Historical Bulgarian of the Week - Todor Jivkov:
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Todor Hristov Jivkov (or "Toдор Xpиcтoв Живков" in Bulgarian) was born on the 7th of September in the year of 1911 in the city of Pravets, (Shaded area on the map below). He lived until he was 87 years old, passing away on the 5th of August in 1998.
Todor was the first secretary of the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party's Central Committee. He started in the year 1954 and continued until 1989. He was than President of Bulgaria from 1971 until 1989. Serving 35 years as the ruler of Bulgaria made the longest-serving of any leaders in any of the Soviet-bloc nations in Eastern Europe.
Legend has it that he was the son of poor peasants. He went into Sofia as a child and joined a youth league that was outlawed by the Communist party called the "Komsomol".
He slowly gained in position in the party and during World War II he helped to organize the resistance movement known as the People's Liberation Insurgent Army. After the war, in 1951, when there was instated the Soviet backed communist government, he became a full member of the Politburo.
From 1951 until the early sixties he quickly rose in position and status whereas by 1962 to 1971 Jivkov was premier of Bulgaria. Towards the latter years of his life he was voted president of the State Council that formed Bulgaria's constitution.
Jivkovs beliefs followed closely to those of the Soviet Union in regards to domestic policy and foreign affairs. Jivkov was a pretty decent leader, at least monetarily, and the standard of living rose substantially.
In 1989, after the fall of the many communist governments in Eastern Europe, Jivkov resigned. Then arrested in January 1990 and he was convicted of embezzlement in 1992 be handed a seven years prison sentence.
However, proof that "old Commies die hard", he came back and in 1998 he, like many other former Bulgarian communist leaders, became a member of the Socialist Party. He passed away that very same year.
Jivkov has made a mark on the Bulgarian political scene, being a major part of it for nearly 40 years, and is one of Bulgarias most known politicians. Thanks for reading, I hope you all have a happy Saturday.
Take care.
-Kashcaval Pane
PS- To show you the wonderful powers of Google, when I went searching for pictures of Mr. Jivkov I found the item pictured below... Mr. Todor Jivkovs signature?!?!?
Posted byPavel at 8:20 PM 1 comments
Labels: Bulgarian History
Bulgarian smell of the Week: Natural Gas (aka propane, газ, juice, happy air, smelly air, Earth Day, tree hugger)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Driving in
You can tell by the smell. If you have ever been camping in a trailer or motor home you know what I am talking about. It is a smell that is much cleaner than the exhaust we are used to smelling coming out of the back of our SUV’s and boat cars. And it being Earth Day this Tuesday here is what greencar.com has to say about it:
“Propane is rapidly establishing itself as an important alternative fuel in the transportation sector because of its impressive environmental benefits and inherent cost advantages over gasoline, diesel, and other alt-fuels. It isn’t a direct greenhouse gas when released into the air. Current measurements have not found a global climate impact from propane emissions (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-IPCC). Compared to conventional fuel sources, propane generates fewer GHG emissions in almost every application. At the point of use, it has a lower carbon content than gasoline, diesel, heavy fuel oil, or even biodiesel and ethanol.”
Of course not very many cars that have this natural gas apparatus were produced with it. It is common to see it on the older, less efficient ones. So it had to be installed at some point, usually costing about $400. Which is just a bit below the average monthly wage of someone working in
Gasoline in
| Fuel Facts | | |
| | | |
| Gasoline | | |
| Cost per gallon | $ 6.00 | $ 3.42 |
| Kilometers per gallon | 26 | 26 |
| Cost for 100 KM | $ 23.08 | $ 13.15 |
| | | |
| Propane | | |
| Cost per gallon | $ 3.25 | $ 1.55 |
| Kilometers per gallon | 38 | 38 |
| Cost for 100 KM | $ 8.59 | $ 5.00 |
| | | |
| Cost of conversion kit | $ 400.00 | $ 1,000.00 |
| | | |
| Distance to recover cost of switching to propane | 5529 KM | 21000 KM |
| | | |
| *Figures are in USD | | |
I have a friend with a car that gets 26 kilometers/gallon with gas here. So with that mileage a car it would cost $23.08 to drive 100 kilometers (vs $13.15 with the same fuel economy in the States). For propane however, it costs about $3.25 a gallon here in
So the benefits on this one definitely outweigh the costs barring other unforeseen factors including the price of gas and the price of propane. But if you don’t drive much like me, I would not recommend buying one of those doodads based on cost alone. However, if you are trying to save the earth you should buy one for yourself and a friend.
