Thank you Cindy.  This will be in New Bern, NC.


--- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, Cindy Hansmeier <aldercin@...> wrote:
>
> Where will this be at, Rhonda?   Congratulations!
>
> <><
>
> Rhonda wrote:
> >
> > I will be leading 2 LY sessions for the Healing the Spirit for
Women
> > touched by cancer workshop and I'll also be doing the closing
> > remarks. This will be held on April 14. I'm very excited. I will
> > also be doing a raw foods demo as well. I may even make my world
> > famous super-healthy raw chocolate/goji berry candy.
> > I can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing. I love sharing
new
> > ideas with the group.
> > Much love,
> > Rhonda
> >
> >
>

I will be leading 2 LY sessions for the Healing the Spirit for Women
touched by cancer workshop and I'll also be doing the closing
remarks. This will be held on April 14. I'm very excited. I will
also be doing a raw foods demo as well. I may even make my world
famous super-healthy raw chocolate/goji berry candy.
I can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing. I love sharing new
ideas with the group.
Much love,
Rhonda

I will be leading 2 LY sessions for the Healing the Spirit for Women
touched by cancer workshop and I'll also be doing the closing
remarks.  This will be held on April 14.  I'm very excited.  I will
also be doing a raw foods demo as well.  I may even make my world
famous super-healthy raw chocolate/goji berry candy.
I can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing.  I love sharing new
ideas with the group.
Much love,
Rhonda

YES!  This is a fabulous idea!

I've also done family reunions and class reunions.
Any time you want people to mix in a more friendly,
meaningful way, laughter yoga is useful.

I still think there is a market for laughter wedding
receptions as well as funerals...just gotta market it
right. :)

--- Rhonda <storms_chaos@...> wrote:

> This weekend I went to a birthday party for our dear
> friend's (Levi's
> godparents) son's 2nd birthday.  I estimated the
> cost of the party to
> be a little over $400.  A little pricey for me for a
> 2 year old, but
> it made me think.  Who was the  adult that had the
> most fun at the
> party?  The LY leader!!!  So then I started to
> seriously think.
> Hiring a LY leader to lead a 30 minute portion of a
> party would be
> great.  That could be a great idea if there is a
> market for anything
> like that in your area.  Hire yourself out for
> parties.  Especially if
> you are in an area where people are willing to spend
> for a great party.
> Makes you kinda think, huh?
>
>



      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page.
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This weekend I went to a birthday party for our dear friend's (Levi's
godparents) son's 2nd birthday.  I estimated the cost of the party to
be a little over $400.  A little pricey for me for a 2 year old, but
it made me think.  Who was the  adult that had the most fun at the
party?  The LY leader!!!  So then I started to seriously think.
Hiring a LY leader to lead a 30 minute portion of a party would be
great.  That could be a great idea if there is a market for anything
like that in your area.  Hire yourself out for parties.  Especially if
you are in an area where people are willing to spend for a great party.
Makes you kinda think, huh?

WOW!  Thanks for the inspiration, Rhonda! :)  Yes,
yes!  I think laughter combines with alternative
therapies so beautifully.  So keep synergizing the
ideas and who knows what will unfold!

Laughingly,
Laura

--- storms_chaos <storms_chaos@...> wrote:

