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Weekend again …

Freitag, September 12th, 2008

So, weekend already arrived. No school until Monday morning (at 8 again).
Yesterday we had the idea to have two days off, so that our Spanish people would have time to catch up and have private classes, and we can go to Istanbul or travel the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Unfortunately this was not allowed, although the teachers and our custodian would have been okay with that.
So we are sticking to the original plan: Today in the afternoon we will visit the Bulgarian Picture Gallery and tomorrow we all go with one of our teachers to Созопол (Sozopol), which is a little town nearby. We still don’t have plans for Sunday, let’s see when we will wake up (we have to get up at 7am each day, including tomorrow for the trip).
Apropos Istanbul. On Tuesday I had a short visit of to friends from Vienna, Monika and Cornelia who are also studying Spatial Planning with me. The were on the way to Istanbul and had a cheap flight to Burgas and then a bus to Istanbul (which is only about 5 hours away). Unfortunately (mainly due to communication problems) we only met for a short time, but it was nice talking anyway.
Waiting for Monika and Cornelia I spent lot’s of time at the Central Bus Station and could see some old Austrian Buses in original paint (you can see one on the pictures). I also found two other places that reminds me on my home: A „Charly Temmel“ which is an ice cream shop in Graz, that has branches in Los Angeles and Sunny Beach (The last is a huge hotel resort nearby). The other is somehow curious: „Austrian Kebap“. I have to get one of those, I’m really wondering what this is like.
So stay tuned about our experiences on the weekend, enjoy yours as well. By the way, this is my name in Cyrillic letters: стефан плепелиц.


One of the austrian buses in Burgas (going to Sunny Beach)
Charly Temmel (Graz – Los Angeles – Sunny Beach)
Original „Austrian Kebap“

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The Beach

Montag, September 8th, 2008

Argyll asked me in one of the comments, whether the beach in Burgas is nice.
I wouldn’t have expected it, but the the beach here is really great. According to my Tourist Guide it should be quite dirty because of the industry nearby, but I’ve really seen worse.
Between the town and the beach lies a huge park, called the „Sea Garden“, where you can relax, get food (e.g. „Sprat“, roasted small fish) or go for a party in the evening. The beach itself is a narrow strip (about 20-50m) of sand. Sand as you expect there should be on a beach. Also the way into the sea is totally sandy, and it’s really flat. In the mornings until around 1pm (that’s the time when we have class) the sea is still, in the afternoon a strong wind comes up, so there are strong waves. Last week we always had a red flag, so we couldn’t go swimming or just near the beach. This week it seems to be better, it also got hotter again (at 19pm it had about 28°C today).
Stay tuned.


Burgas from Space.

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Lake Atanasovsko

Sonntag, September 7th, 2008

Today I used the great weather (it’s still summer) for my first real cycling trip. This time I wanted to see one of the other lakes. As you presumably not know the geographical location of Burgas, here is a little Map (thanks to Google, who provide these satellite images):

This time I wanted to see the Lake Atanasovsko (Атанасовско езеро), which is located to the northeast of Burgas and close to my current home. I assumed that I will be much nicer than the Burgas Lake that I visited yesterday, as part of it is a nature reserve, due to the fact that it lies on the Via Pontia bird migration route. The Lake is very salty, that’s why the water doesn’t look very nice too … this time it’s natural. It’s also used for mud therapies, I could see lot’s of people covered in black mud.
My plan was to circuit the lake once, which unfortunately didn’t work out. On the west of the lake I would have needed to use a highway (which I accidentely did for a short distance), so I tried my luck from the east which was more successful. At least I could see a cemetery and a recreation area which currently hosts an exhibition of sand artwork. On the eastern part I passed a salt mining factory, an inlet from the Black Sea with lots of Jelly Fish, and some other interesting spots. See the pictures below for some impressions.
Altogether I cycled about 40km today and got a bit sunburned. Therefore I’m quite tired and don’t want to write more. Next week will be exhausting again, so presumably I won’t manage to update my blog. You can use the time to think about things you like to know about my visit, shall I write about some things in more detail? Have a good time!


A newer part of the cemetery.
An older part inbetween trees.
A typical suburbean settlement.

The Lake Atanasovsko with Burgas in the background as seen from the west.
The Lake is used for salty mining and for mud therapies.
Another lake (apparently created by gravel mining)

Inlet from the Black Sea to the Lake Atanasovsko.
Jelly fish in the inlet.
Horse carriages are still used.

„BurgaSandFest“, a temporary exhibition of sand artwork.
A strip of beach with black sand.
Yeah! Cycling!

