Bulgaria days 3-5

Another week come and gone, and you know what that means!  More about the trip :)

Day 3 in Plovdiv:

 The third day we attended a conference in Plovdiv with all the Bulgarian members and missionaries to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the church being in Bulgaria.   It was like 4 hrs long with a lunch intermission and since it was all in Bulgarian, I got bored pretty quick haha.   At first Ki was translating it all into English for me, but I felt like that was being distracting to the members sitting around us and I had him stop.  For the second half of the meetings I went back to Plovdiv's main center and bought some sunglasses to keep as a souvenir to keep myself entertained, which I later managed to leave on the plane home from Europe! :(  boo..  I am so cursed.  

Later that night after the conference was over we took a bus with the Burgas branch members back to Burgas.  Have I mentioned yet that I absolutely despise buses?  Because I do.  I get so car sick, and for some reason nobody on the bus would open their windows to at least get a breeze going through the bus.  According to Ki the reason the Bulgarians didn't really open any windows is because they are superstitious.  Apparently they don't keep more then one window in a room open because they believe that cross-drafts make you sick unless it is covered by a curtain or something.  Needless to say, the bus was hot and stuffy and I wished more than ever that I could wish my way to Burgas instantaneously.

Once we arrived in Burgas we stayed in the apartment of a member named Vladimir.  He absolutely loved having Ki stay with him and made us feel very welcome.  I only wish I could've spoken Bulgarian with him and his wife as they speak very little English and I was limited to smiling while Ki and the members talked that night for hours.  I didn't mind at all because Ki loves to talk in Bulgarian, and the members couldn't speak English.   I only wish that I could've dismissed myself to go to bed since I was SO exhausted, but I just politely sat and listened while they all spoke in what sounds like a whole lot of gibberish to me.  I found myself thinking once again, how I wish it weren't so hard for me to pick up languages!  Sorry there are no pictures to accompany the long schpiel about this day but we forgot all about taking pictures.

Day 4 in Burgas:

Burgas was Ki's favorite area on his mission.  He was in Burgas for the longest period of time and grew to really love the members in this area like family.  Since day 4 happened to be a Sunday we got to go to church at the Burgas branch!  Although I hadn't enjoyed the conference much the day before I LOVED attending church in Burgas.  Ki and a couple of the younger members who spoke English really well helped translate for me and it was so neat to feel the spirit of the members there and hear their testimonies of the gospel.  I even got to hear Ki bear his testimony to the members in Bulgarian about the gospel and how much he loved them in Bulgarian (it was of course being translated for me)  but that had me in tears!  I was so embarrassed that I hadn't been more prepared like I usually am in church (I cry a lot remember)  but this sweet bulgarian lady who had a newborn with her came and brought me a wet wipe to use as a tissue and hugged me.  I could immediately see why Ki loved these people so much.  They are so sweet and humble.

Sunday School and Relief Society were neat because the members all helped to teach each other.  The older members helped to teach the newer members about the gospel principles and it was fun to see them discuss so earnestly gospel principles.  It made me think about what it would be like to be a new convert.  To be so excited to have found the true church that brought joy and happiness into your life.  It definitely helped me to see that I have taken for granted being born into the church and that I should try to continue to learn more about the church as enthusiastically as these new members and not just go through the motions of going to church, and reading my scriptures etc.

After church we had been invited over by a lady in the branch named Minka for lunch at her house.  She was such a sweet lady and the lunch she cooked for us was absolutely delicious!  It was pretty eye opening to me about what it was like to be a missionary though as we talked about a few hard things since she had quite a few trials that she was struggling through at the moment.  We talked to her and bore our testimonies the best we could about how we knew the Lord was aware of what she was going through, and that he loved her and wanted her to be happy, and that he only expected her to do her best and that he would make up the difference but man... I of course couldn't talk about anything that near and dear to my heart without crying so Minka and I cried a lot and hugged a lot and Ki used his experience as a missionary to know what the right things to say were.   Minka mentioned that sometimes she wished she could have known about the gospel much earlier in her life and that her life would have been so different if she had.   She also told me how lucky I was to have had the gospel all my life, and how lucky I was to have a husband who loved and cherished me and treated me well.  I left feeling very humbled once again about how much I take for granted.  I really am so blessed.

