Another Accidental Offensive Bulgarian Misunderstanding

NOTE:

Before you read this I must point out that there is the use of a rude word, so if you feel you would be offended please stop here. (Done in all innocence I might add.)

Sometimes people say things here that shock you and in many cases I put down to maybe not understanding the gravity and intensity of the language. I must admit it also works the other way around and I say things that shock Bulgarians as sometimes I take a Bulgarian word literally and use it in completely the wrong context. This week is was the turn of Galia's Son Anton who came to visit us. Which was a prime example of  misunderstandings that in this case caused some stress on both sides of the contextual language barrier. Let me explain....

Now my favourite football team is Arsenal, I have been following them for over 50 years through good and bad times. Anton knows this full well and we often argue the case of who is best - his favourite English team Liverpool or my Arsenal. Well this evening it was a semi-final League Cup match between Arsenal and Chelsea which I planned to watch live on TV that evening. By the way, the Cup is not called the League Cup but is known by a sponsor's name, but I refer to the original Cup's name as a little protest in retaliation to business over tradition.

The subject of football inevitably came up with the match this evening and Anton went on to say it going to be a 'Fuck Up for Arsenal!' This shocked me for a few reasons. Having known Anton for over 11 years there has never been an occasion where this kind of language was used. On top of this he cannot speak hardly any English. I straight away said this is very bad language to use. I went on to explain why, he obviously didn't realise how bad that those words were that made me feel very uncomfortable. He replied saying there is nothing wrong in what he said again, 'Tonight is Fuck Up for Arsenal! What's wrong with that?' 

We begged to differ for a few hours on the phrase until the match was just about to begin. Anton them said again, 'Look Fuck Up for Arsenal soon!' This time I was quite angry and basically told him I didn't want to hear this again. The fact that I had a feeling Arsenal were going to win tonight fell into deep insignificance as a argument with Anton this evening after this. Anton too was getting irate with my complaints and stance on his words, he just couldn't for the life of him understand why I was so mad.

The match prelude had begun as we both eyed up the team announcements. Art this point there was shown the list of players on screen under the title of the Cup. Anton chose this moment to point to the word Cup printed on the screen and said, 'Fuck Up!' The penny suddenly dropped in my head and I thought this was very funny and bust out laughing. Anton just didn't know what was going on Have you guessed the misunderstandings as this point?

Quite clearly Anton in all his innocence had misunderstood which Cup match was being played tonight, He thought it was the F.A. Cup not the League Cup (as explained earlier). The biggest misunderstanding however was his version of the Cup. to Anton the F.A.Cup was one word namely, 'Facup'. Phonically it sounded exactly the same as 'Fuck Up!'

Mistified why I was in tears laughing, Anton took some convincing that the F. A. Cup was not one word but three, (Football Association Cup). Also I explained the fact that is wasn't the F. A. Cup we were playing for tonight but another cup, which to me made it even funnier. When he finally did understand my explanations, he didn't think it was funny at all! Guess his Bulgarian mindset on this particular event which I thought would have been a universal accepted humoured tainted event just didn't turn on.

My guess now is that when we do mention the F. A. Cup, he will continue to use his one word version, not because he thinks it is funny, probably because still he thinks he is right!

Arsenal did win that evening and are now in the Final of the League Cup, but I will certainly look back on this match and clearly remember it for other reasons.

A New Idea For Catching Bulgarian Rats

Bulgarian rats are like all other rats around the world, a pest and unwanted guests in many homes. There are many alternative to getting rid of them, too man to mention in fact, but yesterday another method was learnt as we still has to contend with the elusive rat in the garage that continues to eat our hard earned potato stocks.

We were watching football with family guests with many beers to accompany when the subject of rats came about. I think it was the mention of Wayne Rooney that got the subject going. Rooney apart, catching rats was being discussed. Poison, caged contraptions, cats, dogs, and baited lures in other places to draw them away just didn’t work or were not practical in our situation and the rat has had the upper hand over the last six weeks and this continues right now.

The idea of getting a bucket, filling two thirds of it with water and placing some sunflower seeds that would float on the top seemed a strange ploy to take when I first heard this being discussed. Added to this a little path was placed leading up to the rim of the bucket where once at the top the sunflower seeds could be seen but not the water. This began to make good sense to me at this point. The rat would see the sunflower seeds and of course it is too low to eat, as it is a third of they distance down in the bucket. The rat would have to jump in thinking that the bucket was full of sunflower seeds and pass through the top layer of sunflowers seeds into the looming water beneath which was deep enough to drown it with the vertical walls of the bucket.

A master plan had been born and we all looked forward to drowned rats as we set the system up slightly drunk after the feast of Sunday football and beer.

Monday morning and it wasn’t an early visit to the garage to check for drowned rats. When we did it was as it was the night before, but then no more potatoes have been nibbled either, no ratty visitors last night other than the half ratted trappers. Time is the essence, not only for catching that rat but for getting rid of hangovers!