Posted byUnknown at 11:43 PM 0 comments
Bulgarian Graffiti / Architecture of the week: Karlovo Municipality
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
After a bit of a wait I am back and ready to dish the dirt on some interesting Bulgarian architecture.
Most of the structures, monuments and buildings we see in Bulgaria today, were constructed durring communist times or prior. These tend to introduce materials like stone, concrete and marble. This creates a very cold, unnatural, sometimes non modern and maybe even less inviting feeling. As a designer, I must say that the architecture follows the "form over function" approach.......meaning it was desigend to be seen rather then the form supporting the function of the structure or building.
Wouldnt you know, Karlovo has the perfect example of this same idea. The Municipality of Karlovo is a beautiful building with mosaic artwork on the front outside wall, large windows and an opportunity to break your hip at every turn. The entrance to the building is a bit of a law suit ready to happen...............wait this is Bulgaria, Ok its just a death trap. The entrance is created by two inclines up to a large platform above the sidewalk. This platform stretches the length of the entry area and then meets another incline that leads to the front door. Sounds Nice.........Oh you think so?
What is the problem with this you may ask............
Problem # 1: The Inclines and platform are made out of white smooth marble. This looks very nice and fancy but imagine a rainy or snowy day with ice on the ground, and then imagine the type of shoes women wear in this country. Walking up an incline made of smooth marble in inclament weather in spike heals or any for that matter says "I'd like one broken neck please." Thankfully during the winter the Municipality put down a mat for us to walk on but it didnt keep everyone from biting the dust (or marble in this case) a few times this year.
Problem # 2: The platform is about 3 feet above the sidewalk without a railing.....Meaning you could just walk right off a three foot drop. Lets add a broken leg and or arm to this equation. When Valya from the COD program staff came to visit me last month I turned around just before she started to step off the ledge. It was a close one. I motioned her to the incline of death to get down from the platform.
The Municipality building in Karlovo is no exception to structural misshapps that are typical with Communist architecture.
Suggested Signage
Posted byCindy Lou at 9:33 PM 0 comments
pop! of the week: djelem djelem
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(sorry i have not seen you for a while. things get crazy.)
On April 8th, Roma people all of the world celebrated the international day of the Roma. It was a big celebration here in Bulgaria with concerts in almost every village with a Roma population. The festive atmosphere disguises the fact that it is a day to commemorate the over 500,000 Roma that were killed during the holocaust. The following lyrics are the translated lyrics (from Romani)of Djelem Djelem, which is the hymn for this day:
Djelem Djelem::
I have travelled over long roads
I have met fortunate Roma
I have travelled far and wide
I have met lucky Roma
Oh, Romani adults, Oh Romani youth
Oh, Romani adults, Oh Romani youth
Oh, Roma, from wherever you have come
With your tents along lucky roads
I too once had a large family
But the black legion murdered them
Come with me, Roma of the world
To where the Romani roads have been opened
Now is the time - stand up, Roma,
We shall succeed where we make the effort.
Oh, Roma adults, Oh, Roma youth
Oh, Roma adults, Oh, Roma youth.
All the following songs are sung in Romani, the offical language of the Roma people.
Esma Redzepova (the queen) - djelem djelem
A very interesting version of djelem djelem that shows pictures of the holocaust history that the song remembers. (be carful...some of these pictures are rather serious....)
Jazz rendition of djelem djelem
Posted byshizzaun at 10:56 AM 1 comments
B-22 Interview of the Week - Hello Roger!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Roger Schrader. I am 23 years old.
What led you to join the Peace Corps?
