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Sophia Bulgaria
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Posted by: RickGI

Well after six months I finally will have some time off. In a couple of weeks I will have a four day pass and in true Military fashion the location was dictated to me Sophia Bulgaria. I have a friend who recently came back from there and he met a lady he liked. He sent her a picture of me and she has a Russian lady friend who would like to meet me when I am there. Soldiers tend to spend time in all the wrong places and I am looking to avoid this. I have done my partying and am more interested in cultural things. Any suggestions? As far as the lady she is in her late twenties (28-29) and very attractive. It is hard to tell where my friend met his lady friend but as I have stated soldiers tend to spend time in all the wrong places so it is hard to tell what I am getting into. From the few e-mails we have exchanged she seems alright but one never knows until you meet face to face. I am looking at this more as an opportunity to spend time with a FSU lady to see how compatible they may be for me. I know just meeting one will not be a tell all but will give a general idea and the opportunity to put all that I have learned here to the test.

So wish me luck and any suggestions on what to do in Sophia will be appreciated.

Posted by: Jill

If you have the chance, I highly recommend the Rila monastery and the city of Velika Tarnovo (the latter might be a little too far for you though--but Plovdiv is not a bad alternative and a little closer to Sophia).

Posted by: sidney

I wish you luck. Enjoy.
Sid

Posted by: RickGI

Thanks Jill, you were one I had hoped might have some ideas. If memory serves me correct you had posted somewhere before about Bulgaria. I am not sure what my travel limits will be other than not using buses and trains(I have no Idea why)and signing in by 0500hrs every morning(night). I am hiring a car and driver for the four days at a very reasonable $100 total. If I am allowed to leave Sophia I will check out your sugestions.
Thanks again.

Posted by: RickGI

Well finally get to relax. I leave at 0200 HRS tomorrow. I really enjoy seeing new places no matter the circumstances and Eastern Europe is one place I wasn't able to travel last time over seas.

Total cost so far

Trip to former Yugoslav Republic: 2 months of wandering aroung the woods at Fort Lewis Washington during the winter. Sure rained alot, reminded me of when I was stationed in the U.K. 1 Month freezing my butt off in Hoenfels Germany.

Bus ride to Sophia via Macedonia: See above and add 4 months of boredom in Yugoslav republic.

Hotel: 160 euro

Car and driver: $100

Spending cash $1200

I am really looking forward to this if you couldn't tell. Unknown wether girl I am meeting will work out but not really worried about that, it was more of a coincident anyway. Sure glad I came back in the military, never realized how much I missed the travels.

Posted by: searcher

Good luck and have a safe and fun trip!

I hope things work out for you. Let us know how it turns out when you return.

Posted by: Pin Boy

good luck rick, stay safe, and have a ball!!

pin boy

Posted by: RickGI

Well I am back from my short trip and thought I would give a report. I assume this is the appropriate forum for this, if not one of the mods can move it.

