[petersonsuri]

I get the unusual pleasure of travelling to Bulgaria in the middle of winter. We will be staying in Sofia on Saturday (Sheraton due to starpoints) and then leaving late afternoon Sunday for Kazanlak where we will be staying at the PALACE hotel. We will be spending all week there and getting to know our youngest. Anyone have any info on these two areas?

Site Seeing?
Internet access?
Global Phone Services?
Donations or gifts to take?

Any help is welcomed.

[aphorista]

How was your trip? How did your visit go with your little boy? Please share when you get back. Winter in Bulgaria, I bet it was cold yet beautiful.

Mary Beth

[petersonsuri]

We are just back from our first trip to Bulgaria. We are adopting a 2 1/2 year old boy from Central Bulgaria. We had a wonderful experience
and our agency (Bulgarian) was great as well. Everything that they
promised to do in country and out they have done so far. We have had no
tacked on expenses and actually have paid for less than we expected
this trip.

The country is beautiful...............very poor but still beautiful.
We made exceptional friends and I believe they will be lifelong
friends. We took lots of donations and they were graciously accepted and
they were immediately put in place in my sons building and I assume the
other buildings as well. The orphanage was clean and well kept and
we were allowed all through his living areas(building) and also a
private area when we wanted. The nurse's , doctor's and aides all appeared
to like their jobs and the children were not malnourished and they were
always clean. We were allowed alot of time with our son and the other
children and we brought snacks(fruits, cookies and candies) daily and
gave them to the children. We arrived early 2 times (unannounced) and
the staff was found cleaning the floors , walls and children were being
bathed and were laughing. The director was open and spontaneous and
seemed genuinely concerned with the children but our son was said to be
one of her favorites. If the faces of the children had anything to
say they all loved her and wanted her attention. I kept individual
books and toys and gave them directly to the kids. We got to feed him
twice and I got to put him to bed one night(we were there quite late).

The weather has been unusually warm in Bulgaria this winter and we had
expected cold and snow and it really wasn't bad. We were able to go
out for walks 1-2 times a day with our son and a couple days you could
leave your jacket open and not even use gloves.

The lev was 1.48 while we were there but even with that rate americans
will find most things very inexpensive. We would take our translator
and a friend to lunch....have salads , meal drinks(beer and wine) and
the total bill $10 US dollars. For souvenir's we got Dolls, little
wooden toys, rose oil(we were in Kazanlak), some artwork and pottery,
bulgarian flags.

Internet access is available for about 75cents per hour at your hotel or internet cafe and they have phone booths where you can call home for 20cents US per minute.


The next part of our journey is dependent on the signiture of the
Minister of Justice who we have been told does not like that part of his
job. After his signiture things should proceed quickly. There will be
an election for his job in JUNE.

There were many beautiful children in his group. Our son is 2 1/2 but
probably plays at the level of a 9 month old. By the end of the week
he had made great progress and we know that in a family environment he
will accel but be prepared to see beyond some of the
institutionilization.

I would be happy to share details. If you go to Kazanlak you will want to meet our new friends,they made our visit exceptional.

I can tell you that leaving him after 1 week was the next hardest thing
for me to do(the first was burying my father in Feb). We were able
to set up a foster home for weekends until we can go back for him. He
has a caregiver on weekdays that absolutely adores him and he adores
her. I loved to see this attachment. I had all the nurses crying with
me on Friday.


Mary
mom of 4 in NC and now a Bulgarian beauty is on the way!!!!!!!!