Jinxed by a Guinea Pig I can't believe I never made the connection before now. When I was in Bulgaria at the beginning of last month, I saw this cute cuddly little guinea pig and wanted a picture with it, because the opportunities to snuggle with furry animals is few and far between here in Kosovo (where anything that walks on four legs or flies is banned from contact unless you are participating in a VetCap.) This picture, btw, is safe. It has already been posted before and is not new on any account. So anyway, I wasn't exactly sure what the guy who owned the Guinea pig was saying to me at the time I picked the Guinea Pig up, as I don't speak any Bulgarian what so ever, until our cabbie, who acted as a linguist at times such as these, informed me that the Guinea pig did a trick. The owner put an open box filled with slips of papers under the Guinea Pig and it sniffed at them for a moment before pulling one out. It turned out that the Guinea Pig was a fortune teller of sorts. Ok, interesting. I got a picture with the little furry critter and we moved on, while Cipi the Cab Driver translated the fortune into English. Most of it was positive. But at the end was a little warning, which at the time I thought was laughable, being an American and all. It informed me that I should never drive again, and always use public transportation. Whatever, I'm not a superstitious sort and i put the Fortune away. Fast forward about three weeks later. I was getting ready to leave on R&R and what did I do? I get into a car accident. I didn't make the connection until yesterday, when Nate, who just got back from his leave, told me about it. He put two and two together while he was on leave as well. D'oh! That damn Guinea Pig! Labels: Bulgaria, Doh, Irony, Life -Risawn: # 3:45 AM - |

9.18.2005

Bulgaria, Take Three Continuing on in the pace of the hit and miss discussion of Bulgaria, Sunday is kind of a slow day for Bulgarians, after doing a bit of shopping, we tried to find something more to do and ended up going back to the hotel early, where we got ready for that evening and then went to eat dinner. Um, Sunday Night was actually kind of blah. And unfortunately, all of the clubs tend to be closed, at least that's what I was told. So we had to find something else to do. Which honestly, I wasn't to happy about because we ended up going back to the same place we went the night before. I mentioned something along the lines of 'why didn't we go to the club Yesterday and come here today instead?' Oh well. It seemed that the evenings were not the highlight of my trip. Monday, we slept in longer then I would have normally wished, but I expressed an interest in walking around and seeing Sofia except for I was with three guys who didn't want to. Hmm. . . Anyway, Lunch was on everyone's minds and somebody suggested Indian. We went to an Indian place but alas, well, due to the holiday, it was closed. Balderdash. We went to the Rio instead, and ended up being the only people in the restaraunt. So we had some Brazilian food at the Rio. Apparently, the best time to eat at the Rio is in the evening, as like the Bulgarian restaraunt, they have dancers too. The Rio was a cool place, it was all made up in a Brazilian style, if I get another chance to go back to Bulgaria, I want to make an effort to go there again, in the evening. Anyway, after the Rio, somebody suggested a flea market, that they have on most days in front of an old church. Now I can spend all day at a Flea Market, or so I discovered. There was a lot of old world war two memoriabilia and what not. And Bulgaria is not far from Russia so there is a lot of Russian influence. I collect foreign money so I got some coins and what not along with an old compass from the German Olympic games in 1936. Afterwards, I found out it was a reproduction, but it is still kinda cool. This was the Flea Market for the most part. Just a bunch of old antiques and so on. I saw this old sword and I so wanted to buy it. But Sword and Fire Arm Purchases is considered a violation of General Order Number One, and comes with some stiff penalties. *sighs* There were some cool knives too. I bought this hat. I couldn't resist. It was so fuzzy. The flaps aren't normally down but the picture was snapped then so. . . This guy makes art from mechanical parts, like clocks and stuff. His stuff was so cool that i had to get a picture with him. I wanted the scorpion I'm holding but didn't end up getting it. Across from the flea market which sold all sorts of nicknacks and antiques was a lion. Without realizing it, I did something I shouldn't have. Apparently this picture could get me arrested in Bulgaria. So to Bulgaria, I'm sorry. I love your lion and I meant no disrespect. I'm just a stupid american that likes to crawl on things I guess. That night, we went to the Indian Restaraunt. Which was very spicy. But good. I loved my soup. Should have gotten more of that. It was at this time I explained my idea of NOT going back to the place where we had been going for the past two nights and actually told Nate that I wanted to kind of have a little more alone time with him. Unfortunately, because of the forementioned Bulgarian Holiday, there wasn't much we could go, so we ended up going Bowling. I think I scored like a 75 in one game and a 60 in the other. Yeah, I really can't bowl. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel which has a Casino within it. No I didn't take any pictures because cameras are not allowed within the Casino. But anyway, I'm not much of a gambler, but they had a little show at midnight with some dancers and me and Nate went and saw that. It was actually pretty interesting and I enjoyed that. Anyway, Nate wanted to gamble a bit, and that part of General Order Number One was lifted so I watched Nate play a little Poker and Black Jack. Eventually, out of sheer boredom, I decided to play about 50 Lev in Black Jack, and when it was gone, it was gone. Unfortunately, because of that pesky holiday closing the museums and what not, (Nate wanted to go to a Tank Museum but it was closed), we didn't really get to do everything we wanted to do. I felt like we spent to much time sleeping in and i wanted to do more during the day and just walk around. I might get another shot at Bulgaria, but it will be tight, I'll have to squeeze it in between Leave and BNCOC (Sergeant School) and that gives me a two week window. I think I'll get my feel of Museums and walking around when I go to Europe with my mom so I think this was my shot at Bulgaria. Maybe I didn't have as much fun as I wanted to, but I still had fun. Who knows, in a few years I might go back there. Labels: Bulgaria, Europe -Risawn: # 4:24 AM - |

