Bulgarian Daze

So, as most of you know, I am a Sudoku puzzle addict. (Don’t know what Sudoku is? Click here.) When I say addict, I mean ADDICT. I MUST do at least one or two puzzles a day or I just don’t feel like myself. I find that doing math puzzles relaxes me, especially in intense situations, you know, like moving to a new country…Hey, you Crossword fanatics are just as bad!

Well, during all of our plane shifting and running, I managed to lose not one, but TWO pencils. The only two I had, in fact. And as any mathematician will tell you, it is impossible to complete a math puzzle in pen. I mean, what if I make a mistake??? No problem, I thought. Surely they have pencils in Sofia. I mean, it’s not like it’s another planet or something.

So, after we moved into the flat and got a little more comfortable, I was desperate to get back to my Sudoku ways. I began my quest for a pencil. For days, I walked the streets, looking for a store that looked like it might sell pencils. But to no avail. I vaguely remembered seeing a sign that said Office Superstore. Now surely, they must sell pencils. Clearly, offices need pencils. If I could only remember where that store was. So, everyday, on the way to the office, I would force Mark to walk a few side streets with me in search of the mysterious Office Superstore. We never found it.

On the third day, I could wait no longer. I had to do a puzzle. So I did the unthinkable. I did it in pen, complete with scratch marks and scribbles. Unacceptable. I would continue my search. Or, dare I say it, ask for help. So I did. I asked Niki:

“Hey, Niki, are there any pencils in Sofia?”
“Of course”, he replied. “I have some in the office. Do you want one?”
“It’s because she can’t live without her dumb Sudoku puzzles”, Mark chimed in. Who asked him, anyways???
“Sure, I’ll take one”, I responded.
“Ahh, but the real question is where to get them. You need to know where things are”, Niki said.
“Well, yes, I would prefer to know where to get them”, I said.

So, Niki walked me to a computer store. A computer store? Weird, I thought. All I saw were computers. But alas, there was a downstairs. A beautiful, glorious shiny downstairs complete with every imaginable office supply! Imagine my delight. I mean, I am a teacher. And as everyone knows, teachers have a bizarre love for all things office-y. It felt like home. I just wanted to bring my blanket and pillow, curl up and snuggle in the aisles of the office store. Ahhhhh.

So, I bought a pencil, and some Post-Its in pretty pink and orange for good measure. I mean what’s a teacher without Post-Its???? I went home and began my flurry of Sudoku solving, and magically, much of the stress of moving disappeared. Never underestimate the power of a pencil!!!

By the way, guess what I found yesterday?? You guessed it! The Office Superstore!! But no matter, I’m in love with the computer store.

My shiny, new pencil and sticky notes:

You might be asking yourself: Why are you living in Bulgaria???? Good question, I say!! But it is a little tricky to answer….

About 4 years ago, Mark used to work for a company that was owned by Bulgarians. We used to joke: “Where in the world is Bulgaria?” haha! (Did you find it on the map?) Then, one day, Mark came home from work and said the company was sending him to Bulgaria. Well, we quickly got out a map and looked up where Bulgaria was!! He came over here for the first time several weeks after that.

While he was here for the first time, Mark befriended many people. Later on, the company he worked for brought one of the Bulgarians (Niki) out to the United States. Mark and Niki decided to start their own company. They create websites (like, when you go to Disney on the internet, somebody had to make it look all fancy, and that’s what their company does).

Well, for the past couple of years, the company grew and grew. All of the designers (the people who actually make the websites) are in Bulgaria. Since the company was getting bigger and bigger, Mark wanted to live in Bulgaria for one year to help hire and teach new people. My job would be to teach English to people who want to learn it. And there you have it!! That’s why we are here.

I miss living in San Diego and teaching at Logan Elementary, but this is only for one year, and then I will be back. Until then, I am enjoying my time here in Bulgaria. I am learning a new language and meeting a lot of new people. I will never get the chance to live in another country again, so I am trying to have a lot of fun!!

**Some geography for you: Can you name 5 or more countries in Eastern Europe (hint:use the map you just saw). What are their capitals?

The second day we were here, we got started looking for a place to live. We can’t live in a hotel forever!!! Andrey had set up some meetings to look at some apartments. Apartments here are called “flats”. We spent the whole day looking at flats. Of course, we don’t have a car, so we had to walk all over town. We saw two flats that we liked and two flats that we didn’t like. Most of the flats cost about 1,000 Euro a month. Click here to figure out how many dollars that is. That seems like a lot of money, I know. But it includes ALL the bills, including the TV and the electricity. That means I can use the air conditioning all I want, and not pay extra for it!!

