what a funtastically fascinating country! there are countless ancient churches, the largest sephardic synagogue in europe, and the nicest shopping mall that i saw in the balkans (because yes, that does matter)! bulgaria is now part of the european union, believe it or not, and they are pouring the money in for things like new freeways. i say “or not” because the smell of corruption still seemed pretty thick in the air (to my relatively uninformed nose, although i would never say something like that unless i actually saw it happening) and there are still way too many elderly people who have to scrounge through the dumpsters looking for food. (by the way, if you’re ever trying to get me to give you coins, you’re going to have a lot more luck if you’re digging through dumpsters than if you’re sitting on the sidewalk with your hand out). saw some cool stuff in sofia, got caught in a refreshing rainstorm, shared a room in the “4th best hostel in the world” with some emaciated (and when i say emaciated i mean it was medically scary) party animals from the u.k….
