So, dreaming of a white Christmas has never really been something that I've done. Growing up in North Carolina, I've become more than comfortable with our mild winters and not-so-white Christmases. Here in Bulgaria, however, I was not surprised when it started snowing around the middle of Decemeber. I was surprised to see how excited all of my students still got when they saw the snow. I couldn't understand it. This happens every year. It's no big surprise when it snows here. I went with it anyway and turned a few class periods into snowball throwing lessons. I'll admit it, the first day or so was fun. But then, the snow didn't melt away like it does back home. It stayed...and stayed...and stayed. In fact, it turned into ice and then more snow fell on top of it. The short walk to school became quite treacherous with all of the ice and it was a personal best if I could make it to school without slipping. I still haven't fallen (knock on wood) and I'm pretty proud of that. Anyway, once I realized that this snow wasn't going anywhere anytime soon I began to come to the conclusion that for the first time in my life I was going to have a white Christmas...whether I wanted one or not.
Before my Christmas break could officially begin, I had two holiday parties to attend: my 8a class party and the faculty party. The 8a party was first and I went down the cafe with Denny (Betty's daughter) and we had some food and there were presents. One of the students dressed up as Santa or "Diyado Kolada" (Grandfather Christmas) and gave everyone presents. I even got a poinsetta from the class. It was cute and the kids really enjoyed it. After that party I walked over to the "Mehana" where the teachers' party was being held. I walked in right in the middle of a horro and had to fight to not be dragged into it. One of the male teachers had told me that I was to be his date for the night because his wife was in Sofia. I agreed and he turned out to be a great date. He gave me a plastic flower and made sure that I never saw the bottom of my glass. He also had all kinds of things that he kept pulling out of his pockets for the occassion: balloons, string, more flowers, confetti and some kind of toy that had a strobe light that he would shine on the dancefloor. There was a raffle, dinner, drinks and dancing. It was a great time. I got to show off my horroing skills and the teachers were pretty impressed. During the non-horro songs, I became instantly aware that everyone was watching me to see how the American danced. Part of me wanted to just go wild and start doing absolutely ridiculous dance moves, but I decided to play it low. I didn't want to embarrass anyone.
The next big stop was Hannah's Holiday House for Christmas. There were about fifteen people there and we had a Secret Santa and a potluck dinner. It was great. Most of the day was spent making the food with a few breaks to talk to families on Skype. We walked to the Sea and it was nice and the weather was surprisingly warm. We were joined by two Peace Corps Morocco Volunteers. They wanted to be in a country that actually recognized Christmas and Bulgaria just happened to fall into that category. I'm sure it helped that it was another Peace Corps country as well. Everything went over without a hitch and the next day, the crowd dispersed.
My next stop was Sofia the night before our flight to Italy! Our group: Adrienne, Lexi, Hannah, Matt and myself all met at Hostel Mostel and decided to have one last night of fun in Sofia beforew we flew out the next day. One of the Moroccan Volunteers was there too and we couldn't let him have his last night in Bulgaria alone. The next morning we all drowsily made our way to the Sofia Airport and got ready for our flight. True to Bulgarian form, our flight was delayed by almost an hour. We waited and waited and waited until finally it was our turn to board the bus that would take us to the plane (that we could see from the gate). After some mild issues with my boarding pass, our group made it onto the plane. Luck dealt us a good hand and we got to sit in the Emergency Exit rows because we could speak English. This meant that we got extra leg room and that we didn't have to share the row with anyone else because they're reserved seats.
After a very short flight/nap we landed in Forli, Italy. We had to take a train to Bologna, where we wandered around trying to find our bus stop to our hostel and then places to eat. We ended up eating at the first place we saw and it was the most amazing thing ever. After inhaling our food, we found our bus stop and got on board for the hostel, which was located right outside of town. The hostel was really cool because it used to be a school and it's still a cool was to use that building. Everything was very clean and the people who worked there were very nice and helpful. Once we got to the hostel and got checked in we went to our room and unpacked a little (there were little closets). We were all pretty beat, so we decided to call it an early night. We didn't know quite how early it was, though, until we were all in bed and someone asked what time it was...8:00pm. We all busted out laughing. I have never in my life gone to bed at such an early hour, but we were all exhausted so we were more than OK with it that night.
