title=\"CAE at the Tomb \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06414.jpg\" alt=\"Me, my guide book and the sign for the Thracian Tomb\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nRobyn and I did get a kick out of the fact that there is also an exact replica of the tomb in the museum so while we were waiting to be let into the real tomb we were allow to poke around the in the replica.  Really it was incredible to be inside the tomb.  We had to wear white coats in but it\'s so small that you can get really close to the paintings on the wall. <!--more--> In my book, it was completely worth the trip to Kazanlak simply to see up close the tomb and the paintings.\n\nThen we poked around town and found a hotel for the night. Hotel Roza was a good price.  We paid in cash and in leva (rather than Euro).   We were very happy with the hotel, the service and the breakfast we ate.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_826\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Our Hotel: Hotel Roza \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-826\" title=\"R and our hotel \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06507.jpg\" alt=\"Our Hotel: Hotel Roza \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nAnd then we took the bus to Shipka to see the town and to visit the Shipka Monastery (it\'s maybe a 25 minute bus ride and 1.50 leva.  Take bus number 6).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_827\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Shipka Memorial Church also called the Shipka Monastery \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-827\" title=\"Shipka Chruch \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06452.jpg\" alt=\"Shipka Memorial Church also called the Shipka Monastery \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThe church is beautiful.  As is the view from the church.  All in all it was a great day of tourism and then we ended the night with a Bulgarian dinner at the restaurant Magnolia (on Nikola Petkov near the Thracian Tomb) and we called it a night after a beer at Cafe Lido (on General Skovelev).  This was  a street that we were suprized to see so many cafes and bars on including Vio, Credo and Avenue after reading in our guide book about what a dreary little town Kazanluk is.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_828\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The view from Shipka Monastery \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-828\" title=\"CAE and Shipka\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06447.jpg\" alt=\"The view from Shipka Monastery \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Kazanlak: Fun','','publish','open','open','','kazanlak-fun','','','2009-04-07 15:40:15','2009-04-07 12:40:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=824',0,'post','',4),(831,1,'2009-04-12 21:24:03','2009-04-12 18:24:03','','CAE in Istanbul','Me and the Bosphorus!','inherit','open','open','','dsc06967','','','2009-04-12 21:24:03','2009-04-12 18:24:03','',830,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06967.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(830,1,'2009-04-12 21:30:14','2009-04-12 18:30:14','<p>We took the night bus to Istanbul from Sofia four days ago and arrived in time for the call to morning prayers and had three great days in Istanbul.  I\'ve just gotten back and spent the day catching up on life here in Sofia.  I\'ll be posting about my adventure all week!</p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_831\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and the Bosphorus! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-831\" title=\"CAE in Istanbul \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06967.jpg\" alt=\"Me and the Bosphorus! \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n<p>Oh and as a sneak preview to the week: the men in Istanbul <span style=\"text-decoration:underline;\">loved</span> me.  It\'s something about the blond hair.  But more on that later!!</p>','Three days in Istanbul','','publish','open','open','','three-days-in-istanbul','','','2009-04-12 21:30:14','2009-04-12 18:30:14','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=830',0,'post','',2),(835,1,'2009-04-13 18:45:58','2009-04-13 15:45:58','','Outside Blue Mosque','Outside of the Blue Mosque','inherit','open','open','','dsc06556','','','2009-04-13 18:45:58','2009-04-13 15:45:58','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06556.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(836,1,'2009-04-13 18:48:22','2009-04-13 15:48:22','','Inside Blue Mosque','A look inside the Blue Mosque','inherit','open','open','','dsc06572','','','2009-04-13 18:48:22','2009-04-13 15:48:22','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06572.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(837,1,'2009-04-13 18:59:42','2009-04-13 15:59:42','','Large Blue Mosque','The Blue Mosque','inherit','open','open','','dsc06593','','','2009-04-13 18:59:42','2009-04-13 15:59:42','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06593.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(838,1,'2009-04-13 19:30:45','2009-04-13 16:30:45','','Jesus Aya Sofia','Jesus in the Aya Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc06700','','','2009-04-13 19:30:45','2009-04-13 16:30:45','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06700.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(839,1,'2009-04-13 19:35:16','2009-04-13 16:35:16','','Aya Sofia','Inside the Aya Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc06664','','','2009-04-13 19:35:16','2009-04-13 16:35:16','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06664.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(840,1,'2009-04-13 19:39:11','2009-04-13 16:39:11','','CAE Aya Sofia','Me in front of the Aya Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc06611','','','2009-04-13 19:39:11','2009-04-13 16:39:11','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06611.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(841,1,'2009-04-13 20:06:01','2009-04-13 17:06:01','','Blue Mosque','Blue Mosque from the River','inherit','open','open','','dsc07097','','','2009-04-13 20:06:01','2009-04-13 17:06:01','',834,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07097.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(834,1,'2009-04-13 20:18:10','2009-04-13 17:18:10','[caption id=\"attachment_840\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in front of the Aya Sofia\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-840\" title=\"CAE Aya Sofia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06611.jpg\" alt=\"Me in front of the Aya Sofia\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nOne of the things I was looking forward to seeing on my trip to Istanbul were the mosques.  They are a big part of all of the guidebooks on Istanbul and the pictures I\'ve seen are beautiful.  Also, I was keen to learn more about how some of the mosques had been transformed at different points of history from a church to a mosque (or vise versa).\n\nThe two big tourist points of interest regarding mosques are without a doubt are the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia.  These are impressive buildings.  They dominate the skyline and fill up the squares they are located on.  Of course, more than this they are beautiful.  <!--more-->\n\nBoth buildings open for tourists at 9 am.  I think it\'s best to go early if you can.  We went by the Aya Sofia before it was open and took some pictures.  Then we headed over to the Blue Mosque, which is still a functioning mosque, and by the time we finished looking around there and walked back to the Aya Sofia we had to wait in line for probably 15 minutes to buy our tickets (but it was absolutely worth it).  The one thing we didn\'t do was to buy a museum card because apparently you have to be Turkish to do so.  <a href=\"http://www.istanbultrails.com/2009/03/can-foreigners-use-the-turkish-museum-card-muzekart/\" target=\"_blank\">This site</a> on tourism in Istanbul says that in the future foreigners might be able to buy such a card--that would be a good thing because we spent a lot of money to see both cultural and religious sites as well as museums.  Most sites in Istanbul were 15 Lira.  Some were 20.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_835\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Outside of the Blue Mosque \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-835\" title=\"Outside Blue Mosque \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06556.jpg\" alt=\"Outside of the Blue Mosque \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThe Blue Mosque (donation strongly suggested, do this upon exiting) was our first stop.  First thing first, you\'ve got to take off your shoes.  I\'d recommend you wear socks with what ever shoes you\'re wearing but this is of course up to you.  I saw plenty of both. The space inside the mosque is impressive, as it the natural light, the tile work and the addition of electricity (Oh and as an aside, I am glad that I don\'t have to vacuum the mosque carpet).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_836\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A look inside the Blue Mosque\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-836\" title=\"Inside Blue Mosque \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06572.jpg\" alt=\"A look inside the Blue Mosque\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThe inside of the mosque is a wash of colors on the tiles in stain glass.  I really don\'t think that the picture does the interior justice but I think this picture gives you an idea of the colors, size and style of the mosque.  The one distasteful thing was that when we were visiting there was also a group of Asian tourists who were posing for photos while they kissed the carpet maybe they were Muslim--it\'s not as if you can tell by looking at someone--but either way it was very garish.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_837\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Blue Mosque\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-837\" title=\"Large Blue Mosque \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06593.jpg\" alt=\"The Blue Mosque\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nAcross the way from the Blue Mosque is the Aya Sofia also known as the Haghia Sophia(20 lira entrance fee).  It was built in 537 and in the 1400\'s the church was converted to a mosque and then in 1934 Ataturk declared it a national monument.   The grounds outside of the Aya Sofia are nothing special but once inside the mix of Christianity and Islam is striking.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_839\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Inside the Aya Sofia \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-839\" title=\"Aya Sofia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06664.jpg\" alt=\"Inside the Aya Sofia \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nThere are still mosaics of Jesus and Mary but also a lot of Islamic iconography (which I am unfortunately rather unfamiliar with).  In the picture above you can see a painted medallion hanging on the wall and the script on the medallion has been done using calligraphy.   I know the picture\'s not the best but if you look up and to the right of the medallion you can also see a mosaic of an angel.  Now really only half of an angel.  Also in the foreground of the photo is the sultan\'s specially screened room for prayer (it\'s glowing yellow in the photo).  What\'s noteworthy about this is that he could apparently enter and exit unseen in mosque--giving him a degree of privacy in his prayers.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_838\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Jesus in the Aya Sofia\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-838\" title=\"Jesus Aya Sofia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06700.jpg\" alt=\"Jesus in the Aya Sofia\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s pretty incredible to me that so many Christian images survived even after the church was transformed into a mosque.  They\'re not necessarily in great shape but the mosaic work is bright thousands of years later.  The one thing that you can\'t see in these photos is that there is a large amount of scaffolding in the main room of the church/mosque/museum.  Apparently, there is some important restoration work that needs to be done.  Frankly the scaffolding just adds to the feeling of hybridity already present in the space.\n\nThe best thing for me about these two buildings was that I had no idea what to expect or how I would feel upon seeing them and being in them.  And what stands out to me now that I am writing about this experience is the size and the stature of the buildings.    They were built to wow and they don\'t disappoint.  Both of the sites were full of tourists when we visited but I don\'t remember them what I remember is the space, the light and color of the buildings.  Something that is I am afraid very difficult to capture in either a photo or a written description.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_841\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Blue Mosque from the River \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-841\" title=\"Blue Mosque \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07097.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Mosque from the River \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Istanbul: the Mosques','','publish','open','open','','istanbul-the-mosques','','','2009-04-13 20:18:10','2009-04-13 17:18:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=834',0,'post','',6),(846,1,'2009-04-14 22:08:40','2009-04-14 19:08:40','','Me and Aubergines','My Aubergine Dish: Imam Bayildi','inherit','open','open','','dsc07125','','','2009-04-14 22:08:40','2009-04-14 19:08:40','',845,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07125.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(845,1,'2009-04-14 22:20:39','2009-04-14 19:20:39','<em>It\'s your lucky day.  Today, I am introducing a new regular piece to my blog: How-to-Tuesdays.  Here I will give you a run down on how to do something new--related to my life in and around Bulgaria. </em>\n\nWhile in Istanbul last week my friend Robyn and I ate a lot of really great food from the quick lunches of a doner kebap and a fried fish sandwich on the waterfront to dinners that included a smattering of mezes, the manti (more or less Turkish ravioli topped with yougart and butter sauce) and pide both from Gani Gani Sark Sofrasi (Taksim Kuyu 11) and even a traditional meal at the popular meyhana Refik (Sofyali Sokak no. 6/8 in the popular Beyoglu district).\n\nAt Refik, a well placed smile or two on my part lead us to somehow getting a table in the packed restaurant while others were being turned away (Robyn of course will swear that it\'s my blond hair but I don\'t know about that).  Here we had a selection of mezes and raki.  The mezes were fresh and delicious and included roasted red peppers, a swiss chard and yogurt dish, eggplant and tomatoes and these were served with a big basket of fresh bread.  You really can\'t go wrong with that and we split a main dish which was an assortment of grilled meat.  It was exactly the right balance of flavors and textures.\n\nBut the dish that I had and was dying to try my hand at making at home was a roasted aubergine that I had a hookah cafe around the corner from our hotel.  <!--more-->The dish was called imam bayildi.  Basically it\'s a roasted eggplant that is roasted with a healthy amount of olive oil and filled with chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic topped with white cheese.  It was served to me with a basket of bread but I would have been equally happy to eat it with a fork.\n\nSo I made this dish tonight:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_846\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"My Aubergine Dish: Imam Bayildi \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-846\" title=\"Me and Aubergines \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07125.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"My Aubergine Dish: Imam Bayildi \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI took three small aubergines (they were not more than a 2 inches around and maybe 6-8 inches long), washed them and sliced them open.  I put them in a pan lined with tin foil (for easy clean up). Then I chopped up one large tomato (and upon tasting it I added a little salt.  It\'s really not tomato season here right now).  I spread the chopped up tomato evenly among the aubergines.  Then I sliced very thinly half an onion and two heads of garlic.  I put these on the tomatoes.\n\nBefore popping this mix into my oven which I\'d heated to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit, I poured olive oil over the dressed up aubergines.  Then I let the whole thing bake/roast for about 45 minutes.  You really want the aubergine to be close to melting in their skins.  Think: soft-soft.\n\nThis way the flavors will come together and it will be easy to convey to your mouth on a slice of bread.  Thus I\'d roast the aubergines at a lower temperature for longer rather than try to speed the process along with a higher temperature.  At the very end, I\'d add a generous amount of white cheese.  Tonight I used kashkaval but any semi-hard white cheese would work and (gasp) I think mozzarella would be pretty darn good on it in a pinch.\n\nAll in all, I\'d rate this recipe as so easy to make at home that anyone who knows how to use a knife and turn on an oven could make this dish.  I\'d like to follow this up by saying this is a dish that is also super flavorful and probably for the rest of my life this dish will taste like Istanbul to me.  The only that would make my experience more authentic would be if I was drinking tea and Turkish men were obviously and shamelessly checking me out.','Aubergine: Turkish Style','','publish','open','open','','aubergine-turkish-style','','','2009-04-14 22:20:39','2009-04-14 19:20:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=845',0,'post','',5),(849,1,'2009-04-15 17:00:52','2009-04-15 14:00:52','','Grand Bazaar','Entrance to the Grand Bazaar.  Note how people are staring at me even when I am taking a photo.','inherit','open','open','','dsc06762','','','2009-04-15 17:00:52','2009-04-15 14:00:52','',848,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06762.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(851,1,'2009-04-15 20:32:23','2009-04-15 17:32:23','','bedspread','The blue and purple bedspread is the one I bought','inherit','open','open','','bedspread','','','2009-04-15 20:32:23','2009-04-15 17:32:23','',848,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bedspread.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(852,1,'2009-04-15 20:35:06','2009-04-15 17:35:06','','Pottery Grand Bazaar','Shop selling pottery in the Grand Bazaar','inherit','open','open','','dsc07029','','','2009-04-15 20:35:06','2009-04-15 17:35:06','',848,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07029.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(848,1,'2009-04-15 20:41:29','2009-04-15 17:41:29','[caption id=\"attachment_852\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Shop selling pottery in the Grand Bazaar \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-852\" title=\"Pottery Grand Bazaar \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07029.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Shop selling pottery in the Grand Bazaar \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe Grand Bazaar is a wash of color, sounds, smells and all in all is completely overwhelming.  I like to shop and still I would caution you: there\'s too much stuff here.  You\'ll never be able to see it all and if you like something you\'d be smart to buy it.  Coming back later really isn\'t an option.  This said, if you like something like scarf, pottery or jewelry very likely most of the shops will have something like it.  So if you pass on something early on as you\'re trying to get your bearings in the maze of shops don\'t worry.\n\nR. and I went to, well, buy things.  I knew that I wanted a scarf or two and that I was interested in the pottery but beyond that I went to see what there was.  And I was not disappointed. R. went with a more defined shopping list but that didn\'t stop her from buying other things as well.\n\nAs soon as you walk into the Bazaar the fun starts.  Most of the men working in the bazaar stand out in front of the individual stalls so that they can talk to you.  Mostly they say hello in English (I also got a lot of German).  If you don\'t answer or show some recognition of the greeting, they\'ll try another language or two for good measure.\n\nI liked the jostling, the heckling and the jockularity of the whole affair.  The sales men will say things like \"Hello Beautiful\" or \"You\'re pretty, you\'d look even prettier in one of these pashminas\" and on and on.  They\'ll also ask you where you\'re from.\n\nIn our case, Barak Obama had just visited Turkey and so when we said we were Americans most people started talking happily at us (and sometimes with us).  It lead us to wonder if maybe people in Europe don\'t hate Americans as much as they used to.  Either that or they were happy to take our money in spite of the fact that we\'re Americans.\n\nSo if it\'s not already clear, everything about the Grand Bazaar is over the top--nothing has prices so you have to inquire, no prices are really fixed so then you have to haggle and every guy claims that he has a better price, piece or quality item than the next.  It\'s incredible really.  More over, each guy is trying to get your attention, to get you into his shop, to get you to spend your money.  He\'s trying to get you to stop walking long enough for something to catch your eye.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_849\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Entrance to the Grand Bazaar.  Note how people are staring at me even when I am taking a photo. \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-849\" title=\"Grand Bazaar \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06762.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Entrance to the Grand Bazaar.  