Bulgarian Daze

You would not BELIEVE how 8 months in another country can affect your financial life. Here, I thought I had a foolproof plan to make sure all our bills were paid and our miscellaneous expenses were dealt with. But apparently my plan was anything but foolproof. Just some fun tidbits about our current state of affairs:

* When I set up the online billpay so I could pay the bills from overseas, the car payment was being shorted by $9 each month. You would think, “$9 is nothing. Probably the bank barely noticed”. You would be wrong. In November, when we were home, we got no notification that there was a problem, so we carried on our merry little way. In April, we got a letter saying our car was going to be repossessed. Now, anyone who knows me well probably has their jaw on the floor by now because I.DO.NOT.MISS.PAYING.MY.BILLS ….EVER…EVER!!!! And here I found myself with the threat of a car repo. A CAR REPO, people!!! So we called the bank, explained the mistake, blah blah blah. We apologized, they apologized. Love was between us again.

Until we ran our credit report. And found that they had reported each of those $9 late payments as 60 days late. Ummm……problem!! I had a stellar credit rating, one that most people drool over and here we found out it had dipped into the 600s. Our brief love affair with the bank promptly ended. Until they retracted their mistake and cleared up the credit. Now we are working on our relationship. Maybe counseling would help???

* The post office decided to stop forwarding our mail in February even though I had signed up for the year long service. Our mail is in some warehouse somewhere and we can’t seem to get our hands on it.

* Our home loan…well….we won’t even discuss the disaster that is our home loan, except to say that we must quickly refinance before we are on one of those crazy variable rate loans. This, of course, will raise our mortgage significantly. Which is just what you want to hear when you are now a one-income family until the end of August.

* Do you think our dogs are mad at us? One after another, they keep getting sick and needing substantial veterinary care. Guiseppe needed his hips xrayed and his teeth cleaned. Dakota needed his teeth cleaned. (For those of you who are dog-less, they don’t clean doggie teeth while they are awake. You know…the biting thing…so they put them to sleep. And yep, anesthesia costs extra dinero.) Now Lola has a gnarly ear infection which will require several follow up visits. I guess this is revenge on us??

* Our renter will need an extra month or two in the house. She is trying to buy her own house and the escrow thing…you know. So, we will be “homeless” even when we move “home”.

So much for my plan. Time to formulate a new one. I’m thinking of that one where you just keep a bunch of cash under your mattress and then when you die, someone finds millions hidden in the springs of your bed. What do you think? Will it work???? And should I hide the money in my Bulgarian bed springs or my San Diego ones?

No, I’m not talking about Bo Derek here. I am talking about the 10 pounds we seem to gain every time we make our glorious return to the United States. Surely this is a result of our intense craving for all comida mexicana, not to mention all the processed, convenient foods we are so accustomed to here. Things we really don’t have so much access to in Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria, our diet primarily consists of:

Breakfast: yogurt, Muesli and berries

Lunch: salad, some form of white meat (chicken or pork, no seafood)

Dinner: see Lunch

Here, our food consists of:

Breakfast: cereal with some type of sugar in it, sugary coffee or tea, or some pastry

Lunch: a sandwich or salad, though Mark often sneaks in rolled tacos or hamburgers

Dinner: Italian food–read:pasta, pasta, pasta!, or mexican food with extra tortillas or, on a healthy night, chicken and rice

So…you can see the problem, no? When we live here permanently, we really eat pretty healthily…more so than that list above. But when we are just visiting here, something comes over us. We eat every meal as if it were our.last.meal.on.earth. And then, after a few weeks, suddenly we realize that it really could have been our last meal on earth because now we can live on our fat stores alone.

Since we have been here so long this time, we had to stage an intervention. Ok, well I staged an intervention on us, explaining to Mark that at this rate, we will have to buy extra seats on the airplane just to get back to BG. We are now on a plan. An organic, lots of fruits, vegetables, fiber, and water plan. Mark loves it. NOT!!! But so be it. It’s working. We are losing some poundage and we are getting back our energy, our mojo, so to speak. We were so lethargic a couple of weeks ago. But now…exercising fiends!

Oh, and a word about exercising….OUCH! I have not run since my big foot operation last year. And let’s just say that my days of marathon and triathlon training are far, far away. I am happy just to get through a couple of miles without dropping dead. Even so, I have a hard time walking the next day. So sad. But it’s coming back. S.L.O.W. S.L.O.W. But coming back nonetheless.

