| Monday, June 3 2002: Moving in (finally), The Rose Festival |
| Well, I finally got moved in to Shumen. Unfortunately it was into my temporary apartment, and I will be moving again at some point in time, that I don't know about. This past weekend was spent in Kazanluk for the annual Rose Festival. It was amazing. So much fun. We travelled down there on Friday, and hung out in the town, drinking beer and waiting for everyoen to show up. That night was the crowning of the Rose Queen, and although Tyler didn't do it, if he had jumped up on the stage and demanded to be included in the competition, he would have won hands down. Saturday morning we all headed out to the square again, and then to the edge of town for the carnival. It was really a bunch of fun, riding the bumper cars and watching the boys shoot guns (joining them too), and just being crazy and having a good time. Did I mention that in the morning when we were waiting for everyone, Simeon Saxe-Coburg the Prime Minister and former king came out of the Municipality (which is where we were) and I got right up in his face to take his picture. It was cool because I was so close, I even got patted down by one of his guards or something. And then later in the center, he was walking around and Anna and I got up right next to him. We were so close for about a half an hour, and couldn't get up the nerve to shake his hand. Until Tyler did, and then we couldn't let him beat us. So, for the first tiem in my life I have shaken hands with royalty...how cool is that? We also went to the disco that night and had fun. Maybe a little too much, cause the next day was the trip to the rose fields, and I was a little hungover. Oh well. The rose fields were great, and I even got a rose necklace (eventually-and with the help of Ben and 2 leva). We got to taste rose rakia (yuck!) and rose jam and lots of other cool things. The best part about it was that we could go directly into the fields and pick all the roses we wanted to. They weren't the prettiest, but the smell was incredible. Now I understand why it's 3,800$ for a kilogram of the oil. -Sarah |