Class Dismissed

The fall semester is now complete.  Anne and Mark have done their best to educate the youth done enough damage, as evidenced by this entry from a business law student:

Wow, this guy knows Joe?

He deserved to be hit in the face?  Partial credit.

But living in a far-off foreign land can wear on a person.  At a end of semester party, Anne and Mark noticed evidence that at least one faculty member was "burning it at both ends" - or at least burning it at the wrong end.

Filters - Now totally flammable!

So, Anne and Mark will be making the trip back across the pond tomorrow.  Well, they will try anyway. Not sure how widespread the news it, but apparently, Europe is snowed under: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/20/europe.winter.weather/index.html?hpt=T1.

"Apparently" is used because one would never know this calamity is happening if one were looking out the window in Bulgaria.

Man Panty Calamity

There may be other calamities.  But the weather here is fantastic.  It was at or near 50 degrees today, on Dec. 20.  Can't beat that.  So, as long as this weather follows Anne and Mark to Munich and on to Chicago (O'Hare, anyway - frankly, we don't care what the weather is at Midway), Anne and Mark should be back in the states Tuesday evening.

But, it appears that Anne's and Mark's work in Bulgaria is not complete (despite what you may have concluded based on "Partial Credit" above).  It feels like the basics have been set down, but there are still a few things to sort out.

Sports equipment fail

Skol Vikings (outside?)
Merry Christmas, everyone else.

See you over there - or back here - next semester.

Lingering Questions...

As Anne and Mark complete the last few days of their first semester in Bulgaria, they find it difficult to resist reflecting on all of the things they have learned.  Bulgarian movie theatres = not bad.  Bulgarian "Shot Food" hamburgers = not good.  Stuff like that.  But it seems that they have reached the point where each new answer or realization leads to several more questions, each more difficult to solve than the one before it.  For example, Anne and Mark were able to figure out why the pizza sauce and pasta sauce tasted remarkably similar:

Also known as: ketchup

They were just never able to figure out why someone would want to do that.

They also figured out that children here are physically fit, but Anne and Mark found it difficult to believe they would really travel at 30 kph.

There are 30 kids in this neighborhood?

Out of respect for the Metrodome (and snownami Mother Maturi, for those of you who listen to sports talk radio in Minneapolis), we have refrained from discussing the weather in the last couple of weeks.  Blago did, finally, enter into its version of winter.  But the snow is somehow different, and Anne and Mark had quite the difficult time putting their finger on exactly what the difference was.

"Localized" snow flurries?

In Minnesota and Iowa (if Anne and Mark recall correctly), the snow fell from the sky and landed on everything below, more or less, equally.  The first snowfall in Blagoevgrad, for some reason, landed on this car.  None of the other cars had snow on them.  The sidewalks were clear.  How does this happen?

But natural phenomena can probably be explained by our scientist and wanna-be scientist friends (everyone's looking at you Luehy), but questions of strategy might defy even them.  For example, I think we all know that the McDonald's Corporation is an official sponsor of the United States olympic teams (nothing says olympic athlete better than a BigMac and fries, right?).  So, if they were really in the business of supporting the U.S. team, it would stand to reason that they would not support the opponents of the U.S. team, right?  (the enemy of my enemy is my customer?)  But, apparently, McD's is spreading the love.

McHappy Day indeed.

It's all fun and games until Bulgaria beats out the Red White & Blue in the bronze metal table tennis match in London 2012, right?  (it could happen)

Now that we're rolling, a few more questions.  What are the odds that 9 paying customers show up on this road looking for a cab?

Not terribly high, apparently.  And speaking of odds, what are the chances that Bruce Willis knows that he is advertising Sobieski Vodka in Bulgaria?

I'm selling what?  Where?

... and what are the chances that the people who see this ad here knows what a 'Bruce Willis' is?

And finally, Anne and Mark have learned that they will be airborne over the Atlantic Ocean on December 21.  They plan to arrive in Chicago, refreshed from their trans-Atlantic voyage free from any travel-related stress or hassle.  


From there, they will travel to Dubuque, then La Crescent, Winona, back to Dubuque, then probably back to La Crescent, probably Minneapolis, back to Dubuque and then to Chicago for the return trip to Blago.  If you are in those cities in the next few weeks (or on the highways between those cities), let them know and maybe you can track them down to answer some of the questions posed in these posts.