> Hello all!
> I've been working on setting up laughter gigs since
> I've gotten
> home.  I have a few promising ones.  It's just a
> matter of setting a
> date and time for some of them.  I've mentioned it
> everywhere I've
> been.
> I've also started research and writing a workshop on
> the use of
> laughter with various alternative therapies.  I'm
> blown away already
> and it's only been a few days.
> Very good, very good YAY!!!
> Just when you think life is great - it gets BETTER.
> Love you all,
> Rhonda
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, "Laura Gentry"
> <laughinglutherans@...> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Laughers!
> > It's been a week since we all converged at Sugar
> Creek Bible
> Camp.  I just wanted to check
> > in with you new laughter yoga leaders to see how
> the laughter's
> been going.  Here are
> > some questions to which you can respond.  And
> those of you who
> trained with me in Aug
> > or Oct, please respond as well. :)
> >
> > • Do you have any laughter gigs set up yet?
> > I hear Sue's got a club starting NEXT WEEK!  Very
> Good! Very Good!
> Yay!
> >
> > • Are you laughing every day?
> > Teee heee heee!
> >
> > • Are you posting pics at this forum?
> > I put some up and so did Rhonda and Mark.  Check
> them on by
> clicking the photos link.
> > Please add your own and start a new album whenever
> you want to
> share pics of your
> > laughter gigs.
> >
> > • How is your overall joy level?
> > Laughter will cause it to keep rising so notice
> how you are
> feeling and let us know.
> >
> > Your laughing life has just begun!  Wooo hooo!
> >
> > Sending all my laughter & love,
> > Laughing Laura
> >
>
>
>



      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now. 
http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

Hello all!
I've been working on setting up laughter gigs since I've gotten
home.  I have a few promising ones.  It's just a matter of setting a
date and time for some of them.  I've mentioned it everywhere I've
been.
I've also started research and writing a workshop on the use of
laughter with various alternative therapies.  I'm blown away already
and it's only been a few days.
Very good, very good YAY!!!
Just when you think life is great - it gets BETTER.
Love you all,
Rhonda





--- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, "Laura Gentry"
<laughinglutherans@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Laughers!
> It's been a week since we all converged at Sugar Creek Bible
Camp.  I just wanted to check
> in with you new laughter yoga leaders to see how the laughter's
been going.  Here are
> some questions to which you can respond.  And those of you who
trained with me in Aug
> or Oct, please respond as well. :)
>
> • Do you have any laughter gigs set up yet?
> I hear Sue's got a club starting NEXT WEEK!  Very Good! Very Good!
Yay!
>
> • Are you laughing every day?
> Teee heee heee!
>
> • Are you posting pics at this forum?
> I put some up and so did Rhonda and Mark.  Check them on by
clicking the photos link.
> Please add your own and start a new album whenever you want to
share pics of your
> laughter gigs.
>
> • How is your overall joy level?
> Laughter will cause it to keep rising so notice how you are
feeling and let us know.
>
> Your laughing life has just begun!  Wooo hooo!
>
> Sending all my laughter & love,
> Laughing Laura
>

Hi Laughers!
It's been a week since we all converged at Sugar Creek Bible Camp.  I just
wanted to check
in with you new laughter yoga leaders to see how the laughter's been going. 
Here are
some questions to which you can respond.  And those of you who trained with me
in Aug
or Oct, please respond as well. :)

• Do you have any laughter gigs set up yet?
I hear Sue's got a club starting NEXT WEEK!  Very Good! Very Good! Yay!

• Are you laughing every day?
Teee heee heee!

• Are you posting pics at this forum?
I put some up and so did Rhonda and Mark.  Check them on by clicking the photos
link.
Please add your own and start a new album whenever you want to share pics of
your
laughter gigs.

• How is your overall joy level?
Laughter will cause it to keep rising so notice how you are feeling and let us
know.

Your laughing life has just begun!  Wooo hooo!

Sending all my laughter & love,
Laughing Laura

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the LYIowa
group.

   File        : /Caregiver Handout.DOC
   Uploaded by : laughinglutherans <laughinglutherans@...>
   Description : You can use this handout for caregivers (.doc version)

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LYIowa/files/Caregiver%20Handout.DOC

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles

Regards,

laughinglutherans <laughinglutherans@...>

Just yesterday, 12 amazing people became certified laughter yoga leaders!  Very
Good! Very
Good! Yay!  I cannot begin to describe how the retreat setting shaped our
experience.  It truly
helped us laugh and bond in fabulous way.  I'm sold on the laughter leader
retreat!

