We...have...liftoff...

I found it interesting the way news organizations across the globe wrote headlines about Lebanese politicians finally agreeing to a cabinet formation. Some headlines (in no particular order):

Associated Press: Rival Lebanon factions agree on unity government

AFP: Lebanon's Hariri to announce new govt

Voice of America: Lebanon Opposition Agrees to Unity Government

Tayyar: Bassil meets Hariri to convey opposition's approval of government lineup

Jerusalem Post: Lebanon: Factions agree on unity gov't

Xinhua: Reports: Lebanon's new cabinet to be formed in two days

Daily Star: Cabinet formation expected within next 48 hours

The National: Hizbollah agrees to cabinet proposals

Journal of Turkish Weekly: Lebanon Opposition Agrees To Unity Government

Naharnet: Suleiman: Government a 'Lebanese Product' for the First Time

RTTNews: Hezbollah Ends Political Impasse In Lebanon By Agreeing To Join Unity Government

Islam Online: Lebanon Opposition Okays Unity Govt

Euronews: Lebanon opposition agrees to form government

Earth Times: Lebanon's rival factions agree on national unity cabinet - sources

Press TV: Lebanon's Hariri set to announce new govt

ABC News: Lebanon Set to Form Government With Hezbollah: Hezbollah Is Listed as a Terror Organization by Washington

BBC: Lebanon government accord reached

Reuters: Opposition to join Lebanese coalition

There are those who emphasize "unity," those who make a point to say "opposition agrees," and those who say it was Hizbollah's fault it took so long. Not one of them mentions Aoun.

I found nothing in the New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, Spiegel, CNN, etc. Maybe they just don't want to report something that might not happen? After all, there is this: Cabinet Policy Statement New Point of Contention As a great New York Yankees catcher once said, "It's deja vu all over again."

Apologies for not covering the papers in Arabic - my Arabic is really bad and takes me quite a long time to read it. Maybe I'll try to focus on it later?

Boy, this ain't the West

I'd like to say I am pretty skilled in the art of googling. Back in the infant days of the interwebs when fewer tubes let trucks carrying data to your desktop passed through, there weren't so many advertisements in a Google search. Today, you have to really know how to search for the information you want.

That being said, it's usually pretty easy in the Western world to pull up a train schedule with fares, even if it is in between the countries of Europe. You don't have to wade through pages of Amazon.com books to find what you're looking for - it's in the first one or two entries.

Not so for Bulgarian trains and buses. There is one bus company - ETAR - whose website does an excellent job of organizing clear and concise information. I applaud them for that. Unfortunately, ETAR has limited routes and does not go to some of the places I want to go. But they are a private bus company and that is understandable.

What is not understandable is why I cannot find any information on trains that go from Ruse, Bulgaria to Budapest, Hungary. I am starting to enter planning for the return home mode, and am looking forward to visiting Budapest before going back to the States (and hopefully turn my observations into some sort of travel book.) Yet I have not been able to find information on such a train route, and I am getting frustrated.

Bulgaria is now an EU member and must prepare for the onslaught of tourists it will be receiving in the coming years. This includes providing online train schedules in a language someone in the West can understand. English is the most logical choice given that it is the new lingua franca of the world, and the Bulgarian State Railway website does provide English schedules and fares within Bulgaria. I commend them - the site is well designed, very organized, and user friendly. But the ticketing agency - RILA - knows no such organization.

Look, I know back in the day when the Orient Express was still running, there wasn't such luxury as the internet, nor did people speak English (or other languages) so widely as they do today. Times have changed. The whole world is spinning so rapidly that we need the information at our finger tips so our heads don't explode. The generation under mine probably doesn't even know how to use a phonebook. A young Bulgarian entrepreneur with English language and computer skills could make some dough on offering website translation services. I'd do it, but I need another year or so in this country before I could learn the language well enough to translate it.

The Nodding

I'm never going to get it.