Christmas in Blago

The city of Blagoevgrad has started gearing up for Christmas.  Many of the traditions are similar to the ones we might see in the U.S.  For example:

It looks like the tree at the end of the Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon.

Christmas trees are decorated here, in virtually the same way they would be in the U.S.  And while there is no Rockefeller Center in Blago, they do have a city square, so we might as well put a big tree in it, right?

The commercialism is not nearly to the level you might see in the U.S., but there is a seasonal uptick in sales.  The city evens constructs a row of temporary kiosks near the main square where food vendors and sales people can peddle their wares.  It's kind of like a midway in a winter fair (and yes, it still counts as winter even though there is no snow).

Shoppers rush home with their treasures?

One problem that arises after the gifts are purchased is how the gift-giver is going to hide them from the recipient until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Many of the apartments here are not large, so there is not a great deal of private storage space.  Anne and Mark found one apartment dwelling with an interesting solution to this problem:

Third balcony from the top

Christmas "bubble" on the balcony - genius!

In some respects, Blago may be even more into Christmas than other cities Anne and Mark have visited. For example, in how many cities have you actually seen a one-horse open sleigh?

Strangely, it does not look like "Oh what fun"

International Phenomena

Sometime in the early hours of last evening, the New Bulgarians blog became an official international on-line phenomenon.  The blog received its 2000th hit from the United States.  As shown below, the blog has also received hits from six other countries.

It was a close race, but Canada has beaten out Australia in page views.  Congrats, eh.  We are also proud to have a few hits from our Spanglish-speaking friends in Argentina.

Thanks for logging on to check on our adventures.

Local Flavor

Today was a big day at the Trolard Pillinski residence.  Anne and Mark's major accomplishment was taking a cab trip to the Metro supermarket to stock up on provisions for the rest of the semester.  While Mark and Anne will only be here for another 3 weeks or so before returning to the U.S. for a three week binge on tasty food, reality television (or any television in English) and showers equipped with shower curtain technology, they still needed to stock up on provisions here in the land of the Bulg.  One sorely needed provision was slippers for Mark.  The Trolard Pillinski apartment has hardwood floors throughout, so walking around in bare feet gets a little old.  Mark's shoe size is fairly unremarkable for an American (10.5 - 11.5 depending on the brand of shoe - handy tip for those of you still looking for gift ideas), but there is basically nothing in that size here.  It appears that generations of communist rule has resulted in the shrinking of the shoe size around here.  However, in a great stroke of luck, Anne and Mark were able to find one pair of slippers at Metro that would fit.  Hurrah!  And, for those of you who are curious, what brand of footwear fit the bill?  Why, "American Basket" of course.

Baller, shot caller

One by-product of a trip to the supermarket is the opportunity to look through the shelves at home and see what is still sitting on them.  Today Anne and Mark noticed that they had not yet opened their jar of Rose Petal Jam.

Ok, why not?

Bulgaria does not have a large number of developed industries, like most western countries.  While they were hanging out with the Warsaw Pact, they didn't really develop any cash crops or core competencies. Whatever they needed, they got from Russia or wherever, rather than making it at home.  It sounds like it was a really rough time.  For example, the paint factories in Russia would only make one color at a time. And they would make it for a year or so.  Then they would ship it out to everyone.   So, if you go to an apartment, you can not tell whether the people who live there have any sense about decorating because they did not choose what color to paint their house, but you can definitely tell what year they painted it, just by what color it is.  Anne and Mark, for example, have determined that their living room was painted in 1978 (orange) and their kitchen in 1982 (pea green).

Anyway.  So there are no big industries, but Bulgaria is a good place for producing a few things.  Well, two things.  Wine and roses.  (I know, it would have been cooler if they made guns instead of wine)  The wine here is ok, but supposedly is getting much better (the climate is good for growing, but they are do not have the expertise - apparently there is an effort to import wine experts from France, Italy, wherever to make the vino mas bueno).  The rose production, on the other hand, is a highly developed industry.  They grow a ton of them and make all kinds of related products, rose perfumes, rose extracts, rose... arees?

