Hey guys :) looking to meet a lot of new people around

Hi astounding!

Maybe you should tell a bit more about yourself
Why not organising an expat meetup by the way?

Regards
Armand

hi ,

Plz let me know ur details...then we will take further step to discuss anything .

Regards,
Kumar.
INDIA.

Hi again everyone!

Well, what can I say ... I am 23 years old, I am living in Sofia, Bulgaria and I am currently working and studying. I study Clinical Psychology at the Sofia University and I am preparing for writing my Master's thesis. I also work - in a Recruitment Agency. I have plenty of hobbies such as writing, painting, jogging, I enjoy watching movies, read classic literature ... If you have any further questions - I will be more than happy to answer them

Plami

Hello Plami
If you study psycology maybe you can answer a question for me. Why are Bulgarians so lazy.

Hi,

Well I guess you have met only lazy ones and I have meet a lot of hard-working ones so the truth is somewhere in the middle

Peace!

It actualy gives me a feeling of hope that you say that.
Do you think the problem is that Bulgarians who have never lived outside Bulgaria. That have lived a insulated life. Are somewhat jealous of foreighn people. Therefore unless a foreighner pays more than average when in Bulgaria for workers.
The Bulgarian workers pride will not allow them to put full effort into the job.

rgorman78 while I do not have a degree in psychology, I have to tell you that for sure, Bulgarians are quite lazy and they do not only con foreigners, they con themselves all the time. Read the Bulgarian history, you will learn a lot from it.

Why are they so lazy?Maybe the millions of Polish people who came to the UK and got a job while there were millions of British people making a career out of claiming  unemployment benefit asked the same question.Never met any work shy English Rgorman?

rgorman78 - I beleive that there are a lot of Bulgarians who were forced to leave the country and believe me - being away from your country and family s****. Imagine also that you wash dishes abroad, when you know that you had studied 8 years for gaining Bachelor and Masters degree in Economics - your motivation goes away. But this, of course, is not valid for all the Bulgarians. It is easy to judge a nation from the fact that you have met 5 representatives of it... Don't get me wrong I am against people leaving the country and I believe that you should not abandon ship when it gets harder, but some people do not have many options in front of them.

WorldExpat - I am very curious which part of our history have you read? And, of course, I wonder how many Bulgarians have you met and where? (it is just curious to me, I am not attacking you.

Miss i would like to say first im not attacking you either. I just really am inquisative. I would like to try to understand things from a Bulgarian point of view. So its nice when i get a open minded intelegent Bulgarian Lady to talk too.
May i answer john999 first. You Sir i imagine is someone with very little experience of Bulgaria or Bulgarians. If your someone thinking of living there great. Lets have this conversation again. At the momment you obviously just think im a nasty person.
World expat i have only read a little bit about Bulgarian history. Im quite interested and i would like to know what you were thinking.
Once again Miss outstanding back you. I have a lot of experience in Bulgaria and of Bulgarians. Im not nasty but i genuinely think there is something wrong with their psycology.
For example a similar economic situation can be found in neighboring countries like the Ukraine. People there are poor and Moldova too. I travelled to those countries and found the people less negative about foreighners.
Its easier to explain if i give examples i think.

So for example Ukranians moan about there situation how currupt the country is and how unfair it is they get paid so little.
However they seem to blame there own government.

Bulgarians do not seem to do this they rarely complain about there own government in my pressence anyway. In my pressence they say to blame everything on gypsies. Apparently these communities of poor un educated often dark skinned people are the cause of all Bulgarias problems

Also i have tried to renovate rural houses in Bulgaria. The reason i would not pay a lot of money to local workers. Is because i wanted to make a living a business out of it not a charity. Therefore i could only pay what is normal just like what Bulgarian people would pay. Because when io resell the house obviously i need to be competetive.
However Bulgarians insist that this is terrible and im such a bad person. I should pay apparently much more than a Bulgarian would because im from the UK.
What makes it stranger is i noticed a few times that Bulgarian fairly wealthy business men who spaek good English. Often negotiate contracts for building work for foreighners often Brittish ones. They quote quite high prices and sometimes the Brittish person accepts because it is a wait off their mind.
Someone to organise it for them. So the contractor has scored himself a job where he is going to make 3 times more money.
This is ok but in every case like this the local workers that the contractor employs quite happily work very hard for him.
For no extra money often even as low as 10 levs a day. They even seem to be quite happy.
I just can not understand the logic.

