Probably the most commonly associated words with Anna
(a.k.a. me) are: Intimidating, crazy, passionate, unpredictable, book worm,
nerd and triskaidekaphobia.
The first four stem from my academic zest and my inability
to face potential terror without logic and calmness. Bookworm and nerd describe
my love of all things geeky. And the last merely touches on my favorite ever
word which I have been known to scream in empty movie theaters. The first four
however are the ones needed for this blog post, because it is about how Anna,
5’6, 120 lbs, tiny Anna, went to Russia alone to see the Olympics-and survived.
First off I should admit that my entire journey was arguably
insane, suicidal, and potentially dangerous. So of course I did it with a smile
and logical proposition. It took 40 hours to get from Burgas to Sochi, and
during that time I did not sleep, I watched Dr. Who in the creepy Moscow
airport while the women who sandwiched me in watched over my shoulder (no
there was no subtitles, they just enjoyed the picture apparently) and I waited
to finally get to Sochi to what was a horrible hostel with a wonderful room
mate. (That isn’t sarcasm, she was wonderful.)
JUST LET ME SLEEP!
My flight from Moscow to Sochi I met this couple, John and
Julianna, they were rejected from Moscow because Russia screwed up their visa
and they had to return but we had a great time chatting on the flight. After my
first 40 hour journey that included staying up all night in airports and just
wanting to cave to sleep, I wanted to make sure I got a good nights rest. I
checked into my arguably questionable hostel. (Questionable as they had to go
into rooms to find me one, the worker asked me out multiple times, annnnd they
couldn’t understand
No I don't want "drinks"
anything I said.) I went to the Olympic park to pick up my
visitors pass and get ready for the next day when I would witness my first
Olympic event.
The issue with that is-Russia. Not very organized when it
came to getting your visitors pass, like at all. I ended up in line for 3 hours
while they yelled at us to do it online when I tried twice and followed their
directions and it kept getting rejected. Now I’m in line and I hear English.
Look, try to
No you register online!
understand I love Bulgaria but sometimes it’s just nice to hear
English from a native. I pull back in line a bit and meet these Americans who
work for the sponsors of the Olympics, interviewing people and such. We stay
in line 3 hours together bonding and supporting each other to the point that
the Russians won’t let our line in anymore because we didn’t “pre-register” so
they start to only take those who did it online and we decide “start a
revolution.”
The Russians in line with us start yelling in Russian
I was doing so well
and I join
in, in Bulgarian and finally we are heard. I’m standing there translating
things for the other Americans and when it comes time and the guard asks how
many they are they ask me for the Bulgarian for 6, so I say “Shesht” and then
realize “guys, you aren’t 6, you only have 5.” Their response? “We have 6,
you’re with us now.”
BAM adopted again, yeah…just a note to tell you that happens
a lot. Not sorry at all about that either! So we went in together they sat with
me and it was lovely to just feel not alone in Russia anymore.
School pride!
I can't make this up
Afterwards they wanted me to join them in Olympic park but I
didn’t have a ticket so we parted ways and I went back to sleep off my 40+ hour
journey thus far. I awoke to meet my really cool, Luge enthusiast, hostel
roommate, from Texas. Then we headed to the bus to get to the Olympic park. I
bought a day pass to get in early, and wow was it crazy! I literally followed
the yellow brick road!!
Bear!
I took in everything, the houses that represented all
nationalities, the street performers and food stands. It was amazing, and I
couldn’t soak it
in fast enough. I spent all day there, and went to the concert
that night before my hockey game. I didn’t understand any of it as it was in
Russian but it was wonderful to still just be there, engaged, dancing with
every nationality and enjoying the atmosphere. I even met the mascots which was
really fun. Then it was time for Sweden vs. Russia women’s hockey.
I cheered on Sweden as I am a Viking through and through,
but it was almost entirely Russians there so they never had a chance. I made
friends with Michael, an Australian from Melbourne and we cheered them on
together. Sadly they lost but at least they gave a valiant effort!!
BG house!