Note how people are staring at me even when I am taking a photo. \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIn our case, R. was all business. She didn\'t want to be distracted by anyone or anything thing.  I was busy trying to look at everything and in the mean time getting a kick out of how the whole market functions.  So we walk by a stall that\'s selling--well, I don\'t even know--and a 20-something Turkish man looks at me and asks R. \"Is she is from Paradise?\" in a thickly accented English.\n\nWhat!? Did he just say that? I couldn\'t stop laughing but the kind of laughing that you try to keep under wraps so that it kind of comes out of your nose.  I have no idea what R. says to him because she\'s now laughing to hard to make a sentence and we\'re holding on to each other for support.  So we turn the corner--I have tears in my eyes and we are both splurting-giggling.  Now most of the men are looking at the two crazy tourists who can\'t hold it together.\n\nThen because the bazaar is such a maze and we can\'t tell our way around we have to walk past Mr. Paradise one more time.  He comes up to R. and says to her, \"No really, is she from Paradise?\" R. brushes him off and we continue with our shopping but after that great line the rest aren\'t very interesting.\n\nOnly later do I think of the appropriate response to the question: Is she from Paradise?\n\nYes, if Paradise is Sofia, Bulgaria.\n\nThe other thing about the Grand Bazaar is that if you are shopping and you seem serious about buying (or the shop owner hopes that you will buy) often he will offer you green apple tea.  If you agree, he will flag down a man in the bazaar who will then bring the tea in Turkish tea cups with a sugar cube on the side.  The tea is sweet and hot.  R. and I were offered tea twice--once in a jewelry store where we were buying earrings and later in a linen shop. The funny thing about the tea is that as soon as you have it you are then offered a place to sit as well.  Often because the shops are small this means that you feel like you are sitting nearly on the ground and that you are sitting in worst possible place in the shop.  Both of these things are probably true but no one says anything so you get to drink your tea and watch your friend shop.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_851\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The blue and purple bedspread is the one I bought\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-851\" title=\"bedspread\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bedspread.jpg\" alt=\"The blue and purple bedspread is the one I bought\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nIn the linen shop I was hemming and hawing about buying a bedspread.  I\'d seen a beautiful silk wall hanging in the shop and went into look at this thinking it was more reasonable to buy a wall hanging/table runner than a bedspread considering the fact that I\'ve only got two suitcases to bring all of my treasures home in at the end of my Fulbright year.  Once in the shop though, I was looking at full size bedspreads in a range of different colors and watched as they were spread out on the floor for me to examine.\n\nFinally I ask the question: how much? The bedspread is quoted to me at 380 lira and the wall hanging at 70 lira.  <em>Too much.</em> But I love them.  He asks if we want tea.  Okay. He leaves to call for tea and R. and I talk.  I ask her: am I crazy? She assures me the bedspread is beautiful.\n\nBedspread-Guy comes back and I tell him it\'s too much.  That I can\'t buy a bedspread right now because I\'ll never be able to get it home.  He asks me how much I want to spend.  I suggest maybe 250 lira.  We talk some more.  I know that I am not going to get a great deal--I am a tourist after all but this bedspread does seem like a good memento of my trip to Istanbul.  This is when Bedspread-Guy suggests 300 lira for the bedspread and the wall hanging.  I am sold (in hindsight maybe I should have seen if he\'d throw in some pillow cases but that\'s that).\n\nI don\'t have enough cash to pay so Bedspread-Guy offers to walk me to the ATM.\n\nWhile we\'re gone, Green-Apple-Tea-Man arrives and R. is waiting in the shop for him.  He chats with her for a minute and asks how much I am paying for the bedspread.  R. says 300 lira.  Green-Apple-Tea-Man says to R. \"Oh, Bedspread-Guy could do better than that.\"  R. tells me that clarifies herself and tells the man \"Actually, it\'s 300 lira for the bedspread and the wall hanging.\" Green-Apple-Tea-Man nods his head in approval and apparently says \"That\'s good.\" (R. of course doesn\'t tell me the story until later but it confirms the fact that I didn\'t spend too much money and there\'s something funny and charming about Green-Apple-Tea-Man looking out for us, the tourists, and undercutting Bedspread-Guy at the same time.)\n\nBack in the store, I drink my apple tea and my bedspread and wall hanging are folded up for me.  I try to pay and it turns out that Bedspread-Guy is also Carpet-Guy and he invites R. and I to come next door and look at some carpets.  I tell him I don\'t think that we will be buying a carpet today but he insists.  Also, it seemed like too much fun not see a few carpets and hear the sales pitch.\n\nSo, we go next door and up two flights of stairs and this guy starts showing us beautiful carpets.  The first one is make from silk thread in pastel colors but with a traditional design and it\'s about all that I can do not to get down on my hands and knees and rub my face on it.  It\'s shinny and plush and later I learn $2500.  Oh and the carpet is maybe 2.5 feet by 3 feet--in other words, not big.  Next.\n\nHe shows us an older larger wool carpet.  I ask him how old and learn that it\'s between 80 and 90 years old.  The colors are much richer and background is navy blue.  In many ways it was kind of what you would imagine for a carpet from Turkey.  He tells me that they have carpets that are even older 300-400 years old.  It\'s pretty clear to me that I can\'t afford a carpet this old but still he\'s willing to get one to show it to me if I want.  I decline--leading him on like that just seems cruel to me.\n\nThen come a variety of wool-silk blend carpets.  Size wise these carpets were probably in 3x4 feet range.  They were also beautiful and much less expensive than the silk carpet.  I think the prices he was quoting me were between $500 and $700 (and yes he was quoting prices to me in dollars).  It\'s about this point that R. is getting antsy and wants to leave (she apparently feels bad about leading him on when we\'re not going to be buying carpets); I realize that I don\'t have a job in the states or a home/apartment to live in (meaning no floor to put a carpet on); and another carpet assistant shows up to help show us carpets.\n\nThis is when we start trying to make the most graceful exit possible.  I say trying because the sales guy is pretty instant that I can easily get a small carpet home in my suitcase.  In fact, I am sure that I could but it would mean that I\'d have to devote a single suitcase to it and at this point, that\'s not something I am willing to do.  Then he starts telling me what a good price he could make for me on a carpet.  Again, I am sure that\'s true.  I am just no willing to impulse buy a $500 carpet.  Finally, after lots of thank-yous, I pay for the bedspread and wall hanging and R. and I leave the shop and the Grand Bazaar a little poorer but with lots of great stuff.\n\nOh and a bedspread feels like a really good deal and all of a sudden seems a lot easier to get back to the States after you\'ve been carpet shopping!','Apple Tea, the Grand Bazaar and Paradise','','publish','open','open','','apple-tea-the-grand-bazaar-and-paradise','','','2009-04-15 20:41:29','2009-04-15 17:41:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=848',0,'post','',1),(860,1,'2009-04-16 19:31:38','2009-04-16 16:31:38','','cae-wine','Me drinking and now unknow Bulgarian red','inherit','open','open','','cae-wine','','','2009-04-16 19:31:38','2009-04-16 16:31:38','',858,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cae-wine.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(858,1,'2009-04-16 19:33:28','2009-04-16 16:33:28','[caption id=\"attachment_860\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"183\" caption=\"Me drinking and now unknow Bulgarian red\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-860\" title=\"cae-wine\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cae-wine.jpg?w=183\" alt=\"Me drinking and now unknow Bulgarian red\" width=\"183\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nToday I was out and about running some errands.  At some point, I was struck by the thought that today would be the perfect day to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine. The sun is out with only a few clouds in the sky, it\'s not too hot and the city seems to be turning green. If that doesn\'t warrant a glass of wine, I don\'t know what does.\n\nThe thing is when I got home after my errands instead of having a glass of wine I started reading up on Bulgarian grape varietals, growing regions and wineries.  In fact I\'ve just spent the last two-plus hours reading about wine.  Obsessive? Maybe.  Interesting? Oh, yes.\n\nAm I wine expert? No way. Do I have  any wine credentials?  Well, I\'d consider myself a wine amateur. I know what I like (dry-dry whites and spicy-full bodied reds) and what I don\'t like (sweet whites, sweet roses and reds that are better chilled). I\'ve been wine tasting in Walla Walla, WA, the New York state Finger Lakes region and at the Virgina wine festival a half a dozen times but still my knowledge is pretty limited.\n\nThis said, over the past few months I\'ve had a number of decent Bulgarian wines and I\'ve noticed a number of other wines that I want to try.  So rather than drinking wine, I\'ve been researching it.  (I think that might be a clear indicator that I am an academic at heart.)<!--more-->\n\nHere\'s some of what I learned Bulgaria makes wine from all of the \"Big Eight\" wine varieties for the reds these include: cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot and syrah/shiraz and for the whites these include: chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc, and pinot gris/pinot grigio.\n\nBulgaria also has a number of indigenous varietals.  Some traditional Bulgarian white grape varietals are misket, dimiat, tamyanka and rkatsiteli (which apparently came originally from Georgia).  And Bulgarian reds include mavrud, melnik, gamza, pamid and rubin.  Based on these two lists, I\'ve got some exploring do.  I think that of the indigenous varietals I\'ve only had three or four.  Yes, I\'ve had a greater number of different Bulgarian salads than I have wine.\n\nOne of the other things that stood out to me is that Bulgaria has five distinct wine regions.  I knew that the geography of the country included a number of different mountain ranges but for some reason, I was still surprised to learn that Bulgaria had five regions.  These regions are the Danube River Plains, the Black Sea Coastal Region, the Valley of the Roses, the Thracian Valley and the Struma River Valley.  It looks like most regions grow both red and white grapes but that depending on the growing season, the geography and the soil each area prefers either white or red grapes (that\'s pretty straightforward).\n\nI know that I have more Bulgarian readers now than I ever have had before.  I wonder: do you have a favorite grape varietal? A go-to bottle of wine? A favorite winery? Any other insight to help a new-comer to the field of Bulgarian wine?\n\nAnd for those of you State side, my research uncovered a Bulgarian wine distributor.  <a href=\"http://www.bulgarianwine.com/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">The site</a> seems pretty legit but they don\'t have a very big selection. Sorry. I guess you\'ll just have to plan a visit to Sofia if you\'re looking for the best access to Bulgarian wine.','Bulgarian Wine','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-wine','','','2009-04-16 19:33:28','2009-04-16 16:33:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=858',0,'post','',7),(867,1,'2009-04-17 09:50:13','2009-04-17 06:50:13','','Paradise Garage','Marinela in front of her boutique Paradise Garage','inherit','open','open','','dsc07129','','','2009-04-17 09:50:13','2009-04-17 06:50:13','',866,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07129.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(869,1,'2009-04-17 10:49:39','2009-04-17 07:49:39','','R in Paradise Garage','R. inside Paradise Garage','inherit','open','open','','dsc06250','','','2009-04-17 10:49:39','2009-04-17 07:49:39','',866,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06250.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(866,1,'2009-04-17 11:10:51','2009-04-17 08:10:51','[caption id=\"attachment_867\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Marinela in front of her boutique Paradise Garage \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-867\" title=\"Paradise Garage\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07129.jpg\" alt=\"Marinela in front of her boutique Paradise Garage \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nMaybe six weeks ago on my way to meeting friends at JJ Murphy\'s (yes, the Irish pub), I walked by a great shop in Sofia--Paradise Garage.  It was closed and I made a mental note that I wanted to go back and check it out during the day.  Well, it took me about four weeks to get back there and when I did I took my friend R. with me.  We were not disappointed.\n\nParadise Garage is a local boutique that sells the clothing and jewelry of young Bulgarian designers (and occasionally a young Macedonian designer as well).  The boutique is 4 years old and generally carries the pieces of 4 to 5 different designers.  This is enough variety that you\'ll surely find something that you love and the best part is that there isn\'t anything pretentious about the store.\n\nThe clothes and jewelry are well displayed but it\'s not the kind of boutique that only has a few pieces out.  The shop owner Marinela is twenty-something and speaks both English and Bulgarian, she plays great music, and is happy to talk to you about the designers, her shop and current fashions.  She is in a word: affable.\n\nShe also has a great sense of style and design.  Clearly she\'s got an eye for it.  Her shop is a mix of the old (a Victorian inspired love seat) and the new (the bright green wall and deconstructed clothing racks).  She\'s picked out great designers to work with.  I would categorize the clothes and jewelry in Paradise Garage as urban street.  There are no pastels to be found (thank-you!), the shapes are clean and the styles are well made, completely wearable and reasonably priced.  <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_869\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"R. inside Paradise Garage\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-869\" title=\"R in Paradise Garage\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06250.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"R. inside Paradise Garage\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nDon\'t quote me on this but I think that the jewelry starts out at about 20 leva, the tops range between 30 and 60 leva and dresses seem to start at about 59 leva. As a foreigner these prices seem very low for a locally designed and handmade, nearly, one of a kind piece.  Additionally, I would add that these prices are competitive with the big names stores on Vitosha Blvd.  However, what you don\'t get from these stores is outstanding costumer service and the individuality that comes with clothing that is created locally.\n\nMarinela and I talked about this.  I love having clothing with style and personality.  I don\'t ever want to look like someone else well, unless they have great style like Marinela for example.  This week when I was in her shop she was wearing an adorable skirt belted with a tucked in cotton tee and a white scarf.  She looked very pulled together and when I asked if I could take her picture outside of her shop she put on a fitted black jacket and topped of the look with blue sunglasses (see the first photo).\n\nShe told me that the girls who shop at Mango, Benetton and a range of other chain stores on Vitosha look like a long line of matching bedside tables.  I can\'t agree more.  And I got a great kick out of her metaphor.  There\'s something so ordinary, boring and necessary about a bedside table.  The very opposite of what most of us are looking for when we\'re shopping: exciting, interesting and unique.\n\nI want to buy clothes that make my heart beat a little faster when I see them and give me that same rush when I get them home.  I want to smile when I see them hanging in my closet and when I am wearing them.  Marinela\'s shop gives me that feeling.\n\nThe one draw back is that one of the designer\'s clothing runs a little bit on the small size.  In American sizes, I would guess size two to size six maybe size eight.  I think that this is fine for most of the tiny Bulgarian women I see running around but I am nearly 6 feet tall and I wear a size ten dress and at twelve in jeans.  I am by no means tiny.\n\nBut get this, Marinela was up front about the fact that the designer makes the clothes for her shop in small sizes (which is probably smart if you want to sell your designs) and then she told me that if I saw something I liked she\'d take my measurements, a description of the piece (or pieces) that I liked and tell the designer.  What?! No way.\n\nSo she ran next door, borrowed a tape measure and took my measurements. I told her which designs I liked and which colors/patterns/fabrics I liked and now I have to wait.  And I am not really good at waiting.  Luckily, I know it will be worth it.\n\nWant to check out Paradise Garage? It\'s one block off Vitosha Blvd on Karnigradska and one block before JJ Murphy\'s (in Sofia, Bulgaria).','Friday Finds: Paradise Garage','','publish','open','open','','friday-finds-paradise-garage','','','2009-04-17 11:10:51','2009-04-17 08:10:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=866',0,'post','',1),(877,1,'2009-04-18 17:32:22','2009-04-18 14:32:22','','Kozunak','Kozunak from my local bakery','inherit','open','open','','dsc07126','','','2009-04-18 17:32:22','2009-04-18 14:32:22','',876,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07126.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(876,1,'2009-04-18 17:45:47','2009-04-18 14:45:47','[caption id=\"attachment_877\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kozunak from my local bakery \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-877\" title=\"Kozunak\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07126.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Kozunak from my local bakery \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI didn\'t know that by moving to Bulgaria that I\'d get to celebrate Easter twice. Lucky me. Growing up a Protestant, I knew that some religious holidays were fixed (say Christmas Eve) and I knew that others moved around (say Easter).  I had a vague sense that Easter was tide to the moon and some other calculations but as long as we got to dye eggs and the Easter bunny came on time, I was a happy camper.\n\nNow I know that Easter is calculated (by someone) to be the first Sunday after the the first full moon following the vernal equinox (a date which has been fixed by the church as March 21 given a problem with whether the equinox is on March 20th or the 21st).  As an aside, I am glad that someone else is figuring these things out.  If had it been up to me I would have pinned down Easter long ago.\n\nBulgaria how ever is Orthodox and the Orthodox religious calendar does not match to the Western calendar.  A big part of this difference rests with the fact that Julius Caesar\'s calendar (the Julian calendar) was inaccurate.  At the end of the 15th century Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar.  What happened? A new calendar was adopted (the Gregorian calendar) to make up for the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar and on October 5th, 1582 everyone went to bed but when they woke up the next day it was October 14th. (This is kind of strange but okay.)<!--more-->Well, the Western churches adopted the Gregorian calendar while the Orthodox church still follows the Julian calendar.  But get this, apparently the Bulgarian Orthodox Church \"determines its movable feasts, such as Easter, using the Julian, and its fixed holidays, such as Christmas, using the Gregorian calendar\" (thanks Vagabond for this info).  Oh and the best part of all of this? The Orthodox calculations take into account Jewish Passover.  This is because the New Testament tells us that Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and was then crucified and rose from the dead.  As a result, you can\'t have Passover and Easter on the same weekend so if and when this happens Easter is moved back one week.  Phew.\n\nSo, we\'re celebrating Easter tomorrow (Sunday, April 19th).  But I think it may be more precise to say that we are celebrating Easter tonight.  Tonight at 11pm (other places I\'ve read 11:30 pm), people begin to gather at church for a service.  At midnight, the priest says: Christ is Risen (Hristos voskrese) and the people reply: He is Risen Indeed (Voistina voskrese).  Then I understand that expels Satan from the church and in doing so the priest exits the church.  Everyone else exits behind him, carrying candles and they all proceed to walk around the church three times.\n\nMy friends tell me something about hard-boiled egg fights following the service but I don\'t think I really understand what they are telling me so I\'ll report back on this part of the tradition later.  I do however have it on good authority that the red eggs are the strongest and that these eggs usually win (this is from the 8 year old son of a colleague).\n\nThen there\'s Sunday, Sunday (you know as opposed to Saturday night/Sunday morning).  This is when the forty days of fasting for Lent end.  If you were a serious follower, for the last 40 days you would have been on a meat, dairy and egg fast (with the exception of a few feast days where you can eat fish).  Traditionally, on Sunday you will eat kozunak, eggs, roast lamb and green salad.  (Humm, this doesn\'t sound so different from the Easter traditions I am familiar with.)\n\nThe kozunak, is a sweet bread, that during Easter represents the body of Christ not unlike hot cross buns.  