Hi again,

Bulgarians do not hate the foreigners,but sometimes we are not equal partners you know. Bulgarians often associate the foreigners with rich people, because sometimes we tend to think of the others as wealthier, happier and much more fortunate than us ... sometimes we tend to underestimate ourselves. But we are not negative about the foreigners, I believe we have respect for them. But you are right, sometimes there are people who may take advantage of you (but believe me, this could happen anywhere in the world if you do not know the right people).
You are right, there are people who "work very hard" (which is the opposite of lazy, I think)but yes, they work hard for another person. Their logic might be that you are a foreigner and you will leave sooner or later, and their current employer is giving them a job every single day, they trust him (because they understand each other and basicly speak the same language).
Trust me, I have seen a lot of people who seek jobs. They tend to underestimate themselves and are willing to take a low-paid job because they prefer to take this opportunity to staying unemployed (they don't really have much options), but this again proves these people are not lazy.
We Bulgarians blame our government for everything, absolutely everything, so I guess they didn't do that in front of you ... but we all do. And if you or WorldExpat care to look up our modern history you may find it interesting how the people in our government are strangely related to each other and how things around are kind of inherited ... So basicly whoever you chose - you lose, because they are actually all the same. Gypsies are also a big problem, because they do not pay taxes, they lie, steal, kill and you cannot say a thing because ... "they are a minority". They choose to be unemployed, they choose to have a lot of children, they often stop them from going to school because they need them on the streets. And they often sell their children in Greece, but otherwise they are pretty cool...

However I beleive you are doing a great thing by renovating houses, I think this is great and thank you for your investment. I am very sorry that you are disappointed, be careful who you trust.

Plamena

rgorman78 wrote:

So for example Ukranians moan about there situation how currupt the country is and how unfair it is they get paid so little.
However they seem to blame there own government.

Bulgarians do not seem to do this they rarely complain about there own government in my pressence anyway. In my pressence they say to blame everything on gypsies. Apparently these communities of poor un educated often dark skinned people are the cause of all Bulgarias problems

Well guys look: I am a Ukrainian myself and I think my countrymen do blame others for their own problems just as much if not more. I also understand that it is kind of natural for them to try and swindle fereigners of some money since they see ALL foreigners as rich people who have "free money" to be swindled out of. Same goes for the work ethic and the expectation that the foreigner MUST pay more than the local for the same job  performed.

Where I disagree with you Englishmen is with this: It is kind of rude to ask bluntly Bulgarians on this forum to explain why other Bulgarians are lazy. As I was reading this correspondence I was thinking - POOR GIRL. Why insult her like that when all she has done her entire life is try and make mopst of her country's difficult situation. At no point has she ever been nasty on this forum, never said a bad word to anyone. SWEET GIRL. Had I been living in Bulgaria at the monent I would have probably given her a call. Just try to be more considerate.

PS. I often loose nerve with people and the way things are in my own country and let me tell you - From  Ukrainian's point of view Bulgaria provides many more opportunities...you can compare the prices and incomes in two capital cities, Sifia and Kiev to see for yourself. Above all I think one must realise that Bulgaria is a poor country, GOING THROUGH A ROUGH TIME RIGHT NOW,
so any exeptation of a profit must be tempered to account for that. On the other hand it is not the most expensive either, has cheap housing...just  think it trugh a bit.

Thanks for your comments Oleggy the reason i have questioned the young Lady is because she is getting a degree in psycology. Also she is Bulgarain yes.
So i do not mean any harm.

