Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do.  On Amy’s birthday our shower broke (it was fixed today 11 days later).  Needless to say life without a functioning shower is pretty lame.  Luckily for us we were able to escape to Prague for the weekend.  We had found super-cheap airfare back in February and the trip came at a perfect time.  But it was almost a non-event.  Misho met us in Sofia and we spent the afternoon with him and his girlfriend Villi.  We had a nice lunch and some ice-cream before setting off for the airport.  We left with plenty of time but got caught in a massive traffic jam.  It seems that the bus drivers were having a huge protest over gas prices and had snarled traffic all around the city.  We fought our way through the traffic and made it with not so much time.  The problem was that we went to the wrong terminal!  There are two terminals at Sofia airport and every flight we have ever had has left from Terminal 2.  Our e-mail confirmation said nothing about which terminal so we figured it was Terminal 2.  Well it wasn’t.  The problem was that there was a ton of traffic in between the terminals.  We made it to Terminal 1 with about 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to take off.  We sprinted to the check-in desk, raced through security and made it to the gate only to find out that the flight was delayed by an hour! 

I had been to Prague five years ago but this was Amy’s first trip.  I have to say that it was even better than I remembered.  The public buildings are fabulous but so much of the regular architecture of the city has been maintained and every street of the old town is spectacular.  You could honestly roam for the entire day through the side streets just admiring the beautiful facades and doorways.  It is a rich mixture of 17th, 18th and 19th Century as well as some awesome early 20th Century building.  The entire trip was made even better by the fact that we met up with our friends Kelly and Rachael.  We stayed at a pretty sweet little hostel and had a blast just walking around and enjoying the sights. 

The food in Prague is awesome as are the drinks made from fermenting barley and mixing it with water and hops.  In fact we were able to go to a festival which celebrated this drink.  It was a lot of fun and nature provided us with a sound and light show right before we were about to leave.  Needless to say we stuck around for a while longer and had a thoroughly good time. 

Alas, our time there was all too short.  In fact we spent only 40 hours actually on the ground.  When we got back to Sofia we were met by Misho and Villi.  Kelly and Rachael desperately had to make it to the bus station in time for the last bus back to Vidin so we all piled into Misho’s car and raced off from the airport.  Misho drove like a Formula 1 driver and we made it right on time. 

All in all the whole trip was full of good and exciting times.  It was a perfect escape (and an excellent chance to take several hot showers!).  Here are a few pictures from the trip.  Hope you enjoy!

Okay, enough complaining.  I am continuing the format I began with my last post (More pictures, less writing) partly because it is less work for me and probably more fun for you.  I will begin by explaining the name of my last post.  Several people have asked me what I meant by “Lovely Americans.”  Well, we Americans have created for ourselves a certain reputation here in Europe.  Sadly this reputation is not a good one.  We have come to be seen as loud, obnoxious and domineering (and those are the tolerable qualities).  In fact, the stereotypical American tourist is known quite simply as “The Ugly American.”  In fairness to my countrymen, I do believe that the British and to a lesser extent the Germans are just as bad as us.  But with this reputation shadowing us on our trip to Greece I was a little concerned about how the four of us would travel.  By the end of the trip, however, I found my fears to be completely unfounded and actually quite foolish.  Mom and Dad were excellent travellers and fine ambassadors of the United States.  For all the teasing that I gave Dad over the years about being the super-tourist (Mike knows what I mean) I felt that all of us acquitted ourselves quite well.  In fact Mom, Dad and Amy (and hopefully me) were so far from the Ugly American stereotype that I began to call them the Lovely Americans.  You should all be proud fo them and the U.S. Government should sponsor the four of us to travel around the world as goodwill ambassadors for the United States.  Anyway, here are pictures of the rest of our trip to Greece.