9.16.2005

Bulgaria, Take Two So, I left off with the Bulgarian Eatery didn't I? Well, actually let me back track for just a moment. In the Bulgarian Black Market (I'm not sure if this is a real black market or not, but that's what they call it), they had a video store with some movie posters in Bulgarian. I couldn't resist taking a snap shot of it. Kill Bill, in Syrilic. Too Cool. Anyway, back to the Bulgarian Restaraunt. We ordered our food and around 9 PM they started a show with traditional Bulgarian Dancers. I took some pictures and some video, but they didn't all come out like I wanted them to. It was basically a group of four men and four women that would go and change into different costumes between dances, all of them in a traditional Bulgarian style. I thought they were quite cool looking and really enjoyed the show, which lasted for about an hour. My favorite part, however, was the three guys in masks. I'm not sure what the story behind these guys were, but they looked kind of scary and they had sticks they were swinging about. I think I need to do some research on the history of these guys. Anyway, they go into the crowd and pick out an unsuspecting individual and draw them out onto the dance floor, lie them on a blanket, and then incoorporate this individual into the dance by jumping over them, pretending to smack their staffs on them, and what not. The person, meanwhile, just lies there. Yeah, that was kind of fun. See, Cipi the Cab Driver talked to the dancers and had them take me out of the audience. So, while we were watching the dance and digesting our food, I got probably the best picture of me and Nate since we've been going out. Of course, now we're just friends, but still, I thought the picture looked pretty good. We left the restaraunt at about 1030 and had to find something to do for a Saturday night. I wanted to hit the clubs, but Bulgaria is kind of strange in that nobody really shows up to the clubs until around midnight, but the clubs stay open all night. Well, we had to blow some time, and unfortunately for me, I was with three guys. They decided to go to a place that really didn't cater to women. Read that as you will. We were only supposed to stay there for about an hour or so but for some reason, when your with three guys who are drinking and you aren't, they seem to forget about the idea of going to the Club. So, well, we didn't go to the club that night. And because of this odd Bulgarian Holiday that had everything closed, supposedly, I didn't get to go to a dance club the entire time we were there. The weekend was going well until we hit Saturday night. *sigh* On to Sunday. Sunday consisted of us waking up rather later then I would have wished. We met up with Cipi and decided where we wanted to eat. Somebody suggested Indian, and so Cipi took us to an Indian Restaurant that was alas, closed. So we had Japanese instead. That was a lot of food, for not a lot of money. That's one of the beautiful things about Bulgaria. Then we hit the Gocarts. I couldn't resist going Go Carting when we heard about the fact that they had Go Carts in Bulgaria. We drove those things around the course for about thirty minutes. I didn't flip it or anything, but my Battle Buddies kind of whooped me on the course. But that's ok, I still had fun. Anyway, I really wanted to go shopping for souveniers so we found a place that was open. Underground Malls are apparently really common in Europe. At least in Bulgaria. We went to one and I bought a few things for the family and what not. Anyway, on the way out there was a guy with two guinea pigs with a sign that said something along the lines of Picture - 1 Lev. I saw the Guinea Pigs and being a sucker for small furry critters, I wanted a picture. Well, actually, the guy who didn't speak English, actually had the Guinea pig pull out your fortune out of a bunch of slips of paper for a Lev. Since the slip of paper was in Bulgarian, I didn't really understand what it said, but I still got a picture with the Guinea Pig. Guinea Pigs are kinda cute :) Labels: Bulgaria, Europe -Risawn: # 11:42 PM - |

