A Waste of time

I have some time free since I am back in a sick leave again. Yes, a doctor commission decided to put me on a sick leave again since I could hardly see with one of my eyes last week. I had serious problems with my eye since Friday March 20th - as the weather started to get cold, my eye reacted immediately - and had had been red for the whole previous weekend.

I mention the special doctor commission, because I am not allowed further regular sick leave days till the end of this year - I had exhausted all the possibilities so only a special group of doctors are given the right to judge whether I am allowed to, and how long I will be confined home.

My eye, however, started to get slightly better on Wednesday March 25th on (two days after their judgement) and since it was nice and sunny I decided to give a try to something new for me on Friday March 27th. (sry for me jumping from date to date and infusing the post with facts but only in this way I can give a complete view).

So here we go! I was at the gym!

I have a subscription from my company to go and use all the facilities in one of the best gyms in the city for free but have not done it for the past almost 2 years. This visit was a special to me because this was the first after a 6 month break due to the last "interruption". So I chose to start with something that will strenghten my muscles - this part of my body has suffered most severely.
This is the reason I picked up yoga! Yoga classes have always been interesting to me and I visited them regularly. I even read a book on this subject and how to control breathing. Moreover, I have been recently glued to this website www.yogajournal.com. There is anything you may dare to ask about yoga exercises, breathing, eating, sancrit terminology and soooo many other things

This yoga was kinda weird, though.

I went there a little late and when I entered the class the girls were dancing belly dances listening to this type of music. After a short hesitation, trying to figure out what htey were doing and listening, I gave up, leftthe room and went to the girl at the reception only to confirm the hall I had entered was where yoga took place. I had nothing to do than to come back and follow the participants. Hopefully, soon after that the "real" yoga began. We were asked by the teacher to do all the asani in the pattern she was doing; this was nice now.

This kind of yoga was a combination of belly dances and working on asani.

Later on, as I told my cousin, who has been practicing that exercise for several years now, (but she does it at high temperature in France - around 40C (104F); we do not have it here in BG) I got she had never before heard of any combination like that. Me neither!!! There's nothing wrong with the class since it makes people who spend an entire day on a desk do some exercise.

That is not, however, what I look for. This class I feel like a complete waste of time and I will never visit it again. Plus, it is twice a week during the daytime from 3:30 pm so I might be able to go a few more times, after that I come back to the limiting work day. So together with the traffic outside (this gym is near my office but not that much to my apartment) I wasted 4 hours - only to learn that this class will not be taken again! I wish I had known this in advance!

a de-ja vu

It is weird, one may say, but I spent another good evening last night!

I paid a visit to Andrew's family again! I was able to go since they canceled all the classes at the university for the week! On Monday on, however, life goes on fast, fast steps!

Anyway, I was there, we had a wonderful dinner, laughed, looked through childhood pictures and as a dessert e had snowcream! YAY! We took a great advantage of the snow that had been falling in chunks for the whole afternoon! Although they announced the springtime officially, it is not the case here. It had been snowing really hard since 2 pm on the Friday afternoon without stopping at all till this morning (Sat 21st). WOW!! I remember that a colleague dropped me almost at Andrew's place and by the time I got to his house, almost 7 min walk, I got snowed in totally! That also reflects in my blog background as you see! Only my blinkie reminds of the spring we are supposed to feel. Astronomically so far, though!

It was such a winter tale looking at it from the other side of the window, though! In order to enjoy the snow out fully, Paul, Andrew's dad, went to the balcony where snow was pure and skimmed the top layer. By the time he was back, Judi, Andrew's mom, had already prepared a mixture of cinnamon sauce (that you can find in the States; we do not have it here in our stores), fine sugar (I say fine because in comparison to the Bulgarian white sugаr which is in chunks and is audible being munched; the sugar that we had last night was bought in the States again and it is purely ordinary sugar! So it depends on where you buy! ;-)), cream and milk. So you pour the homogeneous mixture over the snow and stir it. Then you serve and eat it immediately! Yummy!

Hope you will like it too!

a cozy evening

I had a wonderful time last night. Although it was Friday 13th and I was expecting unlucky things to happen to me, I had a great time together with Andrew's mom and dad.

After work I headed straight to his home where I had been invited to go for dinner. At 7:30ish p.m. I managed to reach his place with a bottle of wine I had just grabbed on my way. It was kinda awkward for me not to take anything. If it were only him, I would not probably fetch anything but since it was going to be his parents as well, I felt I should! So went to the store on my way and bought a good Mavrud Reserva (reserved) (typical Bulgarian red wine, I really like!) and when on the line I put some perfume and some lipstick! ;-) Always girl, girl always...... I wore a fashionable white striped shirt well combined with a dark blue slightly woolen (suitable for this season - it is cold here nowadays) dress over the shirt! My coworkers had told me that I look pretty which was Andrew's mom remark too!! Oh I was really proud secretly upon her compliment! At least if not naturally, then I strive to look good artificially! I took a good care of my appearance not only due to my visit, but I am also expected to go decently dressed to work since it is a place where jeans are not allowed and every worker is supposed to wear a suit or something appropriate.