The next day I had to get on the new trains that were built
for the Olympcis to head out to the slopes…did I mention I HATE HEIGHTS? Well I
had to take a train out there then take a Gondola up
Gorgeous
and walk around in sluggy,
slippery snow to watch cross country skiing and I loved it!! Still not sure who
won as you are walking to follow the athletes and so they are finished long
before you get to the end. I cheered on the Irish, the Americans and finally I
found th Bulgarian skiers who seemed so confused when I yelled out in English
and Bulgarian that they were doing great. Afterwards I followed the crowd down
the treacherous hill, and met one of the US skiers who took a picture with me
and signed my ticket! Then I went to visit the Bulgarian house and head back
down to the village.
Signed ticket!
The mountain region is gorgeous and I just walked around for
hours taking in the local outfits and culture. It was beautiful and I knew
leaving that part would be hard. But at the end of the day I made it home to
pack and prepare to return to Bulgaria the next day. I took my sad faced
pictures in Olympic park after my very pleasant train ride, and I packed my
stuff up.
It's just hair!
There were tons of problems. For one in Moscow they didn’t
think it was me in my visa because my hair was braided (oh gee, sorry that I
have to travel 40 HOURS STRAIGHT! I’ll make sure my hair look’s like Kate
Middleton’s next time!) and wanted to detain me. And of course staying up so
many hours is hard, and staying on time and on track is difficult and cabin
fever sets in. My hostel was a nightmare and Russia can be scary. But each
night on my buses back to my hostel I met someone who was safe to walk me home,
the first night an older Russian woman with a daughter my age who hugged me and
called me her “new friend Anna” (side note: keep track, adopted-again.) And the
next night some older men from the same area as me in America who were in a
hostel close by and made sure I was safe.
BADLY
LOVE HIM!
I always stay safe when I travel, but sometimes staying safe
requires trusting your instincts, and taking the plunge. Just think of Loki “If
it were easy, everyone would do it.”But in all honesty it was a hard decision to make to go when things were getting crazy. I was afraid at times, and worried. The media made it out to be scarier than it was and I was concerned that maybe something would happen to me over there. But in the end I had to make the decision on my own and I decided not to let fear get to me. Stay safe, get out if you need to, always have an exit strategy-but don't let fear control your life.(Please note that this post was done in the Olympic Rings colors!)
Tonight's song is"A Hard Days Night" because seriously two 40 hour trips in less than 5 days...is seriously a hard days night!
Hello readers! Those of you still here haha. I know it’s
been a while. Since I last posted I have been to the Russian Olympics, met with
activists in Serbia, hosted Fulbrighters in Burgas and am preparing to leave on
my birthday backpacking spring break trip on Friday! A lot has happened but
honestly writing a blog can be very hard for me at times. I teach English to
450 students every week, there’s grading and prepping for students who’s 2nd,
3rd OR 4th language is English. Each class is uniquely
different and between adapting constantly, grading, extra lessons, my
journaling, field notes, research project and you know that pesky thing called
sleep-sometimes blogging just isn’t in me. BUT I left you stranded on the top
of the Eiffel Tower so I can’t leave you there.
I met this delightful dad with his sons at the top who took
my picture, I made it a good while
Really hate heights
before my hatred of barrier heights kicked
in and I descended back down very proud that I had finally fulfilled my 12 year
old selves promise to climb to the top and I set about completing the rest of
my journey in Paris.
LIttle things make the journey
I traveled around seeing all the sites and since in the
morning, finished a lot of things I
Bagels!
wanted to get done in Paris from just
walking the Champs Elysees to seeing the military museum and after a very long
day of getting lost and finding my way back entirely by tracking metro stop
above ground I made it home! Plus I arrived home to my roomies from New Zealand
having left me a bagel on my bed and instructions on where to get some more.
THEY WERE AMAZING. I have missed bagels so much in BG!
The next day I was up early and headed over to Notre Dame to
get that climb in as soon as possible and that leads to my being adopted by a
Canadian family. You think I’m joking…if you think I’m joking clearly we have
never met. I was waiting in line reading the “Scarlett Letter” to prepare for
teaching it after winter break, and this lovely family behind me was confused
about what line to get in. They were a three generation women trip! The grandmother,
grandmothers best friend, daughter and granddaughter. (Or as I call Kaitlyn, my
new sister who is in 9th grade at this progressive French language
school in Canada, yeah she’s impressive) and we got to talking. They asked me
about what I did in Bulgaria and after an hour and a half of standing in line
they finally said: You are traveling alone, isn’t that lonely?
