Sight Seeing in Bulgaria: Along the Danube River

We had a little time for sight seeing in a town in Northern Bulgaria on the Danube River.

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul from the 12th - 14th Century

Andrew and Ivan Exploring

Danube River and Romania on the Other Side

Stacks of stones on the side of this cliff are ruins from ancient times.

Sight Seeing in Bulgaria: Kabile

While in Bulgaria, we had an opportunity to visit Kabile, an archaeological site. Kabile, an ancient town, is situated around and on a huge rocky hill/mountain surrounded by flat land for miles, making it the perfect fortress.

When we visited Kabile, we toured a small museum before climbing the hill. We saw lots of artifacts (Pottery, Tools, Coins, Statues/gods, jewelry, etc.) from as early as 2,000 BC from ancient Thracian times, up through Greek and Roman times into the time of the Byzantine period. Andrew and I were fascinated to see how people grew in knowledge, from having only pottery through the iron age. It was very cool to look at things left behind by ancient things from thousands of years before of Christ. It was weird to think about civilizations that lasted hundreds of years, then conquered by another civilization that lasted hundreds of years. I felt a little strange, almost insignificant as a person. People live and die and time marches on. I also thought about how young America is and how, with the exception of some Native American artifacts, we don't have very many artifacts or cool things from ancient times. The oldest is maybe 400 years old - not thousands and thousands of years.

Fossils, Including an Elephant Tusk

Ancient Pottery 

Artifacts from the Iron Age

After the museum of artifacts, we walked trails outside, past an ancient Roman bath, more digs were they are still unearthing artifacts, and up the huge hill, with several pauses to catch my breath. On top of the hill, was a sanctuary for the Thracian goddess of fertility, Cybilla. There are still huge rocks positioned North to South and East to West that were used for sacrifices. From the top of Kabile, we could see a long ways. What a view!

Ruins of Roman Bath

Dimo, Our Driver

Ivan, Our Translator

We climbed to the top!

Saying Goodbye to M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 28: 

We met M. and his foster parents at the Social Welfare Office and went inside. M. sat between Andrew and me. We sat in their for a while and signed some papers saying we had visited with him for the past 4 days and today. We thought we would have the morning to visit with M. then we would say goodbye because we would have to travel in the afternoon. However, the Social Welfare Office informed us that M. needed to go to school. (He had already missed Friday and Monday visiting with us.) Our visit was shorter than I expected, just the time in the office. 

We went outside the office building and took pictures of M. with his foster parents, of M. with us, and of  M. with both his foster parents and us. Then we all said our goodbyes and had goodbye hugs and kisses with M. right in front of the social welfare office. M. got in the car with his foster parents and went to school. We waived and blew kisses to him as drove away.

I don't know if it was the suddenness of the goodbyes, or the fact that M. is in a foster family, or that I had already done this before with E., but I didn't cry. It was hard and I miss my son every day, but I know we are coming back for him!

Since we have been home, I have received a few emailed photos of M. from his foster mother. (And also of E. from her orphanage director.) It helps to know they are well, but I miss them both everyday! Sometimes I look over their pictures and videos. Sometimes I cry. I miss E.'s radiant smiles and hugs, and M.'s spontaneous laughter and kisses! But I tell myself only a few more months and we will all be together as a forever family! 

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 4 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 27:

Although it was still cold, the sun was shining! We did not spend the day in our hotel room! We went to a near by larger city to have M.'s photo taken for his Visa. M.'s foster mother came along and sat up front where Ivan, our translator usually sits. Ivan sat in the back of the hatch backed car on a seat that flips up out of the floor. M. sits in the back seat between Andrew and me. M. though Ivan sitting basically in the trunk was funny. He said to his foster mother. "Look, Uncle is sitting in the back like luggage!"

After we had M.'s visa picture taken, we went to a near by mall that had a play area with a big inflatable bouncy house/slide. M. loved it! Next, M. did sand art pictures at a little shop. I would peel off a sticky section for him and then he would spoon the sand over it. Here is a beautiful rose he made for me!

M. also loved the escalators and automatically opening doors at the mall. Andrew took him up and down the escalators just for fun! M. found the automatically opening doors fascinating. We spent probably 5 minutes just standing in front of the doors making them open, walking in and out, etc. Oh, the laughter and smile over the things we take for granted! 

