and now hopefully this particular saga is finished

Slava na boga! (translated: Praise be to God) I have my visa now.

After three trips, I am now legally residing in Sofia, Bulgaria, again. So a trip down memory lane...

Trip 1: Jay, Magda (the accountant), Joe, and I prepped all of our documents and drove down to Thessaloniki. I was dragged around Ikea for what seemed eternity, but we had a good dinner at Bennigan's. However, the next day the embassy guy said we didn't have the letter and signature from the right minister of some important department. (Failure #1)

Trip 2: This time Jay and I flew to Thessaloniki because I was pretty much rejected entry to Bulgaria and deported away. Joe and Zahari (the lawyer) met us down there the next day. We paid a lot of money for all "fees," and then we waited. No Ikea, thank goodness, but we walked through the mall a lot, saw a movie, and had a good dinner at TGIFriday's. However, I was so tense from such a traumatic experience, that I wasn't able to enjoy much. Things worked out with Zahari, and we got our "visa applied" stamp in our passport. (Almost success)

Between trips, I resided slightly less than legally in Bulgaria. I couldn't travel anywhere because there was the risk that I couldn't get back in. Lots of jokes were made, and I forever have the title of deported refugee which Lexi still likes to call me. :)

Trip #3: Joe and I joined Zahari and his cousin for a final trip to Thessaloniki. We were told the visas were ready, so I wasn't worried about another failure. However, I do have a new fear of borders, so I was not completely looking forward to the trip. We made it to Greece just fine and with a few hours of daylight left. I took the chance to take pictures around Thessaloniki (which are all located on my Facebook). Enjoyed a good dinner at TGIFriday's again, and I had a breakfast chai tea latte and crescent from Starbucks. (I'm including my fat kid food comments for you, Danielle ;D) I thought this would be the time I actually went into the embassy, but as last time, we just met the Counselate at a cafe and gave him our passports. Joe, Zahari's counsin, and I waited in the car. After a while, Zahari came back with our passports and our visas inside!!! (Success at last!)

This last trip wasn't completely smooth though. You see, when we left for Turkey last November, I made it out of the border (at the airport) just fine; it was getting back in that I had problems. However, while Joe got back in just fine, he got written a report/fine when he was leaving. He never got the fine the multiple times he came back in, so we just kind of hoped for the best from now on. Well... coming back in this time, they got him. They said they wouldn't let him back in until he paid the fine. While it was a couple hundred leva, it was much less than what Zahari thought it would cost. We got it paid and went on our way.

And now hopefully this particular saga is truly finished although now I will probably get sweaty palms and a quick heart beat every time I go through borders. :) And even though I have my visa, I'll probably be very nervous when leaving from the Sofia airport.

(Pictures posted are: 1. Me, 2. the White Tower, 3. (on the left) part of the Orthodox Church in Thessaloniki, and 4. possible marketplace ruins where Paul may have preached to the Thessalonians.)