What people think of single travelers
Well readers yes it can be. I am happy to be alone because
as Elsa would say in Frozen “Yes
But my reaction
I’m alone, but I’m alone and free.” But at the
same time it is lovely to travel with friends as well. Traveling is a unique
and malleable experience, it never has to be done the same way every time. And
this time it was ok to be alone but it would have been nice to also be with
other friends.
gargoyle friend!
They however were not ok with it. And when we climbed up the
bell tower to Notre Dame they insisted on taking my picture for me, and when we
went to the highest part they put me in the family photo…told you I wasn’t
kidding!
Proof!
It was beautiful and when I told my mom all she said was “of
course someone adopted you, not surprised.” They also helped me figure out how
to get to Versailles. After Notre Dame I headed to the trains and hit the
palace. The joy of having my visa means free entry so I waited in line outside
for 2 hours, yet again reading (the life of an English teacher, my students
couldn’t complain to me about how it took their free time to read, I READ IT AT
VERSAILLES, BAM!) and finally made it in.
self portrait
Now Versailles is great, it’s gorgeous, the gardens are
amazing, and inside is a delight. But what I wanted was the hall of mirrors.
When my mom went to Versailles years ago she took a picture she deemed her
“self portrait” and so my goal was to re-enact it as closely as possible.
Between my camera on my phone and my nice camera I took over a dozen attempts
to hopefully one works!!
I am ;)
After I took the tour and enjoyed the palace I then walked
around the gardens, into the park, and then out into the town itself. It’s a
beautiful area and I loved just partaking in it. People really neglect just
watching the world go by. They think that if they aren’t taking a photo every
second, or seeing another museum they are missing out- but sometimes you see
the most by just sitting back and taking it in. So I did, I went to McDonalds,
got a soda and sat outside watching. It was marvelous.
Paint with all the colors...
Then I headed home to pack up and prepare for my final day
in Paris when I would go to the Louvre. Now I love art, that isn’t something
people generally associate with me but hey, one of my best friends is an art
teacher, had to appreciate it from somewhere!! I love art, I share a birthday
with Van Gogh, and I have a copy of his sunflower on my wrist, so the Louvre
was some place I needed to see. However for me it’s kinda overrated. The Mona
Lisa is nice but that’s not what my focus was. I loved this statue of an angel
where the head had come off. That sounds psychotic but hear me out. I loved it
because you don’t know which angel it’s meant to be. It could be a famous one
like Gabriel, or maybe its your guardian angel and you aren’t meant to know
their face. It’s just put beauty.
They escaped!
Headphones in!
Since it was also after the Doctor who 50th special
any landscapes were fair game to worry about zygotes, and since it was during
Sherlock series 3, I put head phones in and pulled a Moriarty. But my favorite
part was the amateur wing. I just sat there looking at paintings from artists
long since passed away and wondered if their attempts at art made them happy. I
mean what makes great art? And how did these people not make the cut? Did they
enjoy their lives? Was painting an outlet? I loved sitting there wondering
about their lives. And no, I did not pull a DaVinci code (my mom already
asked.)
Then I headed back to my hostel grabbed my bag and headed
back home to Bulgaria. Ending a weird era for me. It’s a joke with my friends
that until this Christmas I had been to the Czech Republic, but not France. Albania,
but not Belgium, I essentially rarely hit the “normal” European spots but now I
have. France was not my favorite but it was definitely worth the trip, and
seriously-who doesn’t want to spend New years in Paris?
Tonight’s song is “Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart” from
the film Anastasia…the reason should be obvious. Up Next the Olympics!
Taking a break from Paris for a moment to bring you this
blog post message! Nah in all seriousness I have had three common questions that MANY people have asked
me since I moved here.
Frustration
1.How
old are you? (Usually followed up by either, “are you married?” OR “That’s very
young….”)
2.Why
would you move here? (To which I have finally hit infuriated: BECAUSE I RESPECT
YOUR COUNTRY AND WANT TO BE HERE!)
3.How
do you handle things that go wrong, or all the stress?
Tonight’s blog post will be like a public service
announcement, consider it a “how to” guide to handling stress and issues.
Because not only have some of my American counterparts in BG asked me, but a
lot of my students have as well. They ask me how I remain positive or
optimistic, and they ask me how I just keep going when there are some really
bad days. I know this is in part to them thinking it’s odd I’m here but still-
great question. Here’s my secret…come closer. No seriously, come closer how do
you sit so far back? It’s sarcasm. Tons of it. I just have this personality
that is- “Oh? So my entire life just went out the window? Ok, so lunch?”
