It is traditional in Bulgaria for the parents to provide their children with a home of their own this is normal. This is the main reason why mortgages are rare in Bulgaria the homes are passed down to the siblings without any need for them.
A Bargain Bulgarian Lifestyle
Shoppe Style Cheese
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEV6fY96U9MHJHaiWhzrHottKjCmOcjPJNfUqb6v4lXseAprcaFrd5AhZbObryK_4tW-PDjQydwiDeDIAAyzCCs0QM0cevIG5B12wT9_mw1Pq9OhuqNhEvqnuWZfJ7_Rm_WMvV_AI9BOE/s400/bulgarian_slivatree_shoppe_style_cheese.jpg)
The End of Egg Shopping Adventures in Yambol
It wasn’t that long ago when the thought of buying eggs in sixes only and nothing else considered before coming to Bulgarian was the norm. Them only to discover that in Bulgaria if you only need one egg then you can buy one egg, no problem and no waste.
It has been just this year in supermarkets in Yambol that eggs boxes have been introduced in the egg bound refrigerated sections. Before that they all came in tied plastic bags and it was quite a feat to get the eggs home without being scrambled, that was part of the fun of shopping, for me. It was an event and an adventure buying eggs this way and broke up the boredom of everything being so easy. Call me a man wanting to live on the edge if you may, there is nothing better than a challenge, that's the appeal with the way eggs were sold.
It all began in new supermarket Kaufland, which had just finished being built. It opened on the edge of Yambol last year. The German supermarket monster introduced egg cartons, specifically design, and well designed I may add, for Bulgarian customers making life so much easier to take eggs back home with them. When I saw this my heart dropped, a big of Bulgaria had disappeared before my very eyes, I knew this was the beginning of the end of the flimsy plastic bagged eggs. Even worse now was the fact that you could not buy less than six eggs! The cartons were not for splitting Bulgarian folk now have to take all six. Europe has invaded and conquered were my thoughts.
What did Bulgarians think of this? Galia, understandably with her true Bulgarian mind, just for the life of her couldn’t figure out why I was so upset about the change. All she could see was the benefits of getting the eggs home unscathed. She also couldn't see the deeper turning of the screw where she was being forced to buy more eggs than she needed. She didn’t see the supermarket taking control of her budget on eggs.
I thought that was the end of the story, as other supermarkets in Yambol will now adopt the same packaging. It was only last week, the last bastion on eggs in plastic bags suddenly disappeared in my local small supermarket. Not a bag of eggs to be seen, just egg cartons sealed in plastic in sixes. There was just as much plastic there as was used as a bag the eggs before but now the carton is added which will end up as carbon in the atmosphere. Another sigh was made as I saw this moment of no return came about.
Was that the end? Not quite as I looked again last night at the egg section, there were now cartons containing just four eggs not six! This was a spanner in the works of EU dictatorship, I’m just waiting for a EU official to see this and put a directive on it as well as making sure that the Rakia duty comes in eventually.
The whole egg saga is of course purely contained to town shops and supermarkets; in the villages it is a different story as the eggs, even if delivered in sixes. These will be split for customers, besides, no one buys eggs in villages except the expatriates, but then they will ask for six and demand six anyway as they have been brought up on this.
Add:
Finally, the EU had caught up with us as I looked in our small local Vilton supermarket. this very day. All eggs were now in the cardboard containers in sixes! I have just experienced eggs packed as we used to know them here for the last time ever. This is a very sad day for me in Yambol.
It has been just this year in supermarkets in Yambol that eggs boxes have been introduced in the egg bound refrigerated sections. Before that they all came in tied plastic bags and it was quite a feat to get the eggs home without being scrambled, that was part of the fun of shopping, for me. It was an event and an adventure buying eggs this way and broke up the boredom of everything being so easy. Call me a man wanting to live on the edge if you may, there is nothing better than a challenge, that's the appeal with the way eggs were sold.
It all began in new supermarket Kaufland, which had just finished being built. It opened on the edge of Yambol last year. The German supermarket monster introduced egg cartons, specifically design, and well designed I may add, for Bulgarian customers making life so much easier to take eggs back home with them. When I saw this my heart dropped, a big of Bulgaria had disappeared before my very eyes, I knew this was the beginning of the end of the flimsy plastic bagged eggs. Even worse now was the fact that you could not buy less than six eggs! The cartons were not for splitting Bulgarian folk now have to take all six. Europe has invaded and conquered were my thoughts.
