A Long One...

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This is the entry that had to come before the one about the seaside... And it probably will be put before it because blogger's smart! Anyway, this one has many pictures from our 2 1/2 day trip to Plovdiv, Tryavna, and Koprivshtitsa.
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Hi again, everyone! It's been a while since my last blog entry here, so I'm going to make it a long one. There are a lot of things to talk about; of course, I won't be mentioning them in any particular (i.e. temporal) order...

#1: A mini trip around Bulgaria.
The whole idea about such a trip came from the fact that Kerry and Darren wanted to see some smaller, prettier Bulgarian towns, not to spend their entire two weeks in Sofia. We decided that we would go on a 3-day trip to Plovdiv and Koprivshtitsa as our two main stops, but we also decided to keep our options open and make several "detours" on our way from Plovdiv to Koprivshtitsa.
At first the group had to be Katya, Yoana Turnin (junior-to-be), Kerry, Darren, and me. However, Yoana's parents decided to act like responsible parents and didn't let her come in the car with the aforementioned crazy freaks. So, only 4 people were left (which is very nice for the people sitting in the back because they have more space for their bodies and spirits).
The two Canadians were waiting for Katya and me in Plovdiv. We met by the Ancient Roman Theater at 7:00 pm. We spent the night in Plovdiv, had dinner at a really good restaurant, and went to bed at about 12 a.m. (Katya and I, naturally, talked for about 1 1/2 hours and then went to sleep). The next day we headed off to Tryavna bright and early in the morning. And here is where the pics begin...
A turtle... A Tryavna turtle... There were 4 or 5 of those on a small grassy field next to a river (and in front of a house).







The famous Tryavna clocktower and a sign which forbids you to drive carts around upside down.







Darren and a view reflecting in his sunglasses.











A pretty cat which meowed around us while we had lunch.











Kerry standing on a bridge in Tryavna.












My car, my beautiful car! (which I love) It's standing in front of the Shipka monument (and there are mountains in the background)






The Shipka monument and the Lion's Butt (a feline imitation of the Horse's Butt)







Oh, we are now in Koprivshtitsa. This is a cow which unfortunately did not try to bite off the man's arm. That would have made a nice action photo.






More cows and houses, and two love birds in the middle of the picture.







Our favorite restaurant, Bulgaria. This is the outside of the building. I love the traditonal shade of Koprivshtitsa blue.







The cannon in the middle of the restaurant. It was a replica of the old cherry tree cannon that Ivan Vazov talks about in his famous novel, Under the Yoke. The cherry tree cannon was used against the Turks in 1876, but the poor dear cracked when it tried to fire a cannonball. At least the cannon in the restaurant worked nicely as a fountain.

Water splashing from the cannon.








That evening I was a vegetarian.








Darren, Kerry, and Katya trying to pick their meals.








The morning after, we sat at a cafe at the main square. This is a picture of a horse cart and a Lada that entered the square at the same time... A clash between the ages...

This is the small bell tower of a church in Koprivshtitsa.

Kableshkov's house.







Another view of the same house, this time through some green leaves.







The most famous bridge in Koprivshtitsa! That's where the famous April uprising started in 1876.







Darren, Kerry, and Katya again.








Two parrots. They were also part of the scenery at our restaurant.








Benkovski's house where my parents helped paint some of the murals.







Benkovski himself, riding his horse, looking over his favorite town. He looks kinda headless, but he's not. His head is on the other side of the monument:)






Violets and yellow-orangettes.

Lil' orange flowers up close.

I bought a horsey in Koprivshtitsa. That was my goal for the day.

Cheese and French fries up close.








Mmmm... Hot peppers (not so hot)








Shumensko - beer and reflections.








The four of us (half-asleep, half-crazy)... only half?

Yes, those were the pictures from the trip. We had a wonderful time! It was freaky, crazy, and amazing!

#2. I got my VISA for the UK! All my documents are in order now.. All I've got to do is pack my bags, and off I go!

#3. I also cleaned my room! Pictures will come later. I mean, you should really see the photos! RIP blue mushy raspberries... RIP tons of useless stuff...

Yet another sucky movie...

