The other side

Tonight Stacie and I finally got home from our excursion to the other side of Bulgaria. We are glad to finally be home! The trip began with a 4.5 hour train ride to Sofia, then a 3 hour bus ride to Sandanski. That night we spent at a hostel in Sandanski and went hiking the next morning. The next day we were in a hija in the mountains (sort of like a large lodge/hostel). We shared a room with our friends from Burgas. There was just about zero heat in the whole hija, but Stacie convinced one of the workers to give us a heater for our room! That made the room quite a bit more comfortable! 

After hiking, we went to the Peace Corps conference. It was really good to see everyone there and to catch up on how things have been going. Many of the people we had not seen for months, so we had quite a few good conversations. The sessions at MSC (Mid-Service Conference) were mostly typical Peace Corps style sessions and I don't have much to say about them here other than that it felt like being in PST again (the first two and a half months we were here in BG). 

When the sessions ended Stacie and I headed a little further east to Kyustendil. It was crazy going back there. It felt like we had been away for so long. The last time we had been back was at Christmas. I think it felt so weird because we have been in Bulgaria for over a year now, and it was just weird to see it knowing we were in Bulgaria and having the same feelings that we would have had if we had visited the States. Weird.

On the way back we learned that the train schedule had been changed a little, so we would now be adding 1.5 hours to our trip! In total, it took 3 hours to get to Sofia from Kyustendil, a 1.5 hour layover, then it took another 6 hours to get to Sliven from Sofia. I think we could have made it most of the way back home had we jumped on a flight instead : ) That is crazy talk though.  

The 2nd half of September

The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit different for Stacie and I. Our plans will take us out of Sliven for about 10 days where we will go on a few hikes, attend our Mid-Service Conference, and see our host-families all in the southwest region of Bulgaria. It seems like we have not been home very many weekends these last few months, so hopefully when we get back at the end of September we'll be home for a while. 

Jason & Stacie

Trip to Sofia

Last night Stacie and I got home from Sofia after our longest visit to the big city yet. We were there from Tuesday until Thursday for a visit to the dentist, checkup at the doctor, and a short training from Junior Achievement.

We took the 4.5 hour train ride at 7am and took a taxi to the dentists office for our appointments. After that we went to the Peace Corps office for our medical checkups and to see what new books had been returned by the other volunteers. On Tuesday night we ate out at a place called Olives (http://www.olives.bg/) and had burgers and fries, they were great! Then we saw the movie Get Smart. Instead of spending the night at a hostel, Stacie found a hotel for 40lv off of http://bghotelite.com/index_en.php, which would have been the same price as two beds in a hostel. The room was ok but the bathroom was really nice, and it was good to have it all to ourselves!

On Wednesday we bought two all day tram passes so we were able to travel all around the city a bit quicker. I brought a map of the tram schedule with us, so it was not too difficult navigating our way around the city. After our training with Junior Achievement we had dinner at a Sushi restaurant called Sushi Bar (http://sofia.zavedenia.com/?id=105). It was very tasty! Then we spent the night in a hotel care of Junior Achievement.

On Thursday we slept in a little and then headed to the mall for some American style coffee! After window shopping for a while we met with my counterpart (who has been working in Sofia on a project with Habitat for Humanity) for lunch and headed to catch our train. But when we got to the train station we realized that we had left our ID cards at the front desk in the hotel! We missed our train, but since we already had purchased our tickets they let us use them for next one later that evening. We had enough time in between trains to see another movie, so we went and saw Mamma Mia after stopping by Duncan Donuts :)

Overall it was a good trip, but we are happy to be back in Sliven. Being in the big city is quite an experience because it is so different (and more expensive) than our hometown. There are so many cars, people, and shops that it can be overwhelming! But we had fun.

On Monday Stacie will be headed to Dupnitsa to give a training with her counterpart to the new group of volunteers. So she'll have to make the whole trip again but this time without me. So wish her luck with that!

Love,

Jason & Stacie

Google Translate

I know that many people have probably already had their chance to review this handy little miracle, but I though't I'd put my two cents in.

Ever since Stacie discovered this site, I have used it frequently as an aid to my ever-improving Bulgarian language skills. Admittedly, I still talk like a four year old (and likely could not understand a four year old because of all of the hip slang they use). But this tool has allowed me to understand things that I would never have otherwise had the chance - at least without spending hours in front of a dictionary. The thing about Bulgarian is when you are translating it into English using the miracle, it is actually pretty easy for the miracle to understand what is being said. Although it does mess up some words, you can't expect a computer to get everything right, right? For fun click on this link: http://novini.dir.bg/2008/03/16/news2777036c.html and paste the text into the translate page (http://translate.google.com/translate_t) to see what it says about us.

The funny thing is that it says that I am married to someone named Fergie. I guess it is not the best way to translate names :)

Jason