In fact, I have made the decision to hold my next laughter yoga leader training
retreat at
Sugar Creek Bible Camp again.  It will be April 4-6.  Tell your friends!!

Also, for this latest group, I forgot to ask you for testimonials to post at my
site.  If you
would like to e-mail me a blurb I could post, I would be most grateful.  It is
helpful for others
shopping for a seminar to read testimonials.  Your input would be immensely
appreciated. :)

I look forward to hearing of all your new laughter adventures.  Keep laughing
every day. ha
ha ha ha ha!

With Yippeees,
Laughing Laura

I'm looking forward to seeing the kids laughter video and plan to order
one for myself since I have became a kid again....since participating
in the laughter yoga session in august! Ha Ha.....I can't wait to see
it! At least kids are good at laughing....naturally and we can learn a
a lot from just being around them....Hope everyone is having a Happy
New Years Eve and Happy New Year to you all.....I am looking forward to
becoming a first time grandma in February. Its a boy! teresa

Hello Friends,
I wanted to let you know that the laughter yoga film for children, Laughter Friends, has been
released. Please visit: www.laughterfriends.com to learn more.

"By producing this Laughter Yoga film for children, Laura Gentry has started a new initiative
in America that will help young people laugh and play more, thus developing their emotional
intelligence and communication skills as they grow."

--Dr. Madan Kataria
Laughter Yoga Founder

----------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for checking it out!

Laughingly,
Laura

Hello Friends,
I wanted to let you know that the laughter yoga film for children, Laughter
Friends, has been
released.  Please visit: www.laughterfriends.com to learn more.

"By producing this Laughter Yoga film for children, Laura Gentry has started a
new initiative
in America that will help young people laugh and play more, thus developing
their emotional
intelligence and communication skills as they grow."

--Dr. Madan Kataria
Laughter Yoga Founder

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for checking it out!

Laughingly,
Laura

Where is everyone, I need a laugh.....

that I have been feeling much better....then previous to becoming a
laugher..no, It is not just "in my head"...and thats the good
thing...when I laugh not much is...which is good. I needed to lighten
up a little. I haven't been happier since I was five! Ha. When life
gets serious, which it does every day, I try to take a "one minute
laugher" which is similar to what people call a "one minute breather."
It helps every time. You can put me on the list......teresa

Hello Teresa and all my fabulous laughter friends!

How does your laughter flow?  Teeeeee heeeee heeeee!

Here are some updates from me:

1. LAUGHTER LEADER ANNIVERSARY
This month marks one year since I became a laughter
yoga leader.  One year of laughing and I feel
fantastic.  Not only have I been happier, I have been
healthier.  I only got one cold all year and I got
over it in less than a week--before laughing I'd get
several colds a year and sometimes it would become
bronchitis and last for months.  Very Good! Very Good!
Yay!  I firmly believe that the cummulative effect of
the laughter has been great.

2. LAUGHTER FRIENDS FILM IN END STAGES
As you know, I've been in the process of making a
laughter yoga workout film for kids.  The editor just
finished it on Friday and has sent me the master DVD.
Assuming it meets with my approval, it will go into
the replication process and copies should be available
a couple of weeks.  I've updated the film site and
will have ordering information there:
www.laughterfriends.com.  If you'd like to become a
retailor of the DVDs--like offering them for sale when
you go out doing laughter yoga jobs, let me know.

3. LAUGHTER YOGA AT CHRISTMAS PARTIES
I've been hired to provide entertainment at some
Christmas parties this season--both for companies and
for family gatherings.  This is marketing idea for all
of you because laughter yoga is a great way to make
the season jolly.  Perhaps try leading some exercises
at your own family gathering and let us know what
happens.

