Groceries

Believe it or not, not everything we do here at "NewBulgarians.blogspot.info.edu.etc" is sight seeing and beach vacations.  We also eat.  Toward that end, Anne and Mark went to a local grocery store on Sunday to stock up on selected provisions.  The grocery situation is a little different here.  There are a few larger stores, (called Billa, Kaufland, and Metro - all chains) and about a thousand small mom and pop operations.  We have a small store on the first floor of our building.  There is another one at the end of the block.  We pass 4 or 5 more on our ten minute walk to school (you get the picture).  In any event, the small stores are handy and we support them as much as possible, but their selection is limited.  So, once in a while we head to a larger store to get our more exotic selections.  This week, we went to Billa.

The first thing we noticed was that Billa encourages slightly smaller portion sizes.  As you can see, the grocery carts they use are about the size of the carts the stores in the U.S. have for children to push.  Can't really buy the 128 ounce jar of mayo when you're pushing around the cart for Mini Me.

Wow, that's a good price for ... whatever that is.

One thing I really like about Bulgarian grocery stores is that there is no pretense.  In Plymouth, they had the liquor stores separate from grocery stores because heaven forbid anyone buy booze and groceries at the same place.  Here, this is not such a concern.  In fact, here they just go ahead and put the stuff that people are looking for right next to each other on the store shelves.

USA! USA! USA!

I also like some of the product names.  For instance, would you like some "Corny"?  Yes, I would.  Also try our "Corny Free" and "Corny Big."  Corny Free and Corny Big both look tasty, but which to choose?  No worry, we have a value pack of both.  Problem solved.  Umm... Corny Big.

Not sure what this is.  Please place guesses in the comments.  Creativity will be appreciated more than accuracy, but keep it clean, our moms read this.

Apples? Pears? Some kind of seafood?

Finally, I have to vent a bit on the parking situation (again).  It would be one thing if they needed to do crazy parking, I could deal with that.  But I think they're doing it just to mess with me.  Am I paranoid? Maybe.  But that doesn't mean they're not out to get me.  Consider the evidence.  First is this white van.  What is funny about this is that there is actually plenty of room to move forward here into that driveway.  Rather than doing that, though, the guy choses to leave the back of the van hanging out in the street.  Why?  For the love of Pete, why?

View from our apt.  Photo credit: Trolard Pillinski

Second, this Hyundai is truly awesome.  You'll notice it's parked the wrong way on a one way street.  Nothing special about that, in and of itself.  Maybe what makes it so spectacular is that he backed up onto the sidewalk, even though there was plenty of room to park it straight on the street (and don't give me any argument about maybe he was a delivery guy - I'm not buying it).  Nice work, just awesome.

Design Flaw?

We noticed this swing set near a marina in Greece.  I'm no engineer, but it looks to me like this thing, once loaded up with los ninos swinging at full speed, could be a real problem.

It's All Greek to Us

After several weeks in Bulgaria , Anne and Mark finally made the trip to Greece .  It is about a 2 hour drive to the border and we went about another hour and a half to a beach resort on the Aegean Sea between Thessaloniki and Kavala, near a town called Nea Paramos.  It was one of those places that you would not notice from the road and we probably never would have visited on our own.  So we were fortunate to have made this trip with a couple other faculty members who had been to this particular resort before and invited us there.  It was a beautiful resort with beach access just down the stairs.

And when Mark was not lounging on the beach, he found a few minutes to notice some ruins.  Just beside the road we found the Lion of Amphipolis.

Later, Mark went to the ruins at Fillipi.  This was a city that Philip of Macedonia ruled (and named after himself) just before Alexander the Great started being Great.  Fillipi is now famous as a pilgrimage site for Christians.  It is pretty well established that Saint Paul was imprisoned here, and probably wrote a letter or two (2^nd Corinthians?) while serving his time.  They do not know exactly where he was held, but have named a spot as the most likely place where he was held, and just declared that to be correct.  The ruins are of the “walk-through” variety, so I was able to get pretty up close and personal with most of it.  The cell where tradition states that the Apostle Paul was held was not open to actual walk-throughs. 

The large structure furthest away is the baths, the city forum is in the foreground.

Le Forum

The cell which may have held Paul of Tarsus

Rila Monastery

The big cultural attraction of our area is the Rila Monastery.  Anne and Mark had the opportunity to head up into the mountains to take a look around the grounds last weekend.  The Rila Monastery traces its history back over 1000 years (although the current buildings are newer, to varying degrees).  It is recognized as a cultural heritage site by UNESCO and is one of the most culturally significant sites in Bulgaria.

Not a bad view from just inside the gate.

Monastery resident in the distance

Our guide, Plammen, knew the person working at the ticket desk at the museum portion of the Monastery.  I know we did not pay for tickets, but it was not clear to me whether he pulled some strings for us or if there is simply no charge for admission.  In any event, the Monastery has quite a collection of artifacts.  During multiple periods of foreign rule, Rila was used as a cultural "safe house," and the efforts of the bishops and monks of Rila saved many relics of Bulgarian and the Eastern Orthodox Church that otherwise would have been lost to history.

After walking through the museum, we took a self-guided tour of the Monastery grounds, discovering the Rila cat, the surprising sturdiness of old bridges, and some buildings that have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

Rila cat

Oh, yeah, feels sturdy to me.

After our mini-walk around the grounds, we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants in the area.  Anne read from a guidebook that the restaurant's specialty was the trout, so she ordered it.  Unfortunately, the presentation of the dish was a little off-putting for her.

In that picture, it kind of looks like she ordered one of those "Big Mouth Billy Bass" wall hangings that sings.  Anyway, it was a great day at a very impressive cite.