On the way back home, M. was quite. We think he might have been realizing this was one of our last times together and been sad. Also, we think he was sad to leave all the excitement of the mall, tired out, and possibly over stimulated at the mall. Once we returned to M.'s foster home, he perked back up. He sat on my lap and looked at the photo album we made him. We talked about what it would be like once he was adopted and lived with us in America. M. was full of lots of plans for what life will be like. He said he wants a red fast bicycle like daddy's and a basket on the front like momma's. M. thought with a basket he could ride to the store and get a loaf of bread, etc. for me. I am thinking to myself, "You are very sweet and helpful to volunteer, but NO way would I let you ride to the grocery store by yourself!"

We also had a chance to chat with M.'s foster mother and ask her questions. Then we said goodbye for the evening.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 3 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 26:

View from our Hotel Window

Once again the beautiful snow was falling. We didn't realize it was daylight savings in Bulgaria (a week before ours in the US) and we woke up at our usual time (no alarm clock needed - we just woke up around 7am each morning). We went downstairs to the hotel lobby to meet our interpreter and driver, but of course they weren't there. The lady behind the desk communicated through pointing at her cell phone that the time had changed. So we went back upstairs for another hour.

Because the roads were snowy and trees were down, our son's foster father brought him into town to our hotel. We spent a third day together in our hotel room. Poor energetic kid confined to a hotel room for 3 days! We played all the same things together - Playdough, Go Fish, Crazy 8, batting the balloon around. Andrew and M. had a great father/son time wrestling on the bed. Andrew laid on the bed and M. would run and jump on him. I loved watching them! 

Playdough  in our hotel room!

Instead of going to the restaurant we stayed at the hotel and had chicken soup with fresh lemon to squeeze in it and fresh bread. Mmm! Perfect on a cold snowy day!

We took M. home in the afternoon and returned to our hotel to find we had no electricity! I am sure it was because of the snow and the trees that were down! (We had also had 3 different times already when there was no water! We would turn on the sink or shower in our hotel room and nothing would come out. After a few hours, the water would return.) I told our driver and interpreter not to worry, we had packed our sense of adventure with us! Andrew had also been smart and packed a small flashlight with a new battery. I told him we wouldn't need that, but he said we might need it and he was right. It got very dark early and we went to bed since we had no light besides the flashlight. I was worried about the cold and we piled on extra blankets. After we had been a sleep for a while, the electricity came back on and we were awaken by heater clicking on and all the lights in our room suddenly coming on. We must have left a switch up! I got up and turned them off and went back to sleep.

The story continues about day 4 with our son here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 2 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about meeting our son M.

From October 25:

Maybe it was the falling snow that lifted my mood, or maybe it was an encouraging email that I received from my friend V.  or maybe it was the cold medicine I was taking and a good nights sleep, or maybe it was looking forward to spending time with M. himself. But I was definitely over my blue mood.

Beautiful snow began to fall!

Our second day with M. was cold and snowy. We picked M. up from his foster parent's home and spent our day in the hotel room again. We played Playdough, Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy 8, and batted around the balloon. We brought a box of K'Nex that makes an airplane. He was excited about the airplane but found it difficult to build, so we helped him. We really just enjoyed getting to know each other and M.'s personality, sense of humor, and hearing his laughter. We need more laughter in our home and I think M. will definitely bring that!

We spent the first 3 days visiting with M. in our hotel room!

We also discovered M. is very affectionate! I think he is making up for years of not having affection. He wanted to hug and kiss and kiss and kiss!

In the evening, we drove M. back to his foster home. The snow was beautiful. We didn't go in because of the snow and needing to drive back to our hotel while the roads were still okay. I was a little worried we would have trouble picking up M. the next day for our visit. 

The early snow on grapes on the vines in M.'s foster family's garden. 

The story continues about our 3rd day with M. here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Meeting M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 meeting our son M.

From October 24:

When I first woke up, the sun was starting to peek out. But the day turn out to be overcast and cold. This was exactly my mood. I wanted to be excited and happy, but the like the sunshine covered by the clouds, my mood was overcast by leaving E. the day before combined with a cold I had caught, the jet lag that was probably catching up to me and the dreary weather. Andrew and I both felt the sadness of leaving our daughter the day before. At the same time we felt nervous excitement to meet our son. 

When we went out to the car, our driver Dimo discovered that the car had a flat tire - more of a slow leak. Dimo drove us to the Social Welfare Office and then went to get the tire fixed.

