Hello, friends! I hope things are going well for you.

One thing that many people don't know is that Bulgaria is known for roses. It provides three-quarters of the world's supply of rose oil, an incredibly precious commodity. In particular, the Bulgarian Rose Damascena, a rare type of rose, is the one used to produce most of that oil.

Everywhere you go in Bulgaria, you see roses. I'm not sure what type of roses they are but people are rightfully proud of this national flower. The first photo is a view from my tiny little balcony on the back of my apartment here in Sofia. If you look down into the unkempt garden below, you'll see at least three different rose bushes blooming vigorously.

Every park seems to have giant, delightfully overgrown rosebushes in full bloom in a multitude of colors and there's a faint scent of rose petals in the air at this time of year.

When I checked into my Airbnb here there was a huge rose with shades of yellow, peach, and vibrant pink that was picked from the owner's garden. That rose was bigger than my face and I wish I'd taken a photo of it.

This week, I visited museums, markets, and shops and just wandered around the city taking it all in. If you're ever looking for a way to discourage yourself from purchasing things you don't need, try living out of a suitcase and a carry-on! 🙂

I had an unsettling experience this week, and it isn't something I commonly run into while living abroad. I received a text message from a service I subscribe to (it's called Alerts USA and it provides alerts from the DHS - I've subscribed for years and find it very useful). The message warned that an anti-American protest would be taking place less than 2/10ths of a mile from my apartment. I checked the US Embassy page and found this warning.

I contacted a friend who used to work in diplomatic security and another friend who has a background in military intel in this part of the world. With their advice, I determined it was safe to stay as long as I avoided the area of the protests and didn't run around wearing an American flag t-shirt.

So why are they protesting?

I did some research, and it turns out that Bulgaria recently had an election. The person elected had said he wasn't interested in Bulgaria joining NATO or the EU, then just days after the election, was taking steps toward joining both. People are reasonably enraged. The anti-American part comes in because they believe the US government tampered with their election process. Now, I don't know about that, but of course, anything is possible these days. They're also unhappy with Russia and have protested in front of the Russian embassy.

I went out and grabbed some extra supplies just in case things got sketchy. I popped my handy-dandy Canadian flag luggage tag on my backpack because when people are mad at America, it's way better to avoid conflict altogether.

I stayed home for the day and watched Twitter, one of the best places to get up-to-the-minute information. Interestingly there is absolutely NOTHING about it on the news, but I know that it did indeed take place. People were burning the effigies of George Soros, and they marched between government buildings, but as far as I know there was no violence.

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for the protest area yesterday, so I canceled it. This really does underline how important it is to keep up with current events, even when you're traveling or away from home. You don't want to blindly stumble into an event that is targeted toward you and people like you. I was perfectly safe because I stayed in, and likely would have been safe even if I'd gone out, but Selco's words always ring in my ears at times like this:

Don't be there.

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