Firewalking, Tarzan climbing, and other things Liability lawyers would never allow at home....

This week was another fun one for our family.  We are discovering that Bulgaria does not have the same hang-ups about product safety and firms dow not have much fear of being sued if someone dies while patronizing their business.  This means that the amusement parks and entertainment activities have few rules and are consequently more fun.

This is our six year old daughter Eliza using a zip line from a twenty foot high platform in a tree after finishing an obstacle course at a place called Kokolandia.  We Hensleys have lots of experience with zip lines, and apparently in Bulgaria they aren't real worried about whether or not you fall, because not only do they let 6 year olds do it, they also let them do it unsupervised.  Deborah and I were the only ones watching them most of the time they climbed about the trees like little monkeys. 

This is Maddie on one of the obstacles.  Eliza is waiting on the platform at the left.  The course cost about $2.50 and was made up of a series of about 10 rope bridges of various types strung between the tall trees of the forest in the public park near our home.  The girls are about 20 feet in the air in this picture.  But they do have a safety line, as you can see- so that makes everything fine.

This is the Alexader Nevski Cathedral, the largest church on the Balkan Penninsula.  While Deborah and I were impressed by the workmanship and the beautifully painted walls, this was largely lost on the kids, who only wanted to go back to the Tarzan trees.

This is the monument to the Soviet Army, also in the park by our house.  The guy holding the machine gun aloft is a soviet soldier flanked by a grateful Bulgarian mother and child, and a Bulgarian fighter.  It is about 160 feet tall, and has been somewhat controversial here in recent years.  Built by the communists in 1956, it was meant to thank the Soviets for liberating Bulgaria from the Germans in 1944.  Nowadays lots of people think it should be torn down since aside from old pensioners, not many people pine for the bad old days.  But so far they have kept it as a reminder of those days- but it good Western fashion they have built a skate park around it.

The guy I will be replacing at the embassy took us out to dinner this week at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant named the Watermill.  After dinner they had music and dancing.  This is Wyatt, who when they asked for volunteers, immediately jumped into the dancing line between the two pretty girls.  Later in the evening they had firewalkers, who showed off their craft in a show that included carrying people over the coals.  All four of our children went over the coals with the firewalker (he didn't drop them, thankfully!) and had a great time.  Going out to dinner here is an all evening affair.  We were there about 4 hours altogether and they just keep bringing you more courses.

There are the ruins of a 4th century Roman palace built by the emperor Constantine, located directly in the center of Sofia.  You might think they would be roped off and completely inaccessible, but actually you can walk through them and climb over them all you like.  Our kids treated them like a playground and no one seemed to mind.

We also paid a visit this week to the kid's future school.  The tuition is $25,000 per student per year, which is paid for by you, the American taxpayer.  (Thank you in advance.)  The kids immediately loved the school, which has virtually every extra curricular activity imaginable, including theater, dancing, karate, and of course, soccer.  They also shut down the whole school for a week in February so that everyone can take a big field trip to go snow skiing.  This will definitely be a new experience for us.