Coming to Our Census

The last couple of weeks have been busy, but nothing to write home about.  And, since writing home is basically what this blog is, having nothing to write home about explains why this blog has lacked recent entries.  Other than a dinner party hosted by Anne and Mark (fun and well-received by the guests, but not well photographed), not too much has transpired around here.  There was one thing - Mark was asked to participate in a video to promote voter turn-out in the student government elections.  Professor Trocinski showed up to the video shoot and recited lines prepared by the committee for a better voter turn-out. The take they ended up using was Prof. Trocinski looking into the camera and saying, "Vote - Because I Said So!"  That ought to do the trick.

"Of course I need to be here.  Do you think this microphone will hold itself?"

Later, a reporter from the student newspaper asked Prof. Trocinski why it was important to vote in student government elections.  Prof. Trocinski had absolutely no idea what the role of student government is at this university, but felt obliged to answer the question anyway.  He is quoted as saying, "The more people will be aware of the importance of the elections, the more they will care about it.  So I think it's a big step towards increasing the impact of the elections."


Nice quote, Thomas Jefferson.  Just plain genius.  Dear readers, please do not spend too much time trying to make sense of Prof. Trocinski's apparent bout of verbal diarrhea.  This blog cannot be responsible for any mental injuries caused by a prolonged exposure to this type of gibberish.  Instead, please accept our profound apologies and take solace in the fact that at least he didn't make it any worse (like by saying that he could see Russia from his house or by discussing the limits on the geographical knowledge of U.S. Americans.)

Anyway, on a new topic that IS related to the title of this post, Anne and Mark were informed that they were required to participate in the census currently being conducted in Bulgaria.  Why were American citizens counted in a census of Bulgaria?  No clue.  But, the message that Anne and Mark had to participate was pretty clear (see photo below), so they did.

"Please call to ask you some questions."

So Anne and Mark spent nearly minutes completing the census questionnaire.  The odds that they filled it out correctly?  The over/under is set at 2.5%.  Anne and Mark will take the under.  What makes it so difficult?  Well, for example, what is the difference between the "District," "Settlement," "Municipality," and "City, Region"?  Also, if they put one of these door hangers on our door, they already know where our apartment is, right?  So... what exactly are they asking for?


So Anne and Mark filled it out in good faith as best they could.  Probably incorrectly, but as best they could.  So, let's consider it done.  But even though their contribution to it is complete, Anne and Mark are very much looking forward to seeing the final results of the census.  Particularly the responses to question 13.  

How many people answer 3?  Aren't we past that?  And answer 4?  No access to toilet facilities?  At all?  Ever?  That's not cool. . . Not even sure how that works, exactly.


Additionally, Anne and Mark are interested in seeing the answers to question number 20.

If it is anything other than 100% for answer #1, something is fishy.  


So, Anne and Mark will keep you posted on that.


Finally, after working nearly six full weeks this semester, Anne and Mark are finally awarded a week of vacation.  As mentioned in a previous post, the initial plan to visit Egypt had to be canceled due to an uprising there.  Anne and Mark's second choice?  You guessed it - Libya.  (Kyle - Endor was third, but with the uprising going on there, the risk was far too high).  That's not going to work either.  


Eventually they decided to spend a week in a nice, calm place - Israel.  Anne and Mark will be leaving on Monday and return a week later.

Feb. 14

Vineyards on the hills outside of Blagoevgrad.

In many places, February 14 is Valentine's Day.  But in Bulgaria, they celebrate St. Trifon's Day.  Who is St. Trifon?  Apparently, he was a guy who was REALLY dedicated to his wine.  So much so, in fact, that one day while pruning the vines he was sampling his product.  He sampled so much of his product that he got a little out of control and ended up pruning his own nose off.  Oops.  What makes that worth celebrating?  I'm not sure, but everyone seems pretty impressed by the idea that he went on ... sampling.

