And Jake Makes 3

 

The New Year came in with a bang, literally. The Bulgarians seem to celebrate the start of another year much more than they celebrate Christmas. The fireworks around us were fantastic especially as we are in the middle of the valley and could see displays on both sides. We had hoped to go to the town square to see in the New Year but unfortunately we both have nasty colds and decided it best to stay indoors and keep warm. We really enjoyed seeing the locals out in the street at 12 o'clock greeting each other and setting off the numerous fireworks.

Our neighbours in the rest of the block are so friendly; we have had so many good wishes from them all even with their lack of English.

 

 

 

And so the snow fell! It has been snowing most of the night so I guess we will not be going far today.

 

 

 3rd January

 

And so the snow continues..................

 

 

It is now 4pm and still it snows. We have spent the day watching the various attempts at clearing cars and pathways, all of which seem futile as it just covers them over again.

 

 

The only ones who seem to be enjoying it are the kids. These 2 happy souls are from the neighbouring block to us and we watched them play for ages. Because they are used to the snow here the kids are all kitted out in ski suits and good coats and so do not feel the cold. There is a video of them playing on the video link.

 

 

The local wildlife is not so happy. Luckily we started feeding the birds recently and for the last 2 days the windowcill outside our kitchen has been alive to the twittering of sparrows and chaffinches. The air conditioning heating unit is alongside so I am sure they come for a warm.

 

 

 

 

 

We had hoped to go down to the river yesterday to watch the Yordan Day celebrations but it was so cold we thought it best to stay warm as our colds haven't gone completely. Bulgarians celebrate name days more than birthday. These are very important calendar days as they are all named after saints or religious events.

 

"January 6th is the nameday of Yonko, Yonka, Yoto, Yordan, Yordanka – after the name of the Palestine river Jordan, Bogomil (‘dear toGod’) and Bogdan (‘given by God’) .In some regions the holiday is called “Vodokrushti” or “Priest’s Christmas”. It is connected with the faith in the purifying, healing and magic power of water. After church service in the morning, water is solemnly blessed with cross and prayer. The priest throws a wooden cross into a river, lake or sea and young men jump into the icy cold water to take it out. Whoever reaches the cross first and brings it back to the priest receives money and blessing from him". We watched the ritual on TV last night and could not believe these guys walked out on the ice and then jumped in the river. It was around -8c during the day yesterday.

 

Today, January 7th. is another name day. John or Ivans day.

 

"In the church calendar, this is the day celebrated in honour of Saint John the Baptist who baptized Jesus. It is also the holiday of all who bear the Saint's name. By old Bulgarian custom at early dawn - before sunrise - young women brought water from a river or a well. In a large caldron, referred to as "chebar", they bathed the children for health. The young couples, who had married in the winter before St. John's Day, were also given a bath in this "chebar". Then the lads went visiting all the houses and bathing all boys and men named John. St. John was believed to be the patron of sponsorship and sworn brotherhood". Thankfully they don't do this last bit in modern times, John didn't fancy a cold bath!!!!

 

Our lovely neighbour Maria called in on us today. She and her husband live in the apartment above us. They have a lovely family, one of whom is a son Anjou who visited over the holidays and speaks very good English. He has a good job in computing at the nuclear power station on the Danube. They had to drive back on the day the snow was at its worst but thankfully, we learned, they got back safely although it took 6 hours when it would normally take 2, I would think. Anyway Maria called to bring a present for Jake. She had seen him out in the snow so knitted him a cardigan to keep him warm.

 

 

 

The neighbours really are lovely people and we feel very honoured that they have accepted us so readily.

 

 

Well, another week on and still we have snow. It snowed during the night and again this morning, only about 4cms or so but that's on top of what we already had. There has been no thaw here in VT as the temperature has never risen above 0c since Christmas. There's now been snow on the ground since 14th. December. 

 

John has a saying (words from a John Denver song I believe) "Some days are Diamond, some days are Stone"

We have times when our feelings about our life here in Bulgaria change from day to day. Some days it is: "What are we doing here"? Other days: "Why would we want to go home"? I guess the last 2 days have been like that. Yesterday we tried to go to town to pay some bills etc. The weather was freezing, the pavements were like glass, the queues in the Post Office were long and the place stank of Garlic. We got a taxi home feeling cold, fed up and missing the comfort of a warm UK. Definitely a "Stone Day". Today the new snow on the ground made walking so much easier so off we went to town. Walked all the way, no cheating and getting a taxi. We went to the Post Office again and this time we paid the electricity bill without waiting as there was no queue and bought our new Vignette "Bulgarian Road Tax" for the Freelander with minimum waiting. Over the road to the Municipal building to pay the water bill only to be told we were in credit then down to BTK to pay the USB Modem bill. On the way home we bought a CD, nail polish (for Angela, I hasten to add!) and some shopping. Walked home with the Sun attempting to burst into life. All of this without a word of English being spoken (except to each other). A "Diamond day" if ever there was one.

 

 

Blimey is it so long since we updated the website. The thaw has started albeit slowly, today at 10.30am we are sat in the apartment with the windows open and the sun streaming in. I guess it won't last but nice while it does.

 

We haven't done a great deal since the last entry although we have managed to rescue the car from the garage thanks to some digging by John.

 

 

As we now have the car we decided to take it for a run to Pleven as we had agreed to go back to MotoPhone to have new bearings fitted on the prop-shaft. We always enjoy a visit there as the staff are always friendly. The job was only a small one so we took a short trip into town to have a look around. The weather was sunny and we actually sat outside a cafe having coffee watching the world go by. There is an outside ice rink on the main square, shows how cold the weather really is.

 

 

I guess it could only happen to us. We got back to the garage and popped upstairs for a coffee whilst they finished the work. There is a lovely waiting area so we made ourselves comfortable for a few minutes. The job was finished but the car was still up in the air on the hydaulic platform when as often happens in Bulgaria the electricity went off. We spent the next 2 hours at the mercy of the power supply, not able to go anywhere.  Luckily we had taken a flask of coffee with us, everyone else was drinking lukewarm coffee or cold drinks. It eventually came back on after 4pm and we were away 10minutes later.

 

The birds have become regular visitors to our windowsill feeding area. It is so lovely to see so many of them surviving the cold weather. Besides the small birds we also now have a resident Blackbird, some Collar Doves and Stock Pigeons. We also are very lucky to have some Jays in the area and we enticed one down with some fruit the other day.