Martenitsas everywhere

in bulgaria, march is the month of the "martenitsa" - the red in this little charm symbolizes health; white stands for long life (of course, the longer you live the whiter your hair ;)). oh, did i write "little" charm? since i am back in bulgaria after my visit in germany, i see martenitsas really everywhere and in all sizes. of course, typically they are small enough to be worn on your wrist or near the collar of your jacket, but....well, it's all about creativity, right?

so, and these are some "fresh" martenitsas in a bush in veliko turnovo. somewhere earlier i posted a picture with older ones from the previous years - now, more and more fresh spots of red and white are appearing in the trees and bushes all around me. i'm still wearing mine around my wrist, but as we are experiencing increasingly good spring weather, i will start looking for a good tree where to hang them, soon. i'm not expecting to see a storck around sofia anyway, so the green buds and first spring flowers have to be a good enough sign to "get rid" of the martenitsas. :D

last week, my biggest sister and my father where here to visit me. we were mostly really lucky with the weather and it was probably the first time that i really enjoyed walking around sofia - going to the market, to NDK, to shopping streets....only on one day "baba marta" (= granny march) was angry, so it was windy and quite cold. especially in the mountains - as we chose exactly that day to visit my friend Hrissi in bistrica (her village just outside of sofia on the foot of vitosha mountain) and take the lift up the mountain. it was freeeeeeeeeeeezing. however this didn't stop us from smiling (see picture).

on our last day together, my friends Dessi and Philip took us to veliko turnovo - the mediaeval capital of bulgaria. there we spent the whole time walking around the beautiful old town and up the hill to the castle tsarevets and eating (lunch, cake, dinner....). next weekend, on the 22nd of march, it is the "day of veliko turnovo" so maybe i'll go there again - this time with Eike and some friends of mine.....

beautiful turnovo

veliko turnovo is situated on and between three hills. therefore, people say that in the turn there are but three directions to go: up, down or on the stairs :)
though, there is no tourist-friendly part in the city made only for pedestrians, the old town is really beautiful with its small alleys and typical bulgarian houses.

ugly turnovo

tsarevets - the paintings in the church on top of the hill are quite new in a modern-communist style. i quite liked them. something different ;) but as there was a small tourist group inside when we entered, i decided to pay attention to the sign "no photography" and didn't take any pictures.

Wuschelfilzball

heute mal wieder auf deutsch ;)

nach einer klitzekleinen beschwerde über lediglich "dumme hunde- und katzenfotos", folgt hier nochmal eines von meinem letzten berlinaufenthalt aufgenommen von katja bei ihr zu hause (danke, alemala!).
extra für dich, mein wuschelchen!

ich werde übrigens in nächster zeit von besuch nur so überschüttet. morgen abend kommen vater und schwester hier an und bleiben 5 tage. den montag darauf wird auch Eike schon wieder herfliegen. juchuu!!!

über weitere kurse oder vorlesungen für mich habe ich noch nichts herausgefunden, demnach werde ich zumindest nächste woche - hoffentlich - schön viel zeit für ausflüge mit Peter und Gül haben. Europarecht sollte zwar demnächst beginnen, aber....wir werden ja sehen.

nun gut, nächstes mal wieder auf englisch und etwas mehr.

dicken knutsch an meinen schatz!

long time no write...

i've been in sofia for four days now, so it's about time to show some signs of life again.

my 18 days in germany seem to have passed very quickly and despite the worries of some of my bulgarian friends ("i thought you would never come back" - a phrase i have already heard twice in the past few days) i have happily returned to my eastern european home. however, my friends were not completely wrong to believe that i would have had good reason to stay in germany: after almost two wonderful weeks with Eike i miss her even more now than i did before....

on february 15th i flew with a hungarian low-coast airline with more than an one-hour delay from sofia into dortmund. upon arrival, i took a bus to the next train station - holzwickede - and got a cold waiting for the train to cologne or rather bergisch-gladbach, where i spent 3 days visiting my cousins Ella and Ida. i guess, by now i can really say that it has become a tradition for me to go and see them on Ella's birthday. after that i took the train to berlin where i stayed at my mother's until last monday when went back to dortmund with a mitfahrgelegenheit and then with the plane - again with a huge delay - to sofia.

besides seeing family and friends - which is something very pleasant and exciting for me but less interesting for you to read about - nothing much happened during my sojourn in germany. nor did i go out or see as many people as i might have liked: my second weekend in germany, i suffered from an inflammation at my gums due to which i went to see my dentist who discovered a "folikuläre zyste" (now please don't ask for a translation, not even germans will know what it is, unless they have studied dental medicine or had to deal with it themselves). one time out of 1000 it happens that during the removal of ones wisdom teeth the "zyste" (type of skin) remains in the jaw bone and prevents it from growing back together. apparently, the hole in the jaw will even grow bigger over time, thus i was lucky to get the inflammation in this hole as i have already been without wisdom teeth for amost 7 years. to make my fortune even bigger, i got an appointment at the dental surgeon for the following day and had the f***ing piece of skin removed - just imagine this all would have happened in bulgaria. i seriously prefer to have undergone all this in germany (less communication problems, doctors who work without paying them bribes, modern equipment and most of all: no troubles with the health insurance - not that i want say all of these problems would have come up in bulgaria, but it is still better not having to think about such at all).

the surgery was followed by a short faint, one hour recovery in the waiting room scaring all the other patients, and nearly a week without being able to open my mouth very far (i guess some people might have been happy as this also made me talk a bit less), some pain, and a huge cheek (no, there are no pictures of me in this state). that's it.



rocking Ida ;)









FRED - my father's dog (or mine, if you believe what it says in his documents)

back in sofia i am now living with two germans, Martin and Susanne. my former room mates from france have now returned home (Amélie) or to studentski grad (Stéphanie) and the same day my father and sister, who are coming for a visit next week, will leave again, also Susanne is going home to potsdam and new room mates move in. most likely a lithuanian couple studying at the academy for theatre and film for one semester.... (now, it's confirmed: the lithuanians are moving in on the 15th of this month. it's only Vaiva who'll be studying whereas Grazvydas - a saxophone player as i learned during our dinner last friday - is accompanying his girlfriend and will look for some people to play music with....i think they'll make really nice room mates)

now, my second term in sofia is about to start and i have to find once again some classes and lectures that i can attend. apart from that i am anxiously waiting for spring to start and continue with my trips around the balkans....tell you more, soon!

...und zum schluss möchte ich noch ganz lieb meinen wuschelmacho grüßen :-*