(The original post written in Bulgarian dates back to 6 April 2014.)
I have the feeling I haven’t written here for years but it’s not because things don’t happen to me anymore. On the contrary, they do and that’s why I have no time to sit and write about them. Otherwise, if you asked me, I’d tell you that all my days are the same – I write news articles, I cook, I go to Fast FUD (the canteen/cafe-like place at the university in Usti) to bring Lukash soup or homemade bread, we make our own bread! and, generally, other such daily things.
But I don’t want to leave you with the impression that my life is only about work and good food. : )
In fact, a lot of interesting things happened the last couple of weeks – both in Czech Republic and to me specifically.
For example, have you already seen the interview I gave to Vizh Burgas* (a free art and culture magazine published and distributed in the town I was born)? An interview? That I gave? Very funny, indeed. If you haven’t seen it, you can take a look at [the translated version of] it if you happen to be interested in me but I guess, if you’re here, then you are.
Apart from that, last week (more precisely somewhere between 27th and 28th) there passed exactly a year since a night at Stroezha** (a former night club in Sofia) when I did something against my will and it turned out to be the most beautiful thing I had done that I hadn’t wanted at first (last week I did another such thing but I’ll tell you about it later). Or, simply said – it’s one year since Lukash and I’ve been together. He gave me a watch (to count down every minute and hour we spend together) and I made him a symbolism (and chocolate)-soaked dark beer cake. The symbolism was in the way the cake combined the two things we both think the other likes more than anything else in the world and that we’re most probably wrong about and that is beer (that’s what I think) and sweet things (that’s what he thinks). So, our opposite tastes were united in an insanely delicious cake. You should give it a try, it’s super easy!
In addition to that, we decided to celebrate the nice occasion in a more appropriate way, so we took a road trip (I’m sure this wonderful English collocation, that smells of sun, petrol, hot asphalt in an American desert and other such things I haven’t experienced but I feel, doesn’t have an equally good equivalent in Bulgarian) across some small spring-blossomed Czech villages. The weather was splendid, the sky – clear and full of stars and Lukash’s motorbike seemed to have possessed the ability to preserve its capacity, unused during the winter and then to use it in moments of torture because that’s exactly what we were to it – Lukash, I, sitting at the back and the third member of our crew – Lukash’s huge backpack which weighed… I don’t even know how much. Just to make myself clear, we’re talking about a scooter, right? Just like one of those scooters Italian women use to hang around and fill me with awe, only a good deal older and Czech, too (which probably explains its durability).
The villages around Choceň are incredible. All people were out in their yards; their pillows and blankets were sucking in the spring air from the window sills and, as a whole, I could feel some joy of life which is generally characteristic of unusually nice weather, weekends or the combination of both. Both nights we slept in conifer woods (I don’t think I’ve seen broadleaf woods in Czech Republic yet), we grilled bread and Hermelín cheese and, generally, we spent a great deal of the time either on the scooter, riding with a few kilometres per hour or eating. Well, at some point we entered the forest and took a path that led to some rocks. There were a few ascents; I remembered what the term “hiking” actually meant; I squeezed my way into an extremely narrow cave that looked more like a big crack with stone steps inside – too narrow and too far away from one another. It was a challenge. We also went for a bath in a brook, realising that the water in the river is as cold in the end of March as it is in the end of July.
And so… all in all… I will never forget this, but I’ll tell you why in person.
Now it’s time for the story about me doing something against my will that turned out to be good and, more specifically, about how I went to an exhibition in Plzeň with Lukash’s fellow students (but without him). There were free seats in the bus, it was paid by the school so… why not? Eventually my worries turned out to be in vain – the people talked to me and on our way back a Russian guy even gave me a copy of his photo book. As a conclusion, going out of your comfort zone isn’t that bad at all, I’m telling you.
Moreover, in Plzeň I found a book on a bench as well as a hanger. The hanger was an exceptionally precious find because at the flat we have around four only and twenty shirts of Lukash and ten dresses of mine which hope to get hanged on them in vain. If you have any extra hangers, don’t be shy and bring them here along with yourselves at any time that suits you. In Plzeň I also met Štěpánka, had ice cream, walked down the streets by myself and had a Plzeň beer with Lukash’s fellow students. The Plzeň beer is nice but it costs 40 crowns and I, being from Usti :), am used to beer that’s 18-23 crowns. As far as the exhibition is concerned, the exhibitors were Czech artists and it contained works from the past three decades or something like that. There were some good things but there’s no point telling you about them. In Plzeň I also passed some Bulgarians on the street but didn’t tell them anything because I decided that Czech Republic wasn’t, for example, Mozambique and that if you see some compatriot of yours, that’s not so special after all.
And so, all in all, those were my journeys for the past two weeks. Oh yes, I almost forgot. Today was the first time (again it was against my will at first) I tried together with Lukash the bicycle route that follows river Labe all the way to Germany. Well, we only reached a village 10 kilometres away but I’m happy I didn’t fall a single time, that it was beautiful and green and that this route exists in the first place! Sometimes I tell myself with sadness: “Look at those Czechs; how they thought of everything and we Bulgarians…” but then I remember that actually I live here. Not that this changes the situation in Bulgaria but still it’s reassuring. To me, at least…
Apart from all that, I had birthday. 🙂 I got a lot of nice presents but I won’t tell you what they were and, instead, I’ll wait for you to come and visit me and then you can see them. Otherwise, I spend my birthday as a real mature 25-year old woman, that is, I went to a restaurant with my man, then went home and we both watched “Undercover” (note: a popular Bulgarian action series) (SPOILERS AHEAD! People, Dzharo died!) drinking white wine. The funniest thing is I don’t complain. I don’t like birthdays very much because I need to be the centre of attention and I don’t like being a center. I don’t know why – it must be some kind of a social claustrophobia or it’s just easier to breathe in the periphery.
In the meantime, stop loitering and pack your bags for Czech Republic!
Těším se na vás which means I’m looking forward to you.
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a blog about (making sense of) life 
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