Showing posts with label kostov. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kostov. Show all posts
Friday, 22 February 2008
Balkan Expedition - Part III (Final)
We got into the café.
As fast as I could I managed to take the seat on the table nearer to the entrance. I remember just "leaving" my body on the chair, like if I had no bones in it. Nara took the seat on my left, and when we were both seated, we took a deep relief breathe - Kostov was coming to "rescue" us, in only a couple of hours! Only a couple of hours...
Anyways, I noticed Nara was OK again when she said she needed a coffee - she always needs a coffee when she's fine. She stood up, looking for the waitress, when she noticed the miner looking men were inviting both of us to join their tables. Before I could say "Nara, I think we'd better stay here", she was already heading to their table.
So, on this table there were two guys only: the most miner-looking man in the whole cafe (he was wearing a full-of-holes grey wool cap, and a huge grey jacket, with some little grey beard covering his cheeks) and his younger friend (black haired, with a black jacket on). As Nara was approaching the table, she asked "Speak english?". "English? No, no, no Engleski", the older man said. "Sprachen sie Deutsch?", he asked.
"YES!!!" Nara quickly replied, and finally took a sit at the guys table, next to the older man, facing me, just a few tables away. After the introductions (of course they mistaked her name with "Nada", as usual), she started explaining them what happened to us in our way from Serbia to Bulgaria. That was when I realised the black haired guy didn't speak any other language other than bulgarian, as his friend was translating to him what Nara was telling them. But it wasn't quite working: the two guys were so damn drunk, they were asking her again and again what happened to us and what were we doing, on a Christmas eve, in that cafe in Shabla. After having the same answer from her some three times, the man gave up and started telling about him, and started asking where we were from. "I bet you can't guess where we're from! Try to guess!", Nara said. While they were trying each and every possible european country - and Nara saying "no" to every wrong try of them, I was looking at her and shaking my head like saying "Fuck Nara, don't do that! Don't tell them where we're from!". She was looking back to me with a crazy smile on her face, like if she wasn't understanding why she shouldn't do that.
I mean, we didn't know anything about those two, they were pretty drunk, we didn't speak the same languages, we were alone in Shabla and, to make it worse, everybody knows that brazilian girls have the reputation to be easy and big arsed ones. Hehe, we are not "easy", and most certainly not big arsed girls, haha. But they didn't know that.
When she said "We're from Brazil", the two men were like "Noooo, you're not, you're lying!". Although she even showed them her student card to prove it, they didn't believe her. Then they started pointing their fingers at me and asking Nara where her friend was from. When she said Brazil, again they said she was lying.
That was when I decided I should join Nara at their table, to not leave her with them all alone. I sat right before her and beside the younger black haired guy that, as soon as I sat down, took my hand in his and raising his eyebrow with a drunken look he started saying in bulgarian "Your hands are so cold..."
"Fuck", that's what I thought, and as quick as I could I took my hand off his and put it inside my coat's pocket. He was staring at me moaning something that sounded like "Oh come on, give me your hand". Fuck again, I so wanted Kostov to arrive soon!
I then saw Nara was on a similar situation with the older man, haha. In a very, very 'restricted' german he was saying something like "I cook Berlin. 15 years. My mother sick. My daughter not house. I alone. Come to my place with me". Nara was pretending she didn't get what he really meant, saying "I need to stay and wait for my friend to pick me here, can't go anywhere else". And he said everything all over again, this time to me as well, and the younger one was still trying to get my hand again, and Nara saying "no" once more, and then ha! The younger guy took a note of 50 leva, placed on the table, and pushed it to our direction. On that moment, I think Nara realised she'd better really stop giving them the attention she was giving. She looked at me as who says "Dammit!", and I gave her back my "Yeah, dammit!" look.
She turned to the guys and said "What is that? What in the world is that???", pointing at the 50 leva. The older guy looked to his friend said something in a harsh tone of voice, turned back to us and said "I'm sorry, my friend is very drunk, he got confused, he just wanted to pay a coffee, he's confused".
"It's Ok, it's Ok", Nara replied.
Immediately the guy said again "So, come my house, I alone, my mother sick" and that was when we finally gave up, stood up, and got back to our table.
We were both nervous with the whole situation at this point. After making a nervous speech to Nara, pointing how she should never have started talking to them in the first place, we both started laughing, laughing so much, that we started crying, hahahaha. Laughing, crying, and pointing out to ourselves our bizarre situation and saying to ourselves "Kosta, please, come quickly!!".
After we managed to control ourselves, we agreed on speaking very low and not even looking at their direction til Kostov rescue us. So we did. But even so, the older guy - after realising we wouldn't go back to their table - came to us, kneelled down next to our table and started saying a bunch of things in Bulgarian. Nara was getting kinda pissed, telling me, in portuguese "I told him I only speak german, why is he still talking in bulgarian, dammit! I can't get a word!".
As soon as she said that, he stood up right away, and said "Romanian! Romania!!!" and started saying a whooooole lot of things in romanian, hahahaha. We completely forgot how much portuguese sounds like romanian and how close to the romanian border we were, dammit! Nara looked at me like who says "It doesn't matter what I say or in what language, he just won't stop". Yes, indeed he looked like he wasn't gonna stop, hehe. After a minute speaking romanian to us, he stoped, with a thoughtful look on his face, glazing at our table. That was when he saw my notebook, full of russian stuff written on it's cover. When I noticed he was staring at my notebook's cover, it was already too late: he turned to me and started speaking russian, hahahaha. I just couldn't believe that was happening, that guy was unstoppable, completely!!! The most annoying thing is that, actually, I could get quite some stuff of what he was saying, but I was holding myself back to not answer anything, or then heaven knew what could happen, haha.
Nara and I stayed completely mute, staring at the table, and after a while he gave up and got back to his table.
Thank God!
Nara and I could then start a conversation without being interrupted at every second. We were making some random drawings on my notebook, while talking about how funny it would be telling about that whole situation to our friends, hehe. All during our talk, Nara was staring at every single car that was passing before the cafe, believing it could be Kosta coming to save us, haha.
The older guy still made one last try to please us: he gave, to each one of us, an orange, a huuuge one, hahaha. And got back to his table. I remember even the waitress was laughing like crazy when he gave us the oranges, hahaha.
