Dey and Dee's Updates

The end is in sight!

Well, today is our last day in the old country. Mitch left us on Saturday afternoon to spend a couple of days in Sofia, visiting his dad and stuff. Mom (Ionka) left early Monday morning and met Mitch at the airport. They both flew home that day, she to the Ukraine and he back to Winnipeg. Deyan and I have been laying low. I have actually been especially taking it easy since I haven't been feeling 100% these past few days. It's no big deal, but you can pray that I am okay for the trip back. I'm really not looking forward to being on an airplane again for long hours in a confined space. I am quite uncomfortable at this stage in my pregnancy. Simeon is still coughing, by the way, but only in the mornings or after his nap. I'm finding it sad to think of uprooting him again from family he has grown to love. This part of our lives is very difficult for me. I hate being separated from loved ones, and I especially hate it when I think of him. He is so friendly and outgoing and attaches easily to people who show him love. I really hope he doesn't lose this from all the coming and going we do with family.

Things I will miss about Bulgaria:
family - they really so great
food - no pesticides fresh tomatoes (even better than garden tomatoes from home, can't explain why) and other veggies (peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, etc.), peaches right off the tree in the backyard, figs from the neighbor's tree, watermelon (less than $1 each) picked that day, fresh milk and bread without any preservatives or anything (it literally goes bad/stale within a day or two), feta in abundance, things you can't get in Canada (different pastries, meats, etc.)
prices - going out to a nice restaurant and spending less than $15 for a full course meal, clothing (which I didn't buy due to my current size/situation), medicine, alcohol (okay, so it's not like we drink alot or anything, but did I mention that beer is sold at the corner store in 2.5L bottles for less than $2 - the same price for a 2L bottle of Coke here?)
culture/heritage - there is such a richness here when you think of the deep history and roots. This country was already hundreds of years old before Canada was ever "discovered". It's also kind of fun to see cars and horse drawn wagons on the same street together.
weather - lots of sun, very little rain
walking - no one drives around here, unless you are going to a different city or something. The downtown is totally set up for pedestrians.
no mosquitos! - okay, so there are alot of flies which are also very annoying, but at least they don't bite!
the language - Bulgarian sounds really cool and I've enjoyed learning more this trip. Simeon is learning quite a few words too and can count to ten in Bulgarian which is very cute!
restaurants - I love the style of patios and courtyards. I also like that there are small cafe's EVERYWHERE you go downtown with umbrellas to sit in the shade and take a rest and grab a drink or ice cream after all the walking!
ice cream - speaking of...it's kind of cool how they serve it here. It is in a cooler, but each individual flavour is shaped and decorated like a beautiful cake! I should take a picture because it's kind of hard to explain.

Things I won't miss:
beauracracy - everything is SO difficult here! People are generally not very helpful, maybe in part because they don't make any money to speak of!
sidewalks - public space is not very well kept around here. Sidwalks have big holes or tiles sticking up (impossible in North America or the city would be CONSTANTLY sued), people park wherever they want, and block sidewalks all the time.
beds - they don't make double/queen/king mattresses here, although they do have frames for them. For instance, the bed Dey and I sleep in has a king size headboard, footboard and frame, but it has 2 single mattresses side by side. It gets annoying having the space in the middle.
bathrooms - most home washrooms here are set up with a showerhead, a toilet and a sink all in the same room. The floor has a drain in it. At first it's kind of quaint, but going to the bathroom after someone else has showered and the floor is all wet gets tiresome for me.
no high chair or carseat - Poor Sim is going to have quite the readjustment when we get back to Winnipeg and he has to sit still to eat and while driving in the car!

Okay, that's probably good for now. I should get back to the house and continue packing. We leave the house around 5am tomorrow (31st) to drive to Sofia to catch an 8:30am flight. We arrive back in Winnipeg around 6:30pm on Wednesday, the 31st. This will be 2:30am for us, so hopefully we'll go straight to bed and get some sleep! Please pray for a safe and relaxing trip!

posted by Deanna Momtchilov @ 11:20 AM