BasBasBas.com

Category: leisure

  • Weekend in Sofia!

    Living room in the park29-09-07-008.jpgMy flowers =)

    So yesterday evening I was walking home, and I noticed people setting up a living room set in the park. Seemed to be related to a magazine launch, who cares. So I went home, got my stuff and went outside to take some pictures. Then I went to the barbershop on the corner and got myself my first Bulgarian haircut. 10 points for courage. Then it was getting dark, so I decided to go home and see if anyone was going out… I tried James, but he was tired, so no party.

    Now I was at home, just surfing the internet and decided that’s not the way I’m going to live here. So around 11.30 I decided to go to Bilkova Apteka (herb pharmacy), a cool bar. I went there, but before I went in I was told it was closed… but it was okay to go inside if I was looking for people. So I went in anyway. Once there I ran into a guy I met there earlier. Tried ordering a beer, but no chance. He negotiated for me (he knows the people there) and I got my beer anyway. I decided to find out what’s a good place to go out on a Friday night, but they couldn’t really tell me.

    Anyway, after a beer we all left and I headed to a club called Yalta, to see some American DJ play (kind of a London-style dance DJ). Was pretty good, but the whole place was packed with people trying to impress each other, so I left kind of early (3ish).

    I woke up with a strange feeling in my body. I guess drinking beer, switching to vodka, drinking another beer, having a whiskey and then drinking another beer will do that to you ;-). So I decided that the first thing I should do was eat. So I went outside to the shop, got some cereals (oh yeahhh) and a bunch of other things, went to the shop nextdoor, bought grapes. Went to the shop across the street and got flowers. I suppose I was compensating for having a hang-over and I wanted to feel like I was doing something constructive.

    Since I moved in to my apartment, I’ve had an empty vase that I’ve been desperate to fill. So finally I did it!

    Later today I’m going to be hanging out with James and some Erasmus students in Studentski Grad (Student City)! It’s supposed to be an awesome place and I can kinda predict I’ll be hanging out there a lot in the next few months. So tonight is my introduction. Sweet. Then there’s supposed to be a drum ‘n bass party in Black Box again. I think we’ll check it out. Only 3 euros entrance fee anyway.

    Oh, the weather here’s beautiful… 25 degrees & sunshine baby! 😉

    Enjoy your weekends!

    Go check out my new web album with pictures I made yesterday and today!

  • Quick update!

    Just a very quick update!

    Two nights ago I met a whole bunch of Erasmus students from France, Holland, Germany, Belgium and Lithuania through James, who I met through Facebook. First we went to watch 10 short movies, which all lasted about 10 minutes, in some cinema. The cinema was full, but they don’t really care when it comes to ticket sales, so err… there were a lot of people sitting on the floor (welcome to Bulgaria). Quite the experience.

    Later on we went for a drink and everyone was slowly falling asleep so no party. Ahh well, had to go to work the next day anyway.

    So yesterday I took it slow. Went to a restaurant which served some great food. Had fries with white cheese, brocolli, Brussels sprouts,  peas and small pieces of veal, with a little bit of lemon.. And a large beer. Total cost… 10.50 (excl. my tip), which amounts to about 5 euros. I love this country 😉

    So now the weather is AWESOME. 27 degrees. Hence the minimal update. Going to go outside, enjoy the weather, make some pictures, see if I can meet some people. Tomorrow I’m probably taking the train out of Sofia to go swimming somewhere. The exact plan is still to be designed though. I guess I’ll have to buy some swimming trunks.

    Oh, and I decided to start putting up restaurant reviews on my blog. Just so that whenever I’m alone in a restaurant, I can enjoy myself by making the waiters nervous with my pen and paper 😉

  • When will I sleep…

    What a weekend… I met up with Mitko, the Macedonian graffiti writer I interviewed at the Balkan Youth Festival. He stayed at my place for a couple of days, starting last Friday. I hadn’t really rested well, so when we went to a drum ‘n bass party at night, I was already pretty tired. About the drum ‘n bass scene here… Man, do they like loud fking drum ‘n bass. I love it too, but when I came in, they were playing loud already… There was no build-up or -down whatsoever. Bad DJ’s. Besides that, everybody was on drugs and they overused the stroboscope which is VERY annoying in an overcrowded room. Very dissapointing, I hope to see better drum ‘n bass parties here, since I heard Sofia has a good dnb scene, but I spoke to some people there and they told me that this is basically the average dnb party in Sofia. Utrecht 1 – 0 Sofia.

    The next day we got up waaay too early (somehow we had managed to find our beds at 7am). We got up at about 11, so we were both pretty tired. I met some cool people though, friends of Mitko (he’s lived in Sofia for three years). Basically, we chilled out the whole weekend.. On Sunday I had a couple of hours alone, so I cleaned my whole apartment… you know… vacuum cleaning the carpets, moving around tables so I could place another carpet (it’s getting really cold here), cleaning bathroom sinks, toilet, putting one of those soap dispensing things in my toilet (how ‘burgerlijk’), making my bed, doing the laundry, wiping down my tables, doing the dishes, putting things in closets and drawers instead of having them laying around everywhere…

    Then in the evening I got a CD of a local psytrance duo called Asoma. They’re really great producers and since they’re Mitko’s friends and he’s coming back in Oct/Nov, so I suppose I’ll be hanging out with them.

