Half the story....

Well I was expecting a good weekend and what I got was a GREAT weekend. A lot of stuff went wrong, but that seems to have only made it better. I think this is becoming the theme to my travel adventures.

After teaching all day Friday I hopped a train to Mezdra and met up with Whitnet, Diana, Brian and Raf. We had a nice dinner and then went out with Whitney's CP. I ended up getting to sleep around 4:00 AM only after Diana, Raf and I left the disco early. I awoke (amazingly) at 6:00, repacked, showered and caught the train to Sofia to hang out with Potere and friends. Martha's family was in town and she invited me to go see the mountains. I of course thought she meant spending the day at Mt. Vitosha in Sofia, however, I was mistaken. We hop in the car and after some wrong turns we make it out of Sofia and start driving to the Rila Monastery. Let me back up a minute... when I say hop into a car, I mean the 4 of us crammed ourselves into the back of a Chevy. It was some nice PC cuddle time although I think I am pregnant with Alex's baby now. We stop in Dupnitsa and have a nice non-alcoholic lunch and proceed to the Monastery all the while jamming to "The Best of Phil Collin: Ballads". After visiting the Monastery and spending the day with these fantastic people I do have to say I agree with Mr. Collins in that this is just another day for you and me in paradise. Now here is where the story gets a little more interesting.

After leaving the Monastery and driving through the old B-23 PST sites, our car caught the uneven and jagged edge of the road and we blew a tire. We had a spare so we thought we were ok. The problem was that the side with the flat was now on this marshy, uneven grass and the jack would not stay stable. After several attempts and even some unsolicited BG assistance, we finally changed the tire only to discover (after about 10 more minutes of driving) that the back tire was now also flat. Having no spare we had no choice but to drive a little bit further to a Shell Station. We had bent the rim. Luckily the attendants were super nice and the Shell station had beer. I will say that one of the best parts about being a Peace Corps Volunteer is that you are never the designated driver b/c you are forbidden to drive motor vehicles. So after our 3 hour dilemma, we finally arrived back to Sofia. Although now I was 3 hours late to Illyria's birthday celebration.

So I show up and everyone's there and celebrating. We hang out at one bar and then head to McDonald's b/c we feel like it is expected of us whenever we are in Sofia to go there. Also, McFlurry's are always good after beer. Then we went to Solo and danced and what not.....*This part of the story is being shortened b/c this is PG rated blog*.... I finally got back to the Hostel at 6:30AM and pass out after what had been the longest 24 hours of being awake EVER! It was a FANTASTIC mini-vacay and I will now spend the rest of the month chilling and wishing that this weekend could last forever. Thanks to all who made it possible!

Cory

~ PS - LOVED seeing Val at the train station especially b/c the 1st words out of her mouth were "You look like shit." I felt like it too...