nessebar, bulgaria

Well, this post is a complete cop out. I admit it. I embrace it. And so should you, because today we're doing the tried and true post in which I just let the pictures do the talking. Basically.

(but now I'm about to do some talking as well so I guess I just lied to you right up there ^^^)

And you're right. Such a post doesn't do justice to the places I've been seeing. You don't understand the thrill of the bus ride along the coastal mountains, in which I fully accepted that I was going to die as our bus went up on two wheels with every switchback. Nor can you relate to the hilarious situations we got ourselves into on a daily basis due to self-timers and dance moves. You haven't met John Lee, an elderly Australian we ate lunch with and who can drop facebook lingo in a conversation like a 13 year old. You didn't get a free piece of cake at the restaurant because the waiter was just so dang cool and you didn't get invited to karaoke night by a group of Bulgarian men.

Those are the things that make traveling so awesome. But the pretty places don't hurt either.

peace and 50 cent ice cream cones. 

twice a day.

rrw

heart-warming comments from a host family

|| "You look like a flower."

|| "We don't like American smiles, but we like yours."

|| "You are not a crocodile."

|| "You are not a gorilla."

|| "You are not a dog."

|| "Hello Cinderella!" (post fairy god mother version...pretty sure)

|| "How do you not have boyfriend?"

|| "It's like we won the lottery!"

|| "You are a fairy princess."

|| "Whether you are good girl or bad girl, we love you."

How am I going to leave? I love these people so much.

peace and family
even if they're a different nationality

rrw

varna, bulgaria

Remember that one time me and three other 20-somethings traveled through Bulgaria entirely on our own? Yeah. That was a miracle. After establishing our home base in Burgas, we did a few day trips to nearby coastal cities. We loved them all.

The first we went to was Varna. Now, I haven't recounted all the adventures we had while en-route from Kiev to Burgas because to do so would take more time than Nicholas Flamel has on his hands. But let me assure you that there was some crazy business going down. And I loved it.

BUT. The point of that was that we met and befriended the most wonderful person alive. Iliana. She was our little Bulgarian angel who took pity on the four completely bewildered Americans. It is because of her that I'm not currently lying on the floor, crying, in the Sofia Airport. This angel-woman lives in Varna, so after exploring around the city a little bit, we met up with her again to eat some ice cream, visit her favorite spot on the beach, and talk about gypsies.

Our first stop of the day: THIS GIANT FARMERS MARKET.

Best bananas of our lives.

Whaaa....free water?!

 Andrew decided to become Eastern European.

These boys don't know how to feel about it.

But hey, they wanted to be in the picture so they're cool.

Poor Iliana.

She didn't realize what she had gotten herself into.

ILIANA

 ^^^ It kind of became tradition, ok?

And these ^^^ are the awesome people I got to spend my week with.

And then there's me.

hey boys hey.

These two photos...just make me laugh.

OF COURSE he wasn't looking.

And of course this is how I reacted.

give me back my camera...please?

I just super lucked out with these people.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset and us walking down a sketchy road to catch our bus back home. Which in all reality became a sort of theme of the vacation. Us. Walking in sketchy areas. Good times. GOOD times.

peace and laundry

my clothes are literally hanging on every possible area of our apartment. these ukrainians i live with are way too good to me.

rrw

ukrainian remedies

Ukrainians have a variety of remedies for different physical ailments. It has been an adventure to learn of them, let me assure you. When my stomach wasn't feeling quite right about a month ago babushka had me lie down with my shirt pulled up while she massaged my stomach. The head coordinator here heard me cough and demanded I go home and drink a mug of warm milk, honey, and butter. unfortunately i just didn't manage to try that one out. About 15 minutes ago my host mom insisted I do a sort of dance thing with violent breathing in order to clear up my lungs. Between the twisting of my torso, flipping of my hair, attempts to breathe at the right time and with accurate force, I ended up just bent over laughing/hacking up a lung, which seemed to please my host mom.

You wish you would have seen it.

On a different note, I've had fun looking through some of my photos from my week spent in Bulgaria. I apologize to all those who are friends with me on facebook and have had their feeds blown up with my face. Except for I'm not actually sorry because dang those pictures are fun. And just so you know, I haven't even posted any of mine, so just buckle up.

But today I'm not posting any from the trip. A popular day activity for the younger generation here in Ukraine is to take portrait style pictures. And I mean heck, I have a camera and a member of the younger generation right here in my Ukrainian home. A photo shoot was inevitable.

I told her to look American.

I have taught her well.

And then the camera was turned on me and I didn't know what to do.

So I rocked the backpack like a full on 7 year old.

This is me trying to look more Ukrainian.

When my host mom saw this she said, "Maybe better if you stay American."

I hear ya momma.

Life here is great, even if going back to teaching after adventuring through Europe is super dang hard. At least one of the little girls brought me a flower today. Can you say "hashtag precious?"

peace and piano lessons
i'm helping my 8 year old host sister understand that looking at the music helps you know what to play. #mindblowing

rrw