Safe and Sound.

We are here in cold, wet, rainy Raleigh!

So far we've eaten bagels, smoked salmon, chai and white mochas and lots and lots of berries and yummy salads. I just can't get enough berries.

The next few weeks are filled with BFF's wedding, our yard sale and packing up for Boston. We have so many errands to run in the next few days!

Also, my Uncle Steve broke his back a few days ago, so prayers for him would be greatly appreciated as we wait to find out what his situation holds.

And remember, if you want to follow our adventures, we'll be over at BFFs in Boston from now on. It is much more mundane but, hey, we weren't cut out to be life-long world travelers. What I can promise is that we will always have fun.

*The link to the new blog is the words "BFFS in Boston" above.

Packed.

4 episodes of The Hills, Season One

...

2 pieces of pink luggage

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1 pieces of black luggage

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1 piece of red luggage

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1 black carry-on bag

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1 brown leather tote

...

We are packed. See you States-side!

Loose Ends

Nathan and I are about to walk out the door to collect signatures, pay the $150 we apparently owe the University and say goodbye to Blago.

We're coming back here tonight to pack, take pictures of everything we put in our suitcases*, and hopefully we some semblance of a good night's sleep before we depart verrrrry early tomorrow morning. We take a taxi to the bus station, a bus to Sofia, another cab to the airport, a plane to London, another plane to JFK, have an overnight layover in the States (!), call in to BFF Bev's Bachelorette Bash, drink a chai, hopefully have a smoothie of some sort and then fly home to Raleigh!

I'm hoping to take a picture of me in my traveling outfit (black yoga pants, Lilly-inspired AXiD shirt, Chacos, Red Sox hat with a french braid) to compare to my fabulous Bridesmaids' Luncheon outfit on Sunday (I'm thinking polka dots or Vineyard Vines).

So check back here tomorrow morning...and then on Monday for the second outfit. After that, all the magic happens at BFFs in Boston!

*You should always take pictures of EVERYTHING you check. If your luggage every gets lost, then you have time-stamped proof of all the things that we in there so that you can fill out your form in very detailed way. I'm always super nervous about luggage getting lost--especially with such complicated international travel (3 countries, 2 airlines).

One Down, One To Go

I just finished my Bulgarian exam. I'm so glad that's over!

Poor Nathan had to stay up all night to get his Bulgarian projects done and he still has a bit of math to finish. He's been doing math non-stop for the past few weeks. He's doing some independent research, studying for the Math GREs and trying to finish his regular schoolwork. That's hardcore.

It's all paying off though--yesterday he Linear Algebra professor complemented him by pointing out that Nathan proved something much more elegantly (and harder!) than the professor himself did. Way to go!

I still have to take my Byzantine History exam in an hour, so what am I doing as a good little student? Reading Byzantine Empire articles on Wikipedia (Hey--I already read two scholarly general histories! This is just a refresher.) and then reading Glamour because I love reading free Glamour and I love how the AUBG library smells like my elementary school library.

Tomorrow is all about packing and getting a crazy number of signatures on paperwork so AUBG will release our transcripts. Seriously, you have to get the signatures in order and the offices are about a kilometer apart! We have to walk from Main Building to Skapto to Main Building to Skapto! I'm not looking forward to it.

So this is it, kids. By 1:00 today I'll be donedonedone with college. Saturday morning we fly back to the States. Sunday afternoon kicks off BFF's wedding week and from there on out it is a blur of busyness until we move into the new apartment of June 1st. Still no jobs, but I've now applied to over 60 positions! Come on!

Oh, Bulgaria.

Did you know I love rainy days? I really do--as long as no driving is involved. A lot of really great things happened last night (that I can't discuss right now) and I woke up this morning to the sound of rain and I really knew it was going to be okay and that my prayers were being answered. Rain speaks to me.

After our exams this morning, Nathan had a meeting with his math professor so I got to walk home by myself in the rain. I had dressed for the occasion--cuffed jeans, long sleeve tee, navy blue Mary Jane style Crocs and Vera Bradley apple green umbrella. I love how walking in the rain can clear your head. Since we fly home Saturday and we start packing tomorrow, I've obviously been thinking a lot about Bulgaria. I got to talk to my best friend for hours yesterday and it was amazing. While talking to her, I came to number of conclusions about things Bulgaria has taught me and how I've changed and things I'm going to miss.

So, in no particular order....
I'm going to miss 2 leva bills. Seriously, they are such a good idea.

I'm going to miss ATMs that will give you 10s instead of just 20s.

I'm going to miss how I often catch smells in the air that remind me of my grandmothers.

I'm going to miss how you don't have to constantly hear cars here. There are no cars in the city center. None. Zip. It's wonderful. You're downtown and you hear birds and old men playing violin.

I'm going to miss how it is perfectly okay here to sit an outdoor cafe and talk with friends and family. Most college students have this kinds of luxuries, but here it is not limited to students. Everyone can have some leisure in the day.

I'm going to miss the wicker furniture of outdoor cafes. Easily some of the most stylish things in my life I've seen at cafes.

I love all the things that Bulgaria has taught me. I eat a lot less now and while I wish I was mostly eating fruits and vegetables, it is still a useful thing to have picked up. And the fruits and vegetables are waiting for me in Raleigh!

I love that here I took up jogging. I can do a 5K now and I truly couldn't have done that a few months ago.

I love that Bulgaria has taught me that I don't need "stuff." Never once in our time here have we missed the stuff. Never. Never ever. It's true that I might miss scented bath products that I left at home, but I don't truly miss them. Here, we own things--they don't own us. I have never really gone shopping here. I don't need to. I'm so glad Bulgaria taught me this lesson.

I'm very excited to get back to some of the things I left at home (particularly all of the wedding presents we have yet to use), but I don't need those things. They are wonderful to have, but everything I truly need I already have.

I love all the time Bulgaria gave me to sit quietly with my thoughts or talk to Nathan. Without this time, I'd probably be headed to graduate school in the fall about to get involved in something that is not following my bliss.

I love that the unexpected travel surprises I've encountered here have calmed me down a lot. My patience has increased about a hundred fold.

Ah...rainy days. They really are the best.

Sighted in Blagoevgrad

I had all intentions of taking pictures of falafel and duners when Nathan and I took a study break today. (Side note--yes, we actually studied!)

