Bulgaria with Noodles

Recently a teacher on the TES asked me about the cost of living in Sofia, compared to Shenzhen. To answer the question, I would say that Sofia is probably a bit more expensive than Shenzhen, but not much. When we were in SZ, the school's accommodation allowance covered the rent and it is much the same story here in BG. I can walk to school and back each day, just like I did in China. The metro system in Sofia is a lot more expensive than in SZ and also we have a car as well, so that bumps up our costs a bit. In the Middle Kingdom, I was usually drinking Tsingtao, especially with crispy dumplings fried in butter, whereas in Bulgaria this old hippo gets through those three-litre boxes of the local plonk. On the other hand, each month we are given 60 leva of Kaufland vouchers and that helps with the groceries. One big advantage in Bulgaria is the school food, the best I have ever eaten in more than thirty years of teaching. Very generous quality cuts of meat, cooked in d...

Several of the teachers at my new school, Saint George's, have told me that Sofia is the most polluted capital city in all of Europe. Yes, that is probably true because lots of Bulgarians drive old and badly-maintained second-hand cars. That is one reason why I always enjoying going away for the weekend.  This weekend it was wonderful to escape from Sofia and go to our country house in Kalotina. Even though it is still only April, the weather was really warm and all of the birds were singing happily. Lots of fruit treas were covered in blosssom and, best of all, our house was still there and nothing bad had happened to it. It was a bit sad, having to cut the lawn, as the dandelions and daisies looked rather nice.  My dear wife's tulips were making a good show and the parsley is also going well. There was absolutely no sign of the asparagus and the Jerusalem artichokes that I had planted about a month ago. On a slightly more positive note, there were absolutely no was...

Mountains and blossom, so are we in Japan?   After church, Irena and I went for a very enjoyable walk in the park. Just across the road from our apartment in Sofia, in the district of Lozenets, there is a huge park.  It is rather different to Lianhuacun Park in Shenzhen. Regular readers of my blog (if there are any) will remember that our apartment was on the other side of the road from Lianhuacun Park. That one was so well looked after, manicured and properly maintained. Our park here in Sofia is neglected, run down and generally abandoned. I have never seen anyone who looked like a parken warden or a gardener. It is so strange, the way that the leaves suddenly appear and look such a bright shade of green. The sight of the snow-capped Mount Vitosha and what might have been cherry blossom was almost Japanese.  Some poor trees are half-strangled with martinitsi . You are supposed to wear your martinitsa on your wrist until you see a stork or maybe...