Well arrived about 1000 hrs local time Tuesday and after an in brief of the do’s and don’ts I hired my driver for the week who turned out to be great more on that later. To hire him cost about $100 for the four days, included in that was a cell phone, interpreter services and tour guide. All in all a very reasonable deal. I called the girl who my friend recommended and it turns out her English is very good with a London accent. I get the address and off we head to her apartment. Her is apartment is the typical design around here, dreary on the outside somewhat comfortable on the inside. She opens the door and she is very attractive even more so than her picture. She is somewhat flustered because her sink is plugged up so my driver and I retrieve his tool box and 10 minutes later problem solved and she is in a better mood. She suggests a restaurant and off we go.
The restaurant is nice and quiet serving local food (lamb). The meal is good and very reasonable (24 lev or $16 US). The conversation is about nothing really than she makes the comment about how I am more intelligent than most Americans she has met than she goes into a rant on how much she dislikes Americans and how ignorant we are and I am sitting there just having absorbed her mild compliment with my mouth open staring in disbelief. When she is done I said well you wanted to meet me and here I am, you knew from our conversations that I was an American and still wanted to meet me. She said yes but she was engaged to an American for two years and when he left he said nothing to her and just vanished. I sitting here somewhere between angry with her tirade and feeling sorry for how some moron treated her. I said I am very sorry for how you were treated, it was wrong for someone to treat her that way irregardless of where they were from. I asked how many AM she had knew and she said just him and his friends. I asked what he did here and she said business. She told me it was obvious that I was more educated than he and his friends were. I told her probably not he had at least a BA in business and I had around a hundred hours of whatever sounded interesting at the time. She asked me why I hadn’t finished school and I told her it really wasn’t necessary for my job but I probably would eventually. In Moscow she says, without a degree no one would even talk to you about employment. I told her the same in many careers in the US but the one I have chosen doesn’t require it. She asked why I am in the Military and I tell her because I like the challenge and I am good at it. She says no matter….
Well lunch is done and I pay the bill and she suggests we go shopping. I need some shoes and a couple shirts so we go to the “black market” On the way there she starts railing on Americans again and I apparently giggled aloud at the expression on my drivers face in the mirror and I was awarded with a disapproving glance from my date. Well the market was incredible and I found the most comfortable shoes and three shirts and she approved of my tastes, literally. Well we dropped my date at her apartment with the agreement for dinner at around 2000 hrs. Than back to my hotel. On the way there my driver asked why I didn’t defend myself more with her and her comments. I told him that those same things have been said about America since our beginning and most Europeans did that out of habit more than anything else and really hadn’t slowed us down much. I feel it is a waste of time debating it because they have their opinions which they were entitled to and from there perspective it would be correct but not ours It is just one of those intercultural clashes one deals with while traveling. He said not all of Europe felt that way and thanked me for visiting. Turns out he was an Officer in the Bulgarian Army at one time and we had a good conversation about world affairs. On the way back to the hotel he gave me a driving tour of Sophia which I enjoyed.
Well promptly at 2000 hrs we arrived at my dates apt. and she wasn’t quite ready so I waited at the car and the driver and I had another good laugh at the expression he had and the look I received for giggling. Fifteen minutes later my date makes her way to the car and off to a Brazilian restaurant in Bulgaria?! The food was great and no sheep! It was a little more expensive than lunch but not terribly so and they had dancers give a show which was entertaining. Well I paid for dinner and called the driver who was already waiting outside (this was the norm he had impeccable timing). Well she wants to meet some of her friends at a pub so off we go.
We arrive at the pub which is an Irish pub ran by a guy named Boris?! It was a nice pub and reminded me of the ones I used to frequent while stationed in the UK. She introduced me to her friends, two Muscovites and a Ukrainian girl. She told them we didn’t have much in common but that I was good company. I gave her friends the cross eyed look and they giggled which of course earned me another stare from my date. Her friends were real curious and asked a lot of questions. They were all very attractive and mid twenties with the exception of the Ukrainian who was 23. When she left for the restroom they all said they were surprised she went out with an AM again after the last one. I said I was surprised as well. Ukrainian girl asked why I was still around after the way she was acting and I told her what man would turn down a night with four beautiful ladies which earned me a lot of smiles and laughs. Unfortunately this also coincided with the return of my date so we all got the stare. The conversation continued until her friends said they had to go, my date wanted to stay so I had my driver take them home and we closed the place down. I called the driver who, of course was already waiting. We got in the car and I told him to take her home. She said no she wanted to go to my hotel. I said we didn’t have much in common and I thought she needed to date someone locally. She said I was right but she wanted company tonight. I told her who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth and was rewarded with a blank non understanding stare. My driver laughed with a predictable reaction from my date which of course made me laugh with the same results.

Posted by: RickGI

She left in the morning around 0800 and I cleaned up and went down to the lobby to find my driver already waiting. He handed me a note from the Ukrainian girl with her number. He told me she wanted to be dropped off last so she could give it to him for me. She is probably too young for my taste but who knows. Well my driver showed me the culture of Sophia and took pictures of me. We happened to be downtown by a big Orthodox Church when the Bulgarian PM was politicing. I thought of taking pictures but was getting a few stares from his security detail so thought I had better not. I got some great pictures and really enjoyed the tour. He took me to meet his family and insisted I eat with them which was a good meal. After lunch I took him and his two children to the go karts and had a lot of fun racing him and his kids. I lost 20 lev to him racing but it was a good time. Well we took his children home and then I went back to my hotel to clean up and change.
I went back to the Bulgarian-Irish pub around 1930 for dinner. I received a call from my Russian lady friend wanting to know if I wanted to go out again. I told her we didn’t have much in common. She said no but we could keep each other company and I told her I was looking for more than that. She told me she understood and wished me luck. I enjoyed the meal of fish and chips of course. After dinner I stayed and had a pint or two of Murphy’s red and chatted with a Lebanese businessman about world affairs. I spotted an attractive girl with an older gentleman in the rear of the pub and made eye contact with the girl and she smiled and looked away. I went back to talking to the Lebanese man until he had to leave. I was about to call the Ukrainian girl when the older gentleman that was with girl mentioned earlier, walked up and introduced himself. He asked me if I was a US soldier and I said yes so he sat down and started chatting. He was retired from the Military and worked in a hospital and was real curious about the US. The young women walked up and said something to the man in Bulgarian,I assume, and he laughed and said this is my daughter and she is complaining about me abandoning her. I laughed and apologized for keeping him away. She said it was ok and asked me to join them at their table so I did. Her English was excellent and I asked where she learned and she said in business school. We had a good conversation and I answered a lot of questions about the US. Her dad said he had to work tomorrow and said he had to go, she complained and he asked if I could see her home. Of course I said yes. We talked until closing and we gave her a ride home she asked what I was doing tomorrow and I told her I had no plans. She told me she would stop by my hotel and we would do some sight seeing and I said ok. We dropped her off and I was rewarded with a polite kiss on the cheek. My driver told me on the way back that I was having a very good trip to Bulgaria. I agreed.

