Bulgarian Slush Fun

If a snowplow came down our street, and many of the other streets of Sofia, there would be no cobblestones left in the street. Maybe that's the reason why the streets are not plowed, and drivers are left to fend for themselves. Some cars haven't moved at all during the past week since the snowstorm hit last Thursday night. On other mornings, drivers have spent quite a bit of time scraping the ice off their windshields.

For some people it's not easy to walk on the snow and ice and caked slush. It's hardest where people have made efforts to clean their sidewalks. Apparently they don't know about spreading salt on the pavement. Cleared sidewalks are the most slippery places and the entrance to our building has a particularly shiny, slippery surface.

The thermometers dipped to a low of -16 degrees Celsius the other night, but ever since it's been getting warmer. The snow is no longer pretty, and the ground and streets are a mushy brown color. The first grip of winter is melting, melting here in Bulgaria. Let's hope the slush is gone quickly.

Concert = Ali Campbell in Sofia

The coldest night of the year (-16 degrees Celsius) couldn't stop Jodie and me from going out, but the ice-covered plaza in front of the NDK Concert Hall almost stopped us. Nonetheless, we took our seats in the very comfortable chairs in row 12 to see the performance of Ali Campbell, formerly the lead singer of UB40.

A word about Ali Campbell. Until a year or so ago, he was UB40. But apparently there was a management dispute, and Ali left the band (along with at least one other band member), and decided to go solo. He recorded albums on his own, set up his own band, and began to tour. And last night he came to Sofia. Actually, in Bulgaria his concerts were advertised as "Ali Campbell's UB40", but his new band is actually called the Dep Band.

We went to the concert because of the songs we knew from UB40. Ali and his band performed many songs from his recent album, "Flying High", including "Whatcha Gonna Do," "She's a Lady," and "Nothing Ever Changes."

But the songs we really liked, and which brought the Bulgarian audience to its feet, were the classics from Ali's UB40 days. "Only Fools Rush In," "Kingston Town" and the show-ending "Red, Red Wine."

The concert was short (just over an hour), and Ali had this habit of leaving the stage and turning his back to the audience. Overall we would have enjoyed it more if we had known more of the music.

Jerusalem from the Air = at the Mall of Sofia

The temperature reached a high of -2 Celsius today, but we refused to be snowbound (although there was no new snow falling). This afternoon we took a taxi to the Mall of Sofia for some shopping and to see the photo exhibition, "Jerusalem from the Air".

As per the invitation from the Israeli Embassy in Sofia, which sponsored the exhibition:

The exhibition, consisting of 25 colour photographs, introduces Jerusalem from a "bird's eye" caught by the skilful lens of Duby Tal, who served as a helicopter pilot in the Israeli Air Force. Moni Haramati, also a pilot of the Israeli Air Force who specializes in aerial photography, piloted the Robinson helicopter from which these photographs were taken. The photos capture the multifaced Jerusalem - old and ancient, new and modern. Master photographs take us in an air tour of Jerusalem, peeking into different neighborhoods, streets and gardens along many historical landmarks. The city goes along with time and changes its appearance, but retains its authentic and ancient spirit, combining different architectural styles and historical periods.

The pictures were beautiful and we were able to identify the places as well as read the captions in Bulgarian. The only thing that disappointed us was that the exhibition was held on the floor above the Food Court, and very few Bulgarians bothered to go up to see the photos.

Snow!

I walked to work today in a snowstorm with some 3-5 inches of snow already on the ground. It is -3 with a high of -2 planned. Over the weekend it's supposed to get to -11.

The snow is very pretty! (Ok, so I like it). More snow to come.

Everything is normal around here, but a bit slower than usual. Children are walking to school, people are scraping the snow and ice off their cars, and some are cleaning their sidewalks as well.

Last night was my company's Christmas party, but I didn't stay too long (or drink too much).

Due to the snow and icy streets, Jodie stayed in the house today.

Hannukah in Bulgarian

Довечера е пета нощ на празникът Ханука. Ханука е еврейски празник. Еврейте нямат Коледа. Всекя вечер имаме свещи за празника. Цяла седмица е празник.

В събота и неделя имахме парти вкъщи и много гости. Ядохме традиционна храна за празника. Много колеги от работата бяха на гости у нас. Палим свещи за празника.

В Израел, по време на празника ханука, хората работят, но учителите не работят. децата не ходят на училище през празника. Някои хора взимат отпуска за празника защото децата са вкъщи. В Израел през празника Ханука времето не е студено но понякога вали.

Hanukkah Candles 4, 5, and 6

On Monday night we went to Sima and Shlomo's home after work and joined some 70-invited guests for Hanukkah candlelighting. There were many members of the local Jewish community and the Israeli Ambassador to Bulgaria in attendance. Dinner was served, and Shlomo had made not only hummus, but falafel as well.

On Tuesday night we had our weekly Bulgarian lesson. Our teacher, Jordan, watched appreciatively as we lit the Hanukkiah. We practiced sentences in Bulgarian about the holiday.

Paul Shotts was in Sofia for another of his business trips. He joined us on Wednesday night to light candles in our home before we went out to dinner at the Italian restaurant at the mall.

