| Monday 15, April 2002: Mom's Visit and catching up... |
| Well, Mom left on Friday, and we had the best two weeks ever! It was so good to see her, I can't even begin to explain it. She flew in on the 28th, and we hung out around Sofia for a few days while I walked her all around the capital, going to churches, the PC office and other cool things. We hung out with Jake and his dad on Saturday before Ken left to go back home. And on Sunday, mom and I headed back to good ol' Karnobat. I showed her the Monday bazaar, and I'm sure that was an experience only mom could explain. We searched for hours for mispelled cartoon socks, and I guess you just had to be there to really understand. We walked all over town and I showed (or attempted to) all the things I see on a regular basis. Tuesday morning we headed bright and early to Plovdiv, and while waiting to find a private room, we hit the old city. Again, I walked mom a little too far, and probably a little too fast, but we saw a lot, and had great fun. Mom - remember "swish swish"?? She attempted her first ovcharskva salad, and even though it was bez cirene, it was pretty Bulgarian. We then headed to bed early, and came back home the next day. Good thing too, because Chester decided he wanted to try and burn my apartment down!! He got the nerf football off my shelf, and shoved it up against the burning part of my heater, where it proceeded to burn and smolder. If we hadn't gotten back when we did, I shudder to think what my apartment would have looked like. So needless to say, I now support Chester's wish of becoming a street cat! We met up with Dimitrina that night, and mom got to see how great she is!! Although while I was in the bathroom they brought up me going to Afghanistan again-she's so worried I'm actually going to go there it's sweet. On Thursday we headed to the bus station again, this time headed for Omurtag. Jake actually made dinner, which was very good, and we all hung out at his place playing cards. On Friday morning, Jakes' host family came in to town for a few hours, and it was nice to see them again. After that, we got on another bus, and travelled to Velicko Turnovo. This is an amazingly beautiful city. There is a huge old castle that we spent hours exploring, and it was fun because none of us had been there before. We then went back to Jake's for another night before heading home. Monday I had to teach, and mom came to some classes with me. It was really fun. The kids asked her all sorts of questions, and wanted to know all about me when I was little. It was so funny to hear some of the things they wanted to know about me. We had lunch with Lisa, and after lunch I had another class, so mom went out on her own. We met up later, and went with Doncho to Sozopol and Bourgas. It was a beautiful day, and I even bought a TV - finally!!! I can't wait to get cable now!!! On Tuesday, we had a na gosti with Dimitrina and Valichko at their house for dinner. We had some great conversations and I'm incredibly impressed with Dimitrina for translating everything! I tried to do it, but it's really hard, and I can't speak and listen at the same time!! We headed back to Sofia, and the following morning we rode down to the Rila Monastery. Again, we had a beautiful day, and the trip was nice. It was a wonderful way to finish her visit here. Well, that was the abridged version of the trip. I will try and keep this journal updated a little better than what I've been doing the past month (nothing), but don't expect anything else this week - I'm teaching double time. It would be a great week to have the flu vacation! |