My Blog

Return to 'The Hike' - Chapter Two - Mostly Swearing and Asking Where the Hut is  Chapter 3: Day 3: I woke up with a massive headache; the hangover was killing me. Back then, I knew only one cure, and the remedy was to keep going with what brought me to this level. I mean, I was digging my grave, as the saying goes. After I made myself a decent line and had a coffee, I drank a beer to restart this nightmare. The problem with this cure is that it works, at least for a while, enough to pump you up. I remember stressing over the next 8-hour hike, not sure exactly why. Maybe the idea of walking while your legs are on strike seemed scary, but that's the thing, to deal with sore muscles one must move. Look at me with all these remedies; I have a cure for everything, self-proclaimed doctor. The plan was to leave the hut around 10, with no hurry and urgency. What I needed was to collect myself and put one leg after the other. Two guys came to the hut, we talked for a while, and the

Return to 'The Hike' - Chapter One - I should start from the beginning  Chapter Two: Day 2: For some, the struggle here may seem like a joke, provoked by an unprepared, winning drug addict who is absolutely asking for it. But for me, at that specific time of my life, it was the biggest challenge I had ever embarked on. I was planning to do around 50km a day, galloping from hut to hut like the horse that attacked me the day before, but my legs had other plans. I remember walking around in the middle of nowhere, laughing at myself the whole day, partly from jokes, the other half from pain. You reach a point where it's all just a joke. I was talking to myself often, mostly swearing and asking where the hut is. Along the way from Proboinitza to Lakatnik, I rediscovered singing. There I sang a lot, the Miley Cyrus version of Elton John's 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' until I reached some houses in the village of Goubislav and realized that I was scaring the d

Chapter One: This is where my story begins. For the last 3 years, I have been postponing the translation of my adventure. But after my last hike in the Balkans, I found my muse and started collecting my thoughts and everything I wrote back then. You can follow my path through the Bulgarian Balkans, which lasted 24 days and completely changed the course of my life here. I will upload regularly about the days I spent up there, most of the time alone, while revisiting some of the greatest memories I created for myself. I really hope the translation works because I was much funnier in Bulgarian back then, and the slang I used is hard to follow. Furthermore, I hope this story serves as inspiration for people who are stuck, like I was, and badly need change—to fight addiction and burst the comfortable, uncomfortable bubble we often find ourselves in. During this journey, the main theme was fear, but looking back, I see that all I did was overcome it every time it tried to stop me. I must pin

Last night, or I should say in the morning, I had an incredible dream that I was able to remember down to the last detail, and I want to share it with you. It was much longer than 3-4 seconds, and you'll understand that after hearing the whole story. The dream pointed out some interesting things to me that I think are worth mentioning and acknowledging, as well as discussing. Before this dream, I had another quick one, which served as an insult or a wake-up call. Literally, after the guy in my dream told me that I am too fat to date him, I woke up. I will think about it for at least a week. When I was in Bulgaria the other week and I was coming down from the mountain to go back to Sofia so I could catch the flight to Dortmund, I thought about these extra kilos that I gained and the struggle to take them down. I decided I will call the problem 'Das Problem' because everything sounds heavy in German, just as I am right now. You should have seen me, laughing alone at that joke

                        from here, he observe his enemies This past year went by so quickly that it's hard to register how much I've changed since we adopted Borilcho into our home. Not long after we adopted him, he became the catalyst for our pack to strengthen and become even more like a normal, functional family. Now, looking back, I cannot recall a time without Bobby, nor do I want to go back before he appeared. During 2022, my partner and I talked about wanting to adopt a dog by the end of the year, playing with the idea of welcoming another family member. Somewhere around August, a friend of ours found Bobby on the highway in Bulgaria. She then took him, and soon after, we were introduced to Bobby with the sweetest video imaginable. As soon as I took one look into his eyes, I knew he was my dog; I just knew it. We had to wait some time for him to be able to travel, to receive the necessary vaccines, and to be legally free to travel through countries in Europe so he could

The European cinema is truly exceptional. Lately, I've been captivated by movies that linger with me for days, weeks, and beyond, much like 'Force Majeure.' They infiltrate my thoughts, sparking introspection during my everyday routines. This, in essence, is the essence of entertainment—provocation. It should compel us to contemplate. While mindlessly consuming content has its place, projects like this, which continue to engage the mind long after the credits roll, are truly precious to me, as they elevate the art form. Recently, I stumbled upon this movie randomly on YouTube and I found its most crucial scene—the one involving the avalanche and the consequential choices that shape the rest of the narrative. The story follows a family on vacation in the French Alps, their lives forever altered by a devastating avalanche. The film confronts the audience, encouraging dialogue and introspection, creating a meta experience that adds a fascinating layer of discomfort. The black

I had been eagerly anticipating watching this movie even before the Oscar nominations were announced. With five nominations, most of them in major categories, including two wins for 'Best International Feature' and 'Best Sound', it became a must-watch for me. After careful consideration over the last 24 hours, I wholeheartedly agree with the nominations and wins. The movie took me right to the heart of a subject matter I've always been hesitant to confront – the Holocaust. Sometimes, despite the discomfort, it's necessary to engage with such historical atrocities to keep history alive and in check. However, this movie brought me face-to-face with it in a visceral way. Visually, the movie is brutally realistic, but what truly sets it apart and makes it such a compelling watch is the sound design, for which it rightfully won an Oscar. Throughout the film, you hear screams, gunshots, and the sounds of people dying and burning, contrasting sharply with the sunny, ch

This movie will haunt me till the end of time. With my biggest fear of dying in an airplane crash coming to life here in a way that will penetrate the strongest minds, this movie cements itself as one of the best movies Netflix has ever put out there. The movie goes further, exploring what if the crash is not the scariest and most brutal thing you will experience but only the beginning. We can't assume that just because we've faced one challenge, we're shielded from others. This story is even more disturbing because it is a recreation of a real-life event that took place in 1972. I will be careful not to spoil anything during this post in case you want to watch it and get familiar with the story as you should, piece by piece. The other day I flew from Bulgaria and of course, we chose this movie to celebrate my landing the same night. I've never seen a plane crash like this one. Now, we have to go to Scotland and yesterday I discovered that we have to change two airplane

I am rewatching 'Mom' for the third or fourth time, and now I am just buying the physical media because I want to own it. I want this TV show to be near me every time I want to revisit it. I started following the series early, since the third season, and since then, I am positively sure that this is my absolute favorite sitcom ever. This is my comfort show; I can play it anytime, and it will do what it is meant to do, which is relax me, give a different perspective, remind me that I am on the right path, and boost my motivation to deal with my real life. This show is about a bunch of alcoholics/drug addicts who are dealing with their daily lives while struggling to hold on to their sobriety. Even though this is a comedy show, the subject and the serious tone of the episodes give it a beautiful dramatic and realistic glow that delivers great messages every episode. The comedy is actually the sugar that helps the medicine go down easily, and I have to say it is hilarious! Now, I