Moving Backwards

After having had quite some difficulties with finding a place to live, a car and a job, today we went ahead and bought a...bed...we are absolutely going backwards, as last week we got plates and a couple days ago - 2! coffee machines. Now of course we have more stuff that we have nowhere to put. Also, my 33rd b-day is in 2 days and I have no friends to invite, so kinda poor in that department. Thanks to my dear wife, though, I know it'll be fun!

Лафове

Сами: Кога ще си имаме къщичка в Бризбън?
Али: Скоро, но по-важното е, че сме заедно. Хората са това, което прави една къщичка истинска!
Сами: Не е вярно! Майсторите са!

Brisbane Feathers

Part of what makes Brisbane so exotic and surreal to me is not just the neverending sun, that pierces through clothes and bare skin to root itself (often actually quite dangerously) deep within your soul - a feeling I had long forgotten, having been blanketed beneath the cloudy British skies. The tropical feel of this city is re-enforced by the completely wild bush-lands and swamps, right within the city, teaming with all kinds of snakes, frogs, birds, bats and even...koalas! What really makes me feel in a completely different new place are the sounds. Creepy during the night and crazy during the day. I've tried to capture some of the main culprits of the daily noise, but due to their insane agility, some of them are difficult to photograph. Nevertheless, in line with my ideal for non-embellished-real-life photography, here they are - some Brisbane feathers:

And there's a lot more where this came from...to be continued.

It's almost spring!

and strawberry season all over again!

Нов пост в Emigrants' Life

Ако ви се разхожда до Манчестър, макар и виртуално, можете да погледнете новия пост в Emigrants' Life. Както вече съм споделял, с времето възнамерявам да натрупвам информация за емигранти и пътешественици, описвайки съвети и детайли за всички места, които сме посещавали и на които сме живяли.

Ето защо, приканвам ви, ако имате желание да се включите с подобна полезна информация от местата, на които вие живеете или които вие сте виждали, пишете ми или ми пращайте материали на CTORHC@gmail.com.

The Accident

He ran swiftly accross the room, leaving me startled and breathless. Both my wife and I immediately stopped what we were doing and ran behind him, trying our hardest not to scare him and to catch him at the same time. There were a few moments of terror, as he jumped, righed before he landed on the box. In only a few seconds our hearts skipped a hundred times. Cold sweat covered our skins and our liver flashed before our eyes. All the joyful moments of serenity and naive bliss, all the futile hope that 'those things always happen to someone else', all empty reasurances...all of them in vain. Now it was happening to us. And it couldn't be undone. It meant a huge future change, a constant care and worry, a neverending necessity for vigulance. For as it happened once, meant that it would happen again. And what if that time he wouldn't land on the box, but say on my hand, or foot? Then I would probably end up in a hospital!
...
So, there he was, standing on the box, staring at me and flashing me with those deep, vicious eyes - a look I will remember for a long time...and then only one thing was left to be done, as nothing had helped me in the past two minutes: it was going to be me or him. So I summoned my last bits of courage, jumped with an inhuman strength and hit him on the head with the hard part of the sole of my 'Vans'...and he fell...

It was over, but I was still shaking. From now on we would have a whole new appreciation for poisonous Australian spiders. And we will most certainly invest in good doors and good poisons! Amen

Yes!

Yes! The 'winter' in Brisbane is warmer than the 'summer' in Manchester! Yes, the sun is a constant presence! Yes, the city is cozy and versatile! Yes, there are strange birds, weird animals and...scary scary ass spiders. Yes, the first impressions are promissing!

I hope the house- and job-hunting goes well. Then I can finally rest my mind that things are going to be fine again.

Until then the sweetness of this place remains nearly untasted.

Лафове

аз: Сами, ще те изпапкам!
той: Не ме изпапквай, тате, защото ако ми се доиграе с някоя играчка, трябва да я лапнеш, за да си играя с нея!


аз: Не пипай там!
той: Защо?
аз: Защото аз съм The Boss и казвам, че не може да пипаш там.
той: Аз също съм The Boss, защото съм мъж, а мъжовете са The Boss.
аз: А жените какви са?
той: Мами.


ал: Сами, като падне някой плод на земята, винаги ми го носиш, за да го изпапкаме
той (на английски): We don't eat them, because they are MRUS (мръсни на английски, според него)

:)))

продължаваме да се смеем!

Welcome to Brisbane!

After 4 days of travel, including: 120 kilos of luggage, a 10 hour bus ride, 2 mega-stuffed taxi rides, 3 take-offs and 3 landings, countless sleepless hours and an over-enduring jet-lag, WE ARE HERE!

A new adventure

Dear English speaking friends,

you may not know that my dear, awesome, beloved, amazing wife has won a one-in-the-whole-world scholarship, to study a PhD in Brisbane, Australia. As a result, we all packed up from rainy, muddy, mouldy Manchester and went on a nearly two-month 'vacation' to Bulgaria (the quotations are here as Bulgaria is almost always a bag of bad surprises, rather than a vacation).

As of yesterday, we are all in a new reality. Tropical winter of 22 Celsius, walks along botanical gardens, iguanas, ibises and sheer beauty and pure wonder of what this is and what's to come.

Stay tuned, as I plan to quickly sneak out of reality and report to you what in the world is going on in this new world. But be advised: it's going to be amazing!

Love,

S.

Home?

Being back in Bulgaria means delving into long, forgotten and abandoned pasts. Uncovering old wounds, remembering old passions, old stories and even old friends of whom some may have changed too much, and others - too little. I am worried by the feeling that I don't feel home at 'home'.

A true representation of the loss of structure that emigrant's life brings upon us.

But a new adventure is upon us. In exactly two weeks we will be flying away to our brand new life and new home...Brisbane. Australia, here we come!

Back to nature

Retreating back to the mountain of Rila, where I've been coming for nearly twenty years. We are submurged in simplicity, greenness and mosquitoes. Now, again I have the blessing to be back here with the love of my life...and it feels complete!