What's that thing in the sky?? Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
- No, you idiot, it's a cloud...
Noooo! It's SuperMoron/Man!
2 1/2 hours of complete nonsense (and some special effects). That's what Superman is all about.
**YE BE WARNED. Spoilers may (actually, will definitely) follow. You may not want to read this blog if you're up for wasting two precious hours of your life**
- Superman arrives on Earth on a meteorite! And the guy is almost naked! (well, he looks completely naked, but maybe that was an illusion because of the dark scene)
- At the beginning of the film, Superman couldn't pick an eye color. One moment he had blue eyes, the next - brown. He picked blue in the end.
- The chick he picked, Lois Lane or whatever, is so totally lame! The best moment in the movie: when Lois tries to escape from a vertically sinking ship and a heavy metal door closes on her head, sending her flying down towards the water. It's a classic scene. Oh, if only the door could have been an anvil...
- Naturally, lame kids have even lamer kids! That kid in movie was such a loser! He was of the "wtf" type of kid that stares blankly in one point and doesn't do anything throughout the whole movie! Pray for the safety of the world... It's now in the kid's hands... Why? Try answering the question "Who's your daddy?" after hearing Lois say, "I spent the night with Superman." -- That was a major, major spoiler :D Also, it was an easy excuse for the producers to make another Superman movie. This time, we'll have to endure the boring teen years of one of the biggest losers in movie history! Brace yourselves for more "this-movie-sux" type of lines!
- Superman was not even that cute! Sure, the big, innocent blue eyes, the flashy smile, and, oh, that little curl he wears right over his forehead, are kinda bearable... But his body? He's supposed to be SUPERMAN - a super hot hunka' guy! Nope, he's actually a quite formless blue mass with a big "S" on his chest.
- The special effects... They could have definitely been better. Movies like these should be made up of nothing but effects! Trying to add a plot and, God forbid, dialogue to such a movie - not a good idea. More of the crashing, smashing, exploding, and world-destroying elements should have been included. Another major downside: no one died.. except for one guy. And there was no blood... not even bruises.. At the beginning of the movie, Lois was flying in every direction inside an airplane, smashing random people and hard objects, but she wasn't hurt at all! Not fair. - Kevin Spacey is cool, though. He doesn't look so good without hair, by the way.

The good part in all that was that we had so much fun making silly comments while watching the movie. Milena and I were especially hysterical. Mihaela, Iliana, and Katya at least kept the volume down... We have to be thankful we weren't thrown out of the theater. And to think that all that happened because there were only 4 seats left in the IMAX 3D cinema where we would have spent 45 more meaningful minutes watching dinosaurs walk up to us and try to eat us.

It's a bit sad that I had to waste a whole entry on this movie... And, no, there'll be no SuperDog... Superman is not worthy of joining the Cartoon Canine Hall of Hollywood Fame. Last warning: don't watch the movie! Spare your brain cells!

Hitchcock Happenings

Today was an especially creepy day. Misha and I went to see a Hitchcock movie, The Birds. The theater experience was memorable because:
1. We were attacked by flying candy from the back seats. Turning around to check who the spoilt brats that threw candy were, we saw Iliana, Dena, and Nelly - throwing candy at us to get our attention. We all sat in one row, waiting for the movie to start.
2. As teenagers, we have reserved the right to make silly comments during the most touching parts of movies. We didn't have the chance to do that tonight, though, for there was a creepy guy sitting next to us who rudely "shush"-ed us, so we had to shut up (or whisper).
3. If you've seen the movie, you've probably noticed that the ending is quite open and shows no signs of being an actual ending. All the people sitting around us were deeply hurt when the movie ended without even a simple "THE END."
4. Walking home from the theater (usually a nice 10-minute walk), was about the scariest we've had. Misha and I were just discussing how creepy that creepy guy was when we realized he was walking behind us!! We trotted ahead quickly until we lost him . A couple of blocks away, another guy started stalking us, and that's when we were completely freaked out. He never caught us, for we swiftly ran away.
5. All the sea gulls and crows (and Alfred Hitchcock himself) served as inspiration later on in the night. These are the drawings I created after watching that horror movie (yes, they are gruesome:)

This is a ravenous raven (who may also be a crow... whatever the difference is)...

