Protected: Blah blah blah

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Quick update from Sofia

Am through 5 classes already. have at least 2 tomorrow, 1 on Friday and then they’ll be assessed on Friday afternoon. I’ll be very disappointed if they don’t all pass LOLOL (I’m actually NOT kidding)

The students are all really nice and they laugh with me (I hope its with me) when I make a joke which is v good for the ego LOL!

So for the last 2 nights I’ve been very lazy, I haven’t gone out after work or anything. Monday night I got room service. Last night I ate in the hotel bar (The food is v good here but its at least double the price of the restaurants in town) Tonight the plan is to eat in the exec lounge in the hotel (Everything is free there, I don’t have access but one of the others trainers who is staying here does and they’ve invited me along so we’ll be eating and drinking there hehe) Not sure if there’s a plan to go anywhere after but we were all invited to a party tonight so we’ll see. Today we ate in a lovely restaurant called Egg Lake City which is in the business park. I got a panini with chicken, dijon mustard, pickled cucumber and something else I can’t remember. It was really good. It cost 3.50 BGN which I think is €1:75. Not sure if I mentioned it before but there is a hotel, cinema, clothes shops and lots of other restaurants in the business park. I wouldn’t stay in that hotel though cos its practically on the doorstep of work and even though it takes up to an hour to get back to the hotel in a taxi. I like that time as its a good time to unwind Tomorrow for lunch we are going to Vittoria which is one of the 4 restaurants in the cinema complex which is in the business park. The pizza there is GORGEOUS – I ate there twice the last time I was here

OK off to put on my shoes and head down to the lounge. Have a nice evening

Back in Sofia

Hi all! Just a quick post to say that I’m back in Sofia to deliver training (God love the students I’m going to have) My flight landed at 2:30PM (12:30 Irish time ) and it took about another hour to get my luggage and be driven to the hotel. The hotel was fully booked when I tried to book but they had 1 guest room “plus” left so I booked it which got me a free airport transfer in. I just hope there isn’t an issue with that when i go to claim my expenses. If there is an issue this will definitely DEFINITELY be my last trip out here. The room looks like the last one I had but its a corner one so I have a view of the mountains and over the city. I was told that the weather is really good here at the moment. Today has been a little bit cloudy but mainly sunny and it was 16 degrees The sun is starting to set at the moment. I’ll try to get some nice photos of it to post but I’m not holding out much hope knowing my camera. I’m going to have 9 students this week (more than double from the last time which is a scary thought for me) They did warn me that some of the groups they’ve had has been at least 20 so maybe I’m getting off lightly!!!

What did I do at the weekend? Friday night: 3 bottles of red wine with dinner which was just fantastic (Always in when S cooks which is all the time LOL). For starters (which I made) it was brown bread (Sean’s brown from Superquinn if you get to try its very nam nam) with white crab meat For main course it was tuna steaks (You really should try them they’re amazing) with lime / lemon and chilli’s dressing (7UP!! LOL – kidding) dressing,  red peppers and courgettes. For dessert I had a chocolate chip cake and S had lemon cheesecake (we bought 2 desserts cos S isn’t a big fan of choclit – not like me!!) Saturday morning we went to see Vantage Point, I definitely recommend it its very good. Got buttery popcorn and munchies (nam nam nam) Then to Boots to pick up toiletries for my trip (And S’s as he had to go to the UK for 1 night, he’s back to the dog tonight) After that headed home to get S’s clothes ready for his trip and also to do some housework. For dinner on Saturday had roast chicken (Free range – Hugh Hairy got to me the week he done his experiment) and Sausage meat stuffing. No need for any veggies cos the stuffing left me stuffed. It was GORGEOUS. For dessert that night I had chocolate fudge brownies (From Superquinn) After dinner we spent Saturday night watching the stuff we’d recorded during the week (Sky + is just brilliant) we watched Torchwood, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA, America’s got talent (?!) and I can’t actually remember what else we watched :S

