Great Day

Well, this past weekend was the Easter weekend for everyone east of Croatia and Hungary. In Bulgarian, Easter is called either Празник (Praznik) Вести (Vesti) or Великден—literally “Great Day.” Apparently, the reason the Orthodox celebration is on a different day is that they still follow the Julian calendar instead of the more modern Gregorian calendar. I don’t understand these confusing Ecclesiastical calendars; it seems to me that the most historically accurate date would follow the Jewish calendar—Easter immediately follows Passover. So, yesterday was Easter Monday—a holiday, and I wasted it: did absolutely nothing.

A NATO conference is being held later this week across the street from me in the NDK building, and—since Condi Rice is coming—security is very tight. Today they have already closed all streets around the building and the park directly across from me—probably inconveniencing many people, but I’m loving it; no punks winding out their pimped out Skoda on Frityof Nansen Street. If only the maintenance and emergency vehicles were also quieted.