Boyana

Whenever a friend comes to Sofia, we give the obligatory tour of the sites of Sofia. Which is not very time-consuming. So, when our friend from Korea visited this past week for four days, we couldn't just stay downtown the whole time.
Our original plan was to go to Veliko Tarnovo for a day trip. BH and I are horrible at getting up early, however, so this morphed into a shorter day trip to the Boyana church out by the Vitosha mountains. Close enough that you can take a cheap taxi, but away from the pollution of the center. Perfect.
Normally, a ticket would cost ten leva, but BH and Myoae were given the free ticket for deaf individuals, and I got the cheap two leva student rate.
The church is from the 10th century. Really old. The outside is not that impressive, but I'll post a picture regardless:

The church is home to frescoes painted in the 13th century, and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. Because of their age, we were not allowed to take pictures, or even stay in the church longer than ten minutes. A Bulgarian scholar gave us a tour, and explained the meanings of the frescoes and naming all of the saints depicted. I was surprised that this wasn't an orthodox church, because it was built before the schism. Of course, those who attended the church after the schism probably belonged to the Bulgarian orthodox church, but I think this is the first pre-schism church I've seen.
The frescoes were beautifully painted, and the best example of Easter Renaissance art. So close to my apartment, and such a perfect day trip. However, the end of the tour gave me a slightly sour taste in my mouth. The guide asked us our religions, and I said I grew up Lutheran, BH Buddhist, and our friend said she was atheist. The guide said that this was ridiculous. That there is no such thing. She went off on this lecture about the importance of religion, and I had to translate to my friends. How is this any of her business?

Pernik Kukeri Festival

Over the weekend, I had a surprise birthday party for BH, and he was definitely surprised. We had originally planned to have just the two of us go out for dinner, but I wanted to throw something fun. A lot of the Fulbrighters came, and a bunch of our Bulgarian friends. It was a blast. The Bulgarians taught us a bunch of parlor games, and, mixed with various American style drinking games, it was quite a fiesta.
The following day, Saturday, we went to Pernik, which is 20 kilometers to the east of Sofia. The city was hosting their annual Kukeri Festival, which is something you need to see if you are in Bulgaria the last month of January.
Kukeri is a Bulgarian ritual where men and women dress up in scary costumes to frighten evil spirits. Apparently, however, you can just dress up however you want. This means a lot of cross dressing, Halloween masks, and amazing costumes.

Dreaming Politics

Last night, I had an incredibly vivid and odd dream. I was the host of the Bulgarian parliament in my apartment. Only 14 MPs showed up, but it didn't matter. According to the National Assemblies constitution, we could still get on with our legislation. Perez Hilton, or maybe Azis, was the chairman of parliament, and we started our debate on the first item on the agenda: wiretapping. (Right now, there is a huge Bulgarian scandal, nicknamed tapegate, that involves the Prime Minister and his phone conversations with various people)
Anyways, after discussing the pros and cons of spying on other MPs, we got on to the second issue. Suddenly, the minister of finance declared his resignation. There was an uproar. Instead of appointing a new minister, we had this ridiculous conversation about our next paycheck. How could we get money without our finance minister? Perez Hilton was furious. I was busy getting everybody drinks.
I woke up confused and amused. Bulgarian politics are invading my dreams now. Wonderful.

Why it's wonderful to study Bulgarian politics...

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, is currently on a diplomatic mission to Japan. Apparently they have pretty decent bilateral relations. The subject of Islamic extremism came up, and the recent bombings in Moscow. When asked if Bulgaria has good relations with its neighbors in the Middle East, Borisov responded with a resounding yes. This is his quip: "We maintain friendly relations with Palestine, with all Arab countries. The Arab world is doing business in Bulgaria; there is a doner kebab on every street corner."
If only diplomacy were that easy.

Bulgarian MPs Enjoy Dirty Sex Jokes On Top of Homosexual Claims

Since I'm studying Bulgarian politics, I try to keep up with domestic news. Sometimes it just kills me. Like this news story. (from novinite.com)

