Safe, Sound and Sleepy

All is well and I am in a retreat center in Bulgaria. We began this long day(s) with boarding the bus at the hotel in Philadelphia and busing 2 ½ - 3 hours to JFK airport via New Jersey. Most of the drive was uneventful, but there were a couple of times we got stuck in gridlock for a while. Good thing we had more than enough time. A few last minute glitches before leaving were ironed out and we boarded our Luftansa flight with great anticipation.

The captain told us that due to high tail winds, we would be arriving at 7:00am instead of 8:15 am. Wow. That was plenty of time to walk the halls of the Munich airport and for some, to get a mug of German beer.

We arrived in Sofia midday and was met by the "press" for photos of arriving PC volunteers. We were also greeted with bag lunches and water.....cheese, cuke and tomato sandwichs, crunchy granola bar, pretzels and an apple. I think just about all of us fell asleep at some point on the next 2 hour bus ride. I wanted to watch the scenery, but alas I gave in to head bobbing for a little while. It's still winter here - the trees are still bare, but there are a lot of trees! And I went for a short walk after arriving in my room, saw some purple crocus'. Nice!

We had some paperwork to fill in before having a buffet dinner....chicken noodle soup, yogurt and cucumbers, a mixed veggie stew, grilled chicken, meatballs and mashed potatoes, sliced tomatoes and cukes, and bread. Yum. A few staff introductions during dinner and then we were off to bed early! I went to sleep at 8:00 (1:00pm PST) and did well until I woke up at 2:00 for about an hour or so. The alarm went off at 6:45 am and our first full day in Bulgaria begins!

This afternoon I'm looking forward to the arrival of my suitcase. At the airport we were met by very helpful staff and current PC Volunteers who took our baggage for us. One bag was to go to storage for 3 months and the other to the bus we would be traveling on. Apparently both my helpful folks went to the storage truck, so I have had a day without my "necessities." I've made it just fine - my roomie lent me an extra toothbrush and toothpaste - what more did I need?

And yes, apparently our lodge has wireless!