Sea

Because the sea is changing constantly - 
every next wave is different from the previous.

My days are dedicated to my work, my evenings are dedicated to the sea. I love living in Varna and one of the reasons is that the city center is situated on the sea coast. Riga is also sea-city, however I need to spend 1 hour in the bus to get to the beach from my place and 40 minutes from centre. Here I can go to the beach just to read a book, as I did it on Sunday, listening to some music in my headphones. But when I came there, the waves were so huge and it was so amazing, that I just needed to share my feelings with someone and called my mom despite the price for international calls.

Babylon

Despite the fact that it's been three weeks since I came to Varna, I still don't really know the city. Moreover, we have our own names for some streets, like "Big Road #1", "BR #2" and "BR #3". Today I stepped just a bit outside of the usual walking zone and first thing I found was a book store with books in Bulgarian, English and Russian. Finally bought "Generation P" by Pelevin, that I tried to find in Riga, but didn't succeed. I think I need to explore at least couple of streets every day, there's still a lot of interesting stuff, that is out there somewhere.

Pirates therapy

No, George, you don't need to take me to Pirates every day in order to make my mood better :) thanks though.
I got lots of feedbacks on my last post, mostly asking to have less negative, however there was also one that said that if there will be more negative, I will not have internet and electricity, quite terrifying.
Anyway, might be that I overreacted a bit and showed the situation worse than it is.
In general, everything is positive, or at least can be seen like one, just need to see the right angle.
Too tired to write more, but... Pirates yesterday till 3am after volleyball, discussions about everything, it really helped a lot, I am ready for new impressions and new events to write about.

Bulgaria VS Sweden

They're asking me, how is Bulgaria? I'm saying - great. They're asking me - better than Sweden? I'm saying - different.
Sweden is more calm, more stable, better in financial and social aspect. It's a good place to settle down after 30 may be, or even later. To get social benefits, stable salary and buy a Vovlo or SAAB.
Bulgaria is more unstable in financial and social pert of life. For example, if such thing as Gini index is saying something to you, then you can compare. Bulgaria - 33,5, Sweden - 23 (Latvia - 37,7), and it's just one of lots of numbers.
BUT. As I mentioned before, at the end of the day, it's all about people. And despite the fact that I am not really religious, I like that Bulgaria is orthodox, I like that they have Cyrillic here and that the language is quite similar to mine. It makes it closer to my mind. And I like that people here are more opened, more friendly and as I also already mentioned, seem more happy. Swedish people are depressed. They are robots at daytime and stupid drunks at night. Of course there are exceptions. And of course there are less problems in Sweden. So all in all, I can't compare, it's just different.

Smile :)

First of all, I would like to say that it's been 16 days since I started this blog and it's been 380 previews in this time, not counting mine. Plus the fact that some friends ask me to write more often, and some friends even tell me that they don't feel like I am far away, because they read my blog all the time and feel like I am near. This means a lot to me and makes me want to write more, but I don't have much time after work and try not to spend it in front of computer, I have enough of computer time at work. Anyway, thanks for reading me, read me more! :)

Happiness and sadness

Airports are places where happiness and sadness are walking together. Airports, bus and train stations, harbors. One of the saddest moments this summer was one month ago, June 18, when Lena and Vlad were leaving to Ukraine after spending a week in Riga with me. This summer 4 of my Erasmus friends visited me in Riga, but I wasn't so sad about Aida and Evelina, because they live in Lithuania, and I know that it takes 2-3 hours by bus to see each other. Erasmus is the best and the worst thing in life. It brings people together, and takes them apart. It's the second thing in life where happiness and sadness are walking together.
Then - really sad moments at the airport in Riga, when my grandparents were sending me off to Bulgaria and my friend Alenka, who works at the airport was following me to the gate.

