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I made it through the week. Finally.

And it’s been quite a week. The semester ended. I’ve been under the weather. Students have been stressed out. There’s been tons of snow. I’ve had a couple of late nights. I gave an exam this morning and proctored one this afternoon.

But now the weekend is here. Sure I’ve got nearly 40 final exams to grade (and a fair amount of homework to check) but all of this seems manageable-ish in comparison to the week I just had.

Oh and tomorrow I am going to Pernik for the Surva Festival. On top of the cool folk-life tradition of the event, I also understand that drinking hot wine and rakiya is encouraged. Yes please.

Mladost 1A + Me

This is a quick little post about my ongoing love affair with Mladost 1A.

Between the new metro stop set to open this year, the new  skaldkarnitsa, me finding the post office (block 555) and a bike pathcutting through greater Mladost, there’s a lot for a girl to do, to see and to eat.

I heart Mladost 1A

I heart Mladost 1A

I’ve been busy supporting local business. There’s the corner shop I call my own and the guy who works there laughs at me every time I fail to open the door correctly–is it push? is it pull? I don’t even know now. I’m in the process of single handily keeping my drugstore in business. Plenty of times over the last few weeks I’ve thought about getting my hair cut but I’ve been too busy to make an appointment at my salon across the street. I must remember to do this. I’ve worn my hair in a ponytail for the last week.

Though recently, we’ve had one loss. The hardware, plumbing supply shop that opened in my building about a year ago closed over Christmas. This of course was a shop I never went it but it was a comfort knowing it was there. The good news is that the sex shop which moved in about the same time still seems to be going strong. Okay I see the girl who works there out front smoking and drinking coffee more often than not so I am not sure how good business is but whatever.

Here’s what I know: things are happening in Mladost 1A. And now I have a t-shirt to prove it.

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A flu-cation, maybe

There have been rumblings (and I might add grumblings) about the possibility of a “flu vacation” in the near future.

We had one last year. I wrote about it here. I was bitter that the kids got to stay home for the week but as teachers, we had to go to school and sit at our desks. We had one the year before that too. The big different was that I was actually sick that year. Really sick.

There’s this article in the Sofia Echo which seems to suggest that a flu vacation is possible (if not imminent). The cheering kids at school in surgical-esque masks in the picture is pretty great. In my mind it seems to highlight the absurdity of the whole thing but maybe that’s because I am a foreigner and we don’t do flu vacations where I am from.

The good news is that I haven’t noticed too many absent students. Then again this is the last week of the semester at school and the kids are desperate not to miss any review/preparation for final exams. Fingers crossed that everyone stays healthy and that there aren’t any closures this year.

Sometimes you get sick

The thing is, no matter where you live, sometimes you get sick. It’s just easier to feel bad for yourself when you’re under the weather and living abroad. Everything seems harder. And it is.

When I’m well and communicating in Bulgarian there’s an element of fun and achievement upon getting what you need or want across to someone who doesn’t speak English. When you’re not well, there’s nothing fun about it. It’s not a game and no, I don’t feel like coming up with another creative way to try to express myself.

Learning Bulgarian

Learning Bulgarian: things attached to the head

Luckily for me I’ve never been seriously sick in Bulgaria. To date, I thought I had strep throat once, I had a flu that kept me home in bed for three days and most recently I’ve had a urinary tract infection (twice). All things considered, this isn’t bad for three years living in Bulgaria. Oh and I also got pneumonia (and a chest x-ray) last Christmas in the States but that doesn’t really count because there I speak the language.

Anyhow I got a comment on my last post about visiting the doctor’s office and my inability to integrate in Bulgaria. I read the comment, rolled my eyes, sighed and then I didn’t approve the comment for 24 hours. In the meantime, I talked about my unwillingness to approve the comment with my parents during our standing Sunday night skype date. My MoM wisely (and rightly) pointed out that I never get worked up about comments on my blog and must still be recovering.

Learning Bulgarian

Learning Bulgarian: irregular plurals and the body

She’s right. I never get worked up about what people write. I don’t approve spam or racist/homophobic comments but pretty much everything else ends up on my blog. By in large, people are really kind and supportive. Well, aside from the people who take the time to write me some version of the-if-you-don’t-like-it-here-then-leave comment.

So we started joking about the whole thing. Me at the doctor’s office armed with my textbook Bulgarian and the various sentences I have command of (or not) as the case may be. Continue Reading »

I’ve been sick this week. The kind of sick where you think at first: ah, it’s nothing. Then you ignore it for a little bit. Finally you realize: time for a trip to the doctor’s office.