I was so tired, I didn't even have forces to be scared of nervous anymore, hehe. I wasn't even anxious for Kostov to come. I was simply absent. And Nara was still staring at the glass windows, hoping that each car passing by would be Kostov's.
Then, at one point, she stood up and started heading to the glass door, saying "I think it's him... It's... Yeah!! It's him, it's Kosta now!!!". And I was like "I bet it isn't. It's probably the 10th car passing by that you say it's him for sure, Nara..."
But this time she was (finally!) right: it WAS Kosta, and with his brother! Nara ran to the glass door and tried to open it, but it was locked, hahaha. She shook the door a bit, but it didn't work so she just stood at the door, with her hands and her face glued to the glass, watching Kosta and Martin approaching to the cafe. The waitress came and unlocked the door and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! We held Kosta as strongly as we could, the four of us lauging a lot as we grabbed our things and headed to his car.
After an almost two hours trip back to Varna, we arrived at his house, met his parents, and had the coolest Christmas eve of the last years :)))))))))
Needless to say, this "Shabla adventure" became the_joke among all Kostov's friend in Bulgaria, haha. I guess we will be forever remebered as the "Shabla girls", like they named us.
As fast as I could I managed to take the seat on the table nearer to the entrance. I remember just "leaving" my body on the chair, like if I had no bones in it. Nara took the seat on my left, and when we were both seated, we took a deep relief breathe - Kostov was coming to "rescue" us, in only a couple of hours! Only a couple of hours...
Anyways, I noticed Nara was OK again when she said she needed a coffee - she always needs a coffee when she's fine. She stood up, looking for the waitress, when she noticed the miner looking men were inviting both of us to join their tables. Before I could say "Nara, I think we'd better stay here", she was already heading to their table.
So, on this table there were two guys only: the most miner-looking man in the whole cafe (he was wearing a full-of-holes grey wool cap, and a huge grey jacket, with some little grey beard covering his cheeks) and his younger friend (black haired, with a black jacket on). As Nara was approaching the table, she asked "Speak english?". "English? No, no, no Engleski", the older man said. "Sprachen sie Deutsch?", he asked.
"YES!!!" Nara quickly replied, and finally took a sit at the guys table, next to the older man, facing me, just a few tables away. After the introductions (of course they mistaked her name with "Nada", as usual), she started explaining them what happened to us in our way from Serbia to Bulgaria. That was when I realised the black haired guy didn't speak any other language other than bulgarian, as his friend was translating to him what Nara was telling them. But it wasn't quite working: the two guys were so damn drunk, they were asking her again and again what happened to us and what were we doing, on a Christmas eve, in that cafe in Shabla. After having the same answer from her some three times, the man gave up and started telling about him, and started asking where we were from. "I bet you can't guess where we're from! Try to guess!", Nara said. While they were trying each and every possible european country - and Nara saying "no" to every wrong try of them, I was looking at her and shaking my head like saying "Fuck Nara, don't do that! Don't tell them where we're from!". She was looking back to me with a crazy smile on her face, like if she wasn't understanding why she shouldn't do that.
I mean, we didn't know anything about those two, they were pretty drunk, we didn't speak the same languages, we were alone in Shabla and, to make it worse, everybody knows that brazilian girls have the reputation to be easy and big arsed ones. Hehe, we are not "easy", and most certainly not big arsed girls, haha. But they didn't know that.
When she said "We're from Brazil", the two men were like "Noooo, you're not, you're lying!". Although she even showed them her student card to prove it, they didn't believe her. Then they started pointing their fingers at me and asking Nara where her friend was from. When she said Brazil, again they said she was lying.
That was when I decided I should join Nara at their table, to not leave her with them all alone. I sat right before her and beside the younger black haired guy that, as soon as I sat down, took my hand in his and raising his eyebrow with a drunken look he started saying in bulgarian "Your hands are so cold..."
"Fuck", that's what I thought, and as quick as I could I took my hand off his and put it inside my coat's pocket. He was staring at me moaning something that sounded like "Oh come on, give me your hand". Fuck again, I so wanted Kostov to arrive soon!
I then saw Nara was on a similar situation with the older man, haha. In a very, very 'restricted' german he was saying something like "I cook Berlin. 15 years. My mother sick. My daughter not house. I alone. Come to my place with me". Nara was pretending she didn't get what he really meant, saying "I need to stay and wait for my friend to pick me here, can't go anywhere else". And he said everything all over again, this time to me as well, and the younger one was still trying to get my hand again, and Nara saying "no" once more, and then ha! The younger guy took a note of 50 leva, placed on the table, and pushed it to our direction. On that moment, I think Nara realised she'd better really stop giving them the attention she was giving. She looked at me as who says "Dammit!", and I gave her back my "Yeah, dammit!" look.
She turned to the guys and said "What is that? What in the world is that???", pointing at the 50 leva. The older guy looked to his friend said something in a harsh tone of voice, turned back to us and said "I'm sorry, my friend is very drunk, he got confused, he just wanted to pay a coffee, he's confused".
"It's Ok, it's Ok", Nara replied.
Immediately the guy said again "So, come my house, I alone, my mother sick" and that was when we finally gave up, stood up, and got back to our table.
We were both nervous with the whole situation at this point. After making a nervous speech to Nara, pointing how she should never have started talking to them in the first place, we both started laughing, laughing so much, that we started crying, hahahaha. Laughing, crying, and pointing out to ourselves our bizarre situation and saying to ourselves "Kosta, please, come quickly!!".
After we managed to control ourselves, we agreed on speaking very low and not even looking at their direction til Kostov rescue us. So we did. But even so, the older guy - after realising we wouldn't go back to their table - came to us, kneelled down next to our table and started saying a bunch of things in Bulgarian. Nara was getting kinda pissed, telling me, in portuguese "I told him I only speak german, why is he still talking in bulgarian, dammit! I can't get a word!".
