Another Bulgaria Moment

I have published like a kabillion posts on Bulgaria and yet if feels like I have only touched the tip.. It's so hard to capture the way that God revealed Himself to us by seeing His world in this tiny way. After going, all of the fears in the preparation seem so insignificant. From childcare to finances, God lavished Himself on our family.

Yet one of the ways that I wished that I would have prepared more is in the language barrier.

The first day that we were there, my luggage was lost :). So I did what every American girl does without a suitcase, I went to the store. Not to buy clothes, well, not yet anyway. To buy the other item girls can't live without, shoes.. no, tampons.

The closest thing I found to a stuff mart was the tiny little water/chocolate/cigarette store under our hotel. Since tampons are such a hot stealing item, I finally found them tucked away nicely under the glass counter.

Hum... There was an over abundance of little packages beneath the glass. How I just wanted to grab the one that I needed, separated from a layer of glass. I tried to pointed in the direction of the pink one that I wanted.
Wait, they were all pink, is there something to that mentally? Is it comforting to grab a package each month in the official girl color-trimmed in teal..?

I pointed, I grunted, I shook my head in every direction. (Side note: yes and no in Bulgarian head nodding is opposite of America.) When all else failed I apologized. And she looked at me like I was a crazy lady.

She had enough. She pulled every.single.package of feminine products from beneath her pretty glass counter. I almost went from owning very few "personal" belongings in the city of Stara Zagora to spending my entire budget on enough girl products to meet the needs of the city.

"Neh, neh," I shook my head. I shook my head the other direction, just in case.

But that's when God sent her. The young giggling girl behind me. As I looked back, I realized she was the front of a long line of irritated, yet somewhat amused gawkers/customers. I didn't do a very good job of representing America to this small crowd. This sweet girl was sent by the Lord above. She sweetly helped me pick out my pretty box and tell the lady in Bulgarian, that no, I didn't just want to take them all.

She grinned and had another laugh as I said goodbye.

Note to self: Next trip, learn the language. Or at least the necessities.