Week of 7-21

Sunday

I woke up around 9:30 and decided to get some photos of some places around the center of town which we did not have pictures of.I was looking for one picture in particular where you could supposedly get a shot of the church, the mosque and the synagogue.I also took some photos of the pre-communist architecture.I met Dale and Iliyana at the Onda café around 11:00 and we partook in some coffee and snacks.Afterwards we headed to the ethnographic museum located across the street.The museum wasn't that spectacular but did have a lot of the descriptions in English.From the museum we walked a little bit and caught a train that took us near Mt. Vitosha and the National History Museum.The museum was much more up to date that e first one but lacked in the English descriptions. However, the collection was extensive and gave a good idea of where Bulgarian came from up through communism.The weird part was that the museum just kind of stopped in the middle of the 20th century.Outside there were some Mig Fighters and a helicopter.After the museums we decided to check out the folk festival that was going on near where we had been in the morning.The presentations lasted about 30 minutes each and four countries were represented. The countries performing were Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Korea (I assume south).Bulgaria was good along with Korea.The concert ended around 11:00 and we walked home.

Monday - Wednesday

Went to work, came back to apartment, watched movies at apartment, went to sleep.

Thursday

After work we were supposed to meet up with Nasko, an incoming first year MBA student, and future roommate.We were also supposed to meet up with Iliyana.I had picked out the restaurant from a local guide we received when we first got to Sofia.It was a Czech restaurant and the food was highly recommended.When Dale and I arrived at 8:00, we found that they were a reservation only restaurant.Iliyana sent us a text message that she would not make it and that we should just meet her at 10:00.We waited until 8:40 for Nasko to show up, and I was about to starve so we went to a place one block over.We met Iliyana at 10:00 at a karaoke bar because I HAD to get it out of my system.Although it was no O'Connell's, it was still fun.Dale started things off with some Jay-Z and I came back with some Ted Nugent.Dale next sang Red Hot Chili Peppers and we finished it off with a duet of "My Humps".The karaoke bar closed early and we decided to go to a bar not to far from there.We stayed out kind of late and returned to our apartment at 3:00 I believe, which is pretty standard by European Standards.

Friday

After the long night, getting up was tough.We made it up after 3 snoozes, two of which I didn't hear.After work we met up with Nasko and Angela for dinner.Iliyana joined us later.Angela was leaving the next day for the seaside and we wanted to hang out before she left.Ivan, Angela's husband, didn't join us however,because he was busy trying to get back into fighting form at the gym.I learned that the Nasko had waited for 1 ½ hours at the restaurant for us to show up!We must have just missed him because he said he showed up around 8:40.We had a nice dinner at the Happy Bar & Grill, which is Bulgaria's take on TGI Friday's.After dinner we were all pretty tired and decided to call it a night.

Saturday

Iliyana met Dale and I at our apartment and we headed over towards the Hostel Mostel to take the tour of the Rila Monastery.The Hostel Mostel might sound familiar to you because this was the first place we stayed when we arrived in Sofia.They were really nice and put us in a car with just us three.Our driver didn't speak English, which made having Iliyana around really been helpful, besides the fact she is super sweet.She was able to talk to our driver and find out the specifics on where we were going and other details.Once we arrived the setting was noticeably beautiful.It is set in the middle of a valley with mountain peaks surrounding it.A small town with a few restaurants and shops has sprung up around it, but has not taken any of the charm away.The church was covered in colorful paintings that have not lost their luster.There were monks walking around doing chores not minding the throng of tourists surrounding them.The walls of the monastery were unique and the size of the monastery is obvious.After viewing the church and waking around we went to have lunch at the overpriced and less than stellar restaurant, or in Bulgarian PECTOPAHT.So Dale and I joke about saying pectopaht now instead of restaurant.Iliyana told the driver to drop us off at our apartment and he did which was nice.This was another time the Bulgarian came in handy.

We stayed and rested before we went out that night.Dale took a nap and like a dummy I decided not to.Boy did I pay for that.We went to a club called Saray.Ivan kept telling me about these places were the women would stick a beer bottle in their pants and belly dance, and I had to see one of these places.This was not one of those places.It was Arabic themed with music and décor, but no belly dancing.Some of Iliyana's friends from work met us up there.Iliyana's birthday started at 12:00 and we helped her celebrate it.Despite the Arabic theme I felt like I was back in America.For the first time in 2 months, blondes outnumbered brunettes.The only difference was that 100% of the blondes were fake.I had also kind of been wondering why it was that every place we went to had a much higher percentage of males to females, it was because they were all at Saray Club.The whole night I was sleepy and Dale was alert.In fact I went home around 3:00, again, while Dale stayed out until 5:00. He told me he would probably not be getting up to go to Vitosha with Andrei, a Colleague of ours.