Then - really happy moments at Varna airport, when Temelko and me were meeting Despina. While we were waiting for her, I saw a little girl, around 6 years old. She just arrived with her mother and her father was meeting them. They needed to wait for their bags, but she was so impatient, that she left her mom to wait for luggage and ran to her dad. We remembered the words from one movie that "airports have seen more love than other places", don't remember the exact quotation...

not always perfect

Stress. No, a bit of stress. That's what appeared in Varna last week. That's why there were no posts for almost a week. Well, it can't be perfect all the time, life is not a fairy tale, I hope you all know it.

It all started Wednesday morning, when Lali sent invitations to the party to ALL the company. All of it. Not only Varna office, but also London, Barcelona and Copenhagen. So all day at work was dedicated to making a list of first 20 people who answered her e-mail, in order to not to destroy the apartment that the company is paying for.  But it didn't really help. Well, the party was good. There was no music, no dancing, just drinking sangria and talking, but at 1.30 am our neighbors decided that they can't take it any more and called the police. When police came, Despina and I were closed on a balcony and that's why our guests didn't believe at first that the police actually came, but when they did, all became quite, some people went downstairs to talk to the policemen and after we just went to the beach, being already not 20, but around dozen or even less. That could be it, but it was just the beginning.

Cities, rooms

Cities are live organisms. They live together with all the creatures that they consist of, but they do not die, when they are left alone, they just sleep and wait for their time to come.
It's very important for a person to have a good relationship with the city. Have you ever noticed, that in some cities you feel better, than in the others? That's because of the "alive" factor. It is the same as with people, we cannot have perfect relationships with everyone, sometimes we even cannot explain, why we don't like someone.   That's what cities do. They either like or hate you.
Actually, the first time I really noticed this phenomena was just last year, when we were traveling with my friends and one of them - Lara, really felt like at home in Brussels,  whereas for all others from our company it was just a regular popular city. Then, when I was in Stockholm in March this year, I felt the same. It was the second day of our stay there when I was walking alone in the streets without any particular purpose and started feeling like if I would live here, I could walk on these streets every day.
The opposite side of this phenomena also happened to me in Sweden, when we were in Malmö. The city just didn't like me. All day I tried to find some connection, but I just didn't feel comfortable at all, even though my other friends were trying to convince me that I am just making that up.
This might sound a bit crazy, but only until you feel it yourself. That's why I was really nervous when I was coming to Varna. I was afraid that the city and I will not find the connection and I will not feel comfortable here. But after 1,5 weeks here I must say that my worries were unreasonable. It seems to me that the city and I are doing quite good. I enjoy walking the streets, I love the sea and the beach, I got lost only once and only for 5-10 minutes.
Unfortunately I cannot say the same about my room, even though I really like it, the furniture, the colors, the shape, may be I just need to spend some more time at home, as I am always running somewhere... Because I wake up almost every single night without any reason. Then I fall asleep again, but still it's making me a bit upset.
The human's factor is really important at both old and new places, but no matter how good and friendly people are there around you, there's no way you will feel comfortable, if your surroundings don't like you. Just need to find a way.

Shopping in Varna

Girls need a lot of stuff. That's obvious. Really a lot. And 20 kg that you can carry in a plane is obviously NOT enough for 4 months. So, today after work Despina and me went for shopping. Well, I must say - it was fun.

Varna Mall - a lot of shops, lots of them are present in Latvia as well, but lots of them I've seen for the first time. Since we were late from work today (as we started with the follow-up calls to clients and for both of us it's really stressful task, which we must manage, so we stayed later), we only had 2,5 hours for shopping, but it was enough for us to spend all the cash we had with us, and even more (Desi added 10 EUR in the last shop, luckily they like EUR).
What can I say - I finally have a hat, long skirt, pretty dress and some other stuff.
The last shop we visited was the one with unique clothes, made by a friend of a sales lady and looking really nice. Well, that's the one where Desi made "bazzar" and we got 20% discount for our dresses. Can recommend that one for some friends and may be get some more discounts. :)
On our way back we came out of the bus on the right stop, but went in a different direction,so got a bit lost, first time I was lost in Varna, but realized it after 10 minutes, went back and found the way. And afterwards scared Lali, as we decided to try our door bell and she said that it sounded like a fire alarm :) But at least now we know that it is working.
Ahh, also good news for me, as I've found the shop where I can buy myself a camera. Not for 465 Leva as I've seen before, but for 399 with a charger and SD card for 4 GB included. Really happy, hope to get it by next week!

