First topic message reminder :

Since I am feeling angry with BTK today (see posts) it has set me wondering what other frustrations people living permanently in Bulgaria have. Lets get it out of our systems folks. :Headbang:Its been a long winter once again but before Spring arrives giving us all a new lease of life it might be an idea to let off some steam.

nu2bg wrote:

I remember a few months after I moved to Bulgaria I had a really hard time with homesickness. But it didn’t last long and you start to see the awesomeness of where you are and what’s going on around you, along with all the cool new people you meet.

you do .? really ? wow ,hope for me yet ,as im still waiting

Frustrations of life in Bulgaria
I think this whole thread should be sent to the British Ambassador in Sofia. He is new in office and what better induction than for him to know what his fellow countrymen/women are having to deal with and how frustrating it all is
I think this is a brilliant post and straight to the point. well done to all concerned

Just read all this and what a vision for others to be able to see how it is for real in Bulgaria, as said the honeymoon period being over is a eye opener for most of us but once you get past that then life really can be good.

What a good idea Willowsend. Well, I am still in good old Britain and enjoying myself hugely doing all the things that I could never do in Bulgaria. Its great but it is only a holiday and everyone is looking after me and TALKING TO ME! Do you know what? People think I am AMAZING. It made me feel so good about myself because living abroad can make you lose confidence with no-one to bounce off with your own brand of humour and conversation. No amount of integration can ever make up for this. It was the same in Canada and Greece where I had previously lived. This is not a criticism of the countries where I had a wonderful time, but it is something to consider if you are thinking of relocating permanently abroad. No-one is like us and, of course this applies to all countries culture and customs. The weather is great too which has helped. Spring has arrived in Britain, at least in the south where I am.

Sorry to go oldun but have you moved back to the uk????

No Andy but thanks for asking. I have been thinking about it due to certain things happening, but as soon as I start answering preoples' questions about 'why Bulgaria etc' I realise I am still enjoying life there. Strangely enough the optician lady was aking me why I lived in Bulgaria and it transpired that she was Slovakian and knew exactly what I was talking about. It was she who said I was amazing because she knew only too well what the 'frustrations' were of living in the Eastern Block! I had great respect for her because she was late 40s or even 50s and had made a good life for herself in Britain. I think we would have had such a great exchange of views had we met in a different situation. The other optician happened to be a youngish Greek (I recognised the accent) and was very surprised when I translated his name and asked him how he was in Greek!!! He knew my little Greek island. Isn't life full of conincidences - well if you take time to chat!

I can identify with most of the bureaucratic frustrations above, but mainly I get frustrated because you just CANNOT TRUST ANYONE to do a good job of work without literally supervising them every darn minute (and thus annoying them!).

I am talking as much about so-called tradesmen as the village roma. Everyone seems to think they can do any job properly. That is impossible in any country, let alone Bulgaria.

We do love the place, but let's have more training and less bravado, folks!

Having just arrived in BG, my biggest problem is finding DIY things, putty is difficult to get here and of course not knowing what the Bulgarians call it made it all the more difficult. The same goes for lots of other DIY items such as paint and hey, we wanted a bathroom sink and unit and there were 4 separate prices for the things on show, but what corresponded with the price I wondered. We ended up having no idea what they were trying to tell us and walked away from it with our heads spinning. Door locks were easy to understand.

Ah bless Itchy we have all been there - I can assure you it will only get better. When we wanted to fit a washing machine we had no plumbing pipes suitable so off Dougie went to town to the local hardware shop. He looked around until he found plastic concertina pipes that he could us for plumbing - He was trying to explain what he wanted by sign language, in he end they let him behind the counter and away he went. This cause every Bulgarian in the shop to stop and watch what he was doing. They all joined in and there were about 10 Bulgarians all doing their best to help him. Eventually when he started putting the pipes and the kind of u bends etc together they understood what he needed. He came home with a system to set our washing machine up. It looked like something out of the ark but it worked wonderful for ages.

We have learned over the years that there really is nothing you cannot get in Bulgaria. If you cannot buy it than someone can make it up. Another thing we learned is our garden tools may look fantastic and top of the range but they are useless in Bulgaria. They use a kind of long handled half moon axes/hoe and it is a brilliant tool. We laughed at it at first but I do think the villagers were having the last laugh. The Bulgarians will show you the way they do things and it is often the best way. So now all you have to do is let them guide you and practice your sign language skills

itchyfeet wrote:

Having just arrived in BG, my biggest problem is finding DIY things, putty is difficult to get here and of course not knowing what the Bulgarians call it made it all the more difficult. The same goes for lots of other DIY items such as paint and hey, we wanted a bathroom sink and unit and there were 4 separate prices for the things on show, but what corresponded with the price I wondered. We ended up having no idea what they were trying to tell us and walked away from it with our heads spinning. Door locks were easy to understand.

