Historical Of The Week - Maria Gigova:
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Hello readers and welcome back to Historical Bulgarian of the Week.
This has been an incredibly solid week of posts and our visitors map below tells us that we are getting readers from all over the globe! This new revelation has inspired two new goals for us here at B22Blogstars.
Number one is to make the Peace Corps Quartely Newletters' Section, "What PCVs are blogging..." and the second is to make the list of 50 Most Powerful Bloggers in the World.
Wish us luck and feel free to help us out by reading regularly and spreading the word constantly. That being said, enjoy todays post.
This weeks Bulgarian is Maria Gigova. Bulgaria is well know for their gymnastics. Maria was born in April 24, 1947. She was a three time rhythmic gymnastic champion, winning titles in the years of 1969, 1971 and 1973. And she won a total of four gold medals in hoop.
Maria graduated from the National Sports Academy in Sofia and after that became a member of the FIG Technical Committee and has served various posts in Bulgarian Gymnastics up until the year 1999.
I hate to be the barrier of bad news, however, our normal Sunday Blogstar, Brian Fantana, has been replaced. He sent in his letter of registration this week. However, your Blogstar thirst will be satisfied. I am not going to give away any information.
This new blog should be informative, insightful, inspiring and a whole lot more "in" words, like "in"joy.
-Kahkaval Pane
Posted byPavel at 12:51 PM 1 comments
Bulgarian Transportation of the Week: Donkey Carts!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Donkey Carts! (магарска талига!)
I have no idea if that's grammatically correct Bulgarian
One of the most interesting modes of transportation in Bulgaria. These carts are predominately used by the Roma. They are distinct on the roads and always make for a good photo opportunity. Sadly, according to the Peace Corps Bulgaria Volunteer Handbook, section 23, subsection 1.1.2 "Volunteers are expressly prohibited from using the following forms of transportation:...Horse or donkey carts" (the manual also prevents us from operating vehicles powered by steam. Yeah...I have no idea either). Perhaps if we petition the Peace Corps to allow us if we wear helmets. This plan, however, may attract stoning from local children. But I digress...
The donkey cart is one of the most interesting forms of transit in Bulgaria. It's safe to say that every city in Bulgaria has donkey carts. I have even seen them dodge traffic in the capital, Sofia. They can be quite a road hazard. I mean, out in rural Missouri, I've had to stop to let a herd of cows cross a dusty road. I never would have imagined seeing a similar situation with four lanes of traffic in a metropolis of over a million. Understandably, I had heard rumors of a national ban on donkey carts one public roads. This, of course, would hit one segment of the population very hard. However, I was unable to find any support whilst researching for this article.
Aside from traffic hazards and potentially comical pictures (photo to the lower left was not taken in Bulgaria), donkey carts also contribute the hazard of poop. Lots and lots of poop. You can tell you're in a donkey cart area with the stacks of poop (literally) littering the street. Bonus points if the poop is on a traditional cobblestone street. It gives a "blast from the past" feeling.
The bott
om line: donkey carts give an aura of traditionalism regardless where you are in Bulgaria. They make a good photo opportunity to show a "Lexus and Olive Tree" comparison of life in Bulgaria. They also are impractical (and a illegal for PCVs regardless) except for local travel. Nevertheless, I'll never get tired of hearing the clip-clopping of a mammalian drawn wagon.
J-Dub "The Duke" Paperstax
Posted byJimmy at 12:01 AM 4 comments
Labels: Trasportation of the Week
Smell of the Week: Blok
Thursday, March 27, 2008
There has always been something quite perplexing about the smell of apartment buildings here in
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
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
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:
Inspector Shnoz
P.S. Is this bug friend or foe?
Posted byUnknown at 9:34 PM 2 comments
Shocking Update.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
It is with great regret that George Vaflington makes the following announcement:
George Vaflington, speaking in the third person, went to the dentist today. He did not receive good news. Since wooden teeth are not an option, George Vaflington will be cutting back on sweets and therefore vafli. Therefore, the post on Troya will be George Vaflington's last vafla post and last post under this pseudonym.
If anyone would like to pick up the weekly vafla post, please contact George Vaflington via carrier pigeon.
Goodnight, sweet prince.
