My Life "Over There"

Bulgaria Day 11 - Make Way for the Little Lady!

(Pictured Above: The little old lady just before she plows through the crowd of men checking out the car to get to the sidewalk. She was soo tiny and there was sooo much traffic around her, and she barely looked up, and she was strangely quick when she walked.)

Today was absolutely gorgeous so we went to NDK again and sat out in the sun and took pictures of singing street performers, skateboarders, bikers, salesmen, Dogs, kids, old men and women and oh yeah. NATIVE AMERICANS.. or at least they were trying to look like them.  These guys were dressed up as them with faces painted and all and playing what they thought was Native American music and selling it. Interesting stuff… but that is the last thing I thought I would see today. 

I also took a few minutes to really think about the homeless/beggers  I have seen, some with limited numbers of joint, signs hanging around their necks, one that has what looks like a magically reoccurring deep wound in their leg that just happens to be fresh every day. (It’s obvious he makes it worse just to get more money.)  People are consistently digging in garbage, and I have grown increasingly used to it. There are always people searching for recyclables as well. 

I also met a woman with two dogs at the NDK, (which is a park, sort of) She has a daughter that lives in New Jersey, and says that she has a better life there. This women said told us to be careful and that the last time Bulgaria was a good place to live, was while it was still a kingdom. All the nice buildings, she says, come from that time period, some of which I have seen and they truly are majestic.  She hates the Communist ways and says that even today, things have not changed. 

Observation of the Day: It’s sad that a country that is already in the EU for two years, has still not been able to get out old ways, a huge divide with rich and poor, an intolerance for minority groups, government money that is magically filtered away from much-need projects, etc etc. 

Fact of the Day: Thus far, every restaurant we have been to has had menus in English, but I doubt that you could find that in any other part of Bulgaria than in the capital city. Still though, not everyone speaks English, especially the older generation. Almost all young people do to some extent, but with some waitresses, we just point at what we want. (Maybe in Sunny Beach there are also English menus, which is a tourist destination on the Black Sea.) 

Day 10- Bulgaria  A Balloon Man!!!

(Pictured above: a balloon man and roasted nut salesman sell products to people at NDK.)

Today I also didn’t do too much except get hung up on by politicians from the “Decade of Integration” people and not get any further on my story.. :(   I did however enjoy the movie “Duplicity”, which is so complex, I still don’t completely understand everything, but the main point is across…  the writer is far too clever for me. :)

I also had some great chicken, spinach, cream, spaghetti. 

Sorry such a boring day… not sure what else to say…

Fact of the Day: Every person we talk to asks why we decided to come here… they all say that today, Bulgaria is the same country with the same government as during the Communist days, just with another name. 

Observation of the Day: Sometimes, I seriously feel like I went back in time.. with touches of modern life here and there… some people still dress and look like they are from the 80’s  and some building don’t look like they’ve been touched for years on the outside, and some public transportation is just as old, as well as public uniforms and vehicles for police, firemen, etc etc. I’m in a time warp. 

Day - 9 Bulgaria   A Whole Lot of Nothing Today

(Pictured above: scene from yesterday’s ghetto tour, though it definitely doesn’t show the devastation as much as my video does)

Today… I seemed to have done a whole lot of nothing.. I had a good salad for lunch at a decent restaurant/cafe… and tonight we went out to a local place with martin’s friend and 3 other Bulgarians…  It was fun, and Bulgarian beer is not so bad. I wish I would’ve brought my camera though. 

Also, Martin and I committed a sin. We each bought a donut at Dunkin Donuts. HOW SHAMEFUL!  Strangely, this is the first Dunkin Donut I have ever eaten, and it was in Bulgaria… haha. 

Day 8 - Bulgaria    Sofia’s Tale of Two Cities (Rich and Poor)

(Pictured above: We stopped about half way up the mountain and checked out the nearby houses below, which are situated on the lower part of the mountain. This area is relatively wealthy, and we saw several nice cars on the way up. Here you can see the layout of that “nice” neighborhood.) 

Today, Martin and I again met up with his friend, who took us first out to the ghetto and then up the mountain in his car. (We also saw some cars that were built by East Germany today too…crappy, almost cardboard cars haha) 

In the ghetto, we couldn’t believe we were still in the EU. Some conditions were nothing short of the Third World.. and with the “garbage crisis” going on right now, where garbage picker-uppers are refusing to do their job, the ghetto looks even more trashed than usual. Muddy streets, tons of stray dogs, people staring at us as we passes through.. etc etc..  

