Back in the saddle again! I'm in Varna, finally :)

Now I'm in Varna, after 11 hours of travelling backhome with 2 buses - from Lom through Sofia. I spent an amazing time the last week-and-a-half - in Kraków, and Bulgaria.

In Kraków was really beautiful I may say. I spent there 3 days with 2 more Bulgarian interns - girls from Olsztyn and Kraków. Finally the BG delegation was the majority among the other guys in our company :))) I visited Wawel, the Old Town with the beautiful Cathedral, traditional Georgian and Polish restaurants, bought alot of souvenirs and enjoyed every single minute of my stay :)

In Sofia and Lom I met with all my relatives. I gave them the presents from Poland and showed alot of pictures from Krakow and Lodz. It was relaxing time coz the environment at some moments was completely different comparing to the one in Varna, including the topics of discussions from the daily life. This was the best start of my re-integration in Bulgaria.

Being at home again is great at one side! I will always remember the feelling when I saw the huge Bulgarian flag and the national symbol on the border - my eyes filled up with tears and I felt this special emotions that you can feel on your skin and back :) It's hard to be explained but you could imagine. It is just the love and the miss of my country. And of course I missed very much Varna - the most beautiful city in Bulgaria.

This Wednesday (21.11.2007) I will make a detailed presentation of my internship in front of the AIESEC Varna members just to give them a short impression how great such experience is! :)

See ya in the next story, my friends,

Victor Tomov

My vision for a perfect couple

This is my methaphoric expression of the intimate relationship between man and woman

Victor Tomov

The differences between Poland and Bulgaria

This is just my personal comparison between the different realities in Poland and Bulgaria, but especially Łódź and Varna as these are the places I have observed the most:

1. The architecture:
- gates on almost every street inside which the bars, the parkings and the entrance of the buildings are located - this is very useful and positive for the big crowded cities;
- gothic catholic styles with tall decorated buildings and sharp edges;
- all the churches and cathedrals have unique symbols on the top of their towers;

2. The drinking habbits:
- most of the Polish girls drink beer with sweet juice and straw;
- there are Polish beers with fruit flavours;
- the Poles are stronger in drinking than Bulgarians - not an even average drinker gets almost drunk from 400 ml 40 deggrees wodka!

3. Manifestation of the people's marginalisation on public places:
- on the streets of the Polish cities very often drunk people no matter of the gender or age can be seen walking dizzy with a bottle in hand, crawling and trying to establish contacts with the tourists for change or cigarettes;
- Polish drunk people can be found on the streets during the whole day;

4. The green spaces:
- all the artificial lakes in the Polish parks are full of ducks;
- in the Polish cities there are lot of small parks with names and similar structure;

5. The language:
- alot of similar or same words but with completely different meanings which can make very funny or confusing situations;

6. The food:
- the yogurt;
- the products for the traditional dishes;
- the white brined cheese;

7. The climate:
- in the beginning of August when the rain falls the temperatures are around 10 deggrees and the people can wear very warm clothes;
- more cloudy and cold days in Poland than in Bulgaria;

8. The working time of the shops:
- almost all small shops or even bars in Poland are closed on Sunday or late Saturday;
- only the plenty of alcohol stores are open 7 days per week in the Polish cities :)

9. The public transportation:
- it's very good that in the big Polish cities there are schedules of the transport lines (trams, buses, trolleys) and if there is a change the number of the line is marked in red to warn the citizens;
- the roads in Poland, especially the intercity ones are better than in Bulgaria;
- the ticket prices in Poland are higher than in Bulgaria but the quality of the long distance bus trips is lower as there is only one big Polish bus company - PKS, which decreases the competition;

10. The bars:
- self-serving style in almost all the bars in Poland - everyone goes to the barplot to order, pay and bring the drink to the table which safes time regarding the bill but makes the plot crowded with a queu :)
- the small pizza in Poland is 30 cm served with sauces for free :)
- the Karaoke bars are not presented at all in Poland - there are only Karaoke nights in some bars where the microphone is one and the songs are sung in front of the audience;
- the prices of the drinks in the Polish bars are higher than in Bulgaria - especially for beer and cocktails;