I really, really wish I hadn't forgotten my camera because we passed quite the sight in the city center.

There were two guys, dressed up in super-stereotypical Sioux costumes (think: those guys on the side of the road in Cherokee, NC) playing drums and selling dreamcatchers!

It was bizarre.

Hapy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Today is Baby Girl #2's birthday. I was taking finals the day she was born and didn't get to meet her until a week later. Here's some pictures from the last few years (but no current ones)....

One week

So...only one week before I see my parents, my cat and my complete BFFs. This time next week I'll be poolside in a Vineyard Vines skirt, getting ready to eat some Bali Hai and soaking in some NC heat.

I.Can't.Wait.

Here's a list of things I will definitely miss about Bulgaria:
1. Falafel wraps (and Nathan will miss duners more than I can tell you)
2. Gelato stands
3. Being less than a 2 kilometer walk from everything
4. Cirene
5. Banitsa (especially yabulka (apple) banitsa)
6. Old stuff
7. Raspberry and pistachio frozen yogurt
8. Salt bake rolls
9. People resolving issues by saying "Dobre, dobre"
10. Cheap food and currency that's weaker than the dollar

Intl Food Court

Since we'll be spending about 10 hours in the JFK airport next Saturday (seriously--can we not just get home!), we decided to check out what the food offerings might be. You see, our first pivotal meals, our first meals back States-side are now going to be in an airport. Gag me!

Thankfully, my mother gave us each $15US before we left to spend on food coming back. This is great because our choices include:
Chile's
Mex and the City
Wok and Roll
Dunkin' Donuts
American Bagel Company

I'm not going to lie, I hope I get sushi. Or a vegetarian wrap of some sort. Or queso and chips.

Gracious, I hope we don't gain back 100 million pounds by having to eat processed American food again. One bowl of queso won't kill us, right?

And, if for some reason none of my dreams come true and I have neither a bagel or a bagel roll (mmm---sushi), then my dear BFFs are bringing me a bowl from Bali Hai to enjoy the next day since I'll be missing BFF Bev's Bachelorette Bash as I'll be stuck in the JFK airport just wanting to be home and eating a cold egg bagel and sipping a ginormous (seriously--16 oz is too much!) sugary chai from Starbucks.

One week!

Addict.

So here's the dealio. I got a little bit addicted to writing this. Since our adventures are not over yet, I've started a new blog to chronicle our transition to becoming full-blown Bostonians.

Word of warning, I plan on using the new blog for more personal, frivilous, silly stuff. I'll still post about our lives, but I'm also planning to post anything that tickles my fancy--my current hair product or movie reviews. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for many of you it won't be nearly as interesting as reading about our travels. I promise to not take it personally if you don't read.

Blogging is totally narcissistic anyway, but it sure is fun!

Anyway, the Princess and the Environmental Cop call our current blog "BFFs in Bulgaria." As a side note, my father calls it "Together in Bulgaria." Since Boston also starts with a B, the new blog is:
BFFs in Boston!

Whew...

So yesterday, our friend Tanya threw a pancake party to celebrate the graduation of another friend of ours, Oscar.

I went early to help her chop up fruit for fruit salad and Nathan came later (around 9 pm)--meals happen really late around here.

We ate pancakes with cinnamon syrup, fruit salad and eggs. Us silly non-Balkaners (me, Tanya, Nathan and Oscar) dug into our pancakes before the eggs were cooked. Apparently we violated some serious food rules. You always have to eat in the order of savory-->salty-->sweet. Who knew? So it was a big deal that we ate sweet pancakes before salty eggs.

Also, Oscar brought some crazy topping with him to eat pancakes with. He's superinternational having grown up in Mexico, the States and somewhere in Africa and now living in Bulgaria. He has a crazy accent! Anyway, I tried this Mexican topping. I was wary because the ingredients list named both goat's milk and white wine. It tasted like Nutella mixed with caramel apple dip. Ugh.

Anyway, after dinner we decided to head out to karaoke where Kostadin, Oscar, Tanya and I were planning on performing the Britney Spears' great "Hit Me Baby One More Time" while Nathan took pictures. Unfortunately, they wanted a 2 Leva cover charge and it was standing room only. Good thing Tanya and I sang every pop hit from our middle school years on the way to the Piano Bar.

After giving up there, we stopped for Nathan and Maria to get midnight duners and then we jumped over to Underground and stayed there for way too long. Needless to say, Nathan and I didn't go to sleep until 5 am!

So that's that. We fly home one week from tomorrow--whoa!

Donezo.

Um. I'm done with college.

Falafel

Yesterday a friend of mine told me about a dooner place in Blago that has falafel! We went today and it was amazing. I can finally eat street food with everyone else!

Also, today Nathan had his last undergraduate class ever (my last class is tomorrow).

It's a beautiful day!

Today's been great so far. Nathan and I have both gotten emails concerning our job search. No interviews (yet!), but things are really looking up.

We got plane tickets to go to the Princess and Environmental Cop's wedding.

I found out that my thesis won a hefty prize. Oh, and you can read it online if you are so inclined. Click here!
Mine is at the top of the list--skunk is in the title! It's a .rtf so you can open it if you have a Mac or a PC.

Oh, and I got to have coffee today with Oscar and Tanya and people watch and drink it beautiful Bulgaria.

And now Nathan is making pineapple salsa. Love it.

Happy Easter!

First off, before we discuss Easter, can we talk about how discussing Keanu Reeves brings anonymous comments to the blog? I'm sorry I don't love the guy and I'm very appreciative of the anonymous comment about which Keanu Reeves movies I should watch to see him at his best. It's really sweet, but, honestly, his movies and I just don't jive. I truly am a Drive Me Crazy or John Tucker Must Die kind of girl. I have a university degree and a husband. I don't have to be smart and/or a grown-up when it comes to my movie choices.

Speaking of movies, yesterday we went to the movies twice. I know, right! We have an 11-day break from classes (well--I have 2 class meetings and Nathan has one so it counts as a break) and we're desperately trying to fill the time. So yesterday we went to see 27 Dresses and Vantage Point. 27 Dresses was everything you expect it to be--there's a great dance-on-the-bar-and-sing-Elton-John scene, the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after. In short, I loved it. I also really liked Vantage Point, but I was curled up in a ball the entire movie because it was so tense. It's really fast-paced, but you also have to watch the assassination and the bomb go off eight times, so you know it's coming and start dreading it. Other people told me they thought the movie was trite and predictable--I guess I don't watch enough movies about terrorist attacks. Oh well. That's fine by me.

