Hi everyone! I hope your weekend was a good one! I know my good friends celebrated something special: Jeff's 25th birthday! I am so bummed we were unable to be there, but I heard it was a great time! Liz told me about the tiara and pink boa, and I know that some of you went up to Big Bear to stay at Hammer's cabin. I hope it was a great time! Happy Birthday, Molle! We love and miss you tons, and hope this is a great year for all of us!
Our weekend in Sofia was great! On Saturday we just relaxed, as my mom was not feeling well enough to go into town. It's just a minor cold, but being out in this weather guarantees even something small to worsen. It was nice to stay in and just hang out with our mama. We all have been helping her to cook and keep the flat nice, even though she has a maid who comes twice weekly. It's so great to be learning how to make new dishes and to be eating such fresh foods. I love the European way of grocery shopping: you basically make a trip to the market every day, or every other day, to purchase only the things you will be needing for specific meals. Nothing here has preservatives, so you can easily believe that there are no big box stores such as Costco or anything of the sort. And because we are walking everywhere and eating healthier, I feel so great! I have already lost 12 pounds (no lie!) and the thought of fast food makes me want to be sick (although I cannot resist french fries from Mickey Dee's every now and then!)
Sunday was super fun! We went to mom's colleague's house for an omelette brunch. Kendra has a lovely flat in the downtown area of Sofia, and there were about 20 of us there to enjoy eachother's company and the food. Jordi, Mom and I (Dylan wanted to stay home) went and brought a small supply of tortillas and salsa. These are considered delacacies in this country due to the fact that you cannot find these anywhere. Jordi and I had brought Mom a plethora of these, among other things on her wishlist, and it was funny to see people get excited over such simple things we take for granted. Don't get me wrong...Bulgaria is not anything like a third world country. But they do not have everything available in their markets that our local Albertson's supplies at home.
During the brunch, lots of Mom's friends asked about our travels so far and gave us lots of tips for the future trips we have planned. They were very helpful and definitely gave us a lot of insight as to how we should plan and the places we should visit. Here is our plan: we are going to get an absurdly cheap flight to London (only 93 euros from Sofia!), go to Wales followed by a few days in Dublin, Ireland. From there we will go to Paris and possibly the south of France. In late February, Ryan and Banner are coming out to meet us in Italy, and I am sooo excited! My mom is planning to come as well, and we're trying to get Dylan's friend Michelle out too. I am a quarter Italian and love the idea of traveling throughout this supposedly amazing country. We plan to see Venice, Rome, Florence, and Milan. It should be very exciting, although I know I will most likely gain at least some of my lost weight back from all the incredible authentic Italian food I plan to indulge in! From Italy we will go to Belgium and then on to Holland to visit the notorious city of Amsterdam. After that, maybe then I will come home! I have been to London, Paris and Amsterdam, but these are definitely cities that one can never get enough of and I truly cannot wait to see my sister's reaction to the sights and sounds of these incredible places. We will leave for our journey at the end of this month, and we are really looking forward to this! Although there are many places we had to scratch off our lists of Places to See due to budget restrictions (our eyes were definitely bigger than our wallets!) I feel that our plans are ideal. My only wish is that you all could be here to experience this with us!
We love and miss you all dearly and hope life at home isn't too boring without us!
xoxox, Kati
