Confusing? Welcome to my new world here in Sofia, Bulgaria!
Abbie and I have joined Slavy (my Bulgarian friend from training) and Ashey (a senior consultant who has worked for the company for awhile) to wrap up the Bulgaria project, which has been going pretty poorly for the past five months. While Bulgaria is in the same general region as Croatia so there are certainly many similarities, Bulgaria is truly unique in its culture and business environment. Companies rarely answer their phones, and it is impossible to find meeting addresses. However, we managed to double the turnover of the project (that has lasted for five months) in one day this week, so we definitely came in with a bang! Abbie, Ashley, and I sold a Greek bank that wanted to improve its stereotype as a weak Greek business to foreign investors. Cha-ching! Abbie made consultant on the deal as well; I’m like a proud little mum. We celebrated with champagne and a stellar dinner out!
Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia
Bulgaria does have many positives. For one thing, it is undoubtedly the cheapest country I have ever been to. The Bulgarian lev is 2-1 to the Euro, so all prices are cut in half. For example, a latte at Starbucks is 1.50, not 3 euro like usual, and taxis are ridiculous (I’m talking 15-minute drive for 2 euro). The hotel we are staying in is wonderful as well – free mini bar, stereo system in my huge bathroom, huge windows overlooking Sofia, living area, gym, hot tub access (where the girls and I have taken our mini bar items to many nights…) Also, having a Bulgarian friend here as our “PR” has made our job so much easier – she schedules meetings, networking events, etc. for us, and also speaks Bulgarian to the majority of the population who don’t understand English. Furthermore, socially the people here are pretty open. Abbie and I were in a coffee shop during our first day getting some work done one afternoon, and FIVE different people came up to us to give us their numbers after hearing us speaking English. They were Bulgarians, Americans, English…all living in Sofia offering to show us around if we wanted them to.
Ashley (also a native Virginian) and I were able to show Abbie and Slavy a true Thanksgiving meal after meeting up with the PR liaison of the American Embassy here in Bulgaria. He took us to a local restaurant where he knows the owner, who cooked up 4 turkeys, mashed potatoes, cooked veggies, stuffing, gravy…even pumpkin pie! It was wonderful and I was so fortunate to celebrate an amazing American holiday with my new international friends.
Happy Thanksgiving from Eastern Europe!
The Bulgaria team had one free “excursion” left from the car rental company they had been using before us, so we took a trip to Rila Monastery, about two hours outside of Sofia. Rila Monastery was built in the 10th century, and is named after the famous Bulgarian saint and hermit Ivan of Rila, who lived in a cave with no material possessions while the monastery was being built by his students who would visit the sacred man. The monastery is located in the Rila mountains as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the famous Rafail’s Cross is also housed. Made out of a single piece of wood, it was created by a monk named Rafail, and took 12 years to make – once it was completed, Rafail completely lost his sight. It and the monastery were amazing to see – we also checked out the sister convent and tried traditional Bulgarian fare inside the small village of Rila
Running around in the rain at Rila Monastery
I feel as if I could go on and on about the differences of my new home here in this post-Communist country, but this will be all for now. Perhaps it will be better to tell everyone in person in 3 short weeks when I will be back in my real home! Ciao Ciao for now!
P.S. The title of this post says “Republic of Bulgaria”, just in case you can’t read Cyrillic.
