честит рожден ден!

It was my Bulgarian friend Ventsi's birthday today. To celebrate, he invited some friends to lunch in town - four were Bulgarian, two were Czech and then there was me. The Czechs, Tomáš and Ariana, who are also good friends of mine, were shaking their heads at having to listen to a language as incomprehensible as Bulgarian. One of the other Bulgarians, Ilia, is the head of our department at the Ångström lab and also a good friend. During my six years of joining in various Bulgarian activities both at work and elsewhere, I have managed to pick up a smattering of words from the language, especially after Ilia downloaded a number of Bulgarian folk songs onto my computer. One word which never fails to enter the conversation is ракия. However, none was consumed at our lunch today.