Eight Ways to Tell That Its Spring

1) Suddenly Sofia seems at least twice as crowded: people have taken to the streets en masse.

2) Bars and restaurants have opened up their outdoor seating areas.

3) Teenagers are drinking beer and playing hacky sack in the park.

4) Баба Яга has been inhabited again. (For non-Bulgarians, Баба Яга (Baba Yaga) is a part of a small park in the centre of Sofia best known for its potsmokers. There is a small outdoors bar/pub with wooden tables, but most people just sit and drink elsewhere in that area of the park--the children's playground, the monument of the Soviet Army, on the benches, on the grass, etc.)

5) More color, sounds and smells--from birds singing to more lively conversations to flowers and trees in bloom to more colorful clothes being worn, spring definitely has more to offer the senses (especially after they have been somewhat dulled by winter).

6) Women are wearing short skirts again. A sidenote: 80s fashion is back--leggings with skirts on top, huge sunglasses, the whole gaudy deal... (yes, i'm not a big fan of 80s fashion).

7) Women have started talking about experiencing пролетна умора (literal translation: spring tiredness). (Never heard anyone complain about "spring tiredness" in the US, hmmm.)

8) The swallows are back in the nest outside my bedroom window. (In addition, I saw two storks last weekend while outside Sofia.)

All this feels like a breath of fresh air somehow.