Topic of Choice

The very British tradition of talking about the weather at every opportunity doesn't stop when you leave the country, in fact it just amplifies the situation. In the UK we have very little weather to talk about really, unless you count the summer of 1976 when we had sun once, but the moment you move abroad you have a whole host of things to fill those awkward conversational voids. I love to wax lyrical to my friends stuck back in old blighty about how we have four proper seasons and brag about our 70 degree temperature shift throughout the year, but in fact the weather here actually does dictate everything you do. Even the festivals are governed by mother nature. Where else in the world do we substitute the commercially recognised Valentines Day with cutting back vines and trying out home-made plonk, or wear red and white bracelets until we see our first blossom or stork and I, for one, have not...
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Country Surprised by Seasonal Weather

I was intending on being in the UK last week, to visit my Dad, who has amazingly made it home from hospital, but the weather made me think twice and eventually postpone my visit. Not because we had vast quantities of snow here, not because I live three hours from the airport and trains, buses and transport routes could be in chaos… No I postponed my trip because the thought of getting to Birmingham and not being able to get out again, filled me with dread. Planes, trains and automobiles ran like clockwork here, whilst trains were being cancelled left, right and centre in the UK….before it had even snowed a flake. While the UK struggled to cope with the 'Beast from the East', we here in Bulgaria were going about our lives as normal and have now decided on an alternative name for the 50cms of snow and -21C temps that we experienced over the last few weeks…we have called it...
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Chinese New Year, A Fire Horse and a Cabbage

As many of you know I teach English online to professional adults around the globe and thus get inside knowledge on many of their varied customs. A better known one is obviously Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year so… In my attempt to build rapport with my students I talk about what they do to celebrate etc. expecting parades of people wearing enormous dragon costumes, eating large bowls of noodles and setting off lots of fire-crackers late into the night. What did I get? Well I got tales of women cleaning their houses, not just wiping over surfaces with a damp cloth and spraying Febreze at the curtains…oh no…when they say 'cleaning' they mean 'decluttering'! So as you know I am not one to rush to get out the duster and the furniture polish and I continue to claim not to understand how the hoover works (that's a blue job - ask Dan), but…organizing, decluttering and generally taking back control, well...
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Word of the Week…

Ever thought of getting out of the rat-race and taking the plunge into a simpler life like we have? Can't say I blame you and it's easy, honestly you just have to make the choice and then plan! However if you are coming to Bulgaria there are another few adjectives that you may want to consider, like 'patient', 'inventive', 'willing' and 'adaptable'. It is the last word that comes into play frequently if you are thinking of taking early retirement, I mean Bulgaria is cheap but it is not free, so you have to be able to support yourself and your animals. You don't have animals? You will have when you live here, even if you don't want them, they just move in…(Picture - Exhibit A).   You will be living a self sufficient lifestyle so you don't need to buy food…really?! Let me say we all have this intention, if not self sufficiency then at least a little more self reliance, but it...
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