An “American BBQ”

What makes up the classic American BBQ? It probably needs to be outside on a nice day, stocked with hamburgers, hotdogs and your favorite bag of potato chips. You’d probably have some ice tea, soda, or some other chilled and refreshing beverage like lemonade. If you and your people are considered a healthy bunch you’d maybe even have a salad or two, even though the base of said salads would probably be potatoes or pasta. Let's be honest though, the thin layer of iceberg lettuce on our burger is probably enough green for the day. But truly for myself and many other Americans, I believe, a good BBQ is not complete without friends and family to share the time with. 

For the last school year I have been traveling every other week to a small town called Pestera to help teach in the English club in the local school.  Anna and I are partnering with the school’s English teacher to improve the kids' English skills through music, games, and storytelling with reading and writing. Convenient for us, the school’s English subject for the year is American culture. So it’s an easy catch for us. Honestly I’ve learned some fun facts about the United States this year that I never knew before, or at least learned a long time ago and haven’t carried into my adult years. 

All that to say, the school year is coming to a close and so also is this year’s English club. As a fun close to the club for the summer we thought it would be fun to host an “American BBQ” for the kids in the English club and their families. WIth some planning and grocery shopping we put together a pretty nice display of the typical American BBQ for the school. Complete with cheeseburgers with thin layers of lettuce and salads made of pasta. I made an Inglesby family favorite, macaroni salad, and it’s delicious.  Don’t worry, we also had a nice cucumber and dill salad complete with a side of potato chips. As the grill master I cooked the patties on an old and pretty spotty grill. Twas a challenge, but it worked out in the end. We had a good amount of the kids from our English club attend with their siblings and parents as well as some other kids from different PINK projects that we’ve done in the past. It’s always a joy to see familiar kiddos. 

Bob got to give a little update to the families about what we as the PINK Foundation have been up to this year and what summer camps this year will look like. We are planning on having a weeklong camp in Petshera this summer with the kids doing “the Olympics” at the school and VBS (Vacation Bible School) at a local church. Then we will have a camp in the mountains doing a service project with teenagers from Pestera as well. It’s going to be fun, can’t wait :) 

So anyway, turns out “American BBQs” in Bulgaria are pretty fun and totally doable!