Leonard Christmas Vacation 2011 part 2: Beautiful Bratislava

Bratislava Old Town Christmas Market

When we last heard from our intrepid travelers, they were stressed out from the misadventures in Bulgaria.  They have now safely arrived in Vienna and are on their way to the Bratislava Christmas Market. The story continues...

The notes I had found about the Vienna airport made it seem like it would be pretty straightforward to find the bus company to get tickets for the bus to Bratislava, Slovakia. After getting through the passport check, changing some money, and a few false starts down wrong hallways, we figured out how to read the signs and headed out to the front of the airport.  We found the sign for the bus company and were prepared to mime our need for tickets.  If you only speak one language with a smattering of menu French, Spanish, German, Italian (Mark and I are pretty fluent in restaurants. We couldn't negotiate peace throughout the world, but we could host a great party!), it helps to be willing to make a fool of yourself with a Marcel Marceau impression. Luckily for the beautiful Austrian desk clerk she spoke perfect English and our alternative communication skills were not needed. A few Euro later, we were on the bus and heading to Bratislava.

The bus is very warm and comfortable and I tried to stay awake as we went through sleepy Austrian villages on our way to Bratislava. For those of a trivia mind, Vienna and Bratislava are the closest national capitals in the world; only 40 miles/64 km between them.  Though it was night, we were able to see this huge bus navigate the tiny European streets. There was an arch commemorating something, our menu German failed us in translating what, that did not seem to be big enough for the bus. In an effort to make the bus smaller, I scooted closer to Mark. That must have helped, because we made it through.

After an uneventful bus ride, we arrived in Bratislava. Again my notes said it would be a short walk to the hotel, couldn't miss it, easy as pie given the location of the bus stop. After the day I had, I was skeptical. We looked around and thought we could see the pedestrian area mentioned in my notes just across the on ramp to the highway.  We headed across the on ramp and sure enough our hotel was in sight! I was SO happy that something went right that day. It is possible that there were some places open for dinner, but we were just too worn out at 10:00pm to bother.  We checked into the hotel, found our room with a view of the Danube, nibbled on the snacks our landlady gave us in Sofia, and then fell asleep hopeful that tomorrow would be a better day.

Cafe front from Christmas Market

The next day dawned with a heavy fog which made our view of the Danube a bit compressed, but it was still the Danube and I was rested and excited for more adventures. We eschewed the hotel breakfast because my internet research indicated there were plenty of places to find a reasonable breakfast just a few steps from the hotel. Continuing the roll we were on with the airport and bus information, we found a great cafe for breakfast and planned our day.



The square outside wasn't this busy when we were there in the morning, but as you can see it soon was hopping with locals and some tourists. There wasn't much snow, but it was freezing. We survived by drinking hot chocolate inside the most wonderfully warm cafe. 

Very cold Leonards

Best hot chocolate ever!

Inside Warm Cafe

We didn't come to Bratislava to just sit in a a cafe though and so we ventured out into the city. It is a beautiful city with plenty of old world charm. The old town area has great pedestrian space and there is a more modern pedestrian area with good shopping next to it. We were able to find gloves for Mark at a ski shop. Once we had the proper equipment, we spent a good deal of time in the Christmas Market enjoying the potent punch and snacks. Some of the Bulgarian we had learned was useful here. They don't use the same alphabet, but some words were the same and we could easily order and pay for the delicious food and drink. Locals frequent this market more than tourists and we thoroughly enjoyed the people watching and the homey feel.

Mark with provisions!

Tasty!

We enjoyed Bratislava and it was a good thing we decided to start there as the Old Town area pretty much shuts down on Dec 24th. We were lucky to find a place for breakfast and then we were off to Vienna. The talk before we left is that Vienna also shuts down for the Christmas holiday. We were trusting my internet research that showed some activities still available, but we also had a comfy hotel with a good breakfast so that if nothing was open we could at least survive. The worst case scenario would have us walking around Vienna enjoying the architecture and nature. To find out, come back for Leonard Christmas Vacation 2011 part 3: Vienna.

Christmas in August?...Leonard Christmas Vacation 2011 part 1

This winter I missed the window to post about our Christmas travels (I figure it is like the decorations, they just feel wrong if they are up too long).  Then I came up with the idea for posting in July ala Christmas in July craziness. Then July became August and well anyway here it is, the extended 3 part version of the Leonard Christmas Vacation 2011!