I really didn’t feel like getting out of the car. It was easy to tell they didn’t see foreigners there much. This ghetto is one of the biggest and worst in Sofia, and it really was a whole new world. People thought we were lost and pointed out the way out to us, and they didn’t care for us taking pictures or video either.  

Martin’s friend told us that his other Bulgarian friends would criticize him for bringing us out there, as Bulgaria tries to hide that people still live in conditions as bad as these. It was easy to tell that some kids went to school, they were the ones that were dressed ‘nice’ and had backpacks on, but I really don’t think all do from that area of the city. 

Later, we went up the mountain on winding roads that made me a bit nauseous. At the top you can ski, but we didn’t go all the way up. We stopped about half way and looked over the city. Beautiful view and finally, some fresh air up there. (Sofia smells it bit strange.)  There was also about 1.5 feet of snow, which is the most I’ve seen since leaving Minnesota. Finally!! Snow!!  Now, I really want to go ski.

Also, luckily, I have now found a Roma student in higher education that will do an interview with me, who also speaks English.

Observation of the Day: Demand is down at the local steel mill here. If it were to close, which some people expect will happen in the next few months, thousands of jobs would be lost in many areas, such as the ports along the Black Sea. The steel mill gives them LOTS of business. Though the Bulgarian economy is more stable than other countries, 2009 is expected to fall into recession.

Fact of the Day: Because of the current garbage crisis, the city of Sofia has more trash lying around than usual. The problem is some garbage people are refusing to pick it up. Their contract was ended… over a political dispute.  

Day 7 - Getting to know the ‘real’ Bulgaria

(Pictured above: Any European football fan would know that those fiery torches are not allowed to be used during games… European games that is.. when any team plays a team from another country. Apparently it is no problem that they are used when a Bulgarian team plays another Bulgarian team.)

Today we slept in past breakfast, finished some of the leftover fuet sausage and bread from yesterday and met one of Martin’s old friends from Bulgaria. Our bill for 9 drinks at a bar only came to 25 Levs, or about 13-15 dollars. His friend told us a lot about different things in Bulgaria, and tomorrow he is taking me out to a Roma neighborhood. It will be great for my story, and I’m excited to see another part/ethnic group of Bulgaria.

Tonight we went to a PFC Levski game, the best seats only cost 4 Levs, just over $2. (A football game of one of Sofia’s teams.) It was pretty fun.. a small stadium, but still crazy fans.)  Sofia Levski won 1-0, unfortunately we were late for the game and missed the goal, which was scored within the first minute.  Our first taxi driver conveniently dropped us off at the wrong stadium. :( 

Observation of the day: Every single football fan had sunflower seeds during the game… kind of like Americans with baseball. The firefighters at the game had really old out of date outfits and fire trucks too, similar to the police. 

Fact of the day: When Sofia’s two teams playoff, they have to split areas of the city into blue parts and red parts, or else the fans of the two teams will fight each other too much. You’re not allowed to ‘mingle’ with those from the other team.

Bulgaria-Day 6  Oil and Sausage and Chocolate, Oh my!

(Picture above: No need for street cleaning machines when you have low paid women to grab their brooms and clean it up more manually! Yes, they actually are paid to walk along and sweep the sidewalks and clean up. Here, they are on break, grabbing lunch.) 

Today, we took the day off. It’s not as if we could call up politicians, businesses or organizations anyways.  We ended up going to the Sofia Mall and not buying any clothes (though there were several shops).  We did however hit up the foodcourt, which looked as Americanized as any foodcourt you might walk into.. Hello KFC, Pizza Hut, McCafe and Be…Happy, not too mention 3-4 other places.  

We decided to see a movie.. which cost us about 5 dollars each. We saw “Bride Wars”…which of course was far too much of a ‘chic flick’ for Martin. 

Instead of going out for dinner, we checked out a super market. There was an entire side of an isle dedicated just to oil!! I have never seen so many different kinds of oils in my life! Greek, Italian, spiced, canola, etc etc. There were also several types of sausages and other meats in the back.. once again the biggest selection I have ever seen. (There was a ton of chocolates as well.)  

We decided to get some fuet sausage, some fresh bread, some sort of white buttery spread, champagne and ice-cream and went back to the hostel to have dinner. 

Observation of the Day: The inside (and outside) of the Sofia Mall looks like the U.S., but when looking out the windows of the mall, you see some run-down buildings in the neighborhood surrounding it. A nice, new, modern building in the middle of old, sorta crappy neighborhood seems quite typical.

Fact of the Day: Prices in Sofia (the capital city we are in) are almost twice as much as almost any other part of Bulgaria.  To us, it is still very cheap. 