9.14.2005

Bulgaria take One So, I thought I would finally get around to telling you about my Bulgaria trip. It started at 1 in the morning. We had kind of crashed after ordering a pizza and chilling in the SEAHuts waiting for the time when the bus would arrive. Well, what do you know? It was late. The busride consisted of me sleeping on the back seat with the edge driving into my spine. It wasn't very comfortable. So anyway, Bulgaria is considered an FMPP event, meaning Force Management Pass Program. Its different from my previous Greece Trips in that Greece had an itenerary where Bulgaria they just drop you off at a hotel and you are on your own until you are due back. The Hotel they dropped us off is a very nice one in Bulgaria, but I won't tell you where because that is part of the reason why we got our last Bulgarian Trip canceled. Dad Nab It All. So we got our briefings, checked into our room, and then we were off. Because Bulgaria is a little, well, nuts when it comes to driving on the road, you are not allowed to rent a car. In fact, you are not allowed to take any public transportation unless it is a cab due to Pick Pockets. You can get a cab in two ways. Just pay a taxi to take you where you want to go and be done with it, or you can buy a driver for three days and he will be your chaufer, translater, and tour guide. We went ahead and four of us together got a cab driver named Cipi, prounounced C.P. We had to decide on where to go and so we decided after that drive, we'd get lunch first. We ate at a place called Happy's, which is kind of like the Bulgarian version of Hooters. Sort of. Um, I was with three guys by the way, to include Nate, as we were dating at the time, right? The food was good, and then we had to figure out what else to do. See, we ran into a problem on the particulary weekend we decided to go to Bulgaria. Bulgaria declared a national holiday for that weekend and nothing was open. Well, we all wanted to shoot some guns, so we went to a firing range and shot some pistols. I showed you a picture from this before :) Alright you gun nuts, name all of various fire arms located on this table. We could fire all of the firearms the range provided, we were just responsible for paying for the ammo. It was a little expensive, but much fun. Unfortunately, the shot gun jammed up pretty good before I got a chance to fire it. :( Fortunately, I got one of those at home that I can fire for a lot less. :) Another Not Sorry Pose, with a Russian Pistol that packs a nice solid punch. BTW, that is a Rooster Teeth Shirt, makers of the Popular Web Series, Red Vs Blue. this is Cipi, who looks like a Hitman for the Bulgarian Mafia. We had a lot of fun with him. He drives like a Maniac, or rather a Bulgarian Cabby. We then went to the Sofia Black Market and checked out clothes for the night. Or rather, we did that BEFORE we went shooting, but I didn't take pictures. It was like a flea Market, except everything was new. And rather cheap. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, freshened up a bit, and decided on where to go eat for dinner. Dinner was a blast, at a traditional Bulgarian Restaraunt complete with dancers. I will tell you all about it later, as I'm going to have to go back to class now. Labels: Bulgaria, Europe -Risawn: # 3:08 AM - |

9.11.2005

Deutschland Yay, I'm in Germany. The internet here is iffy. And expensive, by the minute type pricing. So this week Updating will be sporadic, if it happens at all. Things might be cheaper via library or what not. To keep you all entertained in the meantime, here is a picture, of me, in Bulgaria. At the shooting range. If all else fails, see you next week! Labels: Bulgaria, Europe, Guns, Pictures, Vacation, World -Risawn: # 7:35 AM - |

9.06.2005

I was Gone Well, now I'm back from a wild and crazy weekend in Bulgaria. Urm, more later. For now, I'm just going to recoup. Labels: Bulgaria -Risawn: # 6:49 AM - |

