I can’t believe tomorrow’s my last day here in Plovdiv! Time really flies when you do these volunteer camps, it’s crazy. As much as I’m looking forward to coming home, it’s still sad to think of leaving here. Wednesday pretty much cemented the fact we're all going crazy w/ these kids - everyone of us girl volunteers has been molested by these kids. They're not shy about it either, they grab on. Hard. I dare the next one to try it (they were good yesterday) because they will get their hand smacked, and hard. Oh yes, we've also pretty much all [View Full Entry]

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So, we met the new bunch of kiddies yesterday - world of difference b/w the two groups. Three of the girls came into our kitchen, introduced themselves and asked if we'd go play football. We had just woken up (it was like, 11am haha), so we told them later. (Even though it was supposed to be our 'day off' we still didn't mind). When we finally went downstairs they all came over and were like shaking hands w/ us and everything haha. Aw, too cute! And then even ask for things - it's no more grabbing glasses or cameras, I love [View Full Entry]

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I'm currently sitting by the window watching a lovely thunderstorm. There is nothing better than reading a good book, sitting curled up on the couch, and listening to the rain. It's not quite as good as the one we had the other day (where we lost power, about 10 screen windows blew out into the backyard etc), but it's still a good storm. It's a nice break in the weather too - it's not boiling for once. I can't believe the camps already half done... these volunteer stints always go by so fast, it's sad. Yesterday afternoon we ended up bringing [View Full Entry]

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The kids have calmed down a bit since we began... or maybe I'm just getting used to it, I'm not sure haha. It's funny because that's the one English word they ALL know how to say - COME, COME! A couple know please which is nice, but very often you just have them run up to you, take a flying leap for your chest or just grab your hand and pull - come, come! Come, come! Yesterday morning we played outside as per usual - it was too cute. There's one kid that's clearly the leader of the bunch; he's a [View Full Entry]

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So, first off a bit about our schedule - first week we're with 15 orphans, aged around 6-10yrs, all with either physical or mental disabilities. Second week we're with older kids (11-15ish), but we don't know how many, or if they're disabled. Our daily schedule is usually 9:30-11:30am outside w/ the kids (sometimes 30-60min inside on the comp as well), a well deserved break where we literally eat and then flop out in our rooms, and then 4-6pm we play inside w/ the kids trying to get them to do crafts or stuff like that. Plovdiv is quite warm - and [View Full Entry]

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I took another lazy day today. I woke up to a bit of thunder, and was not at all motivated to move. Also, I could hear the street dogs barking all last night and wasn't too keen on meeting them in person. So instead, I decided to take today to upload a bunch of photos, organize some travel stuff, and just relax. Oh, and I had no local currency yet, and I didn’t really feel like roaming the streets of Sofia by myself. Sketch. When I went down for supper though, the restaurant was closed. Crap. Looks like I’ll be venturing [View Full Entry]

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I had the most bizarre encounter as I left Frankfurt. I truly have skill. Bus ride last night was alright - I didn’t sleep much b/c I’m so excited/nervous about Bulgaria, but I still managed to get 2-3 hours. I hate passport control… again, at 12:30am as we pass into Germany we get the guards. At least they were friendly… but we got stuck there for an hour. Sigh. Rest of the bus ride was uneventful (I talked to 2 American boys for a bit while stuck in controls), and then I had breakfast at the train station before taking the [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have finally found a smell worse than the pee-soaked stations… Mustek station in Prague smells like puke. At first I thought ‘man, what bad timing for it to smell this way…’ but no, it’s permanent. I had the misfortune of using the station once yesterday, and then 3x today. Ew. Anyway, on with my day. The plan was to do that 6hr day tour followed by the ghost tour… yeah, didn’t happen. ‘Prague Walks’ can kiss my bum. I show up and the guy is too busy talking with a girl on a segway to even notice I’m there. [View Full Entry]

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Sigh, a second year in a row that I miss Canada Day in Ottawa. But that’s ok. Today I enjoyed the ability to sleep in for once (yay for 2 nights in a hotel!) and then I headed out to Kutna Hora, an hour east of Prague. I went to the bus station first to confirm my ticket to Frankfurt for tomorrow night (minor detail considering I have a flight later that day), and then I trekked back to the train station. Again, for an area that sees a considerable amount of tourists, I’m surprised no one I came across understood [View Full Entry]

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Well, last night was interesting. After my bratwurst I metro’d down to the soccer stadium to catch the bus to Prague. I was super not looking forward to this b/c it’s in the middle of nowhere. I get into the station and 4 drunk teenagers show up and start heckling a group of Asians. (Definitely reminded me of Wonderland haha, who wears short shortsssss?) This went on for about 5min before the Asians angrily yelled at them in German to what I can only assume meant “eff off”. I like their ticket checking system here in Munich, much more effective [View Full Entry]

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