Oleggy i thought Kiev was a wonderfull place maybe the people are poor. However they are proud and well manured it was a pleasure to be there.

Maybe if i had of spent as much time there as Bulgaria and tryed to do some kind of business. I would be negative about them too.

When i went to Bulgaria i wanted to invest money in the country. To help get things moving and develop a business. When you have a business it must make a proffit.

However Bulgarians do not want to help you to help themselves. They just get jealous angry and it hurts their pride to work for a foreighner. I suppose i can now see why.
But how does this attitude help anyone move forward or business to develop.
Now i only work with ex pat English people in Bulgaria i feel its a shame i have to disclude local people. I just can not afford to employ them and they are so unpredictable.

rgorman78 wrote:

Thanks for your comments Oleggy the reason i have questioned the young Lady is because she is getting a degree in psycology. Also she is Bulgarain yes.
So i do not mean any harm.

Oleggy i thought Kiev was a wonderfull place maybe the people are poor. However they are proud and well manured it was a pleasure to be there.

Maybe if i had of spent as much time there as Bulgaria and tryed to do some kind of business. I would be negative about them too.

When i went to Bulgaria i wanted to invest money in the country. To help get things moving and develop a business. When you have a business it must make a proffit.

However Bulgarians do not want to help you to help themselves. They just get jealous angry and it hurts their pride to work for a foreighner. I suppose i can now see why.
But how does this attitude help anyone move forward or business to develop.
Now i only work with ex pat English people in Bulgaria i feel its a shame i have to disclude local people. I just can not afford to employ them and they are so unpredictable.

I know what you mean and I definately did not want to imply that anyone here was being rude on purpose. I just wanted to give you my perspective on things as I know the situation in Ukraine well and also would like to explore Bulgaria in the future because I think many things would be similar to my country, but cheaper.

I am thinking of buying some property in Sofia or Varna may be for myself to live in. Property  prices in those cities seem alot cheaper than Kiev's and those in Odessa (the coastal Ukrainian city I am from). What do you think?

Well Oleggy i do not like Sofia i think it is a ugly place. For investment though i have no idea i suppose it depends on whether salarys improve and economic growth.
I do not know how to go about predicting the future with that in Sofia. Also its suc a ugly place i do not imagine it gets much foreighn investment other than commercial.
  Varna is not so ugly and at least near the sea. However i do not like the place. The police there are openly corrupt i saw a under age girl once crying n a public bar full of student because she did not want to be a prostitute. Her Madam was shouting at her telling her not to be a baby.
Yes i do blame ordinary Varnan people for this why not. They could get together complain demonstrate write letters but they do not care.
There are lots of nice little Cities in Bulgaria where organised crime and police corruption is not so in your face.
I like Veliko turnovo that is a nice little City the former Capital it gets visited a lot by international tourists. Ruse too on the Romanian border a nice pleasant place. There are lots of towns like Lovech, Sevlievo which have industrial growth and maybe a good investment. I imagine the prices would be really low compared to the big Cities too.

I am an expat from Australia! i am a native Australian, finding it bloody tough to make friends here lol oh well

