Refugees in Bulgaria/Бежанци в България #2

Here is a continuation of the story  in Svetla’s blog. Also there is a summary in Lyd’s blog who also created a Twitter account on the topic.

Ето и продължение на историята от блога на Светла. А ето и обобщение в блога на Лид, която също направи и Twitter акаунт по темата.

Refugees in Bulgaria/Бежанци в България

If you know anything about how to help refugees to get legalized in Bulgaria/Europe, please visit this blog. (Svetla’s email is right below her profile picture, in case you don’t speak Bulgarian). I believe that if someone has to leave his home country and look for a refuge somewhere else, he/she has the right to receive one. No one has to be treated as therorist or criminal if their skin color does not match ours or because they were not born in the given country. Plus, as a foreigner in another country I know by personal experience that there is nothing worse than being treated differently just because you were not born in the coutnry you currently are. And this is when I am legally here. I can only try to imagine what it is to be without any documents or any rights in a foreign country.

Ако имате някаква информация как могат бежанците в България да се легализират, моля вижте този блог . Аз вярвам, че ако някой е трябвало да напусне родината си и да търси убежище в друга държава, то той/тя има право да получи такова. Никой не трябва да се възприема като терорист или престъпник ако неговият/нейният цвят на кожата е раличен от нашият или защото те не са родени в дадената държава. Плюс, като чужденец в друга държава научих от собствен опит, че няма нищо по-обидно от това хората да се държат с теб различно само защото не си роден в държавата, в която си в момента. И това е когато съм легално тук. Мога само да си представя какво е да си без документи и без никакви права в чужда държава.

How often do you have a single story about something?

I just watched this TED video and really liked it. I fully agree that a single story is always more damaging than anything else. The world we live in is so diverse that we can’t afford to associate a single story with a certain country, group of people, etc. Or if we go with the critical thinking concept – we can’t afford to just generalize and get over an issue!

In this train of thoughts, a friend of mine sent me this article which NY Times published about the situation in Bulgaria 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I have been reading various opinions connected with Nov 10th 1989 and the 20th anniversary. I have to say – I don’t know much about the whole story. I know “communism” fell (I am putting it in quites because what I learned from my Intro to Political Science class is that real form of communism did not exist even in USSR and what we had in Bulgaria was socialism) and supposedly a democracy was established. I agree that many things in Bulgaria are not great, but what about all the other things? What about the people who try to improve the situation one way or another? What about all small organizations around the country? What about all talented people in and outside of Bulgaria? Unfortunately, it is very common for people to focus on the negative and just go on and on how messed up is the country. Yes, it is messed up, but how about we do something about it and not just whine? Why can’t we make the NY Times with a story about something good that happened in Bulgaria? Some people will say that because nothing good enough happened, but though I am not there now I disagree. I still believe that not all people like “dalaveri” and there are smart and motivated people as well who care not only about what car and phone they have. I really wish there was some kind of network such people could connect. Any ideas?

Do you like listening to music?

Well, if you haven’t discovered it yet, iTunes offers a whole bunch of radios in various languages, periods, and styles for free

While studying for my Spanish exam I figured what better way to practice if not with movies and music. I discovered several great radios in Spanish with great music And I am especially pleased that  I could understand most of the lyrics Here is the one that is playing right now on the radio

Alejandro Sanz y Shakira – “Te Lo Agradezco Pero No”

 

How open can you be online?

What do you use Facebook for?

I use it for networking and keeping in touch with people. It’s better than email because I could easily see what is happening with my friends as well as share some pictures.

However lately my newsfeed is packed up with people’s statuses that mainly contain the f-word or anything like that. I use my account to complain sometimes, too, but I feel like people need to be more considerate what they post on their accounts such as offensive comments, drunken pictures, etc. Not only because this information could be accessed by future employers or school administration, but also it gets offensive for their own friends, too. Isn’t there something better to say than “f*** my life, f***ing this and that,” etc? How about what did you read today? What is happening in the world or around you? What are your interests? Books? Music? Quotes?

