Alaskan Bulgarian

The Elderly and Other Strange Things

Owen, over at LL, had quite an adventure. Not that he's elderly or anything, but what happened to him was certainly disturbing, and I'm certainly glad he made it out of his scrape with just a welt. Eastern Europe can be hazardous at times. Knock on wood, nothing has happened to me in Bulgaria. But that certainly doesn't mean it couldn't.

Things have happened to a couple of volunteers; It's mostly pickpocketings, but a couple of assaults have been thrown in, too, unfotunately. However, if you think about it statistically, we're just as--or as near as--safe here as we are in the U.S. Granted, we spend most of our time in our sites with the community we know. A person is usually pretty safe among friends. It's when volunteers go to the big cities that bad things usually happen, so I suppose Owen in St. Pete's can expect the occasional hard time.

And it's not just the "It Takes a Village" mentality that protects us. The Peace Corps does every conceivable thing to keep us safe. We have a giant vault door and guards at headquarters, we've had hundreds of checklists to make sure our cities are American-proof, and we've had about 20 hours or so in lectures on safety. Most of the lectures have dully boiled down to common sense, but none of us are freely handing over cell phones to drunkards (sorry Owen, I had to), so I figure it did some good.

One of the things they told us in the lectures was to get to know our neighbors. I haven't been going to nightly parties, but my neighbors knew my name and I knew theirs. There was a thud in my stomach, then, when I learned that Rada, my downstairs neighbor, had passed away at 83 two days ago. I admit I didn't know her too well. We did the usual greeting with my usual answers (name, hometown, height, shoe size) and gave cordial "hello"s when we passed each other on the stairs. She seemed like a nice woman, and it's a pity I didn't get to know her better.

In fact, I learned about her passing only when the lid of a coffin appeared in the middle of the stairwell. At first, I read this as some kind of omen and took the rest of the day pretty easy, watching for cars, drunk people with 2x4s, etc. Only when the standard Bulgarian memorial leaflet and black ribbon appeared on the door did I finally figure out what was going on. I'm assuming there was some kind of wake in her apartment, allowing guests to pass in and bid her last respects. I didn't go in myself. Although I knew her a little, I didn't know her family at all. I didn't think an appearance by the American upstairs was called for or necessary.

After what I assume was the reception last night, the lid disppeared today. I was a little grateful for its being gone. Every time I went down the stairs I only saw the shape of an upright coffin straring at me. It's an unsettling sight, even when it's expected. Even with the coffin gone, the paper memorial will still be on the door, and I'll still remember what little I knew of Rada.

Truth is, my building is full of pensioners like Rada, and I think that's part of the reason why I haven't made too many good friends there. It's quiet, sure, and everyone keeps to themselves, but I think the pensioners are a little frightened of me, despite every attempt to be as kind and gentle as I can be. It's hard becoming a gentle giant when the first impression given is of the big guy clomping up the stairs.

Apart from a certain lack of great friends, the building's other disadvantage is that it isn't what you would call hi-tech. There's a cable hook-up sure, but from the mission I went on today, I should apparently be glad to have that. Intrigued by a conversation with a couple of 12 grade students today, I asked them to come around to the cable companies and see if I could ge a cable modem connection. They were both pretty certain that I could. Well, we went to the two companies and had no luck at all. Both suggested that they'd build connections after the "bad weather clears." But the sun could come out tomorrow and shine clear through to May and I wouldn't hold my breath. They gave me the idea that nothing would be happening for some time, and I'd be willing to believe that from the way I've seen bureaucracy work here. So, it's the internet club for me, which gets me out in the air, anyway.

Oh, also, I've decided to keep the Greece series going bit by bit. Today: Strays. Enjoy.

Posted by Rob at January 8, 2004 04:35 PM