A Peep Round the Corner

With temperatures in the mid 30's, I can confirm that it is pretty hot outside. However, I cannot get rid of the feeling that these are the last genuine efforts of summer to distract us from the feeling that the holiday season is all but gone. With the chestnut trees (which Sofia is well known for- even bootcamp rookies from Sofia are referred to by that name) already turning a golden-amber colour and morning temperatures far from sizzling noon highs, you can just about tell that autumn is about to make a dramatic entrance. And some of us, I might add, are eagerly waiting for the summer craze to end. Summer is just SOO overrated. Crazy chicks with boobs all but springing out, dudes with tight sleevless T-shirts, giving JohnTravolta looks. Come ON, people, get real! It's only summer!

And what happens when it all ends. Enter drama queens and kings. Indeed, September has a real dramatic feel to it. First school day is in September (ako iskash AZ da sam u4enik!, ili pak student for that matter!). The sun isn't the same. I have always been very irritated when I go to the seaside in September, and a chilly wind creeps in . Its like bloody Scandinavian summer!

But above all, September is about making a fresh start, which my nomadic core just loves. The feeling I get often reminds me of a Led Zeppelin song called RAMBLE ON:

"Leaves have fallen all around
It was time I was on my way
Thanks to you I am much obliged
Such a pleasant stay

But now it's time for me to go
The autumn moon lights my way
Now I smell the rain
And with it pain
And it's heading my way"

Yes, September smells like change which I totally enjoy. Life's cycle on the move, a feeling of life perpetuating itself and bracing itself for the harsh winter months...

But wait, we still have more than a week until September. I know, but I still like "to run before my horse to market" and make a sneaky peak of what's around the corner. In the words of the famous 30's proletariat poem: "September will be May."

Why do Bulgarians consistently disrespect the law, especially on a petty level.

For 500 years Bulgarians had no OWN form of government. To a certain degree, we had NO form of government at all. This has instilled a deep dislike for all forms of authority, especially imposed from above. Government is seen not as a right of self-governance or as a widespread consensus between a certain number of people. Rather it is considered as authoritarian power, imposing, obligating, taking, distant. The Law is something imposed by someone far away and should be circumvented, the enforcement of law should be sidetracked. Law should be obeyed on paper only since it is a foreign construct.

Self-government was another issue. During the long centuries of Ottoman rule, self-regulation was strong. Communities were very traditional and adhered to a strict set of community rules, codes of conduct, very definite sense of right and wrong, proper and improper. So on a community level, people respected their own self-imposed regulations. However, after we were liberated, with the gradual collapse of traditional communities and migration into the cities, the sense of belonging and common set of rules quickly disintegrated. However,
the dread of the law and state remained. For many Bulgarians, all that changed in fact, was the center of power. They were now bowing not to Istanbul , but to Sofia. After the euphoria had subsided, it became clear that power would be distributed and the law enforced in pretty much the same way. Clearly, there would be change in the decades to come, Bulgaria would thrive, despite its many adversities. Nevertheless, the collective unconscious had instilled a deep resentment towards any forms of distant, all-pervasive source of power and order. On an individual basis Bulgarians continue to feel pretty much the same way:

The Law isn’t something that necessarily needs to be obeyed. Collectively- yes, by all means! Individually- by no means.

When you ask Bulgarians if they love their country- most will be very patriotic about it. Asked if they love the state, well most of us will say “Fuck the state” or “ this is a fucked-up state” (шибана държава).

Holiday Season

It is already holiday season and even Sofia enjoys its fair share of tourists, easily discernible from the locals with their maps and guides, trying to figure out exactly how lost they are. Even the sidestreets in downtown Sofia are jampacked. I cant't help but make a stroll down memory lane myself.

Exactly a year ago, my wife and I roamed the streets of Paris in much the same fashion, finding a bit of ourselves in this extraordinary city. If you have the eyes for Paris, it will unfailingly deliver beyond your expectations and reveal its charms, regardless of how well acquainted you are with it. Naturally, it isn't a city you would visit with your buddies. It is an experience to be shared with someone special.

