Lucky Bansko Aparthotel

... hauptsaechlich Bulgaren.<br><br>Das Kloster wurde 927 gegruendet und durch seine Lage tief in den Bergen half es die bulgarische Kultur in den 500 Jahren in denen Bulgarien zum ottomanischen Reich gehoert zu erhalten.<br><br>In den bulgarischen Kirchen, die wie alle orthodoxen Kirchen reich verziert sind, darf man leider nicht fotografieren. <br><br>Gruss<br>Ralf<br>

A lot of Americans celebrated and had fun on this day but not me. I went to the central bus station on time to catch an early bus but somehow the cashier sold me a wrong ticket so I missed the bus, and then she refused to give me the refund. The first really unpleasant experience for this trip. And the day didn't get much better after this. I ended up catching a later bus to Bansko, but because of that I ...

8th June<br><br>Sofia to Rila Monastery<br><br>Sunny am 27 degrees Late storm<br><br>After breakfast we left our lovely hotel room in Sofia to drive to Rila Monastery. We made one detour to see some sign-posted rock formations where we drove up a goat track for a while, then climbed a hill and got to see a nice view but with no sign of the rock formations ...

... would have been colder than that! Unfortunately on this trip back into town we hit peak hour with an expensive tariff taxi so instead of it costing us 7 leva (£3.50) we had to get out and walk when we realised the meter was already on 31 leva and we were no where close to home yet (and that we only had 25 leva on us - a quick stop at the ATM and all was good besides we walked it faster than the cab would have driven it!

... cup of tea from their cafe. It's funny here, everyone in Bulgaria thinks that tea should always be flavoured, not normal flavour, and that it should be drunk black. I ask for milk and they don't seem to understand. When I finally get my message accross, (Bulgarian is very similar to Russian) they give me my milk but still proceed to put lemon in my tea. Yuck, they obviously don't know what happens when you mix lemon and milk together.

... everyone else early in the afternoon and we set out on the 2hr bus ride to the Dancing Bear Rescue Park in Belitsa. The road there was so rough that even I couldn't sleep, I think my bottom might be bruised from flying of the seat so much. I know my head hurts pretty bad from bouncing off the window the one time I did try to sleep! The Dancing Bears Park in Belista was founded in 2000 and it ...

... Two more hours on the bus and we were in Bansko. Got ready and then we went out for a big group dinner. The restaurant was a traditional place and had a gypsy band playing some music. Had some cured ham type of meat and then and amazing (!!!) rice, sauerkraut and shredded pork dish. Blew the one earlier out of the water! On the way back a couple of us grabbed some 2L bottles of beer (for $1.50!) and sat on the balcony for a couple of hours having some drinks.

These next few entries are way late, i know!! i dont know what my problem is, its not like i'm busy over here. Anyway, the school year began on the 15th of September, as it does every year. I really like their attitude about it - they consider it a holiday, and tell eachother (and me) ÷åñòèò ïúðâè ó÷åâåí äåí! (chestit purvi ucheben den, or happy first day of school.) just regular people in the town who weren ...

... about needing information ahead of time. Valerie and I taught the 8th class on Monday, no problems, and reviewed the plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. Valerie taught on Tuesday while Spaz taught my regular section, but before hand reviewed the plan with him, which was to review reported speech. On Wednesday we came to school and Spaz tells me, yesterday I taught passive voice, so today you teach Reported Speech. Now, you have to understand that we make up lesson plans ...

... too. My town is called Kocherinovo (really difficult to remember) and the other 3 people in my training group and our language trainer are really cool. They call them language trainers instead of teachers. All we know so far is that Kocherinovo has 6200 people and no internet café. Tomorrow morning we'll find out info on the families, then move in with them tomorrow afternoon. I'm really ready... I hope they are just like Pepi, my spanish host mom. Also I hope ...