Glory Ho

So now that Michael has given you the logistic lowdown, I’ll try and provide a detailed picture.

I must remind myself, Michael er-Boudreaux (this is really hard for me to get used to–you know he has reinvented himself and this is his new name!) and I will let you know that before we even considered Peace Corps, we dreamt of living and working in a European city, but at the time, it seems not only logistically impossible (sorry to use that word again) but not so easy on the pocketbook. And what has landed in our lap? This very experience.

Sofia (pronounced SOfeea, NOT SoFEEa) is a Greek word, which translates as “wisdom” in English. I guess you could say that it’s an Eastern European capitol that’s struggling to keep up with it’s Western European sisters. While Prague was the unexplored backpacker bragging point ten years ago and now the award goes to maybe Budapest? or Zagreb?, right around 2014, look for Sofia.

Sofia is home to roughly 1.3 million people. The winding cobblestone, ubiquitous flower boxes and British-style painted street poles (don’t ask me what these are for, even in England) remind me I’m in Europe, and the familiarity of cathedrals, outdoor cafes, orange trams and trolleys, uniformed guards, black-and-gold-gated parks comfort me immediately. But the scarf-tied babas selling slabs of buffalo cheese on a bread box, and the desolation, dim bulb and dust of our apartment lobby, also maybe the train station primitivity remind me that I’m certainly not in Paris. Some monuments are carefully landscaped while others have been chipped away by graffitti, wind and apathy. We’ve heard about Irish Pubs and Indian restaurants, art galleries and book bazaars, but then there is also the matter of bus schedules, which, according to recommendation, are not printed, so the best idea is to take a picture of the schedule and then put that up on your buulletin board at home. Sofia does have fast food restaurants and I’m ashamed to say I already ate at Subway (you should have seen how red these tomatoes were) but amazingly enough, a nice dinner out with wine is cheaper than a family bucket at KFC.

Unfortunately, it rained the first two days there. in search of an umbrella, we were so proud of ourselves for scoring one before we set out to explore. Of course, when we opened the umbrellas we realized that they were child-size. One green. One purple. So, in the rain, with our jeans rolld up to our knees, we carried little green and purple parasols around Sofia! As Boudreaux mentioned, the public transportation is amazing (run by GPS!)(important for us vehicle-challenged volunteers) the subway is now expanding and the only danger we ever hear about is pickpocketing. People tend to be less direct here–in more ways than one. Another great thing is that you can everything is in Sofia, just like any major city. Maple Syrup, peanut butter and spices, for example are not at our corner market, but we can, in fact, find them.

While there is an admittedly defeating parking problem–actually it’s not a problem for drivers, they just park on the sidewalk–this presents an obstacle course for stiletto-wearing residents and anyone who wants to, um, walk around. But with all the engineers I hear about at USAID (they hang out at the Irish Harp, I guess) maybe it will only be a few years.

And that brings me to our apartment. Sunlit, tiny, on the fourth floor (no elevator, but remember we only have two bags, no boxes!) and maybe 100 yards from a fresh-fruit-vegetable-pasta-liquor-milk corner market, it’s terribly cute. It’s furnished of course, so, not only does it have the charm of french doors, an arch, exposed radiators and built-in linen cupboards, but there’s vintage furniture, chocolate-brown and round-edged like that antique radio you’ve seen on Broadway, a full length french mirror with white flower detail reminiscent of Decade (more Broadway shopping) middle-eastern style pillows and cushions for lounging and a balcony! So it has four rooms, really kitchen/couch/table area, bedroom/living area and bathroom. Remember it’s small, though. We have maybe three burners, a toaster oven and what sort of looks like a stove, but definitely is not. We’ll have to distill all of our water, our fridge is maybe a little bigger than my dorm fridge (remember Mom and Dad) and there IS a washer–quite a bonus. No dryer–have yet to see one here in Bulgaria. Hello clothespins! Our apartment is also quite close to everything or so we’re told–the tram, the cathedral, loads of restaurants, two parks, my work, etc.

What else about Sofia–well, the mountains, with hiking, ten dollar lift tickets and climbing are only a short hour or so away. (Yes, please don’t remind us how similar this sounds to Denver!) People, of course, party all night long and nothing really happens until around 11.

There is also, though I’m sure this is not unique, a yellow-brick road or “street paved with gold”. How cool is that?