Being sick in a foreign country is especially hard. At home, you’d know exactly what to do, who to call, where to go and/or what medicine to buy but abroad, everything is strange, different and difficult. Of course it doesn’t help that you’re sick and likely feel horrible.

The difference when you’re living abroad is that you often have to ask for help.

In my case, I marched into the Deputy Director’s office at school and explained my symptoms and what was going on. Mind you in the States, I would never do this. Continue Reading »

I have many fewer clothes in Bulgaria than I did in the States so this morning when I went to my closet and pulled out my go-to gray cardigan sweater I was sad to find an inoperable hole in it. A big one.

I hung it back in my closet. Why I am not sure. It felt too hard at 6am to part with it. So now I have an unwearable sweater hanging in my closet. That probably says something awesome about me especially if I was Freud and knew how to read these things.

Anyhow, I find myself surprised by how sad I was to see the hole. Because really, it’s just a hole, in a sweater, a light gray one. One that, in fact, I was never 100% happy with because the sleeves never fit exactly how I thought they should. So when a sweater meets the end of it’s regular life, most people wouldn’t worry about it. Out with the old and in with the new. Continue Reading »

Today is my second Thursday this week. Yesterday was my first Thursday.

This happens sometimes.

At school we have a different schedule each day and sometimes one day of the week is hit especially hard given holidays and what not so then the school announces Wednesday is going to be a Thursday schedule.

This is exactly what happened yesterday.

So I taught my Thursday classes yesterday and today. The thing is I am a creature of habit so when I woke up this morning, it felt like a Friday. Only it’s not. It’s Thursday.

However, I can’t stop thinking: today’s the last day of the week.

But it’s not. Tomorrow is Friday. Tomorrow is the last day of the week. This seems especially cruel right now.

The only thing I have going for me this week is the fact that our school isn’t observing the Saturday is a work day as the rest of Bulgaria is this week. The Bulgarian government in their infinite kindness gave an extra day off at some point between Christmas and the New Year and Bulgarians are now working on Saturday to make up for this.

But I’m not.

It’s winter in Sofia.

How do I know this? Well, it’s snowing right now. And, for the last few days the temperature has been hovering below zero (you know in celsius). I’ve had to wear my boots everyday this month.

It snowed more than a week ago. Our school quickly shoveled the sidewalks and main paths. It seems relatively safe to walk around. The rest of a the city seems like a death-trap or at least the world’s most poorly maintained ice-skating rink. Then there are the three steps at the front gate of school. These are the worst.

There are exactly three steps. Each is domed with ice. This ice used to be snow but none of the men who guard the gate could be bothered to shovel the snow from the steps when it was just snow so now it’s a good two inches of ice. These are the men who are supposed to be checking identification of everyone who comes and goes. They are supposed to be guarding the police academy and the Mladost police station. I haven’t had my ID checked in weeks. It seems like the least they could do is shovel three steps. But they don’t. Continue Reading »

My friend S. suggested that Borough Market is the market for food lovers. Hey, that’s me. The first time I tried to go the market was closed for a couple of days around the New Year but I was determined and went back a few days later.

Borough Market veggies

Borough Market veggies

I am glad that I did. The colors were wonderful. The flavors both sweet and savory. The whole experience was delicious.

Borough Market

Borough Market

It was so interesting to see people doing clever things with food but I liked the sense that I got that this market was a mix of tradition and innovation. Moreover, everyone was having fun. There were tons of people but no one was pushy. There were lines but people stood in them. There were samples and people politely took one and then talked to the vendor.

Owl Shortbread at Borough Market

Owl Shortbread at Borough Market

I’d wished that I had access to a kitchen of any sort because everything looked so good. Continue Reading »

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It’s been a strange day.

I got super frustrated with my Bulgarian lesson and cried about it. I’ve never done this before. Then I spent some time wondering alternately, why I am crying about Bulgarian and why I’m bothering to learn Bulgarian? I pulled myself together, finished my homework and left for my lesson.

On the way to my lesson it started snowing those horrible little flakes that sting your face and make you question the necessity of actually going where you’re going. Luckily once I was in the city center, there was no falling snow to speak of.

All things considered my Bulgarian lesson went pretty well. I did most of my homework correctly and there were no tears. I. my tutor also reminded me that I haven’t really been speaking or practicing my Bulgarian for the last three weeks. That’s also a good point.

On my way back to the metro, I saw the weirdest, coolest, grossest most surprising thing. I walked by it and thought: hey that’s a fish head and I kept going. Then I went back. I looked at it again. Then I took a picture. Be warned. It’s anything but cute. Continue Reading »

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