Bulgarian life
47. Claire & Rob get registered…eventually
BG plates! Today was an exciting week in the Auntie Bulgaria household. We went to Sofia to apply for long-term residency and get our Bulgarian ID cards. We first tried to do this a month ago but were turned away because the notary act for our house doesn’t...
46. Better best forgotten
Yes, I still have the CD. One of the downsides of living in Bulgaria is missing out on important cultural events back at home. Imagine my horror this week when I discovered (three days later than everyone else it seems) that Steps are going on a reunion...
44. Spirit of Burgas Festival
In August we sampled our first Bulgarian music festival, Spirit of Burgas. It takes place in a beautiful part of Bulgaria - right on the Black Sea coast. As festival experiences go, it was high up there. It was pretty special partying on the beach in the height of...
43. The long way round
Uma the Puma loaded up with our possessions First, I have a confession to make. We broke down. In France! Well, sort of. We had a major overheating episode after driving off the ferry in Dunkirk. How embarrassing, just one kilometre from the ferry port! I...
42. A brief update on our adventures
Gosh, it’s been a while since I was last in touch. Sorry. Three weeks ago we drove from the UK out to Bulgaria with a car full of stuff, breezing through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece and finally Bulgaria. We stopped along the way – one night in...
41. And we’re off…
Our car is not this small. But almost. In a few days we’re loading up our tiny car and driving to Bulgaria! We’ve packed some essentials to take with us: two boxes of kitchen gear; two suitcases of clothes; computer; bedding and towels; some books (Bulgarian...
40. The road to Hell…again
I mean, beautiful, but also pretty terrifying. Early readers will remember that, sometimes, Bulgarian roads can be a little scary. I preface this story by saying that most of the roads in our area are perfectly fine. Just not this one.... One day we’d...
37. Village Life, Part 2
Word must have spread around the village that the English had arrived. On our last evening, a local guy and his son stop by touting for work. The son speaks a bit of English and explains that his dad is a “maestro with wood”. It’s a big old village, a few...
36. Village Life, Part 1
A day or so after arriving, we had our first exchange with a real life villager – in Bulgarian. We’d been out and returned to the house to find an old man letting himself out of our gate. “Er, hello. This my house.” I say in broken Bulgarian. “Ah” the man says...
35. Camping out at our house
For all you naysayers who thought I’d only make it a night or two without my creature comforts: I am delighted to inform you we did the full 8 nights at our house. In your face, naysayers! That’s right, 8 days and nights peeing in a bucket, washing in a bucket...
32. Spirit of Burgas Festival – an update
We are now the proud owners of two tickets to this music festival! I’m very much looking forward to some big-time Bulgarian festivalling. As well as The Great Bald One Moby who is headlining, they’ve announced Skunk Anansie are playing. I know them,...
31. Booked a trip to Bulgaria
We’re heading back to BG for 10 days in mid-May. The plan is to clear out some of the furniture/junk that we don’t want and make some room for work to start. We also want to spend some time with Max and the builder to discuss plans and get a proper...