Inter-not

Thursday was the big day: the day I was supposed to have my high-speed wireless Internet installed.  Predictably, it didn’t happen.  Two technicians from Blizoo arrived as promised at 10:00 a.m., looked around for fifteen minutes, and then called the office so one of their operators could explain to me in English that there was a problem with the cables in the building.  They would let me know when, and even if, I might be able to get service. 

This was, of course, disappointing news.  I was greatly looking forward to having Internet at home for research, communications, and entertainment purposes.  I realize that it is an issue of convenience and not one of necessity, and after a bit of time was able to put it in perspective.  But at the time, it truly felt like a blow.  Hopefully it will still happen sometime next week, and it sounds as though there is another provider that I can potentially turn to if this doesn’t work out.  Fingers crossed.

Thursday was planned as a workday.  And mourning this setback a bit, I moved on and had a moderately productive day.  I worked for a bit from one of the sidewalk cafes on Oborishte, and spent most of the rest of the day reading and writing at home.

I worked in my shared office at the university most of the day on Friday, and caught up on a lot of busywork.  I didn’t encounter anyone in the office until around 4:30 when I met one of the law department’s young assistant professors, Orlin.  He took it upon himself to show me their law library and the main university library.  I also visited the English and American Studies Resource Center, an English-language library that received much of its stock from the British Council Library when that facility closed.  The membership fees for the library are quite reasonable, and I’m looking forward to borrowing some fiction and DVDs.

The guards, they are a-changing.

I decided that I should treat the weekend like a weekend, and on Saturday (after breakfast and stopping to find out the results of the Cardinals wildcard game) I went to the city center for a walking tour.  The tours are organized by Free Sofia Tour, a nonprofit that is trying to develop Sofia’s tourism culture.  It was a big group – probably about 30 of us – and we had a nice stroll through the city center learning about the history of the city.  I met some interesting people, including an English solicitor-in-training who is spending six months in her firm’s Sofia office.  She provided a number of good suggestions about things to see and do in the city.

 

I did some online work from a nearby cafe, and then came back home for a quiet evening - talked to some family and friends, had dinner, and read some articles.

 

It's still been warm and sunny, but rain is in the forecast for the start of the week.  I suspect Sofia will feel quite different once the weather turns chilly. 

 

My work on the Cyrillic alphabet seems to be paying off.  I can't read with any speed, but I'm now able to make out most signs if I take the time.  Of course, in many cases this means I'm able to sounds out the words but still have no idea what those Bulgarian words mean.  But for place names and more obvious things it's helpful.