In Belgrade

Wow, I haven't written on this thing in a while!! We spent the last week in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, after sending Terri on her way home. We hadn't originally planned on staying a week in Sofia but were enjoying our stay with a local family too much to leave. While I was there I talked a lot with the sister and mother in the house. I even got special Bulgarian language lessons. I'm an A+ student!! Proud of it, hehe. I am actually really fascinated with cyrillic and hope to one day learn a second language maybe involving it!! We had yummy meals and lots of food while we were there and I think we all have to go on diets now....well, that obviously is excluding Ammon!! He will NEVER gain weight even if you tied him to a chair for a month and fed him donuts non-stop!!! It was sad to leave our freinds but it was about time we moved on to our next destination, Serbia. We actually missed our train by 5 minutes and were stuck waiting in the station for 9 whopping hours. Hhahah, Terri you can appreciate that after our 7 hours waiting in the station on our way to Hungary!! Time went by fast enough though. I've learned patience, something I thought I'd never have. We then spent 11 hours sitting up all night on the train to Belgrade. We had a full 6 seat compartment with two fat, old ladies who were smuggling who-knows-what across the border and paying off all of the guards!! Great!
We are staying with another host family that is extremely kind. The daughter gave mom one of her old money collections from the inflation they had in 1993. The bills go from as high as 50,000 to 500 BILLION!!! Just imagine, eleven zeros on a single bill!!! Every two weeks they had new bills coming out with more and more zeros added. It must have been crazy and a big struggle. We also saw they had coins going up to 500,000! They're worth nothing now and nothing then as well. So don't get all excited, we aren't rich billionaires.....yet!! Teehee.
We're leaving tomorrow and heading 150 km south of Belgrade to stay with yet another host family. They really have been great to us and we are excited to meet more locals and families.
Keep ya posted,
Savannah

