Working Abroad Away From Bulgaria? No, Just Talk Really

Would I rather be living in France, Spain, Greece, Cyprus (I’m half Cypriot) or more exotic lands such as Thailand, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, which I absolutely adore? The answer a few years ago was yes. Any one of these countries could have easily been my choice of becoming an expatriate, but the bottom line was they were all too expensive. Now of course I have found my niche, a new family life and work in Bulgaria.

Who is to say that Galia and I won’t still move on to new countries to work? We are both free and still relatively young enough to work for another ten or so years. The chances are that this won’t happen though as we are in the poverty trap. Just the cost of an aeroplane trip form Bulgaria to Cyprus, only two hours away, would cost a month’s wages.

We have often talked about whether we would like to work in another country and Spain was the country that was talked about the most. May Bulgarian work there for a few years and come back for a year or so to recover before going over again when the money runs out. We did exactly this in the UK two years ago, working for a few months then coming back with some funds to live off, but the whole experience was too stressful for us both. The UK is out of bounds due to health reasons.

Right now whether we like it or not we are in Bulgaria for life, it is lucky that we do like it although like most people we would like to have a bit more income to cover all the increased fuel bills during the winter months and perhaps enough to afford a week away on the Black Sea Coast (and be able to afford to eat in a restaurant there) in the summer. We are luckier than most as we both have a vocation here and we can afford food, many don’t and have to do with much less.

Part of living a Bulgarian life is to experience the poverty, which many Bulgarians have to endure. It remains that for many outsiders looking in that they will never be able to understand what it is like not to be able to afford basics. We have been in exactly the same position many times over the years and rely on support form other members of the family to help us out. We of course help others family members out if they are in need whenever we can. You cannot know what this is like unless you go through it at first hand.

The question is that if we did travel abroad to work we would probably miss our family and friends so much that it would be short lived anyway and of course not have jobs to come back to when we return. It may sound like we have itchy feet, but like most things here we just talk about it because that what everyone does here.

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Shake, Rattle And Roll In Bulgaria

Another spell away from the farmhouse and another earthquake that shock the place whilst we were away. This time there was structural damage made to one of my outbuildings. A whole wall had collapsed and the rood was in danger of falling in. I immediately set about putting in a metal support to keep the roof upright and that’s how is stands right now.

This is another reminder of what can happen if you have a holiday home here and leave it for the best part of a year. Bulgaria has earth tremors every day most not noticeable, but then there are regular occasions where more serious shakes hit and many repairs have to be made. If you look at many of the homes in Bulgaria most have cracks and gaps in they stonework or brick work that are moving shifting continuously. This for me was one of the major culture shocks when first moving here. Having a home with big cracks in the wall is normal for Bulgarians, but quite alien for me to live with.

Repairing the cracks and gaps are done regularly here, mainly by just filling them in with cement. This of course will move again and have to be done within the next couple of years. It is a round robin of cement filling that goes on in Bulgaria with different part of the home being filled in each year. Of course if you are not there to take this action you house is in danger of eventually becoming structurally flawed, even to the point of collapse with extended absences.

I know without me immediately putting up a support for the roof that was likely to follow the collapsed wall and I wouldn’t have and outbuilding for my livestock. I had already lost my outside toilet as a result of earthquakes earlier in the year.

Bulgarian Watermelons - Was It Worth It?

Was it worth it? The amount of time I spent watering those Bulgarian watermelons over the last few months is unqualified. Quite often and especially over the last few weeks, I’d cycle a 74 kilometres round trip just to water them and of course on the hottest days in Bulgaria, which is why they need watering more often anyway!

The time and effort was made with some people looking at what I’m doing feeling that only an Englishman would cycle in the midday summer sun just to water some melons. The question raised was why don’t you just buy them from the bazaar? Well the most obvious answer is quite simple, money! One melon weighing around 6 kilograms can cost 4 or 5 leva, that is sometimes a whole day's earning right now! To be quite honest water melons are a but of a luxury, even with a glut of them on the market stalls. Many people who know me here of course think I am loaded with money and living off a large pension from the UK. This added to their own reasoning make it even more difficult for them to understand why I bust a gut to grow my own.