In Bulgaria this bread is for sale all year round (and it\'s similar in flavor and texture to challah--the Jewish bread).  But this past week, the kozunaks have grown in size, quantity and there\'s been special addition to the dough.  The kozunak is normally about the size of a softball and it is baked on a sheet with other kozunaks.  These are all sprinkled with sugar and sold for 1.50 leva in bakeries.\n\nThis week however things got exciting.  The kozunak in my neighborhood bakery grew in size.  You could buy the small for 4 leva and it was about the side of a jar of large jar apple sauce; the large (8 leva) was as big around as a dinner plate and maybe four inches tall.  Now instead of having just thick-granulated sugar on top you can also see dried fruit bits and I think even nuts.  (Yum!)\n\nI got up this morning and went straight to my bakery.  At 9am, I was in line with a number of babas and even though I am head and shoulders taller than them I waited for my turn.  I waited for about 15 minutes--there\'s nothing really fast moving about a bunch of babas.  In my mind, if the babas are standing in line rather than at home making the kozunak it\'s a pretty good sign.  When it was my turn, I bought one large kozunak (which I\'ll take with me to Easter lunch at my landlord\'s house tomorrow) and three little kozunaks (one for me and one for each of my neighbors).\n\nI am really looking forward to celebrating this holiday both tonight and tomorrow!!','Easter&#039;s in the Air','','publish','open','open','','easters-in-the-air','','','2009-04-18 17:45:47','2009-04-18 14:45:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=876',0,'post','',5),(881,1,'2009-04-20 17:15:31','2009-04-20 14:15:31','','BG Church','Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church at Easter','inherit','open','open','','dsc07147','','','2009-04-20 17:15:31','2009-04-20 14:15:31','',880,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07147.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(882,1,'2009-04-20 17:17:38','2009-04-20 14:17:38','','Easter Eggs','Colored Easter Eggs','inherit','open','open','','dsc07175','','','2009-04-20 17:17:38','2009-04-20 14:17:38','',880,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07175.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(883,1,'2009-04-20 17:20:09','2009-04-20 14:20:09','','CAE and Egg','Me with my winning red egg','inherit','open','open','','dsc07170','','','2009-04-20 17:20:09','2009-04-20 14:20:09','',880,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07170.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(885,1,'2009-04-20 17:22:52','2009-04-20 14:22:52','','Landlord and his Wife','Easter Lunch with my landlord and his wife','inherit','open','open','','dsc071651','','','2009-04-20 17:22:52','2009-04-20 14:22:52','',880,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc071651.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(889,1,'2009-04-20 17:29:25','2009-04-20 14:29:25','','Orthodox Easter','Happy Easter: Vesele Velikden','inherit','open','open','','dsc07179','','','2009-04-20 17:29:25','2009-04-20 14:29:25','',880,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07179.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(880,1,'2009-04-20 17:41:35','2009-04-20 14:41:35','[caption id=\"attachment_889\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Happy Easter: Vesele Velikden\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-889\" title=\"Orthodox Easter \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07179.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Happy Easter: Vesele Velikden\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nOn Saturday night, I stayed up late and then about 11:30pm I made my way to the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (on Graf Ignatiev).  I bought a candle from a man selling them on the street and began to get excited about the holiday.  The service starts at 12 midnight but even by 11:30pm there was a crowd starting to gather.  Many of the people there were sitting on benches sharing beer, talking and smoking.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_881\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church at Easter \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-881\" title=\"BG Church \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07147.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church at Easter \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nBy 11:45 a line was forming to walk into the church in order to pray and a throng of people were milling around outside of the church--young boys stood together in groups, couples huddled next to each other and families held on the hands of small children.  Also about this time, people started lighting their candles.  A little before midnight the church bells started to ring and the priest started to sing.  This was broadcast outside of the church on speakers.\n\nMostly people were still and listened but by no means were people silent.  As an outsider, it was interesting to watch this group of people participating in what is clearly a religious and cultural event.  After the priest got to the part of the service where he says: Christ is Risen and the people replied: He has Risen Indeed, the group outside of the church started to break up.  Some people began to walk home, others got out hard boiled eggs to test the luck and strength of their shells and others continued to stand outside of the church. <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Colored Easter Eggs\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-882\" title=\"Easter Eggs\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07175.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Colored Easter Eggs\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe eggs are a part of the tradition that stood out to me because it\'s not something that we do in the protestant tradition in United States.  I was standing next to two different groups of people: one an extended family and the other a ring of early-teenage boys maybe 13-15 years old.\n\nThe boys had stood with lit candles until after repeating Christ is Risen Indeed and at this point, out of their pockets came colored hard-boiled eggs wrapped in paper-napkins as if to protect the egg.   Each boy had an egg and the colors were much more vibrant that I\'ve seen in the USA.  Most of the boys had red eggs but I saw a green one and a blue one as well.  They then held the egg in their hand and took turns tapping the ends of the eggs together.  The goal was to have the strongest (and thus) unbroken egg at the end.  There\'s great honor and good luck in being the person with the strongest egg.\n\nIt appears that if one end of your egg cracks then you can turn it around and use the other end for another contest/fight.  It was great fun watching everyone do this.  Watching the extended family was also a kick.  The mother figure pulled out 3 cartons of 6-eggs each.  Everyone took and egg and the contest ensued.  I don\'t know who won but I do know that as everyone was peeling their eggs (and dropping the shells on the ground) the mom pulled out of her plastic bag a salt shaker.  So that everyone could enjoy their hard-boiled eggs with salt.  I thought to myself: here\'s a mom who\'s done this a time or two.\n\nBut the service was still going on and about 30+ minutes into the singing and praying the priest lead a group of people out of the church to walk around the church three times (at this point, people still waiting outside of the church also joined in on the precession).  I hate to say this but I have no idea why the three times around the church.  I assume that it must have something to do with the trinity but I just don\'t know.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_883\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me with my winning red egg\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-883\" title=\"CAE and Egg \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07170.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me with my winning red egg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI was home and in bed by 1am.  Got up the next morning and I ate some kozunak and got ready to go to my landlord\'s house for Easter lunch.  At my landlord\'s house I got to give the egg cracking thing a go and it went pretty well.  I was the \"winner\"--and this will be a tradition that I\'ll surely be bring home with me to the States.\n\nLunch was great.  We had a number of different salads and roast lamb.  The lamb was very well done but my landlord\'s son who speaks English wasn\'t at lunch so there was one funny moment when my landlord was trying to tell me in Bulgarian what kind of meat it was (агнешко).  I didn\'t know the word and finally I went through sounds of the top four barn-yard animals that we eat in my head (moo-moo, oink-oink, cluck-cluck and bhaa-bhaa).  I figured that it must be lamb (that and I know the names of the other animals in Bulgarian) but don\'t worry I did a little bhaa-ing to confirm.  And for the record, I was right.\n\nThen we proceeded to talk to them about a range of different things in Bulgarian--I kind of wish that this lunch had been recorded because I am absolutely sure that I would have people crying if they could watch it because they\'d be laughing so hard, so hard.  My Bulgarian is not good.  I can do day to day things but not much more.  Until yesterday that is when after a glass or two of homemade rakiya, I was talking about the financial crisis, my neighbors (who my landlord and his wife know), restaurants that I like to go to, monuments that I\'ve been to in Sofia, my students and my school, places that I\'ve traveled to and then I narrated photos from my trip to Turkey all in Bulgarian.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_885\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Easter Lunch with my landlord and his wife\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-885\" title=\"Landlord and his Wife \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc071651.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Easter Lunch with my landlord and his wife\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nLuckily for me, my landlord and his wife are good-natured and quick to laugh.  It almost makes me wish that I was in more situations where I had to use Bulgarian--you know sink or swim.  Because frankly, I was amazed at what was coming out of my mouth.\n\nAll in all, I had a great Orthodox Easter here in Bulgaria. Everyone was so kind to me.  The food was wonderful, my friends were so open and I came home with a few hard-boiled eggs and some kozunak with chocolate bits in it!!\n\nLucky, lucky me.\n\nAnd Vesele Velikden to you!','Orthodox Easter Celebration','','publish','open','open','','orthodox-easter-celebration','','','2009-04-20 17:41:35','2009-04-20 14:41:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=880',0,'post','',5),(896,1,'2009-04-21 20:45:40','2009-04-21 17:45:40','','Traffic','Traffic Troubles','inherit','open','open','','dsc06478','','','2009-04-21 20:45:40','2009-04-21 17:45:40','',895,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06478.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(895,1,'2009-04-21 20:47:51','2009-04-21 17:47:51','<em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_896\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Traffic Troubles\"]<em><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-896\" title=\"Traffic\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06478.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Traffic Troubles\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></em>[/caption]\n\nIt’s your lucky day.  This is the second piece in a regular segment for my blog: How-to-Tuesdays.  Here I will give you a run down on how to do something new–related to my life in and around Bulgaria. Check out last week\'s how to which is a great recipe for <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/aubergine-turkish-style/\">roasting egg plant in the Turkish style</a>.</em>\n\nI grew up in a small town where the traffic was busy for about 5 minutes during rush hour (if you can even it call it rush hour).  My mom taught me a song about crossing the street \"Stop, look and listen before you cross the street.  Use your eyes, use your ears before you use your feet!\" And these lessons learned early on have served me well.\n\nEven in Washington DC where we definitely had rush hour and there was always traffic on the street, a girl could rely on the cross walk, traffic signals and the pedestrian right of way.  I lived in the city more or less unscathed for 5 years.  It\'s probably important at this point to note that I didn\'t own a car and walked or took public transportation every where.\n\nUpon arriving in Sofia, I was terrified to take to bus, tram or trolleybus but I quickly learned the ropes.  The thing that I wasn\'t expecting was how difficult it is to be a pedestrian in this city.\n\nRight of way as a pedestrian? Nope.  That\'s a laughable idea.  Relying on the street signals to safely cross the street? Also, not a good idea.  Stand on the sidewalk hoping for a break in traffic? I guess that this is okay, if you\'ve got 20+ extra minutes to kill.  <!--more-->\n\nSo when the song your mom taught you at five years old for crossing the street is no longer sufficient, what\'s the answer? Well, for me it\'s been a little bit of trial and error, a lot of common sense (the \"stop, look and listen\" advice is still good) and my cat-like-reflexes have come in handy as well.\n\nHere\'s my advice:\n<ol>\n	<li>At a busy street without a signal, approach the street at an even pace and hope that a Bulgarian will already be there in the process of crossing.  Speed up a little bit and cross with the expert.  Alternately, you can slow down in order to cross with a Bulgarian you see approaching the corner.  This strategy is about using the street smarts of a native and the strength of numbers.</li>\n	<li>If there are no Bulgarians in sight, look around again, then eye the traffic.  Never cross in front of a new or expensive car.  They seem to always speed up in the intersection or as soon as there is a pedestrian in their path.  If the cars are older, step in to the street with purpose and hurry across.  Usually if you\'re in the street they won\'t hit you, but rarely will they stop for you to cross the street even if you\'re in a crosswalk.</li>\n	<li>When using a traffic light to cross, never-ever assume that you can step into the street when the man says you can walk.  You cannot.  First you must look to make sure that no drivers are going to make a free right hand turn into you as you cross the street.  I\'ve had someone try to hit me this more than once.  Also, no amount of glare or mean looks will make a driver feel bad.  Your status as a pedestrian makes you much less important than a driver.</li>\n	<li>Use the underground \"subways\" to cross under busy intersections as much as possible.  Basically there are sets of stairs that you can use which take you under the traffic problem--Bulgarians call them \"subways\" because sure that\'s what they are but these \"subways\" will not take you to a metro/tube/underground-train (well unless you are on the only metro line in Sofia that has something like 8 stations and then one of these \"subways\" might actually take you to the metro).</li>\n	<li>Wait as patiently as you can for either a break in the traffic or a Bulgarian to come along who you can then follow across the street--Bulgarians, after all, seem to have a six-sense about crossing the street or they are fearless.  Pretty cool either way.</li>\n</ol>\nDoes it get any easier to cross the street? Well now that I have some established routes in my neighborhood to get to my high school, the university, my grocery store and the like I find that I know what to expect from the traffic and I am definitely less terrified to cross the street (though maybe it\'s bad to lose that edge--being terrified does make you more aware).\n\nThe best part of all of this? Now, I find myself reaching out to grab my American visitors\' hands in order to help them cross the street or what\'s more often the case, to drag them behind me as I dart out into traffic.  Oh, how quickly we adjust.','Traffic &amp; Crossing the Street','','publish','open','open','','traffic-crossing-the-street','','','2009-04-21 20:47:51','2009-04-21 17:47:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=895',0,'post','',10),(898,1,'2009-04-22 20:29:38','2009-04-22 17:29:38','Loved it.  The <a href=\"http://sghg.bg/newsite/index.php?module=pages&amp;lg=en&amp;page=history\">Sofia City Art Gallery </a>has three great exhibitions up right now (and one of the best museum/gallery websites in Bulgaria I\'ve seen).  The thing is I think that the exhibitions I saw today are all closing soon (April 26th).  So go this weekend or you\'ll be sad that you missed it.   Oh and no excuses: the gallery is free and I don\'t that it\'s ever very crowded.  Today there were maybe five other people there--more or less I had the gallery to myself.\n\nWhat\'s there to see? First there\'s \"From Yesterday Till Tomorrow: Monuments to Sofia\" this is a collection of paintings and mixed media pieces that portray the city and people of Sofia.  I was surprised to find myself thinking: I walk by these things every day but I\'ve never seen X in this light before.  The pieces were beautiful and evocative and span the greater part of the 20th century. At the end,  I thought: this is such a treasure and shows a Sofia, a range of talent and an eye for display that I haven\'t seen much of in museums and galleries in Bulgaria.  It\'s truly a shame that this is not a more permanent exhibit.<!--more-->\n\nThen there was an installation piece by Nadezhda Oley Lyahova titled: Globally and on a Long-Term/ Basis the Situation is Positive.  I have to admit, I am not sure I \"got it.\"  Visually the pieces are a lot of fun to watch and the use of space and video is spot on but the individual pieces and the collection\'s title don\'t come together for me.  Also, it might be that the title didn\'t translate well into English--in Bulgarian the title was only maybe six words long (curses not knowing Bulgarian).\n\nThe exhibit that I almost missed because it\'s upstairs and I didn\'t see the stairs until my way out of the building was \"On a Sheet of Paper\" (March 31-April 26, 2009)  For some reason, I wasn\'t expecting much but it was fantastic.  It\'s sort of a retrospective of graphic art and drawing in Bulgaria.  Normally I think retrospective is a term the refers to the life of one artist so it shouldn\'t apply to this collection but I am using it in spite of this.  And here\'s why, it\'s because you get to see the development and growth of graphic art on paper (get the title now?) in Bulgaria since the 1920s.\n\nThere\'s a lot of great stuff hidden up here on the second floor--pieces that surprised and delighted me.  My aunt once asked me upon exiting a museum: which piece would you take with you? I didn\'t understand what she was getting at.  It turns out she was asking me if I could take one piece  home with me to be a part of my (nonexistent) art collection which one would it be? It\'s a question that now always hovers around in my mind as I am looking at art and exploring new museums.\n\nI\'ve never really felt this way before but in the gallery I realized that I would be more than happy to take the entire exhibition home with me.  Sure wall space would be a problem but a girl can dream, right?  What stood out the most to me was how modern the pieces seemed.  Maybe this is because the pieces and artifacts that Bulgarian museums and collections tends to emphasize are from the Thracian times but sometimes I get a sense that not much was happening on the art front in Bulgaria during the 20th century (again it\'s not like I am well connected to the art scene but I hear much more talk about UNESCO sites than art these days).\n\nThe Lonely Planet guide makes the gallery sound rather uninteresting writing: This gallery at the southern ed of the City Garden stages rotating exhibitions of modern Bulgarian art over two floors.  So it took me nearly 8 months to make it to the gallery.  I am clearly the one who missed out.  What else would I add to this description? The gallery is accessible for English speakers as all of the art was labeled in both English and Bulgarian, the staff while they don\'t appear to speak much English had smiles ready for me, the curators are rocking the exhibitions, and the gallery is FREE.  So, go.  You have no reason not to.','Sofia City Art Gallery','','publish','open','open','','sofia-city-art-gallery','','','2009-04-22 20:29:38','2009-04-22 17:29:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=898',0,'post','',2),(901,1,'2009-04-23 15:37:02','2009-04-23 12:37:02','Last night my friend I. invited me to a costume party at Sofia University.  I went and had a great time: costumes, dancing, wine--it\'s a pretty good mix anyway you look at.  The thing is, I am horrible at putting a costume together in the States with a range of clothing in my closet so here in Bulgaria I was at a loss for what to wear (oh and I got invited to go about an hour before the event).  In a pinch, I put on a cardigan, donned my glasses, put my hair up and ta-da... Sarah Palin. I fully realize how lame that was that I agreed to go to a costume party and then took the easy way out.\n\nAnyhow after a couple of hours at the costume party watching lots of girls and a few guys dance the hora we decided to move on to another bar.  And it was karaoke night at the bar.  Yes, karaoke night and for some reason we decided to stay. I think it\'s because there\'s something so wonderfully painful about watching and listening to other people sing off-beat and out of tune and knowing nonetheless that they are having a great time.\n\nKarakoe though is not really my thing.  I\'ve sung a few times with groups of friends but I have no desire to get up there and belt out a song.  I could probably do it but I\'m pretty sure I wouldn\'t be having fun.  I\'d much rather watch, judge and sing along from my seat.  But, I\'ll flip through the song book--who knows maybe this will be the night I see a song and am inspired to sing.<!--more-->\n\nFlipping through the book last night, I noticed that the first page was devoted entirely to Bulgarian karaoke songs--maybe 40 of them and the reminder of the large notebook had English language songs.  