What is that weird American doing?

That must be what people are thinking based on the looks they give me when I run.  Perhaps it's my super-cool Guatemalan headband, or my ipod in its holder on my arm...maybe it's because I'm wearing shorts...but most likely, it's because only the Americans are crazy enough to run outside here in Sofia.

70F and sunny, nary a cloud in the sky...this was the perfect opportunity to relax and try to cast off the winter pallor I had developed.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast is pretty bleak for the next week; I was having an incredibly productive day, and Danny guilted me into exercising; so fresh out of excuses, I went out to pound the pavement.  Yes, I know running is a much healthier option than baking in the sun, but sunbathing is so much easier!  

(I was running on the treadmill in the gym this winter, but it's hard to justify staying indoors and spending money when the weather is this good.  Although, if this was a scratch & sniff blog, you'd see that the air in the gym is fresher than the air outside.  Scary, I know.)  

Alas, I can't share the smells of diesel fuel and smog with you, but I can share the images I see on my path.  I do a one mile loop around the block where my apartment stands.  After four loops today, I realized the fifth loop needed to include my camera.  Have a look at my world as you join me on my run... 

   

Coming out of my apartment building, my first image is man harvesting rubbish.  Clearly he found some things he liked as he pushed them home on his cart.  (FYI - this is a regular image here.  The rubbish harvesters vary from well-dressed man, to old babas, to nearly nude teenage girls and the carts vary from donkey or horse drawn to shopping carts to my personal favorite, the wheelbarrow.

My starting point...the apartment building next door, where on the wall of the neighboring building there is a digital clock and thermometer.  Each loop should take 10-11 minutes.  Today the temp ranged from 15-17C.  

These are just two of the random obstacles I encounter in my first 1/10 of a mile.

No Child Left Behind clearly doesn't exist here.  There wasn't an adult human in sight, and there was a baby in that stroller.

    

Speaking of children...this car says Pizzi Fritzi and sits in front of the restaurant/park of the same name.  Yesterday, also enjoying the temporary fabulous weather, John and Magda brought their boys Adam (4) and Alek (2) to play here.  (It's only about .15 miles from our apartment, across the street from our grocery store, Billa.)  John took the second photo while the boys were playing.  (So as not to offend anyone, I have left the image small, but do enlarge and see what they saw at 4 in the afternoon on a Thursday with their two children.)

As both Adam and Alek would say, "Stop building crap."

I call these next images "Out of the mouths of babes."  The images below are so typical that we had to remove "rubbish in a tree" (which John defined as being at least 2 meters off the ground) or "shrubbish" (derived from rubbish in a shrub, less than two meters high) from Sofia Bingo.

 rubbish in a tree

   random pair of shoes?

  shrubbish

  brand new building with broken light fixture

How perceptive and innocent children are...this story will serve as a permanent reminder for me.  Not long ago Adam said to John, "Papa, I want to live somewhere where things are not broken and there is less rubbish."

The irony of anything behind this Bulgarian flag being labeled "sanitary."

Here, sidewalks and grass are for parking.  The man in the SUV and the taxi driver were both in their cars, enjoying fine tobacco products while talking on their cell phones.  Frighteningly, this is a common scene while they are driving the vehicles as well.

A Bulgarian elementary school


       

Again, these are photos worthy of enlarging.  The front image is of a gypsy home.  You can see the woman who lives there in the second photo.  You're not looking for Waldo in these pictures though...instead, notice the playground and read the sign on the building behind the home. This is a Bulgarian daycare center.

  the cluster of traffic on my street and sidewalk
  holes in the sidewalk

 exposed wires and more holes in the sidewalk

More of the obstacles that I encounter as I near the end of my mile

  

     

You can see my local marketplace in the top photo.  In this bazar I can get a new watch battery, copy a key, buy fruit or bread, an assortment of household items like cleaning products, duct tape, and electronics, as well as shoes, lingerie, or clothing.  Not a country that understands or values customer service, the other two photos are of employees on the job.

Guess someone didn't like my photojournalism...they sent the construction crew after me...