Welcome to Bulgaria with Noodles!

The Red (and Ghostless) Bank of China Towers
Yes, I have done it! After reading several other blogs about Bulgaria and asking myself, "Yes, but how is my blog going to be different?", I have finally taken the plunge and made my very first blog. Bulgaria with Noodles is the title. Yes, yes, it really is going to be about Bulgaria, one of these days, but it is all going to start in China!

All the other blogs that have be written about moving to Bulgaria start with lots of anxious posts about selling the house, scraping together the cash, buying a tumbledown house in Bulgaria (usually in the mountains) and then driving all the way from the UK to BG. Well, this blog is different because we already have a house in Bulgaria, and an apartment, and a smug smile. The only problem is that we are still in China.

Well, dear reader, I say that it is a problem, but really being in southern China is not so bad, for various reasons. Firstly, it is now November and the weather here in Shenzhen is a lot nicer than it is in Bulgaria, where it is flipping freezing already. Secondly, I have a job and so I get paid each month. (We will not have that, once we return to BG.) Thirdly, my Chinese students are so sweet and lovely. They cheer me up, even when I am fed up and tired.


 So where, exactly, is this blog being written? Well, here is a photo of our apartment block, directly behind where my dear wife is standing. The reddish/dark pinkish tiles are to keep away the ghosts, of course. Well, you probably guessed that already, didn't you? The story goes that the garden area was used for public executions, so lots of Chinese people thought that the buildings would be haunted. The solution? Red tiles, of course! Who ya gonna call? Red tile makers! Don't bother with Ghostbusters. Red is a lucky colour and so there are no ghosts. (Well, I just thought that I would put your mind at rest.) We live in a ghost-free zone.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Educaring, Part 2

Image
Not so long ago, I wrote a post for my blog called Educaring . Please do not misunderstand me. I really do believe that teachers, youth workers, parents (and indeed anyone involved with young people) all have a duty to protect children and teenagers, to keep them safe. As I argued in my previous posting, I also believe that the task of protecting children is becoming more and more difficult - almost impossible, in fact. Yes, the Internet has a lot to do with it, I am sure, but there is another problem that is hardly ever discussed.  In a nutshell, anyone who genuinely cares about children finds it very hard to imagine how evil and how subtle child molesters and pedophiles really are. I think that is probably why many teachers and parents just do not know when a pedophile is "grooming" a child and why they often do not believe it, even when confronted with the unpleasant truth. Michael Green at Windlesham House School I knew Michael Green when I was teaching at Windlesh...
Read more

On the Cards, Part 1

Image
Getting our new Bulgarian residency cards from the Microwave Oven Woman Rejoice! Let's celebrate. Hallelujah! At long last, the Microwave Woman has given us our new Bulgarian residency cards (BRCs). As a special treat, just in case you do not know what a BRC looks like, here is my old one.  My dear wife suggested that I should "black out" certain bits, as there are lots of evil people out there on the Internet, all gathering my personal and financial details in order to swindle me or involve me in some dreadful scandal or some such nonsense. Of course, no one who reads my blog could ever do such a nasty thing!   Getting our new BRCs means that we can go ahead with our applications for our Russian visas. Then, maybe two or three weeks later, our passports will be returned to us, with new Russian visas stuck into them. The other good news is that the insurance agent in Dragoman did not lose my car registration document. When she had finished giving me my new car ...
Read more

Moving to Bulgaria

Image
A lady called Betty Bradshaw recently wrote this on the Facebook Group "Moving to Bulgaria" and my replies are in italics. Sorry if this sounds thick... but what is the very first thing we need to do before buying a house in Bulgaria? Is it the visas? Is it buy a house first? We are serious about moving over, but have no clue where to begun our journey. Dear Beckie Bradshaw,  You are not being "thick" at all. We all have to start somewhere, when we do something completely new and out of our comfort zone!  Anyway, the first thing you need to before buying a house in Bul garia is to read my blog  www.bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com   Then you should watch some of Susan Ashwell's lovely videos about Bulgaria on YouTube. (Her series is called "Escape to a simpler place and time.")  Thirdl y, you should reply to the message that I am just about to write to you. Here is the message (or messages) I wrote to Becky, together with her replies. Hello! My wife an...
Read more