In any event, St. Trifon is the big deal on Feb. 14 here, and when you think about it, it's not difficult to understand why.  Valentine's Day celebration: chocolates, flowers, fancy dinner.  Trifon's Day celebration: go to a vineyard, prune a few vines and then spend the rest of the day sampling the product.  It's no contest folks, Trifon wins in a landslide.  (the success of Valentine's Day is, no doubt, the result of a plot concocted by the Hallmark Corporation)

Anne and Mark are fortunate in many ways.  One of these ways is that they have been "adopted" by a local family headed up by Krasi (wearing the blue hoodie in this post) and Zlatina (white sweater).  Krasi and Zlatina are very generous with their time, helping Anne and Mark to learn about the local culture on many occasions (including St. Trifon's Day), as well as with their home, having invited Anne and Mark over for Sunday dinner with the family.  Spending time with them is probably the closest thing Anne and Mark will get to acting like "locals," so it is quite a treat.  This good fortune was extended on St. Trifon's Day when Krasi and Zlatina invited Anne and Mark to their Trifon's Day celebration.

Many people in Bulgaria grow their own grapes and make their own wine and/or rakia.  Rakia is a very strong drink (40% alcohol) that is the pride and joy of this country.  Traditionally, the Bulgarians drink it with their salad, before moving on to wine and maybe an after-dinner cognac.  (and that's the LUNCH menu).  Krasi is an accomplished rakia maker.  His father was in the distillation business and Krasi knows his way around a grape.  Although the vineyard we visited was not theirs (they have one, but it is located quite a distance away), we were assured that it was appropriate for the celebration.

So, Anne and Mark watched the ceremony performed by their hosts and then listened to the instructions. It was basically, "Cut here, cut here, pour wine, start drink."  Ok, got it.

Demonstration by the experts

Mark operating a gardening tool

It is fair to say that Mark has some apprehension about this activity.  Mark is neither an outdoorsman, nor a gardener.  It is fair to say that he is not handy with a garden shears (he wanted to call it an "outside scissors," but that seemed silly).  But keep in mind, the guy being celebrated on this occasion actually cut off his OWN NOSE.  So, that's a pretty low bar.  Any shearing accident up to and including a self rhino-ectomy would be pretty impressive.

Pouring some for my hom-eez

In the photo above, Anne is pouring some wine on the vine (no, that is not Coca-Cola - that is the "travel bottle" for the wine).  Initially, you might consider this to be some kind of weird grape cannibalism, but it is actually just symbolic.  Go figure.

After that, the ceremonial niceties were completed and it was time to celebrate.  Trifon's Day, in addition to being a great day to enjoy a little vino, is the unofficial beginning of spring (think "Opening Day" but with wine and sliced off noses instead of beer and "peanuts and cracker jack").  Our hosts prepared a huge cook-out feast featuring chicken, pork and shish kabob.  Everything was delicious.  Then we "sampled" until we were darn good and sure that every single bottle was adequate.  Happy St. Trifon's Day!

The Ebony Hillbillies

Well, you don't see that every day.

In an effort to bridge cultural divides (or something like that), the U.S. Embassy sponsored a performance in Blagoevgrad by a band that goes by the name of "The Ebony Hillbillies."  This sounded intriguing to Anne and Mark, so after work today, they went to the concert.  The Ebony Hillbillies are a group of musicians from the United States who play a unique blend of blues, jazz, bluegrass and rock n roll.  Rock n Roll is popular in Bulgaria, but it is likely that most Bulgarians have had little exposure to the other forms of music being played.  To say the least, this was an unusual and unlikely event to be scheduled for Blagoevgrad.

But it was.  And Anne and Mark were there.

The band itself was pretty cool.  There were five musicians, including a bass player, fiddle player and banjo player (he also played a mean diddlybo).  There was also a washboard player.  You don't see that too often.

As demonstrated in the photo above, the traditional method of playing the washboard is with the player placing shotgun shells on his fingers.

When the band got rolling, it was quite impressive.  Nearly every tune they played had a frenetic pace.  This was a talented group who could play pretty much as hot and fast as they wanted to (limited only by the need to avoid playing so hot that the heat caused the washboard player's fingers to "fire" into the crowd).

The fifth member of the group was a woman who sang and played an instrument that looked like spoons (the percussion instrument), but sounded much more wooden.  I did not catch the name of the instrument when they announced she was playing it.  In any event, after belting out a few numbers, this woman decided that a language barrier and a virtually totally new kind of music were not significant barriers to crowd participation.  So she convinced members of the crowd to join her on stage and "shake what their mama gave them" (her words, not mine).