As soon as she said that, he stood up right away, and said "Romanian! Romania!!!" and started saying a whooooole lot of things in romanian, hahahaha. We completely forgot how much portuguese sounds like romanian and how close to the romanian border we were, dammit! Nara looked at me like who says "It doesn't matter what I say or in what language, he just won't stop". Yes, indeed he looked like he wasn't gonna stop, hehe. After a minute speaking romanian to us, he stoped, with a thoughtful look on his face, glazing at our table. That was when he saw my notebook, full of russian stuff written on it's cover. When I noticed he was staring at my notebook's cover, it was already too late: he turned to me and started speaking russian, hahahaha. I just couldn't believe that was happening, that guy was unstoppable, completely!!! The most annoying thing is that, actually, I could get quite some stuff of what he was saying, but I was holding myself back to not answer anything, or then heaven knew what could happen, haha.
Nara and I stayed completely mute, staring at the table, and after a while he gave up and got back to his table.
Thank God!
Nara and I could then start a conversation without being interrupted at every second. We were making some random drawings on my notebook, while talking about how funny it would be telling about that whole situation to our friends, hehe. All during our talk, Nara was staring at every single car that was passing before the cafe, believing it could be Kosta coming to save us, haha.
The older guy still made one last try to please us: he gave, to each one of us, an orange, a huuuge one, hahaha. And got back to his table. I remember even the waitress was laughing like crazy when he gave us the oranges, hahaha.
I was so tired, I didn't even have forces to be scared of nervous anymore, hehe. I wasn't even anxious for Kostov to come. I was simply absent. And Nara was still staring at the glass windows, hoping that each car passing by would be Kostov's.
Then, at one point, she stood up and started heading to the glass door, saying "I think it's him... It's... Yeah!! It's him, it's Kosta now!!!". And I was like "I bet it isn't. It's probably the 10th car passing by that you say it's him for sure, Nara..."
But this time she was (finally!) right: it WAS Kosta, and with his brother! Nara ran to the glass door and tried to open it, but it was locked, hahaha. She shook the door a bit, but it didn't work so she just stood at the door, with her hands and her face glued to the glass, watching Kosta and Martin approaching to the cafe. The waitress came and unlocked the door and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! We held Kosta as strongly as we could, the four of us lauging a lot as we grabbed our things and headed to his car.
After an almost two hours trip back to Varna, we arrived at his house, met his parents, and had the coolest Christmas eve of the last years :)))))))))
Needless to say, this "Shabla adventure" became the_joke among all Kostov's friend in Bulgaria, haha. I guess we will be forever remebered as the "Shabla girls", like they named us.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
...e a Teta encheu a cara...
Haha, como o Kostov vivia me dizendo que iria acontecer, aconteceu: os Balkans fizeram eu me render ao alcool. Sim, sim: Teta, que nunca, nunca bebe sequer uma gotinhazinha de alcool, agora bebe. Muitas goticulas, hehehe.
O Pai do Kostov eh o culpado - ficou lah, me seduzindo em russo (ele soh falava em russo ou ingles com a gente, haha), dizendo "chut-chut, chut-chut" (significa "soh um pouquinho, soh um pouquinho", em russo) e pah: bebi vinho no Natal, bolas.
De volta pra Belgrado, a coisa foi ficando intensa: no primeiro dia de kafana com a Fecula, o Rodrigo em Belgrado, eu fiquei consideravelmente altinha, haha. E no ano novo, a coisa desandou bonito: entornei, sozinha, uma garrafa inteira de vinho, bebendo no gargalo, hahahaha. Fiquei torta como nunca. A unica coisa que me lembro bem dessa noite eh de mim e do Tomica, 6 da manha, parados no meio de um cruzamento vaziiiiio, debaixo de neve pesada, rindo feito dois pamonhas de nada e esperando por um taxi que nao veio, hahahahahahaha. Lembro tambem da minha odisseia pra subir a ladeira coberta por 20 cm de neve, as 7 da manha, sem escorregar, hehehe.
Depois disso a coisa ficou frenetica, vinho todo dia, soh pra constar. E o segundo porre fenomenal foi no ultimo dia de Kafana antes da Fecula e do Rodrigo irem embora: litro e meio de vinho, kolo, acordeon, Titos rodopiando na parede, festa de rock, casacos perdidos, hamburguer as 4 e meia da matina, cartazes (lindamente) vandalizados pela Fequinho com neve, crises de riso e festa no albergue, ateh de manha. E eh claro, uma dor de cabeca filadaputa dia seguinte, olheiras, cara amassada e por aih vai.
E o pior? Eh que eh bom, hahahaha.
Amo muito tudo isso.
O Pai do Kostov eh o culpado - ficou lah, me seduzindo em russo (ele soh falava em russo ou ingles com a gente, haha), dizendo "chut-chut, chut-chut" (significa "soh um pouquinho, soh um pouquinho", em russo) e pah: bebi vinho no Natal, bolas.
De volta pra Belgrado, a coisa foi ficando intensa: no primeiro dia de kafana com a Fecula, o Rodrigo em Belgrado, eu fiquei consideravelmente altinha, haha. E no ano novo, a coisa desandou bonito: entornei, sozinha, uma garrafa inteira de vinho, bebendo no gargalo, hahahaha. Fiquei torta como nunca. A unica coisa que me lembro bem dessa noite eh de mim e do Tomica, 6 da manha, parados no meio de um cruzamento vaziiiiio, debaixo de neve pesada, rindo feito dois pamonhas de nada e esperando por um taxi que nao veio, hahahahahahaha. Lembro tambem da minha odisseia pra subir a ladeira coberta por 20 cm de neve, as 7 da manha, sem escorregar, hehehe.
Depois disso a coisa ficou frenetica, vinho todo dia, soh pra constar. E o segundo porre fenomenal foi no ultimo dia de Kafana antes da Fecula e do Rodrigo irem embora: litro e meio de vinho, kolo, acordeon, Titos rodopiando na parede, festa de rock, casacos perdidos, hamburguer as 4 e meia da matina, cartazes (lindamente) vandalizados pela Fequinho com neve, crises de riso e festa no albergue, ateh de manha. E eh claro, uma dor de cabeca filadaputa dia seguinte, olheiras, cara amassada e por aih vai.
E o pior? Eh que eh bom, hahahaha.
Amo muito tudo isso.
