Daskot - Bulgaria.

This summer I've tagged along with one of my closest friends Sophie to her parents house over in Bulgaria, her parents moved over about 14 months ago and it's a perfect excuse to go explore and get a tam, and visit them at the same time! I figure this is a gat way to keep a journal of what we get up to..

Day one

Today we arrived to a very hot, windy, beautiful Bulgaria. Driving to the house from the airport we went through some poverty stricken villages. Houses made from mud and corrugated iron, I could see kids sleeping on the bare floors through the door frames that held no doors. I'm told that bulgaria has a lot of gypsy settler families who are called 'dirties'.. Racism is rife here and the villages that have no gypsys are called 'clean' and tourists are encouraged to stay away from the dirty villages. Sophie's parents live in Daskot which has 4 gypsy families. When you drive past their houses they have anorexic horses chained outside and rubbish everywhere. It's sad to see how people are treated as unclean or different, when they just live a certain way. I'm very anti-racism so hearing all this was sad for me. I made sure I gave the gypsy kids an extra big smile. We spent the first day playing with the 3 kittens,dog and chickens, then took the dog for a walk through the fields. The house is great, big with a huge veranda. Excited for my 2 weeks here!

Day two

Today me and soph worked on our base tan.. But 4 hours spent lying in 34 degree heat has left me with a very burnt tummy.. I enjoyed a bacon sandwich on home made bread sat on a sunny veranda then spent my day in and out of the pool, playing with kittens and walking round the village. Sophie's.    mum Louise is very into baking, so we've been eating a lot and well! I'd say base tan is   very successful. We saw the old church which is abandoned, the mayor wouldn't let us go in at night as its too dangerous but he promised to take us round the church, school and theatre which are also abandoned. That will be exciting.. And chase is very jealous! Plans have been made for our two weeks.. So bring on the sun!

Day three

Today we headed into velikotarnovo On the bus. It took about an hour, on what we would call a minivan.. The kind of van that used to take us on our school trips. Once we got there we hit the shops, me and Sophie bought some girly dresses and we walked up to the castle and had some goats cheese pizza in Sophie and her mums favourite joint. I had a horrible Creme brûlée, and we headed back to the house. The city was very pretty, and set on a hill so whenever there was a break in the building lines there was a beautiful view. It's the old capital do there's lots of statues of men I've got no clue about, the castle was almost a ruin and set on the hill opposite the city so the walk up to it was beautiful. We walked rocky the dog round to the village cemetery and abandoned factory, watched the sunset on the walk. Houses in Bulgaria put photos of the people that die on their door frames with a black bow if it's a recent death, they also have a special sticker which lets trouble know that they are protected by the mafia which you pay a yearly subscription for... It's very strange!

Day four

Today we went into pavlikeni, the nearest town to run some errands and have a dip in the pool. The town was much bigger than I expected. When you first see a Bulgarian town it looks dead and everything seems boarded up, but in actual fact all the shops are open.. They just can't afford to give their shop a facelift! we got to see the hospital too, complete with no air conditioning or heating in 37 degree summers and -30 winters. Most of the windows were broken and the staff all leave at night leaving patients alone and uncared for. What I've seen in this country so far has been great, but help

me appreciate England and its plentiful society. We had a dip in a pool at one of the town bars, which had beautiful fishing lakes and views and then headed back the house to work on more tan. We set up badminton in the garden.. Which went terribly. Sophie and I would like to blame that on the wind..    Or the fact we had no net.. But really, we just sucked at it. Haha. We've managed to get Sophie's    mum Louise addicted to draw something.. And she's been coming up with some masterpieces! It's   such a wonderful atmosphere here, we're all very musical so someone is always singing and   everything is chilled out and relaxed. I'm loving it so far!  

Day five.

