Wendel Travel Blog: My Fascination with Devin and Water

Whenever I travel to a foreign country, I am always fascinated by their customs, routines and mentality. The best way to receive a glimpse into the local people's way of life is to visit their supermarket. So that is what we did. Some of my observations in this journey:

1. There are A LOT more goods and services available now than the last time I was in Eastern Europe during the 1980's and 1990's. In fact, there are so many Western products, they overwhelm the local country products. My memory of Eastern European clothing inventory was jewel-tones such as dark grey, light grey, brown, black, and one or two styles of coats, shoes, hats. Under communist rule, clearly fashion was not a priority!

2. In Romania they have a huge selection of bottled water products-ailses and ailses of them! In Bulgaria, "Devin" water was the most upscaled brand (like San Pelligrino is to Americans) and they do a lot advertising. I became obsessed with this water!! Whenever I saw the brand, I thought of my son. It was not only on the water bottle, but on cars, tables, vending machines, water coolers. Since my son is a difficult 15-year old and hard to find a gift for him, I decided to bring him back a bottle of Devin water--but an empty bottle since we have that TSA 3-oz liquid limit rule, so it will have to be empty😝.

3. In Bulgaria, they must have a drinking problem!! Alcohol (and I mean hard alcohol--liquor, spirits, not just beer and wine), is sold everywhere and is very cheap: supermarkets, local tabacs, Mom and Pop stores, the open markets, train/bus stations, baby stores (ok-kidding about the last place). It is odd to see a bottle of Absolut Voldka sold for $15 at the bus stop while waiting for your ride to work!!

4. The dentists must make a fortune in Turkey! I can't recall a country that has so many really sweet dessert- just loaded with sugar, honey and any sweet fruit that is grown! I didn't get close to the Turkish people to notice if their teeth were rotted away. Plus with the women in full-body burka, it was hard to see their teeth. We also wondered how the women ate in restaurants. Last night, we were dining and noticed a woman in full burka attire ordering a meal and we desperately wanted to see how she ate, but didn't want to be rude. I am thinking she has double-sided Velcro attached to the inside of the mouthpiece and she just opens it to shovel food in, then closes it again while chewing. I am not sure if Allah had specific instructions in the Koran about eating etiquette and burkas!

My first view of Devin water-so exciting!!