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Week of 7-7-07
Dale and I are working despite some common misconceptions, but on the weekends we just happen to take small vacations.I mean how many times are we going to be in Bulgaria?It is exciting to see the country and it is really beautiful.During the week we are also trying to see some of the sites in the city.Unfortunately there is not a whole lot of interesting things to say about work.If we did spend a lot of time talking about work our reader levels would significantly drop, and our fragile psyche could not handle it.
On Tuesday we met with Didi, Iliyana, Angela, and their friends before Didi left the next day for 'the states'.We met at a restaurant called "pod Lipite".The food was traditional Bulgarian, but was a little pricier than the other places we have eaten at.It had a small cottage feel to it complete with a waterfall sink.I ordered the trout and felt pretty safe in my selection, until it arrived.I had forgotten that the fish comes whole, well except for the guts.First, I covered up his head and cut it off, and then proceeded to cut off his tail.Both came off relatively easy.To get the meat off the bones you simply pull the meat away from the skeleton and it also comes of fairly easy, with a little amount of bones stuck to the meat.After a few drinks, and some good Bulgarian fellowship we left and headed home.
The next night, July 4th, prompted by coworkers, we decided to throw a party."Happy Birthday America".We went to the local supermarket to get drinks and some snacks for everyone. We were able to buy about 9 liters of beer, 700ml of gin, tonic, 700ml of rum, and snacks for around $20, one of the best parts of Bulgaria :) Even though we were 'celebrating' the 4th it hardly was the same thing.No watermelon, no BBQ, no fireworks, no relaxation.
The next morning Dale and I arose to find a half naked Russian on our couch.Vlado, one of our coworkers, had single handedly drank the bottle of gin.He decided to stay the night, but also decided to take his clothes off, except for his underwear.Thankfully we kept those on.When we woke up, half asleep, and walked into the living room we were greeted by quite a sight.This helped to wake us up though.After a LONG day at work, almost 8 hours, we went home and packed for our trip to Black Sea coast.We had to catch the 11:00pm train.Our train was about half full and headed to Bourgas.The good thing about the overnight trains is that you go to sleep somewhere and wake up somewhere completely different.
When we woke up on Friday we were somewhere different, but not as different as expected.Bourgas is more of a typical Bulgarian city; we had to go 45 minutes before we were in Sunny Beach.Sunny Beach is the largest resort town on the Black Sea, and covered in Europeans.I am not sure of were everyone was from but many were Scandinavian and Brits.There were also Germans and Hungarians.We got to our hotel/apartment around 9:00 and went to the pool for a couple hours.After the pool we decided to hit the beach area and find somewhere to eat lunch.Armed with our trusty map from the hotel I picked out a "Mexican Restaurant", because I have been craving some Mexican food.After looking through the menu I think we realized this was hardly the same Mexican food we had grown up with.Despite this fact the prices resembled some of the best Mexican Food that could be had in the states.Dale had his favorite food, French Fries, or as they called them "chips".I decided on a hamburger with chili, which actually turned out to be pretty good for a Bulgarian Hamburger.After lunch we hung out on the beach until 6:00 or so.We didn't feel like paying the 6 leva for a chair or umbrella though.We are now fully aware that everything in Bulgaria, and most likely Europe, costs something.There is nothing for free, well they did let us sit on the sand for free, and that was nice of them.A cold front had hit a day or two before so the water was kinda cool but tolerable once you got it. There were a few waves, but I am not sure if this was just from the boats around the coast.After the beach we explored the boardwalk a little bit.It was full of shops tailored to English speaking customers.There was a plethora of bars and clubs along the way.The average age of people on the boardwalk were about 16 I believe.After half a mile or so we, turned back and headed for the hotel.I am not sure if we even had dinner that night.I don't think so, we just stayed at the hotel and relaxed.
The next morning we hit the pool to catch some rays.Around lunch time we hit headed to Nessebar, which is a village situated on an Island across from Sunny Beach.It was nice but mainly filled with nic-nak shops and Dale and I weren't too interested.The beaches there were also very rocky as well.We went back to Sunny Beach and hit the same beach.That night we decided to hit the strip.We went to one of the clubs and sat down for a drink.We were surrounded by quite a crowd.There was one family with about 5 children to our left and drunk Brits making out to our right.Note: This was at midnight.We decided not to spend all our time in one location.Down the road a bit we stopped at another place.Dale has learned enough Bulgarian to be dangerous, and he impressed the waitress quite a bit with his knowledge.The residents here are not used to people taking an interest in their language and are taken aback by people saying simple phrases.On the way back home we were propositioned by 5 'ladies of the night' in a span of 1 minute.The look on Dales face was classic, as he appeared very distressed and could not get away fast enough.
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