Наздраве/Şerefe/Cheers

Only too often do I find myself dwelling on the differences between Bulgarians and Americans. Sometimes this seems to be the only topic I discuss with other volunteer, but I've slowly come to realize that people aren't really so different, sure we have all have different backgrounds, values, and attitudes but underneath all of that we are all the same and just want to do the things that make us happy, and since human beings are sociable creatures by nature what brings us more joy then being surrounded by friends or family. A perfect example of this was this weekend, I was in Istanbul and I had the pleasure of going to a house party with some Turks and some Iranians. They all gathered together on a Saturday night to have a nice meal, drink some beers, listen to music, and most importantly, enjoy each others company. Since most of their conversations were in Turkish I spent a lot of time just sitting their and observing their interactions. At one point one of the girls turned to me and said, "this must be so strange for you being the only American and not being use to how we hang out," and I told her that it was in fact so very similar to what my friends and I do on the weekends or anytime we could all get together and that it was actually really comforting. The same can also be said about Bulgaria, very often do I get together with my Bulgarian friends and enjoy an evening of story telling, laughing, and enjoying spending time together. Since my world travels are fairly limited it is not possible for me to say that this is the case world wide but I would not be surprised if you found groups of friends gathering around food, music, or both and more enjoying each others company in all corners of the world.