Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Arron, Doug does everything he can to keep the dinosaur going - and this means that most days the heating is only on for a couple of hours at a time. Each time it stops he has to go back and "fiddle" (for want of the very techical term) with it again.

I was there on Monday and fortunately the weather was warm so it was not so evident. At the moment the condition of the building is so depressing, dreary and damp that even when the heating is on for a couple of hours it has little or no impact on the place.

But, we are slowly getting there with the bedrooms being decorated and new beds and hopefully it won't be too long before the rest of the place gets a damn good facelift. But, with all this work going on it is so imperative to get the heating replaced or we will soon be back to square one with peeling paint, damp walls etc, etc.

Andie

Hi All,

We visited the orphanage on Thursday and Friday last week under the supervision of Amanda. We mainly went there to play some football and other games with the kids and help boost the fund raising for our bike ride in May. I was a bit apprehensive of what I might find and was told to keep smiling with the kids and not to show any emotions.
Enough has been said about the conditions inside the orphanage so I had tried to prepare myself for this.
What I was not prepared for was the children themselves, they seemed so loving and happy and so friendly with one another. In all the time we were there I didn’t witness any bad behavior or boisterousness. Can you imagine 73 Teenagers in England left with two adults that just sit there and do nothing. There would be a riot!
I have got two children 16, and 14 and although I kept smiling and laughing with them I was desperately trying to hold back the tears, knowing these children had nobody to hug them ,praise them, show interest in them and tuck them in at night.
Two of the boys wanted to take me up the hill opposite to show me the small ski-slope, we raced each other up to the top. From there I could see Pamporovo tower with the orphanage in the valley below. I could n’t help thinking of all the Brits Sking, drinking and dinning unaware of what was in their shadow.
Coming down the slope the boys raced a head, I was trying to keep up but kept slipping, one boy ran back up to hold my hand all the way down.
We played football with the kids outside the front of the orphanage ,We tried to turn a blind eye to the health and safety as this is what the kids are used to. Pieces of wood with nails in, bottles, building materials etc etc. The kids loved this and kept looking at us for approval when they did something good.
Believe it or not I have condensed this post there is so much more to tell.
I returned to England on Saturday and finally broke down on Saturday evening, My 16 year old son looked on confused, he has never seen his Dad Cry.