8.31.2005

September's Going to be Nuts! Well, without giving away dates and timelines, September for me, well, it'll just be plain nutso! I was supposed to go to Bulgaria at the end of July/beginning of August but since that got blown completely out of the water, I had to settle on going at a later date. Well, that later date has come when Nate (aka The Boy) came around asking me if I could go *enter date here*. I'm looking at that date and what else is supposed to happen this month and asked if he couldn't change his. Nope, no can do. So I'm going to Bulgaria at the beginning of September *will be sure to post all about that adventure here, hopefully in a timely manner!* So, what else was planned for this month? Well, this was something that we weren't entirely certain on, but there is a Preventive Medicine Refresher Course going on in Germany for one week (read = the training we should have gotten before we came here) which will undoubtedly help me as I am not the greatest 91S in the world nor do I pretend to be. Well, I just got my TDY orders confirming that indeed this train-up is a Go. So I will be back in Kosovo, working like a dog when that is all said and done, and what do you know? I leave on Leave toward the end of September. Leave will once again be in glorious Germany, where I will meet up with my mom (who can't help but tell me every time I talk to her how excited she is about this, and I'm in the same boat with her!) and we will head south to Austria, Switzerland, Italy and *possibly* Hungary. I think we should also hit Liechtenstien too because nobody thinks about Liechtenstein, and we could go there on a day trip on our way to Switzerland! So, anyway, my leave will indeed seep into October, where I'll come back here from my exhaustive vacation that I will undoubtedly need a vacation from, but anyway, September is going to be nuts and quite possibly slow on the Blogging Front due to lack of time to actually post about it. Well, I'll let you know more as the month progresses. Labels: Bulgaria, Europe, Vacation -Risawn: # 5:04 AM - |

7.30.2005

Excrament Happens I need to make an icon. on that icon there will be a pile of crap, all brown and smelly looking and just plain disgusting looking. Below it, all it will say is "happens". Tis the story of my life . . .*sighs* At frist it was just the strep throat playing its way and making me feel like dog doodoo three days before I'm supposed to go on FMPP (Fighter Management Pass Program) so I nipped that in the butt right away with a shot and got myself on some Penicillan medication because there was no way I was going to miss my trip to Sofia Bulgaria with my boy. . . Well, sometimes other things happen, and the whole program gets scrapped anyway, regardless of what you do. Anyway, I was supposed to leave at 2 in the morning and was fully intending on going when I get the message at the briefing that FMPP has been suspended until further notice. That was a shock to our jugular. What? We're supposed to go in 8 hours! Why does this thing have to happen on OUR watch? That, and I still haven't been! There are a variety of reasons why Sofia has been suspended, but they are hopefully going to look into getting it started again. Meanwhile, they might even consider some other places for us to go. I've heard Thessoloniki (I know I butchered that) Greece and Dubrovnik Croatia both mentioned, but no guarantees. Chances are, we'll just go back to Sofia when the current issue is all sorted out. *grumble* Labels: Bulgaria, Doh, Irony -Risawn: # 11:37 AM - |

7.27.2005

Unintentional Diets I woke up yesterday with a soar throat. Along with some other symptoms that came along with it. Hoping it was just a one day thing, I went to work and tried to suck a juice drink, which produced some pain when swallowing. When lunch came around, they had the grill on and I couldn't resist the hot dogs. For some reason, the hot dogs here are really good. But it still hurt to eat. I didn't even try to get dinner. Because I didn't eat much yesterday, I went to get breakfast despite the fact that I had no appetite. I had one bite of oatmeal and a couple of spoonfulls of yogurt. And then I decided I needed to head over to sick call. Sick call is one of the perks about being in the army. Most of the time I get sick, I just call in sick to work and take the day off. I think I have a pretty decent immune system now because of the many times I refused to take medicine. But since I've been here, I get the opportunity to have perscription meds. Which make me feel a lot better real quick. Still, in the too much information department, on top of the soar throat, I found the last couple nights I couldn't sleep, waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to do of all things, spit. I have excess spit and phlegm buildup in my throat, it hurts to swallow so therefor I haven't been eating much, I have a headache and when I do down something, I suddenly feel nauseaus. And I'm either to hot or to cold. Yesterday I checked the back of my throat and I felt like something was growing back there. Somebody suggested I rinse my mouth out with Mouth Wash and brush my teeth more then normal and that should help. It made my teeth nice and clean, and freshened my sick breath for a moment, but not much else. Sick call diagnosed me as having Strep Throat. Sure, I have to get sick before I head off to Bulgaria land, aint that always the way. . . they say I should be good by the time I leave, but still, I have to have this nasty crap? Still, it makes one hellava diet! The strep throat diet. Hmm, there has to be some benefit for feeling like crap! Labels: Bulgaria, health -Risawn: # 6:03 AM - |

