Name days Kick my butt

I know I have a post like this last year. It's true though. These name days come with too much partying for me.

Most name days fall in the winter because traditionally people work on the farm in the summer and needed more reason to party during the cold months. Every name is associated with a saint and a special day. Sometimes these name days can be bigger than a birthday. Bulgarians celebrate by having guests over till wee small hours of the morning. Do you have a name day?

Momchilovtsi

I went snowboarding in a little village called Momchilovtsi. A volunteer lives and works at a snowboard park there. It was a pretty cold weekend. I got to test my skills at walking on ice down hill. Dave is pretty could at it. He had fun waiting for me to catch up with him.

We headed out to the snowboard park on Saturday. I got to test out a drag lift for the first time. It took about an hour for me to get the hang of it. It was exhausting. Not a big fan of the drag lift, but it was great to be back out on the slopes after two years of absence.

That night we checked out the little disco in Dave's village. I was surprised he has one. I live in a town and we don't have one. I warmed up with some tea mixed with a little Rakiah (Bulgarian whiskey). The we headed back to Dave's place for some well deserved rest. He gave me a book to read called "The Black Tulip." It looks pretty good. Check it out!

New Years

During communist times in Bulgaria they didn't have a Santa Clause.They do now and he is called "Grandfather Christmas". New years use tobe the bigger event where they would exchange gifts. They waited for"Grandfather Cold" to bring them presents on New Years. When midnight strikes they pull out the banitsa. It is a salty breadproduct with fetta cheese and egg for the filling. There are fortunes hidden throughout the banitsa. When you get your peice you search for your fortune.

I went up to the mountains and stayed in a cabin with about 17 other Bulgarians. It was a non-stop party the whole weekend. At anytime you could go down to the main room and there would be someone down there playing music, dancing, and drinking. I went to bed at about 5am NewYears day and by 8pm one of the Bulgarians came in to wake me up and tell me to get back down stairs because they were drinking Rakia. I just tried to get some sleep. It was an interesting New Years.