LG's Excellent PC Adventure

I haven't noticed an awful lot of cultural dissimilarity between Bulgaria and the U.S. which probably means that I'm just not very observant. However, I have picked up on a few differences which bear noting. These, of course, are the terribly misleading head bob, the vastly superior rhozden den, the totally unacceptable sequential meal service in restaurants and the dreaded tuhchenie.

In all the known world nodding one's head up and down signifies a positive response or reaction. In short, it means 'yes'. In Bulgaria, however, it means 'no' and it means a quite adamant 'no' at that. The opposite is also true, turning one's head from side to side may be negative in all the world but in Bulgaria it represents an enthusiastic 'yes'. I was on a train last week and was in a cabin with just one other occupant, a young woman. The train pulled into the next station and more passengers got on. A man came down the aisle, stuck his head into our cabin and asked if the unoccupied seats were available. I looked up from my book and nodded. He looked slightly put out and walked on down the aisle. The young woman looked positively alarmed until she talked to me and realized that I wasn't Bulgarian. We each had some room to stretch out in so it wasn't a total disaster. Eventually, even PCVs begin to bob and nod in the Bulgarian fashion, which leads to confusion of a different sort. You see, Bulgarians are very aware of their uniqueness in the head gestures department and, sometimes, if they know you're a foreigner, they'll switch meanings to accommodate you. Then, the only way to determine which answer is being given is to watch the index finger on the right hand. No matter which way they move their heads, a 'no' is almost always accompanied by an abrupt shaking of the right index finger.

Rhozden dens are birthdays. In the U.S. people above a certain age tend to downplay their birthdays as though bringing attention to the event is tantamount to soliciting gifts or parties. In Bulgaria the tradition is for you to treat everyone you know to candy, cake, wine and food on your birthday. It's as if you were saying, "Hey, this is my special day and I want you to help me celebrate!!" Here there is no cultural need to ignore the day, on the contrary you are required to announce it and expected to lead in the celebrations. It's always a treat when a colleague bursts into the office carrying a tray of candy and announcing, "It's my birthday, have some candy. We'll have wine this afternoon." Birthdays and 'Name Days' are very special occasions and are never ignored. Your Name Day is the day of the Saint you were named after. It's treated just like your birthday and, again, you are expected to lead in the celebrations, not hang back modestly and hope someone else remembers it.

In restaurants, meals are served as soon as they are ready. In a party of four the first meal may come out in ten minutes and the last might not be served until forty minutes later! Even when two people order the same dish, there is no guarantee that one won't be served immediately and the other forced to wait another half an hour for his meal. This kind of service would lead to rioting in the States, but here it, apparently, isn't even recognized as odd. No one ever waits for the others to get their meals because there is no way to predict when that might happen. As soon as your meal arrives, you start to eat. Everyone expects you to start and it isn't considered impolite to do so.

My language tutor, Darina, was the first to alert me to the potentially fatal dangers of the tuchenie. We use my apartment for our lessons and she sat on the couch one hot day wearing a jacket and all but shivering. It had to have been in the eighties in my apartment, the only thing making it bearable was the cross-breeze from the two open terrace doors, so I asked her if she was feeling alright or was she ill. She said she felt fine, so far, but wasn't I aware of the tuchenie? There was a tuchenie in the room and I was oblivious to it. I looked around a bit nervously for something that might sting, bite or chew it's way through my heart. I didn't see it and Darina finally asked me if I would close either of the two doors. Apparently, with one door closed the dreaded tuchenie would be rendered harmless. Bulgaria gets hot in the Summer. Airconditioning is not as prevalent here as in the States. Rooms become stuffy and overly warm. Someone opens a window to let in some air and you, a few minutes later, go open an opposite window to let a cooling breeze waft through the room. Are you insane!! You've just let in the dreaded tuchenie. It is a well known and accepted fact that any draft or breeze through a room will result in your immediate illness and possible death. One open window is all that is necessary as long as nothing else is open to create a draft. 'Tuchenie' is the word for draft and it is malignant in meaning. There doesn't seem to be a Bulgarian word for pleasant cooling breeze. I have two terraces or balconies in my apartment. One faces east and the other south. If I open both doors, I get a very lovely cross-breeze through the living room which makes my couch a perfect place to take a nap on a hot weekend day. This, my colleagues inform me, is like playing Russian Roulette with all the chambers loaded. So, the next time you open doors or windows to create a lovely breeze through your home on a hot day, remember the tuchenie and wear your mittens!

A final small cultural difference I've noticed is the requirement to establish everyone's age and a woman's weight. Within minutes of meeting people, it is very common to begin asking, not only your age, but the ages of everyone you know. Ages of every relative you have must be announced. Weight, especially for women, is also a subject of profound interest. It's difficult to imagine meeting a woman in the States and asking her to state her age and weight to a group of people she doesn't know, but it's happened to most of my friends here. In one private home, a scale was dragged out and the women took turns weighing each other. These people, as with all Bulgarians, had a tv so they weren't just looking for a way to kill time in the evening. I don't really know why there isn't much interest in finding out how much men weigh, but we're generally exempted from the 'let's weigh each other' game.

By and large, Bulgarians are warm, generous, well-educated and very welcoming. The cultural differences between them and Americans are small and interesting rather than large and divisive. In my own experience, people in the smaller villages are easier to get to know, but people in the cities are every bit as friendly and interested in you once you do meet them. I think some of the small differences will, unfortunately, disappear as Bulgaria enters the EU and becomes more "European". I am confident, however, that Bulgaria will always be an outpost of vigilance against the dreaded tuchenie.