I wasn\'t surprised to see the Bulgarian songs--in fact, I expected it.  What did surprise me was how many of these songs were sung in the hour or more that we were there.\n\nI would guess that Bulgarian songs were sung two to every one English language song. Honestly, I\'d heard only one or two of them before but I have to say it was great to be able to read along with the singing.  I didn\'t know a lot of the words but it\'s easier to get the idea of the song when you can both read and hear the words being sung.\n\nThat\'s when I thought these two things: 1) why am not learning Bulgarian by singing karaoke? I think that probably you could go out every night in a week to a different karaoke night and learn Bulgarian for free while enjoying a beer.  I am pretty sure that my Bulgarian friends would insist that this would leave you with a laughable vocabulary but still it would be pretty awesome.  And 2) this music isn\'t so bad--where did chalga come from?\n\nWhat happened next was completely unexpected.  Sitting in this crowded bar, with friends and drinking a beer, I was overcome with a sense of Heimweh (which is German for homesickness--this idea of an intense longing for home which was first introduced to me in the writings of Nelly Sachs and Else Lasker-Schüler).  Everyone around me is singing at the top of their lungs to these Bulgarian songs--moved by a tune, lyrics and memories that I have no access to.  The words on the screen are in an alphabet that\'s still strangely foreign to me and I realize just how separate I am.\n\nIt was sudden and striking.  One minute I am laughing with friends and the next minute I am overcome by Heimweh for a country, a land and a language that is my own.  And all of this happens during karaoke.  Karaoke--something I\'ve never cared much for.  It\'s funny the way the world works.\n\nWe left when Guitar Hero came out.  This it seems pushes the delusion too far.  It\'s one thing to think that you can sing but it\'s a whole different thing to pretend you can play guitar using a video game and a plastic guitar without strings.','Bulgarian Karaoke','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-karaoke','','','2009-04-23 15:37:02','2009-04-23 12:37:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=901',0,'post','',5),(905,1,'2009-04-25 19:26:22','2009-04-25 16:26:22','','CAE at Shipka','Me happy in the Land of the Roses','inherit','open','open','','dsc06472','','','2009-04-25 19:26:22','2009-04-25 16:26:22','',904,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06472.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(904,1,'2009-04-25 19:33:03','2009-04-25 16:33:03','[caption id=\"attachment_905\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me happy in the Land of the Roses \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-905\" title=\"CAE at Shipka \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc06472.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me happy in the Land of the Roses \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI am thrilled to announce that my MoM and my Aunt will be coming to visit me at the end of June for a visit!  I didn\'t think that it would work out given the state of the economy and a few other factors but I was (happily) wrong.  And talk of their visit has had me distracted all week.\n\nI was determined not to get too excited about their travel inquires until they had purchased tickets and I woke up this morning, checked my email and there it was: email confirmation! So now it\'s official.\n\nThis means that I get to start planning their visit and our adventures in Bulgaria.  I couldn\'t be happier!!\n\nOh and in case you need a point of comparision (or reference), I am at least as happy right now as I am in this picture having a coffee outside of the Shipka Church near Kazanlak and I was pretty happy that day.','Happy Day!','','publish','open','open','','happy-day','','','2009-04-25 19:33:03','2009-04-25 16:33:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=904',0,'post','',2),(907,1,'2009-04-27 17:07:50','2009-04-27 14:07:50','','graffiti Removal','Hard and dirty work','inherit','open','open','','dsc07124','','','2009-04-27 17:07:50','2009-04-27 14:07:50','',908,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07124.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(908,1,'2009-04-27 17:20:32','2009-04-27 14:20:32','[caption id=\"attachment_907\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Hard and dirty work \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-907\" title=\"graffiti Removal \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07124.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Hard and dirty work \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nLook at what I saw recently.  This poor guy is water blasting (I just make this term up) graffiti of the wall of a subway (pedestrian underpass).\n\nHe\'d clearly been working on the removal for a long time when I saw him.  There was lots of standing water and the stairs were on the slippery side.  The water was bouncing back in his face.  Uck. Dirty, paint-y, high-pressured water bouncing back in your face and all over you.\n\nThe single thought that entered my mind was this: poor guy, I am glad that isn\'t my job.\n\nWhat\'s amazing is that now there\'s not a sign of the graffiti on the wall.  In a city where graffiti seems to be a fixture of the urban landscape and few people seem interested in cleaning up after themselves--there is graffiti removal taking place.','Graffiti Removal','','publish','open','open','','graffiti-removal','','','2009-04-27 17:20:32','2009-04-27 14:20:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=908',0,'post','',2),(912,1,'2009-04-28 23:03:26','2009-04-28 20:03:26','Hey Friends and Family, don\'t worry about me, I am going to be MIA for the next two weeks or so traveling around the country side.  I\'ll check in if and when I can.  Sorry to leave you hanging but I am not taking my laptop--only a small backpack.  I am sure that I\'ll have some great stories upon my return so stay tuned!!\n\nAnyhow, I hope that spring (or something like it) has found each of you!! It\'s sure found me here in Sofia and now I can\'t get enough of it.','MIA','','publish','open','open','','mia','','','2009-04-28 23:03:26','2009-04-28 20:03:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=912',0,'post','',0),(916,1,'2009-05-11 18:15:09','2009-05-11 15:15:09','','Me and Teto','Me in front of Teto\'s final resting place','inherit','open','open','','dsc07380','','','2009-05-11 18:15:09','2009-05-11 15:15:09','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07380.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(917,1,'2009-05-11 18:20:40','2009-05-11 15:20:40','','CAE in Sarajevo','Me in Sarajevo','inherit','open','open','','dsc07502','','','2009-05-11 18:20:40','2009-05-11 15:20:40','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07502.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(918,1,'2009-05-11 18:25:16','2009-05-11 15:25:16','','DSC07580','','inherit','open','open','','dsc07580','','','2009-05-11 18:25:16','2009-05-11 15:25:16','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07580.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(919,1,'2009-05-11 18:26:08','2009-05-11 15:26:08','','CAE in Mostar','Me in front of the famous Mostar bridge','inherit','open','open','','dsc07624','','','2009-05-11 18:26:08','2009-05-11 15:26:08','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07624.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(920,1,'2009-05-11 18:28:15','2009-05-11 15:28:15','','DSC07750','','inherit','open','open','','dsc07750','','','2009-05-11 18:28:15','2009-05-11 15:28:15','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07750.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(921,1,'2009-05-11 18:30:07','2009-05-11 15:30:07','','CAE and tour guide','Me and my tiny tour guide','inherit','open','open','','dsc07750-2','','','2009-05-11 18:30:07','2009-05-11 15:30:07','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc077501.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(922,1,'2009-05-11 18:34:23','2009-05-11 15:34:23','','CAE in Dubrovnik','Me in Dubrovnik from the city walls','inherit','open','open','','dsc07936','','','2009-05-11 18:34:23','2009-05-11 15:34:23','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07936.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(923,1,'2009-05-11 18:39:06','2009-05-11 15:39:06','','CAE in Ljubljana','Me enjoying a coffee in Ljubljana','inherit','open','open','','dsc08213','','','2009-05-11 18:39:06','2009-05-11 15:39:06','',915,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08213.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(915,1,'2009-05-11 19:00:13','2009-05-11 16:00:13','[caption id=\"attachment_916\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me in front of Teto&#39;s final resting place\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-916\" title=\"Me and Teto\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07380.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Me in front of Teto\'s final resting place\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI woke up this morning to find myself once again in Sofia.  Phew.  It\'s good to be back here.  I\'ve been traveling for the last few days as part of the May 1-6th holiday that we had in Bulgaria.  The thing is also woke up sneezing.  The thought crossed my mind: am I allergic to Sofia? Ha, ha.  Not a chance.  I think that more than likely I am allergic to life.\n\nSo I took some medicine and got on with my day.  I have some life administration things to tackle given my travels (laundry, groceries and cleaning) and I\'ve got some classes to prepare for Tuesday.  Nothing like jumping right back into your life after being away.\n\nI had a great time traveling.  Truthfully, I was a little bit nervous about traveling around in the Balkans by bus and by myself.  But I realized that I was never going to see these places if I didn\'t just do it so I booked hostels for my trip looked up as many bus routes as I could and depended on the kindness of strangers (hostel owners, locals and fellow travelers) for the rest.  And now that I am back, I have to say that the experience was exhilarating and I don\'t know why I didn\'t do it before now.  The answer is I think that I was scared.  <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_917\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me in Sarajevo\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-917\" title=\"CAE in Sarajevo\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07502.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Me in Sarajevo\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s not easy to go somewhere without a plan.  And it\'s hard to know what\'s feasible when you can\'t read the bus schedule because it\'s in another language or you worry about getting lost because you don\'t have a good map (and the places you want to travel to aren\'t on google maps).  Also given the complicate history of the region and the countries I traveled to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, it\'s hard to always know fact from fiction.  So I did a little research, took along a the guide book Eastern Europe by Lonely Planet and depended on maps produced by local tourist information centers.\n\nAll in all, the trip went off without a hitch.  I caught a couple of  buses at the last minute (much to my relief), wish I had stayed in a couple of cities a day or two more (Kotor in Montenegro and Dubrovnik in Croatia) and tried as much local food and beer as I could.  And for the first time in my life, I did exactly what I wanted to.  I walked around a lot, went to plenty of churches and museums, did a little shopping and tons of people watching. Oh, I also tried my Bulgarian out on lots of unsuspecting former-Yugoslavians who for the record don\'t speak Bulgarian but luckily for me the basics are similar and when I needed to I was able to make myself understood (but I probably should apologise to them because I am sure it was pretty obnoxious).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_919\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me in front of the famous Mostar bridge\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-919\" title=\"CAE in Mostar\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07624.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Me in front of the famous Mostar bridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe funny thing is that when I sat down to write this post I wasn\'t sure that I would be able to really give words to my trip.  In part, I think this was because it was a very personal experience but also because I didn\'t have someone to process the travel with as it was happening as I have in the past.  I really don\'t want this to be a list of things that I did or saw or ate because that seems really boring.\n\nInstead I\'ll talk today about the kindness of strangers.  I think that maybe you notice this more when you\'re by yourself.  Your interaction with people means something more than it does when you\'ve got friends or family around--at least did for me anyway.  In part you\'re dependent on these people for food (waiters), for accommodation (hostel owners), for conversation (random people that you meet) and for insight on a country, the people, culture and food (again, random people that you meet). Oh and you\'re dependent on them to take your picture places as well.  Some of these people you are paying and as such you more or less know what to expect from them but for the other people it\'s a risk.  You smile say hello and hope that they reciprocate.\n\nWhat did this mean in practice? Well, I met a group of Dutch students out one night in Sarajavio at a restaurant I went to have dinner in--they asked me to join them and I did.  We had a great time talking.  In Mostar, I started talking to an Irish woman who was also traveling by herself after she asked me to take her photo.  Later we meet for dinner and sat outside in a cafe talking, drinking a beer and people watching.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_921\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me and my tiny tour guide\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-921\" title=\"CAE and tour guide \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc077501.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me and my tiny tour guide\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIn Kotor, I met a 6 year old who didn\'t speak any English.  She spoke to me in Serbo-Croatian and I \"conversed\" with her in Bulgarian.  I was having a coffee by myself when she walked by my table in an outdoor cafe.  She looked at me and I waved.  The second time she walked through the square I said hello and she asked me where my family was.  I think I told her I didn\'t have one--her eyes got really big and I explained my family lived in the States.  We talked. Well, really she talked at me.  Then she told me she wanted me to meet her mother.  I said okay.  Her mother it turns out works as the attendent in the public bathrooms collecting money from people who need to use the toilet.  She didn\'t speak English either.  The little girl proceeded to take me all of the old town in Kotor.  She knew it like the back of her hand.  A funny little tour guide.  I bought her an ice cream cone in return.\n\nI met all sorts of interesting people in the hostels I stayed in.  This is by far the best way to travel and to get to meet a group of people who are exploring the same country (or countries) you are.  Lots of the travelers I met knew or had run into people either up or down the coast from me--the web that travelers weave is a complex one and inquiries about fellow travelers regular.\n\nIn Ljubljana, the town was beautiful and relaxed.  I went out the first night with a hodge-podge of British travelers.  We all happened to be staying the same hostel.  The Brits hit it off and before I knew it were talking a mile a minute in English--but at times their slang was almost as unrecognizable as when my Spanish friends here speak to each other in their mother tongue.  I couldn\'t help but laugh at that.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_922\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me in Dubrovnik from the city walls\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-922\" title=\"CAE in Dubrovnik\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07936.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Me in Dubrovnik from the city walls\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nAbout this point, another American turned up in the bar.  One of the Brits learned that he\'d just moved to town and was working at the American embassy.  I went to say hello to him (that what you do to a fellow American--right?) and within 10 minutes was completely turned off by him.  He was the kind of American you dread meeting while traveling or living abroad (and I was embarrassed by him).\n\nHe talked about how little their is to do in the city, he was uninterested in learning the local language, he was brash and fairly rude, he made ungrounded assumptions about me (telling me at one point that I am the kind of person he protects America for--something I think that if he actually knew me and how very liberal I am he would not be saying) and the kicker was when he called Bulgaria and Macedonia \"shit-holes.\"  At this point, I excused myself to go to the bathroom, left him standing at the bar and never returned to talk to him.  I guess it\'s lucky that in nearly the year I\'ve been living in Bulgaria, I\'ve never met another American like this so it made it hard for me to know how to handle the situation.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_923\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me enjoying a coffee in Ljubljana\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-923\" title=\"CAE in Ljubljana\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08213.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me enjoying a coffee in Ljubljana\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nBut one of the nicest things that happened to me while traveling also happened in Ljubljana.  It happened when I was eating dinner at an outdoor cafe that serves fusion Mexican food.  I had walked by at lunch time and the place was packed and everyone was eating what looked like awesome Mexican food and I made a mental note that I was coming back for dinner before hopping on the night train to Belgrade (10+ hours).  I ordered what turned out to be a pretty decent burrito with chicken and spinach--something I haven\'t eaten in nearly a year--and was sipping a glass of wine while sitting by the river that cuts through the old town and I found myself thinking that I didn\'t want to go home yet.  I finished my meal and my wine and realized that one of the first things I want to eat when I get back home to Walla Walla, WA is \"real\"  Mexican food (whatever that is)--hot chips, spicy salsa and runny re-fried beans along side a burrito, tacos or enchiladas.  I ordered a second glass of wine and spent some time watching everyone walk past.  Then I asked for the bill and when the waiter brought it to me he told me that one of my glasses of wine was paid for.  Really? He said that a man at one of the tables did so but that now he\'d left.\n\nI paid what was left of my bill and walked back to the hostel to collect my things on the way to train station and thought about the kindness of strangers.\n\n<em>Oh and I should note that all of the photos I\'ve posted today (with the exception of one) were all taken by strangers.  Strangers who I smiled at and asked to take my picture.  Not once did anyone I ask say no or refuse to take my picture even if they didn\'t speak English.  Amazing really. </em>','Back from the Balkans','','publish','open','open','','back-from-the-balkans','','','2009-05-11 19:00:13','2009-05-11 16:00:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=915',0,'post','',8),(926,1,'2009-05-12 07:43:50','2009-05-12 04:43:50','','Coffee in Bosnia','Bosnian Coffee','inherit','open','open','','dsc07412','','','2009-05-12 07:43:50','2009-05-12 04:43:50','',925,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07412.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(927,1,'2009-05-12 07:46:45','2009-05-12 04:46:45','','Coffee in Kotor','Coffee made for me at 6:30 am in Kotor','inherit','open','open','','dsc07817','','','2009-05-12 07:46:45','2009-05-12 04:46:45','',925,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07817.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(929,1,'2009-05-12 08:39:40','2009-05-12 05:39:40','','Coffee in Croatia','Cafe Coffee!','inherit','open','open','','dsc07841','','','2009-05-12 08:39:40','2009-05-12 05:39:40','',925,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07841.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(925,1,'2009-05-12 08:48:01','2009-05-12 05:48:01','I drank my way through five different countries.  Okay, I tried the beer but what I really liked was the coffee.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_926\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bosnian Coffee\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-926\" title=\"Coffee in Bosnia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07412.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Bosnian Coffee\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nHere\'s the important thing to know: seeing as this is Tuesday this post is going to be one part \"How To\" and one part travel up-date. Lucky you guys!\n\nSo I woke up in Sarajevo after a really long, bus ride the day before hungry and dying for a coffee.  Actually, I am always dying for a coffee.  I love the smell, the flavor and the way the first sip feels on my tongue.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that in Sarajevo ordering a coffee results the picture to the left rather than simply an espresso.\n\nFor most of us I think the coffee to the left probably looks like Turkish coffee.  Don\'t be fooled this is in fact Bosnian coffee.  At this point, I am sure that you\'re wondering is there a difference?<!--more-->\n\nWell to my untrained eye and tongue no.  Also, I had a hunch that the coffee and the perpetration/coffee making techniques must have spread into the Balkans and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) with the conquest of the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century.  