Kate: coffee

5:15:00 PM

Bulgaria, treasure near the Black Sea

Summer is almost over and I've decided to share something about my vacation,
because I already miss hot and sunny days.

The Black Sea, Bulgaria

This summer I travelled to Bulgaria and it was amazing! I visited Bulgaria because I haven't been there before and I was curious. The flight from Prague took two hours and on both ways the plane was late. (Apparently, my choices of airlines this year are not perfect, but I love flying on planes anyway).

Basic info about Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a member of European Union, so it wasn't a problem to travel only with my ID.
The capital is Sofia (haven't been there, maybe in the future) and it is also the biggest city.
Typical Bulgarian cuisine: yoghurt (kiselo mljako), shopska salad, moussaka, shashlik, stuffed peppers, kavarma, kebapcheta, red wine, beer. (I tasted every single of them and all were delicious!)
The Black Sea is really clean and its name may refer to the direction. According to some theories, many Asiatic languages use colors to refer to directions and black color stands for the north. So don't worry, the sea is not black at all!

Typical me-spending some time after lunch on a balcony with a romantic book and a cup of coffee.

Sunny Beach

A well known resort in Bulgaria, full of bars, casinos, hotels and entertainment for tourists. I spent there few hours and it was enough. I was curious and wanted to see this well-known spot, but it was too much. I love the sea and sandy beaches, but all these people around me, it was overhleming. I am not that kind of person who enjoys partying all week long and I dont' like overcrowded places, so staying on the Sunny Beach would definitely kill me. On the other hand, I have to admit that we visited an amazing restaurant there! It's called Lapa Lapa and I had a delicious tomato soup and kebapcheta there.

Okay, these bars on the beach looked great and they were literally everywhere!

Welcome to Sunny Beach-overcrowded beaches, sand and clean sea

Sveti Vlas

Small town near Sunny Beach, with a lovely church and a romantic promenade along the sea. There are also many hotels and restaurants, but only one casino (or at least I noticed only one). In the center is a lovely small square with a fountain and little shops and post office.

Church of St. Blaise in Sveti Vlas

Bulgarian cat

Do you like Paris? The people are going crazy and they are buidling new and new hotels,
so in the future it would be possible to stay in this hotel with the Eiffel Tower in front of it.

Bora Bora? No, Sveti Vlas, Bulgaria :-)
For some reason, tourists lprefer to stay near the hotel pool all day long...
and beaches are almost empty.

Mainstream.
I noticed that especially Czech tourists love taking selfies with palm trees.
I prefer palm trees with boats and the sea :-)

Burgas Airport is so small that you can walk it through in less than 5 minutes :-)
However, there is an outdoor bar/restaurant outdoor in the gate area where you can
buy pizza and beer while waiting for boarding and watch planes take off.
Disadvantage? It's the only place where you can smoke,
so non-smokers probably don't enjoy this bar too much or for too long.

Bulgarian cuisine

I tasted almost everything. Fish, shopska salad, kebapcheta, stuffed peppers,... it was all very tasty. Just one thing I had a real problem with - you can buy pizza and English Breakfast in almost every restaurant in tourist area. Ok, I get it, not everyone likes to taste local meals, but this was really mad.

Summary

I enjoyed my stay in Bulgaria, I had some difficulties with their language, but I learnt few phrases such as hello, thank you, good bye and I think locals were pleased to see effort from my side. In tourist areas it's not a problem to speak English, but we also met few people who could speak only Bulgarian and Russian, and eventhougt I learnt Russian alphabet (so I was capable of reading), speaking is much harder for me and I didn't understand very well. But after all, it was an amazing holiday and I enjoyed every single day!

Soo, if you haven't been to Bulgaria, give it a try, I am sure, you won't regret!

My favourite sign in the port. I don't live near the sea, so I don't see this signs very often :-)

Kate

9:45:00 AM

CAFE

Last year I worked in a local cafe and found out everything (or almost everything) about a job I have always wanted to do.
You see it on TV, in the movies, you read about that in books...working in a cafe is romantic and fun. Or at least I thought so. The reality is sometimes the same as in my dreams, but somedays were just so crazy I was glad when I was closing at night and headed straight home to bed.
However, I am really glad I got a chance to work as a barista and I felt like a main character in a romantic film. I also learnt so many things about myself and about this profession and now I want to share it all with you.

Beginnings

No experience in cafe before, just quiting college and looking for a second part-time job, enthusiastic about learning how to make the perfect coffee, positive and very kind.