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The first week has passed …

Samstag, September 6th, 2008

Nearly a week has passed without a message from me – Sorry. But this week has been pretty busy. As you already know, I’m doing this Erasmus Intensive Language Course in Burgas, Bulgaria. „Intensive“ is the right word for it – Every day from 8am to 1pm we are sitting in a class room at Burgas Free University and having class – like in school. And our teacher Salutska is giving us a hard time, as she speaks hardly English (and I think she doesn’t want to). We also have to repeat things in the afternoon, we won’t manage without.
You want to know who is „We“? At the moment we are a group of eight people, half male-female. Two students from Poland, two from Italy, one from Finland, Czech Republic and France. On Monday another three students from Spain shall arrive – I think they will have a really hard time in the language course, and we will have time to repeat.
A thing that’s really confusing is the alphabet – there are not only other characters, there are even two different alphabets: a printed and a written one, and both are used in printed form. Sounds confusing? It’s confusing. For example: The sound ‚d‘ has the printed characters ‚Д‘ and ‚д‘ and the written characters ‚D‘ and ‚g‘. ‚i‘ has ‚И‘ and ‚и‘, written ‚U‘ and ‚u‘. ‚t‘ has ‚Т‘ ‚т‘ or ‚M‘ ‚m‘. And so on.
Some words about the place where I’m staying: I’m still at Хотел Космос (Hotel Cosmos) in Бургас (Burgas). We were searching for a flat all week, but it’s really hard to get a flat for a month. Yesterday we visited a flat, where we would have lived with the owner (a 60-year old man). Actually the flat was quite pretty with a beatiful view on the black sea, but it was to small for us and some of us were anxious to live with such an old man in a flat. So apparently we will stay in the hotel all September. Fortunately it’s quite cheap.
The town itself is not very beatiful and there are just a few sightseeing spots. In the center you have a shopping area, which consists of two perpendicular pedestrian roads. There are just a few shopping malls, usually you just have small shops with very specialized variety of goods (like Clothes which is very common, Mobile phones or wall painting colors). You have those shops all over the town, so even the suburbs are quite lively. If I have more time I will write a longer report about Burgas with a lot of pictures. At the moment the beach is calling, so I try to be short.
Today I already hiked to one of the three lakes that surround Burgas. As a couchsurfer in Burgas (who is actually American, but lives here for two years now and is supporting doctors at a medical service for Gypies around Burgas) already told me, the Burgas Laks (which is to the west) is not worth seeing. It takes quite some time to go there by foot and you even have to cross a highway and than the view is not beautiful at all. The lake is an ugly, stinky, dirty spot. There were some fisherman, but I can’t imagine that there are still creatures in there. I don’t think that I would like to eat one of those.
On the way back I crossed an older suburban area near the lake and I actually found a „Вело Сервиз“ (say: Velo Service) and I bought a refurbished bicycle there. It looks like a bike from the 1970’s, but there’s an additional break (so it has front, back and back pedal break) and five gears. And it’s blue.
I have to take good care when cycling, the car drivers don’t take care (about anybody). It’s really hard to cross a street because zebra crossings are being ignored. Pavements next to the roads are not for walking but for parking, so using them is like an obstacle course.
So much for today, thanks for your attention :) I’m always pleased to read your comments, so keep on posting. See you next time!

Here you have some pictures:


View of a street in Burgas – little shops, parking pavements
The Burgas Lake – a dirty spot
My new bicycle

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Good morning, Bulgaria!

Sonntag, August 31st, 2008

The view from our hotel room.To the left the black sea

I’m wondering why I went to the smoky internet room with this old PC yesterday. I’m now sitting in my hotel room and using the hotel’s own wireless network. Much better :)
So, time for breakfast!

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The adventure „Erasmus“ has begun

