I Really Need to Learn This Language...

Warning: I have discovered how to turn on the Bulgarian language feature on my computer, so in reading this you have thus been warned you are now at the mercy of my burgeoning language skills. It’s way more fun if we all learn together anyway, right?

So last week Ryan had IST (In Service Training) whereby he traveled to the town of Kazanluk to participate in engaging and educational activities with his fellow B-20s (so named because his is the 20th group of PCVs to come to Bulgaria). Although I’ve been attempting to sort out employment and absolutely love living here, I’m still left with a lot of free time. It’s been a good learning experience for me, though, as I’ve come to the conclusion that I am just not cut out for the role of “housewife” and, as such, am growing rather bored with my daily schedule. Primarily it consists of:

7:45 AM – The alarm goes off; Ryan hits snooze.
7:55 AM – The alarm goes off; Ryan hits snooze
8:05 AM – The alarm goes off; Ryan hits snooze.
8:15 AM – The alarm goes off; Ryan hits snooze.
8:25 AM – The alarm goes off; Ryan decides it is time to get up
9:15 AM – Ryan goes to work.
9:20 AM – Time to check e-mail! Let’s see who loves me today!
9:22 AM – Errr… how about I scour the Internet for items of interest…
9:45 AM – Hummmmmmm….
9:46 AM – Maybe I should tidy up or something….
10:20 AM – You know, Spider Solitaire is sort of fun. I think I’ll play that for a bit.
10:30 AM – Oooh! I know! I can paint my toenails! Won’t that be fun?!?

And so on. I confess I really like the part of the day where Ryan comes home for lunch. That's always nice. But - and my former roommates Jenn and Laura knew this already - I really do not like doing the dishes to begin with and here it involves washing everything by hand. In fact, it sorely tempts me to reenact the much loved Shel Silverstein poem "How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes". (The only thing that stops me is Ryan only has, like, four plates total and I think he'd be a little distraught if I deliberately smashed them into tiny little pieces.) And since I still haven’t figured out how to operate the washing machine and Ryan is ever so much better than I am at wringing out the clothes and hanging them up to dry, I let him take care of that. However, it must be said, I am truly a genius in the kitchen and I thoroughly enjoy the cooking dinner part of my domestic duties. Most recently, we were super thrilled with the meal of buffalo chicken strips, boiled potatoes with butter and shopska salad I made last week. Ryan is a lucky man indeed.

Ahem. (For the record, I am very, very, VERY lucky too… particularly since he puts up with me telling him how lucky he is.)

Needless to say, I was quite excited about the opportunity to travel outside of Stara Zagora to see a new locale, as well as meet some of Ryan’s friends. This is when it occurred to me that I really need to work on learning Bulgarian. I did a fine job of making it to the bus station and asking for a ticket to Kazanluk. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in a similar position, you should say “може ли един билет за Казанлък” (pronounced roughly “Mozha lee adeen belette za Kazanluk”, meaning “May I please have one ticket to Kazanluk.) So that went fine. I got my ticket. I boarded the right bus. I didn’t wind up in Mongolia or something.

But when I got to Kazanluk, I inadvertently got off at the wrong stop, which meant a slightly longer walk. Ordinarily this would not be a problem since I really do like all the walking I am doing, being that I don't have a car and I'd be scared to drive anyway since everyone here drives like me. But I misunderstood Ryan when he told me I needed to turn left once I got off the bus and so kept looking for the appropriate side street to turn down. (I later found out he meant as I come down the stairs of the bus, I should turn to my left as opposed to my right. Whoops!) This confusion, of course, resulted in me asking a bunch of people I couldn’t begin to understand for directions.

It was vastly entertaining, actually. I would approach a pleasant looking person and say in an upbeat and hopeful manner, “извинете. къде е хотел Казанлък” (“Eezvanetay. Caday ay Hotel Kazanluk?” or, in case you’re curious, “Excuse me. Where is Hotel Kazanluk”) They, in turn, would respond in a friendly and enthusiastic manner: “анохъсугв ьяавхэ ьасехов ьванесохфвл”. (Cyrillic gibberish.)