What did Bulgarians think of this? Galia, understandably with her true Bulgarian mind, just for the life of her couldn’t figure out why I was so upset about the change. All she could see was the benefits of getting the eggs home unscathed. She also couldn't see the deeper turning of the screw where she was being forced to buy more eggs than she needed. She didn’t see the supermarket taking control of her budget on eggs.
I thought that was the end of the story, as other supermarkets in Yambol will now adopt the same packaging. It was only last week, the last bastion on eggs in plastic bags suddenly disappeared in my local small supermarket. Not a bag of eggs to be seen, just egg cartons sealed in plastic in sixes. There was just as much plastic there as was used as a bag the eggs before but now the carton is added which will end up as carbon in the atmosphere. Another sigh was made as I saw this moment of no return came about.
Was that the end? Not quite as I looked again last night at the egg section, there were now cartons containing just four eggs not six! This was a spanner in the works of EU dictatorship, I’m just waiting for a EU official to see this and put a directive on it as well as making sure that the Rakia duty comes in eventually.
The whole egg saga is of course purely contained to town shops and supermarkets; in the villages it is a different story as the eggs, even if delivered in sixes. These will be split for customers, besides, no one buys eggs in villages except the expatriates, but then they will ask for six and demand six anyway as they have been brought up on this.
Add:
Finally, the EU had caught up with us as I looked in our small local Vilton supermarket. this very day. All eggs were now in the cardboard containers in sixes! I have just experienced eggs packed as we used to know them here for the last time ever. This is a very sad day for me in Yambol.
Bulgarian Schools - First Day Back
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It was a word of warning from our own Baba who was crushing grapes by hand in the big barrel this morning as I set out to drive. “Be careful,” she said. “There are lots of children walking to school this morning,” as another vine stalk was taken out and discarded from the barrel.
True to her words the town was swarming with children, most carrying bunches of flowers. It is tradition that the first day back, the children present flowers to their new teacher. It is quite strange watching the elder boys walking the streets with flowers in their hands, in the UK they would be called ‘Pansies’, but here nothing of the kind, this is normal.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5lZVqTDUj5OXK6N-68H1Fzjd68pRAjpX0oQ4ips1CL-7fnJJh3qWR3Hf7DnTYtYgP70bWp9DtcAWmjAIIPxuBPaiRZF-dlgVIvmS_fDAKFWgKy21qv8Mv7sisXJy3wP6YNlYCEE8jME/s400/Bulgarian_Slvatree_Bulgarian_Schools_First_Day_Back.jpg)
My work place is opposite a school, which has been inactive for months. It suddenly came back to life this morning on this unusually cold September day. It is really nice to have the area and the building full of activity again with children talking and playing sensibly during their break time. It is especially heart warming to see such respectful well-behaved children in this part of the world.
Yambol Bazaar Garden
The pavements of Yambol are, in a pretty bad condition, there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is caused by the vast amount of trees that are planted on pavements, whose roots spread like wildfire thriving in a perfect climate and nutritious Bulgarian earth. The second is the extremes of temperature from winter to summer added to which the heavy rain, which turns into street rapids, washing the already fragmented sandy elements of the pavement away. So it is no surprise to see paving stones and raised pavements throughout Yambol. In fact it is part of the town’s character and the town’s lower end bazaar by the bus station is no exception.
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The fragmented paving stones outside the shop had been removed and there now was a cultivated garden with flowers now growing there. The shop owner approached me after seeing that I had interest in this ornamental patch. She asked me what I was doing. I explained that this little patch was of great interest to me but I didn’t understand why she didn’t grow tomatoes or other vegetables there, why flowers? She said that they would be taken and eaten by gypsies who hang around looking for work in the early mornings. Point taken.
So now outside the hardware store is a little garden with flowers, it remains to be seen if the local authorities get to repair the pavements whether this little Eden will stay. My own guess is it will remain as these little practical answers to problems tend to be built into the Bulgarian system at all levels.
Skalitsa UFO Sightings
There are sometimes very strange happenings in Skalitsa during the night. Many a time we hear commotions of sound that can't be explained. Even when going outside to see where the noises come from there is nothing there to give reason for it. Also, there are the moving lights in the distance can be seen quite often. These varying coloured lights, from pale orange to red, two or more of these lights seem to rise and fall in synchronised fashion on the horizon sometimes moving sharply and other time just hovering.