So anyway, last night was the Easter celebration. Hardly anyone we've met in Bulgaria attends church regularly, but the whole town comes out for Easter. It's a big deal. We gathered in the square outside the church at around 11:00 pm. We bought our candles (all of the church candles are made of beeswax and it smells soooooo good) and waited. Nathan decided to go inside to better hear the liturgy while Tanya, Kim and I waited outside. Soon, the three of us saw the priests (decked out in beaded clothes) process out of the church followed by lots of singing patrons. We hoped that Nathan had somehow wound up in the procession and he had! He got to light his candle from the center one the priests had and then he broke formation and came over to us. Here's Nathan with his candle:
And here's Nathan lighting Kim's candle:
There were candles everywhere. We'd been warned to be careful about hair catching on fire and it is seriously a hazard! People were clamoring over Nathan to light their candles off the priest's and Nathan's jacket is covered in wax.

Also, people improvised with contraptions to keep their candles from dripping. Putting candles in yogurt cups or water bottles was very popular--I'm sure we inhaled a lot of melting plastic fumes.

The priests walk seven times around the church singing the liturgy and then at midnight the bells ring, everyone says "Happy Easter!" or "Christ is risen!" and then everyone plays the egg cracking game. Dyeing eggs is a seriously big deal here and everyone brings eggs to the church. At midnight, you crack your eggs against everyone else's and whoever has a cracked egg first has to give it up to the person whose egg cracked it.

Then, the entire town goes back home and you have to keep your candle lit the entire way. If yours goes out, you have to re-light it from someone else's candle. I'm pleased to announce that between the four of us, we kept one candle lit all the way back to Skapto! Hurrah!

This is the entire town in the church courtyard:
Happy Easter!

Oh, and two weeks from today we land in Raleigh! And then I get to go chill with some lovely ladies pool-side in honor of BFF's wedding! I'm.So.Excited. You have no idea.

Also, today I'm craving raw green pepper dipped in hummus, the blackened tofu wrap from Greenlife and unsweetened herbal iced tea. Yum.

Response

I love that the last comment elicited two rather surprising comments.

First, Ice-T is my mother's man. Love it.

Second, some anonymous person wants me to know that Keanu Reeves is hotter than me. I deleted their comment, but really?

My 100th Post, or Why I Think Keanu Reeves is the Worst.Actor.Ever.

I feel somewhat like I am wasting my 100th post. This is a blog about Bulgaria and travels, right? This is also a blog where I discuss newlywedish things. And I wanted to do something fun for the 100th, but I just can't bring myself to. Why? Because people need to know about the horrible, horrible, terribly Keanu Reeves movie we watched last night.

The evening started out all right. Nathan made salsa. I was knitting. We watched Drive Me Crazy. I had forgotten how much I loved this movie. Perfect.Teen.Movie.

Example of witty teen movie dialogue:

Boy: I didn't expect you to fall in love.
Girl: I didn't expect you to fall into the Gap.
Things went quickly downhill when we put Johnny Mnemonic into BabyMac for our supposed viewing pleasure. This movie was so horrible that it was funny. Laugh out loud funny. I think it can be best described like this:
Some high schoolers wanted to make a movie. They had a budget of $500, the TheatreUNCA design department to make their sets and no sense of editing or restriction. Brainstorming was never pared down for these brave young filmmakers--this movie had it all. We pictured them sitting at their kitchen table saying:
Old Hong Kong style Kung Fu movies! Oh! Oh! And the wet-wired brain guy has to fall in love with his bodyguard! Oh! And subtitles, man! Someone will speak Japanese with subtitles! We gotta have Ice-T, man! And exploding dumpsters! And rants against technology!

And they did have it all. The sets were some sort of a mash-up of welding and West Side Story. I kid you not that TheatreUNCA designed them. I'm sure the designer used too many disconnected images to describe his vision, as all designers too. "We're going to mash the love of West Side Story with desperate welding and combine that with the soft harshness of trash on city streets." I hate the way designers (and this includes sets, lighting, clothing, costumes, some performance artists) talk about their work. Just let it be. Anyway.

There was a talking head projected on television screens. There was a mechanical dolphin. There was a murderous priest using blatant religious imagery over and over again ad nauseum. Keanu Reeves wore this ridiculous get-up:

And, truly, Ice-T was the BEST actor in the movie. Except for maybe that dolphin.

Warning: Graduation Whining

Yesterday evening I spent a good chunk of time whining about graduation. Nathan and I aren't walking because we're here in Bulgaria and when we made that decision last spring it didn't bother me very much. I'm getting increasingly bothered though. As a note, Nathan could still care less about walking, but then again, he's getting about a million more degrees before he's done.

It's not such a big deal and it would be really expensive to fly home and walk in December, but we'll see. The point is, all of this graduation whining is really just a symptom of larger problems in my head right now. After talking this out with Nathan, I realized that I'm mostly upset with how we don't really belong anywhere right now. We no longer belong in Asheville or Raleigh, we've never really belonged here (having only been here a few months) and we don't yet belong in Boston. It's the same anxieties that strike most graduates, but I still don't feel so hot about it.

Nathan's solution to this problem was beautiful. It certainly didn't cure the problem (that came today), but he helped alleviate the symptoms. It's quite like taking cold medicine--it doesn't cure you, but you feel a lot better afterwards.

He bought strawberry frozen yogurt and rented Drive Me Crazy. You remember Drive Me Crazy, right? Melissa Joan Hart and that guy who is now on Entourage? Britney Spears did the soundtrack. You know, my favorite bad teen movie.

Love that boy.

So anyway, like I said above, the actual problem was somewhat helped today. I had lunch with my friend Kostadin who might be transferring to Dartmouth a mere 3 hour bus ride away. Nathan reminded me that the overly enthusiastic LA-born friend of ours (side note--I love giving people internet anonymous names) is staying with us in July while she's in Boston and Boston gets to become our city as fast as we want. We'll make ourselves belong to it.

Also, I'm considerably less sniffly today, we had our last Bulgarian class and the sun is shining and I ate delicious tomatoes for lunch in the sun. It was awesome and I generally feel so much happier.