It was great to see the members of the crowd getting into the music and enjoying it.  And I wish I could report that all of the dancers had the skills of Fred and Ginger.  But that would be a lie.  They did get after it and had a good time, so that's just as good.

In the video below you can see the band playing and, in the later portion, you can see some locals... "dancing"?  If you watch closely will you be able to see Anne and Mark up on stage cutting a rug?  Probably not.  But, there is a chance you may see someone clapping on the beat (it's possible, not guaranteed).

Smoke em if You Got em

One of the best parts of visiting Istanbul was the food.  As mentioned in an earlier post, pretty much everything that Anne and Mark had to eat in Istanbul was Istan-licious.  In addition to the restaurant recommended by Rick Steves previously discussed, Anne and Mark also sought out a couple of other places that were authentic to the city.  Maybe... too authentic?

On Sunday at lunch time, Anne and Mark wandered into a restaurant and ordered food.  The waiter realized that the customers were from out of town and suggested something not on the menu.  Anne and Mark threw caution to the wind and told the fine man to bring whatever he was recommending.  This was one of the better decisions they have made while traveling.  This new friend brought out a massive feast, fit for a sultan (plus at least half of the harem).

Good

Better

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

After taking down this feast, Anne and Mark hung around the restaurant for a short while to soak up the atmosphere.  It did not take them long to realize that most of the patrons of this restaurant did not eat there.  In addition, this place did not serve alcohol.  So what was keeping this place in business?  Hookah - that's what.

A hookah, also known as a waterpipe, is an instrument used for smoking in which the smoke is filtered through a water reservoir.  We know what you may be thinking - this looks like a bong.  That is exactly what Anne and Mark thought at first too.  Additionally, Anne and Mark are not big smokers, so neither had too much experience with a hookah (Mark may have tried a hookah in his younger days, but this report can neither be confirmed nor denied).

But drugs are illegal in Turkey, so this bar only served tobacco in the pipes.  So, it's legal and the locals are doing it, why not give it a go?  They had an entire menu of different flavors of hookah, but again, Anne and Mark depended on the kindness of their waiter.  This time he did not even 'suggest,' he simply 'decided' what Anne and Mark would be smoking.  He brought out what he claimed was the house specialty, "Turkish Delight."  Anne and Mark are happy to report that the taste of it was very pleasant, not at all harsh in the way that cigarette smoke can be, but otherwise the taste was difficult to describe.  The best Anne and Mark could come up with was that it taste like smoking bubblegum without any taste of smoke (wrap your brain around that).

So, Anne and Mark were in Istanbul, everyone else was doing it, and the guy already brought them some Turkish Delight.  Might as well give it a shot, right?  So they did.  Then Anne and Mark spent the better part of the next 30 minutes trying to do tricks with the smoke they exhaled.

Anne was able to master several tricks, including the "Dragon Lady" (shown in photo above).  Mark was able to adequately achieve "Smoldering Idiot" (shown) as well as "Slightly Burned the Table Cloth" (a difficult trick to pull off) and "I Don't Think I Am Doing This Correctly."

Topkapi Palace

The historical home of the Sultans who ruled the Ottoman Empire was the Topkapi Palace.  Eventually the Sultans moved to swankier digs with better fortifications and the Palace was converted for use as government offices.  Later, the government offices were moved and the palace became a museum.  Some time after that, Anne and Mark decided to visit it.

As is their customary practice, Anne and Mark toured the Palace in pretty much the reverse order that the tour guides suggests.  It's kind of what Anne and Mark do.  So, the first place they went was the last place on the tour - the home of the Sultan's Harem.

'Harem' is a term that is used to refer to a private place for a group of women to stay secluded from men and most of society, as well as to refer to the group of women itself.  Back in the days of the Sultan, women from throughout the empire were brought to live in the Harem at Topkapi Palace with the Sultan, his wife and their family.  It was probably pretty awkward for everyone involved.

As Anne and Mark toured through the Harem area of the palace, they determined that the primary activity of the women who lived there was to decorate it.  Every room was extravagantly decorated and had some type of beautiful and comfy looking furniture.

Not bad for a guest room

The mannequins are added in case you are unable to visualize what this table would look like with three women seated around it.

