25 November 2005

Bulgarian Thanksgiving

I awoke Thursday morning thinking, this is the first time in my life that I have had to get up and go to work (or school) on a major holiday. At work my co-workers wished me a happy Thanksgiving and asked me about how it is celebrated. The answer of course is (at least from the male perspective): get up late, gather with largest number of extended family members as possible, eat an inordinate amount of food around 1-2pm, and then watch football & nap.

Right after work Julia, Ryan, Kat, Brian, and I met at the Radisson for their Thanksgiving buffet. For 29 leva we got all-you-can eat Turkey (but no dressing) and the normal Thursday night Tex/Mex buffet, plus all you can drink margaritas—actually a pretty good deal for $18. Of course, it was a Bulgarian interpretation of Mexican food, but we were never the less grateful. After margarita number 5 or 6…we realized that they contained practically no tequila; so we settled on gluttony in lieu of drunkenness. Eventually more of Brian’s friends arrived (Bulgarians & Peace Corp Volunteers) and finally Paris & Kamelia showed up; we had grown to 12 people (although only the original 5 had the buffet.) And, since it was Brian’s birthday, we didn’t miss the opportunity to sing “Happy Birthday” loudly while making him stand on several times occasions. As this was an expat hangout, they showed the traditional Thanksgiving (American) football games on the big screens. So, in conclusion, I guess I had a conventional Thanksgiving, just 6 hours later than usual in the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello, Joel,
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am not sute how I get into your site but it was very interesting to me and was a real plasure to read all the stories. I'm a Bulgarian living in the US for 18 months now but before used to work about five years with Americans in Sofia. That is why it was so interesting for me to read what an expat and foreigner wrote for my town and my country, and to see all the pictures from there.....It's so true what you said about the snow in Sofia that makes a beautiful blanket at least temporary