Fun side notes:
1. This is my 99th post. I want to do something exciting for my 100th but I don't know what!

2. The Princess got a job! AND...she only has to wear shoes for half of her time at work! And she's awesome and has been applying for a mad woman for months now and finally a company realized that she is so awesome that they can't not employ her. I'm so excited for her!

3. BFF's wedding is only 3 weeks away! I'm getting so excited and I just can't hide it!

4. Summer time means the switching of the perfume. Does anyone else wear seasonal scents or am I the only one completely sucked in by the marketing professionals? In the fall and winter my everyday scent is Origins Ginger Essence. For special occasions I wear Fresh Geranium Pepper. In spring and summer I wear Origins Ginger with a Twist (the same scent but with lime top notes). For special summer occasions (see: BFF's wedding above) I wear Burberry Brit. I love summer perfume!

Drainage

I promise I have things to tell you, but my nose won't stop running. Runny noses are in my Top 10 "Most Disgusting Things That Can Happen To Me" so I hope you won't mind if I don't feel up to letting you know what's going on here.

I promise a real update soon. Also, today's BBC Day in Pictures has a picture of Bulgaria. Check it out!

Also, can we talk about the use of the word obliterate? I mean, really? Did she really just say that?

When Allergies Attack...

It got really warm and beautiful outside-->we opened our windows-->pollen came inside.

I've never exposed to some of these pollens before-->I'm a sneezy, runny nose, sore throat, coughing mess. Ugh.

Still though it is way, way beautiful here.

Finally.

It is warm outside. Super warm. Warm enough that I didn't wear any sleeves at all today AND I wore my Chacos. Love it.

In other news, Nathan has developed a plan to prevent jet lag. It involves him slowly transforming his sleep schedule from EET (Eastern European Time) to EST (Eastern Standard Time). In other words, he is really, truly becoming nocturnal bit by bit. He really wants me to do it too but that's just too weird for me. However, I am enjoying having him wake me up every morning instead of an alarm.

Travelogue

Here is the text of the travelogue I wrote for The Blue Banner:

Bulgaria is a meat and potatoes kind of country. I am not, however, a meat and potatoes kind of girl. In fact, I don't eat any meat. I've been a vegetarian since my freshman year of high school. In Asheville this isn't such a big deal, but in Bulgaria it shaped most of my experiences.

My first meal in Bulgaria rapidly became my favorite. Jet-lagged and starving, I went to the student canteen in search of food. While classes at the American University of Bulgaria are all conducted in English and it is the common language of the university, the staff in the residence halls do not necessarily speak English. That is how I found myself on the morning of January 16 standing in the canteen and pointing at saran-wrapped pastries lined up before me. The lady working that morning (who has subsequently increased my Bulgarian vocabulary as much as my language class) saw my confused expression, held up a plastic bag and said “cheese.” That sounded great to me. It turns out that she sold me a cirene banitsa which is a phyllo-dough-based pastry filled with the creamiest feta cheese I've ever had in my life. There are two types of cheese in Bulgaria—yellow cheese (one of the few Bulgarian foods I detest) and cirene which puts our crumbly, dry, American feta to shame.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but banitsa was the staple of my diet for the first few days. All of my new Bulgarian friends frowned when I asked them what foods were vegetarian. After a while, I stopped asking anyone besides my Bulgarian-American friend, Kostadin, because everyone else told me to eat the chicken dishes. When I explained I didn't eat chicken, they all made this Bulgarian tsk-tsk noise—it's akin to our humpf. One guy was so shocked that he had to press me further. “Really? You're a vegetarian that doesn't eat chicken? I've known vegetarians that didn't eat lamb before, but never a vegetarian that didn't eat chicken.”

I came to rely heavily on Kostadin's guidance. Thankfully, he introduced to me to feta-stuffed roasted red peppers, apple banitsas and mish-mash which is a a delicious mix of roasted red peppers, eggs, potatoes, feta and onions. After a few days of being fresh-food starved, I found the Green Market which is an open market where people from the countryside sell their wares. Although you can buy everything from trees to shoes at the Green Market, I kept going back for the tomatoes. Bulgarian tomatoes, even in the throes of winter, rival North Carolina tomatoes it the summer. I took up eating at least two tomatoes a day. The citrus fruit imported from Greece and Turkey is also to die for. I usually ate three or four clementines a day because something had to balance out the heaviness of banitsa. I bought heads of lettuce for 40 stotinki each (or roughly a $0.25). Being able to eat food that was shipped less than 10 hours to your table is heavenly.

After a week or so I discovered the joys of Bulgarian pizza. Pizzas are made on very thin crusts with little cheese and sauce. The vegetarian pizzas usually come topped with peas, carrots, corn, cucumbers and tomatoes. Pizza slices can be bought almost anywhere as can dooners, a pita wrap filled with chicken, cabbage, tomatoes and french fries that are eaten in every country that was previously occupied by the Ottoman Empire. I learned how to say without meat (“bez misoh”) so that I too could eat delicious street food.

A few weeks into the semester, I entered into culture shock with earnest. Because finding a variety of food was increasingly becoming a struggle, most of my culture shock whinings revolved around missing harmony bowls at Laughing Seed, grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches at Tupelo and slices of Moon Pie at Brew and View. I let myself whine for a week or so, ate only youurt and tomatoes and then dove headfirst back into Bulgarian cuisine. A nice bonus to my whining was that I discovered that none of the other visiting American students had been privy to such delicious food back home. I think they are all planning a trip to Asheville just to eat.

I attended a dinner where we ate all traditional Bulgarian dishes and because they knew I was a vegetarian, they prepared almost every meatless Bulgarian dish that exists. I still dream about that meal. We ate Shopska salad which is the national salad of Bulgaria. Although it varies slightly, all Shopskas contain cubed tomatoes and cucumbers topped with feta. My favorite versions also add in raw green onions and roasted red peppers. I had mousaka for the first time. It is a potato casserole that normally contains lamb, but that was substituted with corn for me. We ate cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and olives.

It might seem cheesy or trite, but my journey with Bulgarian food in many ways parallels my journey with Bulgaria itself. Surprising and tasty discoveries are waiting around every corner.