2 sides of Bulgaria

You know, Bulgaria is a good investment opportunity for you guys that have too much money and don't know what to do with it. There is a huge property investment boom going on and there are tons of Brits here buying all the land. Property prices are going up rapidly as everyone is anticipating getting into the EU in January and all the good that will bring them here but things are still really cheap. Sometimes I wonder about the EU and their standards though. Both Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU and they are such poor, rundown and corrupt messes that it seems silly to do such a thing. But then I suppose the other eastern european countries were too (and in some cases still are). I just hope they know what they are doing.....
It's a nice country here. I think I prefer it to Romania though I couldn't tell you why. Great scenery and a little bit of everything available. The drivers are complete whackos though and I am not impressed thus far. Good thing we can stick to the trains still. Aside from Mongolia, Bulgaria was the country most attached to the USSR without being part of it, though they applied for admission at one point. Also like Mongolia, the Bulgarian language still uses the cyrillic alphabet. Bulgaria was also the only country occupied by Nazi Germany in WW2 that refused to send it's Jews to get slaughtered. Yay to them!
As I said before, Sofia is nothing special, though living with a family is a great experience and look at local life. They live up on the side of the mountains south of the city and it reminds us of home. So does the weather, as it has been cold and rainy off and on since we got into town.
We managed to do a day trip out to the Rila monastery 120km south of town. Nice drive (if you ignore the driving) and a very strange place. It's black and white or pink and white striped, like it just escaped from jail or something. It's probably the most famous non-beach tourist site in the country and is set in a beautiful mountain setting. Rural Bulgaria is still very run down looking and there are lots of building shells and horse carts still kicking around. The people are super friendly though and I'm disappointed that we won't be able to stay in some little village somewhere and just hang out like we have in other countries.
Well, that was what I was originally going to write about Bulgaria. I'll have to add a little more after a day like today.....
These people are crazy and quite unforgiving too. If you come to Bulgaria, make sure you follow the rules, but good luck figuring out what they are. We were sitting on the tram (I like trams. I know drivers hate them but I like trams.) on our way to the train station for today's field trip, I had just finished saying we needed another something interesting for the blog...... and all hell broke loose. The ticket inspectors came. It's a crappy job but somebody has to do it and what better people to do it than those scary old ladies that are tough as nails and meaner than, well, anyone else I deal with on a regular basis.... Sure enough, 3 of them (2 ladies, 1 man) get on and start checking tickets. The system here, as with a lot of eastern european countries, is such that you buy little tickets from a kiosk and then punch them into a little box on the bus that marks it as used. In some countries it shows a little date and time, here it's just a combination of holes that is specific to the bus or tram you are on. I had my ticket, I had it punched, they saw all that and still they decided to specifically pick a fight with me. (I knew I should have shaved this morning.....). We had bought the "booklet" of 10 tickets to save a few cents on the tickets and they wanted to see the rest of the 10, to make sure I wasn't using someone's old ticket. Whatever, I point to mom and that's it for me. She pulls out the stack but she's been dishing out the tickets in whatever order she feels like so we are missing the #10 and therefore automatically qualify for the fine. What?!?!?!?! They take away the rest of our tickets and want to fine us when we can show that we are not scamming anything but have all the tickets except for 1 or 2 that were used and thrown away already!? Well, we weren't having any of that. Oh, no! We finally got off the tram (but waited until our stop and didn't let them throw us off, despite their threats to call the cops) and were quickly surrounded and cornered by the 3 of them and a few bystanders who decided to help "the good guys". They didn't speak any English (and therefore wouldn't listen to any reason) so it quickly devolved into a shouting match until I looked over and saw Bre and one of the inspector ladies throwing punches, pulling hair and generally abusing each other in whatever fashion they could. I can't believe the inspector lady was actually taunting Bre and spitting at her like they were 6 years old in a fight at school. Sorry Bre, but your application for Ninja Turtle status is refused...... you have to be wearing your big backpack.
I'm happy to announce that we never did pay the fine. Some guy walked up pretending to be a policeman (clearly not though) and after a few minutes of watching us waved us away because he saw the whole thing was going nowhere. The inspectors really didn't have a choice but to let us go after that because the "police" they were calling on us didn't care. Haha! Backfired!
Our field trip was to Plovdiv, a 2 hour ride south east. It's a big town, very popular with tourists because of its pretty little old town and Roman ruins all over the place. It was definately more alive and active than Sofia. Started pouring buckets of rain just before we left to go back to Sofia but a few hours of running around was enough anyway.
That should be the end of the story but no, we had more ticket issues. On the train back to Sofia, the train conductor guy tried to give us a fine too. Grrrr!!! More stupid rules that we could never've possibly known about. We'd bought a round trip ticket so we would be able to just jump on the train coming back whenever we were ready and wouldn't have to wait in line to buy another ticket. The ticket is valid for a month but in every other country we have been in, the conductor scribbles all over the thing and invalidates the ticket after you use it. Not this time. Apparently we were supposed to get it stamped at the station before getting on the train. What?!?!?!?! So here we are with a ticket we have clearly bought just that morning but now it isn't valid and we have to buy a new one because the guy can't just scribble on it or take it away or something like they do everywhere else?! Again, it is obviously a stupid mistake that we couldn't've anticipated and they want to rake us over the coals. Do you have any idea how long it took to convince him that we weren't criminals and it was in his power to just take the ticket away and call it even???? I am proud to announce that we didn't pay the fine AND didn't get into any fights in resolving that issue. Good thing too because he'd just finished slamming some other guys around that hadn't payed for their tickets. These guys are all just a little too agressive in doing their jobs.
This is the problem with the old folks that are still in power after the communist system has fallen. They can't think outside the box and make their own decisions. They are like computers where if you miss one little "."or "-"or something the whole thing does not compute and the system crashes. I imagine Jesse is the only person that can truly appreciate what I'm saying here because today felt just like our experience in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I know you are laughing but seriously, you don't want to mess with the old ladies either! I had actually expected to have to deal with this sort of nonsense the whole time we were in Russia and the central Asian "stans" but they turned out to be largely hassle free. The biggest problem with that has been here in Bulgaria. When you add the fight and doors slammed in our faces in Varna to this, I'd say that Bulgaria isn't the happiest place around Europe. I'm tempted to say they are as crazy and violent as Georgians here. I'll forgive it faster than it deserves, though I'll be shaking my head for a while....
Ammon

