Chris Kelley: Bulgaria News

Celebrating Easter in Bulgaria

Thu, 24 Apr 2003 11:53:30 GMT

Lachko has posted a page about the Bulgarian Easter. And yes, we are planning on participating in the midnight egg stroll.

Bulgarian lesson: the Pastry shop

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 07:39:44 GMT

This morning, I had what must be the best strudel of my life. Fresh out of the oven, melting in my mouth. Simple pleasures. Since I am really embarrassed about my poor Bulgarian language skills, I decided to ask Lachko to tell me how to thank the pastry shop ladies during my next visit. So here it is:

Saturday's strudel was very tasty: Съботният щрудел беше много вкусен.
"Subutnyat shtrudel beshe mnogo vkussen"

Try saying that to a $tarBuck$ barista next time you purchase a $5 latte and $3 muffin! By the way, the cost for a pitka (small round loaf of bread), the strudel, and a "Френско Руло" (Frenchka Roulo - what we call a sticky bun) was $0.85.

I can't believe I missed the First Annual Sofia International Blog Conference!

Thu, 10 Apr 2003 12:23:36 GMT

My first excuse would be that I was in the States when the event happened. (true) My second excuse would be that I had no idea that it was scheduled to happen (sadly, also true). But the only real reason for missing it is that I've really had my head up my ass, and have not used the miracle of Blogshares or other blog data integration website to seek other bloging-Americans-living-in-Sofia. Until now. So, a big howdy to Rich W and jkrank. Perhaps I should be spending less time at Toba&co and more at Murphy's?

Holiday in Constantinople

Sat, 04 Jan 2003 12:38:19 GMT

Celebrated New Year's Eve in Taksim square in Istanbul. A mosh-pit of *very* excited young people. This article on Tensions over Eastern Rite practices and other issues in Bulgaria reminds me of the religious aspect of the trip, visiting Hagia Sofia, which was once the center of the Christian Church, the site where Kings, such as Richard the Lion-Hearted, where crowned.

Look at the bottom line

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 07:37:56 GMT

This morning's Register article, fortified by Slashdot - Namibia Says "No Thanks" To Microsoft Donation With Strings. The Register posted an update about Namibia's SchoolNet, Microsoft "donations", and what looks like Namibia final decision. Apparently, MS's "donated" ... [Slashdot] - reminds me of the Bulgarian gov't deal with Microsoft:

Microsoft Bulgaria will provide about $1 million to build a national network for the training of 30,000 civil servants in computer skills, managing director Teodor Milev told journalists on Tuesday.

On May 17, State Administration Minister Dimitar Kalchev and the director of Microsoft Bulgaria signed an agreement by which the state administration would receive 30,000 packages of MS Windows XP and MS Office XP software in Bulgarian. The cost of the programme products is $13,650,000 or $455 per package. According to the agreement, Microsoft Bulgaria will cover the training costs.

The Bulgarian government is getting the software for half-price - very nice - but still, there goes $13.6 million dollars out of their economy. And I imagine that the 30,000 seats needed is grossly over-estimated. Many governments in Europe are looking towards Linux - why did Bulgaria, with many good programmers - buck the trend?

Turk Telekom, Advent in Bulgarian telco stand-off

Tue, 24 Sep 2002 09:29:28 GMT

It is sad to see piece after piece of Bulgaria sold off to foreign companies. Is privatization such a great idea? Is there a better way to do this?