Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Bye, Bye, Bulgaria

I always have mixed feelings going to Bulgaria. On the one hand, I love it. I miss the people, food, culture, language, etc. I loved my mission despite the difficulties that I had. I have family there that make me laugh. I have a heritage that I love learning about. However, I'm spoiled now. I like clean showers, toilets that can handle toilet paper, ice, air conditioning, washing machines, etc. And I like families members who don't drive me absolutely batty.

Let's start with a typical day in the life of the older Bulgarians.



Yep, those are goats coming home at night. Although the laws have changed, the ways of the people are slower to change. It is now illegal to have animals in the city limits (other than typical pets). Many people still rely on gardens and orchards and farm animals. My uncle has chickens, pig, sheep and goats to supplement their food supply. Each family takes turns taking the sheep/goats to the pasture to feed for the day. When they come home the animals know their own home. They automatically go to their pen.



Here is my uncle's neighbor. He has several beehives that he keeps and found this hive in his neighbor's tree. So, he's cutting down the branch to take home to add to his hives. He can then store honey and honeycomb and sell it.



This is a typical scene. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the man in a horse drawn cart talking on his cell phone. Technology has hit, but only so far.




















Wanna see the bathroom that has given me nightmares? This is at my uncle's house. This bathroom is not accessible from the rest of the house. You have the shower, then the toilet area, then the pigpen, then the sheep/goat pen. The toilet area shares the wall with the pigs. See the red bucket? That holds water that you use to flush the toilet. But due to the system, the toilet never really flushes completely--there are always "floaties" left.

You can see a green trashcan next to the toilet. The sewer system in Bulgaria cannot accommodate anything other than human waste. So, trashcans are next to all the toilets to dispose of the toilet paper after you are done with it. Needless to say, due to the proximity of the animals and this waste filled can, there are tons of flies and other bugs. The shower is difficult to see, but there is mold on the floor. In order to take a shower, I have to wear shoes. I only took one shower this last time. I couldn't handle it. I would wash my hair and face in the outside sink which didn't have hot water.



Here's the bathroom at Bogdon's house. This is in his home and is so much nicer. I actually looked forward to staying there and showering. Let me explain what you're looking at. The whole bathroom is the shower. I'm standing in the doorway and there are two small steps to go down into the bathroom. Immediately under the bottom step is the showerhead--you can barely see the pipes for it at the top of the picture. You could wash your feet while sitting on the toilet. Or shave at the mirror while rinsing your hair. Actually, I kinda like this (ok, maybe have the toilet in a separate room)--no shower walls to be confined or need to clean.

Let's step out of the bathroom now.



I don't know who this woman is...I saw her walking while I was in Drabishna (which means she's probably related to me somehow). So many of the older people are bent over like this (some even worse). After picking so many green beans at my dad's garden this past weekend, I believe it's due to the hard work they do in their gardens. Seriously. You see them in their homes or out in the fields, bent over for hours on end. My back hurt from an hour of picking green beans...I can't imagine being like that for a full day.















I saw this truck one day while walking back from the store. Doesn't it look like it's straight out of Schlinder's List or maybe Raiders of the Lost Ark? Then you have Francis there blocking traffic--ok, no traffic now, but there could be.
















Notice this garbage truck? Notice the make? Yeah, it's a Mercedes. We get Mack trucks here and Bulgaria uses Mercedes for trash trucks. Crazy! But, check out the sign for this place. They speak English about as well as I speak Bulgarian.




Did I tell you that I fear Bulgarian police? No, I'm serious. When I was on my mission, the missionaries were persecuted by a lot of people, including the police. If a policeman saw us, he would make a point to harrass us. We had 2 officers come to our door once and try to get in to take us to jail. And one "officer" (he wasn't wearing a uniform and he refused to show us a badge when asked) threatened to take my passport or take me to jail. So, yeah, I'm a little nervous around Bulgarian police.

The day we left Ivailovgrad to spend our final week at the Black Sea, my cousin, Tanyou, came to say goodbye before he went to work.


Here he's hauling in my brother. My brother said this position brought flashbacks....hee, hee. While on our way to Kornobat (we stayed with my cousin Ivanka and her husband Ivan--see? common name), Tanyou and his partner passed us in their car. They had arrested someone and were taking that person to jail.



And finally, here's a bit of the Black Sea. We stayed near the coast in the town of Nessebar. My cousin, Ivan, (there's that name again) got us a hotel room for a couple of nights. It was actually a nice hotel room. We spent one day touring the Old City as it's called. My picture on my blog is taken at the Old City.

Here's a video of the Black Sea. It's called the Black Sea because when the clouds hit it, the shadows are very dark or black.

I have to let you know that I took this video with my photo camera--it was new to me and I had a doozie of a time figuring out how to do the video. Then, I forget I'm actually TAKING video, so that explains my mad narration skillz. And finally, I'm going on record to say I really don't like the sound of my speaking voice (does anyone?). I don't sound like that in my head.






4 comments:

Mary Ann said...

Those are cool pictures! What a wonderful time you must have had! I don't mind telling you though, that bathroom was kind of scary...

Tricia said...

I loved reading about Bulgaria and your family! This is a part of the world that I would love to visit, although I may be too spoiled to really enjoy it! wow! How did you live there for 18 months? I ask myself the same thing about Spain. Do you think you'll every go back without your dad?

Beefche said...

Living as a missionary gives one abilities I thought I'd never have. I like to think that I would go back without Dad, but honestly I don't know.

Dionne said...

This is one of the coolest posts I have ever read. You are a blogging master, and I wish to sit at your feet and learn more of your ways. :)