Soooooooooooo cold ...

Brrrr! I feel like every five minutes I say, "Oh! I am so cold!" It is freezing here! The last few days it has been around negative 18 degrees Celsius. That's about negative 1 degree Fahrenheit. Yeah - cold! Before you worry too much, we do have warm enough clothes and there is heat in our house. However, the pipes have frozen several times this week, so we have had no hot water to take a shower. Luckily, they are usually able to fix it by the end of the day, so we take a shower at night, before the pipes freeze again in the morning. It's a really fun process ... really it is. I was talking to one of the Bulgarian teachers the other day about how cold it is and she said that it's not typical for it to be this cold during the winter. Then she said, "It comes from Russia. All bad things come from Russia." No offensive if anyone reading this is Russian or loves Russia, but I thought it was pretty funny.
Well, I'm going to leave this cold room and either find a heater to sit on or burn all the papers I need to grade in an attempt to stay warm. Who could blame me in negative 18 degrees? I love all of you - you are all constantly in my thoughts. Have a great weekend!

Tagged Again

First of all, I'd like to say congratulations to the Seahawks! I'm not much of a pro-football fan usually (I prefer my cute Cougs), but it's quite an accomplishment that the Hawks have made it to the Superbowl! Way to go! Pete and I were going to try and watch the game downtown last night, but it didn't come on until 2:30am and we thought we'd be hard pressed to find a place that was open. Pete woke me up this morning with the news they were going. Yeah! I'm sure Seattle is going crazy!

Shannon tagged me again on her blog, so here are my answers to her questions:

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
Where do I begin? I've had a million jobs ...
1. Waitress at the Olive Garden
2. Sales person at Bath & Body Works
3. International Relocation Specialist for Microsoft
4. Counselor and Teacher

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:

1. When Harry Met Sally
2. It's a Wonderful Life
3. Chocolate
4. Old School


FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE LIVED:

1. Portland, Oregon
2. Seattle, Washington
3. Galway, Ireland
4. Sofia, Bulgaria


FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
Oh how I miss regular TV viewing ...
1. Law & Order SVU
2. The Sopranos
3. CSI
4. Connan O'Brien


FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:

1. Hawaii
2. Europe (all over with Shannon)
3. Turkey, Spain, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Mexico, Bulgaria with the LOML, Pete.
4. Victoria, B.C. for our Honeymoon


FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:

1. www.yahoo.com
2. www.cnn.com
3. Shannon's blog
4. Molly's blog

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:

1. Pasta
2. Thai Food
3. Red Robin Hamburgers
4. Ice Cream

FOUR PLACES YOU WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1. At Rock Bottom with my girls
2. Having a BBQ on my parents' back porch with the Muilenburgs and the Jendrzejewskis
3. Hawaii (or any other place where I could look like this picture I took of Pete when we were in Mexico)

4. Italy or some other European country having a celebration with everyone I love.

I'm back in action

First of all, I apologize for leaving you all on such a down note for a week. Last week was not the best for either Pete or me. It was just one of those weeks where you are working hard and things keep popping up and you are really ready when Friday gets here - not to mention I wasn't feeling very well. Anyway, I am feeling much better now. Thank God for antibiotics! I think I probably could have used those in November!
Pete has been working hard as coordinator of the Senior Independent Honors Project - basically like senior projects in the U.S. The projects have to benefit the school or the community and the kids have to write a big research paper. Pete and one of the other international teachers, Kathleen, are in charge of it and let me assure you it is a lot of work. The kids had to have their proposals in this week and just like all kids around the world, a lot of them were very late and unprepared, which meant a lot of long hours for Pete and Kathleen. On the school counseling front, we had our January mailing deadline this week where we mailed all the college applications that have deadlines before February 28th. Hopefully this will be our last big mailing this year and things should calm down a bit for seniors applying to college. I hope so, anyway!
Last night one of the houses on campus through a martini party (smile Lee and Lur!). All of us on campus dressed up and headed over for the party. This picture is before we left - do you like my fur coat? One of the girls on campus has like 25 fur coats from her ex-mother-in-law and she is trying to get rid of them, so she just gives them to people on campus. Can you believe that? Anyway, I know being from the Northwest I should be opposed, but I am in Bulgaria, the land of the fur, and I figured "When in Rome ..." At any rate it was perfect for the martini party.
Today Pete and I both have work to do to get ready for another week. We are less than a month away from celebrating our one year anniversary. It's hard to believe that is coming up. We are thinking about going to Plovdiv, a little town about two hours away from here. We were going to try and take a cheap flight somewhere out of the country, but this seems like a better option, as we probably should be saving our dollars for summer travel.
I hope everyone has a good week! I'll try to be more active on the blog this week. Loves to you all. AND ... HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY LORISSA!!!!!

What a day.