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Balkan Expedition - part II
There were so, but sooooo many guiches in the bus station, that I got a bit confused. I decided then to go to the "Information" desk (yes, "information" in english, written exactly like this), and ask for some help. "Speak english?", I asked. The woman on the information desk made me a sick face and said a dry "Ne". Bastard. I gave up asking for help and started roaming around the bus station, passing guiche by guiche, trying to find "Varna" written in cyrillic. After several minutes I finally came across "Варна" written in one of the guiches and bought two tickets, for 26 Leva (something around US$ 20 dollars), departuring at 9 am. We had something like and hour and 20 minutes til then.
With the tickets in hands and some spare time, Nara and I decided that it was time to call Kostovinski e tell him at what time we would be arriving in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station when we arrive. From Sofia to Varna it's a 7 hours trip, which meant we would be arriving there around 4 in the afternoon. We went to a public telephone and tried to call, but somehow it wasn't working, at all! We tried all the possible codes to make the phone call, exactly like Kosta told us to do, but it simply wasn't working! When I was on my 10th try, Nara suddenly held my arm strongly, with a scared look on her face and said "Teta... Bad news..."
I was breathless for a second. "What is it Nara??", I asked. She said "It's 2 minutes to 9 o clock".
I said "So what?!" but then, immediately I realised: fuck!!! Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Serbia, and I completely forgot to set my mobile clock to the right time!!! That meant we had exactly 2 minutes to get to our platform and get into our bus! We got all our things and bags as fast as we could, coats and everything, and ran as fast as possible to the platform number 8. But alas: even though we were officially a minute before the departure time, our bus to Varna wasn't there. Get the picture: Nara and I, standing on the empty platform, disappointed faces on, with our coats wrongly buttoned up and scarfs badly tied, holding our baggage in the clumsiest way possible, with heavy snow falling over our heads. I wish somebody would have taken a photo of that moment. Even my gloves were not correctly on, I was probably looking like Monty Python's Dr. Gumby or something similar.
With the tickets in hands and some spare time, Nara and I decided that it was time to call Kostovinski e tell him at what time we would be arriving in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station when we arrive. From Sofia to Varna it's a 7 hours trip, which meant we would be arriving there around 4 in the afternoon. We went to a public telephone and tried to call, but somehow it wasn't working, at all! We tried all the possible codes to make the phone call, exactly like Kosta told us to do, but it simply wasn't working! When I was on my 10th try, Nara suddenly held my arm strongly, with a scared look on her face and said "Teta... Bad news..."
I was breathless for a second. "What is it Nara??", I asked. She said "It's 2 minutes to 9 o clock".
I said "So what?!" but then, immediately I realised: fuck!!! Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Serbia, and I completely forgot to set my mobile clock to the right time!!! That meant we had exactly 2 minutes to get to our platform and get into our bus! We got all our things and bags as fast as we could, coats and everything, and ran as fast as possible to the platform number 8. But alas: even though we were officially a minute before the departure time, our bus to Varna wasn't there. Get the picture: Nara and I, standing on the empty platform, disappointed faces on, with our coats wrongly buttoned up and scarfs badly tied, holding our baggage in the clumsiest way possible, with heavy snow falling over our heads. I wish somebody would have taken a photo of that moment. Even my gloves were not correctly on, I was probably looking like Monty Python's Dr. Gumby or something similar.
Then we thought that perhaps the bus was late or something. But no. We waited for 15 minutes and nothing came, at all. So we went inside the station again as outside was far too snowy and muddy for us, and started the expedition to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - cause that one where we bought our "lost" tickets had only one daily bus to Varna.
After 20 minutes having to put up with people making sick faces at me when I had to switch from my shitty russian speaking to english (after all, my russian is far, faaar away from being enough for such things and even so, bulgarian is quite different), I finally made it to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - the next one departuring at 10:30 in the morning. We had almost one hour til then, this time with clocks correctly set to the right time, hehe.
We went to the second floor of the station to try and find a functioning public telephone. We were excited as never when we saw a shop with a huuuge display saying "internet and international phone calls". But as it was too good to be true, of course it was closed and nobody could tell us when it would be opened.
When it was 10:10 we ran to the platform and to our happyness, this time our bus was there: bright and shinny, waiting for us! Now, this bus was waaaaay better and modern, comparing to the one that took us from Belgrade to Nis - and we had plenty of space to place our legs! If there's one thing that drives me crazy is not having space enough for the legs inside buses.
But well, there we were: sitting (almost) comfortable inside the warm, cozy bus, heading from the Bulgarian capital to Varna, on the other side of the country, as you can see in the map below:
After 20 minutes having to put up with people making sick faces at me when I had to switch from my shitty russian speaking to english (after all, my russian is far, faaar away from being enough for such things and even so, bulgarian is quite different), I finally made it to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - the next one departuring at 10:30 in the morning. We had almost one hour til then, this time with clocks correctly set to the right time, hehe.
We went to the second floor of the station to try and find a functioning public telephone. We were excited as never when we saw a shop with a huuuge display saying "internet and international phone calls". But as it was too good to be true, of course it was closed and nobody could tell us when it would be opened.
When it was 10:10 we ran to the platform and to our happyness, this time our bus was there: bright and shinny, waiting for us! Now, this bus was waaaaay better and modern, comparing to the one that took us from Belgrade to Nis - and we had plenty of space to place our legs! If there's one thing that drives me crazy is not having space enough for the legs inside buses.
But well, there we were: sitting (almost) comfortable inside the warm, cozy bus, heading from the Bulgarian capital to Varna, on the other side of the country, as you can see in the map below:
(Click on the map to enlarge)
During the trip - between the several stops the bus made, admiring the beautiful and white balkan landscape and taking some short naps - I was trying to call Kosta from my serbian mobile phone. After trying tones of times, I realised I wasn't managing to call him because I had run out of credits - damnit! Now our only chance to talk to him was to wait for him to call us. Hoping that he would realise that I didn't have credits (and then, call me) made me aprehensive all the rest of the trip.
When it was around half past four in the afternoon, my mobile finally ringed and yes, it was Kosta himself calling us!!
K - Tchetche!
M - Kostinho!
K - Heeeeeeeeeeeey!
M - Heeeeeeeeeey!
K - Bonitchinhas!
M - Saudades, "Julinho"!
K - How are you doing? How's the trip?
