Slow Village Life - But Only With More Time There

Back in the village of Skalitsa, the pace of life just comes to a stand still for everyone there, nothing changes there on a day-to-day basis and you know what to expect every time. There is always time for everything, no rush, no panic and the talking just carries on like there is no tomorrow. So why are we always in a rush?

The reason is quite simple, lack of time there. We only have a few days in the farmhouse before the return to work. The tidying up the garden, including finally pruning and burying the roses, a bit of a spring clean in the house, then visits to our neighbours who we haven’t seen for over a month and the time is up! In no time at all our stay came to an abrupt end, no time to wind down and acclimatise to village life at all.

If only we had more time there, we’d eventually slow down and not worry about time constraints. It is my plan to spend more time there in the spring with the beginning of the growing season, this has to be done of course as most of the food will be for the family meals in Yambol and the next winter. We don’t intend to miss out on many crops and harvests this year like last year. In village life there is always something to do unlike living in the town, even in winter, chopping wood, clearing paths, milking goats, sheep and cows and still burning fallen leaves even in December. There is just something I love about being busy, but doing things slowly on the farm, Galia is different, she can quite easily do nothing and be content with that, I can't.

We got to taste the village good once again at our neighbour’s house, fresh goat’s cream cheese, today’s laid chicken eggs and salami only made last week. Then there was the exchange and tasting of our home made Rakia. Sometimes we forget that the food and drink tastes even better it the villages than in the town. It seemed such as long time ago that we'd eaten at our neighbour’s house and is always a pleasure in winter anyway without the invasion of flies around.

Now we’re back in Yambol one day later, yesterday seems such a long time ago, but the taste of the village is still with us as we plan to go again New Year’s Day after excepting an invitation to a friend’s house in Yambol for New Year’s Eve. Can’t wait for both!

Leka Rabota; Leka Sichko

Hot, sticky but better than being cold, that’s how it is in Bulgaria right now in August. Everything slows down to a standstill in this weather and why not? What’s the rush?

That’s the attitude of every Bulgarian I know right now. They’ll go to work, slowly, and once there the pace remains slow, like I said it’s hot sticky and there is no sense in busting a gut under these conditions. The Bulgarian bosses and managers who employ all these slow paced workers are of the same opinion. “Leka rabota!” (easy work) they would say when the work force comes into work in the morning. Of course they have no other option other obey that greeting from their peers and do just that, work slowly.

I remember a quote from a worker when he asked me what I like about the Bulgarian weather. I gave him his answer saying that the long hot summers are great and the winters are sharp and short. His version of Bulgarian weather was “It’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter!” Well he had a point but I mentioned the fact that where would the rakia come from without this Bulgarian climate. He didn’t have an answer to that one and just grinned and shrugged his shoulders; he knew this was an important point.

So too hot in the summer it may be but that all depends where you are and what you are doing. In Yambol the temperature is raised by the fact it is a town and has a town climate. It is much closer and hotter in the town, there is never any breeze on really hot days and if it is going to thunderstorm or floods it will be in and around the town area.

In the villages that are more than 5-10 kilometres away from the town the weather during the summer is magical, the breeze that runs over the Thracian plain and the lack of pollution just make it so much fresher, less clammy and a joy to be in. The village folk still work very slowly all year round but that’s how it has always been. It’s not because of the weather but due to their culture and tradition. No rush whatever the job, even if you were bleeding to death, there would be no rush on!

So in Bulgarian, the Leka Rabota phrase is currently very popular; Leka Sichko (Everything easy) is even more popular, but not quite as popular as the all year round phrase “What are you doing?” (See Bulgarian Small Talk)




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