I arrived on Saturday mid-day Sofia time and got to the hotel without incident. I met up with friends (Steve, Rik, Chris, Jacki, and Rhoda) and we walked around the central area of Sofia stopping for a drink and then dinner at an Italian place called Ya Katahmya. After several nightcaps, we all adjourned for rest.
I slept 9 hours then met with my colleagues for most of the next day. Meetings of course included a stroll for lunch where we had great vegetarian dishes, meeting Alexander our Bulgarian host who took us both through the center of the city and up into the mountain for a bird’s eye view and a liquid refreshment, and sitting in the cafe by the park for a glass of wine before dinner. We then joined a larger group including Tom, whose plane had been delayed by a day, Lucy and Mark, me, Chris, Rhoda, Rik, Jacki, and Deyana. Dinner this night was at Checkpoint Charlie’s, a black and white severely decorated place that had notebooks on every table for guests to write their recollections of life under communism, especially about how the food was then.
After sleeping about 2 hours Sunday night because my body has no idea what day and time it is, I dragged myself up. We completed yesterday’s training and I showed this You Tube video, not realizing what was in store. After a full day of training and some stressful debriefing, we met more friends in the lobby without luggage who’d just arrived, then left with Alexander, Orline, and Alexander, all of whom work at the Katchelov clinic. Orline was a history buff and gave us the historical perspective including a view of the roman 4th century walls that are hidden within a government building. We then went to a Bulgarian restaurant featuring music and dancing and traditional Bulgarian fare. Imagine listening to this for 2 hours while jet lag takes you over. Although I tried to maintain my energy for my host’s sake, I just couldn’t, and we took our leave early to retire.
We’re partway through Day 2 of the training and our participants are fantastic. As usual, being with MINT friends and doing the TNT is a highlight of the year. This is my tribe, relocated temporarily to Bulgaria!
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