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A Bulgarian MP has admitted that his claims that he had been raped by a female colleague were a joke.
Emil Vasilev, a MP from the marginal conservative party RZS (Order, Law, Justice), which has been tangled in a bitter mudslinging exchange with the ruling party GERB, sent a letter to the media Saturday claiming that Iskra Fidosova, the Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the ruling center-right party GERB, raped him on October 22, in the men's restroom in the Parliament.
"I was brutally raped by Fidosova in the men's room. There is one cracked tile, and one of the sinks is unsteady as a result," Vasilev wrote threatening to appeal the case to the Prosecutor's Office and the unit for fighting organized crime.
The rape accusation was in the final paragraph of a long letter in which Vasilev refutes all claims that the leader of the RZS party Yane Yanev is homosexual.
Yanev has been accused publicly a number of times of being a homosexual by various persons, the latest case being of a former coordinator of his party, who even accused Yanev of sexual harassment. As early as the fall of 2009, the leader of the nationalist party Ataka Volen Siderov said Yanev must come out because his "secret" made him dependent and a potential victim of blackmail. Yanev's response was that Siderov should bring him his wife to check if he really was gay.
The letter, which was sent to the media from Vasilev's parliamentary email account, contains a long statement claiming that the ruling party GERB has had several plots to present Yanev as a homosexual to the public.
On Sunday, Vasilev said that he was not the actual author of the letter but that he liked it and backed it. He further stated that the accusations that Fidosova raped him were untrue and must be viewed with a sense of humor.
"As far as I understand Mrs. Fidosova is alive and well. If she had really raped me, my wife would have liquidated her by now," Vasilev said as cited by BGNES.
With respect to a recent incident, in which he allegedly hit the other Co-Chair of the GERB party group Krasimir Velchev in the parliamentary cafeteria, while Velchev was eating, Vasilev said that both co-chairs were interested in him.
"Velchev wants to fight me, while Fidosova wants other things...," he said winking.
Vasilev accused the media of succumbing to yellow journalism by publishing all the claims that his party's leader Yanev is homosexual at a moment when the RZS party accused the Interior Minister from GERB, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, of money laundering and secret ties with other political parties.
"I can assure you that Yanev has had a girlfriend for 5 years, and they have "spent" many nights togeher in his home. In the past 11 years I have never seen Yanev in any kind of homosexual situation," he said.

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Joking about man rape in parliament? Ridiculous. Great way to cover up someone's homosexuality. 

Pleven

BH spent the weekend in Paris, so, in order not to go crazy alone in Sofia, I made a last minute decision to see another city in Bulgaria and visit Sophia, another Bulgarian grantee, for the weekend. Pleven is north central Bulgaria, and about three hours from Sofia by train. I arrived around 11 pm, and Sophia and her friend picked me up at the train station, and, since it was a Friday, brought me straight to a club. Oh Bulgaria. Naturally, there are fewer clubs in Pleven than Sofia, but cheaper drink and a different atmosphere. Needless to say, we danced for a couple of hours, before crashing at Sophia's apartment.
The next day, we met up with one of Sophia's co-teachers for coffee and then a tour of the city. I was in high spirits, and realized how important it is for me to get out of the capital. Clean air, less ugly apartment buildings, and friendly people made for a fine trip. The city center had this great pedestrian only area, a must for any city.

Sophia and I in f

The city is most well known for the Siege of Pleven during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878. A lot of the monuments honor Russian generals and those who died defending Bulgaria. The highlight is the panorama, a huge 360 degree painting of the siege. Unfortunately, the building that houses the painting was built in a glorious modernist style.

Gross gross gross

After seeing the panorama, we had a great discussion about politics, history, and the way people view the history of the Balkans. Sophia's friend was such a good conversationalist, that having an open-minded discussion about the history and politics of southeast Europe made the trip. We just chatted for hours about everything.
The evening finished out with some bars and clubs in Pleven. And this scene.

Victoria Secret minus classy

The problem with popular clubs in Bulgaria is they tend to be Chalga clubs. This is a music style that I mostly cannot stand. Check out this music video if you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvpSrLLA8HY
Part of chalga is the importance of scantily clad women. Seriously. It is important. So they had women strutting on the stage all night.
By Sunday, I was ready to see my Sofia. Although it is kind of a dirty and ugly city, I still missed my apartment. Sophia gave me a great weekend. If anyone is planning to go to Pleven, make sure you take the train. During the day. The bus is faster, but then you would miss out on this view:

Perfect

Walking to Starbucks the other day, I bumped into this guy in a full business suit. He tried to ask me for directions or something in Bulgarian, but I didn't really understand what he was saying. He switched to English, and in the normal fashion asked what I was doing in Sofia and whether or not I liked it. After a quick chat and comment about how crazy Bulgarian politics are, he gave me the following card, just in case I was interested:

**** PERFECT ******

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRLS IN SOFIA!

Would you like a pretty

girl for pleasure at a place

convenient for you ?

THE BEST SERVICE! 

per 1 hour - 50 EUR

per night - 180 EUR

The back of the card had a picture of a woman, asking if I wanted a top model at my place. Crazy. Living in Eastern Europe, I guess you kind of get used to this. The other day, I was walking home from the bus station, and a woman asked me something in Bulgarian. I asked her to repeat, and she, in English, said 'saxophone sex'. I'm not really sure what that means... I'm curious if this happens to most of the guys living in Sofia. Hopefully I don't look like I'm stalking the streets for a night walker.