The first installment of our tale begins with waking up to a snow storm in progress on the day we are to leave.  The picture above is the light beginning of what became a code yellow storm across our region of Bulgaria.  The 12 or so inches of snow on the gutter outside the window caused a bit of panic, but we set off for the bus station determined to make it to Sofia for our flight.  For some insane reason, I thought we should walk the 30 minutes in the driving snow rather than get a cab to the bus station.  This happens some times when I get into trip mode. I had planned for us to walk and so we would walk. 

We arrived to the bus station on time, but we were very cold and tired. Never will I do that again (I hope!). We had taken the bus between Blagoevgrad and Sofia before and so we were not worried about it today. Unfortunately, we had the time wrong for the large bus and so the only bus there was the mini-bus that travels between the ski regions here (Sofia-Bansko). The mini-bus is essentially a 15 person passenger van and not the most comfortable ride, but we were worried about waiting for the next big bus.

The trip was a bit harrowing with the blowing snow and icy roads, but the mini-bus made pretty good time. About 20 km outside of Sofia the driver received a phone call and then we pulled off the road into a gas station. We sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on. The road was still open and filled with cars. The bus driver spoke no English and we only had our Bulgarian phrasebook and weren't sure we would understand the answer even if we could ask "Why have we stopped." We got a bit more nervous when one of the passengers and his small daughter got out of the mini-bus and went to the road to hitchhike into Sofia. Another English speaking passenger asked us if we knew what was going on. We had no idea, but decided to try to work it out the three of us. About 15 minutes passed and it was cold in the mini-bus so we (the English speakers) followed the bus driver and the other Bulgarian passenger inside the gas station.

After a few minutes of WTF, we decided to see if anyone spoke English in the gas station and could find out what was going on. We found someone to ask and he approached the driver, spoke to him for a moment, and then walked off. Apparently we needed to be more specific in our request and make it clear that not only did we want him to talk to the bus driver and find out what was going on but to then TELL US what he learned. I really had to work hard not to laugh at this point. I was also getting worried that we would miss our flight to Austria. Finally I had the brainstorm of calling our landlady and getting her boyfriend (who was fluent in Bulgarian and English) to do some translating for us.

The strange miming that Mark had to do to get the bus driver to talk on the phone was rather hilarious, but at this point I think a mild panic might have set in and I was a bit unhinged. We finally found out that the bus company pulled him off the road because the bus depot in Sofia was packed and the roads were very busy. We were waiting for a phone call allowing him to get back on the road. At this point, there was no way we could make it to the bus station and then to the airport to make our flight. A plan was hatched to get us to a different point and then our landlady would drive us to the airport.

Talk about trains, planes, and automobiles. We were dropped off at the Metro Underground train station with our English speaking tag-along all trying to make our flights. We took the Metro to a stop closer to the airport, but found out that our landlady's car was snowed in. They said to grab a cab and if we had troubles they would come help us out.  Our tag-along had to be at the other terminal for an earlier flight, so we gave the first cab to him. Never found out if he made it, but I would like to think someone did. We couldn't find an unoccupied cab until our landlady and her boyfriend found us and helped us on our way. They were really sweet and brought us some Christmas goodies to take on our trip.

The cab sped away to the airport, but traffic was horrible. We had 40 minutes until our flight was due to leave and on a good day that would have been more than enough. As soon as we got to the airport, we ran to the check-in desk hoping to still make the flight. They looked up our information, made a phone call, looked at our information again, and asked if I was the only one flying. I seriously considered it for a moment, and then said no, it was both of us. At this point, they looked genuinely sad to tell us that we missed the flight and would have to go to the sales desk to reschedule a later flight. I am not proud to say that I had a bit of a flip out when I was told how much it would cost to reschedule. So much for the supersaver tickets I scored online. Rather than rescheduling immediately, we went to the cafe for me to calm down and get some information.

For those of you who know me, you know I love having as much information as possible when we change plans and I wanted to make sure we would make the next leg of our journey if we rescheduled for that day or if we needed to just book for the next day. I didn't want to get out of Sofia and then be stranded in Austria for a night. This is where Mark came to the rescue. Well Mark and wifi. We found out that the bus to Bratislava ran quite late in the evening and we should have no trouble on that end. Calmed down with some hot tea and good information, we rescheduled our flights and settled in for a 5 hour wait for the next flight. It took me actually getting on the bus to Bratislava to calm down and believe that our travel adventure was successful.

