-Thoughts & Opinions-

8-20-2007
It is getting ridiculously hot again!!!! I am constantly sweating profusely……and finding it increasingly difficult to escape the brutal heat. On the other hand, my misery is at least partially self induced. I have not had a haircut since last Octobe,…..and the mop on my head seams to not only annoy me constantly, but also trap in body heat. My brilliant, and well thought out game plan is to grow out my hair until I return to the USA…….and that obviously; will not be for quite some time.

I have been getting a bit frustrated lately with certain aspects of Bulgarian life. I feel that I have definitely used a lot of self restraint and patience over the years,……..but my patience lately has been limited. The many cultural differences I am faced with daily can really wear down your morale. I become a bit frustrated at times with the way I am often viewed by other Bulgarians. I am often looked at as a rich naïve tourist……..but in fact I am the opposite……..I am not the easiest mark these days. I consider myself quite aware…..and comfortable in this country. I speak Bulgarian……and once this is known I am not looked at as a target anymore. Of course usually only encounter this sort of sketchiness when I am in large cites and tourist areas. This is because tourism in Bulgaria is a bit new, and all foreigners here are immediately assumed to be naïve-ignorant tourists. The money changers and cab drivers can be ruthless and persistent. I have had to yell at cab drivers on several occasions in order to get my correct change back, or to dispute the inflated cab fair. This type of constant annoyance hit close to home last weekend……………….
To my shock and amazement someone tried to rip me off in my own town. I am not much of a stranger in Chirpan; in fact pretty much everyone knows me or knows of me. In a small town a foreigner sticks out like a sore thumb.
What happened was………..I was in the local disco in Chirpan. My crew and I showed up at 2:30am which is right when the place gets going. The door man charged me the usual 2BGL cover……. and I entered. After dancing around with my friends for a while…….I was informed by my buddy that the cover for the disco was actually only 1BGL. The punk bastard at the door had charged my double the price for entry. Even though it was only an extra 70cents………I became furious. I immediately walked out side and approached the bouncer. I then proceeded to yell at the bouncer and demand he give me my money back. After a short moment pretending he was innocent and confused……he realized the seriousness in my face and immediately returned the money he had stolen from me. It was actually quite a liberating experience……..it felt great to regain my role as an equal in the community. I also made the guy look like a jerk in front of all the other security guys. This is obviously not a great story……but for me it made me feel great. It feels wonderful to be able to become irate and yell at someone in a foreign language. Perhaps next time I am in the states and am in a fit of anger; I will yell at them in Bulgarian…….and leave them in a half angry…mostly confused state.
Less than two more months in the Bulg! The clock is winding down and the excitement for my big trip has been building…………….OK…..well…….I ran out of things to ramble on about…….so…. over and out.

8-28-2007

Well…….I am again in the office………and once again bored out of my mind. What should I do with myself? Well what can I write about that I have not written about 100 times before????
I am getting really excited about my long journey after I complete my Peace Corps assignment. I may have mentioned this before, but in case I have not…….here is the game plan.
-October 10th leave for a quick tour of Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo. I will travel this stretch solo and possibly hitch hike between the countries…this is tentative according to weather.

-October 24th my buddy Max and I will join forces in Bulgaria and travel down to Istanbul; from here we will hitchhike or bus-it through Turkey counter clockwise until we reach Adana (southern Turkey)……..from Adana we take a bus to Syria. We will make our way down to Damascus and eventually cross into Lebanon and spend a few days in Beirut. And then we reverse our trek and head north to Turkey to finish the counter clockwise Turkey trek. We will pop into Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia before making our way back up to Istanbul.

-Next we will take a ferry from Istanbul to Odessa Ukraine, and while in Ukraine will pop over to Moldova for a few days. After the Ukraine we head west to Slovenia-Hungary, and then on to Czech Republic.

-Then we head to Poland, and eventually north east to Lithuania-Latvia-Estonia and then off to St. Petersburg Russia. We will take a train from Moscow to Mongolia, and after Mongolia we will head to Beijing.

- From Beijing we will head into Tibet (by the way this whole trip is pretty much by train). We will spend time in Lhasa and eventually head west to the Himalayas. After we arrive in Katmandu Nepal, We will trek for up to a month in order to make it to Mt. Everest base camp 18,000+ ft). From Nepal we are forced to Fly to Bangkok (because the countries in route are Closed.(Bhuttan, Burma).

-After Thailand we will head to Cambodia-Nam-Laos (possibly a few more countries; depending on funds) and then back through China up to Hong Kong.

-From Hong-Kong to the Philippines, and from the Philippines to Taiwan.......and then back into China and north to Shanghai.
From Shanghai we head to South Korea and from there to Japan. After some Sushi and Karaoke we fly from Tokyo to the USA…………………so that is the trip………
Expect to see me in the states late spring of 2008………the schedule is not set in stone…….so I may return sooner or later. And obviously if I get malaria right away or get mugged the trip may end sooner.

