May 2011 - Last Day in Sofia

May 13, 2011
Directly from my journal, with added links

I am staying an extra (4th) night because there is yet another talk tonight at the The Red House, on women immigrants in the labor market. I came at a fortunate time, it seems, right in the middle of the TransEuropa Festival, where lots of international guests are giving presentations in Haspel, the social center, and the more centrist Red House. Yesterday, I left Raia's place late (again) and walked to the Court House, from where I walked to the end of a scavenger hunt of Haspel's neighborhood, a "quartier populaire" it would be called in French with a mosque, synanogue, church, public baths and a Roma family squat across from the social center. I want to explore this part of the city more today before the debate, as it seems really cool and it's nicer out than the other days. Yesterday was also really intense because I spent the entire day from 1:00 p.m. with anthropologists, anarchists and Transeuropa international guests. On our way to the scavenger hunt end from the Court House, I talked with Bulgarian Maria, who just came back from 7 years studying anthropology in the States and her guest, Mary Taylor, an anthropology professor at Hunter College in NYC. Mary studies Hungary, speaks Hungarian and will talk about Hungarian social movements tomorrow, after I leave. Also two guys from the center, friends of Raia's, gave me a good history of Haspel's founding and Bulgarian anarchist history. It was fascinating to listen to and learn from these few active radicals in Sofia, the only real activist spot in the country, according to first-hand accounts.

Things got more intense when I learned about Oleg Mavromati, who was also at the Roma debate, and his fugitive status in Bulgaria. He is fleeing Russian persecution for a performance art piece that he did, an anti-religion commentary in which he was crucified. It was funny to speak Russian with him and Nika, a Russian woman living in Berlin, who came to speak on socially-engaged art with Oleg at Haspel last night. It was also a fascinating talk, complicated by the Skype-from-the-U.S. presence of Oleg's wife and translation across Russian, Bulgarian and English. I learned about right-wing tendencies in Russian political art and how things like this don't really happen in Bulgaria, perhaps a more pacified or apathetic place, especially after ascension. After the talk, I was happy to go back to the pizza restaurant and get another delicious vegetarian dish. Oleg turns out to be an 8-year vegetarian, for ethical reasons, which is really cool and sort of belies his appearance. Being vegetarian has proved to be yummy and easy in Sofia, but I'm not sure if I can live here, due to the apparent lack of good cycling infrastructure. The orange trams are lovely and the park is beautiful, but I'm becoming such a die-hard cyclist, I would have a hard time.

Anyway, after dinner, we ended up going out for drinks until 3 a.m. with Raia, Sando and three Hungarians, 2 of which were on the Roma panel. It was so fascinating, funny and crazy to sit and listen to their old Communist jokes, stories and shared experiences. I learned a tremendous amount ant it was especially funny when a big Irish guy came up to us at the end and told us about Orwell's description of tripe in "The Road to Wigan Pier" after overhearing the Hungarians talk about the delicacy of tripe soup and its onomatoepia in the Hungarian word. As usual, I am absorbing a surreal amount of life here and I think I've really found my traveling niche. I'm looking forward to seeing Rose the Haitian woman from Paris to speak tonight. Translation: French to English to Bulgarian? Only in Sofia!