Lingering Questions...

As Anne and Mark complete the last few days of their first semester in Bulgaria, they find it difficult to resist reflecting on all of the things they have learned.  Bulgarian movie theatres = not bad.  Bulgarian "Shot Food" hamburgers = not good.  Stuff like that.  But it seems that they have reached the point where each new answer or realization leads to several more questions, each more difficult to solve than the one before it.  For example, Anne and Mark were able to figure out why the pizza sauce and pasta sauce tasted remarkably similar:

Also known as: ketchup

They were just never able to figure out why someone would want to do that.

They also figured out that children here are physically fit, but Anne and Mark found it difficult to believe they would really travel at 30 kph.

There are 30 kids in this neighborhood?

Out of respect for the Metrodome (and snownami Mother Maturi, for those of you who listen to sports talk radio in Minneapolis), we have refrained from discussing the weather in the last couple of weeks.  Blago did, finally, enter into its version of winter.  But the snow is somehow different, and Anne and Mark had quite the difficult time putting their finger on exactly what the difference was.

"Localized" snow flurries?

In Minnesota and Iowa (if Anne and Mark recall correctly), the snow fell from the sky and landed on everything below, more or less, equally.  The first snowfall in Blagoevgrad, for some reason, landed on this car.  None of the other cars had snow on them.  The sidewalks were clear.  How does this happen?

But natural phenomena can probably be explained by our scientist and wanna-be scientist friends (everyone's looking at you Luehy), but questions of strategy might defy even them.  For example, I think we all know that the McDonald's Corporation is an official sponsor of the United States olympic teams (nothing says olympic athlete better than a BigMac and fries, right?).  So, if they were really in the business of supporting the U.S. team, it would stand to reason that they would not support the opponents of the U.S. team, right?  (the enemy of my enemy is my customer?)  But, apparently, McD's is spreading the love.

McHappy Day indeed.

It's all fun and games until Bulgaria beats out the Red White & Blue in the bronze metal table tennis match in London 2012, right?  (it could happen)

Now that we're rolling, a few more questions.  What are the odds that 9 paying customers show up on this road looking for a cab?

Not terribly high, apparently.  And speaking of odds, what are the chances that Bruce Willis knows that he is advertising Sobieski Vodka in Bulgaria?

I'm selling what?  Where?

... and what are the chances that the people who see this ad here knows what a 'Bruce Willis' is?

And finally, Anne and Mark have learned that they will be airborne over the Atlantic Ocean on December 21.  They plan to arrive in Chicago, refreshed from their trans-Atlantic voyage free from any travel-related stress or hassle.  


From there, they will travel to Dubuque, then La Crescent, Winona, back to Dubuque, then probably back to La Crescent, probably Minneapolis, back to Dubuque and then to Chicago for the return trip to Blago.  If you are in those cities in the next few weeks (or on the highways between those cities), let them know and maybe you can track them down to answer some of the questions posed in these posts.