So I have been in Bulgaria for over two years; and now I suppose it is time to reflect on my time here. I have observed many changes in this country over the last two years; some good……..some bad. The infrastructure of this country has been drastically changing for the better……Bulgaria is starting to look more and more like a developed country. However, the swift economic changes in Bulgaria produce a brutally challenging life for many. For example the pensioners: because of inflation and their ridiculously low pension ($50 a month)…….they are in really bad shape, and are feeling a constant decrease of happiness and hope.
I must also mention that (in my opinion) the ethnic tolerance in Bulgaria has taken absolutely zero strides forward. Bulgarians have continued to foster crippling prejudices toward the Roma population. I honestly have a hard time visualizing change and progression in curbing this problem. It seams like such a simple and basic concept,……..equality… humanity…respect…cultural acceptance…..however, history has shown these to be disabling and always subjective issues.

For the Sake of clarity I will present you a few news headlines from the last couple weeks. These headline stories should paint a pretty clear picture of the problems I am writing about. Basically the discrimination, prejudice, and hatred between Bulgaria’s minority groups and Bulgarians has been fiercely escalating lately. And in my opinion……..things do not seem to be improving. I personally do not see there being an acceptable level of equality, and ethnic tolerance in Bulgaria’s near future.

-A 17-year-old Roma was beaten to death by a group of Bulgarian youngsters in Samokov on Tuesday night. Euroroma leader Tsvetelin Kunchev is quoted as saying that he’s going to demand the most severe punishment for the perpetrators

-Three underage Romas beat and robbed a 39-year-old man in Pleven.

-At least 200 Roma gathered Monday night in the district, including children under ten, who carried axes, cudgels, pitchforks and stones, chanting "Death for the Bulgarians". The policemen apparently did not know how to react and decided to watch passively the scenes of violence.

- The police are still investigating the circumstances of the brawl, but Roma witnesses claimed it was retaliation for a clash the previous night, when 30 skinheads reportedly attacked three Roma teenagers, one of whom was badly beaten.

- Roma residents in Pazardzhik are gearing up to respond to Boyan Rasate’s National Guard by forming their own units of defense. Euroroma regional leader Borislav Daskalov said they were not planning to remain passive. He added that they had already started to train Roma youngsters to join what they call it Organization of the Minorities for Protection Against Violence. Euroroma leader Tsvetelin Kanchev called his party fellow’s statement “pure nonsense.”

-There is no reason for ethnic tension in Bulgaria and those who will be trying or are trying to use ethnic differences for their own political agenda are not doing this nation a favor, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo Kalfin told reporters in Kavarna yesterday. Kalfin said though that he was concerned over what was happening: "It is unacceptable to have Bulgarian citizens -- Roma or others -- walking about aggressively, axe in hand."

-A TV journalist of Roma origin was not allowed in the Leda swimming pool area on Friday. She went there together with her sister and nephew but was asked to leave because it was as the guards told her “a private property.” Draganova called the Police which made the swimming pool manager show up saying that everybody was allowed into that recreation complex.

-An opinion poll carried out by Mediana polling agency according to which 67.3% think that there is racial discrimination in Bulgaria, 10.2% said - there isn’t, and 22,4% said they were not certain about that. According to 94.1 % of the respondents the state should take care of all of its citizens. Only 5.9% think that everybody should be responsible for his or her own life

-Bulgaria was placed among the relatively violent nations according to the Global Peace Index run on the Vision of Humanity home page. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated 121 countries by their ‘absence of violence’ and Bulgaria is under number

- The Bulgarian People's Union, self-proclaimed as modern nationalists, plan to set up voluntary teams for self-defence of the population under extreme circumstances. The leader of the union Boyan Rasate announced Sunday that the teams will run to the protection of citizens in case of "abuse, tensions, natural disasters, failures and etc." The teams will be the first step toward establishing Bulgarian National Guard, Rasate said. The initiative is a response to the recent Roma revolt in Sofia's Krasna Polyana district. At least 200 Roma, including children under ten, carrying axes, cudgels, pitchforks and stones, tried to retaliate against a group of skinheads, who injured a Roma teenager last Sunday. With policemen afraid to intervene so as not to be accused of using excessive violence and watching from afar, the mob set fire to garbage bins and chanted "Death to Bulgarians."

OK………….so in conclusion Bulgarians and the Roma minority are not exactly on the same page these days. Both ethnic groups fear each other and are planning on building their own personal national guard. So what exactly does this mean: well……….it appears that the groups fear each other so much; that they now feel the need to be prepared for some sort of mini-civil war. I do not feel things will soon escalate to this level, however, I do believe that we have not seen the end of Bulgarian-Roma violent conflict.
I have had the last couple years to ponder these problems….but have not come up with any sort of realistic hypothetical solution. The problem is too large and complex to even suggest a simple solution. The prejudices run deep……..and the cultural differences and social norms of the two ethnic-social groups run even deeper. I guess we can just assume that someday there will be a Roma ‘Malcom X’ or ‘Martin Luthar King Jr’. who will start a much needed civil rights movement in Bulgaria. When will this happen? Will this ever happen? What happens if this never happens? Is it possible for the Roma and Bulgarians to live peacefully together, yet separate and independent? Ahhhhhhhh the future…………only time will tell what the outcome of this situation will be. I feel optimistic….based on my opinion that man is inherently good, peaceful harmony is an easier form of coexistence than war and conflict,……and that there will always be people who feel compassion for the different and depraved.