The next day was New Year's Eve. We met an Australian guy at the bus stop who was traveling alone and we invited him to join us for the day/evening. We got into town and we were distracted by a huge street market. They had everything you could ever want in that market. The boys got seperated from us, but we managed to get along fine without them. After making sure that we looked at everything in the market, we went off to make a reservation at a resteraunt near the Square where the celebration would take place. We walked through the Square and saw a giant frog, the size of a building, wearing a crown and knew that in less than twelve hours he would be engulfed in flames and helping us welcome in 2011. We found the boys again and, after walking around some more, we decided to go back to the hostel to rest up for the evening. After our nap, we got ready and headed back out for the night. We ate at an amazing resteraunt and then we headed to a bar to wait until it was closer to midnight to go back to the Square. At about 11:30, we headed back towards the frog and, somehow, managed to get front row seats for his burning. The countdown was on and right at midnight the frog's crown started sparking and fireworks were going off overhead. Before you knew it, the whole frog was just one big ball of flames. It was pretty epic. The rest of the night just turned into one big struggle to get back to the hostel. We finally made it with the help of a very nice man named Giovanney (Lexi told him that she would name her first born child after him...I told him that I would name my dog after him).
The next day we all took it easy and just went into town to walk around a bit. We did more of the stuff on the map that the hostel had given us. We saw a lot of churches and older things like that. One of the churches was getting ready to have a service when we got there so Hannah and I stayed for it. I figured there was nothing wrong with starting the New Year off with a little Jesus. Although the service was entirely in Italian, it was still refreshing and I enjoyed it. It was interesting because it was a Catholic church and I'd never been to a Catholice service before. After the service, we met back up with the rest of the group and we decided that we would head back to the hostel and eat in. There was one pizza place that delivered to the hostel and that was the plan. I would like to take this time to mention that all of us ate pizza every single day we were there, and often times more than once a day. Italy has the best food that I've ever tasted. I'm pretty sure I gained 10lbs...and I don't even care.
Our plan for the next day was to go to Florence because everything in Bologna was supposed to be closed since it was Sunday. Our plan was foiled, however, when we went to the train station and there were literally no more tickets to Florence for that day. But, being the flexible, easy-going people that we are, we just waited in line and bought our tickets for the next day. No problem. We spent the day trying to find the University buildings and being discouraged because they were all closed since it was a break. We decided it would be another day at the hostel. We justified all of our time at the hostel by reminding ourselves that, although we were in Italy, we were also on vacation and resting is the most important thing to do on a vacation. That night we met some nice Italian boys who thought they wanted to play some American drinking games. They were good sports, but by the end of it, you could tell they weren't used to drinking wine quite like that.
Florence was on the agenda for the next day and it was gorgeous! We took a train that was overcrowded and overheated about an hour to Florence where we found ourselves in one of the most beautiful cities ever. We walked around and looked at anything and everything. We saw that Statue of David (which, we later found out wasn't actually the real Statue of David ssshhhh...) and we climbed to the top of the Duomo. You got to go up inside the Duomo and see the paintings on the ceiling up close and personal. It was incredible. Then, after you climbed 4r935720571208305823 steps and you've seen your life flash before your eyes and your lungs are about to collapse and you think you're going crazy because the staircase walls keep closing in on you, you get to the top. You step outside and you can see the entire city of Florence at sunset and then you realize that all those stairs were totally worth it. That sight was one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen. After we all took in the sight and caught our breath, we headed back down (which was a much easier journey) and got some food and did some shopping. We got back to Bologna and had a nice meal because it was our last dinner. Then we went to a bar that Lexi, Matt and Adrienne had gone to while Hannah and I were at the church and we had our final Italian drinks.
The next day we checked out of the hostel and made our way back to Forli and got on the plane back to Bulgaria. We were greeted by a fresh blanket of snow and plummeting temperatures. The vacation is definitely over, but it's nice to be back and I feel rejuvinated to take on a whole new semester of craziness.
