Sofia Drabbles

This is the Day of Remembrance and Respect to Victims of the Communist Regime. It’s not a public holiday, but it’s observed every year with ...

There’s an interesting phenomenon with bi-lingual people - a kind of switch that triggers in the brain when they’re translating so that it b...

My wife and I were the only people in the small store that we always go to for our Christmas Big Shop. Inevitably, we had The Conversation -...

This happens about once a fortnight. It’s usually started by elderly shop assistants and filtered through my poor, perpetually translating w...

Although the birthday song is exactly the same - and sung in English, interestingly - if it’s your birthday and you go out for a meal, you’r...

For foreigners, it can feel very rude and disdainful to hand over money or put cash down on a table without saying anything in acknowledgeme...

Crisps aren’t such a big part of everyday life in Bulgaria as they are in Britain. You can only get them in ‘grab-bag’ size and there isn’t ...

The most frustrating thing about not knowing the language is the inability to protest or argue. You may be able to pick up that you’re being...

8km deeper into the Rhodopes than Leshten and slightly larger with several shops, restaurants and art galleries. The buildings here are old...

Built into the hillside around the road that weaves up through the Rhodope mountains, the village faces the Pirin mountain range so there ar...