So I think the title of this email pretty much sums it up. But, for the sake of a good story, I'll elaborate...and add verbs.
So for the last few weeks all of the Krichim crowd (5 trainees and Ivan) had made plans to meet in Dupnitsa, a town in the Rila Mountains where Ned lives, to go hiking in what is famed for being the most beautiful part of Bulgaria.
However, the plan began to unravel Tuesday. Ivan, who recently took a promotion in the Peace Corps (he'll no longer be a language trainer), had been traveling every day for the previous three weeks and was in no shape to travel more. As I was going to go with him in a rented car, I had to come up with a way for me to get there via public transport. I had my route down and was all set to go.
Then on Thursday Ned let us know that due to a storm that was predicted for the weekend, he thought we should postpone the hike. Though the weather forecasts in Bulgaria are even more arbitrary and inccorect than they are in the states, we decided not to risk it, as it was going to take me a lot of money and effort to literally cross the country.
I still wanted to get away and do something for the weekend, so I decided to take the smaller and less expensive trip back to Plovdiv and Krichim. I pretty much have my "Going home to Krichim" routine down: I take a 7:59a.m. train across the Upper Thracian Plain from Straldja to Plovdiv, get there before noon (on a slow day) catch a 2:30ish movie at the Flamingo Theater near Ivan's apartment, then catch a 5 or 5:30 bus to Krichim, putting me there in the 6 o'clock hour.
So that's what I did this Friday. It was really gloomy the whole day, but as soon as I crossed the threshold of the house in Krichim the sky opened up, dumping HUGE amounts of rain and scary bolts of lightning.
The storm continued through the night. When I woke up in the morning it was still thundering and lightning, which is really weird to have happen in the a.m. like that. I spent the day practicing my Bulgarian with Berin, then I went over to Maegen's old house to practice with Villdane and Gulchen, her former host sisters. I got all the gossip from Krichim, the most notable being that the 21-year-old woman who recently won the Miss Turkey contest was in town to visit her grandmother (she was born in Krichim, but moved to Turkey when she started school). As I say, Krichim is a really small town so on my way back home from Villdane's house I ran into Miss Turkey. She is 6 ft. tall with long perfect brown hair and perfect oval brown eyes. She knew who I was because she had been told about the Americans in town, and I told her I knew who she was because people mentioned Miss Turkey was in town and had shown me newspaper clippings. She spoke English and a little Bulgarian (I think I might speak more correct Bulgarian than she did) so we talked for a bit. I'm not sure what competition she was Miss Turkey for, but I know it was an international one because she had pictures of herself with "Miss"es from all over.
Anyway, Saturday night the news came on at a special time to tell everyone that the whole part of Bulgaria between Sandanski on the Greek boarder, Sofia near the Serbian boarder and Plovdiv (they make a triangle) was flooded. Of course, Krichim is right in that triangle, but due to the huge reseviour in the mountains behind the town the Reka Vucha (the river in town) wasn't swollen. It was a huge mess elswhere...They showed pictures from Kostenets and Stamboliski, both places that had trainees I visited, where the bridges were collapsed and the feilds were swamped. Residents were crying to the camera because the first floor of their homes were destroyed. Most of the water in the towns is now unpotable.
Anway, today I managed to get to Plovdiv and trains were running (slowly) to the east and I was able to get home. We crossed the Reka Maritsitsa on the way (the river that cuts Plovdiv in half) and it was a huge mess. They had huge hoses to pump the water off of the train tracks and everything. However, had I gone to Dupnitsa, there'd be no way for me to get home for the next few days...I sure called that one.
But I got home safe and sound and typed up this email. Hope all's well in the states, and now I will look for a way to get all of our extra water over to Portugal to help out with the drought and the fires. What is happening to Europe?!
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