 After we got back from Greece stuff went sour for a while.  In fact, if it wasn’t for the amazingly different way in which the Bulgarians celebrate graduation we would have probably been on a flight home.  The celebrations lasted the better part of a week and each one was, well, very different from what we could expect in the United States.  I’m not going to elaborate too much but feel free to ask me about it when we get home.  The other nice thing was that our friends Kelly and Rachel visited us for a few days.  They live in Vidin which is about as far as you can possibly get from Bourgas and still be in Bulgaria.  There presence was a good antidote to our case of the blues.  That week also saw our last English class with our friends in Kableshkovo and at the church.  While this means less work and freer weekends it was still sad to finish two of the activities we really enjoyed here.  On Wednesday we celebrated Amy’s birthday.  We went to a little town called Chernomorets that is still blessedly free of tourists.  We had a great time apart from me braining myself on a low overhang on the sidewalk (quick note:  The sidewalks in Bulgaria are terrible and you pretty much need to constantly look down in order to avoid tripping.  I wanted to add that fact so that you don’t think I’m a clutz… although I am).  We even found an isolated stretch of rocky coast to climb around on for a while.  All in all it was a nice, if painful, time. 

Well that’s all for today.  This past weekend we went to Prague for a little escape.  I will recount our trip there in a few days (I PROMISE!).  Until then.

The rest of the Bulgaria trip was wonderful.  We had perfect weather and Mom and Dad got to see all the best of the Black Sea Coast.  I really couldn’t have asked for a more perfect week.  We even got to watch the dolphins (which I thought were a myth made up by restauranteurs trying to lure in unwitting tourists) frolick and play in the bay near Sozopol.  In the end, all of my angst was for nothing.  Mom and Dad enjoyed Bulgaria and we escaped to Greece with nothing but positive feelings. 

Greece was, simply put, amazing.  I had really low expectations for Athens because everything everyone had ever told me was that the city was overcrowded and dirty.  Maybe the clean-up for the Olympics in 2004 has stuck because I thought the city was beautiful.  When we first arrived it was Easter weekend so the city was deserted which made for some surreal experiences.  We enjoyed a midnight mass for Easter and generally loved strolling through the quiet city.  A special thrill was sitting on the Areopagus where Paul debated with the Athenian philosophers in the book of Acts.  All the other main attractions (i.e. the Acropolis) were closed but the lack of a crowd made up for the inconvenience.

Our cruise around the Greek Isles was equally spectacular.  The cruise itself was fine although it was like being tossed in the deep-end of American culture after a long time away.  It was rather funny but I felt some serious culture-shock being around my own countrymen and women.  Besides this cultural readjustment the cruise was quite relaxing.  The stops at the islands were all a mixture of wonder and sadness.  The places we saw each had their own unique qualities that made them fascinating and we never had enough time anywhere to truly appreciate everything that the individual places had to offer. 

Mykonos was our first stop.  It was a very pleasant little island filled with winding little alleys.  Every building was painted a blinding shade of white which made the walk through the alleys a bit disorienting.  It was a major tourist trap but beautiful nonetheless.  The next day we started off in Kusadasi in Turkey.  We took an excursion to ancient Ephesus which was beyond words.  I was expecting a small bit of spectacular ruins but the site itself is enormous.  It was a bonanza of amazing ruins and relics.  The truly amazing thing is that they are still excavating more. 

Following Ephesus we sailed a short way to Patmos.  There we got to see the grotto of St. John where he wrote the Book of Revelation.  It was a very special feeling to be in the cave/church/monastery (a feeling which was dampened but not ruined by our barbaric fellow tourists).  The rest of Patmos was simply beautiful as well.  It is a very sparsely populated island and filled with wonderful natural beauty.  The next day we landed at Rhodes.  We got up early and hit the old medieval town while it was still empty.  When you wander through the Greek and Roman ruins of Greece you often forget that the country has a Medieval past as well.  Rhodes looks like it belongs in France and not Greece.  It’s Medieval fortifications make for an impressive sight.  Even though it rained for most of the day (leaving us soaked and eating lunch at 11:00 just to get out of the rain) we ventured into nearly every nook and cranny in the old town. 

Okay, that’s all I have time for today.  I will finish this post ASAP!

One of the positive things, however, was that we got to spend some quality time with a few of our colleagues.  We had several really nice conversations.  We got to go bowling (yes, real honest-to-goodness ten pin bowling in quite possibly the nicest bowling alley I have ever been to.  It was in one of Pamporovo’s 5-Star hotels).  Amy and I got to go hiking into the woods (although we had to hike for about forty minutes before we couldn’t hear construction noises anymore).  Amy got to sleep about 14 hours a day.  I got to do some reading.  So I guess in the end it was a worthwhile experience.  Here are some pictures:

As you could probably tell from the photos I posted last week, our trip was amazing.  I cannot gush enough about how awesome Brussels is.  I know that I’m a nerd and you cool-kids probably wouldn’t find its mixture of 16th century charm and new ‘Eurocrat’ chic as appealing as I do but I have to say that after this, my third visit, I am officially in love.  It helps that quite possibly the kindest and most generous family on earth lives in Brussels as well.  Our conference was equally spectacular and I left Belgium with a heavy heart and MacArthur-like sense that I would someday return. 