Andrew and I went into the Social Welfare Office with our translator, Ivan. I assumed it would be the same as with E. We would meet somebody official, then we would go to meet our son. 
We walked down a hall. When we stepped into the office, I was surprised to see M. sitting on a chair in front of one of the desks. As soon as I saw M., I knew it was him. I recognized him from the pictures we had received of him. He looked nervous, fiddling with the wrapper of a roll of bread. (He told us later he remembers watching us get out of the car in the parking lot - that he could see us out of the office window.) I went immediately to him and said his name and knelt down by him. It is all a little fuzzy now in my memory as it all happened so fast. I sat on the left of M. and Andrew on the right. We pulled our chairs right up next to his. I asked him "Gladen Lisee?" (Are you hungry, pointing to the bread roll.) M. said no. After a few moments. He looked at me and said "momma" and at Andrew and said "daddy." He took turns snuggling up to Andrew and me, going back and forth. He looked pleased and happy! Here was the son I had been waiting 6 months to meet. I just wanted to finally touch him. I stroked his silky black hair, and rubbed his back. 

After a few minutes, M. pointed to Ivan our translator and said what sounded to our ears like teacher (something like che-cha). Andrew said "da, yes, teacher." M. was actually saying the Bulgarian word for uncle. It stuck. For the next 5 days, M. called our translator uncle. (Later when he met our driver, he called him "my man!") 

After our Ivan got everything settled with the people at the social welfare office, Ivan, M.'s Social Worker, Andrew, M. and I walked to a park together. Well, the social worker and Ivan walked. Maybe walked isn't exactly the right word for how Andrew, M., and I got to the park. Andrew and I each held one of M.'s hand. As we went down the side walk, M. wanted to jump. So we said, "One, two, three, jump!" And M. said, "edno, dve , tri..." M. had a beautiful joyful laugh!

On the way to the park, M. showed us the school he attends. Then M. told "uncle" about a toy store. M. explained that it had more stuff besides toys, like perfume, if we wanted to buy something. Not a toy for him - something for us. But the store did have this toy...

M.'s School

At the park, we discovered M. like to swing too. We are definitely going to have to put a swing in our back yard! He didn't need pushed like E. did. He could pump his legs himself. I gave him an underduck anyway, just for fun! He laughed. M. wanted me to sit on the swing next to him.

After swinging, M. announced that he needed to go to the restroom. We walked to a restroom. Next door to the building with the restroom, a chicken was being killed. As we left, M. said "Mom, check this out!" I didn't look. (I want to continue to enjoy eating chicken!) 

We walked to the toy store. Sure enough, M. went right to the gun with a red and a blue laser site on it. He must have wanted it for a long time. it cost 4 Lev or about $2.50. I am wondering, "Is it culturally acceptably for us to by the gun for M.?" It must have been because our translator offered to buy it for him. No, we could buy it for him.

Next, we walked to a pharmacy and got some over the counter cold medicine. As we walked together, M. had a blast pretending to shoot things. He also like to pretend to be a policeman. M. would have us put our hands up and pretend to frisk us. Then he would laugh!

M.'s social worker decided we were fine together. She said we could take M. to our hotel since it was cold. We walked her back to the Social Welfare Office, then walked to our hotel with M. and our translator.  

In the hotel, Andrew and Ivan had coffee. M. and I had herbal tea. I took my cold medicine - a powder that dissolved in a cup of hot water. It was lemon flavored with a yucky after taste. 

We all went up to our hotel room. We were about to see how a boy with lots of energy did in hotel room for several hours. M. is full of energy, but he also has the ability to self-regulate and calm himself. First, we played with a balloon, batting it around and trying to keep it from touching the ground. Again, we got to here M.'s beautiful laughter! After we played with the balloon, I got out the picture album I had made for M. to show him our family, our home and his new sister and grandparents.

When it was time for lunch, we all walked down to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant had a Foosball table that cost about a quarter to play. M. wanted to play, so we did when we had finished eating. M would laugh and cheer, saying "goal, goal" no matter which side the ball went in.

After lunch, we check back in with the social worker and then returned to the hotel room and played with Playdough, and played Go Fish and Old Maid.

