Epistulae ex Ponto: Best laid schemes...

I had a list of things I wanted to do today. It was not going to rain. And with the upcoming Toronto trip, I wanted to pack up some more things, settle some other things. My folks are meeting me in Toronto and I think I can get rid of an entire suitcase, not just the contents but I think I won't need the bag itself. This is thrilling for me. Originally, I had only come with one suitcase. True it was oversize, but still it was just the one.

My intended itinerary

a. Go to Vitosha and take some pictures, 6am
b. Give clothes to Church across the street
c. Buy a camera cable for the computer and a mouse
d. Get the CD from Alexander Nevski Church- last gift
e. Go to doctor to get a prescription
f. Read the submitted article for the Archaeology & Theory Seminar tomorrow

What happened
a. I woke up with the 5am alarm but I didn't sleep at all the night before. My mind was just racing and I was uncomfortable. It was a nightmare. So I stayed in bed until 10am

b. This was the second load of clothes and the Church didn't want them. I don't know why. They, like the first batch, were clean and good. But charity is weird here and actually Bulgarians were surprised that the Church took the first bunch. So I ended up giving them to an old Gypsy woman selling flowers right outside the Church. She has to live across the street from me. They are old sweaters that I am over and a pair of sneakers that I never wear. I feel fine giving them up but I hate being told "ney". People shake their head when they say it and screw up their nose. It feels worse than no. Ney sounds like never, fuck off. The Russian "neyt" is harsh but you have to pronounce the t, so it seems less lazy disdain. I appreciate it more. I hate to start my day with a ney. It upsets me.

c. I went to the Mall up the street. I hate all computer stores. I never know what is going on even in the States. The real camera I brought, came with a cable. But maybe it's packed in a friend's basement or in my car trunk. But it is not crazy to get one. It is not an "American Only" USB! And I worked on saying I need a cable for this camera to connect to my computer in Bulgarian. I practiced the night before and a bit in the morning. And I start to speak and this woman is so rude and she says Yes, yes I speak a little English, what do you want. A little English! Just let me get through this sentence and you would need no English. What do I want! Ugh! So she of course said no, we don't have. I'm incredulous. She said that I should just use the memory card in the camera and insert that into my computer. (This is of course brilliant and I didn't even know I had such a possibility.

This is why there are pictures below- but at the time I was still pretty angry) I also have a rule that if people are mean (I get to judge what is mean) then I can't spend money at the shop. I can't even eat at a restaurant here if the waitstaff is mean. I pay for the little I ordered and leave- hungry. So... I did not get the mouse and I need a mouse. The finger-thing hurts too much and my huge palm causes the cursor to jump every now and again. I dropped mine on the floor and now it doesn't work well.

d. Today is a holiday. The day after Easter Sunday and the shops' signs read "No Work Day Today". The only place I could have bought that mouse was in the Mall. Alexander Nevski may have been open, but by then I was bummed and worried about the Hospital hours.

e. I ended up going to Tokuda- a Japanese run hospital at the bottom of the mountain. The bus took an hour. Tokuda is super fancy and "International" so I figured there would be some English speakers. It is like the future! Everything needs a computer and there is a televised welcome computer who tells you what floor to go to. The toilets in the bathroom are just like David Sedaris described in When You Are Engulfed in Flames. At any moment there was going to be a surge of police coming in to stop someone's pre-crime from occurring because the pre-Cogs had already foretold it. It was pretty awesome. Then... it was very much the present and slow and confused as ever. The internet was down and so my doctor needed my iPad and then the other doctor was smoking some fake cigaret that had the smell and feel of real tobacco but no smoke. It took me a moment to figure out what it was. For a moment I thought I was in a Columbo episode. Who smokes in a hospital! In the end, I have to come back tomorrow. This is very upsetting because... it is 9pm. I am exhausted and might not get to f.

Some pictures with the real camera. Ok, so I hated today; I hated the past days of rain and working on the conference paper. I hate that everything at a pharmacy is behind glass and I can't get nail polish remover without knowing it in Bulgarian and asking someone for it. I miss my car and want some Thai food or Indian food or other food. But I love Sofia and I love taking pictures of this place.