Springtime for Sofia

Nathan and I just returned from a very beautiful and relaxing week in Sofia. We ate way too much American fast food though because our friend Svet loves it. I did get to eat at Subway though and that was great. Not the same, mind you, but good nevertheless. We also had lettuce, tomato and sour cream bagels at Dunkin Donuts. Uh huh--not cream cheese--sour cream!

I knitted 7, 264 stitches this weekend. I've almost completely used up the two pounds of yarn my parents brought me. Unfortunately, I need about 8 more pounds to finish this project.

The trees were blooming as well as some plant whose blossoms smell like PertPlus. Yum. So fresh!

Palm Sunday is today in Bulgaria and it is so beautiful! Everyone carries willow branches to the church (not palms) and little kids wear willow crowns. All of the icons are arched with flowers and willow. Regrettably, I forgot my camera today so I have no pictures of this.

We also engaged in quite a bit of political conversation this weekend. Our friend is very, very conservative and bases all of his political decisions on the continuing superiority of white people of European descent. I could go on and on about how Nathan and I deal with his arguments, but I won't. It just gets everyone riled up. Anyway. We can talk about when we get home. I'm sure you'll be interested. To whet your appetites, here is a smattering of our responses:
1. No, I'm not afraid that if black people are elected they will take away rights for white people.
2. No, I don't think about non-whites as non-Americans.
3. No, I don't think it is effective solution to Bulgaria's "racial makeup problem" to ship over poor whites from Mississippi or Alabama to farm Bulgaria's land and have more white babies.

Oh yeah--you want to talk about it now, don't you?

And as I remind you every Sunday--3 weeks until we land in Raleigh for bagels (with cream cheese!), burritos, BFF wedding week and getting rid of all of our stuff!

Next Adventure

We're going to Sofia for a few days to stay with our friend Svet while his parents are out of town. Svet had to go on without us tonight because he had to pick up his dog at the kennel and we had night class. Check back on Monday for an exciting update. Svet gave us directions to his house. They involve such gems as:
1. Get off at the Russian Monument.
2. Ask the old ladies [insert Bulgarian phrase] if you think you're lost.
3. Take the blue trolley.
4. Turn right at the Turkish Embassy.

Oh man.

Laundry.

It seems that laundry is always getting in the way of my plans. We were supposed to go to Sofia to see the school choir perform today, but our laundry still isn't done. They are closed tomorrow, so if we didn't stay we wouldn't be able to pick it up until Friday.

It's bad enough that it's expensive and comes back wet, but now it also interferes with my social life. Silly laundry. Silly living out of a suitcase and only having 5 outfits.

In other news, I finished the rough draft of my travelogue. I took your suggestions and wrote about food. It's only my first draft and so I haven't quite struck that perfect balance of using food to illustrate my general points about the BG, but it's coming. I promise to post the final draft.

It's amazing that I had so much to say. My big struggle now is editing down my thoughts into the correct word count. I'm pretty sure I could have written a 10-page essay if they asked.

Wedding Photos!

I love looking at these so much that I thought you would too. Here's what I've gleaned from looking at all of these photos for an hour:
1. I am the most expressive gift opener ever. Seriously. I make crazy faces when I open gifts.
2. My friends also are quite expressive when I open gifts. No simple smiles here.
3. Nathan and I were on the receiving end of the best showers ever. I think everything about the wedding was so me. I'll elaborate on this more with certain pictures.
4. We must be two of the most blessed people in the world.
5. Getting married a week after Christmas is wonderful. Everyone is there for a week or two and there are parties every night and everyone is so festive and relaxed! I had the wedding week of my dreams!

So on to the pictures....

This is the spread from our family shower. Oh man. Do you see that delicious Middle Eastern and Greek food? Yum...

Also, at this shower I laughed more than I have ever laughed in my life. Seriously--top 5. It was hilarious and fun and the perfect way to celebrate as a family!
This photo is from another dream come true shower. Truly, I have dreamed of having a shower at Chelsea's Tea Room ever since coming to Asheville for college. It is one of my favorite places in the world. Although I knew getting married at home was better financially, I was super sad about not being in Asheville because that meant I couldn't have my Bridesmaids' Tea at Chelsea's. Well, wouldn't you know, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law made my dreams come true by throwing me a shower at Chelsea's. It was beyond beautiful and we ate quiche, fruit salad and lemon cake that I still daydream about. And, see what I mean about the expressions?
This was the setup on the food table at the aforementioned family shower. I'm sending a big shout out to my personal photographer and bridesmaid (who might be moving to Boston too!) for taking such an awesome photo of Nathan and me.
Here's a shot my mother-in-law took at the wedding. I love how my dress looks in this photo. You'll get a better shot of my shawl farther down, but it looks great here too. My mother knit it for me. It's cashmere and prettier (not to mention considerably less expensive and more special) than the Vineyard Vines one that inspired it. It was fastened with a silver magnolia (Of course!) shawl pin.
The wreath at the entrance of the church with a pearl monogram! So me.
Nathan's groom's cake. This was the runner-up to his first choice design: "Marriage is not a perfect information game." Oh man--I'm married to such a math nerd! :-) The point is, he loved it AND he got to teach everyone some math at the rehearsal!
Former roommate and I with BooBoo. This is our classic picture. The two classiest people I know are in this picture. Seriously--love and miss them.
Wedding cake! Bonus points that everyone told us that it was the most delicious wedding cake they'd ever had. You know why? My mother searched for hours to find an unpretentious baker who didn't try to woo us with dry, yet fancy, flavors like chocolate ganache or somesuch. Cake is basic. Let it stay basic, I say. Our guests certainly appreciated the unfussiness. Oh, and there was ice cream because, in Nathan's mind, cake is pointless without ice cream. In this shot you can also see our gorgeous Arthur Court cake plate and serving set in the Magnolia pattern (Of course!).
Koozies from the rehearsal dinner. Love it.
Me and girls getting dressed for the Big Day. Yes, I am singing Goin' to the Chapel. Yup, they were my backup dancers. Love it. The Princess made mix CDs for us to get ready to because, well, she's awesome and so are mix CDs. We both like to make them to chronicle life events.
4 Bridesmaids and my Daddy! I think this picture is so fabulous. I can't wait to frame it when I get home.
Me about 2 seconds after getting engaged Christmas morning 2006.
Older Baby Girl waiting to open the door to guests at the shower she and her mom (one of my fab sisters-in-law) threw me. This shower was the perfect everyone-you-know shower. It was the greatest kickoff to our three months of wedding partying!
And finally, one of my bridal portraits taken at my high school. I love the bricks. Nathan and I met there and all of bridal shots were taken there or underneath a magnolia tree (Of course!).
Sorry there are no pictures of the Bridesmaids' Tea my mother threw. All of my pictures had someone's name in them (on the place cards) so I couldn't post them. Oh well.