11. The religion:
- as Catholics the Poles are far more religious than Bulgarians;
- the main religious holidays are slightly different;
- the cementaries (especially the Jewish ones) are tourist attraction in some of the big cities - there is an entrance fee for visiting them;

These are the main differences between Poland and Bulgaria in my point of view. I must say that the people are very similar as mentality and this helped me alot to adapt quickly in the new environment. And last but not the least - the Polish girls are also very beautiful! :)

Victor Tomov

The cultural life in Łódź

Hi guys,

Let's talk about culture this time. Even after my internship in Poland I still can feel the cocktail of emotions about it. You know, when we discuss such kind of experience, it's all related to cultural understanding and communication. Some people may say that Łódź is not an attractive tourist city and probably they will be correct, but only in the part "tourist". I would completely disaggree that in the biggest industrial city of Poland there aren't attractive places. Let me mention some of its unique selling points:

- Łódź is the biggest European city build on a forest land;
- Łódź has the biggest commercial main central street in Europe - Piotrkowska with more than 100 bars on it;
- Łódź has the biggest shopping and leisure center in Poland - Manufaktura with 306 shops, restaurants, cinema center, garden, own transportation and beautiful surface with dancing colourful fountains;
- the biggest Jewish cementary (40 dka) in Poland is situated in Łódź;

Well, if you like churches, rivers, sea then better go to Kraków, Wroclaw or Gdańsk ;) But if you are interested in a urban style beauty then Łódź is the best option for visiting.

Far not the least, the city where I had my internship and lived for more than 3 months is applying for cultural capital of Europe 2016! I will share with you my impressions why it has good chances to win :)

The biggest cultural event that I attended in Łódź was the Festival "Dialog of 4 cultures" which represented the Polish, the Jewish, the German and the Russian cultures via musical performances for 10 consecutive days - between 31.08 and 09.09. It was amazing! I saw some blues rock bands, some traditional music, modern and acoustic ones during the concerts which were held at Manufaktura's square. The entrance was free. The concerts were open air and because of that there were few people in the audience during the rainy days. I may say almost the entire festival passed with rain. Again my good luck, hah! ;)) So I had the chance to remember the Rhyana's song "Under my umbrella" :))) My umbrella is enough big for 3 persons so you can imagine why I made this methaphore ;))) The Festival was closed with concerts of Alpha ville - the German band that did the songs "Big in Japan" (which was actually never popular in Japan) and "Forever young" (at least the band members were young at a certain time of their career), and another band whose name I forgot. After all - huge 10 mins long fireworks show was done that completed my positive impressions from the event! :)

For the rest of my stay there were plenty of art expositions. To name a few - Earth from above (photos from all over the world settled in one park), Photography contests, Egyptian exposition etc. The museums are also quite interesting including topics related to the famous persons lived in Łódź, history, cinematography, Jewish culture, arts. The biggest square in the city I think is the one of the Theater - plac Dąbrowskiego.

All kind of subcultures also can find something for their members. I may say that I visited really cool cult places such as Jazzga - bar for alternative jazz and rock music, Blu - the black parties zone, Przychowalnia - bar for artistic bohema, Honey Bunny - bar with stylish and sweet interior, The Mexican - the best ever Mexican restaurant I've visited and plenty others :)

In the first big city shopping mall - Galeria Łódzka, there was exposition about the life of the Indians in America before 4000 years. Almost everyday something happens in the cultural affiche.

At the end I can say I didn't waste my time regarding the cultural experience in Łódź. Even the local AIESEC invented something special - a drink which is combination of wine and sour cream which both Polish and Bulgarians call "kisel/kisiel". It is served hot and tastes very nice! Taratatata, I'm lovin' it! :)))

See ya in the next story, folks! Thank you for your attention and visit of my blog! Enjoy yourselves!

Regards,

Victor Tomov