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!