Impressions from the weekend

It's been 9 days since I came to Bulgaria, and those were saturated days, I must say. But it's not a report, so I am not writing the chronology of events, it depends.
It was 7 days and some hours since I came here when I finally got to swim in the sea. During rock concert that was happening just on the coast. It was second time when I was swimming at night and first - at night in the sea. The water - amazing, the impressions -amazing. Rock concert - really nice. Btw, still waiting for the pictures :)
Beach in the center of Varna - overcrowded. Didn't notice that there are so many gypsies here until we went to the beach. They are strange, sitting in their clothes on the beach, all guys having a tattoo on the right arm. But they seem more socialized here, than in Latvia. In Latvia they sit in their parts of the town or selling cigarettes near to the bus or train station. Here they go to the beach.

Varna aqua park

BBQ - a lot of people met again, a lot of names that I am trying to remember. But the good thing is that there are 3 people named Geogre, 3 people named Nikolaj and 1 - Marina (same as my mother), that makes it a bit easier. :)
After bbq - beach at night again, but different, far from center and all the clubs - quite, just people from the company, some beer, conversations, bonfire.
Aqua park - too much sun, too red skin, too lazy, - enjoyed.
This could be the summary of my weekend.

Busy days

My eyes are really shutting down now, but I need to share my impressions and experience about the last two days. Firstly, the days are really saturated now. Like really.

Temelko asked me to write about the love and the airports in my post, but I need some inspiration for that, so this what my next post will probably be about. Airports will be just mentioned one more time in this post. Tuesday night I had a status on Facebook, that was saying: “Meeting, greetings, airports. Totally happy.” And I got a comment from Ira, who works at the airport in Riga, asking, how is it possible to be happy about airports. Of course, it was just a joke, but still, finally meeting my dear Despina after almost 2 months made me feel really happy. So the last two days we are a complete team finally, and I need to say that I think that we are good. I mean, I am not the one who can judge how good we are at work, but outside of the office – totally crazy. We already made up lots of nicknames, we’re laughing all the time about stupid stuff and I think people will soon start recognizing us on the streets. For example today we were going to the office and discussing, which excuse should we use if we get late – say that we got lost or that we were fixing our hair, and we couldn’t decide, which one is more stupid. J

Day 5 - International communication

Ice-cold frappe is just the
 right thing after work :)

Did you know that there is a rule in Bulgarian National Bank, that the minimum period of time you can have your account there is 6 months? And that you need to close your account in person? Well I also didn't until today. Stupid bureaucracy. As far as I remember my friend Lara still has an account in Swedish bank, even though she left Sweden in January and isn't going to come back in nearest future. :) Well, at least I have a Bulgarian phone number now.
Also today I finally started doing something useful - answering the clients and searching for the proper keywords for the websites. Of course only after I was fully instructed by my great colleagues Daniel and Temelko ;) It would be boring to describe my working day, as it is only interesting for me, so I'm just gonna say that I met a Russian guy at work today. Not Russian-speaking, but actually Russian, that was kind of nice. Although I speak Russian at work every day.
Another good thing that we did today - we made a table on our white board for writing. It consists of 6 columns, but only 5 of them are filled so far, as Despina is the one who is going to fill in the remaining one. So, you must be curious, what is it about? Well, that's how we are learning languages. As at least 4 of those are used every 5 minutes. So now in addition to English, which we already know, we are learning Russian, Spanish, Bulgarian and French. In just couple of hours we're going to the airport to meet Despina and it will be her first working day tomorrow, so she will add Greek to the table too. This is one of the many-many reasons that I like about my work. We're not only working there 9 to 18, we're also having great conversations, jokes, coffee and learning some useful stuff.
So now I am excited about meeting with Despina, as I haven't seen her since the Check party right before I left Sweden, May 14, and also everyone in the company is asking me about her, so tomorrow there will be a lot of new impressions.