After lunch with Minka, we headed to the Black Sea!  It was a must see before we left Bulgaria the next day and I was excited to get to go to the beach on the very HOT day.  We went with President Nikolav, and Vladimir and his wife.  Ki and I had fun racing out to the buoy and we even found a jellyfish on the shore!  That beach had a whole lot more skin then any other beach I have ever been too, but I tried not to  notice too much :)  Most the little kids didn't even wear swimsuits and unfortuately a fair number of the old people didn't either ha.

President Nikolav, Vladi & wife, Ki & I - at the Black Sea

That night after cleaning up after the beach we had dinner with Vladimir, his wife, and the missionaries.  It was delicious stuffed peppers, but we were each served two and I felt inclined to finish my second one even though I was STUFFED after the first . . . needless to say I felt very sick the rest of the night, and probably won't eat stuffed peppers for a long time until I forget how yucky that 2nd pepper made me feel.  Just thinking about how I forced myself to keep eating it makes me cringe.  After the missionaries left to be home by curfew we went and walked around Burgas' main center with Vladi and his wife.  It was fun to see the bustling street at night.

Ki and Vladi in the city center

All of us in front of a fountain in the city center.

After we walked around for a bit we then took the tram to President Nikolav's to look at his beautiful art and to talk and visit with him.   He is such a sweet man and I am amazed at how much he does for the needs of the members in the Burgas branch.  After our visit with President Nikolav we took the tram back to Vladi's and to our distress we were locked out for an hour!  I guess he had thought we would call when we got back because him and his wife were out walking their dog, but Ki had left the cell phone we were using in their apartment.   I was so tired from the long day we had had and I was so worried they had fallen asleep and couldn't hear us buzzing them from outside the apartment complex.  We were just about to catch a taxi back to President Nikolav's when they finally walked around the corner with their dog JuJu.   I was SO relieved.   I am pretty sure it took me a total of 10 seconds to fall asleep when I finally climbed into bed that night!  Even without an air conditioner :)

President Nikolav and the painting I wished I could buy from him!

Ki and I with President Nikolav

Day 5 in BG - travel day:

Day five in Bulgaria was a travel day.  Vladimir took us to the bus station where we said our goodbyes as Ki and I caught a bus from Burgas to Sofia.  The bus ride was pretty uneventful and thankfully this bus had air conditioning and I was able to sleep almost the whole 4-5 hrs so I didn't notice being car sick.   From the bus station in Sofia, we stopped to eat our last Bulgarian meal in a cute little cafe where I was brave and tried cucumber soup.  I hated it, but luckily my meal was fantastic.  From there we walked back to the Mission home to return the cell phone we had been using while in Bulgaria, and to say our goodbyes to the members who worked in the office.  Plomin was sweet enough to call us a taxi to take us to the airport.  Our driver was a crazy maniac.  We were planning on it taking about a half hour to get to the airport in traffic and it took us like 15!  At one point the taxi sign on top of his car came loose and smashed into the side window of the car hanging by a wire.  It scared the crap out of me!  But then he said something in Bulgarian and Ki started laughing so hard he almost cried.  Later Ki told me that the cab driver had said in Bulgarian "Everything is under control!"  Which is apparently funny because it is an english phrase that he said in Bulgarian that doesn't make sense to Bulgarians.  Ki loved it cause it was total missionary jargon.  Ki loved him and says that driver is the only cab driver he has ever tipped :)  We then caught our flight from Sofia to Rome, Italy.

The flight to Rome was short and sweet!  I was also able to get another hour cat nap in which was helping me cope with the long days and jet lag that I had previously been ignoring.  Once in Rome we caught a shuttle bus from the airport to our hotel in the city.  Wow.  And I thought the bus ride to Burgas had been bad?!  I am quite positive I have NEVER been as car sick as I was on that stupid shuttle bus!  I really thought I was going to die.  I can't even explain to you.  The driver was one of those gas, brake, gas, brake, drivers.  Do you catch my drift?  Unfortunately for me we were also the last stop on his route, so we got to drive around in the bus from hades for far too long.  

Once my feet were back on solid ground and we had checked into our hostel in Rome we went out for our first Italian meal.  It was so so so delicious!  It made that terrible bus ride worth it :)  We then caught some shut eye to get ready for our train ride the next day to the Cinque Terre in Italy.

Our first Italian meal!

Wow.  Long post I know.  If I were wealthy like my Exercise Prescription professor I would hand out hundred dollar bills to those of you that made it all the way through this lengthy post.  Unfortunately for ya'll I'm not rich :)  Thanks for reading anyway though!