(1044,1,'2009-07-01 12:18:53','2009-07-01 09:18:53','[caption id=\"attachment_1046\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"CAE in Old Town Sozopol \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1046\" title=\"CAE Sozopol \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc09669.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"CAE in Old Town Sozopol \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nJuly is off to a bang.  I got up this morning at 4:15 am to send my MoM and Aunt off to the airport. I made them sandwiches for the journey.  At 5 am, we took two taxis between the three of us and all of the luggage and by 5:15 they were checked in for their flight.  Also a quick shout out and thanks to Air France for still allowing a girl to check two bags without any extra fees! It made it a lot easier to send souvenirs home with my MoM.\n\nAnd after my MoM and Aunt disappear on the escalator in Terminal Two of the Sofia Airport, I went home to see if I could catch any more sleep before starting my day.  I walked out of the airport to the OK taxi stand.  For the first time ever there was only one taxi in line (wow--I guess that\'s what happens at 5:30 in the morning).  I got in and gave the taxi driver my address.  He said: great no problem.\n\nThen he asked me if he could smoke.  I said yes because while I don\'t smoke I hate telling people no they can\'t smoke.  I think that goes to the fact that A) I feel like I need to be polite to everyone, B) I am really bad at saying no to people and C) as a foreigner, I am often not sure if it\'s actually acceptable to say no.  A part of me wonders why he couldn\'t smoke while he was sitting in the taxi queue rather than deciding the moment he starts driving out of the parking lot that he needs to smoke now but I guess that\'s another thing altogether.<!--more-->\n\nWe talk briefly about where my tiny one block street is.  He then makes a lot of comments most of which I can\'t understand--he seems to be half mumbling and slurring some of his words together.  What I can make out goes something like this: mahwa, maa, la la, center, mahh. And on and on.  I do what I normally do when this happens to me I smile, try my best to look like I\'m listening to him and see if I can think of any way to respond to him when he stops talking and it\'s my turn to respond.  He must catch on that I don\'t really have a clue what he\'s talking about because then he offers me a cigarette and we haven\'t even turned to go into the city from the airport yet.\n\nThe funny thing is that even after he\'s asked if he can smoke, he\'s not.  But he\'s more than happy to offer cigarettes to me.  Again, I don\'t smoke so it never seems like an attractive thing to me to do but I have to say it\'s even less attractive at 5:30 am.  The thought of it is the kind of thing that turns your stomach--I haven\'t had a coffee yet, eaten any breakfast or even had a shower.  Smoking is not the thing I want right now.  I\'d rather be in bed.  Asleep.\n\nStill more talking ensues.  The taxi driver talks about how much more beautiful the United States is compared to Bulgaria.  I find myself defending Sofia and pointing out, in Bulgarian, how much their is to like about the city (more and more I am beginning to think this is my job for the year).\n\nThat\'s when it hits me: Sofia is beautiful in the early morning pre-dawn light.  The streets don\'t look as dirty, you can\'t really make out the cracked sidewalks, there\'s hardly any traffic, the crumbling plaster-stucco buildings appear tall and regal, Alexander Nevski looks great and the parliament building isn\'t so bad itself.  It\'s pretty amazing that this is my city.\n\nI am jerked back into the moment when I realize that we\'re stopped a the light for Rakovski and not turning as we should be.  I have to give more directions.  The taxi cab driver seems annoyed with me.  (Great.) When we drive past the next turn, I am annoyed.  I tell him just to pull over at the corner.  The next street is one way in the wrong direction.  I pay and walk the few blocks to my apartment.\n\nAt this point, I am relieved to be home.  My apartment seems empty after having my MoM and Aunt in town for more than two weeks but I don\'t spend too much time thinking about that.  Instead, I crawled into bed and caught a few more hours of sleep.\n\nNow I\'ve got to do some grading for my university course, pick up some groceries, clean my apartment and finish my final report for the Fulbright.  Because as it turns out, today is the last day of my Fulbright grant and this is the first day of my last month in Bulgaria.  There\'s something bittersweet about today.\n\n<em>Oh one last thing: I\'ll be continuing to write on this blog during the month July and I promise, I\'ll try my best not to wallow in nostalgia (or cliche) as my final days in Eastern Europe approach. </em>','Hello July','','publish','open','open','','hello-july','','','2009-07-01 12:18:53','2009-07-01 09:18:53','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1044',0,'post','',2),(1046,1,'2009-07-01 12:21:38','2009-07-01 09:21:38','','CAE Sozopol','CAE in Old Town Sozopol','inherit','open','open','','dsc09669','','','2009-07-01 12:21:38','2009-07-01 09:21:38','',1044,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc09669.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1050,1,'2009-07-03 19:05:15','2009-07-03 16:05:15','Funny what living abroad can do to a girl: I totally forgot that tomorrow is Independence Day. Thanks to everyone in the states who has facebook feeds, twitters, and away messages about baseball games, fireworks, a long weekend and the like--otherwise I might have completely missed it.\n\nNormally I celebrate with a beer and some grilled food--you know a hot dog or a hamburger with yellow American cheese on it.  Tomorrow, I think I\'ll have Shopska salad, kufte and a Zagorka (or three).  It\'ll be a Bulgarian-American 4th of July minus the baseball game and standing around in someone\'s semi-green boiling-hot backyard trying to find a little shade to stand in while drinking beer and dreaming of air conditioning.\n\nThis said, Happy Birthday America!','Wow, America','','publish','open','open','','wow-america','','','2009-07-03 19:05:15','2009-07-03 16:05:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/wow-america/',0,'post','',3),(1051,1,'2009-07-05 12:38:55','2009-07-05 09:38:55','Recently one of my Bulgarian friends told me that she was teaching herself how to wear high heels.  I thought: oh, cute.  She tells me this when we\'re out having a drink with friends and decide that we should all wear heels out in the near future. This seemed like a fine plan that night.\n\nNow however it\'s clear that I am missing a gene.  I don\'t have the Balkan-high-heel-wearing-gene.  Not one bit.\n\nOn Friday (almost three days ago, now), I had a surprise meeting to attend but I\'d sent home all of my dress up clothes home to the States with my MoM earlier the same week.  I didn\'t think I\'d need them for my last month in Bulgaria.  And I wouldn\'t have until I got an email Friday morning about a meeting I needed to attend.\n\nSo I looked in my closet and thought: Ach, what am I going to wear? I have one summer dress (not appropriate). I have black capri pants (not going to cut it). I have slim fitting black jeans (okay I decide) and a long fitting black cotton shirt (in a pinch, I figure this will have to do).  For shoes, I have tennis shoes, flat sandals and one pair of heels that I wasn\'t planning to take home with me (I\'d worn them to a couple of weddings but not for any stretch of time).   The flat sandals were wrong--so I took a deep breath and put on the heels. <!--more-->\n\nThey didn\'t feel too bad walking around my apartment and I decided they would be more than manageable.  Buffered by an earlier conversation with friends and the fact that so many Bulgarian women wear heels I figured: I can do this.  This was before I realized that I was born without the ever important gene (the so called Balkan-high-heel-wearing-gene).  Oh and at nearly 6-feet tall, I never figured that it was so important for me to be able to wear high heels. And frankly, I still don\'t but I learned an important lesson on Friday afternoon--I am not superhuman but I have a sneaking suspicion that Bulgarian women might be.\n\nBefore the meeting, on the way out of my apartment, I gave myself a one over.  It wasn\'t the best outfit ever but given what\'s left in my closet it was the best of the best and I have to admit that the heels helped pull everything together.  Fueled with a boost of confidence and a large dash of self-delusion, I head out.\n\nThe stairs in my apartment were not problem.  I thought: Great! That it is until I reached the sidewalk (which like all sidewalks is directly outside the front door my building).  The sidewalks here are horrible--uneven, loose tiles, dog poop and cars pull up and park right on the sidewalks.  I made it to the end of the street before it crossed my mind that maybe this was a bad plan.\n\nNormally, I can walk around and look at buildings I am passing, keep an eye out for traffic and check people out but today, all I could do was stare at the next piece of pavement in front of me and try to decide where the best place to put my foot down next was going to be. This is really not my idea of fun.  But given my pride and how little I had in my closet, I had to keep going.  Or maybe more precisely, I had to keep slow-going.\n\nIn the next block, it began to become clear what a bad plan this was.  If I thought the Sofia streets in sneakers or flats was a bad, in heels it becomes painfully clear exactly how bad the streets are.  I made it block by block all the while swearing silently at my friends from earlier in the week who had managed to convince me how much fun it would be to wear heels out one night in the near future.  Ha. (As an aside, I guess it just goes to show what a great plan something like this seems when you\'re drinking a beer and not wearing heels and that the actual reality of the situation might be somewhat different.)\n\nAt this point, I am pretty sure that anyone who saw me must have gotten a great kick out of it.  Here I am walking down the street, unable to look up.  I just hope that if someone steps in front of me, I\'ll be able to see their shoes in time to slow down or stop and that I wont run into (or over) them.  All the while, I marvel at the other women around me who seem to be walking about in heels with ease and grace. (Really, how is that possible?!)\n\nSomehow, I made it without incident to the meeting.  I even crossed one of Sofia\'s yellow-brick paved streets! But the experience was terrifying.  I thought that wearing high heels was supposed to make you feel sexy, powerful and in control.  This however was not the case for me.\n\nThe meeting went great (more about this on Monday)! But now all I have to show for the high heel adventure are three blisters.  A painful reminder of the fact that emotionally and physically, I am not cut out for wearing heels. And still, I have no idea how Bulgarian women manage--originally I thought if they can do it, so can I.  Clearly, I was delusional (and missing a gene).','High Heels &amp; Sofia, Ha','','publish','open','open','','high-heels-sofia-ha','','','2009-07-05 12:38:55','2009-07-05 09:38:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1051',0,'post','',4),(1057,1,'2009-07-06 09:26:47','2009-07-06 06:26:47','','CAE and Heart','This is how I feel about this next year!','inherit','open','open','','cimg3646','','','2009-07-06 09:26:47','2009-07-06 06:26:47','',1056,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/cimg3646.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1056,1,'2009-07-06 09:28:23','2009-07-06 06:28:23','[caption id=\"attachment_1057\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"This is how I feel about this next year! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1057\" title=\"CAE and Heart\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/cimg3646.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"This is how I feel about this next year! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI don\'t know why you say <em>goodbye</em>, I say <em>hello</em>, <em>Hello</em>, <em>Hello!</em>\n\nUntil Friday last week (yes Friday, July 3rd), I thought that I would be writing a good-bye post this week.  However, today (three days later), I am thrilled to announce that I\'ll be staying on for a second year in Sofia, Bulgaria!\n\nThe Fulbright concluded on July 1st and I was fully prepared to travel for three weeks, return to Sofia and head home to Walla Walla.  Then on Friday morning, I got an email from the president of the <a href=\"http://www.acs.bg/\" target=\"_blank\">American College</a> asking me if I was still interested in the opportunity to teach at their high school.  I wrote back that I was.  I met the president at 2pm for coffee and by 4pm he\'d offered me the job.  And in fewer than 6 hours and one cappicanno later my plans for the next year changed once again.<!--more-->\n\nThis afternoon I\'ll be going out to the American College to sign my contract. (Wow.)\n\nAt the end of July, rather than moving back to the States, I\'ll be moving across town and rather than taking all of my things home when I go back for what\'s now an extended vacation, I\'ll be going to collect much of stuff I just sent home with my MoM.  (Thanks MoM!!)  The funny thing is that a piece of me still can\'t get my head around the fact that I\'ll be living and working in Sofia for a second year.  I find myself thinking I am going to miss this and then laughing because while next year will be different than this year I am currently completing--this adventure is by no means over.\n\nSo what\'s the story with the American College? Is it a college? Nope.  The American College of Sofia is a private high school in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Sofia called Mladost.  I think it\'s safe to say that Mladost is actually more like a suburb of Sofia than anything else.  I\'ve got a lot to learn  about this part of the city--the neighborhoods all seem to be distinguished by numbers--there\'s Mladost 1, Mladost 2, Mladost 3 and I think there\'s even a Mladost 4.  How this actually works or what it means in practice, I am not sure.  I have to admit, I\'ve been pretty happy living in the city center and know the names of some of these other neighborhoods but I\'ve never bothered to learn too much else.\n\nOh all the new things to learn about! Aside from having a new job, I\'ll also be moving to Mladost as the school owns housing for it\'s foreign teachers there.  While, I am not thrilled about the idea of leaving my current apartment and landlord, I have to admit that the prospect of living close to school is pretty appealing.  The thought of having to commute everyday to school from the city center doesn\'t really bring to mind puppies and rainbows.  While Mladost seems so far away right now, a few of my Bulgarian friends who I let in on my secret this weekend reminded me that if all goes well the metro/subway/underground is scheduled to open in Mladost in September. And who doesn\'t love the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Metro\" target=\"_blank\">metro! </a>\n\nI guess this leads to the question: what exactly will you be doing? I\'ll be teaching English at the high school--two classes of either 9th or 10th grade English and two classes of either 11th or 12th grade English and an elective course (which I get to design and propose).  For everyone not familiar with the American College of Sofia, this is a high school and not a college.  I am not sure exactly why the name is misleading but I can only imagine that it has to do with the fact that the school was founded in 1860 or so and there wasn\'t yet a standardization of the use of the word college yet but that is just a wild and completely unfounded guess. The schools website has a<a href=\"http://www.acs.bg/en/acs_overview.php?case=3\" target=\"_blank\"> good history posted online </a>but nothing about how the school got it\'s name.  I promise that I\'ll ask (unless one of my knowledgeable Bulgarian readers beats me to it!).\n\nAll of this said, I couldn\'t be happier that I\'ll be teaching full time at the American College of Sofia this fall and that I get to live for a second year in Bulgaria.  Maybe good things do come to those to wait. Mostly, I am just glad that I don\'t have to say good-bye to this city or the friends I\'ve made just yet.  Rather, I get to say: hello, Hello, Hello.','You say goodbye and I say hello','','publish','open','open','','you-say-goodbye-and-i-say-hello','','','2009-07-06 09:28:23','2009-07-06 06:28:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1056',0,'post','',19),(1059,1,'2009-07-07 23:52:37','2009-07-07 20:52:37','Great news. I made it to Venice.  After our airplane landed at the wrong airport due to bad weather, we then sat on the runway for 2.5 hours.  Gross. I did however meet a Bulgarian Italian family who live in Italy and their kids are learning both Bulgarian and Italian. Oh and the 10 year old also speaks enough English that she could laugh at me and my Bulgarian.  I did however have a captive audience so I got a little Bulgarian practice in.\n\nAfter way too many hours on the plane, we were finally let off but not at the airport I expected and Wizz Air was less then helpful.  I guess I shouldn\'t expect much from a low cost airline but really?!  I of course had different directions to the city but made it into Venice without a hitch once I was on the bus.\n\nBy far the best purchase I\'ve made so far was a 2 Euro map. I am not sure that you could get lost, lost in this city but it\'s super easy to get turned around. One of the great things after the Sofia traffic is that there are no cars in the city center proper.  WoW!! It means that mostly everyone walks or they take public transportation: boats.  I took a look at the boat map this morning but you have to be able to read the numbers and the colors and know where the rivers are to really make a go of it.  This said, I\'ll be taking an adventure via boat tomorrow!!','Venice','','publish','open','open','','venice','','','2009-07-07 23:52:37','2009-07-07 20:52:37','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1059',0,'post','',1),(1061,1,'2009-07-10 10:02:35','2009-07-10 07:02:35','I am in Bratislava right now and will be leaving this morning to travel to Prague.  This again is just going to be another quick post. Sorry I don\'t have more time.\n\nBratislava is an amazing city.  It has a really small feel an it\'s totally accessible. Compared to Venice it seems like paradise.  Sure there are tourists here but not in the same over the top way that there are tourists in Venice.  Venice is for sale; you can easily buy what ever part of Venice that you want (glass, wine or masks) but I can\'t say the same for Bratislava (thank god).\n\nI walked around the old town, visited some churches, went to a couple of museums (the clock museum was a surprising favorite), and then I drank a couple of coffees (you know for comparisons sake and because I am always in search of a great coffee).  All in all it was a great day.  Prague here I come.','Bratislava','','publish','open','open','','bratislava','','','2009-07-10 10:02:35','2009-07-10 07:02:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1061',0,'post','',2),(1063,1,'2009-07-11 20:29:19','2009-07-11 17:29:19','Woah Prague! This is a great town.  I can totally see why it has become such a hot tourist spot.  The city is stunning and I do not throw words like that around lightly, you know, stunning.  I had heard great things about Prague but I also knew that it has a reputation as a party town so I did not know what to expect.  It has met all of my expectations and then some.\n\nThe buildings are beautiful, tall, imposing and for the most part well painted.  The city center looks like it could be nearly any where in Europe but the city does not seem to move as fast as other cities in Europe proper. Oh and I have not even mentioned that there is a huge castle.  I guess that it is one of the largest castle complexes in Europe.  Pretty cool.  If you want to read descriptions about Prague or learn more about the history I am sure that there are better blogs than mine for this.\n\nInstead, I want to tell you a quick but telling story. This morning I decided that I would go on a walking tour of the city.  It seemed like a great way to learn more about the city and the history of the country.  It was.\n\nBut before the tour I decided that I needed to find some coffee and ideally something breakfast like.  So I started wandering around the side streets of old town Prague.  That is when I realized that there was a truck cleaning streets so I turned again.  And thought boy it would be nice if I saw street cleaners like this in Sofia, we could really use some high powered water and a good brushing of the streets, that would really make Sofia shine.  I walk for another block, then I realize that the street cleaner is following me.  Gosh. I thought to myself, it is mocking me.  And right before I found a spot for both coffee and breakfast, super, I realized that there is a street cleaner behind me and one on the cross street.  Two street cleaners within blocks of each other!! Holy smokes.\n\nSo while I was having coffee, I started wondering, do we have street cleaning machines in Sofia and if not way is that--um I cannot make the question mark work on this computer key board.  I can honestly say that I have never seen one but I guess that if you are struggling to have the garbage picked up maybe these trucks are not a high priority.  But they do such a good job and this city while not brand new or perfectly taken care of looks damn good because of it.  Maybe we can buy some or some-more street cleaners and really get Sofia shinning.\n\nAnyhow, Prague is amazing.  You should definitely check it out.','Prague on My Mind','','publish','open','open','','prague-on-my-mind','','','2009-07-11 20:29:19','2009-07-11 17:29:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1063',0,'post','',0),(1065,1,'2009-07-13 16:26:52','2009-07-13 13:26:52','I am currently in Olomouc which is the fifth largest city in the Czech Republic. I have been here for a day and I love it. The city is beautiful and the streets are un-crowded.  Oh and it doesn\'t hurt that I have only been able to identify a few other tourists while on my adventures around town.\n\nThis is pretty amazing to me considering the fact that there are so many tourists crawling the streets in Prague and Olomouc is only a 3 hour train ride away.  I have been staying in one of the best hostels of my trip--the Poets Corner Hostel.  It was recommend by Lonely Planet--thanks.\n\nOlomouc is a university town but right now there are not any students around so it is the best of both worlds. There are coffee shops and bars but not too many students or people for that matter.  I am very happy that I decided to make the city part of my tour. \n\nOh and I went to this great local bar last night called Moritz they are a local microbrewery.  For about 5 dollars I had two large beers--half liter--and a bowl of garlic soup--um, wow, that was serious soup no vampires are coming close to me for the next week or so.  I guess that is a good thing as northern Romania is on my to do list and that is the home of Dracula.\n\nToday I went on an excellent walking tour with that the hostel runs.  Igot to see tons of the city and to learn a lot more about the history of the region and to hear some local myths-stories about buildings, names and the like.  It was the kind of tour that makes a city feel much more familiar and I was glad for that.\n\nTomorrow I am taking the train to Wroclaw in Poland.  Wish me luck.  Oh and in case you cant tell, I am having a great time. Even if these key boards around Eastern Europe are kind of tricky with lots of extra and different keys...','Olomouc','','publish','open','open','','olomouc','','','2009-07-13 16:26:52','2009-07-13 13:26:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1065',0,'post','',2),(1067,1,'2009-07-15 16:05:09','2009-07-15 13:05:09','Wroclaw is hot and muggy today but that did not keep me from exploring the city.  Sure it would be nice if it was not so hot but I think that makes it okay to eat ice cream so I cannot complain too much.\n\nThe city has lots of churches which I have been in and out of and like but 70 percent of the city was destroyed during WWII.  As such, most of the churches have been rebuilt.  So from the outside they look amazing and from the inside they are just ho-hum.  Still they are interesting to see and the city is lovely to walk around so I have been happy with this jaunt to Wroclaw.\n\nAlso, the city isnt very touristy so it makes you feel like you are seeing something rather unexplored.  This is not to say that there are not tourists here because there are.  They are just German.  And it seems to me that they are everywhere.\n\nYesterday when I was trying to take the tram to my hostel I could not get the ticket machine to work and I asked the only young girl at the stop who was with her grandmother if she spoke English.  The girl said, no not really and I pointed at the ticket machine.  The grandmother looked at me grabbed my hand and started speaking to me in pretty decent German.  Sure enough the machine would not work for her either so I--gasp, rode the tram without a ticket.  This is for the record something I HATE doing but I did it anyway.  I did not see any other option.\n\nBut the greatest thing in my book is that in most of the cafes you hear the waitress ask, English or German... the implication being that she can speak both.  It of course reminds me how stupid we are not to teach children foreign languages in the States at an earlier age.','Wroclaw','','publish','open','open','','wroclaw','','','2009-07-15 16:05:09','2009-07-15 13:05:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1067',0,'post','',1),(1069,1,'2009-07-18 10:23:49','2009-07-18 07:23:49','I\'ve been in Krakow now for two days (and I am spending a third before heading off for Lviv in the Ukraine tomorrow).  There is so much great stuff to do and to see in the city.  It\'s kind of overwhelming.  Ha. After four rather slow-vacationy days in Olomost and in Wroclaw, it\'s hard to get back in full tourist mode.  But I think that I \'ve been managing to do a pretty good job of it.\n\nI arrived to find my hostel not exactly what I expected (Greg and Tom\'s Krakow). I knew that it had just opened and their description on hostelworld.com said something like: we\'re still working on the finishing touches. And the reviews on the site were good.\n\nIt turns out the hostel I am staying in is still under pretty major reconstruction and they didn\'t make it that clear how much they were still doing on the hostel in their ad on line.  The location is great but the bags of concrete or maybe bags of plaster and the sheet rock in the hallway is pretty bad. Oh and the construction starts at or before 8am (even today--a Saturday).  Some of this is stuff that I could over look if they were up front about it but really? You\'re making me pay for this!? More or less it feels like one of my parents home remodeling projects where they decide: we\'ll do this one little project but then they decide while we\'re doing X we should also do Y and Y results in doing Z as well and all of a sudden the whole house is a mess and there\'s dust every where, cans of paint on the floor and a little path to walk through to get through the house. <!--more-->\n\nThe worst part is that the hostel got such great reviews online and in the Lonely Planet guide.  I guess that I shouldn\'t have been too shocked that yesterday morning after standing the shower for 5 minutes and waiting for the water to get hot, I got out wrapped a towel around me to tell the guy at the desk that I thought there was something wrong with the boiler.  He said: oh yeah its broken.  Thanks for not saying anything to me about this when I walked by the first time in my towel. He did offer another shower for me.  I got a hot shower in a set of rooms the hostel runs half way down the street so at 7am he leads me down there in a towel. Past a little grocery store--luckily, I didn\'t have my contacts in so I couldn\'t see how people were looking at me in my bright red towel.\n\nThe thing is I could look for something else but I would rather not waste my time looking for something else when there is so much other good stuff to see. And frankly the location is great (and I am sure when all of the work is done it will be a great place to stay).\n\nSo rather than obsess too much about things I\'ve taken to the city.  On the first day, I bought a walking tour guide to the Jewish ghetto (made famous by Schindler\'s List) and gave myself a self-guided tour.  This part of the city is much smaller feeling and the streets and the buildings are much closer together.  The synagogues are pretty beautiful and the museums while small I felt were totally worth checking out.  The day was beautiful.\n\nThat night I went on a pub crawl organized by the hostel and another tourist agency.  I wasn\'t sure what to expect but the group was small and everyone was really friendly.  Luckily for me the group was happy to have a few drinks and check out a couple of different bars but it wasn\'t a group of people dead set on drinking heavily.  We tried a couple of different vodkas.  I had one that was a coffee vodka. Pretty cool but even cooler was the fact that it was flaming. Basically they put vodka in the glass and then five or six whole coffee beans and set the vodka on fire.  This infuses the coffee flavor into the vodka and warms up the shot.  Then you\'re given a straw to drink the shot while it\'s still flaming. Okay, I\'ve never seen anything like this. I could only think to myself: these Polish people are nuts.  That and I was told that I had to drink it before the straw melted. Um, okay? Well, all said and done, after watching our guide do it, I did and it was pretty easy but I don\'t think that I am going to get into the flaming shot craze. I don\'t like the fire part that much.\n\nThe next day, I went to Auschwitz- Birkenau on a guided tour.  It was what I expected on some level and totally unexpected on another level. I am not exactly how to put it.  I think that the place is overwhelming in size and walking through the camp it\'s amazing to think about what happened there.  I just wasn\'t as impressed by the museum but this may have been because it\'s 60 years old and the only other point of reference I have is the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.  Still, the whole thing all together was too much for words and the fact that the last thing you do on the tour is walk through gas chamber is pretty unsettling.  Needless to say, I cried on the group tour and will remember the experience for a long time.\n\nToday, I am going to see the Wieliczka Salt Mines and I am looking forward to this.  I\'ve heard that you can even lick the walls of the mine on tour.  I will be doing this.  Only I plan to stand on my toes and lick the wall as high up as possible--this way maybe I can avoid licking the same spot as someone before me.  If not, I am telling myself that salt kills germs so I am not really going to worry too much about it.  Then tonight there is a big open air Jazz festival happening so I\'ll definitely be checking that out as well.\n\nOkay, I am off to start my day!','Krakow','','publish','open','open','','krakow','','','2009-07-18 10:23:49','2009-07-18 07:23:49','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1069',0,'post','',1),(1071,1,'2009-07-19 16:59:24','2009-07-19 13:59:24','I made it to Lviv in the Ukraine. I wasn\'t sure how easy it was going be so I\'ve been nervous about it for the last couple of days. I was traveling from Krakow but there\'s not an exactly \"direct\" train. It\'s about a  9 hour ride.\n\nSo when the hostel I am staying at had  line on their page saying something like: email us to learn how you can get to Lviv from Krakow in 6 hours and for 15 Euro I enquired.\n\nHere\'s what they sent me:\n\nFrom Krakow to Lviv for 15 Euro:\n\n1. From Krakow you have to go to Przemysl. The train goes every hour and the ticket costs 43 Zloty (12 Euro). It will take 4 hours.\n\n2. Just next to the train station in Przemysl there is a bus station.  Take little bus to the point on Polish-Ukrainian Border (it goes very frequently). The village is called Medyka. 25 minutes and 2 Zloty (0,5 Euro).\n\n3. Then you simply cross the border on foot through the pedestrian corridor (it will take approximately 30-40 minutes).\n\n4. When you cross the border you will be on Ukrainian side of it in the village of Shegyni. The bus Shegyni-Lviv (Шегині-Львів) takes you directly to the Main Train Station in Lviv. The duration of the trip is 1,5 Hour and the price of the tickets is 2,5 Euro.\n\nNeedless to say the cross the border by foot part kind of freaked me out.  But I am here for an adventure so I decided the worst that would happen would be that I couldn\'t cross the border and I\'d go back to Krakow.  Also, I didn\'t tell my mom how I was getting between the two places.  (Sorry MoM.)\n\nAnyhow, I am here.  I made it without incident and I couldn\'t be happier with my choice to come and check out the city.  So now I am off to explore this little piece of Lviv--that is now a part of the Ukraine after being a part of Poland.  I am excited because the city mostly escaped bombing during WWII which means that the old town should be really interesting see!','Lviv, by foot','','publish','open','open','','lviv-by-foot','','','2009-07-19 16:59:24','2009-07-19 13:59:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1071',0,'post','',4),(1074,1,'2009-07-26 20:32:26','2009-07-26 17:32:26','','New Kitchen','Kitchen!','inherit','open','open','','dsc00881','','','2009-07-26 20:32:26','2009-07-26 17:32:26','',1073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00881.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1075,1,'2009-07-26 21:24:45','2009-07-26 18:24:45','','New Living Room','Living Room Part I','inherit','open','open','','dsc00880','','','2009-07-26 21:24:45','2009-07-26 18:24:45','',1073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00880.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1076,1,'2009-07-26 21:28:47','2009-07-26 18:28:47','','New living room 2','New Living Room Part II','inherit','open','open','','dsc00879','','','2009-07-26 21:28:47','2009-07-26 18:28:47','',1073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00879.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1077,1,'2009-07-26 21:32:38','2009-07-26 18:32:38','','New Dining Room','New Dining Room/Kitchen Table','inherit','open','open','','dsc00882','','','2009-07-26 21:32:38','2009-07-26 18:32:38','',1073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00882.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1078,1,'2009-07-26 21:36:57','2009-07-26 18:36:57','','New Bedroom','Bedroom. Get it?','inherit','open','open','','dsc00875','','','2009-07-26 21:36:57','2009-07-26 18:36:57','',1073,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00875.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1073,1,'2009-07-26 21:44:54','2009-07-26 18:44:54','Tomorrow is moving day! I am moving to my new apartment in Mladost tomorrow.  Yeah! I hate moving but this will be the easiest move ever.  I have one box and six bags.  Easy-peasy.  I hope. Oh and my new building has an elevator.\n\nI took some pictures on Friday when I saw the apartment for the first time.  It\'s a one bedroom with a large kitchen/living room/dining room. I didn\'t know what to expect but on the surface this place seems great.\n\nOkay, it\'s not my quirky little apartment in the city center.  There\'s no forest mural, no chipped mismatched china and no coffee machine in the kitchen but change is good.  My new place is the kind of apartment that you can make your own with a new set of sheets, some photos and place mats. I am looking forward to that.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1074\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kitchen! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1074\" title=\"New Kitchen \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00881.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Kitchen! \" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nAs you can see from the above photo I can bake in the oven AND do laundry at the same time.  It\'s going to be so efficient. <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1075\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Living Room Part I\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1075\" title=\"New Living Room\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00880.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Living Room Part I\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nAlso you can see that the couch (this also doubles as a guest bed!), is in good location to the fridge.  This seems like a college  boy\'s dream!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1076\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"New Living Room Part II\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1076\" title=\"New living room 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00879.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"New Living Room Part II\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nI can hardly believe how much natural light my apartment has.  One of the first things I am buying, begging for and maybe even stealing when I return to Sofia in August will be some plants.  I think I am also going to start growing some herbs but that might be too ambitious.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1077\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"New Dining Room/Kitchen Table\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1077\" title=\"New Dining Room\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00882.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"New Dining Room/Kitchen Table\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nOkay, there\'s not so much to say about this picture.  It\'s what it is: a kitchen table or maybe if you were being fancy you could say that it is my dining room but I think that\'s a stretch.  And I have a hunch that since my apartment doesn\'t have a desk this table will also double as my desk.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1078\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Bedroom. Get it?\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1078\" title=\"New Bedroom \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00875.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Bedroom. Get it?\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nWell my apartment also as a bedroom. It\'s not a very interesting room.  It\'s got a bed, two bedside tables and a dresser thing for my clothes.  I am going to get some new sheets to really make the room feel like mine.  Really it\'s pretty standard.\n\nI\'ve also got a bathroom.  This room is pretty unremarkable.  Toilet, sink, shower.  No need to post pictures.  I am pretty sure that you can imagine this.\n\nRight now my only wish is that it isn\'t too hot tomorrow for my move!','Moving to Mladost','','publish','open','open','','moving-to-mladost','','','2009-07-26 21:44:54','2009-07-26 18:44:54','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1073',0,'post','',5),(1081,1,'2009-07-27 22:31:37','2009-07-27 19:31:37','','DSC00848','','inherit','open','open','','dsc00848','','','2009-07-27 22:31:37','2009-07-27 19:31:37','',1080,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00848.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1082,1,'2009-07-27 22:32:53','2009-07-27 19:32:53','','DSC00848','','inherit','open','open','','dsc00848-2','','','2009-07-27 22:32:53','2009-07-27 19:32:53','',1080,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc008481.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1083,1,'2009-07-27 22:35:04','2009-07-27 19:35:04','','Billa','Um really? This is the best you can do?','inherit','open','open','','dsc00884','','','2009-07-27 22:35:04','2009-07-27 19:35:04','',1080,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dsc00884.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1084,1,'2009-07-27 22:38:32','2009-07-27 19:38:32','','Billa July','Um really? This is the best you can do?','inherit','open','open','','billa','','','2009-07-27 22:38:32','2009-07-27 19:38:32','',1080,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/billa.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1080,1,'2009-07-27 22:42:47','2009-07-27 19:42:47','Hey, Billa: I still know what\'s under the graffiti you covered up.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1084\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Um really? This is the best you can do?\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1084\" title=\"Billa July\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/billa.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Um really? This is the best you can do?\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nI have a hunch that yellow paint would have been slightly more effective.  Thanks for covering this up but in some ways you\'ve just made it that much more obvious what the previous graffiti was. And that seems counter intuitive to me.','Um, really?','','publish','open','open','','um-really','','','2009-07-27 22:42:47','2009-07-27 19:42:47','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1080',0,'post','',4),(1088,1,'2009-07-29 09:21:19','2009-07-29 06:21:19','Today, I am flying home to the States for three weeks.  I haven\'t been in the States for 12 months.  I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family but I am not so excited about the 20+ hours of traveling.  Some how, this travel seems more like work while the travel I\'ve been doing this last month in Eastern Europe is different because it was much more about pleasure.  This is not to say that I think the trip home to the States will be un-pleasurable.\n\nIn fact, I think it will be anything but that.  I just think that it\'s the American in me saying: oh, that\'s going to take so long and there are so many things that can go wrong.  On the other hand, when I was traveling by myself and didn\'t know where I was going it was an adventure. Funny how that works.\n\nAnyhow you can expect a couple of posts a week from me while I am gone but don\'t expect more than that (I\'ve got a lot of Walla Walla Sweet Onions to eat and local wine to drink)! I\'ll be back in Sofia on August 24th and then I\'ll get back into a regular writing and posting schedule.\n\nOh and good-bye to my first apartment! I\'ll miss you.','Good-bye First Apartment','','publish','open','open','','good-bye-first-apartment','','','2009-07-29 09:21:19','2009-07-29 06:21:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1088',0,'post','',0),(1091,1,'2009-08-02 01:17:24','2009-08-01 22:17:24','I landed in San Francisco on Wednesday (as fate would have it on this Lufthansa flight all of the flight attendants spoke to me first in German and second in English--I guess when you\'re blond with blue eyes and flying out of Germany that\'s what happens) and now three days later I finally feel human enough to write a quick post.  Here\'s the thing, I wasn\'t sure what to expect upon returning to the States. I\'ve been away for almost exactly a year.  It\'s not like many physical things change in a year but I\'ve changed a lot and I didn\'t know what to think or how to prepare myself for what many describe as \"reverse culture shock.\"\n\nIt turns out that I\'ve been pleasantly surprised but what I\'ve encountered thus far.  At US customs in San Francisco, there were two lines to stand in one for visitors and one for US Citizens.  I stood in the US Citizen line and loved it--well as much as you can after 16+ hours of flying and then being forced to wait in line with 100\'s of other people.  This said, the line was so diverse and I found myself looking around at all of the other Americans in line with me.\n\nI\'ve spent the past year in Bulgaria at the First English Language High School as representative of the United States.  I was \"the native English speaker\" and an authority on \"life in America.\"  I answered questions about high schools, movies, music, holidays and much much more.  I taught a conversation class and included units on range of different topics including issues of diversity, pop culture and even on American consumer culture.  I was face and a voice to this place--America.\n\nBut looking around at customs, it was clear that I am not \"the face\" of America.  In fact, the face of America is changing and I found this thrilling to see.  America at it\'s best is a land of immigrants, hard work and fresh new ideas; this was more plain than ever as I looked around me. I am not America.  I am a part of America but I am not America--it is more than just me.  I knew this a year ago but then I spent the year trying to counter many of the stereotypes that my students and colleagues held about life in America.  So here it is: the streets may not be paved with gold and the American dream is far from a reality for most but nonetheless this is still a place of possibility and hope. <!--more-->\n\nWhat I was struck by in customs was the fact that in some ways I\'d forgotten this.  I left for Bulgaria after eight years of living under President Bush\'s government and I felt battered by this--abused and unsure of what it meant to be an American abroad.  Then in November of this past year, President Obama was elected and the next day at school my Bulgarian colleagues congratulated me as if I was somehow solely responsible for the win.  Change was in the air and on everyone\'s lips.  But talk of Obama quickly faded to an endless obsession with the economy and the crisis.  Yet another thing that America was clearly at the center of.  It\'s not easy to navigate waters like these.\n\nAnd when American seems responsible for so much of what\'s happening in the world, you walk a fine line as a representative of the country abroad.  Especially given the contrasting myths and realities of what life is actually like in the United States.  I think it\'s safe to say that I was cautious in my language describing the States and often rather cynical. It\'s easier after all to be critical about a place than it is to describe the wonderful complexities of life there.\n\nSo in many ways it\'s funny that I spent the year trying to do this in my country--to describe the complexities of life in Sofia and more generally Bulgaria--while my own views and opinions of life in the States became more and more black and white and more and more critical.  Thus I didn\'t know what to expect upon returning to the States.  I didn\'t know what I would think or how I would feel.  And here\'s the thing, I found myself thrilled to be back in such a vibrant country.  The black and white that had begun to creep into my thinking was shattered.  And I am grateful for this.\n\nI stood in line with Americans who looked like me and completely unlike me.  I heard lots of English but also Spanish and a number of other languages being spoken by my fellow Americans.  Some women were wearing head scarves and others shorts and flip-flops.  It\'s this mix of people, this jumble of languages and diversity of religions that makes this country such a special place but it\'s easy to forget this nuance when you live it and see it every day likewise it\'s just as easy to forget this nuance when you\'ve lived away from it and the world you used to know seems so far way, so distant and sometimes even foreign.\n\nSo I stood in line and looked around and thought to myself: my god, this is America.  And I was glad to be back.','Back in America','','publish','open','open','','back-in-america','','','2009-08-02 01:17:24','2009-08-01 22:17:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1091',0,'post','',2),(1097,1,'2009-08-02 17:25:20','2009-08-02 14:25:20','','CAE Aug 1','My new hair cut!','inherit','open','open','','cae-aug-1','','','2009-08-02 17:25:20','2009-08-02 14:25:20','',1094,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/cae-aug-1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1094,1,'2009-08-02 17:27:26','2009-08-02 14:27:26','[caption id=\"attachment_1097\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"267\" caption=\"My new hair cut! \"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1097\" title=\"CAE Aug 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/cae-aug-1.jpg?w=267\" alt=\"My new hair cut! \" width=\"267\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nOne of the first things that I did in the States was to get my hair cut.  Sure I hugged my parents and all that jazz but I was dying for a hair cut.  My hair has gotten longer and longer over the past year so much so that that two months ago I realized that my hair was more than 10 inches inches long.  It\'s never been this long in my adult life and I wasn\'t loving it.  But I knew what 10+ inches meant.\n\nIt meant that I could cut my hair and donate it to Locks of Love--a non profit that makes wigs for children who have serious and permanent hair loss.  I figured why not? If I was going to cut my hair and it was going to end up on the  salon floor why not cut it according the Locks of Love requirements and donate it?\n\nSo I started telling my friends about my plans.  And I have to say that I was surprised by the varied reactions to my announcement.  The first person I told--a guy friend--thought that it was creepy that I was donating my hair, even if it was for children. I guess that somethings don\'t translate between cultures very well and this may be one of those things.  Then I told some girl friends and they were more understanding but still a little bit surprised by my choice.<!--more-->\n\nThey said things like:  but your hair is so beautiful.  (As if cutting my hair might make it less so.)  Or they mused: are you sure? (Pretty sure.)  Another implied in her comments that long hair is more beautiful on women and that short hair is somehow slightly unfeminine.  I think that for some these are valid concerns.\n\nYet, I am not someone who is defined by my hair.  For most of my life it\'s been short and my hair was still beautiful (and I was too).  These comments from both male and female friends made me all the more determined to cut my hair and to donate it.  Ultimately, I think it\'s your actions and your attitudes that make you a beautiful person--not your clothes, hair or accessories.  (Don\'t get me wrong, I care about these things and have been known to stand in front a mirror and change my outfit not once but two or three times--still clothes, make up and a pretty necklace are not an end all.)  So I wasn\'t worried that I\'d hate my new haircut or that I\'d long for long hair again because that\'s the thing: hair grows.\n\nIt\'s funny, when I was traveling last month I told some people I\'d met in a hostel I was staying in that I walked by a hair salon that afternoon and found myself dying to get my hair cut.  They asked me why I didn\'t and I told them that I was going to donate my hair in a couple of weeks in the States.  A guy (who, as an aside, I am pretty sure was flirting with me) said: that\'s so sexy.  And girls and guys a like nodded.\n\nSo it\'s this comment that made me write the post.  This random guy wasn\'t saying that short hair or alternately long hair was sexy.  Rather it was the act of giving of yourself that was ultimately sexy.  In a world that is obsessed with fashion, dieting, looks and age, it\'s a good reminder that these exterior markers of who we are are fleeting.','New Hair Cut','','publish','open','open','','new-hair-cut','','','2009-08-02 17:27:26','2009-08-02 14:27:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1094',0,'post','',7),(1099,1,'2009-08-04 08:38:58','2009-08-04 05:38:58','I am getting back into the swing of things in the States.  I haven\'t suffered too much culture shock--bits and pieces of things sneak up on me and make me say: really? But for the most part this is the Walla Walla that I\'ve grown to know and I haven\'t been too shocked by this place, my parents or the culture.\n\nHowever, what I\'ve been the most caught off guard by are sizes.\n\nI asked my MoM to pick up a bottle of shampoo and conditioner at the store.  Obligingly she did.  Only they look like cartoons of what I expected.  The bottles are both close to a liter each.  To be exact, I think they are 750 ml of shampoo and another 750 ml of conditioner.  These bottles are big and unwieldy but more than this they are hard to hold and awkward in the shower.  I said to my MoM: wow these are big bottles.<!--more-->\n\nHer response was I know.  So I stood there holding these puffed up, seemingly over inflated plastic bottles of shampoo and conditioner and found myself thinking about how these bottles represent so much of life in America.\n\nWe seek out deals and good prices even if it means buying the big bottle whether or not we\'ll use ultimately use the whole bottle and save ourselves any money.  We think that bigger that bigger is better.  We look for the most convenient things.  A bigger bottle lasts longer and using this rational in the long run it will save us time and money.\n\nBut then driving around town today in a small battered 15+ year old car, I found myself thinking about how everything is bigger here in the States.  The SUVs and trucks on the street, the parking spots, the grocery stores and even the people (not necessarily in a good way).  We want more. More space in our cars, more shampoo, more soda (I saw a sign today for a 32 oz. soda for 85 cents--not even a $1, less) and there\'s a piece of me that gets this. It\'s perceived to be better, more comfortable, easier, faster and a better deal and who doesn\'t want that in their lives?\n\nI want a good deal. I want to know that I\'ve gotten my money\'s worth but at the same time, this kind of excess looks so much more absurd now that I\'ve been living in Bulgaria for the year.  There\'s something so cliched about the more, more, more and bigger, bigger, bigger of this culture.  It\'s <em>so </em>American (and not necessarily in a good way). However we still scramble for these comforts.\n\nThe thing is, I am not sure how it got this bad.  When did we become this culture that gobbles things up whole? When did it become acceptable to buy the biggest things you can get your hands on? And what happened to \"portion control?\"\n\nIt makes me wonder does size matter and why? What is it that we\'ve got to prove?','Does Size Matter?','','publish','open','open','','does-size-matter','','','2009-08-04 08:38:58','2009-08-04 05:38:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1099',0,'post','',7),(1104,1,'2009-08-06 02:21:54','2009-08-05 23:21:54','<img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1108\" title=\"Street without a name\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/street-without-a-name.jpg\" alt=\"Street without a name\" width=\"120\" height=\"175\" />This week my first Amazon.com order came in.  First off, I love Amazon.com.  I mean that they will send me nearly any book I want in a few days...what\'s not to love.  And secondly, I love to read.  It was a good start to the week for me.\n\nI ordered <a href=\"http://www.kapka-kassabova.com/books.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">Kapka Kassabova\'s new book Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria</a>.  I mean, how could I not given the title of the book and the working title of this blog which I\'ve always thought of as something like Karolinka: Adventures in and around Bulgaria.  Anyhow, I read reviews of the book online this spring and was dying to get my hands on a copy but the book wasn\'t released in the States until July. (Even though I think that the book has been in print in Bulgaria for at least a year) Still a July release was perfect timing if you ask me.  Well, perfect timing for me.  So I put in my Amazon.com order the day before I left Bulgaria and my order got here slightly after I did.\n\nI finished my airplane book (Eat, Pray, Love) yesterday morning and last night after dinner I picked up the Kassabova book.  I started reading and then couldn\'t put it down.  5o pages later I found myself thinking: this is exactly the book I wish I could have read before my first year in Bulgaria.  The book is funny and critical, it addresses some of wacky aspects of life in Bulgaria and it\'s easy to get into.  In fact, it\'s lots easier to get into than many of the dry or poorly translated history books that were recommended to me.\n\nMoreover, I couldn\'t get over how many different passages I wanted to read out to my MoM or anyone who was willing to listen.  I think that this is because in the memoir th e narrator has left and returned to Bulgaria and as a result her perspective is different--somehow bigger.  Not necessarily better just bigger--maybe broader is better but she is looks at her country with a more critical eye (one that at the same time is tempered with nostalgia) than many writing about Bulgaria.\n\nThis said, I am in love with the book.  And I have a really hard time putting it down.  This said it\'s also one of those books that you like so much that you don\'t want it to end.  So this will be a short post because I want to get back to reading.  In summary, even though I haven\'t finished the book yet--hell, I am not even 100 pages in yet--I\'d recommend this book to anyone interested in Bulgaria before and after the changes in the 1990s.  Um and even if this doesn\'t get you excited you should still find a copy of this book to read because Kassabova is a good writer and story-teller.','Street Without a Name','','publish','open','open','','street-without-a-name','','','2009-08-06 02:21:54','2009-08-05 23:21:54','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1104',0,'post','',3),(1108,1,'2009-08-06 02:22:54','2009-08-05 23:22:54','','Street without a name','','inherit','open','open','','street-without-a-name-2','','','2009-08-06 02:22:54','2009-08-05 23:22:54','',1104,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/street-without-a-name.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1110,1,'2009-08-23 21:49:25','2009-08-23 18:49:25','I flew into Sofia yesterday. I had the best intentions to write a post that I\'d been thinking about on the airplane.  Needless to say jetlag got the best of me and today got away from me.  So, here it is, I can\'t really believe that I am back in Bulgaria for a second year.\n\nI am so excited to be back. And this made me realize that there are lots of things that I want to do this second year.\n\nSo here it is my short list of things that I want to do this year.\n<ol>\n	<li>Learn Bulgarian (and find a tutor)!!</li>\n	<li>Get a Baba (I am still looking for one--even after a great <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/wanted-one-baba-%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B0/\" target=\"_blank\">\"want ad\"</a> in February).</li>\n	<li>Travel to more of the 100 best places in Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li>Attend more cultural events in Sofia (opera, theater and other similar events).</li>\n	<li>Make rakia.</li>\n</ol>\nOkay, this is not to say that these are the only things that I want to do this next year.  It\'s just a little sample of the things I am looking forward to doing this year.\n\n<span style=\"color:#888888;\"> </span>','Back in Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','back-in-bulgaria','','','2009-08-23 21:49:25','2009-08-23 18:49:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1110',0,'post','',5),(1114,1,'2009-08-24 09:52:58','2009-08-24 06:52:58','I knew that there would be lots of new things in my life this year.  Sure I\'ve been here for a year now but as an expat things are never exactly the same from year to year (hell, they never are the same year to year no matter who you are) but living abroad things often seem more transient. People come in and out of your life, the city grows and changes and you move and change as well.\n\nMany of my good friends from last year M. the Fulbrighter has moved back to NYC and is starting a PhD (good luck and I home your summer math class went okay) and D. my Spanish friend and Macedonian travel partner has moved home to start a MA in diplomacy.  I couldn\'t be happier for both of them but I kind of wondered where that was going to leave me.  It\'s not as if I couldn\'t imagine my life in Sofia without them, in fact, I knew I had to. It was just that it was harder seeing as these two are woven into so many of my memories here over the past year.\n\nThis said, it\'s not as if I am going to find myself friendless in Sofia.  First off, I\'ve still got plenty of Bulgarian friends and expat friends.  Secondly, I know that there are lots of 20 and 30 something teachers at the American College and I am looking forward to meeting and getting to know them.  Finally, there\'s a whole new group of Fulbrighters in Sofia and I\'ve already been in fairly regular touch with two of them.  So already, I feel incredibly lucky to know this many people and to have the opportunity to meet so many new and I assume interesting people in the next few weeks.<!--more-->\n\nThrough a lucky turn of events, I met my now neighbor through my blog in July.  He is a new teacher at the American College as well.  We were in email contact for a couple of weeks before I arrived and yesterday morning I gave him (a rather desperate first) call.  My hot water heater is broken and dripping water on the floor (but don\'t worry I got it to stop--mostly) and I wanted to know if I could take a shower at his place.\n\nYep, that\'s how desperate I was for a shower.  I\'ve never met this guy in person. He\'s read my blog, I got in touch with him via facebook, we exchange a few emails and now in my pjs totally jet lagged, hair a mess, I am calling him about a shower.  For the record, even in a digital age, this isn\'t how I prefer to meet people the first time. Well, as luck would have it he was in but he didn\'t have hot water either and for some strange reason he also doesn\'t have a hot water heater.  He tells me that he had hot water at the beginning of August but for the last few days nothing.  While this seems strange to me, it is what I\'ve learned to expect of life here in Bulgaria. So I do the next best thing, I ask my neighbor if he wants to go into Sofia and have a coffee in the early afternoon.  He agrees.\n\nI take decide that I\'ll run a load of laundry, unpack my suitcase of books and heat up some water on the stove for a \"shower.\"  The hot and cold shower mix isn\'t exactly how I imagined my first shower in my new apartment.  And I am struck by the thought that maybe I am now cursed by hot water heaters rather than toliets as I used to believe.  If you\'ve been a loyal reader of this blog you may remember two of my posts the first on <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/i-miss-you-hot-water/\" target=\"_blank\">my broken hot water heater</a> in my first apartment and the second on <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/toilets/\">my love hate relationships with toilets</a> (and the fact that never seem flush how and when they should).\n\nHere\'s the thing, knock on wood, I haven\'t had a toliet problem in over a year but now I\'ve had two hot water heater problems in a little over a year.  Still I can\'t help but wonder if this is an improvement over my old \"curse.\"  Also, it makes me wonder if I should have gone into plumbing as a career rather than books and teaching.  Then again, maybe I am getting an eduction in plumbing whether I want one or not.  The only thing I know for sure is that now whenever I hear water dripping my heart beats a little faster and I frantically go into hyper-drive looking for the source of the dripping and that now I am also getting better and better at improvising shot term solutions to my dripping problems.\n\nThe other thing that makes my heart beat like this is coffee so at the designated time I knocked on G. door and we headed into Sofia\'s city center proper.  We took the metro. Gasp. Yep. I took the metro from Mladost 1 to the Levski stop. It was easy as pie and delightful.  And I get a kick out of the fact that I rode the metro from the first stop to the last and it was maybe 10 minutes--there are after all only five or so stops open--but I am not complaining. I got exactly where I wanted to go and it was lots, lots faster than the bus.  Still, I am looking forward to a few more stops opening.\n\nAll in all, yesterday was a good start to this adventure, part two.  