So, we pretty much love Bulgaria. I think I might even be getting good at moving...it's taken some practice, or maybe we got lucky this time; I'm not sure I can take the credit. We're doing well here. After our initial 4 days of running around the house up and down the five spiral staircases, down dark hallways, peeking into room after room and singing "I think I'm gonna like it here!" as Annie does when she arrives at Daddy Warbuck's. We were able to make some friends, visit an orphanage, get in some traditional Bulgarian dancing, try out some new foods, learn to love instant coffee, become obsessed with a Plants vs. Zombies,
count bathrooms, get totally sick of spending time with each other and then learn to enjoy eachother again.
So, that's been our whirlwind of a new life. Going from tae kwon doe six days a week, friends at the park 4 days a week, library 3 times a week, drama class, camps, tennis courts, bikes, piano lessons, visits from family, dinner invitations, free concerts, swimming pools- I could go on and on about the things we got to do with our Virginia family. Well, we went from that to a screeching halt of nothing. No phone calls, no phone, no emails, no internet, no sports, no friends, no Life cereal, no life. It was a shock to my system and I got a little insane on some days, insisting that we all put on boots and coats and go out over the 547 potholes in the not-really-what-you'd-call-a-sidewalk to get to the cafe, get myself some nes-cafe in a plastic cup with a straw and fresh bread, tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumbers...just to get out of the house and do SOMETHING really.
I sent out friend-fishing emails and invited perfect strangers to stop by the house any chance they got. It worked, I made some friends, some playdates and a strange thing started to happen- especially between the bigs who'd been fighting recently- they started to say things like "wanna play mastermind?" "sure!" and sort of started getting along because they had to. Two days ago we woke up to snow all over and when it got dark we played tennis in the basement, which is now a tennis and racquet ball court, the other room is good for scooters and skateboards. We sing this line a lot now "The tennis court is...down the stairs. Inside the house? Oh boy!"
Last weekend we went for a beautiful walk in the mountain woods. We live on Mt. Vitosha and look forward to skiing soon.
We got to visit with this adorable nun. She had worked for the secret service until retirement at 55, didn't think she'd live long so decided to come to the monestary. Now at 76, she's still going strong, hangs her own laundry out, grows her own food and her house doesn't even have indoor plumbing...can't even imagine how much work that would be in winter. I love our encounters with amazing people, stories and history.
Sloane and Cort are dear friends and she's always taking care of him. Yesterday he told Bill "I like flowers, for real!!" Weapons and baby dolls are his favorite toys. Cort wasn't sure what to make of this painting, a lovely courtyard at the monestary, a walk in the woods.
We also like all the funniness of being overseas again. Chuppa Chups enormous advertisement, broken playground equipment we let our kids play on, making friends with stray animals and interesting European art.
