Not so stuck in Bulgaria

Our goal was Greece, but the first stop had to be Bucharest...gotta go through the capital to get anywhere. In Bucharest, we ran into two fellow American travelers with similar travel plans! I overheard their attempts to get to Greece....soon realizing they must also stop in Sofia, Bulgaria (the capital) on the way, and we hit it off right away. Ani (the mom) and Kristina (daughter) are from San Diego. They are on week 2 of two months worth of travel, sound familiar? I guess Dave and I are almost on week 6 of two months now....and...he's not my mom....but...we were glad to find fellow americans to hang out with....they were glad to have some men to offer protection. We've been together ever since. In Bucharest, we burned some time by wasting the rest of our lei (Romanian currency) on a beer....McDonalds...snacks for the train, before heading off at a little past 7. We began in the same car (the 6-seat arrangement)....along with a nice young student traveling home (Macedonia) for the summer. At a stop just inside Bulgaria, most of the train disembarked.....leaving us with extra room. Dave and I each had a cabin to ourselves (we could sprawl out on three seats each). The girls took an open cabin next to us......'twas great luck. Our luck soon ended when our train was about an hour late getting into Sofia. We were supposed to catch another train that would take us to Greece (Thessaloniki) at 7am.....our train arrived at around 7:30. This has all been one big paragraph.........random paragraph change now.....

The train to Thessaloniki, which we must pay for (Eurail is not valid in Bulgaria...and we need to save our travel days), turned out to be reasonable. We made it to Sofia for around 30 USD.....we will make it to Greece for 20.....so....fifty extra dollars to see Greece....not too shabby. But, the train didn't leave until 10:10pm....remembering that our train got in at 7:30am...being the observant reader you are....you know we had (and still have) some time to kill. The good news is that Bulgaria is now the cheapest country we have visited. I'll fill you in with prices as we go. For one, I am now using the internet for about .60cents/hour.

We hit an open-air market that was quaint.....the shops each hold a fairly random collection of items for sale.....exception being the delicious olive stands....and decadent fruit offerings. We then hit a park for a short nap....the smog of the city has driven my allergies into overdrive...which gives me the ability to sleep anywhere (the park in the shade) at anytime ('twas about noon). We have continued to wander for most of the day....with the primary intent of finding a movie theatre. The movies here are typically in english with Bulgarian subtitles. We found a new mall which had a theatre....but...the mall had opened before the theatre. The mall was extremely new and clean....so was the theatre....so fresh in fact that it opens thirteen days from now. Here's my mall rant.......Dave posed the question a few days ago, "architecture can often show a people's emphasis...what they think is important.....it's obvious that at a certain period the answer to that would be a church (there are beautiful churches everywhere)...what is today's?" (maybe not his exact words, I will admit). I answered then....the mall....and it seemed to hold true today. From the architecture of this city...it is apparent that the new object of worship is the mighty dollar (here...the lev). In a city that is obviously decades behind financially with many people trying to get by selling any sort of mixture of goods that they can obtain (we saw one lady with bug killer and batteries at a small stand)....the mall stands high and proud as a beacon of the new hope....that the consumption of goods.....can create fulfillment and happiness. Big surprise...that is not the case. I remember watching a video in one of my college classes about the nature of modern advertising. The voiceover told us how if someone from the future where to try to learn about us (us being the american culture...possibly the world culture) from our advertising, they would believe we are a very mystical people...and very magic-oriented. This is because our advertising shows that goods bring change and happiness. The next interviewee (a comm theorist.....smart guys...those comm guys) said that it was so silly, because we know the key to happiness......what an odd thing to say...right? He knows the key to happiness? His answer.......social interaction. Now, we could all pick that apart all day long......for one, it isn't an obvertly spiritual answer that many would prefer. But, if we just take that in the context of the consumerism that has become the new world religion....it holds some strong countercultural truth. If we continue to believe that consumption is the key to happiness.....we need to wake up. And if we continue to neglect the people in our lives who truly bring us happiness (and don't have a money-back guarantee or a price-tag) we are doomed for failure.....or atleast a piss-poor excuse for life. Off the soapbox....I promise.

As a funny tag to that rant.....although it could lead to another.....we saw two middle-aged moms who either A)didn't understand what the english on their wears meant B)were crude for moms. The one had a large bag that said "Large Fuckin' Tote Bag" and the other had a shirt that was advertising for a fishing company.....the main logo, "Master Baiter"....brilliant.

The other rant might not be a rant necessarily but an observation at the least. It seems that distinct "culture" should be put on the endangered species list. There are exceptions to this (I would guess the Middle East for one...although, not necessarily) and some are resisting, but american (maybe not distinctly american...but definitely pop culture) culture is continually squashing a lot of cultural diversity. Dave and I realized today that many of the distinct parts of certain places we have visited are actually quite....miniscule. I mean...is fact that Germans put mayonnaise on their fries that big a deal? Interesting, yes....but....miniscule in comparison to some of the bigger differences we....didn't catch....or existed but have been being pushed out by a world that is continually more connected...and thus more homogenous. We have still learned boatloads....but...that is definitely one of the things we have learned.....the world is becoming more similar. The cause....mass media possibly? Will it stop?...maybe the course of world events will put another culture on top? I dunno...but interesting.

After the mall, we happened to run into.....a perfect mix of what we needed....an independent little place that had.....a movie for us to watch (in a little cinema atmosphere)...and cheap internet. The 4 o'clock movie was supposed to be french with bulgarian subtitles, but since we were the only people interested in a movie at that time....they showed one that was in english with bulgarian subtitles...."A Good Woman." I hadn't heard of it before, but it passed some time...and the writing was very witty. The movie was around 2.75USD for admission. We had pizza as a snack earlier.....maybe .90cents for a good-size piece....it had feta, black olives, and tomato....simply delicious.

So....on to Greece tonight. We leave at 10:10pm tonight, and we will arrive in Thessaloniki, Greece at around 5am. Of course, we don't have a plan after that, although a beach sounds nice....along with a shower and my first authentic Greek gyro.

We have about 2 weeks left on our own before heading to Taize.....about another night with our fellow american travelers...they are going to Lebanon to visit family (flying out from Athens) in a couple days. Much love, Josh