First Days in Sofia

I made my sketchy connection in London. The "carry-on luggage only" was a successful plan. I ran from the arrival gate in Heathrow, through customs and on to the Central Bus Station and caught a bus leaving ten minutes before the one I scheduled. There was no traffic to Gatwick.
I arrived in Sofia about 20 hours after taking off from LA. The airport was even smaller than I remembered from 2005. After looking around for my ride and being harassed by taxi drivers, I thought there must be a mistake. The ATM was out of service and no currency bureau was open, so I asked the woman in the information booth if she spoke English. She helped me to ward off a pushy taxi driver while she called our teachers' home every few minutes. Apparently a new airport terminal was built recently and everyone else in the group had arrived there, a mile or so away. They had assumed I was coming in there. This was only one of a long string of travel complications. With 20 girls and a band, all with separate arrangments, you can imagine.

Anyway, I made it to their home dirty, tired and hungry. I hurt my neck/shoulders pretty bad lifting my luggage around and being cramped up on planes. Going on a 5 hour walking tour of Sofia didn't help me. Especially in the heat. But I didn't get to see any of the city last time I was here so I wanted to push myself. Long-time expat (Minnesota native) and former choir-founder, Angela, led us around to churches, mosques, parks, etc. Here is a natural spring in the middle of the city where people come to fill up bottles. The water is hot, and Myra said she saw a man washing his dishes there yesterday.

After our tour, we went to a rehearsal of the National Radio Folk Orchestra, in a bright room on the top floor of an old building. The rehearsal space is accessed by a stairway off the street in between some random shops, so it felt clandestine. Being in the middle of these musicians was a world of difference from the recordings I know. They are on the bill, along with other all-star Bulgarian folk groups, for our concert on Thursday.

Then we came home to cook, have dinner, and rehearse a little bit.









As I write this post, the group has gone to the TV station to do a PSA to announce the big event. It's nice to have a little time to myself, although I worry that this injury is going to keep me from doing other things and I ought to be resting right now. Later this afternoon we will be on a popular show, Slavi Trifonov. I think I'll go even if I'm stiff all over. It will only add to our groups' freakishness.