Well ... today hasn't been my favorite day. I don't know if I've ever blogged this, but I've had cough since Thanksgiving. In the last week it has turned to a full-blown cold and I now feel like there is a two-ton elephant on my chest, not to mention that I'm can't sleep because I'm hacking away all night. I decided I was fed up, so I figured out how to go to the doctor. Let me tell you, there's nothing like a Bulgarian doctor's clinic. Imagine any horror movie you have seen that involves a psych ward. Yeah, that's pretty much what it looks like. On the upside, the doctor was nice and spoke English, so I felt good about that. She listened to my lungs and said they sounded really bad and I probably have bronchitis. So, she prescribed me some medication and sent me on my way. The doctor bill was 78 leva, but I only had 40 with me so I had to borrow money from the school's driver, Ivo, who took me to my appointment. I'm sure he enjoyed that. (Insurance reimburses us later). The doctor told me I should take three days off work, which I'm not going to do, but I figured I probably could take the afternoon off. Anyway, I close up shop at school, walk home, and as I walk through the door I'm hit with a powerful smell. Kind of like gas, kind of like Raid. I go upstairs and ask my roommate what's up and she tells me that our heat is out, they are trying to fix it, and it always smells like this when they are trying to fix it. No wonder my lungs are broken! Anyway, I am not sitting here, typing to you all, in a freezing cold house, periodically stopping to cough up a lung, while breathing in possibly toxic gases. Nice. I wanted to experience Bulgaria - I definitely have today. I think I am going to go crawl in bed and put my covers over my head and think about Hawaii.
Here's a picture of me sitting at the computer attempting to show you all my irratation. I'm a dork :)
(Sorry this isn't an upbeat blog - I promise I'll turn that frown upside down next time) :)

Snow, snow, snow ... and more snow

I really didn't think it was possible for me to get sick of snow ... throughout my life I have been overjoyed at the first hint of winter; the nip in the air that meant the possibility of snow, winter coats, scarves, gloves, and, most importantly, days off of school. I have now come to realize that it was really always the latter possibility that made the prospect of snow exciting. Living in Bulgaria has taught me that unlike Portland and Seattle, most people's lives do not come to an automatic halt as the first, tiny, unique flake hits the ground. And, let me assure you, when your life does not come to a stop due to the white stuff it's really not that much fun. As I told my parents this morning, the worst part of my day is leaving the comforts of my home. When I open the door to our house not only am I hit by such a temperature that I automatically think about the last time I said "when hell freezes over" and wonder if that event is eminent, but also, I am immediately confronted with the task of walking down the stairs. If I would have brought ice skates with me and practiced my triple Lutz a couple more times this would not be a problem, but, as I did not, I simply have to take a deep breath and accept the fact that there is a good chance I will fall and break a limb. After the stairs there is another 5-7 minutes of slipping and sliding before I arrive at my office door where I try to defrost my figures enough to maneuver my key into the lock. Doesn't this sound like fun? I hope you all don't book your plane tickets at once to come visit. Joking aside, I agree with Shannon ... I'm ready for spring.
Aside from the weather, we're back in school and slowly, but surely getting back in the swing of things. We've already started planning our next trip to meet up with parents in Poland. In fact, I think we're going to purchase our plane tickets today. Yeah! That will be something to look forward to that will allow us to look past the winter wonderland outside our door.
Love you all! Hope all is well!

2006

We're back! We got in late yesterday and spent most of today trying to get settled in again. Amazingly, we came back to no snow. The snow world we left behind no longer exists and instead has been replaced by rain. Neither of us were too disappointed, however, as the lack of snow allowed us to run errands today.
We had a fabulous time on our Italian vacation. All the places we visited were gorgeous, but I think both of us loved Vernazza the best. Cinque Terre was my favorite on my 1997 adventure and it still holds up to the test of time. It was a great way to spend Christmas, although it would have been even better if our families could have been there. Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without family and friends - no matter where you are. The dark picture that just has a few lights is from Christmas Eve. That's when they brought the baby Jesus across the water. I have several pictures of the event, but none of them quite capture the moment. I'll let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.
There are only four of us on campus right now ... Pete, me, Lara (one of the teachers we work with), and Deana ( the directors wife - she works at another school and had to be back this week. Our director is still in the states visiting friends). It feels pretty empty around here, but it's nice to have the house to ourselves for a change and get all set for school to start again. We plan on just relaxing, maybe going to a movie, and, heaven forbid, maybe getting ahead of the game at school. Now that Christmas is over it kind of feels like there is a long road ahead. I am really looking forward to my parents visit in April - I can't wait, really. In the in between time, Pete and I get to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It's hard to believe it's almost been a year since the wedding. Time flies ... and we packed a lot into the last year :) We talked about it on New Year's Eve: We brought in 2005 at a wedding NYC, we got married in February (as well as accepted a job in Bulgaria and went to Victoria for our honeymoon), we went to Cabo in April, Vegas in May with Lur, June we moved to Portland, July we went to Klamath Falls and the Cannon Beach, August we moved to Bulgaria, September we climbed Mt. Olympus, October my sisters visited and we went horseback riding, November we went to Hungary, and December we went to Italy. Not a bad little year, really! Holy cow! I'm not sure we'll ever live up to that one again! So far our only plans in January are starting school and attempting to not get as warn out as we did in December :) I'm sure we'll pack a little bit of fun in every now and again. At any rate ... I'm off to bed. It's 2:10 am here and I'm not sure why I'm still up.
We love and miss you all - here's to 2006!