So maybe, by the time we get back to Sofia, we will be able to walk the giant hill up to Mark’s office without too much huffing and puffing. We’ll see…!!!

I am officially….A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER. As in, the-phone-rings-at-5am to-tell-you-you-are-working substitute. Yeah, that kind. I have worked in almost all the grade levels, including 6th and KINDER!!!!!! I prefer 6th. Really. I will take “love” over “urine” any day of the week.

So, mostly I just work at Logan (HI LOGAN!!!! I miss you guys!!) But now and again I take a job at another site. And I have learned the miserable life of a substitute teacher where nobody knows your name–cue Cheers music here. The other teachers act as though you have never taught a day in your life. The administration acts as if you are just a random person from the streets, reminding you of basic procedure like how to have the kids walk in line and how to do recess duty.

So perhaps someone can answer this…did anyone stop to think that maybe, just maybe, the kids are misbehaving becaue there is a substitute? Not because the substitute doesn’t know how to teach??????? I mean, REALLY!!!!! DID ANYONE EVER THINK OF THAT???????? Because I’m pretty sure that after teaching at Logan Elementary for 10 years that I KNOW HOW TO DO RECESS DUTY, Mr. Principal at Scripps Ranch. In fact, I am pretty sure it is YOU who cannot handle recess duty. p.s. Mr. Principal North of the 8, kids congregating to gossip about their cute outfits does NOT constitute a horrific offense.

Ok. Enough if that. Got it off my chest.

Anyways. My fourth graders from last year are laughing at me when they see me teaching a class of “little kids” because I used to tell them that I taught them (”big kids) because they didn’t act like Kinders, nor should they. And now they tease me. It is like a sick revenge.

I am SO SO SO ready to teach again. I miss it SO much. I like my own room. And my own kids. And my own rules. I actually like my job. And I want it back. In just 4 months, I will have it again. And I’m sure that just one month later I will be lamenting the woes of teaching. All the work. The low pay. The bad days. Blah blah blah. It is still better than staring at a computer all day. Well…except that part where you have to spend DAYS filling out report cards. All except that….

One of the hardest parts of moving to Bulgaria has been leaving our dogs behind. Sure, we had Houndsome with us and he was a barrel of laughs. But we also have two other, sweet, sweet black Labs that we left with friends and family. One of our dogs–our girl, Lola–was living with another dog which was a Lab/Pit Bull mix, Bailey. Bailey has been the greatest dog for years, but something happened when Lola came around. He went crazy and tried to eat her twice. We tried everything, separating them, supervising them, training them, but the first chance he got, he tried to eat her for dinner. After the second time, Bailey’s owners worried about him going crazy around children, and upon the vet’s advice, ended up putting him to sleep. His Pit Bull self had come out and he probably wasn’t going to go back. Sad, sad, sad.

The last time we were home we couldn’t take Lola out swimming or running because she was still healing from her wounds. So we were determined to take her, Guiseppe, and our boy Lab (Lola’s father) Dakota to the beach.

One sunny, Saturday morning, we drove to all four corners of San Diego County to retrieve all of our dogs. We I was a bit worried about if they would all still get along because they have been separated for 8 months. But, of course, they did! We loaded them into the truck and headed to Fiesta Island, our favorite doggy place to visit.

The dogs spent a couple of hours cruising the beach, sniffing other hounds, chasing the ball, and swimming through the bay. Here are some pictures:

Notice Guiseppe. He refuses to join the action. This is not new for him. Every once in a while he will get a pinky toe wet, but.nothing.more. He chooses instead to guard our section of the beach and should any other dogs come by, they would be subject to his approval. (All dogs eventually get approved, though he must sniff them and follow them a bit first).

Lola is our Swimmer Extraordinaire. She will NOT stop unless we stop throwing the ball. In fact, I got a call two days later that she was acting depressed and mopey. No, no, I said. She is just achy, you know, like when you haven’t exercised for a year (say, after foot surgery or something like that) and you H.U.R.T. for days after the first time???

Dakota is our Gentle Giant. He looks big and scary, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. In fact, Lola drives him crazy, CRAZY, and still he licks her and loves her. She steals the ball from him every single time he has it, even if he is swimming in the water at the time. After playing with her for a few minutes, he eventually just hands it over to her and gives her a lick. So cute!

