Bulgaria and Istanbul… A Reunion! April 3, 2010

So when I told friends here in Turkmenistan that I was going to go meet a friend that I had met once, 2 years ago, on a week trip to New York City they all thought I was nuts. “What if you guys don’t get along, what will you do?” “What if it’s weird and awkward, will you just go off on your own?” Seriously a lot of people had these concerns, I fortunately had no doubt that when I met Katie again things would be awesome, and guess what they were! I guess that’s what happens when God destines you to be friends with someone. The one concern that Katie and I did have was that she wouldn’t be able to recognize me (I’ve changed a lot in 2 years). The plan was for me to fly to Istanbul and hop on an overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria where Katie would meet me at the train station. The funny thing was that I didn’t recognize Katie! I was so famished after the train that I got a slice of pizza and was totally in the process of devouring it when she came up to me with arms waving! We had a good laugh at that one and didn’t stop laughing the whole time!

To give you a brief rundown of the Bulgarian portion of the trip, Katie was a great host! We started off going to the posh European town of Plovdiv where I got to meet some of Katie’s American and British friend. There we got to explore an ancient Roman stage, drank some good cheap Bulgarian beer (did you know that a beer in BG costs less than water?!) and ate delicious Chinese food. The next day we trained it to Samokov where Katie lives and works and we spent the next few days exploring her city, hanging with her counterparts, and having fun with her kids. Now let me say this for Katie, she is one lucky PCV. Not only are her counterparts awesome and amazing, but she lives in a really cool town! Her town has a professional basketball team and she lives really close to the highest peek in the Balkans, which means ski resorts! While Katie has hung up her ski boots for a long time (with good reason) she does live really close to the ski hills and can get a plethora of European exposure (super jealous about that). After spending a few nights in Samokov we went back to Sofia and spent the evening with some of her American missionary friends who spoiled us with delicious American food before we headed off on the night train to Istanbul. Overall Bulgaria was awesome!

Before I get onto Istanbul I want to say a few words about Peace Corps Bulgaria. Now, sometimes PCVs in other countries like to complain about the fact that in their eyes Peace Corps isn’t needed in some of the more developed countries like Bulgaria. I have heard T-stan PCVs say “Bulgaria’s in the EU why do they need Peace Corps?!” They will say that it isn’t Peace Corps, it’s “Posh Corps.” I can say though after visiting BG and seeing the population of youth Katie works with I can say that PCBG is necessary. Katie works with Roma students (we would think of them as gypsies) in BG to empower them and advocate for better services for them. She spends time with these kids that a lot of people don’t care to think about and is motivating them to make positive changes in their lives. If you could see the way the Roma live in BG it would break your heart and you would want to do something for them too. I am very proud of the work Katie is doing advocating for her students and while I wish I had some of the amenities that BG has in T-stan I know her life isn’t “posh” at all, it can be frustrating and heartbreaking just like that of any other PCV.

That being said onto the second half of the trip, Istanbul! Ah Istanbul… how I love thee… So as I said we took the overnight train again to Istanbul and were able to spend 3 days and nights there. We spent most of our time in Sultanhammet which is probably the most famous district in Istanbul because it has the Blue Mosque, Aye Sofia, Topaki Palace (and harem), and the Grand Bazaar. Given we only had a few days we spent the majority of our time wandering around these places. Each day we picked a different place to visit in the morning. For lunch we wandered around back streets to find an off the beaten path to find where the locals eat, which we did successfully I might add. Then we had dessert by eating our weight in the most delicious treat known to man, Turkish Baklava! Seriously… so good! After baklava I was pretty much put in a food coma so we would go back to the hostel and relax a bit before dinner and evening activities. For dinner we would again eat traditional Turkish food with delicious Turkish beer or tea. Then in the evening we would find a bar to hang out in and meet new people and try new things! One exciting in devour for us was to try hookah! If you don’t know what hookah is it’s a water pipe filled with flavored tobacco, it’s very popular in Arabic and Turkish cultures, so we tried our hand at it. We managed to do pretty well without getting too sick, though we did have the strongest tobacco apparently (apple) and both did get a little light headed. In the end it was a fun week of exploring new foods, dodging creepy Turkish guys who like to hit on Americans, and overall bonding after a 2 year lapse!

In the end it was an awesome trip without any awkward moments, only good times and laughter. It’s funny when I met Katie two years ago and told her we we’re going to be BFFs (that’s ‘best friends forever’ for those of you who don’t speak teenage girl) I was only half serious, I didn’t expect us to be that good of friends, it’s a good thing that God thought differently! I’m so blessed to be friends with Katie; she’s a passionate sassy girl with a heart for God and social justice, all things I could ask for in a BFF.

Thanks for everything, Katie, you’re amazing, I can’t wait for our next reunion! Also, for the record I would like to state… “This never happens to me!”

Advertisement