    I’m just balancing on a very bad cold though, so today I’ll set out to buy at least a scarf and candles, and if I see anything good: a coat. Because I did not take one here.

  • I got drunk… again

    Yesterday I decided to meet up with an English guy I know from Facebook. We met up and he brought a Belgian guy. To make a long story short, one beer became many.. and we ended up taking some shots with the barman and -woman after closing time (I remember Breeze (50% Amaretto, 50% Whiskey) and absynthe)… Then we did one more beer (I think) in another bar around the corner…

    Tonight will be a quiet night though. I should sleep every now and then. Here’s a picture of last night (apparently I took only one).

  • Video – Balkan Youth Festival ‘07

    [googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7032606636796455293]

    For the people on slower connections, click here for a lower quality (faster loading) version.

  • Balkan Youth Festival ‘07

    The article as I wrote it for the broadcast on the English channel of Radio Bulgaria on Tuesday. Let’s see how much they keep. I’ll inform you tomorrow about the times and where you can find a webstream.

    The twelfth edition of the Balkan Youth Festival was one of European intercultural exchange by participants coming from European Union countries, as well as non-EU states. From Albanians to Swedes, Turks to Frenchmen, Bulgarians to Fins, Hungarians to Greeks, Macedonians to Spaniards, the festival aroused a feeling of “Europeanness” within every participant. During the day, participants as well as spectators could enjoy a variety of cultural expression ranging from folk music and dance from Kosovo, to breakdance performed by French, Bulgarian and Albanian b-boys, to graffiti painting by Turks and Macedonians, or join one of the horos initiated by one of many folkdance companies from various Balkan countries. Modern and traditional culture from all corners of the European continent came together in Sandanski, in Southwestern Bulgaria, to celebrate the seeming paradox of unity through diversity. The participants managed to inspire each other, and their enthusiasm could be seen throughout the many events of the festival. One expression of this enthusiasm was not witnessed by everyone. These were the parties at Hotel (Ask Geri for the name) where the participants were staying. On one floor one could find b-boys from different nations breakdancing together. Only a floor down you’d find a horo spontaneously erupting and lasting for several hours. Even though most participants were on a very exhausting sleep diet, the roundtable group got together every morning to discuss youth and the future of Europe in an informal setting. The twelfth edition of the Balkan Youth Festival was a great example of what Europeans can achieve through unity; a spectacle of cultural diversity inspiring people crossing the boundaries of age, nationality, ethnicity and language.

    It will be combined with an edited version of an interview I had with a Macedonian graffiti writer.

  • Back!

    I don’t know what it is, but every time I attend any sort of festival it follows this pattern:

    1) You arrive, full of energy.
    2) Every day, you are more enthusiastic yet feel physically worse.
    3) At the end you barely have enough energy left to do anything.

    I’m in a restaurant around the corner from my appartment now. Have to email some people. Articles will start showing up. The festival was evidently amazing!!

  • So…

    Remember what I said earlier about not knowing how I got back home… This is where I found my phone:

  • How the fuck did I get home last night?

    So the night started around 7, when I was meeting up with a friend called Vladko at the National Palace of Culture. I didn’t see him, so I figured I’d watch some 2-on-2 beachvolleyball. It was very entertaining for about 1 minute.

    Anyway, at some point Vladko comes and we decide to find an Irish pub called Murphy’s, because a group of Dutch people were meeting there to watch the game of Holland against Bulgaria. So we get there and basically everyone is British, plus drunk out of their minds. Finally a proper pub.

    So I look for people in orange and start talking to them. The rest of the time in the pub was pretty uneventful, but it is worth mentioning I met the Dutch ambassador (Johan) and I sat at his table as we watched the game.

    Then Vladko and I decided to find a club. So we go to a club called “Lipstick” or Chervilo in Bulgarian. It was a pretty good place, two rooms with electronic music. Here my memory gets a bit foggy. I get one vodka, then a little bit later I notice I have no more money, so Vladko and I go outside for a minute to get money. We come back, order two big Vodka’s. Now when you say big in Bulgaria, you get big. They poured vodka into a glass you would normally drink a coke from, and it was 3/4 full, for just 4.50 in euros. I love this place.

    As you can imagine, this is where my mind goes very foggy. I remember myself talking to people and Vladko telling me he was going home. I stayed for about another half an hour, I think. I just checked my telephone, which is always a good drunk-o-meter and noticed 3 new entries in my contact list… One is a phone number without a name, the other is just “E” without a number and then there is Planen and a telephone number, so I guess this is the guy I last remember talking to. No clue why I have his number though. I guess I was having fun.

    Anyway, around this time (but don’t ask me the clock time) I went home. Then there is a huge gap…. And then there is me waking up at 2 o’ clock in the afternoon with all (and I mean EVERYTHING) of my clothes still on. Apparently I hadn’t even bothered to take off my jacket. I realized that there was a cloak room at the club, so I like the fact I remembered to take my shit from there before I left.

    But other than that…. woah. Let’s not do this often. I like memories.

    😉

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