No pictures, but we just had a phenomenally relaxing weekend up at Rila again. Well, technically just Saturday afternoon/evening, but still.
Left here at 2:30 in the afternoon...met our driver at around 3:30, and were up at the cabin (owned by a dentist friend of the family; more of a mansion than a cabin; it's 4 stories, with the bottom the kitchen/dining area, then 3 floors with 3 rooms each on it) by 5 p.m. Kick-ass dinner (grilled pork, sausages, steaks, salads, cheeses, wine, rakia, beer, bread, caviar, you name it, it was there) and plenty of drinks. I was tossed by 9 p.m., so I went upstairs and fell asleep...
...and didn't wake up until nearly 10 a.m. this morning (Sunday).
For the record, I never sleep past 7 or 8. Evy hates it because even on the weekends I can go to bed at 1 or 2 a.m. and I'm up by 8 at the latest. I never sleep more than 6-7 hours a night. But for some reason or another, probably because of the complete lack of traffic and noise, and the peaceful surroundings of the pine trees, mountains, and 3 feet of snow blanketing the area, I slept nearly 13 hours. I haven't felt this completely rested in years.
Then, we had breakfast. Went up the ski slopes and had coffee at one of the cafes. Then went for a walk with everyone for a few hours, came back to the cabin, had lunch, drove home, and now we are relaxing with some of our favorite shows and wishing we had spent the whole weekend instead of just one night. Sadly, Evy teaches TOEFL classes on Saturdays, so until May we are limited to 1 night ventures on the weekends.
Still...what a great weekend. Perfect Sat/Sun.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Seven Rila Lakes
Now that I finally have some spare time, I’m uploading some pictures of one of our trips from 2009. I still have to get my hands on her mom’s laptop to get our Italy and Turkey trips from 2008, as well as the Paris trip. I’ll also be uploading some of our hiking trips, as well as January’s trip up to Ognyanovo, Melnik, and other ethnic mountain areas in Bulgaria. Enjoy!
The following are from the lower portion of Seven Rila Lakes, from the RIla Mountain Range. We live about 1.5 hour drive from here, and the family goes 3-4 times a year. This trip was just a half-day hiking trip where we went up to the lower portion, had lunch at one of the lakes, and came back down. A few people went all the way up to the top but we were not one of them on this particular trip, as we just went up for the lunch.
We plan on going up for a 3 day camping trip in 2010 in the same location.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Olympics!
Due to the time difference, I ended up staying up till nearly 2 a.m. watching the winter Olympics. They went on until 6 a.m., but I was too tired :) Have to watch the rest online when I have spare time.
YAY for winter Olympics!
YAY for winter Olympics!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Winter Olympics soon!
My favorite Olympics are the winter ones :) Less than 2 weeks away now! I can't wait.
Hoping to have some time on Sunday to get one of our trips uploaded. I was wanting to start with our early 2008 trips, but all of those files are on her mom's laptop, so we have to find time to get over to her house and stick them on a flash drive. We also can't seem to find where we stashed our pictures from Bodrum, Turkey. Yargh!
In the meantime, we have a lot of hiking trips from last year and this year to-date, so I'm going to put some of those up and start working on revamping the blog. In my spare time. Which is limited. Keep in mind this is totally a side project. I've got the main website going with all my freelance contracts, 3-4 hours a day of slushing/editing for the spec-fic 'zine, plus my fiction writing...which I've totally been slacking on. In between that I have my daily fitness routines, every-other-day market runs (we only eat fresh food, so market is every other day), and general relaxation, which takes a good 4-5 hours of my schedule =P
Hoping to have some time on Sunday to get one of our trips uploaded. I was wanting to start with our early 2008 trips, but all of those files are on her mom's laptop, so we have to find time to get over to her house and stick them on a flash drive. We also can't seem to find where we stashed our pictures from Bodrum, Turkey. Yargh!
In the meantime, we have a lot of hiking trips from last year and this year to-date, so I'm going to put some of those up and start working on revamping the blog. In my spare time. Which is limited. Keep in mind this is totally a side project. I've got the main website going with all my freelance contracts, 3-4 hours a day of slushing/editing for the spec-fic 'zine, plus my fiction writing...which I've totally been slacking on. In between that I have my daily fitness routines, every-other-day market runs (we only eat fresh food, so market is every other day), and general relaxation, which takes a good 4-5 hours of my schedule =P
Monday, February 1, 2010
New offerings in 2010
One of the things I'm changing in 2010 is this particular blog. I've made mention of it in the past, but I finally came to a decision over the weekend.
