The days are much warmer now. The cold nights mean it's still coat weather, but all of the cafes have set their tables outside, I played the year's first outdoor game of basketball last night, and that means things are looking spring like. But it's not there yet. There aren't flowers on the trees, the grass may be green, but it isn't thick. Basically, I have no representative photos here. This weekend I'll go out and get a few. I'll make a big walking tour of Silistra. Should be fun, all the leafless tress and flowerless gardens. But there will be people, and maybe clear skies. So that should count for something.
With the lager numbers of walkers, I've been getting "Hey! What's--up--man?" yelled at me from across streets a lot more recently. This only happens with groups of people, is usually followed by giggles from the group the person is trying to impress, and continues a strange trend I've noticed among dead-end twenty-something Bulgarians: they think they're geniuses for doing stuff that, while not exactly stupid, doesn't make any damn sense. When somebody yells "Hey! What's--up--man?" with the intonation sounding like each syllable is a kidney stone they're trying to get out, what does that accomplish exactly? Are they trying to prove they know four whole words of English? Are they making fun of me for speaking English? I don't know.
Maybe it all comes down to a recent string of ads for one of Bulgaria's mobile companies--M-Tel. In the ads, set outside various discos in the midst of a snowy winter, a group in their late teens/early twenties mocks various bouncers without prior conversations or provocation. The strange thing is, the bouncers don't react until after the group has gone away. For example--One of the ads begins with a banana dragging through the snow. The bouncer follows it with his eyes until his gaze arrives on the group dragging the banana by a string. The group laughs and the lead guy makes a monkey motion with his arms. Laughing hysterically, the group drape their arms on each others' shoulders and walk off. No words are ever exchanged and the ad closes with the bouncer scrathing his head in a way that could be seen as chimp-like.
Again, it's an action without purpose, provocation, or result. The point of making fun of somebody or insulting somebody is to see them get carried away, to become offended to the point where you understand that what you've said or done means something to them, and the comedy--if you find this stuff funny--should come from the ease of overreaction. The guy getting red in the face just because you, a nobody, did something to make him angry.
None of this works if there's no reaction, or a confused look, which explains why the fake doubled-over, hysterical hyena cackle is so common around here. If what you've done isn't funny, you'd best convince your entourage that it is, and in a hurry too. Otherwise, you won't be the leader of an unemployed pack whose purpose is to yell catchphrases at foreigners they don't know.
Anyway, back to me. With the advent of basketball, the evenings suddenly became a lot busier this week. And despite (or maybe because of. I I don't know) what seems like constant exercise, I've hit a tired wall on Thursday. Maybe it's because I haven't squeezed in an afternoon nap. I'm not sure. Whatever the case may be, as soon as my head hits the pillow I've been out this week. I'm tired right now! And I still have the best of St. Patrick's Day ahead of me--without the first day of March Madness of course, but we can't ask for everything. Go Bruins!
Posted by Rob at March 17, 2005 07:23 PM