M - Just great!
K - I'm so glad you're coming! My whole family is already waiting for you two!
M - And we just can't wait to meet all your people! The view from the bus is so amazing!
K - And at what time are you arriving, after all? Where exactly are you now?
When it was around half past four in the afternoon, my mobile finally ringed and yes, it was Kosta himself calling us!!
K - Tchetche!
M - Kostinho!
K - Heeeeeeeeeeeey!
M - Heeeeeeeeeey!
K - Bonitchinhas!
M - Saudades, "Julinho"!
K - How are you doing? How's the trip?
M - Just great!
K - I'm so glad you're coming! My whole family is already waiting for you two!
M - And we just can't wait to meet all your people! The view from the bus is so amazing!
K - And at what time are you arriving, after all? Where exactly are you now?
When I was about to answer, the phonecall was suddenly interrupted.
I was swearing all the dirty words I could remember (in portuguese, of course), and so mad I felt like destroying my mobile. Again we were hoping he would call back at anytime soon. But he didn't: instead he sent me a message, asking me to call him as soon as we were in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station. Fuck again!!!
I was swearing all the dirty words I could remember (in portuguese, of course), and so mad I felt like destroying my mobile. Again we were hoping he would call back at anytime soon. But he didn't: instead he sent me a message, asking me to call him as soon as we were in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station. Fuck again!!!
At this time of the trip, the sky was already getting pretty dark - winter days are soooo short... The bus' lights soon were very low, almost off, and then Nara and I, tired and exhausted, fell asleep. That was when the real adventure started.
I woke up all of a sudden, like if somebody had called my name or something like that, but no. Nara was asleep in the seat next to mine and, to my surprise (and later, to my despair) the bus - that was pretty full when we left Sofia - was now almost completely empty: beside us two, only a young bulgarian couple were still there with us. One of the two bus drivers (obviously the one that wasn't driving at that moment) came to us and started asking a lot of things in Bulgarian. I had to concentrante and pay huuuge attention to what he was asking, and I understood that he wanted to know where were we going to. "Varna", I replied.
The guy turned completely white, opened his eyes wide, asking me back "Varna? Varna??? Oj Boze, Boze!!". He started walking from side to side and talking to himself, very nervously. I was so, but so in shock I couldn't say a word. I looked at Nara, and for the look on her face I could see that, like me, she had just realised what had happened: we missed our stop in Varna and we were now heading to some other city.
I turned to Nara and asked "What are we gonna do now?!" and she replyed "I don't know, I have no idea...". At this moment, the guy was talking to that couple that was still in the bus with us, and the girl stood up from her seat and came to us, followed by him. When she got closer, I explained her (in english, of course) that we were going to Varna and before I could finish my sentence, she said "Hey, Varna was 80 kilometers ago. The next and last stop is still 30 kilometers away, in Shabla".
The guy turned completely white, opened his eyes wide, asking me back "Varna? Varna??? Oj Boze, Boze!!". He started walking from side to side and talking to himself, very nervously. I was so, but so in shock I couldn't say a word. I looked at Nara, and for the look on her face I could see that, like me, she had just realised what had happened: we missed our stop in Varna and we were now heading to some other city.
I turned to Nara and asked "What are we gonna do now?!" and she replyed "I don't know, I have no idea...". At this moment, the guy was talking to that couple that was still in the bus with us, and the girl stood up from her seat and came to us, followed by him. When she got closer, I explained her (in english, of course) that we were going to Varna and before I could finish my sentence, she said "Hey, Varna was 80 kilometers ago. The next and last stop is still 30 kilometers away, in Shabla".
Shabla. Sha-bla. S h a b l a . . .
I asked her if she knew of a bus from Shabla to Varna still on that day, she said "Only tomorrow morning, at 5 am".
Fantastic. We were supposed to spend Christmas eve with Kosta and his family and now we were heading to heaven knew where, and without being able to reach Kosta on his phone number. Could it get any worse?
After a while, the bus finally stopped. The couple went out, and Nara and I were even more desperate then before. Nara went to the bus driver and started trying every language she could, haha. When she realised that she would have to speak bulgarian, she freaked out and her eyes were almost crying. The bus driver was SO nervous with the whole situation that he hit her on her shoulder rather strongly, twice, and said something in bulgarian that, in that context, it could be only "Wait, wait and stay calm!".
He went off the bus, and started walking in the icy, melted snow, looking down and smoking heavly. We went off the bus too, and looked around.
Have any of you guys ever watched "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert"? Do you remember the cities they would have to go to, during the film, that were nothing more than a square, a church, and 24 hour bar? So, that was Shabla. The only difference is that it was covered in mud, snow and dry, leaf-less pine trees. But then, something came out to our view, like a light in the end of the tunel: a big display saying "Internet and international phone calls".
Nara quickly took her purse and went to the bus driver, asking him to wait a bit that she was going to make a phone call. Heaven knows how, he got the "phone call" part of her speech, and asked her to wait. He took his mobile phone on his hand, and gave it to Nara, so we could call from it! I ran inside the bus and took my notebook with the phone numbers, and the bus driver dialled for us. We waited several seconds, and it didn't work. He dialled again, and again no answer. When we were about to start freaking out again, his mobile phone ringed - it could only be Kostov calling back - and this time, it really was!!! The bus driver passed me his mobile and hearing Kostovinski again was a relief:
He went off the bus, and started walking in the icy, melted snow, looking down and smoking heavly. We went off the bus too, and looked around.
Have any of you guys ever watched "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert"? Do you remember the cities they would have to go to, during the film, that were nothing more than a square, a church, and 24 hour bar? So, that was Shabla. The only difference is that it was covered in mud, snow and dry, leaf-less pine trees. But then, something came out to our view, like a light in the end of the tunel: a big display saying "Internet and international phone calls".
Nara quickly took her purse and went to the bus driver, asking him to wait a bit that she was going to make a phone call. Heaven knows how, he got the "phone call" part of her speech, and asked her to wait. He took his mobile phone on his hand, and gave it to Nara, so we could call from it! I ran inside the bus and took my notebook with the phone numbers, and the bus driver dialled for us. We waited several seconds, and it didn't work. He dialled again, and again no answer. When we were about to start freaking out again, his mobile phone ringed - it could only be Kostov calling back - and this time, it really was!!! The bus driver passed me his mobile and hearing Kostovinski again was a relief:
K - Tete!
