The trip to Sofia was uneventful with a three hour layover in Vienna.  That didn’t give me enough time to go into the city,  it I did let me bunker down and get some work done.  The early part of the day on Friday not only let me continue doing some lesson preparation for Sunday,  it also gave me time to do some laundry.  (The biohazard label was removed from my suitcase.)  that evening I met Biss so we could travel together to see Hristo and Vanya.  We were running a bit late because Biss thought Hristo was pulled over on the side of a very busy highway waiting on us.  We rushed to his SUV to get in, and I grabbed the handle of the back door to jump in only to find it locked.  Thankfully, the actual owner of the car didn’t get too stressed out about it.

When Hristo arrived and picked us up, he drove us to their modest flat in the suburbs where Vanya had prepared a delightful meal of yoghurt and cucumber soup, a modified Shopska salad, and some wonderful kebabs.  We spent the evening discussing how to deal with difficult situations, catching up on the local work, assessing how to address some current needs, and planning my short visit.  It was an informative and productive evening with some good and sincere folks.  Yes, the food was great, too.