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Smell of the Week: Blok
Thursday, March 27, 2008

There has always been something quite perplexing about the smell of apartment buildings here in Bulgaria. Even from the first days that we spent at the resort in Panichishte I remember thinking that our room smelled somewhat odd. Back then I did not think too much about it though because I was too busy trying to communicate with the barista that I wanted a double shot, rather than just a single. It stayed warmer a little longer I remember.

There were a few areas that I thought it would be beneficial to ponder a little more about, one being hallway smell, the other being the indoor smell. Both of these smells are quite different in odor, but not so much in source.

Outside of my apartment:

It appears that this person has seen something quite unmentionable, but I have it on good authority that he was not looking at anything in particular. It was simply a candid reaction to the aroma of hallway. In all seriousness though, I think every blok that I have been to in Bulgaria has had the same sort of musty smell. As you might have guessed, through intensive research I have found that must is the same as mold. Mold, being a living organism, puts off certain odors that sometimes we can pick up, and sometimes we can’t.

To illustrate this please allow me to set out on a hypothetical bunny trail. Imagine for a second that you are sitting in your blok one day just doing whatever it is you usually do, and you decide to take the Peace Corps issued mold spray out into the hallway of your building. You spray down the walls, ceilings, doors, and anywhere else that mold might be hiding. Wait two days. What happened? It smells different! Game over my little green friends.

Again, in all seriousness, mold can be quite the little monster. Being from Seattle I should know more about mold than I do know. Despite growing up without ever having a tan (again because of the cloudiness) and having webbed feet (because it rained so much) we never had any real serious issues with mold. I personally think it is because of the construction quality here, but I am no expert.

Me as a child:

Typical mold resistant paint:

My last point is somewhat competitive in nature. This picture was taken sometime after we moved in and sometime before the sun came out:

My mold is bigger than yours.

Inspector Shnoz

P.S. Is this bug friend or foe?

Posted byUnknown at 9:34 PM  

2 comments:

sldkafj said... March 28, 2008 at 1:09 PM  

Great post! Loved it!

Anonymous said... March 28, 2008 at 6:27 PM  

the bug is not dangerous - you're safe :)

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