I am in the process of making a new friend, I am looking forward to teaching, I rode on the metro, I had coffee at one of my favorite spots Colours &amp; Flavours, and I was reminded (thanks to the hot water heater) that my expectations wont always be met--a new apartment have no problems? Ha.','New Apt, New Friend, New Metro','','publish','open','open','','new-apt-new-friend-new-metro','','','2009-08-24 09:52:58','2009-08-24 06:52:58','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1114',0,'post','',3),(1119,1,'2009-08-26 11:51:06','2009-08-26 08:51:06','I knew that I wasn\'t doing a great job packing when I left Washington State last week for Sofia but I couldn\'t get my head around what I needed to bring with me and what I already had in Sofia.  I stocked up on books for the year both to teach and for pleasure.  I bought a new camera hello Canon Rebel! But somehow in the hubub and rush of getting packed up I brought with me only one pair of dress pants.\n\nA year ago this would have freaked me out.  This year I had a good laugh at myself and thought: well, this means that you get to do some shopping. Then I spent some time thinking about what it means that I brought 30 pounds of books with me and only one pair of dress pants.  I think it all gets back to my priorities--it\'s not like I purposefully only packed one pair of pants--I was just thinking, although obsessing might be a better word, about what I was going to be teaching this year rather than what I was going to wear teaching.\n\nThat and Bulgaria has taught me a lot over the last year. After I won my Fulbright to Bulgaria, I worried endlessly about what to pack, how I could get a years worth of things, clothing and mementos in two suitcases.  I fretted about what I needed and then I questioned myself about whether my needs were actually needs or wants. I cautioned myself not to bring frivolous things and I endlessly packed and re-packed my suitcases.\n\nToday, I can barely recognize this girl in myself. This time I packed in a couple of hours and brought two suitcases with me--one of books and the other clothes.  And as I unpacked in Sofia, I could hardly keep myself from laughing at as I hung an assortment of mismatched clothes up. I packed what I love this time not necessarily what matched.\n\nBut today it\'s different.  I know what to expect.  This time around I know at least five important things.  <!--more-->\n<ul>\n	<li>First I know that I can find what I need here in Bulgaria and I know where to find it now which was very different than a year ago where I didn\'t know my way around the city, I was bad at (or couldn\'t) ask questions in shops, and I felt overwhelmed by everything.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n	<li>Second, Bulgaria taught me (or alternately I learned) how to drink a small hot coffee out of a plastic cup.  So much so, that when I was back in the States it would take me forever to drink a \"regular\" 12 ounce coffee.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n	<li> Next, this past year I learned wow to open aryan and yogurt containers without spraying yogurt or aryan (a plain yogurt like kind-of-smoothy).  What\'s important here is that the lids are all metal with a little tab that you pull on to open the container.  The problem is if you open it with the tab facing you more likely than not you\'ll end up with yogurt all over yourself.  The key: to turn the tab so that it\'s across from you and open the container so that the lid pulls back towards you--this reduces the likelihood that you\'ll end up with yogurt on yourself.  It won\'t however eliminate the yogurt all over yourself but it helps a lot.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n	<li> Fourth, I learned how to live without a clothes dryer.  I hang clothes outside and time my washing machine so that I can hang things outside in the sun at the best part of the day.  There was  a part of me that hated it to start with--especially when the clothes were wrinkly-wrinkly or not all the way dry--but now I really like it.  But I love it--especially when the clothes come in smelling like sunshine.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n	<li> Finally, Bulgaria is teaching me how to get over my fear of making mistakes.  My nature is such that I don\'t like to make mistakes, I don\'t like to ask questions that might reveal that I don\'t understand something but the thing is that I quickly learned that I would be completely miserable if I lived my life this way.  So I started asking questions, letting people know that I know that I didn\'t know something or calling friends to ask for help.  Sure, I am still afraid of looking stupid and I worry that people are regularly judging what I say (if they can understand my bad Bulgarian) or what I do but I\'ve gotten over the worst of it.  Mostly I hope that they can laugh at me.</li>\n</ul>\nI guess that this is a good a point as any to conclude this post.  I hope that the people I meet and interact with each day are able to laugh at me.  I don\'t mean that I hope that laugh at my pain but I hope that they get a kick out me--trying because that\'s what I am always doing.  I am trying to live in Bulgaria, I am trying to learn the language and I am trying to have a good time doing it.\n\nSo when I imagine how people react to me I\'d like to imagine that they are laughing at me and getting a kick out me--a foreigner trying to navigate this confusing and sometimes mixed-up place--rater than the other option which is that they are annoyed with me.  The good thing and hard thing is it\'s hard to actually know how people are reacting to you because as a whole Bulgarians are well trained at keeping a single expression on their faces so much so that I never know what they are thinking.  Thus I assume they are getting a kick out of me because when you don\'t get any indication whatsoever what someone else is thinking I believe that you can insert your own ideas into this empty space.  That and it\'s a hell of a lot nicer to think that you\'re making someone laugh (even if they\'re laughing at you) rather than thinking that you\'re annoying someone, making them angry or wasting their time.','Five Things','','publish','open','open','','five-things','','','2009-08-26 11:51:06','2009-08-26 08:51:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1119',0,'post','',4),(1121,1,'2009-08-27 08:39:45','2009-08-27 05:39:45','I\'ll be doing some sightseeing with the other new teachers at the American College.  We\'re going to Rila this morning on our way to Melnik and then tomorrow we\'re heading to Kovachevitsa. I am looking forward to the trip and to seeing Bulgaria in the late summer. The funny thing is the fact that this will be my third trip to Melnik and my second to Rila.\n\nIt\'s not a bad thing to go to these places more than once.  In fact many of them are beautiful enough and interesting enough to merit a second visit but what gets me is there are a number of specific cities that are very traditional sightseeing stops in Bulgaria while there are so many interesting cities that are at least as close as some place like Melnik but these smaller cities are often overlooked for the charm of Melnik or the flashiness of a revival town like Koprivshtitsa.\n\nThis said, I am totally looking forward to visiting Kovachevitsa.  The Lonely Planet guide for Bulgaria describes Kovachevitsa as \"one of southern Bulgaria\'s most picturesque villages\" but they also say that it\'s \"one of the most difficult to get to.\"  Again according to the Lonely Planet: Kovachevitsa has been declared an architectural and historical reservation by the Bulgarian Government because of its unique building style, which is influenced by Macedonian designs and uses abundant stone rather than wood.  Apparently: there\'s little to see or do in the village, except appreciate the fresh air and stunning scenery.\n\nGiven my love hate relationship with this guide book, I can hardly wait to see what this little village is all about.  Expect a full report when I am back in Sofia in a couple of days!!','Sightseeing in BG','','publish','open','open','','sightseeing-in-bg','','','2009-08-27 08:39:45','2009-08-27 05:39:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1121',0,'post','',0),(1124,1,'2009-08-31 21:59:22','2009-08-31 18:59:22','Wosa. I took the 305 bus home today from Eagle\'s Bridge to Mladost.  It was 5:30 pm.  Holy-smokes. I\'ve never seen anything like it.\n\nThe bus was so super-duper crowded. And people were fighting to get on the bus. Oh they were also fighting/pushing to get off the bus.\n\nIt kind of made me wonder why I thought taking the bus during rush-hour was a good plan.  For the record, I thought it was going to pour and that I\'d rather be on the bus than walking to and from the metro.  That turned out to be a tactical error.  A big one.  First it didn\'t rain.  At all. And second, well, the bus was a nightmare.<!--more-->\n\nI got poked in places I would rather not have been--with purses and god knows what else.  I was smooshed in the back of the bus and to top it off it was both hot and smelly. Oh and did I mention that I never even decided to rain? Yeah, serves me right. I should have taken the metro but now I know that I need to buy a purse sized umbrella and use the metro.\n\nBut I think what was worse than my rather long and fairly uncomfortable ride today was watching everyone from the window of my bus.  There were men and women who had clearly been at work all day who wanted on the bus only to be left on the curb because the bus was too full.  The swarms of people at the bus stops waiting for various buses was also kind of disconcerting.  I\'ve ridden on a lot of different kinds of public transportation in a lot of different cities and I couldn\'t remember seeing something like this as a normal or everyday occurrence.\n\nMaybe the closest it ever came was in Washington DC when a train broke down in the metro or a big event like a baseball game was let out but the crowds and pushing was always the exception rather than the rule.  However looking at these men and women it was clear to me that today was the rule--not the exception.  It was normal to push and to be pushed.\n\nThe thing that always gets me in a tiny crowded space is the way that people look right through you.  They are doing everything they can not to acknowledge you.  It\'s as if, when they acknowledge you they\'ve got to then acknowledge that you\'re human just like they are and that you\'re in the thick of it right next to them.  If you accidentally do this, it makes it a lot harder to then push your way on or shove your way off the bus.  At the same time it does make a little bit easier to ride the bus when you realize that your fellow-riders are just equally tired people who want to get off the bus and get home. Okay, okay, it doesn\'t make the shove any more friendly but I found that at least I\'m a little less frustrated by it.\n\nBy far the worst is when some realizes you\'re a little more human than you\'d like.  I had this happen taking the 306 bus into the city in July.  The bus was almost empty and an older man sat down next to me.  At first his leg kind of crossed over his half of the seat. I moved a little bit. Then his leg is kind of pressing up against mine. I gave him a look.  He pretended not to notice.  I calculated how far away I was from my stop and gave him a \"what are you doing look!?\" finished off with a glare.  We apparently did not speak the same language (imagine that) because his leg is now rubbing against mine.  This is when I decide that I\'d rather get of the bus a stop or two early and walk rather than try to tell him off in Bulgarian (which I pretty clearly am incapable of doing).  As a result, I am forced to climb over him to get out of the window seat.  The whole thing makes me really uncomfortable and a part of me wants to swear at him and the other part of me kind of wants to accidentally kick him.  I don\'t do either.\n\nI guess that there\'s a lesson in all of this and it has to do with public transportation.  The only problem is I am not wholly sure what it is yet.  Some might read this post and think: hey, Carolyn, it\'s clear to me--don\'t take the bus any more.  But I don\'t think that is a reasonable or likely solution to the problem.  So I am left pondering exactly what the lesson is that I am supposed to be learning is.','The 305 Bus','','publish','open','open','','the-305-bus','','','2009-08-31 21:59:22','2009-08-31 18:59:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1124',0,'post','',7),(1130,1,'2009-09-01 09:15:28','2009-09-01 06:15:28','So I\'ve been playing around with Twitter for some time now and an incident this last week made me think: um, am I a Bulgarian blogger?\n\nTo lead up to this question I think a short musing on twitter is in order.  First, if you regularly poke around on my blog you may have even found and read my twitter feed on the right side of my blog post when you were hoping for a new blog post (only to be disappointed not to find, yet again, no new post). If not, take a look for it now.\n\nI am writing this post with the assumption that many (if not most of you) now know that Twitter lets the user post comments/updates/questions/rants that are 140 characters long.  In fact you can post links to blogs to pictures to cool websites using Twitter.  The sky is the limit really.  I wont get too into the lingo of tweets, twittering or retweeting because I can only imagine that if you know the lingo you\'ll be annoyed with me or if you haven\'t gotten on the twitter bandwagon I think that you\'ll begin to glaze over with the seemingly absurdity of the application.\n\nThe most important thing to understand for this post is that each post on twitter is a tweet and that anyone can read your tweets (unless you\'ve changed the security settings).  If people like what you\'ve been tweeting (writing) they can decide to follow you so that your tweets show up in their twitter feed.  In other words it\'s easy for them to follow you because what you\'re writing shows up on their home page along with the other people they are following on twitter.\n\nI hope you\'re still with me at this point.  Now I am going to return to the thought: <em>um, am I a Bulgarian blogger?<!--more--></em>\n\nHere\'s how it happened last week I got an email about a new follower on twitter.  I decided I\'d see if I knew this person or if they were following me out of some other interest.  Say: Bulgaria.\n\nWhat I found was a couple of pretty basic tweets on what the person was up too (dishes, work and going out) and a list of the 21 people this person was following.\n\nHere\'s a short version of the list:\n<ul>\n	<li>Pete Cashmore</li>\n	<li>The Library of Congress</li>\n	<li>Times.com</li>\n	<li>StumbleUpon</li>\n	<li>Elenk</li>\n	<li>Jimmy Carr</li>\n	<li>GeorgeStephanopoulos</li>\n	<li>Neil Gainman</li>\n	<li>ExecTweets</li>\n	<li>Newt Gingrich</li>\n	<li>Rada e</li>\n	<li>Terry Pratchett</li>\n	<li>The White House</li>\n	<li>Jack Welch</li>\n</ul>\nOh yeah and I was on the list.  So I laughed and laughed.  Of the 21 people he was following a few seemed to be friends, three of us I know write blogs about Bulgaria (Elenko, Rada e and me) and then there were the big names like George Stephanopoulos,  Pete Cashmore, The White House and Time.come. I think it was the ridiculousness of the high and the low, the popular and the unpopular as well as the small number of people he was following that made me laugh and laugh.\n\nThat\'s when I was struck by the thought: this person is following me not as an American--I can\'t compare to George Stephanopoulos, The Library of Congress, Time.com or even Newt Gingrich(oh and for the record, I never imagined I\'d see my name grouped with his). Likewise, he\'s not following me because I am kind-of famous like Pete Cashmore, Jimmy Carr, Neil Gainman or Jack Welch.  Rather, he\'s following me because I write regularly about Bulgaria.\n\nSo I found myself in the ranks of Elenko and Rada E who also write blogs and tweet about the happenings of a life in Bulgaria.  But they are Bulgarians.  I am not.  I follow them because I think that they have their fingers on the pulse of life in Bulgaria for twenty-somethings.  Elenko with his blog <a href=\"http://eenk.com/\">Eenk.com </a>which he writes in Bulgarian (and I regularly look at the pictures and try to sound out the post titles) and Rada (who happens to be Elenko\'s sister) and writes the blog <a href=\"http://sosofia.com/\">sosofia.com</a> in English and I love reading for inspiration and motivation.\n\nIn the end I think that I was laughing mostly because never in a million years did I think I\'d see myself grouped with any of these people.  I am just an American living in Bulgaria trying to figure out which way is up and trying to have a good time while doing that.  I think that I was also laughing because it\'s both flattering and terrifying to see yourself in such a light.  I don\'t think of myself as an expert, I am definitely not anyone famous and all I know about Sofia and Bulgaria is what I\'ve learned in the last in year.  But nonetheless for some reason people read what I write and say to themselves: I want to follow her on twitter.  I want to know all of the mundane things she does, says and thinks.\n\nAnd when I put it this way, it kind of makes me wish that I more interesting things to write about.\n\nOne last thing, if you still want to follow me on twitter, after this well un-glowing review of my life, myself and my writing, you can do so <a href=\"http://twitter.com/CarolynEmigh\">here</a>.','Me &amp; Twitter','','publish','open','open','','me-twitter','','','2009-09-01 09:15:28','2009-09-01 06:15:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1130',0,'post','',3),(1137,1,'2009-09-02 16:07:25','2009-09-02 13:07:25','','ACS','One of the main buildings on campus','inherit','open','open','','img_0056','','','2009-09-02 16:07:25','2009-09-02 13:07:25','',1136,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0056.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1138,1,'2009-09-02 16:13:37','2009-09-02 13:13:37','','ACS Front Gate','The entrance marker of the campus','inherit','open','open','','img_0062','','','2009-09-02 16:13:37','2009-09-02 13:13:37','',1136,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0062.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1136,1,'2009-09-02 16:27:46','2009-09-02 13:27:46','[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The entrance marker of the campus\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" title=\"ACS Front Gate \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0062.jpg\" alt=\"The entrance marker of the campus\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nI\'ve been spending lots of time at school this week.  So I thought I\'d post a few pictures of the place.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1137\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"One of the main buildings on campus\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1137\" title=\"ACS \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0056.jpg\" alt=\"One of the main buildings on campus\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nThe campus is beautiful. And I am lucky to have a classroom on the second floor of this building.  You can see the windows of my classroom behind the imposing columns on the font of the building.\n\nThe room is a good size and I\'ve got new tables and chairs so that\'s great.  This said, I am still in the process of getting \"moved in\" to my classroom.  I don\'t have a lot to post on the walls or to make the room mine yet but I am working on that.\n\nOne of the interesting things about the school is the fact that after World War II the Bulgarian Government closed the school and the campus became that of the Bulgarian State Police.  Only after the changes did the school reopen and in 1992 the first class of 8th graders started the school year in one of the schools original buildings. Today the school has access to most if not all of the original buildings.\n\nBut as a result, the school is still surrounded by police buildings and to get on campus you must pass through a police check point.  I haven\'t had any problems getting on campus but I am still not really used to it.  Along the same lines, I am not really very used to the stray dogs on campus either but I guess that these things will become more and more normal to me.\n\nAll in all, things are going great.  But I can\'t believe that school will start here on September 15th.  Mostly I guess this is because it\'s hard for me to get my head around the fact that I\'ve lived here for a year already and that September 15th will mark my second year of teaching English in Bulgaria. Wow.','Work and School','','publish','open','open','','work-and-school','','','2009-09-02 16:27:46','2009-09-02 13:27:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1136',0,'post','',4),(1143,1,'2009-09-03 08:17:02','2009-09-03 05:17:02','','Mladost Apts','A Set of Block Apartments in Mladost','inherit','open','open','','dsc01075','','','2009-09-03 08:17:02','2009-09-03 05:17:02','',1142,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01075.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1144,1,'2009-09-03 08:21:47','2009-09-03 05:21:47','','Mladost Billa','A View From My Apartment of Mladost','inherit','open','open','','img_0047','','','2009-09-03 08:21:47','2009-09-03 05:21:47','',1142,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0047.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1146,1,'2009-09-03 08:34:14','2009-09-03 05:34:14','','Mladost Block 45','Block 45 in Mladost','inherit','open','open','','img_0049','','','2009-09-03 08:34:14','2009-09-03 05:34:14','',1142,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0049.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1142,1,'2009-09-03 08:43:31','2009-09-03 05:43:31','[caption id=\"attachment_1143\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A Set of Block Apartments in Mladost\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1143\" title=\"Mladost Apts\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01075.jpg\" alt=\"A Set of Block Apartments in Mladost\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nI am living this year in the Sofia neighborhood of Mladost.  I didn\'t know so much about the neighborhood until I moved out here this year.  I knew that there was a metro stop, my school, a big grocery store or two and giant block buildings.  In her book Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria Kapka Kassabova describes Mladost 3 that outsiders would have seen \"an uninhabitable dystopia of concrete and mud, I learnt to see it for what it really was: my home.\" I read this and thought: gasp. What is this place?\n\nThen I thought how will I ever talk about this place to my non-Bulgarian friends? Will words be enough? I\'ve never see or lived anywhere exactly like this.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1144\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A View From My Apartment of Mladost\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1144\" title=\"Mladost Billa \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0047.jpg\" alt=\"A View From My Apartment of Mladost\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" />[/caption]\n\nSo I read some more of Kassabova\'s book where she continues to write more about the Mladost \"panel\" apartment buildings.  She writes in the Mlasdost \"panels, as my parents\' friends called the hastily-built concrete blocks, things were grim.  Within a few years of being erected, bits of the panels\' walls were falling off. Seen from a distance, their hide was peeling and they wept gray tears, like mutant monsters squatting in their own waste.\" Reading this a part of me made a bodily reflex that was part ach it made my stomach tighten and my heart beat a little faster. Once this stopped, I thought about what a wonderful (and dramatic) description of the neighborhood Kassabova had written.  Buildings like monsters, I couldn\'t get over what a clever way this was to talk about the neighborhood but also how clearly this Kassabova neighborhood was also a nightmare--a nightmare that for better or worse was also home.\n\nI\'ve been here for a month and I think that it would be easy to say that the neighborhood is charmless but I also think that would be a mistake.  Is is a beautiful downtown neighborhood? No.  But that doesn\'t make it any less of a neighborhood.   It\'s not as if I am living in a wasteland in Mladost.  In fact it\'s far from that. I am living comfortably in my apartment and there\'s plenty around me to keep me busy. The one thing I am still getting used to is the fact that only a few of the major streets have names.  The rest of the streets are nameless and people give directions based on the number of the block apartments that they live in.  There\'s something so impersonal about not having an exact address.  It makes giving directions to non-Bulgarians a challenge.  Hell, I\'d guess that it makes giving directions to Bulgarians a challenge.  But it\'s not as if I am alone in this.  There are plenty of other people living with me in Mladost.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1146\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Block 45 in Mladost \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1146\" title=\"Mladost Block 45\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0049.jpg\" alt=\"Block 45 in Mladost \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nMaybe things will change come winter when the gray of concrete buildings, the gray of the sky and the dirty streets get me down.  Right now even though the neighborhood is pealing and the sidewalks are uneven at best--I don\'t see the monsters of Kassabova\'s Mladost.  But I too feel like this is home.','Living in Mladost','','publish','open','open','','living-in-mladost','','','2009-09-03 08:43:31','2009-09-03 05:43:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1142',0,'post','',14),(1150,1,'2009-09-04 08:47:02','2009-09-04 05:47:02','I went with my friend G. last night to see one film in a series of classic Bulgarian Films in the park in front of NDK and behind the 1300 years monument.  The films were made during communism and I am told that at the high point the Bulgarian film studios in Bulgaria were making 5-6 films a year.\n\nLast night I saw: Специалист по всичко.  The title translates to something like \"specialist of everything.\"  It is a black and white film made in 1962 and set in Sofia. It\'s a comedy with a mixed-up love story.\n\nI had no idea what to expect.  But it was great fun.  Well, it might have been more fun for the people sitting around me who are native speakers but that\'s okay.\n\nI am not a film critic so I won\'t write a post about this.  Instead, I am going to write about how great it was to see the film outside with a mass of Bulgarian teenagers and twenty-somethings.  They loved it.  They laughed and laughed and laughed.  They oh-ed and ahh-ed at the film and there was even some doubled over knee slapping.\n\nOkay, clearly it helps that the film is a comedy but I think that the Bulgarians just loved watching a Bulgarian film. I\'ve seen a lot of films here in Bulgaria.  Mostly American films with Bulgarian subtitles and while they are good--Bulgarian audiences always seem to lag a little bit when it comes to laughing or they don\'t laugh because culturally it\'s not as funny to them.  The perfect example of this might be the movie \"Juno.\"<!--more-->\n\nSo last night I was struck by the fact that it was a mix of the Bulgarian culture, language and jokes that let everyone have so much fun.  It\'s also part of the reason I didn\'t laugh as hard as everyone else.\n\nThe twenty-somethings also got a kick out of the Sofia of the 1960s.  Many of the streets and landmarks are recognizable even today.  I would think: hey, I might know that street and then my Bulgarian friends would be consulting with each other and would say things like Vitosha, Dondunkov and on and on.  There were a lot fewer cars on the streets in the movies which is why I think I had a harder time recognizing the landmarks.  (Okay, that\'s totally an excuse. I just wasn\'t as good at it as my Bulgarian friends.  Go figure.)\n\nFor those of you unfamiliar with this movie I found a clip on the Bulgarian \"youtube\" a site called <a href=\"http://vbox7.com/play:73234ab4&amp;al=1&amp;vid=55346\">Vbox</a>. (Gerr, I\'ve been trying to insert the vbox video into the post rather than just share a link but I can\'t seem to figure it out. But I\'ve got to go to school so I\'ll have to try again later this afternoon. Sorry.)\n\nThe main character has just received a job to paint a house but he\'s not actually trained to do so.  He\'s a college graduate.  Well, he goes to paint and hilarity ensues. The clip is pretty long maybe five minutes so if you don\'t speak to Bulgarian and you want to get to the good part first, I\'d start watching at about minute 3.15.  I think that you\'ll laugh a lot whether or not you speak the language.\n\nOh and if you want to check out the festival here\'s information in <a href=\"http://www.vesti.bg/?tid=40&amp;oid=2406011\">Bulgarian</a> and in <a href=\"http://www.programata.bg/?p=34&amp;l=2&amp;c=1&amp;id=796\">English</a>.','Bulgarian Classic Movies','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-classic-movies','','','2009-09-04 08:47:02','2009-09-04 05:47:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1150',0,'post','',2),(1154,1,'2009-09-07 23:16:13','2009-09-07 20:16:13','We\'ve got a general problem in Sofia with street dogs.  They are everywhere. They roam around the city, eat garbage and scare unsuspecting people. Oh and these dogs seem to think that the city is theirs.\n\nWhat\'s more these dogs are mangely and scraggly.  They are poorly fed (well because they don\'t have owners) and rely on what they can find in the garbage or beg from passer-bys.  The dogs often also have marks on them from street fights--missing patches of hair or bites out of their ears.  The old-sad-dying ones limp around and I can more or less only imagine that they are waiting to die or be hit by a car.\n\nMany of the guide books for tourists warn about the dogs.  More or less referring to them as nuisances--if not out and out dangerous.\n\nBut here\'s the weird thing, recently I\'ve seen lots of people petting these street dogs.  Okay, I am not a dog person (I am not even really an animal person) but these seems like a horrible thing to do.  These dogs are basically wild.  Or so I think as a non-animal person.\n\nIt\'s just that every time I see this happen I get a little (or sometimes big) gagging in my throat and a strong, strong urge to wash my hands.  Today it was especially bad.  It rained on and off all of last night and most of today so after work the street home was muddy and so were the dogs.\n\nUh, but this didn\'t keep some random Bulgarian woman walking in front of me from petting a dirty-wet-homeless dog.  Double yuck.\n\nI guess that these dogs deserve some love too but this seems a bit much to me.  (And I wont be petting any stray animals any time soon.)  In fact, I think I\'d just be a lot happier without stray dogs roaming the streets.\n\nIt seems to me that there\'s a solution to this problem enter pound (or the dog-catcher-from-Lady-&amp;-the-Tramp) but dogs don\'t seem to have much of a priority either way right now in Bulgaria. I guess that\'s good for them.  And for me, I guess that means that I\'ll have to try to get over the sinking-uch feeling I have when I see Bulgarians petting these street dogs.','Street Dogs','','publish','open','open','','street-dogs','','','2009-09-07 23:16:13','2009-09-07 20:16:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1154',0,'post','',6),(1156,1,'2009-09-10 22:50:04','2009-09-10 19:50:04','On Sunday I am going to start studying Bulgarian with my new language tutor I.  I. is a really nice Bulgarian who studied Bulgarian and English at the University of Plovdiv and now lives in Sofia.  The best part is that I met her though my blog.\n\nAs luck would have it she speaks Bulgarian better than I do and is willing to work with me in my pursuit to learn more Bulgarian.  She also has a really cool boyfriend.  The last time I saw him he told me, in English, that I should stop speaking to my American friends and only speak to Bulgarian in Bulgarian because that\'s the only way I\'ll learn the language.  There\'s a part of me that couldn\'t agree more.  It\'s a pretty straightforward and pragmatic solution when it comes to learning Bulgarian.\n\nThen there\'s a part of me that couldn\'t be happier that his girlfriend is the one who will actually be teaching me Bulgarian.  She seems to be a little more measured about the whole thing.  But in preparation for our first lesson on Sunday she did ask me how many Bulgarian words I thought I knew.\n\nUm, that\'s a really hard question.\n\nI thought about it for a minute and told her that I thought I knew maybe 300 words.  Oh and as soon as that came out of my mouth I realized how stupid that sounded.  I\'ve been living in Bulgaria for a year and I managed to learn only one new word a day.  When in comparison, my students at the First English Language School and now the American College are expected to learn between 30 and 50 new words a day.\n\nThis made me wonder if I maybe learned more words this last year and I was just underestimating myself. So last night I started making a list of all of the Bulgarian words I know.  Yes.  I started making a list.  This morning I kept working on it.\n\nThe list was both good and bad.  First it made me realize that I do know a lot of Bulgarian more so when I compare what I know now to when I started a year ago.  But it also made me realize what a bad speller I am.  I know that everyone says the nice thing about Bulgarian is that it\'s phonetic language but I still have problems with a couple of the vowels--mostly the Y and ъ-- I am just not very good at hearing the difference.\n\nSo in the end the list was kind of depressing.  Sure it was a record of how far I\'ve come and I am still thinking of words to add but really I got to about 300--maybe slightly more--but it\'s also a record of how little I seem to have applied myself this last year.\n\nIt\'s brought me to this moment: no more excuses.  I need to learn 15 words a day.  This won\'t make me fluent but it will give me a decent vocabulary in 6 months.  Yes, I used to like to tell myself that Bulgarian is hard and so is the alphabet but really that\'s not an excuse.  I just need to buckle down and start memorizing words.  Here I go.','Bulgarian Words','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-words','','','2009-09-10 22:50:04','2009-09-10 19:50:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1156',0,'post','',4),(1161,1,'2009-09-12 20:17:21','2009-09-12 17:17:21','','Washing Machine','My Washing Machine','inherit','open','open','','dsc01085','','','2009-09-12 20:17:21','2009-09-12 17:17:21','',1159,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01085.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1162,1,'2009-09-12 20:23:09','2009-09-12 17:23:09','','Washing Machine 2','Close up of my Washing Machine','inherit','open','open','','dsc01084','','','2009-09-12 20:23:09','2009-09-12 17:23:09','',1159,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01084.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1159,1,'2009-09-12 20:40:22','2009-09-12 17:40:22','I have an apartment full of language neutral appliances (oh and they are gender neutral as well--they are all silver).  I\'ve got an oven, washing machine and gasp a dryer in my apartment that don\'t speak any one language.  Instead, they use pictures.  The thing is I can\'t always read the pictures.\n\nToday I was trying to use my oven and I had to dig out the appliance manual. I had no idea which picture meant what.  Turns out that my oven lets me:\n<ol>\n	<li> Applying upper and lower heat</li>\n	<li>Grill</li>\n	<li>Grill with ventilator</li>\n	<li>Lower heater and ventilator</li>\n	<li>Ventilator with hot air</li>\n	<li>Defrosting</li>\n	<li>Lower heater and ventilator</li>\n	<li>Applying lower heater</li>\n</ol>\nThe problem is that each picture on the knob seems to be only a slight variation of the picture before and after it.  Manuel in hand, I was able to get my oven going--but that was after I dug through three different manuals for my oven because it comes in so many different languages.  Phew.\n\nCooking dinner went fine once I could kind of make out the settings on my oven.  The thing is that I am pretty sure the next time I use the oven, I\'ll have to get my manual out again.  That is, unless I decide to simply use the one setting that I know works well--for the record that was the picture for \"applying upper and lower heat\"--for the rest of the year.  I might do this.\n\nI tried to take a picture of the knob on the oven but with no success because of the way the pictures are put on the knob.\n\nBut I did get a couple of good pictures of my washing machine which is much more complex than my oven.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1161\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My Washing Machine\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1161\" title=\"Washing Machine \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01085.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"My Washing Machine\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1162\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Close up of my Washing Machine\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1162\" title=\"Washing Machine 2 \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01084.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Close up of my Washing Machine\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nThe thing about my washing machine is that the first time I used it 100% jet-lagged, I got it work without a problem.  The next time that I tired to use it I couldn\'t get it to start.  I kept thinking: how did I do this jet-lagged and half brain dead yesterday and today I can\'t do it?\n\nWell, I never could get it to start.  So I dug out the manual and read up on the three different knobs and 6+ buttons.  The whole time it kind of makes you think: why can\'t I read these pictures? how is it that I understand each picture but I still can\'t make this thing go?\n\nWell, I am still not sure that I understand the ins and outs of this machine but what it comes down is that you have to choose how much spin you want, what temperature you want and then you have to squint and try to pick the best cycle based on the clothes that you are washing. The thing is that if you don\'t pick correctly then you might find that your clothes are soaking wet.\n\nI think that this happens because of something to do with the speed of the spin but this isn\'t something I\'ve ever had control of in the States so I am figuring this out.  Oh and the machine is front loading--like most in Europe--but this is still rather new to me.   As is trying to puzzle out the pictures on the front of appliances in order to try to use them.\n\nSo I am getting better and better at using these language neutral appliances.  Basically I am getting better and better at remembering what each picture is telling me without having to get out my manual each time I want to wash a load of clothes.  But the thing is, I am afraid I\'ve got too many appliances with too many pictures to keep them all straight!','Language Neutral Appliances','','publish','open','open','','language-neutral-appliances','','','2009-09-12 20:40:22','2009-09-12 17:40:22','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1159',0,'post','',0),(1169,1,'2009-09-13 09:00:19','2009-09-13 06:00:19','<p>Today\'s my first Bulgarian lesson with my new tutor.  I\'ve prepared by digging out my two Bulgarian text books.  One called \"Learn Bulgarian the Easy Way\" and the other called simply Bulgarian Language--it\'s the text book that ичс (Sofia University\'s language school) uses.  </p>\n<p>I also bought a new notebook for my new year of learning Bulgarian.  I like the idea of starting out with a fresh notebook--one that I purchased and devoted to this new task.  There seems to me to be a lot of potential in a notebook like this.  Each crisp page becomes a space for new knowledge.   </p>\n<p>In case you couldn\'t tell, I am excited about this afternoon and trying to get all of my school work for the America College done before I am meeting my tutor this afternoon. Phew. There\'s so much going on. </p>\n<p>Oh and I was forced to memorize 30 new Bulgarian words yesterday because I didn\'t do such a hot job memorizing them on Friday.  So I\'ve got to review these words and identify 15 new worlds for today!! </p>\n<p>I guess it\'s a lucky thing that my apartment is relatively clean and I did all of my laundry yesterday but I do have to run to the grocery store at some point. I am not about to start the new school year with an empty fridge.   </p>','My first lesson','','publish','open','open','','my-first-lesson','','','2009-09-13 09:00:19','2009-09-13 06:00:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/my-first-lesson/',0,'post','',5),(1172,1,'2009-09-14 07:16:30','2009-09-14 04:16:30','Yesterday using Skype I spoke to my American friend Robyn.  Last year she lived in Budapest on a Fulbright and this year she\'s living and teaching in the States.  We\'ve been friends since graduate school and she\'s one of the people who came to visit me this last year in Bulgaria.\n\nShe was telling me how much she likes being back in the States but at the same time desperately misses Europe.  I couldn\'t agree with her more.\n\nBut by far the best part of our conversation was when she told me (and I wrote this down word for word on a piece of scrap paper): I want to come back because I want a banitsa! I commented to the effect of: they sure are a little slice of heaven.  Robyn\'s response: A GIANT greasy slab of heaven! (Just for the record, I wrote that down word for word as well.)\n\nThat\'s when I realized what a perfect description that actually was.  A slab of heaven--flaky pastry and salty cheese.  It really doesn\'t get much better than that.\n\nOh and that she liked Bulgaria enough to want to come back and visit again.  I am really glad that the banitsa won out in her memories over the dead horse on the side of the road in Kazanluk.','A Slab of Banitsa','','publish','open','open','','a-slab-of-banitsa','','','2009-09-14 07:16:30','2009-09-14 04:16:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1172',0,'post','',4),(1178,1,'2009-09-17 17:25:48','2009-09-17 14:25:48','Great news, for me! I don\'t have to fly back to the States to make my visa application.  I guess this is bad news for my friends and family in the States but I couldn\'t be happier.\n\nI get to stay in Bulgaria, make a couple of short trips to Greece and I\'ll hardly miss teaching any school.  I have no idea how it all worked out or how many hoops we had to jump through but it happened somehow.  Yipiee.\n\nThis said until I get my new visa I am not going to be cheering too much but I think that it will all work out.  I just didn\'t realize how much I\'d been worrying about it until I found out that there was a serious plan in place to get the visa.  Now it seems to be clearly on the horizon. Phew-phew.','Bulgarian Visa','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-visa','','','2009-09-17 17:25:48','2009-09-17 14:25:48','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1178',0,'post','',1),(1182,1,'2009-09-19 11:50:56','2009-09-19 08:50:56','It\'s a long weekend starting today.  I am not exactly sure what the weekend is for.  I know that September 15th was the Day of Sofia and I think that the reunification of Bulgaria is coming up but even a year later, I have a hard time keeping up with the holidays.\n\nDon\'t get me wrong though, I am not complaining. Actually, I\'ve got a lot to do.  I need to relax.  Then I need to buy some things for my apartment. I need to relax some more. I should do some shopping and buy some fall clothes--say pants so that I don\'t have to teach four days out of five in dresses or skirts.  As you may (or may not) remember I did a really bad job packing in August and only brought back one pair of slacks when I returned to Sofia.  After this, I think I\'ll relax some more.<!--more-->\n\nI have a Bulgarian lesson to study for and a paragraph to write.  Maybe I\'ll even type this up and post it on my blog.  That way over the course of the year you\'ll be able to see exactly how far I\'ve come in learning Bulgarian.  But this may be too ambitious.  After all, I do want to spend part of the weekend relaxing.\n\nOh and at least part of the weekend weather forecast seems to call for rain so I guess that it\'s a good thing I plan on doing some relaxing.\n\nThe best part of a long weekend is that there will be plenty of time to drink coffee and to read.  I picked up a copy (or my little sister might say stole her copy) of <em>The Time Traveler\'s Wife </em>when I was at home in August.  So I know what I\'ll be reading--but you all should know that I am more than slightly embarrassed to tell you all that I am reading a book that a movie has just been made about.  This said, it\'s actually really, really good and I stayed up way, way too late the last few nights reading it.\n\nUm, a long weekend.  I am so excited.','Long Weekend','','publish','open','open','','long-weekend','','','2009-09-19 11:50:56','2009-09-19 08:50:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1182',0,'post','',3),(1188,1,'2009-09-20 10:43:04','2009-09-20 07:43:04','','Ironing board','My New Ironing Board','inherit','open','open','','dsc01130','','','2009-09-20 10:43:04','2009-09-20 07:43:04','',1187,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01130.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1187,1,'2009-09-20 11:04:10','2009-09-20 08:04:10','I bought an ironing board yesterday (along with two sweaters, a scarf, a pair of sunglasses, salt and pepper shakers and a new garbage can--for the record, I did not buy these things all at the same place).  I am really happy with all of my purchases.  And I\'ve gotten a big kick out of the ironing board.  I never thought that I would write that (the I\'ve gotten a kick out of an ironing board part).  Why you ask? It has a nearly naked lady on it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1188\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"225\" caption=\"My New Ironing Board\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1188\" title=\"Ironing board\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/dsc01130.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"My New Ironing Board\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe best part is that I didn\'t notice it until I got it home. Yes, there is she on the ironing board insert.  She\'s wearing a short, short skirt and no top.  Maybe it\'s because she needs to iron it.  But the truth of the matter is I am not sure why she\'s nearly naked.  <!--more-->\n\nI mean she\'s selling sexy (or maybe just sex) but ironing isn\'t sexy.  Ironing is just work.  It\'s not even fun work--it\'s simply tedious and repetitive.  It\'s an endless cycle of shirts, dresses and pants.  In fact, I put off buying an ironing board for my whole first month living in Mladost because I dislike ironing so much.  As a result, I couldn\'t wear a chunk of my wardrobe but that was okay before school started.  Now that school\'s started I have to start ironing again.\n\nSo I am left holding onto this thought: maybe, just maybe, as a result of buying this ironing board I will become as sexy as the ironing board woman?! I am keeping my fingers crossed.  Oh and the thought just crossed my mind: maybe I should start ironing right now and test this out.\n\nOr maybe a nearly naked lady just makes everything better.','Nearly Naked Woman','','publish','open','open','','nearly-naked-woman','','','2009-09-20 11:04:10','2009-09-20 08:04:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1187',0,'post','',5),(1190,1,'2009-09-21 11:51:21','2009-09-21 08:51:21','First, thing first.\n\nHappy Birthday dAd!\n\nAlso, thanks for being born in 1950--it makes it a lot easier for me to do the math and figure out that you\'re 59 today.  Wosa.  59.  dAd, you realize that you\'re a year away from 60 now (and that makes me a year-plus away from being 30)?!? Hope that you\'re having a great day and that MoM\'s chocolate birthday cake is delicious.\n\nAnyhow, back to life in Sofia.  Somehow, it\'s turned into a beautiful day in Sofia. I woke up and it was rather gray and I was wondering which one of my new sweaters I should wear.  Now the sun is out and there\'s not a cloud in the sky.  It\'s blue, blue, blue.  I couldn\'t be happier.\n\nI\'ve been cleaning my apartment, I\'ve washed some clothes, I am in the process of cleaning my bathroom and then I\'ve got to mop my kitchen/dinning room/living room.  The floor is all tile which makes it easy as can be.  I guess that I\'ll just hang out in my bedroom as the floor dries.\n\nReally it\'s been a great morning and it\'s barely 11am.  <!--more-->\n\nI\'ve done some Bulgarian exercises and worked on learning some new worlds.  The one other thing I\'ve got to do at some point is to mark some papers but other than this I am just relaxing and enjoying the cool but sunny weather.  It\'s a wonderful change from the oppressive heat and the cloudy-dreary gray weather that we\'ve had this last month.  It makes me think that fall is around the corner--or maybe, gasp, here.\n\nI am having some friends over tonight to see my new apartment and to do some wine tasting.  For ages, I\'ve been meaning to get my friends together and to make them taste Bulgarian wine--sight unseen--and to rank it.  First of all I am doing this because it seems like a really fun thing to do and second because I like to drink wine and I think it\'s a great way to learn more about Bulgarian wine.\n\nI think that some good wine, at great prices, is being made in Bulgaria but I honestly know very, very little about it.  So, I am giving it a go tonight.  Little do my friends know that their opinions on the wine are going be featured on my blog later this week.  (Okay, I guess that if they are actively reading my blog they\'ll know now but for most of them I think they are coming because they don\'t have much else to do on the Monday night of our extra-long weekend. )\n\nAt this point, I\'ve done a little bit of research on Bulgarian wine--but it\'s not really it\'s not so easy to find good information on the wines in the country.  I assume that if I actually spoke Bulgarian it would be a little bit easier but then again this whole adventure-experiment would be.\n\nHere\'s what I learned.  Bulgaria has five main wine growing regions.\n<ol>\n	<li>The Valley of the Roses</li>\n	<li>The Thracian Valley</li>\n	<li>The Struma River Valley</li>\n	<li>The Danube River</li>\n	<li>The Black Sea/Coastal region</li>\n</ol>\nYes, I realize that these five regions more or less cover the whole country.  Apparently grapes will grow almost anywhere in Bulgaria.  Maybe this shouldn\'t come as a surprise to me--it is said that Dionysus is from Bulgaria.  I just tried to confirm this \"fact\" on wikipedia and was unable to do so.  Anyhow, we\'ve got plenty of land to grow grapes on and to make wine from so I can only imagine that we\'re going to have fun tonight!','How to spend a long weekend','','publish','open','open','','how-to-spend-a-long-weekend','','','2009-09-21 11:51:21','2009-09-21 08:51:21','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1190',0,'post','',2),(1194,1,'2009-09-22 01:11:06','2009-09-21 22:11:06','Аз съм Каролин.  Аз съм на 28 години и аз съм от америка. Моят роден град е корвалис.  Аз имам брат и сестра. Брат ми живее в сан франсиско с приятелка. Той е инженер.  той е на 25 години.  Систра ме живее във вашингтон.  Тя е студентка.  Моите чичо и леля жевеят в спокан.  Те нямат деца.  Аз живея в младост близо до била.  Аз съм учителка по английски.\n\nUm, Bulgarian is really hard to type.  First, I have no idea where any of the letters are on the Cyrillic keyboard.  And second, sometimes when I think I am sounding things out in a way that makes sense to me it actually doesn\'t work at all the way I think it should(for example, the \"c\").  Oh well.\n\nSo the above I think took me 20+ minutes to type out.  And I had it written out already.  It\'s 13 sentences long but that\'s not really saying much.  Really it just means that I am trying really hard to use my Bulgarian.  (Oh and I. this post is for you. Thanks for being such a great tutor.  I really, really hope that I didn\'t make any mistakes typing this.)','Me in Bulgarian','','publish','open','open','','me-in-bulgarian','','','2009-09-22 01:11:06','2009-09-21 22:11:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1194',0,'post','',7),(1201,1,'2009-09-26 13:30:00','2009-09-26 10:30:00','','Erec.PhotoDanceWeek','Sofia Dance Week: ÉRECTION','inherit','open','open','','erec-photodanceweek','','','2009-09-26 13:30:00','2009-09-26 10:30:00','',1200,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/erec-photodanceweek.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1200,1,'2009-09-26 13:39:20','2009-09-26 10:39:20','It\'s the second year of <a href=\"http://edno.bg/sofiadanceweek09.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Sofia Dance Week</a> be hosted in, you guessed it, Sofia.  I am going with one of my teacher friends and her sister to see what promises to be a bold piece. The Sofia Dance Week website describes the piece this way: <em><strong>Érection</strong></em>. A man, lying on the stage, struggles to stand up on his feet in the course of 45 long,  loaded with suspense minutes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1201\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Sofia Dance Week: ÉRECTION\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1201\" title=\"Erec.PhotoDanceWeek\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/erec-photodanceweek.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"Sofia Dance Week: ÉRECTION\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" />[/caption]\n\nI am not sure what to think.  I\'ve never been to a dance show like this before.  Mostly I am excited to see (and I think it\'s safe to say experience) the piece.\n\nThere will be an update on this tomorrow!','Sofia Dance Week','','publish','open','open','','sofia-dance-week','','','2009-09-26 13:39:20','2009-09-26 10:39:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1200',0,'post','',1),(1203,1,'2009-09-30 21:41:05','2009-09-30 18:41:05','I\'ve been busy, busy.  And I realized that I haven\'t written in a number of days.  The worst part really is that while I\'ve been busy the things I\'ve been aren\'t so interesting.  I mean I like doing them but there\'s not so much to report on.\n\nI guess that\'s what happens when you start teaching full-time.  I wake up at 5:45 in the morning.  Sometimes I promise to call my MoM but sometimes I forget when it\'s that early in the morning.  Most mornings I try to do some yoga.  That too is kind of hit or miss.  The worst part about 5:45 is that it\'s so, so dark in the morning.  It stays darker longer every morning.  Luckily, I\'ve got my coffee to keep me going (or maybe it\'s better put I\'ve got my coffee to get me going rather than keep me going).  Then, I walk the same strip of road from Billa to the American College two times a day--to and from.\n\nSometimes I think about things that might make interesting blog posts but usually by the time I\'ve gotten to school or home from school I\'ve decided that it\'s some strange little musing and no one wants to read it.  Some ideas have included the line of cars in the morning at school, drivers who pay no attention to pedestrians, the weather, uneven streets and sidewalks (which I am beginning to think are the bane of my existence), old men and old women who are out and about, funny things I\'ve seen in people\'s shopping carts at Billa or the giant hole in the street that without fail made boys and men a like stop to look in it (yes, it was just a huge hole).  But if you\'re a regular follower of my blog you know I didn\'t write about these topics and frankly now that you\'ve read some of my ideas you are probably very glad that I\'ve chosen not to write about them.  That I\'ve spared you. I am glad too actually.\n\nThe thing is school is great. <!--more--> My students are wonderful--three weeks in, I think that they are smart and articulate.  Yesterday I felt a little bit bad because I managed to freak them out a few times with my grading policy, my sometimes sloppy handwriting on the board and most recently with a reading quiz.  But now that I am thinking about it I can\'t help but think: isn\'t that partially what teaching is about? This said, it did make me feel bad to see their faces when I gave them the reading quiz questions--their eyes were so big.  I\'ve read through the answers and I think they did fine so I am not too worried about them.  Kids are resilient.\n\nRecently school has kept me from spending too much time in the Sofia city center proper but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t been having fun.  I\'ve been studying my Bulgarian.  In fact, you should look for another post in Bulgarian soon.  It\'s been going slowly but I find myself thinking pretty regularly on my way to and from school and studying during breaks.\n\nLast weekend I went to a great Sofia Dance Week show.  It was really amazing.  It made me think a lot about the human body and what we\'re capable and how much control you can have over your movements.  I was really excited about the mix of dance, movement, music and light--it really made the show.  The thing I was struck by was how much more the show was than just a dance piece.\n\nI thought that I was going to Thessaloniki tomorrow to make my visa application but the plans changed today.  It was a little disappointing but some things came up at school and there\'s just no way to make it happen.  I am not too worried about it.  Clearly I can make my application another week--I\'d just gotten my head around the fact that we were going to drive down to Thessaloniki after school on Thursday, make the application Friday morning and drive back after that.  It\'s a lot of hours to spend in the car and I\'d really gotten okay with all of this and now I\'ll be going another time.  Oh well.\n\nSo that\'s that.  I\'ve been busy but I am really content with all of this.','It&#039;s been a bit','','publish','open','open','','its-been-a-bit','','','2009-09-30 21:41:05','2009-09-30 18:41:05','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1203',0,'post','',0),(1208,1,'2009-10-02 09:36:11','2009-10-02 06:36:11','I filled out my visa application this morning.  Oh Bulgaria. It\'s pretty straight forward. But there are a couple of things that are so Bulgarian about it.\n\nFirst, the application is not a write-able PDF.  This means you have to fill it out by hand.  I know this isn\'t such a big deal but in this day and age it\'s sort of a surprise that you can\'t fill it out and then print it out.  What this meant in practice was that I had to use my neat easy to read handwriting which has always been capital upper case letters. And I had a hell of a time filling out the application this way.  Funny, after living in Bulgaria for a year it\'s significantly harder for me to write in upper case letters in English. I spent the whole two pages of the application thinking n (N) and trying to write H. I never thought this would happen to me.  But, it has.\n\nThe second very Bulgarian thing about the visa application (or maybe it\'s tedious--and I often associate Bulgarian bureaucracy with tedium) is that you actually have to fill out the application twice. You\'re required to turn in the application, photos and any other supporting documents in duplicate.  Apparently you can\'t photocopy the original application, you must in fact fill it out twice.  Sweet.   <!--more-->\n\nBy far my favorite part of the whole process is that there\'s really not enough space on any of the lines to fit in the information they are requiring.  For example, at one point I had to squeeze in the name of the school, the address and the phone number all into one tiny line.  I did it and it\'s readable but I can\'t help but think that the people who are going to process this application must all wear glasses.  So I wrote as small and as neatly as I could and I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing gets misread.\n\nHeck, my last name has already changed twice in this last year: from Emigh to Eмиг to Eмит.  And I am not sure that I could handle another revision. I already have a hard enough time answering to all of the mispronunciations in English let alone to the newest iterations in Bulgarian.\n\nWhat I got the greatest kick out of was filling out the question: what countries have you traveled to in the last five years.  When I filled out this line last year in June, the answer was none.  This year even in my smallest neatest handwriting, I couldn\'t get all of the countries on the three lines in the application.\n\nIt made me think: what a year I\'ve had.  Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Russia. Wow. To look at the list even now it\'s still pretty amazing to me.\n\nI was born at the end of the cold war in the United States and as a result, many of these destinations aren\'t exactly countries I was \"taught\" to dream about.  They were foreign, unknown and in some ways even exoticized. And yet, I was there.  I have been to, seen and explored parts of the world I never dreamed about and I am a better person for it.\n\nSo while I still think that the Bulgarian visa application should go digital, I do appreciate the chance it gave me to think about and reflect on this last year.','Visa Application and Travel','','publish','open','open','','visa-application-and-travel','','','2009-10-02 09:36:11','2009-10-02 06:36:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1208',0,'post','',0),(1216,1,'2009-10-03 08:22:46','2009-10-03 05:22:46','','Mladost at sunset','Mladost at Sunset','inherit','open','open','','img_0860','','','2009-10-03 08:22:46','2009-10-03 05:22:46','',1217,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/img_0860.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1218,1,'2009-10-03 08:26:38','2009-10-03 05:26:38','','CAE glasses','Me with a New Haircut & New Sunglasses','inherit','open','open','','cae-glasses','','','2009-10-03 08:26:38','2009-10-03 05:26:38','',3578,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cae-glasses1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` VALUES (1217,1,'2009-10-03 12:02:46','2009-10-03 09:02:46','It\'s a rainy day in Sofia today.  I am not sure how much I\'ll get done outside of the house.  That\'s okay though. I\'ve got some papers to grade and some homework to finish.  So I thought I\'d post this picture that I took this week.  When I happened to look out my windows at dusk and ...\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1216\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mladost at Sunset\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1216\" title=\"Mladost at sunset\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/img_0860.jpg\" alt=\"Mladost at Sunset\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]','Rainy Day','','publish','open','open','','rainy-day','','','2009-10-03 12:02:46','2009-10-03 09:02:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1217',0,'post','',2),(1225,1,'2009-10-03 12:15:04','2009-10-03 09:15:04','http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cropped-dsc01076.jpg','cropped-dsc01076.jpg','','inherit','closed','open','','cropped-dsc01076-jpg','','','2009-10-03 12:15:04','2009-10-03 09:15:04','',0,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cropped-dsc01076.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1228,1,'2009-10-04 17:55:07','2009-10-04 14:55:07','I just go home from my Bulgarian lesson.  This week I was working on learning a lot of new vocabulary and I am trying to say as much as I can.  So here goes...\n\nжевея в Младост в голям блок.  Апартаментът е на бтория етаж. Има три цтаи--цпална, баня и голяма стая с хол, кухня и трапезария.\n\nСпалнята е малка или може би нормлна.  Има легло, гардероб и килим.  Има две малки маси и две лампи.  Лампите са върху масите. До спалнята е банята. Банята е малка.  Там има тоалетна, мивка и душ.\n\nДо антрето е голямата стая.  Там има хол, кухна и трапезария.  кухната има мивка, парлня, печка и хладилник.  Там няма тостер, микроълнова или съдомиялна машина.  В холът има диван, малка маса, малък шкаф, теливизор и етажерка с много книги.  теливизорът е върху шкафа.  В трапезарията има четири стола и маса.  Тази голама стия е хубава.  Този апартамент има много прозорци и балкон.  хересвам този апартамент.\n\n(Oh and the good news is that it\'s getting easier and easier to type in Bulgarian!!)','Дом','','publish','open','open','','%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%bc','','','2009-10-04 17:55:07','2009-10-04 14:55:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1228',0,'post','',8),(1226,1,'2009-10-05 19:55:25','2009-10-05 16:55:25','Or maybe you\'d be more interested in Bulgarian Cucumber Soup With Walnuts?