Rooney Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Live Football on Bulgarian Televison

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Bulgarians love their football and here especially they love the English Premiership football. If you watch the sport news the premiership football updates feature high on priority in relation to other Bulgarian sports news. In the few shop that sell sportswear, the English premiership team shirts and novelties are mainly based around the English league teams. And of course the other main interest is the Bulgarian footballers that are exported to the English teams.

In the main Bulgarians support a team in their own country, not always local teams either. Here out family support CSKA football club this is a Sofia based team some 300 kilometres away. from Yambol. They also have their favourite English football team, usually Manchester United or Liverpool. This is the norm as these teams have featured in European Championships quite often and have a large world following in any case.

My previous experiences with Bulgarians and football was rather low key, watching a live match where the Bulgarian National team were playing, there was more interest in talking drinking and eating than watching the match. It's funny, but if I watch football match I watch it intensely, never missing a moment of action or non action as it turns out. Here they just tend to ignore the game for the most part. They just focus on the match when the crowd noise increases and this is the attention grabber. Then they know something exciting is about to happen, it happens and they turn off again unless it's a goal, a penalty or a sending off.

This Saturday afternoon I was back in Yambol as farm work had been rained off. Ivo, Galia's son called me into his bedroom. He wanted to show me a full crate of bottled beer he had just brought in. Not being in Yambol most Saturdays I had forgotten what happens here. CSKA and Manchester United were playing today and were live on television. Ivo is a fan of both of these teams. As well as CSKA and Manchester United playing, directly afterwards it was Newcastle Utd. against Arsenal. Anton his brother who supports Liverpool was expected here later along with another football mad friend. The beer was for us all as he had decided to treat us with booze and live football in his television.

Well how could I refuse what was on offer here with Bulgarian beer, live football from Arsenal and great company?

So seven hours later after much talk, jumping up every few moments and then groans when Manchester united lost, the Skalitsa banitsa I had made in the village that morning were warmed up and eaten between matches - It doesn't get better than that or does it? It does, then the Arsenal won and the all the beers had some how evaporated by the end of the match. An extended, but totally exhilarating late afternoon and evening with the Bulgarian boys was had. This was topped up afterwards with home produced chicken and cabbage stew made and served from Baba to soak up not only the pool of beer that had accumulated in our stomachs, but the results Ivo's sorrow and my joy.

It will be back to the village next weekend, hopefully with Galia who should be another week into recovering from her operation. At the same time, if I feel like a feast of beer and football there is always that option in Yambol every Saturday during the football season. How fortunate that watching your favourite football team live on television in Bulgaria doesn't involved getting a mortgage to pay for the view!

Fat and Football - Experts? Get Stuffed!

It is a home with everyone in holiday mood with some family here. The women go their way into the kitchen watching Bulgarian TV and the men go their way into the evening room to watch live football. Everything had been prepared for the match; well actually it was one of the best combinations to make an evening a very special one. Why am I going to mention food again? You have to in this country as once again the simplest of foods made the evening memorable and I felt compelled to write about it.

Whist we were cheering teams on , groaning at referring decisions and debating the finer points of the offside rule we were tucking into probably the worse food on earth as far as nutritionists and food health experts consider, but 99% of food gurus who know what is best of you have probably never been to Bulgarian and tried any of the food there. Sometimes, in fact most times here, the food is eaten from the point of taste and not considered whether it would give you a couple of extra poor quality years tagged on to the end of your life. I'd rather die slightly younger and enjoy it rather than spending wasteful years stressing out looking for eternal youth and listening to 'experts' who say what you can and can't eat. (Most of this is commercially geared anyway!) Besides, what is the average life expectancy of food gurus anyway? I digress.

This evening the food was prepared well in advance, 2 Kilos of juicy pig ears hade been boiling in a pot on a bottle gas stove outside all afternoon and then were dried off and barbecued just before the match started. Then there was the drink, consisting of home made grape rakia Yambol red wine and dark beer from our largest neighbouring town, Stara Zagora.

The evening started up as the pieces of barbecued pig's ears that had been cut up into morsels that fitting perfectly into bite sizes. Each piece was to be individually and generously salted, then ready for the mouths of the community of football fans to enjoyed as the whistle not just for the kicking off the match but kicking off with the food an drink. The Rakia, wine and beer freely flowed washing down the food that just complimented the football evening so well.

If you look at what we were actually eating it doesn't paint a good picture at all, pure fat and lots of salt accompanied by alcohol, but by golly, it was something very special this particular evening. Why not indulge in something that you enjoy? Most people here do.

Brilliant evening, brilliant food, brilliant drink the only thing that spoilt it was refereeing decisions. My God, how people are called 'experts' in their field, but really just don't have a clue, not just referees either.