Samstag, August 30th, 2008

Now it’s for real – I’ve left for Bulgaria. I’m here to see new cultures, meet interesting people and – last but not least – study spatial planning. I just arrived in Burgas at the Black Sea, where I’ll do my 4-week language course.
The last weeks have been really exhausting. There was lots of organizing to do, like Social Insurance during my stay in Bulgaria, finishing my bachelor in Computer Science, moving all stuff out of my flat and cleaning – something I wouldn’t have managed without the help of my mother. Last week was also full of meeting friends for a list time before being abroad for such a long time.
Finally the last day in Vienna started. I woke up in company of Miri and Kugal who surprisingly showed up at my Fare Well-Party. The whole day was quite stressful, I really underestimated the effort to move all my things out. The farewell at the airport was a bit emotional, but then I finally had time to relax. The flight to Burgas was really comfortable and unspectacular. I used the time to talk to my neighbor called Brigitte, who traveled to Nessbar with her husband and her three children for vacation. The only noticable thing about the flight was the guy behind us who made a real fuzz about Brigitte’s husband, because he „looked 110% like his brother“. He was so excited about that, that he phoned his brother after landing and let the look-alikes talk to each other.
After a ten-minute drive with a taxi I arrived at my shelter in Burgas – the Hotel Cosmos which is a typical east-european building from the communist era. Here I share my room with an italian guy whom I haven’t met yet. Our room is on the 10th floor where you can hear the winds blow. It’s really stormy, so it’s quite loud.
As of this writing (the original version on paper) I’m sitting in a pub at the beach a drinking a welcome beer (which cost 1,79 Лев/Lew or about 0,90). It’s comfortable to sit here in a T-Shirt, it’s about 23 degrees Centigrade. As I already said it’s quite stormy, so the waves are high.
Now I’m sitting in front of the internet computer at the hotel which is an old Pentium 120 MHz with 32 MB RAM and a 14 inch display. For those who can’t understand these values: This is like really old – about 12 years I would say.
I’m tired from the journey and everything – so I’m going to bed now (it’s already past midnight in East European time). Good night :)

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Jedem Kind sein Laptop

Donnerstag, August 28th, 2008

Ein Artikel auf derStandard.at hat mich zu folgendem Kommentar veranlasst:

Meiner Meinung nach ist es essenziell, dass SchülerInnen von Anfang an den Umgang mit Computern lernen. Am besten sollten diese einen OLPC, den viel gerühmten 100$-Laptop bekommen. Dieser ist von Grund auf für die Bedürfnisse von Kindern designed, einfach zu bedienen und ausgerichtet auf Kollaboration. Außerdem Open Source – damit die Kinder selber sehen können wie das Ding funktioniert und wie sie es verbessern können – so entsteht Innovation.

In einigen 3.-Welt-Ländern wurde dieser bereits verteilt – mit durchwegs positiven Ergebnissen. Die Probleme die das Projekt hat sind vor allem durch kommerzielle Konkurrenz entstanden.

http://laptop.org ist die Webseite des Projektes. Dort gibt es Beschreibungen und Erfahrungsberichte.

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Ost-Festival last Friday

Montag, August 25th, 2008

Last friday there was the Ost-Festival in Galopprennbahn Freudenau in the Viennese Prater organized by the Ost-Klub, a Club in Vienna specialized for Balkan Music.

Unfortunately Ost-Klub is not famous for being cheap, the entrance for the festival was 23€, a beer cost 4 Ost-Rubel (the exchange-course was 1€=1 Ost-Rubel).

At this Festival they had quite a line-up, headlining were Balkan Beat Box (myspace) which did really rock and Russkaja (myspace). The other bands were also quite cool (in sum there were five bands playing), especially Grooveheadz (myspace), where I was able to catch one of the CDs they distributed to the audience. You should give this music a try, it’s cosy balkanesque music.

It was a long evening, Russkaja ended around 4 am, and then there was the long way home …

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The OpenStreetMap

Donnerstag, August 21st, 2008

This time I want to tell you something about a project where I’m participating lately. It’s called the OpenStreetMap. The idea behind OpenStreetMap is to build a free map of the world.

When Google introduced its Webservice Google Maps and and their software Google Earth everybody was excited what you can do with that. The most important thing: You can share geographic information with others. Like geotagging your pictures on Flickr and displaying them on a map, or describing all your favourite pubs and sites.

Now there are several drawbacks with Google Maps (and similar services like MSN Live): It’s copyrighted data, you can’t use it for everything because you have to sign a License Agreement. And you can’t change the data itself. Furthermore, Google Maps is not ideal for me, because it’s optimized for car users. There are even maps for all the underground parkings in Vienna but no Cycle Routes or Public Transport routes.

Now, there’s an alternative: The OpenStreetMap (short: OSM), a free editable map of the whole world. The availability of GPS receivers made it possible, because volunteers record their tracks and draw the map by tracing the tracks and adding additional information like street names, road types and amenities (like shops, post offices, pubs, cycle parkings, …). Additional to volunteer work some other information sources has been used, like governmental databases.

The result: A yet far from complete but usable map. And it looks nice. And you can access the raw data which is available under a Creative Commons Licence and even allows commercial usage. Here’s an example from Vienna’s city centre, you can see the the area around the Imperial Palace and the Museumsquarter. The first picture is taken from Google Maps, the second from MSN Live (how comes the name „2ER Linie“ is used – that’s a commonly used but unofficial name) and the third from the OSM (rendered with the preferred renderer Mapnik).