\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"600\" caption=\"Bulgarian Tarator Soup! \"]<a href=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/09/28/health/28recipe_walnuts.600.jpg\"><img title=\"Tarator Soup \" src=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/09/28/health/28recipe_walnuts.600.jpg\" alt=\"Bulgarian Tarator Soup! \" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOkay, it turns out that the NYT has an article online right now in which tarator is actually a cold cucumber soup.  So I guess it was a trick question when I asked if you wanted Tarator or Bulgarian Cucumber Soup with Walnuts.  Yesterday my MoM sent me a link to the NYT and an article in the Recipes for Health section.  For whatever reason the article was titled:<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/health/nutrition/28recipehealth.html?emc=eta1\"> The Mediterranean’s Secret Ingredient: Walnuts</a>. Mediterranean. Interesting.<!--more-->\n\nSure walnuts are a hot health food these days.  In fact, they\'re supposed to be--what--a super food? Good fats, filling and delicious to boot.  Turns out this little nut has a lot to live to live up to.\n\nThing is I don\'t think that there\'s anything in particular about that makes them Mediterranean. I mean my grandmother had a black walnut tree in her backyard--in Walla Walla for pete\'s sake.  I\'m afraid that what it comes down to is that the idea of the Mediterranean is just sexier than either Walla Walla or Bulgaria.\n\nSo, the columnist does a round of cheerleading for the walnut--hitting most of the major \"sexy\" cultures in greater Europe--Italy, Greece, Turkey and France and highlights the role of the walnut in these cuisines.   Then comes Bulgaria.\n\nShe writes this:\n<blockquote>Before the weather becomes too chilly for cold soups, try this one. Bulgaria once was well known for the number of centenarians in its population, which some scientists attributed to the daily consumption of Bulgarian yogurt. Now, both the yogurt and eating culture in this mountainous country have changed for the worse, and so have local lifespans.</blockquote>\nHum. Apparently, Bulgarians are falling apart.  The quality of the Bulgarian yogurt goes down hill and so do the number of centenarians.  The eating culture in general has gotten worse and the lifespan has followed suit.  Sweet.  At least we\'ve still got the Bulgarian Cucumber Soup With Walnuts (aka tarator).  That seems to be the only thing holding us together.  And we\'re just hanging on by a thread.\n\nThank god for the tarator--made with thick Greek style yogurt, European cucumbers (or Persian cucumbers) and ice-cold spring water!?!\n\nThe thing I can\'t get over is that when I read the article and recipe to start with I thought: cliche Bulgarian tarator being highlighted as a fresh and healthy recipe in the NYT but then I thought: nothing about this article makes the country shine--even though Bulgaria is the focus.  Ger.\n\nOkay, maybe I should be nicer to the NYT columnist. I mean it\'s pretty clear that she\'s never been to Bulgaria. But I guess that\'s the point.  There\'s a lot of really great food here.  Most of it is healthy, tasty and fresh and in my mind that\'s the best thing about Bulgarian cuisine.  The second best thing is that serine is added to most dishes.  I especially like it on french fries.  actually, I think I\'d eat it on almost anything.   In fact, I can\'t really think of something I wouldn\'t eat it on.  Well, it might be a bit much on tarator...','Tarator Anyone?','','publish','open','open','','tarator-anyone','','','2009-10-05 19:55:25','2009-10-05 16:55:25','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1226',0,'post','',3),(1236,1,'2009-10-07 19:37:57','2009-10-07 16:37:57','<img class=\"alignright\" title=\"Old Bulgarian Women in Traditional Costumes\" src=\"http://www.eliznik.org.uk/Bulgaria/photos/Sop-1-6-95.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"450\" />At school one of our PE teachers, offers a Bulgarian and Balkan Dance class to teachers and parents.  It meets twice a week after school.  I figured that it would be fun.  I also really like to dance.  But as fate would have it, I am not very good at it.\n\nYet.\n\nI am not a quitter but after last night I am worried that I might never be very good at it.  Somehow I was always on the wrong foot or a step behind.  It felt kind of like I was at a bad aerobics class.  One where I had no idea what the steps were and so I just kept jumping around hoping that it wouldn\'t be too clear that I didn\'t know any of the moves.\n\n<!--more-->The thing is I\'ve never taken any formal dance classes where you have to remember steps and what not and I am afraid that maybe I won\'t be able to remember everything.  Yesterday I had a hard enough time with the forward, forward, forward, backward, forward, backward, cross your feet behind, in front and tap your heal or  jump all while moving your arms or not or clapping occasionally.\n\nLuckily I have a pretty good sense of humor and a high threshold for embarrassment, pain and feeling foolish.  If not, I might not have made it the whole hour. It was pretty bad.\n\nIn fact it was so bad that one of the female PE teachers was asked to come and dance next to me.  She was really nice and encouraging in a good mix of Bulgarian and English.  Still, I am afraid it didn\'t help me very much.\n\nAll of this said, I am not giving up this easily.  Maybe I just need to walk the Bulgarian folk dance channel more or maybe if traditional folk dance doesn\'t work out for me I could take up chalga.  After last night\'s fiasco, I can\'t really imagine that chalga would be harder--it might be harder on myself esteem but what\'s a girl to do?','Bulgarian &amp; Balkan Dance','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-balkan-dance','','','2009-10-07 19:37:57','2009-10-07 16:37:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1236',0,'post','',8),(1239,1,'2009-10-09 18:05:15','2009-10-09 15:05:15','This is about all I can say about today.  Today hasn\'t been a bad day per say. It\'s just not a  day that I am dying to live over again.  It is just one of those days where nothing goes exactly how you planned and you feel like you\'re a step or two behind the entire day.\n\nIt started with my coffee pot.  The first thing I do at 5:45am is to start my coffee maker.  This is something that I do so regularly and I\'ve done it for so many years that I think I could do it in my sleep.  I wouldn\'t even be surprised if I do start it in my sleep.  I am still pretty blurry-eyed at not yet six o\'clock in the morning when I drag myself out of bed.\n\nWell, this morning the filter in my coffee pot folded down upon itself and rather than having a nice dark, rich pot of coffee it looked like giant pot of English breakfast tea.  <!--more-->Yuck.  For a fleeting moment I wondered if I could just dump out the pot, fix the paper filter and re-run it with less water.   I decided that was crazy-think so I poured out the coffee and tossed out the wet-coffee laden filter.  Then I made pot number two.  As luck would have it, this one turned out just fine.\n\nAfter a cup of coffee, I felt more like a human being.  I took a shower, got dressed and then ate breakfast.  On my way out of the apartment building I caught a glimpse of myself in the elevator mirror. It wasn\'t good.   I don\'t have a full-length mirror in my apartment and was surprised by how um not ready for work I looked.  It kind of looked like I got ready for work in the dark.  That\'s not such a great look for me and I couldn\'t imagine standing in front of two different classes of students and teaching them.  Needless to say, I went back up to my apartment for a second shot at my outfit.\n\nThe other challenge recently has been that at 7am when I leave my apartment to walk to school, it\'s still dark outside.  And cold. But when I leave school at the end of the day it\'s 80 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.  Mostly I over dress because I\'d rather be warm than cold. So this morning as a result of my coffee fiasco or maybe as a result of my bad taste (or maybe bad eye sight), I am later to school than I\'d like but on the upside also warmer than normal.\n\nThen it was a day of students--seeing students, teaching students, reading student papers, grading students and talking with students.  Don\'t get me wrong I actually like this.  I like them.  I like how much energy they have, how they always greet me: Hello Ms. Emigh and how most of them are dying to answer questions in class but today, it was harder to get them to focus, to talk about our books and to answer questions.  I hope it\'s just a case of the Fridays but maybe it\'s just one of those days.','One of those days','','publish','open','open','','one-of-those-days','','','2009-10-09 18:05:15','2009-10-09 15:05:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1239',0,'post','',2),(1246,1,'2009-10-12 20:42:25','2009-10-12 17:42:25','','Spice Market','Spice Market in Istanbul','inherit','open','open','','dsc07026','','','2009-10-12 20:42:25','2009-10-12 17:42:25','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc07026.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1247,1,'2009-10-12 20:50:26','2009-10-12 17:50:26','','Moscow by Boat','Moscow by Boat','inherit','open','open','','dsc08888','','','2009-10-12 20:50:26','2009-10-12 17:50:26','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08888.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1248,1,'2009-10-12 20:54:09','2009-10-12 17:54:09','','Kotor at sunset','Kotor at Sunset','inherit','open','open','','dsc07780-2','','','2009-10-12 20:54:09','2009-10-12 17:54:09','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc07780.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1249,1,'2009-10-12 20:57:01','2009-10-12 17:57:01','','Local Brandy in Zagreb','Local Brandy in Zagreb','inherit','open','open','','dsc08194','','','2009-10-12 20:57:01','2009-10-12 17:57:01','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08194.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1251,1,'2009-10-12 21:14:05','2009-10-12 18:14:05','','Macadonia, Dani and Me!','Macadonia, Dani and Me!','inherit','open','open','','cimg3716','','','2009-10-12 21:14:05','2009-10-12 18:14:05','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cimg3716.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1252,1,'2009-10-12 21:24:11','2009-10-12 18:24:11','','Amsterdam with Nick and Betsy','Amsterdam with Nick and Betsy','inherit','open','open','','dsc08524','','','2009-10-12 21:24:11','2009-10-12 18:24:11','',1243,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08524.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1243,1,'2009-10-12 21:33:36','2009-10-12 18:33:36','The weather is in the process of turning. This past weekend it was warm enough to have a few drinks outside on a terrace with friends after work and this week leaves are falling, rain is threatening and there\'s talk of snow.  It\'s made me start dreaming of traveling.  I spent a large part of this past spring and summer traveling.\n\nNow between grading papers, making dinner and keeping my apartment clean, I find myself making lists of places to visit.  Places I\'ve been, places I\'d like to go. But I wont be going any where this months aside from Greece next week to make my visa application and most of that trip I\'ll spend in the car.  So I found myself sifting through my photos from this past year.  Here are a few of my favorite:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1251\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Macedonia, Dani and Me!\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1251\" title=\"Macadonia, Dani and Me!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cimg3716.jpg\" alt=\"Macadonia, Dani and Me!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1246\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Spice Market in Istanbul\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1246\" title=\"Spice Market\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc07026.jpg\" alt=\"Spice Market in Istanbul\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1247\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moscow by Boat\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1247\" title=\"Moscow by Boat\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08888.jpg\" alt=\"Moscow by Boat\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1248\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Kotor at Sunset\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1248\" title=\"Kotor at sunset\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc07780.jpg\" alt=\"Kotor at Sunset\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1249\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Local Brandy in Zagreb\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1249\" title=\"Local Brandy in Zagreb \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08194.jpg\" alt=\"Local Brandy in Zagreb\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1252\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Amsterdam with Nick and Betsy\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1252\" title=\"Amsterdam with Nick and Betsy\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc08524.jpg\" alt=\"Amsterdam with Nick and Betsy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Dreaming of Travel','','publish','open','open','','dreaming-of-travel','','','2009-10-12 21:33:36','2009-10-12 18:33:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1243',0,'post','',4),(1257,1,'2009-10-14 21:43:09','2009-10-14 18:43:09','Um, holy smokes. It\'s cold outside.  I think that we may have just missed the season know other places as fall and gone straight to winter.  It\'s cold. Cold.  Also, it\'s really dark in the mornings when I wake up.\n\nThis makes my coffee that much more important. It also makes pants important.\n\nThe weather tells me that it\'s time for me to do a few things:\n<ol>\n	<li>buy pants</li>\n	<li>buy a winter coat</li>\n	<li>buy gloves</li>\n	<li>buy a hat</li>\n</ol>\nUm, yes.  I apparently need to buy everything one needs to survive winter. Hello Bulgaria. Hello winter!','Yoo-hoo, Fall Where are You?','','publish','open','open','','yoo-hoo-fall-where-are-you','','','2009-10-14 21:43:09','2009-10-14 18:43:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1257',0,'post','',1),(1259,1,'2009-10-16 17:18:18','2009-10-16 14:18:18','<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"1984\" src=\"http://orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/gallery/imgs/002_lx.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"400\" />This week I assigned essays on George Orwell\'s book 1984 and sitting at my desk trying to figure out what next week has in store for me I was struck by the thought: I am teaching 1984.\n\nI am teaching the novel 1984 in a post-communist country.  I am teaching 1984 in a post-communist country to students born after the changes in Bulgaria.  I am teaching 1984 in Bulgaria to students who have no memories of their own of communism.  I am an American teaching a novel in which one of the main ideas running through the pages is: Big Brother is watching you.   I am teaching 1984 and it\'s not something I ever really imaged I\'d do--to teach this novel under these circumstances.\n\nCome November it will 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell and here I am.  I\'m in Sofia teaching Bulgarian students a novel imagined and created during the Cold War by a Brit about a world not so far removed from either Stalinist Russia or modern-day America.  <!--more-->A world in which fear functions like a currency--something to trade, barter and influence others with. A world in which we are watching and being watched all the time--be it today with web 2.0 technology, the Patriot Act or even our debit and credit cards.  A world that creates and revises history and the past with ease.\n\nSo here I am teaching a novel that I might not think twice about in the States and wondering what makes me qualified to teach this novel to these students? But that\'s the thing--it\'s just a novel.  I am qualified to teach novels.  It\'s the context, the history, the politics, the allusions in the novel that seem more difficult, more complex, heavier, weightier and more important now that I am here.\n\nAnd it\'s the look in these students\' faces--they recognize me as an authority. They write down everything I put on the board, they get frustrated with me when I don\'t write a word clearly enough and on top of all of this they are hungry to know more. And somehow I am the one teaching them 1984.  Sure they know the basics and I know more--it\'s just that there something so strange and rather odd feeling about being an \"expert\" on a book like 1984 in a country like Bulgaria.\n\nBy chance this week I had dinner with an older Bulgarian friend and brought up the fact that I was teaching 1984.  She told me about her experience reading the book as a twenty-something in communist Bulgaria.  She\'d studied at the Plovdiv English Language School and ended up reading the book at age 24 or 25 when a friend who had been living in Japan brought an English copy back to Bulgaria. She told me that the book passed through the hands of all of their friends--everyone wanted to read it.  There is something really sad and lovely about that at the same time.\n\nMy students today, I am sure, don\'t feel the same way.  The book is a book.  They have to write an essay on it (which they\'ll write in pursuit of a 6--the highest mark in the Bulgarian school system), they\'ll turn their book in next week and my guess is that for most of them they wont look back.  It is after all just a book.\n\nAnd today, sitting at my desk at work looking out on a dreary rainy pre-winter afternoon, there is something incredibly bittersweet about that--about the book, about the value of the book, about this novel that we read and about the stories that we tell (or once told). Is there magic left in 1984? I think so.  It\'s just different from what it used to be.  The warnings from this anti-utopian novel still ring true--only this time, we, as Americans, may just be the ones who need to revisit the warnings.','Teaching Orwell&#039;s 1984 in Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','teaching-orwells-1984-in-bulgaria','','','2009-10-16 17:18:18','2009-10-16 14:18:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1259',0,'post','',5),(1267,1,'2009-10-18 11:08:28','2009-10-18 08:08:28','','Pancake Goods','My ingredients','inherit','open','open','','dsc01158','','','2009-10-18 11:08:28','2009-10-18 08:08:28','',1263,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01158.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1268,1,'2009-10-18 11:15:04','2009-10-18 08:15:04','','My pancakes','My pancakes','inherit','open','open','','dsc01160','','','2009-10-18 11:15:04','2009-10-18 08:15:04','',1263,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01160.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1263,1,'2009-10-18 11:31:43','2009-10-18 08:31:43','My old roommate Nick writes a food blog--<a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/\">Macheesmo</a>.  Recently we were talking and he turned me on to this amazing food blog the recipes are amazing and the pictures are beautiful--<a href=\"http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/\">Joy the Baker</a>.  I read a few posts and thought: these are great recipes but they are too hard for me to make in Bulgaria.  Way too hard.  I can\'t get the ingredients and I don\'t have the right equipment in my kitchen.  Heck, I don\'t have a microwave let alone a blender or a hand mixer so my food style is now simple and satisfying.  But for some reason I added her blog to my google reader any way.\n\n<img class=\"alignnone\" title=\"The Pancakes from Joy the Baker\" src=\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2415/2902040265_8a35466d10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" />Then came a blog post for <a href=\"http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/09/carrot-cake-pancakes/\">Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread</a>. Um. Wow. First off the pancakes look amazing but more than this these pancakes only really require a cheese grater and a frying pan.  Okay the ingredients in the recipe are a little trickier but I am a creative person.<!--more-->\n\nAll of this said, I find baking a challenge whether or not I am in the States but it\'s that much harder when you\'re living abroad. First you\'ve got to get the ingredients. If you can, if not you have to make substitutions (gasp) or look for a different recipe. This means that you have to try to make out what things like baking soda and vanilla are or you have to look them up online so that you know what you\'re supposed to look for.  Then you have to readjust what your expectations are when you\'re shopping. Baking soda in a can? Nope.  A paper envelope.  Liquid vanilla in a small bottle? No way.  The only way I\'ve found it is powered and mixed with sugar in a small plastic bag.  Which begs the question: um, how much am I supposed to use?\n\nSo once you\'ve gathered, scavenged and/or assembled everything you need then you\'ve got to determine what you dish you will bake in (pyrex? ha. 9 x 13. yeah right.), what temperature you should bake at (you shouldn\'t it turns out just turn your oven to high and hope that it bakes quickly and evenly) and then there\'s the measurements cups, teaspoons, tablespoons (I have one set of measuring cups so that\'s not too bad but I just have to eye-ball the teaspoons and tablespoons and when in doubt I just put in a little extra).\n\nThe thing is the actual baking isn\'t so hard.  It\'s the energy required.  You\'ve simply got to have more of it if you\'re trying to bake \"American\" abroad.  You also have to prepare yourself for the inevitable... whatever it is you decide to bake may not turn out.  Yes, it may not work.  Even after you\'ve tracked down everything you need, converted measurements and temperatures, stirred everything together and hoped/prayed--your final product may not be what you expect.\n\nLuckily, this isn\'t such a new feeling for me.  Most of the things I bake never really turn out like the pictures in cookbooks or magazines so at least I am used to this.  But after you put in the extra time and energy to try to bake some \"American\" treat abroad rather than just eating another slice of baklava--your final product can be a let down.  If it doesn\'t look perfect fine but what\'s worse than that is when it doesn\'t taste good--when you realize the substitution you made didn\'t work or that you have no idea what happened but it\'s just not good.\n\nI\'ve had both these things happen before it kind of makes you want to cry because at this point, you\'ve invested time and energy in baking and on top of this, you\'re hungry and now don\'t have anything to eat.\n\nSo I am going to spend the whole time complaining about baking abroad? No.  Because I made the pancakes.  They were delicious (but not as beautiful as Joy\'s) and I had to refine/revise the recipe.  (Pecans in Bulgaria? ha.)\n\nHere\'s the revised the recipe from Joy\'s bog:\n\n<strong> </strong>\n\n<strong> </strong>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1267\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"My ingredients\"]<strong><strong><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1267\" title=\"Pancake Goods \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01158.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"My ingredients\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></strong></strong>[/caption]\n\n<strong>Carrot Cake Pancakes</strong>\n<ul>\n	<li>1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour</li>\n	<li>1 teaspoons baking soda</li>\n	<li>2 teaspoon ground cinnamon</li>\n	<li>1/4 teaspoon salt</li>\n	<li>1/2 teaspoon ground ginger</li>\n	<li>1 egg, lightly beaten</li>\n	<li>1/3 cup packed brown or granulated sugar</li>\n	<li>1 cup milk</li>\n	<li>2 cups finely grated carrots</li>\n	<li>2 teaspoon powered vanilla with sugar</li>\n</ul>\n<div>Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in two separate bowls.  Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix.  Spoon the pancake batter into a hot frying pan and cook over medium heat as you would any pancake.</div>\n<div>The cream cheese spread look-wise was a failure. But, it tasted great.  I think that the problem is the fact that the cream cheese I used was a spread already rather than the thick Philadelphia cream cheese block that one can get in the States.</div>\n<div><strong>Cream Cheese Spread</strong></div>\n<ul>\n	<li>4 ounces cream cheese</li>\n	<li>1/4 cup powdered sugar</li>\n	<li>2 tablespoons milk (in the future I would use a lot less milk--maybe only a dash)</li>\n	<li>1 teaspoon powdered vanilla with sugar</li>\n	<li>1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon</li>\n</ul>\n[caption id=\"attachment_1268\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"My pancakes\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1268\" title=\"My pancakes\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01160.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"My pancakes\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" />[/caption]\n\nSo all said and done, the pancakes were <em>amazing</em>. Beautiful? No. Not at all.  Tasty? Absolutely. It\'s like eating carrot cake. The flavors are perfect.  The best thing is that I love carrot cake and I don\'t think that I would ever make a carrot cake here in Bulgaria.  Too much work, too much worry and then I\'d be stuck with the whole thing.\n\nThese pancakes are like instant carrot cake gratification. They are hearty, carroty and have plenty of cinnamon.  A perfect fall food.  After making them I began to think about zucchini pancakes, pumpkin pancakes and even apple cinnamon pancakes.  It seems like there is a whole new world of pancakes in front of me--move over blueberry pancakes you\'re no longer the only pancake in town.\n\nIn concluding this post, I would like to state for the record:  MoM, I would never make a carrot cake and eat it for breakfast but somehow it seems totally acceptable to make carrot pancakes and top them with a cinnamon cream cheese spread.','Carrot Pancakes','','publish','open','open','','carrot-pancakes','','','2009-10-18 11:31:43','2009-10-18 08:31:43','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1263',0,'post','',5),(1279,1,'2009-10-19 07:16:19','2009-10-19 04:16:19','','The big hole','A very big hole near my house','inherit','open','open','','dsc01154','','','2009-10-19 07:16:19','2009-10-19 04:16:19','',1280,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01154.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1280,1,'2009-10-19 21:38:36','2009-10-19 18:38:36','There\'s a giant hole near my house.  I found out last week that it\'s for the metro.  It\'s a hole that\'s half a block or more long. Apparently they\'ll dig a long shallow hole for the metro and it will go half underground.  There\'s some that has to go underground but they don\'t seem to be working on that part yet.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1279\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A very big hole near my house\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1279\" title=\"The big hole \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01154.jpg\" alt=\"A very big hole near my house\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" />[/caption]\n\nHoles aren\'t something that generally interest me that much.  In fact, they still don\'t.  I just saw it and wondered: what\'s that? Then I started thinking about my brother who\'s an engineer and actually digs holes for a living.  From what I understand, his work is to very precise.  This site in Mladost however looks like a mess.  So one morning last week I had the passing thought... I bet my brother would like this hole.\n\nI don\'t really knows what it takes to make a great hole so I could be totally wrong.  This might not be his kind of thing at all.  It turns out the problem with a hole like this is is that it\'s not so easy to catch with a camera.  So I got a pretty good picture of some of the equipment, the fence and a couple men on site (one who\'s not wearing a helmet) and that\'s about it.\n\nI have no idea what the plan is for this metro stop.  How long it will take to open but I am guessing it won\'t be anytime soon given the current state of the project/dirt hole.  But it seems like this new stop will make the real estate in my neighborhood all the more valuable.','The Big Hole','','publish','open','open','','the-big-hole','','','2009-10-19 21:38:36','2009-10-19 18:38:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1280',0,'post','',0),(1293,1,'2009-10-20 07:06:53','2009-10-20 04:06:53','','Friends','First and foremost are the friends I\'ve made in Bulgaria!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01133','','','2009-10-20 07:06:53','2009-10-20 04:06:53','',1275,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01133.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1275,1,'2009-10-20 07:12:16','2009-10-20 04:12:16','I don\'t lists that are posts very often.  But this said, here\'s my new list.  It\'s a list of the things I can\'t get enough in Sofia, Bulgaria.  Things that I see and love, laugh at or just find wonderful.  There\'s a lot of stuff to love here.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1293\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"First and foremost are the friends I&#39;ve made in Bulgaria!\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1293\" title=\"Friends \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01133.jpg\" alt=\"First and foremost are the friends I\'ve made in Bulgaria!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n<ol>\n	<li>First up, <strong>Crimped Hair</strong>. Followed by my second favorite style: <strong>Teased Hair</strong>. There\'s a lot of crimped hair in Sofia this fall.  I noticed it late this spring/early summer but now it\'s every where.  The thing I don\'t really get is the fact that mostly the crimping happens right at or around the roots of the hair. Rather than actually crimping all of one\'s hair.  I think it\'s to give it volume but some times there\'s an errant crimp or two near the middle or bottom of one\'s hair. All of this said, I like the commitment to volume even if it means that women walk around with hair that kind of looks like a mix between a helmet and I spent the night at my boyfriends and this is as good as it gets the next morning.</li>\n	<li><strong>The Metro</strong>. I love the metro.  For some unknown reason, it more or less runs on time, it\'s clean and easy to use.  These things alone make it a novelty in Bulgaria.  And on top of this it\'s easy to get around the city and it\'s cheap. The thing I hate is that to enter the metro with your ticket you\'ve got to use the ticket machines on your left rather than on your right. Effectively you\'ve got to cross your arm over your body to make the machine work. I am getting better and better at this even though it feels completely, absolutely wrong to me.<!--more--></li>\n	<li><strong>Shopping in a well stocked grocery store</strong>. I probably don\'t really need to elaborate on this one.  But I realized recently that often I decide what to buy based on whether or not I can tell how to make it.  I am getting better and better at reading pictures and Bulgarian.  I have to say that when the labels of different food products have Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Romanian, Russian and Bulgarian--I am glad I know Cyrillic. Yep.  I am not sure I ever thought I\'d say that. Also there\'s the <strong>Billa Card</strong>. I like Billa a lot.  See the first half of number three.  But one of the things I can\'t get enough of is the fact that when I am checking out at Billa the cashiers almost never say hello to me but they always ask if I have a Billa Card.  I say no.  I pay with a 20 leva note and they give me a look--like really you don\'t have anything smaller? Um it\'s not like I can get 5 leva notes from the ATM.</li>\n	<li>Then there\'s the <strong>Cold Water Phenomena</strong>. This is still something I am getting the hang of.  Basically, Bulgarians seem sure that cold water, cold air and/or other cold things like this will make you sick.  I am not sure why or how this works.  In fact, I am kind of skeptical about the whole thing but now just to hedge my bets I too drink room temperature water.  I think most of the time I\'d rather drink cold water but well, when in Bulgaria...</li>\n	<li>Walking home at night and <strong>looking into the lit up windows in blocks all over Mladost</strong>--there\'s something really wonderful about it.  To see that people are home, living their lives--in apartments and flats all over the city.  A patchwork of windows in yellow light, white light and gray-blue light.  In the dark of night it looks pretty incredible.</li>\n	<li>I\'ve said it before and been reminded that prices are different for those of use who get paid expat salaries but I can\'t help repeat the fact that I  love the prices of food, beverages and taxis in Bulgaria. Especially the <strong>Price of Beer</strong>. Two leva or less that\'s hard to beat. For the record, I also feel guilty when I am told the final prices and I always leave a tip.</li>\n	<li><strong>Feeling like I am actually learning Bulgarian</strong>. I am taking lessons on Sunday with a tutor that I met through my blog! Hi, I.  And I am taking lessons twice a week at the American College with a teacher.  Oh yeah and this year I am actually posting little blogs in Bulgarian (which my MoM always makes me translate for her--she\'s then disappointed because she already knows what I\'ve said in Bulgarian).</li>\n	<li><strong>Roasted Pumpkin</strong>. Um, I think that the very best roasted pumpkin is sold by this really cute old Bulgarian man at the corner of Graf Ignativ and the 6th of September right inside the corner of the park.  It\'s amazing.  I can honestly say I\'ve never had anything like it before and as many times as I have had it, I\'ve never been disappointed by it.  That\'s a lot to live up to for a humble veggie like pumpkin.  More or less it\'s like pumpkin pie without the crust.  Delicious.</li>\n	<li>This one is a toss up.  I can\'t enough of two different things: <strong>Bulgarian Red</strong> and <strong>Bulgarian Women in Boots</strong>. The thing is I don\'t mean Bulgarian red wine.  What I actually mean is the hair color: Bulgarian Red. I\'ve written about it before....<a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/things-i-dont-understand/\">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?</a> Then there are the Boots. Now that it\'s fall and winter\'s around the corner, the boots are emerging.  They come in all shapes and sizes but the ones that make my heart pitter-patter have high heals, patent leather, buckles and are either black (boring) or shinny and bright.  Now that\'s pretty incredible. I am pull between a desire to own a pair and to run very far away from this Bulgarian fashion.  So far I find myself in the later camp.  No boots yet.  Maybe because then I\'d have to buy super-duper skinny jeans to wear under my boots to complete the look.</li>\n	<li><strong>Fall in Sofia</strong>. The might be the thing I love the most.  The thing that I can\'t get enough of.  I can\'t believe that I am here for a second fall.  It\'s crisp, cold and wonderful to be here, now.  I wake up in the morning and think: really? I am here?! Yep.</li>\n</ol>\nThere are a few things that I can get enough of (and have had enough of).\n<ol>\n	<li>That\'s the <strong>Surprise Pickle</strong>. It\'s the pickle that shows up hidden under a layer of cheese on pizza, in yogurt/mayonnaise based salads or even in baked and breaded meat dishes.  Don\'t get me wrong, I like pickles.  I just don\'t like it when I\'m caught off guard by them.</li>\n	<li><strong>Uneven Sidewalks</strong>. That\'s it. I hate them. I think all sidewalks are out to get me. Seriously.</li>\n	<li><strong>Teenagers making-out everywhere</strong>.  Yes, I was a teenager once but really?! Buses, park benches, the hallway at school.  They are everywhere I tell you, everywhere. I get it, I work at a high school but it\'s gratuitous.</li>\n	<li>A piece of me thinks that after a year here, I\'d be better at <strong>standing in line</strong>.  Not the case. I hate that I always end up at the end with no one else behind me.  Then I get to watch other people cut in line before me. I can\'t say anything of substance to them besides give mean looks and I am not sure I\'d want to say anything and then be forced to stand in line anyway.</li>\n	<li>I know that I am about to commit a huge sin but I loath eating <strong>Shopska Salad in Winter</strong>.  I know, I know this is like the Bulgarian national salad and in fact it\'s probably in my best interest not to write this but I am. Now that summer is over, the salad tastes flat to me.  The tomatoes and cucumbers are being imported kind of red and kind of green.  They look like tomatoes and cucumbers but that\'s about where the resemblance stops. Last year, I ate the salad out with Bulgarians based on their recommendations (as if I  had one yet); I smiled and choked down underripe (or never to ripen) tomatoes and bitter cucumbers.  I will not do that this year.  I will wait until summer rolls back around and the salad once again tastes like sunshine.</li>\n</ol>','Things I Can&#039;t Get Enough Of','','publish','open','open','','things-i-cant-get-enough-of','','','2009-10-20 07:12:16','2009-10-20 04:12:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1275',0,'post','',8),(1299,1,'2009-10-21 18:18:48','2009-10-21 15:18:48','','Ferris Wheel','Mladost &amp; the Ferris Wheel','inherit','open','open','','dsc01169','','','2009-10-21 18:18:48','2009-10-21 15:18:48','',1298,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01169.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1298,1,'2009-10-21 18:41:27','2009-10-21 15:41:27','There\'s a carnival being set up in Mladost.  But I\'ve never seen anything quite like it before. It\'s in an empty muddy lot--which is now getting muddier and muddier and has about five different rides.  Rides that outwardly look like carnival rides but upon closer inspection don\'t seem so safe.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1299\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mladost &amp; the Ferris Wheel\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1299\" title=\"Ferris Wheel \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01169.jpg\" alt=\"Mladost &amp; the Ferris Wheel\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nI will not for example be riding on the ferris wheel. Ever.\n\nThe whole thing is kind of startling.  Every other day it\'s an unused grass field and the addition of the carnival adds a strange sense of muddy-joy to the neighborhood.  There aren\'t very many kids out playing at or enjoying the rides right now but it is a Wednesday.','Mladost Carnival','','publish','open','open','','mladost-carnival','','','2009-10-21 18:41:27','2009-10-21 15:41:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1298',0,'post','',4),(1302,1,'2009-10-22 21:49:15','2009-10-22 18:49:15','Tonight at Bulgarian Folk dance, I was trying my best to keep up with the dance steps.  It was hard.  So then I started watching the other women at the dance class.  There were about 20 people today and most of them are moms of our high school students.\n\nI was jealous about how good they are at Bulgarian Folk dance.   Maybe that shouldn\'t make me jealous seeing as they are actually Bulgarian.  But then I realized that these moms who have children who are between 14 and 18 years old and they look so good.  They look young still and most of them are very thin.\n\nStanding at the back of the dance room I was really caught off guard by the fact that most of these moms are a good 15-20 years old than most of the international teachers who are dancing with them and from the back, with my American eye, I\'d never know it.  Yep, I\'d never know that these women are 15 or more years old than most of us.\n\nHow did this happen?\n\nWhat is it about these women that they look so good? Or alternately, what is it about us--the American Girls--that makes us, um, not?  <!--more-->Is it diet, lifestyle or some other unknown Balken-thing? And could I get it, learn it or adopt it?\n\nThen I began to think about a self-help book that got a lot of coverage in the states a few years ago \"French Women Don\'t Get Fat.\" I know, I know.  I should really be focusing on the dancing but after the first 45 minutes of my hour dance class I have a really hard time focusing for the last 15 minutes.  And I started thinking about what a book like this would be for Bulgaria. So I kept dancing around, off beat, leading with the wrong feet, hoping that class will be over sooner than later.\n\nAfter class I was still thinking about the question why don\'t Bulgarian women get fat? It really got to me: what is it?\n\nIt\'s strange--this seems to be a culture where women smoke, eat plenty of meat and cheese and I\'ve almost never seen anything \"low fat\" in Bulgaria.  I also rarely see women out exercising in public.  Yet somehow they are thin and look young for their ages.\n\nI know that being thin isn\'t the only marker of healthy but really? How can there be a whole country of thin older women? I don\'t really know women who appear as young or thin as these Bulgarian women in the States.  So there\'s a part of me that wonders: what is it that I am doing differently? (Am I doing something wrong?) What\'s up with these women?\n\nWhat\'s up with these women? What\'s their secret?','Bulgarian Women Don&#039;t Get Fat','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-woman-dont-get-fat','','','2009-10-22 21:49:15','2009-10-22 18:49:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1302',0,'post','',17),(1307,1,'2009-10-23 20:11:36','2009-10-23 17:11:36','','Pink Baby','Plastic + Pink = Perfect','inherit','open','open','','dsc01152','','','2009-10-23 20:11:36','2009-10-23 17:11:36','',1306,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01152.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1306,1,'2009-10-23 20:26:31','2009-10-23 17:26:31','I\'ve never seen anything like this before.  I think it\'s part-bouquet, part-plastic and very, very pink.  I don\'t even really know what to call it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1307\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Plastic + Pink = Perfect\"]<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1307\" title=\"Pink Baby\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01152.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"Plastic + Pink = Perfect\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" />[/caption]\n\nThe pink thing says \"Baby\" and has a naked plastic baby doll attached to it. There are also a number of fake flowers of different varieties attached. If this isn\'t enough there\'s plenty of ribbon and pink glitter things stuck onto the four feet tall topiary.\n\nIt\'s a really amazing baby statue/topiary/bouquet.\n\nThe thing is it scared me.  When I saw it, I was coming home one night this week.  The hallway was dark.  I flipped on the light and there it was sitting on the stairs staring at me.  I will tell you that the plastic baby is even scarier when you see it like a beacon at the end of the hallway.\n\nInterestingly this thing only spent one night on the stairs.  The next morning it was gone. Luckily, I had my camera with me that night when I came home.\n\nThis baby-bouquet seemed to me to announce that there\'s a new baby in the building.  So now I\'ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a new baby.  Nothing yet.','A Baby in the Building','','publish','open','open','','a-baby-in-the-building','','','2009-10-23 20:26:31','2009-10-23 17:26:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1306',0,'post','',3),(1313,1,'2009-10-24 09:25:41','2009-10-24 06:25:41','','Classroom View','Morning View From My Classroom!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01150','','','2009-10-24 09:25:41','2009-10-24 06:25:41','',1312,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01150.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1312,1,'2009-10-24 09:27:50','2009-10-24 06:27:50','In the mornings, well when it\'s not cloudy and rainy, this is my view from my classroom windows at ACS. Most morning it seems very lucky.  Some morning it seems just too early.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1313\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Morning View From My Classroom! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1313\" title=\"Classroom View\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01150.jpg\" alt=\"Morning View From My Classroom! \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Morning at ACS','','publish','open','open','','morning-at-acs','','','2009-10-24 09:27:50','2009-10-24 06:27:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1312',0,'post','',0),(1317,1,'2009-10-25 22:44:09','2009-10-25 19:44:09','Аз живея в апартамент.  Работя в Американския Колеж като Учителка по Англипийски.  Всяка седмица ходя на работа от понеделник до петък.  Всяка сътрин ставам в 5.45 часа.  Аз пия кафето чисто и закусвам кисело мляако с банан.\n\nОбикновено ходя пеша на работа но понякога с автобус.  на работа преподавам, пиша в дневика и говоря с учиниците.  свъшвам работа в 5 или 6 часа.\n\nСлед работа ас ходя пеша вкъщи, говоря с приятели, готвя вечеря и чета много книги.  Във бторник имам часове по йога и след това имам народни танци.  В четвертик имам чесове по народени танци отново.  През уикенда нодим с приятелка в центъра и пазаруваме.  Аз уча българиски език всеки ден и уча с Ивет в неделя.\n\n(My MoM asked me to give a quick summary in English of my posts in Bulgarian.  Here\'s what I am up to this post is all about my day and the things I do each week.  It\'s pretty straightforward.  I get up in the morning, work and come home after that. Oh and there\'s yoga and Bulgarian dance as well as studying Bulgarian on the weekends.)','Моя Ден','','publish','open','open','','%d0%bc%d0%be%d1%8f-%d0%b4%d0%b5%d0%bd','','','2009-10-25 22:44:09','2009-10-25 19:44:09','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1317',0,'post','',13),(1321,1,'2009-10-26 21:21:05','2009-10-26 18:21:05','','Poor Shoe','The last days of my shoes','inherit','open','open','','10-26-09_1719','','','2009-10-26 21:21:05','2009-10-26 18:21:05','',1320,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10-26-09_1719.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1322,1,'2009-10-26 21:24:06','2009-10-26 18:24:06','','Poor shoes 2','Good-bye Shoes','inherit','open','open','','10-26-09_1720','','','2009-10-26 21:24:06','2009-10-26 18:24:06','',1320,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10-26-09_1720.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1320,1,'2009-10-26 21:42:28','2009-10-26 18:42:28','I bought these shoes last spring in Moscow visiting my cousin (Hi, Beth!).  Moscow was lovely.  I had a wonderful time seeing the city and while there on a rainy day I bought a great pair of shoes.  I didn\'t even try them on.  I just bought a size 41.  I know, I know--big feet, I am after all 5\'11 (or what... 180 cm) and they fit like a charm.\n\nThey looked good with jeans, skirts and leggings.  It\'s too bad because they are dead now. Good-bye shoes.  (Parting is such sweet sorrow.)\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1322\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Good-bye Shoes\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1322\" title=\"Poor shoes 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10-26-09_1720.jpg\" alt=\"Good-bye Shoes\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nToday they took on water. And dirt was coming in the crack.  Somehow though it wasn\'t until one of my feet was wet that I realized what poor shape my shoes were in.\n\nBut they are dead now. Very dead.  So I threw them out this afternoon.  I am going to miss them. I know I didn\'t pay more than $5 for these shoes at an outdoor market in Moscow but I\'d really grown attached to them.  I liked the sculls. I liked how easy and comfy they were.  I liked what good traveling companions they were in Eastern Europe this summer. I liked that they made me smile when I was putting them on.  Now they are no more.  Good-bye tennis shoes.  I miss you already.\n\nFinally, I am pretty sure that you\'ll still be in my garbage can at work tomorrow morning when I get to school (since the garbage never seems to go out at night). I want you to know, it will be a test of my will not to extract you and pretend that I can rescue you.  Even though I know I cannot.  You\'ve seen your best days.\n\nMaybe one day I\'ll be able to find another pair of shoes like you.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The last days of my shoes\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1321\" title=\"Poor Shoe \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10-26-09_1719.jpg\" alt=\"The last days of my shoes\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]','Good-bye Shoes','','publish','open','open','','good-bye-shoes','','','2009-10-26 21:42:28','2009-10-26 18:42:28','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1320',0,'post','',5),(1328,1,'2009-10-28 23:50:18','2009-10-28 20:50:18','','Pumpkins at Night','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01172','','','2009-10-28 23:50:18','2009-10-28 20:50:18','',1326,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01172.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1329,1,'2009-10-28 23:55:25','2009-10-28 20:55:25','','The pumpkins','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01177','','','2009-10-28 23:55:25','2009-10-28 20:55:25','',1326,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01177.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1326,1,'2009-10-29 00:07:32','2009-10-28 21:07:32','I just bought 10 kilos of pumpkin.  Two pumpkins, 10 kilos and about eight blocks later I am tired and I have green pumpkins.  Yep.  One is green and the other one is some where between white and green.  They are not orange.<img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1328\" title=\"Pumpkins at Night\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01172.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpkins at Night\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />\n\nI like orange pumpkins.  In my mind, orange pumpkins are a part of fall.  Pumpkins sit on front porches, windows and we carve them.  We eat pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins and sometimes even roasted pumpkin. But they are orange.\n\nOkay, I don\'t want anyone to think that I don\'t like the green Bulgarian pumpkins--I do.  They taste great.  But they are green.  Somehow it doesn\'t seem very fall to me.\n\nWhy, why oh, why Bulgaria do you only have green pumpkins?! Зелелна тиква--really!?\n\nStill I bought two big pumpkins because tomorrow after English I am teaching my students how to carve pumpkins.  Heck I think that to have a well rounded eduction you need to have both academic skills but also real life skills--like pumpkin carving.\n\nSo we\'ll be carving (or trying to) a white-ghost pumpkin and a green-goblin pumpkin... But I\'m still wondering what makes some pumpkins orange and other green or white.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1329\" title=\"The pumpkins \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01177.jpg\" alt=\"The Green Pumpkin and the White Pumpkin\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />','Pumpkins in BG','','publish','open','open','','pumpkins-in-bg','','','2009-10-29 00:07:32','2009-10-28 21:07:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1326',0,'post','',3),(1332,1,'2009-10-30 08:14:43','2009-10-30 05:14:43','','Halloween Magazine','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01182','','','2009-10-30 08:14:43','2009-10-30 05:14:43','',1333,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01182.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1333,1,'2009-10-31 13:02:34','2009-10-31 10:02:34','<img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1332\" title=\"Halloween Magazine \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/dsc01182.jpg\" alt=\"Halloween Project \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />','Halloween Project','','publish','open','open','','halloween-project','','','2009-10-31 13:02:34','2009-10-31 10:02:34','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1333',0,'post','',0),(1344,1,'2009-11-02 16:14:16','2009-11-02 13:14:16','','Medicine','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01192','','','2009-11-02 16:14:16','2009-11-02 13:14:16','',1337,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01192.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1337,1,'2009-11-02 16:17:31','2009-11-02 13:17:31','Recently I was asked by a friend to write a piece about being homesick.  I thought: what do I know about homesickness? I love being away from home and I love returning home with equal measure.  So what then do I know about the Heimweh described by German poets and writers like Goethe? What do I know about that longing for a home, a homeland or a place I cannot have?\n\nThen this weekend I had a crash course in being sick (and homesick).  I got a cold or the flu... I am not sure which and I don\'t think it really matters one way or the other.\n\nOn Friday afternoon it was all I could do to drag myself from my classroom to the bus stop.  On my way out of the building a student I don\'t teach (but have talked to a few times) said to me: are you okay? you don\'t look as happy as you normally do? I told him: nope, I think I\'ve got the bug that everyone has been passing around school.  He told me to feel better soon.  At the bus stop on Friday afternoon the students were all in a good mood.  I made small talk with a few of them.  The last thing I did on Friday before crawling into my bed was to go to the pharmacy.\n\nThe pharmacy.  The place that is supposed to have something to make you feel better.  Well, if you speak the language.  It\'s hard enough to navigate a grocery store when you don\'t know the language let alone a pharmacy where everything is behind the counter and you have to ask for it and on top of this you don\'t feel well.  It\'s pretty overwhelming.  So I bought what I always do when I am feeling bad: ibuprofen, cough drops--strepcils--and some cold medicine thing that you mix with hot water called fervex.<img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1344\" title=\"Medicine \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01192.jpg\" alt=\"Fighting the Flu!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />\n\nI made it home and then promptly slept for all of Friday night, most of Saturday and Sunday.  In my waking moments, I drank copious amount of tea with honey and lemon.  I lamented how horrible it is to live in a country without Campbell\'s Chicken Noodle Soup. <!--more-->I wondered about what kind of a support network I actually have in Bulgaria in the off chance I was really, really sick.  I broke a glass thermometer on my tile floor and wondered how I should clean up the not-mercury insides which had miraculously scattered all over my floor (turns out not to be that easy).  I thought about doing dishes but was then glad that I had enough that I didn\'t have to pry myself off my couch to do so.  I just stacked them up in neat piles.\n\nIt\'s during this sickness that my homesickness struck.  My homesickness came in waves.  Like when I realized the thing I wanted more than anything was to have a  bowl of Campbell\'s Chicken Noodle Soup.  So much so that I dragged myself off the couch and made a trip to Billa to find something noodle-ly and salty.  I found it (and I must have been some sight at the supermarket).   But it\'s not the same as when someone makes it for you and I\'ve got no one to make it for me.\n\nThen on my way to bed one night while making a cup of fervex I found myself longing to be able to actually read the dosage instructions on the medicine I was taking rather than guess at it. I like to know what I am taking--what I am putting in my body but that\'s difficult when you don\'t speak the language.  I\'d also like to know that I am taking it according to the directions.  Oh well. I\'d also like to feel some relief so I took a little medicine and drank plenty of tea.\n\nLater came the realization that I wanted to watch a bad tv marathon of Law and Order or some other crime show. I think that a little piece of me believes that anything can be cured by a tv marathon.  The only thing that came close to a marathon on tv in Bulgaria was Jon and Kate Plus Eight but it\'s impossible to listen to Kate yell at Jon or the kids all day when you\'re sick.  To sick to read, I wished that I was lying on a couch in the States able to watch truly bad tv.\n\nThat\'s the thing. I didn\'t actually want my MoM or my own bed.  I just wanted this sickness to be easier.  Not as hard as it was here.  I wanted things that were familiar to me.  I wanted to feel like I had just a little bit of control over this illness.\n\nI am still not back to perfect but today I think that I am on my way.  My voice is a little horse, my eye are runny and itchy and I\'ve got a pretty serious cough but I am going to make it.  And I am no longer as homesick as I was.  In my case it comes and goes. It ebbs and flows and I am glad for that.\n\nSo what\'s the deal with homesickness then? I think in my case, it sneaks up on me when I least expect it.  It shakes me, it makes me long for something else and it makes me think how would it be different if I were at home? And that\'s the thing, if I were at home, I\'d still be sick.  I\'d still be unhappy.  I\'d still want something that I couldn\'t have.','(Home)Sickness','','publish','open','open','','homesickness','','','2009-11-02 16:17:31','2009-11-02 13:17:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1337',0,'post','',10),(1346,1,'2009-11-03 19:47:50','2009-11-03 16:47:50','Today after work, I upgraded my medicine cabinet.\n\nI bought a new thermometer.  It\'s digital and if I drop this on my tile floor I think it has a better chance of surviving than my old glass and not-mercury version.  The woman was really nice to me. I\'ve seen her three times in the last week and each time I buy more than the time before.  She gave me three different choices of thermometers.  I picked the one with the big screen.  My other choice was one with a small screen--no thanks.  Or one with, well, some other attribute--which I didn\'t understand.  So I picked the nice one with the big screen.   It works pretty well.  And I am happy to announce: no fever!\n\nI got some Coldrex tablets based on a collegues\' advice and a blog reader\'s comments.  I am not sure exactly what the pills are supposed to do but based on the head and the arrows that it points to 1. forehead, 2. nose and 3. throat.  Eureka!  I think that it will cure everything that ails me.  The one thing is that the pharmacist did ask me some question that I didn\'t understand and thus didn\'t know the answer to.  She then said something about caffeine.   At home I confirmed that the medicine does contain caffeine.\n\nI also picked up the blue Strepsils.  Amazing.  They are very minty. So much so, that they sooth my throat, temper my scratchy cough and they cause me to sneeze. That\'s the sign of a good mint.  I feel great and extra minty.\n\nThe one thing I wonder about after my third trip to the pharmacy is this: are the people who work behind the counter at the pharmacy actually pharmacists? What kind of knowledge, training and power do these men and women have?','Pharmacy: Medicine Upgrade','','publish','open','open','','pharmacy-medicine-upgrade','','','2009-11-03 19:47:50','2009-11-03 16:47:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1346',0,'post','',3),(1349,1,'2009-11-04 21:47:59','2009-11-04 18:47:59','We had a meeting today at school about our health insurance.  The good news is that we have an excellent world wide plan.  I of course am hoping that I will only have to use it for routine things rather than for anything major.  The representative who was leading the meeting went into much, much more detail about things like medical evacuation than I ever imagined I\'d need to know.\n\nShe said that for Sofia probably the closest major western hospitals to be evacuated to would be either Vienna, Thessaloniki or Athens. Um. Okay.  I am not about to say that these aren\'t good hospitals but she wouldn\'t stop going on about how good the facilities are, what high quality they are and how fast they could get us there.\n\nIt was also explained to us how we can get coverage in the States and how we can seek and pay for health care abroad. Of course, the key is having itemized receipts or bills. Itemized, itemized, itemized.  Nothing new here.  Oh and they\'ll accept them in any language. And the best part, you don\'t have to provide a translation.  Phew.\n\nThen we heard a few stories about people who\'ve forgotten their insurance cards at home only to need them.  Moral: take your card every where with you. (No really!?)  Followed by a couple of stories about seeking reimbursement for medical expenses.  Lesson: sign your name on your form.  She chased these tales with a pair of medical evacuation stories--one based in Krakow, Poland and the other on the Croatian coast.  The take away? It seems to be something like: no matter what country (or situation) you get yourself into if you need first rate medical care you\'ll get it--even if it means evacuation. <!--more-->\n\nWell the whole thing seemed kind of absurd to me but I listened attentively. I mean, I don\'t want to not pay enough attention and have something happen to me.  Or just not be able to fill out all of the forms for reimbursement.\n\nAfter the meeting, I ran into another colleague who was also there. We talked about how sort of fear-mongering the representative had been.  We laughed about having to be air-lifted somewhere and that\'s when I made the bold claim: i\'d be happy to have a bone set in Sofia or even my appendix removed.  (I mean Madeline survived her appendectomy in Paris and has a children\'s book to show for it? Why not me in Sofia?)  My colleague looked at me with big eyes and said: I don\'t know about an appendectomy.\n\nThat\'s when it struck me.  Was that a crazy claim? So I\'ve been thinking about and reconsidering my claim all evening.  Here\'s what I\'ve come up with. I think appendicitis is a fairly common condition, the surgery is pretty straightforward, doctors in Bulgaria are well trained and the hospital food can\'t be any worse than in the States.  Given these factors, think I would be comfortable have my appendix removed in Sofia.  I also hear that it\'s a very, very painful condition and I have a hunch that if I ever had appendicitis I would want it out of me as fast and as quickly as possible.\n\nI guess the one thing that I can\'t control would be the quality and cleanliness of the hospital. But it\'s not as if there aren\'t standards here in Bulgaria.  I think the scariest thing would be not speaking the language and not knowing what\'s going on around me. However, if you\'ve been reading my blog long enough you\'d know that this isn\'t a new feeling for me--I regularly don\'t know what people are saying to me.  I guess what this all comes down to is that I\'d rather not have an appendectomy in Bulgaria (heck, I don\'t one period) but I\'d rather have it here with my current network of friends and colleagues than while on holiday somewhere I don\'t know anyone.\n\nIn conclusion I would like to say two things. First, I remain thankful for my good(ish) health and the fact that I am luckily enough to have access to high quality medical care.  Second, I want my MoM to know that I am not planning on testing out my insurance any time soon.','Health Care Abroad','','publish','open','open','','health-care-abroad','','','2009-11-04 21:47:59','2009-11-04 18:47:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1349',0,'post','',6),(1355,1,'2009-11-06 18:50:13','2009-11-06 15:50:13','Well it\'s official. We wont be teaching for a week.  We\'re in the middle of a little crisis.  A swine flu crisis.  The whole thing\'s a little strange but that\'s that.  No school. The Bulgarian Health Ministry has declared a national swine flu epidemic.\n\nIt means that my time has opened up a little bit.  I\'ve got some papers to grade, some Bulgarian to study and now I think I\'ve got some travel plans to make as well.  There\'s also a piece of me that\'s pretty glad I was sick last weekend.  