I Can Be Your Hero

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for me here in Bulgaria. Enrique Iglesias, of all the gorgeous, Spanish-speaking pop-singers, was performing in a free concert on a huge stage in Sofia. My neighbors, Marietta, Desi, Ani, and Sylvia, all wanted to go and I of course could not pass up such an opportunity. We left after school around 2:00, driven by our friend, Tihomir. They all spoke in rapid Bulgarian while I day-dreamed out the window though Tiho would occasionally ask me questions and then we would all laugh when I stared at him wide-eyed. Не разбирам. At some point I used the phrase Okey-Dokey which evoked the curious question from Marietta, “What means ‘Okey-Dokey’?” Later, I asked her what “дабе, дабе” meant and she replied, “this means Okey-Dokey.” We’ve since decided to switch roles and she now says Okey-Dokey while I say дабе-дабе and then we both laugh cuz it’s funny to no one but us.

Tiho dropped us off and Marietta and I met the other three girls (all sisters, two of which are identical twins, all of which are drop-dead gorgeous as so many Bulgarian women are). We did a little shopping in which I had the opportunity to covet many a clothes I do not have the money to buy. When we were waiting at the bus stop to drop off Ani’s boyfriend, Sylvia noticed a celebrity walking down the street. I was told that she is a very famous Bulgarian singer and actress who is married to a very famous singer and actor. Basically, she’s the Jennifer Lopez of Bulgaria and I got to watch her buy oranges. She bought five oranges and considering how skinny she is, I don’t think she was planning to eat them. She’s probably learning to juggle for her next music video. Someone should tell her that apples are much easier to juggle than oranges.

We then went to this awesome café to have pizza and cake. The place is decorated so amazingly I couldn’t stop staring. It’s like being on a safari under the sea. Upon reading those words you were just struck by how amazingly fantastic that sounds, weren’t you? Yeah, it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. If I was a mermaid with a tiger-striped tail, I’d of fit right in. And the cake was pretty dang scrumptious too.

We then trekked our way to the concert, squeezed through the immense crowd and found the perfect spot to admire the beauty that is Enrique. He came out on stage singing falsetto while the crowd roared. The Bulgarian audience knew every line and sang at the top of their lungs, it was beautiful. It’s easy to get lost in lyrics so deep, “I saw you on the phone. I knew you weren’t alone.” Yet another classic, Enrique, bravo.

Despite the fact that his lyrics are rather cheesy, Enrique turned out to be a pretty cool dude. Not only did he memorize several phrases in Bulgarian, he also pulled two young guys up on stage, poured them a shot of vodka (cuz no one’s gonna bust him for serving underage drinkers while he’s in Bulgaria), and said, “Носдраве!” to the crowd. He then allowed one of the boys to sing his latest hit “I Like It” and do a little dance. This boy didn’t mess around. He took that microphone, marched to the front of the stage, and sang his heart out. Not only that, when Enrique remarked on his dance moves, the band started up a Michael Jackson beat and this boy went to town. He danced up and down that stage and had the crowd going crazy. And he was good. Enrique sat there on the stage with mouth open. I so badly wanted to say, “Welcome to Bulgaria.” I enjoyed myself immensely.

All in all, it was a great night and I feel so lucky to be in such an amazing place and have such wonderful new friends. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

-Age