When we arrived in Brussels on the eleventh of March we were met at the airport by our friends Emmanuelle (henceforth Emma) and Solange.   We packed our stuff into Emma’s sleek BMW and headed for their home.  When we got there we met up with Solange’s husband Philippe and had a joyful reunion (for those of you who don’t know, we’ve visited the Ghislains several times before).  Philippe’s English had improved a great deal and my French was so-so meaning that we had a easier time communicating (we share a common love of one of Belgium’s finest products which helps us with our communication).  After bringing us to our hotel (a really kitchily awesome place right near the Grand Place) we headed back to the Ghislains’s flat and had a wonderful meal. 

The next day Amy and I went for a walk around the Grand Place and saw it in the sun for the first time (it’s a tad rainy in Belgium).  We then checked out of our hotel and headed to the Central Station to meet up with the Fulbright group.  We stood in the station waiting for what seemed an age before contact was finally made with other Americans.  We went through the typical introductions and began discussing our respective countries (it turned out that there were about eight people from Germany).  We then met Maggie, the program coordinator and got on the bus to head to Luxembourg. 

The trip was nice and we got to talk with a lot of people.  I was really excited to go to Luxembourg but when we got there it turned out that our hotel was about three miles outside the center of town.  The road into town was needle thin with no sidewalk and it was raining.  We only had three free hours so we considered taking a cab but someone told me that the previous year it had cost over twenty euros to take a cab one way into the town so we decided to pass.  It was a killer to be close to a historical city center and not be able to see it.  But we were stuck and so we sat and talked with the other Fulbrighters for our free time.  That night we had an opening dinner (the first of many spectacular meals on Fulbright’s tab) and then headed to bed.

The next day we attended a court case at the European Court of Justice.  Being there was pretty cool but the case was exceedingly boring.  It was a case out of Italy about some discrepancy between EU trade law and Italian trade law.  It was fun to flip between the translations however as we all had earphones.  After the case was mercifully concluded we met with several of the law clerks who were very interesting.  They salvaged what could have been a boring experience. 

After a really delicious (and heavy) lunch we headed to the European Court of Auditors.  With a name like that I was a bit worried that my full stomach would demand a nap from the rest of my body.  But when we got there we found out that our speaker was a British fellow with a wonderful sense of humor.  He told us about how the EU keeps track of its money and was full of hilarious (off-the-record) anecdotes.  I was really surprised but I found the Court of Auditors to be really fantastic. 

After our meeting we got back on the bus and headed back to Brussels.  When we got back we had dinner with the Ghislains and enjoyed a really pleasant evening with them. 

The next morning we boarded another bus and headed to one of the European Commissions buildings for a meeting.  We sat in the chamber where the old (much smaller) European Parliament used to meet.  Our speakers spoke about a range of issues and each one was superb.  Our first speaker was a university lecturer as well as a Eurocrat which really showed.  He was enthralling and asked really tough questions.  The other speakers were also very good and our group really got into the whole process by asking a lot of questions. 

After our meetings we were met at the hotel by Emma.  We walked around a bit and then went out to dinner with Emma, Philippe and Solange at their favorite restaurant.  We ate there the last time we were in Brussels and I really enjoyed it.  Philippe and Solange have been going there since they were in university so they know the owners very well.  The food was superb as was the company.

On Saturday the Fulbright Program took us to Brugge.  We visited the College of Europe and heard a lecture on the European Monetary Union.  Afterwards we took a walking tour of the city.  Brugge had the good fortune of getting wealthy early and then completely falling into economic oblivion during the industrial revolution.  Thus most of the city is 15th and 16th century.  Every street in the center could be a “historic” center anywhere else.  On Saturday night we went to the Ghislains again and had a small party with some of their family and friends.  We got to see Emma’s grandparents which was very nice (the last time we saw them I made Emma’s grandfather laugh so hard that he fell off his chair, bumped his head and had to get stitches.  I was less amusing this time). 