Looking back, it is easy to say "well this is Bulgaria," but that is too simplistic. After traveling extensively and reliably through Bulgaria on the bus and train systems this year, I believe the problem began in part with my stubbornness to save a few dollars and take the bus when we had a scheduled flight AND with the mini-bus company. We have heard many stories about their incompetence and plan never to use them again.  Now we either schedule a private car or head out the night before when flying. The first part of our trip resulted in a valuable learning experience and a rather funny story!

Come back for Part 2: Beautiful Bratislava!

Catching up on BG Travels: Razlog 2011

Mountain view east from resort outside Razlog, Bulgaria

We were lucky in November 2011 to visit Razlog, Bulgaria to attend a faculty retreat for the Economics department.  I should probably say I was lucky, as Mark had to attend meetings and I read, worked on my knitting, and generally enjoyed myself.  By all accounts of the Economics faculty though, their meetings were productive so we were all happy.

Razlog is a small mountain valley town in Bulgaria close to the more popular ski destination Bankso. The resort outside of Razlog is possibly very active during the ski or golf season, but in early November it is a modern day ghost town. A casualty of the financial crash and the vacuum of British investments, most of the hotels here are in varying states of completion. Despite the majestic vistas, the place feels more like a set of a post-apocalyptic horror flick than a vibrant ski/golf community. The pictures of the completed buildings below give the sense of what it could be if situations turn around.

Signs of recently renewed construction seem to suggest that there is still hope for this area.  We had intended to visit Razlog during ski season, but with the worst winter in 50 years we tired quickly of cold and a ski vacation did not sound fun.  Hopefully this year the weather will be good for skiing but not miserable in Blagoevgrad and then we can visit again and report back on any changes.

View looking west..Razlog in the valley

First Year as an Academic Writing Professor DONE!

Teaching academic writing to freshman ESL students confirmed the attitude I developed for grammar in my high school freshman English class - it is out to get me. The only way I survive is by taking a pragmatic approach focusing on readability rather than stiff rules. Luckily there are a number of great English teachers out there who are breaking out of the grammar police mold and so I can say I am in good company. It still takes me a long time to grade essays to confirm why something doesn't sound right and what the correct choice should be. 

My grading paradigm can be summed up in three phrases: Scooby Doo, pet peeves, and bad habits. The Scooby Doo approach to grading writing is when something I read makes me go "rut ro" in the classic Scooby Doo voice. When this occurs I circle or underline the problem and then check the rule books for the explanation why. Having taught senior and graduate courses that are writing intensive, I have developed a series of pet peeves about student writing. Teaching freshman has become my way of attacking the problems at the root. Finally, I notice all of my own bad writing habits and hear the voices of my teachers as I grade. I love commas and use them like Bulgarian's use parsley - all over the place whether they are needed or not. I know this about myself and try to practice restraint. Therefore, I am sensitive to students with the same problem. And by sensitive I mean brutal with the marking pen (have to break them of the habit early so they don't become me). That/Which is another problem of mine. There are some great blog posts out there about That/Which, but I still have to check every time I grade.

I am not sure if I am becoming a better writer in the process, but teaching freshman to write in an academic style does not feel like torture. There are some great changes I want to make for next year and I am anxious to try them out. It takes teaching something twice for me to get a feel for my attitude toward it, so look forward to my post a year from now.  I might just be a grammar convert!

Ne Razbeerum Bulgarski Mnogo Dobre (I don't know Bulgarian very well): But I am learning!

Thursday was a big day for my Bulgarian skills. Here is a brief recounting of my linguistic adventure.

Cab driver: I have so far avoided most taxi cabs. Not because there are any problems with them, but because Blagoevgrad is very walkable and we just haven't needed them. However, I was attending a lecture at the other university in town and I needed a cab to get there. Luckily we just covered talking to the taxi driver in Intro to Bulgarian and with some help on pronouncing the school and building I needed, I had my phrase! I was ready, but secretly scared. Many of you may not realize how nervous I get when communicating. This is especially true when I know there will be an expectation of actual conversation. I am not that great at small talk and small talk in another language was a daunting thought. Anyway, I got into the cab, stated the destination in Bulgarian, and off we went.

