Finally! The trip to Sofia, Bulgaria...sorry it too so long!

At the beginning of December, the school sent me and my colleague Tracie to Sofia to be trained in "Google Apps in Education". This whole concept of traveling to another country to get training seems very surreal to me. The concept of the school paying for said trip is also mind blowing. Anyways, Tracie and I arrived in Sofia in the evening on the day of their first snow. I was not prepared for cold weather since our winter gear didn't make the cut when loading our lives into 9 duffel bags in August.

Okay, impressions of Sofia....everything I would think a post Soviet capital city would look like. Large row houses of apartments with the required playground in the middle.  Everything felt like it had a light coat of coal dust on it.  Sofia in in a valley as well so I can imagine that the fog or pollution would just sit in the bowl. The buildings were old and yet some were just HUGE!! Like look at how big our government building can be!

The school was just outside of Sofia. It was very new. Interesting to walk through a 3 year old school now that I have been working in a school building that's over 100 years old.

The people at this school were very friendly. There was a meet and greet for all of the conference members after Saturdays training. I met enthusiastic educators from Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy and the trainers from California and Canada.  More and more I'm finding that the community of international teachers is a small one. Tracie could pretty much ask anyone if they knew someone from somewhere and they would. She's been to 7 different countries teaching.

After training, we were dropped off a another hotel and had to walk to ours. The wind was blowing and we were freezing but I did get a few pictures taken. My hands were shaking..sorry. The first three pictures are of the "Cultural Center Park" The artwork on the third one was very post Soviet in nature but I couldn't read what it was about. 

 The picture below is of the main shopping road. It pedestrian only. At the end is a very large government building.

  These pictures below are random shots I thought were neat buildings.

 The picture above ended up being a bank but I really liked the old building.

 This picture is a public school we drove past.

 I really liked this old church.  Like Lebanon, Bulgaria is mixed with Muslim and Christian
 believers. The picture below is the HUGE building. there are two lions in front of it. They are bigger than the cars in front. One looked like it had just been cleaned and was shiny. The other was black and dirty.

 Right before our flight Tracie and stopped and had hot chocolate (Tracie) and coffee. Here's a picture of Tracie enjoying. She really liked the warmth of the drink.

 Above is my Caramel Macciato. Not quite the same as Starbucks but it was really yummy! I really missed my family and yet what an experience to see another country in one weekend!

What a "Rain Day" looks like in Beirut! NO SCHOOL!

Yes! We had a day of school cancelled for rain. This truly was an inconceivable concept for me and the rest of the family but when it's explained to you it is understandable. On Tuesday night the Minister of Education cancelled school due to the anticipation of the storm named "Alexa" coming down from Russia. About 2 o'clock in the morning I saw a flash through our bedroom window followed immediately by a loud crack of thunder! It was impressive! The kitties both came to us to hide under the covers but the girls stayed in their rooms. When we awoke in the morning we understood why we had school cancelled. Sadly, Beirut doesn't have a drainage system like Seattle. We also now know why the sidewalks are so high up from the streets. Yes, we had some minor rivers in the city! The rain did stop at around 9:30 and Tim and I ran to the grocery store to get some things before it started again.  What else do you do on a "Rain Day"?? Play games with your friends get caught up on laundry and dishes and relax! Here are some pictures and a video to give you an idea of how rainy it was.  I hope you can hear it!