Slava

On most weeknights, Brian and I eat dinner, find a few TV shows to watch on the internet, read books and go to bed. But this Wednesday, I went to my Colombian friend's house to have a Latin-Serbian meal in honor of the feast day of her husband's family's patron saint, Stephen. In attendance were two other Americans, a Pole, a French woman, a Chinese woman, the Serbian mother of the host, his Serbo-German friend and a German brother-in-law. I don't know whether fried plantians have been combined with stuffed cabbage rolls (Sarma) before, but we tried it and it was delicious.

In a curious mix of English, German, and Spanish, I learned that Slava is each family's special holiday, inherited from father to son. In the Orthodox calendar, St. Stephen's Day is on January 9th. It was like Serbian Thanksgiving, which made me think that having international friends is a great thing. The more countries are represented, the more parties to have and the more international foods to enjoy.

For our next international feast, we are invited to a Scottish science teacher's house to celebrate Robert Burns day. Will there be salsa and sangria? Probably not, but haggis might be on the menu.