Funny, I never thought I\'d say that.\n\nAnyhow, that\'s the big news: no school for one week.','School &amp; H1N1','','publish','open','open','','school-n1h1','','','2009-11-06 18:50:13','2009-11-06 15:50:13','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1355',0,'post','',4),(1359,1,'2009-11-07 17:42:42','2009-11-07 14:42:42','','Scones!','Scones in Sofia.','inherit','open','open','','img_1079','','','2009-11-07 17:42:42','2009-11-07 14:42:42','',1358,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1079.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1360,1,'2009-11-07 17:51:27','2009-11-07 14:51:27','','Scones 2','Yum, Scones','inherit','open','open','','img_1076','','','2009-11-07 17:51:27','2009-11-07 14:51:27','',1358,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1076.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1358,1,'2009-11-07 18:12:36','2009-11-07 15:12:36','I love scones.  Love them. I spent a couple of days looking at recipes online. I have a love hate relationship with finding good recipes that work with the ingredients I have access to in Bulgaria.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1359\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Scones in Sofia. \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1359\" title=\"Scones! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1079.jpg\" alt=\"Scones in Sofia. \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\n<!--more-->Here\'s what I did to make the Apricot Almond Scones:\n<ul>\n	<li>1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour</li>\n	<li>1/4 cup oatmeal</li>\n	<li>1/3 brown sugar</li>\n	<li>1/2 teaspoons baking soda</li>\n	<li> ½ teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger and powdered vanilla</li>\n	<li>125 g/8 tablespoons cold butter,</li>\n	<li>½ cup total of chopped almonds and dried apricots</li>\n	<li>½ cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice</li>\n</ul>\nPreheat oven to 350 F/170 C; rip a pice of aluminum foil for the cookie sheet and don\'t forget to grease this. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and spices/powdered vanilla together in a large bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and incorporate into dry ingredients with a fork.  Stir in almonds and apricots with a spatula or large spoon.\n\nThen stir in milk until fully incorporated (add about 3/4 of it to start, and add the rest a little bit at a time, if you need it, until the dough comes together, but is not too sticky. The amount of milk required varies with the humidity). Turn dough out onto a well-floured cutting board. Shape into a 1 to 1 ½ inch thick circle and cut into eight equal triangles. Place scones on cookie sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until scones are golden brown.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1360\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Yum, Scones \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1360\" title=\"Scones 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1076.jpg\" alt=\"Yum Scones \" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nAll I want to do is eat scones.  In fact, that\'s about all I\'ve done today.  These are easy-peasy to make and you can really mix anything you want into these--dried fruit, nuts, blueberries, pumpkin... you name it. Yum. Scones.','Scones in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','scones-in-sofia','','','2009-11-07 18:12:36','2009-11-07 15:12:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1358',0,'post','',4),(1369,1,'2009-11-09 23:00:44','2009-11-09 20:00:44','','The wall today','Remberance of the wall today','inherit','open','open','','dsc06111','','','2009-11-09 23:00:44','2009-11-09 20:00:44','',1362,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc06111.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1362,1,'2009-11-09 23:07:06','2009-11-09 20:07:06','The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago today.  I was 8 years old. (I am 28 years old now. Go figure.)  I heard about the wall.  I knew that it was important.  I saw it in the newspaper, on tv and I heard people talking about it.  But to me at that moment it was like magic.  It seemed to have just happened over night.  One day there was a wall.  The next it was coming down and people were jumping on it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1369\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"What&#39;s left of the wall today\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1369\" title=\"The wall today\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc06111.jpg\" alt=\"The wall today\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nAt eight years old, I didn\'t get that it was a process.  No one said to me: Carolyn, there have been signs that something like this was going to happen for a long time.  No one told me about the East Germans crossing to the west through Hungary. No one talked to me about glasnost and perestroika. I didn\'t know about Reagan\'s demand: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!\n\nAll I knew was the wall that had divided Germany since the 1960\'s had come down.  My eight-year old self was relieved that these people who spoke the same language, shared the same culture and had once lived in the same country were reunited and free.  But the freedom thing was secondary.  I really liked that they were reunited.  These lucky Germans.<!--more-->\n\nLooking back now, it seems like this event sparked within me a long standing interest in Germany. I wanted to know more.  I read lots of novels and I am pretty sure that I thought for longer than I should have that Anne Frank was German. I didn\'t have the whole World War II thing straight yet.  I studied German in high school when all of my friends made plans to learn a serious language--a useful language and picked Spanish.   Then I studied German for four more years in college and began to piece together the modern history that I lived but didn\'t actually know.\n\nIf you\'d told me then that I\'d be living in Eastern Europe now, I wouldn\'t have believed you. In some ways I still don\'t. I could imagine Germany.  It\'s a place that I know.  A place that I could imagine myself.  Bulgaria on the other hand isn\'t a country I ever dreamed of.  I had no illusions of shopska salads dancing through my head or bowl upon bowl of tarator soup.  I knew nothing about rakia, aryan or boza.  More over, when I made the crazy decision to throw my lot into Eastern Europe I couldn\'t even read the Cyrillic alphabet.\n\nThere was something unknown, mysterious and attractive about Sofia--in hindsight I think that in the beginning this adventure was so attractive exactly because it was unknown.  I knew the basics Bulgaria had been a communist country. A serious communist country.  It bordered Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia.  Both communism and the changes had been difficult on the country and the people.  Aside from the basics, I knew very little.  I was here to figure out the rest, to live first hand in a rapidly changing country and to teach English.\n\nToday I find myself in Bulgaria 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  At eight the furthest I could dream was to Berlin.  At 28, I\'m dreaming in Sofia.  Not of Sofia.  I live here.  In this country.  I write a blog about my experiences.  I try to make sense of the things I see and do as well as my frustrations and joys.  All in all, like it here. Some days I like it more than others but on a whole I like it more than I dislike it.\n\nBut of course that\'s the thing, if at some point I dislike it more than I like it, I have another country I can go to. I have a country to return to--my country.\n\nOften it\'s hard for me to even believe that I am actually living in a post-communist country.  I don\'t know what life in post-communist country is supposed to feel like but I didn\'t imagine it would feel like this. And as a result, sometimes I get the impression that Bulgarians think I am just playing at this--that I am having fun living here, that I am gathering stories and experiences to retell later to yuppie friends, that I study Bulgarian because I can not because I have to and as such my being here is somehow frivolous.  Sure, I can see it but I\'d be a crazy person if these were the reasons I was living here, learning Bulgarian and traveling around the country--it\'s a recipe for disaster, homesickness and heartache.\n\nStill sometimes I think I am living here because I can.  And this in and of itself is a remarkable thing.  Tonight I can\'t escape the thought: it\'s the damn wall.  Twenty years ago and a world away--the wall came down. The politics and economics of Europe seemingly changed and at eight my eyes were open to all of it.  The difference now is that 28 I no longer believe that anything changed over night; I don\'t believe that a single US president is responsible for the fall of the wall; and I believe that the progress we heralded as positive has been a mixed-bag for many.\n\nSo here I am.  Eyes open in Eastern Europe.\n\nInterestingly watching footage today from 1989 the world looks grayer than I remembered.  The graffiti covering the wall is not as bright as I would have sworn it was and the twenty-somethings are wearing jeans and dark jackets.  There\'s something exciting but stilted about the footage.\n\nI think in part that\'s why I am here.  There\'s something exciting about a demonstration like this--even today.  About the wall coming down. About young people protesting and celebrating.  About change.\n\nSo twenty years later, I am writing, living, teaching and trying to make sense of my life in Bulgaria. And I couldn\'t be happier.','Twenty Years','','publish','open','open','','twenty-years','','','2009-11-09 23:07:06','2009-11-09 20:07:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1362',0,'post','',2),(1374,1,'2009-11-10 14:03:26','2009-11-10 11:03:26','Kitsch is cool.  But I wonder: what kind of a sense of humor do you have to have to laugh at communism? What kind of perspective do you need? What kind of space and time is necessary for communism to become kitsch in Bulgaria?\n\nMy friend Robyn (a former Fulbrighter living in Budapest) wrote <a href=\"http://misplacedyinzer.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/20-years-later/\">this yesterday</a> and she got me thinking about Bulgaria.\n<blockquote>As an American in a post-Communist country, I got plenty of cheaper prices and Commie kitsch: you could enjoy Trabi-spotting in my Budapest neighborhood (or sit in one at my favorite bar) or buy candles in the shape of Lenin’s head at<a href=\"http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Lang=en\"> Statue Park</a>. When in Berlin last March, tour guides dressed as East German soldiers sold visas with faux GDR stamps and Sometimes, it all felt a little slimy: are we laughing at what happened? But then, another part of me wondered if the “laugh” wasn’t a good thing: doesn’t the fact that people have turned the oppressor into kitsch become an act of defiance and freedom from the old order?</blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">It got me thinking and asking myself lots of questions.  Where is the kitsch in Bulgaria? Why haven\'t we comodified communism yet? Could it be that communism isn\'t cool or chic enough to be kitsch yet? What does it take for the transition to happen from fact to frustrating to creepy and then to kitsch? Isn\'t 20 years enough?</p>\nOkay, we don\'t have the East German Ampel Mensch, Lenin, Aeroflot, Marx, Red Square, or any major popular (but failed) uprisings but this doesn\'t mean Bulgaria should be left out of the \"post-communist county capitalizing on communist chic/communist kitsch\" market.\n\nBut I don\'t see it. I can\'t think of any place in Sofia that is marketing kitsch. <!--more-->What does it mean that Bulgarians seem incapable of  poking some fun at their communist past while making some money off of it? Is it too real? Is it too present? Is it too painful? Or is it somehow just not funny?\n\nBut that\'s the thing.  Communism is kitsch.  It was known for it\'s cheap mass-produced objects, for appealing to the masses (what ever that means), for being superficial--for hardly scratching the surface.  Aesthetically, it\'s unoriginal and void of self-expression.  At its heart it\'s kitsch. So why do we deny it? Why deny communism it\'s rightful place? Do we somehow feel that we are pandering to the past? What\'s at stake here and now if we comodify Bulgaria\'s communist past?\n\nWell it seems like there\'s plenty to work with.  While we don\'t have a park of statues, the Berlin Wall, Lenin\'s mausoleum on Red Square or a failed uprising, Bulgaria still has a serious communist past. We\'ve got the Communist Party, the Pioneers and their scarves, Georgi Dimitrov, the Central Universal Store, plenty of little red pins with gold stars, Cyrillic street signs, Todor Zhivkov, socialist architecture and statutes, and we even have cookies that are still being produced and sold in boxes not unlike their communist counter-parts.\n\nSo what\'s keeping us from making and selling communist kitsch t-shirts, coffee mugs, postcards, and gift baskets? Or replica Pioneer scarves and Communist Party buttons? Why not plaster the faces of Zhivkov and Dimitrov on posters, buttons, bookmarks, corkscrews and/or any other available surface? Isn\'t there something cathartic in the act of reclaiming, subverting and repurposing these images and artifacts of communist propaganda?\n\nMaybe the problem is that to be able to do this and to be succesful in the act, you have to be able to look back at the past with a critical eye.  But having simply a critical eye is not enough you also have to identify sites for the expression of dark humor--places that ooze sarcasm, irony and witt.  Ultimately, I guess it\'s the double-ness that is required to make the communist kitsch both funny and absurd that makes the task a difficult one.','Communist Kitsch','','publish','open','open','','communist-kitsch','','','2009-11-10 14:03:26','2009-11-10 11:03:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1374',0,'post','',10),(1382,1,'2009-11-11 13:16:17','2009-11-11 10:16:17','My recent posts about the Berlin Wall, Communism, kitsch, history and Bulgaria have given me an opportunity to think seriously (and not so seriously) about Bulgaria. Today it\'s about nostalgia.\n\nIt\'s apparently gotten my readers thinking as well. Yesterday I quoted from my graduate school friend <a href=\"http://misplacedyinzer.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/20-years-later/\">Robyn\'s blog</a> about kitsch and communism in Budapest and Berlin.  Today it\'s my dear friend Bridget who spent hours upon hours with me in German classes in college (for the record, her German is better than mine but I have a hunch my Bulgarian is better than hers).  It\'s as if she read my mind. Yesterday I said to myself: hey, you need to write a post about nostalgia in the post-socialist block.  Apparently we\'re on the same wave length because this morning when I was reading my blog comments I was pleasantly surprised to read her comment and realize that she\'s written the perfect introduction to my newest post.  So, Bridget lived in Germany for two years after college and wrote this thoughtful comment on my post <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/communist-kitsch/\">Communist Kitsch</a>:\n<blockquote>I think, for (East) Germany at least, it’s a mixture of kitsch and actual nostalgia for the era that is past. The younger generation idealizes a time period they never experienced, with the Trabis, Ampelmaennchen, Spreewald pickles, etc. And of course all these things are marketed in various forms, as capitalism has emerged from the wreckage of the GDR. But some people who remember communism had it much better back then (or at least think they did); they remember a time when unemployment was practically zero, all their needs were basically taken care of, and maybe they didn’t have a choice of products in the supermarket but they had enough. So the German concept “Ostalgie” is a combination of imagined and real nostalgia, I think.</blockquote>\nI agree. Actually, I couldn\'t agree more.  Bridget\'s comment catches the push and pull between kitsch and nostalgia.  The current hipness and cool of the Trabis and Ampelmaennchen these things--Eastern chic--seem to represent a glance backwards while also a push forward into the capitalist 21st century.  Not everything from the socialist past is bad.  There\'s a layer of gray being introduced into a dichotomy that at its most basic was once something like the west is good and the east is bad.\n\nThat\'s the problem.  Right? This dichotomy between good and bad, west and east, democracy and socialism--there\'s no room for gray.  <!--more-->There\'s no room for the in between. There\'s no space for nuance.  This dichotomy doesn\'t provide any room for compromise.  The dichotomy suggests that a complete break from the past is necessary and condemns the socialist past.  It\'s here that nostalgia sneaks in.\n<blockquote>Nostalgia is a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.</blockquote>\nThe present doesn\'t provide a space for a past that is complicated, nuanced or multiple.  I think this is where a yearning for a time that has passed comes from. It\'s the intersection of nostalgia and memory.  A longing for a past that no longer exits.  A past that we can no longer access.  This longing and yearning helps us edit our memories and our past.  It\'s a time that we cannot return to and as such it holds some power for us.\n\nBut in this process we edit.  We edit the good and the bad, we edit our emotions, we edit our memories and our past. And we edit our interpretation of these events. We rescue and we banish an all the while we name and rename these things and experiences. It\'s in this interpretation that we attempt to claim power over the past. Does this make nostalgia dangerous? In its sentimentality and melancholy does nostalgia hurt us?\n\nI am not sure.\n\nI hear Bulgarians say things like: It was different then.  Everyone had jobs. But their intonation suggests that they know what the cost of this was. Young people lament the cost of living today in Bulgaria (for good reason).  And Bulgarians of every age speak about pensions of the elderly and their words hang heavily in the air.\n\nI get it. There\'s something seemingly unspeakably unfair about the whole thing.  The promise of the west was that things would be better without socialism, without communism.  The reality of things is that this hasn\'t always been the case. Enter: nostalgia.\n\nIt leads me to wonder: what markers are there of nostalgia and \"Ostalgie\" in Bulgaria?','Nostalgia and Ostalgie','','publish','open','open','','nostalgia-and-ostalgie','','','2009-11-11 13:16:17','2009-11-11 10:16:17','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1382',0,'post','',1),(1392,1,'2009-11-14 00:52:15','2009-11-13 21:52:15','I got my Bulgarian Type D--Long Stay Visa today! Phew. I can cross that off my to do list.  It\'s nice to have the visa.  First, it means that I can say past next Sunday which was going to be the date that my 90 days as a tourist expired and second, it means that after I apply for my lichna karta I don\'t have to worry about my status in country for at least a year. Super.\n\nI made to and from Thessaloniki in two days. Just barely. I thought I\'d missed my bus this afternoon (or gone to the wrong station).  I waited in a parking lot for over 90 minutes for my bus.  In a sort of gray parking lot.  But I got to see lots of people coming and going from the bus station. I also got to tell plenty of people that I don\'t speak Greek.  The whole time I couldn\'t stop thinking about this phrase: it\'s all Greek to me.  Luckily my bus came and I got home tonight just a few hours later than I thought I was going to.\n\nAny how, I am back now! Hello, Sofia!','Got It!','','publish','open','open','','got-it','','','2009-11-14 00:52:15','2009-11-13 21:52:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1392',0,'post','',1),(1396,1,'2009-11-14 19:35:24','2009-11-14 16:35:24','','Lights','The troublesome light fixture','inherit','open','open','','dsc01194','','','2009-11-14 19:35:24','2009-11-14 16:35:24','',1394,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01194.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1397,1,'2009-11-14 19:38:22','2009-11-14 16:38:22','','Light fixture 2','Inside the light fixture','inherit','open','open','','dsc01195','','','2009-11-14 19:38:22','2009-11-14 16:38:22','',1394,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01195.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1398,1,'2009-11-14 19:41:00','2009-11-14 16:41:00','','Light bulbs','New Light Bulbs','inherit','open','open','','dsc01198','','','2009-11-14 19:41:00','2009-11-14 16:41:00','',1394,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01198.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1394,1,'2009-11-14 19:52:16','2009-11-14 16:52:16','I\'m having visions of every blond joke I\'ve ever heard running through my head.  (And being blond my whole life, I\'ve heard a few.) I\'ve just had a hell of a time changing a couple of light bulbs.   So of course the joke that is playing on repeat is the one about a blond and a light bulb.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1396\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The troublesome light fixture\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1396\" title=\"Lights\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01194.jpg\" alt=\"Lights\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nQ: How many blonds does it take to change a light bulb?\n\nA: Five. Two to get a chair, one to get drinks, one to get a radio, and another to call daddy for help.\n\nA: One. She holds the bulb and the world revolves around her.\n\nA: One. All she needs to do is ask the first guy she sees to change it for her.\n\nA: One. But she has to be pro-conservation and willing to exchange her old, energy-guzzling regular bulbs for energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Who said blonds are stupid?\n\nWell for this blond it took: me, the internet and some major minutes standing on a chair. <!--more-->It all started a couple of days ago when one light bulb after another started burning out.  Within 36 hours, there were four light bulbs that I needed to replace.  Sweet.  So when I came home last night I more or less found myself in the dark.  This morning I knew that I had to do something about the lighting.\n\nI climbed up on a chair to get the light bulb out so that I could take it with me to buy a new one. Only I couldn\'t get it out. It wouldn\'t twist out. It wouldn\'t pull out.  Standing on the chair trying to figure out what to do, bad blond jokes started mocking me.  I couldn\'t see how to get the bulb out.  This is a problem when you have nearly half of the light bulbs in your apartment to change.\n\nBut I am a smart girl. I am not going to let a light bulb get the best of me.  I can open jars of olives by myself--no men required. I can hang pictures by myself. I can move furniture. Still somehow, I can\'t get a tiny light bulb out of the socket. Gerr. Major gerr. I was determined to show the light bulb who was boss.  So I stood on the chair staring at the bulb, surveying the situation and trying everything I could think of. No luck.\n\nFinally I decided I needed to google the problem. Yes. I resorted to googling There didn\'t seem to be too many other options. I googled: How to change a light bulb.  This wasn\'t very helpful and it made me feel silly. I know how to change a standard light bulb but I didn\'t know what was keeping my light bulb in.  A few searches later I realized that I might need to push in and twist the light bulb at the same time. Wala! I finally had it out.  But here\'s the embarrassing part. It took me at least 30 minutes to get the first one out.  Luckily the others were much, much faster!!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1398\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"New Light Bulbs\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1398\" title=\"Light bulbs\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01198.jpg\" alt=\"Light bulbs\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nI had no problem buying the light bulbs.  I asked: do you have this? and revealed and old light bulb. Yes. Okay, I want four. Four? Yes. 15 leva later I was all set.\n\nNow there\'s light in my apartment again! But at what cost?! The real problem isn\'t that I had a hard time getting the light bulbs out of the light fixture. The problem now is that I can\'t get the blond jokes out of my head.  Oh well.','One Blond &amp; A Light bulb','','publish','open','open','','one-blond-a-light-bulb','','','2009-11-14 19:52:16','2009-11-14 16:52:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1394',0,'post','',2),(1408,1,'2009-11-15 18:25:12','2009-11-15 15:25:12','','Chips','Tornado Paprika Chips!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01199','','','2009-11-15 18:25:12','2009-11-15 15:25:12','',1407,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01199.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1407,1,'2009-11-15 18:49:24','2009-11-15 15:49:24','After watching a commercial for the ump-teenth time for time Tornado chips, I saw them at the store today and decided to buy them.  I have this problem. I watch a commercial or see something advertised on every billboard around town and if/when I actually see the product in person, I decide I have to try it.  I know that this is what advertising is for but I hate that I have such a hard time resisting it. I am better in the States at resisting.  I am not sure why.\n\nBut a snack named after a weather pattern like a tornado--how\'s a girl to say no to that? Doesn\'t that imply powerful yet scary flavor and crunch? The kind of snack that sneaks up on you, grabs a hold of you and then spins you around and around? I mean this is how Dorthy ended up in Oz...  so I gave it a go.  My review: ho-hum.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1408\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Tornado Paprika Chips! \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1408\" title=\"Chips \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01199.jpg\" alt=\"Chips \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" />[/caption]\n\nSo I bought these chips that are aptly named Tornado because guess what shape they are!? They are like little tornados. I had two choices: paprika or original.  I bought the paprika.  I was looking for some flavor.\n\nThe thing is I am not sure what flavor paprika is supposed to taste like but these didn\'t taste like much.  I imagined that paprika would taste either peppery and spicy or smokey with a hint of sweet.  In fact they just looked red-ish and tasted like an overgrown more airy handful of<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex\"> corn chex cereal</a>. Whatever flavor paprika is I wasn\'t blown over by it (get it?! that\'s a tornado joke.).  But this does bring up an interesting point of difference between American and Bulgarian culture.  Paprika is not a flavor that stands alone in the States. Sure we have paprika but you sprinkle it on deviled eggs or you add a dash or two to soups, stews, beans or maybe chicken.\n\nFlavor aside, the packaging is pretty hip--with the name in a spray painted graffiti style and like a CD there\'s a parental advisory in the lower left hand corner for explicit taste. It kind of makes you feel young to buy them. But these things don\'t really make up for lack luster taste.\n\nOh and after eating a few I was reminded of the American snack: <a href=\"http://content.etilize.com/Large/1012370007.jpg\">Bugles</a>.  Hum. Sneaky.  The shape isn\'t so different. The corn flavor is about the same and they crunch the same.  Only these Bulgarian snacks (if they are in fact Bulgarian) aren\'t made by General Mills.','A Tornado, A Snack','','publish','open','open','','a-tornado-a-snack','','','2009-11-15 18:49:24','2009-11-15 15:49:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1407',0,'post','',1),(1415,1,'2009-11-16 19:29:44','2009-11-16 16:29:44','','KP 1','A house near our rented house','inherit','open','open','','img_0884','','','2009-11-16 19:29:44','2009-11-16 16:29:44','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0884.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1417,1,'2009-11-16 19:43:41','2009-11-16 16:43:41','','KP 2','Cozy little town','inherit','open','open','','img_0880','','','2009-11-16 19:43:41','2009-11-16 16:43:41','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0880.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1418,1,'2009-11-16 19:47:11','2009-11-16 16:47:11','','KP 3','A Bright Blue House','inherit','open','open','','img_0912','','','2009-11-16 19:47:11','2009-11-16 16:47:11','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0912.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1419,1,'2009-11-16 19:51:51','2009-11-16 16:51:51','','KP 4','The Church','inherit','open','open','','img_0932','','','2009-11-16 19:51:51','2009-11-16 16:51:51','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0932.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1420,1,'2009-11-16 19:55:14','2009-11-16 16:55:14','','KP5','Koprivstitsa House in Red','inherit','open','open','','img_0957','','','2009-11-16 19:55:14','2009-11-16 16:55:14','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0957.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1425,1,'2009-11-16 20:29:16','2009-11-16 17:29:16','','KP 6','White House and Apples','inherit','open','open','','img_0984','','','2009-11-16 20:29:16','2009-11-16 17:29:16','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0984.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1426,1,'2009-11-16 20:32:00','2009-11-16 17:32:00','','KP 8','Streets of Koprivstitsa','inherit','open','open','','img_0993','','','2009-11-16 20:32:00','2009-11-16 17:32:00','',1414,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0993.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1414,1,'2009-11-16 20:41:45','2009-11-16 17:41:45','[caption id=\"attachment_1420\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Koprivstitsa House in Red\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1420\" title=\"KP5\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0957.jpg\" alt=\"KP5\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nI went to Koprivstitsa a few weeks ago with friends from school. This is the town where the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876 started and it\'s well known for its classic architecture of the Bulgarian National Revival.\n\nKoprivstitsa is like a <span style=\"text-decoration:line-through;\">right</span> rite of passage.  All Bulgarians tell you that you must go (and you must) and then they want to know what you think of their town.  The only proper answer is that you loved it (and you will).<!--more-->\n\nI think you\'re obligated to go to Koprivstitsa if you come to Bulgaria for more than 10 days.  In fact, I think they ask you at the border when you\'re exiting the country if you\'ve been to visit and if you haven\'t they don\'t let you leave.  That\'s really how great this town is.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1417\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Cozy little town\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1417\" title=\"KP 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0880.jpg\" alt=\"KP 2\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nGoing to Koprivstitsa for a weekend was a wonderful time. The weather was warm enough for a person (me) to enjoy walking about in a jacket in the crisp and cool day.  It was really the perfect weather for wandering around.  This is important because it\'s clear that Koprivstitsa is meant to be wondered around and through at a leisurely pace.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1418\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A Bright Blue House\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1418\" title=\"KP 3\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0912.jpg\" alt=\"KP 3\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1415\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A house near our rented house\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1415\" title=\"KP 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0884.jpg\" alt=\"KP 1\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nThis is also a great town in which to stock up on preserves. I bought my fair share of jam and honey.  The jam here is some of the best (I\'ve said before and I\'ll say it again: the jam from Koprivstitsa tastes like sunshine.  I am not kidding. This stuff is great.)  The honey is good as well.\n\nIf it\'s not clear by now I\'ll be more direct: I love the town. And I think that everyone should visit it. I\'ve been three times now.  Normally, I wouldn\'t be very keen on going more than once or maybe twice to the same town but this place is lovely.  In my mind, it\'s not very often that a place is nice in summer, fall and winter but I think that Koprivstitsa is one of those towns.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1426\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Streets of Koprivstitsa\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1426\" title=\"KP 8\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0993.jpg\" alt=\"KP 8\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nAnd frankly, I think that after you learn how to say the name of this town you have to go a couple of times to as they say: get your money\'s worth.  Hey, it\'s not like Koprivstitsa is a name that just rolls of the tongue.  It really not that easy to say.  Oh and it looks even harder to say in Bulgarian: Копривстица.  Yeah, try to say that three times fast as a new comer to the Bulgarian language.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1425\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"White House and Apples \"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-1425\" title=\"KP 6\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_0984.jpg\" alt=\"KP 6\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" />[/caption]\n\nSo that\'s that. Come to Bulgaria. Visit Koprivstitsa. You wont be disappointed.  I know that this isn\'t a touchy-feely post but it\'s direct and I don\'t think you need much more.','Koprivstitsa Fall 2009','','publish','open','open','','koprivstitsa-fall-2009','','','2009-11-16 20:41:45','2009-11-16 17:41:45','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1414',0,'post','',7),(1435,1,'2009-11-17 22:12:51','2009-11-17 19:12:51','Walking home from school this afternoon, I found myself thinking about pizza.  I was dreaming of my old-roommate Nick\'s <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/2009/01/mashed-potato-pizza/\">mashed potato pizza</a>.  Then I started thinking about all of the different pizza I\'ve eaten in my day. I\'ve eaten a lot of pizza--pizza for dinner, cold the next morning, or late night slices in Adams Morgan.  In the past, I even drove from my neighborhood in Washington DC to Northern VA to buy pizza (for the record, it\'s a drive but not really as far as it may sound).\n\nThe as I passed Pizza Ugo I thought about what a cruel and punishing thing it is to lust for a pizza that is impossibly unattainable.  And so instead of obsessing about past pizza I cannot have I started wondering: where is the best pizza in Sofia? I mean Ugo pizza is good but I am not sure it\'s the best.  One problem I have is that the many of the pizzas have surprise ingredients--things that I think I should like on pizza but which I still haven\'t gotten totally used to.  It\'s the slices of hot dog, corn and pickles that trip me up.\n\nOf course not every pizza has these ingredients and if you don\'t order when your not paying attention usually you can get a decent pizza there.  But I am not interested in just a decent pizza.  I\'m looking for the kind of pizza you\'d drive across town for.  I am looking for the kind of pizza that you daydream about and then find friends to go there after work.\n\nI haven\'t had this kind of pizza in Sofia yet.  I\'ve eaten at Don Domat, Pizza Victoria and I think it would have been nearly impossible to make a year in Sofia without eating at Ugo.  But none of it has been wow.  So it makes me wonder where\'s the best pizza in town?','Pizza in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','pizza-in-sofia','','','2009-11-17 22:12:51','2009-11-17 19:12:51','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1435',0,'post','',14),(1443,1,'2009-11-18 22:56:27','2009-11-18 19:56:27','Today is my 28th and a half birthday.\n\nI am generally not the kind of person who counts halves.  Sure when I was little it was really important for me to be 5 &amp; 1/2 or 6 &amp; 1/2 years old but these days time passes so quickly I don\'t see the point.  I mean it\'s only six months. But at some point this week I realized that my half birthday was coming up.\n\nIt\'s been pretty uneventful.  And frankly, that\'s okay with me. I\'ve had a busy week.\n\nI was struck by the fact that to be 28 &amp; 1/2 means that you\'re 28 years old.  As funny as it may sound, I don\'t think I really got that I was 28 until today. And when I finally got it, I realized that I\'ve only got six months left until I am 29 (how\'d that happen!?).  Then at one point, I wasn\'t even sure that I had done the math correctly.  What if I was only 27 &amp; 1/2? Also, how is it possible that I am not even sure of my age?\n\nWell, I did the math in my head and don\'t worry: I was right the first time.\n\nSo that\'s that for today.','28 &amp; 1/2','','publish','open','open','','28-12','','','2009-11-18 22:56:27','2009-11-18 19:56:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1443',0,'post','',2),(1450,1,'2009-11-19 23:21:53','2009-11-19 20:21:53','','Stuffing','Veggie Stuffing from my last Thanksgiving','inherit','open','open','','dsc04593','','','2009-11-19 23:21:53','2009-11-19 20:21:53','',1446,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc04593.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1446,1,'2009-11-19 23:24:59','2009-11-19 20:24:59','We\'re celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend at school. I know, I know... it\'s a few days early but what\'s a girl to do? It\'s a serious tradition at ACS--the international teachers make Thanksgiving dinner for the Bulgarian teachers at school. So the cooking starts tomorrow after school and we eat (and drink) on Saturday afternoon.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a group thing which is good because we\'re cooking for probably 140 people.  I am signed up to make stuffing.  I volunteered to do this because I\'ve got an amazing recipe that I am going to make. But when I signed up, I wasn\'t really thinking about the fact that I\'d be making stuffing for over 100 people.\r\n\r\nHonestly, I\'ve never ever cooked for this many people.  I love Thanksgiving but what was I thinking?! Stuffing for 140 people? Luckily there will be moral support from the other international teachers and I am pretty glad that I am not making pumpkin pies for 140 people.  That seems like a ton of work.  Especially because we don\'t have cans of pumpkin puree here in Bulgaria. You\'ve got to make the puree and then make the pies.\r\n\r\nSo tomorrow after school, I\'ll be found in our school\'s basement kitchen cutting bread, roasting it until it toasty and putting together my awesome, awesome stuffing recipe.  I am trying me best to get pumped up about this. I mean the stuffing is really tasty and I am excited about this. <!--more--> But right now, I am not so excited about making pan upon pan of stuffing tomorrow.  Not pumped up about it.\r\n\r\nI am really trying.  I think that Thanksgiving is a special holiday.  And I want to share the sprit of it with my Bulgarian coworkers. It\'s just a little bit overwhelming to think about how many people I am going to be cooking for.\r\n\r\nOn a positive note: once I\'ve cooked stuffing for this many people, it will seem easy-peasy any other time I do it.  Actually, I have a hunch after Saturday I\'d be happy to make a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself for friends and family and it won\'t feel like any work at all.  Okay, that might be an exaggeration.  But really, how can it not be easy once I\'ve made this much stuffing?\r\n\r\nSo keep your fingers crossed that everything comes together smoothly.  I mean I did have to increase by eight and I tried to \"translate\" it from cups to some European measurements. On top of this, I also have to hope that the fresh spices I asked for are in the market and available.\r\n\r\nHere\'s my recipe. It\'s easy as 1, 2, 3 (but maybe also 4, 5, 6, 7....).\r\n\r\n<strong>Vegetarian Stuffing for 15 people:\r\n</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>1/2 loaf cubed whole wheat bread</li>\r\n	<li>1 loaf cubed white bread</li>\r\n	<li>2 large chopped onions</li>\r\n	<li>2 cloves of garlic</li>\r\n	<li>1.5 cups chopped celery</li>\r\n	<li>5 Teaspoons fresh sage</li>\r\n	<li>1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary</li>\r\n	<li>1 Teaspoon Fresh thyme</li>\r\n	<li>2 Golden Delicious Apples cored, peeled, chopped</li>\r\n	<li>1.5 cups dried fruit (golden raisins, apricots, cherries)</li>\r\n	<li>2/3 cups minced fresh parsley</li>\r\n	<li>3 cups vegetable stock (Note: this varies based on your bread. You might need more.)</li>\r\n	<li>1/2 cup melted butter</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nHow to: cut everything in to pieces. Toast the bread cubes. You can make these by cutting them or I\'d recommending ripping the bread into pieces. It\'s looks more rustic this way. This will take 20 minutes or so. Toss the pieces from time to time so that they toast evenly. Cook with a little butter the garlic and onion until soft. Chop up all of the herbs into little pieces. Then in a very large pan mix everything but the vegetable stock and melted butter together. Then pour the liquid ingredients over the together everything in the pan. It should be moist--not too wet and not too dry. This is important. If you need more moisture--add more stock.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and stick the whole thing in the oven. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered and then 30 minutes or until hot through for 30 more minutes. The top should get toasty and golden.\r\n\r\nUm did I mention, this recipe is delicious?!\r\n\r\nDon\'t worry,  there will be an update on the actual cooking and the event.','One Week and Counting: Thanksgiving','','publish','open','open','','one-week-thanksgiving','','','2010-11-21 22:15:38','2010-11-21 20:15:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1446',0,'post','',7),(1459,1,'2009-11-22 13:57:59','2009-11-22 10:57:59','','Apple Pie','As American as Apple Pie','inherit','open','open','','img_1134','','','2009-11-22 13:57:59','2009-11-22 10:57:59','',1455,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1134.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1460,1,'2009-11-22 14:01:41','2009-11-22 11:01:41','','Turkey','A few of our many Turkies','inherit','open','open','','img_1130','','','2009-11-22 14:01:41','2009-11-22 11:01:41','',1455,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1130.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1461,1,'2009-11-22 14:07:19','2009-11-22 11:07:19','','Rolls','Rolls Rising','inherit','open','open','','img_1128','','','2009-11-22 14:07:19','2009-11-22 11:07:19','',1455,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1128.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1463,1,'2009-11-22 14:11:49','2009-11-22 11:11:49','','Pumpkin Pie','One of our many, many pumpkin pies','inherit','open','open','','img_1142','','','2009-11-22 14:11:49','2009-11-22 11:11:49','',1455,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1142.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1455,1,'2009-11-22 14:17:15','2009-11-22 11:17:15','[caption id=\"attachment_1459\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"As American as Apple Pie\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1134.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1459\" title=\"Apple Pie \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1134.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe had a super Thanksgiving dinner at the American College yesterday: 20 plus turkeys, 17 or 18 pumpkin and apple pies, 100s of dinner rolls, nine trays of stuffing, trays of carrot casserole, sweet potato souffle, roasted rosemary potatoes, two different green bean casseroles, gravy and a giant, giant pot of rich-buttery mashed potatoes.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1460\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A few of our many Turkeys\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1130.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1460\" title=\"Turkey \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEven as I write this list it sounds pretty crazy, a little overwhelming and seems to verge on the disgusting. Sure we had about 150 people to serve but any way you look at this is a lot of food.  I don\'t even want to think about how much butter went into these dishes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1463\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"One of our many, many pumpkin pies\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1142.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1463\" title=\"Pumpkin Pie \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1142.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI also don\'t really want to think about how much time went into this event either.  I started cooking stuffing on Friday at about 4:30pm and cooked until 11:30 that night.  Then I got up the next morning and was back at the college by 11am.  I\'d finished my stuffing the night before so on Saturday I helped make pumpkin pie and apple pie.  I made two very, very large trays of whipped cream, I sliced apples, I washed dishes and then spent an hour reheating my stuffing.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1461\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Rolls Rising\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1128.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1461\" title=\"Rolls \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1128.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt 4pm the Bulgarians started showing up and by 5:30pm everyone had food.  Lots of it. It was such a nice experience.  Everyone was wishing each other a Happy Thanksgiving (even though at one point after serving probably 75 people I accidently wished someone a Happy New Year...).  To share such an American tradition like Thanksgiving with my Bulgarian colleagues was really heart warming.  It\'s a good thing because after you\'ve put that many hours into cooking it\'s important to feel appreciated.  (Also I think I owe my MoM a big thank-you for all of the years that she\'s made a large part of the Thanksgiving dinner by herself.)','Thanksgiving at the American College','','publish','open','open','','thanksgiving-at-the-american-college','','','2009-11-22 14:17:15','2009-11-22 11:17:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1455',0,'post','',1),(1472,1,'2009-11-24 21:37:51','2009-11-24 18:37:51','','Sofi Bakery','Sofi Bakery Crossoint','inherit','open','open','','dsc01218','','','2009-11-24 21:37:51','2009-11-24 18:37:51','',1471,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01218.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1471,1,'2009-11-24 22:07:36','2009-11-24 19:07:36','I found a great new bakery.  Really, I just stumbled up on it.  Well, stumbled might not be the right word because it\'s at the corner of Rakovski and Neofit Rilski. Anyhow, the name is Sofi: French Bakery and it\'s brand new.  Yep, they\'ve been open for no more than a week.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1472\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Sofi Bakery Croissant \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01218.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1472\" title=\"Sofi Bakery \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAfter dinner with friends, we stopped in and I bought a pastry.  Well two but I didn\'t really want to share this with you until I realized that I had to for the rest of my post to make sense. <!--more-->Oh, so here\'s the thing: I ate one right away.  It was very tasty.  For sure I\'d recommend the current roll which is the one pastry I\'ve eaten thus far from the shop.  When I took my coat off at home, I was covered with pastry flakes--yep they are that good.  I ate it and flakes all over myself.  I don\'t regret it at all.\n\nThe flaky pastries alone are well worth the trip to this shop.  However it looks like they have a great selection of what look like great loaves of bread and a good selection of French pastries.\n\nMore than any of this the shop has a lovely store front with big glass windows, well lit display cases and a friendly staff.  As you may know, a friendly staff anywhere in Sofia makes my a loyal customer. The staff tonight were great. They were closing up and wanted to go home but let us look at everything. They heard us speaking in English and started talking to us in English. Wowsa, who does this?! Hardly anyone in retail does this in Sofia.  I am not saying that they should or that they have to--far from it. I actually like getting to use my Bulgarian but in this case they were friendly and interested enough to engage us right away.  Also, if you\'re buying breakfast pastries at 8pm at night they\'re half off--I guess that requires that there are pastries left to sell at the end of the night.\n\nThe thing is based on how delicious my first pastry was and how good my croissant looks, I would be surprized if in a couple of weeks the shop has any pastries left at the end of the day. This plus their excellent customer service and relatively reasonable prices (from less than 2 leva to 3 leva for fancier pastries) suggests to me that this shop is off to a good start.  Fingers-crossed at least.','Sofi: French Bakery','','publish','open','open','','sofi-french-bakery','','','2009-11-24 22:07:36','2009-11-24 19:07:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1471',0,'post','',8),(1478,1,'2009-11-26 10:52:40','2009-11-26 07:52:40','My students and I had a big debate about babysitting recently.  The they didn\'t get it.  They were rather shocked by the idea that teenagers would look after little children in States. They kept saying things like: why would you trust a teenager with your child? why would a mom do that? teenagers aren\'t responsible enough for this. Then they started telling that in Bulgaria grandmothers watch small children.  They are more reliable and trust worthy.  I tried to explain the American mentality behind teenagers babysitting.\n\nI am a long time babysitter.  In the States it\'s a pretty common thing but by the time I was in high school I had regular families that I babysat for.  I knew who liked what, which songs to sing, how to trick children into bed, which book would put them to sleep and just how to get someone back to sleep if he or she woke up.  In one case after school from 3-6pm four days a week I went to same family\'s house and did my homework until the toddler woke up from his nap (his mom working at her graphic design and adverting job a few rooms away in the office); I\'d get him up, hold him, give him a snack in his high-chair and then we\'d play until mom came out.\n\nIt\'s a pretty routine kind of job.  You show up and smile.  You listen to directions--feed them this, put them to bed by x time, they can\'t go in here, watch out if you play this game it has little pieces and call this number if you have a problem we\'ll be there.  <!--more-->And in a world before cell phones I said okay but also told who ever I was babysitting for: don\'t worry my MoM and dAd are home too so if there was a problem I could call them.  Then the parents leave and all hell breaks loose--kids everywhere, begging to do, each and watch things on tv that their parents never let them do and you do your best to manage the chaos. It\'s for this reason that babysitting isn\'t for everyone but I like kids and for the most part they like me.  I also liked getting paid to watch little kids.  At between $3 and maybe $5 an hour it didn\'t add up fast but three or four hours later I\'d have between $9 and$20 and that\'s pretty good when your expenses are more or less limited to movies, cds, make-up, sweeter-than-sweet-coffee at the local hang out and the clothes your parents wont buy you.\n\nSo teenagers babysit in the States because they are young and energetic.  We play games, chase children and have fun doing.  Parents talk to parents and girls in the neighborhood are recommended to babysit. It starts out small and then may build to something bigger.  Teenagers are also cheep labor.  We don\'t demand very much money because we don\'t really know that we can and for most of us some money is better than nothing.  It\'s not as if our expenses are very high--so we take what we get and are generally happy with this.\n\nThe other piece I think is that in America\'s history families were bigger and lots of teenagers were looking after their siblings.  Then when families expanded Westward generational family ties changed and the role of older people in society changed as well.  Their value changed.  Youth, energy and vitality were valued over experience, age and wisdom.  Then with the rise of cities the family unit changed again.  A dependence on neighbors increased and I understand that babysitting as we knew developed seriously during the Great Depression as more women began to enter the workforce.\n\nBut none of this convinced my students.  They couldn\'t get over the idea that somehow teenage girls are responsible enough to watch after someone else\'s children.  I mentioned to the group of four students I was talking to that if I had children, I would trust them to babysit children.  Their eyes got big.  I tried to further my case. I told them that they were well spoken, that they turned in their work on time, that they got to school and class on time and that based on their appearances they seemed to do a good job looking after themselves. And that for these reasons I would be happy to trust my children to their care for a couple of hours.  Didn\'t fly.  They remained completely unconvinced.\n\nIn fact, they stood firm in their belief that grandmothers were the best people to care for babies and children.  It\'s not often that I come to an impase with my students but when it came to babysitting there was no reaching them.  I didn\'t expect them to pick up babysitting right then and there--it\'s simply not part of the culture in Bulgaria but usually these studnets are able to arrive a place of understanding.  In this case, it was no go.  And, they even got me thinking--why did anyone trust me to babysit their children when I was 15, 16 and 17 years old?','Babysitting in Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','babysitting-in-bulgaria','','','2009-11-26 10:52:40','2009-11-26 07:52:40','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1478',0,'post','',14),(1485,1,'2009-11-26 20:16:50','2009-11-26 17:16:50','','Homemake Pumpkin Gnocchi','Homemake Pumpkin Gnocchi','inherit','open','open','','img_1210','','','2009-11-26 20:16:50','2009-11-26 17:16:50','',1484,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1210.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1486,1,'2009-11-26 20:31:27','2009-11-26 17:31:27','','Bowl of Gnocchi','Bowl of Gnocchi','inherit','open','open','','img_1213','','','2009-11-26 20:31:27','2009-11-26 17:31:27','',1484,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1213.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1484,1,'2009-11-26 23:00:07','2009-11-26 20:00:07','Thanksgiving Day dinner in Sofia:  Pumpkin Gnocchi served up with a big spoonful of lyutinitsa and shredded kashkaval cheese.  I make the gnocchi all by myself which is probably why they look um, like a five-year old\'s craft project.  Anyhow, they taste great and look so-so.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1485\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Homemade Pumpkin Gnocchi\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1210.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1485\" title=\"Homemake Pumpkin Gnocchi\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe one thing was that I spent so much time making each one of these little gnocchi I forgot about what I was going to put on them.  One recipe I looked up suggested a browned butter and sage sauce.  But that was too much for me.  So I looked in my fridge and there was the jar of roasted tomato and red pepper sauce (the lyutinitsa) and kashkaval cheese.\n\nI guess that means that I had a Thanksgiving inspired Bulgarian influenced dinner.  And before anyone starts felling bad for me because I am in Bulgaria and I am not with my family, I should remind you that I had a big Thanksgiving dinner last weekend at school.  <!--more-->Oh, and something you don\'t know is that I am having some Bulgarian friends over for Thanksgiving tomorrow night as well--so there will be plenty of Thanksgiving in my life.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1486\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Bowl of Gnocchi\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1213.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1486\" title=\"Bowl of Gnocchi\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1213.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s not like the only way to celebrate Thanksgiving is with a Turkey.  Heck the <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/us/politics/25dinner.html?em\">Obama Thanksgiving </a>meal earlier this week was vegetarian.  (Um and just to add my own commentary: that\'s so great.  Way to go Obamas.  Not serving turkey on Thanksgiving is a pretty bold move!) So I am happy to each pumpkin gnocchi and I\'m just as American as someone eating a turkey, stuffing and all of the fixing right now.\n\nThere may however be a reason that gnocchi never ever broke into the American food scene like lasagna or tacos did--they are difficult to make. The recipe seems pretty straight forward and the ingredients are basis.  But the actual dough seems to me to be far from straight forward.  It\'s unlike any kind of dough that I am used to working with.  It was very sticky but all of the recipes I read said that you don\'t want to add too much flour or your gnocchi will be tough.  So I worked as best I could with the glue-y sticky dough.  I have to say even though the gnocchi dough was sticky and I probably made the gnocchi bigger than I should have as a result the gnocchi still turned out great.\n\nOkay, okay I think I\'ve said enough about my  slightly irreverent Thanksgiving Day gnocchi. Here\'s what I really want to say: no matter what you had to eat tonight, I would like to wish you a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.','Bulgarian Thanksgiving','','publish','open','open','','bulgarian-thanksgiving','','','2009-11-26 23:00:07','2009-11-26 20:00:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1484',0,'post','',0),(1492,1,'2009-11-27 12:10:32','2009-11-27 09:10:32','<ol>\n	<li>I am me.</li>\n	<li>My MoM and dAd.</li>\n	<li>This adventure.</li>\n	<li>My brother N. who I often don\'t understand but who I love all the more for it.</li>\n	<li>My little sister C. who while she\'s five years younger than I am no longer seems like my baby sister.</li>\n	<li>Work that is meaningful.</li>\n	<li>Coffee.</li>\n	<li>Extended family.</li>\n	<li><em>The Golden Notebook</em> by Doris Lessing.</li>\n	<li>Laughter. <!--more--></li>\n	<li>That I decided to learn German in high school and continued to study in college.</li>\n	<li>Trains and planes and automobiles.</li>\n	<li>My English teachers. Both in high school and in college.</li>\n	<li>My partner in crime and fellow Fulbrighter R. R.</li>\n	<li>Walla Walla, Washington. It\'s the town so nice they named it twice.</li>\n	<li>Oatmeal.</li>\n	<li>My various roommates at 1324.</li>\n	<li>The Fulbright.</li>\n	<li>The New York Times (and the column Modern Love).</li>\n	<li>Skype.</li>\n	<li>Being able to dance and loving it. Even though I think I am questionably good at it.</li>\n	<li>Living in Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li>Wittenberg University.</li>\n	<li>Martin Luther, the 95 Thesis and the Reformation.</li>\n	<li>Building birdhouses.</li>\n	<li>Simone de Beauvior.</li>\n	<li>Love in all of its iterations.</li>\n	<li>Learning how to drive a combine.</li>\n	<li>Being about to joke around.</li>\n	<li>Red lipstick.</li>\n	<li>Homemade. Anything.</li>\n	<li>Having the lucky of time, money and heart to be able to travel.</li>\n	<li>Mixed tapes/cds/playlists.</li>\n	<li>Hot showers.</li>\n	<li>Wearing sunglasses on a bright winter day.</li>\n	<li>My birthday buddy B.</li>\n	<li>French fries with serine cheese.</li>\n	<li>The Obamas.</li>\n	<li>My first best friend in third grade Maria and all of the other best friends I\'ve had in my life whose first names also somehow started with the letter M (Maya, Meghan and Megan, Meredith, Marissa, Melissa, Maryam)</li>\n	<li>My heart and the fact that it has the capacity to grow and expand in ways I never imagined.</li>\n	<li>Everyone who has taught me Bulgarian.</li>\n	<li>Anyone who has put up with me using really atrocious Bulgarian.</li>\n	<li>Yoga.</li>\n	<li><em>A Portrait </em><em>of the Artist</em>, James Joyce.</li>\n	<li>The color blue in all shades and tones.</li>\n	<li>Georgetown University.</li>\n	<li>Dancing in my old kitchen with my friend and roommate M. late on a Friday night.</li>\n	<li>Espresso and the Americano.</li>\n	<li> Pumpkin: roasted on the street, baked into a pie, bread, muffins, pancakes or even oatmeal.  It\'s both the color and the flavor.</li>\n	<li>A new notebook and an inky pen.</li>\n	<li>Dresses in the summer and dresses in the winter with jeans, tights or leggings.</li>\n	<li>Winnie the Pooh and his misadventures.</li>\n	<li>The fact that <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/books/26colvin.html?em\">crucial change is often ignited by very plain, unremarkable people who then disappear</a> (NYT on Ms. Claudette Colvin).</li>\n	<li>My strength and health.</li>\n	<li>My aunt who taught me how to sew.</li>\n	<li>And all of my aunts who\'ve fostered my creativity and imagination.</li>\n	<li>Banitsa.</li>\n	<li>Large cups of coffee.</li>\n	<li>The experience of volunteering for a year in Washington DC.</li>\n	<li>A Room of One\'s Own and Virgina Woolf.</li>\n	<li><em>Madeline</em> one of my first inspirations.</li>\n	<li>Law &amp; Order: SVU. It\'s the best mindless tv ever.</li>\n	<li>The idea of an odyssey.</li>\n	<li>Two of my very best Bulgarian friends J and G.</li>\n	<li>History.</li>\n	<li>Sweatshirts with hoods.</li>\n	<li>The sounds of rain falling on a roof in the middle of the night.</li>\n	<li>My breath.</li>\n	<li>Book stores.  Used, new. It doesn\'t matter.</li>\n	<li>Sunshine.</li>\n	<li>Mittens.</li>\n	<li>Typewriters and rotary telephones. Cellphones and computers.</li>\n	<li>My students.</li>\n	<li>Well lit cities at night and how beautiful they are in a yellow glow.</li>\n	<li>Flowers.</li>\n	<li>The book: They Say/I Say: Moves that matter in academic writing.</li>\n	<li>Washington State and evergreen trees.</li>\n	<li>Art galleries.</li>\n	<li>Hard work.</li>\n	<li>Being able to play--even though I am no longer a child.</li>\n	<li>Forgiveness.</li>\n	<li>The first sentences of a new book.</li>\n	<li>Wool socks on cold evenings.</li>\n	<li>Iambic pentameter.</li>\n	<li>Water: bottles, oceans, sprinklers, rivers, rain drops and muddy puddles.</li>\n	<li>Fireworks on the 4th of July.</li>\n	<li>Potlucks with friends.</li>\n	<li>Being able to dream without limit.</li>\n	<li>Writing.</li>\n	<li>The fact that I can\'t do everything but that I can do a few things well.</li>\n	<li>Music. Songs. Radios. Concerts. Itunes.</li>\n	<li>The first snow.</li>\n	<li>And the first sign of spring.</li>\n	<li>Google: gmail, maps, reader, calendar, igoogle.</li>\n	<li>The rush of the new.</li>\n	<li>Blue birds.</li>\n	<li>Memories and a healthy nostalgia for the past.</li>\n	<li>Learning something new about myself each day.</li>\n	<li>Flexibility.</li>\n	<li> My existence.</li>\n</ol>','100 Things I am Thankful For','','publish','open','open','','100-things-i-am-thankful-for-2','','','2009-11-27 12:10:32','2009-11-27 09:10:32','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1492',0,'post','',5),(1503,1,'2009-11-28 18:28:11','2009-11-28 15:28:11','','Me at Thanksgiving','Me and My 2009 Thanksgiving','inherit','open','open','','img_1230','','','2009-11-28 18:28:11','2009-11-28 15:28:11','',1502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1230.