There together with his parents was also Taylor, a boy from Atlanta, Georgia who just graduated high school and is going to a nursery college in Alabama from August on. Nice guy! I met him for the first time but he seems pretty cool!

His mom and dad, on the other hand, had prepared a yummy seven layer something (actually his dad only was even preparing them when I went to their place) - the main meal was a leaf of lettuce upon which a combination of a small curve of bread, ham and yellow cheese is sprinkled with red peppers upon your request. This red pepper stuff is combined with Tortilla chips and is always served as an appetizer in Mexican restaurants in the States, as they told me.

So his father told a pray and we dug in. Saying a pray is something new and that is why, awkward to me. I am Christian Orthodox and they are Christian Baptists that is why it is different! Furthermore, Andrew never prays for the food he has, so I was inexperienced in that. I had to thank his father, though, that he mentioned me and my improving process in his pray. I have to admit that I was baffled at that point so I forgot. But next time we see, I will do thank him!

The seven layers something (something stands for the rest of the name of the specialty) was fantastic indeed! Saucy and creamy and subtle all at once! I even had another ball - all three of them!! We chattered and laughed and then Andrew reminded one of the reasons for me to be there - I have to practice pounds! So it was!!

We tided up the table and the decks where dealt! Oh what a fun it was, although I was the worst player, always in the hole! I did not manage to perform well at all but having in mind this was my first night playing pounds - there we go with an excuse!! I am good at excusing, am I not?! ;-)

After our two rounds we took a sweet break - yep, this time his mom had made not one but two pies - a Kentucky Derby pie and a chocolate cake! Oh, how appetizing they were! As I already told, everything prepared by his mom and dad is always delicious! I had had piled up my opinion with the Christmas party our gang had had in his place in early December! Then there had been a number of tasty salty and sweet bites, yesterday there was a palatable meal and dessert and all the time Andrew cooked for me I always licked my fingers afterward out of being delicious! Partly because they always feed well, partly because this is a whole new for me cuisine! Either way, it is more than savory!

We played one more round when it was already 10:30 p.m. and I decided to go home. It was cool of Andrew to drive me back home since it was already drizzling uncomfortably! yax! Nasty weather!

Andrew's mom and I decided, without fixing a specific time and date, to have coffee at some point. My classes start on this Monday again so our going out together will not be soon, though! As far as I always, however, remind to myself: pace by pace!!!

Flowers again!

I cannot skip Women's Day which took place on March 8th. I just can't....

First, because it is a special day here in Bulgaria.

Second, because Andrew made it special for me!

Apparently, it is a holiday every woman and more precisely every mom celebrates. By that I mean they recieve flowers from their sweeties! ;-) It is customarily for moms to get flowers. I remember when was in the kindergarten, we always prepare cards-photos for our moms. A picture of me was taken accomapnied by a lot of spring flowers and the words "Happy March 8th!"

Lately, this holiday has been stolen by young ladies or better said they have been included on the "list" for gift receivers! So one way or another, I got my third huge bouquet in row!! Yesh, it is a kinda pain in the financial ass since flowers are even more expensive on the very day (March 8th) but am I wrong to have a birthday two weeks after V-day and a week before Women's holiday?!? ;-)

It could be viewed from a brighter side, though! - all my (girlie or personal) holidays are gone in a month, so after that 11 months for saving are left! ;-O) Andrew is not supposed to think of flowers any longer till next February! Eh, I would always like to have a sporadic bunch now and then!!! Those are even nicer - they are unexpected, there is no particular reason to receive them and thus a boy reminds a girl how deeply and passionately he loves her! IMO, flowers without are the best reason!

But here I would like to elaborate a bit mopre on the holiday itself. It is an international holiday and at the same time it is not celebrated in the States. I was surpised to know that given the fact that it was announced as an international holiday by UN in New York back in the late 1957. Surprise, surpirse! And my boy told me that his mom does not celebrate it, because it is not popular in the USA. On the contrary, there is another holiday - Mother's Day - sometime in May. Ha! As you can expect, we do not have this holiday here!

Anyway, I am glad that he brought me a splendid bouquet! And not to be groundless, this time I am attaching shots of the flowers he took last night!

a stressful week

I have not posted for the last week or so just because I do not have time! I have been running so much, so today I think I can rob some minutes from my sleep. So here is in short what is going on.

My b-day was last Saturday (Feb 28th) so I had my parents a day before on Friday coming to my apartment. It was sooo nice to have them here, even nicer was the fact that my brother flew from Amsterdam this very day so we all got together. YAY!! It was so cozy!! We had the Friday night together laughing and remembering old days' stories!

