Updateontoday

So the corn... nasty. Artery clogger; there was a pool of butter at the bottom of the cup. I couldn't finish it and think I took a few years off my life span. But I finally got into my room, and there's a towel! I just finished packing up all my stuff, and am about to head to the beach with some zagorka. It wont be the same without everyone, but I'll do my best to make things right.

Last day in Varna - and Eastern Europe

Well I'm finishing where I started, only five weeks later. Its been fun. Being the last one left out here isn't quite as much fun, but I'm eating all the shopska I can for everyone who's missing out. I may finally drop the 2 lev on side-of-the-road corn I've passed up so many times. Its not quite one of those blistering hot Varna days I'm used to, but the entire road in front of dear Hotel Astra is getting torn up. Luckily in Bulgaria there are no safety standards, so you can walk through the construction zones willy nilly. I'll try to catch a glimpse of the water before I head to the airport, but I dunno if I'm gonna make it in - I have no towel, and being wet for my flights home probably isnt the best idea. I guess that'll have to wait until next time.

Another twelve hours until its time for me to head out. I really have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of my stay. Waltz around, all alone, I guess. Haha, maybe some zagorka on the beach will do me good. This may be my last check in from this lovely place called Bulgaria. I hope you enjoyed the blog!

I'm sure I'll do some follow up posts; you might here from me at an airport next.

Sending my love to everyone everywhere.

Now from Sofia

Here I am in Sofia, alone in my hostel for the first time in aaaaages. Saw Christine and Kat off at like four in the morning, its gonna be weird after being with them for over a month. Now a little lost and not quite sure what I should do, but whatever - I'll work something out. But to continue on from yesterday...

Arriving in Stara Zagora to some familiar faces was great. We introduced ourselves to the SZ field school team, and they seem aight - nothin special though. I lucked out with my teams I guess. We went out to dinner at a cool Italian resteraunt all ancient themed and stuff, then went back to our hotel to shower and freshen up, hung out downstairs and caught up with Courteny then went out with a large Balkan Heritage contingent to a cutty club in the pedestrian area. North American cities need to adopt these pedestrian thouroughfares - they kick ass, and people are always walking around no matter the time of night. We got let into the club hastle free when we flashed our California ids - thanks Arnold! The next morning, after a rough start, we hopped on the bus with the rest of the SZ team and drove a little over an hour to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's third largest city. There it looks like peopl actually care about there city - good work Plovdivians! We spen the day roaming, there are old Roman sites all over, some incorporated into modern buildings. Theres a small shopping street that uses the original Roman road, and some of the shops even use remnants of house walls in their product presentations. The Plovdiv old town is what we all agreed we assumed Bulgaria was going to be like. A little hilly, super skinny cobblestone roads surrounded by 19th centery massive homes and buildings. It was incredibly cool, and we all could see ourselves living there. Traditional Bulgarian homes are absolutely incredible, all with walled in garden/courtyards and incredbly detailed painting and woodwork on the buildings. We also got to check out a Roman Ampitheatre as well.

Christine, Kat and I brought our luggage with us to Plovdiv and caught a 6:00 bus to Sophia, and got here around 8 maybe? Saying goodbye to Nayden, Courteny, and Ivan 2 (another Balkan Heritage associate) was no good, but they were incredibly helpful I'm so thankful for all their efforts. After walking around Sofia with all our luggage for a good hour and a half, we finally get pointed in the direction of an almost brand new hostel and find a place to stay for the night. It is very cool, and where I'm typing all this from now. Last night we went out for lots of food at a Pizzeria down the street, then came back and hit the sheets. Its been a long few days, and the girls had to get up super early to catch their flight.

But here I am, ready to see some sights in Sofia, walk around, eat and drink a bit, then catch an overnight bus back to Varna, where my flight leaves from at... I'm not sure exactly, some time in the early morning hours of the 11th. I have to figure that out.

Time for me to sign out here, holpefully catch some of the cool bits in Sofia and continue surviving for just a bit longer. Lots of love to you all.

xoxo

Checking in from Plovdiv

Back in Bulgaria!

