Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody!
It is truly beautiful here. Spring is in full swing, the sun is out and all the trees are blooming. Gorgeous! I have 3 days off. It's been a while since I've had more than 1, so for me 3 is like a mini vacation. Last night it seemed that everyone I know here (all 3 people) had conspired to keep me sober and despite all my efforts to find some partners in crime to go out and get drunk, I ended up going home and going to bed sober as a priest. I was up at 8 am this morning and have not stop until know, yet I haven't done anything. It seems the elements are against me today so finally I gave up and opened a beer and it feels so good.
Tonight I'll be out and about and my friends and I will go to midnight mass and pass under the table. I can't wait! It has been a long time since I've done that.
Speaking of Easter yesterday I was watching South Park and they had a very interesting question (those kids, I tell you). What does a rabbit has to do with Christ being crucified? Who is the Easter Bunny for real? And while I'm at it, what's up with Santa? Is he real or not?
I have no idea but I'll be sure to ask my parents tomorrow. Do you know?
I can't wait to go to my parents' house tomorrow. The food is going to be plenty and good. Lots of eggs, kozunak and I don't even know what else but it will be awesome!
My friend Amy Gruter will be visiting me on May 5th, after that Aubrey is coming too in July. I am so exited to see some of my old friends here. It has been 8 months already. Time is just flying by.
Okay, I'm off to some mischief. Love to all! G.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It has been over 4 months and I haven't written a single letter. In my defense, I've been really busy. I know it's not much of an excuse but that's all I got.
Just to give you an example: I work Mon - Fri from 9am - 5pm as a pager at a publishing company and Sun - Fri from 6pm - 9pm as a Business English teacher at a language school. It leaves me with one day off - Sat - and I don't know what to do first; rest, laundry, clean, party, cook or write. As you can see, writing kind of falls down to the bottom of the list.
The reason I'm starting again is because a friend of mine from SF started a blog that I really like and it inspired me, as you can see.
What has happened in the last 4 months? Well, let's see.
I was looking for work for quite some time and after several false starts I finally found my current job at Temprint as an editor and a pager. I really like it and although I'm still learning, I think I'm getting the hang of it. The only problem is that it's not very well paid. I mean it's not super low, but I couldn't live just off of that income. Thus the teaching job in the evenings.
Being a teacher is a bit ironic for me because when I was in High School I was one of the worst students you've ever heard about. I think I set a world record in class-skipping. It is true that when I got to college I was much more focused and dare I say, I did pretty well, but for me, considering my past relationship with school and the disrespect I've had for my teachers in High School, teaching was the farthest thing from my mind. I guess God has a funny sense of humor.
The surprising thing is that I actually like it. It's easy and pleasant (I teach adults so none of that teenage bs) and it pays twice as much as my day job for half the work. It kind of reminds me of bartending in a way. I work in the evenings, with grown people, the hours are short, the pay is good and in cash (so no taxes), I meet a lot of people and the best part of it is that they are not even drunk! I mean, how cool is that?
My parents are fine and I see my father every Sunday. He is doing as well as expected, I guess. He still has some health problems and he really has to be careful about a whole bunch of things, but overall he is ok.
My sister is working hard and trying to make things happen but it's not easy and as of right now, I have not being able to help her all that much, though hopefully this will change soon.
My life here is not easy, I'll tell you that. At least when compared with my life in the States. A lot more work for a lot less money. However, being here with my family and friends does make things a lot better.
I miss SF and all you guys and girls there but for now my place is here.
G.