When I order a coffee and get a shaking head, the first thing I want to ask is why can't I have a coffee? But the shaking head is not telling me no, I can't have it. Bulgarians shake their heads in the opposite way from the rest of the world (except part of India).

Shaking and nodding the head is such an ingrained nonverbal form of communication that you don't think about - until you are confused and distressed about your coffee or your beer or your food or whatever other thing you think you can't have!

We've had great fun with Bulgarians on this subject. Those in the hostel and some of the university students have taken to kind of rolling their heads around in a sort of confused response to our own confusion. Not one day goes by when we don't confuse each other!

Nodding and shaking is especially important in a place where you don't speak the language and they don't speak much English or French or some other language of which you can at least spit out a word or two. I've been here long enough now that I can get by with some words, but at the beginning, it was terribly difficult to communicate, and showing me "no" for "yes" and "yes" for "no" exacerbated the situation.

One night out

I am glad I didn't try to find a private room in someone's house. Had I rented a room somewhere, I'd never have the experiences I've had so far. Indeed, I'd probably find it rather lonely.

A couple of nights ago, we went out to see a Japanese drum band at the town theater. Fedio, the host of the hostel, had some friends visiting, so the Bulgarians outnumbered us foreigners. There was an Aussie, Englishman, Japanese, and Czech among us.

I'm not sure why this continues to amaze me, as it is no different from DC, where I worked and hung out with a Czech, a Russian, and Uzbeki, and a German-Uruguan guy who grew up in Costa Rica, among others. Yet, I am still fascinated by the internationalization of the world.

The band were a bunch of kids, really, early twenties at mot, and they were briliant musicians. There were three main guys - one who played a shamisen (3 stringed lute type of instrument) and two drummers. Three others also played in some of the compositions, but the main three stole the show. They started out with traditional Japanese music, which was as visually pleasing as it sounded. The second half was modern, with the shamisen guy playing his instrument like an electric guitar in a rock band. The result was an eclectic mix of the sounds of centuries, and it really worked.

After the show, I went with the Bulgarians to get some dinner while the others headed to a bar that we had all gone to the night before. The Bulgarians spoke for much of the time in Bulgarian, and I merely listened, tried to pick out the few words I know, and recognized a few patterns, which is vital to learning a language. I thought of that Antonio Banderas movie The Thirteenth Warrior, where he is a Moor sitting around a fire with a bunch of Vikings. By the end of the night, not only is he able to understand the insults the Vikings are using against him, but he responds to them in their language. When one of the Vikings asked incredulously how he knew their language, he responded, "I listened." Funny thing was one of the Bulgarians also brought up the scene in this movie. Unfortunately, I have not been able to learn the language in one night! If only it were that easy! But I did find that although I didn't understand their words, I knew often knew what they were talking about. And why didn't they speak in English since I was sitting there? Why should they? When I had something to say, I said it, but mostly I wanted to listen.

A Tale of Two Ex-Soviet Cities

I wrote this a couple of days ago while killing time before my train left for Sofia. My 26 hour long train. Yes, it was waaaay too long for a train ride, and I am a train lover. No, I’m not going to do it again. I’ll fly, thank you.

I’m sitting in a bar not too far from the train station but far enough to not be in the “train station” neighborhood, if you know what I mean. It’s away from the wealthier part of Budapest but not a dump – kind of normal, really. Budapest has become quite expensive compared to when I was here nearly a decade ago, which of course, is to be expected, given the whole entry into the EU and all. It’s still cheaper than Washington, of course, but given my limited budget, paying over $3 for what is the equivalent of a medium latte (they called it a large) was a pretty steep price. I needed the coffee, though. I’m running on fumes here, what with the jet lag and the lack of sleep.

