Last Saturday I took the bus about 1 hour away to the town where my sister lives. My nephew turned 4 last week and we were going to celebrate.
My week had been stressful and I hadn´t had time to buy the birthday gift I was planning to give. Instead, my nephew joined me in the toy store and he picked out what he wanted. He loves cars. I think he has about 600 of them at home but he can´t get enough of them. It is so cute because he will remember who gave him what car. I also got him a necklace because he also likes shiny sparkling things and will at times ask his mother if he can´t have her jewelry.
Sam wasn´t able to join us for the party so I asked my nephew to pose with the cars.
After a little fika we stopped by an indoor playground. The little baby in the picture was very intrested in my nephew and followed him around all the time, who in return enjoyed spending time with his new little buddy. He kept handing him balls and playing with him.
I think he is one of the most patient little boys. We were walking around in a lot of stores and were all getting very hungry. I just had to go into a small little store that had maternity clothes (my town has a very limited selection). My mom, sister and I were all saying how cute the clothes were and holding up different items. And then my nephew stated in a soft happy voice: “What a cozy store this is.”
After a wonderful supper out on town we returned to my sister´s apartment and made a traditional Swedish strawberry cake. My nephew got to help out with all the layers.
That was one yummy cake! And what was his wish? I Believe it was for a robot.
We decided that I am too far into the pregnancy now for moving to a different apartment, though we are in need for at least one more bedroom. It is a bit small anyway and with a new little person and when people come to visit, it gets more than snug (and it might not be so cozy).
For the last few years we have had yellow on our walls and we are so tired of living in it. I think Sam once said, this yellow is like vomit to me. Since we know we are going to stay for about one more year in this apartment we went out and bought some paint and Sam started painting. The living room is all finished excpet for the new pillows we need to get and the art we need to put up on the walls.
It might look red on these pictures but it is not red. It is a purple tint but with more red than blue in it. We love the color and the hallway is next!
Last Tuesday I was packing my bags for a trip to Bulgaria the following morning. It was not easy trying to find clothes I still fit into that are “conference-worthy”. It is hard to know what kind of dress code is acceptable in a different country. The criteria for packing were comfortable, not too warm since it is warm in Bulgaria, dressy but not too dressy. That is difficult on any given day, but when pregnant this seems like a task you can´t succeed in!
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Located in the southeastern part of Europe it was part of the Sovietunion block. Its own country but alligned very heavily with Soviet. I thought for sure there would be lots of amazing old buildings and part of an old down town like most European cities, but sadly almost all of that is gone. It has been replaced by eastern block-buildings that haven´t been repaired since the time of Stalin. However, me and my boss did go down town (about an hour walk!!!) and took some touristy pictures.
(Click on the pictures to be linked to a youtube clip of national dancing. They had this show one evening at the conference.)
The people were friendly but knew very little English making it difficult to communicate. Thankfully I was traveling with Dr. Blix (yes related to the former UN inspector with the same last name) and he knows German and Russian. Most Bulgarians apperantly knew those languages.
The reason for traveling to Bulgaria was an international conference about methadone and bupenophrine treatment for heroin addicts. I was going with my boss, a medical doctor at our county hospital and a psyhiatric nurse that I work a lot with. There were people from about 40 different countries including the US. But I won´t bore you with conference details (though I found that part very interesting).
It is difficult for me to write anything positive about the city. Upon arrival the five star hotel did not have any reseravations for us. We ended up in another hotel but there were no places to eat arround that neighborhood. My boss and I walked to a nearby gas station and bought some sandwiches and a coke.
Overall, the food was not very tasty to put it nicely. There were 350 people at the conference and one night we were going to a local restaurant with traditional Bulgarian food and dancing. It was sort of comical as we all walked down the sidewalk in a long procession. We had local specialties like lamb, but it had been boiled for a very long time and it was not flavored. No spices! No herbs! I had to add my own salt!
Traffic was terrible. Cars everywhere. Streets were badly kept - pot holes. The sidewalks were worse! Trees hanging over them so that you had keep walking bent over, or cars would use them as parking. There were deep holes everywhere so I was looking more down than up. Then… the streetdogs and all the graffitti everywhere.
The city is sort of situated in a pot with mountains all around making it a very smoggy place. Smoking was allowed everywhere, in the hotell lobby, anywhere in restaurants, in the cab, airport, well… everywhere!
To be fair, I think I would have been able to enjoy myself much better if I wasn´t pregnant and worried about everything. I didn´t know what kind of food was sitting in front of me, second-hand smoke is scary, smog and potholes seem much more dangerous right now. The heat and hills are definite obstacles. I did enjoy the conference and I am very thankful I could go!