M - Kosta!!!
K - What happened? Why you didn't call me back, or messaged me?
M - My serbian mobile phone went out of credits and the german one wasn't working here in Bulgaria...
K - Yeah, I thought so. I tried to call you, but it didn't work. Where are you now, after all?? It's 7 pm, are you close to Varna or?
M - Well, it happens that, hmm, we missed the stop in Varna...
K - You missed Varna?? How come?! It's probably the biggest stop after Sofia! Where are you now???
M - We're at... Ahm... Shabla.
K - You're in fucking Shabla?!?!
M - Yeah...
K - Fuck!
M - Yes, yes, fuck!
K - I can't believe it, oh god
M - I can't believe it either, believe me.
K - Do you know where Shabla is?
M - No?
K - Good for you, then. You're 15 kilometers from the romanian border, Tete...
M - Fu - cking - hell . . .
K - Yes, you get it... Where exactly in Shabla are you now?
I passed the phone to the bus driver, as he would most certainly know where we were better than me. After a minute talking to Kosta, he gave me back his mobile, and Kostov just asked us to wait inside one of the (only) two cafes/bar of the city, that in about 1 and a half or two hours, the most, he would be getting there by car to pick us.
M - Kosta!!!
K - What happened? Why you didn't call me back, or messaged me?
M - My serbian mobile phone went out of credits and the german one wasn't working here in Bulgaria...
K - Yeah, I thought so. I tried to call you, but it didn't work. Where are you now, after all?? It's 7 pm, are you close to Varna or?
M - Well, it happens that, hmm, we missed the stop in Varna...
K - You missed Varna?? How come?! It's probably the biggest stop after Sofia! Where are you now???
M - We're at... Ahm... Shabla.
K - You're in fucking Shabla?!?!
M - Yeah...
K - Fuck!
M - Yes, yes, fuck!
K - I can't believe it, oh god
M - I can't believe it either, believe me.
K - Do you know where Shabla is?
M - No?
K - Good for you, then. You're 15 kilometers from the romanian border, Tete...
M - Fu - cking - hell . . .
K - Yes, you get it... Where exactly in Shabla are you now?
I passed the phone to the bus driver, as he would most certainly know where we were better than me. After a minute talking to Kosta, he gave me back his mobile, and Kostov just asked us to wait inside one of the (only) two cafes/bar of the city, that in about 1 and a half or two hours, the most, he would be getting there by car to pick us.
R e l i e f. I was so relieved to have talked to him and to know that he would be there to rescue us anytime soon!
Only at this point I could stop and analise the whole trip we were taking (since we left Belgrade til then) and damit, I could help but laughing. I was laughing so loud and hard, I started crying, hahahaha. The whole situation was SO completely surreal: when in my entire life I would imagine that I'd be lost in Bulgaria, almost at the romanian border, with Nara, on a Christmas eve?!
Only at this point I could stop and analise the whole trip we were taking (since we left Belgrade til then) and damit, I could help but laughing. I was laughing so loud and hard, I started crying, hahahaha. The whole situation was SO completely surreal: when in my entire life I would imagine that I'd be lost in Bulgaria, almost at the romanian border, with Nara, on a Christmas eve?!
After crossing the large square from side to side, we finally reached the cafe. When we got in, again I felt like in the movie "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert": there were only men in the cafe, miner looking ones, with deep drunk look on their faces. Faces those now completely turned to the door, where me and Nara were standing, over-thinking if we should really get in there. I remember myself saying a long "puta que pariu", and Nara confirming and repeating what I had just said "Ehhh, puta que pariu mesmo".
Anyways, we got in and took a table.
(3rd and last part at anytime soon)
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Gogol Bordello + balkanXpress = ...
O que dizer do show e da festa noite passada? Ainda estou com os pés doloridos, cheirando a cigarro e vodka (e eu näo bebo e näo fumo!) e ainda sem palavras pra dizer o quäo maravilhoso foi :))))))))))))))
E amanhä... Sérvia! :))))))))))))))
What can I say about the gig and the party last night? My feet still hurt, I am still smelling like cigarettes and vodka (and I don´t drink and don´t smoke!) and I still can´t find words to say how wonderful it was :))))))))))))))
And tomorrow... Serbia! :))))))))))))))
E amanhä... Sérvia! :))))))))))))))
What can I say about the gig and the party last night? My feet still hurt, I am still smelling like cigarettes and vodka (and I don´t drink and don´t smoke!) and I still can´t find words to say how wonderful it was :))))))))))))))
And tomorrow... Serbia! :))))))))))))))
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Rainy Cologne...
Assim que acordamos corremos pra estacäo de trem, pra encontrar a Val - uma amiga de myspace que fiz pouco antes de viajar, e que ficou muito pilhada pra vir pra Colônia me conhecer - fanática, até o talo, por Balkans, assim como eu e a Nara. A mäe dela é polonesa, na verdade, e ela é dancarina, volta e meia tá dancando nas festas de música dos balkans mais cool pela Europa afora.
Enfim, marcamos 1 hora na estacäo central, e o pior aconteceu: näo nos encontramos! E o pior do pior: meu celular ficou bloqueado, porque eu näo me lembrava o pin pra re-ligar ele. Ficamos 1 hora e meia rodando pela estacäo, e nada de Val. O pior é que o Kosta tinha ficado de me ligar também... Voltei pra casa, puta da vida e chateada, afinal a menina se despencou da Bélgica pra vir me ver... Assim que peguei o pin do maldito celular, em casa, liguei pra ela. Pra minha sorte ela ainda estava em Colônia, esperando dar a hora do trem de volta pra Liége, a cidade dela. Marquei com ela no mesmo lugar que tinha acabado de marcar com Kostinho Maluco, e pá! FINALMENTE conseguimos nos achar, e foi super!