There is also another reason why I take so much trouble with making sure my watermelons are water regularly. This is the first time I have ever grown them, I took on advice from my neighbours with the system used to grown them and of course, growing my own produce is my passion and one of the main reason for coming to Bulgaria. The aim is to produce food that is on par with the food my village neighbours grow, as they produce food that to me is the best in every aspect.

So the first water melon was cut last weekend weighing in at 8.5 kilograms. It was too heavy for my bicycle but it rolled into the Lada boot quite comfortably. We got it home but didn’t try it until today just as I got back on my bike this morning from another 74 kilometres trip to water the remaining watermelons. Baba had already cut the melon and the lush ruby red inside of the melon was making my mouth water before even getting a sniff. Well the moment was here, was the effort worth it, was the watermelon going to live up to he standards of my village neighbours? It was a nervous Martin about to try the fruit made from the reservoir of sweat from his brow over the last few months.

Well it more than lived up to expectation, I can honest say that this was one of the best watermelons I had eaten. Baba and the family all gathered and congratulated me on that raving success. “It’s better than you neighbours!” Galia said comparing, as we sampled some of their watermelon last weekend - That is after the flies had their say on the fruit.

Was it worth it? You bet!

New Laws On Gas Driven Vehicles In Bulgaria

There is a new law that has been brought out this week concerning car and the use of gas. Now any vehicle that is powered by gas cannot be filled up at a service station without showing the official sticker on the gas cylinder that proves that is has had an official service check made on it.

Owners have to attend an inspection that cost 20 leva (5 leva for the label and 15 leva for the document) in order to be legally able to buy and use gas. This is another EU dribble that has come in making life harder for the Bulgarians. Most Bulgarian drivers use gas because they can’t afford petrol and this will force more to give up their cars. This is not the point of the exercise.

I was told not to pay anything other than 20 leva when I went for the test. If I was asked for more then I should refuse. The trouble was the guy who was doing the test and documents was a typical weighlifting built ox of a man who I didn't want to argue with. So it was a relief that I was asked for 20 leva and no more. This was after his professional services of putting washing up liquid on the gas connections to check there were no leaks. I think the correct charge to me he made has a lot to do with me speaking Bulgarian, I was also in blue dungerees Bulgarian village clothing and had a Lada with me. The reason I was warned about being overcharged was that many other British expatriates have already been charged 50 leva or more and paid it without question many with monster 4x4 vehicles.

May I add that once a year vehicles go through a test for their roadworthiness anyway and get a sticker on the window screen to prove it. Why introduce another test when everthing is meant to be checked yearly anyway? Another money-making scheme to fill the pot form the EU. Another tax that has been introduced, what's next? I'll take a guess at tax on well water, more parking charges in towns and cities and fees for municiple rubbish to be taken away.

Another 20 leva a year to pay for a gas driven car in Bulgaria, to be quite honest I really could do without a car from the point of expense. A car is a luxury for me here and something I feel quite guilty about considering the lifestyle I have chosen to live here.

Bean Day On The Farm

Another day planned on the Yambol City farm, but it had been snowing overnight as I woke up to a white Yambol City and had doubts whether any grafting on the land would be done today. All I kept thinking about was my lettuce seedlings I have planted two days ago. All the Bulgarians had planted their under home made clotches, mine were exposed to the elements, had they survived the snow?

By lunchtime all the snow had disappeared, the sun was out and it was just like a summer day. So off I go with a plan for beans.

On arrival I checked the lettuce they were all in perfect order and now thriving in the rich dark chocolate coloured soil, this was a relieve - I had got away with it and previous thoughts of the first failure disappeared. The ground now was perfect for sowing, not too damp to work with as I hacked away at breaking up the soil ready for the laying of two sets of green beans. Within no time the first variety had been sown in five channels. This was done using the same techinique taught to me a couple of days with the potatoes which was to prepare a soft bedding and cover the seeds up making a grave like mound only this time on a smaller scale.

