Tourism Expo, Sofia

21 February

A B25 volunteer (B25s arrived in  ’09) organized a tourism development conference for PCVs. Held at the American Corner of the Sofia Library, guest speakers shared experiences of working for state run tour promoters, private tour operators, environmental NGOs, etc. They discussed topics relevant for PCVs and answered our questions on trail marking, government programs, and marketing. The conference was concluded by a meet and greet networking session. There were even snacks and name tags! I was super impressed, it was all very professional. Another B26 and I volunteered to organize the next session. I hope бонбони and leftover Christmas candy will be okay… The conference also coincided with a giant tourism and spa expo at the National Palace of Culture.

Since then, I’ve finished making 80 % of a tourism map using Inkscape and have been working on a wikitravel page. If you feel inspired to assist the spread of world peace and friendship feel free to fix the pixel size of .png map (?) and figure out something to do with the .svg version-I’ll get back to the maps and tourism after next week, but the past few weeks and next several days have been/are set to be crazy.

Besides work, it was really nice to have a few days in Sofia with other PCVs. I caught up with friends, went out for sushi and Moroccan food, and saw a movie in a theatre. I haven’t seen Charity, Grant, and Ben from Kravoder forever (December/Christmas)! I even went running!!! So exciting! I haven’t been able to run at all in Chiprovtsi this winter-too much snow, too short of days, too cold-so this felt great. Plus, the anonymity was nice.

Dad and I are planning on running the Athens marathon together in November and I don’t want to die during it. Dad will be fine-he won his age group in the Galveston Mardi Gras Half Marathon in February.

With the brilliant students and their teacher. Evropa School, Vratsa

On my way back from Sofia, I stopped in Vratsa and spent the day at the Evropa School, helping the students prep for the Cambridge Exams. They are such good kids and it’s nice to see the director, my host mom’s sister. Finally, late bus home.