Are you 80 years old Brian

Hi, to all participants in this topic!
First I want to apologize to Plamena for the things I am about to tell to rgorman78.
Mr. rgorman78 I strongly believe that everybody should be living in a place that he/she loves or at least likes a bit and I believe that every one has the right to give an opinion. But as I read different topics in Expat.com I tend to notice that in every second or third one you are complaining of Bulgarians or how you don't like to be robbed or some place that you hate or how lazy we are.You usually are saying that Bulgarians are mocking about something or someone, that their way of living so many years in communism is to blame and so on. The only thing that I am seeing in your words is that you are mocking too, but probably you have no other way to live. The crises in your country is probably taken another victim at your face and you have to live in other country that is affordable for your budget. I personally have a lot of friends in your situation and the difference between you and them is that they are grateful for finding, yes in a difficult way, but able to find the home they can afford and the friends that they can freely speak to without the formalities of the British way. They are quite happy about living here, having the opportunity to start a new business  with new people. The truth is that this is possible because our country is cheap for your standards. For example the taxes are way lower than the taxes in Great Britain. Yes the bureaucracy is quite the same with the difference that in Bulgaria this is taking some time to do simple things and from it there comes a problem - corruption which is a crime under the criminal code, not only for the one that is taking the money, but it is equally crime and is punishable for the one that is giving too. Sometimes it is just an ugly reality that you can either face and go to another better reality(an expensive one) that you like or you can just stay and mock about it every day, but have a higher standard with some problems. The other way is  to try changing things around. I've noticed that you remind me already to the average Bulgarian that is always complaining too. So I can welcome you to the cheap but affordable reality as a Bulgarian.
I'm sorry for the hard words, but at least I'm trying to change people, to change things and I am not complaining about the reality, because I love this country.

Emanuela Stomonyakova wrote:

Hi, to all participants in this topic!
First I want to apologize to Plamena for the things I am about to tell to rgorman78.
Mr. rgorman78 I strongly believe that everybody should be living in a place that he/she loves or at least likes a bit and I believe that every one has the right to give an opinion. But as I read different topics in Expat.com I tend to notice that in every second or third one you are complaining of Bulgarians or how you don't like to be robbed or some place that you hate or how lazy we are.You usually are saying that Bulgarians are mocking about something or someone, that their way of living so many years in communism is to blame and so on. The only thing that I am seeing in your words is that you are mocking too, but probably you have no other way to live. The crises in your country is probably taken another victim at your face and you have to live in other country that is affordable for your budget. I personally have a lot of friends in your situation and the difference between you and them is that they are grateful for finding, yes in a difficult way, but able to find the home they can afford and the friends that they can freely speak to without the formalities of the British way. They are quite happy about living here, having the opportunity to start a new business  with new people. The truth is that this is possible because our country is cheap for your standards. For example the taxes are way lower than the taxes in Great Britain. Yes the bureaucracy is quite the same with the difference that in Bulgaria this is taking some time to do simple things and from it there comes a problem - corruption which is a crime under the criminal code, not only for the one that is taking the money, but it is equally crime and is punishable for the one that is giving too. Sometimes it is just an ugly reality that you can either face and go to another better reality(an expensive one) that you like or you can just stay and mock about it every day, but have a higher standard with some problems. The other way is  to try changing things around. I've noticed that you remind me already to the average Bulgarian that is always complaining too. So I can welcome you to the cheap but affordable reality as a Bulgarian.
I'm sorry for the hard words, but at least I'm trying to change people, to change things and I am not complaining about the reality, because I love this country.

I personaly think that in many cases these comments (rongman78) are not really meant to insult anyone, but rather are a reflection of the way many things are seen throught the eyes of expats trying to make sense of the difficult conditions in a new country. As a Ukrainian I know that Bulgaria is not the worst, yet I sympaphise with rongman78 as well because I heard many similar complaints about my own country

I think what should be kept in mind is that even the way it is Bulgaria provides many opportunities for many people...from my point of view many more than Ukraine...so anyone who truly wants to be succesfull should concentrate on that point rather than the negatives...

Hi everybody,
probably you are a bit to harsh with rgorman78, it seems to me that things are not as complicated, just everything comes to wrong expectations:
rgorman expected a cheap renovation service,
while the workers expected  payment above the average.
As a result, the workers are called lazy and they in return call rgorman a bad person.
Nothing more.Except his general opinion on all Bulgarians. Got quite affected for being called a bad person I think.... or for not making the desired profit.

I apologize my reply comes too late but to all the people who will complain of Bulgaria in the future (egoman78 and that belgian guy above...), here is a simple solution for you guys;

If you don't like living in Bulgaria, please do NOT come here.
We Bulgarians haven't forced you to come here, it was your decision.

And just by the way:
Why are the English so lazy? (if anyone is studying psychology will be interesting to find out...)