More changes

It got off to a bit of a rough start but I like Bulgaria. Our time in Varna was great. Haven't had FUN like that in a long time. The people at the hostel were great and we had a lot of fun laughing and even going out. The weather was great and we got to sit and relax on the beach too. That might not sound too exciting but that's really the first time since the Maldives. All the other beaches were either too busy or had too many guys staring and the girls weren't able to relax. At this beach we guys were much more preoccupied with the topless babes than them so they were able to enjoy it better. Our hostel location couldn't've been any closer to the beach either.
We are constantly asked what we miss about home. I now have an answer. What I have missed most about home (aside from you guys) is physical activity of the sporting kind. One of the guys at the hostel had a frizbee and we played down on the beach quite a bit. It was heaven! Also had a go at beach soccer (wow, that is hard work.) but we got destroyed. That's what I miss the most, running around and playing catch.
We had a great time in Varna and would probably still be there if it wasn't for Terri having to fly home from Sofia. We are now in Sofia and the weather is definately a lot cooler. It's a bit strange because the mountain range just south of town looks a lot like the north shore back home. I just has the right shape and size and the houses going up the side as well. Can't say too much about Sofia, it's alright but not terribly exciting. We do like it better than Bucharest though.
A couple of weeks ago we were told about a few websites that hook people up with free hosts in various cities around the world. Not all are local hosts but it is a great way to meet people and keep the expenses down. We've met a few members but now we are actually staying with someone that is part of this. It's awesome! We are outside of town on the side of the mountain. It's like being home. Hahaha. If anyone is interested the sites are hospitalityclub.org, couchsurfing.com and globalfreeloaders.com. Needless to say, we are now thinking of taking advantage of this opportunity as much as we can (not in the total mooch sense but to spread our story and share our experiences) and have also got a few more contacts.
Today we went to apply for a Macedonian visa here in Sofia. Amazingly, we were refused! The people there were all quite grumpy and rude and the guy told us we needed invitations and hotel reservations first. Uh, no, not true. Only for places like Russia, Tajikistan and that set. Anyway, he then got started on how hard it is, even for rich people to get visas for Canada and it all became clear. He was trying to make it difficult for us because we are Canadian and he even admitted to it. Anyway, now we can't go there next so will have to reroute and apply for the visa elsewhere. Shouldn't be a problem but it's a hassle. I guess we'll be going to Serbia next.
Ammon

Terri

I was finally able to come out and join the Watkins after 15 months! We were able to go to 7 countries, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria. I can pretty much say different things for each country. I like Moldova, I was able to see a little village, and visit a school, hopital and factory. I really thought that was different from the city life. Bulgaria was also very nice because of the sunshine. I'm still surprised how this family is doing so well with each other. Well, I am very grateful that they were able to put up with me. I would love to come back and join them again wherever they are.
Thank you,
Terri

Breanna

This isn't going to be that long so don't get your hopes up. Before I get started I have to say, I still can't belive mom got decked in the face. I was in shock. WOW was I ever ready to kill that guy, but the little prick ran off. Mom is fine, she is a tough cookie alright, and I rubbed her neck out so its all good. Just another day out on the road. I really can't wait to tell you guys in person all the stories. Reading it on a computer just isn't the same. PlusI know you will have a good laugh at all my crazy facial expressions. Then again, you will have to wait a while as I have no idea when we will come home. Does that scare you? Maybe we will never come home. Muaahah.

We are leaving Varna tonight on an overnight train to Sophia. Terri is leaving on the 17th. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh what???? She is leaving on the 17th.....OMG......Thats like a day away.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.. no no no no no I don't think so. What are you talking about? She just got here. What do you mean she is leaving?.. I cant belive this crap...who set this up?

