A few pictures from last week

                                        Bike ridin' through the park

                                          Protesters doing their thing

                                           One of the best shots I have taken

                                              Cool, cool shot

                                              St. George Rotunda

                                                    Nevsky Cathedral

                                                  Russian Orthodox Church

                                              A little reading on a wall

                                                     Man in sombrero!

Hopefully I can get a battery charger for my camera soon, so I can take some better quality photos.

Please read and share

Here is a link to a recent blog post about my brother Sileshi, from Ethiopia. I am still awaiting answers from a fellow church friend in Korea for my next post.

Sileshi

What do you think?

Please read a few of the comments listed after this video. I was appalled to think someone would answer their phone in a press conference after the death of a player. I think this journalist may be searching for work at this moment.

UCLA coach explodes

Big News

Well at least for one week of my life in November, there will be an interesting event. I have been accepted into an English immersion acquisition program in Poland.  Here is a link: Angloville. Feel free to read about this.

I am very excited about this, though I'll be taking on the "Professional Johnny" role.

Anyway, it's still two months away from now, so I have to plan a few things before that too.

Happy Tuesday!

My marathon evening of 1998

After my run today, I was thinking the joy and the memories I will make in December whenever I conquer my second marathon. After careful recollection of memories from the first marathon, there was something that I never told anyone.

This event occurred the evening after I completed that marathon as a high school senior in Memphis, TN. When the awards ceremony was finished at the Pyramid that day, I joined a few members of the local runners club for a post race event, that was somewhere on Beale St., I believe. One of the members of the runners club had drank a few beers, and so I remember giving him a ride back to his car after we departed from the party together. What happened next was something that I hope changed his life. 

We shall call the man T.D. T.D. and I left the party together, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. At that time he was probably in his early 40s; I do not recall approximate age though. He seemed as if he was pretty coherent. Then again, I had just run a marathon for the first time in my young life, and was ready to go home and finally crash after the long day.  As I recall, we both headed down a street known as North Parkway. 

We were maybe five minutes away from the Pyramid, when I remembering hearing and seeing a loud crash in my rear view mirror. It seemed that T.D. had lost control of his car, or may have even misjudged a turn slammed street into a lamppost on the before mentioned North Parkway. This area is home a large subsidized housing community. I turned around, and noticed the T.D. was in his car in a state of shock. Around us were residents of the housing community coming at us in large droves. T.D. was hurt pretty bad, but also panicking too. 

Looking back it seems that I helped a man flee the scene of an accident. I also saved him from some jail time, for driving under the influence. We ditched his car (or at least left it in that parking lot where it was slammed into the pole), and I drove him around, because at that moment he needed some help badly. He was too scared to go to a hospital for help due to what had just occurred, and what was in his system. As I recall we found a pay phone somewhere around downtown, so he could phone a lady he knew. She was either an old girlfriend, or a family friend. 

Whoever this lady was, I was thankfully she was in the picture at that moment. T.D.'s big head gash needed some attention, and I am sure there were some other pains he was suffering at that time too. I forget the lady's name, but we were lucky to find that she was home. T.D. was able to stay with her and get some assistance with his injury, and through the rest of his trials, that were a result of this head on collision. 

It has been a long, long time since I have seen this man, that was at times a running partner of mine. I do recall him telling my father and perhaps a few others "John saved my life". I'm not sure if I really saved the man's life, or if I just helped him evade some jail time. I do think the event did help him to quit drinking, or at least slow down his drinking quite a bit after that event. As I processed another event in my head, I wondered perhaps, if I was paying it forward. 

A few months after 21, I received a DUI, but I remembered how committed the police officer was of my safety and those in the community. It was not one of these things you see on TV where they arrest the guy and just throw him in the back seat. It was "hey this guy made a mistake, and he knows it, but let's be supportive of him in his time of need".  

I have no clue why I decided to post about either of these two big life events, but they both popped in my head as I reflected on that first marathon. Perhaps T.D. is still out there somewhere in the world. After that evening of his horrific crash, there was never a handshake again whenever our paths crossed. He would always approach me and give me one of those father-son type hugs. Memories can be life altering sometimes, but we never realize the impact they have on us until later down the road. 

Week in Review

The end of the week here at the hostel has come nice and slowly, but there was plenty of theater to be had around here.

I'll just list off a few things that I recall from the week that has passed.

Italy - home of heavy metal group that came to perform in Sofia this week. This eight member band stayed in our hostel and according to our couple that is here working, they partied hard into the morning too. Since I sleep in a room towards the front of the building, I did not heard a sound. This couple (French man and Argentinian lady) have a room next to where some of these fine gentleman were staying. They spent three nights here, and departed on Thursday morning for Belgrade, Serbia.

When those hardcore fella's left, we then welcomed a group from Germany. There were four of these men, who were also with a heavy metal band, but they were more civilized -- appearance and by action. They came in Thursday afternoon, rested up a little, went out, then were gone Friday morning.

The week continued with a few near altercations between the old guy and Marc. I would love to go into details about what happened but you just need to imagine two men that are highly upset about something that they take it out on each other. Rolin, the old guy even yelled at the Italians quite a bit whenever they were near or on his path to/from the bathroom area. One evening he even bit my head off, and the next morning he was like my best friend. There was something said between he and the owner of the hostel, last night, and my American counterpart did not return. We are all unaware of his whereabouts, and so his little area of the room has been cleaned. Cleanliness was definitely something he did not exhibit either. I did enjoy discussing history with him, and we conversed about Ken Follett, an author that we both enjoy.

I have had some battles with the owner here regarding his "plans" with some of the rooms here at the hostel. First of all, there are no plans written down anywhere for any of these ten rooms that are on the main floor. Six rooms are bedrooms, one is acting as a kitchen area, one is the bathroom/shower area, and we have a common room too.

 One day he will say "we should paint this room", and then he changes his mind, and decides to put in some insulation instead. He had some whacked out paint plan for the common room, which could have easily become an eyesore for guests. So I used my computer to show him what other hostels do with their common rooms, and he finally agreed to just paint the room one color. I explained that we needed to decide what colors would go with the furniture in the room, to which he replies, "I am not worried about furniture right now."

I wish I still had pictures of the paint that this man bought from the store recently. The Argentinian lady working with her boyfriend here refers to it as the "vomit green". I was stoked yesterday when I peeked into a closet and found aloe vera green. Anyway, I just come up with the ideas for how the rooms should look, or at least give some ideas to the man. It is not easy to work with the man who "knows everything". I've been told that the Latins (Romans to most of us) did not invent anything at all. I have also been told I should become a vegetarian while I am training for a marathon. This is coming from a man who has maybe run a few miles in his life. Anyway, all of his here understand Mikhail's (hostel owner) personality, but we throw in our opinions since we are the typical age of most guests here.

I am hoping to finally leave Bulgaria for a few weeks starting some time next week. I'd like to go to Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, and maybe even Montenegro for a few days each. There is a slim chance that I will be able to start Graduate School in October. I had a good meeting with the professor of the program in which I plan to enroll. She was quite outgoing, and really thought once my paperwork was ready, I could enroll. After I receive a certificate of recognition of higher education at a foreign higher education institution then I can submit my application. Anyway, I was excited to walk through the halls of a beautiful school on Tuesday.
                                             These shots are the inside of the main building at Sofia University.

Our Guests

So this week there is a heavy metal band staying at our hostel. They are putting on a performance this evening. There are eight performers total in this group, which hails from Italy.