(Lola and her dad, Dakota)
And so we hung out for the day, then we took them all to the groomers to get a bath and a blow dry (which they LOVE). Then we drove to the four corners of the county and dropped them all off. Fun times. We can’t wait until out reunion is permanent and we can swim with our hounds in our backyard pool everyday!!!

**More hound-y pictures in the Gallery!!****

The Revenge of “Sissy”

Yup. That’s right. I made a mobile of all Barack pictures along with a sticker I got at a street fair that said “Democrats Value All Families” with the gay/lesbian rainbow symbol and hung it in the kid’s room.

Heh.

Heh.

So, since we have been here, we have been staying with my brother, sister-in-law, and two year old nephew. Technically, he’s not two yet, but he will be in a couple of weeks. His name is Daniel, but we have renamed him Diggy, after Rev Run’s son Daniel who they call Diggy. Don’t ask….

Diggy is full of funny tricks. For example, at night, when it’s time to go to bed, he excitedly runs to his room and YELLS at us “‘Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!”, blows a kiss and plows into his crib. He loves to count. He does well up to the number 10, but then skips to his all time favorite number, 13. When he gets mad or is starting to throw a tantrum, for some unknown reason, he decides to close his eyes while crying and walks around until he runs into something, thereby compunding the reasons for crying. It’s like he is playing Blind Man’s Bluff–do you know that game?

But the best trick of all…in my Republican family…is that I have now sufficiently trained him to correctly identify Barack Obama. He can’t quite say the full name yet, but he can point to the picture. And he does so with such zeal and enthusiasm, as if he LOVES Barack. I whisper to him how Barack will be our next president.

Heh. Heh.

So now we have a war here. My brother is teaching Diggy to call me “Sissy”, which I HATE!!! He thought it would be easier to say than Kristy, but I would prefer to remain nameless. Now Diggy says “Sissy” occasionally, so I have to retaliate with some bold Barack Obama move. And I have a plan. But I cannot reveal it here. Not just yet. The spies could be reading. But I’ll keep you posted…

…probably because I am not writing about them. Man! I’m soooo busy here. Well, ok, that may be an exaggeration because I lose a couple hours a day just hanging out with my 2 year old nephew. But other than that I am kind of busy. But, here are some stories I am going to write about in the next week. I promise. Really. (Plus the kids are coming back from Spring Break, so I gotta write!)
1. Being a substitute, the good, and the woes

2. Family Reunion Day with all three hounds

3. Our 8th Anniversary–featuring Mark Cassanova

4. Reason #204 why we won’t get the right visa and will have to stay here an extra month

5. How I gained the American 10 pounds that I now must lose

6.  Funny 2 year old antics

7. Eating lobster in Puerto Nuevo (should probably go with “How I Gained 10 Pounds”) with an added bonus of “My Driving Experience in Mexico”

Any others you want to hear? I am taking special requests. All this and more coming…starting tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Well, part of the reason I have been busy is because I am teaching Intersession at school and I need to spend all of tonight filling out incredibly bureaucratic, long, and tedious progress reports. Good to see things haven’t changed much in my absence…

Check back tomorrow, and/or Saturday. Really. Do.

No, just kidding.  Nobody went overboard.  But we were on a boat for four days and it could have happened, what with all the raucous behavior.  My sister got married on a cruise down to Mexico.  The wedding was held before the ship left the port and then we spent the next three and a half days “celebrating”.  I was her Maid of Honor.  Here is a picture of Mark and I.  I cropped it out of the whole family photo since all the other people may not want their ugly mugs shown here:

Of course, I would have more photos if Mark and I hadn’t forgotten our camera.  Again.  Did I mention we did this when we went to Costa Rica, too???  But I will get some from the other photogs in the family and then I will post them up here.

The best part of the cruise (besides the wedding, of course–though I am obligated to say that ) was the day we were in Mexico.  Granted, Ensenada is kind of like the armpit of Baja California.  But I just loooooove Mexico.  We hung out in a restaurant with an oudoor patio and plenty of warm sunshine.  I ate a few fresh fish tacos with all the authentic toppings and Mark had some shrimp tacos, also delicious.  Both of our families (ours and my sister’s new in-laws) were  there, so we had a group of like 30 people all around the table and there was so much joking and laughing that my sides hurt. Plus I got a small, almost unnoticeable tan on my face and arms.  Wouldn’t want to get skin cancer.

