bulgaria

so, of course the nicest computers i've been on in europe are in this random town in bulgaria, and i have no time to write. the good news is that i have no time to write beacuse i am going to bulgarian prom with a bulgarian friend of kristen's and also with krsiten. i'm excited. here's the email i wrote to my parents. you know, just for an update.


here i am in stara zagora, bulgaria. we're
staying at yoanna's family's apartment. yoanna is a friend of
kristen's from indian springs (she came the year after i left). she
is super sweet and really awesome and her family is SO nice. her mom
keeps feeding us more food than we could possibly eat, and then
demanding that we eat it. it is all vegetarian too, because yoanna is
vegetarian, so her mom knows how to cook good vegetables. today,
yoanna took us to her family's garden up on this hill by her
apartment. her grandparents stay in the garden all day to look after
the potatoes, strawberries, melons, roses, and especially the cherry
tree (because young hooligans and also birds keep trying to eat the
ripening cherries). none of her family speaks english, although she
speaks it perfectly (she goes to school in california), but they all
love us and demand to socialize with us constantly, which means that
yoanna constantly has to translate. but she doesn't mind. she has a
beautiful personality.

my ankle is still hurt, but it is feeling better every day, although
it looks pretty bad. it is swollen and a little bruised, but i've got
some crutches (that are painful and wooden!!!!!!), and so i'm not
putting much weight on it when i walk around. we are going to stay
here one or two more nights, and then we will go to sozopol, which is
on the black sea coast. it isn't the most direct route to the west,
but we had to come to stara zagora first because yoanna is leaving for
prague (of all places!) in a few days where she will be for the
summer. i'm excited about her going to prague, though, because this
way i can help her find the good vegetarian food.