Google Maps
MSN Live
OpenStreetMap

Which is really exciting about the OSM are the projects that emerge from it:
* The Cycle Map: A special view of OSM optimized for cyclists.
* OpenPisteMap: A project to track skiing pistes and all things that are important for skiiers like lifts, restaurants, shops and so on.
* OpenRouteService: A route planner using OSM data.
and there’s much more …

If you want to learn more about OSM than take a look at their Wiki. There are some howto’s how to contribute to OSM … you don’t even need a GPS receiver for this.

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Wieder mal Sziget Festival

Montag, August 18th, 2008

Im sechsten Jahr in Folge konnte ich es mir nicht nehmen lassen auf das <a href=“http://www.sziget.hu/festival_german“>Sziget-Festival</a> in Budapest zu fahren. Aufgrund meiner Bulgarien-Vorbereitungen diesmal allerdings in verkürzter Version, nämlich nur von Freitag bis Montag.

Leute die mich besser kennen wissen vermutlich, dass ich jedes Jahr ein „bestes“ Konzert küre – diesmal gab es aber einen Überraschungssieger. Eigentlich hatte ich nach dem Konzert von <a href=“http://www.goranbregovic.co.yu/“>Goran Bregovic</a> am Samstag diesen als vorläufigen Sieger erkoren, um am Sonntag dann von der ungarischen Gruppe <a href=“http://www.beshodrom.hu/“>Besh o droM</a> getoppt zu werden. Damit hatte ich eigentlich erwartet, dass die Entscheidung gefallen sei.

Zu späterer Stunde hat uns dann die ungarische Jazzband <a href=“http://www.myspace.com/europeanmantra“>“European Mantra“</a> auf der Jazzbühne überrascht bei der wir eigentlich nur durch Zufall vorbeigekommen sind. Die Musikrichtung würde ich als Jazzbanause als fetzigen, abwechslungsreichen und komplexen Jazz bezeichnen. Ich bin so richtig schön in die Musik reingekippt, dass sie es verdient haben, als bestes Konzert des Szigets bezeichnet zu werden – zumindest in meiner persönlichen Wertung. Ich hab mir dann sogar noch eine CD gekauft, was ich nach dem ersten Reinhören nicht als Fehler bezeichnen würde.

Was gibts noch zu berichten?
Die Vielfältigkeit des Festivals ist noch immer ein Grund hinzufahren. Es gibt neben den vielen guten Konzerten so viele Sachen zum anschauen und ausprobieren, z.B. Straßenkunst (Jonglieren, Akrobatik und Clowns) auf der „Travelling Fun Fair“, diverse Theater (unter anderem einem vietnamesischen Wassertheater, einer Art von unterwassergesteuerter Marionetten). Daneben haben auch einige Museen Exponate ausgestellt.

Neben den kulturellen Angeboten haben sich wie immer auch viele Organisationen präsentiert, unter anderem gab es auch einen Ability-Park in dem man ausprobieren konnte wie es ist, körperlich eingeschränkt zu sein.

Leider gibt es nicht nur positives zu berichten. Höherer Standgebühren und Klagen der anderen StandlerInnen über die Gratisausgabe sind die Hare Krishnas zum Opfer gefallen, die nur noch einen kleinen versteckten Stand hatten, den ich nicht mal gefunden hab. Wer nicht weiß, warum ich das betrüblich finde soll doch mal auf Youtube nach „Gouranga sziget“ suchen.

Die Situation der Zeltplätze war heuer um einiges entspannter als die letzten Jahre, was zum Teil zusätzlichen Campingflächen zu verdanken war, die allerdings zu Opfer vieler Sträucher und Büsche in den Wäldern der Insel geschaffen wurden. Außerdem dürfte das heurige Szigetfestival um einiges weniger ZuschauerInnen angelockt haben, die Schieberei auf den Straßen hielt sich angenehmerweise in Grenzen.

Auch wenn dieses Festival für mich mit nur drei Tagen sehr schnell vorüberging hab ich es sehr genossen und ich bin mir sicher, dass es mich wieder dorthin ziehen wird – vermutlich aber nicht nächstes Jahr, da ich hoffe zu dieser Zeit noch den Osten Europas unsicher zu machen (da gibts sicher auch tolle Festivals).

Wenn ich die Photos des heurigen Szigets gesichtet hab, werd ich vielleicht hier auch noch ein paar posten. Übrigens: Kommentare (über die ich mich natürlich freue – *hint hint*) sind auf meinem Blog jetzt auch ohne Twoday-Account möglich.

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