In other parts of the palace, there were many artifacts that Anne and Mark stopped to view.  The treasury held huge diamonds, emeralds, the Topkapi dagger and a wide assortment of gold items, as well as silken robes and thrones belonging to Sultans centuries ago.  This was quite interesting, but no photos were allowed, so there are no photos here.  

Anne and Mark ran across a sundial which was (obviously) outside, so we can post a photo of it.

Sundial rendered useless by cloud cover (also, rendered obsolete by about a million easier and more convenient ways to determine the time - even at night!).

After visiting the treasury and the sun dial, Anne and Mark visited another building where photos were not allowed - but we really wish that they were.

In one room of this building was an imam who was reading passages from the Koran.  According to accepted tradition, someone had been in that room reciting from the Koran, non-stop, for the past 500 years.  Obviously, it was not the same guy the whole time, but even with tag-team shifts, this is quite an impressive feat.  As Anne and Mark walked through the exhibits, they wandered into the room where the imam was actually sitting (Anne and Mark had heard the recitation all day as it was piped through a public address system, but did not know that the guy speaking was actually on the premises and part of the tour).  Once in the room with the man, Anne and Mark stopped to figure out what was going on.  Why was this man on display?  Ok, read the sign... reading passages... 500 years ... non-stop.  Huh.  Very interesting.

No sooner had Anne and Mark digested this information than the imam's head tilted forward to rest on his hands.  He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.  He rotated his head from side to side to stretch his neck, replaced his glasses, and then rubbed the muscles in his cheeks and neck.  Anne and Mark turned to look at one another.  The entire time he was doing these things, they realized, he had stopped reciting.  Did this guy just break the 500 year streak at the exact moment that Anne and Mark entered his presence?  Uh Oh.  If this were the case, it would probably not be good news for Anne and Mark.  This has the makings of an international incident.

So, ever graceful under pressure, Anne and Mark reacted quickly to extricate themselves from the situation. Anne and Mark are proud to report that after making this realization about the sleepy/lazy reciter, they quickly darted into the next room.  Brave?  No.  Effective?  Yes.  Let's call that a win.

Having ducked into the next room mostly "for cover," Anne and Mark had low expectations for what they might find in it.  They were almost immediately blown away.  This room contained actual historical relics - really, really hard to find historical relics.  A footprint of the prophet Mohammed.  Very impressive.  A sword used by a companion of Mohammed.  Wow.  The staff used by Moses.

Wait - what was that last one?  The staff used by Moses?  Moses who?  Moses Malone?  No?  You mean THE Moses?  Moses as in Charlton Heston - that Moses?  And what staff are we talking about?  The staff used to split the Red Sea?  Yep.  According to the display, it was the actual staff used by Moses in "Operation: Put Egypt in the Rearview."  As mentioned earlier, no photos were allowed, but Anne and Mark can report that the staff was in remarkably good shape given its age.  Anne and Mark think that the wood finish on it probably helped it survive over time.

The palace was not all Harems and staffs of Moses -  it also had some areas that were less fun to visit.  Less fun not because there was something wrong with them, but more because of their names.  For example, the Courtyard of the Eunuchs.

Anne is standing in the Courtyard of the Eunuchs in the photo above.  Now, don't get us wrong, it is a lovely courtyard.  Mosaics on the ground, decorated windows on the apartments overlooking the courtyard, beautifully painted mosaics on the walls: all key ingredients for a very nice courtyard.  So, why not just call it "The Courtyard"?  Or, if necessary, "Courtyard #2" or whatever.  "Courtyard of the Eunuchs" just feels like.... feels like something important is missing.

So that's courtyards, but the bad naming was not limited to courtyards.  An example of a poorly named beautiful room is shown in the photo:

No thanks, I do not even want to know what the art work in this room looks like.

Anne and Mark assume it is a beautiful room.  Frankly, they saw the title and decided to cut this off of the tour.

All in all it was a beautiful palace and Anne and Mark had a great time visiting Topkapi.

Boozin' in Istanbul

Anne and Mark had never been to a predominantly Muslim country before their visit to Turkey, so there were a few new experiences.  The call to prayer was the most obvious and most difficult to miss.  But there were others, including some experiences that are unlikely to have occurred in a more secular country.  Two interesting experiences, both involving alcohol come to mind.