That is the worst part about traveling. I never like saying bye to friends or family. We get so attatched to everyone that its really hard when the final moments together come. I remember how hard it was to say bye to everyone when we left home, thinking when will I see these guys again? After almost giving up hope that Terri would actually make it out here she came! She is part of this family and always will be. I love her to death. She has such a great attitude towards everything, so cheery! Definately have many laughs behind us and great times that we will keep with us always. We've all become soo much closer. I'm so glad she came! This really was an awesome experience for her! As it is for all of us. Too bad we can't keep her longer. I'm still thinking of a way to make her stay. Whether it is stalling, making up some stupid excuse, tying her to a post.. you know whatever it takes. I already tried to convince her dad to let her skip more school but that didn't work. lol He is a cool dude for letting her come this far.. and better let her come again. ahah I'll miss her soo much. Man this sucks. It just isn't the same when a member of our group leaves. Then for days we are looking for an extra person. BUT.. you do realize I am fully willing to go through this pain.. just keep coming. You guys back home don't realize and don't truly understand what it is like out here until you find out for yourself so the best way is to just let go and join us for a while. See what its like and if you really can't handle us then you can leave. ahahah Please please please come! Whats holding you back? Job? ppppffffttt You can get a job anytime...This is a chance that doesn't come along everyday. Hop to it. ok ok I know I can be pushy but really its amazing.

Varna (where we are right now) has been a blast. Great hostel, nice group of friends, beautiful beach, nice weather, clean, good food, cute town, etc etc. I've got a wicked tan now!! ahahah Last night I went out dancing with a bunch of people from the hostel!!!! HAVEN'T done THAT in a long time. It was great because my family wasn't there to watch me embarass myself on the dance floor. ahahahah kidding, I'm a good dancer. Yeah, I had a sweet time!

Jeez this turned out a bit longer then I thought.. oh well. I have to go pack and gather up some junk for Terri to take home for us! heee heee that's also a big bonus! People come and we get a package of stuff from home and when they leave we send dead weight home!
Anyways I better get out in the sun while I still can!
Over and out!
Breanna

The Newest Ninja Turtle

I know you guys don't really care about all the boring stuff we (ok, I) write on here about what we are doing. What you really want to hear are the juicy stories of chaos and craziness. Unfortunately for you guys, we are trying to stay out of trouble and for the most part, succeed. However, we do have another story to amuse you guys with.
Two days ago, we arrived in Varna, Bulgaria on the black sea coast after having spent all day on the train getting there from Bucharest. It was dark and about 9pm but we weren't worried because we had booked a hostel online ahead of time. We arrived at this hostel to find a guy (young guy, unprofessionally dressed) approach us out of the dark in front of the building, tell us it was full and that we had to follow him to another place. Um, right, well, we've been doing this long enough to know that you don't just walk off with people that tell you that kind of story (happens all the time at train stations, etc) so we told him we were going to check with the reception inside first. He let us walk off and we got lost in the poorly lit and poorly marked building trying to find the hostel. Turns out it was a private apartment and not a "hostel" as we were led to believe, and it had been booked by others well before us and was full. Because we were lost in the building and couldn't find the proper number we knocked on a random door looking for directions. That resulted in us getting screamed at and a threat to call the cops if we didn't leave (pleasant people out here). The neighbour then chewed out the guy on the street for a while, while we were talking to the people upstairs in the apartment we were supposed to have.
Turns out the guy on the street was legit and this "hostel" (Coast Hostel, btw, so never stay with them) regularly overbooks and then sends people to various homestays around town. Ok, that's dishonest but I could forgive it. But, we had by this time completely, unforgivably, inconvenienced and insulted the guy. He then proceeded to scream at us and say all sorts of random insulting things in between all his swearing. I argued and tried to reason with him for a while but he had declared us total idiots and said he was going home and we were to fend for ourselves. It was dark and we'd already paid a deposit with the guy online so we couldn't just let him walk off.
So we followed, with me arguing but trying to remain calm and reasonable and get him, unsuccessfully, to help us. Trying to turn him around to talk to us and not let him leave totally pissed him off more and he started shoving us and trying to get away. This continued for several blocks (I might add that there was nobody on the dark streets out there to witness all this) until he finally full on punched mom right in the head and ran off while we were standing there shocked. To her credit, mom did get a hit in on him too and with her flashlight in hand for added umph, before savannah held her back. I think mom was gonna go for the kill otherwise. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. Some young guy just punched mom in the head and she was punching and kicking back, full packs on and everything, just like a rabid ninja turtle. He took off pretty fast though when he saw us all dropping our bags to lynch him.
I learned my lesson in Ukraine and was in no mood for fighting and had been trying to stay calm throughout but I had to chase the guy down the street for a couple blocks to make sure he knew I was now obligated to kill him. He got away though......
We then went back to the apartment and made a few phonecalls to find a new place to stay. The English guys there were actually annoying too and I'm inclined to say that it is true that groups of young male Brits are quite useless and a menace to society when they get to drinking. The staff at the new hostel told us that they get lots of people coming over after having to deal with that guy, and in fact we met some people there at the time that had actually had problems with him too. I must say, my opinion of Europe as a warm and welcoming place is quickly deteriorating, especially compared to our experiences in Asia. I'll talk more generally about Bulgaria later.
Ammon