I have never done it before, but I am on a mission to filter most of the feed that appeares on my newsfeed just because I am getting tired of certain people’s whining about school and life in general. My theory is less whining and more work and life is much easier and less stressful. If you spend less time on Facebook, watching movies or getting drunk every weekend, then the work load would feel much better. I am not saying it’s easy and not stressful at all, but many people add too much drama to the already existing stress…

After all the school program is made for people and it’s not that impossible to do. If you manage your time properly, nothing is that awful and you still have enough time to sleep

4th and 5th of July

4th of July:

This year I am spending it in Coronado attending a parade, various gatherings and watching fireworks (instead of a double shift and full exhaustion like last year ) I might not be an American, but I like all these celebrations

5th of July:

It is an election day for the new parliament back in Bulgaria. I am not voting just because I did not think about it earlier to check how I could vote from here. Frankly, I don’t know much except that there are several new parties/ coalitions and of course everyone is promising great things. I might be generalizing, but from the little I know that’s the impression I got. It is very sad that many people will not vote even though they live in Bulgaria. Despite everything I still keep my hopes up that the situation in the country will improve some day. It will take a lot of time and effort, but there is always hope.

This is just…

too much. These are the two latest commercials for Carls Jr. and I think they are disgusting. The first one is more than suggesting, and then we wonder why men see women as sex objects…well, keep producing such commercials and you got the answer.

And the second one says to women directly in their face that to have such a body they need to give up a lot of food.

How about mentioning how many millions of women out there struggle with eating disorders just because of such constant reminders what they need to do to look “perfect” according to the society’s standard of perfect or sexy?

Women spend so much time worrying about their weight and apperance in order to be attractive enough to be accepted into society that it’s just sad. Instead that time and, in many cases, money could be spend for much more useful causes like stopping the rape of women in Congo or decreasing the hunger in many countries around the world.

R.I.P

I came back yesterday from swimming lesson and the news hit right into my face – Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson died.

I can’t say I know much about Farah Fawcett, but from the little I know, she was a great woman and actress.

And Micheal Jackson…for me he is a legend. Even though he was a little before my time, I still like most of his music and I think he was very talented. People argue that he was weird, but I am sure he had very good reasons for everything he had done. This is one of my favorite songs…

“You are not alone”

P.S. I understand people expressing their views all over Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc, but the thing I don’t get is why people gather in front of the hospital where MJ died or in front of his house?

Women and weight

The never dying issue of women and their weight. Since we could process information on our own we are surrounded by reminders that we need to stay thin because that’s the norm. If you are overweight, you are screwed. Mainly during the teenage years girls are most vulnerable to criticism because with puberty girls gain some weight. However, some gain more than others and that’s how the name-calling and mocking starts. And while for some children is very funny to laugh at other children, the latter take it seriously and start dieting, and unfortunately some girls never stop.

Since I could remember I have been careful what and I how much I eat. I have never been overweight, but my goal was never to be. And even though I am against the whole “Women who are overwight are ugly” I still freak out if I gain a couple of pounds. Is it hypocracy from my side? Maybe.

All this came to my mind today after reading an email from one of my best friends back in BG. She has been on diets for years and she has been having issues with weight for a long time. So now she is really depressed because she has never been so heavy as she is now and she feels disgusted with herself. I just think it is sad that we forget everything else around us and our whole world starts going around our appearance. She is a great smart woman, but she uses her weight as a measure of who she is I replied to her with a long email with some ideas how to try to get distracted from the weight question and love herself for what she is, but I don’t know how much that will help.

It just makes me sad…

Do you buy Calvin Klein?

Or do you dream you could afford to buy Calvin Klein? Well, by buying their products you support their industry advertised by billboards and magazine ads like the ones below. You could Google “Calvin Klein” images and you will find many more of this kind. The last one I saw in an article in the spring copy of Ms. magazine and today I noticed an article about it in one of the CNN blogs. The sad thing is that people are asking “Isn’t it too much?” instead of saying that IT IS TOO MUCH! Every single advertisement is filled with messages about sex and women are portrait as sex objects. To some people it might look harmless, but I am pretty positive that many guys see these commercials in a different way, in a suggestive way…and then we wonder why violence against women goes up and up…well, ads like these are just a small part of the answer to that question.

