Deaf Festival Primorsko

Every other year they have a deaf festival in Primorsko, which is about 20 kilometers south of Sozopol. Without a car, we had some trouble getting there. Apparently, there aren’t any buses from Sozopol to Primorsko until July. What should have taken us twenty minutes ended up taking longer than an hour. We first had to take the bus back to Burgas and then switch to a маршутка (mini-bus). The drive was quite pleasant though. I expected us to stay along the coast, but we went through the countryside. In one of the smaller villages, every telephone pole had a crane nest. Beautiful. 

When we got to Primorsko, our friends hadn’t arrived yet so we went to the southern beach and tanned for a while. The beach wasn’t very crowded, and I would assume most of the people on the beach were Bulgarian. Near the entrance of the beach two women were tanning topless. This wouldn’t normally surprise me, but these women must have been chalga singers. They were very young, very thin, and had gigantic breasts. Plastic surgery sized breasts. Nearby, two very old men were staring at the young women. Not obviously, but not hiding it either.

I think they look so Bulgarian

 Clouds came in and we decided to find a campsite or a hotel. We were just wandering around when we ran into a group of deaf people. They brought us to a big hotel that had rooms for just ten leva per person per night. That was about the same price as our camping. After sleeping for two days on the hard ground, getting into a hotel bed with clean sheets was fantastic. I can imagine that the hotels have to compete a lot for guests. Practically every building in Primorsko was a hotel, and the few houses also had rooms for let. It was not a pretty city. 

View from the hotel

 Later in the evening, we met up with our Bulgarian friends. A couple of our friends from Macedonia was also there, which was fantastic. We went to a bar, had some margaritas, and chatted for hours. There were so many Deaf people in Primorsko! I had never seen anything like it before; you’d walk ten paces and there’d be another group of people signing. We hardly ever run into Deaf people in Sofia, so it was great to meet some other Deaf Bulgarians.

Созопол

Sozopol! What a charming little town. I had come here before back in 2008 after a language seminar in Veliko Turnovo. This time, however, BH and I were keen to explore the old town, which I had neglected the first time around.

Sozopol is one of the oldest settlements in Bulgaria and was originally inhabited by the ancient Thracians. It has since then been ruled by the Byzantine and Ottoman Empire and was given to the Bulgarians in the 19^th century. After the first Balkan War, almost all of the Greeks were exchanged with Bulgarians that had been living in Eastern Thrace.

After our tour of the old town, we went down to the beach for some sun. I’ve been trying to teach BH how to be a good swimmer, so we practiced treading water and the elementary backstroke. All was great until a huge sand cloud blew from the trees at the edge of the beach; within minutes, all of the people on the beach ran to the safety of their hotels. There wasn’t a huge storm, but the wind was super strong- look what it did to our tent!

For dinner, we bought some canned tuna, bread, and processed cheese. It doesn’t sound the best, but after our hours of traipsing through Sozopol and swimming at our campsite, it was a delicious and filling meal.

Къмпинг Градина

Wednesday morning BH and I headed out to the Black Sea for a weeklong vacation. There are a handful of trains from Sofia to Burgas everyday, so we took the train at 10:30 and got into Burgas around six. The train was supposed to arrive at 4:30, but this is Bulgaria. One of the most important travel words in Bulgarian is закъснение (delay). How can Bulgaria get away with their trains always being late?

We had originally planned to look around Burgas before heading on to a coastal town, but the sun was on its decline. There are tons of buses running from Burgas to Chernomorets/Sozopol; we grabbed one, paid three leva, and got stuck in traffic. For an hour. It was only a twenty-kilometer trip, but it ended up taking an hour and half.

Once we got to Chernomorets we walked some three kilometers downhill to our campsite. This was our first time camping in Bulgaria, but it was pretty ideal. We were just meters from the beach and since we are traveling in June, it was not overcrowded. Our Wal-Mart tent is decent, though a bit small, and will hopefully stay together for the entire summer. 

BH with Бургаско- the Burgas Beer

Camping Gradina is apparently one of the more famous campsites. I found it on this blog-
Balkan Travellers

While settling in to our tent with the sounds of waves breaking on the shore I can see why this campsite is popular. What a great getaway from Sofia! 

Violence in Sofia

Last week, members of the nationalist party, Ataka, disrupted the prayer outside the mosque in downtown Sofia. Their demonstration turned violent when some of the members took prayer rugs and burned them. Fighting broke out. I missed it, because I was in Turkey.
This week, however, I made it to Friday prayer. It didn't look like Ataka was there, and everyone was praying peacefully. I stayed for the whole thing, and afterward, I saw a couple of older Bulgarians speaking about how Bulgaria was for Bulgarians- meaning Christians. The camera approached me and I may be on the news tonight on Channel 7. Speaking poor Bulgarian. I hopefully conveyed that I thought multiculturalism is good and a healthy part of society, but I was quite awkward.
The whole situation really makes me sick of Bulgarian politics. I don't know who can take Ataka and their leader, Siderov, seriously. Yet they get around 8% of the votes during elections. The party I study, the MRF, and Ataka seem to live off of each other. The MRF argues that their presence in Bulgaria keeps ethnic minorities safe. Ataka argues that without their presence, the Turks would take over the country. These are two of the smaller parties, but are needed to make coalition governments.
I've been waiting for the response from parliament about this ridiculous and racist incident. They finally made a statement:
"The Members of Parliament condemn decisively Ataka's aggression on May 20 2011 against the prayers in downtown Sofia. What is most outrageous is that the attack took place on Friday, which is holy for the Muslims, during their Friday prayer...The party's behavior is completely untypical for the Bulgarian nation, for its religious and ethnic tolerance...With its aggressive attempt against the ethnic peace, jeopardizing Bulgaria's national security, Ataka has become dangerous for the Bulgarian rule."
Hopefully this means the demise of Ataka and any other party that bases its platform on hatred and racism. 