By the time the second variety of beans were sown the factory was closing for business as the workers began to set off home, I could have stayed longer, but didn't want too overdo it. Most of the workers there tell me to just spend 20 minutes a day there, 'Leka po leka' they'd say, which roughly translated means little by little. I know there is no rush and always start off really slowly, but of course I'm English and after a few minutes it's 100 mph again over a four hour session. It's not even April yet when the real work on the land really begins - I'ts a good job I'm fit otherwise this could be very bad for your health, even fatal.

There was another 10 minutes or so before the factory locked up so it was out with the radish seeds and sowing a 4 metre line parrallel to the lettuce already standing to attention after two days in their new home. The radish don't take up much space and won't affect the progress of the lettuce crop. Jobs were now completed for the day.

As I walked out through the factory gates onto the road where the Lada was parked, I could see the plot clearly. How lucky we are to have this to work on and get the rewards later in the year, the money our family will save on food will be quite substaintial during the coming year. There is also the additional produce from the village farmhouse that will stretch saving even further! Life just doesn't get better than this right now with 8 months of warm weather to look forward to as well.

Back home, Galia had prepared a simple meal of salad, fantastic bean soup as small glass of rakia and ice ridden ayran to wash it down. This is a life well worth waiting for.

Operation Belt Tightening

Galia is due to go in hospital this tomorrow (Thursday) for another operations to be performed by her cousin. She has been sweating it out for quite a few weeks after her first successful operation and remains in a state of tension knowing that for many weeks afterwards she will be in great pain on recovery.

It has been difficult for Galia as she has had this problem for many years now. I try and tell here that for the first time in over twenty years she will see a light at the end of the long and painful tunnel. Like many Bulgarians Galia thinks of now rather than the future and right now she has to go through the biggest hurdle. It is quite hard to get Bulgarians to think ahead. It is the same with shopping, they will just get enough for today as tomorrow they will go out and do the same, they never thing ahead for the weekend.

The most difficult thing to come to terms with is my perfect health put alongside. I find myself apologising that I have no medical or health problems and that I wish I could take the place of her being ill instead. Galia I don't think understands that as she doesn't say much in response as it something that none of us can do anything about so what's the point in talking about it. She just says that I am very lucky not to be ill. I look at it as not luck but education and common sense looking after yourself that contributes to being healthy.

Galia has also had dental treatment on her teeth a few months ago having three large molars extracted. She was due to have another dose of treatment to have these teeth replaced, but hasn't entertained the idea due to the cost. To put ithe cost in perspective, it equates to over a month of Galia's wages. We live on a day to day basis, no provision for savings and the only reason Galia is having this hospital operation is that it is being performed by family for free. Without a doctor/surgeon in the family, Galia would not have gone ahead with this due to the cost. We don't have a dental surgeon in the family. Even so, we count ourselves very lucky as things stand, thousands of other Bulgarians just carry on with their suffering in poverty without complaint.

Most Bulgarians just don't look upon their diet as anything else other than tasting good, and it does. The cholesterol and calorie counts are incidental. Unless Bulgarians actually participate in competition sports, there is hardly any that do aerobic fitness. The men concentrate on muscle building but that's not really aerobic exercise.

The fittest and most durable people in Bulgaria live on the smallholdings in the villages. These hardy people work manually day in day out and out of those village smallholders the fittest are the women who work harder than the men.

Back to Galia, she will be off work for two months, she has some sick pay due, but it will be much less than she would normally earn so we will have to tighten our belts even further for a while. We are also lucky that the weather should have warmed up over the next few weeks so the heating bills should be nominal right through to the autumn.

We all hope Galia gets through this okay, nothing is worse that being in pain and ill. There really is an end of this in sight now, but for now in the Bulgarian way, we will just take things on a day by day basis.

Bulgarians Ill in Winter

Everyone seems to be ill in Bulgaria during the winter, colds, flu, headaches, you name it they've all come down with something recently. This happens every winter here, I think I know why.

In the winter many just stay indoor unless it is essential that a trip has to be made. Going to work the buses are crowded with all the windows shut. In the work places, the air-conditioning circulates the germs in a air trapped environment. In the Post Offices, Banks and other utility payment places, the waiting in queues with virus filled people seems never ending. These queues are tightly packed, you will often get someone breathing down your neck wherever you queue here. It is no wonder that sickness is at its prime during the winter.

