Paperwork, Money Exchange, and I still need an alarm clock...

Today I woke up in a frenzy because I had slept longer than the alarm that I had set on my phone.  I had plans to clean, put away more stuff, etc, however, I could only get up, shower, and respond to a couple emails I had received.  We met at Sanders Hall to fill out paperwork to get our Bulgarian ID's and then received a walking tour of campus from Tom, the president of ACS.  

They are doing a ton of renovations this summer, and there will be even more next summer, or so Tom said.  They are currently working on Sanders Hall, and the building where the science classes are held  They are also going to start working on the other two faculty villas to turn them into apartments inside each, as opposed to the shared spaces, like my house.  We have our own rooms and bathrooms, but we share a kitchen, living room, basically the whole downstairs.  I like it, but I can see how it would be difficult to live like that as a married couple...

After our walking tour, we piled into the school van, and Ivo and Tanya took us to the bank to exchange some money, which was in the Sofia Business Park.  The park also houses a really large nice movie theater, as well as a bunch of businesses, some stores.  I got to wander around a technology/appliance store, which was pretty fun--browsing DVD titles in Bulgarian :)  We then went to HIT which is a grocery store/other things store. They had all food and produce, wine, but also home goods, kitchen stuff, school supplies, candles, etc.  I had meant to look for an alarm clock today, to avoid any sort of timing issues with my phone .  However, I will just have to go out on my own later.  

I am the only one in the new hires who is living on campus.  I guess the apartments are pretty nice, but it has been hard to find reasonably priced electronics,  cookie sheets and so it has been interesting for some of them to get their places together.  

And another thing that has been a bit of a challenge, is that there are no plugs in the bathroom.  I have yet to find a good place to dry my hair, since I also only have one electrical plug in my room. 

I made myself lunch today-- quite tasty.  Some sort of salami-like meat, with a herb cheese spread on bread, and some sliced apple.  The school had bought me some food when I first got in, which was really nice of them.  I thought I would be cute and take a picture of my first homemade lunch in Bulgaria  :)

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Ciao!