Bulgaria Day 5 - Snowing, despite a lot of progress

I went to two different interview sessions today..and ended up getting one more interview at both places! Total of four! Woohoo! I also had my first interview with a translator, which went pretty well actually… but now I have to find some other sources besides NGO’s.

Most of my day was spent interviewing…and trying not to slip on the sidewalk, as snow does not make walking around quick easy at all.  But the snow actually made even the nasty parts of the city look much nicer… (some things are just better covered up a bit).

Next week will be spent trying to talk to Roma people… and politicians…Roma people are a bit too easy to find.. (we even found one sleeping in a box right outside the Greek restaurant we ate at yesterday).

As for politicians.. well… I don’t think they want to be found.. though as the foreign correspondent we met said last night.. if you go to the right restaurants.. you will find the judge, the mayor, the police chief and practically every other major person in the city sitting around one table… all friends.   (no wonder it is so corrupt here!)

Facts of the Day: The mafia basically controls everything and a LOT of government money, yet no one ever goes to jail. Bribes are just a part of everyday life for many. Even the traffic police pull over people at random just because they know people will pay them to avoid getting a ticket… why?

Traffic police make hardly ANY money and wear uniforms as old as the cars they drive…which day way back into Communist times. No wonder they need the extra cash.

Even doctors only make the equivalent of 150 Euros per month… and every Bulgarian knows they have to bribe the doctor in order to get quick, good healthcare. Under-th-table income is just a way of life here, and culturally… that’s not going to change anytime soon.

Observation of the day: 

There are several super nice shops around Vitosha Boulevard selling Versace, Gucci, Burberry and everything in between at the same prices they are anywhere else in the world… meaning, expensive. Vitosha was once the most expensive street in the world. Strangely enough, I have rarely seen anyone besides the clerks in the stores, and I have NEVER seen anyone walk out with a bag from those stores. Who buys that stuff?! Where does the money come from to even have those shops around?! Better yet… who owns them!? Something fishy is going on there…hmm…

Obviously the average Bulgarian cannot afford those items. It just comes to show how little money is spent on real government needs like education and the police force.. and how much of the money is “filtered” to other places.  The divide between the rich and poor here is too obvious. Until corruption can change, Bulgaria will likely not. 

Day 4 Bulgaria - Perfect day to lay out in the sun! (if you are a cat on a roof)

Every time I walk up the stairs to the hostel room, I see these cats outside, looking dirty, mangy, and not so nice… 

Today, they were sunbathing. There were 4 cats but Martin is not so good at being quiet.. :) 

Now, I am relaxing a bit more. I have 2 interviews lined up for tomorrow.. and I’m feeling alright, finally! Just a bunch of research to do now for them, besides of course, more interviews to set up. 

Tonight, Martin and I are going out on the town to meet with a Dutch foreign correspondent and grab a beer… and to get some tips and so forth on how to do journalism in a country where everything seems to be a secret… or at least difficult to pry open. 

It has been a successful, beautiful, sunny day. 

Fact of the Day: In 2007, there was a huge boom in jobs, with the exception of one group of people, the Roma, who make up between 6 and10% of the population. Of the recent unemployment rates of about 7%, the Roma made up 90% of those unemployed. 

Observation of the day: Women really need to learn how to not put on so much scary make-up and red hair dye!  No wonder there are soo many McDonalds here, Ronald McDonald looks just like them! 

Day 3 - Ahhh…A Mountain of Work Ahead but a Great View of Progress

After a failed attempt at finding a local organization yesterday, I went elsewhere for sources for my story. On my way, I realized you could actually see the gorgeous Bulgarian mountains today! Normally they are covered in clouds, but today was clear and oh so chilly. (not like MN though) 

I did actually make some progress today though. 

- I got through a gate to get to an organization (and back out again.)

 - I spent most of the afternoon pouring through books at the National Statistical Institute ( but they don’t have much prior to 1990.. Big surprise huh?) 

 - I spoke in front of a class of 4th year English students at Sofia University, (in which I got two translators out of, and they are even willing to skip class to earn a few levs (their currency)) 

- I ate the best Indian cream of chicken soup I have ever had. 

 -I hung out in the better part of town today, complete with numerous yellow brick streets, gold capped domes, government institutions, Versace stores, and oh yeah, a couple Communist statues. 

- I won’t have to pay my student translators much… for a few hours work.. but it won’t be “little money” to them it seems.

 Fact of the day: The average household makes between 600 - 700 Levs per month (around 400 dollars).