I have some friends from Florida coming to Bulgaria on Monday! Check back for their reactions to Eastern Europe, where we end up taking them and some pictures of course.

Walking around Sofia and even small villages, I keep running into these horrible pants. Why. Where did these come from? Why would anyone spend their hard earned money on this?

Is this a fashion in America as well, or are Europeans the only ones blessed with this nightmare? I just don’t understand, I must be getting old. I never thought I would be confused by trends. I never thought what people wore would frustrate me. OK, there are the people seeking attention or trying their best to stand out, and what they do/wear can get out of hand, but this is different. People are trying to be on cutting of fashion with these things. Maybe they are comfortable, they have to be more comfortable than pants that look like they are painted on. That is what I will go with. They are the most comfortable pants that exist. Plenty of room for ‘accidents’ (it even looks like you have already had one), nice and airy and you can still breath while you are wearing them.

There are a few major differences living in Bulgaria as apposed to the US. One that completely baffles me is the lack of closets. Growing up in America, I was never without a closet. Every house/apartment I lived in had a bounty of wonderful closet space, it is even a selling/buying point! I got to Sofia, and there isn’t a closet to be found. Now, I don’t know if closets are just an American thing, I haven’t been around to too many places in Europe yet to see, not even to Canada for that matter. If it is, America got it right with this one.

It is even hard to come by closet ‘accessories’ here. When I met my wife, she had a ton of nice work clothes but only used the paper covered dry cleaner wire hangers…free is hard to argue with I guess. So, being oddly appalled by this, I went out and bought her 3 or 4 dozen plastic hangers from Target, a short drive and $5 later I was a thoughtful man deserving hugs and kisses. I spent 8 leva (roughly $6) here for a set of 5 hangers, and this was after the third store I visited. Crazy. I went so far as to bring an extra suitcase with me on a trip back to America so I could pack it with those wonderfully cheap plastic hangers.

Your closet-less American,
Dave