On the next day (on my actual b-day) we had a huuge lunch together and I saw them off on foot to the train station which is only 35 min away from my place. The day was pretty windy but sunny so it was a worthy walk. We had already set the things for the evening with Andrew so I had to be back home by four. He had a bit earlier so it was a great surprise to see him in my room with a beautiful scenty scarlet rose boquet. My roommate had let him in secretly! The peculiar thing was that we had chattered with mom on our way to the station on my appearance this evening. She scolded me to dress up rather than just jumping in my jeans as usual and as Andrew does. After all, it is my birthday and I did not have to make Andrew feel ashamed of my appearance. (although I believe my face says a lot no matter what kind of clothes I am in.)
When I got back home I saw Andrew in a suit - wow!! Something I have ever seen him wearing on a recital! So I had no way of escaping!

After making myself "gorgeous" (I am quoting here his words! - if it was to me I would deinitely not use this adjective - he is apparently boosting my self-esteem, for which I can only thank him!), we went to a highly-ranked restaurant where he had already made a reservation! What a lovely evening we had!

Apart from the b-day bustle, I have to say that my whole Sunday and the whole week afterward have been occupied with studying. I spent a considerable time with my brother during the evenings when he came back from his friend visits but the day was occupied with hurriedly pecking! Then on Monday morning he flew back from Sofia to Amsterdam :-( but that is life....

Since it was my last few days before getting back to work I also was very busy with doing things.
Monday and Tuesday were holidays here and no one worked. To use a comparison in order to make it clear what kind of holiday we had, I have to say that March 3rd meaning is equal to USA's July 4th - that is to say we had the Independence day here. That was the reason to have a four day weekend.

On Wednesday I started with my eye exam - nothing irregular; after that had an exam with my ENT who strongly believes I have an allergy to dust in my nose in its very beginning. So I have to alarm her when things get serious, now I just can't notice any problem. She sent me also to one of the best professors in the area of audiology in our country. This I did on Thursday but before that I have to mention I had a neurological exam and the doctor sent me to a clinic in the other part of the city for a Doppler test. The results from this exam are required by the health commission I am going to on March 12th. So I went to a special neurological clinic I had never been to. This clinic turned out to be in one yard with the National Psychiatry Clinic and every time I asked people on the street to give me directions, they looked at me suspiciously. Later, I found out why! :o) The good thing was that the exam itself did not take a lot although I had to wait half an hour for the particular doctor. But you know, when I visit a doctor, I always charge myself with lot of patience!

I left very early on the next morning without having a breakfast or anything to drink. At 8 am I was already having blood exams my neurologist had asked for the previous day. Later on, I went to the audiologist to talk to her about possible opportunities to fix the single side deafness. Since she is one of the most asked for, you can imagine what a huge line there was in front of her office. People there had come from all parts of Bulgaria. So I sat down and waited, then resolved sudoku, then read the book she had already given to me about BAHA and how it works and finally 3 hours later she let me in. The good outcome was that I knew the whole procedure would be covered by the Ministry of Health and I don't have to pay a penny/ stotinka ;-) for it! And it is a lot - it costs around 20 000 leva (this is the Bulgarian currency) which amounts to almost 13 000 USD. I am, however, very fresh from my surgery that is why have to go back to her in a half a year at least.
The next in row were the blood tests which turned out to be clear, so I headed after that to another clinic - VMA (Military Medical Academy). There in the neurosurgery award I found (by accident I have to say - I did not believe to find him in the clinic since it had already been 3 pm and doctors rarely do stay longer that 1 pm in the clinics) one of my ex surgeons. We had a very rewarding chat together and finally I managed to get his contact details, so whenever I meet him in the future we can arrange an appointment in advance. I managed to get introduced to another neurosurgeon there who turned out to be the best man of my last neurosurgeon in Hannover, Germany. Here is the place to mention that one of my neurosurgeons in Germany was Bulgarian. So by the time we finished our pleasant talk it has already become 4 pm. At that point I ran back home exhausted!

On Friday was my first work day for the last four months. WOW!! It was so nice to go to work and get occupied with something finally. My coworkers were very happy to see me and I should admit they did not burden me with not a single task for the whole day. I just cleaned my desk, arranged my computer and went to visit a lot of people from other departments. This was my first 8 hour day at work.

On Saturday I had an exam in Marketing. This was the first time I went to an exam without reading for it a single letter and I passed it. not with the mark I would like to but still it is at least behind my back. I can go for improving my mark in September but for the time being I have one exam less. Came back home and slept for some hours since I had done to bed the previous night around 3 am and then woke up and continued with my paper in Corporate Finances - I have been reading and writing on it for the whole past week - well, during the evenings for days were all occupied!

On Sunday, I will continue with it and will have to learn to present it with confidence so as to be strong on Monday evening when the actual exam will take place.

Tomorrow (Now) is March the 8th - the International Women's Day - so I will probably have Andrew here and we will celebrate the event! Happy Women's Day!!

But by that time I need some rest because it is already 3 in the morning and I am deadly tired!