After looking at flats all day, we went back to the hotel, walked Guiseppe, and took a nice, long nap! Then we woke up, had a snack, and went back to sleep. The time here is opposite from San Diego. For example, when it is 10:00 at night here, it is 12:00 (lunch time) there. So we were all confused! We kept sleeping during the day and waking up in the middle of the night.

The third day we were here, we looked at a whole bunch of flats again. But we really did not like any of them. So, we looked again at two flats from yesterday that we liked. We picked one, signed up, and moved in, all in less than 2 hours. It is easy to move when you only have suitcases and no furniture!! Click in the pictures section on the side to see pictures of our new home.

Then, we set out to learn about our new city. Most of the weekend, we walked around to try to figure out where everything was. For example, where do you buy food? Well, there are markets for that. Only, the stores here are very small. You would never find a Wal Mart here. You have to go to different stores to buy all your food. We bought enough food to last a few days and went home and started cooking.

Since we don’t know the language too well (OK, we don’t know it at all, it sounds like Chinese to us!), it is hard to order at a restaurant without one of Mark’s partners to help us translate. I think we’ll figure this out quickly, since we like to eat!! We are starting to understand how things work here and we are feeling more comfortable about living here now. The first 3 days were a little difficult, but now we are doing better. It doesn’t feel so much like the moon!!

Wednesday, August 15th: We arrived in Sofia,Bulgaria with very little sleep, a lot of luggage, and a newly world-traveled dog named Guiseppe. The plane trips (more than one!) were a bit wild, with us running through the airport to make our connections. But more on that later….

Upon our arrival, we began our search for Guiseppe. He had been put with the suitcases on the plane and we had to go find him. Mark was looking all over for somebody who understood English to help us find the dog. Meanwhile, I turned my head, and there he was!!! Going around in circles on the luggage conveyor belt, as if he were just another suitcase. Poor doggie:(

It took nearly an hour, but we were finally able to clear Guiseppe through Customs (Customs is where the government makes sure you aren’t bringing anything illegal into the country, like drugs or stolen things), gather all of our suitcases, and meet Mark’s partner, Andrey. Andrey predicted we would have too many suitcases for his car, so he brought a friend with another car to help move all our things to the hotel. He was right—it did indeed take TWO CARS! We loaded everything up, and we were off!!

I have never been to Bulgaria (have you???), so everything seemed very different to me. I stared out the car window and tried to understand what my new life was going to be like. It would be completely different from life in San Diego, that’s for sure! The Bulgarian language uses different letters than our alphabet, so I could not even read the signs. Of course, I did not understand a word anyone was saying. And I had no idea where I was. This would be an adventure.

The ride to the hotel was a bit scary. The streets here are very narrow and the cars drive extremely fast. I just closed my eyes and held on tight. Once we got to the hotel, I took poor Guiseppe, who had been in his crate for 23 hours now, out for a walk. He really had to go to the bathroom!!! Once we got checked into the hotel, we carried all of our luggage upstairs. Did I mention there are almost no elevators here and everything is upstairs? Well, that’s true. Andrey left us to get settled in and we agreed to meet for dinner at 7:30 Bulgarian time.

We took a small nap (we hadn’t really slept on the planes), took a shower, changed our clothes and walked to Mark’s office. There, we met Mark’s other business partner, Niki. (In Bulgaria, Niki is a man’s name). Niki had been in the United States a few years ago, so I already knew him. When I first saw Niki at the office, he said, “Well, you are finally here!!! How do you feel? Like you have landed on the moon???” Yes, that’s exactly how I felt, like I had landed on the moon!!

(to be continued)

First: What is a blog? Well, it is like my own journal, only it is written on the internet so everyone can read it. “Blog” is short for “weblog” which means a log, or journal on the web (another word for Internet).

Before you start reading about my adventures, here are some directions on how to use the blog:
* A “post” is the little story that I write.
* The words in the post that are in a different color mean you can click on them and see a picture or read some extra information.
* If you want to say something about a post, just click on the word “comments” below the post and write what you want to say. ****Remember to write your name after your comment, or I won’t know who wrote the comment!******

I really like reading your comments. Tell me what you learned or what you think about what I wrote. Maybe you will have some questions. Ask them in the comments section, and I will try my best to answer them! I hope you enjoy reading about my year in Bulgaria!!!