this Bulgarian life by Eric Wiley
Goldie (February 7 2005)
I went to a drum n' bass show this past friday in Sofia. it was Goldie spinning all metalheadz dub-plates at a club called Spartacus: usually a gay venue and Bulgarians here often look at you funny when you say that you went there for a show. Different culture here, less sensitive to these things generally than where I am from. I wore ear-protection, the bass was deep, and I danced until 5:30 in the morning. Charles Lim (from LA) and Sara Pack (from New Hampshire) went with me and we went out to an all night place to eat after the show before all crashing at Sara's apartment. Charles is a drum n' bass fanatic, and it was Sara's first time. I am somewhere in-between, probably. We all loved it. I didn't stay too long in Sofia, returning on a Saturday afternoon train, starting a novel on the train - Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. and the remainder of the weekend, Saturday night and Sunday, I spent in my apartment cooking and reading (finishing Lullaby and returning to my other reading). Now it's monday, the week feels like it will be quick. Next week is a retreat/meeting/training in the spa resort town of Bankya (near Sofia). Myself and the other 50-something volunteers from my group each with a Bulgarian counterpart will be attending. I am excited for it, mostly just to get away and do something different for a week, and of course to see some friends.
snowballs and masonry January 31 2005
The weekend in Sofia was fabulous. I saw friends who I have not seen for two months. Lots of talking, joking, catching up. Played in the snow, threw snowballs at advertisements - mostly of women in bikinis because it was the most funny and there were sooo many targets for it. Work at the Habitat site was fun, I built a brick wall for an air vent in the bathroom with another volunteer also named Eric. Not very efficient use of materials on this project, lots and lots of masonry, but probably it is difficult to get wood or metal framing and sheet-rock here - I need to ask about this. The support officer for Habitat for Humanity, Jeff Abbott, approached me with a thought for a project - to develop fast, cheap, expandable, beautiful, owner constructed dwelling units in collaboration with the Roma community. Brilliant, I told him. Am trying to get started on it this week. Research, making contacts, getting the municipality interested, conceptualizing. There was a lot of snow in Sofia, and it was colder than in Karlovo. I went to the foreign art museum. Some of it was closed, but I was excited to find some of '36 views of Mt. Fugi,' drawings by Diego Rivera, some abstract african figurines and masks, egyptian miniature painting. It's 2:00, and the remainder of this afternoon is for doing laundry in the kitchen sink, drinking wine, cooking, and doing some research on the internet from home.
a weekend and a week passed (January 28 2005)
Strange weather here this week. Cold, warm, cold, warm, cold. Rain, snow, sun and spring temperatures, and snow predicted again for the weekend. I was ill - well really only congested this week - never really felt sick. I have been waiting waiting waiting for the meeting to discuss the info/ad/lantern structures. Grew tired of waiting a few times and took off from work, once, for a lovely hike in the mountains to hum sad songs and explore from a height above Karlovo the familiar places below, and the space and things between them. I played chess with Alexander at his apartment on a smallish plastic/magnetic board with magnetic pieces, we drank strawberry juice canned by his family from the summer and ate white/brown chocolate. His apartment has lots of rooms, strange rooms, mostly empty. One of them he uses for dancing and there is a chandelier right in the middle where you would hit your head if you were not careful. I told him that it was a perfect space for practicing the waltz (stay out of the middle or hit your head).
The past weekend, Jennifer came for a visit from Friday afternoon until late Sunday morning. We hiked in the rain at night to a waterfall and looked at big rocks, cooked cooked cooked - perfect-omelets and pretty-meatballs, baked brownies, sat in the new bus shelters and imagined the sea, played with matches - giggling, flew paper airplanes that we drew and made wishes on from my balcony, swam/floated in warm mineral water, explored the creepy but exciting basement of my building, tried to put out a dumpster fire with my fire extinguisher (to no avail), watched the goonies - classic, and garden state - strange, lots lots lots of fun. It is great to have friend, a good good friend.
Tonight I am having dinner with Yadira and Emily and Mary who will visit Yadira from Plovdiv for the weekend. We will have a kind of chocolate sauce called mola on chicken, a recipe from Mexico I think. And tomorrow I will go to Sofia first thing, first bus, early. I am volunteering to work on the Habitat for Humanity project again, the same one I worked on two months ago. After that, sushi. I heard that there is a Japanese restaurant that just opened in Sofia and I am going to check it out. I don't have too too high hopes, but am excited for it. I will meet Stephanie to eat and then we will probably go out for all night dancing at a disco - a night of - as we like to say jokingly & too often - gettin' durty and crunk.
