Shreddin' the Slopes in Bulgaria

Well, Hello Everyone,

We are fresh off the slopes of the Rila Mountains in Borovetz, Bulgaria and we thought we should tell you about our fun experience. We left our home here in Hereford after work on Valentine’s Day. Myself, Sarah, Claire and Jez drove down to London to stay at the Marriott Hotel before flying out the next morning. The Marriott is nice, especially on Valentine’s Day. I mean who doesn’t love a really nice hotel? Come on!

The next day we flew to Sofia, Bulgaria (the capital) and we were met at the airport by Bobbie…our contact whom we affectionately named Bobbie Bulgaria. Bobbie met us at the airport holding a sign with our name on it and everything. The four of us crammed in his van and we drove to the town of Samakov. Samakov is where we rented our apartment. It is a town about 7 miles from the ski resort of Borovetz. Now, Samakov is a city that appears to be trying to recover from the effects of a communist government. It’s trying, but it’s not there yet, to say the least. Bobbie drove us to our apartment which was nice enough…but, now I’m not kidding because we counted…20 dogs lived on our street. Some roamed the street and some were fenced, but still…that’s a lot of dogs! Needless to say, there was plenty of barking in the night…

Now, it was hard to imagine that while we were in this struggling town about 7 miles away was Borovetz…a ski resort community with all the perks a capitalist community could offer: Endless supplies of trinkets and ski paraphernalia. Plus, hot Bulgaria meals, taxi rides on a horse and carriage, and the friendliest Bulgarian people all wanting your business.

The skiing was ace! Being Claire and Jez’s first ski holiday, they easily found their footing on the easier and intermediate slopes…and Sarah and I had a blast enjoying helping them learn the difficult art of skiing. By the end of the time I was skiing reds and blacks and Sarah would ski a red if push came to shove.

Four days of skiing has left us sore but feeling accomplished! Bulgaria…who would’ve thought? All the fun of skiing and at half the price that some people pay for a ski holiday in the Alps. It was an experience I wouldn’t change for anything…going to sleep to the sound of dogs whimpering and breathing in that fresh mountain air in the morning…ace!

On a separate note, Sarah and I went with Claire and Jez a couple of weeks ago to see Switchfoot in Swansea, Wales. That was a great concert! AND, Monday, Sarah and I are seeing Keane in Cardiff, Wales. So we are definitely trying to keep up with the music scene!

Both of our jobs are going well and I am really looking forward to directing this production of “Wind in the Willows” with our youth theatre. Sarah is doing a week of training next week to become certified in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), so she’ll be able to call herself a psychotherapist after that. This will help her with treating her patients with depression and anxiety a lot.

Our great friends John and Heidi Sebestyen will be visiting us in March and we can’t wait! If not before you’ll hear from us after they visit, because I’m sure we’ll have pics and stuff.

For now, if you want ski pics, go to http://www.suelfam.blogspot.com and you can follow the link on the right hand side to our pic archive.

Email us with what’s going on in your lives. We love hearing from you!

Jason (and Sarah)

Pictures: 1. The cure for a foggy cold day...hot chocolate! 2. Jason and Jez matching suspenders and drinks! 3. Beautiful Rila Mountains. 4. Jez in an action shot.