At 4pm. we went back to the Social Welfare Office and signed some papers about our first day visiting with M. Then the social worker rode with us to the village where M. lives with his foster family. I like seeing where M. has been living the past few years. A quaint village with houses with little gardens and grape harbors. His road is a dirt road and he directed us to his home. M.'s foster mother greeted us and invited us into the home. We got to meet M.'s foster father, foster mother, foster sister (the biological child of his foster parents) and foster grandmother. We sat down at their table and M.'s foster mother served us cookies and coffee and tea. It was nice to get to know everyone and a nice way to end the day.

Side note: M.'s foster parents are not related to M. in anyway. Just like foster parents here in the U.S., they have received training and had M. placed in their home. M. does not call them mother and father though. In Bulgaria, foster parents are trained not to become too affectionate to the foster children, and not to let the children placed in their home call them mother or father. M. calls his foster parents by their given name.

Read about our 2nd day with M. here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Saying Goodbye to E.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria or meeting our daughter E.

Andrew paid the hotel bill the night before. When the alarm went of, I didn't want to get up. I laid in bed for a few moments and a song to sing to E. popped in my head. She was always asking us to sing to her, so this song would just fit the occasion - May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.  E. wouldn't understand it's significance, but it felt like a prayer of blessing over her. I found the song on Youtube and listened and sang along as we packed up our suitcases. We had breakfast and loaded the car.  

We had been blessed with beautiful sunshine on the first 4 days together. On our last day together, it was overcast and threatening rain. As our Ivan, our interpreter said, even the weather was mourning. E. greeted us and we spent a little time outside swinging while the rain held off. The rest of our visit was spent in a room inside due to the cold. To us, E. seem a little bit different than she had the other days. Almost like she was holding herself aloof slightly, to prepare herself for our separation. E.'s psychologist and speech therapist stopped by and we had a chance to chat with them. Then we had our last time with E. The aloofness was gone and the three of us enjoyed being together for ten or so precious minutes. We sang to her and snuggled her on our laps. Then it was time to say goodbye. Andrew carried her to the front door. I still have the memory fresh in my mind of her snuggling her head on his shoulder as we walked to the door. Then she wanted me to pick her up. I lost it for a moment while I held her, but E. couldn't see my face because her head was now snuggled on my shoulder. Andrew got a tissue and wiped the silent tears from my eyes. We had group hug and individual hugs and kisses, told her how much we would miss her. That we promised we were coming back for her as soon as the documents were ready. That we loved her so much! When we walked out the door, she was saying her final good byes to Andrew and I took a few moments to take deep breaths and get my tears under control. Then I said my final good byes and we walked out the gate and got in the car. We blew E. kisses from the car as it pulled away and she waved and blew kisses back. When E. was out of site, I let myself cry. How I miss my girl so much already! How cruel it is to have to say good bye to her! (We can email and send pictures to the director over the group homes in E.'s region and E. will get them. Nice to have some communication while we are apart.)

Before we left town, Andrew had to stop at a money changer and change some dollars to levs. Then we went to the Office of Social Welfare and our translator dropped of some paperwork about our visits. All this official business help distract me.

We had a drive of around 3 hours, maybe longer, to the town we would be staying in for our visits with M. On the way, we stopped for gas for the car and sandwiches from the gas station. Andrew and I also split a cherry filed croissant. It was delicious! We went through a mountain range on a windy road. Made me carsick, so we stopped and got out for a little while. Brr. It was colder up here. 

The rain and the separation from E. had us all in a depressing mood. I am sure the drive was probably pretty and I tried to soak up my kids' country. Eventually, I fell asleep in the car for a while, laying across the bench seat with my head on Andrew's lap for a pillow. When I woke up he went to sleep.

Rain all the way to the town where we would visit our son M.

We finally arrived at the hotel. It was the only one in smaller town on the Danube River. A town that used to be a big and important but was now somewhat forgotten. The hotel looked like it was fancy back in it's day. It had dark wood  interior and a cool painted ceiling. When we arrived it was felt cold, dark, and empty. Almost spooky. We were the only guest from what we could tell. I am sure our mood didn't help our perception at all. However, the rooms seemed clean enough and that was all I cared about. We had internet too, which was an extra plus. We weren't sure that we would in this smaller town.

Hotel Lobby, photo taken a few days later on a day when the sun was shining!

The next day we were going to meet our son! That was exciting and something to cheer us up! How strange it is to feel so many emotions - to be sad about saying goodbye to E. and excited and nervous about meeting M.!

Click here to read about meeting our son M.

I know you all want to see pictures of our beautiful daughter. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with E., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish her name or photos online.