Just going with it
Embrace the shadows
Now understand friends, I grew up that way. There was always
something wrong, that if I got upset every time a Doctor gave me bad news, or
something broke-I’d live my life angry. And yes I know I have a lot to be angry
about, but what is the point of that? It’s ok to get angry, but get over it.
That’s just how I am, let’s give an example (I’m a teacher, examples are like
my thing)
Today:
They kept staring...
Today after weeks of planning, translating Romanian bus
schedules, finding hostels, arranging pick ups and drop offs, getting ahead in
class planning, and being all packed; I was supposed to board a 7:30 am bus to
Ruse, to change there to a train to Bucharest, where I would stay overnight
then take the early morning bus to Chisinau and stay in Moldova until mid day
Monday where I would go back to Bucharest, stay overnight, then back to Ruse,
stay overnight, then back to Burgas. Intricate plan right? Slight issue, it
hinged on buses and trains actually RUNNING.
After getting up at 5 am and not sleeping, going in the
freezing cold, getting to the bus station and being ready, I waited. And
waited. And then these 3 people waiting for the same bus started to get closer
to me, staring and looking like they wanted to talk to me. Finally one asked me
in Bulgarian if I was going to Ruse, so I responded “yes on the 730 bus” to
which he responded that the bus was broken.
Just keep it together!
Now downside to this conversation-bus is broken
Upside- I understood and spoke a good bit of Bulgarian!
Or Walk away...
Moving on…I’m informed that they are trying to fix it. But
by the time they tell us it won’t be fixed we have all missed one of the only
two other ways to fix this. So the other option is taking the bus to Varna.
Which you know great except they don’t know when we will get in and I will most
likely miss my Ruse connection and thus ALL MY OTHER CONNECTIONS.
It’s at this point that I turn to the other people and say:
This is a sign. Forget it. And head back to my flat. Now you would think: Ok
Anna, you spent money, and weeks of planning time for nothing. You now have a
semester break that you’ve been planning on for months that will not be filled
at all. And it’s literally wasting time. You are heartbroken, and
When upset fall down!
frustrated,
and you just want to cry. Channel your inner Disney and break down. What do I
do? I call my mom to tell her I’m not going then decide to let my hostels know I’m
not coming…which leads to the next part of frustration I faced. My computer.
To get online I turn on my computer, which just did system
updates. Only to find out my system erased my old user account, passwords, and
hid ALL OF MY FILES. My music, my pictures, and all the research I have done
for 6 years. Which as “Bear” from apple told me as he was remote controlling my
computer was “a lot of writing.” Now I wanted to fix this but the online forums
were iffy and I thought “let’s just call apple.” Thus I find the Bulgarian help
line and dial them from skype. Perfect right? Yeah, turns out that a digit must
be off on the website because I got a Sex hotline. My mom couldn’t stop
laughing when I told her. Probably one of the least sexual people on the planet
ended up calling a sex hotline at 9 am trying to get her Disney songs back.
Yep.
No...
So then I call the American line, which isn’t open yet. Thus
I quit. I think “well, I can’t fix this right now, I’m exhausted. Let’s nap and
face this when you CAN do something to fix it.” (Hint 1: that’s a good strategy
in living abroad, if you know you can’t do something right away, don’t panic.
Recognize it is beyond your reach and if you focus on it you will go insane.) I
went back to sleep and woke up ready to handle this.
Angry Computer
I called the American hotline and talked to George,
excellent guy. He told me I was a dear and when he realized I had waited 7
hours to call him he told me “sweetie we will get this fixed.” Apparently
getting this fixed meant transferring me to Bear who gave me his personal
number in case we got cut off- at this point I was terrified for my computer if
they were taking it that seriously. My poor Spock! (Yes, I named my computer
BRING BACK MY MUSIC!
Spock, judge me if you dare.) However after 40 minutes of him remote controlling
my computer from America, and my working with him we got everything back and he
was enjoying all the Doctor Who pictures I have on my computer, and my
questionable music choices.
OK so what did we get from this? It was a BAD day. But here
is how I handled it:
Step 1: Allowed myself to be angry at the loss. I had
planned so well, I was really excited, and I wanted to go so badly, and now
even if I went I’d get maybe 8 hours in Moldova.
