Wine and Liquor: You'll Never be Sicker

Well I didn't wake up in the best of health. I didn't throw up, but I was not feeling good at all. Again I decided to sleep in for the morning. There was a CS meeting that night plus the presentation, so I had to be in good health in the evening.

I took it easy for most of the day... talked on Skype, updated blog posts, etc. I tried taking a bus into the city I hadn't taken before... which started my adventure of the evening. The bus was packed since it was rush hour. The windows were all steamy and full of people's heads so I had no idea where I was at first. I had no idea when to get off - I just knew it went past the bridge so I hoped I would recognize it.

I didn't. I saw the bus station, and eventually gave in and brought out the map to figure out where the thing was going. It turns out it did a loop! I wasn't sure where on the loop I was though until I started seeing stuff I already had gone by in the opposite direction. This was not a good sign. I got off at a bus stop that looked busy in hopes I could find out where I was from some signs or fellow commuters.

I was happy to see the bus that I'd taken before also passed by... but I didn't know which direction to take it. I tried asking people at the stop but no one seemed to know English or were willing to help - kept getting replies in Bulgarian. I crossed the street to look at a different bus stop and a couple there were willing to help me out. Turns out the tram went by too (picked the right intersection it seemed) so I went to that. The people helping me said it would be about 5 stops, so I counted to five stops on the busy tram and hopped out.

Turns out it was not five stops. It was more. I oriented myself on the map (by now I was going to be pretty late) and grabbed some food on the way. It was a nice enough walk, I went by some major sights again at night. Finally I made it to the theatre very late.

I snuck in the side and crammed myself in a little open spot on the floor. It was not the most comfortable, but at least I was sitting. Someone was talking in Bulgarian showing slides of K2 in Pakistan... this was not the German guy! I couldn't see Tsvetan in the crowd, so I just sat for a while trying to get comfy hoping he would come on later.

Another guy came on talking in Bulgarian showing different slides and I began to wonder if I'd missed the other guy. Maybe he was talking during the day? Then I heard the speaker say "Venezuela", which is what the German guy was going to talk about... so I stayed. Sure enough, the person I was waiting for came on stage next and did an equally interesting presentation which got an equally enthusiastic standing ovation compared to the night before :)

Turns out it was okay that I was late, since I couldn't understand the first people! I found Tsvetan and a couple other people and we made our way to the CS meeting :) The meeting was in another illegal bar, this one was entirely lit by candles! The bar would have been impossible to find without someone guiding us, since it was down some random alley thing and you had to knock on the unlabeled door before you were let in... It had an all-wood interior it seemed (probably why it was illegal: fire+wood) and an old piano. There were a group of people upstairs already, so we arranged chairs, introduced ourselves etc. A couple of the people there were at the Balkan Mafia meeting in Sarajevo, so that was cool to see familiar faces! A piano player started up with a violinist to add to the candlelit old-school atmosphere :)

We did the usual CS thing - talking, telling stories, having drinks, meeting new people. It was a good group of people. Eventually the crowd started to part for either home or other bars. A bunch of people were going dancing in the student district, so I joined them despite being warned that the place was not what student districts are normally like...

It was far from it. This place was a mini-skirt/pop collar/loads of makeup club city! Luckily I was there with some cool people, so we danced it up anyway. It ended up being really fun. You could see the very top of my tattoo over the shirt I was wearing, and the whole bar staff kept asking to see it (I wasn't taking off my shirt just moving it so you could see most of it). I got on stage with Stefan and danced around until everyone had to get off the stage for a performance.

A woman started singing Balkan style pop music, leading some trendily-dressed skinny guy on a dog chain. The guy would dance around her and get on his knees for her like a dog etc. She would dance around and pull on the chain etc. It was someone's birthday so an entire section of the club was covered in toilet paper (I assumed that was why it was there?) and the singer came over and danced with the birthday party :)

The student area was actually not too close to the center (we had to take 2 cabs there) and three people were staying in two hostel rooms with 4 beds in each... so they offered to sneak me into the hostel instead of having to figure out how to take a cab back to Tsvetan's and possibly get ripped off. I took the offer and ended up taking a cab back to the city center instead :)

Parks and Presentations

My legs were feeling the full day of walking from the day before, so I didn't quite make it up as early as the previous day. I slept in and rested. There was a park I wanted to see the day before, but it got dark too early and I didn't want to venture too far into the blackness...

So I made it today.


There was a pony and a dog just chilling out



These two cats were super friendly!! I was petting one, then the other, then one was being pet by this other girl. We started talking while petting our respective cats. This is when we found out they were a couple (we figured brother sister since they looked so similar)! I was looking for the main post office, and she was going this way, so she walked me through the city giving me a mini tour :) It was really nice of her!




She left me at the post office after we figured out how to mail the postcards. I walked around some more, got coffee, and looked for a craft store... on the way I got this MASSIVE piece of pizza for next to nothing!



I didn't find it, and ended up in some part of town that was not in the center. I made my way back slowly with much use of the map, and made it to the city again



I was going to meet everyone to watch this movie presentation on extreme sports. As I was walking by, I saw something going on...








Once again I found a crazy Christmas celebration! More fire, more performance, and even fireworks! I gotta put the video up though (soon!)

I left to make it just in time. We got into the PACKED movie theatre (it was free and apparently popular) just in time to watch this amazing presentation. It was a German guy talking in English (I was sooooo relieved) about rock climbing, and ended up talking about expeditions and such. His presentation was seamless, entertaining, and really funny too! He was a natural public speaker, so we left really stoked on this person. He was talking the next night too so we made plans to be there earlier the next night to try and get a seat.

We went for drinks afterward at this little hidden illegal bar. They served homemade Rakia, which we drank by the fire. A girl I met at the tea house arrived, and we hung out for a while. There was talk of going to another bar, but it was a work night so we opted out. On the tram ride back, Tsvetan and I stopped for some drinks at another guy's house. His brother and fiance were up, so the five of us hung out drinking some more and listening to Reggae.

Eventually we called a cab and went back to the house. I ate some food and drank some water in a feeble attempt to skirt the saying "Wine and Liquor you'll never be sicker".