I thought i would start this topic so we could share what great friends we have met in Bulgaria,English and Bulgarian,Myself and Heather have met some great Bulgarian people that are now our very close friends,their life is great and we have now started living their life,and it is great,their way of life is very differant but very nice,we have just been invited to a wedding in Sofia,it is the daughter of a local businessman that i have been working for,to be part of their life is great,and we both love it,We have some great british friends here also,today we had a real old fashioned barbque with some of our brit friends,and a t bone steak each,not bad very tasty,life here is what you make it,but be very careful what friends you make,as we have both found out like in England Brits get into what we call clicks,stear clear that is not the way to go here,look after your Bulgarian friends and you will do just great,they really cant do enough to help you,and believe me they will be your best friends

:Good post:Mike. We too have make some wonderful Bulgarian friends. When we are there we are invited to everything that goes on and our friend Krassi, when he visits the village, he has loads of work to do himself but he still fines the time to come over and help with whatever we are doing. Fantastic people. Would like to spend some time there, we just need to get Dougie's health problems sorted first. Perhaps we can look at a 6 month period next year.

Oddy

Good luck to you guys for making friends, as for me I am afraid to say after 4 and a half years here and helping everyone I can in the village I would count 20% as friends. Bulgarian and Turkish! Also I am afraid the English I have had dealings with do not fare any better. Maybe I am doing something wrong? but the this little village seems to have a background feud going on all the time between people, so but my trust of people has been seriously eroded since I have lived here.

That's very sad to hear Dave but I do understand where your coming from lets hope it gets better for you and your life gets richer with nice folk

Thanks Scott. but no real problem just disappointed with the double standards of the people we have mixed with. You don't get friends overnight any where it takes time and a little commitment. I am not in a rush to start any new 'friendships' it has just cost us a lot of money and stress.

:Very sad:Ah diddles, we will be you friends

Oddy

Hi,

not sure what to make of this, other than the idea of it is great! I think it is like anywhere in the world good and bad in all places. English expats here yes have the clicks and if you dont become apart of it (like me) get very quickly singled out, however i am from a village and lived in compounds when in other countries too so realise this is really part of any small community, its life. Seems understandably exagerated here because maybe without knowing we expect more from our fellow expats or maybe hope for more and get very disappointed when we realise those ones we are trying to avoid back in the local bar in uk perched on the stool at the end of the bar is actually in the local car wash twitching the curtains there whilst grabbing the beer bottles for the others ..... if you get me. BUt i have met the odd really nice genuine ones to which are hard to come by because they also stay away from the clicks.

As for the locals, like most people in my life i take them at face value and like every nation are good and bad in all. In general i prefer the mountain locals then the coastal locals, bit like i prefer people from the north of the country than the south, but then someone will say the opposite so i guess the point i am trying to get across each to there very own. I am chuffed i have some good friends in uk and here, however it takes more than a year to know a true friend. So dont count your friends to quickly.....

The less time you have known someone and the nicer they are only gives me suspicion. not being negative just practical. and not because i am in bulgaria niether, but my husband who is bulgarian will keep most at arms length!
goods friends, i have and think i am lucky to have so when i am only 25! they are hard to come by......regardless of location

We are lucky I suppose. We have a limited selection of friends in BG. But our Bulgarian friends are by far the best. We have had a couple of dodgy friendships over the past couple of years, British people and the least said about it the better. We are as far as we know the only English in our Village and long may it remain so :Great:We know of a village near to us (never been there) where there is a vast amount of English etc. and the tales we hear from the Bulgarians makes us less than proud at times.

It takes time to know people so a small amount of good friends is the lesson of the day

All very good experiences and I love the fact that there is real honesty in them so keep them coming this is a marvelous topic

I guess i am lucky in that my wife is Bulgarian, and before moving to England in 1999 had a very large circle of very good friends (one or two are more like very close sisters to her) mainly in Pomorie and Karlova, but also some scattered throughout Bulgaria. All of these friends have welcomed me with open arms and treat me as if they have always known me, and in fact I can honestly say that I have many more friends there than I have in England ( even though I sometimes struggle to comunicate with them, it does not seem to make any difference). If Tanya goes out there without me they are always asking after me.
I am going out for the whole of July and very much looking forward to the long awaited holiday, and in time the permenant move over.

It's real nice to hear all this positive stuff about Bulgaria on some other forums they don't have a good word to say about Bulgarians so keep it up folks

sarah

Sarah wrote:

It's real nice to hear all this positive stuff about Bulgaria on some other forums they don't have a good word to say about Bulgarians so keep it up folks

sarah

but its worth noteing all the "
positive stuff "
as you put it ,has been posted by members who do NOT live full time in Bg ... or if they do ..have only been here a relativly SHORT time.........Id love to be able to read if they are still of the same mind ,a few years down the line !

my thoughts exactly,

LittleSteps wrote:

my thoughts exactly,

varnagirl wrote:

Sarah wrote:

It's real nice to hear all this positive stuff about Bulgaria on some other forums they don't have a good word to say about Bulgarians so keep it up folks

sarah

but its worth noteing all the "
positive stuff "
as you put it ,has been posted by members who do NOT live full time in Bg ... or if they do ..have only been here a relativly SHORT time.........Id love to be able to read if they are still of the same mind ,a few years down the line !

Well maybe you 2 should put your thoughts hear so we all get a balanced view????

i have, if you look back! ;
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