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1506,1,'2009-11-28 19:10:32','2009-11-28 16:10:32','','T Day Dinner','Stuffing, green beans, carrots and gasp, chicken','inherit','open','open','','t-day-dinner','','','2009-11-28 19:10:32','2009-11-28 16:10:32','',1502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/t-day-dinner.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1507,1,'2009-11-28 19:13:38','2009-11-28 16:13:38','','Me and my friend E.','Me and my friend E.','inherit','open','open','','img_1227','','','2009-11-28 19:13:38','2009-11-28 16:13:38','',1502,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1227.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1502,1,'2009-11-28 19:21:15','2009-11-28 16:21:15','[caption id=\"attachment_1503\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and My 2009 Thanksgiving\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1230.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1503\" title=\"Me at Thanksgiving\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1230.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt appears that all I\'ve done for the last 10 days is to write about Thanksgiving.  I promise this is the last Thanksgiving post for the year.  Well, I think so any way.  The food was great and my friends were wonderful.  I couldn\'t think of a better way to celebrate the day.  For full disclosure I did disappoint a few friends when I decided to buy pre-cooked chickens from the deli at Billa rather than cook a turkey myself.\n\nFor me at least, the turkey (or in this case the chicken) is really one of the least interesting parts of the meal.  I\'d rather focus on the stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrot casserole, green beans and pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. But in hindsight, maybe I let down my non-American guests by not serving turkey.  I did look to see if there were any turkeys being sold at Billa--there weren\'t or who knows maybe I\'d have bought one.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1506\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Stuffing, green beans, carrots and gasp, chicken\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/t-day-dinner.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1506\" title=\"T Day Dinner\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/t-day-dinner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"542\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n\nAnyhow, when I told one of my friends this, she laughed.  Then she told me that to get a good turkey I\'d have to go out into the villages and buy one there.  She wryly added to this that I\'d probably have to catch my turkey first and then they\'d kill it for me.  I have a hunch chasing turkeys isn\'t really my thing but as soon as she said it, I couldn\'t get the idea out of my head.  It seems like that would make for a really exciting story.  The good news is that I think I convinced my friend that next year we\'d both go to village to get a turkey--that way I am trying to catch it by myself.  Oh the plans one makes drinking homemade Bulgarian wine!\n\nWell, we had a great time. I had to explain stuffing.  It\'s toasted bread that is mixed with onion, raisins, sweet red pepper and in this case apples and then stuffed in the turkey which because I don\'t have one can\'t be stuffed in a turkey so it\'s in a pan.  There seemed to be some trepidation but by the end of the night there wasn\'t more than a cup of stuffing left (and I ate that and mashed potatoes for breakfast). We talked a little bit about the tradition of Thanksgiving and my students who always ask me this question: where are you from? Me: Um, America. They respond: no, where are you from? Me: Walla Walla, Washington. It\'s the town so nice they named it twice.  Them: okay, but where was your family from? Me: well, Germany.  More or less. I usually leave it at this.\n\nBut there\'s a piece of me that feels like I need to explain that I am the fifth generation of my family to live <em>in</em> Walla Walla--not just in the States. My family has probably lived in the States for more than eight generations. I feel American. I don\'t feel German-American--in my case, I don\'t even know what it would mean for me to say that I am German-American.  My parents don\'t speak German nor did my grandparents.  I grew up eating tacos, pizza, lasagna, baked chicken, mac and cheese (sometimes my mom would even cut up hot dogs and stir these in as well), beef stroganoff, hamburgers, tuna casserole, meatloaf and once in a while my mom would make a roast.  I am an American. I am from America.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1507\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and my friend E. \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1227.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1507\" title=\"Me and my friend E. \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n\nSo we discussed identity and nationality for a little bit as well.  It was a lively conversation with a number of Bulgarians, a couple of Spanish guys, a Japanese girl and me. One of my friends mentioned that where you\'re from matters more in Europe.  I am not sure if I buy that 100% but he made a good case for this argument.  And this morning I found myself still thinking about this conversation.  I was struck by the thought that when I was living in Washington DC and you\'d meet someone new one of the two first questions someone would ask you is where did you go to school? and what do you do?  The question: where are you from? was generally third.  Somehow not as important as your education and your job.  Maybe he\'s right--maybe where you\'re from is a more important question in Europe.  Maybe it\'s more significant.\n\nAnd here ends my extended Thanksgiving Day(s) blogging. Now I am going to eat a piece of pumpkin pie.','The End of Thanksgiving','','publish','open','open','','the-end-of-thanksgiving','','','2009-11-28 19:21:15','2009-11-28 16:21:15','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1502',0,'post','',1),(1513,1,'2009-11-29 19:45:18','2009-11-29 16:45:18','','Poinsettia','My New Poinsettia','inherit','open','open','','img_1269','','','2009-11-29 19:45:18','2009-11-29 16:45:18','',1511,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1269.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1514,1,'2009-11-29 19:49:53','2009-11-29 16:49:53','','Poinsetta 1','My Poinsettia','inherit','open','open','','img_1267','','','2009-11-29 19:49:53','2009-11-29 16:49:53','',1511,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1267.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1511,1,'2009-11-29 19:56:23','2009-11-29 16:56:23','[caption id=\"attachment_1513\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My New Poinsettia\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1269.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1513\" title=\"Poinsettia\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1269.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOn my way home from my Bulgarian lesson, I decided to buy a poinsettia.  I bought it. Making sure to pick out the most beautiful one. I love poinsettias. There\'s something uber-Christmasy about the plant--more so than Christmas cookies, Christmas carols or even Christmas parties. I think it\'s the mix of vibrant red and verdent green that really does it for me.\n\nServes me right that I spent a bunch of time picking out the perfect plant.  Because, I got it home and took the plastic off of it and one of the three branches came off as well. Gross.\n\nThis made me really mad.\n\nI swore a little bit in my head.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1514\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Poinsettia and Mandarin Oranges \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1267.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1514\" title=\"Poinsetta 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1267.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThen I thought about throwing the whole plant away.  Then I considered just throwing the branch a way but decided against it.  Rather than throwing the branch away, I cut it and put it in water. We\'ll see how long it lasts in the water.  I am guessing two days. As for the potted plant, I turned it so that the broken branch doesn\'t show.  It just looks a little scraggly now.  It\'s kind of like Charlie Brown and his search for a Christmas tree.  Now I have to try to love this scraggly two-branched poinsettia.  I am going to try. Really, I am.\n\nBut for the record, I am still kind of angry about the whole thing.','Christmas Cheer: Poinsettias','','publish','open','open','','christmas-cheer-poinsettias','','','2009-11-29 19:56:23','2009-11-29 16:56:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1511',0,'post','',3),(1519,1,'2009-11-30 19:54:00','2009-11-30 16:54:00','','Coffee','My Coffe and My New Cup!!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01219','','','2009-11-30 19:54:00','2009-11-30 16:54:00','',1518,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dsc01219.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1522,1,'2009-11-30 20:11:04','2009-11-30 17:11:04','','Coffee &amp; a Cup','My New Coffee Cup!!','inherit','open','open','','img_1275','','','2009-11-30 20:11:04','2009-11-30 17:11:04','',1518,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1275.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1518,1,'2009-11-30 20:32:23','2009-11-30 17:32:23','I actually really, really love coffee.  Thus I was super-duper excited when I saw this at the grocery store this afternoon:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1522\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My New Coffee Cup!!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1275.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1522\" title=\"Coffee &amp; a Cup \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/img_1275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n\nYep. It\'s coffee and a coffee mug.  What\'s better than that? The coffee I regularly buy at the same price with a coffee mug!? Um, that makes the coffee mug free.  Well, I guess free coffee and a free mug might be better.  Oh and even better than that would my own baritsa.  But, today, I got a free coffee mug and that\'s okay by me.\n\nI guess it\'s a good thing that little things make me happy.  Or, in this case a green coffee mug.\n\nOne last thing, for my American readers I know that the coffee brand Jacobs looks like the \"J\" should be strong like Jack or Jill but here in Bulgaria it\'s a soft \"J.\"  Now you know.  For what that\'s worth.','I love Coffee','','publish','open','open','','i-love-coffee','','','2009-11-30 20:32:23','2009-11-30 17:32:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1518',0,'post','',5),(1525,1,'2009-12-01 21:41:10','2009-12-01 18:41:10','Today\'s post is for anyone who might have ever thought: Bulgaria-smulgaria.  Or even worse wondered to themselves: where\'s Bulgaria?  First, Bulgaria is in Europe and it\'s sandwiched in between Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia and boarders the Black Sea. We\'re part of the EU and the country is changing rapidly.\n\nAs if these things alone aren\'t enough to change your mind about this country, maybe this New York Times article titled: <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html?em\">A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity</a> will.   It\'s a sexy article--for those of you who like culture, history and art.  Oh, did I mention that Bulgaria is at the heart of this article? Here\'s the first paragraph to get you excited:\n<blockquote>Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade.</blockquote>\nUm, this--the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills--is Bulgaria, Romania and parts of Serbia.  And in case you can\'t read, or maybe just read too quickly, I\'ll repeat the fact that the people living in these areas were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade (there\'s also a great<a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/25/science/112409_ARCH_2.html\"> slide show</a> if pictures are more your thing).  Not bad for a set of countries and people who have been relegated for years to the back burner of Eastern Europe, hidden behind the iron curtain and who are struggling to make it as a post-communist countries.\n\nIf you didn\'t know it before now, Bulgaria\'s got plenty of history both recent and ancient. <!--more--> Only now it seems that others are paying heed to this history and that it will be shared and maybe even celebrated.  I mean, I am celebrating it whether or not others decide to follow suit is up to them.  I think that the age, the quality and sheer amount of artifacts--art, tools and trade items in Bulgarian museums is pretty incredible.  And I\'ve said for a while now that while the displays in Bulgarian museums are not as hip, sleek or modern looking as other European museums the quality and range of the collections make them a serious treasure.\n\nOkay, I\'d like to see more displays, collections and exhibits curated in two languages--say Bulgarian and English.  This would make the artifacts and the history of Bulgaria more accessible to foreigners.  But this said, most of the pieces speak for themselves.  So why book a holiday to Paris, London or Berlin when you could come and explore Bulgaria part of the heart of Old Europe?\n\nAll of this seems to get at something bigger--not mentioned in the article nor on my blog--and that\'s the sense that even up until modern times, one could still find treasure in Bulgaria.  You might be digging in your field and come across a golden crown made out of delicate leaves, stone carvings or even an ancient burial site.  But it was there a connection to the past, to something bigger than we are and it is just there waiting to be found, to be uncovered, to be discovered.\n\nAnd more or less this is how I feel about everything in Bulgaria.  There\'s a lot here--only you\'ve just got to find it, try it out, give it a shot.\n\nI guess now is the time to start (or continue) \"flirting with civilization\" as the NYT puts it:\n\n<img class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Flirting with Civilization\" src=\"http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/12/01/science/01arch_graphic/popup.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"518\" />','Old Europe and Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','old-europe-and-bulgaria','','','2009-12-01 21:41:10','2009-12-01 18:41:10','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1525',0,'post','',1),(1534,1,'2009-12-02 21:03:59','2009-12-02 18:03:59','Today, I had the nicest thing happened.  At school, there is a group of Bulgarian students who have are tutoring foreign teachers in Bulgarian. These students are volunteers and have no teaching experience.  What they do have experience in is learning another language--English and a second language like German, Spanish or French.  Oh and they are fluent in Bulgarian.  This is probably one of the most important things.  Actually, I\'d say the most important thing is that these students want to tutor us and speak both English and Bulgarian.\n\nMy tutor checked in with me last week before our first meeting today.  My tutor asked me a few questions, I showed off one of my Bulgarian text books and that was that.  Well, aside from the fact that there\'s something pretty humbling about telling and showing another person how little you actually know.  But lucky for me my tutor was kind and understanding.\n\nThe plan is to meet with your tutor one or maybe twice a week to practice you Bulgarian.  The students and teachers organizing the tutoring are all very kind but many of the teachers didn\'t know what to expect. It\'s not as if our students are trained Bulgarian teachers and there\'s no guarantee they\'ve ever even thought much about tutoring.  So it was recommended that we be prepared to direct our student-tutors to our school Bulgarian text book and ask our tutor to practice with us out of the book.\n\nToday, I was prepared to do just this.  I had my notebook, my pen and my text book out and I was ready. Then my tutor came to my classroom for my first lesson. This is when the nicest thing happened to me.  <!--more-->My tutor pulls out a little book and tells me it is for my lesson.  It turns out my tutor brought a workbook: a workbook for a second grader!! It had been my tutor\'s younger bother\'s school workbook last year when he was in second grade. And the plan is that we can use it.\n\nAnd this is the nicest thing that happened to me today.  Someone thought that my Bulgarian might actually be at the level of a Bulgarian second grade!!\n\nIt turns out, I am not actually at the level of a second grader.  Those second graders seem to have a much better vocabulary than I do.\n\nFirst my tutor made me write a dictation.  This was humorous.  And the first time I\'ve ever done something like this in Bulgarian. I didn\'t know very many words which added to the challenge and I spent a lot of time repeating slightly wrong phrases to myself as I tried to write down these unknown words in Cyrillic.  My tutor was kind and read very, very slowly, did a little repeating and once in a while even told me how to spell words.\n\nIt turns out I was writing a paragraph about a boy and his parents. They are talking because he went outside to play without his coat and now his throat hurts.  He also seems to have messed up his dad\'s desk and is worried that his day will be angry. The moral of the dictation is that it\'s hard to listen to your parents.\n\nThe next lesson in the work book was underlining vowels. My tutor excused me from this exercise--after she confirmed that I knew what vowels are.  I do. Phew. At least I\'ve got this under control. Watch out second graders, here I come.\n\nThen I did a lesson reading a number of words for pronunciation. This went, um, okay.  What went less than okay was when I was supposed to read a short passage for comprehension. Ha, ha, ha. I knew about four words. But here\'s the summary. It had to do with a room with a window. A gray bird flies in through the open window. The boy catches it and it\'s heart is beating fast.\n\nThis was when my 40 minute lesson ended.  And when the bell for the end of the day rang I saw the same look on my tutors face that I regularly sense on my own: Really?! How can the last 40 minutes have passed so quickly?','2nd Grade Bulgarian','','publish','open','open','','2nd-grade-bulgarian','','','2009-12-02 21:03:59','2009-12-02 18:03:59','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1534',0,'post','',4),(1537,1,'2009-12-04 12:02:21','2009-12-04 09:02:21','Sofia. Christmas. December. Already.\n\nA piece of me can\'t believe it.  I\'m flying back to the states in a few weeks to celebrate Christmas and New Years at home with my family.  I am going to take some Bulgarian treasures home with me for my family but I can\'t say much more than that because well my family reads my blog.\n\nAt this point, I am making a list.  But there\'s little point in checking it twice because I really have yet to purchase a single gift.  I know that I\'ve got time. It\'s not like it\'s the night before I am leaving and I shopping at Billa in order to try to buy everything I need for my family the night before and wondering if my brother would prefer a Kinder Surprise egg or a jar of lutenitsa.  Actually, thank-god I am not at this point, yet, but there is a piece of me that doesn\'t feel too far away from that and I can\'t help thinking: who <em>would</em> like a jar of lutenitsa? I mean doing all of my shopping at Billa would be <em>easy</em>.<!--more-->\n\nIt\'s not as if I am a Christmas grouch far from it. I really love Christmas--I\'ve never met a christmas cookie I didn\'t like, I love candy canes--not the taste as much as the shape and seeing them hanging on pine trees, the music--both secular and religious, the food, the colors red, white and green, and celebrating with my family and friends. The thing is it\'s harder to get in the Christmas spirit in Sofia than in other towns I\'ve lived in.\n\nWe don\'t have a Christmas market. We don\'t have mulled wine (which in my mind is a shame). We don\'t have an obnoxious and ostentatious display of Christmas lights (Though I wouldn\'t necessarily be opposed to this along Aleksandar Malinov--imagining street light after street light hung with a giant snowflake lights would go pretty far to adding a little cheer to my little corner of Mladost). Moreover there hasn\'t been a sign of a single real snowflake this month and it hasn\'t even gotten cold enough to even thing about it.\n\nWe do have an ice skating rink that apparently has gone up but I haven\'t seen it yet. And I don\'t ice skate (I am afraid of it).  I noticed that McDonald\'s has some strings of lights up but last night I couldn\'t remember if they\'ve always been and I only noticed now.  Billa put a santa hat up on the building next to its name and a small Christmas tree but these look comedic than genuine give their small size and the giant size of the Billa name--the name really dwarfs the decorations.\n\nSo, what\'s a girl to do? How am I ever going to get into the spirit?\n\nMaybe I\'ll buy some handmade socks by babas, a wide variety of rose water products, Bulgarian pottery, embroidered table cloths and rakia.  Maybe this will do the trick. And maybe then I wont have to give the gift of lutenitsa.','Christmas Cheer Sofia Style','','publish','open','open','','christmas-cheer-sofia-style','','','2009-12-04 12:02:21','2009-12-04 09:02:21','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1537',0,'post','',5),(1551,1,'2009-12-06 21:23:34','2009-12-06 18:23:34','','Communist Statue Close Up','Communist Statue Close Up','inherit','open','open','','dsc00008','','','2009-12-06 21:23:34','2009-12-06 18:23:34','',1546,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc00008.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1546,1,'2009-12-06 21:41:48','2009-12-06 18:41:48','[caption id=\"attachment_1551\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Communist Statue Close Up\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc00008.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1551\" title=\"Communist Statue Close Up\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc00008.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPeople search many funny things to reach my blog. Here are a few of my recent favorites:\n<ol>\n	<li><strong>bulgarian boza producers association</strong>--Um, what? I have no connection to the Bulgarian Boza Producers Association.  Actually, I don\'t even really like the drink.  I try it every now and then thinking... maybe this time...  I mean there was also a time in my life I didn\'t like green vegetables and that\'s changed so why not the boza thing?! Anyhow, do we actually have an association for boza producers in Bulgaria? If so, here\'s to you!</li>\n	<li><strong>sofia communist statues</strong>--We\'ve got those. Check. I\'ve talked about them once or twice on my blog. Because, I get a kick out of them.</li>\n	<li><strong>trams tattoos</strong>--Pretty clearly this wouldn\'t be a cute or sexy tattoo but it would be interesting.  Then it made me think: which tram line in Sofia would you get?</li>\n	<li><strong>meeting her family hug or handshake</strong>.  Exciting. Meeting the parents for the first time.  I haven\'t written a post about this but it is a good question.  It\'s not like you really know her family the first time you meet but you\'ve probably heard about them and this meeting is kind of a big deal. You don\'t want to mess it up.  So, now what? Do you hug them or shake their hands? If it were me I\'d take my lead from the parents.</li>\n	<li><strong>bulgarian karaoke</strong>.  Awesome.  I\'ve actually written a post on this.  The summary of this post: karaoke in Sofia is great. It\'s tons of fun to listen to Bulgarians sing American karaoke songs as well as a few Bulgarian songs which are usually thrown into the mix.</li>\n	<li><strong>pectopaht</strong>. Uh, oh. <!--more-->This one is restaurant in Bulgarian--kind of. It\'s actually Ресторант. I am guessing that the person who googled this and arrived at my blog was disappointed. Sorry.</li>\n	<li><strong>what is better than a hug</strong>--Well, I think in most cases a hug is a good thing.  I guess it just depends what you\'re looking for in order to determine what if anything is better than a hug.  Because depending what you\'re looking for there are a lot of things that are better than a hug.  Lemon Aid on a hot day. A phone call from a friend. Cozy socks.  Flowers. A kiss. Really, the sky is the limit on this one.</li>\n	<li><strong>ibuprofen tea</strong>--What? This sounds horrible. I\'d be happy to drink tea. Or to take ibuprofen.   But all at once? All at the same time? Gross. This sounds like bad plan to me. I\'d skip this one and for the record I wouldn\'t recommend this cocktail.</li>\n	<li><strong>counting in bulgarian</strong>--I know how to do this!</li>\n	<li><strong>shantel, coolest accordion player?</strong> Yes. Shantel and his group have great energy so much so that their enthusiasm is contagious. If you ever get a chance to see them play live--take it, buy tickets and get ready to dance, dance, dance. These guys rock.</li>\n</ol>\nFor those of you who googled for the answer to these questions or based on these interests came across my blog--sorry if you didn\'t find what you were looking for. It turns out that I don\'t know everything there is to know about Bulgaria.  Go figure.  Also, even if I was desperate for a topic to write about I think it would be a cold, cold day in hell before I wrote about the Bulgarian Boza Producers Association.  But thank-you for your search.  I had an excellent laugh this morning.  I mean a really good laugh because one the thought of this association actually existing really tickled my funny bone--are there really enough boza producers that an association is needed? And two, is there any way they can make this stuff taste better?\n\nSo thanks to everyone who googled my blog.  Many of your searches are pretty straightforward and I am glad you found my blog.\n\nOh and to the 13-15 year old boys who keep searching for: bad words in Bulgarian--I am sorry I don\'t know any. And even if I did, I don\'t think I would be posting them on my blog.  Good luck.  Hope you find what you\'re looking for.','Things People Search','','publish','open','open','','things-people-search','','','2009-12-06 21:41:48','2009-12-06 18:41:48','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1546',0,'post','',2),(1556,1,'2009-12-09 08:02:58','2009-12-09 05:02:58','','New Shoes','My new shoes from the corner shop','inherit','open','open','','dsc01221','','','2009-12-09 08:02:58','2009-12-09 05:02:58','',1555,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01221.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1561,1,'2009-12-09 19:11:24','2009-12-09 16:11:24','Here\'s my hypothetical question: if one rode the city bus/tram/trolley in Sofia and didn\'t stamp her ticket, what could happen to her?  If a controller caught her on the bus how much would she have to pay for the ticket?','A Hypothetical Question','','publish','open','open','','a-hypothetical-question','','','2009-12-09 19:11:24','2009-12-09 16:11:24','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1561',0,'post','',13),(1555,1,'2009-12-10 10:41:20','2009-12-10 07:41:20','This weekend I bought a new pair of boots.  They may not be the most serious purchase of my life but they are very cute. They are comfy and I fell in love with them through the store window.  Are they going to keep my feet dry? Um, no not at all (yesterday\'s rain storm was a testament to that) but they look great. And they cause me to smile when I look down at them on my feet.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1556\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My new shoes from the corner shop\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01221.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1556\" title=\"New Shoes \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWearing my new shoes this past week has gotten me thinking about clothes.  This should probably go without saying but I am going to any way: I don\'t consider myself one of those vapid girls who only cares about clothes, hair and make-up because I also like to write, to read and to keep current when it comes to news, music and technology. This said, I realize the rest of this post on clothing may make you wonder where my head is and why I\'ve just spent an entire post writing about clothes when it\'s not normally something I devote much if any time to on my blog.\n\nI am writing about this today because I\'ve had a clothing revelation. There\'s something rather startling when you look down at your outfit and realize that everything you\'re wearing you\'ve purchased abroad.  I think that the surprise is built into the fact that it takes a certain amount of time to acquire enough clothing to put together an outfit and then when you finally look down and think: hey, I didn\'t own any of this stuff a year ago-- it reminds you of where you\'ve been. This feeling of surprise hasn\'t hit me very many times mostly because I haven\'t lived abroad for very long <em>and </em>I generally try to buy high quality clothing so that I don\'t need to shop as often.\n\nThis said, two days in a row this week noticed that I was (and am) wearing European clothes rather than my standard uniform of American clothes--Gap, Ann Taylor, Target, Banana Republic and Macy\'s.  When I realized this, it made me think about what this subtle shift means.  On the surface, it means that I\'ve lived abroad for 1.5 years and I needed some new clothes.  Gosh, even I know that.\n\nBut, on another level I think that it shows an acclimation of sorts to my surroundings. <!--more-->I am at home in my skin and in my surroundings.  I am not necessarily trying to blend in--I am trying to be the best version of me and I am letting Europe and more specifically Sofia influence me.  I am not sure that by looking at me you\'d notice that my clothing was drastically different from one day to the next whether I am in my Bulgarian purchases or in my American purchases.   In part, I think that this is due to the ways in which I put together my outfits but aside from this I shop for color and fit and recently I\'ve been on a black, eggplant purple, brown, dark gray and saturated blue kick. The aesthetic is me only now the clothes are Bulgarian and European rather than American.\n\nWhat\'s interesting in my mind is that I go back to the States enough that I could if I wanted just buy what I need and what I want when I am there.  I could order an entire new wardrobe online in an afternoon from my favorite State side stores and be done with it. The clothes could be in boxes in my bedroom when I arrived home that would be that.  But this doesn\'t appeal to me.  I am not interested in this.\n\nClothes tell a story about who you are.  And I don\'t want my story to read: the Gap, Express, Forever 21 or Bebe.  My story is about adventure. It\'s about exploring and trying new things and because of this, I think I would be remiss if I limited myself to the things I know.\n\nThus the story is not so much about what I am wearing.  Rather the story is about what I\'ve found and discovered in my quest to clothe myself.  The fact is that after a year in Bulgaria I now know where I like to shop, the range of selection in Sofia, what fits well, which stores have the nicest sales people and where to go for clothing that is both good quality and a good price.  It\'s easier to go shopping today than it was a year ago.  I know myself better today than I did then and I also <em>get</em> the shopping scene in Sofia a little bit more now than I did a year ago.\n\nGrowing up in the states there are about five options when it comes to shopping for clothing: the mall, a department store, a boutique, big box stores like Target, WalMart and KMart and thrift shops.  Most of these options are easy and quick but the risk is that you\'ll show up wearing the same Gap sweater that your friend is (and who wants this?).  For better or worse this is what I grew up with. Neat stacks of sweaters folded or hung carefully on hangers--one style of sweater in five or six different colors and a range of different sizes.  Everything is organized and you can pick out what you want based on color and fit. And maybe just maybe, you can pick from the crew neck, the v-neck or the turtleneck sweater.\n\nThe thing is it\'s different here. In Bulgaria, the shops are smaller and as a result the selection is smaller. This doesn\'t mean that there aren\'t good things to buy.  It just means in my case it takes me a little bit more time.  I look around a bit more and try on more things than I might have in the states.  The part that\'s the hardest for me is the fact that you can go into a number of stores and not have anything catch your eye--or all of the sizes are extra small (and it\'s not as if everyone in Sofia wears an x-small).  Items aren\'t always displayed as they would be in the states because the shop may only have one or two of each item.  It means that you have to really look through the racks and keep an open mind about things.\n\nIn the end, I think that my clothing revelation is about much, much more than finding shoes that fit or pants that don\'t look ridiculously short on me.  It\'s about realizing that I can fit in here but that I can still be me--that I am an American in Bulgaria and that\'s a good thing.','Clothing Revelation','','publish','open','open','','clothing-revelation','','','2009-12-10 10:41:20','2009-12-10 07:41:20','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1555',0,'post','',3),(1569,1,'2009-12-12 11:58:37','2009-12-12 08:58:37','A couple of weekends ago I decided to sign-up for the Sofia Weekly to email me the top headlines from the week in Bulgaria.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  The news from the online newspaper tends to be short and the articles are often not that well written but I read the headlines anyway.  I like to try to keep up on what others think are the most important things happening in Bulgaria.\n\nSo on Saturday mornings I am sent an email which the news condensed into headlines. And I have to admit it\'s kind of depressing.  I mean I think the news is often depressing but check out these headlines. These aren\'t exactly what I want to read first thing on Saturday morning:\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110933\">Bulgarian Beer Consumption Slumps by 12% in 2009</a> It seems that the economy, unemployment, the flu and a bad tourist season are to blame. I am afraid it might be me.  Last year I had more free time in Bulgaria and drank beer more regularly than this year where it feels like all I do now is teach, plan my next lesson and grade homework.  There\'s no time for a beer with friends.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110777\">Ukraine Pays Russia November Gas Supplies</a> They paid on time. This on the surface may be good news but it means that there\'s still the threat of Russia cutting the gas off if/when the Ukraine can\'t pay in the future. And man, oh man, it was cold last year when Russia cut the gas flow to Europe.  I\'m not really looking forward to this a second time around.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110953\">Highest Price of Bulgaria IDs Skyrockets to BGN 250</a> This isn\'t for everyone just people who need expedited passports. Still this seems pretty extravagant.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110972\">Bulgaria Police to Hold Smoking Protest over Lack of Bonuses</a> Um, no way.  This is really the best way to protest?! A smoking protest over a lack of bonuses? Only in Bulgaria.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110810\">1 in 4 Bulgarians Involved in Corruption Practices in 2009 </a>Alright.  One in Four pay a bribe in exchange for a favor.  And apparently corruption is deeply seated in Bulgaria.  Go figure.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"Military Mine Blamed for Deadly Blast at Bulgarian Orphanage\">Military Mine Blamed for Deadly Blast at Bulgarian Orphanage</a> Really? This is awful. How does something like this happen?</li>\n</ul>\nThere was one exciting piece of news this morning.\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110944\">Bulgaria\'s Plovdiv Named World\'s Sixth Oldest City</a> This is pretty cool.</li>\n</ul>\nSo, that\'s that, I am thinking about ending my email notification of the news headlines in Bulgaria because they are depressing.  And I don\'t really like it when my morning starts off this way. It\'s okay to be depressed on Mondays but Saturdays? I don\'t like it.\n<ul></ul>','The Sofia Weekly','','publish','open','open','','the-sofia-weekly','','','2009-12-12 11:58:37','2009-12-12 08:58:37','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1569',0,'post','',1),(1573,1,'2009-12-13 11:37:26','2009-12-13 08:37:26','My aunt sent me a link to a project to make <a href=\"http://www.duofiberworks.com/journal/2009/1/5/window-star-tutorial.html\">beautiful paper stars</a>--part Christmas, part winter and a lot of beautiful.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Star Crafts\" src=\"http://www.duofiberworks.com/storage/rainbow-stars.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1231253048585\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"258\" />I would love to make these.  The directions call for three things: glue, scissors and either tissue paper or kite paper--oh and they don\'t say this but I think the fourth thing you\'ll need is a decent amount of patience to complete the folding and glueing.\n\nI\'ve got the glue and scissors and I am determined but I\'ve never seen colored tissue paper here in Bulgaria.  Any idea of where I can find pretty colored tissue paper in Sofia? And or a craft store that might sell kite paper?','Star Crafts','','publish','open','open','','star-crafts','','','2009-12-13 11:37:26','2009-12-13 08:37:26','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1573',0,'post','',2),(1579,1,'2009-12-14 21:17:57','2009-12-14 18:17:57','','Memento Header','Memento: beans &amp; grapes','inherit','open','open','','dsc01243','','','2009-12-14 21:17:57','2009-12-14 18:17:57','',1577,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01243.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1580,1,'2009-12-14 21:22:39','2009-12-14 18:22:39','','Memento Inside','Inside Memento','inherit','open','open','','dsc01242','','','2009-12-14 21:22:39','2009-12-14 18:22:39','',1577,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01242.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1585,1,'2009-12-14 21:34:38','2009-12-14 18:34:38','','Memento and wine','Glasses of wine at Memento','inherit','open','open','','dsc01241','','','2009-12-14 21:34:38','2009-12-14 18:34:38','',1577,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01241.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1577,1,'2009-12-14 22:15:35','2009-12-14 19:15:35','[caption id=\"attachment_1580\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Inside Memento\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01242.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1580\" title=\"Memento Inside \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01242.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI happened into the coffee shop <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/new-coffee-shop/\">Colours &amp; Flavours</a> on Saturday during the snow in need of a coffee, a little warming up and to say hello. (I am sorry to say: it had been weeks since the last time I\'d visited. Shame on me.)\n\nIt was lovely to stop back in. The shop has moved indoors--no more outside tables. It\'s now a cozy coffee bar rather than the breezy outdoor cafe it was this summer.  I couldn\'t imagine it any better if I had to.  And I was worried about what the little hole-in-the-wall shop would do come winter. Silly me. Silly me.\n\nBut why would I expect anything less? I mean these guys know coffee and tea. The place also has great style--the interior, the colors, the cups and even the products for sale.\n\nWell it was a lucky thing I stopped in Colours &amp; Flavours because I learned that the owners have re-imagined the classic coffee shop, bar and lounge and are opening a new day-night spot called Memento.  I was invited down to see the new place and then I ended up staying for a glass of wine and some great conversation. Memento is being billed as:\n<blockquote>Sofia\'s first multi-concept franchise. Come and relish the finest selection of coffees, teas, wines, aperitivo and cocktails. Chosen by experts and served with love.</blockquote>\nIt\'s lovely too. Memento is at the corner of Rakovski and Gurko in the glass building across from the puppet theater.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1585\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Glasses of wine at Memento\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01241.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1585\" title=\"Memento and wine \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01241.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe interior is light, fresh and clean.  There\'s nothing dark, brown or paneled to be seen. The bar is open and there\'s a good selection of wine, cocktails and even tea and coffee.  Late on a Saturday afternoon it was perfect.  And it was easy to imagine it full of customers.\n\nMemento is having it\'s official opening this week--my understanding is on the 16th and 17th of December.  I\'d check this place out sooner than later. It\'s not going to remain a secret very long.  I am not even sure I should be writing a review here--how am I ever going to get a table?\n\nS o this it what it all comes down to: my sneak peak on Saturday afternoon makes me exited to round up a group of friends to meet up downtown for a coffee after shopping or for a cocktail before heading out for the night to dance. But I guess there\'s a chance that we could go with the best intentions to have a coffee and end up staying for cocktails.\n\nAt this point, what is the most attractive about Memento is the location, the staff, the service and the selection of drinks they are offering. I also like the emphasis on quality.  Quality coffee, tea, wine.  Good service, good music, good lighting. Simple and easy and as a result edgy and unfussy. In my mind this makes Memento the best of both worlds: a place you\'re happy to meet friends but also cool enough that it feels exciting and new.\n\nUltimately, if Memento is anything like Colours &amp; Flavours, I am sure that I will be a very, very happy repeat customer.','Memento: Beans &amp; Grapes','','publish','open','open','','memento-beans-grapes','','','2009-12-14 22:15:35','2009-12-14 19:15:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1577',0,'post','',2),(1596,1,'2009-12-16 07:21:59','2009-12-16 04:21:59','','Lights in Center','Lights on the National Bank','inherit','open','open','','dsc01260','','','2009-12-16 07:21:59','2009-12-16 04:21:59','',1595,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01260.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1597,1,'2009-12-16 07:24:17','2009-12-16 04:24:17','','Lights close up','Close up','inherit','open','open','','dsc01261','','','2009-12-16 07:24:17','2009-12-16 04:24:17','',1595,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01261.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1598,1,'2009-12-16 07:25:51','2009-12-16 04:25:51','','City lights','Blue lights of Parliment','inherit','open','open','','dsc01245','','','2009-12-16 07:25:51','2009-12-16 04:25:51','',1595,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01245.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1601,1,'2009-12-16 07:28:08','2009-12-16 04:28:08','','Store window','A Christmas Shop Window?','inherit','open','open','','dsc01236','','','2009-12-16 07:28:08','2009-12-16 04:28:08','',1600,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01236.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1600,1,'2009-12-16 09:32:41','2009-12-16 06:32:41','What makes for the perfect Christmas window in a shop? In my mind, it\'s a creative mix and riff of tradition and non-traditional holiday icons, images, colors and shapes.  Standard and cliché in my mind is red and green, Santa and reindeer, stockings and a fire-place.  Modern and non-traditional are mixing colors and green, sliver and blue or red, gold and brown--maybe there\'s a tree but it\'s not a fat over grown pine.\n\nIt\'s a sense that the Christmas scene is fresh and clean--not necessarily sparse but it has a coherence and a simplicity while still being elegant and refined. It evokes a feeling of comfort and home, the spirit of the holiday but it\'s sexier and more innovative than your Christmas decorations at home. It\'s what you wish you could do if you weren\'t obligated to put out all of the family Christmas treasures that have been accumulated over the years.\n\nI realize this is a lot to ask for a single Christmas window or a shop\'s Christmas display but in my mind this is what makes for curb-side appeal. So when I was on Vitosha last weekend shopping, snow falling I couldn\'t help but think about the impending holiday.  Most of the shops had some nod towards the holiday in their windows but none in my mind seemed to really get it.  (And I get it, I probably have unreasonably high standards.)\n\nThis window however caught my attention:<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1601\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"A Christmas Shop Window? \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01236.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1601\" title=\"Store window \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01236.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe text is bold: The loveliest Christmas window? You\'re looking at it.\n\nIn order to capture the text on the window I ended up having to sacrifice the rest of the display but don\'t worry I\'ll tell you what I saw. Black clothing--not a trace of fake snow or icicles, no lights strung in the window, hardly a nod toward any color let alone red or green, no santa, no tree, no wrapped presents on the floor.  Other than the sign on the window, in the shape of a wreath, I saw nothing that reminded me of the holiday.\n\nSo what? Now I find myself wondering is this for real? What are they up to? Is this a wonderfully wry post-modern, post-consumerism joke? Did they just forget to put out the Christmas goods? Is the window decorated now? Is it possible that the whole store only sells things in some shade of black or gray so they have nothing to put in the window that evokes the season?\n\nIn the end, I don\'t know what they\'re up to and this question rings in my ears: Why? Why not put out Christmas?','A Christmas window?','','publish','open','open','','a-christmas-window','','','2009-12-16 09:32:41','2009-12-16 06:32:41','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1600',0,'post','',2),(1595,1,'2009-12-17 18:23:16','2009-12-17 15:23:16','A few weeks ago I commented on my blog about the fact that we don\'t really do lights or Christmas very well in Sofia. Then I went downtown on Monday to get my Bulgarian ID card and found myself wandering around at dusk.  Dusk is a pretty good time to view a city. They don\'t look as dirty as they do turning the day but you can still good a pretty good look at the different buildings.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1596\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Lights on the National Bank \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01260.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1596\" title=\"Lights in Center\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01260.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd while Sofia may not be the next Christmas hot spot, the city isn\'t doing too poorly at stringing up some lights on a few buildings.  A coordinated effort it is not.  <!--more-->The National Bank building says Merry Christmas and Happy New Year--that\'s a pretty nice touch if you ask me.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1597\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Close up\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01261.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1597\" title=\"Lights close up\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe parliament building however seems to be another story. They\'ve hung blue lights in the windows and they\'ve been hung so poorly that it makes you wonder if they were hung up in the dark.  I\'ve never seen anything quite like this before.  There are no green or red light, not a single clear light to be seen just windows full of blue twinkling Christmas lights.  It more or less looks like the job I would if I were left to my own devices.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1598\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Blue lights of Parliament \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01245.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1598\" title=\"City lights\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01245.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo, that\'s that. Parliament in Blue. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year else where in the city. And I get a kick out of the whole thing--whether I am supposed to or not.','Christmas Lights','','publish','open','open','','christmas-lights','','','2009-12-17 18:23:16','2009-12-17 15:23:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1595',0,'post','',5),(1609,1,'2009-12-17 23:28:28','2009-12-17 20:28:28','','Balkan Dance','Me, Sarah and Abbey','inherit','open','open','','dsc01303','','','2009-12-17 23:28:28','2009-12-17 20:28:28','',1608,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01303.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1610,1,'2009-12-17 23:34:04','2009-12-17 20:34:04','','Balkan Dance Dress','Me in my Dance Dress!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01290','','','2009-12-17 23:34:04','2009-12-17 20:34:04','',1608,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01290.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1612,1,'2009-12-17 23:46:45','2009-12-17 20:46:45','','Balkan Dancing Outside in the Snow','Balkan Dancing Outside in the Snow','inherit','open','open','','balkan-dance','','','2009-12-17 23:46:45','2009-12-17 20:46:45','',1608,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/balkan-dance.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1608,1,'2009-12-17 23:58:07','2009-12-17 20:58:07','I am not sure that many of you are kept awake at night wishing you could Balkan dance or have dreams of traditional dresses dancing through your head but if you do, this blog post is for you. It\'s your lucky night.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1609\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me, Sarah and Abby\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01303.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1609\" title=\"Balkan Dance \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01303.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI made my Bulgarian National dance debut tonight. I got to wear traditional clothing!! And I danced two dances with the moms and other international teachers from school at the American College of Sofia\'s Christmas Concert for parents and alumni. It went okay. I danced with a lot of heart but I was far from perfect. It helps when you\'re wearing really great clothes as well. <!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1610\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in my Dance Dress! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01290.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1610\" title=\"Balkan Dance Dress\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01290.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am not sure that mustard yellow is really my color but look at how great this dress is. It\'s wool and has a black overlay sewn on. The under-skirt or under-dress is white cotton with embroidery on the bottom, the sleeves, and the neck. There\'s also a black apron with beautiful flowers embroidered on it.  I am not so secretly in love with the dress.  It really, really makes me want to get one of my own.\n\nI mean, I need this or something like this.  Right?\n\nOkay, we danced as well. It wasn\'t just about dressing up but I have to say that the dressing up was great fun.  I think that there may be a youtube clip of the performance in the making.  I am sure I\'ll know more about this tomorrow.  I am happy to report that all in all the dancing went well and I had a couple of students tell me I did a great job.  I have a hunch they may have been being nice to me but that\'s fine with me. I\'ll take what I can get.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1612\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Balkan Dancing Outside in the Snow\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/balkan-dance.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1612\" title=\"Balkan Dancing Outside in the Snow\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/balkan-dance.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"581\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe danced at the end of the show--it was great to be able to watch so many of our students perform. After the formal part of the dancing we invited everyone in the audience outside to dance a few traditional pieces with us.  But as soon as we went out it started rain-snowing.  So we danced outside in the snow for a bit in one big long chain of people. It was cold though and I was hungry.  So I changed back into my everyday work clothes (even though I didn\'t want to and a piece of me doesn\'t understand why I shouldn\'t wear this outfit all of the time).\n\nNow it\'s time to go to bed because tomorrow I get to dance the whole thing over again!','Balkan Dance Debut','','publish','open','open','','balkan-dance-debut','','','2009-12-17 23:58:07','2009-12-17 20:58:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1608',0,'post','',8),(1617,1,'2009-12-18 23:17:55','2009-12-18 20:17:55','','Me at Christmas','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01364','','','2009-12-18 23:17:55','2009-12-18 20:17:55','',1616,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01364.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1616,1,'2009-12-18 23:51:21','2009-12-18 20:51:21','Hello and Seasons Greetings! In a past life (well, just two years ago), I was a serious Christmas Card fanatic.  I loved sending them and I loved getting them. Now that I live in Bulgaria this is harder.  Okay, it\'s not like the postal system doesn\'t work--it\'s just not as easy as in the states.  That may not even be true. The thing is it\'s just harder for me.  I\'d have to plan in advance. I\'d have to have everyone\'s physical addresses--not just their email addresses and then I\'d have to make the time to write out cards.\n\nSo here it comes. My blogging version of the Christmas card (this way I don\'t even have to have email addresses or post messages on friends facebook walls but don\'t worry I\'ll also twitter you a Christmas message--that\'s easy just 140 characters).\n\nMy picture would be on the outside:\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1617\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me at School \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01364.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1617\" title=\"Me at Christmas \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01364.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn this case the picture is a clever one.  It\'s me in the snow wearing my Bulgarian national dance costume. It evokes Bulgaria and winter without being outwardly Christmas-y. The scenery is beautiful and the snow in the trees is extremely picturesque. The photo says, I\'m trying--but not too hard. I mean it\'s not like I am wearing a red and green Christmas sweater. It\'s tasteful. (Or at least I hope it is.)\n\nThen inside the card there would be this message printed in Bulgarian:\n\nВесела Коледа и Щастлива Нова Година.\n\n(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)\n\nI\'d probably just write you a little note inside under this printed greeting.  <!--more-->I\'m sure that given how long the term has been and how much grading I\'ve been doing that most of the messages--albeit handwritten--would say about the same thing: I hope that this card finds you well and I wish that I was able to deliver it to you in person.  Best wishes to you and your near and dear ones as we enter this holiday season.\n\nLuckily for you I am not really into the whole Christmas letter-update thing.  If I was you\'d also get a typed letter which gave you and update of my year. It would cover the highlights and give me a chance to brag.  My letter would probably include lines like this: I spent the 2008-09 school year in Sofia, Bulgaria on a Fulbright Scholarship teaching English at the First English Language High School and then in July just when I thought my year in Sofia was coming to a close I was offered a job teaching at the American College of Sofia, a private high school.  I accepted and my adventure continues. I\'d probably list off the amazing countries I\'ve visited and traveled through--hoping to impress you and give off an air of European sophistication (oh this is also supposed to make you jealous but in my letter I\'d never let on that I knew I was doing this so I\'d talk about places like Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Krakow, Sarajevo and Venice sound as common place and blase as possible). I would probably conclude with some reminiscing regarding my time thus far in Bulgaria. But I am not the kind of girl to send Christmas updates with my Christmas cards so I guess you don\'t have to worry about reading any of this.\n\nAll of this said, I do love Christmas and New Years and I am looking forward to spending these holidays with my family in the States.  Hopefully, I\'ll get a chance to celebrate 2010 with my Bulgarian friends when I return to Sofia in early January. So for today, I\'ll have to say in closing is that I am wishing each of you a very happy holiday season.  (Sorry. Just to be clear there are no Christmas cards in the mail this year from me.)','Seasons Greetings','','publish','open','open','','seasons-greetings-2','','','2009-12-18 23:51:21','2009-12-18 20:51:21','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1616',0,'post','',0),(1620,1,'2009-12-19 12:24:16','2009-12-19 09:24:16','One of my friends recently posted a NYT article link on facebook. I couldn\'t help but read it (the one on Guantanamo). Then it got me thinking and doing some googling regarding Bulgaria in the headlines this week.\n\nThe biggest headlines have to do with snow. Here\'s my summary: we\'re a day or two into our first big snow storm this year. The headlines and the articles are more or less as expected for any big city and the first snow storm of the year. Traffic has been backed up. Roads are dangerous and visibility is low. The companies contracted to clear snow got a late start and all in all, it\'s snowy and there more snow is expected. <!--more-->\n<ul>\n	<li> <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/12/world/AP-EU-Bulgaria-Guantanamo.html?_r=1&amp;scp=2&amp;sq=bulgaria&amp;st=cse\">Bulgaria Could Take in a Guantanamo Prisoner</a> This seems to me (as an American) the big news. And it\'s gotten me thinking about what it says about both America (that we still have prisoners in Guantanamo) and what is says about Bulgaria that the country would be willing to accept a prisoner.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111020\">Bulgaria Authorities Hit Illegal Christmas Tree Sales</a> It turns out that \"the price of the trees sold legally varies between BGN 7 to 16 and if a tree is sold below BGN 4 this means it has been cut illegally.\"  I had no idea that trees were so inexpensive in Sofia. I mean most of them are Charlie Brown Christmas trees but it\'s very inexpensive compared to the prices we pay in the States where most trees start at $40.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111115\">At Least 6% of Bulgarian Teenagers Are Alcoholics</a> This is a strange report. I am really not sure that the statistics support this claim that 6% of teenagers are alcoholics.  I guess half of it is how you interpret alcoholism and half of it are the numbers.  The big claim is that teenagers drink a lot (regularly) but whether this automatically makes them alcoholics as the report seems to suggest is a little bit harder to swallow.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111017\">Over 1 Million Bulgarian Retirees Get Small Christmas Bonuses</a> As luck would have it, pensioners who receive less than 200 leva a month will get a 25 leva Christmas bonus.  In dollars, this means that pensioners who get $146 a month will now get a bonus of $18.  Given how little the elderly in Bulgaria receive, I am sure that the 25 leva will make a difference but on some level it seems so silly.  I think it\'s because the whole thing breaks my heart.</li>\n	<li>For my expat friends living in Sofia: register your SIM cards or risk losing the number.  Do it. It\'s easy--I\'ve already done it. <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2009/12/18/831904_sim-cards-on-register\">SIM cards on register</a>.</li>\n</ul>','Bulgaria in the Headlines','','publish','open','open','','bulgaria-in-the-headlines','','','2009-12-19 12:24:16','2009-12-19 09:24:16','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1620',0,'post','',0),(1629,1,'2009-12-20 21:28:23','2009-12-20 18:28:23','','Christmas Trees 09','Christmas trees on the corner outside of the subway','inherit','open','open','','dsc01367','','','2009-12-20 21:28:23','2009-12-20 18:28:23','',1625,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01367.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1625,1,'2009-12-20 21:39:46','2009-12-20 18:39:46','[caption id=\"attachment_1629\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Christmas trees on the corner outside of the subway\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01367.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1629\" title=\"Christmas Trees 09\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01367.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a few days to Christmas and there are people selling Christmas trees every where--on the street corners, in the parking lot of Billa and even out of a black Mercedes sedan in my neighborhood. The thing about these trees is that none is taller than I am and not a single one could be described as full.  Rather the trees are all short, skinny, scrawny twigs of trees.  The trees are green, with branches and smell like pine so I think they must be Christmas trees but it\'s nothing like the trees we sell in the states--giant, overgrown, bushy trees.\n\nThis afternoon I realized that my MoM and Charlie Brown would love the trees here in Sofia.  My MoM likes a tree with space between the branches so that she can hang up her boxes and boxes of Christmas ornaments. She likes to be able to see the ornaments and likes the tree to have some depth. She doesn\'t just want a few ornaments clinging to the outer edges of the Christmas tree branches.  She\'s pretty serious about her trees and if you dared to suggest a fuller tree well, just don\'t. The only problem with the trees in Bulgaria is that I think she has so many ornaments that she\'d need two or three trees in order to display her collection or lights and ornaments.<!--more-->\n\nCharlie Brown (of the comic strip Peanuts) has his own Christmas special. He knows that Christmas is coming but he\'s not happy.  The story that follows is one of self discovery, friends, a school play  and a sad little Christmas tree that no one else wants and Lucy thinks is ugly.  It\'s a lovely story--Charlie is able to see the beauty in a tree that no one else can see.\n\nIt\'s played on tv at Christmas time as long as I can remember and the story is one of my childhood.  In fact, I\'d be more than happy to curl up on my couch with a cup of hot chocolate with colored marshmallows bobbing around and watch the 30 minute (or so) tv special right now.  I realize that I don\'t link to cultural markers like this much tonight I can\'t resist.