I've been thinking about this post for a while now.  But not until this morning did I know it was time.  Time for me to write a post about the funny things I've seen so far in Sofia.  I can't promise that these snippets are all really funny but I think that at the end you'll be smiling.

So at 7:45 this morning in front of  my school, I stopped to buy a bottle of water before teaching three 80 minute long classes in a row.  My Bulgarian isn't great so when I heard a dad order two hot dogs I thought I must of misheard him.  Two hot dogs and it's not even 8am? Turns out, that is exactly what he ordered.  I am standing in good location to watch the woman prepare the hot dogs for him.  It is important to know for this story that here in Sofia there is a hole at the top of the bun, but only one hole, for the hot dog to slide into as opposed to the oblong hot dog bun we have the states where the entire side is open and the hot dog sort of sits in a hot-dog-bun-envelope.

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The first thing the woman does is squirt ketchup and then mayo into the hole.  Lots of it.  Then she put the hot dog in the bun and the hot dog sticks out a little bit extra from the bun.  This is what happens next: dad takes said hot dog, wraps it in a napkin (which really only covers 2/3 of the hot dog) and then he unzips his daughter's backpack (which she is wearing) and sticks the hot dog in.  Yes.  He sticks the steaming hot hot dog condiments and all into her backpack.  I think: <em>God what is that going to taste like later</em>.

But I can't look away because he still has another hot dog coming his way.  Well, it turns out that he has another child and he bundles up this second hot dog and puts it in his backpack as well.  This is not the breakfast of the champions that I assumed it was to start with--rather I think it might just be a mess.  Why you would put hot dogs like this in your children's backpacks is beyond me.  Really? Can this be a good plan and what will those taste like after a couple of hours hanging out in a backpack?

Hum.  These are things that I don't want to spend too much time thinking about.

Something I do want to think about however was this little hedgehog that my Fulbright friend and I saw in the park near our house last night.  It was about 5:30pm and we were taking a stroll.  It doesn't really get dark these days until closer to 7pm these days and as such, we are in the park walking, talking and having a beer.  That's when we spot him.  He's about five or six inches, fat and round and he's lumbering through downed leaves.  He didn't cover that much ground while we were watching him while he was pretty cute, I wasn't going to mess with him. Though in hindsight it would have made for a much funnier story if I were flailing round with a hedgehog attached to me.  Sorry. (That story might also not have been very funny.  Sorry to submit you to that.)

The following story I think is funny or at least it is funny to me.  I get a huge kick out of the questions that my students ask me before, after and during class.  Some questions are serious, some are questions that I know are bound to come up and then some questions reveal the kinds of subjects that 13 and 14 year-olds all over the world think about.

Last week, two of my students stayed after to ask me some questions.  They were concerned with two things.  First, did Coke really taste different in America? And second, did l like McDonalds or KFC better? These happen to be two things that I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about recently.  So I answered off the cuff.  I do think that Coke tastes different. Why? Well, I am not sure why. How does it taste? Um, it's sweeter in the States. I think it's probably a marketing thing but it might also be the fact that in the states we fill our glasses up with ice and then pour Coke on top.  Here in Bulgaria, ice is rare.  (Just ask the gin and tonic, I had the other day.  I got a lemon and I think two small chips of ice.  After watching these melt in what seemed like record time, I determined that ice really helps that drink along.)

The harder question was McDonalds or KFC? I guess that I should have know it was coming these two stores seem to dominate every other block in downtown Sofia.  But I coouldn't help but wondering are these two palces really even comparable? I guess that they are both fast food--so I tell the girls McDonalds.  They both agreed with me but I couldn't get out of my head one late-night in DC when we stopped for chicken nuggets to hear a man walk up to the window and order the Big &amp; Nasty (the sandwhich is really called the Big &amp; Tastey).  I think that his error may sum up fast food in a nutshell. Still, the french fries are good both here and in the states.

Now comes the one story I was thinking about omitting.  You should be warned that the following description comes with a PG-13 rating.  Don't worry.  There is no swearing, there is no violence, drug use or underage drinking but there is mild sexual content.

So if you don't want to read about it you should not read beyond this sentence.

A couple of Friday nights ago, I was out with a friend at a local cafe/bar having a beer.  This one beer turned into two.  At this point, I decided I had to go to the bathroom where I walked in on a couple a little younger than me engaging in a sex act.  In a bathroom. Without a lock.  In a very dirty bathroom without a lock and a broken door.  This is the kind of bathroom where you try not to touch a thing while you are using the toilet.  And I walked in on them.  Oh and then I apologize (Yes, I apologized as if it were my fault).  I close the door, I don't use the bathroom because it's occupied and I go back upstairs. Ahk.

And that's the funny thing about Sofia.  You never know exactly what to expect, what you are going to see or how you should react.

Back upstairs, I retold my bathroom encounter and we had a good laugh.  Because, frankly, what else can you do? Not much besides laugh and know that here in Sofia there will be surprises around every corner and behind every door.  Literally, apparently.

All of this said, I am having a lot of fun in Sofia.  But in the future, I will knock a little louder and open the door a little slower.