We had a great time in Turkey, but by the time we hopped on the bus we were thrilled to be on our way back to the Bulg. However (this was yesterday btw) our trip back to our newly adopted home was a little rough. First we discover the bus leaves at 10:30 rather than nine, which is what we had planned. That was ok though, we were working off maybe two hours of sleep and needed to rest and eat and drink, which we did plenty of in our disoriented states. Here in Bulgaria and in Turkey they serve a bunch of yoghurt and yoghurt drinks - they have a special bacteria in them here that helps kill all those nasty germs that make you sick, so I've been trying to have as much as I can. Anyway after hopping on the bus, which took us to the other side of the city where we caught the actual bus (heading towards Sofia, we were going to get off at Haskovo to catch another bus to our friends excavating a site in Stara Zagora). Well right after we get on the freeway, just on the outskirts of town, our bus dies and we are stranded on the side of the freeway for an hour. Finally a random Mini bus/van comes and picks up us stranded travellers (it was only us and a few older muslim women) and we're back on our slightly more uncomfortable way. Things go relatively smoothly until we hit the border. Things seem fine until we stop at the duty free and one of our drivers runs in and comes out with thousands of cigarettes. He hands out cartons to most of the travellers. All the while everyone is communicating in Turkish, and laughing at the fact that we have absolutely no idea whats going on. At one point in the border crossing (we went through quite a few toll booth things throught the ordeal) when we're off the bus he opens up the floorboards and jams more cigarettes under the floor and seats and such. No, this isnt sketchy at all. Meanwhile I find it hilarious we've somehow managed to land ourselves in the middle of a smuggling ring, but the girls are freaking out. As long as I didn't end up in Bulgarian prison, I was along for the ride. So after a tense hour, which included customs searching our van and opening some floorboards but somehow not finding anything, we made it back onto Bulgarian soil. Never would I have imagined I would be so thrilled to be back in my comfort zone, Bulgaria. We continued on our way, but made quite a few stops to drop off cigarettes to randos at gas stations. Finally we arrive in Haskovo, where a jovial security guard informs us that there are no more busses to Stara Zagora until the next day. Great. Luckily he says his friend can take us in a taxi there for a bit of an inflated price. We have no other options, really, so we say ok lets do it. His friend comes back a few minutes later - but he's no taxi driver. He arrives in an old early 80's Ford Escort hatchback that looks like its been around the block about 10 too many times. Today seems to be the day of sketch, so we're like what the hell and hop in this guys car. The moment we get on the freeway he starts driving about half as slow as he should be, and I realize he's in no rush, and we're probably gonna make it there in one piece. An hour later, we arrive in Stara Zagora where we are able to meet up with Nayden, one of the supervisers from our dig in Varna, and Courteny, one of Balkan Heritage's assistants who was also at Varna. Seeing familiar faces was absolutely incredibly awesome, and we're so thrilled we could see them again.


I've got loads more to tell but I gotta head out, so hopefully I'll remember everything for the next time. I'm heading to Sofia to stay there for the night in a few minutes, and I'll be alond for the first time since the first two days I was in Bulgaria, so I will probably get a chance to update more there, maybe tomorrow.

Until then much love, hope all is well and I can't wait to be home!

xoxo

istanbul!

Made it to turkey after spending a night in Sozopol, a smaller resort town about three or four hours south of Varna. After a confusing seven hour bus ride to the maın bus statıon ın ıstanbul, Chrıstıne, Kat and I managed to catch two dıfferent metros to the maın busy oldtown sectıon of the cıty. Wıth no hostel bookıngs, we were plannıng on walkıng around wıth all our luggage and beggıng each hostel we came across to take us ın. Well about 3 mınutes after walkıng, thıs random nıce-resteraunt-owner asked us ıf we needed help, and began to tell us about the hostels ın the area. Fırst though he sat us down - three dısgruntled, flustered, dırty and confused travellers - to rest ourselves and brought us out some amazıng apple tea. He then mentıoned he had a three story flat that used to house hıs brother that he ıs just begınnıng to renovate and rent out to people - for 45 euro a nıght. Thats how much ıt would have cost us to stay ın a decent hostel, so after quıck delıberatıon we decıded to go for ıt - as slıghtly sketchy as ıt was.

The place ıs amazıng holy moly. We stıll have no ıdea how we ended up wıth such a nıce base. For yasmeen, mom, dad and those who have been there, ıts lıke a mınıature versıon of our spot ın Cruzy. Small old sıde street, super skıny, fırst floor bedroom lounge area, second floor lıvıng room lounge kıtchen bathroom, thırd floor master bedroom wıth massıve bed. Its amazıng. We have no ıdea how we ended up there. And we get free breakfast at the nıce resteraung rahım(the owner guy) owns. We feel ıncredıbly fortunate.

And the Turkısh! After comıng here, we have realızed most bulgarıans truly are assholes. The turks have been so amazıngly helpful sınce we landed ıt,s been ıncredıble. Istanbul ıs amazıng - thıs cıty ıs wonderful. We are goıng to be stayıng for two more nıghts so we hope to get the most ou of ıt - even though we dont really know what we are doıng. We know we wıll at least be enjoyıng our humble abode.

