A Quiet Work Week, Visits with Cousins, and a Birthday Hike

Week 7 of my life in photos

After a packed work week and a weekend of debates, I decided to take it relatively easy this past week. Being able to do that is one of the multiple reasons I love working remotely and having a flexible schedule. The shift has been a game- and life-changer for me.

Sure, I have plenty of weeks when I have so many work assignments that I can barely fit my daily walks, but I also have the weeks when family, reading, writing, and me are my main focus.

The past seven days were one such week.

On Monday, I was still in Sofia, having decided to stay a couple of more days so I could meet with my cousins and their families. I woke up to a pretty cold but sunny day, and after breakfast, 15 minutes of Spanish lessons on Duolingo, a bit of reading, and finishing an article for Medium, I went outside for a walk.

As soon as I stepped out, I knew it had been a good choice to carry my winter jacket with me to Sofia. Though it felt like summer when I left Plovdiv on Friday, it definitely felt like winter on Monday.

My goal was to walk around for about an hour and then stop by a gallery nearby, but unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays. Not a problem. My weather app warned me about a rainstorm coming, so I took that as a sign to get back to my rental and spend the afternoon indoors.

Which is exactly what I did.

For the rest of the day, I finished a couple of work assignments, spent an hour tutoring, and had a coaching appointment with a student. Other than that, I caught up on reading and went to bed at a decent hour for once.

On Tuesday, the rain was really coming down in the morning. I was meeting my cousins in the evening, so in addition to taking care of the two work assignments I had that day, I ventured out for a walk and to grab some chocolates to bring as a treat.

By the time I went out, the rain had calmed down a bit, so I was able to enjoy my walk on the yellow paving stones of Sofia. It’s one of the capital’s unique characteristics found in the city center.

During my walk, I noticed significant police presence around the multiple government buildings in the area, so not curious at all to find out what it was all about, I turned in the direction of Vitoshka — the main pedestrian street in Sofia’s city center.

It didn’t use to be a pedestrian street but was transformed into one a decade or so ago. The street is lined with restaurants, cafés, boutiques, and souvenir shops. And when walking in the direction of the National Palace of Culture, you get to enjoy views of the Vitosha Mountain in the distance.

On Tuesday, that view was mostly obscured by rain clouds but still. It’s a lovely view.

After working a bit in the afternoon, I spent the evening with my cousins and their families, meeting the newest member of the family, chatting, and enjoying a glass of wine (in that order).

Wednesday morning was the coldest yet, and though I’d have loved to stay in bed with a cup of tea and a book, I had to get an early start to Sofia’s central railway station, hop on a train, and get back to Plovdiv. Where, by the way, it was a bit warmer. It shouldn't be (warm, I mean), but it is.

Once I made it to Plovdiv, I was reminded that March is around the corner thanks to the multiple displays of martenitsi.

A martenitsa, traditionally made of white and red yarn, represents an ancient custom dating back to when the nation was first established. It’s associated with a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning of spring: the red color symbolizes birth/life and white symbolizes newness.

On March 1st — Baba Marta Day — Bulgarians exchange bracelet-like martenitsi, and when I was a kid, my wrists were covered in them. There are ones you can attach as a sort of a brooch to your shirt, as well as ones you can hang in your car or at home, but the bracelets are most popular to exchange with family and friends.

I’ll share more about what happens next when March comes! Or maybe I should write a separate article on this tradition :)

Thursday was a beautiful, sunny day and aside from my daily walk and an easy work assignment, I spent most of the day reading. I’m behind on my reading goal for the year already, and since I didn’t reach my reading goal for the last three years, I’m determined to do things differently this year.

Also, I probably should stop reading books with 1,000+ pages.

Not surprisingly, Plovdiv’s city center is lined up with vendors selling all manner of martenitsi. The traditional red and white still dominate, though I’m seeing a lot of other colors mixed in, too.

Friday was another relatively slow day for me. I finished a week’s worth of social media posts and a Mailchimp article for work, scheduled the ones for the upcoming week, and had a couple of coaching appointments. Other than that, however, I enjoyed my daily walk and read.

On Saturday, I was back in the countryside with my parents. Before lunch, I walked with my mother to the village cemetery to tend to my grandparents’ graves. It’s not a somber affair at all and it was a beautiful sunny day, too.

After reading all afternoon, I went for another walk with my mother. Though, as I’ve mentioned multiple times already, it’s been unusually warm this winter, and the trees have remained bare. Which I guess is a good thing because we never know when a cold spell might grace us.

March is the most unpredictable of months in terms of weather, so I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for a snowfall.

That said, on Sunday — my birthday! — when I went out for my traditional birthday hike, I came across tons of crocuses in the woods. I haven’t seen crocuses since I left Bulgaria in 2002, so the hike brought back memories of a carefree childhood, roaming the forest with my friends, picking orange and purple crocuses to take home.

I normally prefer to spend my actual birthday by myself, usually out in nature, hiking, and celebrating with friends afterwards. That’s what I’ve been doing the last few years.

Finding myself in Bulgaria this year, however, I took my mom with me on my birthday hike.

Also, since in Bulgaria, the birthday person has to treat others because it’s their birthday (not the other way around as it’s normally in the US), I decided to treat my parents and aunt to dinner, for which we drove to the historic and mountainous town of Koprivshtisa.

Koprivshtitsa is one of my favorite places in Bulgaria — my dad and aunt grew up in this town, so we visited quite often when I was a kid. I’m still wondering why they ever decided to move…

I will definitely write an article about it one day, but this visit was for the birthday dinner only.

That said, we did enjoy a short walk up and down the town’s steep streets to work up our appetites. As we did so, my aunt remarked how in the past, the town was pretty much cut off from the rest of the world in winter because of the large amount of snow. No snow in sight on this February day.

This photo essay is inspired by the works of Dennett and Anne Bonfert. Anyone can join the challenge, and I highly recommend it!