These unexplained things happen is in areas where no one lives, it is out in the wild country where only nature and wildlife live. What are these goings on that we often witness? The thing is that because there is a scarce population here, most in bed asleep as they have to rise early for the farm chores, there are not many witnesses that admit to these. Furthermore, they would be deemed as mad if they were to report. So the strange phenomenon goes on without investigation.
This article was found recently which was officially reported and now lays in the archives of the unexplained. Was it to do with the healing stones there or is it linked to the sights and sounds we hear often?
These unexplained things happen is in areas where no one lives, it is out in the wild country where only nature and wildlife live. What are these goings on that we often witness? The thing is that because there is a scarce population here, most in bed asleep as they have to rise early for the farm chores, there are not many witnesses that admit to these. Furthermore, they would be deemed as mad if they were to report. So the strange phenomenon goes on without investigation.
This article was found recently which was officially reported and now lays in the archives of the unexplained. Was it to do with the healing stones there or is it linked to the sights and sounds we hear often?
Location. Skalitsa, Bulgaria
Date: May 19 1990
Time: night
Three women, aged 45 were walking along a street when they caught sight of three dark silhouettes standing about four meters in front of them. The creatures, which appeared to be made out of a thick black substance, walked quickly away from the women and disappeared into the moonless darkness. After a while a pulsating spherical object, spinning counter clockwise, popped up in front of the villagers who quickly ran away from the area without looking back.
Skalitsa Snake Talk
You see them on the Bulgarian roads you here stories about them every day in the village and to be quite honest most Bulgarians absolutely hate them. Were are talking about snakes. There are many varieties of snakes in Bulgaria, but two species are poison. Most that are seen are the non-venomous ones but they are frightening as they can grow to over two metres in length.
Now the reason I’m talking about snakes is that this last weekend we had our beloved neighbours Rosa and Sacho to sit with us in the garden on this very warm Saturday night. They work so hard it makes you feel guilty about stopping working yourself at around 8:00 in the evening! It is summer time and the work clock starts at 5:30 and finishes at around 9:00 in the evening. If you know about Bulgarians and what they call work then you know it’s not 100 mph throughout that time, but just doing things either at work or on the farm, it the duration that kills not the effort.
They agreed to come around at 21:00 but I knew that was not going to happen. So, I started some kyufte (minced hamburgers) on the barbeque at exactly 9:00 and Galia started making the salad at 9:30 both of us knowing that we had another hour before they turned up. Well I was wrong they turned up at 10:10, they were ten minutes late from their Bulgarian 9:00.
The talking eating and drinking commenced for the rest of the evening but the dominating talk was about snakes.
Rosa is absolutely petrified of snakes; no matter how big or small venomous or non-venomous she is 'out of her pram' just at the mention of them. Then there’s Sacho who just shrugs the fear by putting his head back and doing the traditional Bulgarian call of ‘Aaaaaaayyyyyy!’ This means lots of things but in this case because it wasn’t a very convincing call I know he’s not keen on snakes either.
I’ve seen him before when confronted with one, he is a nervous wreck but his Bulgarian manhood is at stake as he tried to defend his fearlessness with them. We often joke about the snakes that Rosa is so scared off and when the topic comes up, and it does quite often, we ask whether it is big enough for barbeques doing the slicing action with our hands. Each time Rosa never finds this funny but we still say it every time with both Sacho and myself cracking up.
Today Rosa found a very big snake in her house. Sacho was summoned and on the scene within minutes but on their return the snakes had disappeared. This snake had been in another neighbours house earlier in the day. This was known as Rosa described the snake as being over two metres in length and slightly blood stained around the head, she though it had just finished a meal. This was not the case as Sacho was called to help at the neighbour’s house, in the kitchen; they were just as scared as Rosa.
Sacho plucked up the courage to get a long stick and whack it a few times to stun it and grab hold of its tail and drag it outside. Then in a lasso fashion he tossed it into the field giving actions sitting down nearly hitting Rosa sitting next to him in the process as he explained.
This thin man who stood well over 6 feet high, then stood up and put his hand another half a metre above his head showing how long this snake was. Just like showing me how big the fish he caught last year that had apparently shrunk in during the freezing process in his chest freezer a few days later, I knew this snake might be a bit smaller than he made out.