Bucharest

Made it back to Bucharest safe and sound. Not sure why but it seems that Romania is draining my energy because I feel lazy again. Believe it or not, almost everyone we talk to says that Bucharest sucks and to skip it. It certainly isn't the most interesting or happiest place we've been but it's not really that bad either. If I had to sum up the entire country in one word it would be "gray" and that seems to be the story of Bucharest too. It has some great architecture and impressive buildings but unlike the nicer cities in Europe it's all just one depressing gray colour. Must really suck to be here in the winter. In that sense though it's probably a lot like home.... Anyway, unlike the truly beautiful cities where a lot of work has been put in recently to maintain everything, it feels like Bucharest has been neglected and it's more like visiting a dying beauty on her death bed. Hopefully joining the EU will bring her back to life.
It is saturday today and obviously people here don't do much on the weekend because the centre of town was quite dead. Where are all the people? There doesn't seem to be much of a tourist centre either and we couldn't even find any souvenir shops. The main "attraction" now is the massively huge parliament building built by the last communist leader, Ceausescu. Actually, his story is especially interesting to us because he demolished huge stretches of the city for his crazy building projects. Stretching out from the parliament building is a very long street modelled on the Champs Elysees in Paris, complete with massive fountains and wide sidewalks. Totally reminds us of Ashgabat and the crazy Turkmenistan president's projects. Maybe Bucharest is a good example of what Ashgabat will look like 15 years after Turkmenbashi is gone and people stop maintaining everything. (Made it back to Bucharest safe and sound. Not sure why but it seems that Romania is draining my energy because I feel lazy again. Believe it or not, almost everyone we talk to says that Bucharest sucks and to skip it. It certainly isn't the most interesting or happiest place we've been but it's not really that bad either. If I had to sum up the entire country in one word it would be "gray" and that seems to be the story of Bucharest too. It has some great architecture and impressive buildings but unlike the nicer cities in Europe it's all just one depressing gray colour. Must really suck to be here in the winter. In that sense though it's probably a lot like home.... Anyway, unlike the truly beautiful cities where a lot of work has been put in recently to maintain everything, it feels like Bucharest has been neglected and it's more like visiting a dying beauty on her death bed. Hopefully joining the EU will bring her back to life.
It is saturday today and obviously people here don't do much on the weekend because the centre of town was quite dead. Where are all the people? There doesn't seem to be much of a tourist centre either and we couldn't even find any souvenir shops. The main "attraction" now is the massively huge parliament building built by the last communist leader, Ceausescu. Actually, his story is especially interesting to us because he demolished huge stretches of the city for his crazy building projects. Stretching out from the parliament building is a very long street modelled on the Champs Elysees in Paris, complete with massive fountains and wide sidewalks. Totally reminds us of Ashgabat and the crazy Turkmenistan president's projects. Maybe Bucharest is a good example of what Ashgabat will look like 15 years after Turkmenbashi is gone and people stop maintaining everything. (Ceausescu was overthrown and executed during the 1989 revolution here. We'll have to wait and see what happens to Turkmenbashi...)
It was nice to walk around for a bit but there is no need to get stuck here like we did in Brasov. Tomorrow we are taking the train to Varna, Bulgaria for a few days relaxation on the Black Sea coast.
Ammon

