Letters to my friend/Lettres à mon amie: What We Did This Summer

More than a month since Oli went back to France have passed. Autumn is here, bringing some bitter excitement and also hope that the next months won’t be as cold as they usually are. And, also, hope that depression won’t be as severe as usual. So…

Before Oli’s arrival at the end of June, we created a list of things we wanted to do and places we wanted to visit. For me bucket lists are something very sweet, but not necessary obligating. That’s why it was a bit like a… joke plan, so to say – some written ideas how to spend our summer together, written on a paper sheet that went directly in my wallet.

The most surprising thing was that we actually followed a lot of the things from this list. Not diligently, but still seriously fulfilling these quickly-written ideas, surrounded by doodles (consider the grumpy face I usually draw, positioned right next to Oli’s suggestion that we should go to the swimming pool). And it was exciting! And a lot of other, even more exciting things happened (maybe because they weren’t planned).

The Summer 2016 Bucket list… and the results (Or what we planned and what we did eventually)

So, what we planned to do/visit/eat was:

1) Go to the disco, dressed with… well, dresses and high heels (We wanted to go to that place we visited last spring, but it turned out that the “place” and the staff were moved to the seaside. Smart marketing strategy maybe?)

It was one of the last times that we went out, two or three days before she went back to France. It was good. Honestly, I felt really retarded among such young and good-looking people, who had changed a lot during the past several years (and I have not so much), but I guess that’s just a matter of self-confidence. And trust me, self-confidence is really important in such events, especially when your introverted side has decided that it is tea time! And also – good music everywhere. Conclusion-disco, especially in my town, is not my thing. Sorry, O.! Maybe not this summer and not in Ruse. Or maybe not right before you go back to France (sad face).

Apart from that, the cocktail pre-disco party was fun!

2) Eat sushi – Oli ate sushi, but not in my company. Girl, you better save a date to eat sushi together next time! ;)

3) Pajama party – did not happen, I guess we are too big for this now. Actually, it was my idea at first (see how retarded I am?) - to have a sleepover, lots of talking, movies and funny games. Oli invited me, but I couldn’t stay the night, because I had to get up earlier the next day. Maybe we had to plan it earlier, I guess?

4) Visit the pool (consider my grumpy face here) – now that’s something I am really grateful NOT to do! Oli went there several times without me (I had to go to work after all) and saved me the embarrassment from being around familiar faces (here comes again the point about self-confidence, hm…).

5) Eat rice at home – did not happen, maybe next year? The rice cooker will be ready for us!

6) Visit my village and our villa there – did not happen. We couldn’t arrange our schedules and also I couldn’t prepare everything (I will probably explain myself in a separate blogpost).

7) Go to Varna (or just near the seaside) – Checked! We went to my aunt’s place, stayed in Varna for three days, went to a club near the beach (it was gooood!). We also went to Pasha Dere for a day - a magic place with a pristine beach near a forest - lovely!

8) Go to the cinema – we actually watched a movie at Oli’s place. Me Before You – supposedly heartbreaking movie that caused a lot of attention to Emilia Clark’s eyebrows’play. Anyway, I really like her and this is not supposed to mock her acting. We had a lovely ladies’ night with home – cooked Chinese and Korean food (Oli, those mushrooms were delicious!) and funny talks. We also wanted to see the falling stars, but unfortunately it was cloudy. But we spent 20 minutes on a balcony between the stairs, whispering warm words about the future and the stars, waiting for one or two to show to ourselves. A fond memory I shall treasure during this winter and during many more to come!

9) Eat Chinese food – apart from the home-cooked version (see above), we actually had a ladies’ night with fellow choir ladies at the beginning of our summer and we ordered some Chinese food. A very nice evening I must say!

10) Ride a bike – Oli did, no time (and bike) for me. Next year?

11) Eat ice cream together – of course we did! But Oli seems to lack the complete philosophy of a glutton when it comes to sweet foods – she actually couldn’t eat the whole ice cream and threw its remains in a bin. Shame on you, girl! (And shame on me for eating so much sugar I guess! Not that the ice cream was really big or super sweet, but anyway.)

12) Eat fries or pancakes – did we? I don’t think so… Oh, we actually did eat potatoes, cooked by Oli, with sesame and honey. Original Korean recipe, yeah, baby! (see pictures from number 8) No need for fries! Well, I hope that we will have the chance to eat pancakes sometimes.

13) Road trip near Ruse – we actually went to Veliko Tarnovo (Tsarevets), Etara and Dryanovo Monastery. A lovely one-day trip with lots of sun, BG retro music from the beginning of the 21th century, sandwiches, selfies and smiles. Indeed a day well spent!