I have found a new love…

…vegetable paste! This is something where all Bulgarians are addicted to and I totally understand why. It wasn’t love at first taste but after trying it 2, 3 times I was hooked and completely in love. You can eat it with almost anything, on bread, toast, as a dip for Doritos, replacement for ketchup, with French fries, with potatoes, meat… see the possibilities are endless. When you walk into the supermarket a large part is reserved for this wonderful invention. Very big pots, big pots, medium pots, small pots and more than 10 different brands. What it tastes like? It’s a bit spicy, with some tomato, red pepper and the rest is hard to describe. The only disadvantage of my new love is that it’s hard for us to communicate. The label is in Bulgarian but I assume that it’s quite healthy as well since it is made out of veggies.
And is spring not the best time to be in love? Although it is February it feels like spring here. The sun is shining every day and it’s around 15C. Yesterday I went with a colleague of mine Silvena and her hubbie (sorry for the non Dutch speakers, ik zag dat Ali B bezig is met een of andere actie voor het goede doel, iedereen moet z’n snor laten staan ofzo, deze kerel had het helemaal begrepen. Een mini mannetje met een giga snor!) to Varna. Varna is located near the seaside so after enjoying a wonderful Bulgarian lunch we spend the rest of the day near the Ocean. And with us the rest of Varna. It was extremely crowded, everybody seemed to look forward to the new season. Got a taste of what Varna must be like in summer.
I ran into a major problem here. What do you do if you don’t speak the local language? Right you will use your hands and feet and shake your head. With the shaking head part I have a huge problem here. Bulgarians shake their heads up and down when they mean “no” and from left to right when they mean “yes”. So actually the opposite of what the rest of the world is used to. The first problem is already to say “da = yes” and shake no, I mean try it for yourself. It feels so unnatural. Last Friday I was at a birthday party and the man next to me didn’t understand English, he kept giving me all kinds of Bulgarian delights although I was shaking my head from left to right since I was full. I was like huh why does this guy keep feeding me when I shake no, until it came back to me, oh I should shake my head up and down. I’ll keep practicing.
In my first story I tried to give you a picture of a flight with a Hungarian airline. I’ve found a small movie that comes very close to my experiences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OORAVoNKBtA (it starts in Dutch but will proceed in English and “Russian”).
Oh yes one more thing from the 21st until the 27th of February I will be going to Egypt…with some students…just watching some pyramids…don’t have to pay a penny…you know…kinda nice. Haha no I am completely exited to go there, it was a total surprise and I can’t wait to go there.