-George "is totally serious" Vaflington
The Vaflometer ranks this post as 0.00000000
Posted byThomas at 5:05 PM 1 comments
Labels: resignation, wooden teeth
Vafla of the Week: Troya (Троя)
You're in your local shop after a long day reading your friends blogs, op-eds and most importantly not saving Bulgaria. The only thing that can make you feel better is the refreshment of a tasty vafla. Over course you want to buy the blue borovets vafla, but upon reaching into your pocket you find you only have 25 stotinki, leaving you 5 stotinki short of the cost of a borovets. It's times like these that you remember why the Peace Corps is so hard. You need a vafla to recover, but your plan of a borovets has been shattered... Suddenly, not knowing what to do, you begin to feel like you are back in the mid-nineties on an episode of "What Would You Do?" and Marc Summers is standing right behind you.
"Wha-wha-wha-what would you do?" Beg outside for 5 stotinki? No! You are a Peace Corps volunteer, you will not rob your community for your own guilty pleasures. Get it together, you know just what to do. Don't panic. Scan the vafla display to find one in your budget. Don't be disheartened by the row of costlier vafli. Keep searching, until... wait, what is that? Is that a 25 stotinki vafla? What is that brand?
That brand, my friends, is Troya, or Троя in Bulgarski. And this is what you reach for when 5 stotinki or 2.5 euro cents short of a blue borovets in Ani's magazine:
While a bargain, it does not come without compromise. For that 5 stotinki you lose out on 17 grams of vafla from the blue borovets (55 gr v. 38 gr). Still, sometimes you may not want all that borovets has to offer, and in that case you should go home. Other times you may be in the situation above in which you have no option but to buy the Troya, and in which case survival trumps economics. For scale, here it is next to a standard length martenitsa:
And the back:
The first thing I noticed upon inspection is that the chocolate layer is a little thin on top (visible in top picture). I could almost see through it to the vafla. This made me skeptical on the first bite. However, upon chomping away, I found a delightful consistent flavor. (sadly I forgot to take a ridiculous shot of me eating the vafla). Not as rich as the borovets, but then, what is? Certainly not Mike Huckabee after spending all that money on a failed campaign. Having tried other pricier vafli I have to say for the cost this is a mighty fine vafla. Not too filling, not too rich, but with a good blend of chocolate, wafers and heaven leading to a very satisfying vafla.
As you can see in the legally obtained promotional image above, Troya sports a standard 4:3 wafers to chocolate layers ratio, not including the chocolate shell. The layers are thin, and it's kind of like a wider obiknovena vafla with a thin coating of chocolate.
What's that Huck-ster? Ahh the label, right:
A fierce red package and all caps lettering might make you think it's some kind of energy bar or road flare. 100 grams of this vafla gives you 538 calories, I'll let ROCKY HEART tell us how much 38 grams will give you since George Vaflington can't count.
The package has a handy label telling you where to open it. Since this was for Science I opened it carefully in a different spot since I didn't want to tear the label. Still, this is a nice feature for our vafli impaired readers out there.
"вафла със страхотен вкус (phonetic: Vafla sus strahoten vkus) (direct translation: Vafla with horrible taste) (more accurate: vafla with an awesome taste)" This slogan, including all the translations (lie) is on the side of the package. I enjoy the slogan, mostly because I love the bulgarian word СТРАХОТЕН - if only because it doesn't translate directly. It's like how we say "dragons don't exist" and actually mean "dragons exist everywhere, especially in the hearts of the believers".
SUMMARY: Good taste, good bargain, intimidating label, all adding up to a "vawfully good bargain" or a solid 8.435 on the vaflometer.
vafli broke,
George "misses "What would you do?"" Vaflington
PS If you are wondering about the reflective inside, I contacted the company and discovered that the reflective foil interior is designed so that vafla consumers can line their roofs with the foil in order to signal to dragons in the high heavens that we still believe and will offer safe haven to any dragon that lands on our shiny roof. Try it.
Posted byThomas at 12:01 AM 1 comments
Labels: dragons, marc summers, Mike Huckabee, Vafli
pop! of the week: Lili Ivanova
Monday, March 24, 2008
Of course, I don't quite know what's going on here, but this has just got to be the swankiest party on this side of the curtain. Just check out the guy in the yellow shirt at 1:07:
Seriously though, Lili Ivanaova is a legend and she is amazing. She has been preforming since 1962, ending a two year career as a nurse here in the Razgrad Hospital. She IS Bulgaria's most famous pop star! Check out this hit (and the retro Bulgarian television program!) from 1968:
"Nespokoino Sartse" in Leningrad in 1968
As is necessary for any true pop star, Lili is a transformer. Check out these clips from the 1980's
Ti me povika (LIVE) 1987
Woman in Love
Which brings us to today:
Next week: mafia, crime, Russians, murder, Chalga and....Newsweek?! don't miss it!
Posted byshizzaun at 11:33 PM 2 comments
