A chronicle of my experiences as a Peace Corps Community Organizational Development volunteer in Bulgaria.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Puhtoovaneh

Puhtoovaneh is travel in Bulgarian. I did some of that recently when I went back to New York for ten days to spend Christmas with my family. Because my flight didn't leave Sofia Airport until 2:30 in the afternoon, I planned to take a bus to Sofia that morning rather than go up the night before and stay at a hotel in town. I was chatting with my colleagues, Petya and Darina, about my plans and mentioned that I was planning on catching the 9:00am bus which would get me to the airport stop at about 12:00 noon. I could take a cab from there and be at the check-in counter by 12:30pm. They both began to explain the flaws in my reasoning to me, which consisted mainly of "you have to leave earlier in case 'something' happens". I've ridden the buses here for the past eighteen months and 'nothing' has ever happened but I bowed to their persistent and well-intentioned advice and decided to catch the 8:00am bus. The extra hour at the airport wouldn't really bother me and I planned to relax there with my book and a cup of coffee.

So I awoke early on Saturday morning, showered, picked up my bags and headed for the aftogara (bus station). I got there just in time to catch the 7:30am bus to Sofia, took my seat, accepted a cup of coffee from the attendant (stewardess?) and settled back to enjoy the movie (Lords of War). I mentally thanked my colleagues for their advice because the extra hour and a half relieved me of all time related stress in the beginning of my long journey to New York. Between Stara Zagora and Sofia the express bus makes only one stop, in Chirpan. After stopping in Chirpan it's a straight shot to the city and most of that distance is covered on a very modern divided highway. Just as we accelerated our way onto that highway, however, the dreaded 'something' did happen, there was a loud bang from underneath the bus as some part of the suspension chose that moment to die. The driver slowed the bus down to a crawl and for the next few miles we were tossed around in our seats like popcorn while the undercarriage crashed and shuddered its way over every bump in the road. We finally reached a filling station and pulled off the highway and the attendant announced that there would be a short pochivka (rest stop). Soon three men in blue work smocks began to poke and pry under the bus and eventually one of them came onto the bus to crawl down into the underneath through some removable panels in the floor. There was a great deal of banging and rattling going on as the 9:00am bus from Stara Zagora drove past us towards Sofia. From where I sat, the 9:00am seemed to be mechanically intact.

The three men in blue had our bus back on the road within an hour and we made very good time from the filling station to the tunnel. Sofia sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains and the highway from the east climbs partially up the elevation then cuts through the last bit with a short tunnel. We exited the tunnel into a heavy snowstorm and a pea soup fog. The road was slick with snow and visibility was non-existent so we were back to a slow crawl. An hour later we were at the stop closest to the airport and I quickly grabbed a cab and set off. The driver was a grizzled old fellow with one tooth and a ready grin to show it off. He was obviously proud of his single remaining tooth because he had framed it in gold. We chatted a little on the way to the airport and I mentioned that it was a shame that it was snowing because I was supposed to fly out later that afternoon. "Oh, the planes won't be bothered by the snow", I was assured by the cab driver. That was a relief. "No, it's this fog that will cause all the accidents." In Bulgaria you must always wait for the other shoe to drop.

I made it to the airport with time to spare, flew to London, changed terminals and caught the flight to JFK. My bag stayed on in London for a couple of extra days but it, eventually, made it to New York too. To celebrate my homecoming, the transit workers in NYC walked out on strike the day after I arrived. That didn't matter in the least because all I wanted to do was visit with my family and friends. My sons brought our baseball gloves with them from Illinois and we spent three days when the weather was absolutely beautiful playing catch in Central Park. I had a double bacon cheeseburger at Big Nick's and hot dogs at Papaya King. We went to see King Kong and I discovered that there is a price difference between New York and Stara Zagora ($10.75 vs. $2.00). Most of all, I just visited. It was Na Ghosti (long visit) time in New York.

My ten days seemed to go by in a heartbeat and the next thing I knew I was standing at the airline counter checking in for my flights back to Bulgaria. I had specifically requested an aisle seat and was surprised when the agent told me that they'd had to change my seat because the flight was so full. I began to whine that I'd had that seat reserved since August and I have long legs and I need to get some rest on this flight and.....when she interrupted me to explain that they were upgrading me to business class. Oh. Well, thank you very much. I had a very relaxing flight to London, changed terminals, caught the flight to Sofia, a cab to the bus station, the bus to SZ and was back home in an effortless 23 hours. I guess my bag had seen enough of London because it made the entire trip with me this time.

My trip back to the States was wonderful but it also felt good to get back here to Bulgaria. For now, this is home and it was good to get back home. It's the nature of this Peace Corps business that when you're well and truly settled into your life in your host country, it's time to leave. My COS (completion of service) date is October 10, 2006 and the time between now and then will pass very quickly. I've decided that in January I'll start figuring out what it is I want to do after my time here is up. I've got ten months to come up with a plan.

Well, New Year is right around the corner and I plan to spend mine with a glass of Stoil's domashna rakiya, a hand rolled cigar and my iTunes. I'll be on my balcony watching the SZ fireworks and, if you're in the neighborhood, you're welcome to join me.
Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?