Day 4 - first working day

Today I had so many information coming to my head, that I forgot my charger at work, so I am listening to the music on my phone in order to save battery and be able to write a short post about my first working day at First Online Solutions Ltd.
What can I say - it was really great. The day started with a meeting, where I needed to introduce myself, and even though I knew I am new at the company, I didn't expect that, so I was a bit worried about that part. Then all the other people told about what they are working on and how is it going. Daniel got an FC Barcelona cap as a present for his birthday and for good work, and Temelko got Messi's T-shirt and Captain's arm bondage.
Later on I started with revising the material about Internet Marketing and got lots of explanations regarding this topic and the general idea how does the company work and what do the people do and how, as well as looked through some of the company's websites. Today I didn't do any actual job, as I need to learn some stuff for that, but I am looking forward for starting really working.
Even though I was mostly reading and talking today, it was still kind of exhausting, so the only thing I could do  after work was cooking. I made a soup and it was first time I was actually cooking in Bulgaria. It is nice, as the kitchen is well equipped and the food is cheap. Lali and I had a dinner with watching stupid videos on the Internet and monkeys climbing the trees on Animal Planet. I think that was exactly what I needed - a calm "family" evening. And since my PC is going to turn off, I am going to read my book now.
Лека нощ!

Day 3 - rainy day

My third day in Varna was rainy and it changed all my plans. That's why instead of going to the beach we went to a shopping mall with Ivelina and Chris. The shopping mall is "the biggest in Bulgaria", according to Ivi. It has 5 levels, a big parking place and of course a huge variety of shops, lots of which could also be found in Latvia.
What is so special about it? Well, in Latvia we have at least 3 shopping centres situated directly in Riga's city center and here in Varna there's not that much space in center to build supermarkets and shopping places. That's why.

On my third day here I can finally say that there are also couple of things that I am not happy about. For example a huge amount of homeless animals. We also have some of those in Latvia, but mostly cats and much less. In Varna you can see cats and dogs everywhere and it is really sad in my opinion, as they look really sad and even sick.

Well actually the dog I met during my walk among the seaside wasn't that sad, it even played with some rubbish it found, like an old ball. Which brings us to a next point: pollution.
Latvia might be even more polluted, I don't really know about that, but seeing with my own eyes how dirty waters from seaside bars and restaurants go directly to the sea in places where people spend their vacation makes me forget about my Swedish lecturer's in Environment and resource economics words that there should never be extremes and there must be a balance between pollution and its abatement.

But so far those are the only disadvantages I could find and it's good that I found those, as nothing could ever be perfect and I will be happy if those will remain the only black stains. All in all it is a really nice place, with beautiful nature that reminds me about my childhood.

Nightlife in Varna

So, in Sweden we went out at least 2 times a week, sometimes even 3. That was the time when my partylife started. We will see how it is going to be here :) In Sweden we went to club (Bånken) at 10 p.m., had a beer or cider there and then partied (12 p.m. - 3 a.m.), at 3 a.m. it was closed. In Varna I just came back home and it's 6 a.m. now. First we went to Cubo bar at the beach, the one where we were also yesterday, then we met some Bulgarian people there and this is how it went: Lali spoke to a younger one in English and I spoke to older ones in Russian, as Russian is more popular between older people here, who were obligated to study it in USSR. So, these people recommended us two nice clubs in Varna - Xtravaganzza and Copacabana. 5 leva entrance to each   (2,50 EUR or 1,75 LVL), which is extremely cheap comparing to Sweden (100 SEK = 11,50 EUR = 8 LVL). Well, what can I say, nothing can ever compare to Bånken. Xtravaganzza is a nice place, when you stand on some kind of balcony, you can see the waves just almost under you, it's situated in old hangar for a plane and is really nice, but you really need to like the kind of music they play there, which is some kind of mix of Turkish and pop music.