\n\n[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CVSpx2d8dg]\n\nFor my Bulgarian viewers, if you don\'t know <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas\">A Charlie Brown Christmas</a>, I\'d urge you to watch the clip or if you\'re more the wikipedia type use the line for the summary and history of theshow. For my American viewers, watch it. You know you love it.  (And Scotty-G, I hope that you watched your DVD while decorating the Christmas tree in DC.)','Sofia &amp; Charlie Brown','','publish','open','open','','sofia-charlie-brown','','','2009-12-20 21:39:46','2009-12-20 18:39:46','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1625',0,'post','',1),(1634,1,'2009-12-21 08:23:38','2009-12-21 05:23:38','For those of you following my Balkan dance (or more specifically my Bulgarian National Dance) debut you probably know that I danced on both Thursday and on Friday at school for the Christmas concert.  The first song we danced to was relatively easy and the second one was, um, not.  I don\'t think that I\'ll be winning any competitions any time soon.  But hey, the dress is great and I made it through.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/u2ISE6EmEO8\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"></iframe>\r\n\r\nYou\'ll see that I am the tall blond girl on stage in a yellow dress.  You\'ll also notice that on the first song I do a great job but on the second one, well it\'s a mess.  I don\'t leave the stage hop jumping in the right order. Oh well.  The second dance has been cut down from the whole to just a clip but I have to say it felt like I was on stage a lot longer than this two-plus minute clip.\r\n\r\nAt least I am good at English.\r\n\r\nFinally, I\'d like to apologize to anyone who feels like I\'ve co-opted his or her culture,  to anyone who now has a cramp in his or her side from laughing and to anyone who now can\'t get the image of me jumping off stage on the wrong foot.  Thanks for being patient with me.\r\n\r\nOh, this probably my last post for a day or two. I am going to be flying to the States this afternoon and I wont get to Walla Walla until Tuesday evening.  Wish me luck with this and the 10 hour jet lag that I will soon be suffering from.','Balkan Dance','','publish','open','open','','balkan-dance','','','2011-12-21 22:51:35','2011-12-21 20:51:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1634',0,'post','',7),(1644,1,'2009-12-23 01:11:57','2009-12-22 22:11:57','I\'ve got Christmas songs in my head.  Mostly on repeat. I don\'t love this but it is what it is.  I can\'t ever sing enough of the 12 Days of Christmas to know how many maids are milking and how many drummers are drumming but what\'s a girl supposed to do after a night flight across the Atlantic Ocean with minimal sleep? Oh and the real winner over the last two days is the refrain: I\'ll be home for Christmas, just you wait and see.  I sing it to myself because I think in that song everything works out okay--but I am not sure because I don\'t actually know anything but the refrain.  Who though would write a song about going home at Christmas for the last verse to reveal that the loved one never made it home?\n\nWell, there have been a couple times in this trip that I was sure I wasn\'t ever going to get close to Walla Walla.  There\'ve been snow delays/weather whatevers and lots and lots of standing in lines.  But four airplane rides later, here I am sitting in the Seattle airport waiting for my last flight to Walla Walla.  Yep, I\'ll have been on 5 in planes in 24 hours shortly--I think.  I mean, I am not sure if it\'s really been 24 hours or if it\'s more than this seeing as each time I get off an airplane I am find myself gaining time--an hour or two here or there and I have no idea what time it is.  In fact, I managed to eat breakfast now fewer than three times this morning.\n\nSo, now I feel like my head is spinning and I am looking forward to finding an Americano and settling down to wait for my final plane to Walla Wall.\n\nBefore I do this however I am going to submit you to a short list of the strange things I\'ve observed, overheard or experienced in the last 24 hours.\n<ul>\n	<li>The book<em> In Cold Blood</em> by Truman Capote is not a travel/read in the airport/on an airplane kind of book.  People look at your book and then look at you with confusion. I should probably tape a note under the title that says: don\'t worry I am not reading this for fun. It\'s work. I have to teach to my Bulgarian 11th graders in February.  But I am not sure this would make the situation any better. Now I just try to read it with the cover in my lap so that people can\'t see what I am reading.</li>\n	<li>In Warsaw airport, an American man says to another man with a child: are you speaking Russian to her or Polish? (Really!? American man--think about it?!)</li>\n	<li>When airplanes land successfully in Eastern Europe, Eastern Europeans clap. I find this totally disconcerting.  <!--more-->I actually expect that you will successfully land the plane. That\'s what I am paying you for. I don\'t think that I should have to clap that you actually did this.  I clap for soloists at the orchestra or theater performances but for landing an airplane? That\'s not my thing. But it does make you take pause and think about the Eastern European psyche.</li>\n	<li>To the American guy trying to teach a Polish woman about the \"10 super foods,\" she spent most of the conversation with a confused look on her face.  I think that she understood spinach, walnuts and blue berries but your explanation of barley stunk.  \"Um... barley, you can go to the store and buy it.\" So that\'s it? That\'s all your giving this poor woman listening to you go on and on about super-foods?! You can buy it in the grocery store?</li>\n	<li>Then there was the mom and dad sitting next to me on the trans-Atlantic flight whose baby threw-up on herself at the end of the flight. Why didn\'t you change her clothes. I don\'t want to smell anyone\'s vomit for the rest of the flight.  Granted you may be used to baby spit-up but this was more than just spit-up.  I am sorry that your two year old has never flown before but I think the polite thing is to change your baby\'s clothes so the rest of us aren\'t forced to smell the vomit.</li>\n	<li>Oh, and at some point in here I over heard yet another American man telling a young man sitting next to him that he\'s going to be marrying a Ukrainian girl.  A really nice girl that he met through friends of friends. I heard him saying this and it made my skin crawl--another white man \"saving\" a Ukrainian girl and he was so proud of himself.  I am not sure which one was worse the pride or the bragging.</li>\n	<li>For the first time ever, I sat next to a woman carrying on a dog.  The dog barking was 5 times worse than a baby crying. It was bad. I hate that I am about to write this but, here it comes, give me a crying baby any day.  Can you not live without your dog for a few days around Christmas?</li>\n</ul>\nAll of this said, it\'s nice to be back in the States and so very close to home.  I am signing off now so that I can go and track down a coffee.','Traveling around Europe and the US','','publish','open','open','','traveling-around-europe-and-the-us','','','2009-12-23 01:11:57','2009-12-22 22:11:57','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1644',0,'post','',3),(1650,1,'2009-12-27 23:08:06','2009-12-27 20:08:06','','Emigh Tree','Our Christmas Tree','inherit','open','open','','img_1531','','','2009-12-27 23:08:06','2009-12-27 20:08:06','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1531.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1653,1,'2009-12-28 03:59:25','2009-12-28 00:59:25','','Rakiya and me','Rakiya and me','inherit','open','open','','img_1710','','','2009-12-28 03:59:25','2009-12-28 00:59:25','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1710.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1654,1,'2009-12-28 04:01:53','2009-12-28 01:01:53','','Homemade Rakiya','Homemade Rakiya','inherit','open','open','','img_1700','','','2009-12-28 04:01:53','2009-12-28 01:01:53','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1700.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1656,1,'2009-12-28 04:09:35','2009-12-28 01:09:35','','Coffee Perk','My Walla Walla coffee shop','inherit','open','open','','img_1377','','','2009-12-28 04:09:35','2009-12-28 01:09:35','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1377.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1657,1,'2009-12-28 04:17:05','2009-12-28 01:17:05','','Candy Counter','The candy counter','inherit','open','open','','img_1380','','','2009-12-28 04:17:05','2009-12-28 01:17:05','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1380.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1658,1,'2009-12-28 04:18:49','2009-12-28 01:18:49','','Christmas Candy','Christmas Candy','inherit','open','open','','img_1382','','','2009-12-28 04:18:49','2009-12-28 01:18:49','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1382.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1661,1,'2009-12-28 04:24:32','2009-12-28 01:24:32','','Christmas lights','Sharpstein Manor decorated in lights','inherit','open','open','','img_1686','','','2009-12-28 04:24:32','2009-12-28 01:24:32','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1662,1,'2009-12-28 04:27:35','2009-12-28 01:27:35','','Me and Christmas','Me and Christmas','inherit','open','open','','img_1690','','','2009-12-28 04:27:35','2009-12-28 01:27:35','',1646,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1690.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1646,1,'2009-12-28 04:34:19','2009-12-28 01:34:19','[caption id=\"attachment_1658\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Christmas Candy\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1382.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1658\" title=\"Christmas Candy \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1382.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWell, I\'ve been in Walla Walla now for about four days--my sleep schedule has been completely out of whack, I am hungry at the strangest times and I am beginning to feel like I am going to need a vacation from my vacation. Still it\'s good to be home.\n\nI\'ve been busy these past few days. I\'ve been spending lots of time with my family. I had to sort and wrap all of the presents I brought home for my family. We celebrated both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with lots of eating and gift giving. I had to catch up on some bad American television, visit my favorite local coffee shop, candy shop and shoe shop and I stayed up late last night to have a couple of beers with high school friends.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1656\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Walla Walla coffee shop\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1377.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1656\" title=\"Coffee Perk \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1657\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Bright&#39;s Candy counter\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1380.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1657\" title=\"Candy Counter \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1380.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s been a whirlwind of go, go, go, and eat, eat, eat while trying not to fall asleep while doing either.<!--more-->\n\nHere are the highlights.\n\nI \"smuggled\" some homemade rakiya into the country.  It\'s quince and made by one of the guards at school. You can see his picture (and his wife) on the coke bottle turned rakiya bottle below.  He was kind enough to give me a bottle.  He and his wife have also promised to find me a handsome Bulgarian husband who has a good sense of humor and who wont hit me (his words, not mine) but this hasn\'t come through yet.  At least the rakiya has.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1654\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Homemade Rakiya \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1700.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1654\" title=\"Homemade Rakiya \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1700.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis allowed for us to partake in a little bit of holiday cheer Bulgaria-style with some homemade rakiya.  My dAd was pumped to try some after watching hours and hours of the food-travel guy Anthony Bourdain and my MoM had already tried rakiya during her travels this summer in Bulgaria.  My little sister however shuddered and spluttered on her first sip of the stuff. It was great fun.  Now I understand why the Bulgarians like watching foreigners drink the stuff so much.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1653\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Rakiya and me\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1710.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1653\" title=\"Rakiya and me \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1710.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI also made my dad drive me around Walla Walla to take pictures of the different houses decorated to the nines in Christmas lights.  This is a tradition that looks even more absurd to me after living abroad for over a year.  But at the same time, there is something very, very American about it.  It warmed my heart to be taking pictures while my mind was wondering why do we spend time, energy and money decorating our houses like overgrown-gingerbread houses?\n\nThen I realized that we do it because it\'s wonderful. The following pictures I think will prove my point.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1661\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Sharpstein Manor decorated in lights\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1661 \" title=\"Christmas lights \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1662\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and Christmas \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1690.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1662\" title=\"Me and Christmas \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1690.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]','Christmas Time in Walla Walla','','publish','open','open','','christmas-time-in-walla-walla','','','2009-12-28 04:34:19','2009-12-28 01:34:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1646',0,'post','',1),(1667,1,'2009-12-28 04:45:33','2009-12-28 01:45:33','','Laht Neppur','Me, my brother and my sister at Laht Neppur','inherit','open','open','','img_1468','','','2009-12-28 04:45:33','2009-12-28 01:45:33','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1468.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1668,1,'2009-12-28 04:52:03','2009-12-28 01:52:03','','Beer Samples','Beer Samples!','inherit','open','open','','img_1434','','','2009-12-28 04:52:03','2009-12-28 01:52:03','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1434.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1671,1,'2009-12-28 05:05:26','2009-12-28 02:05:26','','Nick and Char','','inherit','open','open','','img_1440','','','2009-12-28 05:05:26','2009-12-28 02:05:26','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1440.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1672,1,'2009-12-28 05:07:30','2009-12-28 02:07:30','','Nick and Char 1','','inherit','open','open','','img_1441','','','2009-12-28 05:07:30','2009-12-28 02:07:30','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1441.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1673,1,'2009-12-28 05:10:13','2009-12-28 02:10:13','','Nick and Char 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_1442','','','2009-12-28 05:10:13','2009-12-28 02:10:13','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1442.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1674,1,'2009-12-28 05:11:25','2009-12-28 02:11:25','','Beer Tasting','Beer Tasting','inherit','open','open','','img_1467','','','2009-12-28 05:11:25','2009-12-28 02:11:25','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1467.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1678,1,'2009-12-28 05:51:30','2009-12-28 02:51:30','','Carolyn and Kellie','','inherit','open','open','','img_1445','','','2009-12-28 05:51:30','2009-12-28 02:51:30','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1445.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1679,1,'2009-12-28 05:53:34','2009-12-28 02:53:34','','Carolyn and Kellie 1','','inherit','open','open','','img_1459','','','2009-12-28 05:53:34','2009-12-28 02:53:34','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1459.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1681,1,'2009-12-28 05:57:58','2009-12-28 02:57:58','','Carolyn and Kellie 2','','inherit','open','open','','img_1461','','','2009-12-28 05:57:58','2009-12-28 02:57:58','',1666,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1461.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1666,1,'2009-12-28 06:00:39','2009-12-28 03:00:39','[caption id=\"attachment_1674\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Beer Tasting\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1467.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1674\" title=\"Beer Tasting \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1467.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOne of my new favorite things to do in Walla Walla is to duck out on wine tasting and go to taste beer instead. The first time I went was a couple of years ago when my dAd got my siblings and me lined up to drive to Waitsburg to check out <a href=\"http://www.lahtneppur.com/\">Laht Neppur</a>. Now driving over to Waitsburg for beer has become a Christmas tradition (rumor also has it that Waitsburg is one of the 10 best small towns in America so it\'s pretty hard not to want to drive to Waitsburg for beer given a reputation like that--and it\'s only 25 minutes or so from Walla Walla).  This year however we ditched our parents, aunts and uncles and headed out--my brother, sister and my brother\'s girlfriend.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1667\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me, my brother and my sister at Laht Neppur\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1468.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1667\" title=\"Laht Neppur\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1468.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt doesn\'t look like much from the outside.  It more or less looks like an glorified-overgrown garage with a big yellow sign over the door.  Once inside there\'s a wood burning stove, some wooden picnic tables and peanut shells all over the floor but again it\'s not much to look at.  That\'s okay because the beer is good.<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1668\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Beer Samples!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1434.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1668\" title=\"Beer Samples \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1434.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWe are creatures of habit so we order two beer samplers and eat both peanuts and pretzels.  The peanuts are great fun because you just get to through you peanut shells on the floor.  I tried to stack them up in front of me on the table until my brother looked at me, rolled his eyes and reminded me I can toss them on the floor.  Thanks. There really is something very satisfying about throwing things on the floor. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1440.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1671\" title=\"Nick and Char \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1440.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1441.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1672\" title=\"Nick and Char 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1441.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1442.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1673\" title=\"Nick and Char 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1442.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>This trip though we don\'t order hot dogs like we normally do. Gasp, gasp. Instead, I split a pizza with my brother Nick\'s girlfriend and Nick and Charlotte, our sister, share an order of jalapeno poppers.\n\nThen we got down to the business of tasting beer, joking around and trying to pick out the two beers we would take home.  This of course is always the hardest part. I like dark beer, Charlotte doesn\'t, Nick like fruity beer but I don\'t and so on and so on.<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1445.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1678\" title=\"Carolyn and Kellie\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1459.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1679\" title=\"Carolyn and Kellie 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1459.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>\n\n<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1461.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1681\" title=\"Carolyn and Kellie 2\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1461.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>It was pretty easy for us to decide on the winter warmer beer.  It\'s got a warm well-rounded flavor with hints of nutmeg.  In a word, a perfect Christmas beer.  The second choice is harder to negotiate.  I want the oatmeal sout but in the end I am out-voted and we end up with a beer that has hints of strawberry.  Needless to say, we drink the winter warmer right away and are left with the strawberry ale.  I poured the rest of it out last night--flat and still a little sickly sweet.','Beer Tasting: Laht Neppur','','publish','open','open','','beer-tasting-laht-neppur','','','2009-12-28 06:00:39','2009-12-28 03:00:39','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1666',0,'post','',0),(1697,1,'2009-12-29 20:21:08','2009-12-29 17:21:08','','Neighborhood house','\"Standard\" Christmas Lights','inherit','open','open','','img_1653','','','2009-12-29 20:21:08','2009-12-29 17:21:08','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1653.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1699,1,'2009-12-29 20:25:42','2009-12-29 17:25:42','','Reindeer Christmas','Reindeer on the Lawn','inherit','open','open','','img_1665','','','2009-12-29 20:25:42','2009-12-29 17:25:42','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1665.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1700,1,'2009-12-29 20:28:34','2009-12-29 17:28:34','','My favorite house!','My Favorite House!','inherit','open','open','','img_1682','','','2009-12-29 20:28:34','2009-12-29 17:28:34','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1682.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1702,1,'2009-12-29 20:32:55','2009-12-29 17:32:55','','IMG_1686','','inherit','open','open','','img_1686-2','','','2009-12-29 20:32:55','2009-12-29 17:32:55','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_16861.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1703,1,'2009-12-29 20:38:34','2009-12-29 17:38:34','','Look at these lights!','Look at these lights!','inherit','open','open','','img_1698','','','2009-12-29 20:38:34','2009-12-29 17:38:34','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1698.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1705,1,'2009-12-29 20:43:39','2009-12-29 17:43:39','','Me and Mickey','Me and Mickey','inherit','open','open','','img_1693','','','2009-12-29 20:43:39','2009-12-29 17:43:39','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1693.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1706,1,'2009-12-29 20:46:46','2009-12-29 17:46:46','','My House','My House at Christmas','inherit','open','open','','img_1536','','','2009-12-29 20:46:46','2009-12-29 17:46:46','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1536.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1708,1,'2009-12-29 20:51:54','2009-12-29 17:51:54','','American Flag and Christmas lights','American Flag and Christmas Lights','inherit','open','open','','img_1628','','','2009-12-29 20:51:54','2009-12-29 17:51:54','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1628.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1709,1,'2009-12-29 20:54:16','2009-12-29 17:54:16','','At the Manger','At the Manger (There\'s baby Jesus, too. I took the picture on Dec 26th!)','inherit','open','open','','img_1618','','','2009-12-29 20:54:16','2009-12-29 17:54:16','',1694,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1618.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1694,1,'2009-12-29 21:08:55','2009-12-29 18:08:55','[caption id=\"attachment_1661\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Sharpstein Manor decorated in lights\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1661\" title=\"Christmas lights \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1686.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEarlier in December, I wrote a post about <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/christmas-lights/\">Christmas lights in Sofia</a>.  I was struck by the white lights on the national bank building, which were hung very neatly, and the blue lights in parliament, that looked like a 14 year-old hung them.  One of the comments I received asked me this:\n<blockquote>Can you share some pictures with US Christmas decorations?\n\nHappy holidays!</blockquote>\nAnd truth be told, I don\'t get lots of requests for blog posts and I love Christmas lights so I am happy to oblige.  (There were a few pictures in a post two days ago but today there are many, many more.)<!--more-->\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1697\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"&quot;Standard&quot; Christmas Lights\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1653.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1697\" title=\"Neighborhood house\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1653.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAs soon as I read the comment, I knew that there was at least one house that would make it onto the blog. It\'s a house from my childhood, that is broken up into apartments and they decorate the entire building to the nines every year.  Rumor has it that in order to sign a lease, you have to agree to participate in decorating at Christmas time.  I have no idea if this is true but it does seem a little crazy.  This said they do a great job.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1699\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Reindeer on the Lawn\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1665.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1699\" title=\"Reindeer Christmas\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1665.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1700\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Favorite House!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1682.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1700\" title=\"My favorite house! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI haven\'t seen the house in a few years but it was great.  It made me really happy I was on the hunt for houses with lights.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1703\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Look at these lights!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1698.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1703\" title=\"Look at these lights!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1698.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1705\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and Mickey\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1693.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1705\" title=\"Me and Mickey\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1693.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt my house, my parents have never been the serious-over the top decorators.  When I was younger and we lived in a different house my parents would string lights along the gutter and the peak of the house--this requires time and a ladder.  Now my parents have scaled back a little bit and we\'ve got lights around some of our first floor windows--no ladder required.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1706\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My House at Christmas\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1536.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1706\" title=\"My House\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1536.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nLuckily, there are other houses that are over the top in their decorating.  I am not really sure where this obsession came from.  I assume that it\'s a post World War II thing--lots of young couples, new houses and a desire to show off.  Today, there are decorating competitions and entire neighborhoods get organized to decorate (and to show-off).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1708\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"American Flag and Christmas Lights\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1628.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1708\" title=\"American Flag and Christmas lights\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1628.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1709\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"At the Manger (There&#39;s baby Jesus, too. I took the picture on Dec 26th!)\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1618.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1709\" title=\"At the Manger \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1618.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe thing that stands out to me is the mix of lights, Santas, reindeer, religious scenes and even signs that grace people\'s front yards.  It\'s not something that I\'ve seen anywhere else.  This is, I think, a piece of Americana--the mix of high and low, the over-abundance of lights, the religious and the non-religious, the serious and the playful.\n\nAll in all, I think the whole thing is great.  It\'s American through and through.','Christmas Lights in Walla Walla','','publish','open','open','','christmas-lights-in-walla-walla','','','2009-12-29 21:08:55','2009-12-29 18:08:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1694',0,'post','',0),(1719,1,'2009-12-30 19:40:20','2009-12-30 16:40:20','','Me at Merchants','Me at Merchants (one last time)','inherit','open','open','','img_1728','','','2009-12-30 19:40:20','2009-12-30 16:40:20','',1717,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1728.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1717,1,'2009-12-30 19:49:27','2009-12-30 16:49:27','[caption id=\"attachment_1719\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"Me at Merchants (one last time)\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1728.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1719\" title=\"Me at Merchants \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1728.jpg?w=200\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThere\'s a piece of me that would like to think that things will stay the same in Walla Walla forever.  I like the idea of a nice little town with a handful of elementary schools two middle schools and a high school with football on Friday night. This said, I also like the idea of coming home and wine tasting--something that was nearly unimaginable 10 years ago when I graduated from high school.  So it\'s not that I actually want or expect that things will never change, it\'s just that I like the idea of a thriving small town with a vibrant downtown.\n\nBut things do change, and while Walla Walla is lucky enough to be a small town and to still be thriving something that\'s becoming more and more uncommon, I have to prepare myself for the fact that nothing stays the same forever.  So now I must say goodbye to Merchants.  Merchants is (was) a deli/bakery/coffee shop not far from the intersection of Main Street and First Street--a shop at the heart of our little downtown.  My dAd tells me Merchants has been for sale for five years. Thus, I am sure this sale has come as a relief to the owner but for the rest of us, it\'s come as a blow. On Sunday, it was announced that Merchants is closing shop.  Merchants will be no more (as of Thursday).  The space has been purchased by another local restaurant T. Maccarone\'s an Italian place.  It\'s unclear to me what the thrust of the new shop/space/cafe/restaurant will be but it\'s not as if the Merchants storefront will sit empty on Main Street--it just won\'t be Merchants any more.\n\nSo earlier this week, still in a foodcoma from Christmas, my family and I popped into Merchants for a final cinnamon roll and a coffee. The cinnamon roll was delicious--as usual but the experience was bittersweet.  It was a reminder that no matter how much you\'d like things to stay the same they can\'t.  Merchants was an institution downtown but luckily for us Merchants didn\'t make Walla Walla, Walla Walla.  Good-bye, good-bye.','Goodbye Merchants','','publish','open','open','','goodbye-merchants','','','2009-12-30 19:49:27','2009-12-30 16:49:27','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1717',0,'post','',0),(1734,1,'2009-12-31 00:38:04','2009-12-30 21:38:04','','Homemade Rakiya','Homemade Rakiya in a coke bottle','inherit','open','open','','img_1719','','','2009-12-31 00:38:04','2009-12-30 21:38:04','',1723,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1719.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1723,1,'2009-12-31 00:45:23','2009-12-30 21:45:23','Homemade is a word that seems to have moved from thrift to chic.  In the States we\'re in the middle of a homemade revolution and it\'s not your grandmother\'s lumpy knit sweater or canned green beans. Frankly, I am not even sure it\'s about saving money. It\'s about quality, taste, craft and the right to brag that you make it yourself.  It\'s cable knit sweaters, wraps and fingerless gloves on <a href=\"https://www.ravelry.com\">ravelry</a>; it\'s blue birds, necklaces, purses, magnets, coasters and whatever else the mind can dream up on <a href=\"http://www.etsy.com/\">etsy</a>; and it\'s blogs aplenty focused on innovative canning, pickling and preserving methods, recipes and techniques for our fruits and veggies as we dream of returning to the kitchen and away from flavorless cans from the grocery store.  It\'s a homemade revival and the twenty-somethings seem to be leading the way.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1734\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Homemade Rakiya in a coke bottle\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1719.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1734\" title=\"Homemade Rakiya \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/img_1719.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was asked recently what my favorite word in Bulgarian is.  My vocabulary isn\'t that big so it\'s not some very clever, smart-person word.  In fact it\'s a pretty common word: домашен (homemade).  I think that I like it so much because it\'s a word that when it\'s paired with a noun like lyutenitsa, rakiya, jam, wine and you know that the noun is going to be better because of it.  It\'s unique, it\'s interesting and it might just take your breath away (this may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the wine or rakiya you\'re drinking).\n\nAnyhow just this week, the New York Times wrote an article on this <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/22/world/international-uk-bulgaria-food-winter.html?_r=1\">homemade phenomenon in Bulgaria</a>. This article of course isn\'t a sexy article about the revival of homemade in Bulgaria.  Rather it\'s a fairly staid and slightly depressing article about homemade in Bulgaria. <!--more-->But then again there isn\'t anything very sexy about having to can and preserve fruits and veggies during communism so that you had enough to fruits and vegetables to eat during the winter.\n\nHere are some statistics from the article:\n<ul>\n	<li>In Bulgaria, food bills consume 40 percent of wages, produced some 208 million jars of various provisions or an average of 100 jars per household in 2008.</li>\n	<li>For many Bulgarians, whose average monthly wages of 300 euros ($430) and pensions of 80 euros are the lowest in the European Union, it remains a lifeline particularly as recession puts an end to 12 years of growth.</li>\n	<li>The share of home-made jams, roasted peppers and eggplants, pickles and others in the total consumption of food fell to some 15 percent last year from 39 percent in 1998.</li>\n</ul>\nThese numbers begin to reveal the differences in homemade in Bulgaria and in the States.  In the States, homemade has moved from necessity to luxury while in Bulgaria homemade is still about thrift, about saving money, about survival. Yes, there is a certain level of pride in it.  My twentysomething Bulgarian friends regularly brag about their grandfather\'s excellent homemade rakiya or tasty homemade wine from a little village outside of Sofia or come back to the city with homemade jams but on a whole they are not making it themselves.\n\nBut I am not criticizing them.  Far from it.  I get why they aren\'t lining up to learn how to make lyutenitsa or rakiya.  While delicious, making lyutenitsa or pickles at home seems to me to signal one of three things.  First, either you\'re doing poorly financially and cannot afford to buy pickles/lyutenitsa/jam in at the grocery store.  Or, second, it\'s a sign that you don\'t trust the current times and while you may not have a lot of trust in the economy or the government who wants the reminder of this hanging around on your shelves in the form of jars that you slaved over a hot stove to make? And finally, it might just be that pickling, canning and preserving is simply hard work and you don\'t want to do that and I don\'t begrudge you that choice at all.\n\nIt\'s clearly one thing to brag about your grandfather\'s rakiya and another thing all together to make lyutenitsa just in case.  And it\'s a whole another thing to knit a homemade sweater with expensive lambs wool just for the pleasure of it or to make small batches of jam from local berries simply because you can. Me? I like making things (sewing, knitting, paper stars). I also like eating homemade jams--the fruit tastes like sunshine in the middle of winter.  But I have to say: I am glad, very glad, that my friends and family don\'t depend on me to supply them with these things.','Homemade','','publish','open','open','','homemade','','','2009-12-31 00:45:23','2009-12-30 21:45:23','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1723',0,'post','',2),(1741,1,'2010-01-01 06:17:17','2010-01-01 03:17:17','','Walla Walla','At home in Walla Walla','inherit','open','open','','img_1384','','','2010-01-01 06:17:17','2010-01-01 03:17:17','',1739,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_1384.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1739,1,'2010-01-01 06:21:11','2010-01-01 03:21:11','[caption id=\"attachment_1741\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"At home in Walla Walla \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_1384.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1741\" title=\"Walla Walla \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_1384.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI am at home waiting for 2010 to reach me.  I turns out that my Bulgarian friends have been enjoying the new year for slightly more than five hours and here I am in Walla Walla still waiting.  Now you don\'t have to feel too badly for me because I am at home feet up, enjoying a gin and club soda with plenty of lime, wearing my new purple fleece lined sweatshirt and trying to decide when it\'s okay for me to go to bed.<!--more-->\n\nI\'ve decided that I should try to make it until 9pm--that\'s 12 midnight in New York City so this seems acceptable to me.  I mean really this is just a night more or less like the ten other before them.  It\'s not like waiting up to welcome 2010 in is going to somehow bring me more luck, more love or more wealth than if I went to bed and greeted the new year in my dreams.\n\nDon\'t get me wrong, I like to celebrate, to get dressed up, to sip a fancy cocktail and to dance but it\'s snowy, icy and cold in Walla Walla and I\'m not feeling it.  I am doing just what I want to do (though I\'d like to have on a slightly thicker pair of socks right now).  I just don\'t think that there\'s only one way to welcome the new year and I don\'t think that 2010 will be somehow less fun than it otherwise would have been had I gone out.\n\nProbably I am now simply trying to justify my sweatshirt, glasses and hanging out with my parents on December 31st but luckily for me I like them, I like being comfortable and I am happy to be in Walla Walla for the holidays.  But I\'ll have you know that none of this guarantees that I\'ll be able to stay awake past 9pm.\n\nStill, I am wishing each of you the best in 2010 no matter what time you celebrate.','Just a Night','','publish','open','open','','just-a-night','','','2010-01-01 06:21:11','2010-01-01 03:21:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1739',0,'post','',1),(1746,1,'2010-01-02 05:45:31','2010-01-02 02:45:31','While other people are spending January 1st, watching football, nursing hangovers, starting off on New Year Resolutions and cleaning up after the holidays--I am getting ready to fly back to Sofia.  I am doing laundry, buying a few last-minute things (headphones, airplane snacks, virus protection and books for my kindle), cleaning up my room, drinking a beer with my dAd while watching a little bit of the Rose Bowl (a New Year\'s day football tradition) and trying to get everything back into my suitcase.\n\nSo I am not doing any year end-review business like my top posts, best photos or most memorable moments nor am I writing any resolutions or welcome 2010 posts. I figure that there will be time to do this latter. And luckily for me it gives me a little bit more time to consider my 2010 resolutions.\n\nOh, I\'ve also been fighting with my dAd about the year 2010. How\'s a girl to say this date: two-thousand and ten or twenty-ten?<!--more-->\n\nAside from this current debate over the date, I am focused on the business of getting back to Sofia.  I fly out of Walla Walla tomorrow morning and I\'ll arrive in Sofia on Sunday night (not so bad, considering).  I am trying to get what I need and leave the rest. It\'s been a challenge in my life. I like to collect things.  I think I might even have a collecting gene my dAd after all owns an antique store but I am trying to live more simply and to rely as little as possible on things.  This time though I\'ve double checked that I am bring pants home with me. After my surprise this summer where I only got back to Sofia with one pair--this is high on my \"to-double-check-list.\"\n\nAnyhow, it\'s been a great holiday season and I am glad that I made it back to the States and I am glad I was able to check in with so many friends and a large part of my extended family.  Truth be told, I am kind of ready to get back to my life in Sofia.  I\'ve been thinking about what I\'ll be teaching on Monday and hoping that I have all of the photocopies I need.  I\'ve been thinking about the travel I want to do in Bulgaria (and around Europe) and when I\'ll have a chance to do it.  And I am anxious to get back to my apartment and my friends in Sofia.\n\nHome again, home again jiggity, jig (thank-you Mother Goose).','January 1st','','publish','open','open','','january-1st','','','2010-01-02 05:45:31','2010-01-02 02:45:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1746',0,'post','',3),(1751,1,'2010-01-04 20:01:38','2010-01-04 17:01:38','I am more or less back in Sofia.  I am here. My things are here.  But my head seems somewhere else. Man or man, I am tired, my face is dry, I\'ve got a lot of unpacking to do and I should probably think about making dinner--because for some strange reason my tummy is grumbling.\n\nWell maybe it\'s not so strange that my tummy is grumbling.  When I woke up this morning I wasn\'t hungry (and anyway, after two weeks away from Sofia I didn\'t have any groceries in my fridge). When I got to school, I planned on having a large coffee and a muffin.  Only, we didn\'t have power this morning.  Luckily we had heat and my classroom has windows but by 9am I after only a few hours of sleep last night I was dying for a coffee.  By the time lunch rolled around I was hungry.  I ate a little bit but I was more tired that hungry. Now I am a hungry-mungry. Oh, jet-lag.<!--more-->\n\nAfter school I stopped by the grocery store for a few things.  Now at least I\'ve got some fruit and veggies in my fridge.  Then I stopped by the shop downstairs for some new face cream.  How one airplane ride can dry out my face this fast is beyond me but I hope that my new lotion does the trick.\n\nWhen I got home, I looked at my apartment and thought: someone broke in. Then I realized that my suitcase had just exploded all over my apartment.  I thought about trying to put some of my things away but that seemed like too much work.  So I didn\'t. That happens sometimes.\n\nSo here I am writing this post, drinking a big glass of water and trying to get myself geared up to make some dinner.  I am contemplating a cheese sandwich with sautéed mushrooms.  Maybe I\'ll also eat some kiwis (the fruit not the bird) rather maybe I should say eat a couple of kiwi.\n\nWhat I know for sure is that it\'s going to be an early night.  After dinner I am going to curl up with my new kindle.  I doubt I\'ll be able to read more than a chapter before I fall asleep.','Back in Sofia','','publish','open','open','','back-in-sofia','','','2010-01-04 20:01:38','2010-01-04 17:01:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1751',0,'post','',2),(1753,1,'2010-01-05 21:58:52','2010-01-05 18:58:52','This morning I had serious doubts about my ability to take care of myself. I burned my breakfast. I couldn\'t find socks that match. I checked the weather online and it said: rain with a chance of snow but apparently I didn\'t bother to look out my window.  Because if I had, I would have seen that it was actually snowing already and maybe then I would have put on pants rather than wearing a corduroy skirt.  I don\'t have my winter hat right now because I left it at my favorite coffee shop two and half weeks ago during snow storm.  Don\'t ask me how I made it out of the coffee shop without it--considering it was snowing two and a half weeks ago as well.\n\nOf course, the reasonable thing would be to blame jet lag.  But I think that when you\'re suffering from jet lag you\'re much, much less likely to be a reasonable person.  I read once that it takes two days to recover for every time zone.  I just did the math.  Impossibly the math suggests that I\'ve got 20 days of recovery ahead of me.  This seems much too long to me.  I am giving myself three more days.  That makes for five days total.  It\'s going to be mind over matter.  Five days--nine plus hours of sleep a day.  That will have to do it as I am unwilling to commit more than that to recovering from jet lag.\n\nSo in order to get my requisite nine-plus hours of sleep and to read my kindle for a little bit before I fall asleep, I\'ve got to sign off now. Good night.\n\nOh and for anyone not living in Sofia. The rain with a chance of snow turned into 5 or more inches of snow.  No rain in sight.\n\nAnd the water\'s out in Mladost near the Billa. <em>Great. </em>It\'s not like I needed to wash my dishes tonight or anything.','Me, Snow and a healthy dose of jet lag','','publish','open','open','','me-snow-and-a-healthy-dose-of-jet-lag','','','2010-01-05 21:58:52','2010-01-05 18:58:52','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1753',0,'post','',1),(1760,1,'2010-01-06 17:53:50','2010-01-06 14:53:50','I had my first fight with a taxi driver coming back from the airport on Sunday night.  Here\'s the story: I called an OK taxi on my way to airport when I left in December.  It was maybe a 6 or 7 leva ride.  I paid this gladly.\n\nWhen I climbed into an OK taxi at the airport on Sunday night after 24+ hours of traveling I wasn\'t paying attention and the driver didn\'t start the meter. In hindsight, it serves me right.\n\nWell, we talk in Bulgarian about the weather, about Frankfurt, about the States and the economic crisis (I basically said the crisis wasn\'t good and that I think things are getting better--I am not sure I could actually say much more about the economic crisis in English but I do know that I could say it more eloquently than I did but I digress).  It\'s about two minutes from my house that I glance down and notice that the meter isn\'t running. <em>Great. <!--more--></em>\n\nNothing I can do now, I give the driver more specific directions to my apartment. We stop, he unloads my bags and I ask him how much.  He tells me 15 leva.  Which if you knew where I lived in relationship to the airport, you would know this is laughable.  It is twice as much as I should pay.  I say no. In Bulgarian. At this point the driver tells me the price in English. I say no. In English.\n\nHe tells me it\'s the New Year. <em>Really? How does this effect the price of the taxi?! </em>I get out 8 leva from my wallet. I am willing to pay this much at 12 midnight.  What I want right now is to climb into my bed and sleep for three days. I don\'t want to fight about the price of the taxi ride.\n\nGet this. The taxi driver then counters my 8 leva offer with 10 leva.  <em>Are we really negotiating the price of the ride now?!</em> I shake my head no.  All I am willing to pay is 8 leva.  I hand this to him. He takes it.\n\nI am glad.  I am glad I didn\'t have to pay more, I am glad I didn\'t have to yell, I am glad I am home.  I am glad that this whole thing is over.  I am out of the taxi, I have possession of my bags and I can go to bed. I am glad for all of this.\n\nThis is also when I make a mental note to never get into a taxi without confirming that the meter is running.  The thought also passes through my head: I guess this is why taxi drivers in Bulgaria have such a bad reputation. Still I am glad it\'s not as bad as some of the horror stories I\'ve heard.','My Taxi &quot;Fight&quot;','','publish','open','open','','my-taxi-fight','','','2010-01-06 17:53:50','2010-01-06 14:53:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1760',0,'post','',6),(1766,1,'2010-01-07 17:52:38','2010-01-07 14:52:38','New Year Resolutions are a long standing tradition in the States. I fully realize that I was supposed to think of this on December 31st and get started on them right away on January 1, 2010 but frankly, I was asleep. I figure that now\'s just as good a time to think up and get started on some new resolutions for 2010. This morning when I started thinking about this project I figured I should try to remember last years resolutions.  I couldn\'t. I don\'t this bodes well for my 2009 resolutions.\n\nI thought maybe I posted resolutions in January 2009 on my blog so I just checked this out.  But nope, I either didn\'t make resolutions last year, made forgettable resolutions or I simply didn\'t care enough to write them down. As such, this year I am resolving to make resolutions and to write them down.  (I am going to be able to cross this one off my checklist pretty shortly.)\n<ol>\n	<li>My on going resolution: learn Bulgarian. But I think that this is too big of a resolution for one girl so I\'ve broken down into a more manageable piece.  <strong>Blog once a week in Bulgarian</strong>.  I\'ve written a few posts in Bulgarian but I\'ve never been very regular about doing so--because, well, it\'s hard.</li>\n	<li><strong>Cook one new dish a week</strong>. I like to cook but it\'s hard sometimes.  I work a lot, it\'s hard to get motivated to cook just for myself and I make excuses like I can\'t find all of the ingredients I am looking for.  I need to stop being lazy, get over the fact that I am just cooking for one and just cook.  I need to get out of my cooking rut and make something new, experiment, live a little.</li>\n	<li>I love to read. Heck, I am an English major but I\'ve stopped reading as much as I would like to for me.  Don\'t get me wrong, I am reading it\'s just that it\'s often re-reading for school.  I\'ve got a kindle now and I need to use it. <strong> Read more</strong>.</li>\n	<li>Now that I am busier this new school year than I was last year I\'ve been bad, really bad, about staying in touch with my friends. Thus,<strong> </strong>I want to<strong> keep in touch with my American friends and see more of my Bulgarian friends. </strong>I\'d also be glad to make some new friends!</li>\n	<li>I\'d like to get in the habit of writing more regularly.  <!--more-->This past summer my not-grandfather-grandfather told my mom that \"there\'s no point in getting out of bed, if I haven\'t written a new blog post.\"  He was being overly dramatic but I agree.  I am going to <strong>write at least 24 posts a month</strong>. Last year in January I wrote 24 posts in one month. That\'s the most ever.  So this is my challenge.</li>\n	<li>Explore Sofia more. Yep. Now that I live in Mladost I am much less likely to head into the city center on a week night for a concert, the ballet, new exhibits or even a drink with a friend.  But the thing is I like culture. I like feeling cultured. I like supporting the arts. I like people who like culture and the arts.  <strong>Do more cultural things</strong>.  This will be easy seeing as in the last six months I think I can count the cultural things I did on one hand (and for the record, I am embarrassed by this).</li>\n	<li><strong>Post a few new photos each month to flickr</strong>. Last summer, I bought a new digital camera (which I love). But then I got busy and lazy about posting photos to flickr. Then I felt overwhelmed by the number of new photos I had so I just didn\'t do anything with them. (Don\'t ask me why.)</li>\n	<li>This resolution is about getting out of my current restaurant rut. <strong>Try new restaurants</strong>. I am in many ways a creature of habit. I know what I like and that\'s where I am inclined to go.  I think that there\'s a lot to like in Sofia, I just need to get out there and find it.</li>\n	<li><strong>Make plans to travel.</strong> There are lots of places I would like to go and things that I would like to see but sometimes it just seems like too much work to book tickets, reserve a place to stay and to figure out what to do once I am there.  But, I know this is silly.  I\'m in the perfect location for traveling, I have both the time and the ability to travel so I just need to do it.  Moreover, I do have fun when I am actually traveling it--it\'s just not so fun to plan.</li>\n	<li> <strong>Find a Bulgarian husband</strong>. Ha. I just wanted to make sure that you were reading all the way to then end of this post! Okay, now I feel like I need to make it clear that a Bulgarian husband would not be a bad thing nor am I making fun of Bulgarian husbands; it\'s just that the more time I spend in Bulgaria the more older men and women ask me and tease me about finding a handsome Bulgarian husband as if I can just pick one out.  But of course, it\'s never this easy.  (I also think that I can rile my MoM up about it--she seems to think that I am never coming home again-- and I like to rile her up when I can. Sorry, MoM.)</li>\n</ol>\nFinally, I would like to point out that I don\'t have a single resolution about losing weight, eating less or exercising more.  Don\'t get me wrong, health is important to me and I want to be as healthy as possible in this new year but I am a firm believer in the fact that New Year\'s Resolutions should be about personal development--not exterior appearances.\n\nSo, here\'s to 2010!','10 Resolutions','','publish','open','open','','10-resolutions','','','2010-01-07 17:52:38','2010-01-07 14:52:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1766',0,'post','',8),(1781,1,'2010-01-08 19:42:57','2010-01-08 16:42:57','','DM drugstore','DM drugstore in the Sofia University Metro Station','inherit','open','open','','dsc01383','','','2010-01-08 19:42:57','2010-01-08 16:42:57','',1780,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01383.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1780,1,'2010-01-08 19:46:56','2010-01-08 16:46:56','I stopped into the DM drugstore at the Sofia University metro stop. Um. It\'s amazing. The shop is neat, everything has a place, the shelves are well stocked and there\'s a really good variety of things.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1781\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"DM drugstore in the Sofia University Metro Station\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01383.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1781\" title=\"DM drugstore \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01383.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"666\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI went in not because I needed anything--more just to check it out. It\'s really great. That\'s when I realized my love of the store reinforces my American-ness.  Selection. Good lighting.  The ability to pick what you want off the shelf without having to ask for it. I was in heaven. I bought some hairspray mostly just because I could.\n\nThen I wondered if that made me more German.  Well not the buying hairspray thing--the fact that I liked DM as much as I did. I liked it a lot. Thank-you DM for making my day. Thank-you.','DM--Drugstore','','publish','open','open','','dm-drugstore','','','2010-01-08 19:46:56','2010-01-08 16:46:56','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1780',0,'post','',5),(1786,1,'2010-01-09 11:16:33','2010-01-09 08:16:33','I\'ve said it before but Bulgaria isn\'t a place I grew up dreaming about. But a recent article in <a href=\"http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108690#\">the Economist</a> really got me thinking about it; the article \"The Other\" has the tag line: It is becoming both easier and more difficult to experience the thrill of being an outsider.\n\n<img class=\"alignleft\" title=\"The Economist and the Other (Illustration by C. Corr)\" src=\"http://media.economist.com/images/20091219/D5109XMFO2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"321\" />\n\nThe article is excellent and I\'d encourage you to read it.  It highlights the assumptions philosophers have made of man and home, the rise of travel and foreignness in the 17th century with the development of the nation-state, the fact that there\'s a struggle to feel foreign in America because everyone is foreign (I\'m not sure I agree with this), the differences between foreigner as a self-imposed exile as opposed to the actual exile who cannot return home, and the danger of nostalgia.\n\nMost of us don\'t dream about foreignness.  As American teenagers it\' not a part of the lexicon of dreams we create for ourselves when we are picking out languages to study in high school (Spanish, French, German).  We dream of Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna because they are accessible and maybe later at university we dream of Tokyo, Beijing, Florence, Cairo, and Istanbul our world view has gotten bigger and the exotic becomes normalized. Then when we get the chance to study abroad in college cities like London, Sidney and Cape Town begin to emerge--cities that are foreign but where English is spoken as there\'s something safer but still unknown about places like this. You can still encounter <em>the Other</em>.<!--more-->\n\nBulgaria entered my dreams three years ago when I decided that it was time for a change.  I am not talking about the kind of desire for change that can be solved with a new hair cut, breaking up with a boyfriend, joining a gym, staring graduate school, moving to a new apartment or buying new shoes.  I am talking about the kind of change that turns your world upside down and makes you define yourself, consider who you are and what you want from you life, pushes you to do things that you weren\'t sure you could do and makes you feel alive. When I decided to make a Fulbright application, Bulgaria fit the bill.\n\nDid I know the language? No. The Cyrillic alphabet? Again, no. Did my parents know where Bulgaria was? More or less.  Did I know anyone from Bulgaria? At this point, I didn\'t.  <em>Perfect</em>.\n\nI realize that for many people what I\'ve just written seems absurd. Why apply for a grant to a country that for all intense and purposes you know next to nothing about?  I wanted something new--a bigger challenge; I wasn\'t fed-up with my country just myself I thought I was becoming complacent. What\'s better to shake up this complacency than moving to a new country?\n\nBut the Economist article reminded me that I am following in the footsteps of those foreigners who came before me. It\'s explained that in the 20th century,\n<blockquote>The golden age of genteel foreignness began. The well-off, the artistic, the bored, the adventurous went abroad. (The broad masses went too, as empires, steamships and railways made travel cheaper and easier.) Foreignness was a means of escape—physical, psychological and moral. In another country you could flee easy categorisation by your education, your work, your class, your family, your accent, your politics. You could reinvent yourself, if only in your own mind. You were not caught up in the mundanities of the place you inhabited, any more than you wanted to be. You did not vote for the government, its problems were not your problems. You were irresponsible. Irresponsibility might seem to moralists an unsatisfactory condition for an adult, but in practice it can be a huge relief.</blockquote>\nCertainly, I am adventurous, maybe I was a little bored and I was lucky enough to have the time, opportunity and money to travel.  But I am not trying to escape anything; I am fleeing from my obligations, my family, my life or myself. I am not trying to become someone new or to reinvent myself. I moved to Bulgaria looking for something <em>other</em> than what I\'d been doing but I didn\'t come looking for <em>the Other</em>. I think of myself as a responsible foreigner--someone who asks questions, has a good sense of humor, tries new things, and explores culture, history and politics.\n\nBut am I? I wonder in what ways have I been irresponsible? In what ways am I guilty of being the \"genteel foreigner?\" How do I pick and choose my experiences here in Sofia (and more generally while I am abroad)? And what\'s the trade off? What kinds of choices am I making living abroad that take me further and further away from being American but if I am not American then what?\n\nI don\'t think that I can answer these questions so I am going to conclude here today with a special thanks to the Economist.  Thanks for the article, thanks for making me think about what it means to be a foreigner, and thank-you, kind of, for the small existential crisis you\'ve given me about who I am and what I am doing living abroad.','On being Foreign (in Bulgaria)','','publish','open','open','','on-being-foreign-in-bulgaria','','','2010-01-09 11:16:33','2010-01-09 08:16:33','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1786',0,'post','',2),(1801,1,'2010-01-10 12:42:55','2010-01-10 09:42:55','I am regularly reminded of my own foreignness living here Bulgaria. In the beginning it was overwhelming and today it\'s like my foreignness is lurking waiting to pop-up and surprise me. Interestingly, the more time I\'ve spent here, the more I\'ve acclimated to the quirks and to little surprises that are part of life in Sofia and I feel less foreign and more me.  This is of course the space that your own foreignness sneaks up on you--when you feel less foreign and more yourself.  Then you run headlong into your own  foreignness when you\'re least expecting it.\n\nThese days I\'ve grown accustomed to stray dogs, unreliable costumer service, pickles on my pizza, uneven (or even missing) sidewalks, people who do double takes on the street (and for the record, I still can\'t keep myself from double-checking to make sure that my skirt hasn\'t been tucked into my tights), the never ending traffic jams, and the fact that alcohol can\'t be sold on election day (or the night before).  More or less, I\'ve accepted these things--sure on bad days these things frustrate me but on good days they become part of the charm. I know this.  I am an American living abroad.  This is not America and I wouldn\'t want it to be (even on my bad days).\n\nSomehow though my Americanness isn\'t as obvious to others as I think it must be.  