When Office Culture Exchange Gets Disturbing
🥨 Snack #2: When a Balkan tradition nearly gave my foreign colleagues a heart attack.
At the beginning of 2026, we were called into the office because the management board was visiting to greet us. As they walked in, this funny thought popped into my mind…
In Bulgaria (a country in the European Union where I was born), we have a millennia-old tradition called Survakane. On the 1st of January, children ‘survak’ the elders for health and wealth, receiving small treats or pocket money in return, similar to the ‘trick or treat’ spirit of Halloween.
The ‘survachka’ is made from cornel twigs (dogwood), decorated with colorful woolen threads, popcorn, dried fruits, and small coins. This specific wood is chosen because it is the toughest and the first to bud in winter, symbolizing endurance and vitality. As the children gently tap your back, they recite traditional poems to wish you a fruitful and prosperous year ahead! (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survakane)
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About Snacks Section
Snacks are my comic “shorts” - bite-sized, visual stories where tech meets real life.
Expect a mix of:
Tech Tales: Explaining complex concepts or venting about the daily struggles of a software architect.
Workplace Humor: The funny, awkward, and sometimes absurd reality of the corporate world.
Life Bytes: Personal “snacks” from the chaotic and hilarious moments with my kids.
A bit of tech, a lot of humor - perfect for reading between two meetings.
Illustration credits: Comic scenes conceptualized by 8bytes! and rendered by Nano Banana.