And, of course, rose jam.  While visiting Plovdiv, Anne and Mark bought a small jar of rose jam from a guy at a kiosk.  Anne asked the merchant how best to eat the jam.  (Keep in mind, if there was no industry here for 50 years, there certainly was no marketing, so the sales pitches can be a bit... rough)  The guy responds that if you eat a little on a piece of bread - is ok, no problem.  If you eat a lot, then 1 hour, then toilet.  If anybody reading this is in sales, feel free to go ahead and use this technique to increase your sales volumes.  Consider it a gift to you from Bulgaria.     You're welcome.

Despite the man's efforts to sell the product, Anne and Mark bought some anyway.  Today was the day to try it.  First, we got a freshly-baked loaf of bread from the market downstairs (if it's not warm from the bakery, just chalk it up as being stale).

Then we spread the new jam on the bread.  Then, the cat jumped up on the counter and gave it a try.  Anne and Mark are not normally in favor of testing jams on animals, but .... he's going to eat it anyway, so, you know - never look a gift cat in the mouth.

Canary in the coal mine

The cat ate some and seemed ok.  That's good enough for Anne and Mark (that and monitoring the cat's respiration and pulse for 45 minutes, just in case).

They're not going to come all the way to Bulgaria and then NOT try the rose petal jam.

The Trozone - watch your fingers while he's eating, kids.

Anne and Mark are happy to report that the jam, with a touch of what we think is margarine or something similar, is pretty tasty.  There are actual, visible rose petals in the jam, which is a little weird.  The taste is difficult to describe, but the closest we could up with is kind of like a sweetened rhubarb.

And, to wrap up the post, a picture of a car partially parking on the sidewalk.  These pictures may be getting tiresome, but that will not stop Trolard Pillinski from posting them here.  This one is somewhat interesting, though.  While living in Minneapolis, Madison or Washington, Mark sometimes wondered why people who drive around in the city all the time would need to have a vehicle that was designed for off-road purposes.  Well, this vehicle representing the Offroad Sandanski Team, parked on the street and sidewalk (and, technically, on both sides of a street corner - which is both impressive and wildly unnecessary) answers that question now and forever. Why do I need an off-road vehicle in the city?  So I can park half-way on the sidewalk.

Cultural Differences #2

In one or more earlier posts, Anne and Mark might have mentioned something about a significant cultural difference involving the manner in which people drive and park here (i.e. "on the sidewalk" for both) compared to the way people drive and park in the U.S. (on the sidewalk less often).  Since then Anne and Mark have noticed a few other differences that may be worth pointing out.  First, home appliances.

One of the things we noticed right away was that the clothes washer was not placed in a laundry room, but in the kitchen.

This is a photo of the kitchen in our apartment.  You may notice an oven, range, coffee maker, a couple of sinks and a toaster.... and a washing machine.  We're not totally sure about why it's in the kitchen, but we think it has something to do with the way the plumbing was put in when the buildings were designed.  One thing that is not in the photo above in a dishwasher.  The photo below gives you a good idea of what a Bulgarian dishwasher looks like.

This is the old, communist dishwasher model - not much to look at and it rarely gets the job done.

Speaking of plumbing, you can't help but notice the difference in the bathrooms here.

So it's not a big bathroom, but that's the whole thing.  You got your toilet on the left, your sink on the right, the shower head directly in front of you and ... the drain in the middle of the floor.  Yes, behold the horror that is showing without an actual... shower.  There is no shower curtain and no tub.  To take a shower, you put the little cover on the TP (seriously) and then stand in the middle of that little room and lather up.  It's a little weird at first, but you get used to it (so they tell us - Mark is still having trouble getting down low enough to get under that shower head).

Oh, so the washing machine has already been discussed.  But what do we do when the clothes are washed, but still wet?  Believe it or not, we have two options for drying them.

You may disagree, but I think it looks like an early prototype of R2-D2.

