swedenusa

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 It has been replaced by eastern block-buildings that haven´t been repaired since the time of Stalin.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!