Posted by: RickGI

I arrived at the hotel to find a group of younger troops heading out to the dance clubs. I thought I had better go along to keep them out of trouble. Apparently I forgot who was supposed to supervise who because I woke up at around 0900 with a headache. I went downstairs to get some aspirin and one of the lobby girls found some Tylenol and teased me about drinking too much. While sitting there drinking my orange juice she massaged my neck and shoulders and I almost fell asleep. She stopped suddenly and when I looked up I saw the Bulgarian girl with one eyebrow raised, looking at me. All I could manage was “Oh hell” and they both laughed and spoke to one another in Bulgarian. My date said lets go I am hungry and apparently all was ok. We ate at an inexpensive restaurant and the food was good. We went and seen some sights and went shopping at the Underground mall and talked. She is 29 divorced and has a 3 year old son she lives in Varna and is here visiting her father. We had a good time and we exchanged numbers and e-mails. We weren’t ready to end the date so we went to the hospital where her dad worked and visited with him and some of the staff. It was good to meet more of the locals. I am surprised at how many speak at least passable English. I only found very few people that spoke none at all; most could carry at least a basic conversation. We left the hospital and did some more window shopping. Around 1830 we went back to the lobby of my hotel and drank coffee and visited some more. We have a lot in common and seem to really hit it off. She took me to a Bulgarian restaurant that had a show which was great and so was the food. We went back to the pub for drinks and ended up staying till closing just talking. I told her that I was leaving tomorrow around ten and would call her when I got back to post if she wanted and she told me I had better. I took her back to her dad’s and this time got a better kiss.

Posted by: RickGI

My wake up was 0600 so I packed and cleaned up. I got a call from her, she was waiting for me in the lobby. I went down and we ate breakfast at the hotel and visited until it was time for me to go. I gave her a hug bye and she kissed me again and told me to call. It was a very good trip and even with a bump or two, I had a great time, met someone who I like. I am already planning m next trip in september. wish I could go sooner but the military owns me till spring of next year. I will see where it goes but it is strange how things can turn out differently than you plan. I suggest everyone make the trip the culture alone in Eastern Europe is worth the trip.

Sorry for the long post but it was a good trip and I thought I would share.

Posted by: sidney

Rick, even though things didn't workout with the one you went to visit it looks like you had a good trip. I do wish you the best on your next trips. It will give you time to better understand your new friends as well.
Sid

Posted by: Pin Boy

rick,

don't apologize for the long post, it is great reading...sounds like you were quite the hot commodity in sophia! thanks for taking the time to write...gives me reason to remember why i enjoyed my trips so much and motivates me to plan a return to eastern europe. be safe.

oin boy

Posted by: Mr.H

Was well worth the read.....and seems like life likes you.

Cheers

Posted by: RickGI

Thanks all for the comments, I don't know about the hot comodity thing but it was definately more attention than I was used too. I went with little or no expectations and just let things roll and that seemed to be the ticket. Americans are still somewhat a novelty there and the people are naturally curious. I am probably a little more agressive then normal since I had little female contact in the last six months but the agression is tempered with age and that seemed to work for me. If nothing else I enjoyed the trip and learned a few things first hand instead of reading about it.

Posted by: Leprechaun

Irish bar ran by Boris..... LOL

as the song goes, "You dont have to be Irish to be Irish"

best of luch to ya lad.