And guess what? I wasn\'t too far off.  This is what I learned from <a href=\"http://meri.nomadlife.org/2007/04/bosnian-coffee.aspx\">Merili\'s blog</a>: Coffee is a national drink of Bosnians and Herzegovinians. The drink was introduced to Bosnia with the arrival of Ottomans. Traditional Bosnian coffee (kahva, kafa or kava), to the world outside of Bosnia also known as Turkish coffee, is made by boiling finely ground coffee beans with water. It is traditionally prepared in copper, coffee pots – džezva – or in other small cooking pots and served special miniature coffee cups or fildžan.  (She also has a lot of great information up about the different kinds of coffee that Bosnians drink throughout the day!)\n\nI really enjoyed this coffee.  The taste is great.  The texture is thick and at the end of your little cup you\'ve got to be careful not to drink the coffee grinds floating around.  Also, if you take a look at the picture above you\'ll see that in the cup there are sugar cubes and a pink piece of Turkish delight.  I took the Turkish delight out, drank my coffee and then ate the sweet--it was really the perfect way to finish the strong and thick coffee.\n\nThe thing is I\'ve spent most of my life drinking drip coffee from a plastic coffee maker in the States--either at home or at work.  These experiences have taught me the importance of good coffee beans and grinding them at home for each pot that you\'ll make--what a difference.  And at one point, I even worked in a couple of different coffee shops so I know how espresso machines work and what it takes to get a great coffee from these machines as well.  Oh and I love a cup of French press coffee but I\'ve never made Turkish coffee at home.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_927\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Coffee made for me at 6:30 am in Kotor \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-927\" title=\"Coffee in Kotor\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07817.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Coffee made for me at 6:30 am in Kotor \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nDrinking a second cup of this coffee in Kotor, Montenegro, I was left to think about this.  In Kotor, I stayed in a room of an older couple.  I\'d say they were 60+ in age and wonderfully nice people.  They didn\'t really speak English but I managed in English and at one point they got out an English-Croatian pocket dictionary.  The wife asked me if I wanted coffee before my 7 am bus ride to Dubrovnik.  I said yes, that I would love it and then I felt instantly guilty.  What am I doing telling an old woman that yes I\'d like her to get up and make me coffee at 6:30 am.  Luckily when I woke up at 6 am she was already up and about--feeding her chickens and working in her garden.\n\nLucky for me she makes a damn good cup of coffee. So I sat on the front porch, drinking the coffee, looking at the city spread out before me and wondered:  what does it takes to make coffee like this, why I am leaving the city after only one night here and how is it that landscape can be so beautiful?\n\nYes, Kotor deserves more than just one night and I have to learn how to make this coffee.  Funny what the breeze of a bay in the early morning air makes a person think about.\n\nSo back at home, I did a little bit of research.  I found this great blog: <a href=\"http://www.turkishcoffeeworld.org/2008/04/whats-so-special-about-turkish-coffee.html\">Turkish Coffee.</a> They explain that Turkish coffee \" is the oldest, the easiest (with little practice) and the most economical way (you don\'t need to use as much grounds) to make a cup of coffee!\"\n\nThey also have a great \"How To\" which I\'ve posted below because it\'s so straightforward and easy to understand.\n\nHOW TO MAKE TURKISH COFFEE\n\nYou will need to have a Turkish coffee pot, a spoon, sugar and coffee that has been ground to a fine powder.  You can get the Turkish coffee in several different ways:\n\nA. Purchase a Turkish Grinder (regular electric grinders with blades spinning at a high speed will NOT do the job) and grind the coffee yourself. We do have these available at our store if you are interested.\n\nB. Do it at at your local grocery store!  Yes, that\'s right.  You may not have noticed but the most grinders (99.9%) at your local grocery store in the U.S. have a Turkish coffee setting!  Just select the \"Turkish Coffee\" when you grind your beans.\n\nC. Buy it ready made.  We sell it in our store but you can also find it at most Mediterranean stores if you live in a big city.\n\nPreparation:\n<ol>\n	<li>Measure the amount of cold water you will need.</li>\n	<li>Place your pot of water on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high (just until the water heats up).</li>\n	<li>Add about 1-2 heaping tea spoons of coffee per demitasse cup. Do not stir it yet. Just let the coffee \"float\" on the surface because if you stir it now you will cause it to clump up.</li>\n	<li>Add sugar to taste. Do not stir it yet, because the water needs to be warm before it can dissolve.</li>\n	<li>When the coffee starts to sinks into the water and the temperature is warm enough to dissolve your sugar, stir it several times and then turn down the heat to low. You should stir it several times, up until it your brew starts to foam. The more you mix it better it will foam ( you can also vigorously move your spoon side to side to encourage foaming action).</li>\n	<li>When you see the bubble \"ring\" forming on the surface, turn down the heat a little bit more or move your pot away from the heat source. Pay attention to the bubbles. Smaller the size the better for the foam.</li>\n	<li>From this point on watch your coffee carefully.  The slower you cook it, the better.  Do not let the temperature get hot enough to start boiling. (NEVER LET IT BOIL - many instructions on how to make Turkish coffee use the term \"boiling\" but this is totally inaccurate)  Idea here is to let the coffee build a  thick froth and that occurs approximately around 158 F or 70 C (i.e., much cooler than the boiling point of water which is 212 F or 100 C at standard pressure).</li>\n	<li>Keep it at the \"foaming\" stage as long as you can without letting it come to a boil. You might even gently stir you brew a little bit at this stage. The more froth, the better it will taste. If it gets too hot and starts to \"rise\" too much then move it away from the heat or just turn it down. Repeat this process until your foam has \"raised\" and \"cooled\" at the most couple of times (not 3-4 times like some instructions. Even once is enough). Then pour in to your cups while making sure that each cup has equal amount of foam! If you are serving several cups then you might be better off spooning the foam into each cup.</li>\n</ol>\nDrinking\n<ol>\n	<li>Turkish coffee is always served with a glass of water. You need to drink the water first to clean out your pallet!</li>\n	<li>Wait about half a minute or so to let the grinds settle to the bottom .</li>\n	<li>Find a comfortable spot and enjoy your coffee!  Make sure to drink it slowly sip by sip.</li>\n</ol>\n[caption id=\"attachment_929\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Cafe Coffee! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-929\" title=\"Coffee in Croatia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07841.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Cafe Coffee! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIn conclusion, I would add to this that the coffee tastes much, much better if someone has made it for you and you are sitting in a cafe in Sarajevo or on a porch in Kotor so get moving.  But if you can\'t travel right now, I can only assume that you can make a pretty decent cup of Turkish coffee at home in the states given these outstanding directions.\n\nOne last thing, if Turkish coffee isn\'t your thing, don\'t fret.  In all of the cafes I was in during my travels you could always order an espresso rather than a coffee and get just that a good cup of espresso either short or long with or without milk.  I guess that means that there\'s a coffee for everyone\'s taste in the Balkans and I should know. I drank a lot of coffee on my trip as a pick me up, as a break, to have a chance to sit down and collect my thoughts or to plan out my next move.','Balkan Coffee','','publish','open','open','','balkan-coffee','','','2009-05-12 08:48:01','2009-05-12 05:48:01','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=925',0,'post','',7),(933,1,'2009-05-12 22:28:57','2009-05-12 19:28:57','','Mostar Bridge','The beautiful Mostar Bridge','inherit','open','open','','dsc07586','','','2009-05-12 22:28:57','2009-05-12 19:28:57','',932,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07586.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(934,1,'2009-05-12 22:30:58','2009-05-12 19:30:58','','Kotor','Kotor at Sunset','inherit','open','open','','dsc07780','','','2009-05-12 22:30:58','2009-05-12 19:30:58','',932,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07780.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(939,1,'2009-05-12 22:48:40','2009-05-12 19:48:40','','Chocolate','Lindt Chocolate','inherit','open','open','','dsc08254','','','2009-05-12 22:48:40','2009-05-12 19:48:40','',938,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08254.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(938,1,'2009-05-12 22:49:13','2009-05-12 19:49:13','[caption id=\"attachment_939\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lindt Chocolate \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-939\" title=\"Chocolate \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08254.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Lindt Chocolate \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nTwo nights ago, I got home and there was a blue plastic bag hanging on my door-knob.  Yes there was a Lindt Chocolate bag with a red metal chocolate Lindt Chocolate Lindor tin in it hanging on my door.  I thought it was strange.  So I called Max to see what he thought or if he knew anything about it. He didn\'t.  He told me not to eat it.  Good call.\n\nNow I can\'t help but wonder who hung it on my door.  Also, maybe they made a mistake.  Could have been that it was intended for a neighbor.  Well, now I\'ve got your chocolate.  Sorry.','Lindt Chocolate?','','publish','open','open','','lindt-chocolate','','','2009-05-12 22:49:13','2009-05-12 19:49:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=938',0,'post','',1),(932,1,'2009-05-13 04:19:16','2009-05-13 01:19:16','[caption id=\"attachment_933\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The beautiful Mostar Bridge \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-933\" title=\"Mostar Bridge \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07586.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"The beautiful Mostar Bridge \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nAfter my travels, I can\'t help but wonder what makes a country an EU country? Many of the countries I went to seem as developed as Bulgaria.  This is not to say that Bulgaria should not belong to the EU but just to say that I can help but wonder what the qualifications are.\n\nSure I know that there\'s a complicated matrix for membership and lots of hoops to jump through and boxes to check but the thing is--if membership is about development and \"modernity\" (what ever that means) um, why isn\'t Croatia a member? or Serbia or  Montenegro for that matter?\n\nSomehow I expected something else, something older, dirtier, grittier.  But what I found was shinny and new.  People were kind and the cities were easy to navigate even as an English speaker.  Sure maybe a the little Bulgarian I know helped me a little bit but really, I was able to get around using English.  In Sofia, at the bus station or train station some basic knowledge of the language is necessary--but in the other countries I traveled to it was not problem to speak English.  Funny how that works.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_934\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kotor at Sunset\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-934\" title=\"Kotor \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07780.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Kotor at Sunset\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nAlso, I know that you shouldn\'t admit countries to the EU that are just plain beautiful (that makes for pretty questionable standards) but as an American I wouldn\'t be against it.  First it seems like it might make boarder travel easier and second, in many places you can already pay in for meals and drinks in Euro (Bosnia) even though that\'s not the official currency.\n\nAll of this said, I had a wonderful time traveling in these places whether or not they are part of the EU or not.  A part of me just can\'t help but wonder what\'s going on? Does EU membership matter that much and what are countries willing to do or risk to gain it?','EU Country?','','publish','open','open','','eu-country','','','2009-05-13 04:19:16','2009-05-13 01:19:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=932',0,'post','',5),(947,1,'2009-05-18 16:33:43','2009-05-18 13:33:43','','CAE Traveling','Me before my birthday','inherit','open','open','','dsc08403','','','2009-05-18 16:33:43','2009-05-18 13:33:43','',944,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08403.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(944,1,'2009-05-18 16:40:13','2009-05-18 13:40:13','[caption id=\"attachment_947\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Me before my birthday\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-947\" title=\"CAE Traveling \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08403.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Me before my birthday\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nIt\'s funny. I woke up this morning and thought: today is my birthday.  Today is my birthday and I am lying in my bed in Sofia, Bulgaria.  Then I thought: how old am I? Nearly 30 was the first answer that came to me but not 30 in a bad way. Not in the way that makes you freak out about how old you are and what you\'ve done with your life--instead I was struck by this sense of unbelief that my life could have worked out like this.\n\nI\'ve got a passport full of stamps, a couple of  suitcases and a life in Eastern Europe. Yesterday I was 27 and today I am 28. Does age really matter that much when you have so many good things in your life?\n\nThe thing is when I was small, I counted.  I go to school five days a week, I have x number of dolls, I play with my friends two days a week, on Saturday mornings I can watch 60 minutes of tv and when people asked me how old I was I always included halfs.  For example, I would answer: oh, I am 6 and a half.  These were markers for me.  They helped me keep track of the passage of time and helped me define who I was.\n\nIn someways, I haven\'t changed much.  I still like to be able to track, catalog and name my accomplishments and achievements.  I have photos, a resume and and facebook to prove it.  It\'s just these days I don\'t count the half birthdays. <!--more-->This morning I realized that the markers have changed--27 wasn\'t so different than 25 and I can\'t imagine that 28 will be much different than 30.  These days, half birthdays pass with little notice and this birthday it seems has snuck up on me, so much so, that I just sent out a late morning email to friends to meet me for drinks tonight.\n\nThe thing is that my birthday marks a passing of time but it doesn\'t define me.  If my twenties have taught me anything it\'s that there\'s time enough.  My friends and I have marked our twenties with a mix of weddings, graduate school, babies, houses, break-ups, travel and promotions.\n\nA year ago I worried about making the right choice: taking a new job as a director of fellowships at a large state school or chasing a Fulbright in Bulgaria.  Now my year in Sofia is quickly coming to a close  and for the first time in a long time I don\'t know what\'s next.  Come July and August, I don\'t have a job in the States--hell--I don\'t even own a bed anymore.\n\nAs a result, I find myself  vacillating between being terrified and exhilarated.  Emotionally it\'s draining but that\'s what makes being twenty-something exciting. It\'s pretty incredible to find myself with the opportunity to imagine and re-imagine my life in a hundred different ways and to be free to pursue those dreams.\n\nAt 23 or 24, I couldn\'t have imagined this life (or this year) for myself and now I find myself at an interesting crossroads where it\'s once again time to imagine what\'s possible (and maybe even to imagine the impossible).  Today, I don\'t know what I\'ll be doing three months from now nor what I\'ll be doing in November 18 on my half-birthday but this year has taught me that I don\'t have to know these things.  I just have to be open to possibility, I have to take chances, and I have to try new things.\n\nA year ago, I wondered if I was being crazy or taking too many risks--who just up and moves to a little known country in Eastern Europe after all?--and now I wouldn\'t have it any other way.  Sure there are days when I wake up and think: the economy is horrible, finding a job is going to be impossible and I can\'t believe that at nearly 30 I\'ll be living at home with my parents but a part of me knows that it won\'t last forever.  The economy will get better, I\'ll find a job and I am not being forced to live at home (I am in the lucky position to be able live there).  And honestly, I can say that it\'s all been worth it and I wouldn\'t have it any other way.\n\nIs it what I imagined at 6 and a half when I still wanted to believe in unicorns, frog kisses and fairy tale endings? No.  In fact, I think it\'s far better than that.  I\'ve been able to create for myself a story that doesn\'t rely on the trappings of a white dress, singing birds or a handsome prince.   I\'ve lived among people who are like and completely unlike me; I\'ve learned a little bit of the language and wished I\'d learned more; I\'ve been frustrated and I\'ve overcome that frustration and all the while I\'ve learned more and more about myself.  This seems to me more magical to me than glass slippers, turning straw into gold or having a prince carry me off into \"happily ever after.\"','Today is my Birthday','','publish','open','open','','today-is-my-birthday','','','2009-05-18 16:40:13','2009-05-18 13:40:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=944',0,'post','',11),(951,1,'2009-05-20 09:11:00','2009-05-20 06:11:00','','Me on my bday','Me and my Birthday Friends','inherit','open','open','','dsc08551','','','2009-05-20 09:11:00','2009-05-20 06:11:00','',950,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08551.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(950,1,'2009-05-20 09:16:14','2009-05-20 06:16:14','Thanks for all of the birthday wishes that I received over the last few days.  It really means a lot to me.  I had a super birthday. Thanks again for everything--your wishes, your friendship, your comments on my blog and every other little thing that you do for me!!  Sometimes I wonder what I did to get to lucky to have such great people in my life.  (Okay, sorry this is much sappier than normal!)\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_951\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and my Birthday Friends\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-951\" title=\"Me on my bday\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08551.jpg\" alt=\"Me and my Birthday Friends\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Thanks, Thanks','','publish','open','open','','thanks-thanks','','','2009-05-20 09:16:14','2009-05-20 06:16:14','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=950',0,'post','',1),(954,1,'2009-05-21 15:05:10','2009-05-21 12:05:10','Grocery store music.  This week I was shopping for a few things in the market close to my house.  I needed to pick up some bananas, toilet paper, bread and cheese. Not such a long list.  No problem I do this all the time.\n\nWell on this trip I was assaulted with bad--really bad American hip-hop music.  Usually the shop plays questionable 80\'s music but whoever picked the hip-hop and pop station on this day must not speak English.  It was bad.  This says a lot coming from me, because I have a soft spot in my heart for this kind of music.\n\nThere\'s something so funny about going to pick up a few things at the store and hearing everyone around you speaking Bulgarian and knowing that they have no idea the lyrics of the songs being played around them.  I thought: these cute old ladies have no idea what\'s going on.\n\nIt gave me the giggles. <!--more-->The feeling reminded me of being in on a secret with your best friend when you\'re little.  You remember--it\'s that feeling of thinking you know something that the adults don\'t know because the secret is related to something kind of illicit (swearing or boys).\n\nI felt exactly the same way in the shop with my basket of food.  The song was full of swearing and references to sex and I felt like I was the only one who knew it.  But unlike the secrets we trade when we\'re little this one kind of embarrassed me.  I hate that the music we export is tied so much to sex, drugs and violence.\n\nDon\'t get me wrong, I don\'t hate the music; I just hate that this is what other people in other countries know us for.  I hate that this is where so many of our stereotypes come from.  But more than all of this, I hate how easily these songs get stuck in your head.  I was singing one of these songs all the way home--swinging my bags and everything.  That\'s embarrassing.','Grocery Store Music','','publish','open','open','','grocery-store-music','','','2009-05-21 15:05:10','2009-05-21 12:05:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=954',0,'post','',7),(957,1,'2009-05-26 22:17:38','2009-05-26 19:17:38','I feel ug today.  And I am sorry for that because I\'ve been meaning to post for days.  Today when I have the time, I just  happen to feel ug.\n\nThe worst part is that I don\'t know if it\'s allergies or if it\'s a cold.  A cold at the end of May just seems totally and competely unfair.  But I guess that\'s just how life works some times.