4. REGISTRATION OPEN FOR NEXT LEADER SEMINAR
I have taken your input into account and decided to
make my next leader seminar longer so that there is
more time for practice and fellowship.  This next
seminar will be Feb 8-10 at Sugar Creek Bible Camp in
Ferryville, Wisconsin.  We'll be sharing our meals
together and staying in cabins that sleep 7.  The
registration is limited to 26. I haven't done any
advertising yet except posting it at my Web site and I
have 7 people registered already.  At this point 4
people are registered who will be flying in--1 from
Maryland, 2 from New York and 1 from North Carolina.
So I am excited that it is going to be a diverse group
of laughers. I would appreciate it if you recommend
this seminar to any people you know who might be
interested.

If there is space in this seminar, I am willing to
have any of you who are already leaders join us for
just $50 to cover room and board.  I will wait until
the week before to announce if there are spaces
available.  Please let me know if you'd like to be on
the waiting list.

I hope you laugh every day and recognize how amazing
you are!  Please post a note her at our yahoo group
and let us know how you are.

Laughingly,
Laura


--- treeabra <treeabra@...> wrote:

> Where is everyone, I need a laugh.....
>
>



      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Where is everyone, I need a laugh.....

Hi Teresa,
That's great!  You must have brought so much delight
to the residents!  I hope it becoming a regular thing.

For the next LY leader training, I'm starting to get
registrations in, including a couple from NY and a
woman from SC.  If your sister wants to come, tell her
to consider registering as soon as possible.  The
enrollement is limited.

Blessings,
Laura

p.s. Anna Moody came to the Lansing Laughter Club last
night and brought her daughter.  It was a great time.

--- Teresa Martin <laughingmama3@...> wrote:

> yes I did sing with them too!  They had a blast!
> Will be doing it again this Friday.  My computer
> died so I am depending on library computer for the
> time being so be patient with the email.
>
> Teresa
>
> Laura Gentry <laughinglutherans@...> wrote:
>                            VERY GOOD!  VERY GOOD!
> YAY!  I laughed so hard about the top teeth coming
> out.  Way to
>  go!!  Did you sing with them too?  That's a great
> warm-up.  Keep laughing with them.  What a
>  gift!
>
>  --- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, "laughingmama3"
> <laughingmama3@...> wrote:
>  >
>  > I am very pleased to announce that since becoming
> certified that I
>  > have had my first session!  It was with the
> residents at the care
>  > facility I work at.  I had to tone it down a bit
> for the first time
>  > and to get them feeling comfortable with laughing
> for the first time
>  > but I am pleased with the whole turn out.  I had
> one resident laughing
>  > so hard she lost her top teeth!!!  I also had a
> family member there
>  > that thought it was a great concept an hoped that
> we will continue.
>  > I'm sooooo excited I wanted to share!!
>  >
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Get easy, one-click access to your favorites.  Make
> Yahoo! your homepage.



      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Get easy, one-click access to your favorites.
Make Yahoo! your homepage.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

VERY GOOD! VERY GOOD! YAY! I laughed so hard about the top teeth coming out. Way to
go!! Did you sing with them too? That's a great warm-up. Keep laughing with them. What a
gift!

--- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, "laughingmama3" <laughingmama3@...> wrote:
>
> I am very pleased to announce that since becoming certified that I
> have had my first session! It was with the residents at the care
> facility I work at. I had to tone it down a bit for the first time
> and to get them feeling comfortable with laughing for the first time
> but I am pleased with the whole turn out. I had one resident laughing
> so hard she lost her top teeth!!! I also had a family member there
> that thought it was a great concept an hoped that we will continue.
> I'm sooooo excited I wanted to share!!
>

Congratulations!
Way to go Teresa and Cindy! You guys rock! Very Good, Very
Good YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Your stories are inspiring! I tried out LT with my grandchildren.
They loved it. I asked them to think of a laughter thing. Shaw who is
5 said Bumper cars! So we ran around and bumped into each other with
Ha"s . I think we have a laughter leader in the making!
Thank you for stepping out with laughter! You encourage my heart.
Blessings Melissa

Congratulations!
	 Way to go Teresa and Cindy! You guys rock! Very Good, Very
Good YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Your stories are inspiring!  I tried out LT with my grandchildren.
They loved it. I asked them to think of a laughter thing. Shaw who is
5 said Bumper cars! So we ran around and bumped into each other with
Ha"s . I think we have a laughter leader in the making!
Thank you for stepping out with laughter!  You encourage my heart.
Blessings Melissa

VERY GOOD!  VERY GOOD! YAY!  I laughed so hard about the top teeth coming out. 
Way to
go!!  Did you sing with them too?  That's a great warm-up.  Keep laughing with
them.  What a
gift!

--- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, "laughingmama3" <laughingmama3@...> wrote:
>
> I am very pleased to announce that since becoming certified that I
> have had my first session!  It was with the residents at the care
> facility I work at.  I had to tone it down a bit for the first time
> and to get them feeling comfortable with laughing for the first time
> but I am pleased with the whole turn out.  I had one resident laughing
> so hard she lost her top teeth!!!  I also had a family member there
> that thought it was a great concept an hoped that we will continue.
> I'm sooooo excited I wanted to share!!
>

I am very pleased to announce that since becoming certified that I
have had my first session!  It was with the residents at the care
facility I work at.  I had to tone it down a bit for the first time
and to get them feeling comfortable with laughing for the first time
but I am pleased with the whole turn out.  I had one resident laughing
so hard she lost her top teeth!!!  I also had a family member there
that thought it was a great concept an hoped that we will continue.
I'm sooooo excited I wanted to share!!

Thank You for the happy welcome!

- In LYIowa@yahoogroups.com, Cindy Hansmeier <aldercin@...> wrote:
>
> Welcome, New Leaders!  Hope you had as much fun in training as I
did!
> Laura, I have been asked to do a brief blurb at the Christian
Couple's
> Club in November.  It's gonna be a challenge to be "brief" with
> something so fun!
>
> <><
>
> Laura Gentry wrote:
> >
> > Over the weekend, 6 new leaders were trained in Lansing! We hope
> > you'll all become
> > members of this Yahoo group so we can keep the laughter and
> > conversation rolling!
> >
> > Here are our new leaders:
> > Anna Moody of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
> > Melissa Murphy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
> > Lori Valley of McGregor, Iowa
> > Judy Conant of Thoma, Wisconsin
> > Teresa Martin of Waukon, Iowa
> > Patricia Reeves of Des Moines, Iowa
> >
> >
>

Over the weekend, 6 new leaders were trained in Lansing! We hope you'll all become
members of this Yahoo group so we can keep the laughter and conversation rolling!

Here are our new leaders:
Anna Moody of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Melissa Murphy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Lori Valley of McGregor, Iowa
Judy Conant of Thoma, Wisconsin
Teresa Martin of Waukon, Iowa
Patricia Reeves of Des Moines, Iowa

Over the weekend, 6 new leaders were trained in Lansing!  We hope you'll all
become
members of this Yahoo group so we can keep the laughter and conversation
rolling!

Here are our new leaders:
Anna Moody of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Melissa Murphy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Lori Valley of McGregor, Iowa
Judy Conant of Thoma, Wisconsin
Teresa Martin of Waukon, Iowa
Patricia Reeves of Des Moines, Iowa

My 2 weeks trip to Bulgaria with my parents and husbandf was quite an adventure,
affording many opportunities to laugh! ha ha ha!  Since I'm sure YOU are
thinking of a trip
to Bulgaria, I'll tell you some of the things I've learned.  If you want to go
there, here's
what you'll need to do.

LEARN TO NAVIGATE BY MEANS OF MENTAL POWERS
In Bulgaria, they have discovered that road signs are
a luxury item and not needed or used with any sense of
regularity.  What highway signs do exist are printed
in the Cyrillic alphabet of the Bulgarian language and
do not match the town names on our map, which are in
our Latin alphabet.  Fortunately, William studied
Russian in high school and was able to decipher the
signs for us.  I am not kidding--there were whole
cities without a single street sign.  I don't know WHY
they name the streets when they are never ever posted
on those streets.  It took my navigational skills to a
whole new level.  I could compete in the Olympics if
they added a map-reading sport.