Amazing

Vitas – Opera #2

Check this out…

The 44th US President

Today at 11am Central time Barack Obama became officially the 44th President of the USA. All TVs on campus were on CNN and I watched the inauguration in lower Hink House. I think this is the first time I watched the whole ceremony and listened to the speech. I was amazed how many people were there! And I am happy Obama won even though I didn’t vote and I haven’t listened to much of his speeches. I have been in US for only year and a half, but as it looks like I will spend a whole lot more years here so I hope he does a good job and fulfills at least part of the expectations people have for him.

Here is the oath and the speech he gave.

Ах, тези пари

Тъкмо се прибирам от работа. Утре почивам. Този weekend беше Christmass in July, т.е още една причина американците да се напият. Вчера беше кошмар. Днес също, но не толкова зле. Да, за два дни изкарах 100$ само от бакшиши ама не всичко се купува с пари – толкова съм изтощена, че не мога да го опиша. Краката ме болят, ръцете..днес за малко да изпусна кофата с леда и няколко чаши с безалкохолно защото не мога да си свия пръстите от болка. Понякога се чудя струва ли си? Не се храня нормално, не спя нормално..нищо не е нормално, но кое всъщност е нормално? Няма лесно знам, но…просто имам нужда да се оплача..като няма на кой поне тук. Освен това се чувствам затъпяла…24/7 говоря само за Boardwalk/ burgers/ fries/ drinks Мъча се да пиша по нещичко за есетата за колежите ама почти нищо не се получава. Както винаги големите планове колко неща ще свърша лятото се изпаряват както и лятото се изпарява.

Като гледам няма да си тръгна с повече от 2500$ от тук. Имам още две седмици работа и това е. Когато дойдох бях с идеята, че ще се прибирам другото лято. Сега вече незнам…нищо не знам. Кое е добре, кое зле…Лид ме пита защо всъщност искам да се прибера? Ами може би защото прибирането сега е свързано с малко почивка, среща с приятели и вкусна БГ храна. Да, може да не звучи основателна причина да дам 1000-1200$ за билет, но…

*current mood: totally confused, depressed, feel like crying

*current condition: EXHAUSTED

 

 

15 секунди слава

Така Радинка нарече откритието, че ме има на снимка в сайта на община Хасково Мен с Теодор, Миленка и малкия й син, който спи на пейката

Ето линк (втори ред, третата снимка):

http://www.haskovo.bg/gallery/snimki_ot_haskovo__galeria_5_gallery11.html

Quote

This reallly caught my attention after watching a couple of times the trailer for “Atonement” (I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I like the phrase).

She: “My darling, I will wait for you!”

He: “I will find you, love you, marry you!”

It’s sweet

Clean up

I have decided that I do not need so many accounts including myspace, flickr and etc. because the stuff I do there, I can do on facebook..so I deleted all accounts except facebook…the less information I have online, the better..I do not know why..just like that…

Първи юни

Честит празник на всички, които пазят детето в себе си!

Това хубаво ама винаги съм се чудила както с много други празници защо има ден на детето?Какво означава това? Аз като малка се радвах, че е 1-ви юни, защото имаше безплатен сладолед и понякога някой и друг подарък. И какво от това? Трябва ли само на този ден да се мисли за децата по по-специален начин? Не мисля.

Stra6en glas

Nastrahvam kato go sly6am tova momi4e

Proud of myself

In love with myself
In love with my own reflection
With my own affection
With the vision that i see

There’s nobody else
I’m taking my own direction
I can see perfection
Doing all i can for me

In love with myself…

 

 In the past I have reached a moment when I couldn’t stand myself.It took me  a lot of time till I begin believing in my own abilities and  liking myself. In this way it’s easier for me to deal with problems. So know I’m sure that I should first love myself and then people around me because in the opposite I let people direct my life.However now I’m confident enough to assess what is true and what is not, what is right or not and to take my own decisions

it’s cool to be in love :)