You may know this guy, he's Alfred Hitchcock.
And this... is Alfred Hitchdog!
(maybe I'll take up drawing of famous people as dogs for a job some day.. and with a bit more luck, some day the dogs will be very much alike their human counterparts)

Sleepy Days and Pirates

I don't know why, but recently all I've wanted to do is sleep 16 hours a day. I don't get the chance to do that, really, so my days have become a constant struggle not to fall asleep. The weather is perfect for sleeping: it's either too hot, or it's rainy and gray. There have been a couple of events which have helped me, in a way, fight my somnia (there probably isn't such a word, yet it would be logical for this to be the opposite of insomnia).

1. Visitors: Kerry Curtis and his friend Daren came over from Canada. Kerry is an ex-ACS teacher, and Daren is his current colleague in the town of Lindsay (17,000 people! And they all know each other!!). It had been two years since we last saw Kerry... There was a lot to talk about. Several ex-seniors (a.k.a. graduates), two alumni from the class of 2001/2, and one junior-to-be spent the evening with the two visitors, doing the most vital of things: eating and having fun. That was on Thursday evening.

2. Birthday: July 14 is one of the most popular dates for a birthday. I know 3 people from ACS who have a birthday that day: Mimi Shoteva, Patty Anderson, and Iliana. The third one was the most special person that day because she had a great birthday party which consisted of a visit to the O!Shipka pizza place and an "afterparty" at a nearby disco. Mihaela, Milena, and I had to skip the disco because Mom wanted me home early, and I wanted to drive my two friends to their homes. In the end, I was home by 00:16 which made Mom happy.

3. Drooling: My friends and I had been waiting for this summer to come for quite a long time. Why? Because of a certain movie about one (Captain) Jack Sparrow. Yes, finally, the sequel!! POTC: Dead Man's Chest, hooray! Johnny Depp is the best! Like I said, drool!

Now if you have a wild imagination, you may even consider the dog below Captain Jack Sparrow (despite the irregular eyes and general not-so-johnny-deppy look:)

And, oh, what a day!

It sometimes appears that the whole world is living under Murphy's law. Well, today was one quite adventurous day with a story that needs to be retold.

It all started when I tried to turn on my laptop at 5 p.m. and it made the most annoying, high-pitched, shrill sound ever! And so loud, and it wouldn't stop!! I decided to take the computer in for a check-up at the store where I got it from. The store was conveniently located on one of the major streets in Sofia where parking on the side of the road is forbidden. However, there was a line of cars that had turned on their emergency blinkers and had all stopped for "just five minutes." Under the influence of the "sheep" syndrome, I also queued up at the end of that line and turned on my blinkers as well. I went in the computer shop and was just telling the repairman there what was wrong when one saleswoman told me that there was a "spider" (horrible towing truck) otu on the street! And the spider had caught its prey: MY CAR!! I left all my stuff at the shop and ran towards the spider which was just lifting my car in the air. I saw a policeman, poked him on the back, and started asking him frantically how much I had to pay to get my car back. He looked at me and asked me, "Is this your car?" Duh! "Yes, this is my car."
"May I see some ID please." (He looked through all my documents) "I can see you are a young driver... This is the first time your car is being towed away, right?"
"Yes, yes, sure. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking right when I parked here... I thought I would only be a minute, but then it took longer, so, sorry, pleeeease let me have my car back!"
"OK, normally we'd simply tow the car away, but in your case, because you're young, we'll let you have your car back. You'll need to pay a fine, though. 30 leva."
It's a good thing I had taken my salary from the AmCham today and had 150lv at my disposal. "I'll pay.. only... my money is in the car..."
"In the car? But the car's put up on the towing truck..."
"I know..." + Puppy eyes on my side.
"Look, normally we'd take the money first and then bring the car down from the truck, but because you're young, we'll make an exception and get your car down before you've paid the fine."
"Thank you so much!"
So they took the car down, I took my money and gave the nice policeman 30lv, after which they let me drive away. I parked in a nearby small street (legally this time) and went back to the computer shop only to find out that the horrible sound was because my microphone's volume was turned up too loud and was interfering with the sound waves from my speakers. At least the computer was ok; it would have been better if it hadn't cost me all that trouble, but whatever, I coped with it and headed to my next destination: Misha's house. We wanted to go to my place and watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" before we saw the grand premiere of the sequel tomorrow. On our way to my house, we drove down a very steep boulevard. I was just telling Misha the towing truck story, and got distracted in thinking what exactly had happened, when I realized I pressed the brakes one moment too late (i.e. I gently (gently, because I was driving really slowly down that slope) nudged the car in front of me). Of course, it had to be a cab... Cab drivers are always trouble here. So the cab guy turned off his engine (first sign of trouble) then went out of the car and started making nervous circles around the back of the vehicle. He looked at it on all sides, tapped it, then looked at me with a cold look and asked me to go out of my car and see what damage I had done. Gulp. I went out, and he showed me some small cracks near the back tires. Personally, I don't think such a light hit could cause such cracks, but I guess if his car was crappy (which it apparently was), this was possible. He asked me whether I wanted him to call the police or settle this on the spot, and I preferred to end this on the spot... I'd had enough police people for the day... He told me the damage was for 70 lv, and I gave it too him without even thinking of acting dumb and telling him I only had, let's say, 50 lv. He seemed happy after making that easy bargain, and I was happy I wasn't going to be in any more trouble. I know he probably tricked me because he saw I was worried about the outcome of the situation, but I wasn't in the mood to argue with cab drivers.