Now the reason I’m talking about snakes is that this last weekend we had our beloved neighbours Rosa and Sacho to sit with us in the garden on this very warm Saturday night. They work so hard it makes you feel guilty about stopping working yourself at around 8:00 in the evening! It is summer time and the work clock starts at 5:30 and finishes at around 9:00 in the evening. If you know about Bulgarians and what they call work then you know it’s not 100 mph throughout that time, but just doing things either at work or on the farm, it the duration that kills not the effort.
They agreed to come around at 21:00 but I knew that was not going to happen. So, I started some kyufte (minced hamburgers) on the barbeque at exactly 9:00 and Galia started making the salad at 9:30 both of us knowing that we had another hour before they turned up. Well I was wrong they turned up at 10:10, they were ten minutes late from their Bulgarian 9:00.
The talking eating and drinking commenced for the rest of the evening but the dominating talk was about snakes.
Rosa is absolutely petrified of snakes; no matter how big or small venomous or non-venomous she is 'out of her pram' just at the mention of them. Then there’s Sacho who just shrugs the fear by putting his head back and doing the traditional Bulgarian call of ‘Aaaaaaayyyyyy!’ This means lots of things but in this case because it wasn’t a very convincing call I know he’s not keen on snakes either.
I’ve seen him before when confronted with one, he is a nervous wreck but his Bulgarian manhood is at stake as he tried to defend his fearlessness with them. We often joke about the snakes that Rosa is so scared off and when the topic comes up, and it does quite often, we ask whether it is big enough for barbeques doing the slicing action with our hands. Each time Rosa never finds this funny but we still say it every time with both Sacho and myself cracking up.
Today Rosa found a very big snake in her house. Sacho was summoned and on the scene within minutes but on their return the snakes had disappeared. This snake had been in another neighbours house earlier in the day. This was known as Rosa described the snake as being over two metres in length and slightly blood stained around the head, she though it had just finished a meal. This was not the case as Sacho was called to help at the neighbour’s house, in the kitchen; they were just as scared as Rosa.
Sacho plucked up the courage to get a long stick and whack it a few times to stun it and grab hold of its tail and drag it outside. Then in a lasso fashion he tossed it into the field giving actions sitting down nearly hitting Rosa sitting next to him in the process as he explained.
This thin man who stood well over 6 feet high, then stood up and put his hand another half a metre above his head showing how long this snake was. Just like showing me how big the fish he caught last year that had apparently shrunk in during the freezing process in his chest freezer a few days later, I knew this snake might be a bit smaller than he made out.
Bulgarian Polecats - A New Look
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I knew it wasn't a cat but didn't want to get Galia stressed as she continued to turn her head towards the sound.
When I first came here any noise scared me, the reason for this was that I just didn't know what was causing the noise. Now I am much wiser and most sounds are accounted for in the country. This sound was the sound of a polecat, the European polecat. A common resident in these parts and the reason for many sleepless nights from the past.
I have caught a few in traps and killed them before, as they have stolen eggs from my chickens and killed chicks but that was in the past. I now know we have to live with them and apart from a few eggs and chicks due to my lack of experience not securing their environment properly. And a bit of noise, that now is no trouble as I know what it is; they have as much right to live here as we do.
This evening I knew the pole cat was about as we waited for the silence to be broken once again. To calm Galia I turned another light on outside the rear of the garage/outbuilding. There are roof tiles placed leaning along the base of the outside wall and little be known to us there was a surprise waiting for us.
Once again a little clutter by the garage now and as we turned to look, we saw a little head, not to dissimilar to a kitten's head poke out from one of the roof tiles. We just froze looking at this pole cat who did the same thing to us. There was some meat on the table we were sitting on and a piece was broken of and thrown toward the animal. The polecat didn't budge as the meat bounced its way towards it. We threw another meat morsel, which landed closer and the polecat walked towards it. It was now in full view and although I have seen these close up dead in my hands it isn't the same seeing it move gracefully with its streamlined body covered in dark brown silky fur with highlighted tints and a long bushy, rather untidy tail. This beautiful animal sniffed and took the meat in its mouth. and walked slowly back to its little roof tile hideout. We were quite amazed how bold this polecat was as we threw even more meat pieces toward it.
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So, if you are disturbed in your house by scampering feet above or below your house, you know what it is a European pole cat. Don't put the traps out and waste your time looking to kill them, try and live with these beautiful creatures. I now regret trapping and killing these polecats before now and come to think of it I did get lots of bad luck after the event!
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