so i just wanted to write a quick word about my latest escapades. on a side note: the word "escapades" is fun, isn't it? it reminds me of that old janet jackson song. also, i changed my profile layout. the other one looked too washed out, and i thought it was a bit hard to read.
anyhow, i went to a club called "sugar" in sofia this past weekend. they actually played rap and hip-hop... a miracle! usually the options are bulgarian music, bulgarian music, bulgarian music, or crappy techno. (and when i say crappy techno, i'm referring to the quality of the selection, not the genre itself). anyhow, it was fun. i actually got dressed up and put on makeup. i even fixed my hair... although after an hour of dancing, you would have never known it. in fact, this is the only picture where i don't look a hot, sweaty, mess. aren't we cute though?
i also met some interesting people. we stayed at a friend of shantay's, who she had met through mututal friends. he plays basketball, and introduced us to several of his teammates, one of whom was from atlanta! small world, huh? we chatted about georgia... and missing georgia... for a minute. overall, it made for a very pleasant evening. OH. and we went to starbucks the next morning. bulgaria is moving up in the world! well... sofia is anyway.
other than that there is not much to report. i finalized my plans for turkey today. that is, i made the reservation for the hotel. now i simply have to obtain my bus ticket, which shouldn't be hard to do. i'm really excited about the trip. 1) because istanbul just sounds so exotic, and it has so much to offer in the way of cultural sites, and 2) because i'm going with amanda and shantay! my two favorite people.
i'm also looking into spending some time in australia... but more on that later.
i will take one second to vent though. the obama hype makes me throw up in my mouth a little. (sorry liberal friends! still love ya'll). and i just laughed and laughed when they fumbled through the OATH OF OFFICE. and honestly, it's not a big deal to me. he's human of course. i just thought about what type of cross they would have picked out to nail george bush to if that had been him. oh well, i suppose i should get used to it. i can't be one of those annoying people who is bitter for the next four years.
xo!
so last night at approximately 11:15 pm, my electricity suddenly went out. now this has happened several times before, the longest stretch lasting about a half hour. i was annoyed, but not concerned. i waited it out. and waited... and waited... until, finally an hour later i realized that it wasn't coming back on. i went on my porch and saw lights from the apartments of other people on my floor. hmm.... i immediately went to the fuse box. i'd never really paid attention to it before and was surprised to see that it looked strikingly similar to an american-style fuse box. not the scary ones that peace corps showed us pictures of during training and strictly forbade us to touch (complete with hazard warnings of possible electrocution). however, because of the administration was SO adamant about not trying to do it yourself, i must admit that i was too timid to just try and "flip the switch," like you do back home.
and so i nearly froze to death. no heat. and even worse... no hot water for the next day should it not be fixed in time for school!
the next morning, the power was still not on and i was convinced that it was a fuse. i called my counterpart, who in turn called my assistant director, who then called the tech guy for the school. long story long... he came over and just as i thought, explained to me that my fuse box was "automatic," and i simply needed to turn the switch back on. *sigh. i guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but i like to do things on my own, and (believe it or not) i actually really like to do construction-type things. oh, and did i mention it's freezing??!! sometimes i ponder why on earth i decided to leave my sunny, never ever below freezing, georgia bubble.
as per usual, i got ready for class and proceeded to walk to school. it was SO slippery today. i mean, ridiculous. it's a wonder i haven't fallen and broken a hip. although, i'm more concerned about making a fool of myself in front of the students i can't stand... thereby giving them more ammo with which to torture me. on my way to class, i saw half of the 9th grade students from my next period walking home. the students and i both stopped upon reaching each other, and it seemed as though we were all a little confused. so i asked, "did i miss something? do we have class?" one of the girls replied, that yes.. they did have class, but it finished about 10 minutes ago. apparently, the classes were only 30 minutes today instead of 40 because of the ice. i'm thinking they wanted to give the kids a chance to walk home before it got dark.
now, rewind. remember how i mentioned earlier in the blog that i talked to both my counterpart and my assistant director? i guess neither one of them thought to tell me about the schedule changes. sooooo typical. it's not like i had anything extraordinary planned for the class. and even if i did, i could just use it next week. it's the fact that no one ever tells me anything. EVER! it just makes me look bad. irresponsible and incompetant. i don't like it.
but, it's not the first time it's happened. and certainly not the last. no worries -- two weeks till istanbul!
ps. i put up a link to my london pictures (on the right-hand side) for anyone who reads this and doesn't have a facebook or myspace account... although now that both my mom and step-mom have pages, i don't even know if that applies to anyone? maybe elvis. my parents' dog.
before i mention how i spent my vacation, i wanted to make note of the people here who really do have good hearts. tuesday was my "name day." here in bulgaria they have name day holidays. meaning, quite literally, there are various days in which people with celebrate their names. i believe that the names they choose to celebrate are those of saints, but i could be mistaken. there is one day, for example, in which people with the names of flowers have a name day (i.e rose). anyhow, like i said tuesday was "yordanov den," or "jordan day." (go me!) i actually don't have classes on tuesdays, but when i went to my first class today, the kids had bought me a big stuffed animal and a little card that said "happy name day." i just thought it was so sweet! of course, this was one of my two favorite classes. it really is a tragedy that the other students are such little monsters, but i guess it just makes me appreciate my little 8th grade angels even more!
so as most of you already know, i went to london for my christmas break. first i will briefly mention christmas itself. it wasn't so bad! i think i was so sure that i was going to be completely and utterly alone and miserable, that the events of the day were actually quite pleasant. in a nutshell, shantay came to hang out, which of course is always good timese. we just lounged around christmas eve. she got me a couple of presents, one of which was simple, but i particularly loved. it was a little wooden charm that said "super woman" in bulgarian. after all the hell my students put me through last month, well it just made me laugh. christmas day we went to my assistant director's house for dinner. she's always been very kind and hospitable. i forgot that she kind of has this thing about people of different ethnicities... but in a good way... she's just intensely intrigued. i remember her showing me pictures from her italy trip this past summer. she had a picture with a random asian guy and one with a black father and daughter. so i guess i really made her day by bringing shantay along, more than she could have possibly made mine! haha. on to london. it was A-MAZING. i loved it. i could seriously go on and on about everything i saw/did. the variety of people, those precious and charming accents, the history of the city, the architecture, the food, the millions of things to do. and of course, there was starbucks. heavenly vanilla mocha lattes and frappuccinos. ahhhh, the good life. my showers were long and hot. my back wasn't sore when i woke up in the morning. basically, it was heaven on earth. there were only a few places we didn't have time to visit. but we definitely hit the highlights. and besides, i'll be back in june :)i will compile an entire album in due time and post the link... but until then, here are a few of my favorites:
i also met some interesting people. we stayed at a friend of shantay's, who she had met through mututal friends. he plays basketball, and introduced us to several of his teammates, one of whom was from atlanta! small world, huh? we chatted about georgia... and missing georgia... for a minute. overall, it made for a very pleasant evening. OH. and we went to starbucks the next morning. bulgaria is moving up in the world! well... sofia is anyway.