Starting this month (February), this blog will be changing its title and its purpose to that of a travel blog, detailing our (Evy and myself) travels throughout the world. This will incorporate pictures of our trips, as well as an online travel blog.
These will be brief discussions/blog posts about our various trips, used as a way to keep our friends/family updated, as well allow me to have an online collage as I progress further into travel writing and need additional clips/references beyond the ghostwriting that I do for Pure Content and Trav Buddy.
Expect to see some updates in the coming weeks :)
Starting this month (February), this blog will be changing its title and its purpose to that of a travel blog, detailing our (Evy and myself) travels throughout the world. This will incorporate pictures of our trips, as well as an online travel blog.
These will be brief discussions/blog posts about our various trips, used as a way to keep our friends/family updated, as well allow me to have an online collage as I progress further into travel writing and need additional clips/references beyond the ghostwriting that I do for Pure Content and Trav Buddy.
Expect to see some updates in the coming weeks :)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Opportunities
Evy just received a phone call over the weekend from a university requesting her to teach a TOEFL class. To this day she has (as I understand it) the highest score in the nation from her test in 2005...293/300.
She has an interview tomorrow, and she will be teaching the class for a few months.
Great CV materiel, and another move up the ladder :)
She has an interview tomorrow, and she will be teaching the class for a few months.
Great CV materiel, and another move up the ladder :)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
One of those days...
...when time just seems to be dragging by. I have a meeting in an hour with a literary agent to discuss some potential business information regarding our spec-fic zine here in Bulgaria, and I've been done with work since 1 p.m. (it's closing in on 5 p.m. now). I could have been working on fiction for the past 4 hours, but instead I've just sat of randomly browsed the Interwebz and wasted a good chunk of my day. First time that's happened in awhile. I think it must be necessary from time to time.
Snowed most of the morning...few inches of white stuff covering Sofia. I'm sleepy.
Things are going good. Business is steady, I've got plenty to keep me busy, and we have lots of stuff planned for the next few months. Can't believe January is already more than half over...month just flew by.
More another time :) Going to go get dressed and fiddle on YouTube while I wait for departure time.
Snowed most of the morning...few inches of white stuff covering Sofia. I'm sleepy.
Things are going good. Business is steady, I've got plenty to keep me busy, and we have lots of stuff planned for the next few months. Can't believe January is already more than half over...month just flew by.
More another time :) Going to go get dressed and fiddle on YouTube while I wait for departure time.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Cultural differences, or "what I love about Bulgaria"
Every day is a holiday :)
Ok ok, not every day, but here's the thing: back in the States there are only a few holidays set apart each year for people to take off work and have a get together with family and friends. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, and a few others. Birthdays are not always a special occasion; some people do not even celebrate with much more than a quiet dinner out.
I've lost track of Bulgarian holidays. Seriously. There are so many of them that I cannot keep up. Basically I'm to the point after two years that when my wife says "there's such-and-such coming up this/next weekend" I just nod my head and get ready for the night of my life.
Bulgarian holidays are never reserved. They are never quiet. These are moments when food must be attacked with a voracious appetite reserved for men who spent the last year starving in a prison camp, when drink is quaffed with such vigor as to imply that this will be the last night anyone will ever be allowed to enjoy spirits, where the music is loud enough to have your ears ringing, and dancing is as much a part of the experience as breathing air.
American holidays are usually reserved, especially if they are in a public place. What I want you to do is picture going to Olive Garden or the Outback Steakhouse or any restaurant you care to name, and insert the following experience. Think of how many lawsuits would occur. Just think about it. Enjoy!
I want to give you a brief example. Last Thursday was my wife's name day. We don't have name days in the United States. A name day is a day of the year associated with a particular root name. Some names can be celebrated on more than one days (what a lucky person!), and in Bulgaria, this is a HUGE tradition. EVERYONE is invited to these celebrations, not just friends and family.
Last Thursday in particular was a celebration for everyone sharing the root name of Ivan. (Ivana, Ivan, Ivanka, etc.) Close to 500,000 Bulgarians have some form of the word Ivan in their names, which makes it one of the most popular name days out of the year.
