I am a survivor

This past weekend and week up until this very moment has been great. I spent the entire weekend in Sofia for the Camp GLOW fundraiser. I didn’t intend to spend the weekend in Sofia but I kind of got stranded with my site mate and a friend. The entire situation was really hilarious so I will try to create the scene for ya.

Last weekend I was in an Irish Pub to raise money for Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) The night was not a huge success because we expected more PCVs but we had a good time and raised enough money to pay for all the GLOW t-shirts for our future campers. Anyhow, around 12 midnight I suggested we make our way to the bus station to catch the 12:30am bus. Two American military guys and a British guy that were with my friends suggested we stay a little longer. They both had donated a lot of money to GLOW and this was their last night in Bulgaria before they went back to location so we all agreed to stay.

We finally decided that 2am was a good time to go because there was a 2:30 bus to Turnovo. We called a taxi to take us to the bus station and of course the taxi service said that they were too busy to come pick us up so we had no way to get to the bus station. One of the military guys had hired a cab for the weekend and offered to ride with us to the bus station and he would go back to his hotel. Thinking this was a really nice gesture we all got into the taxi preparing ourselves for a three hour bus ride home. Meanwhile I was on my cell phone calling the bus station to make sure there was a bus at 2:30 because I had a suspicion that one did not exist. I used my broken Bulgarian skills to communicate my concerns to the receptionist at the bus station and they assured me that there was a bus around 2:30am. My fears were calmed until my site mate received a call from our friend (long story but the friend that was with us in the Pub went to collect his stuff from the hostel and was going to meet us at the bus station). Apparently all the lights were off and the doors were locked to the central bus station! We refused to believe him when we heard the news and proceeded to the bus station anyway. Meanwhile the military guy was like “If you all don’t have places to stay don’t worry about it. You are Peace Corps Volunteers. I will help you”. I was thinking “Great I know military people are a little controlling but gez I have been in Bulgaria for almost a year and he has been here for two days. What can he possibly take care of? Seriously?”

Sure enough when we arrived to the bus station all the lights are out and our friend was talking to the security guard about the absence of our bus. I called the bus station in Turnovo again to make sure I heard currently. The worker repeated that there was bus at 2:30am and hung up the phone on me. Me being me with a high tolerance for ignorance I called him back and had the security guard talk to him in unaccented Bulgarian. The security guard explained that the bus actually arrived in Turnovo around 2:30am and that there was no bus for us.

Surprise, Surprise we were stranded in Sofia and the hostels were full with other PCVs in town for the weekend and we certainly did not have enough money to stay in a hotel. Our options were as follows:

A. Sleep in the Central Train Station that is really close to the train station
B. Walk around all night with our crap until 6am when the next bus came
C. Go with the military guy to safety

Obviously we choose to go with the military guy because we figured he was the safest option. Also, I was with two strong athletic people (a girl and a guy) so if anything got out of control they would be the muscle and I would be the brain. So the military guy was like "you all can come back to my hotel,spend the night and go home the next day. There is a disco inside the hotel and we can hangout there and afterwards go to sleep". We were all like sounds like a plan. He gave us his room key, the name of the hotel, and said he would meet us at his hotel later after he collected his two buddies from the pub we were at before.

My friends and I went to his hotel dropped our stuff off at the room and went to the discoteka in side of the hotel. Him and his buddies showed up about thirty minutes later. The night was a blast and thats all I am saying... I love running in to Americans abroad. They sure know how to take care of their own. Well most of the time anyway. Contrary to what most people say I think Americans are very nice when I see them abroad. Anyhow, thats another story.

tired,

Crystal