Time!?

To paraphrase from the movie "Closer," time is a tricky little fucker. I can't sleep worth a dime. At around 5pm I start yawning profusely, unfortunately that's the time we have to go visit dad in the hospital, visiting hours being between 5 and 6. So, I take a shower, stick a couple of toothpicks in my eyes to keep my eyelids from closing down and head over to the hospital. I get out and usually come back to my sister's place and take another shower because the hospital is that dirty and then head out to see some of my old friends I have been able to reconnected with. I yawn my way till midnight and then I'm just tired and sleepy. When I get home I shower, because it really is that hot here, and go to bed. Yes, I do get a couple of hours of sleep, but usually by 6am I'm awake and spinning in bed. I get up and sit in front of the computer trying desperately to hold on to my life as I have known it for the last 15 years.

I've written more in the last week than I have in the last year of college, and I was a writing major you know, though it's hard to guess reading this blogg. In my defense, I have been either very tired, like right now, or a little drunk, like the last post. In either case I can't figure out how to make the spell check work, thus you get all these crazy word spellings. After all English is my second language. But I have a bachelor's degree in English. It just goes to show you how easy it is to fool the American education system. But I regress.

My father is up and down and the Bulgarian medical establishment seems absolutely incompetent to deal with his illnesses. Here is an example. Yesterday he was really ill and they scanned his head because he was suffering from intense headache. They ordered him back to the ICU and I was very worried. Today, this morning, he was feeling much better and when my mom got in, they don't let me and my sister in the ICU, the doctor, a neurologist, told her that they are going to send him home on Monday. Needles to say, I was shocked. In the span of a day, the diagnose changed from critical to lets get him home and quickly.

On one hand I'm furious, but on the other there is a part of me that thinks that that might be the best thing for him. The room where he stays, at the ICU, has four beds and everyone there is very, very ill. When he sees where he is, my father begins to think that he is dying, which I think is really bad for him. The will to live is a major component of any recovery. And yes, the nurses there smoke too. Intensive care unit I'm talking about!? It's crazy. We'll see what happens. Tomorrow I'm going to get in and shave him and I'm somehow exited about it.

The country and the city of Sofia and it's inhabitants never seizes to amaze me. Today as I was getting back to my sister's apartment I saw this guy, hanging on a rope from the roof of the five story building, installing a protective layer of wood over the building's facade. Now, I know that sounds okay, but you have to realize that he was only doing one window, most likely the window of his apartment. So now you have this old beat-up project-type building with one friggin window all made up in wood and yellow. It's as if someone peed in the snow. I took a picture and will post it as soon as figure out how to. Promise. It was a trip. Also, today one of the oldest and biggest soccer clubs, Levski, is playing for the UEFA or some other European cup and there have been some serious fireworks and gun shots outside. It is such a Balkans trade that I can almost envision some guy with a big mustache and a funny hat shooting off his rifle. Charlton Heston would be proud, I'm sure. Not that the guy with the funny hat would know who Charlton Heston is, but you never know.

It's 12:22am and I think I'll try to get some of that elusive sleep. Tomorrow I'm getting a car. I can't wait. Thank you all very much again for the awesome support. I love all you all.
PS. I just figured out the spell check. Hurray!

Tango

Tango. That's about as close as I can think of the way my father's health fluctuates. There are always a couple of days that are very hopeful and then on the third day his health just takes a nosedive. Yesterday I thought that he'll be home in a week or two and today he was so bad they sent him back to the ICU. I'm still hopeful, but I'm scared too. I hope he feels better tomorow.

On the lighter side, today (actually, yeterday now) was my B-day. I saw Vera, which was great and fun and I hung out with my homies, Juro, Chris and his wife Alia, Kiro and Valia. There was a lot of "do you remember when . . ." The sad thing is that I don't. I have forgotten a whole bunch of stuff and it gets to be pretty strange. It appears that I was quite crazy as a teenager and I've done some unspeakable things, or at least that's how it seems now. It is very funny and I have to say that a small part of me thinks that I may have been even cool, but not in a way I would want to be now. I don't even know if that makes any sense, but I'm very tired now, so I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. George.
PS. I want to thank you guys for all the support and the great comments. It has helped me very much and I'm truly thankful to all you'all.

the heat!!

The heat is oppressing. The city of Sofia is under heavy smoke and heat is making it even harder to breathe. My sister, God bless her soul, is driving me around as if I am miss Daizy and she is Morgan Freeman. I like being driven around and she is an excelent driver, the problem however is the car. She owns a Trabant. It's an old East-German car that is made out of cardboard, believe it or not. It is very old and has no airconditioning. The roof gets so hot that you can't touch it from the inside. The moment we walk into Pesho (that's the nickname she has given it. There is an annoying tendency in our familly to name things---I had my scooter Put-Put,) we start pouring sweat and there is no stoping until we get out. On top of that, Pesho has no shocks so every little bump on the road is felt by both our asses and let me tell you the roads here DO have, not only bumps, but big holes too. Imagine the ride in this contraption every day, to and from the hospital and with the way other people drive, which is really crazy, I always feel blessed and lucky to be alive. I think it's funny how quickly I became religious. I thank God every day for all that he has given me and my family.
Speaking of family, dad is still not out of the woods but I think he is going to make it. He is getting better, very slowly and at times he regresses, but I think that I can see an improvement overall. I thank God for my mother because without her he would not be able to make it. The woman is unbelievable. She has moved into his room in the hospital and takes care of him 24 hours a day. I love her.
Last night I surprised two of my best friends here, Chris and Juro. I told my sister to call them and tell them that I had sent something for them and she has to see them both so she can give it to them. Juro owns a really sweet bar, so we, me and my sister, met them there. I should have had a camera because the looks on their faces was priceless. Juro has not seen me in 15 years and Chris in 10. I do talk to him often on the phone but they had no idea. What a trip. We drank until about 4am and I managed to get pretty drunk, but that was to be expected.
I am glad for them because they are both very intelegent and interesting guys who were able to calm me down and install a bit of confidance in my countrymen, which I lacked for the last couple of days. Really, it was a great feeling to see two young, intelegent people and their perspective on life in BG and the fact that they are funny as hell doesn't hurt either. I look foreward to getting some more of that quality time with them and reconnecting with others who I have not seen in ages.
Rudo is coming on the 24th and i'm very exited to see him. It wold be interesting to see someone, a Bulgarian, whom I have met in the States in BG. I don't know why exactly, but I think it is because I'm curious to see him in this surroundings and maybe some of his friends. You know what they say, show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are, or something like that.
So, I guess that's it for now. I'm going to chalk this up as a good first blogg, since I have no way of comparing it to another post because as I said, it is the first one. I'll try to keep writing on daily bases but we'll see. Your comments are HIGHLY encouraged. I'm interested in your opinion on everything that has to do with this blogg. And please don't be shy. Love, George.