The Family in Turkey

Driving in Istanbul was a big mistake. Getting to the city wasn't that bad of a problem, but once we got downtown it was crazy. They have this huge toll road that we needed to take, but we didn't know how to pay for it. Some man charged us for a card that was to be used on the toll road, but he somehow tricked us and we threw away 50 lira. If you drive in Istanbul, remember to buy a card from an actual worker! They should have a vest on or something and will charge you 50 lira, but the card will be good for a long time.
We got across to Asia (during rush hour) but then got lost looking for Kadikoy, which was the location of my parents hotel. I was stressing out like made (I drove again when we got out of Bulgaria) so mom took over the wheel. We kept asking people, but nobody really knew and the signs pointed in all sorts of directions. Luckily, we passed the university near my friend KY's house. BH recognized it and we jumped out of the car and ran around until we found KY's house. While we were originally planning to meet her four hours earlier in Europe, we somehow ran into her as she was going into her apartment. Serendipitous.
This was my fourth time to Istanbul. I brought my family to the big three (the Blue Mosque, Haya Sofia, and Spice Market) but I also brought them to some other areas. We wandered around Ortakoy for hours looking for the Armenian church, but never found it. I guess this means that I'll have a goal when I'm back in Istanbul in August.
My family loved the city. My step-dad even made some friends with antique dealers on the ferry from Kadikoy to Korikoy. The last night we went to Bar Street in Kadikoy. This may be my new favorite place in Istanbul. Four-story apartment buildings rise over a narrow street and instead of residential apartments, they are all filled with multi-story bars. Since it is in Asia, it is also much calmer and free of the craziness in Sultanahmet.
It wasn't all a positive experience. The driving was maddening. We got ripped off twice. The gas was also exorbitant—after Japan, Turkey has the most expensive gas in the world. I guess these things are just part of the travel experience, and I would still love to live in Istanbul. I just need a good-paying job first!

Making our way to Turkey

The rents, Anna, BH and I headed out on Tuesday morning to Plovdiv in a car we rented for a mere 20 Euros a day. Excitedly, I jumped into the driver's seat and we set off along A1 after fueling up and stocking up on snacks and drinks. Good weather. Nice people. All seemed good until we went through a tunnel and were waved at by a little stick with an 'x' on it. Police had set up a little traffic trap. Apparently, the speed limit is 80 in all tunnels across Bulgaria. I panicked, but since we didn't really understand the cop's traffic sign, my mom told me to just slow down and drive in the right lane. Big mistake. A couple of minutes later, the cop caught up to us and pulled us over. He was furious. He made us drive back to the speed trap through a long and windy route; I kept telling my parents we could probably bribe him with twenty dollars, but I was slowly becoming more and more anxious.
When we finally got back to the little police hut outside the tunnel, he brought me into his office and started berating me in Bulgarian. I was apparently going thirty over the speed limit and since I didn't stop right away, I would be charged a ridiculous amount. I was freaking out, and, although I understood what he was saying, demanded to call the embassy (scare tactic). I didn't have the number, though, so I called one of the coordinators in Sofia. She talked to the policeman and explained the situation to me in English. I did understand everything correctly. I filled out some paperwork and was told I would be billed.
It was a freaky situation. They confiscated my license, but then, after telling my sister and mother to leave the room, asked me how much I wanted the license. I told them that I didn't really need it and the cop asked me again how much I wanted my license. It was obvious that he wanted me to slip him some money so he would hand me back my license, but I wasn't going to play along. When I told him for the second time I didn't have any sort of strong desire to get my documents back he just handed my license back and told me that my mom should be the one driving. I was scared of cops for the rest of the trip.
We did eventually make it to Plovdiv and then met Hilary at her place in Haskovo. Stressful day, but great to drive around the country.

Souvenir shopping in Plovdiv

Cute!

Lamb sache with potatoes, mint, and a lot of cheese. Delicious

This old woman spies on Hilary all the time. Hilarious

Family in Sofia

My mom, little sister, and step-dad flew into Sofia the third week of May. We spent a couple of days in the capital. Our first stop? Starbucks. Where am I now? A week later? Starbucks. I do feel a little bad that I come to this mini-America once a week, but I have tried plenty of other coffee places in Bulgaria and this is the only place that makes a good iced americano. It is also one of the only places I'll randomly run into English speakers and can hear languages besides Bulgarian.
Anyways, we had our coffees and then we wandered around the 'must see' of Sofia: Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the Russian Church, the National Palace of Culture, Ivan Vazov National Theater, and a couple of other things. I had talked down Sofia a little, so my family was pleasantly surprised. I must admit that there are some architectural beauties in this city.

Mom and John

Little sis...

It was fun to see my family's own perception of the city. Anna and mom were fascinated with all the old women with badly dyed red hair. John was just excited to not be working. They all tried to use some sign language as well, which was nice. We finished the day with a mehana (tavern) and ate some delicious Bulgarian salads and some not so delicious chicken.