The amount of money spend on drugs is almost on par with the cost of food. I often wonder why there are so many chemists in Yambol, perhaps this is the reason, to cope with the demands that are set upon them in the winter months. Aspirin, paracetamol, throat lozenges, cough syrups, but none as popular than the rakia which is frequently being dipped into as a winter medicine. The 46 litres of 42% proof rakia that was made a few months ago is now down to 30 litres and counting. I dread to think how people cope without rakia. Certainly not making your own would add substantially to the chemists' profits and the increased poverty stricken communities here.

So why haven't I been ill every winter? I can't remember having anytime when I have had a virus, cold or flu since being here. Everyone else around me is dropping like ninepins and the Englishman seems to be immune from all the bugs that are going around. It's not as if I do anything different from anyone else apart from recently taking up jogging again. I'm indoors all day, I queue for hours and use the sardine buses and I also am subjected to air-conditioning environments all day. So why am I in perfect health each winter?

It's a mystery, I don't have an answer and neither do the coughing and spluttering people around me. Galia and Baba both have picked up colds over the last couple of days, Ivo is expected to fall with it any day now and there's me off jogging for an hour. I feel quite guilty about my good health, but then not going jogging wouldn't help matters either.

Spring is only a few weeks away now, the 1st March should just about have seen us through this Bulgarian winter and the illnesses that go with it. March 1st of course is another big day, it's another Imen Den (Name Day), the biggest name day of the year. Have you guessed what it is yet?

Weather in Bulgaria

Since coming to Bulgaria in 2005 the weather here has been a series of extremes - why is this happening?

The winter of 2005/2006 saw temperatures dip to minus 24 C something not seen for 40 years in Bulgaria breaking records along the way. Snow fall was here as expected but Bulgaria didn't stop working, just a few more bits of clothing put on with the wood-burners still not having to work to their limit as they are so effective in radiating heat.

Although water was frozen for much of the time, not just outside but inside, there was never a danger of being without water as the clean Bulgaria snow could be melted and used in place of piped and high level well water. In fact in Skalitsa no well water froze up as it lays 23 metres below ground level, even at minus 24 C the system pumped out bullets of ice that have formed in the higher level standing water in the pipes.

The following summer was normal by Bulgarian standards and although there was extended periods without rain the growing season was fantastic and everything thrived in the sub-med conditions waving around 30-35 C for most of the year. In fact from April to November the only real change in temperatures were in the evening when the sun went down ranging from chilly to cold.

The there was last winter, the mildest anyone can remember in Bulgaria, perhaps a couple of days of snow but just a sprinkle this time. Below freezing temperatures throughout this season was quite rare and even then, at best it only dropped to around minus 8 degrees. Of course the winter resorts being high up will alway get the perfect conditions for snow but on the Thracian plain just above seas level something just didn't feel right about the whole weather system.

You just know that a mild winter leads to all sorts of problems in the following summer, not least an invasion of pests and bugs that should have been killed off by the cold. And so it was, but that's another blog subject but you might be interested to read: Indoor Cricket in Bulgaria

So this year and summer where again record breaking temperatures reaching 48 C were not only reached but sustained over a few days in June. Without any real rainfall before this has now caused a total crop failure but not purely from the lack of rain but from the crops not being able to survive the intense heat from what the Bulgarians called African weather.

We are now just over midway through summer right now and temperatures continue to raise concern and today at the end of August 38 C was recorded.

Bulgaria like many other countries worldwide is experiencing extremes of weather but life in Bulgaria will adapt to whatever is thrown at it, it is that kind of country. They will deal with the crop failures and inevitable rise in prices of food from it. They will deal in in other ways with the lack of preserved food for the winter being the most resourceful people I have ever known.

Weather in Bulgaria happens and when in extremes there is no other place I know that I would rather be with the people who know how to deal with crisis situations. The Bulgarians have a history of dealing with these situations after all.

One last point - A friend of mine who was on duty in Iraq with the Bulgarian Army had to endure 67 C during the day and below freezing conditions during the night - I may add that is normal for Iraq! Now thats something to put into perspective.

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