Then the cabdriver said Kude Ste? and my brain froze. I remembered we covered this in class but I honestly blanked. I stupidly stated the my destination phrase. He repeated Kude Ste? So I used another phrase I have memorized "Angleeskee" in a very apologetic tone. He was kind and repeated Kude Ste and listed different places in Bulgarian that I recognized. I finally understood: "Where are you from?" I had those answer phrases memorized, so I was able to say I was from the USA, Kansas! Oh, Kansas City! he said and then I think he asked if it was as hot in Kansas as it is here! Anyway, we muddled through and I made it to the university for a fascinating talk on Digital Narrative (thankfully in English!).

Grocery Store: So from that pathetic, but triumphant conversation I headed to the grocery store. Unfortunately, I completely failed to understand the cashier. Major language fail, but I got my purchases without being arrested and decided to chalk it up as a win.

Reception with City Officials: With the mixed results from the day, I was not entirely thrilled about the AUBG reception for city officials that evening. We have fabulous students who were acting as translators, but I was still worried. I shouldn't have. I am not sure if it was the protein at dinner or what, but I was able to follow some of the conversations, remember some Bulgarian phrases, pronounce them correctly, AND use them at the correct time. I left the event with a request to be interviewed by the local Blagoevgrad paper and a feeling of accomplishment.

All in all, I feel good about finally having conversations (actual back and forth) in Bulgarian with people who did not speak English. Learning a new language is a bit like graduate school-the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

But I will triumph at some functional level. I promised a student that by the time she graduates we will be able to have a conversation about Bulgarian literature in Bulgarian, so I have to.

Luckily I didn't specify graduating from AUBG...I really hope she is considering graduate school!

Bulgarian Moussaka-wonderful fall and winter meal!

There has been demand for my food blogging and I hate to disappoint, so here is my attempt at Bulgarian Moussaka.

Looks tasty, doesn't it? Kind of like a deep dish pizza, but it is very different. Important note, Bulgarian Moussaka does not have eggplant. This causes much consternation on the part of some of our international colleagues, but I still love it.


I learned how to make this when I had the opportunity to host the AUBG Bulgarian cooking team for the International Festival. These are the dishes that the team made. I am still waiting to make banitsa (the large rectangular dish in the center), but I took on the moussaka and shopska salad. By the way, the team was great! We had fun and they even taught me a dance (horo). I was able to impress some folks at the AUBG Christmas party with my Bulgarian dance cred!

Bulgarian moussaka is a very simple and hardy meal that makes great leftovers and could be great for a potluck dinner. The ingredients include potato, ground pork or beef, onion, summer savory, garlic, fenugreek, paprika, crushed tomato, water, yogurt, egg and flour. I have tried to remember best as I could what the students did and with some help from delish adventures, I muddled through to an amazing dish. Here is the recipe I use for those interested.

Bulgarian Moussaka--as adapted by an interloping American
Equipment: large round or square baking dish, medium size pot, oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ingredients:
1 kilo (2 lbs) potatoes (usually about 4 medium size potatoes diced in about 1 inch cubes)
1/2 kilo (1 lb) ground pork or beef
1 medium onion diced in about 1 inch pieces
3 gloves of garlic diced (can reduce this if you aren't keen on garlic, we happen to love it)
1 egg
Salt, pepper, paprika, summer savory, fenugreek (about 1 tsp of each)
3 cups plain yogurt (for those in the states, Bulgarian yogurt is amazing and thicker than ours. Greek yogurt is probably the closest you can get).
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp oil
2 medium cans crushed tomatoes (fresh diced tomatoes is best, but canned will work too).
Water to help cover potatoes if crushed tomatoes are not juicy enough

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Place diced potatoes in the baking dish.

In medium pot, brown the ground pork/beef. Add the onions, garlic, and spices to the browning meat. Once meat is brown, add the cans of crushed tomatoes and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Pour the mixture over the potatoes in the baking dish. I mix everything together because I think the potatoes cook better this way, but you can also just layer. You might need to add water (usually not more than 1/4 cup) to cover the potatoes here, but don't go overboard or the dish will be soggy.

Place baking dish in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

When close to the end of the 45 minutes, mix the yogurt, flour, and egg.

When the 45 minutes are up, spoon the yogurt mixture over the top in an even layer and place back in the oven until the top is brown like the picture above. Sometimes this is 10 minutes, but it has taken up to 30 before to fully brown the top.

