Learning the Cyrillic alphabet.

The first thing I noticed as I crossed the border shortly after midnight was that Bulgarian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet.  Looking similar to the Greek alphabet, and yet entirely different, it is nearly impossible to make any phonetic pronounciation of the words printed on street signs and the like -- indeed in many places words are written both in the Cyrillic alphabet and in the Roman (or Latin) alphabet.

I arrived in Plovdiv at 3:30 in the morning and grabbed a taxi to where I knew there were hostels, despite not having a reservation.  Luckily, I chose a hostel with 24 hour check-in and they weren't even that surprised at my timing, and even guessed I was coming from Istanbul -- clealry I am not the first to make this journey.  Taking the last creaky bed available in the hot and smelly eight bed dormroom, I was grateful for not being locked out on the street some where.  

Today I spent touring Old Plovdiv and tomorrow I will take a day trip to a local monastery.  The streets in this part of town were narrow and covered in old cobblestone which probably have not been replaced in three or five centuries.  Old wooden homes rise up behind high concrete walls, with an occasional open gate letting one peer into the unknown.  There are many old churches, house museums, and ancient roman ruins lining the streets.  Although many of the roman amphitheatres are still holding shows, I don't think I'll be able to attend any.

An interesting thought from today: some kids were begging in one of the main squares, and all I could think was this -- they had shoes, a full set of clothes, and did not look particularly malnourished or dirty.  All I could think was that compared to the kids I worked with in India, these children were wealthy.  Am I really still that cynical and effected by my experinces one year ago?  Also, it still boils my blood when people see those commercials on TV about the animals being neglected, or a stray dog or cat, and care more about that injustice than all the starving children in the world... (sorry for the random tangent/rant.)

CM