This is a list of a few things I maybe should have done in Bulgaria:

<strong>Distilled my own rakiya</strong>. I hinted around at this a lot in my first few years but everyone seems to think that rakiya making is men's work. Or they didn't think that I was serious. I was serious, y'all.  Either way, I have a fond spot in my heart for homemade rakiya.

<strong>Lived in a village for a summer</strong>. I am sure that I've romanticized this in my mind but it seems lovely. Get up, drink coffee in your garden, do some gardening, talk to your neighbors, have an afternoon coffee, read, eat dinner, look at the stars, go to bed. Repeat.

<strong>Learned to drive a manual</strong>. I've had lots of vague offers and when A. and were dating he promised to teach me but here I am five years later still unable to drive a manual transmission. I worry sometimes that I am less of a person for it. <em>But what's a girl to do?</em>

<strong>Roasted peppers in a chushkopek</strong>. This seems to be one of the things that will prevent me from ever being fully Bulgarian. I've never done this and I am kind of afraid to. I hear from someone (or very likely read somewhere) that the pepper roasting machine known in Bulgarian as the chushkopek was lined with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos">asbestos</a>. I am trying to avoid asbestos related cancer so the line I've drawn is a silly one. I'll eat roasted peppers but I don't want to know how they were roasted.

<strong>Bought and tried to read a Bulgarian newspaper everyday</strong>. My Bulgarian would probably be leaps and bounds better than it is right now and I would know a lot more gossip about famous Bulgarians than I currently know. Also I might also know why so many newspapers run a full page of (nearly) naked girls each day. Instead I am just left to wonder: how is that news?

<strong>Made my own yogurt</strong>. Bulgarians love yogurt. I love Bulgarian yogurt. Why I never did this is beyond me. Probably it boils down to the fact that I am rather lazy and given the fact that I am totally happy to buy yogurt in the store, I've never actually been motivated to make my own yogurt.

<strong>Paid for a bus ticket every time I took the bus</strong>. I do feel guilty-ish about this one. I currently owe a lot leva for the numerous illegal rides I've taken on the 76 and 111 buses. I worried a lot about this my first two years and then I gave up. I settled on paying fines no questions asked, no complaints when caught without a ticket. Since instituting this policy I've been caught fewer than 5 times.

<strong>Made a go of buying underwear and bras in Bulgaria</strong>. I am unspeakably intimidated by this prospect. It seems much to difficult to do in Bulgarian. So I do this each year when I am home in the States because really, I hardly understand how bra sizes work in the States and I speak the language. <em>You want me to buy a bar in the metric system?</em> I think not. I also like my personal space and I am not sure that this is something that would be respected as much as I'd like it to be in a lingerie shop in Bulgaria.

<strong>Visited Viden</strong>. This is the northern most city/town in Bulgaria and I've thought about going to visit. I've just never made it. Such is life.

<strong>Bought more scarves and Bulgarian pottery</strong>. Um, just kidding. I have so many scarves and a large enough Bulgarian pottery collection that I could start my own store State-side. If I start my own store in the States in keeping with long standing Bulgarian tradition, I will never have change for anything bigger than a 10. If you try to pay with a 20 I will look at you with disdain in an attempt to express my displeasure with you, the size of your bill, and the fact that because you entered my shop I was forced to put out the cigarette that I was smoking, half in and half out of my shop, while gossiping with another girl in the next shop over to sell something to you.