Varna

We have arrived in Bulgaria!

Today we got a little lost exploring this tiny little town and so we stopped a women on the street and asked, "excuse me, where is the center of town?" and she replied, "you're standing in the center of town." So, moral of that story– it is small. The volley ball tournaments are going on at the beach and so we went and grabbed a pizza and sat and watched the games. We didn't have a lot planned for Bulgaria and so we are able to just relax and take in our surroundings.

Tender Ride:

Emma and I will laugh about this until we are old and senile. We had to take a tender back to the ship because there was not enough room in port. It was a clear sunny day, but the water was choppy. We got into the small boat that started to carry us to the MV. The water got more and more choppy, the wind picked up and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down so much that we couldn't dock next to the ship to hop onto the MV. It was getting hotter and hotter in the tender and people started getting sick. They had us move away from the windows so that if they broke from the waves, we wouldn't get scraped. I was getting so hot and feeling more and more sick. I felt like I was holding onto Emma for dear life. We ended up being out on the water for about 45 minutes. Finally, we were able to tie up next to the MV and hop on, but that was the worst boat ride I have ever been on in my entire life. This cup of cosmos is for you Emma.

Goal: to get better before Egypt
Mood: sick and tired of being sick and tired
Weather: hot and choppy

7/25 Orphanage Trip in Bulgaria:

Today we went to the orphanage in Bulgaria. It was so big that there were three sections to choose from to visit. The first section was the baby section. The second section was the children ages 3-7. The third section was disabled children. I went and visited the section that was the baby/toddler section. The main cause for so many children within this orphanage was lack of finances within their families. These orphans went to the school near by and once they reach age 18 they move out and live on their own. They had social workers, and doctors on hand for extra help and older retired volunteers who acted as grandparents for the orphans and came to visit often. They received governmental funding. This orphanage was much larger than Croatia. When we went out into the court yard to meet the kiddos, all 75 of them came running at us with open arms. We thought they would be overwhelmed meeting, but we were the ones overwhelmed meeting them. We spent the entire afternoon playing with the kids, as they tried on our sunglasses and took pictures with our cameras. I spent a long time blowing bubbles with a little girl that couldn't have been much older than 4. She was the "care giver" in the group and wanted to make sure that everyone got a turn holding the bubble wand. She liked my pony tail and just wanted to sit in my lap. She was so sweet. While none of the children spoke English, we quickly found other ways to communicate and connect with them.