In any case, I have been to many Bulgarian parties over the last couple of years, some of them particularly wild, but last Thursday was out of this world. First, we show up at the restaurant (which was up at a mountain resort; we had a mountain retreat last week) and there are around 40-50 people inside. There is a cultural band playing folk music: drummer, keyboardist, some other stuff. There is a vocalist, but mostly it is everyone in the room taking turns on the mic singing some of the traditional songs. It is LOUD. Loud enough that you cannot hear someone shouting in your ear unless they are shouting IN your ear, and repeating themselves several times.
Everyone is drinking. EVERYONE is dancing. And not quiet, reserved dancing. I'm talking cultural dances, people joining hands and working their way through complicated steps of traditional folk dances. EVERYONE learns the cultural dances here; it is a part of growing up in Bulgaria.
The spread on the table is out of this world. There is salad, chicken, pork, beef, cheeses, wines, beers, whiskeys, vodkas, rakia, and much, much more. You eat until you are stuffed. You drink until you feel as though you could breathe fire. Then you drink some more. Then you eat some more. And you dance. You dance until the sweat is pouring down your back and forehead, until your feet ache.
The keyboardist is jamming out. The drummer has a portable drum stand which he is moving around the room with the people dancing. People are pouring alcohol over him. Pouring water on his drums, on him. He moves his drum stand onto a chair. Women suddenly step up onto the table, their feet delicately placed between the plates of food, and they are dancing. Wild, jiggly, belly dancing that has everyone in the room roaring and cheering and laughing. Fists are pumping in the air with the music, everyone is singing at the top of their lungs, everyone is applauding. Everyone is shredding napkins and blowing them into the air like confetti. It is wild.
The dinner starts at 9 p.m. Everyone is fairly sauced up by 11. The party continues until 4 a.m.
This is only a brief example of the night. There was much more, but I was pretty liquored up myself, so there are a few elements which escape me. I did, however, attempt to dance some of the traditional dances, and I danced with my mom-in-law. I never dance. I suppose this shows how much I'd had to drink :)
Most Bulgarian holidays involve dancing, singing, lots of food and lots of booze, but I'd never seen people dancing on a table before. Evy says it happens frequently, just not always in the circles we run in. It's a cultural thing. Wild times! Can't wait for the next :)
Ok ok, not every day, but here's the thing: back in the States there are only a few holidays set apart each year for people to take off work and have a get together with family and friends. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, and a few others. Birthdays are not always a special occasion; some people do not even celebrate with much more than a quiet dinner out.
I've lost track of Bulgarian holidays. Seriously. There are so many of them that I cannot keep up. Basically I'm to the point after two years that when my wife says "there's such-and-such coming up this/next weekend" I just nod my head and get ready for the night of my life.
Bulgarian holidays are never reserved. They are never quiet. These are moments when food must be attacked with a voracious appetite reserved for men who spent the last year starving in a prison camp, when drink is quaffed with such vigor as to imply that this will be the last night anyone will ever be allowed to enjoy spirits, where the music is loud enough to have your ears ringing, and dancing is as much a part of the experience as breathing air.
American holidays are usually reserved, especially if they are in a public place. What I want you to do is picture going to Olive Garden or the Outback Steakhouse or any restaurant you care to name, and insert the following experience. Think of how many lawsuits would occur. Just think about it. Enjoy!
I want to give you a brief example. Last Thursday was my wife's name day. We don't have name days in the United States. A name day is a day of the year associated with a particular root name. Some names can be celebrated on more than one days (what a lucky person!), and in Bulgaria, this is a HUGE tradition. EVERYONE is invited to these celebrations, not just friends and family.
Last Thursday in particular was a celebration for everyone sharing the root name of Ivan. (Ivana, Ivan, Ivanka, etc.) Close to 500,000 Bulgarians have some form of the word Ivan in their names, which makes it one of the most popular name days out of the year.
In any case, I have been to many Bulgarian parties over the last couple of years, some of them particularly wild, but last Thursday was out of this world. First, we show up at the restaurant (which was up at a mountain resort; we had a mountain retreat last week) and there are around 40-50 people inside. There is a cultural band playing folk music: drummer, keyboardist, some other stuff. There is a vocalist, but mostly it is everyone in the room taking turns on the mic singing some of the traditional songs. It is LOUD. Loud enough that you cannot hear someone shouting in your ear unless they are shouting IN your ear, and repeating themselves several times.