I stopped at the bar because I’m freaking exhausted and I don’t want to walk around for another step. This is my travel style – just wandering aimlessly with a camera and a lot of thoughts. I don’t stick to the tourist sites – in fact, I try to spend as little time at them as possible, unless they are simply incredible and warrant the time. Some of them are, of course. Today I had no real destination. I wanted to go to the Statue Museum where they placed all of the old Soviet statues they took down after the USSR’s collapse, as I am fascinated by the CCCP, but I decided since it was pretty far out that I would wait until December when I return to this city for my flight home. I’m kind of paranoid about missing flights and trains and stuff, especially trains that cost me $100 more than I had anticipated. Very, very bad.

It would be interesting to spend more time in this city – both of my trips have only been a couple of days. I hardly remember my first trip, as it was for school, although I do remember the ballet Gizelle at the Opera House. I feel myself very fortunate for getting to see a show inside. I took several photos of this beautiful building today and tried to capture as much of the amazing blue sky behind it, though I was having some trouble with my camera or my eye or something and had real difficulties with the lighting. I may end up adjusting the brightness on some photos before I post them, which I really hate to do.

I am thoroughly impressed with how nice Hungarians are. I mean, you stop and let someone pass you on a narrow sidewalk, and they thank you! My kind of people! And this is in the capital city, of all places. Imagine what it is like in the smaller towns. In fact, the only bad experience with any Hungarian at all was at the train station, where the woman who was tasked with selling international tickets did not speak English and took her good old time processing my request to the point where I wondered if she had just left the office for the day.

The language thing was rarely an issue except in choosing restaurants, as Hungarian has very few cognates to any of the languages I have studied and I had no clue what the dishes were. As someone who has a certificate saying I am a certified “linguist” having once been fluent in Arabic and French and having some proficiency in Spanish, I am very interested in language and really tried to decipher what I was seeing and hearing. I’m an adventurous person, but I was embarrassed to pronounce things because I don’t even know the sounds except that SZ is an English S sound, and I know that because I saw signs for “Szex Shop” and “Szalon.” It’s really interesting to me because I can get around in many countries without knowing the language like Germany because as a native English speaker I speak a Germanic language and can figure things out, and I’ve also had some exposure to it through traveling. But with Hungarian, nothing is remotely similar and I was getting frustrated with not being able to figure anything out. Believe me, I tried. I think the only word I learned was Sor (with an umlaut) because bars that I passed said “Sorhaz” (beerhouse!) and there were beer signs outside. I also recognized the word “Kave” as coffee, and believe me, I needed to know that! I saw “bolt” on a lot of signs and assumed it meant store. And then the word for restaurant, which I thought was universal, is something totally different that starts with an E, and it took me awhile to recognize restaurants as I passed them. I am not sure, but for some reason I have the impression that the word is similar to the Greek word. Something like Etteram? I could be wrong. And I guess if it is “etteram,” restaurant could be a derivative of it. I could figure out enough to buy spring water rather than gas water, but not without taking gas water to the register and turning around to find the plain water. Still, there were enough Hungarians who had studied English that if I couldn’t communicate something, someone was around to translate. I hate not even knowing how to say thank you, but it is something long that I keep forgetting. Guess I’m not as young as I used to be, eh? (And my body tells me so, too.)

…And today – contrast that with Bulgarian, which, with the exception of the alphabet, is much closer to the languages I am familiar with. The best thing I did before I left was learn the alphabet and a bit of the language. Makes it a heck of a lot easier to get around. I know the things on the menu, at least. For example, “potatoes” is kartofi, and the German word is kartofen, so I knew what it was when I saw it. Lovely. I feel great amusement in trying to decipher this language and great triumph in succeeding.

I find the contrast between Budapest and Sofia astounding. This has a lot to do with the fact that Budapest was once an imperial city and modern Sofia was pretty much built in 1879. I learned today that in that year, only 12,000 people inhabited the city. Now, there are over one million people, not exactly a huge city, but big enough. Yes, there is the development going on, and maybe in another five years, Sofia will be where Budapest is now. That is to say, there is still a long way to go, but they are definitely getting there in terms of restoring their cities after a half a century of Soviet apathy.