That was me when I came last year into a local cafe and asked for a job. And I got it. And that's where the story begins...
First thing I started with was coffee preparation. Until that I knew only one type of coffee: my homemade instant Nescafé I loved, but suddenly I found out there are so many types of coffee: Americano, Espresso, Cappucino, Doppio, Lungo, Ristretto, Flat white, Irish Coffee, Caffe latte, Turkish Coffee and also very special ones such as French Press, Chemex, Cezve or Moka pot...
My head almost exploded. I didn't even know how to prepare the basic espresso and I didn't know the difference between espresso and ristretto. Or which mug/cup/glass is suitable for them.
Second thing I learnt was how to make steamed and foamed milk. Oh my Gosh! If rememberign all types of coffees and their preparations were hard, this was like stepping on the Moon for the first time. I had no idea what I was doing. You use steam to transform the cold milk into steamed or foamed milk and you have to find just the right angle and just the right time of heating. If you boil the milk you are screwed, if you have the wrong angle you probably make so many bubbles and to be honest, it took me some time to learn all this.

Customers

Another thing that is inevitable if you work in a cafe is contact with customers. In majority of cases it was amazing, people were kind and nice, but I also experienced few mean and not very symphatetic ones. However, if you are kind and positive, you can handle everyone. Or at least, that is my experience.

Money

As a barista, you work with money. If you like Math and you can count it is okay. And if you don't and can't, you can learn it :-) The more important thing is: TIPS. My salary was, I'm not going to lie, low and if I wanted to earn some extra money I had to rely on my skills and hope that people would appreciate it.

Closing

Let's start with the opposite: opening. I went to work 30 minutes before opening and prepared everything - turned on the lights and all the machines (dishwasher, coffee grinders), checked that everything is clean and ready for opening, turned on the computer and unlocked the doors and waited for the first customers.

And now I will present you the closure: first of all: lock the door and then clean everything (floor, kitchen, tables, dishes, coffee machine, toilets), turn off all the machines, count the moneym turn the light off and go home. If I was super fast the closure took me less than an hour. Of course it was paid, but it meant leaving at 10, 11 or sometimes even after midnight if there was some party, so I usually came home exhausted.

Pain

I am not a lazy person, I like sports and I workout, but my legs, oh my Gosh, they hurt. I was walking the whole day and I wasn't ready for this, because at school you sit and you sit a lot. So my legs were paintful and I felt like hiking the PCT.

To sum up, working in a cafe was fun, but there were also days I was totally exhausted (for example when I worked two 13 hours shifts in two days). My legs hurt, but on the other hand I had cheaper coffee and an opportunity to eat leftovers. So without doubt it was a percet experience, but not a right full-time-all-my-life-lasting job.

Kate

5:44:00 PM

Another rainy Sunday afternoon

Hi there!
How are you guys? Are you having a pleasant Sunday? I really hope you are!
The weather this week has been absolutely crazy! It was sunny and hot, then suddenly rainy and cold. Yesterday I actually woke up to a snowy town. Lovely. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't think I would need my wintery clothes anymore this month, but here I am with my winter jacket blinking at me from a hanger. Voilá.

Beauty and the Beast

But back to the other things. On Friday evening I had an opportunity to watch Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson as Belle and I have to admit that it was lovely! I have never in my life (or at least I cannot remember I ever have) seen any version of this tale made by an American production. I have seen one Czech version, but it was a long time ago and I was scared, because the version was really frightening for a child I was. This new version is charming and cute and also funny. I can only thing about one negative thing: the fairytale is long, and by long I mean it has over 2 hours, so it's not very suitable for children, due to the fact they cannot hold their attention for a long time. I have no idea who the actor who played the Beast is, but I know the actor who played Gaston. He was familiar to me the whole time but I struggled to remember where I have seen him before, so I had to do some online searching and now I know where I have seen him: he played Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit and I thought he is Orlando Bloom's brother. Well, he is not. And if I were to name only one thing I loved the best about the film, do you what would I say? The furniture! Especially Lumière that was transformed into candelabra was the funniest and the most beautiful! So, if you haven't seen Beauty and the Best, go and buy yourself a ticket, it's worth it!

And what's new in my life?

My new tattoo is healing perfectly, although it sometimes hurts a little, but it's the part of it, so I'm not complaining, just saying. I also had a rendez-vous with my college friends and we went for a brunch to a new cafe which was very modern and cosy and the waitress was very positive and kind, so it was a luxurious Thursday morning!
I also visited my bf'S new place he shares with some other guys and I was surprised how nice the place was. Well, I didnt expect him to live in a garbage of course, but I thought there would men's mess if you understand what I mean, but the opposite was true.
So that's it from me for today, have a nice week and enojy the rest of the weekend!