I think that I must wear my Americanness like a badge with my accent, my clothes, and my mannerisms but more often than not Bulgarians I\'ve just met tell me they assumed that I am Dutch, German or maybe even French before they\'d have guessed I am American.  <!--more-->In fact, recently I was at a party and a Bulgarian asked me: are you Bulgarian? I think his question was another way of asking: what are you?/where are you from? In other words, it seems to me that this question was his way of saying: I can tell that you\'re foreign but I don\'t know what you are.\n\nI am an American. For better or worse.  Clearly, I don\'t think of myself as the worst kind of American but there are certainly times where I am uber-aware of my own Americanness.  Oh and yes, I think that my Americanness is a special case of foreignness. I am not just an outsider in Bulgaria; I am an American outsider.  I grew-up seeing, experiencing and learning about the world through a very specific lens. An American one.\n\nSo what follows are a few things that catch me off-guard, remind me of my foreignness, and make me think: Carolyn, you\'re such an <em>American</em>. The italics are important. They emphasize the fact that I know I am making cultural assumptions and judgments based on where I grew up. The thing is, I often don\'t want to be an <em>American</em> but this is a hard thing to unlearn and I am not even sure that I\'d want to if I could.  I guess that it will have to do that I know I am being (and thinking) like an <em>American</em> from time to time\n<ul>\n	<li><strong>The acceptability of drinking beer in public places. </strong>I took the metro from Mladost to the city center recently and there was a young man drinking a beer and reading a beat up book.  I noticed him first because he was reading (see my point below) and then I saw that he was drinking a bottle of beer as well. He kept the bottle tucked between he legs when he was turning pages.  In some ways it looked like the most natural thing in the world and then it hit me: he\'s drinking beer on public transportation, how can he do that? Yep, that\'s an <em>American</em> response.</li>\n	<li><strong>People reading (or not reading) on public transportation</strong>. So I noticed the young man in the story above first because he was reading.  After five years in Washington DC, you begin to judge people by what they\'re reading on public transportation (and nearly everyone is reading)--which newspaper they are reading, what novel, the magazine they are flipping through (the Economist, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, Time).  There\'s an unspoken hierarchy in reading materials. So here I am trying to see what this guy is reading--even though it likely wont mean much to me.  This is either the English teacher in me, the elitist or the <em>American</em> in me that makes me act this way.</li>\n	<li><strong>Working on Saturday to make up for a weekday holiday given by the government</strong>. The <em>American</em> in me doesn\'t understand this at all. The Bulgarians I know seem to shrug this off.  I am nearly incapable of doing the same. I would like to but I can\'t.  I want to say two things when this happens: the weekend is mine and stop screwing around with my schedule but I have no one to say this to. So I\'ll just complain about it on my blog (this also seems fairly <em>American</em> to me).</li>\n	<li><strong>The size of coffee</strong>.  I\'d like to say that 98% of the time I am happy with the size of the coffee in Bulgaria but the other 2% of the time the <em>American</em> inside of me screams in need more coffee than this. I need more. I guess there\'s a chance that it\'s the coffee fiend inside of me that\'s screaming this but I have a hunch the fiend wouldn\'t know to scream for more coffee if it wasn\'t an American-coffee-fiend.</li>\n	<li><strong>Bank fees</strong>. I hate that money costs money--this is clearly the same the world over a trade I make for a bank to keep my money but it still irks me. I know that Bulgaria is more or less a cash economy and a year and a half later I am okay with this. But when I look at the extensive list of fees from my Bulgarian bank for things like purchases with my debit card (0.20 leva) I think: really?! That\'s when I remember I am an <em>American</em> and this is why I pay for my purchases with cash.  Oh and why is the bank fee 0.98 leva for withdrawing cash from another bank\'s atm? Be <em>American</em> about it and just charge a whole 1 lev.</li>\n	<li><strong>Pickled vegetables of every size and type</strong>.  When I see big buckets of pickled veggies at the markets, three things happen. First, I wonder who\'s eating whole pickled carrots; second, heart burn begins to radiate through my entire body and third, I cringe at the fact that these pickled veggies (cabbage, carrots, pickles, peppers and what not) are just open to the world without a lid covering them.  In this case I have a harder time distinguishing which part the <em>American</em> in me is reacting to and which part is just me.</li>\n	<li><strong>Boys in purple.</strong> As a general rule in the States, girls wear pink and purple and boys do not. Unless you\'re a boy who goes to a prep-school or you still like the prep-school-look after college, then you probably still wear pastel pink polos, nantucket red pants and chinos with little turtles or whales embroidered on them.  As such, the <em>American</em> in me gets a huge kick out of seeing lots of vivid purple on teenagers and twenty-something men. They are rocking it. And I think that rocks. Why should purple be a girl color?</li>\n	<li><strong>Ice cubes</strong>. Many days I never miss them.  Then I get a room-temperature or warmer coke and a glass to drink my coke out of and all I want is five or six decent ice cubes.  Yep, that\'s it.  I don\'t need the <em>American</em> glass full of ice cubes; I just want a few to cool down my coke.</li>\n</ul>\nSo, there you have it. A few of things that remind me that I am a foreigner, that Bulgaria is not my home and that deep down, I am an American.  I am an American living in Bulgaria.  But I guess I wouldn\'t have it any other way.  Living away from your home country teaches you a lot about yourself, your country and your new country.','On Being Foreign (Pt 2)','','publish','open','open','','on-being-foreign-pt-2','','','2010-01-10 12:42:55','2010-01-10 09:42:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1801',0,'post','',8),(1810,1,'2010-01-10 22:44:36','2010-01-10 19:44:36','','Quince','My Quince','inherit','open','open','','dsc01394','','','2010-01-10 22:44:36','2010-01-10 19:44:36','',1809,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01394.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1809,1,'2010-01-11 08:06:41','2010-01-11 05:06:41','I was given a quince recently. Until I was given my quince I actually had no idea what a quince looked like.  Mine is really big. It\'s a monster quince. I am not actually sure how it managed to stay on the tree. I mean look how much bigger it is than the loaf of bread. Okay it\'s also in for the foreground of the photo but it\'s big, really.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1810\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Quince\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01394.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1810\" title=\"Quince \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01394.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m sure that we have quince in the States but for whatever reason I am more familiar with the kiwi and the starfruit than the quince and I don\'t think that the kiwi or startfruit can even grow in most parts of North America. I haven\'t really met a fruit that I don\'t like so it was a surprise for me to find out that this fruit which looks like an overgrown apple-pear mix is a quince.<!--more-->\n\nHeck, I worked in a fruit and berry stand for a number of summers in high school and college I was pretty sure that I could tell you the growing season of the fruits that grow in North American but it turns out that I do not know everything. (I am sure that this will come as a huge surprise to my brother and sister and my high school students but no surprise to my mother.  Yep. I do not know everything.)\n\nAnyhow, I digress.  After receiving this quince I decided that I need to do some research. It turns out that the quince is native to Bulgaria.  That\'s cool. The quince may have even been cultivated before the apple. Also pretty cool. Thanks to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince\">wikipedia</a> I also learned that:\n<blockquote>the Quince is frost hardy and requires a cold period below 7 °C to flower properly. The tree is self fertile, however yield can benefit from cross fertilization. The fruit can be left on the tree to ripen further which softens the fruit to the point where it can be eaten raw in warmer climates, but should be picked before the first frosts.</blockquote>\nBut what I didn\'t know before I received my first quince and ate one this past week is that the fruit turns brown very quickly after it\'s been cut.  Also the fruit is very dry and the texture of the fruit is a little bit grainy--the quince I ate slices of was neither crisp like an apple nor soft/mealy like a pear. It seemed to lack fruit juice and it wasn\'t very sweet.\n\nBased on the fact that when I first saw the fruit and it looked like it should be a mix of an apple-pear I think I may have expected something other than what I was eating.  I don\'t know what I expected but it wasn\'t this. I was rather disappointed. The fruit looks beautiful but frankly I had a really hard time eating it by the slice.  I was a guest at a friend\'s house and after asking about the fruits on top of their refrigerator, I had to eat it and I did so. But, I didn\'t love it. And, now I have my own.\n\nIt made me wonder what\'s so special about the quince?\n\nWell it turns out that the quince, depending on the variety can be too hard, astringent and sour to eat raw. Ah-ha! Maybe this was the issue.\n\nBecause the variety dictates use many quince are made into things like jam or compote or in Bulgaria rakiya.  I understand that you can also peel and then roast, bake or stew the fruit and in doing this the flesh of the fruit will turn red due to the lengthy cooking time.  Hum, I wonder if I should be cooking this giant fruit rather than contemplating eating it sliced and raw.\n\nI guess this means I should look up a recipe.','My First Quince','','publish','open','open','','my-first-quince','','','2010-01-11 08:06:41','2010-01-11 05:06:41','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1809',0,'post','',7),(1828,1,'2010-01-11 21:47:59','2010-01-11 18:47:59','','Me Downtown','Me in Downtown Sofia (thanks for the picture Beth!)','inherit','open','open','','p1010813-2','','','2010-01-11 21:47:59','2010-01-11 18:47:59','',1806,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/p1010813.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1806,1,'2010-01-12 08:01:31','2010-01-12 05:01:31','Two posts from this past weekend (the ones with similar names) were inspired by an article in Economist: <a href=\"http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108690#\">Being Foreign</a>.  This article has really pushed me to think about what encouraged me to think about my life in Sofia, what inspired me to move, and who I am today because of it. So here\'s a third post about my experiences and motivations and adventures being foreign.\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in Downtown Sofia (thanks for the picture Beth!)\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/p1010813.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1828\" title=\"Me Downtown\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/p1010813.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMore than two years ago, I made the seemingly crazy choice to whittle my belongings down, pack two suitcases and move to a country where I don\'t speak the language or read the alphabet. On top of this crazy decision to uproot myself in my early twenties--I didn\'t even replant myself in a city or a country that my friends and family could repeat the name of, nod and pretend to understand why I was moving to Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Rome or a myriad of other cities. Nope, I moved to Sofia, Bulgaria.\n\nSofia? Yes.  Interestingly but maybe not surprisingly enough both Americans and Bulgarians asked me the same question: Why?\n\nWhy move to Sofia?<!--more-->\n\nWell, the Economist article would lead us to believe that it\'s because of my fundamental dissatisfaction with my own country but in my case I am not sure that I agree.\n<blockquote>A foreigner is, after all, someone who didn’t like his own country enough to stay there. Even so, the complaining foreigner poses something of a logical contradiction. He complains about the country in which he finds himself, yet he is there by choice. Why doesn’t he go home? The foreigner answers that question by thinking of himself as an exile—if not in a judicial sense then in a spiritual sense. Something within himself has driven him away from his homeland. He becomes even a touch jealous of the real exile. Life abroad is an adventure. How much greater might the adventure be, how much more intense the sense of foreignness, if there were no possibility of return? For the real exile, foreignness is not an adventure but a test of endurance.</blockquote>\nI know that I am lucky to find myself abroad.  In fact the other word for me would be privileged--I\'ve had access to a good eduction, a good job and access to what\'s left of the American dream.  And in my early twenties rather than settling into a career, finding a serious boyfriend, starting a family or buying a house I found myself in the lucky position to be young and single as well as to have the time and the money necessary to move.\n\nI didn\'t hate Washington DC and while I didn\'t love our then President (Bush), it didn\'t mean that I disliked America. I think, gasp, that I actually like America. Two years ago, I was bound to Washington DC by my friends, my job and my things; so I told my friends good-bye for now, took a leave of absence from my job and gave my things away sending the books I couldn\'t imagine parting with to my parent\'s house.  And that was that.  At the time it seemed much harder than this but looking back it was all pretty straight forward.\n\nBut that still doesn\'t answer this question: Why Sofia?\n\nIn the end, it was this: I wanted to know if I had what it took to leave my home, learn a new language, make new friends and explore a new culture.  It was a challenge.  An adventure. A test. Sofia it seemed fit the bill.\n\nThe thing is that Sofia has by far exceeded my expectations. Sure, I\'ve been accused from time to time (on this blog) of being the complaining foreigner but by far my <em>like</em> for this city and this country far outweigh my <em>dislike </em>of the city.  Also, sometimes a girl needs to complain and, heck, if you can\'t do it on your own blog where can you? But can I complain as a foreigner?\n\nI guess that\'s part of this whole thing, I find myself in the position of having made the choice to move to Sofia and I also have the ability to be able to leave to return to the States.  I have the privilege to live abroad as long as I\'d like to.  Thus this thing is an adventure. I am taking a chance, a risk but it\'s calculated. I\'ve made the choice to live as a foreigner rather than being forced to (and for this I am thankful).\n\nSo, here I am. Sofia, Bulgaria. And this a blog about my life and my adventures.  Oh and now it seems pretty clear this blog is also about me as a foreigner.','On being Foreign (Pt 3)','','publish','open','open','','on-being-foreign-pt-3','','','2010-01-12 08:01:31','2010-01-12 05:01:31','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1806',0,'post','',3),(1775,1,'2010-01-13 08:08:33','2010-01-13 05:08:33','It\'s official I know just enough Bulgarian to sound like a stalker.  And the worst part is probably not even a very good one at that. You may wonder: Carolyn, how did you decide this how much Bulgarian you know--enough to sound like a stalker? And it\'s not a bad question because I think that most people measure their language level in terms of the kinds of people one can communicate with--like a four and half year old, a fifth grader or well-meaning grandparents.\n\nHere\'s how it happened. One of my Bulgarian friends just broke up with her boyfriend and while talking about it over gmail-chat.  She suggested that we could go out soon and flirt with boys together. I said okay. That\'s what a good friend does. Oh and it\'s not like I hate going out.\n\nStill, I am not really sure she\'d thought this through when she tossed out the idea. I mean I hadn\'t thought this through and given the fact that I firmly believe you\'ve got to support your friends after they split up with a significant other. I said yes without even thinking about it.\n\nThen I thought about it.\n<blockquote>How am I going to flirt with anyone in Bulgarian?!</blockquote>\nHell, I don\'t think there\'s any chance that I am going to be anyone\'s <a href=\"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wingman\">wingman</a> (at least speaking Bulgarian) anytime soon?\n\nThus my level of helpfulness in going out and flirting with boys is basically zero.  I think the thing that keeps me from being an absolute zero is this I am a warm body and I am quick to laugh and that\'s got to count for something. This realization caused me to I revise my yes. I told her I thought she\'d be able to flirt with boys and I\'d just ask boys questions from the first seven chapters of my Bulgarian textbook. She laughed. Then we started talking about other things.\n\nBut of course this wasn\'t the end of this topic, the conversation got me thinking.\n\nFlirting is a cultural thing.<!--more-->\n\nI am okay at flirting in English. It helps that I also like to talk to people.  But flirting is cultural. So it\'s also important that in addition to my quick smile and love of talking that 1) I actually speak the language, 2) I know American culture, 3) I get the jokes and 4) I can read, understand and interpret the body language. Yep, I just summed up flirting in four points.  I realize it may be a little more nuanced then then but for this post I think the basics will do. Thus, to be decent at flirting you need to have a good grasp of all four of these things--you can probably get by with three of the four but your flirting may not be seamless.  Additionally, I think that a good sense of humor helps when it comes to flirting but it\'s not mandatory.\n\nSo it\'s pretty clearly that me and flirting in Bulgarian is a lost cause.  I often don\'t get the humor (let alone most of the jokes), I don\'t really know Bulgarian culture (I mean I know the history, the basics when it comes to food and music and I\'ve been to my fair share of museums but I\'m completely lost when it come to Bulgarian pop culture) and to top all of this off I don\'t really know the language. .\n\nThat\'s when it hit me.  At my best, someone might think that my flirting was charming or endearing more like an interview for a job than anything else and at its worst, my flirting might come across like stalking. Yeah, I actually think there\'s a pretty fine line between flirting, being annoying and stalking.  Especially given the fact that I am not sure I can inflect the language appropriately and I don\'t have a very big range of topics to talk about.\n\nThis is where my post comes full circle. (I know, I know <em>finally</em> I am getting to the point).  It\'s here in this moment that my worry about sounding more like a stalker stems from.  Oh that and the range of conversations I can conduct is fairly limited still. The kinds of questions that I can currently ask include things like: what\'s your name? where are you from? how old are you? are you married? do you speak the language? where do you work? where do you live? and your family, do you have brothers and sisters? what is his or her name? what are your hobbies? do you like X? do you want X?\n\nI also can ask questions like what time is it? and where is the bus stop? the bank? and the post office? but these questions seem totally inappropriate for flirting.  So I\'d save those for when I need them.\n\nAs such, I arrived at the following conclusion: if I actually stuck to what I know in Bulgarian at least by American standards I\'d probably come off as a stalker.  Or if for some reason I was actually doing mediocre in my attempts of flirting I\'d appear overly eager, a poor conversationalist or a little strange.  For the record, I\'ve never hoped to be one of these things (over-eager or strange) but given the options I be happy with this and beer.\n\nWish me luck.','Flirting in Bulgarian?','','publish','open','open','','flirting-in-bulgarian','','','2010-01-13 08:08:33','2010-01-13 05:08:33','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1775',0,'post','',11),(1844,1,'2010-01-13 15:25:38','2010-01-13 12:25:38','<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01364.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1617\" title=\"Me at Christmas \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dsc01364.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>\n\nI\'d like to make it clear that this is my personal blog.  While I work at the American College of Sofia (ACS) this is by no means an official ACS website.  Here\'s the <a href=\"http://www.acs.bg/en/index.php\">ACS website</a> if you\'re looking for it.  Thus if it\'s not already clear the views and information presented here in this blog are my own.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1138\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The entrance marker of the campus\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0062.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1138\" title=\"ACS Front Gate \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/img_0062.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhen it comes to writing about ACS you\'ll notice that I never post identifiable information about my colleagues or my students this includes names, photos and the like.  I believe that they have the right to their privacy and that my blogging should not interfere with this.   As such, if and when,  I write about my experiences and impressions at ACS you\'ll notice that I am much more likely to post photos of campus, descriptions of events I\'ve participated in (Bulgarian National dance) or about books that I am teaching.\n\nWhat is comes down to is that I have plenty to say about my own life and I don\'t feel any need to speak for ACS nor do I think that I need to speak much about the work that I do at the American College of Sofia. The work I do is pretty standard--I teach English, I grade papers (I am human so I also grumble about this from time to time), I support students inside and outside of the classroom and I spend lots of time planning, preparing and preping for class.\n\nSo that\'s that. I like where I work, what I do, where I do it and who I do it with.  And all in all, I think this is about as much as a girl could ask for when it comes to work.','ACS &amp; Me','','publish','open','open','','acs-and-me','','','2010-01-13 15:25:38','2010-01-13 12:25:38','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?page_id=1844',3,'page','',13),(1853,1,'2010-01-13 20:02:52','2010-01-13 17:02:52','','Old Clock Skopje','The Old Clock Skopje','inherit','open','open','','cimg3645','','','2010-01-13 20:02:52','2010-01-13 17:02:52','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3645.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1854,1,'2010-01-13 20:09:39','2010-01-13 17:09:39','','Old town Skopje','A street in old town Skopje','inherit','open','open','','cimg3682','','','2010-01-13 20:09:39','2010-01-13 17:09:39','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3682.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1856,1,'2010-01-13 20:13:02','2010-01-13 17:13:02','','Lake Ohrid at Dusk','Lake Ohrid at Dusk','inherit','open','open','','cimg3764','','','2010-01-13 20:13:02','2010-01-13 17:13:02','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3764.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1857,1,'2010-01-13 20:28:52','2010-01-13 17:28:52','','A Glimpse of Lake Ohrid','A Glimpse of Lake Ohrid','inherit','open','open','','dsc09370','','','2010-01-13 20:28:52','2010-01-13 17:28:52','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09370.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1860,1,'2010-01-13 20:35:58','2010-01-13 17:35:58','','Me in Macedonia','Me in Macedonia','inherit','open','open','','dsc09358','','','2010-01-13 20:35:58','2010-01-13 17:35:58','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09358.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1861,1,'2010-01-13 20:42:44','2010-01-13 17:42:44','','Church of Saint Panteleimon','Church of Saint Panteleimon','inherit','open','open','','dsc09400','','','2010-01-13 20:42:44','2010-01-13 17:42:44','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09400.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1863,1,'2010-01-13 20:54:09','2010-01-13 17:54:09','','Dinner on the lake','Dinner on the lake','inherit','open','open','','dsc09445','','','2010-01-13 20:54:09','2010-01-13 17:54:09','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09445.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1865,1,'2010-01-13 21:25:21','2010-01-13 18:25:21','','Me on the boat ride home','Me on the boat ride home','inherit','open','open','','cimg3800','','','2010-01-13 21:25:21','2010-01-13 18:25:21','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3800.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1866,1,'2010-01-13 21:29:18','2010-01-13 18:29:18','','Lake Ohrid at Night','Lake Ohrid at Night','inherit','open','open','','cimg3804','','','2010-01-13 21:29:18','2010-01-13 18:29:18','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3804.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1869,1,'2010-01-13 21:38:38','2010-01-13 18:38:38','','Lovely, lovely Lake Ohrid','Lovely, lovely Lake Ohrid','inherit','open','open','','cimg3854','','','2010-01-13 21:38:38','2010-01-13 18:38:38','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3854.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1870,1,'2010-01-13 21:44:13','2010-01-13 18:44:13','','Clock in Skopje','','inherit','open','open','','dsc09190','','','2010-01-13 21:44:13','2010-01-13 18:44:13','',1851,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09190.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1851,1,'2010-01-14 07:54:20','2010-01-14 04:54:20','<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09190.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1870\" title=\"Clock in Skopje\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09190.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"The Clock in Skopje\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>\r\n\r\nNumber 21 on the NYT <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/travel/10places.html?em\">31 Places to go in 2010</a> is Macedonia specifically Lake Ohrid.  I was really excited to see this show up on the list.  Bulgaria didn\'t make the list but maybe next year. Fingers crossed.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1854\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"A street in old town Skopje\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3682.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1854 \" title=\"Old town Skopje\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt reminded me of a great trip I took this last spring/early summer to Macedonia.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1860\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Me in Macedonia\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09358.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1860 \" title=\"Me in Macedonia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09358.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMy friend D. and I went together for a long weekend in June. We took the bus from Sofia to Skopje and spent a day there and then we went from Skopje to Lake Ohrid.  It was easy-peasy.  Which is good because that\'s how I prefer my travel to be--easy-peasy.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1857\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"A Glimpse of Lake Ohrid\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09370.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1857 \" title=\"A Glimpse of Lake Ohrid \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09370.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nDowntown Skopje wasn\'t so different feeling than Sofia. The streets and the sidewalks seem a little bit wider than in downtown Sofia.  I don\'t know this for sure but I  have a hunch that it must have to do with the fact that Skopje suffered a pretty serious earthquake in the 1960\'s.  The building as a whole feel pretty communist--concrete, shades of grey everywhere you turn, glass windows, balconies with laundry hanging in the wind and buildings with pealing paint.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1861\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Church of Saint Panteleimon\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09400.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1861 \" title=\"Church of Saint Panteleimon\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI liked it.  But I kind of like the underdog which is why I think I liked Skopje.  I liked the old town, I liked the modern newer section of town and I liked the clock tower that stopped at the hour of the earthquake and is still standing.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1863\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Dinner on the lake\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09445.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1863 \" title=\"Dinner on the lake \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc09445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nLake Ohrid however has a pretty serious leg-up on Skopje.  It\'s beautiful. Really beautiful. I don\' t thing the NYT blurb does it justice.\r\n\r\nThe town is a maze of little streets, churches, restaurants, shops and bars. The lake however overwhelms the town. It\'s vast and the scene is dramatic.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1865\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Me on the boat ride home\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3800.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1865 \" title=\"Me on the boat ride home\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe ate dinner one night on the lake. Everything had been caught fresh and the owner cooked the food as we watched.  Fresh fish, wine, a salad and dessert on the lake in June.  There\'s not much better than that.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1866\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Lake Ohrid at Night\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3804.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1866 \" title=\"Lake Ohrid at Night \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3804.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWe spoke Bulgarian with the owner--his restaurant was clearly a family affair--and he spoke Macedonian in response. He laughed at us a little bit but we got through it.  FYI: for those who don\'t live in the Balkans Bulgarian and Macedonian are considered very similar languages.  This was a nice thing for us. Then after dinner the owner gave us a ride home on his little motorboat.  Um, wow.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1869\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"550\" caption=\"Lovely, lovely Lake Ohrid\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3854.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-1869 \" title=\"Lovely, lovely Lake Ohrid\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cimg3854.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOf course time makes the memories a little bit sweeter, a little less crisp, and the frustrations fall apart. And as I am beginning to learn a trip in the Balkans never goes off completely without a hitch.  Ours was that at the border we spent a couple of hours at the border Macedonian-Bulgarian border on our way home sitting on the side of the road waiting for our turn.  The good thing? Well, the weather was beautiful and someone was selling ice cream cones.','Skopje and Lake Ohrid, Macedonia','','publish','open','open','','skopje-and-lake-ohrid-macedonia','','','2012-04-28 06:00:44','2012-04-28 04:00:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1851',0,'post','',0),(1878,1,'2010-01-15 10:33:50','2010-01-15 07:33:50','I\'ve been thinking about this challenge for some time. Here it is: I want to try to live for a month within an average Bulgarian salary.  I want to see how this influences/changes my habits when it comes to grocery shopping, eating lunch at school, going out and the like. (Oh and even right now before I crunch the numbers, I\'m pretty sure I\'ll have to cut out my now regular Onda coffee habit. Gasp!)\n\nSo why do this? Well, I\'d like to try this out because I want to have a better glimpse of the kind of choices average Bulgarians have to make each month. I hope this will lead me to thinking seriously about what implications are of living day in and day out in the EU country with the lowest average salary of any member state. And I\'d like to come face to face with my own privilege.  I know that I am lucky to live in Sofia as an expat but in practice I don\'t think I actually know how lucky I am.  So, what it boils down to is that I\'d like some perspective on this issue and this seems as good a way to get it as any.\n\nIn order to prepare for this challenge I\'ve done a little research. My understanding is that today the minimum Bulgarian salary is 240 leva a month; this works out to something like a 1.60 leva an hour (which doesn\'t even cover the cost of a beer). In 2009 <a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=103725\">novinite.com</a> a Bulgarian news agency reported that the average Bulgarian salary had risen slightly to 563 leva or about $415.\n\nWhat these numbers don\'t tell me is this: how is the average 20-something doing in Bulgaria? If you have a college education and an entry level job are you above or below the average salary reported above?<!--more-->\n\nAs a twenty-something, are you living at home or paying rent? What percent of your salary goes towards this? What about electricity, heat, water, internet, a cell phone?\n\nThen there\'s transportation.  A girl\'s got to get to and from work in order to continue getting paid.  What does this cost?\n\nAnd what about food? what percent of your salary is spent on grocery bills? restaurants?\n\nThen there\'s entertainment.  I assume that twenty-somethings must spend some money on things like movies, concerts, museums, travel as well as evenings out at bars/clubs.  But how do you budget for this is?\n\nOn top of all if this, it\'s not as if a girl can go around naked either.  Do you have a budget for clothing?\n\nFinally, how much, if any, are you saving each month for the future?\n\nIn the States, the following breakdown is a pretty standard recommendation for how we should spend our money each month is something like this:\n<table style=\"height:155px;\" width=\"287\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Housing</td>\n<td>33%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Food</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Auto--transportation</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Entertainment and clothing</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Debts and Savings</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Medical and insurance</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Misc.</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\nThus I am wondering can I apply the same breakdown to salaries in Bulgaria to figure out how I should be thinking about spending my money in Bulgaria? My initial response to this question is that it doesn\'t seem possible to use the US guidelines to budget in Bulgaria because here are the numbers I came up with based on a salary of 560 leva.\n<table width=\"287\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Housing</td>\n<td>184 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Food</td>\n<td>84 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Transportation</td>\n<td>84 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Entertainment and clothing</td>\n<td>56 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Debts and Savings</td>\n<td>56 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Medical and insurance</td>\n<td>56 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Misc.</td>\n<td>39 L</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\nThe thing is I have a hunch that housing and food cost much more in Bulgaria for a single person than the numbers I arrived at. <em></em>\n\n<em>Thoughts?</em>','To live within your Leva','','publish','open','open','','to-live-within-your-leva','','','2010-01-15 10:33:50','2010-01-15 07:33:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1878',0,'post','',13),(1888,1,'2010-01-16 11:35:18','2010-01-16 08:35:18','When it comes to cell phones in Sofia, I have a lot of mixed reactions.  I hate that people will answer their phones in a movie theater or will forget (or simply ignore the request) to turn off their phones in the theater, opera or ballet. I hate that my students are so sneaky with their phones and can\'t just keep them in their pockets for 40 minutes of class. But more than this I hate that I don\'t really get the cell phone culture in this country.\n\nSo this past week in my elective, American Culture and the American Magazine, we discussed just this issue.\n<blockquote>When do you call, text and would you ever leave a message on someone\'s voice mail?</blockquote>\nMy students reported this: they would rather call than text message, they would never leave a voice mail (and in fact, most of them have disabled their voice mail s that it never even pick up) and they wouldn\'t hesitate to call back a number that they didn\'t know if they missed a call from said unknown number.  Okay. Then they told me that they know Americans <em>love</em> to text.\n\nWe then talked about this: why call over texting? I am told you call rather than text because it\'s better to talk to someone in person and in a short phone call you can get much more information than you would exchanging four or five text messages.  This is fair.  I\'d agree with this.\n\nI do like to talk to people but I also think there\'s a place and a space for texting--<!--more-->informal invitations for coffee, dinner and the like as well as confirming plans, the meeting place or to let someone know you\'re on your way but running late or even to send a quick hello to let someone know you\'re thinking of him or her.  Oh and I almost forgot, you text if and when you suspect that your friend(s) might be somewhere loud and not hear their phone ring (then you have to hope they have the phone on vibrate and ring).\n\nSo if you decide that you\'re going to call someone to catch up, to make plans, to share good news or to otherwise talk and the person you are calling doesn\'t pick up then what? Well, more likely than not you leave a voice mail. Your voice mail probably says something like: sorry I missed you.  I was just calling to catch up with you/invited you to x/to see how you are and then you might add call me back when you get a chance or don\'t worry well talk tomorrow when I see you at school/work/happy hour or whatever the case may be. If you call, your friend doesn\'t answer and you don\'t leave a message their is no obligation to return the call.  Finally, if you get a call from an unknown number more often than not you\'ll screen the call and let it go to voice mail.  Then you can listen to the message and to see if you should return the call or not.  No message means that you will not return the call.\n\nI explained all of this and my students just kind of looked at me.  (Um, do I all of a sudden have three heads?) Their response was this: <em>really?</em> (Nope, I am actually making this up.) My response was: yes, really. Then we started talking about all of this.\n\nAt some point, it struck me that Bulgaria must not have had an answering machine culture in the 1980\'s and the 1990\'s and without an answering machine culture why would there be a voice mail culture today? Either the person picks up or they don\'t.\n\nThus the conversation confirmed what I more or less already knew--no need to leave a voice mail in Bulgaria.  But my Bulgarian teenagers were unable to distinguish, illuminate or create rule of thumb on when to call versus when to text.  I pushed them but all they could articulate was the fact that it\'s much nicer to talk to someone rather than to text message.  (Why, oh, why then do they seem to spend so much texting at school? and who are they texting?)\n\nAnd so I am left with this age old quandary: to call or to text?\n\n(<em>Thank-you Shakespeare</em>.)','To call, to text, to leave a message?','','publish','open','open','','to-call-to-text-to-leave-a-message','','','2010-01-16 11:35:18','2010-01-16 08:35:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1888',0,'post','',17),(1899,1,'2010-01-18 21:41:53','2010-01-18 18:41:53','I\'ve been in Bulgaria for more than a year and a half now and I met my first real Peace Corps volunteers on Friday night.  My friend M. from Walla Walla lived in Bulgaria as a peace corps volunteer so I know a little bit about the program but that\'s about it. But, I was beginning to wonder how long it would take for me to meet a current Peace Corps member.  Um, one year and five months.\n\nSo here\'s what I know: the Peace Corps is in Bulgaria. Most volunteers teach English throughout the Bulgarian countryside.  Some work on development projects. The Peace Corps teaches the volunteers Bulgarian so they are pretty fluent.\n\nI also know that Bulgaria is part of the European Union.  This is the part that I think is the most surprising.\n\nWe\'re EU members and have Peace Corps volunteers.  On the surface these two things seem at odds.  They don\'t seem to mesh. But Bulgaria\'s not the only EU country with the Peace Corps--Romania also has volunteers. <a href=\"http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.wherepc.easteurope\">Eastern European countries with Peace Corps volunteers</a> aside from Bulgaria and Romania include Macedonia, Albania, the Ukraine and Moldova.\n\nWell, back to the story. I met some volunteers on Friday night when I was out with some of my American College colleagues. They were really nice--friendly, well spoken--the kind of Americans that you want to meet abroad.  We got talking and they had some great stories about life in the villages, the babas that they live with, the challenges they face and the things that they miss.<!--more-->\n\nIt was made very clear to me that the Sofia I live in is worlds apart from the rest of Bulgaria. These volunteers seemed good natured and pretty happy about their situations.  Still, it can\'t be easy--small villages, not very many young people and lots of local-village gossip.\n\nI woke up the next morning in my well furnished and nearly new apartment thinking how lucky I am.  Sometimes life in Mladost gets me down a little bit but I can\'t imagine the feeling of being isolated in a little village, learning the language, making it through winter in a village and trying to negotiate life and work abroad.  Phew.\n\nSome version of this topic came up while we were talking and it became clear that the Peace Corps kids here in Bulgaria are doing a good job documenting their lives here.  What follows are some of the blogs that caught my eye!\n<ul>\n	<li><a href=\"http://vgoode.blogspot.com/\">Blogging from Bulgaria</a>: This is a bubbly-blog written by a cheerful Texan.</li>\n	<li><a href=\"http://windowtobulgaria.blogspot.com/\">Window to Bulgaria</a>: This site has a charming series of blog posts titled Baba of the Week. The site interviews different babas about their lives, Bulgaria, the past, their family, travel.  It\'s pretty extensive and there are some wonderful old pictures.</li>\n	<li>If you ever get tired of reading about my twenty-something adventures then you could check out <a href=\"http://anadventuretogehter.blogspot.com/\">Lynn and Mike\'s blog</a>.  They are a retired couple who are Peace Corps volunteers in Plovdiv.</li>\n	<li>Or if you\'re looking for something funnier than my blog (as if), I thought <a href=\"http://dansarles.blogspot.com/\">Completely Bulgarian</a> was pretty funny.  He has a good eye (and ear) for the humor of the place: we were in the old town Plovdiv at a gift stand when the man working the stand heard us speaking English and could tell that we were American. He asked us “Mormons or Peace Corps?” Oh and most of his posts end with bad jokes.</li>\n	<li>This is a blog I\'ll check out if I am feeling down about teaching high school--<a href=\"http://bulgarianna.blogspot.com/\">d-d-d-doodles</a>. One post says she\'s teaching English to second graders (but I\'d assume she\'s teaching a number of different grades). Phew. What a lot of work.  I bet it\'s hard.</li>\n</ul>\nAnyhow, I really enjoyed meeting the volunteers this past weekend and I hope that they weren\'t too overwhelmed by our large group of happy-it\'s-Friday-night-after-a-long-week-of-teaching Americans.','Peace Corps in BG','','publish','open','open','','peace-corps-in-bg','','','2010-01-18 21:41:53','2010-01-18 18:41:53','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1899',0,'post','',6),(1908,1,'2010-01-19 23:32:44','2010-01-19 20:32:44','So I didn\'t know it this morning but there\'ve been signs all day long that today was adding up to a double plus ungood day. This is a short chronicle of these events.\n\nungood: 7:15 am I miss the 111 bus. I am on one side of the street it\'s on the other. I miss the second 111 to come by because the bus is too full and I can\'t get on. I stand outside in the snow.\n\nblah: I teach six classes more or less back to back 1-6 period with a break for lunch. Not bad. Not great. I do it every week.\n\nungood: I stay late. I stay late to finish writing my final. I must re-reading part of the novel 1984 and find myself thinking there\'s something strangely positive about a language (NewSpeak) that makes negative words up using \"un\" \"plus\" and \"double\" to express greater forms of bad.\n\nplus ungood: I realize it\'s 5 minutes to 9 and I am still at work. Then I remember that my clock is five minutes slow. Great.\n\ndouble plus ungood: I turn off my computer, pack up my bag, lock my office, go downstairs and find myself locked in my building. Yes, locked <em>in</em> the building.\n\num: really?! I call a friend who lives on campus. I am locked in. She finds a guard and rescues me. double-thank-you!\n\nungood: I\'ve lost an extra fifteen minutes of my life. And I\'ll never get those back.\n\nLeaving campus I realize it\'s been an ungood day. But that at least the snow which is falling at night is beautiful.\n\nOh, then before I know it, it\'s a double plus ungood day. I fall in the snow/on the ice/some uneven pavement. I hurt both knees and my pride (well, not that much--it\'s not like anyone is around at 9:20 at night).\n\nungood: when I realize that I am categorizing my day according to a language that only lives within the pages of 1984.\n\nLuckily I can go to bed soon and end my double plus ungood day.','Chronicle of a double plus ungood day','','publish','open','open','','chronicle-of-a-double-plus-ungood-day','','','2010-01-19 23:32:44','2010-01-19 20:32:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1908',0,'post','',3),(1906,1,'2010-01-20 22:42:44','2010-01-20 19:42:44','Аз имам нова приятелка.  Тя се казва В. Тя е малка момиче.  Тя е на четири и половина години.  В. е дъщеря на моя колежка.  В. има руса коса.  Тя е с кафяви очи.  тя обича да танцува и аз обичам да танцувам също.  Тя е много усмихната и щастлива.  Аз не знам кой е любимият и цвят.  Може би харесва розово или лилаво.\n\nАз мисля, че В. отива всеки ден на детска градина може би с афотобус.  Когато аз ходя на работа, аз отивам с афтобус.  В петък ние ще отидем в пиза уго.\n\n--------------------------\n\nOkay, I am not translating this post for my English speaking readers.  Basically, I am describing one of my new friends.  She\'s really great--she\'s the four and half year old daughter of one of my work colleagues.<!--more-->\n\nI have a hunch that not very many grown-up American expats can count among their friends in Sofia a four and a half year old but I can.  This may or may not surprise you.  I love little kids; I was after all a serious baby sitter when I was little. I like how much energy and enthusiasm they have and I like that they are generally accepting of lots of different people.  I love chubby baby fingers and little baby clothes.\n\nThis said, I also like children who can speak.  They are even more fun.  My Bulgarian friend doesn\'t speak any English but she\'s got a dazzling smile and boundless energy.  Oh, and she gladly puts up with my pretty questionable Bulgarian.\n\nShe came to see me dancing Balkan dance in December. Okay, her mom brought her but they hung around to say hello to me after dancing. I was greeted with a big hug and lots of jabbering in four-and-a-half-year-old-Bulgarian.  She told me how pretty my hair was, how pretty my dress was, and how good my dancing was.  It\'s nice to have a friend who\'s not a critic.\n\nShe also doesn\'t really get that I don\'t speak Bulgarian.  So she talks, talks, talks.  She likes to make everything diminutive so it\'s often hard for me to follow what she\'s saying.  But even better than this, when I tell her in Bulgarian that I don\'t understand what she\'s saying, she leans close to me and repeats herself by yelling in my ear.  Yep, it\'s like she can\'t fully grasp the idea that I can\'t understand what she\'s saying.  And that\'s pretty cute.\n\nAnyhow, I got an email this week from the mother of my new friend (who\'s also my colleague) asking if I\'d be free to join them for pizza either this week or next.  I said, of course. I mean who am I to say no to pizza with my favorite 4 and a half year old?!','Моята Нова Приятелка','','publish','open','open','','%d0%bc%d0%be%d1%8f%d1%82%d0%b0-%d0%bd%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%8f%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%bb%d0%ba%d0%b0','','','2010-01-20 22:42:44','2010-01-20 19:42:44','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1906',0,'post','',10),(1920,1,'2010-01-21 22:20:38','2010-01-21 19:20:38','','National Theater 1','In front of the National Theater, Sofia','inherit','open','open','','img_0766','','','2010-01-21 22:20:38','2010-01-21 19:20:38','',1917,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0766.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1917,1,'2010-01-21 22:26:07','2010-01-21 19:26:07','Oh, oh. Oh no. I found myself dreaming of the sun and warmer weather this afternoon as I walked across campus to my Bulgarian lesson.  While it\'s fine to day-dream it\'s a cruel, cruel thing to dream about the sun and warm weather this week.  For those of you not in Sofia--it snowed this week, then turned into ice after a day and now this weekend it\'s supposed to very-below freezing. Gross.\n\nThus dreaming of sun probably isn\'t how I should be spending my time.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1920\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"In front of the National Theater, Sofia \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0766.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1920\" title=\"National Theater 1\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0766.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s lovely to think that spring will soon overtake winter.  I guess I just have to wait a bit. Not much else that I can do but remind myself that this too cannot last forever.  Spring will come.','Dreaming of Sun','','publish','open','open','','dreaming-of-sun','','','2010-01-21 22:26:07','2010-01-21 19:26:07','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1917',0,'post','',2),(1926,1,'2010-01-22 08:15:33','2010-01-22 05:15:33','','Downtown Sofia','I wont be living downtown on my own','inherit','open','open','','img_0772','','','2010-01-22 08:15:33','2010-01-22 05:15:33','',1925,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0772.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1925,1,'2010-01-22 15:14:30','2010-01-22 12:14:30','I\'ve been crunching some numbers. Yes, that just came out of my mouth. I know that most of you think I must just read books and write essay topics as an English teacher but once not so long ago I worked at Georgetown and as part of my job I managed the entire department\'s budget.\n\nSince my post last week, I\'ve gotten tons of feedback and encouragement on my blog and in person for the challenge I\'ve set myself: to see if I could live with the salary of a twenty-something (nearly-thirty something) educated Bulgarian for a month.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1926\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"I wouldn&#39;t be living in downtown Sofia  on my own\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0772.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1926\" title=\"Downtown Sofia \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0772.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe question that arose from all of this how much could I expect to actually make as a Bulgarian and what are my options regarding housing? Of course, it shouldn\'t come as a surprise but I received answers that were all over the board.  Salaries seemed to range from 550 leva to 1500 leva and housing options ranged from living with my parents to sharing an apartment to renting an apartment.  Thus I\'ve arrived at the following three options.<!--more-->\n\nFirst, I make 1000 leva a month and I pay rent. Second I make 700 leva and share an apartment with friends and I split the rent with them (and in this sereno the thing that makes sharing an apartment acceptable is the fact that I like my roommates and they do their dishes and we take turns cleaning the apartment and taking out the garbage).  Third, I make about 550 leva and I get to live with my parents, help them out with bills and hope that one day I can afford to live on my own.\n\nWell, unless I owned my own apartment and on 560 leva a month I assume the only way that would happen would be if I inherited one. And I assume the only way that would happen is if someone related to me vacated one (which is probably a twisted euphemism for the death of a loved one) and it\'s not exactly like this is something one should wish for.\n\nThus if I stuck to the 560 leva salary it seems pretty clear that I would have to continue living with my parents.   I guess the good news is that I like my parents.  I just wonder if I\'d like my Bulgarian parents (well my parents in Bulgaria) after living with them in a two bedroom apartment for more than two decades of my life. But that\'s not the direction this post is going in.\n\nSo, because I like the first two options best and because I think they would most likely represent my situation if I were actually a twenty-something Bulgarian, I decided to run the numbers. This is what I came up with:\n\nOption one: I make 1000 leva a month and rent an apartment.\n<table width=\"287\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Rent and bills</td>\n<td>400 rent, 150 bills</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Food</td>\n<td>120 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Transportation</td>\n<td>70 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Entertainment and clothing</td>\n<td>80 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Debts and Savings</td>\n<td>60 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Medical and insurance</td>\n<td>30L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Misc.</td>\n<td>90 L</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\nBasically this breakdown has me paying about 600 leva for fixed expenses--rent, bills, and transportation--and gives me about 400 leva left for my other expenses.  And as the numbers show I will be spending 60% on these fixed expenses.\n\nOption two: I make 700 leva and split an apartment with friends.\n<table width=\"287\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Rent and bills</td>\n<td>230 rent, 70 bills</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Food</td>\n<td>120 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Transportation</td>\n<td>50 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Entertainment and clothing</td>\n<td>80 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Debts and Savings</td>\n<td>60 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Medical and insurance</td>\n<td>30 L</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Misc.</td>\n<td>60 L</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\nWhen we look at these numbers I would spend about 350 leva on fixed expenses and I would have 350 leva to spend on everything thing else.  Thus in this case, I spend exactly 50% of my salary on the fixed expenses which is slightly less than I would spend if I was earning 1000 leva a month.\n\nWhat\'s the most interesting to me is this given the two different salaries after estimating my fixed expenses I end up with about the same amount of money to spend for the month--either 400 leva (for the 1000 leva salary) or 350 leva for the (700 leva salary).\n\nSo based on what you, my dear Bulgarain readers, spend on average each month do these numbers seem reasonable? Have I somehow make a mistake in my math or have I overlooked anything?','Living on Leva, maybe?','','publish','open','open','','living-on-leva-maybe','','','2010-01-22 15:14:30','2010-01-22 12:14:30','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1925',0,'post','',9),(1941,1,'2010-01-23 15:29:00','2010-01-23 12:29:00','','Nevski','Snapshot, Nevski','inherit','open','open','','img_0807','','','2010-01-23 15:29:00','2010-01-23 12:29:00','',1936,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0807.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1936,1,'2010-01-23 15:39:00','2010-01-23 12:39:00','So, after my post yesterday and the responses I got, it\'s gotten me thinking.  I realized that I am coming off as a crazy person.  I don\'t know the amount of taxes subtracted each month from one\'s salary, the price of rent and bills or what\'s a reasonable amount to spend on things like groceries, clothes and entertainment in Sofia.  On some level, you may even be wondering what the hell I\'ve been up to over the last year and a half I\'ve spent in Bulgaria.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1941\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Snapshot, Nevski\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0807.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1941\" title=\"Nevski\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/img_0807.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWell, for year and a half, I\'ve been straddling the life of an expat and a poor college student.  Last year on the Fulbright I received about $1000 a month, I paid 600 leva in rent for an apartment almost on top of Slaveykov Square and about 100 leva a month in utilities.  Because of my location, I almost never took public transportation or taxis. I had and still have a pre-paid cell phone that I spend about 15 leva a month on.  I bought and still buy about 25 leva a week in groceries and then I saved a little, spent a little on entertainment and bought clothes as I needed. And I paid down my student loans from college.\n\nThis year I work at the American College of Sofia and again my salary is paid in dollars.  Only this year also included in the benefits package is an apartment and utilities in Mladost.  The apartment is close to school so most days I walk (well, unless it\'s like this week--snowy, icy, freezing).  Now I shop at Billa this year so sometimes I buy things like brie and jars of spaghetti sauce and I know I pay extra for these things and I could make the pasta sauce at home but for one person it seems like a lot of work (so sometimes I just put lutinista on it).  I also have a bad Onda habit which I get the opportunity to indulge daily at school.  But this year I have less time to go out and I am less likely to eat dinner out a couple of times a week.  I like to shop but I\'d rather buy a few nice things that I know will last rather than cheep, low quality items--in fact, I think the last thing I bought myself was a turtleneck sweater in November.\n\nWhy this review of my spending habits over the last year and a half? Well, I think it\'s to give you a sense of not only who I am but also the kind of choices I make.  The other thing I want my readers to know is that I realize just how silly this whole thing is on some level.<!--more-->\n\nI mean what\'s a month compared to a year or even to a life time living on a Bulgarian salary? A month is nothing on the grand scale of things.  It\'s relatively easy to go without for a month.  Even if I needed to buy a new coat, new shoes or even a new shirt I don\'t <em>have </em>to do it this month. I have the luxury of delaying these purchases.  So that\'s where this whole thing falls apart.  Given my situation, I have a luxury that most in Bulgaria do not have.\n\nI\'ve also done something like this once before.  After college, I lived for a year as an America Corps volunteer in Washington DC. I worked with the homeless and near homeless in historically black inner city neighborhood. I made $500 a month spent a third on rent, food and my other living expenses.  I lived very simply for that year.  I made a budget--I didn\'t spend more than $20-22 a week on food, I had a cell phone and a little bit left after that for exploring the city.\n\nThis said, it\'s different to made the decision to live below the poverty line for a year. It was an active choice for me.  It\'s one thing to know that you have the ability to escape the grinding poverty that so many people you work with cannot so easily do.  It reminds you of your privilege.\n\nIn Bulgaria, I am reminded of my privilege and my difference. I know that I am an outsider. The other.\n\nWhat I know is this, this experiment will be a challenge and give me a glimpse of life in Sofia.  But in some ways it will be false. I cannot pretend that this month will teach what it is to actually live day in and day out on some of the lowest salaries in the EU. But as I said in my very first post on this topic <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/to-live-within-your-leva/\">To live within your Leva</a>, I hope this will lead me to thinking seriously about what implications are of living day in and day out in the EU country with the lowest average salary of any member state. And I’d like to come face to face with my own privilege.  I know that I am lucky to live in Sofia as an expat but in practice I don’t think I actually know how lucky I am.  So, what it boils down to is that I’d like some perspective on this issue and this seems as good a way to get it as any.\n\nHere\'s the plan: live for the month of February on 400 leva.  I\'ll keep track of my expenses and report back regularly.\n\nHow did I arrive at 400 leva? Well you can check out my rough budgeting on yesterday\'s post <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/living-on-leva-maybe/\">Living on Leva, Maybe?</a> Basically, I figure that after paying rent and utilities for either an apartment that I hypothetically rented or shared this is about what I would have left for my non-fixed expenses (fixed expenses being rent, utilities, internet and cell phone).  A few of my loyal readers are concerned that I may starve.  I sincerely hope this will not happen.','My Budget: 400 Leva','','publish','open','open','','my-budget-400-leva','','','2010-01-23 15:39:00','2010-01-23 12:39:00','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1936',0,'post','',9),(1951,1,'2010-01-24 10:50:49','2010-01-24 07:50:49','','Mashed Potato Pizza','Mashed Potato Pizza','inherit','open','open','','dsc01446','','','2010-01-24 10:50:49','2010-01-24 07:50:49','',1945,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01446.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1952,1,'2010-01-24 10:55:21','2010-01-24 07:55:21','','Pizza Close-up','Close-up','inherit','open','open','','dsc01445','','','2010-01-24 10:55:21','2010-01-24 07:55:21','',1945,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01445.