First, Anne and Mark were looking for an authentic, local place to eat.  Sometimes these types of places can be difficult to find because enterprising restauranteurs will make great efforts to make a place look authentic for the location, and then serve hamburgers and fries.  It is not clear why they do this, but Anne and Mark are determined to avoid it.  One rule of thumb to finding good, local fare at reasonable prices is to eat at places recommended by Rick Steves.  Rick Steves writes travel guides.  Anne is a big fan of Mr. Steves.  Mark, on the other hand, never trusts a person with two first names (even if one of them is disguised by making it into the plural form - yes, this includes you, Roy Rogers).  On this trip, Anne and Mark were basically flying blind, as they had not secured a Rick Steves guide to Istanbul prior to leaving home.  You can imagine their relief when this sign appeared on the sidewalk:

Although the soup of the day being "mixed salad" is a bit troubling, Anne and Mark decided to give this place a try.  Once inside, they saw some of the other Rick Steves disciples who had met up at this restaurant on this night.

This man is bald.

The food Anne and Mark ate at this place was phenomenal (as was pretty much everything they ate the entire trip - love them kabobs).  It also became apparent that the Rick Steves phenomena was not limited to Americans.  Anne and Mark noticed a decent sized Korean tour group at the restaurant, as well as a German couple who sat at the table next to where Anne and Mark were sitting.

After taking off their jackets, the Germans looked through the menu.  Then they looked through it again. And a third time.  When the waiter came to their table, they asked him where the drink menu was.  The waiter replied that the soft drinks and teas were listed on the back.  The Germans replied that they were looking for the DRINK menu, not the drink menu.  You know - to have some beers with dinner.  The waiter informed them that the restaurant was within 500 meters of a mosque, and therefore would not serve alcohol.  The Germans stared at the waiter as if his head had turned into a turnip.  No beer with dinner?  How do you eat it?  The waiter might as well have told them that there would be no food with dinner.  It would have been no more nor less sensical to this couple.  So.... they left.  Just put their jackets back on, asked where 500 meters from the mosque ended and headed in that direction.

Later that night, Anne and Mark were sitting in their hotel room and Mark was flipping through the channels.  First, he found the Turkish version of American's Got Talent.  A comedian was the first act.  He did well with the crowd, but Mark found his humor to be somewhat inaccessible (mainly because it was in Turkish).  Then there was a guy doing tricks on a bike.  Both the crowd and judges hated him.  Third, was a man singing Whitney Houston songs.  Poorly.  It wasn't just that he did not speak English and was singing the words phonetically ("I will ow-waze luv u, I-eh-I will ow-waze luv u" etc.), but he was terrible.  Did not sound at all like Whitney.  When that song was over, he started on some Lady Gaga.  The crowd loved it, but the judges did not and he did not move on to the next round.

Disappointed by the injustice of this result, Mark switched the channels until he found a movie.  Again, it was in Turkish and appeared to be a comedy/action/drama set in either the 1920s or 1960s.  The interesting thing about the movie from where we were sitting was how they treated the booze.

"I shall have a sip of this tasty drink"

When a character had a glass of a libation in his hand, there was no problem showing it.  They did digitize some of the bottles of alcohol, but not the glass in the character's hand.

But when the characters actually drank some of the booze...

...or will I????

Completely blocked out.  The drink in his hand, the bottle it came from, all of it.  Anne and Mark noticed that some of the characters got this treatment, but not all of them (maybe only the Turkish or Muslim characters could not be shown throwing one back?).

In any event, it was a sobering experience.

Ha.  Sobering.  I get it.

Anyway, just treatments of booze Anne and Mark found interesting....



Also, a view of the city:

How Bazaar

To round out January Anne and Mark took a trip to Istanbul, Turkey.  Istanbul is about 300 miles from Blago, and it is one of the cities Anne and Mark had intended to visit last semester.  Somehow work, circumstance, or the lure of another destination prevented Anne and Mark from making the trip in the fall of 2010.  However now, early in the spring semester, the workload is light and it is time to make the trip to Istanbul.

