Personal

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Have You Ever Considered How Freaking Amazing the Global Postal System Is?

Yesterday, a neighbour came by to drop off a letter my best friend had mailed me from Virginia just ten days before (and this after the postcard I sent her took almost a month!).

It wasn’t until I went to Mexico, with its so unreliable as to be useless postal system, that I began to realise just how freaking amazing the global postal system is. It’s an incredible model of international cooperation! How is it that someone could have dropped something off at the post office in Latvia and it’s in my mailbox in Saskatchewan just a week later? Never mind stuff that comes from China!

Sure, mail gets lost or stolen sometimes. Some shipping prices are unreasonable. Sometimes things take forever to go just a few kilometres, never mind around the world. But the amount of times mail just works is staggering. When SaskTel gave me my iPhone, I sold my iPod Touch on eBay. The buyer wanted the cheapest possible way to get it to him in New York state with no insurance or tracking. I wrapped it up in a bubble envelope and had to clearly mark the contents for customs. Anyone between SK and NY could have pocketed the iPod with no one the wiser, but it got there.

I was ridiculously excited to get mail yesterday, almost as excited that the post card I’d sent had arrived. There’s just something about receiving an item that was touched by a loved one half a world away to make you feel infinitely more connected than you ever could by just email.

One of the best parts of getting mail from Bast is the stickers she puts on the envelopes. This one on the reverse, one of three to make sure the flap was well sealed, made me burst out laughing:

Photo on 8-13-16 at 12.10 PM

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Compromised!

I wasn’t too concerned today at the grocery store when my Visa got declined. Well, I just called CIBC and learned that my card was compromised! Someone used my number at Wind Mobile (interesting because that would put the breach in Canada…) and when that got approved, they went on a mad shopping spree to the tune of several thousand dollars!

Since I balanced the books the other day, I was able to confirm that everything that’s posted is mine and that I haven’t put through anything since then. So I’m not responsible for any of the charges that did go through before the fraud system froze the card and the representative says that he doubts I’ll hear anything more about this.

The rep immediately canceled my card and is rush shipping me one here to Maluk Izvor. Hopefully, the mail works as well as I was promised it does! Imagine if this had happened in Mexico, where the mail system is unreliable and there is no mail on Isla!

I don’t use my card a lot, favouring cash since that’s easier in these small communities, so I’m not in any sort of pickle as long as the card does come and I don’t have to start all over again.

It was fun giving the rep the address since everything sounded so “alien.” It helped when I said, “This line is the address, street first, then house number. This next line is the town. Now, we’re at the province and postal code.” No, mail in Bulgaria does not have to be addressed in Cyrillic.

The only way that I might wish I had my card is if I go away next weekend and need to book a hotel, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. The work week is starting very slowly, so I may not want to take off at the end of it.

CIBC does a great job in situations like these of reassuring me that all is fine. I’m not distressed, but a whole hell of a lot curious as to how my card got compromised!

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Settling Into My Bulgarian Routine

I wanted to sleep in today, but the dogs spotted me when I got up to pee at 7AM thanks to the glass front door. I went back to bed, but I could hear them whining. When I finally got up and threw open the curtains, I burst out laughing to find their cute faces pressed against the window.

The morning routine is that I top up their food and water bowls, then dress and head straight out with them for a hike. First, though, we have a cuddle session. Mechka is a total suck, but I think Sausage is even more taken with me. I hope I one day find a human who is as happy to see me first thing as Sausage is! It’s not even that he’s giddy about his walk. He just wants the attention!

We hiked for a bit, then I came back to have breakfast, which I realised, with immense shock, I could have ordered in nearly flawless Bulgarian — coffee with milk and a tomato sandwich with butter, cheese, salt, and pepper.

Then, I got to work transcribing a fairly boring hearing and then started on an interview with a jewelry store owner. I finished very late the last two days, so I decided I was quitting at 5:00 today, Sunday workload be damned.

I took my lovebugs on an extra long walk after work, ripped open my right calf on some really sharp thorns that also lightly scratched both of my wrists, and was amused by how close Sausage sticks to me even though he’s off-lead and could go as far as he wants. Mechka is more prone to wandering off by herself, and then coming back to me for some attention. I can’t believe just how good these dogs are. It’s like they’ve been mine our whole lives.

Penghu the bratty cat and I are also getting along beautifully. He’s learning that I don’t tolerate cats on tables and counters and I’m learning to keep my food on high shelves! He’s a cuddler and I love putting a movie on and inviting him onto my lap, where he burrows and starts purring to raise the roof.

I feel so blessed by how well this assignment is turning out. I was so worried about how I’d get one with the pets and never expected us to just fit.