On Sunday we went with Emma to church.  We skipped the main mass and attended the children’s service.  Since my French is at about a four-year-old level it was perfect.  We then had lunch with Philippe and Solange before heading off with Emma to see Erasmus’s house.  When we got there, however, it was open but closed.  Apparently there was only one woman working and she had to guide a large tour group so couldn’t allow anyone else into the building.  So we just walked around the outside and enjoyed the garden.  When we got back we met Philippe and Solange at a little restaurant in a Flemish town right outside of Brussels.  The Ghislains are regulars there as well so we were well treated again.

On Monday we headed over to the European Council building and sat in one of their meeting rooms.  The places all had the country names so we sat in Bulgaria’s place.  Following that meeting we had lunch and then headed to the United States Mission to the European Union.  We had a nice meeting with the Cultural Affairs attache before the U.S. Special Envoy (formerly a recess-appointment ambassador.  We were soon to find out why he was never confirmed by the Senate) came to meet us.  We expected a nice meeting with our country’s representative to the EU but we were instead harangued and accused of anti-Americanism.  This man was the most undiplomatic person that I have ever seen at an official function.  Our quesitons were legitimate and not anti-American by any stretch of the imagination but the Special Envoy did not take a liking to us for some reason.  I thought the entire experience was quite amusing.  Others in our group, however, were pretty furious.  After the Special Envoy disappeared, a pleasant British man from the European Parliament’s secretariat spoke to us and soothed our frazzled nerves. 

On Tuesday we headed out for NATO.  I was entranced from the start.  NATO is a pretty cool place and our speakers were quite good again.  One of them, a kind-of gruff ex-army British guy was pretty hilarious regaling us with such fine quotes as “NATO didn’t have to make any tough decisions until Yugoslavia went tits-up,” and “War is too important for Generals to decide anything.” 

<ACHTUNG! This post is being cut short by the fact that we are getting ready to leave for a long weekend trip to Pamporovo in the Rhodope Mountains.  I will explain more about why we got sucked into this trip later.  As for now I will have to finish this post when we get back.>

Much of our recent business has had to do with two factors.  First, We are now teaching two new courses outside of our normal jobs.  We are teaching a group of Roma (gypsies) in a town called Kableshkovo and also a Sunday night course at our church.  Both have gone well so far.  The Roma are a blast to teach.  They smile and laugh a lot like Americans which is perhaps why we feel so comfortable with them.  The three times we have taught there we arrived feeling tired and run-down and left with a new sense of energy.  It has really been fun (but time-consuming).  The other new teaching began this week.  We are offering free English lessons at our church.  We have a big 20-something crowd and I figured they would be the ones who would snap up the opportunity to learn a little English but to my surprise most of the people were over forty (with perhaps most being in their fifties and sixties).  I was also surprised by how many people showed up.  Amy taught about forty beginners and I taught about twenty more advanced speakers.  There was less emotional feedback since the group was mostly Bulgarian but at the end of the lesson they all seemed to enjoy it.

The second major factor in our recent busyness has been our frenetic preparation for our trip to Brussels.  We are leaving early tomorrow morning so recent days have been filled with buying proper clothing, packing and making sure that we actually have the days off (always a question mark at our school).  We have also been frantically trying to finish a lot of our grading before we leave.  Amy and I have come home from work nearly every day with a stack of papers to grade.  This coupled with wide-eyed 12th graders giving me university application essays and recommendations that are due the next day has ensured a busy few weeks. 

I wish I could say that we were ready to sail into Brussels for our conference but unfortunately I believe we will be crawling in on all-fours.  Amy has been sick for the last few days and I’m succumbing as we speak.  I’ve alo been trying to work extra hours at the British Cultural Centre to make up for my absence so needless to say I’m a bit tired.  But despite all this we are looking forward to Brussels, seeing friends, going new places, meeting high ranking EU and NATO officials and most of all… sleeping in a real bed. 

I hope all of you have an excellent week.  If we are able I will try to update you all during our trip.  If not, we return to Bulgaria on March 22nd. 

I’ve put together a little slide show of Amy’s parent’s visit to Bulgaria.  I think that Amy and I will write a blog description of the week sometime soon.  We had a blast and I think they enjoyed it too.  I hope you like the pictures (I know that secretly you all just like the pictures despite your vociferous protests to the contrary).