Saímos todos juntos pra tomar um chá/café, conversamos um bocado, sobre música, basicamente, e ela nos convidou pra ir na cidade dela quando voltarmos pra alemanha, no finalzinho da nossa viagem. Talvez a gente vá mesmo, afinal, por 28 euros ida e volta, vale mais do que a pena, pra passar uma tarde batendo pernas em Liége e dancando Kolo ;)
Aliás, estamos cigitando um pulinho na Grécia também. Kostinho vai estar tocando lá logo anates do natal, numa puta festa. E além do mais, o Vasilis me chamou pra passar lá e ficar na casa dele, com quem mais eu quiser levar, yay! Thessaloniki deve ser fabuloso, vou pensar com muito carinho nessa possibilidade...
E domingo... A Sérvia nos espera!
AI ZEZUS!!!
Monday, 3 December 2007
Resumo da viagem até segunda feira de manhä (post atrasado, hehe)
Resumo da viagem até segunda feira de manhä (post atrasado, hehe)
Bom, postando com um pouco mais de calma agora...
Estávamos na casa do Kostov agora, ajudando ele com uns posters pra balkanXpress de sexta feira agora, que vai ser, aliás, a "after party" oficial do show do Gogol Bordello. Quem vai tocar com o Kosta vai ser o Click, DJ francês, o mais famoso e o melhor (na minha opiniäo) de música dos balkans e oriental. Vai ser um arraso, com certeza!
Mas bem, vamos à um resumo rápido dos últimos dias nossos aqui.
Na quinta feira chegamos em Colônia na hora do almoco, mais ou menos, depois de uma rapidíssima parada em Paris, aonde pegamos a conexäo pra Düsseldorf. Kostovinski foi nos pegar no aeroporto, e de lá fomos de trem e metrô até Colônia, coisa de meia hora, no máximo. Pegamos uma espécie de trem aonde os trilhos ficam em cima, muito "do futuro", haha. Chegamos em Colônia por volta de 13 horas. Kosta nos deixou no hotel que ele reservou pro nosso primeiro dia aqui e teve que sair correndo pra ir pra rádio, trabalhar. O hotel era super jeitoso e espacoso e do futuro também, hehe. Portas com código e tal, adorei. Eu e Nara saímos pra bater perna pela cidade até a hora de voltar pro hotel, nos arrumarmos e irmos jantar com o Kosta no restaurante preferido dele - Alkazar, se a memória näo me falha. Um fenômeno de restaurante! Comida típica alemä, tudo mui fino, e o melhor: BARATO!!! Comemos muuuito, e mal deu 40 euros! De lá fomos pro bar/clube Barracuda, aonde o Kosta ia tocar com o Kaska, DJ brasileiro, porém residente em barcelona nos últimos anos. Foi fodíssimo! Conhecemos a turminha eslava do Kostov, gente de todo lugar da europa oriental: Ucrânia, Rússia, Sérvia, Bulgária, Polônia, e etc etc. As melhores pessoas que conheci aqui até agora! Os alemäes säo terrivelmente sem sal, mas os eslavos säo fodas e animam qualquer lugar, haha. Bom, depois da festa no barrucuda voltei pra casa torta de sono e ainda semi-arrasada da viagem de 14 horas de aviäo. Dormi como uma pedra até meio dia do dia seguinte, atrasada pra fazer o check out no hotel e ir pra casa da Katja.
A estadia na casa da Katja foi maravilhosa! Ela é, como já disse, um amor de pessoa. No primeiro dia, assim que soube que a gente gostava de cozinha russa, ela fez um jantar lindo pra gente, com Borsch e um prato ucraniano fenomenal, pro qual eu peguei a receita até. Dia seguinte saímos pra ver vitrines, andamos loucamente pra ver livros, comemos tortas finas num café lindo nas redondezas - a confeiteira chefe é russa - fomos ao mercado e etc etc.
Hoje pela manhä, antes de irmos embora, trocamos roupas e bijouterias, hahaha - descobrimos a paixäo comum por roupas e coisas de brechó, em geral. Ela me deu uma calca de montaria que ela comprou num brechó que é assim, breathtaking! e cabe certinho em mim, um pouquinho larga só! \o/
Ontem à tarde fomos todos nos encontrar num café, aonde conhecemos mais amigos eslavos do Kosta de da Katja, e inclusive amigos gregos e romenos também, que säo pessoas igualmente queridas. O grego, Spiros, inclusive nos convenceu a dar uma esticadinha pra Grécia quando estivermos em Ohrid, na Macedônia, hehe. Eu e Nara vamos ver se dá pra fazer mesmo. Mas acredito que sim, porque tenho amigo na Grécia, e ele já havia me dito que näo seria um prazer nos ter com ele por uns dias. Vamos ver se rola...
Hoje nos mudamos pra casa da Anja que, pra minha surpresa, é portuguesa, hahaha. Portuguesa e näo fala uma palavra de português, o que deixa tudo mais surreal ainda. Muito simpática também, amiga das antigas do Kosta. Acho que amanhä a gente vai cozinhar pra ela, eu Nara e Kostinho :)
No sábado Kosta tocou no clube Tsunami, e lá fomos nós! A música foi fantástica, como näo podia ser diferente quando se trata do Kostinho. Mas o público alemäo é uma porcaria! Eles näo dancam, por mais que esteja estampado na cara deles que eles estäo se contorcendo de vontade de dancar, haha. Dá agonia, vontade de chegar e sacudir eles pra ver se pegam no tranco!
Enfim, saímos de lá por volta das 5:30, o que nos custou a manhä seguinte toda de "sono extra".
Noite seguinte fomos com o Kaska bater perna perna pela cidade. Nos perdemos, nos deram as chaves erradas do apartamento do Kostov e tivemos que gritar pelo vizinho, depois comecou a chover loucamente e a gente näo achava o clube Lotta, achamos o clube, dancamos, e acabamos a noite comendo burek (!!!) na loja do Iraquiano da esquina, com o Kostov e o amigo dele, também DJ, porém alemäo. E depois...
Tenho que sair voada agora, meu tempo online tá acabando. Depois conto mais ;)
Bom, postando com um pouco mais de calma agora...
Estávamos na casa do Kostov agora, ajudando ele com uns posters pra balkanXpress de sexta feira agora, que vai ser, aliás, a "after party" oficial do show do Gogol Bordello. Quem vai tocar com o Kosta vai ser o Click, DJ francês, o mais famoso e o melhor (na minha opiniäo) de música dos balkans e oriental. Vai ser um arraso, com certeza!