The top photo shows what the Bulgarians call a "drying rack" (what a crazy language, huh?).  This is the preferred instrument for drying clothes in the spring and summer.  However, when winter begins, you really can't use it outside.  Not because it gets too cold and the clothes would freeze (it's November 29 and I think we got over 60 degrees today), but because regardless of temperature, the Bulgarians start their furnaces in November.  And we're not talking gas or electric furnaces, we're talking old school furnaces.  Some burn wood, but some burn coal - and not that crazy "clean coal" either.  We're talking old fashioned dirty coal.  You can't leave the clothes outside because the stink and the soot would coat them.  The solution (if you can call it that) for most people, is to put the drying rack in the bathroom when it is not otherwise occupied (then the water from the clothes can drain into the drain conveniently located in the middle of the floor).  The second photo is a clothes dryer.  We are told that most people here do not have one.  In the photo above, you may notice a drawer extending from the dryer.  That is the water collection.  This machine does not drain (not close enough to the bathroom, maybe?).  Instead, it collects the water from the clothes and somehow places it into the reservoir near the top of the machine.  Maybe one of you scientists can explain how the water gets to the top of the machine.  In any event, before using, Anne and Mark must empty the drawer of water.

The other huge difference in home appliances is in the way heating and A/C are provided.  Totally wall units, baby.  Every room has one.  They look like this:

When you turn on this bad boy, it opens and spews air at you.  We are not sure how powerful it is, but we have our doubts.  The one in the bedroom is placed there for purposes either purely decorative or related to the placebo effect.

Anne and Mark have picked up on some other cultural differences outside of the area of home furnishings, as well.  This is a photo of the air freshening system of a bus traveling from Blago to Sofia.

As you can see, the roof of the bus has five or six of those little air freshener trees that you can buy and hang from your rearview mirror.  Quick question - do you know how many of those little trees it takes to freshen the air of a bus traveling from Blago to Sofia?  I don't know either, but I would have a fair amount of confidence in starting my guessing with at least 7 or 8.

And, just because we can, here is another picture of a parking attempt in Blagoevgrad.  We have entitled this one "Livin on the Edge."  (the title applies to the attempt itself, not to the photos per se, which are too awesome to have names)

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all of our American friends, Happy Turkey Day!  Funny story - do you know what they call Thanksgiving in Bulgaria?  Thursday.

Yes, it is true, Anne and Mark will be going to work today.  But fear not, as they will be meeting up with other ex-pats and having a fairly traditional Thanksgiving dinner around 6:30 local time.  Which means, of course, that Anne and Mark must think of some things for which they are thankful.  The obvious ones - family, health, etc. - of course, but more specifically, Anne and Mark are thankful for...

Views in Blago.

We spend a lot of time posting about places we visit, but there are some cool things to see right here in town.  One of the photos above in of the statue in the town square.  That guy in the statue is... well, to be totally honest, we have no idea.  The second photo is ... some type of homage to the Bulgarian Blair Witch Project?   But we like the fog in the trees and the mountains.

We are also thankful for...

Grocery stores that pre-package beers with sandwiches.  You might not believe it, but this truly saves precious seconds.  Not having to walk all the way to the next aisle to grab a beer is an efficiency found here that can hardly be overstated.  Also, there is no drinking age here, so kids on their lunch break from school can run into the store and grab a "lunch to go" and still make it back to class on time (this might explain some of the "class participation" in Mark's afternoon classes).

We are also thankful for local products (poorly) marketed in English.  Just because it makes sense and sells well as that word in your language, does not mean it's going to work in English.  Case in point is this product found in a local pharmacy:

I don't care how sick I may be, I am not taking "Urinal Drink"

We are thankful for all of the work the local merchants put into mannequins.  Anne and Mark have not purchased a great deal of clothing since they have arrived in Blago.  Every time they start to look for a shirt or jeans, they suddenly feel a strong urge to leave (actually to run out of the store screaming).  At first, it was a mystery, but now...

we think we have the issue pinpointed.  If Mark buys one of these coats, is his hair going to change into this?  How do they do that by the way?  Is it all just connected on top and then combed straight down?  And what's wrong with just using a wig?  Is the shag carpeting hair that much cheaper?

Why so serious?

Also - Ahh!  What the...?

So, maybe we're not actually thankful for the mannequins.

But we are thankful for little reminders of home.  Sometimes it's hot corn flavored Doritos.  Sometimes it's nasty McDonald's double cheeseburgers.  Sometimes it's a sweet, sweet mullet:

Business in the front, party in the back.

In any case, it's nice to be reminded of home, and that's what we're thankful for today.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!