\n\nSo check back tomorrow, I\'ve got a post in me--I am just not writing it tonight.','Ug, is how I feel','','publish','open','open','','ug-is-how-i-feel','','','2009-05-26 22:17:38','2009-05-26 19:17:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=957',0,'post','',2),(960,1,'2009-05-28 12:12:22','2009-05-28 09:12:22','I had an opportunity this week to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet in English put on by the by <em>The Drama Buffs Club</em> at Sofia\'s School of Mathematics. It was an absolute treat--albeit an unexpected treat. What made the performance especially noteworthy is that the students were putting on the event in order to raise enough funds to buy a new piano for the school.\n\nAt only 1 leva a ticket, I hope that they raised enough money for the piano because they certainly deserve it.  I gave a extra when I purchased my ticket by refusing any change but in doing so I also revealed that I was a native English speaker.  As a result the teacher-director who was selling me my ticket demanded (in a very nice way) that I move to sit in the front row where I would be better able to hear and see the production.\n\nI was hesitant to do so because there\'s a part of me that is shy about receiving special treatment simply because I am a native English speaker.  But I have to say that sitting right up in front was really exciting and a lot of fun.  Towards the end of the play when fighting erupts once again between the Capulets and Montagues I ended up with a sword landing at my feet and that was nothing if not exciting!!\n\nThe funny thing is that originally when I agreed to attend the play with one of the teachers from the First English Language High School, I wasn\'t sure what to expect.  The play is over-done in the States and has the reputation of being the arch-typical high school drama club play.  I mean this is for good reason, who doesn\'t love two angst riddled and love lorn teenagers and who can\'t related to the feeling of being torn apart by the effects of lust and love? This said, I wasn\'t sure whether the production would be enjoyable, painful or laughable.<!--more-->And I have to report, it was a little bit of all of those things.  The students in the production put on the show with a lot of heart.  As non-native speakers, they tackled some of Shakespeare\'s especially hard lines with gusto.  Sure some lines came across better than others but I understood every single thing they said (okay, it may have helped that I\'ve studied and seen this play a number of times but after this thought quickly flitted though my mind, I couldn\'t help but imagine myself trying to memorize Shakespeare\'s lines if English wasn\'t my native language and how difficult that must be). Their acting was alternately over the top or way to minimal but god they were having a good time.\n\nBy far the thing that stands out to me is how much fun the audience was having watching the performance.  Mostly there were students in attendance.  I recognized at least two classes from the First English Language school and in looking around the room I would guess that most of the students were between 15 and 17 years old.  And they were having a great time.\n\nEvery time the curtain closed for a scene change the audience clapped widely.  They didn\'t always laugh at Shakespeare\'s jokes (his word play and witty vocabulary may have been a little advanced for them) but they loved (and clapped and laughed at) anything that had to do with fighting and flirting!  I guess they are an audience after Shakespeare\'s own heart after all.\n\nThe climax of the play is of course the scene when Romeo finds Juliet in the Capulet tomb.  You know the drill: he assumes, wrongly, that she is dead.  If he\'d been slightly less impulsive and not in such a rush to drink the poison and join Juliet in death then he would have been around to see her wake up from her drug induced slumber.  But Romeo being Romeo, he jumps the gun, drinks the poison, and Juliet awakens to find him dead. Being the smart girl that she is, she realizes what Romeo has done.\n\nShe finds the bottle of poison empty and the selfish guy that Romeo is he hasn\'t even left a drop of poison on his lips for Miss Juliet. Unable to live without her love (Really?! The 21st century commentator that I am says: look around Juliet--Paris is dead you don\'t have to marry him, you\'re free from this manic Romeo and you\'re young--get back out there and live your life!!), she uses a dagger to kill herself.\n\nOnly this time, in this performance, when Juliet stabs herself the room explodes in applause. I can honestly say that I\'ve never seen a staging of Romeo and Juliet before where this happens.  Usually this is a somber moment where the audience is able to reflect on just how star-crossed these two young lovers were.  However, this was not the case in Sofia yesterday.\n\nWhy? I am not sure. Shakespeare tells us how to interpret this story in the final lines of the play when he writes \"And never was a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.\"  But the student\'s reaction seems to suggest an alternate interpretation--that there is something to be celebrated in Juliet\'s death.  I couldn\'t help but wonder, are they celebrating her agency, her refusal to follow her parent\'s orders, her unwillingness to adhere to the cultural norms of the day, or were they simply glad that the play was about to end? I don\'t know.  And frankly, I am not sure if they know.\n\nShakespeare has a way of doing that.  He complicates the every day--he forces us to take a look at who we are and what motivates us.  He gives us a slant look into our own lives.  But more than this, a part of me is amazed that this playwright got human nature down on paper so right that hundreds of years later and cultures apart, we are still drawn to the stories that he told.  So much so that the drama club at Sofia\'s School of Mathematics took on this play to stage and preform.  And to these students all I can say is: Bravo and a job well done.  Oh and I hope that you raised enough money for your new piano!','Romeo, Romeo, Where for art thou Romeo?','','publish','open','open','','romeo-romeo-where-for-art-thou-romeo','','','2009-05-28 12:12:22','2009-05-28 09:12:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=960',0,'post','',3),(965,1,'2009-05-29 20:50:14','2009-05-29 17:50:14','','Statue','Cute Garden Figure!','inherit','open','open','','dsc08312','','','2009-05-29 20:50:14','2009-05-29 17:50:14','',964,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08312.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(964,1,'2009-05-29 20:52:25','2009-05-29 17:52:25','[caption id=\"attachment_965\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Cute Garden Figure!\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-965\" title=\"Statue \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08312.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Cute Garden Figure!\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been thinking about this question for some time now.  I feel like I never know what to do--to hug, to kiss, to hand-shake?\n\nHere in Bulgaria the two (or sometimes three) cheek-kiss is king. I find that my Bulgarian friends always do it when parting and more often than not also cheek-kiss when they meet/greet each other as well.  My American friends are a completely different story.  Some are trying to adapt, some are not and this usually results in a weirdly placed and unexpected kiss or an awkward hello-handshake-wave-high-five of some sort.\n\nThen there are the expats of all stripes who are living here.  I never know what they are going to do to me or how they are going to greet me whether it will be kisses (how many?), hand-shakes or hellos in a number of different languages.  Mostly though, I think it\'s great fun.\n\nAnd I can\'t help but wonder how did we, as Americans, get stuck with the hand-shake? It must have to do with a desire to never, ever intrude in someone\'s personal space.  But as a result, we have the most impersonal greeting of all.  Sure a hand-shake has it\'s place in a business meeting but with friends? Really--a hand-shake!?!\n\nOn some level it\'s hard to believe that we\'ve stuck with the friend-hand-shake as long as we have.  Why is this hard to believe? Well for starters there\'s something so European about friends kissing hello and for a country that loves all things foreign (french fries, Belgian waffles, Italian food, Swiss watches and fake designer bags to name a few) why don\'t we kiss like Europeans? <!--more-->\n\nI mean we brought tipping back from Europe--after wealthy Americans started going on the \"grand tours of Europe\"--and that tradition spread like wildfire.  Strangely funny considering that tipping started in Europe as an aristocratic tradition and we don\'t have an aristocracy in the States.  Now tipping is a way of life, a 15-20% way of life,  even when it doesn\'t make economic sense for most of us given the original intention of tipping--better service for the next time we frequented a specific restaurant or cafe (thanks for explaining that <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html?scp=1&amp;sq=restaurant%20no%20tip%20&amp;st=cse\" target=\"_blank\">NYT</a>).\n\nThis leads me to the same question: still no kissing? What\'s wrong with us? Are we really that freaked out about our personal space that it\'s invasive for another person we know to kiss our cheeks as a friendly greeting?\n\nThe great thing about the kiss-greeting is that you can\'t really do it wrong.  Unlike a weak handshake, a power grip that seems to be breaking bones or the slimy fish grip--much less is likely to go wrong with a hello or goodbye kiss.  Okay sure there\'s that one person who kisses a little to purposefully but by simply moving your head a little you\'re free from that as well.  In my book, you are much, much, more committed to a handshake good or bad.\n\nThus I got a great kick out of this article: <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html?scp=1&amp;sq=restaurant%20no%20tip%20&amp;st=cse\">For Teenagers, Hello Means \'How About a Hug?\'</a> It gets right at the heart of the issue: a hand-shake\'s not enough.  Parents, teachers and administrators don\'t get the hug--some may even fear it as inappropriate--but for students it communicates what a hand-shake does not.  The hug is about you and the other person being more than colleagues, more than acquaintances and having this thing that separates you from the world of parents who shake-hands more than they hug or kiss-hello to anyone.\n\nSo back to the issue at hand, I am afraid that the hello-kiss may never catch on.  It seems that there may be too much working against it.  That\'s a shame.  A real shame because I am being won over by the hello bye good-bye kiss.  Of course not that I feel like  I\'m getting the hang of this kissing thing I am going to be leaving.  Well, I\'ve got two months left and then I\'ve got to decide whether or not I am bring the kiss back with me--at least it\'s no worse those Americans who brought the tradition of tipping back with them from Europe.','To hug, to kiss, to hand-shake?','','publish','open','open','','to-hug-to-kiss-to-hand-shake','','','2009-05-29 20:52:25','2009-05-29 17:52:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=964',0,'post','',6),(968,1,'2009-05-30 18:12:11','2009-05-30 15:12:11','Great news! That I should have announced weeks ago.  O.K. Taxi now speaks English as well as Bulgarian! Um, wow. This is just one more reason to love O.K. Taxi!!\n\nO.K. Taxi was already by far the best taxi company in Sofia.  They are honest and this I\'ve learned is something that\'s kind of a rarity. For O.K. Taxi, the base rate is something like .59 leva and then .59 (during the day) and .70 (after 10pm) leva per kilometer.  They have meters and use them without question.\n\nThe real O.K. Taxi is a yellow taxi with lettering on the door that is white and says: OK.  But it\'s really important to make sure that the dots between the O and K are red.  This way you know that you are taking an official O.K. Taxi.\n\nThere are lots of impostors in the city.  Some of these taxis say C.K. with the red dots and white lettering where the C nearly touches the K making it look oh so similar to the legitimate O.K. Taxi.  Others read OK but without the signature red dots.  These impostor taxis want to make you think that you are climbing into the real thing only their base rates and their rates by the kilometer are much, much higher.  <!--more-->\n\nIn all taxis in Sofia, the rates should posted on the front of the car in the lower corner of the front window on the passenger side.  If you are picking up a taxi from one of the queues around the city--always, always check these.  You\'d be surprised how high some of these rates can be and once you\'re in you\'re going to have to pay what\'s posted.\n\nIf you\'re taking a taxi in from the airport, you have two options.  If you can speak some Bulgarian, you can march out of Terminal Two take the doors on the right straight out to the taxi queue, walk to the first O.K. taxi you see, hand over your bags, climb in and give them your directions. Easy-peasy.\n\nIf you don\'t speak Bulgarian, look for the O.K. Taxi counter inside Terminal Two.  When you exit the sliding glass doors into the airport the stand is almost directly in front of you exit either left or right and go to the counter.  They speak English there and will order a taxi for you from the queue outside.  They will give you a piece of paper with your taxi number on it and the address that you are going to.  Your taxi driver will be looking for you when you get outside.  Give him the piece of paper and he\'ll get you where you want to go.  This is also pretty darn easy.\n\nRecently the O.K. Taxis that I\'ve been in have also had GPS and that\'s pretty darn cool.  So on a recent trip home, after I gave the driver my address and directions and he either didn\'t believe me or thought I was making things up.  The taxi driver programed in my address and the GPS gave him the same directions I had.  (Does that make me as good as GPS?!)\n\nWhen you\'ve arrived at your destination, the driver should give you your receipt and you should pay.  I always round up when it comes to paying mostly because I can\'t believe how inexpensive taxis are to take in this city and I know how little everyone is paid.  Oh, and after living in Washington DC where simply stepping foot in a taxi will cost you 7+ dollars, it\'s hard for me to believe that I can take a taxi from my house in the city center to the airport for something like 10 leva.\n\nAside from all of this, taxi how to.  I feel like I should return to the reason I  am writing this post: O.K. Taxi has dispatchers who speak English (some more than others)!! I am sure that this is silly but I have to say that I feel much, much more confident now that a taxi will come and pick me up when I when and where I want.  Before I was always a little (sometimes more than a little) nervous that I might make a mistake over the phone in Bulgarian or that they wouldn\'t understand me and I\'d never get a taxi.  Now that they speak English it\'s a lot easier for me to use Bulgarian and reinforce this with English as needed.\n\nSo what\'s the last thing you need to know? Well, I\'d guess that it\'s the phone number.  If you\'re calling locally 029732121 and if you\'re calling from an international phone +359 2 9732121!!\n\nIn closing the thing I get the biggest kick out of is that rather than calling you when you\'re taxi is on the way or outside, they send you a text message! Um, O.K. Taxi you\'re more than okay in my book.','Yeah O.K. Taxi!','','publish','open','open','','yeah-o-k-taxi','','','2009-05-30 18:12:11','2009-05-30 15:12:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=968',0,'post','',5),(972,1,'2009-05-31 20:42:43','2009-05-31 17:42:43','','Water and Park','Spring in Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc09051','','','2009-05-31 20:42:43','2009-05-31 17:42:43','',971,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc09051.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(971,1,'2009-05-31 20:44:25','2009-05-31 17:44:25','Today is simply a beautiful day.  After three or so days of rain, a sunny and warm day was a nice change.  I spent most of it with friends having lunch, lounging around in the park and later we\'re going for Bulgarian food.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_972\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Spring in Sofia \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-972\" title=\"Water and Park  \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc09051.jpg\" alt=\"Spring in Sofia \" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nThis is really the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Lucky me.','Beautiful Day','','publish','open','open','','beautiful-day','','','2009-05-31 20:44:25','2009-05-31 17:44:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=971',0,'post','',1),(975,1,'2009-06-03 12:13:58','2009-06-03 09:13:58','Trams 9 &amp; 10--I want to karate chop you.  I just spent all morning trying to get from the city center to the American Embassy.  Only I never made it.  I need to get new pages sewn into my passport but I guess that will have to wait for another day.\n\nFirst I tried to take tram #10 from Graf Ignatiev.  I had to wait for 12 minutes for the tram.  No problem.  I don\'t mind waiting.  When the tram arrived, I got on stamped my ticket and we started off.  Only when we got to  Zhurnalist Sq rather than continuing on towards the Embassy, we turned around and came right back to the center.  Um, really!?! <!--more--> So I got off at the corner of Graf Ignatiev and Rakovski--more or less where I stared my trip and decided I\'d walk to NDK to pick up the #9 tram.  Maybe the fact that the #10 didn\'t follow it\'s normal route should have been a sign but I figured that somehow I got on a #10 tram that only ran part of the route and that I should have looked to see where the tram line was terminating (not that I have any idea where that is or the names of any of the stops along the #10 tram line--or any line for that matter).\n\nI doubled checked my map and it looked like the #9 tram stops under NDK so I walked over there.  In the past when I\'ve gone to the American Embassy I\'ve taken the #9 tram from the big five corners stop and I was 100% sure that we\'d stopped under NDK in the past.  However, when got I down there the only sign was for the #6 tram.  Ug.\n\nSo I looked at my map again and walked over the bridge behind NDK and down to the tram stop.  There I doubled checked the posted tram stop signs and yes, this was a stop for both the #6 and the #9 trams.  The first tram that came by was a #6, as was the second, the third and the fourth. (Um, what?!?)\n\nAt this point, I can\'t help but wonder what\'s going on.  Four #6 trams in a row, how can that be possible?!  That\'s when I think: I guess it could be possible if the #9 isn\'t running.  Now it\'s getting close to 11am and the Embassy\'s Consular hours are only between 9 and 12 noon.\n\nI figure that I\'d better ask someone what\'s going on.  Only there isn\'t anyone young waiting for the tram so I go up to an old Bulgarian woman and in Bulgarian I ask her: where is the number nine tram? She tells me right here and points.  I think that I  say to her in response: okay but I\'ve only seen tram 6, tram 6 and tram 6.  Is tram 9 working? She shakes her head and tells me that she doesn\'t know.\n\nAt this point, another #6 tram pulls up and she gets on it.  I look at my watch and it\'s after 11am.  Now even if I walked, I wouldn\'t make it.  So I walk home in defeat. Mad that there aren\'t any posted signs telling me that the #9 isn\'t running.  I am also angry. It\'s angry defeat.  I\'m angry enough that I want to karate chop something and I don\'t even know karate.  Heck, in hindsight, I\'d probably hurt myself if I karate chopped something but that\'s how frustrated I was.\n\nThe first thing I did when I got home was to do a google search to see if I\'d missed some announcement on closing or re-routing trams # 9 and #10.  Nothing.  Well, nothing in English.\n\nI am not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.  I just wasted my entire morning trying to get to the American Embassy but on the upside, it doesn\'t appear that I should have known better. It\'s just maddening to travel around in circles for a couple of hours trying to get to the Embassy and then after 2+ hours not get there.  Sure, I could have taken a taxi but the whole thing became a point of pride. . . I will take public transportation.\n\nHa, not tomorrow.  Tomorrow, I\'ll be taking a taxi because even though it costs more--I know that I can get there easily and hassle free.  I just hate feeling defeated and I really don\'t like it when things like public transportation get the best of me.  I\'d like to say: I\'ll show you trams #9 and #10 but I think today, at least, it\'s the other way around.  Oh well.','Trams 9 &amp; 10','','publish','open','open','','trams-9-10','','','2009-06-03 12:13:58','2009-06-03 09:13:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=975',0,'post','',5),(977,1,'2009-06-04 23:12:48','2009-06-04 20:12:48','Well, it\'s day two in my adventures to get new passport pages sewn into my passport.  It looks like there\'s going to be a third day.\n\nYesterday, I fought with Sofia\'s trams to get to the US Embassy.  Today, I decided to walk. It was nice this morning and I got there in less than 50 minutes.  Not bad.\n\nToday, I got to the embassy, had my phone and camera taken a the door and checked, stood in the line for Bulgarians until I asked a guard about if this was the line for American citizens.  She said: oh no.  I thought: really?! I am a head and shoulder taller than all of the women in line, my hair is at least five shades lighter than the other women in line with me and natural, and I\'ve been speaking to you in English and you think I might be Bulgarian?!\n\nOh well, so I go and get in a new line.  Luckily this one only had one person in front of me.  So I thought: Great!! This is of course the mistake I made.  The one that condemned  me to failure today.  I made the application for new pages, they collected it and my passport and told me hold on it won\'t take more than 15 minutes.\n\nThirty minutes later I still didn\'t have my passport back.  Forty minutes later I was called to window 11.  Um, there\'s no window 11 so I have to ask.  Oops she\'d meant to tell me window 8.  Alright.  At window 8, I learn that the machine is down.  Of course it is.  