Hello again

Hi everyone! Well time just flies by doesn't it? Things here have considerably calmed down. Dad is now driving!!!! I'm working as a teacher at an English school and teach Business English to Bulgarian bankers and other unfortunate souls. I am now living in the city of Sofia. There was just no way for me to live in my parents house and go to work. I'm still looking for a "real" job but I've been very picky and have set up some pretty high standards as far as what kind of work I want to do, or more accurately, what kind of work I don't want to do, the kind of money I'll be making and the amount of work that I'm ready to do. The good news is that there is a lot of work here. It really is amazing how much opportunity there is at the moment. The thing is though, that a lot of the companies that are advertising can be either a bit shady, or are trying to pay with peanuts. For example, an add will ask for someone with a perfect English, preferably a fluent second language like German or French, at least a BA in something like Economics or IT, if not masters, and then they would offer like $300 a month which is laughable even for Bulgarians without an education. A lot of these companies are outsourcing agencies for, hold on to your seat, mostly American companies. It kind of makes me mad on 2 levels. First, it sucks because these are perfectly good jobs for people in the US and well paying if i might add. Second, the amount of money offered here is offensive to say the least. Now, I have a pretty good idea of how the world works and yes, I know all about Globalization, but shouldn't there be a limit on greed? At least give as enough money to eat and pay the rent, you know. $300 will barely feed you for a month, $600 will let you maybe drive a car (gas here is not so cheap), $1000 is more like it. You'll be able to live with dignity, though you won't be saving any money. Officially, the medium income in BG is around $400 per month, but I don't believe it. Most people make around $650 maybe even $800. However, people don't like to pay taxes, so they declare a lot less than they make. Employers, who also pay for their employees' insurance and other welfare taxes, are also not very keen on paying, so they will advertise jobs at a much lower salary than the actual number.
Okay, that's enough from me for right now. I'll let you all know when I do get a "real" job, or if something interesting comes my way. Until then, stay happy, healthy and have fun. Love, G.

Job Search

Hello people and sorry for the long abscence but I've been crazy busy. First things first - dad is well and already on his own completely. He is now completely autonomous and to paraphrase LL, doing it and doing it and doing it well. We are all happy and healthy and loving it.
I am on the market for a job, as you all probably know by now, and let me tell you there is work in BG. Tons of it. I've been going on about 8-10 interviews a week. I have days when I go to 3-4 interviews. It's crazy because I've sent out so many resumes that I can't keep track of what position I've applied for and sometimes it gets pretty comical. I went to this job interview and the guy wasn't where he said he'd be so I waited for close to 45 min. As I was leaving, I called his office and they told me where he might be. I found him only to discover that he was Italian, spoke no English or Bulgarian, the company sells (ugly) furniture and I'll be paid on commission only, oh, and get this, they have NOT sold a single piece of furniture since they came to BG which was in February. It was pretty funny, I thought.
As of tomorrow I will be a teacher at an English school for adults. That's right people, I will be teaching others how to speak English. Oh, the irony! I've already been there for two days, just observing how it's done and I have to say that I'm excited. It looks like a lot of fun. The best thing about the job is that it pays relatively well for BG standards, but even better is the schedule. I'll be working from 6pm to 9pm 6 days a week, which of course means that I can have a full time job doing something even more interesting. For now though, I'm just trying to learn the book. It's a Business English class for advanced speakers, only they are not all that advanced (but they will be when I'm finished with them).
I have to say that this job is a Godsend because I'm broke as a joke and I can really use the money. I'm still looking for something else to do during the day so I'll be ok, I'm not worried. Okay, this is it for now and I'll let you all know how things go with the new job. Peace out!

Nothing to Write About

It feels like I should be writing again, but to be honest I've nothing to write about. My father is as well as it could be expected at this moment. Next week we'll go to the hospital and get him some blood tests just to see how is everything, but other than that he's been walking around on his own and he can take care of himself quite well. Today was the first time he spent the majority of the day by himself and I'm happy to declare that he is still alive and kicking.
I'm still looking for a job, though it seems with one eye closed. I've been "working" on a resume and a Cover letter, but it appears that I'm pretty busy because neither has been finished. Yet, I have time to write this blogg?! I have found a few good sites and do check them out daily; I've even sent a couple of Emails out and I'm still waiting for an answer. I'm not holding my breath, though.
I have not been to any cool bars or clubs recently and I eat mostly at home because mom is cooking up a storm and I'm not about to miss out on that. I guess the most interesting thing was that I was stopped by the cops. Twice. Here, the police don't need a reason to pull you over. They just park the cruiser by the road and pull people over. As many people as possible. The reason? The cops here are corrupted, almost all of them from what I hear, though I'm sure there are a few honest guys. The more people they stop, the more money they t(m)ake. Anyway, the first time they pulled me over I got a bit scared. You know, like, if you are in Mexico and you are all alone and it's dark and you get pulled over, you just don't trust those cops, do you? Well to make the long story short, I gave the guy 50-60 leva ($40) and they let me go. I was relieved but afterwards when I talked to couple of friends they were all laughing at me. They said that I gave too much, "20 leva tops and if all you got is big bills ask for change." I thought that was really funny.
The second time I got stopped I didn't care and when the cop said that he needs to write me a ticket for 300 leva I said "go ahead, you gotta do whatch u gotta do." He wrote down my name in a little black book held together by a rubber band and then told me that he is going to let me go with a warning. I thanked him and drove away scratching my temple with my middle finger, smiling.
The photo you see is from when I went to the coast. This is the fire that the nestinarkata walked on and this is me walking on that same fire. Just check out my face. I feel no pain whatsoever!
Photos by Valia Petrova.

