This post might seem as a simple story but actually if you dig deeper into it you’ll get a very good picture of how things are going in Bulgaria. This Saturday was somewhat fun, somewhat a nightmare, somewhat an adventure, somewhat a lesson.
As I have published before currently I’m staying at my Mom’s (it’s cheaper and it’s better than being alone and we’ve got an air conditioner here as well). So Mom and I decided to spend the day outside having some girl fun. As we approached the car (a cute green Peugeot 307) Mom found out that the side mirror (including its mechanism) had been stolen (a perfectly plain side mirror, nothing fancy). This was quite a nasty surprise since the thievery of car parts has been an uncommon practice for some time. It used to be pretty common back in the 1990s – a time of great economic downfall for Bulgaria. I believe that the number of small thefts is a pretty good means of measuring the economic crisis. People start stealing small stuff when they are truly desperate. After all a new Peugeot side mirror is worth around $17 in the retail shop – I don’t think whoever stole it would get more than $5-10 at the pawnshop.
So Mom and me got into a discussion. I’m kind of worried where things are headed. Surely Sofia has never been a safe place. You’re always supposed to lock your door, keep your hand bag as close as possible and walk your child to and back from school. But this is ridiculous. I remember barricading our front door in the past, are we supposed to get back to that?
Later on we finally reached City Center Sofia (one of the two local malls) where we spent some time at the perfume shop. Dior’s Allure and Miss Dior are gorgeous but I don’t get why the world is so mad about Chanel No5. So after a snack, two chick lit books from the bookstore and more than two hours of walking around we went back to the underground parking. And that’s where our new adventure began. The machine that was supposed to tax us took our money, didn’t give us change and didn’t verify our parking ticket. While we were staring at the machine in dismay, an angry mob was forming behind us. Men and women of all ages were piling up ready to attack us with their forks and torches. Yep, I felt as if I was part of some stand up comedian joke.
Anyway, accroding to the guidelines on the machine we were supposed to go to the information booth. The girls there (quite impolitely) told us to turn to the guards. The guards were puzzled. People kept piling up at the machine which by that moment was accepting coins only. I told some woman that the thing isn’t accepting any bills. She looked down on me with some cocktail stare of anger and disgust. A few seconds later the machine didn’t accept her bill to her surprise.
I wonder what’s going on with people here in Bulgaria. We’re seldom smiling, we’re always angry at the world, ever unhappy, grumpy and not willing to do anything about it. We’re always trying to make others step on the banana peel, we’re always looking for the easy profit, never quite willing to work for an income. It’s not the crisis – it’s some constant state of mind I guess. I’m not happy with it so I’m doing my best to smile more often and be positive about stuff. Depression hasn’t helped anyone. As I’m in constant need of change I’m also trying to make stuff around me evolve to the better level. And I do want to step up for my rights. That’s why instead of listening to my Mom and letting the damned 5 levs bill go (around $3) I decided to stay there and wait for the service people, wait for our money and wait for our damned parking lot ticket to get verified.
Half an hour later some service guy showed up just to tell us to wait. He was unpolite as well, unwilling to tell us anything and pretty damn sure that we’re good to go. So a few minutes later another service guy came to the rescue. It proved that our bill had got stuck up in the machine thus causing all the fuss. All is well when it ends well. This all got me into some serious thinking.
Where is this country going? Things don’t seem to be getting any better and frankly I’m constantly getting disappointed.
August 2, 2009 at 01:11
Hey Iva,
First time reader but I do love the style:) Just wanted to say that I am in the same cesspool as you are right now and that i see this constantly. To use a small example I was with some friends at Toba&co today and we asked for a table outside. There was a sort of a host taking care of these things but obviously he completely ignored our plea and we were forced to stay inside. After about a couple of hours and many nasty stares on my side, he did offer to sit us outside to which we simply replied that it was too late….
However there is some hope: Yesterday a bunch of friends were sitting outside the national theatre drinking beers and talking when we heard a great jam session. Two congo drums, a clarinet and even a “kaval” (don’t know how it’s translated and never learned) were playing together. It was truly beautiful to be there, under the open skies with free music and smiling young people just doing what they love to do! When the clarinet guy sat next to us it turned out that he was actually from Melbourne, Australia and he spoke clear Bulgarian after only a year here! He was obviously in love with Sofia and everything Bulgarian and was a true inspiration, people treated him extremely well and there was always someone talking to him and taking care of him (our famous hospitality at it’s best indeed).
So to end on a high note – we are quite bad at machines, services, etc. but this new generation that is yet to sip through the ranks might just make it worth while for us all!
August 2, 2009 at 01:27
Hi there Martin, glad to have you reading this stuff
. Actually, I wasn’t sure whether I should publish this since there’s some seriously negative stuff. But since this is a pretty good example of what’s happening, I decided to let it blow out.
Yep, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. (And we all hope that it’s not coming from the speeding train.) And there are times and situations – like the one you’ve described – when things seem even better.
Times like these keep our optimism alive. Period. Meanwhile we can handle the negative grumpy people, can’t we?
August 2, 2009 at 10:56
I should think so Iva! They are many and fearless, some of them are downright Kamikaze (don’t know if you drive here but if you do you’ll know what I mean:) but we can manage it and change the mindset, one day at a time, with a smile on our face!
Keep up the great blog and have a kick-ass Sunday:)))
August 2, 2009 at 16:32
I have a driving license but… well, I don’t drive
. These guys are no Kamikaze – they are plain old Taliban terrorists.
Keep smiling