I understood absolutely none of it.

I decided at this point unless someone raised their eyebrows and said in a horrified manner “какво? хотел Казанлък?” (“Kakvo? Hotel Kazanluk?” or – for the non-Bulgarian speaking among you - “WHAT? Hotel Kazanluk?”)… followed by wild gesturing in the opposite direction, I would just smile and say… “мерси” (“Merci.” Same as in French. "Thank You")… and keep on going. It went on like this for a while. I’d stop. Ask someone where the hotel was. Nod my head exuberantly as they explained it to me. And continue walking in the same general direction operating under the assumption I'd know it if I headed right on out of town.

As an aside, I now need to explain that the nodding, in itself, is poor form, since here people nod sharply to indicate “no” and either shake their head or bobble it from side to side to say “yes”. So by waggling my head up and down at everyone, I was essentially saying “No. No. You’re wrong. That is NOT the way to Hotel Kazanluk.” or perhaps, “No. Please don’t give me directions. No! I said NO!” Fortunately for me, I gather most Bulgarians are used to idiot Americans doing this, so it wound up being okay since I also beamed widely to show everyone I was a nice person. Absolutely clueless, perhaps… but totally harmless. No, not dangerous at all. Really.

So it went until finally I came across two women crossing the street and I asked them – say it with me now - “къде е хотел Казанлък.” They looked at me like I was clinically insane… and pointed directly behind them. “Right here,” they said in English.

Oh.

As it turns out, it was a pretty big building right in the center of town and I probably couldn't have missed it if I tried. Anyway, I was actually staying at Hadzhi Eminova Kashta, a quaint (read: cheap!) little hotel near the Thracian Tombs, but Ryan and the rest of his group had accommodations at the now infamous Hotel Kazanluk, so that’s where we met up. At this point I was immensely pleased that Ryan skipped out on his luncheon to help me check in to my hotel, since it wound up being rather challenging to locate and - given my recent history - I would have likely wandered around for weeks before finding it. Also, I stupidly forgot the guide book, so I had absolutely no idea where I was staying. As you might imagine, Ryan just loved this part. Through our superior investigative skills, we did manage to track down both the name of the hotel, as well as its location (We used Ryan’s cell phone to call the number through which we’d made our reservations). It turned out that although the hotel was not as nice as where Ryan had been staying, it definitely had character and I was overall extremely pleased with my choice of lodging. I will confess I was initially a little unnerved by the padlock on the door to prevent unwanted midnight guests, as well as the blaring chalga music throughout the afternoon, but I got over it pretty quickly since it really was a cool little place.

Ryan headed back to training then, and I took a jaunt up to the Thracian tombs. A tour of the actual tombs is challenging (and expensive) to arrange, and they were closed, it appeared. This I gathered from all the bars covering the windows. I briefly debated paying to see the full-scale replica, but in the end opted not to. Following Ryan’s day of training, we took a walk through Old Town and then returned to my hotel for a quick nap, meeting up later with some B-20s for dinner and drinks. Everyone I met was very friendly and I enjoyed myself immensely. All in all, I had a great time during my brief stay in Kazanluk and look forward to returning – perhaps during the Rose Festival in the spring. And, most importantly, I was successfully able to duplicate my hotel-finding strategy on my way to the автогара ("Avtogara" i.e."Bus Station") the next day! Woo freakin' hoo!

The traveling is just beginning, too. This past weekend Ryan and I went to Veliko Turnovo... an absolutely spectacular town north of Stara Zagora. Although the weather has taken a turn for the decidedly cold, we had a great time traipsing all over the Tsarevets Fortress.... as well as frequenting the myriad (warm!) restaurants of Veliko where the food is delicious, the beer is plentiful and the views are breathtaking. I highly encourage everyone to visit me so I can return repeatedly to see more of this fabulous city.

In closing, I leave tomorrow for my month-long stay in Sofia for CELTA training. This experience should be good fun and hopefully advent the beginning of the end of my career as "Housewife Extraordinaire". Let's hear it for the possibility of gainful employment!