IN a small town in Missouri, a family of 21 siblings shares a strong and genuine fondness for Bulgaria, its culture and language, always starting their days with dobro utro (good morning), and going to bed with leka nosht (good night).

The four-year Bulgarian love story for home-schooled Kattie Howald and her family began after she watched a show performed by Bulgarian folklore group Chinari, which was visiting Springfield, where she lives.

Today, Kattie cannot be happier because her wish to visit Bulgaria is a dream come true.

Kattie was only 13 when she saw the folklore performance. It sparked off a long-term interest and curiosity for the country, its history and the language.

"The first time I watched them I was getting chills," Kattie recalls.

So popular were the Bulgarian performances that other performers who had finished their acts went to watch the Bulgarians instead of taking a rest, a practice that continues every time the performances are repeated at the annual festivals.

After seeing the group perform for the first time, he rushed off to the library and took out everything she could on Bulgaria.

She describes the experience of seeing the Bulgarian group as "so phenomenal that every year I try to take time off work and go to see the performance. For us it is like a family reunion".

Kattie has taped the whole performance every time that Chinari has performed in Springfield, and, along with her sisters, used these tapes to learn the dances and songs. This year Kattie surprised performers by showing them how a song could be learnt simply by following the recording of the Shopska a Capella.

Kattie and her sisters learnt all the details of traditionally hand-woven costumes and have decided to design outfit for their own performances. They wear these on their regular visits and talks that they give on Bulgaria and its culture in schools, churches and at seminars. One of the schools they went to in Springfield had 500 children turning up for the Bulgarian session. All of these children now sing the song of the Bingo dog and the alphabet, Kattie she said and explained that it was hard to then finish the song because everyone was clapping and yelling. "All the children loved it and they learnt how to dance with us," she said and proudly said that these children will always remember singing BINGO in Bulgarian.

For her today it is easy to spot a Bulgarian walking on the street because of their features, clothing and manners. She was once sure that a woman eating in an Indian restaurant was Bulgarian although in the beginning she could not hear the language very well. She walked up to her and asked her where she was from. On getting a response from Bulgaria Kattie immediately reacted with "Zdraveite, Kak ste" (Hi. How are you?).

Everyone in Bulgaria has a specific style, while in the US every one conforms to the same style, she said.

She regrets the lack of material and knowledge about Bulgaria in Springfield, a town that has not much been touched by the Bulgarian diaspora.

Gradually, as her love for Bulgaria grew, she started meeting more Bulgarians, including during her visits to the international festival in Missouri.

"It was amazing just getting to know the performers, and then work exchange people, and Bulgarian students," she said.

Kattie says she has not experienced enough of Bulgarian culture and the more she experiences and the more people she meets the more she falls in love with the country and the more she wants to know.

She started learning Bulgarian following tapes and reading from books borrowed from the library. Then, she started getting more friends who are helping her out to pronounce the language better and to improve. Now, she and her nine sisters are education their niece to speak things as seluvka (kiss), haide (come on) and dobre (good).

Kattie is glad that she can tell other people about her experience with everything connected to Bulgaria and share it outside of her own family. When an issue of cultural differences arises, Kattie is always to speak about Bulgaria. People even ask her advice on how to pronounce certain things when an intercultural discussion comes up. Kattie smiles at how people make guesses about where Bulgaria is, placing it variously in Africa, Asia or South America.

One thing that she has noticed since arrival is the eating habit that Bulgarians stick with. "Everyone is reaching, and eating from everything, while in the US you pass around and no one reaches," Kattie said with a big smile adding quickly that toasts are something she loves. "Nazdrave and everybody's applause," she said.

Kattie has a job as a nanny, before heading for college. All the children she takes care of know the words tuka (here), stiga (enough) and olele (oops) in Bulgarian. Her language skills are welcome in cases where she and her sisters want to talk secretly and discuss boys. "Then Bulgarian helps, because we switch to it," she laughs.

In her plans for the future, Kattie includes Bulgaria and though she has not decided yet on her studies, she is confident it will be somehow connected to Bulgaria. "There is no way I could avoid it and whatever I do I want it to be history of the world or Bulgaria in particular," she said, adding that her sisters have similar plans all connected to Bulgaria.