I hope you all had fun remembering those crazy wedding months with me!

Virtual Stacking

So as many of you know, I deal with stress by straightening things. I really, truly detest cleaning (like scrubbing anything--except, I love washing dishes IF they have been properly rinsed and are almost already clean). However, I love stacking things up or organizing file folders or reconfiguring closet space. Go figure. My very unhappy freshmen year at college was the neatest time of my life.

So the stress is heating up here in Room 401 of Skaptopara I. We'll be home in 25 days. We'll be moving shortly after that. We don't have jobs. We haven't reserved a moving van. We haven't unpacked a single of my dorm room boxes to get rid of my old stuff. It's weighing on me, but we have so few items with us that it is hard to compulsively organize them, so I've taken up organizing our internet bookmarks. No joke I just spent 30 minutes making virtual folders and doing virtual tidying up. Am I crazy or what?

As a side note, for some reason this week Nathan and I keep remembering how much fun stuff is waiting for us at home. It's so exciting--it is like re-opening all of our wedding gifts in our minds! Like....polka dot accent plates from the Francises, the summer tablecloth and cloth napkins from Nathan's mom, our pitcher from Steve and Vicky, our plate that was my grandparents' from my aunts, our monogrammed towels from Nathan's grandmother, all of our kitchen utensils from Nathan's aunt, our pots from Nathan's parents, our cake plate and china from my parents...I could go on and on, but I won't. The point is, we've been thinking a lot about all of you. Oh...and our tea kettle from the Linkes and knives from the Davidsons.

Anyway. It is very exciting. Perhaps I'll do a pre-wedding party picture post to relive those fun memories?

Also, I've changed the comment section so that you can now leave comments without having a Google account!

Grateful Dead + Running= Yes, Please

So I'm super jazzed about something I may be doing this summer. As some of you know, recently I've gotten into jogging. I'm certainly not a runner, but I'm no walker anymore. Actually, if I walk to take a break from jogging my feet hurt. I'm pretty sure I need to replace my shoes, but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway. What you may may not know is that my brother is a runner. I mean, a RUNNER. So, I emailed him to find out about 5Ks in Boston. He wrote me back and mentioned a 7K that ended with a Grateful Dead cover band and a cookout! Whoa. That's awesome. Hopefully, if I get up the courage to run 4.2 miles, I'm going to sign up. You can check out the race here:
Jerry Garcia Memorial Run

I asked Nathan if he wanted to run it too. His response? "Nope. I'll take pictures and eat and wait for you at the finish line."

And because it needs to be said...

We land in Raleigh 4 weeks from TODAY!

Recent Photos...

Sorry this first photo is blurry. I included it because it really sums up the past day and a half: tortilla chips (for Nathan--I eat bake rolls), homemade salsa (lovingly made by Nathan) and The Office. We can't get the new episodes online here, so if someone could tape that, we would really appreciate it. Also, those of you involved in Summit 05 will recall how Nathan loves to chop things (see: early morning Summit 05 fruit salad). Well, he also makes killer salsa.
Strawberries have arrived! I ate 500 grams worth yesterday. By myself. I was very selfish and Nathan only got one strawberry.
Our new favorite meal: lettuce, tomato and cheese sandwiches. Yum!
This is me rocking out in my Red Sox hat, courtesy of the Boston sibs. I love it! I haven't snagged a picture of Nathan in his tshirt yet, so check back later.
So I promised photos from Rila Monastery 10 days ago...here they are!

The monastery was built in the late 1100s (I think), but most of that burned down. The buildings in these pictures are 200 or so years old. Wikipedia has a great article on Rila. It is included as UNESCO World Heritage site, so there is a good bit of information out there about it. We live about 30 minutes away.

This is Mama and Daddy outside of the icon shop.
Here is the brook that runs next to the Monastery. Oh, and there were dogs and cats everywhere because the priests take care of them. Also, the cats are treated very well, so they aren't scared of humans. I actually got to play with some of them!
Top of the main church.
The monastery grounds with the mountains in the background. The founder of the monastery spent his life in a cave in these mountains. I couldn't stop thinking about how cold Ivan Rilski must have been. Seriously. We dressed for the weather in Blago (we didn't think about how the change in altitude would affect us) and were really, really cold all day.
And here are storks nesting in Rila town! That's a sure sign of Spring in Bulgaria!

Pomosht!

That means help and I need some.

I've been asked to write a travlogue for The Blue Banner about my time in Bulgaria and although I wax on to all of you rather regularly, I am having major writer's block. So, faithful readers, I want you to help. What has been your favorite story or situation that I've written about? What have you taken away from this blog that I can share with the students of UNCA?

Oh, and since I'm just writing about Bulgaria, please don't choose stories that happened in any of the other countries we've visited (France, Monaco, Italy, Greece or Turkey).

Oh, and if you don't have a Blogger ID, feel free to email me at: rachelannallred@gmail.com

Merci! (Thanks!)

Ipod-induced musings...

Today I went to Sofia with my Archaeology class. It was so much fun and the weather in Sofia today was absolutely beautiful. The bus rides provided me with quite a bit of time to sit and think about everything that has happened to me in the past year and everything that is coming up in the year to come.

All of this thinking was underscored by the shuffle function on my ipod and I am one of those people who is totally swayed by the music playing at given moments. I like to think of it as the soundtrack to my scripted movie life. Songs influence my mood.

So I was thinking about all of the changes that I've been through and all the changes that are coming and I got a bit emotional. As completely and totally excited I am about going home, I'm also sad to leave Bulgaria. I mean, I can order food now. People understand me about 15% of the time in general conversations! I think that's a big deal.