Let cool for about 10 minutes and then serve with a side of yogurt, chopped cucumber, chopped tomato or green onion.

Variation:
We added chopped mushrooms and carrots last time to up the veggie content. Turned out great. Just chop the mushrooms a bit bigger than the potatoes and the carrots the same size at the potatoes and add them to the potatoes in the baking dish.

I hope you enjoy the foodie update. More to come as I finally remember to update this thing!

Sofia (finally) continued--FOOD

Found the pictures and the time to continue to update everyone about our Sofia trip in October (wow, time really flies!).

When we last heard from our intrepid travelers, they were in the cab from the Централна Абтогара София (Central Bus Station Sofia) to the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan (picture left). We had decided to splurge since travel was cheap and I also found a good deal on this luxury hotel (80 euro a night). The location was ideal as it was walking distance to good food, shopping, and the major sightseeing locations in city center. If you are on a budget but wanting to walk through an old world European city, then Sofia is your choice. Seriously, Bulgaria should be the travel destination for most people in this economy. To make this post a bit more manageable, I will separate them out into more posts. Starting with the most important: Food.

Food: The hotel had breakfast for 18euros each. I thought that was amazingly expensive for Bulgaria and was determined to find a cheaper breakfast. We got lucky the first night as we walked past what looked like a cafe and bakery. The next morning we each had two espresso and shared a small egg tart and pumpkin bantisa (Bulgarian pastry roll). The total cost of the meal was 12 leva which converts to approximately 6 euro.

Google maps performed much better in Sofia than it did in Blagoevgrad. We were able to get a map to the brew pub При кмета (The Mayor's Pub) Mark found out about on the banskoblog. Usually brew pubs are either good for the beer or the food, but not both. However, at При Кмета both the food and the beer were very good. Mark took notes, but then forgot to write them up. I am hoping we find them soon, as I would like to link to them (hint, hint, Mark!).





We stumbled upon another breakfast option--Dunkin' Donuts! Yes, we really did eat there. The chocolate glazed donut holes were surprisingly similar to those in America. The coffee was AMAZING. Now I don't want to slam Bulgarian coffee, but sometimes espresso is a bit much and I just want a large American style latte. I was able to get one here and I was very happy.



Google continued to be helpful in locating food options for us. We managed to find a great Indian Restaurant Kohinoor. I had been longing for a curry as Niveditha can attest too (I was actually looking out for ways to ship her mom's mulligatawny soup from Omaha to Bulgaria). This worked out well as a replacement. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera battery charger and by this time the camera was out of juice. Sorry I couldn't get pictures of the beautiful meal.

On the whole, eating in Sofia is cheap and really tasty. There are many options both for Bulgarian and International cuisine. Stay tuned for the next Sofia installment: Shopping and Sightseeing!

Miscellaneous...These are a few of our favorite things!

As it is the new year, we have begun reflecting on our lives and realize that we love it here in Bulgaria. We have been able to make major changes in our lives that we have talked about for ages: we don't have a car, we cook more at home, and we don't have a t.v. These changes have little to do with Bulgaria as all of the things we left behind are here. We could get a car (our apartment has a garage as part of the property), we could eat out more (there are great restaurants here), and we could have t.v. (as we have two in the apartment and there are cable and satellite t.v. services in town for international programs). Maybe knowing we could get them makes it easier to not have them, I don't know for sure. All I know is that there is very little that we miss about living in America. Here is the list.

1. Bacon. Honest to goodness, cold smoked, salty bacon. We did not realize how proper American bacon is only found in America. Seriously the Bacon Board needs to get on this. The world needs them.
2. Ziploc Bags. Luckily we have a supply and we are caring for them to help the supply stretch to the next time we go home. They just don't have thick plastic bags that seal here. At least we can't find them.
3. Maple syrup (or even the "maple flavored" variety I prefer).
4. Friends and family.

Maybe friends and family should be up top before bacon, but we get to hear from them with Skype and the social medias and we don't get bacon. We don't get to hear from bacon or see it or smell it. There are no bacon sensory experiences at all. So I think it stays on top. The list in priority order is then: bacon, family and friends, ziploc bags, and maple "maple" syrup.

Love to you all (but especially American bacon) and I will be updating from all our travels before the semester (and the grading) comes.
Lynnette