New family, new job, job searching and Chicago bound!

Hello everyone!

I am writing this on a 95 degree day here in my new office at the Town Hall. There is basically zero ventilation and to say that it's stuffy in here is like saying the sun's surface is kinda hot. I am alone in this office and I actually enjoy it. The problem is that this office used to be the office of someone important. That person has simply relocated down the hall, but I am hounded day in and day out by people coming through the door and then pausing and looking at me as if I am an alien. I even had one woman, whom I am assuming had bad eyesight, open the door and then just stand there and stare at me for an uncomfortable 10 seconds. While I asked if I could help her, this only confused her more. It was if my voice was from a distant place that she could't quite recognize. After what seemed an eternity, she actually stepped forward a few steps. She then stopped and stared again for another long pause. She is halfway between the door and my desk. A whole 5 feet away from me. I asked again if she was looking for someone or if I could help. Again, more confusion. Then another few slow steps forward until she was literally standing with her toes touching the other side of my desk. Yet this wasn't close enough and, as though she needed to smell me to determine who I was, she leaned in closer. I now sat with my face about 12 inches from this woman's face. Another 5 seconds. My eyes locked on her. I am totally mesmerized as to how this event is unfolding. The she abruptly stands straight up, quickly says, "Oh, I thought you were the Mayor. You have a similar haircut." and she walked out the door. It took her at least 30 full seconds, a whole half a minute, without once blinking or a quick eye twitch to the side, her eyes locked on me, a look of pure confusion cemented on her face and her slow agonizing approach, followed by a total breach of personal space and after she was satisfied that I was not the Mayor, (even though I work in a small side office that pales in comparison to his air-conditioned, well decorated place of business, I speak with a thick accent and other than having short hair, don't look much like our Mayor) she abruptly departs, leaving me with the accusation that my short hair fooled her. As soon as I thought it was safe to do so, I stood, walked to the door, and closed it. It has remained closed for the last few days in fear of another "Mayor Sighting" in the strange office, two doors down from the door that has "MAYOR" written in big letters across the door.

Ok, enough about that. Most people who read this blog are already aware of the fact that Cveti and I got married on July 27th. It was an absolutely wonderful celebration with our closest friends and family here in Bulgaria. Due to our ridiculously short planning period of the wedding, my family was unable to attend. The ceremony was short and sweet and I was able to broadcast it live for some people back in the states. The wonderful internet allowed my 10AM Bulgarian time wedding, (2AM in Chicago) to be viewed live by those who wished to tune in. I must say, I was completely shocked and utterly flattered by the amount of people that actually either stayed up until the early morning, or woke up in the middle of the night, to tune in for our celebration. It really means a lot to me that you would do that. So for those of you who did watch, and are reading this, thanks.

So for the planning part of it, I was a non-participant. I was in Prague hanging out with Dan Baker-Smith for a few days drinking Pilsner Urquell and Absinthe. Cveti was here frantically finding a dress, shoes, cake, decorations, inviting people and basically setting the whole thing up. I think that's fair right? She was not alone in the matter though. Our dear friend, neighbor, and Maid-of-honor, Beti, assisted her in everything and was absolutely priceless. So Beti, I know you don't understand English, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your help. The wedding was amazing. My bride was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't have been happier.

I'll give a "brief" description of the wedding.

8:30-9:00AM  - Cveti and I have been separated. She is at Beti's getting ready, I am at the apartment "getting ready".
9:00 - 9:30AM - People start coming over to my apartment. This includes Rosen and Temenujka, Cveti's step-father and her best friend Bobi, Evan, Plamen and Krasi. We drank coffee and waited.
9:30ish. - I was lead over to Beti's apartment by my entourage. I had to find the bride. I got to Beti's door and was met by Tsura, the co-owner of Beti's cafe and friend. She told me that Cveti was not there. I then had to bribe her to get more information. This lead to me finding out that Cveti is indeed in the apartment, but I am not allowed in. So more money was negotiated. When the sum was acceptable, the door was opened. I was met by Cveti's mother who would not fully open the door. She as well, as the mother of the bride, wanted compensation for the bride. So I had to negotiate a price with her as well, but after she demanded too much, my entourage and I, forced the door open.
9:40AM - Where is Cveti? She is no where to be found. I paid for her and I am certain that she is in the apartment, but she is hiding from me. So I searched. When I finally found her, I tried to escort her to the wedding hall. But wait! A problem! Cveti is missing a shoe!! How can she go to get married without being bipedally balanced? So, as the groom, it was me responsibility to find the shoe. This resulted in a long search which was mercifully concluded by playing the "hotter/colder" game.
9:55AM - Shoe is found! Wait, it doesn't fit as well as she wants it to (it fits fine)! It is too big (not really)! What can fill up the space between her foot and the shoe? Why, money of course! So I stuff a few more bank notes and some spare change that I find laying around into the shoe until it "fits". If you wanna know what fitting looks like, check out the link. 
* Don't freak out about the money stuff, it is done as a joke and it's more traditional than anything. Cveti got all the money so it basically just got returned.
10AM - Drink rakia for courage. (even though we are supposed to be at the wedding hall already.)
10:05AM - Rakia finished. Courage meter full. Depart for wedding hall on foot. (it's about 100 feet away from where I live.)
10:10AM - Start services.
10:30AM - Services finish! The room was like a furnace, so I was glad the official part was over.
10:45AM - Arrive at cafe where it is beautifully decorated. I'm not kidding, this wedding was beautiful and it was put together in less than a week. If anyone needs last minute wedding planning, talk to Cveti. She is our champion.
10:45AM - 9:00PM - Party! We drank champagne, broke bread, broke glasses, danced, ate, partied, had a wonderful time and video taped a bunch of it (thank you Evan!). We had many liters of homemade 100+ proof rakia  at the tables. I had a glass or two and then tried switching to beer. Unfortunately/fortunately, Beti saw this move and quickly warned me to just stick with the rakia. I already had some champagne with the service and in celebration and mixing rakia, champagne and beer is a recipe for a terrible next day. So I listened and stayed with the rakia. Well. We partied for about 10 hours. All I drank was 100+ proof moonshine. My memory stopped recording around 6pm. But I can say that since we have video evidence, I know that I had fun in those dark hours and danced like I'd never danced before (for better or worse).

So that was the wedding day in a nutshell. It was wonderful.

On another note that's equally exciting, we got Cveti's immigration visa! In a process that is estimated to take 4-6 months on average, we got the visa finished and approved in 2 weeks. We are AWESOME. So we have our tickets booked already for Molly's wedding in September. Cveti and I will be flying in on the 19th and she will get to see the USA for the first time and meet my whole family. We are very excited about it. After the wedding, we will be returning to Bulgaria to finish up some things before we move to the states for real.

So, that leads me to my final point, and possibly most important to our new little family... Anyone have a job opening out there? We are looking to stay in Chicago but I am not opposed to relocating if it's the right job. I'm flexible and realize that in today's economy, jobs are a bit hard to find.

Thanks so much and maybe I'll post again before we visit Chicago. If not, see you then!