And we're so, so excited about moving to Boston and setting up house and becoming urbanites, but at the same time we are scared out of our minds. We've never done this before. I have never lived outside of NC and Nathan only lived somewhere else until he was 4. We've never had to look for jobs with such energy and urgency and, let me tell you, it is not fun. Or rather, it is really to dream about how great jobs sound in the description, but it is not fun to get no responses or leads. We have less than 2 months to go and we are still not employed. We don't even have inklings of employment yet. We've never lived so far from all the people we love (minus the babygirls and the Boston siblings). I mean, we've lived away from the Princess and the Environmental Cop for 4 months now, but can we handle nothing more than once-a-year visits for the rest of our lives? I've never gone more than 3 months without seeing my parents.

There are a lot of super scary things in the future, but you know what's great? We're married. To each other. I'm so glad we don't have to do this alone. Worse yet, we could have to still be dating and just try to do this separately. No way.

It's also great that we've had this time in Bulgaria to start our married life. Just think, we've learned to be perfectly content only hanging out with each other. We've learned to live with less than 100 pounds of stuff (and be happy!). We've learned to eat a lot less and spend a ton less money and be content. It's good.

And in other (completely unrelated) news, if you want to hear spoken Bulgarian rent "Terminal" with Tom Hanks. It came out in 2003 or 2004 and is about a man who can't get through customs and is stuck in an airport terminal. Tom's wife, Rita Wilson, is the daughter of Bulgarians and both she and Tom speak Bulgarian. Oh, and it's a good movie, although my prospective on it has totally changed in the past 4 months.

And in other, other news: I got accepted to Boston University.

Fire Alarm.

I had a post prepared to tell you how exciting it is that Nathan and I passed our Bulgarian midterms, how we might die from the red dye we are copiously consuming in the form of Boston Baked Beans or how much we love the gelato stands that are everywhere now that it is warm but something else much, much, much more blogworthy happened.

Set the scene: I left for class at 8:15 this morning. I set the alarm for Nathan to wake up in time to go to Bulgarian class. It's about 9:45 and he is still asleep in typical boy sleeping attire. There is a sheet draped over him and all is well in the world.

The account: At approximately 9:45 am, Nathan hears a strange yell from outside the door. (According to Nathan it sounded like German) Suddenly, a man in full firefighter gear is IN OUR ROOM with a giant stick poking at our ceiling. Nathan wakes up, is incredibly startled, the man leaves, and the fire alarm starts going off. Nathan rushes outside and isn't let back into the building for an hour and, thus, misses Bulgarian class (you can't go in your pajamas).

That's right, folks, a firefighter entered our room this morning to set off the fire alarm to make sure that they were working.

Now, in all fairness, we received an email earlier this week that our building's fire alarm day was today. We had no idea of the specifics, however, and we (naively) assumed that it would be a typical sort of fire drill--alarms go off, everyone walks outside and talks to each other and we're all back in our rooms in 15 minutes.

No, siree. This was a whole new goal.

NB: To add to this, there is no Bulgarian word for "smoke detector." Not enough people (ie: no one) own them for it to enter into the vocabulary. We have smoke detectors because we go to the American University.

So if you are feeling down for whatever reason, please picture my sleepy husband waking up to a firefighter poking a giant stick at our ceiling. The image certainly provided me with at least an hour of laughter.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

So far this afternoon has shaped up to be a lot of laziness. I've been drinking blueberry white tea, applying for jobs and dreaming of online purchases.

For instance, these black flats seem to be to want to live with me in Boston. They are Nike by Cole Haan and black and flats and possibly perfect. I am an ebay-exclusive buyer. Right now they are $11. I refuse to pay more than $19.

I'm also loving this tshirst from NBC.com. You may recognize as the official shirt from "Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run For The Cure."
I love The Office. I've seen every episode 5 times (low estimate). Nathan and I watch them and laugh and laugh and laugh. I even love to watch it more than The Hills.

And in real news, WE LAND IN RALEIGH 5 WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to stop at Bruegger's AND Moe's. Hurrah for tofu and egg bagels!

Overwhelmed.

So today the Olympics were canceled because it is STILL raining. The Olympics are sort of like college field day. We were planning to go cheer on our friends and I was going to meet with a student org president to give her some tips on community service ideas. It is a community service organization and they are having trouble getting support for their activities because philanthropy is not the norm here like it is in US colleges.

Anyway, that didn't happen because of the rain, so Nathan and I went to check out the new grocery store that opened next to the dorms. Whoa. It was overwhelming. The average market here is about as small as an older pharmacy, like the ones in downtown areas (not like a suburban CVS). Generally, they have one or two choices for each product and when it is sold out, then you are out of luck for a few weeks. (See: Waynesville Wal-mart for a comparison)

Anyway, this store is HUGE and German-owned. It is the size of an American grocery store like Harris Teeter--HUGE. It was also super crowded and noisy and that whole "we don't really have lines" thing isn't working out too well for it. Also, there isn't established cart etiquette so that was frustrating.

It was pretty awesome though (aside from the above). We got sandwich stuff and hot chocolate mix and crepe mix. Yum.

Announcements

1. Mama and Daddy are now safely back in the United States. I hear that their luggage is not with them, but that has only been reported from one source (my father). I have every reason to believe him. :-)

2. Today I applied for a job that I'm super, super interested in. Now, you might be saying to yourself: "Rachel Ann, why are you applying for a job? Aren't you going to graduate school?"
Well, I was accepted to graduate school. However, there is no shortage of high school history teachers. They want math, science or Spanish (as a general rule) and so the funding was just not there. We couldn't really see the practicality of amassing a ton of debt just so I can go to school for something I maybe want to do.

Honestly, I feel pretty relieved. I love working, I've really missed having a job and I at least have worked before and know I enjoy it. I've never taught anything though.

So, anyway, I'm applying to special events coordination positions. The one I applied for today is a history-education-based NGO. We'll keep you updated on our continuing request to become gainfully employed.

Stellar.

Today was a super excellent day. Why? Well, let me tell you.

To start, my toenails are painted with OPI nail polish again, thanks to the visit from my mother. Pumped? Yes. I feel like a real girl again. Who would have thought I would miss nail polish so much? I mean, I could buy some here. I haven't seen OPI anywhere and it seems silly to purchase frivolous things I'd just have to take home, so I've refrained. Still, it was excellent to have painted toe nails.This lip balm is so great. I forgot how much I loved it until my Burt's Bees ran out and I had to switch back to Kiehl's. Mine has a bit of color in it and so it too is helping me feel like a real girl in the midst of my Bulgarian downward spiral in terms of my appearance. Seriously, no eyebrow waxing, no haircuts, no make up....it is getting bad.
These are some of my favorite shoes in the entire world. My parents brought them over with them and it was finally warm enough to wear them today. Pair those with pink toenails and you are set.
Also, today not enough students showed up for Bulgarian class so we had coffee with the professor--she even paid! Nothing like an hour and a half of conversation between a Russian, a Mongolian, a Bulgarian and two Americans at an outdoor cafe.