Thats all for now, I wıll do my best to get more ın soon.

stay up xoxo

So I apologize for the break from blogging, but boy have I been kept busy. A lot has been going on. Finished up the first week of session 2, its been pretty good. Did a bunch of digging of course, got to know a some more of the students better its been fun. Friday night, the three other students who stayed and I took a fun little bus trip down the coast a few hours to a small city named Sozopol, which was amazing. Its pretty small (even though it blows up during the summer) and the hotel we stayed in was absolutely incredible when compared to the one we stay in at Varna. We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant, which was fun even though our waitress was way off her rocker and we got ripped off, but then hung out on our balcony, from which we had an awesome view of one of the sweetest coves I've ever seen. Afterwords cruised down the bech with a friend, which had the softest, finest sand I've walked in for ages, and walked along part of a super old sea wall fortress wall thing. It was a really cool city, and after only spending one night there I really want to go back during my week of travels after I finish session two.

^ That was an a quick draft I wrote and meant to post a few days ago, but unfortunately I didn't get around to it. Now I'll try to add some more.

Tomorrow is my last day on the site. After four weeks! I'm sad to see it go. It has been one hell of a time. Most recently, yours truly (with help of course) managed to find and uncover two graves! It was incredibly weird and exciting. We found the first grave, in my square, because the was a "negative structure" evident from a rectangle (maybe 4 x 10) of brown, softer soil in the level of hard, lighter (color) limestoney soil. We fond it at the end of the day, so we had to cover it with different dirt for the night so looters wouldn't dig it up in our absence. The next day we cleared it, took a picture for the records and I began digging down just where that soil was. About a meter down I hit two rows of large foundation rocks lining the sides. That was one of the most exciting moments of the whole thing! There actually is something down there. Then another half-meter down, after more careful dirt removal a skeleton appeared. Success! That was my first foray into gravedigging and it was epic.

Then the second grave I found in the square next to me (a few days ago). After digging down in a grave shape once again I found these few random bricks about 2 meters deep (under an old turkish kiln, but thats another story). These were surrounded by random holes, which just vanished into darkness. That was incredible to uncover after a hard days digging. Today we tried to excavate it more, and we created a big enough hole for someone to put a camera in and snap a picture. There's an empty chamber in under the tiles, and more lined foundation stones like the other grave! It's super eerie to see all that hollow space under maybe 8 feet of dirt? Really exciting though, and I loved playing such sweet parts in the discoveries.

The other part of my field school for the past two weeks consisted of drawing the artifacts we found, and imputing them into the official site book, which will eventually be added to the permanent museum record and presented at conferences and such. The other student who have been here fore all four weeks and I have been doing that every day from about 3:30 to 5:30. Its been really sweet to be able to add our own workmanship to the record books. Today was our last day of drawing though, and on our way out we found our site directer sitting at the museum cafe, so we sat down with him for some coffee. Turns out we were at the staff tables, which sit on 3rd century roman table posts! I want to work at a museum more and more now - I cant wait! Hopefully it goes down.

I'm sorry this is all I have time for at the moment, but I hope all is well wherever you are.

Sending lots of love and i can't wait to see you all in a bit over a week.

stay up out there xo

session one is done

Well the first period of field school varna is now over - what a trip it is making out to be! Only three other students are continuing the dig at Djanavara Hill with me for the next few weeks, and we're excited to see what the new students will bring to the table. I wish i could walk you through all that has been happening here, but alas I can't remember everything and I would have nothing left to share when I'm done.

Last night, the last scheduled activities of our crew, was a blast. One of the directors, Vasco, had us all over for a Bulgarian bbq in the garden of his family apartment building, and it was fantastic. Drinks and food a plenty, everyone was in good spirits at the end of the session and fun was had by all. Afterwards we headed to the top of possibly the tallest building in Varna, the 15th floor of a hotel/casino which housed a Bar with a panoramic view of the city. Partying with everyone was a blast, sharing drinks and the dance floor with true archaeologists was some of the most fun I've had. Minchev is a beast.

Everyone who isn't staying is gone now, today was spent soaking in the sun, relaxing reading, taking a break from activities. A very necessary day, time to recuperate and catch up on some sleep. The new kids should be arriving tomorrow, maybe tonight so I'm excited to see what my new roommates are like. I had a blast with the last guys and hope the new ones are at least half as cool.

I've been getting away from the hotel for some meals as of late, and have finally experienced some true bulgarian cuisine. Its sensational. I've always enjoyed chicken, but its not something I'd typically the first thing I'd order. Here however, its amazing. A new found love for poultry, I have. They do something here that makes the birds taste golden. Mixed with some mushroom sauce, its heaven. And I'm also realizing how much I love cucumbers and tomatos. I mean I always new I did, but a national dish here is shopska (no clue on spelling) salad, which consists of just cucumbers and tomatos. We eat it at least once or twice a day. I love it - used to hate on it, but no longer.

The computer will not recognize the photos on my camera, so photos unfortunately may have to wait. I finished reading the lemon tree today - get that book! Especially you bums who are too lazy to learn anything about Israel and Palestine. Now on to Portrait of Dorian Gray, we'll see if I can handle Mr. Wilde.

Thats all for now, another will come soon enough!