After 4 months of no postings, hibernating within blankets curled by the radiator and venturing out only for work and sustenance, winter's end can finally be seen. Regretfully, I wanted to post more over the winter but in all honestly, like many Bulgarians, all I did was work like crazy and stay inside trying to keep warm by any means necessary. By even native standards, this winter was an extremely cold one let alone for someone like me from Seattle, where generally the temperature is pretty great - not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer. To all back home, I will
NEVER complain about the cold in winter again when I return home. It's got nothing on this place. By comparison, I would say the weather was very similar to the northern mid-west of the U.S. - Very cold and dry through the winter months.
Other than working at my school here in Shumen, I was fortunate enough to return to America for a brief trip for the holidays and it was great to see everyone. I f I didn't have time to see you(and I know there are many of you) I apologize. Unfortunately my time, spread over three different cities was quite limited. To get home, I travelled to Bucharest, Romania instead of Sofia, the capitol of Bulgaria because Shumen(my home away from home) is actually closer to the Romanian capitol. It was an adventure getting there, first by bus to the border and then in a man's car filled with another 4-5 people crossing the border into Romania. It was strange to say the least by American standards, especially because there are no signs in Bulgarian or English to tell you
where to get into
what car to get across the border but I managed to figure it out. Getting back into Bulgaria after my trip was even crazier as I had to find a specific hotel in Bucharest and then stand on a random curb for an unknown time where a man would pull up to take people back across into Bulgaria...all of this without being able to use English or Bulgarian. In short, Sofia would have been easier on a few levels but Bucharest was a pretty cool looking place. I'd like to go back there when the weather is better.
Yet now, as the snow has begun to thaw and spring is around the corner, I am looking forward to the amazing weather again, sitting outside under the trees and enjoying a coffee or a drink for hours watching people go by-true European style. These people can kill hours just people watching over a drink or two. It's one of my new favorite past times. Below, check out some pics of the winter in Shumen (a few are from the news or internet) and as things thaw, so shall I with hopes to post more frequently with warmer fingers.
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| The view from my windows |
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| My glassed in porch covered in a sheet of ice. Ice can be very beautiful given the time and extreme cold. |
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| View from my windows the opposite direction. |
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| The central walking street |
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| The greenbelt park and the central walking street during the height of the snowfall |
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| The Mosque and surrounding block apartments |
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| An awesome panorama shot I found online...I walk up that street every day to school. |
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| The central walking street again |
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| An artist's painting of the Shumen winter and the monument on the plateau. Once again, I walk up this street to school everyday and my counterpart Stella lives in that block in the foreground. |
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| A picture I took of some of my students before leaving for America. |
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| My fellow English teachers (from left to right) Galia, Marin, Sevda and Stella my counterpart the day before I left for America. They were great to cover for me for 2-3 days while I was travelling. |
