Bulgarian-Bolivian Connection

I met my nephew last Sunday. I also met his grandparents. My cousin is now a father of a baby boy and his wife's parents flew from Bulgaria to be there. What was interesting meeting this couple from Bulgaria was that they are now a part of our family, yet they welcomed us as if we had been a part of theirs for years. The grandfather's english skills were raw, but we still found a way to communicate. I had to drop a little football reference saying I know who Hristo Stoichov is and that he used to play with DC United. He quickly corrected my poor pronounciation of his name. There was an also an invitation extended to visit Bulgaria in the near future, and I may take him up on that offer. There's nothing quite like visiting another country where you are welcomed by someone local.

Our extended family in the United States is pretty homogeneous. Most came to the United States in the last 20-30 years, yet their roots have been planted here. Once the children were born as first-generation Americans, a whole new chapter began. Eventually, most of the kids will get married, and I wonder how the blending of cultures will continue. The newborn was given a french name, neither Spanish or Bulgarian. He will be trilingual: Spanish, Bulgarian and English. Those are things that will happen from now on. We are all pretty conscious of our cultural heritage and it is something importatnt to us. However, we don't live in Bolivia anymore..the United States hopefully will continue to encourage this multiculturalism. I never gave it much thought, but most of the kids born in the U.S. will continue to mix and match cultures. My experiences with this Bulgarian couple and how they are just as interested in visiting Bolivia someday, has made me appreciate this diversity.