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1945,1,'2010-01-24 11:00:50','2010-01-24 08:00:50','I woke up this morning and the roof of my mouth was still burnt from the mashed potato pizza I ate last night. Then in bed still, I wondered to myself if I could have a slice of it cold with my morning coffee.  <em>That\'s how good this pizza is</em>. It\'s so good that I more or less woke up thinking about it.  But instead of having cold pizza, I decided to have a cup of coffee and to write a blog post.\n\nThis pizza was introduced to me by my good friend and now ex-roommate Nick when we lived together in Washington DC. It\'s a Yale/New Haven inspired dish.  And maybe the best comfort food I\'ve ever had.  It combines mashed potatoes, cheese, pizza and veggies.  Oh and bacon if you\'re so inclined.\n\nIn the beginning, I was suspect. It sounded strange.  But I after the first bite I was won over and three years later it seemed the like perfect remedy for the cold weather and the school work I\'ve been doing all weekend.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1951\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Mashed Potato Pizza \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01446.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1951\" title=\"Mashed Potato Pizza \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01446.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe pizza I made last night follows.  It\'s a spin, a mash-up of Nick\'s version. The crust is different and the mashed potatoes are souped up but the process remains the same so check out his kick-ass <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/2009/01/mashed-potato-pizza/\">food blog Macheesmo </a>for the original recipe and step by step directions (oh and there are great photos for those of you visual people). Basically, I am letting Nick do the hard work for me. Thanks, Nick!<!--more-->\n\nThe Crust:\n<ul>\n	<li>1 cup warm water</li>\n	<li>1 scant tablespoon dry yeast</li>\n	<li>1 teaspoon honey</li>\n	<li>1 teaspoon salt (if you want)</li>\n	<li>2 tablespoons  oil</li>\n	<li>2 cups flour (you could also do 1 cup white flour and one cup whole wheat flour)</li>\n	<li>1/2 cup corn meal</li>\n</ul>\nMix the water and yeast first and let sit for a minute or two until the yeast is clearly dissolving.  Mix in all of the other ingredients and knead at end on a floured counter or cutting board.  You may need to add more flour at this point.  Let rest for five minutes.  It\'s a quick pizza dough though so no need to let it sit or rise for hours!! Just shape it turn up the edges for a crust that will hold the mashed-potato mixture.\n\nThe Mashed Potatoes (with carrot):\n<ul>\n	<li>3-4 medium potatoes</li>\n	<li>1 large carrot</li>\n	<li>1/3 cup butter</li>\n	<li>1/2 milk</li>\n	<li>3 heads of garlic chopped finely</li>\n	<li>a little salt</li>\n</ul>\nOh and after thinking about these beautiful colored mashed potatoes (white and orange) I started thinking about mixing these up with spinach rather than the carrot.  That would be tasty and given how hot the mashed potatoes are you could use either fresh or frozen and I\'d guess they\'d wilt or defrost with the heat of the potato.\n\nBut here\'s what I did: Peal and cut the potatoes and carrot. Boil until cooked and soft.  If you cook them a little bit longer they will be easier to mash by hand. Mash the potatoes and carrots with the remaining ingredients. Taste.\n\nShape the dough for your pan--probably round or oval (if you\'re like me).  Put some olive oil down on the dough. Spread potato-carrot mixture over the dough. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the mashed potatoes.  Slice veggies as needed.  I used a red pepper and mushrooms and then sprinkled the pizza with oregano and if I\'d had rosemary I\'d have used that too.\n\nPut in oven that\'s been heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 15-20 minutes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1952\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Close-up\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01445.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1952\" title=\"Pizza Close-up \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIf you can, let cool for 10 minutes then eat. If you\'re hungry and think your impervious to pain, cut pizza while it\'s burning hot, eat straight out of the oven and burn the roof of your mouth. (This was probably why I should have been drinking a beer but alas I was not.) Then eat another piece at a normal temperature.  Either way though, I think you\'ll wake up dreaming about pizza the next day. <em> </em>\n\n<em>Maybe I\'ll have a pizza snack at 10:30 am. </em>','Mashed Potato Pizza','','publish','open','open','','mashed-potato-pizza','','','2010-01-24 11:00:50','2010-01-24 08:00:50','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1945',0,'post','',1),(1956,1,'2010-01-25 07:44:42','2010-01-25 04:44:42','I received a comment on my blog last week that perplexed me.  Actually it made the feminist in me a little bit nuts. I read it and just couldn\'t believe it. I didn\'t know what to think. I had to re-read it.  The comment was this:\n<blockquote>The thing that you are missing is that you are a girl and you don`t need/want to have savings (at least not when you are twenty something).</blockquote>\nI just kept re-reading and paraphrasing the comment: you\'re a girl and you don\'t need to save or don\'t want to have saving.  The comment just made my mind race. What does this mean? Why wouldn\'t I want to have savings? What does it matter what my age is? What is it about being a girl that somehow makes this different? I mean, what\'s going on?\n\nThen I began to wonder if something was lost in translation.  Maybe I was misunderstanding the comment. Maybe I didn\'t get it.  Or maybe she meant exactly what she said.  But that seemed strange to me.\n\nSo today, I asked my tutor about it.  She said, well, she wasn\'t sure what to make of the comment.  But she explained that given the low salaries in Bulgaria it\'s not easy for people to save.  She also told me that she read an article this week in a Bulgarian newspaper which stated that only 50% of Bulgarians have bank accounts.\n\nUm, what?! How can that be? I just about lost it. Fifty percent of Bulgarians don\'t have bank accounts!?!<!--more--> Aside from where they keep their money, I didn\'t even know how they got paid.  My tutor explained that most Bulgarians get paid their salaries in cash.  Insert me here, wide open eyes and a look of disbelief. Cash, really?!\n\nYep. Apparently companies are happy to pay their employees in cash.  As, this makes it easier for companies to under-report salaries to the government and they don\'t have to pay as much in taxes this way.  Oh. Silly me thinking it was just easier to use direct deposit to pay employees. But I guess that if only 50% of Bulgarians have bank accounts the direct deposit route would make distributing salaries that much more difficult.\n\nAll of a sudden, I am much happier with the fact that my salary is directly deposited in two pieces one into my Bulgarian bank account and the other part into my American account.  Who knew that this was something I needed to be grateful for? I didn\'t. Not until today.\n\nBut really?! I still can\'t get my head around the fact that 50% of Bulgarians do not have bank accounts.  This is clearly one of reasons that the economy still functions on cash.  But what else does this tell us? Well I guess that it could also point to the saving habits of Bulgarians, their trust (or lack of trust) in this institution and maybe even their reliance on informal networks for exchange and bartering.\n\nSo my tutor explains why she thinks that more Bulgarians do not save.  It has to do with the fact that there are always so many more immediate needs in the lives of Bulgarians and these pressing and immediate needs outweigh the desire (or the ability) to save. It\'s the trip to the dentist, a gift for a friend\'s birthday or home repairs that mean there\'s nothing left to save at the end of the month.\n\nStill, I wondered, what about holidays? Weekends on the Black Sea or a trip to Istanbul, Greece or even Lake Ohrid? The response was that for most people decisions are made to cut else where in the monthly budget in order to be able to afford a holiday.  It\'s not as if Bulgarians can just put it on their credit cards.  I think it\'s pretty safe to say that credit cards are even less common than bank accounts.\n\nMy reaction to all of this is: depressing, depressing, depressing.  But my tutor was simply matter of fact.  It\'s not easy to save as a regular Bulgarian.\n\nAll of a sudden the comment I received on my blog last week made a little bit more sense--maybe--well at least there was more context for the comment.  I am not sure that I agree with the idea that as a Bulgarian twenty-something girl I wouldn\'t need to have savings but I can see more clearly now the kind of challenges I would face trying to save as a twenty-something Bulgarian.\n\nBut does this mean that I shouldn\'t try to save? That if I were a Bulgarian twenty-something I should focus my energies on finding a husband with a good salary, an apartment and good connections? Uh, there\'s something<em> too </em>Jane Austen about this sentiment for words.\n\nProbably this whole thing is more difficult for me to get some sense of because I\'ve had a bank account since I was in elementary school.  In fact, right now I have accounts open at three different banks in the States and one account in Bulgaria.  By all accounts, I guess this makes me a saver.  I never really thought of myself as a saver but today\'s conversation made it just how clear it is that I am a saver.  It also makes it clear just how little I understand about personal finances in Bulgaria. Sofia','Personal Finances: To Save?','','publish','open','open','','personal-finances-to-save','','','2010-01-25 07:44:42','2010-01-25 04:44:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1956',0,'post','',12),(1971,1,'2010-01-26 07:45:42','2010-01-26 04:45:42','<p style=\"text-align:left;\"><img class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner \" src=\"http://www.theworldisbig.com/en/Wallpapers_jpg/Carlo%20Ljubek%20(Alex)%20&amp;%20Miki%20Manojlovic%20(Bai%20Dan)_1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"614\" height=\"461\" />I demand that you watch the Bulgarian movie: <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/new-bulgaria-the-world-is-big-and-salvation-lurks-around-the-corner/\">The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Just Around the Corner</a> or “Светът е голям и спасение дебне отвсякъде” (Svetat e golyam i spasenie debne otvsyakde). This is a link to my original review of the movie which I wrote in October 2008. I wrote in this post about the \"New Bulgaria\" that emerges in the film.  I also wrote about the fact that I thought it was a shame that the film wasn\'t in wider distribution and that</p>\n\n<blockquote>This is the kind of story that would help more Americans understand what is happening here in Bulgaria now and the way that the communist past has influenced the people, the politics and the economy of Bulgaria.  I also think that the film begins to help explain the deep cynicism that saturates much of daily life here–cynicism which I sense in my students, my fellow teachers and Bulgarian friends.</blockquote>\nBut it\'s a film that\'s about more than just Bulgaria. It\'s about the choices we make, the things we risk for the ones we love, and distance we travel to recover ourselves.  It\'s not a movie about return--the home you\'ve left you can never return to; instead, I\'d say it\'s a movie about who we are when our identity has been shaped by multiple cultures, languages and experiences.\n\nOh and and it\'s just been put on the short list for an Academy Award in the best foreign-language film category--the Oscars.  It\'s one of nine movies. Apparently it was narrowed down from 65 foreign language films. According to the <a href=\"http://sofiaecho.com/2010/01/21/845575_bulgarian-film-on-shortlist-for-2010-foreign-language-film-oscars\">Sofia Echo</a>, later this week the films will be narrowed down to the official five Academy Award nominees.<!--more-->\n\nSo to my Bulgarian readers: no excuses, I mean it came out in your native language more than a year ago. If you haven\'t seen it yet shame on you.  Also, you <em>could</em> download it illegally (not that I\'m advocating this, it just seems to be a fact of life in Bulgaria). But you\'ve got to watch it.  It\'s a really lovely movie.\n\nFor my American readers: there are also no excuses. Yep. You too can watch this Bulgarian film.  How? You can get it on <a href=\"http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_World_is_Big_and_Salvation_Lurks_Around_the_Corner/70127611?strackid=473d609bb09a7f68_0_srl&amp;strkid=2117434933_0_0&amp;lnkctr=srchrd-sr&amp;trkid=222336\">NetFlix</a>. Yes, you can watch from the comfort of your own couch--you will <em>have</em> to read subtitles but you will <em>get</em> to hear everyone speak the language I am desperately trying to learn. And you\'ll get to watch an excellent film.\n\nSo back to my demand: watch this movie. Okay maybe it\'s not really a demand but a strong urging. A really strong one.  Actually, even better than a demand or me urging you, it\'s this: homework. Watch the movie and think about it.\n\nI mean, it\'s not like I ask too much from you guys. Basically the only thing I expect is that you read my blog. Oh and every once in a while, if it\'s not too much work you can leave a comment telling me what you think, giving me some insight or tell me what a good job I am doing. Thus, I think it\'s a pretty small thing that I am asking of you. Watch the movie.  It\'s good for you.\n\nOh and back to my American friends and family, think how cultured (and fancy) you\'ll sound at an Academy Awards party when you get to discuss the film The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Just Around the Corner. Okay, you may have to work on saying the name of the film a few times. It is kind of mouthful but you can do it.  It\'s not like you have to say it in Bulgarian.\n\nIn the end, this is a movie that you\'ll be glad you watched. That\'s that.','Homework: The Oscars &amp; Bulgaria','','publish','open','open','','homework-the-oscars-bulgaria','','','2010-01-26 07:45:42','2010-01-26 04:45:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1971',0,'post','',5),(1986,1,'2010-01-26 22:54:01','2010-01-26 19:54:01','','Moda','Moda, February','inherit','open','open','','dsc01453','','','2010-01-26 22:54:01','2010-01-26 19:54:01','',1978,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01453.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1987,1,'2010-01-26 22:57:20','2010-01-26 19:57:20','','Me in Moda','Me in Moda','inherit','open','open','','dsc01450','','','2010-01-26 22:57:20','2010-01-26 19:57:20','',1978,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01450.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1988,1,'2010-01-26 23:01:28','2010-01-26 20:01:28','','Moda and Karolinka','Karolinka and Moda!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01449','','','2010-01-26 23:01:28','2010-01-26 20:01:28','',1978,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01449.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1978,1,'2010-01-27 08:06:05','2010-01-27 05:06:05','Big news: I\'ve just made my magazine début in the Bulgarian fashion magazine Moda. Yes, you read that correctly. I am in a fashion magazine. A Bulgarian one.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1986\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Moda, February\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01453.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1986\" title=\"Moda \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01453.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ve never been in a magazine before (so it\'s kind of a big deal for me).  I was asked in November for an interview and in December I gave the interview and the photos were taken.  Now the project is out on newsstands and I am in it. I appear in a collection of stories on foreigners in Bulgaria. And for the record, I do not dispense a single word of fashion advice.  That\'s probably for the best.  I am after all a huge fan of layering things, sweatpants and tennis shoes (well, not all at once. not usually).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1987\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me in Moda\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01450.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1987\" title=\"Me in Moda \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHowever, had I been asked I would have shared this: everything I am wearing in these photos, I found in Bulgaria. The dress and necklace are from Paradise Garage, the ring is handmade by a Bulgarian artist and I came across the jacket at a little shop on lower-Graf Ignativ--near the stadium. I like to shop and buy locally when I can. I like to support up and coming talent and I don\'t want too look like everyone else.  But who\'s interested in fashion advice from an American? I am just glad that I look pretty pulled together in my photos.\n\nLuckily, I do have a lot to say about life in Bulgaria which was what the interview was really about. This as you know is really the basis of my blog--which coincidentally is how the magazine editor found me.  Given the blog, I am pretty used to saying what I think, getting feedback and then writing some more.  Still there\'s something different about knowing that you\'re going to be in <em>print</em>.<!--more--> I began obsessing over it. Over what to wear, what I\'d say, and what it meant to willing hand myself over for an article about me.  After all my story is something that I have ultimate control over on my blog.\n\nBut I got over my obsessions.  Simply the idea of being in a Bulgarian fashion magazine was too, um, amazing for words.  First, no one\'s ever asked me to me in a magazine. Second, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I\'d ever end up in a Bulgarian magazine.  Let alone a fashion magazine.  Third, that I was asked in large part due to my blog was wildly amusing to me.  As I more or less started this blog so that I wouldn\'t have to spam my friends and family with group emails and as I said in the article my MoM was (and is) my biggest fan.  (Yeah MoM, you too make an appearance in the pages of Moda!) Oh and there\'s no way my Bulgarian is good enough to conduct an interview in Bulgarian so the though of actually seeing myself in an article in a magazine, in Bulgarian was the kicker.  I was hooked.\n\nNow, this will probably not come as a surprise. There\'s something exciting about seeing yourself in a magazine. I really liked flipping through the magazine looking for my article. The feel of the shiny pages on my fingers and when I finally found the article, I really liked seeing my name in print, in Bulgarian. <em>I liked it lot</em>. Maybe even more than I should have.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1988\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Karolinka and Moda! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01449.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1988\" title=\"Moda and Karolinka \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01449.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe first thing I did was look through the pictures, the other three profiles and then I returned to my own.  I tried to read it.  Ha. Too hard.\n\nI couldn\'t get the thought out of my head: I said that stuff? This is not to say that I was misquoted. Nope, everything I said was me it\'s just that I gave the interview in English.  So to read myself in Bulgaria is kind of a strange thing. But I did like how many big words I know in Bulgarian and I apparently have pretty good grammar in Bulgarian too. The thing I had been most worried about was sounding stupid.  Luckily, I think, I sound okay.\n\nBut I am not sure that this excitement translates very well into a blog post. So I am sorry for this. Still I am writing. I tried to think of all sorts of funny, witty things to say. No luck. I mean it\'s not even like the pictures I posted are that interesting. I mean ultimately the pictures are just pages from a magazine--some of which have a story about me and pictures of me. You can hardly see the the print is Cyrillic.\n\nSo this morning I tried to decide if being in a magazine made any difference in my life but I don\'t think so as I feel neither more fashionable nor more Bulgarian than yesterday. Okay, it\'s not that I expected to wake up after being in a magazine and have clothes just jump out of the closet for me to wear or for me to suddenly be able to speak Bulgarian (but it would be a nice perk).  I actually didn\'t know what to expect.  So I was revealed to arrive at the pretty reassuring conclusion: it doesn\'t make much of a difference in my life that I am in a magazine.\n\nWell, it\'s pretty fun. But that\'s about it.  I have no super powers as a result. It\'s not easier or faster for me to write a blog post.  The 111 and 76 buses are just as crowded as they normally are and I still have a stack of papers to grade for the end of the term.\n\nBut if you\'d like to get a kick out seeing me in a magazine, reading more about me in Bulgarian or just wonder what the Bulgarian fashion magazine take on foreigners (like me) in Bulgaria is you should pick up the February issue of Moda! Also, You should probably do this sooner than later because I still need to buy 10 or so copies for my friends and family in the States.  I mean I can\'t not send a copy to my MoM.','Moda: My Magazine Debut','','publish','open','open','','moda-my-magazine-debut','','','2010-01-27 08:06:05','2010-01-27 05:06:05','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1978',0,'post','',13),(1994,1,'2010-01-28 07:59:42','2010-01-28 04:59:42','Аз обичам български народни танци.  всеки втроник и четвътък след училице аз танцувам.  моят учител по български народни танци се казва стоян. Аз мисля, че преподава народни танци от много години.  Знае танци от България, Гърция, Сърбия и Румъния. Знае най-много от България и танзувам най-много от Булгария.\n\nза мен Българските народни танци са трудни.  не зхая музиката.  Обикновено мисля, че краката ми не работя или не ме слушат.  Искам краката ми да правят едно, но те правят друго. Сега мисля, че танцувам горе-долу добре народни танци.  Аз не мога да танцувам добре но аз обичам да танцувам.\n\nМоже би ще си купя българска народна хосия.\n\n-----\n\nSo, for my only-English language followers. This post is about Bulgarian National Dance. Here\'s the summary: I like it but I am not very good at it. I think the highlight is when I try to say in Bulgarian that my feet don\'t do what I want because they wont listen to me.  I thought it was pretty funny but it might not really be that great--it\'s hard to say.  Then at the end of the post, I make a big move.  I shift from speaking in the present tense to one sentence in the, get this, future tense.  Watch out world here I come.\n\nOh and thanks to the students I cornered this morning who helped me with my grammar and spelling. Especially to the one who said: Man, is my English this bad? Nope, your English is no where near as bad. And to the other student who said: It\'s pretty weird helping a teacher with homework. I know, for the record, it\'s also kind of strange asking for help.','Български Народни Танци','','publish','open','open','','%d0%b1%d1%8a%d0%bb%d0%b3%d0%b0%d1%80%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b8-%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%be%d0%b4%d0%bd%d0%b8-%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%bd%d1%86%d0%b8','','','2010-01-28 07:59:42','2010-01-28 04:59:42','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1994',0,'post','',7),(2008,1,'2010-01-29 08:21:18','2010-01-29 05:21:18','','Urban Bear','Urban Bear','inherit','open','open','','dsc01447','','','2010-01-29 08:21:18','2010-01-29 05:21:18','',2009,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01447.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2009,1,'2010-01-29 12:56:03','2010-01-29 09:56:03','[caption id=\"attachment_2008\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Urban Bear\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01447.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2008\" title=\"Urban Bear \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01447.jpg?w=225\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s been cold and snowy in Sofia all week long. Then I spotted this: an urban bear.  Actually, it\'s just a woman in a fur coat. But when I saw her from behind I couldn\'t stop laughing to myself. Then I took this pretty bad photo--sorry it so blurry but I think it really helps get the effect of the urban bear across.\n\nThe other women I\'ve seen have puffy maybe-down filled coats on.  They look like they are wearing sleeping bags with sleeves and a belt. The look may not be that stylish but they seem pretty warm. I\'d kind of like a coat like this. Even if it made me look like a marshmallow.','Urban Bears','','publish','open','open','','urban-bears','','','2010-01-29 12:56:03','2010-01-29 09:56:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2009',0,'post','',4),(2017,1,'2010-01-30 12:41:41','2010-01-30 09:41:41','','Me and My friends!','Me and My friends!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01457','','','2010-01-30 12:41:41','2010-01-30 09:41:41','',0,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01457.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2018,1,'2010-01-30 12:43:49','2010-01-30 09:43:49','I don\'t have much time to blog today. I\'ve got to grade nearly 40 10th grade English exams. But I did go to dinner with friends last night.  Here\'s a photo to prove that 1. I have friends. 2. I don\'t just spend my whole life teaching or blogging. 3. I still know how to have fun.  Even if it\'s freezing outside. Happy Saturday Everyone!!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2017\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Me and My friends! \"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01457.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2017\" title=\"Me and My friends! \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01457.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]','Two of My best Bulgarian Friends','','publish','open','open','','two-of-my-best-bulgarian-friends','','','2010-01-30 12:43:49','2010-01-30 09:43:49','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2018',0,'post','',0),(2021,1,'2010-01-31 10:48:37','2010-01-31 07:48:37','','Paper Stars','My kite paper stars in Sofia','inherit','open','open','','dsc01458','','','2010-01-31 10:48:37','2010-01-31 07:48:37','',2020,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01458.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2020,1,'2010-01-31 10:53:00','2010-01-31 07:53:00','I finally got my act together and made some paper stars (and then two weeks later I finally got my act together to write a blog post about it).  I first posted about my desire to make these <a href=\"http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/star-crafts/\">lovely stars in December</a>.  For Christmas, I received kite paper (a waxy-stiffer kind of tissue paper) from not one but two different people (thanks!)-- so I\'ve got lots and lots of paper to make stars with. But after making the stars, it\'s pretty clear to me that you could just as easily use tissue paper for these stars.\n\nThe most important thing is color.  White tissue paper wouldn\'t give you the effect that you\'re looking for.  It would be a fair amount of work for not a lot of wow. And I think in craft projects like this you want the ratio of work to wow to be even if not more wow than work.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2021\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My kite paper stars in Sofia\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01458.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2021\" title=\"Paper Stars\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dsc01458.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThese stars are lovely when the sun is streaming through.  The colors bleed and overlap.  I especially like the rainbow start for the bleeding-overlapping-kaleidoscope effect.  I also like the fact that these are easy to make and very satisfying.  I haven\'t gotten to see much of the sun streaming through because I\'ve been getting up before the sun and coming home in the dark but I am sure that during the day when I am at work and they\'re here in my apartment they are lovely.\n\nMaybe I should make some for my classroom at school.  Or maybe I should try to leave work before 6pm.  Heck, maybe I should try to do both.','Paper Stars','','publish','open','open','','paper-stars','','','2010-01-31 10:53:00','2010-01-31 07:53:00','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2020',0,'post','',4),(2025,1,'2010-02-01 08:05:04','2010-02-01 05:05:04','The Sofia News Agency has written a series of articles on Bulgaria accepting detainees from Guantanamo. However they\'ve made it sound like Bulgaria is picking out stray-homeless kittens from the pound. Rather than making the difficult and potentially unpopular choice to accept men who have been labeled by the US at worst as terrorists and at best as terror suspects.\n\nDon\'t get me wrong, I think that what the United States did under the direction President George W. Bush at Guantanamo is inexcusable and inhumane. To deny one\'s human rights because one is a suspected terrorist is, in my mind, more terrifying than a terrorist.\n\nBut the tone, language and focus of the Sofia News Agency articles comes across as kind of <em>off.</em>\n\nOkay, I guess that I am probably hypersensitive to the entire issue seeing as I am an American who\'s opposed to both the detention camp and the language and rhetoric that has surrounded the detainees in the United States since the beginning.  Fundamentally, the detainees are people.  <!--more-->They have been labeled terrorists or suspected terrorists--they\'ve been subjected to torture and they\'ve been denied a right to due process.  They\'ve been held in a camp for years and now, they have no place go.  These men are truly stateless--homeless now in the worst way.\n\nPresident Obama has promised to close the camp.  But and it\'s a big <em>but</em> the question remains what will we do with the prisoners? These men that until recently our government has said are so dangerous that we\'ve been unwilling to give them a day in court or to follow the guidelines set forth in the Geneva Convention. What will we do with them? Well, it turns out we\'re asking other countries if they will take them.  (Maybe this is where the stray-kitten rhetoric comes from...hey, my cat just had kittens and I can\'t keep them all, want one? )\n\nAnyhow, since December it\'s been pretty clear that Bulgaria is going to accept at least one if not two Guantanamo detainees.  Without a doubt, it\'s a political maneuver. But isn\'t all of this?\n\nSo why the shift in language?  Language and rhetoric that makes it sound like Bulgaria is picking out a stray dog from the pound or a homeless kitten and  promising to treat it well and give it a home.  Here are the highlights from the Sofia News Agency:\n<ul>\n	<li>Bulgaria has held talks with the US regarding accepting former prisoners of \"Guantanamo Bay\" on its territory (<a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110993\">SNA Dec 12th</a>).</li>\n	<li>Guantanamo prisoners will enjoy a humanitarian status in Bulgaria, which means they will not be put behind bars, but will be treated as refugees (<a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111147\">SNA Dec 16th</a>).</li>\n	<li>Bulgarian authorities have looked at two particular prisoners, who display model behavior and profess family values (<a href=\"http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=112498\">SNA Jan 28th</a>).</li>\n	<li>Bulgarian officials however have cautioned that Bulgaria\'s participation would be small, and people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted.</li>\n</ul>\nThis last line showed up in nearly every article covering the Guantanamo detainee issue on the Sofia News Agency\'s website.  I assume that this is because of the rhetoric that has floated around the detainees in the States--terrorists, killers, dangerous and so on. But the language in the articles is so careful--tenuous even.  After years of such a broad paint brush strokes when it came to language and rhetoric regarding the prisoners during the Bush presidency this careful negotiation of language and rhetoric is fascinating--if not still a little frustrating. These detainees are men.They are people; humans made of  flesh and blood.\n\nThat\'s the thing--they are neither soulless-godless-heathen-terrorists nor are they dirty-stray-homeless-kittens that need to be taken in. They are people. People who need a home. They\'ve been poorly treated. Abused. Terrorized. Now, apparently America\'s opening the doors and saying: here you are, you can have your pick.\n\nBut these men are not animals to be poked, prodded, scratched or taken for a test walk around the block  like an abandoned dog you\'re trying to decide to adopt.  Still somehow the rhetoric has shifted and America all of a sudden seems to be behaving  like the humane society--we seem to be saying: check out this older dog sure, he\'s no longer young and cute, he may have been abused by his previous owners but at least he\'s already housebroken.  We\'re busy pawning off our detainees--or we\'re letting countries pick their own Guantanamo detainees out.\n\nEither way, this leaves  Bulgaria with what? Well, I guess it depends how you decide to read situation.  First, there\'s the Bulgaria that\'s magnanimously taking in a detainee--self-sacrificing and helpful--and they get a detainee.  And second, there\'s the Bulgaria that\'s now in the <em>lucky</em> position of being able to pick out the best ex-terrorist or maybe it\'s better to say the least-bad ex-terrorist.  Neither choice sounds that great.  Thanks, George W. Bush.  <em>Thanks</em>.','Bulgaria and Guantanamo','','publish','open','open','','bulgaria-and-guantanamo','','','2010-02-01 08:05:04','2010-02-01 05:05:04','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2025',0,'post','',1),(2038,1,'2010-02-01 21:02:36','2010-02-01 18:02:36','Apparently it\'s going to be one of those months. One of those months where nothing really goes how you planned it.  I started my live on 400 leva for the month experiment today.\n<ul>\n	<li>Breakfast: coffee, oatmeal, milk and a banana. Cost: maybe 1.20 leva</li>\n	<li>Lunch at school: mish-mash, slice of bread and what I thought was tikvanik (pumpkin strudel) but it turned out to be apple (oh, well). Cost: 2.3o leva</li>\n	<li>Dinner: homemade bagel, yogurt, mandarin oranges and a glass of wine.  Cost: 2.50 leva, maybe.</li>\n</ul>\nI\'ve also got a cold that will not stop and a pounding headache.  Uch. If that\'s not awesome enough I am probably not going to make it on my live on 400 leva for the month plan.  Not that you would know this given the fact that I spent less than 6 leva today.\n\nWhy you might ask? <!--more-->Well, my cellphone pooped out yesterday.  Yep. Apparently, it no longer feels like displaying anything on the screen. But, I can still answer incoming calls. I just can\'t make any because I don\'t know anyone\'s phone numbers.  I guess that\'s not so different than my normal cellphone use but I do like to send text messages, to see who calling me and to check the time now and then.\n\nSo not only am I on the market for a new cellphone but I am guessing that I won\'t be able to buy a decent one within my budget and feed myself for the month of February.  <em>Great</em>.\n\nThis said, one have any phone recommendations? I hate the process of buying technology--computers, cameras, cellphones and the like.  There\'s so much to know and I really loathe spending hours comparing phones, computers and the like trying to pick the right one.  So, I had my last phone for nearly four years before it\'s untimely death yesterday--so function is generally more important that style.  There\'s a little piece of me that would love an iphone but I am not sure I can justify that. Thus, I\'ll repeat my plea: anyone have a phone they love that they\'d recommend?\n\nAnd for those of you who thought I\'d fail at my little experiment, it\'s looking pretty likely.','Living with Leva: Feburary 1st','','publish','open','open','','living-with-leva-feburary-1st','','','2010-02-01 21:02:36','2010-02-01 18:02:36','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2038',0,'post','',15),(2043,1,'2010-02-02 20:41:55','2010-02-02 17:41:55','I realized today that this experiment that I am undertaking is going to ruin any and every illusion each of you had left about me.  (Well maybe not my MoM, she\'s known I am just human for a long time.) But for the rest of you, I am afraid I am only going to break your hearts.\n\nHere\'s what\'s in store for you: You\'re going to learn that I am creature of habit. You\'re going to learn that I am not living some wildly-exciting (or extravagant) life abroad.  You\'re going to get a glimpse at my groceries, my eating habits as well as a few of my little obsessions.  If you\'re lucky you might get a recipe or two that you\'re excited to try out at home. You might get laugh or two and you might be inspired to keep track of what you\'re spending your money on each month.\n\nAnyhow, here\'s what happened today:\n<ul>\n	<li>Breakfast: coffee, oatmeal, milk and a banana. Cost: maybe 1.20 leva</li>\n	<li>Lunch at school: chicken,  mixed veggies and a slice of bread. Cost: 2 leva</li>\n	<li>In desperate need of caffeine after hours of grading: .30 leva for a long coffee made more or less drinkable with two sugars.</li>\n	<li>Dinner: homemade bagel, yogurt, steamed veggies and a glass of wine.  Cost: 2.50 leva, maybe.  But, maybe I\'ll have a second glass of wine. It\'s been one of those days.</li>\n</ul>\nSo, the pattern that you will begin to see emerging over the next month is this: in addition to my love of coffee, I also love oatmeal.  <!--more-->I eat it every morning. I\'ve been eating ever since I graduated from college from the months of September to May or June.  But I don\'t like eating it when it gets too hot outside. It\'s just a meal that really starts your day off right.  So I eat it everyday.\n\nI just don\'t think my love of oatmeal is shared as widely as my love of coffee.  So I\'ve never really talked about it on my blog before.  Oh and once, a roommate in Washington DC, in response to a commercial for Quaker Oats said: who could eat oatmeal everyday? I said: me. He said: really? that\'s weird.  That was the end of our conversation. Since then though I haven\'t advertised my love for the dish so much.\n\nOther things I love: bananas, chocolate, scones, lentils and french toast.\n\nAlso, for those of you keeping track, I kind of cheated on Sunday.  In normally go shopping on either Saturday or Sunday.  Saturday I decided I\'d go on Monday so that it would be really to keep track of my spending.  But Sunday it was clear that I was going to run out of toilet paper and I needed bananas. Two things that I really needed to start my work week off right.  For the record, Sunday was January 31st so given my month long experiment I don\'t think that I am obligated to report the following purchases but I am going to anyway: toilet paper (4.99 leva), conditioner (7 leva) and almonds (3.50 leva).\n\nOh and I hate scented toilet paper. This makes me the crazy foreigner at the store smelling toilet paper.  I don\'t want my toilet paper smelling anything like a bouquet, a spa, a forest or the ocean. Of course, I don\'t buy toilet paper often enough to remember which one I bought last time, the language on the toilet paper usually isn\'t English or Bulgarian, and on top of this on the roll they all look the same.  So, I resort to sniffing toilet paper.\n\nYep, as promised these posts are going to ruin any illusions you may have about me and break your heart.','Living on Leva: More about me','','publish','open','open','','living-on-leva-more-about-me','','','2010-02-02 20:41:55','2010-02-02 17:41:55','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2043',0,'post','',6),(2049,1,'2010-02-02 21:18:02','2010-02-02 18:18:02','','Bagel Sponge','The Bagel Sponge','inherit','open','open','','dsc01459','','','2010-02-02 21:18:02','2010-02-02 18:18:02','',2048,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01459.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2051,1,'2010-02-02 21:24:50','2010-02-02 18:24:50','','My Homemade Bagels','My Homemade Bagels','inherit','open','open','','dsc01464','','','2010-02-02 21:24:50','2010-02-02 18:24:50','',2048,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01464.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2054,1,'2010-02-02 21:34:00','2010-02-02 18:34:00','','Bagels before baking','','inherit','open','open','','dsc01460','','','2010-02-02 21:34:00','2010-02-02 18:34:00','',2048,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01460.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2048,1,'2010-02-03 07:18:49','2010-02-03 04:18:49','<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">There\'re a few things that I miss in Bulgaria--salsa and good Mexican food, bagels and cream cheese, and marshmallows in hot chocolate.  So, inspired once again by the food blog <a href=\"http://www.macheesmo.com/?s=Bagel+\">Macheesmo</a> and my ex-roommate\'s post on making bagels at home.</p>\n\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2051\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"My Homemade Bagels\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01464.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2051\" title=\"My Homemade Bagels\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01464.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">He made it seem easy.  It\'s not so hard. There\'s just a lot of waiting. That\'s what his blog said.  And it turns out, he\'s right. These are totally worth the effort of making at home. First because it\'s really and truly not that difficult and second because they are very tasty. In fact I am already thinking about what I am going to put in my next batch and I\'ve hardly made a dent in eating my original batch.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">First you make the sponge.  This part is important. I guess this is because bagels need time to develop their texture and flavor.  These things can\'t be rushed. <!--more-->Or at least that\'s what I imagine Nick would tell me if I was actually baking these with them. For the record, I am not. I just have to try to muddle though his recipe by myself.</p>\n\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2049\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"The Bagel Sponge\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01459.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2049\" title=\"Bagel Sponge \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01459.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Then you wait. In my case you freak out, after two hours and gchat Nick, demanding to know if his recipe is correct on the blog because the sponge isn\'t bubbling yet and appears to be thicker than on his blog.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">He writes back and asks you this: what kind of flour are you using?</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">If you are me, you\'re forced to write back and say: Um, Bulgarian.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">I know full well that he wants to know if I am using cake flour, bread flour, whole-wheat flour or the like.  But I don\'t know.  So I tell him Bulgarian flour. The thing I can be sure of this: he laughs and laughs.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">So given his advice, I wait a little more.  Then I decide to take things into my own hands. I add a little sugar to make sure the yeast is really doing it\'s thing. It is. So, I keep up with his recipe.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Only I use golden raisins rather than purple raisins. They are classier than the regular ones. Nope, just kidding. I simply can\'t find purple raisins so I use what I can get my hands on. I knead the dough and make the bagels.  Then they rest in my fridge for probably 15 or 16 hours. You\'ll notice, I don\'t use parchment baking paper. <a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01460.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2054\" title=\"Bagels before baking \" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01460.jpg\" alt=\"Bagels before baking \" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>That might have been a mistake.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"></p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">After school on Monday, I boil the bagels for 1 minute on each side and then bake them. Back to the parchment baking paper.  It probably would have been useful to use seeing as my bagels kind of stuck to the pan but I don\'t have any. So I didn\'t use it. Note to self: oil pans more carefully in the future.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">So, the review: the bagels were good first night I ate them  but the second day--wow. They might be even better now. The outside is chewy, the middle is soft and the flavor is a little sweet. It makes me wonder if I tried to eat the bagels too soon after taking them out of the oven on the first night. Oh well.</p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">These bagels I made are pretty amazing.  I am going to enjoy every single one of them.  Maybe next time I\'ll make walnut-apricot bagels.</p>','Make&#039;n Bagels','','publish','open','open','','maken-bagels','','','2010-02-03 07:18:49','2010-02-03 04:18:49','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2048',0,'post','',7),(2015,1,'2010-02-04 07:11:19','2010-02-04 04:11:19','<em>I\'ve been thinking about this for sometime now and here it is. I am starting a regular \"column\" on my blog titled \"Notes from Sofia.\"  The idea is this: every week or so I invite/ask/beg/steal/cajole/borrow a Bulgarian or expat living in Bulgaria to write a guest post about some aspect of their life in the city. This is the first installment. </em>\n\nI asked one of my regular followers if she was interested in writing. She has a Bulgarian blog that I look at from time to time.  Most of the time I have no idea what she\'s writing about but she always makes such thoughtful comments on my blog I thought: ask <a href=\"http://just-helen.blogspot.com/\">Helen</a>. So that\'s exactly what I did.  Luckily, she said yes and what you\'re about to read is her guest post:\n\nCarolyn has asked me to write a guest post for her new column in the blog. This is because I am a renowned expert on two things:\n\na) taxi drivers\n\nb) public transportation\n\nI am flattered by this possibility to express my thoughts in front of her fans but bear in mind that this is me speaking; it is not Carolyn. Oh, and, Carolyn, I insist to call you Carolyn because you see Karolina or Karolinka it is not really a common name in Bulgaria. <!--more-->It is not in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  It is more typical for Poland and the Czech Republic. And I know that you want to get closer to Bulgaria, not to any other country into the former Eastern block. Although, I do love Prague; Prague always on my mind.\n\nNotes from Sofia. Well, I’ve been living here for some 13 years now. And I like Sofia. It was a conscious decision to come to live here. I love the Big City because it is full of opportunities. You have choices here. You get to choose where to live, what to eat and how to keep yourself amused. You get to choose on the labour market. You don’t have to put up with some nasty job. And if money is not enough you could always find additional assignments like tutoring or writing or …. I don’t know, driving a cab? You have a choice of movies or shows to see. Cafés and leisure activities. Bookstores and clubs. You have a choice for transportation. And at the same time you get to be accountable only to yourself. You don’t have to care about what other people are thinking of you because 1) they do not actually know you; 2) they have seen stranger things before. So they don’t care about you and you get to not care about them. The inconspicuousness of the Big City.\n\nMind you, I don’t say that this kind of nonchalance should go into extremes, either. Like it is the case lately in Sofia. The holes in the roads and the uneven pavements have become far too obtrusive. And so is the case for the general rudeness and aggressiveness of people’s behaviour. I guess what we all need to do now is to put some healthy boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not.\n\nP.S. Sorry, Carolyn, but missing the “u” in words like “labour” and “behaviour” feels simply wrong to me.\n\n<em>So, if you like the idea, think you have something interesting to say or you want to write just let me know. </em>','Notes from Sofia: Getting to live in the Big City','','publish','open','open','','notes-from-sofia-getting-to-live-in-the-big-city','','','2010-02-04 07:11:19','2010-02-04 04:11:19','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2015',0,'post','',8),(2068,1,'2010-02-05 08:11:35','2010-02-05 05:11:35','By the time you read this, I\'ll be in Rome. Yes, Rome. That means I am cheating on Bulgaria, my personal challenge to live within 400 leva for the month and I am cheating on my diet. Well, actually I am only cheating on the first two because I am not on a diet--good thing because I plan to eat lots of amazing food.\n\nStill cheating is cheating.\n\nBut, it was just so hard not to.<!--more--> Last month before I started hatching my \"Live within Your Leva\" plan my friends and I found inexpensive tickets to Rome and at school we\'ve got a three day weekend because of finals. FYI: being a teacher has a few perks.  I guess it makes the hellish finals-week I just experienced a little more bearable.\n\nSo we flew to Rome on Thursday night and currently we\'re out in the city doing something awesome. Well, I hope so anyway. I set the auto-post function so who knows what I am actually up to.\n\nWhat do I hope I am doing right now? As previously stated: something awesome.\n\nWell, I am sure that I\'ll be enjoying the coffee, site seeing and taking lots of photos.\n\nOh but if it makes you feel better there is a 40-50% chance of rain the three days we\'re in Rome.  I guess that\'s what I get for cheating. A chance of rain. A pretty serious chance of rain.','I am cheating','','publish','open','open','','i-am-cheating','','','2010-02-05 08:11:35','2010-02-05 05:11:35','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2068',0,'post','',3),(2080,1,'2010-02-07 22:37:08','2010-02-07 19:37:08','Rome was lovely. Rainy and lovely. I just got home and have to do a few things tonight before school tomorrow so here\'s a peak into my time in Rome.\n\nWe stayed in a hostel near the train station. It wasn\'t very fancy--even given the name: Hotel Beautiful.  But the location was good and we spent the better part of two and a half days wandering around Rome not in our hostel so it\'s okay not to stay in the nicest place.\n\nWe ate a lot of food. A lot. Pizza, pasta, panini, galato, cookies, mozzarella, coffee and red wine.  Oh and I am sure I\'ve left something off this list but this gives you a pretty good idea of the range of things I\'ve consumed over the last three days.<!--more-->\n\nWe also saw, visited and wandered through a dozen different sites and what seemed like a hundred different streets. We went to the Vatican, to see the Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Fountain of Trevi and we explored all sorts of piazzas.\n\nWe also went to a live show featuring<a href=\"http://www.theswellseason.com/\"> The Swell Season</a>. They\'re a great band.  If you don\'t know them, you should.  The two lead singers are in the movie<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_%28film%29\"> Once</a> (a really wonderful film) that won an Oscar for best musical a couple of years ago. And  <a href=\"http://www.joshritter.com/news.php\">Josh Ritter</a> opened the show.\n\nThe trip also made me think about this: I\'ve got some reading and some learning to do. I know very little about art history and classical architecture. There is pretty decent amount of Greek and Roman mythology I need to brush up on (as well as some Bible stories).  And I think there is a long list of movies set in Rome that I probably should watch.\n\nFunny how a vacation can create that much more work!','Roaming in Rome','','publish','open','open','','roaming-in-rome','','','2010-02-07 22:37:08','2010-02-07 19:37:08','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2080',0,'post','',1),(1969,1,'2010-02-08 23:06:03','2010-02-08 20:06:03','[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"234\" caption=\"Margaret Atwood&#39;s--The Handmaid&#39;s Tale\"]<img title=\"Margaret Atwood\'s--The Handmaid\'s Tale\" src=\"http://jacketsandcovers.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/handmaids-tale.jpg?w=234&amp;h=364\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"362\" />[/caption]\n\nI am going to start teaching Atwood\'s <em>The Handmaid\'s Tale</em> this week and in rereading it I was surprised how little of it I actually remember after reading it one summer in college. Here\'s my conclusion: it\'s such a good book. Now I am afraid.  I am afraid that teaching it is going to ruin it.\n\nWhen I started studying literature in college on of my professors asked us this: how many of you love reading?  Every hand raises. Then she continued with this: this semester you will learn to hate it and if you\'re lucky by the end of the term you\'ll be able to rebuild your love of literature.\n\nWhat she meant was this, reading when done right is hard work and when you study literature you stop reading for pleasure and you start digging.  In my case, I was lucky to be good at the digging, thinking and writing required of students of literature and I learned how to love literature.\n\nBut this past week when I finished reading <em>The Handmaid\'s Tale</em>, I thought: what a good book and a well told story. I realized that I<em> liked</em> reading it--that even though I started rereading it because I had to when I finished reading it, it was with pleasure.  I am connected to this book.\n\nThat\'s why I am afraid. I am afraid that in teaching it I am going to ruin it. That the act of teaching a novel I like it will ruin it. That my students will ruin it. That I\'ll ruin it and end up hating it.\n\nI sincerely hope that this is not the case but still I am worried.','Margret Atwood&#039;s &quot;The Handmaid&#039;s Tale&quot;','','publish','open','open','','margret-atwoods-the-handmaids-tale','','','2010-02-08 23:06:03','2010-02-08 20:06:03','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=1969',0,'post','',1),(2091,1,'2010-02-09 22:35:11','2010-02-09 19:35:11','I\'ve been obsessed with spring recently.  Most people are obsessed with things like chocolate, fast cars, new technology, facebook or micro-brew beers.  But I am not most people and these days I am obsessed with the idea of spring.\n\nI wake up and check the weather hoping for some sign that spring is around the corner.  I look out the window to see if we have more or less snow than the day before.  And for the record, it\'s been snowy and cold now for the better part of three weeks.  It\'s been so damn cold that you can see your breath on the bus and you bottom freezes if you sit down on a seat.  So I read the five day weather report hoping for something that\'s not snow. I am obsessed.\n\nHowever this morning, I got up late, made some coffee and I realized this: who needs the groundhog? <!--more-->\n\nIn the States, we wait and obsess over whether or not Punxsutawney Phil will emerge from his burrow on February 2 and sees his shadow. If he sees his shadow, it\'s said that winter weather will continue for six more weeks.  For the record, this year he saw his shadow.\n\nBut who cares? In a moment of clarity, I realized this is an imperfect science.  A cup of coffee later, it was clear I\'ve got to stop obsessing about spring.\n\nThen it hit me. Who needs Groundhogs when there are Martenitsas?\n\nThey\'re a sure-fire sign that spring is coming. First, because the whole country is committed to them--children, grandmothers and even Bulgarians with big necks and big wrists.  Second,  they break up the monotony of late winter with a little gift giving and lot of good feeling. Third, they are cute and so is spring. Fourth, once you put one on you\'re officially allowed to look for signs of spring--not because you\'re a crazy-obsessed person but because you\'ve got to leave your martenitsa in a tree or under a stone for good luck.\n\nSo I decided that instead of obsessing over spring I am going to start keeping my eye out for martenitsas.\n\nI love martenitsas. A lot more than I love snow.  Spring will come but luckily for me martenitsas will come before spring.  I can hardly wait for March 1st.','Who needs the Groundhog?','','publish','open','open','','who-needs-the-groundhog','','','2010-02-09 22:35:11','2010-02-09 19:35:11','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2091',0,'post','',8),(2098,1,'2010-02-10 19:57:53','2010-02-10 16:57:53','','Wine and Pannini!','Wine and Pannini!','inherit','open','open','','dsc01466','','','2010-02-10 19:57:53','2010-02-10 16:57:53','',2097,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01466.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2097,1,'2010-02-10 20:04:18','2010-02-10 17:04:18','Last weekend I had an excellent time in Rome. One of my favorite things was all of the great food. I got a huge kick out of the sandwiches and wine.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2098\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Wine and Pannini!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01466.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2098\" title=\"Wine and Pannini!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc01466.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s become clear to me that sandwiches cooked in a pannini press are by far superior to non-pressed sandwiches. The cheese melts nicely, the veggies get a little bit soft and the meat is warm.  I have a hunch that all sandwiches are supposed to taste like this and I\'ve been eating sub-par sandwiches for my whole life. <!--more-->\n\nYes. I\'ve been eating less than amazing sandwiches without even knowing there were better sandwiches.  The bread is toasty. They are really delicious sandwiches--the pannini.  I don\'t think the pannini is a Roman sandwich but that\'s okay.\n\nThen there\'s the wine. Equally good. I mean I\'ve had good wine before Rome.  And the wine I had in Rome was good but it wasn\'t earth shattering.  Luckily I wasn\'t looking for earth shattering.  I was looking for something drinkable and something complimentary to my dinner.\n\nWhat I was looking for was good with pasta and pizza and I found both of those! Phew. I did however get a kick out of the snacks served with a glass of wine during the cocktail hour--peanuts, pistachios and potato chips one afternoon. It was great fun to enjoy a glass of wine and eat little snacks.\n\nOh Rome. Oh pannini. Oh wine. What a wonderful mix.','Rome: Wine and Pannini','','publish','open','open','','rome-wine-and-pannini','','','2010-02-10 20:04:18','2010-02-10 17:04:18','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2097',0,'post','',0),(2102,1,'2010-02-11 11:14:06','2010-02-11 08:14:06','In some ways, all I think I\'ve done this month and last month is think about money. How much money I have, how much money other people have, how much the average Bulgarian makes and if it\'s even possible to save given the salaries that 20-somethings make.\n\nI\'ve been keep track of my spending and wondering will I make it? Can I stick with my budget? Will I go hungry? What choices will I have to make?\n\nThe experience, though totally contrived, has gotten me thinking. It\'s made me pay attention to the places I was and am spending money. It\'s made me <em>aware</em>. And I am not even halfway through this experiment.\n\nThis is probably why a recent article in the NYT caught my eye.  The article <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/nyregion/09bigcity.html\">\"Seeing how far $100 can go\"</a> is a story about small acts of philanthropy in New York City. Basically, an artist-author after receiving a large advance for a book gave each of her 9 friends $100 and instructed them to give it away and that they would meet a month later to share what they\'d done with the money.  Effective? Maybe not. Creative? absolutely. <!--more-->\n\nOn the small scale/practical level, it got me thinking, do you give all of the money to one person? do you spread it around? do you give it anonymously? do you give it directly to someone or do you hope that someone will find it?\n\nOn a bigger scale, What difference can you make? I don\'t think that the kind of difference you make is one of long term change, it\'s not one that is systemically effective rather it\'s about hope and possibility.  It\'s optimistic--when it seems like often there\'s not much to be optimistic about.\n\nAll of this of course,  made me wonder, what would I do with 100 leva? How would I give it away? What kind of fun could I have? What kind of difference could I make?\n\nIf I were to leave 5 leva bills around the city, where would I leave them? What kind of a message might I put on them? Would I wait to watch and see who found them? To see who\'s looking? And what their faces told me upon discovery? Or would I leave? Is it simply enough to know that I put the money out into the world? Do I need to connect faces to the money or is my imagination enough?','How Far Would 100 Leva Go?','','publish','open','open','','how-far-would-100-leva-go','','','2010-02-11 11:14:06','2010-02-11 08:14:06','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2102',0,'post','',5),(2109,1,'2010-02-11 21:28:01','2010-02-11 18:28:01','','Melissa and Me!','Melissa and Me!','inherit','open','open','','dsc00728','','','2010-02-11 21:28:01','2010-02-11 18:28:01','',2105,'http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc00728.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(2105,1,'2010-02-11 21:36:02','2010-02-11 18:36:02','This is a post about my friend Melissa.  I picked Melissa because there are all sorts of interesting things about her to describe. Also because  one day last week when I was proctoring an exam, I tried to play a game to keep busy.  I decided I would try to describe everyone in the classroom using my new found Bulgarian vocabulary.\n\nHowever, the game went by way too fast--not because my vocabulary but because I was able to describe everyone approximately the same way.  Girls: straight long brown hair. Brown eyes (or maybe blue eyes). Full lips. Ears. Nose. Teeth. Tall. Thin. Boys: straight brown hair. Brown eyes (or maybe blue eyes). Lips. Ears. Nose. Teeth. Tall. (Okay, I realize that I am stereotyping all Bulgarians with one broad paintbrush stroke but this is how it felt after staring at the same kids for two hours and fifteen minutes.)\n\nI also know how to describe people\'s characters but in a classroom full of students that you don\'t know it\'s pretty hard to describe their characters. Especially when you sole job is to make sure that students are silent and not cheating.\n\nSo Melissa--this post in Bulgarian is for you!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2109\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\" caption=\"Melissa and Me!\"]<a href=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc00728.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-2109\" title=\"Melissa and Me!\" src=\"http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dsc00728.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nМелиса е приятелката ми. Ние сме приятелки от 6 години. Обичаме да танцуваме. Тя е на 29 години. Тя има къдрава червена коса. Очите и са сини и големи или веждите са тънки.  Тя носи очила. Тя е висока.  Тя има правилн нос и дебели устни.\n\nжевее в сан франсиско с приятела си. Аз мисля, че тя обича сан франсиско.\n\nтя е много добъра, весела и приятна.\n\nАз искам да виждам Мелиса!','Мелиса!','','publish','open','open','','%d0%bc%d0%b5%d0%bb%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%b0','','','2010-02-11 21:36:02','2010-02-11 18:36:02','',0,'http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/?p=2105',0,'post','',15),