Step 2: I just let it out, ate chocolate, napped, watched
Doctor Who, listened to my “questionable” music. (Kate, Clay Aiken is a good
singer, back off my love of him)
Step 3: Moved on and made snarky remarks.
Step 4: Got positive again.
For me this meant I figured ok, be upset for an hour at the
most. Then plan what fun things you can do in Burgas this weekend. What movies
do you want to watch at night? Have you answered all your students messages? Do
they need anything, if so make sure you get on it immediately.
We can do it!
This is an extreme example. But let’s look at easier ones.
Like last week when I fell down these stone steps because I didn’t see the
black ice and seriously bruised my spine. I could get angry, I could start to
swear at the inanimate object steps. I could fume. My response: Bulgarian steps
1, Anna 0. Well played steps, well played.
Why do they even have that lever?
When my washing machine stops working my response- Cosplay
Cinderella and hand wash everything while listening to Disney soundtracks.
When my elevator won’t let me get out on my floor but
instead keeps going- “Wrong lever Kronk!!”
When the students who clearly hate me are cruel and the ones
who want to learn are then distracted: “Eh, at least I’m not an Orc, that would
be really bad.”
I get that feeling sometimes...
When everyone says “Aren’t you afraid to live alone? What if
you are murdered or raped?” My response- “Well, then they’d have to do my
dishes, so they’d lose…priorities.”
Stay open minded
When someone asks me the hardest part of living alone
(thinking it’s the fear of murder)- “Opening the pickle jar. I mean when you
can’t get it open, there’s no one to go to. You are just denied your pickles.
They sit there mocking you…”
When my students ask what I eat since I can’t read half the
labels: “Well, cereal mostly, and whatever I can understand. I like it you
know, it’s simple. I kept losing at “guess this cheese” and I have no mice to
feed to justify my trying again.”
When I accidentally wear red to teach the Scarlett Letter
and tell my students that red was the color assigned to “whores” and they point
out my error: “Yeah, I’m not even gonna try to claim I did that on
purpose…let’s chalk this up to 6 am shall we?”
When my student jokes about bombing his desk: “Ugh, just
wait until the next hour, I don’t want to have to do that paperwork.”
You get the point. If I got angry at every little thing
happened when would I have time for
Sarcasm rules!
joy? And further, if I got mad at even the
big things then how would I appreciate the little things? For those of you
considering living abroad especially take my advice- develop a dry sense of
humor. Explore sarcasm. You’ll adapt much faster, and when things happen they
won’t get to you. You’ll just walk it off and move on. I am glad that I learned
to adapt because I’m finding it is not only helping me get along great here,
but it also helps my students feel more positive. Always find the positive.
Tonight’s song is “You’re On The Right Track” from pippin.
Because there will be days that you worry you aren’t doing things right, that
you don’t think that what you’ve left behind is enough and what’s ahead looks
daunting but you just have to stay on the right track.
The first four stem from my academic zest and my inability
to face potential terror without logic and calmness. Bookworm and nerd describe
my love of all things geeky. And the last merely touches on my favorite ever
word which I have been known to scream in empty movie theaters. The first four
however are the ones needed for this blog post, because it is about how Anna,
5’6, 120 lbs, tiny Anna, went to Russia alone to see the Olympics-and survived.
My flight from Moscow to Sochi I met this couple, John and
Julianna, they were rejected from Moscow because Russia screwed up their visa
and they had to return but we had a great time chatting on the flight. After my
first 40 hour journey that included staying up all night in airports and just
wanting to cave to sleep, I wanted to make sure I got a good nights rest. I
checked into my arguably questionable hostel. (Questionable as they had to go
into rooms to find me one, the worker asked me out multiple times, annnnd they
couldn’t understand 
I always stay safe when I travel, but sometimes staying safe
requires trusting your instincts, and taking the plunge. Just think of Loki “If
it were easy, everyone would do it.”But in all honesty it was a hard decision to make to go when things were getting crazy. I was afraid at times, and worried. The media made it out to be scarier than it was and I was concerned that maybe something would happen to me over there. But in the end I had to make the decision on my own and I decided not to let fear get to me. Stay safe, get out if you need to, always have an exit strategy-but don't let fear control your life.(Please note that this post was done in the Olympic Rings colors!)