They offer to keep my passport and I can pick it up later or I can take my passport with me and come back when the machine is working.\n\nThis afternoon I got a call from the Embassy.  I can come tomorrow for my new pages.  Great.  So tomorrow will day three in my adventures to get new passport pages. I don\'t want to even think about how many hours I\'ve spent on this adventure.','Another day, no passport pages','','publish','open','open','','another-day-no-passport-pages','','','2009-06-04 23:12:48','2009-06-04 20:12:48','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=977',0,'post','',2),(981,1,'2009-06-06 13:35:10','2009-06-06 10:35:10','','Friend and Design Week','Sofia Design Week takes over a phone booth...','inherit','open','open','','dsc09126','','','2009-06-06 13:35:10','2009-06-06 10:35:10','',983,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09126.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(982,1,'2009-06-06 13:36:51','2009-06-06 10:36:51','','Helvetica Posters','One of the posters in Helvetica','inherit','open','open','','dsc09120','','','2009-06-06 13:36:51','2009-06-06 10:36:51','',983,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09120.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(984,1,'2009-06-06 13:42:46','2009-06-06 10:42:46','','Helvetica Forever','Helvetica Forever','inherit','open','open','','dsc09112','','','2009-06-06 13:42:46','2009-06-06 10:42:46','',983,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09112.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(983,1,'2009-06-06 13:47:17','2009-06-06 10:47:17','[caption id=\"attachment_981\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Sofia Design Week takes over a phone booth...\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-981\" title=\"Friend and Design Week \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09126.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Sofia Design Week takes over a phone booth...\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI had a great time taking in some of the exhibitions that are a part of<a href=\"http://sofiadesignweek.com/en_index.html\" target=\"_blank\"> Sofia Design Week</a> yesterday.  The week runs from June 5th to June 12th and I\'ve already been driving my friends crazy talking about how much fun I had yesterday.  I went to see the exhibits at the French Cultural Institute, at a gallery/show room on Denkooglu St (Senza Showroom) as well as the exhibits in the Sofia Art Gallery (a space that I like more and more every time I visit).\n\nWhat\'s great about this week is that there\'s a little bit of something for everyone.  The exhibits I saw yesterday were extremely varied in both quality and in content.  So if you see something you hate move on, there are 22 different exhibits.  I think that its the range of what\'s being shown that\'s noteworthy.  There are graphic design posters, there\'s functional product design (tables, chairs, lamps) and there are installation pieces.  <!--more-->\n\nI loved the furniture created by both Autoban and Patricia Urquiola.  In part this may be because my parents own an antique store and I\'ve grown up with lots of beautiful and quirky furniture but I also this exposure to furniture helped me get a sense of the lines, shapes and styles that the designers where playing and experimenting with.  Autoban mixed birch plywood and creative new chair designs to make a product that has clean lines and is both functional and beautiful.  They also brand their wooden pieces with a stamp much like Stickley did during the Mission  furniture movement in the States.  Patricia Urquiola on the other hand was working with a range of nontraditional mediums to make tables and chairs.  Her pieces incorporated steel and mixed fibers, metals and plastics to create looks that were reminiscent of wicker furniture and woven-cained chairs from the turn of the century but which were absolutely modern.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_982\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"One of the posters in Helvetica\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-982\" title=\"Helvetica Posters\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09120.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"One of the posters in Helvetica\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThis said one of my favorite exhibits was \"Helvetica Forever--Story of a Typeface\" at the Sofia Art Gallery.  It was funny, clever and engaging.  There were posters made beginning in the 1960\'s using only the typeface helvetica.  A typeface that is supposedly functional, easy to read but utterly boring.  This exhibit really turns this idea upside down.  And to future illustrate this, there are also little suitcases full of other print materials--tee shirts, candy wrappers, product packaging and other advertisements--which show the range and possibility of a font like helvetica when a designer mixes color, size and creativity together.\n\nWhat I really got a kick out of yesterday was the sense of design and humor that are on display all over the city.  Sure some of the installations take themselves a tad too seriously but that\'s to be expected.  This said, I think that this is the kind of thing that a city like Sofia needs more of and I am really happy to see the range of works on display and the fairly large number of people checking out Sofia Design Week on a Friday afternoon.\n\nOh and be sure to pick up a map--either a tri-fold map or a newsprint version.  It will help you navigate the different design spaces around the city.  And of course, it\'s well made.  Thank-you Helvetica.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_984\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Helvetica Forever \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-984\" title=\"Helvetica Forever \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09112.jpg\" alt=\"Helvetica Forever \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Sofia Design Week','','publish','open','open','','sofia-design-week','','','2009-06-06 13:47:17','2009-06-06 10:47:17','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=983',0,'post','',3),(988,1,'2009-06-07 18:28:00','2009-06-07 15:28:00','Today Bulgaria is voting for members to represent them within the EU.  Yes, it\'s a Sunday and there are elections.  This isn\'t something I used to.  In my world, Tuesdays are election days.\n\nAlso, there\'s no alcohol for sale today.  I knew this but it was funny to go to the store and see this explained this in a long posted letter on formal letterhead.  Then I stood with my groceries sandwiched between a young couple and an old Bulgarian women--both parties were buying beer. Which I can only surmise it\'s okay to buy today because the shop gladly sold it.\n\nFunny--beer isn\'t considered alcohol.','EU Elections and Alcohol','','publish','open','open','','eu-elections-and-alcohol','','','2009-06-07 18:28:00','2009-06-07 15:28:00','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/eu-elections-and-alcohol/',0,'post','',2),(990,1,'2009-06-09 20:24:52','2009-06-09 17:24:52','','Shantel','After the Shantel Concert!','inherit','open','open','','shantel','','','2009-06-09 20:24:52','2009-06-09 17:24:52','',989,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shantel.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(989,1,'2009-06-09 20:28:29','2009-06-09 17:28:29','[caption id=\"attachment_990\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"After the Shantel Concert! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-990\" title=\"Shantel\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shantel.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"After the Shantel Concert! \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI had a rip-roaring good time at the Shantel concert on Sunday night!  This guy (and his band) is unbelievable.  I truly had no idea what to expect.  I\'d never heard of him but a group of my Spanish expat friends were going and never being one to turn down a show, I bought a ticket and tagged along.\n\nUnlike shows in the States where the headlining group has a couple of bands that are opening acts, Shantel &amp; Bukovina Club Orkestar just jumped right in and started rocking.  The one funny thing about this is that because there wasn\'t an opening act people were sitting on the floor and what not so they had to pull themselves off the floor for the band.  I\'ve never seen that before--I guess that\'s what the opening acts are for... getting the crowd warmed up and dancing.  But don\'t worry we were dancing in no time at all!! <!--more-->\n\nSo the thing that\'s notable about Shantel is that he and his group mix a bunch of different styles from Balkans-folk to rock and even a little hip-hop.  At the show in Sofia, he had a trumpet, trombone, guitars, back up singers and get this an accordion player.  He was by far the coolest accordion player I\'ve ever seen.  I am not sure I would go as far as to put sexy and accordion in the same sentence but dude--he knew how to play.\n\nThe crowd got really wound up by this great song: Disko Partizani.  I think the song reveals a good sense of humor, a keen sense of wit and a strong knowledge of different styles of music.  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gViaOYgV8yI] Also, it\'s just a great song to dance your ass off to.  In some ways, the YouTube video doesn\'t do it justice.  There was so much great improvisation the night they played the song. And the energy from the crowd really make the song unstoppable.\n\nIf you get a chance to see these guys in person, I would absolutely recommend it.  I\'ve been to a lot of great shows at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC and this show was by far better than anything I saw in my last year in DC.  These guys have heart, they can sing, the can dance and man-o-man do they know how to have fun.  So I guess what I am saying is that the show is part concert, part party and hell of a good time.   I guess if you can\'t see them in concert you should at least listen to some of their stuff and if you like what you hear, I understand they are releasing a new CD in August.','Shantel &amp; Bukovina Club Orkestar','','publish','open','open','','shantel-bukovina-club-orkestar','','','2009-06-09 20:28:29','2009-06-09 17:28:29','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=989',0,'post','',2),(996,1,'2009-06-09 22:00:46','2009-06-09 19:00:46','','Colours and Flavours','Awesome new coffee shop','inherit','open','open','','dsc09155','','','2009-06-09 22:00:46','2009-06-09 19:00:46','',995,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09155.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(997,1,'2009-06-09 22:24:50','2009-06-09 19:24:50','','coffee Shop','Colours &amp; Flavours','inherit','open','open','','dsc09161','','','2009-06-09 22:24:50','2009-06-09 19:24:50','',995,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09161.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1000,1,'2009-06-10 09:45:06','2009-06-10 06:45:06','Apparently when you move to live in Bulgaria, all of a sudden everyone you know starts seeing things about Bulgaria everywhere.  Regularly, people email stories, links or messages saying things like: hey, I saw this article in the New York Times about the chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria and thought you\'d like it.\n\nUm, Really? You\'ve known me for how long? and you\'re emailing me about chess.  Chess isn\'t really my thing.  Still, I get it. It\'s about the thought.  The fact is that in the past you may have read that article and never thought twice about Bulgaria.  Now that I am here, you read the same piece and it means something to you because you have someone to connect it to.\n\nAlso, I love getting email and knowing that people are thinking about me--so please don\'t stop now.\n\nIn fact, I am writing a post about this because I got one of the funniest emails from a friend recently.  My friend and old roommate Nick (of <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Macheesmo</a> blog fame), sent me an email that had me laughing--kind of.  Nick met Ross through our mutual friend and old roommate Melly and Ross writes a <a href=\"http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/2009/06/04/fan-comic-from-bulgaria/\" target=\"_blank\">blog.</a> Well, really he writes extremely wry comics.\n\nWell last week he posted a comic idea submitted by a Bulgarian reader--Nikola.  And as I said, it made me laugh.  Kind of.  But I think that it\'s funny enough, wry enough and dripping in enough up apathy that I can share it here.\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/comics/2009/06/d0b4d0b8d0b0d0bdd0b0d0b1d0b0d182d0bcd0b0d0bd1.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Bulgarian Comic\" src=\"http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/comics/2009/06/d0b4d0b8d0b0d0bdd0b0d0b1d0b0d182d0bcd0b0d0bd1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"324\" height=\"135\" /></a></p>\n\nSorry the comic is a little bit small. Just click on it and you can see the whole thing.  I mean if you can read Bulgarian. If not, here\'s the English translation:\n<ul>\n	<li>Is your father a baker…because he made you rather sweet…</li>\n	<li>My father is dead.</li>\n	<li>Never mind, just give me your phone number.</li>\n</ul>\nI should note that while in Bulgaria, I\'ve never had this happen to me but it\'s come pretty close.  Recently, while out at a club, I tried to pass off my phone number one digit too short to a very-persistent Bulgarian.  He caught me when he was unable to complete the call which he decided to do while I was still standing there (awesome).  I gave him my whole number and when he texted me the next day I told him thanks but no thanks--that I wasn\'t interested.  Sorry  guy.','Bulgarian Comic','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-comic','','','2009-06-10 09:45:06','2009-06-10 06:45:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1000',0,'post','',2),(995,1,'2009-06-10 10:54:52','2009-06-10 07:54:52','[caption id=\"attachment_996\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Awesome new coffee shop\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-996\" title=\"Colours and Flavours \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09155.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Awesome new coffee shop\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve just stared going to a great new coffee shop in Sofia: Colours &amp; Flavours. (Take that Starbucks!)  They are super-duper friendly and they make great coffee.  Really what could be better than that? Well, the only thing that would be better if they were right around the corner from my house instead of closer to the post office but I really can\'t complain (because that would make me just lazy).\n\nBack to the point as I said: great coffee.\n\nOh, yeah and a good price.\n\nUm, and they are friendly.  Yes, friendly. In Sofia. They also speak English but that\'s a far second to being friendly.  For example, today one of the guys who works there remembered me and asked about my blog and the concert I went to on Sunday night (by the way, Shantel=awesome).\n\nWhat!?! You listen to all of the stupid things I say <em>and</em> you make a great cup of coffee? Man.  <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_997\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Me at Colours &amp; Flavours \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-997\" title=\"coffee Shop \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09161.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Colours &amp; Flavours \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nSo what\'s the deal? Well the owner is Greek and he\'s just opened this shop at the corner of Gen. Yosif V Gurko and Dyakon Ignatiy.  It\'s down the block from the central post office in downtown Sofia and right before the park that hosts the National Theater (I am sure this park has a name but for the life of me I don\'t know it or can\'t remember it and it\'s not marked on my 2008 Domino map of Sofia).\n\nIt\'s right on the corner and has a row of tables and chairs out front.  I think it\'s pretty impossible to miss.  The shop has been open for two months.  They sell standard coffee shop things: drinks (hot and iced), frozen and blended drinks as well as pastries and sandwiches but they also have a shop next door where they sell bulk tea, mugs, gifts and a range of olive oil beauty products.\n\nThere are two things.  One more serious than the other.   First, I am not sure what will happen when it turns cold. They don\'t have any indoor seating.  All I can say is that I hope they have a big enough following that customers are willing to walk by, stand in the cold and take their coffee to go. And frankly,  I wouldn\'t be surprised if they can make this happen given how affable everyone working there is.\n\nThe second thing is that somehow a couple of errant \"u\"s sunk into the name of the coffee shop: Colours and Flavours.  It\'s funny because I thought only Americans could make coffee this good... um... joking.  I think that the Italians have us beat by miles when it comes to espresso and all of Europe as a better cafe culture than we do in the States.  I guess that we\'re just good at marketing a product and a need (thanks, capitalism and Starbucks.  I never knew that I needed a venti latte until you put it on the menu).','New Coffee Shop!','','publish','open','open','','new-coffee-shop','','','2009-06-10 10:54:52','2009-06-10 07:54:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=995',0,'post','',7),(1013,1,'2009-06-11 00:22:27','2009-06-10 21:22:27','Sofia is a place that never ceases to amaze me.  My mom and aunt are coming to visit next week.  They\'ll be here for two weeks so I decided that I have time to really show them what Sofia and Bulgaria for that matter is all about.\n\nAs a part of their education,  I wanted to take them to see a show of some sort.  I decided that I would have a rebellion on my hands if I took them to a play in Bulgarian and as excited as I am that <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2009/04/30/713369_michael-bolton-to-perform-in-sofia\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Bolton is coming to Sofia</a> (yeah, that\'s right Michael Bolton and his \"the very best of me\" tour: Sofia June 30th), I figured that I\'d take them to see the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra instead.\n\nOkay maybe they would have just loved to see Michael Bolton (but I am betting against that) however you can see him anywhere (apparently) and its not every day you can see the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra (well, unless you live in Bulgaria and even then it seems like they only play one a week or so).  So today I went to buy tickets to the June 18th performance--which I bought successfully, in Bulgarian.  The program will include Sibelius and Rachmaninoff.  I don\'t know them well but the space the orchestra plays in is a good one and I am looking forward to the concert nonetheless.\n\nThe wild thing is that when I went to day (only a week before the preformance) only half of the tickets had been sold.  The other crazy part was that when I went today, I was prepared to spend 20+ leva on each of the tickets.  And, the most expensive tickets were only 15 leva.  So guess what I splurged and bought those.  It\'s simply incredible to me how affordable the tickets were.\n\nSo that\'s that. We\'re going to the orchestra and we\'re going to have a great time doing it.','Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra','','publish','open','open','','sofia-philharmonic-orchestra','','','2009-06-11 00:22:27','2009-06-10 21:22:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1013',0,'post','',3),(1015,1,'2009-06-15 11:38:55','2009-06-15 08:38:55','I couldn\'t be happier.  My mom and Aunt are coming to visit.  They\'re flying today from Seattle, WA and will arrive in Sofia tomorrow!! The weather looks like it\'s going to be pretty good and I\'ve been a busy bee getting ready for their visit.\n\nIt\'s kind of like waiting for Santa or the Easter Bunny, you know they won\'t come for a day or two but still as a little kid you\'re excited that they are coming.  Only this time instead of hanging up a stocking and leaving Santa cookies or putting out an Easter basket and dying Easter eggs, I am cleaning my apartment and trying to do all of those things that I mean to do but somehow never actually get around to doing.\n\nI have a hunch I\'ll be able to post more once my mom and aunt are here in Sofia seeing as I expect that they will recovering from serious jet lag.  There\'s a 10 hour time difference between Sofia and Seattle.  Yeah, 10 hours.\n\nSo I\'ve got to sweep, mop, take out the garbage, buy some flowers and all in all get my act together in the next 26 hours.  The funny thing is while normally I would find these things tedious, I am having a great time doing them.  I think because I know it\'s in preparation for this visit!!','Visitors!','','publish','open','open','','visitors','','','2009-06-15 11:38:55','2009-06-15 08:38:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1015',0,'post','',6),(1017,1,'2009-06-19 18:03:55','2009-06-19 15:03:55','The adventure has started!\n\nMy MoM and Aunt arrived in Sofia on Tuesday afternoon.  I was so excited that the next day I promptly got the stomach flu.  Awesome.  Anyhow, I took them around Sofia Wednesday morning until it was decided that I\'d be better off sleeping on the couch.  Lucky me, to have my MoM around when I was not feeling well.\n\nI pulled it together that night to take my landlord and his family out to dinner at a great Bulgarian restaurant near my house.  We had a great time.  My MoM and Aunt don\'t know a word of Bulgarian and my landlord and his wife know basics like thank-you.  So needless to say it was a hoot.  And I got to try to translate what I could. We laughed, ate a lot, exchanged some gifts and drank rakia.  All in all, it was a great meal.\n\nOn the way home, it was warm and we were walking down nicely cobble-stoned streets.  There was a little breeze in the air and my MoM said tht this is what you imagine a night should be like in Sofia. Frankly, I couldn\'t agree more.\n\nYesterday, we went to museums and a few more churches and my MoM and Aunt began to have the 10 hour jet-lag time difference catch up with them.  We took naps.  I probably should have written a blog post then but oh-well.  