Get ready, America!

So it is official. Kyle got a job. I got a green card. And we will be moving back to Penn State in just a couple of weeks.

Earlier today:

Me: Baby! We should bring a bottle of rakia with us to the States.
Prof. Grady: Yes! And maybe we could make a suitcase out of kashkaval...and fill it with vafli.

Get ready, America! We are coming, bearing gifts!

Roman Holiday

It really was just lovely.



P.S. My molto picolla bag made it back home safely. Thank you for your concern.

Flying low-cost

On our way back from Italy, Prof. Grady suggested that I do not check my bag but I wouldn't listen. When I got to the check-in counter, the guy at the desk insisted that my bag was really molto picolla and I should just take it with me on board but I wouldn't listen. When we arrived in Sofia, the bag was not there. Guh-reat.

The bag didn't come on Sunday. It wasn't here Monday. I waited for it all day today (Tuesday). It didn't arrive.

So, I called the airport:

Me: Bongiorno. I am still missing a molto picolla bag that was supposed to land in Sofia with me on Sunday. It's Tuesday and I don't have it and was wonde...
Sofia Airport Rep: Your reference number?
Me: t27970w
Sofia Airport Rep: Your bag has been here since Sunday evening.
Me: Oh!
Sofia Airport Rep: How come?
Me: Oh!
Sofia Airport Rep: Your bag should have been delivered on Sunday evening.
Me: Oh...well...hmmmm
Sofia Airport Rep: Why has your bag not been delivered until now?!
Me: Sir, I mean...Hmmmppf
Sofia Airport Rep: Well, hopefully you'll have it delivered tomorrow. If you don't have it tomorrow, call us again.
Me: ....

There's a fine line between independence and stubbornness. Listen to whatever advice people try to give you. Sometimes, they might just be right.

K-G Travel Notes

When we travel, I admit it, Kyle does most of the planning. And by most, I really just mean all. I kind of just...you know...plan to attend. I let him pick hotels and come up with itenararies because I just know he's going to take me on the most amazing adventure ever. He always does.

When we decided to go to Rome I said no, it's not fair. I will help with the plans too. So in order to prepare, I downloaded a documentary series on Roman history, read bits and pieces about Roma in our travel guidebook and actually bothered to learn how to say good morning in Italian.

Rome was breath-taking.

And inspiring. And joyful. And friendly. And educational. And relaxing. And so fucking romantic. And so nostalgic at times. And home to the best coffee my lips have ever come in contact with. For real!

I am not sure if it was the city, the wine, or my husband's kisses...but I felt like I could have stayed forever...Which, of course, I couldn't do. But one thing is for sure...the K-G's are definitely going back.

Pictures will follow.

WOW! Where are you from?!

Kyle’s stepdad’s sister went to Paris a couple of years ago. She knows French but had a terrible experience speaking French while in France. She would always try and people would not be able to understand and then everyone would get frustrated. Sometimes people would switch to English, sometimes they would simply ignore her. I am particularly sympathetic to that last bit, because I had a terrible experience during my 24-hour stint in Paris back in September. When I was there, I was in several situations where people had an opportunity to decide whether to be nice or rude to me and ALL of them chose the latter. Anyway.

So, on her last day in Paris, Tom’s sister is sitting in a cafe, sipping some wine when she strikes up a conversation with another woman sitting at the table right next to her. They talk about Paris, the weather, life. They are totally hitting it off. She’s super excited because FINALLY she is able to speak French AND be understood. WOW, she says to the other woman, It was so great to talk to you!!! Where are you from?! The woman takes a sip of her coffee and answers:

Kansas City.

Converted

Since I wrote about our honeymoon travel plan falling through, people have been sending me concerned emails, asking if we were OK. Yes, we are, thank you for asking.

And here's what happened:

Like I already mentioned, we had planned to spend a couple of days in Philadelphia, then rent a car and drive through Indiana and see Brooke in Bloomington, then stop over at St. Louis to hang out with Kyle's mom and her husband Tom, and then we were going to drive South to Memphis to see Dr. J and Sewanee. We were going to end up in New Orleans.

We reserved a car with Budget online and headed over to their office bright and early on Saturday morning. The guy behind the desk was friendly enough and rather than chatting us up went straight to business and proceeded to enter our personal information into their data system. Company policy. Everything was going just fine until he asked for our credit card. Kyle handed him a debit card, when the guy said (not-so-nicely, may I add) that he needed a CREDIT card, not a debit card. Had something to do with the company's trying to cover their ass in case of car-theft something or other. OK, credit card, we said. And handed him our credit card. He refused to accept it.

See...HE needed a driver's license AND a credit (not debit) card that were both in the same name. What WE had was a driver's license and a debit card in Kyle's name and TWO credit cards in my name. The fact that we had more money in our debit card then in our two credit cards combined did not matter. The fact that we were fuckin' married did not matter. The fact that we offered to leave a cash security deposit did not matter. The fact that we had rented a car from Budget using Kyle's driver's license and a debit card just last summer when we were in Califordnia did not seem to matter AT ALL. There were company policies to be followed and data fields to be entered into "The Computer System" and thus no car to be rented to the Kirilova-Grady crew. Bummer.

So things fell through and we were so shocked by what happened that, honestly, could not even get mad about it. What we did was storm into a Starbucks and get ourselves a room in a hotel that served our breakfast in bed each morning (bagels and coffee and fresh fruit and all). What was one to do, you know...We had to make the most of it.

As we were leaving the Budget office that morning, though:

Prof. Grady: You know...THAT could never happen in Bulgaria!!!
Me: Why, what do you mean?
Prof. Grady: In Bulgaria there's ALWAYS another way around.

My husband...I think he's been converted.

When plans fail

The thing is...our travel plans fell through. The sucky part about that is we have stood up a lot of people AND it will be a while before we get to stay in an awesomely bad motel out in the middle of Indiana like we'd planned. The GOOD thing about it is that we are finally BOTH in Philadelphia (for a little while that was not the case, courtesy of U.S. Airways who lost ME and then lost MY BAG) and are staying until
Saturday.

Philly is a lot like Sofia, I think. Old and beautiful but run-down at places. With lots of great bars and restaurants and shops AND a serious inferiority complex. When people find out we are here on our honeymoon, we get the exact same reaction we get in Sofia when we tell them we live in Bulgaria. It goes something like, Oh! Wow! WHY?!?!?!?!

So, not having made any plans for things to do in Philadelphia, we are spending our time doing the one thing we hardly ever have the time to do in Sofia: relaxing. It's breakfast in bed and then walking around the city and then lunch and coffee and a little bit of work or shopping and meeting up with friends for dinner and then drinks, of course. It is fantastic. We are hanging out with Ashley
and got to see Clay and visited the creepiest museum I've ever been to...disturbingly informative, oh, yes.

I am telling you all this because I think we all tend to get really wrapped up into the plans we make. We try to stay on top of things and plan ahead and research and double-check and reconfirm and then hold our breath as we watch our plans unveil. Our sort-of-failed trip, however, is showing me that when plans fail to go through, they open up the space for other things...and then there's no pressure nor anxiety nor disappointment. You just take things as they come and enjoy them for what they really are.

Hugs and kisses from one happy honeymooner.