So it appears that October 2nd is a very popular day for Birthdays. I have 3 new friends who are celebrating today including Honey, Dobrin & my co-worker at Animus, Svetlin.
In Bulgaria, it appears that Birthday celebrations in the work place are a bit different. When I was eating lunch with my co-worker Martina, we saw Svetlin walking by with a bag with wine, chocolates & cookies. And I asked if he was buying it for the weekend – to celebrate. He explained that it was for the staff for his own Birthday. When we got back we celebrated with some of the staff and easily polished off the two bottles of wine and most of the food. As it turned out – some of the Animus staff did chip in and buy Svetlin a sweater. Which you can see him holding with pride :)
In addition, when we went out to celebrate Dobrin’s birthday later on her insisted on paying for everyone’s drinks simply because it was his Birthday. Usually in the U.S. co-workers will chip in money to buy a card or maybe a cake with candles and if you go out for a friend’s birthday everyone will buy them a drink or pay for them at the end of a meal. But, this is not the case in Bulgaria. Martina explained that this is a common Bulgarian concept/cultural tradition.
So a very special Happy Birthday or ЧеÑтит рожден ден (Chestit Rojden Den) to Dobrin, Honey & Svetlin!