Seriously, Anne, it is right behind.  Seriously, look

Istanbul (formerly known as Byzantium - "Constantinople" if you're nasty) is a monster-sized city.  They claim it to be the fifth or sixth largest city in the world (depending on the method of counting people).  The city of Istanbul has more people than the entire nation of Bulgaria.  Long story short: it's a big mamma jamma.

Trolard Pilinski University represents in Turkey (t-shirt courtesy of Sara Meuller productions)

Anne and Mark flew into Istanbul and landed at an airport on the Asian side (Istanbul spans the Bosphorus Strait with part of the city considered to be Europe while the remainder is in Asia).  This was both Anne's and Mark's first time in Asia.  Once in Asia, Anne and Mark immediately began their efforts to return to Europe (their hotel was on the European side).  They took a bus across town and then a ferry across the Strait.  Mark would note that this was much more enjoyable than the boat rides he took sustained in Venice.  In Istanbul, Anne and Mark enjoyed a fresh-squeezed orange juice sold to them by a waiter on the ferry.  In Venice, a 150-year-old Italian Hobbit lady tried to head-butt and push Mark off of the boat.  It's no contest, folks, Istanbul boats dominate in the category of "Fewer Old Woman Assault and Battery Incidents."

As mentioned, Anne and Mark enjoyed a nice refreshing orange juice on the brief boat ride.  Anne and Mark paid two Turkish lira, but the guy probably would have sold it to them for 1 and a half if they had tried to negotiate.  That is because everything that is for sale in Istanbul is open for negotiation.  If you ask for a price in Istanbul, when you get in return is a first offer.  A "jumping off" point for negotiation.  Not the actual price that the salesperson expects you to pay, and certainly not the least he or she will accept.  Once Anne and Mark understood these basic ground rules, they headed for the Grand Bazaar to do some hagglin'.

The Grand Bazaar is a huge covered sales floor with thousands of vendors set up selling all sorts of merchandise.  It is kind of like the Mall of America, except no Camp Snoopy, no parking lot and fewer Starbucks.  Oh, and one other difference - aggressive sales people.  They do whatever they can to catch the attention of the passing shoppers.  More than once Mark was startled by the salespeople sneaking up on him from out of nowhere.  More than once both Anne and Mark foolishly responded to what sounded like banter, only to be drawn into a sales pitch (I believe this is the old-school sales equivalent of the "time-share" sales pitch strategy).

Anne and Mark realized that every product, every souvenir was sold by at least 10 or 20 vendors, so they decided to reward those that were not pushy and ignore the "in your face" methods.  Not to say that Anne and Mark did not appreciate the efforts of the salesmen.  One of the most memorable parts of the trip was a salesman seeing Anne and Mark walk by and yelling out "I love you."  Ok, that's funny.  But just as Anne and Mark slowed to see what he was talking about, he followed that up with "You are always in my heart."  Sorry buddy, you're trying too hard - now it just seems desperate.

But eventually Anne and Mark found an introverted vendor who had some souvenir t-shirts that were intriguing.  So Anne decided to give the haggling a try.

Anne reacts with shock (horror?) to the vendor's initial price suggestion.

The vendor's initial offer was way too high, Anne's counter offer was ridiculously low.  The dance of the banter was on.  35.  No, 10.  How about 30?  How about 11?  11 is too low, I make good price for you, how about 25?  I'll give you 15, but that's my final offer and if you don't take it, I'll go to the next guy and offer him the same deal.  Sold.  Point: Trolard Pillinski.

Mark also intended to try his hand at haggling, but ended up just walking up to the vender selling belly dancer outfits and asking if he would let Mark try them on before he bought.  No deal could be negotiated.

Not what I usually wear, but when in Rome, right?

After dominating haggle-fest 2011, Anne and Mark wandered back to their hotel.  While they were on their walk, the call for prayer was made at all of the mosques in the area.  This was a cacophony of sounds as this part of the city had a mosque every couple of blocks.  Some of these mosques are huge, with equally huge soundsystems.  All of the calls to prayer being blasted at the same time drowned one another out, and Anne and Mark would have been hard pressed to determine where any one of them was calling from.  In any event, after the prayer call, the streets emptied a bit and the return to the hotel was quick and easy.  Anne and Mark stopped only briefly to fight off vendors, smell the food and snap a few photos.

Cemeteries behind a mosque and adjacent to a major thoroughfare.