Is this a DATE?

Wow I just got back from a very funny dinning experience at the restaurant down the street from my apartment. I was supposed to go to church today but when I got there no one was at the building. Instead of complaining about the situation and feeling disappointed I decided to walk through my beautiful city for some fresh air.

Towards the end of this walk I started to feel a little hungry for the food from the restuarant near by apartment. I thought about exactly what I wanted cappuccino, toast, and mish mash. (Bulgarian food made with eggs, tomatoes, red peppers, serene, and some other spices). The moment I walked into the restaurant all heads turned in my direction as usual. People will literally stop chewing the food in their mouth to catch a glimpse of me. Every time this happens I try to keep my head up and glance around the room catching the eyes of various people along the way. I do this because I want to make sure they are aware that I am aware of their staring. Usually they look away. Let me stop taking about it because this is one of the things I do not like about Bulgaria or my town.

As I walked pass the bar I caught the eye of a waiter. He looked at me like he was nervous so I smiled (I am learning never to smile at people I do not know) which in turn made him smile. I walked to a booth. Once I sat down at the table and disengaged by purse from around my neck my waiter came to take my order. Of course it was the guy from the bar and he seemed a little nervous. Actually he wouldn’t get very close to me. He stood about three feet from my booth when he asked me if I wanted a Bulgarian or English menu. I thought his offer with the menus was really nice considering the waiters and waitresses always give me English menus. In retrospect I bet he asked me about the menus to see if I could speak Bulgarian. My response was that I did not want a menu because I knew what I wanted. I placed my order and he double checked that he understood me three times before walking away to tell the cook.

I ate my mish mash and drank my cappuccino slowly until I was completely full. The waiter came back to my table about three times to make sure everything was ok. When I asked him for my check he looked disappointed that I was done so quickly. I can not eat slowly for the life of me. I think I was in the restaurant a total of 45 minutes, which is very quick for Bulgaria. The waiter also seemed a little upset because I had about 1/3 of the mish mash still left on my plate. In fact he asked me if I liked the food. I was really caught off guard because he looked really hurt that I did not eat all of my food. Of course, I assured him that the food was great but that I was full and couldn’t eat anymore. I paid my bill and waited for him to bring me my change. He brought me my change and kind of stood at the table as if he was waiting for something. At that point I said ok maybe he wants a tip so I left a lev (the equivalent of a dollar). Some of you might think I should have left a tip from the start, but this is Bulgaria. Only foreigners tip and Bulgarians (for the most part) do not tip. He looked at me again and walked away.

At this point my thoughts turned to work and the projects I have coming up for Monday and I made my way to the exit. By the way, April 20th-22 is Earth Day. I want my organization to get a group of young people together to clean a park. Anyhow, once I walked out the door of the restaurant I heard someone say the Bulgarian word for “excuse me”. I turned and there was my waiter again. I thought that I might have left something in the restaurant so I started checking my pockets and purse. He looked at me and said “Do you like to drink coffee?” Well at least that is what I understood because he was speaking in Bulgarian. I said in Bulgarian “Yeah, I love Bulgarian coffee”. He looked at me and said “Do you want to drink coffee with me?” I did not understand why he asked me this question so I said “sure now”? In my head I was thinking “oh goodness now he thinks I am hungry because I did not finish my mish mash. Peace Corps wants us to integrate so I will go”. I made my way to the door of the restaurant because I literally thought he wanted to have coffee then. He then looked at me and said “I am at work now but how about tomorrow at 5pm?” I looked at him and before thinking said “Da” (yes in Bulgarian)”. But I was really trying to buy time to understand what he was saying. "Da" is a filler word that I use to translate Bulgarian into English in my head. He than asked me my name and told me his. After I realized the mistake he started talking about meeting in front of the post office (central meeting spot in my town) at 5:30pm not 5pm because he needed a little time after work. I did not have the heart (I am nice sometimes) to tell him the mistake because he was so nervous asking me. Nonetheless it looks like I am meeting him tomorrow at 5:30pm. I will keep you all posted….

thinking of mish mash (not the Bulgarian dish),

Crystal