Pigging Out

Well, sort of, or at least not yet, though we are about to. See, my mom's uncle Krustew, who lives on a piece of property about a kilometer away from my parents house, has a whole bunch of animals including a swine and 5 little piggies. The piggies are not so little anymore and the idea is that he is going to sell 3 and we'll butcher the rest and eat them. I know that sounds a bit barbaric and it probably is in some deep psychological way, but over here is just another way to put some food on the table. So, yesterday we had a butcher come in and butcher the two unfortunate souls. One thing I have to say right of the bat is that the animals didn't feel a thing. I'm not kidding. This guy, Andrei, knew what he was doing. I won't go into detail but trust me when I say that it was impressive and as painless as possible. Anyway, to make the long story short, we now have 2 pigs in the refrigerator and mom is already cooking away as my dad is sharpening his teeth. If you ask me, I think that's just too much meat, but nobody is so I shut up and do as I'm told.
As you gather by now dad is doing very well and we are starting to think about more exercise. Mainly walking around the yard. Next week I have a neurologist coming to the house to take a look, but I think that everything is going to be okay. That's all for now. Love to all, G.

I've Got Wood

I've got more wood that I know what to do with. My parents had 10 cubic meters of wood that needed to be
1) cut into smaller pieces. So, I had to call on a couple of guys and a dude with a circular saw and between the 4 of us we took care of business in about 2 hours, 3 with the breaks.
2) all the cut up wood had to be chopped up on even smaller pieces with an axe and hauled behind the house. This took two days and I had another 3 people helping.
3) clean up the street and cover the newly chopped fire wood. This was the easy part.
I have never worked so hard in my entire life. Yesterday when we finished putting it all back behind the house, I was absolutely exhausted. It's a small miracle my body is not really all that sore. To top it all off, the last two hours rained and I was soaking wet, as was my nephew who, God bless him, was helping me out. I don't think that he new what he was getting into when he said yes. To be truthful, neither did I, the difference is I had no choice. I thought, maybe an hour or two, max. It just goes to show you how little I know about manual labor. One thing I loved was chopping wood. It's a great work out and there is a very distinct satisfaction when you split a piece of wood in two with one strike. It is so cool! It's all put away now and behind me and I'm proud of it because it did take a lot of work and I came through.
Dad is doing better still, though we had a bit of a set back. He is now walking around the yard, with my, or mom's help. The other day he wanted to see if we were putting the wood in a satisfactory manner and ventured out on his own. I was in the house when I heard him scream my name repeatedly at the top of his lungs. I bolted out and found him on the ground. He'd lost his balance and fell in a small space between a landing and the yard, it's hard to describe but it's about 4 feet wide and 3 deep. His ass was in the hole and he was holding himself with his legs on one edge and head on the other. He'd become a human bridge for the small gap. There was blood on the cement where he'd hit his head and he was really scared, as was I. I picked him up and took him to his room. Luckily, the head wound was only a scratch and I cleaned it up. He has a couple more scratches on his arm and his right knee hurts, but overall, he is fine. Scared the bejeezus out of me. He has now promised to stay put and only go down in the yard if my mom, or I are there to escort him.
I've been staying here in Podgumer for like 4 days in a row and find myself missing the city. I'm off to Sofia tonight and will be there tomorrow as well. I've been going to the dentist for some work, as you all already know. I love being here, away from the urban cacophony, but I must admit, I miss it. I was so tired of bartending and working at night with deafening music popping my eardrums every night that when I came here I thought, this is it. It's quiet and there are no people at all. It's heaven. Now however, I feel that this is a great place to come and decompress from all the madness in the city for some period of time, or you can come and retire here happily, but I'm still too young and too full of life and desire to be around other people to live here. My ass belongs in the city, still.