Everyone is drinking. EVERYONE is dancing. And not quiet, reserved dancing. I'm talking cultural dances, people joining hands and working their way through complicated steps of traditional folk dances. EVERYONE learns the cultural dances here; it is a part of growing up in Bulgaria.
The spread on the table is out of this world. There is salad, chicken, pork, beef, cheeses, wines, beers, whiskeys, vodkas, rakia, and much, much more. You eat until you are stuffed. You drink until you feel as though you could breathe fire. Then you drink some more. Then you eat some more. And you dance. You dance until the sweat is pouring down your back and forehead, until your feet ache.
The keyboardist is jamming out. The drummer has a portable drum stand which he is moving around the room with the people dancing. People are pouring alcohol over him. Pouring water on his drums, on him. He moves his drum stand onto a chair. Women suddenly step up onto the table, their feet delicately placed between the plates of food, and they are dancing. Wild, jiggly, belly dancing that has everyone in the room roaring and cheering and laughing. Fists are pumping in the air with the music, everyone is singing at the top of their lungs, everyone is applauding. Everyone is shredding napkins and blowing them into the air like confetti. It is wild.
The dinner starts at 9 p.m. Everyone is fairly sauced up by 11. The party continues until 4 a.m.
This is only a brief example of the night. There was much more, but I was pretty liquored up myself, so there are a few elements which escape me. I did, however, attempt to dance some of the traditional dances, and I danced with my mom-in-law. I never dance. I suppose this shows how much I'd had to drink :)
Most Bulgarian holidays involve dancing, singing, lots of food and lots of booze, but I'd never seen people dancing on a table before. Evy says it happens frequently, just not always in the circles we run in. It's a cultural thing. Wild times! Can't wait for the next :)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A difference in "customer service"
I'm going to make a statement. You can choose to agree or disagree.
Americans have become far too reliant upon "the customer is always right". People know now that all they have to do is throw a fit, scream, stamp their feet, or claim sexual/racial harassment and they will get whatever they want, all in an attempt to placate the person and avoid a lawsuit.
This is the perfect example of someone who has come to rely upon the "customer is always right" mentality, to the point they think they can break property and wreak havoc because they didn't get what they wanted. If/when they catch up with her, you can bet your ass she'll claim racial discrimination as well.
Priceless.
Then, we have European customer service. The customer is always wrong. Today, Evy and I went back to the computer store where we bought our laptop just before New Year's. The case we bought wasn't quite big enough for the laptop, and we wanted to exchange it for the next size up. First of all, they treated us like we were thieves. Doesn't matter that we've spent over 5k in their store this year alone...we walk in with a receipt and a bag and they are like "gasp, you want to exchange this? Impossible!"
We have to wait for the manager. The manager comes down and, no joke, this is what she tells Evy.
"What's the problem?"
"Our laptop doesn't quite fit this bag, so we wanted to exchange it for something bigger."
"Why didn't it fit?"
"Because our laptop is a couple inches too big" (the lady at the time gave us a 15" bag, our laptop is 15.6", and while the bag is supposed to fit all 15" bags, ours doesn't fit)
"And you tried to push it in?"
Duh. "Yes, it wouldn't fit."
"You didn't try hard enough."
I am NOT joking. That was her answer. "You didn't try hard enough."
So folks, the next time you are at McDonald's crying about the burger you just got, think about what it's like in the rest of the world outside of America, where the customer is NOT always right.
Americans have become far too reliant upon "the customer is always right". People know now that all they have to do is throw a fit, scream, stamp their feet, or claim sexual/racial harassment and they will get whatever they want, all in an attempt to placate the person and avoid a lawsuit.
This is the perfect example of someone who has come to rely upon the "customer is always right" mentality, to the point they think they can break property and wreak havoc because they didn't get what they wanted. If/when they catch up with her, you can bet your ass she'll claim racial discrimination as well.
Priceless.
Then, we have European customer service. The customer is always wrong. Today, Evy and I went back to the computer store where we bought our laptop just before New Year's. The case we bought wasn't quite big enough for the laptop, and we wanted to exchange it for the next size up. First of all, they treated us like we were thieves. Doesn't matter that we've spent over 5k in their store this year alone...we walk in with a receipt and a bag and they are like "gasp, you want to exchange this? Impossible!"
