Thanksgiving at the American College

We had a super Thanksgiving dinner at the American College yesterday: 20 plus turkeys, 17 or 18 pumpkin and apple pies, 100s of dinner rolls, nine trays of stuffing, trays of carrot casserole, sweet potato souffle, roasted rosemary potatoes, two different green bean casseroles, gravy and a giant, giant pot of rich-buttery mashed potatoes.

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One Week and Counting: Thanksgiving

We’re celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend at school. I know, I know… it’s a few days early but what’s a girl to do? It’s a serious tradition at ACS–the international teachers make Thanksgiving dinner for the Bulgarian teachers at school. So the cooking starts tomorrow after school and we eat (and drink) on Saturday afternoon.
It’s a [...]

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28 & 1/2

Today is my 28th and a half birthday.
I am generally not the kind of person who counts halves.  Sure when I was little it was really important for me to be 5 & 1/2 or 6 & 1/2 years old but these days time passes so quickly I don’t see the point.  I mean it’s [...]

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Pizza in Sofia

Walking home from school this afternoon, I found myself thinking about pizza.  I was dreaming of my old-roommate Nick’s mashed potato pizza.  Then I started thinking about all of the different pizza I’ve eaten in my day. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza–pizza for dinner, cold the next morning, or late night slices in Adams [...]

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Koprivstitsa Fall 2009

I went to Koprivstitsa a few weeks ago with friends from school. This is the town where the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876 started and it’s well known for its classic architecture of the Bulgarian National Revival.
Koprivstitsa is like a right rite of passage.  All Bulgarians tell you that you must go (and you must) [...]

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A Tornado, A Snack

After watching a commercial for the ump-teenth time for time Tornado chips, I saw them at the store today and decided to buy them.  I have this problem. I watch a commercial or see something advertised on every billboard around town and if/when I actually see the product in person, I decide I have to [...]

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One Blond & A Light bulb

I’m having visions of every blond joke I’ve ever heard running through my head.  (And being blond my whole life, I’ve heard a few.) I’ve just had a hell of a time changing a couple of light bulbs.   So of course the joke that is playing on repeat is the one about a blond and [...]

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Got It!

I got my Bulgarian Type D–Long Stay Visa today! Phew. I can cross that off my to do list.  It’s nice to have the visa.  First, it means that I can say past next Sunday which was going to be the date that my 90 days as a tourist expired and second, it means that [...]

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Nostalgia and Ostalgie

My recent posts about the Berlin Wall, Communism, kitsch, history and Bulgaria have given me an opportunity to think seriously (and not so seriously) about Bulgaria. Today it’s about nostalgia.
It’s apparently gotten my readers thinking as well. Yesterday I quoted from my graduate school friend Robyn’s blog about kitsch and communism in Budapest and Berlin.  [...]

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Communist Kitsch

Kitsch is cool.  But I wonder: what kind of a sense of humor do you have to have to laugh at communism? What kind of perspective do you need? What kind of space and time is necessary for communism to become kitsch in Bulgaria?
My friend Robyn (a former Fulbrighter living in Budapest) wrote this yesterday [...]

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