Learning the Ropes

As previously mentioned in this space, the driving and parking strategies here are a bit more aggressive than what I am used to.  However, it is not chaos, as I first thought.  In fact, as you can see, in Sofia, the city fathers have accepted the methods by which the citizen drivers will park, and have adjusted their parking spaces accordingly.

As you can see, they just painted the lines for the parking stalls directly on the sidewalk.  Problem solved.

Although I admit to having a mild obsession with the parking habits of the Bulgarian people, observing them does not take all of our time.  We have also had the chance to sample the local cuisine.  Like anyplace, there are hits and misses, but that's part of the adventure.  We did happen upon a place pushing hamburgers.  Here's what we got:

Not a bad burger by the good people of "Shot Food."  I am not sure it was a "hit" but not a bad burger.

First Visit to Sofia

Anne and Mark had a long weekend due to the celebration of Unification Day in Bulgaria, which happened to fall on what was Labor Day weekend in the United States, so we decided to travel to Sofia.  Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria and lies not too far north of our home in Blagoevgrad.

One of the first things that we saw was a monument to a Bulgarian leader who met an untimely demise after he had left office.  Our guide did not go into too much detail on exactly what happened to him or why, but it sounded rather unpleasant.  Anne wanted to get a photo, but was afraid that a viewer might not be able to judge the size of the monument without a basis for comparison.  She suggested that I stand next to the monument so that the viewer could see what a normal sized head looked like and could compare it to the monument.  Naturally, I jumped at the chance to be the "normal-sized" head (not an opportunity I often encounter).

Next, we went to an exhibit of sculpture by the famous French impressionist Edgar Degas.  From what we gathered, his work was being exhibited for the first time in Bulgaria.  Additionally, the exhibit itself was unique in its size and scope (the exhibit included 74 bronze sculptures, some of which are rarely exhibited anywhere).  In the photo below is a bronze cast of arguably the most famous of the sculptures, "The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen."  If you look in the mirror in the photo, you can see Anne Pillard admiring the art.

Later, we went to the public mineral water fountains found near the center of town.  These mineral fountains, and the mineral baths nearby, have been in use at least since the height of the Roman Empire.  The first thing we noticed was that a large number of locals still come to the fountains to get their water supplies.  The next thing we noticed was that the mineral water was very hot.

Hot mineral water from the springs in Sofia

After waiting in line and filling our water bottle with mineral water directly from the spring, we took a minute to admire the art surrounding the fountains.  As you can see, Mark gave the sculpture a "thumb's up," while maintaining the wholesome, family nature of this blog.

After getting ample supplies of art and mineral water, Mark and Anne decided that it was time to enjoy some delicious, authentic Bulgarian cuisine.  We had the best meal we've had since we've been here at a small but well-recommended restaurant near the center of Sofia.  Anne had chicken "Sofia style" (apparently, a rough translation of the Bulgarian name of the dish) with potatoes and Mark had meatballs and mashed potatoes.  Good stuff.  Those of you from Iowa may recognize that the restaurant has adopted an "Amana Colonies" motif.

Cheers!

Fantasy Football

A few nights ago, I was involved in a fantasy football draft involving fellow alumni of Grinnell College (for those of you who don't know, fantasy football is a game that either has or is in the process of taking over the world invented to prevent anything useful from getting accomplished on Mondays immediately following weekends involving NFL games). We conducted the entire thing while speaking to one another on a conference call via Skype.  The first thing that came to my mind while sitting in Bulgaria and listening to my friends located in Sweden and at least three different time zones in the United States was . . .  what an incredible waste of this technology.  I mean think about it: someone went through all the work to invent the internet and then someone else went through the effort of coming up with Skype - and what important purposes did we have to make use of all of these technological wonders?  Making jokes and playing fantasy football.  I can't help but feel like our technological forefathers would be a bit disappointed.  But on the other hand, my team is awesome, so they would probably be proud of that.

First Week of School

Anne and Mark are now completing their first week of teaching at AUBG.  As you can see, Mark is spent. Anne maintains her poise and professionalism throughout, of course.  In both cases, the first week has been an educational experience (at least for the teachers, hopefully for the students as well).  We're off to Sophia for the weekend and then back it next week.  Onward and upward.

Made it all the way to the couch after the first week.

Ready for the first day (as soon as the eyes open!)

View from the Ivory Tower

Cultural Difference #1

I imagine there are many, many things that are different here, but I am not necessarily going to notice some of them.  On the other hand, there are some that I can't help but notice.  For one thing, there are no screens on the windows.  I don't know why, they just are not there.  And the coffee is much stronger.  But the thing I noticed first, most and most often is the driving.  Good lord.  The locals tell us that the town we are in has the worst drivers in the world, and I think a lot of them are trying to prove it.  I don't have any video footage (yet - we'll see if we can get that).  However, I think you can a bit about the driving culture just by looking at the parking.  Like, for instance, if the parked car is lined up evenly with the SIDEWALK it is parked ON (not next too).  And lest you think I exaggerate, I took some photos on the way to work (about a ten minute walk on just one day).  Hello Crazy:

Aiming at pedestrians?

Wow, completely on the sidewalk - nice work.

Back wheels on the street - half credit

Best Blog Ever

AUBG Main Building - former Communist party HQ

Anne and Mark have arrived safely in Blagoevgrad, secured an apartment and started classes for the 2010-2011 school year at the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG).  Now that we have those things out of the way, we decided it would be helpful and fun to document our adventures.  Since we do live in a technological age, and since some people outside of our apartment might be interested in hearing about our adventures, we decided to periodically post this chronicle of our adventures on a blog.  So here it is.  First, please note that neither of us has done a blog before, so please expect bugs.  Lots of them.  But we'll fight through.  Anyway, without further ado: the Best Blog Ever.

Bike races in the city square.