7.26.2005

Miscellanious Ramblings about Everything and Nothing So I'm still window shopping for guitars, and otherwise neglecting things. Like Blogs. I made up for it by updating both. Meanwhilage, being stuck on Bondsteel with only a couple of opportunities to escape off post over the last few weeks, I finally signed up for another VetCap. Yay! I think I'll take my video camera and start recording things of importance. I swear to make a DVD or something to send home to the folks so they can see what's going on in the life of their youngest offspring. That, and I think it would be kind of fun. I get to go to a foreign country and party hard on Go Cart Tracks and Historical Museums while wandering about the city of Sofia Bulgaria. You have no idea how excited I am to get out of this place for a couple of days at the very least. But still no news on the PM Train Up in Germany being a go or not. I can only cross my fingers and hope that it all comes through for me. And yes, Nate and I are still an item. Why do you think I've been neglecting this thing so much? My mom just wanted to make sure. . . Labels: Blogging, Bulgaria, dating, Rambling -Risawn: # 12:22 AM - |

5.04.2005

Good News Bad News In my section, the NCOIC (ie sergeant in charge) often disperses bits of information starting with the phrase "do you want the good news or the bad news?" Sometimes I say "give me the good news, that way the bad news doesn't seem as bad" or sometimes I say "give me the bad news, so the good news can cheer me back up", depending on the circumstances. Well, this is one of those good news bad news situations. I have to dispense with the bad news first. Sofia Bulgaria is no longer on. Neither is the 25K DANCON road march. I was looking forward to both with much anticipation, and had to cancel them yesterday (well, technically, I postponed Bulgaria and will await the next road march, I hear they're having a 2 day 50 K road march, now that's an idea!) Which brings me to the good news. I'm going to Greece instead. I had to cancel the Road March because doing both the Road March and then walking around Greece the next day was a very bad idea and would have left me very very miserable. And i can't do two retreats right after one another so Bulgaria has to wait until later this summer. More specifically, I'm going to the community of Fillipi Greece, which is now in ruins. Now, if everyone flips open the New Testament, you will notice that one of the books in the New Testament is labeled Phillipians. In fact, I think there are a couple of books named Phillipians. These were specifically letters written by the apostle Paul to the people of Fillipi (also spelled Phillipi, depending on the map you read). This retreat is actually in relation to the journeys of Paul and the whole retreat is focused on him. Being a Non Denominational Religious retreat sponsored by the chaplains, I shall be going to Fillipi and afterwards get to shop in Kavala which is right on the Aegean Sea. We get to explore Greek Ruins! I'm mucho excited! I probably won't be blogging for those days, but I will take lots and lots of pictures and post a few online. Gosh, I think the army should deploy me more often! What, with free concerts, Karioke (which is particularly scary) Kajukenbo and opportunities to see Greece and Bulgaria, I don't think I've had this much fun in a long time! Labels: Bulgaria, dancon, Greece, hobbies -Risawn: # 9:30 AM - |

4.21.2005

iPod Continued. . . Well, apparently ever since I posted that my iPod was going to be taken back, Fuji seems to have felt the threat and has been cooperating quite nicely lately. I'll give it until Sunday and if it does this again, sorry little iPod, but its back in the box and into the store for you. And I will pick up one of your identical twin brothers and hope it behaves better. If that one doesn't, I'll give up on the iPod. But I really do enjoy it so far. When it doesn't pause in the middle of a song. Meanwhile, Greece trip classes are now completed. I was hoping to get in on the class taking place at the end of May, but the Sofia Bulgaria leave trips are now in operation starting next week. I will be taking one of those MidMay, which will set me up for Greece some time in August. I was planning on doing it in the other order, but this works out nicely. And day 2 of the Kajekenbo class. We have a few people in the class with us, one a brown belt in Judo, several of them obviously experienced with some form of martial art, and they are all impressed with the laout of the course. I'm weak on my stance and my punches, but I was told that I have a very good toe kick. I thinking kicking will likely be my strength. Whatever the case, I have decided to continue this for sure after I'm done deploying. Labels: Bulgaria, Greece, MartialArts, Sports, technical difficulties -Risawn: # 1:29 PM - |