Gritty Times in the Eastern Bloc

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Well, I'm lying here in my hard narrow bed at the Hotel Pop Bogomil in Sofia. A lot of stuff has gone on and gone down since my last entry. Yesterday was perhaps the craziest most event filled birthday of my life. I didn't even realize it was my birthday until 10:30pm. Pazardjik was such a gritty, real, tangible place. It's strange to lie back now and digest it.

After the first day it has been raining like all the time and the hours we were keeping were not normal. Our first night, Thursday, we were out until 2am. Friday we were out until 5:30am and last night two of us stayed out until 12:30pm this afternoon. My other friend crashed at 6am. In between there have been dodgy truck stops, Nigerians, Gypsy skinhead Lazio fans, 36 year olds, and to top it off was there was this Super Steve character. I remember being in a taxicab with my friend and these two Bulgarian girls, one of which was wearing this black lace head covering, driving around into the night in Plovdiv. It was so exotic and completely off the beaten track.

I've been eating some of the best cucumber and tomato salads you can imagine and these things called dooners. Dooners are like chicken kebabs with french fries stuffed in them and smeared with a Bulgarian sauce. At one dooner shop there were these kids begging for money and food. When a piece of chicken from my dooner fell on to the ground, this one scrawny kid descended upon it like a jackal and ate it. It was kind of disturbing and eye opening.

It is a little strange traveling with my high school friends. That is because while I am traveling like a traveler and experiencing all these foreign things I am always being reminded of things from my hometown. It is different than what I usually do, but it definitely has its good points so I like it.

It is a bit of a downer that the first chapter of this trip through Eastern Europe is closed, but hey you got to keep going on the road. I still can't put my finger on Bulgaria. It is elusive, but right there for you to touch as well. The people are real and down to earth. There doesn't seem to be any BS in them. Oh yeah, while driving into Sofia tonight I saw a line of graffiti on a cement wall in that read "USA GO HOME". Well, I won't go home just yet, but I will go to Croatia tomorrow. Nazdrave.



Note: This comes straight from the journal I was carrying around with me while I was traveling through Eastern Europe. I was just jotting down my first hand impressions and not intending it for the masses.



added may 21, 2006

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Photos

Living in Bulgaria
This was the view from my friend's apartment.

Sofia
This is near the railway station. We obviously didn't see the most scenic parts of Sofia.