Hanukkah 3rd Candle = Bulgarian Coworkers

Fortunately, we had a lot of salads left over from the previous day, so we didn’t have as much preparation to do on Sunday. Another batch of 40 latkes were fried, more donuts were picked up from the mall, and we were left with getting everything out before our guests started to arrive around 5:00.

As per Bulgarian custom, many of our guests started to remove their shoes when they came in, but after we told them that they can keep them on, some of them put them back on again!

We had about 25 adults and 2 small children this night. Once everyone arrived, Ellis gave an explanation of the history of the holiday and the different customs. I then told everyone about the traditional holiday and Israeli foods that we had prepared.

My boss, Yuval, came with his wife and 2 young daughters, and they also brought their own Menorahs. We lit them at the same time and sang the blessings together. Afterwards, everyone helped themselves to the food – I think they liked the different salads – this time, everything went!

We enjoyed being able to share our holiday with our new friends and acquaintances, and to be able to show something new to our Bulgarian friends – we’ve learned so much about their customs and holidays since we’ve been here, and were happy to reciprocate the experience.


Iva, Luca, Moshe, Tony, Damian, Ina, Marina, Nedyalko.


Kalin, Petar, Ivelina, Yana, Martin, Milen, Amit, with Noam in the foreground.


Jodie lights the candles with Stoyan, Aleks, Thomas, Ionatan, as Yuval and Amit light their own Hanukkiah with their daughters.

Noam enjoys the pita with her sister in the background.

Hanukkah 2nd Candle = Party for Israeli Coworkers

On Friday, I prepared the hummus and tehina, and on Saturday, we got up and started cutting up salads, peeling, grating and frying up approximately 80 latkes. Ellis made trips to the restaurant to bring back the salads, and to the mall for the donuts. The furniture was moved around and the tables were set up with paper plates and silverware. Since we have a small fridge, there was a problem with where to store everything. Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about the drinks – the temperature outside on our porch was probably colder than the fridge, and certainly sufficient to cool the drinks!

Our Israeli guests were invited for 5:30, so by 5:00, we had the food out and the table prepared. Ellis had decided to label all the food – with the Hebrew names, but written in Bulgarian! Everyone was very amused and impressed with his effort!

Not everyone could make it in the end, but we still were 20 adults and 1 small child - who kept us all amused with his jumping on and off the carpet. The food was a success and I think that everyone had a good time.

Ionatan, Sigal, Ely Beni and Jodie lighting the candles.

Shlomo, Sima, Michal, Yonatan and Ornit.

Victor and Vicky.

Arno, Evgeny and Julian.

Kristina, Elad, Ionatan and Yaniv.

Ornit, Liraz, Michal and Sigal.

Yonatan and Gadi.

Hanukkah Preparations

A few weeks ago, Ellis and I came up with the idea of having a Hanukkah party at our house. We both felt that this was an opportunity to give back something to all the people that have been so nice to us since we’ve been here. And since it’s not a particularly religious holiday, and there are 8 nights to choose from, this seemed like a good idea.

As we started to make our plans, a few things started to become clear to us:

1. We could not have everyone here at the same time – so we decided to have two parties instead – one for the Israelis and our Jewish friends, and one for our Bulgarian co-workers who didn’t have any experience with the holiday and its customs.

2. If there was any way that I would make latkes (potato pancakes) for the holiday, we would have to invest in a food processor in order to grate up a whole sack of potatoes that we would need to feed everyone!

3. In addition to Hanukkah food, we wanted to serve Israeli style salads – so a trip was made to the Arab market in the center of town, to purchase dried chickpeas for hummus and sesame paste for tehina.

Invitations/emails were sent out, and we started planning the menu. Our friend Shlomo gave me a great recipe for home-made hummus, we decided that “sufganiyot” would be purchased from Dunkin’ Donuts, my co-worker Monica told me how to look for sour cream at the supermarket, and, of course, we had applesauce thanks to Sharon and Yossi who brought us a few cans from Israel last spring.

We also decided to order some salads from the Israeli restaurant that opened nearby – so that meant we had to go out to dinner there first to try them out! And at the last minute, Shlomo told us that we could get pitot here in Sofia, so he ordered some for us and kindly dropped them off at the house on Friday afternoon.

The menu was planned, a course of action was set, and we were ready to go. We had very good responses from everyone and the Bulgarians, especially, were excited at the opportunity to learn more about the holiday.

Saint Day for the Fishermen of Sozopol

Trumpets! Tubas! Horns! As we walked along the fishermen's wharf in Sozopol on a cold December afternoon, we heard music everywhere. We approached a restaurant and saw inside a woman dancing on the table, surrounded by men playing their musical instruments as if there was no tomorrow.


We kept walking, hearing more music along the wharf.

Another group of fishermen were standing on a distant boat, saluting each other with drinks (apparently whisky). Closer to us on the pier a family was having a picnic lunch. Next to their table were three musicians playing for them. A woman was grilling fresh fish on a barbecue. It sounded like everyone was having a lot of fun.

Only after coming back home to Sofia did we learn that Sunday was the Saint Day for St. Nicholas, who is the patron saint of the fisherman. That was the reason for the many celebrations, and the music and the bands, and the grilled fish, and even the larger crowds on the streets of Burgas that night.