Thursday/Friday: To Greece and back, in 28 hours, 11 of which were spent in a van, which careened to and from Thessaloniki for the trip to get our Bulgarian visas. There was no problem with this procedure, as it consisted of our stack of passports being passed through the gate, where they were to be held for about a half hour. We went down the street in Thessaloniki to an adorable French coffee shop for some morning beverages, waiting for our passport visas to be stamped, processed, and officialized. We returned to the consulate, where our passports were slipped through the gates once again, into our eager hands. I was excited to see the large sticker of my visa which covered an entire page of the passport! I am officially able to reside in Bulgaria without tourist status! Woohoo!
The trip certainly was short. We did however, stop in a Bulgarian town, Melnik, which is fairly well know for their wine and traditional Bulgarian village architecture. It was a beautiful place, and we had the perfect weather to wander around and poke in the gift shops, browsing the traditional crafts. I purchased a set of nesting dolls/matryoshka (матрошка ...I think is the Bulgarian spelling)--they are so cute, blue and white with a small ladybug on the outer doll. :) I also bought a small piece of pottery, that is used to hold table spices for dipping bread or spicing a meal, however, I am using it to hold my rings and some jewelry...
Saturday, I went down to the park in town to practice lacrosse with some people. I am the women's coach for the lacrosse federation (which is very small) and we have been doing some recruiting in the park, trying to generate some interest among the bystanders. It is really funny, the looks that I get while riding the bus downtown from the school, toting this foreign metal and plastic stick contraption. People just don't know what the game of lacrosse is, let alone how to play, or what equipment is needed. Hopefully we can change this though :)
Saturday afternoon, I spent correcting and grading papers (woohoo...) and then got ready for the Bulgaria vs. Italy football game! It was awesome! I went to the game with my roommate and a few of the other avid football fans in the international teachers ring. We had a great time! Went to a Bulgarian pub right before the game for some snacks and a beer, and then made our way over, through the crowds, for the 9 pm kickoff. There was quite the commotion when we got to our seats, though, because there were people sitting in some of them. We (well, Derek) worked to get them to leave for a good 5 minutes, and when the imposers finally stood up to move, we could hear this resounding cheer from across the aisle..... there were about 10-15 of our students cheering Derek on for his persuasive talents. haha. After this, the national anthems were played, and right after the Italian anthem was played, some of the Italy fans began burning a Bulgarian flag in their section of seats. Almost immediately, 50+ mob police rushed into the crowd. I don't think I have seen so many people scatter so quickly! Once the unruly fans were dispersed, some of the Bulgarians began throwing things, and getting a little excited. The police also went into the crowd to settle them down, which was a fiasco complete with bully clubs... This certainly was the most exciting football (soccer) game I have ever been to!
The game itself was pretty tame. There were barely any shots on the goals, and we finished with a tie, 0-0. After a post gaming event at a pizza place downtown, I made my way home, sharing a cab with friends, rolling into bed, ready to sleep after the craziest week I have had so far this semester.
Sunday was lovely. Woke up without an alarm later in the morning. I made my way to the grocery store to buy some ingredients to make zucchini bread for the Canadian Thanksgiving celebration we had last night. It was wonderful! The bread came out pretty decently well (tasted great, although a little subpar on appearance). Our oven burns everything on the top, so I just had to scrape the burnt parts off before serving... The dinner was awesome! So much food! Everyone seemed to have a great time, sharing food and company. The night rounded out with a few hours of grading and planning for this week, as I am currently procrastinating the grading I have left for tonight! haha oh well. Pictures from Greece, et al., will have to come later, as I do not have the connector for my camera right now. But they will come! Promise! I know the pictures are the fun part.
Hope all is well with everyone! Love and miss you all.
Ciao.
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