It was a great nap.  Then we were off to the orchestra.\n\nToday, we hit the road.  Well, we took a taxi to the train station and caught a train to Plovdiv.  After I\'ve bought the tickets my mom announces that she doesn\'t think she\'s been on a train since I was 3 years old.  For anyone who can\'t do the math--because you don\'t know my age--that\'s 25 years.  So that\'s that.  I am officially touring my MoM and Aunt around Bulgaria via buses and trains.  I think it\'s going to be a great time.<!--more-->\n\nIn Plovdiv we hit the major sites: all things old and Roman as well as the Old Town and the Revival style homes.  It was hot and sticky but I am happy to report that my MoM and Aunt were troopers--even when I made them run across a couple of lanes of on coming traffic.  Oh and for the church count today: we did excellent.  We visited four churches and my Aunt and I each ate an ice cream cone as well.  Then we had a beer at the Roman Amphitheatre and I got a stamp in my 100 best places in Bulgaria book.\n\nTomorrow we\'re off to Sozopol for two days of relaxing and sunning ourselves.  Well not too much of the sunning part because I think I am skin cancer prone but there will be plenty of relaxing.  That will take up the coast to Varna for the next leg of our adventure.  After Varna, we\'ll head to Ruse and then home to Sofia.\n\nIt\'s not a long trip but I think that it will give them a great look at Bulgaria.  I am also excited because I have yet to make it to the Black Sea or to Ruse.  These are sites that I am looking forward to seeing. I also need the stamps for my 100 best places in Bulgaria book.  The thing is as my time here in Sofia comes to an end I am worried that I might not get 25 stamps or enough for the bronze metal.  <em>Oh, well.  I guess that means that I\'ll have to return to Sofia at some point. </em>\n\nThis said, any suggestions for things that I have to show my MoM and Aunt or things that they must eat for an authentic Bulgarian experience?','Sofia to the Coast and Back','','publish','open','open','','sofia-to-the-coast-and-back','','','2009-06-19 18:03:55','2009-06-19 15:03:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1017',0,'post','',6),(1021,1,'2009-06-22 22:04:47','2009-06-22 19:04:47','','Pearl Hotel','Sozopol Pearl','inherit','open','open','','dsc09754','','','2009-06-22 22:04:47','2009-06-22 19:04:47','',1020,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09754.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1022,1,'2009-06-22 22:20:46','2009-06-22 19:20:46','','Sozopol: craft','Sozopol: craft','inherit','open','open','','dsc09726','','','2009-06-22 22:20:46','2009-06-22 19:20:46','',1020,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09726.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1023,1,'2009-06-22 22:23:15','2009-06-22 19:23:15','','Sozopol beach','Sozopol beach view at night','inherit','open','open','','dsc09613','','','2009-06-22 22:23:15','2009-06-22 19:23:15','',1020,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09613.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1024,1,'2009-06-22 22:39:42','2009-06-22 19:39:42','','Mom in Sozopol','My MoM with the craft-woman','inherit','open','open','','dsc09728','','','2009-06-22 22:39:42','2009-06-22 19:39:42','',1020,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09728.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1020,1,'2009-06-22 22:47:04','2009-06-22 19:47:04','[caption id=\"attachment_1021\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Hotel: Sozopol Pearls\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1021\" title=\"Pearl Hotel \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09754.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Sozopol Pearl\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI know that the Black Sea often gets a bad reputation.  I think that most often people think that the place is over built--that it\'s endless hotels, resort upon resort and a beach full of umbrellas and people.  But I have to say that I had a great weekend in Sozopol with my MoM and Aunt.\n\nSure we were there at the end of June--or just before the high season in Sozopol--but the weather was great, the people were nice and we had a great time in the sun, eating ice cream, going swimming and exploring the town.\n\nWe stayed at<a href=\"http://sozopol-pearls.com/\" target=\"_blank\"> Sozopol Pearls</a>.  It\'s a villa style hotel slightly outside of new-town Sozopol.  The best part is that the place is nearly brand new and the staff were very kind. Oh and you have your pick of a a studio (two single beds and a wonderful pull-out couch--I should know I slept on it), an apartment (sleeps four) or a two bedroom apartment (sleeps six).  The rooms also come with a kitchenette.  So you can make breakfast and even a light lunch if you wanted in your room.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1023\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sozopol beach view at night\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1023\" title=\"Sozopol beach \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09613.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Sozopol beach view at night\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nTwo beaches are near-by which was nicer than I imagined.  I am so white that I rarely tan.  Sun burn is more my thing, so I don\'t usually get too excited about going to the beach.  This said, the water was warm and there were tons of sea shells to be collected so I was in heaven.  I also got a kick out of actually being able to swim in the water.  After growing up in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), I am used to beaches where you run in and run out all the while hoping that the water doesn\'t go much above the middle of your shins.  The water in the Pacific Ocean in Oregon is cold-cold. Even in the summer.  The water in the Black Sea though--that was a different story.  It was wonderful.\n\n<!--more-->After a morning of swimming and sunning (again, that\'s all I can handle), we headed into the old town to do some sight seeing (Orthodox churches and revival style houses) and to buy some tourist-kitsch.  We were successful in all of our pursuits.  Surprise, surprise.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1022\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sozopol: craft\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1022\" title=\"Sozopol: craft\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09726.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Sozopol: craft\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nMy MoM bought a great locally made (and hand made) crocheted piece from a woman in the streets of the old town.  All of her work was hanging on a line drying like linen in the backyard.  It was beautiful with the light coming though it.  One of those things that you can\'t really walk past and not stop to look at.  So we stopped.  Of course as soon as we did this, the older woman came right over to show us her wares.  I am not sure if my mother knew this would happen or not but she took it in stride and because she doesn\'t speak any Bulgarian just looked and looked while I kind-of talked to the woman.\n\nI told her things like: yes these are beautiful.  I asked her how much they cost and then said again how pretty they were.  She seemed pretty happy just to walk me up and down the line and show me the different pieces.  Finally my MoM decided to buy one.  The pieces weren\'t much money but my mom doesn\'t really like shopping very much and I don\'t think that she likes the pressure of buy-buy-buy so I was surprised that she would decided buy one.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1024\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My MoM with the craft-woman\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1024\" title=\"Mom in Sozopol\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09728.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"My MoM with the craft-woman\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nShe clearly liked them so much that had she not bought one for herself, I was going to but that\'s another story.  So she bought it and then we convinced the woman and my mother to pose for a picture.  They did.  My mom asked me to tell the woman how much she liked the piece, to say thank-you and to wish her a good afternoon.  I did and the woman was in love with us.  She told me that my Bulgarian was great and then asked if I was German or Dutch.  Nope, American.  Then she had all sorts of great things to say about America.  I told her I was living in Sofia and teaching English and she kept squeezing and patting my arm and telling me how great that was.\n\nMy MoM got a hoot out of the whole thing and I still can\'t believe how much little old Bulgarians like me--and I don\'t even speak their language.  I think they like that I smile and laugh (mostly because I don\'t really understand everything that they are saying to me) and I say things like: thanks so much, have a great day and this is very beautiful.  And really, who doesn\'t love a complement after all?  Oh and I don\'t think it hurts that they can squeeze my arms and at laugh at me and I don\'t protest.  In fact, I kind of like the attention... this leads me to think that I should try to buy more things from older Bulgarians.  I like it and they like it.  That\'s win-win if you ask me.','Sozopol','','publish','open','open','','sozopol','','','2009-06-22 22:47:04','2009-06-22 19:47:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1020',0,'post','',4),(1027,1,'2009-06-25 22:37:41','2009-06-25 19:37:41','','Street Sign','Um, where did the the \"W\" come from?!','inherit','open','open','','dsc09823','','','2009-06-25 22:37:41','2009-06-25 19:37:41','',1026,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09823.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1028,1,'2009-06-25 22:40:34','2009-06-25 19:40:34','','Street Sign 2','A different spelling!','inherit','open','open','','dsc09824','','','2009-06-25 22:40:34','2009-06-25 19:40:34','',1026,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09824.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1026,1,'2009-06-25 22:51:44','2009-06-25 19:51:44','I got a big kick out of these two street signs in Varna on my recent trip.  First off, this is about one of the hardest Bulgarian town names (or street names) to say and I had to practice and practice before I could get it right earlier this year.  Second, the two different transliterations into English make me laugh and laugh.  Finally, I found each sign on the same block--one at each end and that just really tickled my funny-bone.   But surprise, surprise my mom and aunt didn\'t find it just as humorous as I did.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1027\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Um, where did the the &quot;W&quot; come from?!\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1027\" title=\"Street Sign \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09823.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Um, where did the the &quot;W&quot; come from?!\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThis sign above is the first one that caught my eye.  The \"W\" seems misplaced in this word.   But I do like the \"STIZA\" ending of the word. I think it helps with pronouncing the name but the \"W\"--really I don\'t understand what the \"W\" is doing in there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1028\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"A different spelling!\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1028\" title=\"Street Sign 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09824.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"A different spelling!\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThis sign just made me laugh because it was the second one that I saw and I thought it was much more helpful in terms of actually being able to pronounce the street name (or the city name).  I also got a huge kick out of the fact that the sings were literally a block apart from each other and so different. It kind of makes you wonder who\'s in charge of signage (and spelling).\n\nOh and for the record, I think that if I were in charge I\'d write out the name as: KOPRIVSHTITSA.','Street Signs','','publish','open','open','','street-signs','','','2009-06-25 22:51:44','2009-06-25 19:51:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1026',0,'post','',8),(1031,1,'2009-06-26 22:45:34','2009-06-26 19:45:34','','Nevski in June','Nevski in June','inherit','open','open','','dsc09988','','','2009-06-26 22:45:34','2009-06-26 19:45:34','',1030,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09988.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1032,1,'2009-06-26 22:47:34','2009-06-26 19:47:34','','Nevski in August','Nevski in August','inherit','open','open','','dsc03718','','','2009-06-26 22:47:34','2009-06-26 19:47:34','',1030,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc03718.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1033,1,'2009-06-26 22:49:34','2009-06-26 19:49:34','','Nevski in January','Nevski in January','inherit','open','open','','dsc05312-2','','','2009-06-26 22:49:34','2009-06-26 19:49:34','',1030,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc05312.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1034,1,'2009-06-26 22:51:43','2009-06-26 19:51:43','','Nevski in April','Nevski in April','inherit','open','open','','dsc06296','','','2009-06-26 22:51:43','2009-06-26 19:51:43','',1030,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc06296.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1035,1,'2009-06-26 22:54:03','2009-06-26 19:54:03','','Nevski in June 2','Nevski in June','inherit','open','open','','dsc09987','','','2009-06-26 22:54:03','2009-06-26 19:54:03','',1030,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09987.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1037,1,'2009-06-26 23:07:26','2009-06-26 20:07:26','[caption id=\"attachment_1032\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Nevski in August \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1032\" title=\"Nevski in August \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc03718.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Nevski in August \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI was walking to work today and thinking about Sofia and this year.  It\'s been a really wonderful, crazy and mixed up time.  I frankly I\'m not sure that I could have enjoyed it more than I did.  Well I caught a glimpse of Nevski today and realized how lucky I\'ve been to live here in this city, to work at the First English Language School and to be able to walk down Shishman in the mornings and see the light on the church.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1033\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Nevski in January \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1033\" title=\"Nevski in January \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc05312.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Nevski in January \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThere\'s something surprising and breath taking every time you see it.  Rain, snow or sunshine.  I realized how easy it is for me to take these things for granted especially when the uneven sidewalks or the honking traffic distracts.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1034\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Nevski in April \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1034\" title=\"Nevski in April \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc06296.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Nevski in April \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI thought: I\'m missing you.  And yes, I mean that in two ways.  First: I am missing out on seeing this beautiful thing because I am preoccupied with other things in my life--other things that seem more immediate, more important, more pressing.  And second I thought: I miss you--I am here right now, in this moment, and I miss you.  Even though I am standing only blocks away there is a piece of me already longing for you.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1035\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Nevski in June\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1035\" title=\"Nevski in June 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc09987.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Nevski in June\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nA piece of me that knows my year here is coming to and end and that I will not always be this close, that I will not always walk this way and that the next time I am here, it will not be the same.  I will not be the same.  But there\'s something comforting about knowing that Alexander Nevski is there.  This place, this sight and the streets around it are as much Sofia to me as anything else.  And I find myself missing you.  I don\'t think it\'s the worst thing in the world to miss something before you\'ve gone--in fact, I think it helps you appreciate it more.','Missing You','','publish','open','open','','missing-youg','','','2009-06-26 23:07:26','2009-06-26 20:07:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1037',0,'post','',1),(1042,1,'2009-06-29 10:00:03','2009-06-29 07:00:03','','Art Gallery','National Art Gallery in Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc00024','','','2009-06-29 10:00:03','2009-06-29 07:00:03','',1041,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc00024.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1041,1,'2009-06-29 10:01:21','2009-06-29 07:01:21','[caption id=\"attachment_1042\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"National Art Gallery in Sofia \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1042\" title=\"Art Gallery \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc00024.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"National Art Gallery in Sofia \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe went to the National Art Gallery and the National Museum of Natural History yesterday.  It was kind of a rainy day so that was perfect.  I have to say once again I was pleasantly surprised by what was to be found in both collections. I am beginning not to trust the Lonely Planet guide for Bulgaria.\r\n\r\nThe Lonely Planet guide says that the National Art Gallery has a small collection of short term rotating exhibits.  While this is true on the first two floors, now (or maybe once again) the gallery is displaying a wonderful collection of Bulgarian art on the third floor. <em> And</em>, the gallery has an amazing collection in sheer size but also variety and craft of sculptors.    <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe other great thing is that the the building itself is incredible.  Built in the old king\'s palace, the rooms are large with high ceilings and much of the original detail seems to be in tact still. However, this includes the floors as well.  The hardwood design and inlay is handsome but unfortunately the floors are in bad repair.  They are horribly sweeky but worse than this are the places that the hardwood floors are soft or seem to give under pressure.\r\n\r\nThis is kind of disrepair is clearly going to be a problem in the future and I can only imagine that right now the gallery doesn\'t have the kind of money it needs to keep up with repairs.  And in my book, that\'s really a shame because it means that the history (and design) of the building is fading with the rotting floors and it suggests that if and when the repairs will be made the gallery will have to be closed for a significant amount of time and there\'s some really great stuff to see here.\r\n\r\nAfter the National Art Gallery, we went out back to Toba &amp; Co and had a coffee.  A girl needs a little rush of caffeine to make it through a day of museums (Oh and I was out dancing until nearly 3 am the night before.  Now I know that you are all wondering did I take my MoM and Aunt with me? Sorry to say the answer\'s: no.  They went to bed while I went out to celebrate at a friend\'s going away party).\r\n\r\nA coffee later, we headed to the National Museum of Natural History.  I can\'t even say what a kick I got out of this museum.  The Lonely Planet guide describes this museum as dusty and ancient (that\'s not a direct quote) and it\'s not really wrong in this respect.  It\'s just that a description like this doesn\'t really get it right either.  There\'s so much stuff to see from rocks to birds to mammals to insects and a little bit of everything in between.\r\n\r\nI wasn\'t sure what I was getting us into but we had a great time browsing through the collection and it seems like everyone else at the museum was too.  There were families with little kids checking out the large animals and the rocks.  There were a couple of teenagers that we followed through the museum who seemed to be having a lot of fun reading descriptions and checking out the weird things preserved in jars.  And there was a group of twenty somethings who breezed through the museum until we caught up with them on the last floor with all of the butterflies and moths (which I should add smelled horribly of moth-balls).\r\n\r\nWhat really got me hooked in this museum is how big and varied the collection is.  Sofia doesn\'t have a vast collection of European art (for a lot of good reasons I would add) but the collection of animals and rocks really seems to rival that of even museums like the Smithsonian in the States.  They\'ve got an enormous collection that spans the globe.  (It\'s also important to note, I am an English major and as such, I am not fully qualified to make a claim like the one I just did but I am doing it anyway.)  The size and scope of the collection makes you realize how big the world is and it displays enough specimen samples to give you something to compare the different birds, moths or minerals to.\r\n\r\nSure the displays are kind of old and some of the animals look like they\'ve seen better days (and in fact, they have) but the museum <em>is</em> a lot of fun even if it is a dusty and many of the displays are only labeled in Bulgarian.','Museum Kind of Day','','publish','open','open','','museum-kind-of-day','','','2012-07-29 10:25:14','2012-07-29 08:25:14','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1041',0,'post','',0),