In a grand total of 45 mins, I lost 66.6% of my salary :'( At least I learned a lesson. Several lessons, actually, including 1. Sometimes being a young girl with teary eyes may come in handy; 2. Thinking and driving don't go together.

That was the most memorable afternoon of this week. I hope it will never repeat again :)

Independence Day Celebration

Three days ago, a week of hard work resulted in the AmCham Independence Day Celebration, a.k.a. a huge gathering of ~2000 people with tons of food, drinks, prizes, competitions, etc. from 5 p.m. until midnight. In other words, it was all a very big deal. The party was marvelous in the end and everyone was happy. Who could be unhappy when there was a barbeque, McDonalds, sweets, popcorn, and what-not to eat and drink (always the best part of the party). Here are some pictures from the event:

Two idiotic photos of the two boys on the team (Kalin and JD, both currently ACS alumni) and me... You can see who the idiot is :P

For the lucky people, the chance to win a test drive on this handsome Dogde Caliber...
Misha got to help in announcing the winners of the raffle.
Food, food, and, erm, lotsa' beer...
Vessi and Misha
Almost everyone; and they're not smoking , they're blowing whistles that a strange clown gave to all of us.
Yep, I had a whistle, too :D

The End of the Game

WOW! Who would have thought? 2:0 for Italy! The game was so close to ending at the dull 0:0, but in the end, weeee, the Italians scored two great goals! Sorry, Germany. I guess that the "host must win" thesis was wrong in this case. Maybe there was a bit too much of the "host sucks" involves in this game. Whatever it was that made the Italians win also made our neighbors (Italians, too) very, very happy. They started singing victory songs and shouting like crazy. They'll have a good night's sleep.

The surprising result was disappointing to my family in a way... I guess none of us are good at sports bets... :( No one won anything. Mom's result was the closest one, but unfortunately the cruel ruls of betting state that unless the final score is exactly as predicted, there is no winner. Sad but true...

By the way...
Happy 4th July! It's actually the 5th now, but the Blogger date will surely say July 4th. So enjoy the rest of your day and smile!

http://www.wingettphotography.com/Summer2004/Fireworks/images/
WDC_4th_July_Fireworks_adj_1693.jpg

More soccer

For 36 years, the world has been waiting for the second clash between the two great powers, Italy and Germany. With such a milestonic (as if there is such a word...) semi-final ahead of us, my parents and I decided it was time for us to place our bets at the soccer bookies table. Here are our non-professional, non-biased predictions:

Mom: 2:1 for Italy
Dad: 3:1 for Germany
Grandpa: 3:1 for Italy (you can definitely see the strong father-son relation those two men have)
Me: 1:1, then after the penalty shots Germany wins.

Dad and me think that it's very likely for the hosts of the World Cup to go on to the finals, not merely because of their skills, but just because of common courtesy. I mean, which referee would risk Germany's disfavor after calling the game against the hosts? But let's assume for just a second that the World Cup selects the best teams based solely on their skills and gameplay; no, there are no other factors (such as money, bets, money, and for those who can't have enough of it, money) involved. Since we're very fair and good-natured, let's wish both teams good luck in this struggle! I'll tune back in after app. 90 mins to tell you what the final result was and which family member got the most money out of the bet.

