Following the road show with the US Ambassador Jim Warlick in four US states, Ambassador Elena Poptodorova paid her own visit to the city of Seattle, state of Washington.

On May 21 she met with Deborah Jacobs, Director of Global Libraries of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Siri Oswald, program officer for Bulgaria. The meeting was dedicated to the implementation and vast positive impact of the library project financed by the Foundation, which helps the modernization and development of Bulgarian libraries and provides 900 computers to libraries all over Bulgaria. Ambassador Poptodorova delivered a letter of appreciation by Foreign Minister Nikoilay Mladenov to the Foundation, and indicated, given the outstanding success of the project, the desire of the Bulgarian side for its extension.

On May 22, the ambassador participated in the traditional outdoor gathering of the Bulgarian community on the occasion of May 24, the Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet and Culture. The newly established children’s choir and kukeri group performed for the first time, and the new community newspaper SEAНИЕ was introduced. The Bulgarians also have an amateur drama company, which had already had several performances of the Bulgarian play “The Misconstrued Civilization”. Homemade kozunak and banitza, typical Bulgarian grill, folk songs and dances, as well as relaxed conversations garnished the holiday of over 200 Bulgarians who gathered on the big lawn in the Seattle outskirts.