честита нова прическа

Why did you touch me? That was the question I asked a little girl on Saturday. Melody, Eric, and I were sitting in a restaurant on Saturday waiting for our lunch when a little girl (maybe 5 yrs old), who was standing with her mom and dad, tip-toed over to me and poked my arm and then ran back to her parents. I didn't know what to think. I was surprised that she snuck over just to touch my arm and then run away. I have no idea why she did it. Maybe she just wanted to touch me and see if I was real? Weird...and kinda funny. Then she stood with her parents the rest of the time and stared at Mel, E, and me until she left. Strange little bulgarka.


Got a new hair style! I hadn't planned on cutting my hair until I finished my Peace Corps service but it was just getting too long and shaggy to manage. So, I trusted my pal E to chop off it off and he did a great job. Check it out!

Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople

ISTANBUL!!!!! That's where Mickie and I went last week for spring break. We booked it out of Bulgaria Saturday night, taking a 9 hr. bus ride, and arrived bright and early in what used to be called Constantinople. As always I can't take any sort of public transportation without there being some sort of incident. Nothing too dramatic happened, we just got stuck at the Turkish border for about 4 1/2 hrs. because some people on our bus were over their limit on the "duty free" cigarettes and alcohol. Ahhh, nothing like being stuck from 2:00 to 6:30 in the morning between countries. Anyway, that was the only traveling incident that Mickie and I encountered and the rest of our vacation was FANTASTIC! Really, Istanbul has got to be one of the nicest cities that I've ever been to. Everywhere we walked there were beautiful historical sites: the Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, a Byzantine Cistern, ancient tombs, other Byzantine ruins etc. Just so much to see and do. And of course the food was delicious - ain't nothing better than a Turkish duner and some Turkish Delight....yummy.

Mickie and I walked all over the city and did as much as we possibly could in 4 days, including going to a Turkish bath!!!!! I was a little nervous about going to the bath because I didn't know what to expect. But for sure I didn't expect to get naked in a room with about 20 other women!! (well....we did get to keep our bottoms on) It was a bit uncomfortable getting scrubbed down by a complete stranger, who was also naked. But it was a fun experience and all in all pretty relaxing...I'd do it again.

We also met up one day with Melody, Liz, Eric, and Liz's friend Heather. We walked to Asia that day....sort of. We all met up in the morning and walked to the newer part of Istanbul checking out the main drag and looking in shops. Then we took a ferry ride over to the Asian continent. (Istanbul is the only city that I know of that is on two continents - Europe and Asia). We only stayed about 1/2 an hour and then caught the next boat back to old part of the city where we were all staying.

That was by far one of the best vacations that I've ever had. It was great to get out of Bulgaria for a while and see a different country and meet new people. And of course it was great not having to go to school.