Famous for all the Wrong Reasons

You guys. A strange thing happened this weekend.

I woke up to some messages from a friend I made in Bosnia. The first message said: "I wonna send you a link that one of the online magazins sherd your story with people here." Then he sent me this.

I pulled it open and saw that the link led to an article that was posted on what appears to be a pretty popular Bosnian site. When I clicked on it, I saw this:

My Bosnian friend translated the title of the article: "American man lost walking Sarajevo's streets at night searching for kebab."

The article includes the videos I posted on Stranger on Friday as well as all of the pictures I shared on Facebook of my time in Bosnia.

"On his journey through Europe," the article explains, "the blogger visited Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, after which he traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was in Sarajevo and Mostar, and his experience is shared with the readers on his blog."

The article quotes a status I posted on my personal Facebook page as well as something from my Stranger bio: "I like to travel to unusual places and then complain about them."

But the point of the article is that I was wandering their streets at night looking for a kebab and THANK HEAVENS I found one.

It's really a very compelling story. If you're hungry. And if you don't have anything else going on. And if you like kebabs.

The article contains nearly 100 comments already, which comments, thanks to google translate, I have discovered are actually pretty funny. People are relieved for me that I found a kebab. Some people congratulate themselves for apparently having a country in which someone like me isn't murdered walking the streets at night. And one translates to "alas what this is interesting, but better to have published what I ate last night and beans all night blowing," which I think is commentary about either diarrhea, flatulence, or both.

I knew something strange was up because a few days ago I started getting a high number of Facebook friend requests from Bosnians. I couldn't figure out where this was coming from. I also noticed that Bosnians were commenting on my Youtube videos.

In any event, I think my favorite part of this whole thing is that I traveled all the way to the other side of the planet and, as a part of my official diplomatic duties, I was recognized for trying to find greasy food in the middle of the night so I could chew it while continuing to talk about how much I like food.

What can I say? I like to represent. YOU'RE WELCOME, AMERICA.

But now that I'm soooo incredibly famous in Bosnia, it has sort of made my life difficult. Do you guys know what it's like to have to wear sunglasses wherever you go? I am literally seconds away from being crushed to death by all the paparazzi.

Truthfully, becoming a D-list Bosnian celebrity because of my love for meat was the last item left on my bucket list.

P.S. To all of my new Bosnian friends--you have one of the most amazing countries I've ever seen with truly the most beautiful people I've ever met, inside and out. I'm not kidding about this. My travel companions and I commented constantly while we were in your country that all of the world's models must live in Bosnia. Also, we felt ugly compared to you. So that part wasn't as nice.

P.P.S. Thanks for the kebab.

~It Just Gets Stranger