Oh.  And the second highlight had to have been Mark singing a Madonna song at karaoke.  Man, he should have been a performer.  He just loves to show off in front of people, especially strangers.  It was really hilarious.

Even though it was a vacation, we didn’t get much rest.  There was always something to do or people to hang out with.  So when we got home, Mark and I promptly spent the afternoon napping.  You know, recovering.  From vacation. Heh.

**I’ll let you know when there are more wedding pics to show–I’ll make an album for them.

I’m still here. Here as in San Diego here. But I have begun substitute teaching and we are still preparing for taxes and my sister’s wedding, so life has been a bit crazy around this place.

This weekend will be the wedding cruise to Mexico, I’m sure we will have plenty of photos. Also, I plan on telling you all about my new life as a substitute teacher. I have never subbed a day in my life until last week. See, I knew Spanish, so I got hired before I even finished my student teaching. This is all new to me….

This week, so far, I have taught Kindergarten and sixth grade,my two least favorites. Which was worse???? Stay tuned….

I was flying…again! This time with a hound and nearly all of our belongings from Bulgaria. You know, just in case we can’t ever get back there. I’d hate to leave all our good stuff there forever.

So, we left on Monday morning at very early o’clock and checked in at Lufthansa. With the “kuche” (dog in Bulgarian). The girl at the counter asks us if his cage is too small.

“Ummmm, no. It’s the largest kennel your airline allows”, we respond.

After about a half an hour of her figuring out how to put the proper stickers in the proper places on the kennel, she sends me over to yet another counter to pay. Here, the lady charges me double. One charge for the dog and one because the dog is heavy. Does that make any sense to anyone??? Really??? But whatever. The plane is supposed to leave in like 20 minutes, so now is not the time to argue. I’ll get the refund later.

Then she informs me that she cannot access United’s system to make sure there is a doggie reservation. I explain to her that if she has a doggie reservation on Lufthansa, there MUST be one on United because we ONLY called United. The Lufthansa flight is one of those “United, operated by Lufthansa”, so United handles our reservations and all that. Since we NEVER called Lufthansa, and they know about the dog, well then common sense would say that United must have TOLD them about the dog. She isn’t following my logic. She insists on calling United. With 20 minutes to go.

But…she doesn’t have the right number. Seriously. I’m not kidding. All her numbers don’t work. So she has to make a life and death decision of whether to allow the hound on to the plane. I tried to soothe her by saying, “Look, we have 6 hours of layover time in Frankfurt to work this out. How about if you just board the hound and we will deal with it there?” Finally, she agreed.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we found the United counter and asked the lady to check on the hound situation. She made a few phone calls, and BAM. What d’ya know? The dog IS allowed on the plane. Go figure. But when she was talking on the phone, she said “ein hund”, pronounced AYN HOOOnd, which means “a hound” in German. Well, we loved that name for Guiseppe, so all day we kept asking about “ein hund”.

Our 6 hour layover turned into 8 hours. During the wait, Mark went to check that ein hund was in the right place. Good thing. Because ein hund was missing. MISSING, people. But after about 20 minutes, they located him. Where? In Baggage Claim. Yeah, no one had claimed him yet, I guess. Probably because he was supposed to be on a plane. But who am I to mention that little fact??

Since we were late in from Frankfurt, we missed our flight from San Francisco to San Diego. I was hoping we would get to stay the night because I LOVE San Francisco, and I know, just given the chance to explore, that ein hund would love it there, too. But alas, there was another flight out at 10:15pm. So we got on that. (Don’t ask Mark about how the airport changed gates on us right before the flight and how we had to hoof it all the way to the other side of the airport with him carrying a couple of very heavy bags. Don’t ask him. He seemed….I don’t know….agitated about the whole situation.)

We got into San Diego at 11:30 and there was ein hund, as happy as could be. He seemed so well-adjusted that we thought he was just meant to take trans-Atlantic flights. But then we heard from his new keepers that he had jet lag ALL DAY on Tuesday, and has just recently been snapping out of it. I wish I could snap out of it. I keep waking up at 3:30am and can’t go back to sleep. So after days of insomnia before leaving Sofia, and now a few days of weird hours, I am a zombie. I can barely remember my own name.

But see how I remembered to update you all…my faithful readers? That’s just solid love for ya!