First off, a random update: Jay wants to revamp the team image, trading the 5-month-old "JJ" for a more explosive, more inclusive "Team Wookie". We shall see. Now, regarding Bulgaria...
Our entry to Plovdiv was not particularly successful, unfortunately. Not only are we useless in any slavic language, but also there seems to be not a single Bulgarian working within the international train station that speaks or understands either English or German. And the signs are misleading, if not completely nonexistent. Once we figured out how to check our luggage and explore the city, we encountered a new difficulty: the street signs (if any) were written in cyrillic, but the ones on my map were not. We quickly gave up on trying to make our way to old town and took a random, quiet side street instead.
In our wanderings, we ended up at the monument to the soviet army, a huge statue on a hill (Bunardjika Park) towering over the city. From it, we saw the mountains, the city, and the sun as its descent into some lower, misty hills. We stayed in the park most of the afternoon, returning towards the train station as it got dark. On the way, we found food (pizza and a spiced-cabbage salad with a flavor resembling that of Doritos nacho cheese chips).
When we returned to the station, with much time to spare, a girl was looking for the lady in charge of left luggage. As we knew the woman left often and had heard this girl speaking English, Jay walked over to explain the delay.
As it turned out, this girl had been in Bulgaria for a year, teaching English through the Peace corps. She was very nice, and actually re-piqued my own interest in the Peace corps. Around the same time, an adorable kitty came and chilled near us under our bench. He was irresistible, so, naturally, I fed him cake and named him Georgie. Only later, when I tried a couple different languages to tell him not to jump on my lap, did I discover that he only understands Spanish. So now, due to my lack of earlier consideration, he may have to bear the unfortunate title "hee-or-hee-ay". Oops.
Although there was some confusion regarding the correct train to take, a very nice (and surprisingly English-speaking) guard explained the way to get to Istanbul, and we're on that train now. Although I am a bit nervous about border crossing, I am generally excited to be approaching the eastern-most portion of our journey - presumably also the most difficult in terms of communication and cultural differences. And of course, Jay will get his authentic Turkish Döner.
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