Then...lunch! I had shopska, wheat bread, a banana and spinach soup. In other words--perfect! I loved it.

Then I actually reclaimed some of my motivation and read for class, knocked out an issue of Glamour and re-formatted my resume. This was all possible because my afternoon class was canceled.

For dinner, I ate a bowl of lettuce (yes, literally) and a fresh tomato pizza.

Steallar. Day.

To top all of that off, it is only 5 weeks until we are back in the US! Hoorah!

I'd like to cut your head off....

Now, some of you may not know, but the above title is a line from a song on the album "Rift" by Phish.

Why does this matter?

Yesterday, I ate one of the fish that still had its head attached.

That's hunger.

Worn out.

So Mama and Daddy left this morning to fly back home. They have an overnight layover in Paris and are planning on seeing some of the famous sights and eating one of those delicious brie and baguette sandwiches. Yum. I wish I had one right now.

I'll update later on about our trip to Rila yesterday. Mama and Daddy have completely worn Nathan and I out! We've done so much running around for the past few days that I need a little time before I work through our photos.

Also, I have some casting on to do for my next project. Here's a hint: it involves two pounds of yarn. Intrigued? You'll have to wait until the end of the summer to find out what it is!

Episode 76: The One Where Our Heroes Find Pleasant Surprises in Greece

So this story starts on Friday morning. We woke up, bright and early, ready to do some more research about how exactly we were going to get to Philippi. This is how Nathan and I usually travel you see. We wake up, figure out what bus to get on and go. Well, Mama and Daddy weren't too keen on 6 hours of bus rides, so we decided to see if there was another way than the via Thessaloniki route we were planning on.

We turned to Pavlina, the international student coordinator and all-around wonderful person, to help us. She found us a direct bus route, but we'd have to not come back until Tuesday. We asked about a cab (because we have classes and whatnot on Monday and Tuesday) and, lo and behold, it was only 10 Leva more to take a cab. Hurrah! Pavlina arranged the cab and the four of us crammed into a cab with our super delightful driver.

Our driver--wonderful. He, however, had never driven to Philippi and when parts of the road were blocked off for some unknown reason by the police, we drove in a few circles and stopped more than a few times for him to ask directions of the old men that seem to hang out at gas stations in every country in the world. Seriously--why do old men love to hang out at gas stations? Are they waiting to help lost travelers?

Anyway, we made our way into Greece and Nathan had found a hotel on the internet that claimed to be only 600 meters from Philippi. That's all we understood--everything else was in Greek. Our wonderful cab driver found the hotel, got us two rooms and promised to come back and get us on Sunday. Really, he was awesome. So we settled in and got ready to walk around a bit.

We first visited Lydia's baptistry:That of course is not the ancient baptistry. We saw the ruins from the first one and this is the modern construction outside of the church for baptizing in the river.

Then the sun started to set so we went to have dinner in the hotel restaurant which they opened just for us. You see, there is NOTHING in Philippi except for ruins, so no one really visits except tourist season. Off-season we got a great deal on our rooms, breakfast and a delicious meal that first night. No pictures because we forgot our cameras, but we had huge, delicious Greek salads, baked eggplant and Daddy and Nathan had some meat of some sort. Mmm....

The next morning, these guys were outside our window while we had breakfast:
After breakfast, we set off into a field to see if we could stumble upon the ruins of Philippi. We weren't expecting too much and before long we came across the ruins of columns and stones with inscriptions in the field:
We kept walking up a hill toward the archaeology museum. Beyond the museum lay a land of surprises! They uncovered the entire city of Philippi. You can go to 4 churches, the forum, the theatre, the shopping district and the episcopal complex. So cool. Here is Daddy in what is commonly attributed St. Paul's prison:
It is actually a cistern that was turned into a church, but still very, very cool.

Here we are in the stone archway that leads into Basilica B:
And here is Mama and Daddy:
The city was ruined in an earthquake in the 7th century and abandoned, so everything is really well-preserved because it was torn down to make way for new construction. Here is just a portion of the site with the mountains of Greece in the background:
On Friday afternoon we had seen a castle on top of the mountain across from our hotel. We knew it was Philippi's citadel, so we decided to climb the mountain to check it out. Whoa. It was a strenuous one hour climb (complicated by the fact that we had to find the trail by wandering through the grass). On the way we passed this little terrapin:
Here is Nathan sitting at the top. We could see everything for miles around. So beautiful.
Isn't the farmland so pretty?
We found the tower and decided to climb around in it a bit. Nothing was marked or patrolled at these sites. Here is Mama and Daddy (picture taken from the spiral staircase going to the top of the tower).
And here you can see how big it is. See Nathan in the archway?
Here's a panoramic view of the towers of the citadel.
This little guy climbed the entire mountain with us and made sure everyone stayed together. He got upset whenever we did something he thought was unsafe. He was excellent traveling companion, but unfortunately we had no snacks to give him. We only packed Fruit, Seed and Nut bars which, by the way, are delicious and chock-full of protein.
Going up the mountain, we had been counting all of the flocks we could see. At the base, we stumbled into this flock of sheep and upset this sheep dog with our presence. His shepherd had to reassure him that we wouldn't steal his sheep.

Seriously--read that again. We climbed a mountain and then stumbled into a flock of sheep. Sometimes in the Balkans you fall into a time warp.
After we showered we headed to Kavala to dinner. We had another excellent cab driver who stopped his friend who we passed to ask what the best seafood tavern we could go to was. We went there and it was excellent. Daddy and I had calamari, Mama had the biggest shrimp I've ever seen and Nathan had spicy Greek meatballs.

Here we are with yet another Nathan and Rachel Ann by the Mediterranean picture. For real--this is the life!
And here is Mama and Daddy:
This was a darling little house by Muhammed Ali's. Uh huh--he lived in Kavala.
And as we were walking to get ice cream, tea and coffee, we passed this excellent view of the Kavala Old Town, complete with castle!