It is a long story but I will try to keep it short. During my senior year in university I decided that I wanted to do my Masters in International Affairs/Relations. The schools that I had looked at wanted applicants to have at least 9 months of overseas experience. My university has a program where you can work overseas for a year teaching English. I looked at this and at the Peace Corp. I asked a poli sci professor who I have a good relationship with what she thought and she said “If you join the Peace Corp you can write your ticket to any grad program and any job.” This was a nice ringing endorsement,
and, after looking at the Peace Corp a little more closely, it appeared that the Peace Corp would be a good match with my background as well as humanitarian leanings. I applied, got in and now here I am.Have these desires been met? Do you feel that your Peace Corps experience is fulfilling the reasons you wished to join?
As of now, yes. I am learning a lot and the experience, although tough at times, has been good. I have learned much more about myself, what I can handle for example, than I ever thought I would. I feel I am gaining experiences that I am going to be able to apply to the rest of my life.
What were your initial reactions to hearing you would be going to Bulgaria?
My first reaction was “It is about time they told me where I was going”. This was closely followed by: “Bulgaria. That sounds familiar. Where is it again?”.
Where are you from? How is it different from where you are now?
I am from Owego, in Upstate NY, population, ummm I am not sure. I have been telling people it is about 3000. However, it is really small. Where I am living now has a little different feel than my hometown. For one there are more young people here than my hometow
n, but like my hometown there are not a lot of people my age around.This is not the biggest difference. That would be the mount
ains. Where I live now is at the base of one of the Bulgarian mountain ranges. Upstate New York has hills and nothing close to the mountains that I see every day.What exactly do you do?/Where do you work?
I work at a small youth NGO. We have a strong focus on exchanges with youth from other parts of the EU and Turkey. In addition, we have done projects covering environmental issues and AIDS/HIV awareness.
Are there any projects you are working on at the moment? Tell us about it.
Currently I am preparing for a youth exchange Turkey, the theme of which is body language and cross-cultural communication. We have two other projects i
n the works; one addressing violence in the schools and another on traffic safety, as well as another youth exchange in Lativa at the end of this month. On May 10th we are having American Culture Day. Kids from the language school Intellect are doing projects on American culture, some of which wil
l be displayed. There will be a guest from the American Embassy as well as a food display. In the summer, plans are in the works for a youth conference on ATIP in SWhat do you eat?
Lots and lots of banitsa. There is this stand in the center that sells if for 0.80st a piece and we are not talking small pieces either. These t
hings are about the size of a slice of pizza and not personal pan pizza either. It is some of the best banitsa I have ever had. Rice is easy to make so I have that a lot a long with mixed veggies or chicken. Fruit is still fairly cheap so I try to get my lazy self to the bazaar regularly enough to have fresh fruit on a regular basis. O, I almost forgot. Princeska sandwiches. These things are heart attacks on a slice of bread but they a very easy to make and lately I have been eating a lot of them.I cook most of my meals if you want to call them meals. But for lunch I usually get bantisa or a hot dog or go to the Stol. Good food for reasonable prices. I cannot argue with that.
What do you do in your spare time? If you read, what book are you reading now? Would you recommend it?
Are there any hobbies you sought out here that you didn't do in the states?
If these questions had been asked about two months ago, I would have told you it was playing Tomb Raider on my psp. I put that away as i
t was proving far too addictive and replaced it with reading and watching Stargate (yes, I am that geek). Currently I am rereading James Clavells Asian Saga. I had read the books in high school and I had remembered that they were really good. The Peace Corp library had the one that I was not able to read then so around Christmas time I snatched it up ad read it. Then it was just a matter of reading the rest of them. Right now I am on ‘Gai-Jin’.It is a great book with good story lines and complex characters. The one thing that really appeals to me about these books is that, like I said, the characters are complex. It is hard to say that there are bad guys and good guys as everyone has their own competing agendas. Something that I have been meaning to do for a long time is to get back into some sort of an exercise program. I eventually was able to track down some guys that go to the gym on a fairly regular basis, so a few times a week, after work I have been going there. I end u
p being rather sore the next days but it is great times. They are great guys and I it might actually be making me healthy :D Posted byWil Dalton at 9:21 AM 0 comments