Sunday: Up around 11ish, cleaned out the rabbits (my favourite job – not!!!) helped S pack (Only took 5 minutes hehe) He left around 2:30 and after that I finished off the housework before sitting down to watch Lipstick Jungle (new series from the creator of Sex and the city – not bad) I’ve been downloading it as its not on here yet. I only started to download it cos I seen an ad for it in a taxi in NYC but I do like it. After that I watched Jericho (Season 2 episode 4 which I downloaded, I am REALLY glad CBS agreed to do another series of it!) after that i watched barnyard and some other things (just flicking) I was in bed by  9:30 cos I had to be up at 4:30 this morning!!! I hate being up that early. Toby wasn’t too pleased about the time either. My mum took care of him today so he wouldn’t be home all day by himself. S isn’t expecting to get home until after 9 so thank fuck she could take care of him today. Update from her is that he ate OK and he wanted to play lots which is great. Sometimes when we’re not there Toby won’t eat for her but at least he was OK today and S will be back home with him tomorrow. I’m going to miss S like hell over the next few days. While I’m sitting here in the hotel room on my own I wonder why on earth I agreed to come out here. At least I’m only here until Saturday.

OK well thats it from me. Hope your Mondays weren’t too painful. Have a nice evening

Song of the day(I know its sad but I had this on repeat on the flight!!): Rihanna – Don’t stop the music

Online Shopping

As you may have gathered from my last post things are very quiet in work. I was very bold last week and bought a couple of things on Amazon and eBay while things are quiet Here’s some photos of them.

                                     

