We're still here!

Did you really think I'd have any exciting news to share? No, we're here. Sitting in a hotel room, counting our blessings. We *could* be trapped in an airport. We *could* be without internet (shudder!) We could be in a lot worse situation than we are. But, even though things are good at the moment, they can change quickly. Most people traveling for humanitarian purposes don't budget for a lot of extra money "just in case". Besides, who prays that no volcanos will erupt while on a trip?

We'll be on the news tonight. Shelley was interviewed by phone by CNN a little while ago, and it will air on CNN international. I was interviewed via Skype by KSTP Channel 5 in Minneapolis, and it will air on the 6:00 news.

To all our friends and family, I'm sorry that you'll be hearing news for the first time...on the news...about a decision Dean and I have made. We love you, we just had planned on talking about this more when I got home. But here I am in Bulgaria, and "M's" time is running out. So, there ya go! Between getting stuck here in Bulgaria, and funding the adoption of M, things will be financially interesting. But we'll get her home. If you're new to the blog, you can find out more about "M" here. (scroll down once you get there, you'll find what I'm talking about.) She's amazing, and she needs to get out of Serbia SOON! Also, please visit the CTR blog to find out why I'm here in the first place!

It was suggested to put a donation button up on the blog. I'll will be having to purchase new tickets from Germany...eventually...hopefully sooner than later! If you're interested in helping me get home, the button is on the right sidebar. I feel really weird mentioning that, but I guess I'll have to get over it. Thank you so very much for helping me get home.

Some progress made

We are just back from the U.S. embassy (who, by the way, says we are the only Americans here in Bulgaria in this situation. GO FIGURE!) Anyway we found a very helpful counselor who is not happy with what we were told this morning.

What is in the works now: She is contacting the defense liason person, to see about getting us to Germany to the large military instillation. Thankfully I'm with Shelley who is a military wife! From there they will get us home.

Just a few minutes ago we saw a military plane. We're waiting for a phone call. If we can't get on some type of flight or ground transport, they will give us humanitarian priority on a train to Germany.

We STILL need publicity to get us across the atlantic, and all the way to our homes. (Shelley in AL, and me in MN.) There is a chance we will need to pay for new flights from Germany, if so, they are incredibly expensive and neither of us are prepared to pay that kind of money. It will be around $5K for Shelley and Kullen, and around $2500 for me.

That's where we stand right now. Internet at our hotel is still down so we've walked a few blocks away to another hotel to use theirs.

just stuff

Last week while we were in Serbia, one of our objectives was to spend some money on behalf of the orphanage we were working with. They really need ear thermometers, so we were off to find a pharmacy that carried them.

In a typical Serbian city like Belgrade, there are "pharmacies" about every 100 yards. Like most shops, they're very small, about 10x15 feet, and they only have a few of each item, but man do they have a lot of stuff crammed into those shops! We were told the thermometers are very expensive and difficult to find, and perhaps we should wait until or friend Jasmina could go along with us to translate, but Shelley and I are determined (and very independent) so we went on a hunt ourselves. Somewhere in there I decided I needed tweezers too. Hmmmmmm

At the first pharmacy we visited, the staff just shook their heads at us, we assume because they couldn't understand our made-up sign language for "ear thermometer" and "tweezers". The second pharmacy was much the same.

Inside the 3rd pharmacy we found several staff, one of which was a young man who spoke a little English. He told the others what we were looking for, and they excitedly scrambled to get the one thermometer they had off a very high shelf. Based on the amount of dust on the box, they don't sell very many of these! Next we tried the tweezers. A staff person came with 3 or 4 pairs in cases, laid out on the palm of her hand. "Perfect!" I said, pointing to them IN GENERAL. I didn't look at the prices, since..well...tweezers would only be a couple of dollars, right?

The woman looked at her co-worker, held up one pair and repeated, "Perfect", and they gave each other a look of "this woman is nuts!" and I knew right away something was up! We managed to fumble through paying for our items and got outside. I took my tweezers out of the bag to check them out.

So yeah, here are my $8.00 gold plated tweezers.

Today we went walking around in search of touristy souvenirs. You know, the kind only tourists buy, like tacky t-shirts with writing you can't understand. Along the way we saw this monestry, which is the largest in the entire Bulcan region. Here's a picture of the outside. As you can see they're in the middle of renovating the building, just like the Basilica in Minneapolis was renovated a few years ago. The inside is MAGNIFICENT, but no photography is allowed in there. Really, my pictures wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

A few blocks away, I noticed this very pretty-and very old-fence, and decided it would be a good chance to play around with my camera bit. As I was taking this picture...

DeeDee, our guide for the day, called my name in a desperate tone of voice. I looked up to see her gesturing kind of insistently to put my camera away. I did, and when I caught up to her she told me this was the Italian embassy, and you're not allowed to photograph embassies, and if you're caught they will confiscate your camera and destroy it!

I put my new toy away.

Here's what I had for dessert tonight

Kullen had one too! We think it's the first he's had ice cream. He seemed to recognize the Bulgarian word for ice cream, (spoken by the waiter who seemed to get a kick out of the fact we couldn't understand, nor talk to, the kid traveling with us!) but when it came down to it, he ate only a few bites of the fruit, and feed the ice cream to his new mama. LOL

And here's my favorite photo from the entire trip so far.

More on Bulgaria

For those following my Bulgara stuff, my friend Shelley is there right now! This is her first trip, and when she gets to meet her boys. Then I'll be traveling with her on the second trip to help bring them home. It'll be a couple of months, so I still have some time to save more money. I can't WAIT!