You will see a lot of crane shots in my journey, for I am fascinated by the commie cleanup that Eastern Europe is undergoing. My fascination started on a post-graduate program on the European Union I took the summer after my graduation. We traveled to six European capitals, including Prague, which was not in the EU at the time. What was most interesting on the trip to me were the Berlin cranes. If only they had had digital photography back then – I’d post some of my cranes at dusk photos. Potsdamer Platz – a virtual city within Berlin – was barely under construction at that time, the Reichstag had just been completed, and the song of the city was played with the jackhammer and the cement mixer. I felt Budapest was that way. And I feel Sofia is what Budapest was when I visited it nearly a decade ago.

Here are more photos of Budapest. I would like to post more, but it really does take a long time to upload them, and I've been in this internet cafe three hours now. Found out today the time difference is seven, not six hours from home, so I thought I had more time, but I'd still like to explore some more of the city with some light out. Besides, I promised a guy he could upload his photos and burn them to CD back at the hostel I am staying at, so I need to get going.

Добър ден!

Today I spent most of the day learning the basics of Bulgarian. I learned how to say hello, count to ten, wrote the names of some colors up on my white board, and forgot a lot of words. I even listened to a news clip about Pavorati, only understanding the words for music and concert. Oh well.

I already gave my landlord my notice, so I have to be out of there by the end of the month. I can't wait to give my notice to my boss, but he's on travel for the next week, so it'll have to wait until he comes back. But I've worried all day about the exorbitant amount of money I spent yesterday at the concert. I am really pretty pissed at myself. I mean, it was a whole month's rent in Bulgaria, or at least half a month.

I've done all of this today instead of work. I just. Can't. Bear. It. Anymore!

България

Is it scary going to a country you've never been to before, unsure of your finances, unable to read the language or even guess because it uses a different alphabet? It is. I feel pretty anxious and had some trouble sleeping last night, which, of course, meant I had some trouble waking up this morning. Ahh, just the thought of being on my own schedule, allowed to wake up when I want, and not to suffer through the monotony of sitting in an office...it's enough to convert the anxiety into excitement, though it still makes my stomach flip!

I was listening to some Bulgarian internet pop radio stations yesterday and kind of laughed. I've always gotten a kick out of Eastern European pop, as it sounds like it's 20 years behind the times. Now, I'm not saying Western pop is good - it's not. It's just that we've learned that formula didn't work, while they continue to produce it! Ha, ha.

Anyway, I think I'll be ok with the language. I mean, I am proficient in Arabic, so I'm used to languages with funny letters! I'll be able to get around in Bulgaria, especially since they speak a European language and I'll be able to understand the roots of many words. Once I get used to the alphabet and quit having to look up the sounds of the letters, I'll be alright. I have already been able to decipher some words through transliteration: манастир is monastery; Контакти is contact; телефон is telephone; град is city; История is history. Shoot, I've never studied Russian, but knowing English and French will help me out in deciphering Bulgarian. That would scare most Americans. The language, to me, is of no concern. I look forward to learning it.

Really, with all of this anxiety, I shouldn't be drinking a latte at two in the afternoon. Oh, and I shouldn't have spent the three bucks on it, either. That's a whole meal in Bulgaria. I'm going to be out late this evening anyway - I'm seeing The National play at the 9:30 Club tonight and tomorrow night. These are probably going to be the last shows I see there in quite awhile. I noticed The National are playing in Croatia in November. Tomorrow will be the fourth time I've seen them this year - I probably shouldn't make the effort to see them a fifth time. The only band I've ever seen more than that is U2 (ten times) and that is in a span of a decade!

Man, it's been so long since I had to actively search for blog readers that I forget how to do it. I wonder how long it will be before someone reads my rambling.