Mas bem, vamos à um resumo rápido dos últimos dias nossos aqui.
Na quinta feira chegamos em Colônia na hora do almoco, mais ou menos, depois de uma rapidíssima parada em Paris, aonde pegamos a conexäo pra Düsseldorf. Kostovinski foi nos pegar no aeroporto, e de lá fomos de trem e metrô até Colônia, coisa de meia hora, no máximo. Pegamos uma espécie de trem aonde os trilhos ficam em cima, muito "do futuro", haha. Chegamos em Colônia por volta de 13 horas. Kosta nos deixou no hotel que ele reservou pro nosso primeiro dia aqui e teve que sair correndo pra ir pra rádio, trabalhar. O hotel era super jeitoso e espacoso e do futuro também, hehe. Portas com código e tal, adorei. Eu e Nara saímos pra bater perna pela cidade até a hora de voltar pro hotel, nos arrumarmos e irmos jantar com o Kosta no restaurante preferido dele - Alkazar, se a memória näo me falha. Um fenômeno de restaurante! Comida típica alemä, tudo mui fino, e o melhor: BARATO!!! Comemos muuuito, e mal deu 40 euros! De lá fomos pro bar/clube Barracuda, aonde o Kosta ia tocar com o Kaska, DJ brasileiro, porém residente em barcelona nos últimos anos. Foi fodíssimo! Conhecemos a turminha eslava do Kostov, gente de todo lugar da europa oriental: Ucrânia, Rússia, Sérvia, Bulgária, Polônia, e etc etc. As melhores pessoas que conheci aqui até agora! Os alemäes säo terrivelmente sem sal, mas os eslavos säo fodas e animam qualquer lugar, haha. Bom, depois da festa no barrucuda voltei pra casa torta de sono e ainda semi-arrasada da viagem de 14 horas de aviäo. Dormi como uma pedra até meio dia do dia seguinte, atrasada pra fazer o check out no hotel e ir pra casa da Katja.
A estadia na casa da Katja foi maravilhosa! Ela é, como já disse, um amor de pessoa. No primeiro dia, assim que soube que a gente gostava de cozinha russa, ela fez um jantar lindo pra gente, com Borsch e um prato ucraniano fenomenal, pro qual eu peguei a receita até. Dia seguinte saímos pra ver vitrines, andamos loucamente pra ver livros, comemos tortas finas num café lindo nas redondezas - a confeiteira chefe é russa - fomos ao mercado e etc etc.
Hoje pela manhä, antes de irmos embora, trocamos roupas e bijouterias, hahaha - descobrimos a paixäo comum por roupas e coisas de brechó, em geral. Ela me deu uma calca de montaria que ela comprou num brechó que é assim, breathtaking! e cabe certinho em mim, um pouquinho larga só! \o/
Ontem à tarde fomos todos nos encontrar num café, aonde conhecemos mais amigos eslavos do Kosta de da Katja, e inclusive amigos gregos e romenos também, que säo pessoas igualmente queridas. O grego, Spiros, inclusive nos convenceu a dar uma esticadinha pra Grécia quando estivermos em Ohrid, na Macedônia, hehe. Eu e Nara vamos ver se dá pra fazer mesmo. Mas acredito que sim, porque tenho amigo na Grécia, e ele já havia me dito que näo seria um prazer nos ter com ele por uns dias. Vamos ver se rola...
Hoje nos mudamos pra casa da Anja que, pra minha surpresa, é portuguesa, hahaha. Portuguesa e näo fala uma palavra de português, o que deixa tudo mais surreal ainda. Muito simpática também, amiga das antigas do Kosta. Acho que amanhä a gente vai cozinhar pra ela, eu Nara e Kostinho :)
No sábado Kosta tocou no clube Tsunami, e lá fomos nós! A música foi fantástica, como näo podia ser diferente quando se trata do Kostinho. Mas o público alemäo é uma porcaria! Eles näo dancam, por mais que esteja estampado na cara deles que eles estäo se contorcendo de vontade de dancar, haha. Dá agonia, vontade de chegar e sacudir eles pra ver se pegam no tranco!
Enfim, saímos de lá por volta das 5:30, o que nos custou a manhä seguinte toda de "sono extra".
Noite seguinte fomos com o Kaska bater perna perna pela cidade. Nos perdemos, nos deram as chaves erradas do apartamento do Kostov e tivemos que gritar pelo vizinho, depois comecou a chover loucamente e a gente näo achava o clube Lotta, achamos o clube, dancamos, e acabamos a noite comendo burek (!!!) na loja do Iraquiano da esquina, com o Kostov e o amigo dele, também DJ, porém alemäo. E depois...
Tenho que sair voada agora, meu tempo online tá acabando. Depois conto mais ;)
Primeiro post! - First post!
Caros leitores,
Me encontro em Colônia agora, em casa de Katja, uma amiga Russa (do Uzbequistao, na verdade) do Kostov. Um amor de pessoa, e o marido dela - Peter, alemäo - um amor também. Daqui há pouco me "mudo" para a casa da Anja, também amiga do Kostov e também eslava, ao menos pelo que o nome sugere.
Sol em Colônia hoje, o dia mais quentinho desde que chegamos. Eu sinto calor nos bracos e pernas, haha. O mais friozinho que pegamos aqui foi algo em torno de 0° graus, e foi super tranquilo pra mim e pra Nara.
Ainda hoje, porém mais tarde, vou por minhas fotos e videos online, e alguns disponíveis aqui no blog pra quem quiser ver ;)
___________________
I am now in Köln, at Katja´s place - a russian (actually, she´s from Uzbequistan) friend of Kostov. A lovely person, and her husband - Peter, from Germany - is lovely too. In an hour or so I´ll be "moving out" to Anja´s place - another Kostov´s friend and also a slav, at least taking from her name.
It´s sunny in Koeln today, the warmest day here since we arrived. I feel warm in my arms and legs, haha. The coldest day we had here was something around 0 degrees, and it was pretty ok for both me and Nara.
Still today, a bit later though, I shall be uploading my photos and videos, and putting some of them available here on my blog so you can check them out ;)
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