As for Bulgarian wildlife, there are very large and aggressive spiders as well as boars… It’s been quite an education. Bulgaria still has real wilderness. Then again, I did see a fox in suburban London, so maybe wilderness is a subjective term…

I’m almost through my afternoon beer and thinking about supper. I’ll probably do a pasta with a fresh oniony tomato sauce and a little sour cream with chicken. All this fresh air and exercise makes me hungry!

Max should be out here Monday so I’ll be able to ask about some time off to go exploring. But I have to say that, for now, I’m quite content with my little Bulgarian routine and housemates.

 

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I Found Coffee!

I really don’t think I’m a coffee snob, but I definitely know what I like and I have an opinion about what “real” coffee tastes like. It was difficult to find something suitable in Mazatlán. I did not find good supermarket ground coffee until my very last trip to Mega, when I was able to do a taste test, so I did trips to the Golden Zones to buy fresh beans that I had to grind myself. Coffee was a bit of a production in Mexico!

When I was in Yablanitsa on Tuesday, I had to come home with coffee since I only had a cup or two left of my Canadian grounds. I found the coffee section in the tiny supermarket and noticed that it was dominated by a German brand, Tchibo. I did a quick search and learned that it’s a chain of German coffee shops, like Starbucks or Tim Hortons, and is popular the world over. That seemed like a safe bet and a package wasn’t expensive, only about 4CAD so it wouldn’t be an expensive experiment. I bought their dark roast and tried it out yesterday.

The flavour of first cup took a bit of adjusting to, but I knew that with a bit of tweaking, it would be just fine. It’s a very finely ground coffee and I use a French press, so I have to use less than I would use of coarser grounds and also reduce my steeping time. I’m on my third cup of this coffee and I think I’ve figured it out since I’m really enjoying it!

BTW, the house comes with an espresso maker. When I told Max last Thursday, my first morning here, that I’d had coffee, he was surprised that I’d found and figured out the coffeemaker, and even more so that I’d brought my own coffeemaker with me! I love my French press. It makes good coffee, is uncomplicated to use, and is easy to clean. I can’t be bothered to learn an espresso maker.

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Guildhall Art Gallery & Roman Amphitheatre

I’d asked my best friend Bast what she would like to do in London. Most of her list was of interest to me, but the only thing on it that fit in with my itinerary was the Guildhall Art Gallery & Roman Amphitheatre. It was about halfway between the Tower of London and St. Paul’s. Considering what an amazing find this amphitheatre was, it really isn’t that well known. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Bast!

London is really easy to get around. There is tons of signage everywhere, so even getting to something a little off the tourist path was super easy. I never did get a SIM card for my phone, so I couldn’t use it for directions and I also never got a paper map. I didn’t need either.

On the way, I decided to mail Bast a postcard. That was… trying. I passed a business marked “Post Office,” but it didn’t say Royal Mail anywhere. I logged onto the free WiFi provided by the Tesco Express a couple of doors down to confirm that “Post Office” is just that and that Royal Mail has been privatised. So I went back to Post Office and a very large and scary looking man demanded to know what I wanted. I said that I wanted to mail a postcard and he looked at me like I was a complete idiot (maybe that’s not how you say that in the UK?) and told me to use one of the self serve machines.

I wasn’t keen on doing that and tried to get to a counter, but he blocked me and repeated that I had to use the self serve machines. I went to a machine and poked around the menus for a bit until I was fairly confident that I had located the correct postage. I then had to figure out where to insert the coins I wanted to use for payment. That done, a stamp printed, but I had no idea where to mail my letter. I went back to the entrance and found two slots marked “Franked mail”, one for 1st class and the other for 2nd class. Mr. Big Scary Dude was gone and there was a long queue at the service counter, so I went back to Tesco for their WiFi to look up which slot I should drop my letter into and got nowhere. So I went back and stuck it in the 2nd class slot… Bast, I hope it gets to you. If not, I tried my best! 😀

I then found the Guildhall Art Gallery, located in a pretty courtyard. The amphitheatre is below it. The entrance is to the right where you can see people queuing. Admission is free, but you have to put your bags through a scanner, hence why it took some time to get in.

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The amphitheatre was found during the construction of the art gallery and was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in London in over a century. The discovery meant that major changes had to be made to the art gallery’s design.

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The amphitheatre would have been oval. You can see here a drawing of what it would have looked like.

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I liked this door. 🙂

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Remains of the wooden drainage system.

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The ruins were amazing!

It was already past noon by this point and I knew St. Paul’s could warrant a couple of hours, so I didn’t visit the art gallery, although I did check out a couple of works that caught my eye.

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