Well we have done it, moved away. No more looking over my shoulder when I am out, no more worrying about bumping into ex and his woman, freedom at last!
First we went for a 3 day stay in Sarafovo. I booked an apartment on booking.com for mum, Venelin (Marko), Angel and myself. This was because stupidly I had to meet the solicitor one day, then go to notary the following day before moving in, Bulgarian bureaucracy. Have to say I was really happy about it when we arrived. We had a really lovely apartment overlooking the pool and the sea, the bed was sooo comfortable and the area was great. We had some lovely meals out at Bulgarian restaurants and a fun time with the boys.
A van was hired from burgas to start the many trips back and forth moving across my belongings, while mum and I tried to settle in. For the first two nights we slept on the sofas, and boy did we sleep well. By this time I was completely exhusted to the point of not being able to even think straight.
I did have a look around to find mums furniture, check it was not damaged and also to get the outside table and chairs onto the terrace. Unfortunately I could not find them along with other outside chairs, a bird bath, among other things and two huge glass dressers!
I contacted the transport guy, who insists they were delivered so I can only come to the conclusion that the previous owners stole said property! I did find this difficult to believe but since then I have paid our first months bills and found I had to pay two months due to them lying in front of the solicitor saying they were all paid up to date.
I am always sad when people (especially English) turn out to be nasty robbing gits!!!!
On top of this Vivacom has been a complete nightmare, after 6 weeks I still dont have a satellite tv. The internet has also been a nightmare but apart from Vivacom everything is now sorted with a new cable fitted, and I now have super fast internet connection. I have taken it all in my stride, I think :-)
So we have been very busy. An upstairs shower room was disgustingly filthy and very very smelly. There was no way around this except to rip it all out and start again. I wish I had taken before photos of this, but I am a soft belly southerner and can't take the smell hahaha. Marko came with his wife Djelan for 10 days and did lots of work for me, this being the first job. We have kept the tiles and smartened it up for mum.
I wanted mums rooms to be sorted first, so her bedroom has also been done.
Wwe have also added a conservatory to one side of the terraces. This is to house mums furniture fron Bali which is made from banana, we will get the cushions recovered next year. The floor has been re plastered and painted black and will be tiled later this week.
Hi Joanna, Sounds like things are coming together for you and your mum. That's just disgusting that someone would steal your stuff! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your new home and see you enjoying your new life with your mum.
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your Mum lots of happiness in your new home. Thanks for your blog, keep posting.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's still going well. I love reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanna,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great. It is really inspiring and I think that you have a lot of determination. My wife and I love Bulgaria too and we have a villa in Kalotina, near the border with Serbia, as well as an apartment in Veliko Tarnovo. The only problem is that at the moment we are still in China! That is why I have called our blog www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com and maybe you might find it interesting.
Best wishes and keep blogging!
Dear Joanna,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! It is really interesting and in some ways your experiences in Bulgaria are a bit similar to ours. Anyway, you might like to read blog at www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com
Dear Jo,
ReplyDeletePlease start writing your blog again! It is an inspiration to many people, I am sure. Yes, I have started writing a blog as well and it is called www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com I have decided to call it that because we are still in China and we have not yet moved to Bulgaria!
I love all of your blogs and I want to learn how to cook some authentic Bulgarian recipes.
Hi Simon
DeleteThank you for such a huge compliment. I have been very lax in keeping up with my stories, and I'm sorry for this.
Health issues along with an overload of stress I guess. I will take on board your comments and make time.
I'm intrigued about your experiences in China.
China is a sort of parallel universe to Bulgaria. In BG, the roads are in bad condition, but at least they are not crowded. In China, all of the roads are new, but most of the time there is one big traffic jam! Pollution is a major issue in most Chinese cities and wine is too expensive, as are cheese and most dairy products! We will be coming back to Bulgaria and retiring in June 2018, so please drop in if you ever happen to be near Kalotina. We are in the village, not at the Kalotina border crossing (that is about 4km from our villa). We also have an apartment in veliko Tarnovo and I think that you are a VT fan too! Best wishes from China and please WRITE SOME MORE OF YOUR BLOG!
DeleteJoanna, PLEASE keep writing your blog.
DeleteChina is VERY different to Bulgaria. It's is everything that BG isn't. For a start, we are in Shenzhen, a megacity of about 16 million people, just round the corner from Hong Kong. I am a primary school teacher and I have a class of 24 polite and hard working Chinese children. All of their lessons are in English, apart from their Mandarin lessons.
In June we will finally retire to Bulgaria. Our house is in Kalotina, about 60km north of Sofia, and we also have an apartment in Veliko Tarnovo. How do you survive the winter in Bulgaria? Here in southern China, we do not really have proper winters, just a few weeks when you need to wear a jumper.