Moldova

Honestly, it's been a huge surprise but Moldova has actually been a great experience for us and one of the more interesting places we've been in a while. I say it's a surprise because everybody says that Moldova is boring, there is nothing to see and do there, so don't waste your time going. Well, that's actually a pretty accurate statement for the most part. It is boring and there is nothing to do here. We had to go anyway (just to get another stamp) and had actually considered only getting a transit visa at the border and staying just 2 days. I'm glad we went for the full tourist visa in the end though.
If you're having trouble finding it on a map, Moldova is a little country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. It's an ex-Soviet republic so has had quite a few problems and is largely ignored by everyone. Historically most of it was part of Romania so today the majority of people speak Romainian (though Russian is still very common) and it's flag is almost identical. The part of Moldova that wasn't historically part of Romania was a thin stretch of land east of the Dniestr river. Shortly after independence this region broke away in a civil war and now functions as the de facto independent (but not internationally recognized) republic of transdniestr. It has it's own borders, currency, capital, etc, etc, etc. Transdniestr wishes it was still part of the Soviet Union and is considered the last bastion of Soviet communism in the world. It's supposed to be pretty strange over there and I would've loved to have seen it but it is ridiculously corrupt and we just can't afford to pay the outrageous bribes required to get across their border. That and it's pretty sketchy and nobody official can get in there to save you, and we have Terri here, blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, we took off on an overnight and very crowded train north from Brasov, Romania to Iasi, from where we switched to a bus to cross the border and get to Chisinau (the capital of Moldova). In Chisinau it started to rain again and we quickly learned that the cheap hotel doesn't exist anymore. Moldova was starting to look like a bad idea. As we were standing in one of the nicer hotels, we met Adam, a Peace Corps volunteer from Wisconsin. He was crazy enough to offer up the floor of his apartment for us to crash on for a few days while we were in town. Using that as a base, we ran around Chisinau for 2 days. It's true, there is very little to see or do here. The most interesting thing is that being back in the old Soviet zone, we immediately started to see the Russian influence again. Pointy shoes, depressing grey block buildings, shaved heads, Russian girls with short skirts and lots of crumbling infrastructure.
The rest of the country doesn't really offer up anything else to see or do but the countryside is beautiful to drive through. Most of Moldova is covered by some of the world's best topsoil and it's all farmland and villages out of the capital I think. The villages are connected by little bumpy two-lane country roads with infrequent bus or minibus services. In the villages themselves and for shorter distances, it's all about the horse and cart. It's like the way they describe rural Romaina but it's even poorer and more rural. The landscape isn't quite flat but is very gradual rolling hills and field after field of corn, sunflowers or melons. It's beautiful, especially when the sun is shining.
Having seen a little on the drive in, we were eager to get out and see some more. Adam was kind enough to hook us up with another Peace Corps volunteer (another Adam from Wisconsin oddly enough) in a village up north for a few days. A couple hour bus ride north and we were met by Adam and Jessica (another Peace Corps volunteer) and were quickly made to feel at home in our little village of Zgurita (it's up in the northeast close to Soroca). We stayed 2 days up there, sleeping on Adam's floor, and eating with local families that he is in contact with. It was awesome. The stories they could tell and just being in such close contact with locals again was great and I felt like I was really doing something. Unfortunately, the truth is incredibly depressing with too many stories of the hardships that they have to deal with now. I don't have time to get into it now but let's just say that things probably were a lot better under the Soviets and it's no wonder the older folks keep voting for the communist party (they are the only ex-Soviet republic with a communist president).
I don't want to get into it all but just to name a few of the bigger problems; the hospital doesn't even have running water and like everyone else has to bring it in by bucket from a well, teachers will disappear from class to all get drunk together in the middle of the day before coming back to teach a little more, everything worth stealing was stolen after the collapse of the USSR and nobody has any desire or interest in doing any work for themselves. They are still waiting for somebody else to do it, like back in the communist days. Old habits die hard I guess. It's much the same as in the other rebublics but as Moldova is smaller and really has no tourism potential or even heavy industry to make anything for export, you quickly get the impression that they are not going to be doing well for a long time. Right now the biggest industry is wineries but even that can't be that big.
It's been a great experience though and thanks to all the Peace Corp guys that made it happen for us. We are off to Bucharest tonight on an overnight train.
Ammon