March 3rd 2008

I am slipping again! OK not going to apologise this time but I really have no excuse for not writing. I have had none or very little work to do in the past couple of weeks. You can really see now that things have started to wind down in the department I work for. I know all the people who take calls are working their butts off. More and more teams are starting to leave and soon I think the buildings will be a ghost town. Right so first things first! The Sofia trip. I flew out on Sunday 3rd of February. I flew through Prague, it takes approx 2 hours to get there. I was in the airport for 2 hours before flying to Sofia which took another 2 hours!!! In that time I would’ve almost been in New York (Or Kerry on a bad day!!) I got to Sofia at 10PM. Once I got my bags I went out to arrivals. The hotel had sent a car for me so that I wouldn’t have to try to explain to a taxi driver where I was going. It only took 15 minutes to get to the hotel so I got there at 10:30PM Bulgarian time (8:30PM GMT) and checked in. I had been warned that it could take up to an hour to get from the airport to the hotel so I was very lucky there was NO TRAFFIC at all at that time!! As I was checking in 2 of the trainers who had been in Dublin with our team to learn the classes arrived back from dinner. They invited me for a drink in the hotel bar once I’d got my luggage upstairs etc. I tried the local Rakia which is very strong – approx 40% proof! Tastes quite nice but between the jet lag (I’d only flown back from the US the day before), tiredness and the fact I was worried about starting training, I have to say it went straight to my head and all I wanted to do was sleep. I chatted with the 2 guys for about an hour or so and got to bed at 1AM. We agreed to meet for brekkie the next morning at 7AM so I was up at 6:30 to get ready.
Work day 1
Brekkie was lovely and I definitely needed my caffeine fix LOL. We left in a taxi for the office at 8AM. It took us 45 minutes to get there because of the traffic. I met some of the Team Leaders and agents that used to be based in Dublin and it was nice to have a quick catch up with them. We agreed to start my first class at 1PM which gave me time for a tour of the building and have lunch before we started. Then I met my students, 2 girls and 2 guys which was a nice small group and they were all really nice. They were very attentive. I have to say though systems and process training is VERY boring and by the 2nd full day I was fed up listening to the sound of my own voice – yeuchhh!!
I worked until around 6 that night. It took us 40 minutes to get back to the hotel!!!! Seriously traffic over there is crazy during rush hours. Ate dinner (Chicken on flat bread) in the hotel that night cos we were all knackered and it was only MONDAY! After dinner I went back to my room, went on the web for a while and talked to my great fiancé
Work day 2
Up at 6:30, had brekkie and left at 8AM. Class started at 10AM and I was talking solidly until 1!!! Broke up for lunch (Got pizza from pizza hut – It was nam nam) Back at 2PM and again talked solidly until 4:30 or so! Back to “my” desk to check my work e-mail etc and we left work at 6:30 and again it took 45 minutes to get back to the hotel. I had 20 minutes to get ready to go out for dinner. We went to a fantastic traditional restaurant. It was like it was in someone’s house and we were in their dining room (Each table was set up the same) All the trainers were out that night and some of the project execs. The manager paid for our dinner! I had goats cheese to start, chicken for main course and a traditional Bulgarian cake for dessert. It was all fantastic. The execs and some of the trainers went on to a pub after but I have to admit I was tired so I was tucked up and reading Russell Brand’s autobiography in bed by 11!!
Work day 3
Guess how I started my day?!? Yep up at 6:30, met the trainers for brekkie and then left in a taxi at 8AM! We went to a cinema for lunch this day. The cinema which is in the business park and around the corner from the office has 4 floors of restaurants! I had a fantastic pepperoni pizza and lots of Coca Cola After lunch I continued with the boring training (sorry but it really was BORING) until around 5. That night left the office at 6:30 and it took us an hour to get back to the hotel. Had just enough time to change before heading out for dinner. That night I had mozzarella, basil and oil for starters. For main course I had chicken stuffed with crab meat. No room for dessert but it was fantastic! After that we went to an Irish bar (LOL) to see the matches. The big screen was showing the Northern Ireland / Bulgaria match. One of the smaller screens was showing the Ireland / Brazil match which I couldn’t see from where I was standing and the other was showing the England / ?? match which the trainers wanted to see (YAWN as I don’t really like football) Anyhoo eventually got back to the hotel at 1:30 and we had 1 more drink in the hotel bar so got to bed at 2:30 (I think) I was sooo tired at that stage
Work day 4
Same routine as the rest of the week. Up at 6:30, brekkie in the hotel, leave at 8AM for the office. This was the last full day of training which was a very good thing. The students were very attentive and really nice and everything but there’s only so much talking you can do! Class went on from 10 – 5. I think the students were really happy cos they only had short days that week. For lunch we went to the supermarket and I can’t remember what I ate that day for lunch. Think it was junk food. At 5:45 one of the trainers and I said we were leaving at 6. We were still waiting for the others at 6:30 so we just left. I think they had called an unexpected meeting or something but still. Got back to the hotel, had a quick shower and headed down to the hotel bar to eat. I had pitta bread for starters, chicken on flat bread (it was SO GOOD) for my main course and raspberry cheesecake for dessert – it was all fantastic! I actually made it back to my room for 9PM. I went online for a couple of minutes, spoke to my mum and my fiancé on the phone and then had a lovely bath. Was in bed by 10 with my book )
Work day 5
Up at 6:30, met the guys for brekkie. Another of the trainers had just arrived back from a holiday so we had a quick catch up. Left at 8 for the office. Got there at 9:15 or thereabouts – traffic was really bad that morning!! No training today, I was just assessing the students and I am very happy to say that they all passed! Had lunch with 2 of the trainers in the pizza place in the cinema – again it was really good. After lunch I left the office and went “exploring” I only took a couple of photos (they’re on my bebo if you want to have a nose!!) and I didn’t buy anything either :-O
Got back to the hotel at 4 and chilled out, watched CNN, checked e-mail etc before getting ready to go out. Didn’t know what the plan was but I ended up going out with the Italian team for dinner. Got back to the hotel at 1AM (Didn’t go to the club with the others because I was going to back up at 6:30 to get my flight HOME (I was so happy you’ve no idea) Bought S and my mum presents in the duty free before sleeping all the way back to Prague and then all the way back to Dublin. I was just so happy to be home!!!
The past couple of weeks in work has been really quiet but as far as I know we’re not going to be there much longer. Update about me is that they want to talk to me further. I think its cos i’ve travelled once so it’ll be interesting to see what they say. I hope to have an update this week so I’ll let you know (Once I know)
What else has been happening? Last film I seen was Sweeney Todd and I enjoyed it which I didn’t expect to. S and I were the only people in the cinema!!! That was strange I have to say.
Other than that, I’ve been catching up on my favourite TV shows (And some new ones) walking the dog, etc etc but all in all things are VERY QUIET at the moment.
I can’t believe its March already.

Song of the day: Rockstar by Nickelback