Work

I have exactly one week of work left.

I am devastated beyond belief.

When I started working here, six months seemed too long. I ended up staying an extra month because I love it so much.

I can't count the amount of people whom I've met and who have touched me in some way.

I want to cry.

And no, I can't stay longer. Well, I can, but I've taken over Elizabeth's office since she left for the USA and she'll be back in a week, so I won't have a place to work. And I'm not being paid anymore. And I won't have an apartment because someone else is moving in in April.

On the bright side, I am leaving for Sofia on the 22rd to meet with Bulgarian Rob. I will arrive the morning of the 23th (yay 24 hours of travel!). Then we will bus it to Istanbul for four days of fun and debauchery. Then he's back to work and I'm left to amuse myself amidst the ancient wonders of Turkey.

I can't decide if it's worth going to the East or not. I still want to see Georgia but I keep torturing myself by reading horror stories. Like how the Trabzon-Tbilisi bus is a haven for the suitcase-theft trade.

I can fly to Trabzon from Istanbul for quite cheap. Perhaps it's best of I do my Western turkey tour first and then see how I feel about going to the East. Maybe I'll find someone I want to travel with.

I want to go. I do. But I don't know if I want to go alone. And I don't know if I'll ever have this opportunity again. I want to see these countries before they become too Americanised/Westernised.

But they're so far. Trabzon is an eighteen-hour bus ride from Istanbul. Tbilisi is a sixteen-hour bus ride from Trabzon. I don't speak the language and Turkish isn't exactly Portuguese: I can't read and understand the language like other European languages. (Actually, I can read Turkish menus phonetically because many Romanian food words originated from Turkish).

Turkey is full of so much to see but it's so spread out. You'd need years to do it all justice. And a car. Unless I book the flights, I can pretty much take things as they come.

So now I'm busy emailing hotels to find out about availability.

Then, when I'm back, I will either be going to Thessaloniki in Greece with a Bulgarian friend or to Albania with a Canadian friend (it's an either/or situation). Then myself and said Canadian friend (I shouldn't really call her a friend since I haven't met her, but she seems nice from her emails. She's interning in Belgrade) will do the grand tour of Romania: Bucharest, Iasi, Brasov, Sighisoara, Sinaia, Sibiu, Suceava, Satu Mare, Cluj and Timisoara.

Then it's back to Canada.

If I think about it too much, I'll depress myself even more than I am now.