Tuesday, 21:00,
I switched off the lights, locked the office, gave the routine wave to the caretaker and started walking down the grey stone stairs.

It was an extraordinarily windy day and the idea of going home doing my laundry, arranging my things, unpacking and generally doing what I was supposed to , didn’t seem particularly inviting so I decided that I should maybe walk around a little bit, I remembered passing this authentic Bulgarian no-frills eating place and decided maybe it was time to visit it. I braved the chilly wind slapping my cheeks and promised myself that I will buy myself gloves…soon…
I finally reached the place only to be greeted by a big sign in Cyrillic letters hung on the door, that I deduced could only mean ‘CLOSED’, judging by the complete lack of activity inside….

I decided to confirm anyway , and after a couple of animated gesticulations from the waitress and some replies in sign language by me…and we mutually agreed that maybe I should visit another time when they were open.

After a few seconds of despondency that often accompanies the failure of something that was looked forward to, I decided it was time for a plan ‘B’…The Mexican place a few hundred metres away was not too bad…I liked the soup there the last time, so that’s where I decided to go…so I rubbed my hands together in a feeble attempt at creating some warmth and marched ahead…The Mexican place was crowded, I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted to delay the journey back home……I looked around and couldn’t find a free table…..The waitresses raced back and forth in their black and red flowing skirts, fake eyelashes , deep red makeup, and jet black hair neatly tied in a bun, deftly balancing burritos, soups ,paellas and sangria .
After some tequila in me I could easily imagine them to be perfect family of clones ...I tried to stop one of them and ask in sign language if there was a table that was free…but they just whirred all around me in a blur of deep red and black…….after about 60 seconds of looking like the dumb sheep who lost the rest of the herd ..I herd someone call my name…. That’s almost impossible, I thought ….There are exactly 4 people in the whole of Sofia that know me..
I looked around and found a familiar face waving back. EB was at the restaurant with her friend R….They were nice enough to invite me to join them…and it was then that I was introduced to my first glass of Bulgarian Wine and Tripe Soup….
Wonderful turn of events, wouldn’t you say!

(If you are wondering why I would subject myself to something like tripe soup..well that’s because I can safely say that I’m quite the Anthony Bourdain- esque person… I believe I can say that I have ‘Very Few Reservations’ when it comes to food…previous adventurous eating has included yak cheese, garo and khasi tribal food, raw fish, game meat, squid chewing gum ,seaweed, hibiscus juice, dried tofu sheets, chrysanthemum juice, durian, English black pudding, Polish Black Sausages (both contain a certain very unappetizing ingredient ….
….of course I do have some reservations , Don’t expect me to ingest dogs, cats ,monkeys, snakes, scorpions, endangered animals. anything that is a bug or crawls or oozes slimy stuff)…..
Ok that’s it from me