Category Archives: Eccentricity

1. If I only had the nerve

Posted on January 2, 2013 by sozofia

Happy New Year / Честита Нова Година! 2013 got off to an interesting start… when I caught the train home at 4am on New Years’ Day, I ended up breaking up a fight between two drunk men in my carriage. … Continue reading →

Posted in Eccentricity, Me | Tagged Balkan, boza, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, career change, Courage, Cyrillic, drunk fights, fighting, puns, running, Sofia, sozofia, sunburn, taking risks, teaching | Leave a comment

4 ways to identify whether you’re in a Bulgarian home

Posted on December 21, 2012 by sozofia

I recently asked a group of schoolchildren to identify the differences between the UK and Bulgaria. They came up with some gems like ‘we have more garlic in Bulgaria’ and ‘in the UK, if you go to someone’s house, you … Continue reading →

Posted in *My Favourite Posts*, Eccentricity | Tagged apartment, Balkan, breakfast, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian apartments, Bulgarian homes, Bulgarian households, Bulgarian people, cooking, cupboards, customs, flip flops, food, home, hospitality, house, kitchens, Livig in Bulgaria, ovens, Sofia, sozofia | 3 Comments

Why timekeeping is impossible in Sofia

Posted on November 16, 2012 by sozofia

Today I got very lost looking for a supermarket, where I was supposed to be meeting someone to walk to an English school for an interview. A man cycled up to me and said something incomprehensible in Bulgarian. Then we … Continue reading →

Posted in *My Favourite Posts*, Eccentricity | Tagged Balkan, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, chat up lines, flirting, Sofia, sozofia, timekeeping | 3 Comments

A cat that looks like Hitler

Posted on July 17, 2012 by sozofia

I saw this cat in Veliko Turnavo this weekend. Given that there is a website about lesbians that look like Justin Bieber, there is a high probability that there is also a whole website dedicated to cats that look like … Continue reading →

Posted in Eccentricity | Tagged blog, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, cat with moustache, facial hair, hitler moustache, moustaches | Leave a comment

5 Reasons why Bulgaria is like Scotland

Posted on July 12, 2012 by sozofia

Today, conversation at lunch turned to Doctor Who and the fact that David Tennant was a better doctor than the current one. Nothing odd about that, except that I’m in Bulgaria! How on earth do they even know about Doctor … Continue reading →

Posted in *My Favourite Posts*, Eccentricity | Tagged bagpipes, Balkans, Black Sea, blog, Blogging, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian blog, cheese, chips and cheese, coastline, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Eastern Europe, expat, flirty old men, gaida, generous, geography, ginger abuse, ginger jokes, gingers, history, internship, miserly, mountains, observational comedy, observations, rain, reasons why Bulgaria is like Scotland, Scotland, Scottish, sirene, Sofia, sozofia, stingy, stray dogs, sun, tea, tight, UK, weather | Leave a comment

Mumbo jambo

Posted on July 10, 2012 by sozofia

* This joke is aimed at those who can read Cyrillic, speak basic Swahili and share my sense of humour.** ** It’s all about defining your target market.

Posted in Eccentricity | Tagged bad joke, Balkans, blog, Blogging, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian blog, Burundi, Cyrillic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dupnitsa, Eastern Europe, Jambo, Kenya, Kenyan, kiswahili, limited audience, Mozambique, Oman, Rwanda, Somalia, supermarket, swahili, Tanzania, target audience, Target market, Uganda | Leave a comment

I’m not going to marry a Bulgarian

Posted on July 9, 2012 by sozofia

Well, it’s unlikely anyway: according to statistics on mixed marriages released last week by Eurostat, just 0.3% of married men in Bulgaria are married to a foreigner. That’s the second lowest proportion in Europe, after Romania. (Men from Luxembourg are … Continue reading →

Posted in Eccentricity | Tagged Balkans, blog, Blogging, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian blog, Eastern Europe, eurostat, intermarriage, Luxembourg, marriage, marriages, married, married to a foreigner, merging populations, mixed marriage, relationship, relationships, sozofia, statistics, wedding | 1 Comment

Mail on rails

Posted on July 3, 2012 by sozofia

Today’s award for public sector innovation goes to Sofia Municipal Council for their resource efficiency initiative. Why have a tram AND a postbox, when you can combine the two? At least they attached the postbox to the tram, and not … Continue reading →

Posted in *My Favourite Posts*, Eccentricity, Sofia, Travel in Bulgaria | Tagged blog, Blogging, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian blog, innovation, Mail, post, postbox, public sector, public sector innovation, Public Transport, resource efficiency, Sofia, Sofia Municipal Government, Sofia Municipality, sozofia, tram, Trams, transport, transportation, travel | Leave a comment

Ode to a shower curtain

Posted on June 29, 2012 by sozofia

Oh dear shower curtain, How I miss thee; Bulgarians don’t like you But they simply don’t see That when showering, Using a curtain is better Than mopping each time ‘Cos you’ve made the floor wetter.

Posted in Eccentricity | Tagged Balkans, blog, Blogging, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, Bulgarian blog, cleaning, Eastern Europe, mopping, shower curtain, showering, sozofia, washing | Leave a comment

Knock, knock. Who’s there?

Posted on June 27, 2012 by sozofia

It’s sometimes the little things that surprise you about a country. One of those small things that I have found strange here in Bulgaria is the toilet etiquette. In the UK, if you need to go to the toilet, you: … Continue reading →

Posted in Eccentricity | Tagged bathroom, Bulgaria, Bulgarian, cultural differences, Cyrillic, Cyrillic alphabet, etiquette, ghost, habits, haunted, knock knock jokes, loo, sozofia, strange, toilet, toilet humour, WC | 1 Comment