Mom and Dad in front of the Municipal building where I work
It was great to finally have my parents in Bulgaria! Although it’s only been a few months (6!!!), I love my life here and really want to share it with them. Their visit was busy and way too short.
I took the early bus from Chiprovtsi to Kravoder to spend a few hours catching up with my Bulgarian host family before we drove to Sofia to meet Mom and Dad. I still can’t believe how lucky I was to have had such a wonderful host family. Living with strangers in new country without a shared language could be a really challenging experience, but they made me feel so comfortable from the beginning. Plus, they were super patient and helpful with language learning. Before departing for the airport, they loaded up their car with grapes, homemade wine, buffalo yogurt, apples, canned goods, extra blankets and pillows, flowers, and, of course, banitsa to transfer to my parent’s rent-a-car at the airport.
Dressed in traditional Bulgarian costume and holding a giant purple plant, I stood in front of the arrivals gate for about an hour while my parents were held up at passport control. It was lovely. I think it was assumed I was there as greeter, like the girls with leis in Hawaii. Most of their visit was spent in Chiprovtsi, with a few day trips to the surrounding areas. I really wanted to show them what my life here is like. I think it was successful: they helped in my advanced English class, ate a lot of banitsa, and were confused about the head nodding.
We na gosti’d with colleagues and friends every night except two (I had to have a chance to demonstrate my Bulgarian cooking skills with palachinki and pumpkin banitsa), participated in traditional dancing at the cultural center, and explored some of the areas nearby. It was great to share things like getting water at Varshets, Rakia, lighting candles in Klisurski, the museums and hiking in Chiprovtsi with them. The weather was amazing, sunny and in the 50s or 60s everyday. The domestic animals and homemade wine were among the biggest hits with my parents. We must have hundreds of pictures of donkeys pulling carts, sheep and goats walking around town, and various home wine systems. My dad is set on making wine at home and I think they both want to start na gosti-ing regularly in Louisiana. These are some of my favorite pictures from their trip.
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