so, there was a little change of plans: i am not going to istanbul tonight but tomorrow night, meaning i will arrive there on saturday early morning. same difference :-P
actually, the reason for this postponement is twofold: firstly, i don't wanna go alone on the train all by myself as there are some stories making the round which make me prefer having company. since marko (--> friend from belgrade) doesn't get his passport back from the greeks (visa troubles) until today, he will only start his trip tomorrow morning. thus, when he then arrives in sofia in the course of the evening, i will join him in the train and we'll travel the rest of the way together. this will not only make the trip a bit safer but - more importantly - also a lot more enjoyable (cause i will be able to talk marko's ears off while he's trying to sleep in the most comfortable train seats *lol*)
secondly, i decided it would be better to recover completely before starting the party time in istanbul during which i don't expect much time to rest ;) yesterday was the first day since last thursday that i felt more or less well again. i had first thought that i only caught a slight cold and tried to rest as much as possible before going to stara zagora with rozi. however, once there, i realized that the cold wasn't that "slight" after all. shortly after our arrival at rozi's parents' place, i started to feel dizzy and preferred to stay in bed the rest of the day. and the following, too. and the one after that....well, also for the most part, at least. as far as i know i didn't have a fever, but was shivering for hours and felt that my head was going to burst into a million pieces any second. so i was more than glad that i had a wonderful bulgarian mom taking care of me. poor rozi's mom: she thinks her daughter brings home a guest for christmas and instead there arrives a patient. well, finally some homemade medicine and a few pills brought me back to normal and i was fit enough to take a long walk in the "famous" park of stara zagora on our last day there. yesterday, rozi and i hitchhiked back to sofia and here i am, taking a last short rest before leaving for turkey :)
besides the negligible fact that i was not blessed with perfect health during the past few days i had a really nice christmas. the pre-holiday time in bulgaria seems to be not even half as imposing/annoying as in germany. supermarkets started comparably late to put christmas chocolate into their shelves; the glittering, shiny and kitschy decoration in the streets was easily bearable, while the decoration in private peoples' homes was even kept to an extreme minimum. what a difference! you could really go around town for the longest time without being shown from all sides that you must be happy now 'cause it's chrismas... i liked that :) in bulgaria, christmas eve, is traditionally the last day of a period of fasting. thus, on the 24th a variety of vegetarian food is served - either 7, 9 or 11 dishes, one of them being a delicious home-made bread with a baked-in coin. whoever gets the coin will receive luck during the next year.
by the way a bulgarian wishing merry christmas will say весела коледа (vesela koleda), happy holidays here are весели празници (veseli praznitsi) and the new year shall be a честита нова година (chestita nova godina). during the communist times christmas was rarely celebrated here and дяадо коледа (dyado koleda), the bulgarian santa clause, had quite a hard time in these regions. i was told that new years was a lot bigger instead. however, those times are over, capitalism is getting bigger and even in bulgaria you can more and more often see one of those life-sized plastic santa clauses dangling as if strangled from the walls of some of the bigger autohauses :-P
so, now it's time to get ready, go out and buy a return ticket for the bus from istanbul to sofia on january 1st so that i can welcome eike at the airport on the 2nd!
i wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! see you/talk to you/write to you in 2008! :D
actually, the reason for this postponement is twofold: firstly, i don't wanna go alone on the train all by myself as there are some stories making the round which make me prefer having company. since marko (--> friend from belgrade) doesn't get his passport back from the greeks (visa troubles) until today, he will only start his trip tomorrow morning. thus, when he then arrives in sofia in the course of the evening, i will join him in the train and we'll travel the rest of the way together. this will not only make the trip a bit safer but - more importantly - also a lot more enjoyable (cause i will be able to talk marko's ears off while he's trying to sleep in the most comfortable train seats *lol*)
secondly, i decided it would be better to recover completely before starting the party time in istanbul during which i don't expect much time to rest ;) yesterday was the first day since last thursday that i felt more or less well again. i had first thought that i only caught a slight cold and tried to rest as much as possible before going to stara zagora with rozi. however, once there, i realized that the cold wasn't that "slight" after all. shortly after our arrival at rozi's parents' place, i started to feel dizzy and preferred to stay in bed the rest of the day. and the following, too. and the one after that....well, also for the most part, at least. as far as i know i didn't have a fever, but was shivering for hours and felt that my head was going to burst into a million pieces any second. so i was more than glad that i had a wonderful bulgarian mom taking care of me. poor rozi's mom: she thinks her daughter brings home a guest for christmas and instead there arrives a patient. well, finally some homemade medicine and a few pills brought me back to normal and i was fit enough to take a long walk in the "famous" park of stara zagora on our last day there. yesterday, rozi and i hitchhiked back to sofia and here i am, taking a last short rest before leaving for turkey :)
besides the negligible fact that i was not blessed with perfect health during the past few days i had a really nice christmas. the pre-holiday time in bulgaria seems to be not even half as imposing/annoying as in germany. supermarkets started comparably late to put christmas chocolate into their shelves; the glittering, shiny and kitschy decoration in the streets was easily bearable, while the decoration in private peoples' homes was even kept to an extreme minimum. what a difference! you could really go around town for the longest time without being shown from all sides that you must be happy now 'cause it's chrismas... i liked that :) in bulgaria, christmas eve, is traditionally the last day of a period of fasting. thus, on the 24th a variety of vegetarian food is served - either 7, 9 or 11 dishes, one of them being a delicious home-made bread with a baked-in coin. whoever gets the coin will receive luck during the next year.
by the way a bulgarian wishing merry christmas will say весела коледа (vesela koleda), happy holidays here are весели празници (veseli praznitsi) and the new year shall be a честита нова година (chestita nova godina). during the communist times christmas was rarely celebrated here and дяадо коледа (dyado koleda), the bulgarian santa clause, had quite a hard time in these regions. i was told that new years was a lot bigger instead. however, those times are over, capitalism is getting bigger and even in bulgaria you can more and more often see one of those life-sized plastic santa clauses dangling as if strangled from the walls of some of the bigger autohauses :-P
so, now it's time to get ready, go out and buy a return ticket for the bus from istanbul to sofia on january 1st so that i can welcome eike at the airport on the 2nd!
i wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! see you/talk to you/write to you in 2008! :D
2 comments:
Hey Schnuck,
bist du wieder gesund? War schön gestern mit dir zu schreiben.
Wünsch dir einen guten Rutsch,
Deine Lena
Indra,
ich vermiss dich zur Zeit so sehr! Pass ja gut auf dich auf und dann sehen wir uns ja schon bald.
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