This morning we went to the market at levski, me and Sophie bought some more girls clothes which I would call a successful market trip, then we had a drink at a nearby hotel and checked it out for swimming sometime next week. It was set on top of a hill surrounded by Christmas trees with a lot of naked children, who were too old to be naked, running around. Party atmosphere, but gorgeous pool and friendly staff. Hotel Bora. Then back to the house for an afternoon of tanning, and soph and her mum did some gardening, then out for a traditional Bulgarian sache in the evening, it's basically a hot plate of meat veg and potato in a creamy sauce and you order other bits alongside. It was really delicious. Then the bartender from Sophs mums village arrived with his son, very drunk and commiserating the latest football score, and continued to chat Sophie up for an hour. We did get a free drink.. But poor Sophie! She was offered a free holiday! The meal was lush, a very entertaining evening

Day six

Today is Sunday and we had a lazy day. I'd already checked on the lds church locator site and the nearest ward to here is Plovdiv which is over 3 hours drive. Imagine having to live so far away from church that you physically wouldn't be able to attend every week due to cost, or land commitments. I feel so blessed to be a 10 minute walk from my ward both at uni and in my hometown! I had a long lie-in this morning and awoke to beautiful 32 degree sunshine. I had my breakfast of fresh fruit salad on the terrace with my scriptures and then had a successful day of tanning. We listened to music, we paddled in the pool, we laughed, we sang and we relaxed. We explored the ruin which is on Sophs families land here which the gypsys burned when they were evicted.. It was sad to see such a beautiful house in ruins. Louise cooked us a traditional English (yes, we're true brits.. None of that horrid foreign stuff! Ha) and then I skyped my beautiful boyfriend. We took the dog for a walk and then played cards into the evening. A fun, relaxing day :)

Day seven

Today was fun! We headed into the nearby town pavlikeni again and looked around the shops whilst Sophs mum had her Bulgarian language lesson. We helped her revise last night and I now know that melon is pepeche, cherry is kechecke and Louise can complain about sour tasting apples at the market! How useful. We had some yummy ice cream in an outside cafe whilst we waited and ,eased with the cameras. I have laughed a lot today, and combined with another new illness.. Hay fever.. Which has suddenly decided to appear at the age of 20, my eyes have been constantly streaming. It's very annoying. After ice cream they took me to the lakes at Alexander stamboliski which were absolutely stunning. There's a huge damn and one of the biggest lakes I've ever seen. we tried to find a place to swim but we were defeated by people fishing and then the only free spot being really muddy, with roaming snakes and eels. So we headed to the public swimming pool in pavlikeni instead and had fun there. My tan is coming along nicely and we've had a lot of laughs. We're going to the zoo tomorrow, IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Day eight

So we're now into week two of our exotic sunny holiday. The tans are building, and so is the heat! 37 today and scheduled to be hotter tomorrow. This morning we headed to the market in pavlikeni and yet again, me and soph spent our money on girly clothes, although she bought a very elegant winter cardigan.. Like a madwoman. We ended up buying paper fans to walk around with cos it was so hot, soph got sick yesterday with sunstroke so there was extra sitting down with drinks today, which I am not complaining about at all! We had icecream, doughnuts and Greek kebabs and then finally headed over to the zoo. Free entry with a requested donation and we got to see a bear!!! I've never seen Sophie so hyper and excited. The bear was super cute, playing with his log in the paddling pool. There wasn't much else to see apart from some posing ducks and pigs. But I was impressed with what we got for free admission.. And Sophie defenately was. It was a lot of fun and we got some cute photos. We did some grocery shopping then headed back to the house to sit in the shade for the afternoon, none of us could face the heat. I read a whole book in 24 hours! And we started a card game which I'm sure is going to take us a week to finish. Today was fun, let's hope I survive the heat tomorrow!