BECOME FLUENT IN BULGARIAN
Nobody in Bulgaria speaks English.  Okay, I admit that
I am exaggerating.  We found 4 people in 2 weeks that
knew a little.  Apparently, they are too poor of a
country to offer it in school.  So it was back to the
old act-everything-out routine for basic
communication.  This is my dad's favorite means of
vacation communication and he calls it "international
sign language" but even this does not work, as their
"yes" is a back and forth head bobble that looks much
like "no".  Lucky for us, my parents brought a tour
book with a few Bulgarian words so I didn't have to
act out "I have to go to the bathroom" as I'm not sure
there is a gesture for this which can be used in
polite company.  We learned the following in
Bulgarian: hello, thank you, toilet, and I'm ready to
pay the bill.  If you know these words in the native
language, you can get by in most any country.  I even
learned to count to 5 so as to help get our restaurant
orders right. Sometimes even showing the number of
fingers did not communicate numbers to our waitresses.


PACK PLENTY OF IMODIUM AD
Here is an essential trip for travelers: pack enough
Imodium AD for any bowel troubles you may have eating
foreign food so you don't have to ask for it by name
in a country where you can't speak the language.
Though we had the foresight to bring some along,
Bulgarian cuisine affected us all and we soon ran out.
  Believe me, acting this one out for the pharmacists
(who, of course, do not speak English and keep
EVERYTHING--including cosmetics--behind the counter)
was a bit embarrassing, but it did give everyone a
good laugh both times we had to buy more.

NEVER BE WITHOUT YOUR OWN SUPPLY OF TOILET PAPER
Most travel books warn you to bring a little toilet
paper along when you go to foreign nations, especially
the less developed ones, but they weren't kidding when
it comes to Bulgaria.  Not only did they not have
toilet paper, many places were altogether without
toilets.  That's right, even while dining in a fancy
restaurant, you may go into the bathroom and find
yourself facing nothing but a flushing hole with foot
pads for where you're supposed to stand (in the less
fancy restaurants, it is a non-flushing hole).  For
men, this is hardly a change from urinals, but for
women this provides a noteworthy travel challenge.  My
advice: keep an eye out for forests along the highway.
  As long as you're going to have to bring your own
toilet paper and squat anyway, you might as well go in
a place that's nice-smelling. And as mentioned
earlier, this situation reinforces the need for an
ample supply of Imodium AD.

RESEARCH TOURIST SITES WELL IN ADVANCE
You can Google "Bulgarian Tourism" and find plenty of
information on-line. This may lead you to believe that
you will also find information in the country itself.
This would be wrong.  Bulgaria is not tourist-ready
and may not be so for many years to come.  We only
found one tourist office in the entire nation and it
was utterly vacated.  If you wish to travel in
Bulgaria, YOU have to take full responsibility find
the unmarked attractions.  The road signs will not
tell you.  And if you can somehow communicate your
question the locals, they will simply make odd,
indecipherable gestures.  If, however, you do have the
persistence and psychic abilities to find the sites,
do not expect to find parking.  World-class
archeological and cultural sites are usually without a
parking lot.

WATCH YOUR STEP
If there is a hazardous walking environment, do not
plan to be warned by the Bulgarians.  You can walk
along Roman ruins dozens of meters in the air with no
guard rails.  Holes in the ground, into which you
could fall to your death are not marked so do mind
your step.

BE IN EXCELLENT PHYSICAL CONDITION
Handicap accessibility?  What's that?  You cannot see
anything without traversing numerous, uneven steps
with no handrails.  To see the 8th century rock
carving in the mountains of Madara, for example, you
must be capable of walking the 373 odd-sized steps to
reach the base.