This is particularly true of Paris but can be said about any city. I personally feel too much at home in Sofia, having lived here for the best part of the last 20 years (with a couple of minor elopements to Plovdiv) to properly appreciate it as a tourist. However, as part of the Primetime project, I intend to make a guide of my favorite places in the city such as:

the banitza place on Angel Kantchev Street (best banitza ever- steaming hot, with boza of course) or the most peaceful spot where I sometimes go for a read and feel totally at ease,"Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends, marked by no distinguishable line". or my favourite off-city hiking trails ( I can go on like this forever).

A monument that tells the Bulgarian story

Surely, most foreign visitors to Bulgaria are wondering what this country is all about and even after some time spent here, there is no clear answer to this question. Indeed, many aspects of Bulgarian life are fascinating, which we Bulgarians tend to take for granted or simply overlook. However, I will leave this more conspicuous side of Bulgaria to mainstream glossy tourist brochures. What I am interested in is to probe into some facts that, for one reason or another, have not been the focus of public attention

There are a number of tell-tale signs that show that we are continuing to drag our historical heritage along the path that has been blazed over a century ago. Foreigners, who have but a basic idea of Bulgaria, usually comment: "Ah, yes, Bulgaria, ex-communist bloc, the most loyal Soviet satellite." Bulgarians usually respond to that: "Yes that was back in the days of communism. This is over." But is it, really?

Bulgarians try to schizophrenically forget their loyalties for the 50 odd years of communist rule. We try to forget that we driveled at the Soviets for 5 decades. We try to forget, and yet, we have kept their monuments. Supposedly, in 1989 we drew the line, wiped the slate clean, turned the page and have been continuing to do so ever since. Nowadays, after nearly 20 years of democracy, a strong inclination towards western values (supposedly), a functioning (supposedly) multi-party political system and government institutions, with NATO and EU membership, Bulgaria looks like it is good value for money.

Although nominally all of the above is true, to a certain degree at least, one cannot help noticing a whiff of the "good old times" that is revamped and repackaged, but not beyond recognition.
A striking example would be the numerous megalomaniac monuments built in the communist era to honor the Soviet Army as “liberators”. Indeed, back in the day this was the name of the game; we needed to pay homage to a country that claimed East Europe at Yalta and Bulgaria was just a piece of the cake.

However, almost 20 years after the so-called changes, these monuments are even better maintained then in the heydays of communism. They stand erected in the very heart of major cities, in defiance of our own institutions and identity. Why monuments extolling a foreign occupying power are left untouched and, to make things even more absurd- maintained?!

So lets delve into the rationale of why such monuments should exist. Basically, a nation builds monuments to commemorate pivotal moments in history, nation-making, liberation, etc. Such as the Cenotaph in London, commemorating “the glorious dead” in the First World War. In building a monument for the Soviet troupes, what exactly are we extolling- an invading, marauding army that wedged itself through Eastern Europe after Hitler had ravaged it? What exactly were we liberated from? They came, they saw, they conquered. We then wallowed in their Orwellian ideology. And not only did we not resist- we built monuments of gargantuan proportion that dwarf every single monument and building of REAL national significance.

I am ashamed and disgusted. Every single day I walk to work past the Monument of the Soviet Army. It stands in the heart of our city as one of its centerpieces. Erected in a central city park, it looms large and defiant, undisturbed by surrounding buildings. Hence, not shadowed by anything but its own self-eminence and grandeur. On top, at a height of some 20 meters, a group of peasant-looking, Kalashnikov-yielding soldiers.

Obviously Bulgarians prefer a monument of a foreign army to a national hero or medieval Bulgarian tsar, a symbol of statehood, nationhood or simply the continuity of “what we have known and cared for”.

In the Prime Launch

Today is the launch of the Prime Time blog.

With no claim for uniqueness or originality, I am driven by the simple idea to share with those willing to spare a moment some insights on key issues and events. I reserve the right, however, to comment on the mundane and insignificant, to "see a world in a grain of sand" and generalize on the negligible. Hopefully like-minded bloggers on the same wavelength will drop by and share their experiences.
Blogs have the advantage of being a public looking glass, unlike diaries which tend to be chaotic, sloppy and self-centered. I hope to keep an ordered and neat private shop window so that you can enjoy and appreciate all those little idiosyncrasies, as well as info and assistance on issues that may be of interest.