Voditsa

Arrived in Voditsa yesterday afternoon after a bit of struggle and miscommunication. It turns out there are two voditsas.. One is about 29 km from Varna while the one I was suppose to go to is 150 km away. So luckily I figured that out a few hours before I left. After a very kind baba helped me figure out my seating in the train, another nice young girl in my compartment , who just happened to speak a bit of English (most people don't speak any), helped me get off at the right station. There are no announcements of where you are stopping, so you are just suppose to "know" where you are.. No maps, no one who speaks english - its all quite ridiculous. So luckily this very eager- to-help young woman helped me off at the right stop. The arranged taxi driver recognized me immediately. Do I really stand out that much? I was so surprised and relieved when I got dropped off at Elly and Doncho's place that I couldn't even figure out how to get in the house. Elly came around the side and greeted me in her refreshing English accent and all was well. I'm still so surprised I made it. They immediately fed me and then Elly and I went to her other English friend's house to do mud sculpting. I guess it's pretty regular for these little Bulgarian towns to have foreigners in the summer months, because Bulgaria is so cheep. So this woman, Julie, was having her last visit for the year, and she brought out a few of her relatives as well. When Elly and I arrived they were baking pie, drinking wine and laughing hysterically. They asked if I played any instruments and I said yeah, a few, but I only brought a ukulele.. And I was suddenly cut off by cheers around the room. It turns out Julie has SEVEN ukuleles because all of the family was trying to learn it the past few days. It was the most ridiculous and hilarious reaction I've ever gotten to saying I play the ukulele. Elly taught me how to sculpt with mud and straw, and I made a really cool swirly design on a wall. Its crazy what you can do with mud. Elly, who use to be an engineer, says she thinks of it like cement, only simpler. I'll put some pictures up of the mud designs when I can. After the mud, we ate pie, custard and played the ukuleles. They were all beginners and a bit drunk, but it was fun playing for them. Today Elly and I organized the cellar, collected walnuts and peaches and weeded. The more I learn about all this stuff the more it really makes me want to end up having a life like this. Perhaps in the hills of a tiny Bulgarian village? We shall see.