Balabanova All Over

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[Sofia, Bulgaria] Today I spent the day in Sofia mall hanging out with my friend Ina and her daughter Monika. The new shiny mall was the new way to shop. On the way back I strolled Vitosha boulevard, a pedestrian street lined with shops – the old way to shop.

[Sofia, Bulgaria] With my late arrival and running errands with my parents for a couple of days, it wasn’t until today that I got to finally venture out more and start visiting with all my friends. My first visit with my friend Slavy, whom I’ve known since 1998. Since I last saw her, she got married and had twins. I went to her house in the early afternoon and although we thought… Read More

[Sofia, Bulgaria] After running errands with my parents for most of the day I finally got to visit my brother in the late afternoon! Last time I visited in 2009, I met his girlfriend Yulia and my niece Zariya, who was only 15 months old at the time. Zari is now almost 5 and has a little brother, Sami, who is 3 and whom Yulia was pregnant with last time I was… Read More

[Sofia, Bulgaria] I woke up this morning to see the rooftops of the neighboring buildings dusted with snow! I couldn’t wait to get outside and see what had changes since I’d last been here in 2009. After a quick breakfast of banitza – a traditional Bulgarian food prepared with filo dough, feta cheese and eggs – mom and I left the house to run some errands. First, I had to go file… Read More

[Paris, France] When I booked my flights to go back to Bulgaria for the holidays, the little voice in my head did keep telling me that my one-hour layover in Paris was too short. Even if everything went smoothly and flights were on time, I would have had to make a run for it. In the end, I had to run only from my arrival gate to the transfer desk at Charles… Read More