4th of July...
The holiday weekend ended up being fairly calm. It is strange to think about all the festivities going on in America; in all reality, it was just another weekend. When there is nothing in the media, no fireworks to look forward, no parades… it is tough to get in the mood. Or more specifically, it there is nothing to ‘get in the mood’ for. Anyways, we hung around on Friday and took part in the Shoumen nightlife – which is not that bad, actually. On Saturday, we attempted to flag our patriotism. It was a half hearted effort that manifested itself in whiffleball. After about 30 minutes someone mentioned the fact that we will need to conduct a thorough full-body-tick-check when this was all over. We started our way home.
After a bit, we headed to Varna (the beach town). As always, Varna was good times. It is hard to beat a beach town that is packed with young people and cheap. After a hot day on the beach and a long night at the clubs on the beach and a quick night’s nap (again, on the beach), I was hungry. So, I indulged in a giant, drippy doner (the tastiest snack this side of Portillo’s). For whatever reason – though I suspect not leaving the beach for more than a couple hours has something to do with it – I think it was the best doner I have had the honor of consuming. Soon enough, it was late Sunday. I am pretty sure some one said ‘happy 4th of July’ and then we went to a Chinese restaurant. Nothing says ‘Home of the Brave’ like sweat and sour chicken.
The following day, I drug myself out of bed and headed to my desk at 8.30 am on the nose. It was my birthday. If you ask me, ‘do you feel any older?’ My only real response is, this is the first-time I have had to go to work on my birthday. So, I guess so. Luckily, my coworkers remembered and made a big deal about it. They gave me a lot of pink flowers (because it is a tradition, not because that is their impression of me) and I gave them chocolates (again, per decorum).
A full day of work was followed up with a nice evening with my new sitemates. A sitemate is Peace Corps lingo for another Volunteer that lives in your town; and, I got two of them on Friday. As our getting-to-know-you slash happy birthday to me gathering we made Mexican…from scratch. We have no Old El Paso salsa or premade tortilla here. It is all done the old fashioned way – as long as you read ‘old fashioned’ as throwing some stuff – that you remember being in Mexican food – together and then eating it. To be honest, it is not that hard and really does taste much better than the store bought stuff. (A bold statement from a person who a year ago was still working on perfecting the ‘double batch’ of Easy Mac.)
Well, I hope all is well out there in the land of Papa John’s delivery (things are good here),
Mark
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After a bit, we headed to Varna (the beach town). As always, Varna was good times. It is hard to beat a beach town that is packed with young people and cheap. After a hot day on the beach and a long night at the clubs on the beach and a quick night’s nap (again, on the beach), I was hungry. So, I indulged in a giant, drippy doner (the tastiest snack this side of Portillo’s). For whatever reason – though I suspect not leaving the beach for more than a couple hours has something to do with it – I think it was the best doner I have had the honor of consuming. Soon enough, it was late Sunday. I am pretty sure some one said ‘happy 4th of July’ and then we went to a Chinese restaurant. Nothing says ‘Home of the Brave’ like sweat and sour chicken.
The following day, I drug myself out of bed and headed to my desk at 8.30 am on the nose. It was my birthday. If you ask me, ‘do you feel any older?’ My only real response is, this is the first-time I have had to go to work on my birthday. So, I guess so. Luckily, my coworkers remembered and made a big deal about it. They gave me a lot of pink flowers (because it is a tradition, not because that is their impression of me) and I gave them chocolates (again, per decorum).
A full day of work was followed up with a nice evening with my new sitemates. A sitemate is Peace Corps lingo for another Volunteer that lives in your town; and, I got two of them on Friday. As our getting-to-know-you slash happy birthday to me gathering we made Mexican…from scratch. We have no Old El Paso salsa or premade tortilla here. It is all done the old fashioned way – as long as you read ‘old fashioned’ as throwing some stuff – that you remember being in Mexican food – together and then eating it. To be honest, it is not that hard and really does taste much better than the store bought stuff. (A bold statement from a person who a year ago was still working on perfecting the ‘double batch’ of Easy Mac.)
Well, I hope all is well out there in the land of Papa John’s delivery (things are good here),
Mark
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