Holy smokes, today was hot and sticky with an relentless sun! I’m lucky the house stays cool and that there is a good breeze through the windows.

I powered through work and a volunteer project before taking the dogs out this afternoon. They were really eager to go, but not even halfway down our normal afternoon route, they flopped down and gave me a, “You know, we’re good, thanks. Can we go home?!” kind of look. I brought them home, gave them their treats, and they had a half of a huge bowl of water each!

As for me, I faced a dilemma. My only option for dinner was yet more pasta. A) I’m sick of pasta and B) it’s too dang hot to cook! I could have had a PB and J, but that would have used up the bread I wanted to save for tomorrow. Would it be worth facing The Hill in order to see if the village store had bread and salami? What cinched it for me is that I knew they’d have beer and ice cream. 😀

I lugged all my beer empties with me and the look the storeowner gave me when she saw them was comical. She must think I’m a real lush! With a bit of pantomime, she made me understand that some of my bottles cannot be recycled and should be thrown out.

The meat and dairy cooler was full, thankfully, and so I found a salami that I hope will be good (haven’t had a bad one yet!). I also found a chocolate ice cream cone, they were full up of my favourite beer, AND they had a loaf of fresh bread. That was my best trip there yet!

One the way up, the sweet old lady at the end of my street came out to say hi. We had an honest to goodness conversation!

Her: Hello!
Me: Hello! How are you?
Her (taken aback that I’ve learned “How are you?”): Very good! How are you?
Me: Very good, thank you!
(She then said something and pointed to my bag. I took that as her asking where I’d been.)
Me: Store.
Her: Ah, store! Bread?
Me: And salami and beer and ice cream.
Her (laughing): Good, good!
Me: Goodbye!
Her: Goodbye!

I know how little progress that is for about six weeks in the country, but it’s not like I’ve really been in an immersion setting or interacting with Bulgarians daily. Sad, I know, but it’s what I expected and it’s not like I’m likely to use Bulgarian again. So, really, I’m pleased that I’ve made any progress at all!

It’s nice to be done early (very early today, in fact) two days in a row! It’ll be an evening for a couple of movies because it’s too hot to move!