One night out

I am glad I didn't try to find a private room in someone's house. Had I rented a room somewhere, I'd never have the experiences I've had so far. Indeed, I'd probably find it rather lonely.

A couple of nights ago, we went out to see a Japanese drum band at the town theater. Fedio, the host of the hostel, had some friends visiting, so the Bulgarians outnumbered us foreigners. There was an Aussie, Englishman, Japanese, and Czech among us.

I'm not sure why this continues to amaze me, as it is no different from DC, where I worked and hung out with a Czech, a Russian, and Uzbeki, and a German-Uruguan guy who grew up in Costa Rica, among others. Yet, I am still fascinated by the internationalization of the world.

The band were a bunch of kids, really, early twenties at mot, and they were briliant musicians. There were three main guys - one who played a shamisen (3 stringed lute type of instrument) and two drummers. Three others also played in some of the compositions, but the main three stole the show. They started out with traditional Japanese music, which was as visually pleasing as it sounded. The second half was modern, with the shamisen guy playing his instrument like an electric guitar in a rock band. The result was an eclectic mix of the sounds of centuries, and it really worked.

After the show, I went with the Bulgarians to get some dinner while the others headed to a bar that we had all gone to the night before. The Bulgarians spoke for much of the time in Bulgarian, and I merely listened, tried to pick out the few words I know, and recognized a few patterns, which is vital to learning a language. I thought of that Antonio Banderas movie The Thirteenth Warrior, where he is a Moor sitting around a fire with a bunch of Vikings. By the end of the night, not only is he able to understand the insults the Vikings are using against him, but he responds to them in their language. When one of the Vikings asked incredulously how he knew their language, he responded, "I listened." Funny thing was one of the Bulgarians also brought up the scene in this movie. Unfortunately, I have not been able to learn the language in one night! If only it were that easy! But I did find that although I didn't understand their words, I knew often knew what they were talking about. And why didn't they speak in English since I was sitting there? Why should they? When I had something to say, I said it, but mostly I wanted to listen.