Cartoons

How completely random, you may say... Out of the blue, an entry that seems to have nothing to do with the previous ones. You're right! This entry says, "I'm bored right now! I'm braindead of watching 5 episodes of "Gilmore Girls" in a row, and I'm keepin' 'em comin'! I still can't decide whether I'm hungry or not. Did I mention I was braindead? So braindead that I can't even talk to people... I'm also sleepy, I think, but I'm not sure of that. It's tough... a weird situation which prompted me to write a blog entry with 3 pictures."

1. I felt like drawing a giraffe and writing an incredibly silly poem about it. Then I had the idea to make a children's book about animals from A-Z with short descriptions of all animals... retarded :D









2. I also wanted to draw a horse which turned out gray and kinda' sad. The color only came from the horse I want to buy one day: the Andalusian horse. For the past 3 months, I've been in love with those horses. Previous horse loves: Hannover horses, Friese (or something) horses, Lipizzan horses.
And that's it :) Bye!

Soccer/Football Mania

I'm not really the person to be using the phrase "football mania" simply because I'm not a football fan. Right now I sorta have to be one because of the craze around the World Cup. Plus, watching soccer for just one month per year is a fair deal and I am willing to bear with watching the game for that limited amount of time.

Today was special, though. Not only because there was a game between England and Portugal (yes, I am now am official English fan; I'd better be one in a couple of months), but because of the approach we had to watching the game.

Katya, Misha, and I met up at the Arena Mladost Theater where they show all the soccer games live on a huuuge screen in a huuuge hall where you can eat huuuge amounts of popcorn. Showing football games in a theater is actually a pretty cool concept. That way you almost feel as if you're right there at the stadium, watching the game from up close. Here are the highlights of the night:

British kids - horrible, pink little girls and red and white boys dressed like Rooney. It didn't bother me that they were British, but, come on, taking 6-year olds to a soccer game?! Ugh! How gross can you get! One girl in particular was super annoying and spent half the game sitting upside down in her seat (yes, a very weird sight indeed).
Mental guy - there was this man who decided to sit right next to us of all the free seats in the hall. I know, we have that quality of attracting random guys (not cute though), but this time we had managed to make a crazy one sit next to us. Seriously, he was talking to himself! He also kept changing his team favor every 20 mins. We did get a little bit freaked out from that encounter... It's good that he wasn't a psycho killer; one of those killers who look completely ordinary and have a name such as John Smith or Ivan Petrov, but turn out to be twisted, sick people.
The crowd - it was great listening to what everyone else was saying during the game. "Darn you, why didn't you kick that ball right? What are you doing, morons, get the ball!" were some of the exclamations, along with others that weren't as censored. The hall was divided into the British and Portugese fan clubs, and it was amusing to watch the reactions of all people as one or the other team tried to score. There's also something about mass excitement that makes you take part in the whole shouting process even though you're not all that enthusiastic about rooting soccer teams.
Weird guy - ugh, this one was gross. There was a guy who kept scratching his butt all through the break between the two half-times! Yuck! And he was sitting right in front of us! He was British, too.

The game itself was not too thrilling. England lost miserably after the penalty kicks. Joe Cole didn't play during the entire game (Bulgarian sports announcers seem to love the "Magnificent Joe Cole"). Lampard played like a moron. Rooney acted like a hothead and got a red card in return. Beckham, oh, poor Beckham! He cried, not only because of his injury, but because his team sucked that night. The English missed 4 great chances to score... and missed them in a moronic way. Nope, I wasn't happy with the way they played. At least it was fun. Listening to the commentary is always a blast because Bulgarian announcers simply love stating the obvious ("It looks like both teams are trying really hard to score a goal"), mocking players ("And Crouch has trouble waving his arms around the terrain"), or saying plain old stupid things ("The players are throwing many heads in both directions"). It was a good, relaxing evening.

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After that we went to ACS again! We had our final final goodbye with Teri and Koda. That was fun, too. We planned on staying for just 5 mins, but we ended up spending 2 hours there. Yep. So now we've officially said bye to everyone. I can now move along to yet another episode of "Gilmore Girls" (darn that movie mania!) See ya'll later!