I know things can be difficult at first but once you have made a few friends things will get better the best people to ask are the locals and if you don't speak the language then try drawing or showing them what it is you need. Putty in Bulgarian .... MAJUN or if you can read маджун.

I logged onto my laptop on Tuesday morning to find I had no internet, not unusual (we had had a short power cut on Monday evening but my internet was OK after this). So I reboot my antennae, router and laptop. Still nothing. Tried my old laptop. Still nothing.

Waited an hour or so, in case there was a power failure, at one of the base stations, along the route of my satellite connection. then I decided to call my ISP in Yambol - they said they checked everything and the signal was good to the antennae on my roof. Can I re-boot everything (again) :roll:and I should be good to go. Again did this on the antennae, router and (now) 2 laptops. Still nothing.

So again I phoned later in the day and ended up explaining the problem to someone else........ they ask me to check the LAN settings and various other things on my laptop ..... Still nothing - anyway decided that I would take everything in to them the following day when I was going to Yambol anyway. Before I packed everything up to take with me I thought I would give them one more call on Wednesday morning. Spoke to someone else explained what we had done yesterday, this person said I had a good signal etc.etc. but he would re-boot from his end. You guessed it ..... internet back straightaway.

So why did 2 people not know to do this yesterday I ask????? I spent ages trying to sort it out my end when they said everything was OK from their end and it cost me about 8 lev in phone calls.

oddball wrote:

We have learned over the years that there really is nothing you cannot get in Bulgaria. If you cannot buy it than someone can make it up. We laughed at it at first but I do think the villagers were having the last laugh. The Bulgarians will show you the way they do things and it is often the best way. So now all you have to do is let them guide you and practice your sign language skills

Your right Oddy - we go to a fabulous DIY shop in Pavlikeni and usually end up with the shop assistant phoning a friend or in most cases asking the audience in the shop if anyone speaks English. Someone always says "
yes"
- the next thing is to identify the item we want to buy from the UK equivalent. Wood filler in the UK is Polyfilla of course, but here a tub of white paste is produced from behind the counter and although my first thoughts were "
this stuff is going to be useless"
it was better than Polyfilla. So my opinion of BG goods is uprated from what I first thought and now I am keen to try the BG products to see how they work out.

Brilliant Itchyfeet. Well done and now you will find most things will fall into place here without resorting to English stuff. We bought a new strimmer today after 7 years use of the old one stimming several folks gardens and numerous services. The guys in the shop love to see my partner as he always has a joke with them. On the way home several people asked the price and were intrigued by the purchase.
While waiting for the village bus, other Bulgarians noticed my flowers bought in the bazaar and immediately said they were beautiful and how much did they cost? At first, its a bit frustrating with sparse language skills, but you soon get used to communicating anyway you can. Its always much appreciated.
My frustration with the business of Company accounts and waking with a headache for the annual trip to sign expecting problems, was unfounded and all was completed in minutes! The books had been in the office since February so I was a bit frustrated on returning from UK to find they still weren't ready, but I made the mistake of admitting I would be away and they were forgotten until I returned of course!!!
Ah well, I guess these things are sent to try us and probably happen in Blighty but its easier to complain and speed things up given we are fluent in English. It does no good to stamp your feet in temper!
I sympathise with the poster who can't get anyone to do things. We try to use local labour when my partner needs another pair of hands. After hearing pleas for work we finally have some only to find that they are now so busy that they can't oblige. You have to guess when they are available. Makes you wonder doesn't it???

Oldun wrote

Quote :

No I don't think I have been taken for a ride Varnagirl. I have had the same accountant for 6 years and he did my tax returns and I paid nil taxes for all this time because he closed the Company for me. The Company still exists but does not trade hence not having to pay NOI or tax on it although I did for the first 2 years when it was operating in order to get the Lichna Carta.

Sorry to be pick Oldun, but either your company exists or it doesn't! It can't be closed (because your accountant closed it) and yet be open without trading, so as not to pay NOI or tax! That makes no sense.

I would suggest you have been taken for a ride.

General frustrations are -

Very poor quality of products (tools etc etc)
Even worse customer service
Utilities just disappearing when they feel like with no notice
Unless asking a very precise question, the difficulties of getting information form a BG
State of the roads
The fact that national laws are practiced differently in different areas.
And the fact that the majority (90%+) of nightclubs have no dancefloors (in Varna).
The lack of good quality seasoned timber (mostly wet pine available, again in Varna)