We have to wait for the manager. The manager comes down and, no joke, this is what she tells Evy.
"What's the problem?"
"Our laptop doesn't quite fit this bag, so we wanted to exchange it for something bigger."
"Why didn't it fit?"
"Because our laptop is a couple inches too big" (the lady at the time gave us a 15" bag, our laptop is 15.6", and while the bag is supposed to fit all 15" bags, ours doesn't fit)
"And you tried to push it in?"
Duh. "Yes, it wouldn't fit."
"You didn't try hard enough."
I am NOT joking. That was her answer. "You didn't try hard enough."
So folks, the next time you are at McDonald's crying about the burger you just got, think about what it's like in the rest of the world outside of America, where the customer is NOT always right.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Whew!
Busy first few days of the month.
Marginal Boundaries launched yesterday, with some small fanfare. Couple hundred hits on the site, and a few submissions already. Not bad for a first day.
Writing contest over at Complete Writing Solutions is on-going. Submissions end this Friday.
I have a personal content writing project going. So far I'm averaging over 60 USD per hour. The goal is to keep this up for the month of January, and post a pros/cons list at the end of the month. I'm tracking all the relevant data...how long it takes me to keyword search for articles in my niche, how long I have to deal with style sheets, and how long it takes me to write the physical articles. Also included is any rewrites. Yesterday, for example, I worked for 2 hours and made 120 USD. My ultimate goal with this project is to show people how lucrative content writing can be, and how easy it is to simply take 2 hours a day out of your schedule and walk away with 2k a month...24k a year. Think about how much time you spend on Facebook, Twitter, watching shows like Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, or whatever.
I continually boggle at people who say they "can't afford" something because they "don't have time" to spend a couple hours a day working on a hobby project. I'm writing about topics I know, topics I enjoy. It isn't work. It's a hobby I'm getting paid for. Every single solitary person I know "wastes" 4-5 hours a day of their time on "entertainment"; that is, TV shows, Facebook applications, video games, or otherwise. And while entertainment is absolutely vital to our well-being, there is also the fact that if you need income...the only person standing between you and success is you. Everyone has two hours a day of spare time that they could spend writing content. Imagine an extra 24 grand in your bank account at the end of the year, above and beyond your normal salary. That's a car. A down payment on a house. Your mortgage payments for the entire year. A first-class all-inclusive 5+ star resort vacation for you and your spouse. The possibilities are endless.
Just a small update from my world. Staying busy!
Marginal Boundaries launched yesterday, with some small fanfare. Couple hundred hits on the site, and a few submissions already. Not bad for a first day.
Writing contest over at Complete Writing Solutions is on-going. Submissions end this Friday.
I have a personal content writing project going. So far I'm averaging over 60 USD per hour. The goal is to keep this up for the month of January, and post a pros/cons list at the end of the month. I'm tracking all the relevant data...how long it takes me to keyword search for articles in my niche, how long I have to deal with style sheets, and how long it takes me to write the physical articles. Also included is any rewrites. Yesterday, for example, I worked for 2 hours and made 120 USD. My ultimate goal with this project is to show people how lucrative content writing can be, and how easy it is to simply take 2 hours a day out of your schedule and walk away with 2k a month...24k a year. Think about how much time you spend on Facebook, Twitter, watching shows like Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, or whatever.
I continually boggle at people who say they "can't afford" something because they "don't have time" to spend a couple hours a day working on a hobby project. I'm writing about topics I know, topics I enjoy. It isn't work. It's a hobby I'm getting paid for. Every single solitary person I know "wastes" 4-5 hours a day of their time on "entertainment"; that is, TV shows, Facebook applications, video games, or otherwise. And while entertainment is absolutely vital to our well-being, there is also the fact that if you need income...the only person standing between you and success is you. Everyone has two hours a day of spare time that they could spend writing content. Imagine an extra 24 grand in your bank account at the end of the year, above and beyond your normal salary. That's a car. A down payment on a house. Your mortgage payments for the entire year. A first-class all-inclusive 5+ star resort vacation for you and your spouse. The possibilities are endless.
Just a small update from my world. Staying busy!
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