LEAVE YOUR LAPTOP AT HOME
Despite the fact that some hotels advertise "free
wireless internet" the signal is never strong.  You
can sit right on the base and get, at best, two bars
of signal.  This means that you cannot do any
significant tourism research while on vacation either
so do it well in advance, as stated previously, so
leave your computer at home.  And while we are on past
points, do you have enough Imodium AD?

DODGE THE DOGS
Wherever you go, you'll encounter stray cats and dogs
roaming the streets, politely begging for food in the
outdoor sections of restaurants and rummaging through
garbage bins.  Unless you have updated rabies shots,
try to avoid petting them.  I had no problems with the
stray dogs but the pet of some people we met, bit my
heels in their house.  He was sheep dog and clearly
had mistaken me for one of the livestock, which I
still have bruises to demonstrate.

PREPARE TO PARTY
Bulgarians, the books will tell you, are "a party
people".  We did not understand the inherent truth of
this statement until we tried to sleep.  Bulgarians do
not seem to awaken until about noon and then they
begin partying at 10 p.m. and go all night.  They
always use their outdoor voices during party hours, no
matter where they are--even when they are inside your
hotel on the floor right above you.  They think
nothing of talking, laughing, wrestling, jumping up
and down, yelling and leaping off large objects at  3
o'clock in the morning. How could that possibly
disrupt the sleep of those staying downstairs?  Since
you can't beat them, you might as well join them.
With the low cost of the delicious Bulgarian beers,
you can hardly afford not to party along.  And you
might as well take up smoking while you're there so
you won't be the only one in the room without a
cigarette in hand.

Despite these extraordinary impediments, we had a
fabulous time and saw sprawling ancient fortresses,
Roman baths, stadiums and amphitheaters, amazing
Orthodox churches with countless fresco paintings, saw
the horseman carving 100 meters up on a cliff of
Madara, crawled inside hand-carved caves which served
as a 3rd century monastery, boated across through the
Black Sea in a flimsy boat, went to a bird sanctuary
which is one of the most important bird-watching sites
in the world, scaled up the side of a mountain to see
the blue rocks in an old, open-air ski lift, "hiked
with the car" through narrow old towns with just a few
inches to spare on each side, dodged countless stray
dogs, drove to several communist monuments on
mountaintops. stood on the banks of the Danube River
which flows through more countries than any other
river in the world, the watched Bulgarian Independence
Day fireworks from our guesthouse window, got free
grapes, energy healing work and 60-degree vodka from a
Bulgarian alternative medicine doctor who could not
speak English but invited us into his home
nevertheless, watched a narrow-gauge passenger train
(which haven't been used in the US for about a hundred
years) breeze by, were given a bottle of pear-based
moonshine from English people living in Bulgaria,
stayed at a fancy spa where I got a chocolate massage,
walked inside the tomb of an ancient Thracian king
whose belongings we'd seen earlier in a museum that
day, rented luxury rooms at the Palace Hotel in
Kazanlak that were larger than most houses, swam in
therapeutic pools with no chlorine, saw the rose oil
capital of Europe, met the mayor of Ruse, looked
across the river to see Romania, visited a trout farm,
climbed into a wine cave in the town of Melnik and
bought a bottle of wine that was filled right from the
aging barrel and corked in front of us, saw a
Bulgarian art exhibit,  talked with a nun in a
monastery (she was one of the 4 Bulgarians that spoke
English), and managed to order enough food and
Imodium AD--despite the language barrier--to subsist
for 2 weeks of pure Bulgarian adventure.  Oh, and my
mom received a blessing from an old peasant woman
outside a church in Plovdiv.  Mom can walk but uses a
wheelchair on vacation so she can see more things.
Promptly after the blessing,  Mom got up out of her
wheelchair and began to walk--thoroughly astonishing
the woman who thought she'd performed a genuine
miracle!  We all squeeled and carried on so that the
woman would be convinced of her healing powers.  It
was a hoot.