Thursday, September 29, 2011

Some updates

- Hey, how are you?
- Great.
Really, there are always some negative sides in life, but in general everything is going great. Last weekend we went to Istanbul and I just cannot describe this trip, because my emotions are so huge, that there are no words to include all of them. Firstly, it was great to meet erasmus people with whom we spent half a year of our lives in Sweden. Secon, the city itself is the most amazing and increadible city that I have ever seen and could ever imagine. And now if you mix this, add +27 degrees weather, amazing food, increadible culture, lots and lots of fun and multiply by 100 maybe you will understand how I feel about the trip to Istanbul.
And tomorrow another trip is waiting for us, but this time around Bulgaria.
And I have only 3 weeks left here in Varna, after that I am going back to Latvia to continue my studies.
Today I understood one thing, that was missing. There was something missing in the air, in the environment, in things around, and it was yellow leaves. I mean, it's quite strange for me, from the one hand, it's still warm weather, so the trees are green and everyone is still wearing flip flops, but from the other hand I know that it's been already one month of autumn, and for me autumn is scarf, coat, and long walks in the park, full of golden leaves. II'm not sure how is it going to be here the following three weeks, but I know that when I come back to Latvia, there will already be no leaves on the trees, so if trees will not start becoming gold urgently I'm gonna miss my autumn this year. Even though it's not my favourite season, it still feels strange.
However, life still goes on the way it wants. Neighbours are still being assholes, work is still being a bit stressfull, free time is still being too short to do everything. And in this context I already need to start thinking about studies and meanwhile planning meeting with my friends in Latvia after I come back. First weekend is already fully-planned and I am even already planning a small trip to Lithuania after coming back, since I promised my friend in Vilnius to visit her in November. Actually, usually autumn is quite a melancholic season, but it seems to me that this year there's no time to be melancholic.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Varna in September

So far, I love Varna in September. I must say it's much better than any of the Latvian cities in September. And there is number of reasons for me to say that.

Latvia, not Lithuania. (almost "Istanbul, not Constantinople", if you know what I mean)

I personally think, that confusing some things might be even worse, than just not knowing, because when you confuse them it means that you don't know a ship neither about one, nor about another. this is why i wasn't really good with dictations at school, as in my opinion writing the other word instead of requested one shows that you are twice as stupid.
I got used to the fact, that when people ask me where i am from and i say Latvia, they usually don't really know, what the hell is the country named like that and where is it. but when the following conversation happens, it is just pissing me off;

- where are you from?
- Latvia
- Aaah, Lithuania, cool. 


if i know something about people, they tend to confuse Austria with Australia, Syria with Serbia, Sweden with Switzerland and things like that. and from all these countries Latvia and Lithuania are probably the most similar, I mean Latvian and Lithuanian are the only two languages in the Baltic group, the countries are at least neighbourts and the economies are similar, however still, they are different. and even though I have 2 really close friends in Lithuania and I like this country, when people ask me to say something in Lithuanian, well... i say some words i know in Lithuanian, but then i want to punch them in their faces. sorry guys, but those are kinda basics, at least to know the names of the countries in Europe... and our flags are completely different. well, actually our flag is confused with the Austrian one sometimes, but that's another story...

Friday, September 9, 2011

Bucharest trip

Few words about our trip to Romania – it was amazing, day and night comparing to what I was expecting. The image of this country that we have is really bad and completely wrong. All the people I know think about Romania as an a bit creepy developing country (how did they even get to EU?), with 99% of population being gypsies, creepy buildings everywhere, rubbish and graffiti on the streets, dogs that attack people and people that are not educated at all. In reality it is totally wrong. Like totally. If I didn’t know that I am in Romania (ok, not really possible to wake up somewhere not knowing where, but let’s imagine that), I could assume that it is Belgium or any other European country. 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Long week - longer weekend

Trying to pack my backpack, but it's hard, even though I have quite an experince in packing... Why I am packing? Well...
The day September 6 is a very important one in the history of Bulgaria. It is the Unification Day of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia (Southern part of Bulgaria) in 1885, separated in 1878 by Berlin treaty and given to Ottoman Empire with partial autonomy. However 7 years later brave Bulgarians finally got their territories back and are celebrating this day since then. For us as foreigners here this means two things - we are happy for our friends and we have one more day free. This is why this week we are working Monday to Saturday, however Sunday to Tuesday having 3 days holidays.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Loud birds vs partying neighbours

What do you do, when you start hating your neighbours? It's fine to be sleepy in the morning because of the party that you attended the night before, but is it ok to be sleepy because of the neighbours partying every night 2 floors below? Don't think so, however, I really don't know what is the best solution in this kind of situations. In my opinion, calling the police is the last thing to do, as no matter how much you want to sleep, it cannot compare to the problems the other people might have. However, when we had not even a party, just a bit more people than usual having some beers and talking even without any music, our neighbours called the police at 1 am. Now there is a party second night in a row and no one seems to care.
If I would be Bulgarian, probably, I would go downstairs and asked politely to be more quite, however being a foreigner makes is a bit more difficult. Yes, I am sure they speak English, or even may be Russian, however talking to drunk people at 1 am in English might be not the best solution.
Tomorrow I am going to write them a letter... But so far even my earplugs aren't helpful... Wish me luck.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Office things (good and bad)

Everything cannot be totally perfect. Even in our office there are drawbacks, even though I wouldn't want to say anything bad about it. It just seems rediculously stupid how people are fighting for the chairs. The fact is that there are couple of "better" chairs and the rest are just regular ones. And people are stealing the "better" chairs from each other. And this is not the whole story yet, they are putting the numbers on the chairs to recognise "their" chairs. When I came to the office, I had a "better" chair by defaul, but then someone put a number on it and it doesn't belong to me anymore. The problem is that at 16.30 the two shifts are changing, but for us it is about the time of making follow up calls to the clients. Do you think it's possible to hear anything oer the phone when there are twice as much people as there should be, all of them are talking and the chairs are rolling back and forward? I really don't want it to sound that way, but it's true, even our office is not always perfect.