Bulgarian Birthday

Last week I turned 31 in Bulgaria -- it was my first international birthday. It was a very busy day, and I had many new experiences.
[I apologize for generally unimaginative writing in this post...we just got back from a several day new faculty bonding trip (more on that in a later post) and I'm pretty tired.]

Shannon was unfortunately chained to her computer most of the day, working on edits to her dissertation (she's almost done), so I had to find other partners for adventure. I was feeling antsy in the morning, so decided to go for a run. I headed out the back gate to try to find the base station for the Simeonovo gondola, which services the ski area (and hiking/biking in the summer) on nearby Mt. Vitosha. I had to cross the Sofia "Ring Road" to get there, which I was expecting to be an expressway, but was actually a severely overcrowded (bumper-to-bumper) 2-lane road at the part nearest campus. [I later learned that the Ring Road is also a major prostitute hangout for Sofia, but I didn't notice any of this on my run!] It only took 15 minutes to run to the base of the gondola, where I could have spent 10-14 leva (about $8-10) for a round-trip ticket up the mountain, depending on how high I wanted to go. I had hoped to come back later in the day to do some hiking on the mountain, but couldn't find willing adventuring partners. Instead I found folks interested in going into Sofia, and I hadn't been there yet.

I rode the Metro train with Garth to meet another new faculty member, Carolyn, downtown. Carolyn was in Sofia last year on a Fulbright scholarship (teaching English), and liked it so much she's working at our school this year. Carolyn used to live downtown, so she made an excellent tour guide of the old part of the city.


Birthday Self-portrait #1

Downtown Sofia is quite nice, and pleasantly very different from the Mladost neighborhood where I live. Mladost is on the outskirts of the city, and must have been a planned Soviet-style development (the sub-neighborhoods are actually numbered, Mladost 1, Mladost 2, Mladost 3, and Mladost 4). In Mladost there are lots of high-rise Soviet-type block apartments, interspersed with vacant, weedy/littered lots, interspersed with pastures (complete with cows/horses), interspersed with brand-new development. Quite a mish-mash. Sidewalks are inconsistent when they exist at all, often interrupted, abandoned, or parked on.

Mladost streetlife


Mladost View: The two towers are part of the police academy on the land that used to be my school campus (before communism). Both were abandoned mid-construction around 1990. The right tower is still derelict (and is the view out my bedroom window), while the left tower is finally being finished, and is now almost done. The buildings to the right of the towers are the under-construction "Russian School", which is less than a 1/2 mile from my "American School" oddly enough. Vacant fields in front, and Mt. Vitosha in back.

Downtown Sofia, on the other hand, is a smallish, low-key version of many of the other European cities I've visited. There is plenty of streetlife, and it is all very walkable. Streetfront shops, streetcars, street vendors, grand old churches and stone buildings with nice architecture.
After a tasty "modern Bulgarian" lunch, we took a stroll.

This is Carolyn showing us a big bowl of french fries covered in local cheese.


Artfully aged building on the street in downtown Sofia where Carolyn used to live.


We passed lots of booksellers (a few things in English) with tables under tents, a nice park across from the National Theater (with some guys playing backgammon), and several churches, including the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the "largest Orthodox Christian cathedral in the Balkans." It was built to honor the Russians (mainly) that "liberated" the Bulgarians from the Ottoman Turks, after 500 years of Turkish rule (around 1878, but I don't have my dates down exactly). It was my first time in a Orthodox church. [The Russians were mostly acting out of self-interest, trying to have a friendly pawn instead of a foreign empire controlling Balkan/Black Sea transit routes, but that's a different post...]


Booksellers downtown. Customer service is spotty in Bulgaria, especially in Sofia. I picked up a Chemistry textbook to show to Carolyn and the saleswoman ripped it out of my hand to shoo me away. At another stand, the guy was more friendly, and wanted to chat in broken English. He talked about how "America is great country, but with terrorism, many people hate. You are rich and free, but don't want others rich and free. You need export your standard of life."
Interesting, and I wish we could have spoken each others' languages better for a more in-depth conversation.


Street life.


The National Theater in Sofia


Fountain in the park across from the National Theater.


Russian Church


Nevsky Cathedral


Flower ladies in front of Nevsky

Inside the church you first notice the burning incense, and the prayer candles. It's a good vibe. It is big, and ornate, but felt more actively used and spiritual (and somewhat less of a tourist point, though it certainly is one) than many of the large Catholic cathedrals we toured last summer in Italy. In Bulgaria the custom is to buy gifts for others on your birthday, so I bought Carolyn some gelato (Garth didn't want any) by the National Theater and Shannon some flowers by the cathedral. The flower ladies probably picked these flowers from their garden, and this might be their only source of income, so I didn't mind too much as they somehow talked me _up_ in price. My language skills are certainly still at the "I'm a tourist, please take advantage of me" stage.


I returned to campus (about an hour travel, including the metro ride and walking back from the station) in time to head out to dinner (Pizza, Bulgarian style) with most of the international faculty who had arrived so far.

Pizza in Bulgaria has a thin crust and light sauce (similar to Italy), but the toppings can get pretty weird: corn, peppers, pickles, eggs...some are good, some may be an acquired taste. There's a typical pizza place right outside the campus gates, but this was an "upscale joint" about a mile way. Tasty, and it was a fun crowd for dinner conversation.

Birthday Dinner with Shannon

The remaining 7 new international faculty were set to arrive in Sofia around 11 pm. We wanted to welcome them to their new home (it made the first night so much better for us when folks came over to our apt) so we had a bit of dance party while waiting for them to arrive. I got to dance really white to birthday themed songs in 3 different languages (English, Bulgarian, and Spanish). It was a good time.

When the van carrying the new arrivals rolled onto campus around 11:45 pm, I don't think they knew what hit them. About 10 people accosted them out of the dark, carrying bottles of beer for them and shouting "Welcome to Bulgaria!"
We shared beverages and stories until close to 2am on our porch.

Whew...this is sort of a laundry list of happenings, but it's all still a little too fresh for a more interesting reflection. Hope you enjoy the pictures anyway.

Lastly, thanks to all that emailed, called, left messages, or Facebook posts with birthday greetings -- they were much appreciated!