Day nine

Today Soph and her mum got their hair cut in the local salon, it cost them about 4 english pounds for a total restyle, not too shabby! everything is so cheap here, to sit down for a drink and an ice cream costs a bout one pound fifty! We headed to the pool again after, the temperatue is still up 38-40 and its too hot for Louise to work in the garden so shes using it as the perfect excuse to get her legs out near the pool! ive been skyping friends and their comments on how brown i am are very well received! Im having a great time, but missing Chase alot.. not too long left then i get my boyfriend back :)

Day ten

Today we stayed at the house, so i slept in then spent the day in and out of the paddling pool. It was just far too hot, almost 40, to work on the tan much so i got on with my book and curled up with the kittens in the comfort of the sofa with the fan on full blast. If only there was some kind of outdoors air conditioning system!  We walked into the village to look for the Mayor who seems to be good at disappearing.. and had a drink at the cafe. Cafe come shop come supermarket come butchers.. i guess because its the only one in the village it has to be all of them in one! I got some more pics of the village and then straight back to the house and into the pool. Im loving how relaxed i feel, but now that the end is drawing nigh.. the emails are coming in of requests for activities and things people want me to start organising as part of my calling at home. Please leave me alone for another 4 days!!

Day Eleven

Today we drove back into Levski for lunch out and for Sophie to go into her favourite shop. She bought jeans.. in 40 degrees.. she is a cracker. We had lunch in a nicely air conditioned cafe above a supermarket. The food was lovely, but the service slow, rude, and disappointing. I fully understand how Bulgarians must get frustrated having to see so many tourists and the way we talk openly about the poverty and gypsy culture, but i have never felt so unwelcome. At the end of the day young waitresses i hold the money that makes up your wages! and you aint getting no tips from my fingers!! Gosh, rant over. We then headed back to the pool, again, where me and Sophie gained 2 little followers. Girls of about.. 9 i would guess. They followed us around and tried saying hello in broken english. I guess they were jealous of our sexy tans and womanly curves ;) haha, they were quite sweet. More work on the tan, which i have to admit is browner than some foreign friends i have back home.. More tanning to come tomorrow!

Day Twelve

Today was a lazy day spent by the pool, book in hand. I finished one novel and started another, Book number 3 since i've been out here. It seems to be a holiday tradition for me that I read alot, but only on holiday. First one was Marley & Me.. which was good, but i dont really like dogs so im not sure why i read it in the first place! Second was called Walk in the park which was hilarious and I read that in less than a day. Third is called Marrying up, which isnt my usual kind of read but it has bestseller pasted all over it so other people obviously loved it! Im choosing books from the liimted selection in Louises guest bedroom and i've lucked out so far! Tomorrow will be our last lazy day, Monday were exploring the village and packing, then Tuesday we head home. Will miss Bulgaria.. but today was 41 degrees and I cant handle the heat!! Loving my tan though.

Day Thirteen

Today was more reading, chillaxing in the garden and teaching the Earls a new card game. It was 41 again today, so ALOT of time was spent in the pool. I finished another book, and started a new one called Marrying Up, which is the definition of a rubbish, trashy novel. The ladies made a lemon meringue pie, which turned out a little.. lemony :) 

Day Fourteen

Last day today, we finally got our tour of the church. Totally left to ruins, the usual pews and altar were still inside but all moved out of the way which makes me think that maybe it was being squatted in, and thats why its in such disrepair. The mayor says they want it fixed up by November, but I dont see how thats possible. The inside was beautiful, with a proper belfry still containing the original huge brass bell. Apparently it still rings when a death happens, you can get a 'ding' to represent how much money youve got. The mayor was very dubious of health and safety so we never got to see inside the theatre or school but the church was bonus enough :) I love that I come from a religious family and even though the church was not from our religion, I still feel connected to it. You could tell that whoever built it, loved God and built it as a tribute. I respect that.

Heading home at 5am tomorrow. Have absoloutely loved Bulgaria and spenging so much time with Soph and her mum. Totally chilled couple of weeks and Im headed to France in a few weeks, loving Summer 2012!!