Xtravaganzza club

Anyway, we stayed there for around half an hour and went just across the street - to Copacabana, where they played more popular music, and there were also a lot of old and famous songs, like "It's my life" by Jon Bon Jovi or "Wonderwall" by Oasis, and the one that surprised me the most in a good way - "Nas ne dogonyat" by Tatu. I mean the original one, not the "Not gonna get us" version, and it was really fun to hear it.
The people: The people in clubs are much nicer here, than in Sweden (I compare nightlife here to nightlife in Sweden because I go out in Latvia really rare). If they accidentally touch you or bump into you, they smile and show that they are sorry, but in Sweden it is normal to bump into each other and go. Well, I didn't meet many Bulgarian people in clubs, but for instance the Turkish ones were really annoying. "I love your eyes, they are so beautiful" c'mon, at least be more creative, I heard better ones :)
The drinks: Cubo bar at the beach - beer or Jin Tonic - 3 leva (1,5 EUR = 1,05 LVL), both clubs: beer - 5 leva (2,50 EUR = 1,75 LVL).
The birds are STILL being loud, but I am too tired to hear them.

Good night!

Day 2 ctd.

So the birds are still going crazy, but I hope that I will eventually get used to it, otherwise I will need to wear earplugs to sleep :) And meanwhile I am trying to memorize some words in Bulgarian. It seems easy, especially when I read (although even then some sentences don't make any sense), but when they talk, I can just catch some words that are similar. Well, I will have a lot of practice tomorrow, as we're going to the beach with Ivelina and her friends. Plan for tonight? No plan yet, just to go out to eat somewhere and then we will see.
I'm really happy that I came here on Friday afternoon, as I have weekend to have a look around and then I will start my internship on Monday, otherwise, my thoughts would be too distracted.
Today I had some memories from childhood floating in my mind, like when I saw the "train" near the beach, or when I had my pizza with cheese (which was amazing, by the way - the best pizzas I've ever eaten were in Bulgaria), and there's going to be more. It's really hard to get used to the head thing, I mean that here they turn their heads up-down to say "no" and right-left to say "yes", this is really confusing, especially when you don't know if they're doing it naturally or trying to do it like you are used to, so it's better to say with words "net" and "da".
While I was walking in the afternoon, I ran into Temelko and Damien, well, actually they ran into me, as I was looking around and didn't see anyone, so we had cold coffee and chat and afterwards Temelko showed me a normal supermarket, around 15 minutes from my apartment. Finally I saw a normal store :) By the way, even considering that the prices here are much-much lower, than in Sweden and a bit lower than in Latvia, I already spent a lot of money on "i-don't-know-what", so I need to remember that my scholarship is also lower here :) Also Bulgarian sounds a bit more rough than Russian as they have less vowels in words.
We're all here waiting forward for Despina to arrive, but due to strikes in Greece this might take longer, but we hope for the best.
So, this is it for now.

Day 2

It's +27°C in my room and +48°C on the balcony, I am eating Bulgarian cherries and listening to birds singing. It's my second day in Varna and so far things are going pretty well. The only bad thing is that I haven't seen my dear friend Ivelina yet, but I hope to go to the beach together tomorrow, so it should be perfect then. :)
Yesterday at around 10 p.m. Lali and I were sitting at the beach and just enjoying everything. It was actually only second time for me when I was at the beach at night, and yes, here at 10 p.m. is already dark in summer, which is unusual for me, as in Latvia there are the shortest nights now. There were couple of moments which I cannot describe with words, like when at night I was at the beach and walked near the water, or when I was walking in the city center and suddenly saw the sea. Here I understood that in Riga I live too far from the sea. I need to spend one hour to get to the beach. Here I need like 2 minutes, not more. And it's amazing...
Yesterday was a busy day, I had two planes with half an hour interval, I woke up at 6.30 a.m. and I had really a lot of information at the same time. Today streets finally started making a picture in my head and I started understanding which way I need to go to get where I want, but I still need map to make sure that I am following the right direction. The simplest tip was the one that Lali gave me - if you go up, you go to the center, if you go down, you go to the beach. It's really easy, and it's working :D
So, I am going to explore the city now.