System of survival
The last bastion has fallen. The last bastion of hope. Something I didn't believe would ever happen, but you know, with time things change, so do people.
I have mentioned several times so far that I have an acquaintance who is unemployed like me. Many things connect me with her, mainly that we have spent several years abroad, in different countries, but we are both aware of many things, especially the bad practices in our own country. However, she, unlike me, decided to move to the capital after returning from abroad during the pandemic, and I just then moved out of this city, vowing once again that I would never set foot in it again.
Do you know what it's like to be in this situation: I personally know, and already from my own experience in recent years, that I can only find a job in the capital. Even yesterday I got a call from a recruitment agency, they offered me a rather strange position with a relatively good salary, if I was in the capital I would probably have accepted immediately. But I'm not in the capital and I don't want to be there. A long time ago I was done with this city, where basically all people of more or less ambition or worth went to in order to survive. At the same time, the locals, as befits such a situation, hate us for taking over their town, and covering the huge costs of high rents, super expensive heating and electricity, there is often nothing left of the salary afterwards, and honestly, when I lived there years ago, I often ended up with zero at the end of the month, and when I decided it couldn't go on like this anymore and decided to emigrate, I didn't have any savings to do it with.
Now, however, my acquaintance decided to move to this city for the first time from her hometown and is super happy there, maybe because she missed all those criminal years that I went through, living in the capital from my university years onwards, when, as I told you before, dangers and scammers lurked at every turn.
As it turns out from her stories, it continues like this, just not to the same extent as before. The smallest example is under what conditions she started work.
Bearing in mind that she does not have much work experience in the country, in the capital at all, I have already told her what happened to me, what to be careful about, what to look for and take into account when applying for a job, what is absolute red flag and should avoid such job postings at all cost… I think that she has already deliberately passed up several job offers that met her personal requirements, thinking that "there is something about them that is not ok". And last month she surprised me when she told me that she had started a job, found with connections of course, as things generally happen in Bulgaria. The terms meet her requirements for her to be part-time at 5 hours of work so she can take care of her child and such, but... she will not be insured on the full amount of the salary, but on a smaller amount, and the rest she will be paid in cash.
Let me tell you that this practice, so typical of all settlements outside the capital, is something that has even stopped me from communicating with the people I know in the neighboring town. Because this practice has dramatic consequences for people in the future, when/if they even live to retirement age (as I told you already, Bulgaria is the country with the lowest life expectancy in the EU). Because this leads to minimum pensions that are not even enough for the survival of pensioners. And this, for me, is a vicious circle in which a person enters even at a young age, puts up with it, because it is accepted as a standard, as something normal, although it is not, and it even leads to self-destruction, because by voluntarily participating in this process, you become complicit in robbing your own funds and your own future.
So I decided that people who do this and consider it normal cannot teach me anything useful in life.
But that this could happen in the capital is something new and even more shocking to me. And for an intelligent person with capabilities to accept it is even more unacceptable.
So what happened to my acquaintance, why did she also fall into this trap, I wondered for a while. Then I saw something in the profile of another acquaintance, a classmate from my hometown - outside the capital. She speaks Spanish, probably also English, has a college degree, but works as a social worker at a center for people with disabilities, probably for minimum wage. Quite by chance, I found out from one of her posts that she actually deals with some private things, probably makes and sells crafts, just like my friend in Sofia deals with such things.
And then I realized this - people in Bulgaria have always made and are making this calculation - "I make this money from side hustle, I get that money from something else. If I can find a job that gives me that salary and some insurance, to accumulate years of service to get some kind of pension, I'll make ends meet and that'll be fine."
That's it. It was that simple. Pure math. I do this and that, it doesn't matter what and how many different activities these are, the important thing is that when I put them together I get some amount with which I can survive.
The moment I realized this, I thought that I am wrong again, that my demands are completely unreasonable - that I want to be insured on the whole salary, and I also have claims on the salary too - not to be the minimum, to meet of the invested skills, knowledge and efforts, of the volume of work, etc. That people just take whatever is available and match it to their other sources of income to get something.
But then I thought - what are my other sources of income? And is it possible that we all have such talents as making things with our hands or offering side services?
At the beginning of the year, I really fell into this trap as well - because there are people, even entire academies in Bulgaria, who proclaim how easy it is, even obligatory, to make at least a YouTube channel in order to earn something from it, on the side, as if this is really an easy thing.
Well, it's not. Just like it's not for everyone.
And I remain with the reasoning about survival in Bulgaria and the conviction that I do not understand the system of survival here 😔
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 | Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you. |
Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|
I wish you and hope for you one day you understand or just figure out how the system "works" in Bulgaria.
There are plenty of people who come from richer countries just to establish a new business here and be even more successful.
So there is a solution to your problems, obviously. Probably something or someone should change your perception of these all. I don't know but I wish you the best for you. Probably you already have it but can't see it in full? ;)
Have a great day!
This is a completely wrong assumption, but it was a nice try for reassurance. I appreciate it. 😃
I don't want to argue on this topic, but "people come from richer countries" - I think that explains it all. First of all, there is no country in Europe, well, at least the EU, where wages are as low as here. Coming from richer countries, people come with money, buy properties and start businesses. Most such people, of course, have already established connections and do this through them, because without them nothing can be done, even if you are a local.
And since in recent days I have been on the topic of propaganda and how it works in Bulgaria and has never stopped being active, (I will probably write a next post about this too) on this occasion I always think of a propaganda article by Deutsche Welle Bulgaria, which I read a few years ago, which explained how a German woman chose to retire in some village in the mountains here "instead of going to some rich island" where she used to work. It turned out that the woman's pension was just ideal for life in Bulgaria, but not for a more civilized country. And most importantly, she had close Bulgarian friends who helped her with the whole process of buying a property and moving. So the basic idea of how Western Europeans prefer to live here simply disappears when one understands the details and the truth behind their actions.
And as an addition, a summary of the situation that I saw today written by an acquaintance on a social network: "High emigration, high mortality, sad health care and education, political and economic instability."
Blessed are those who are satisfied with this.
Perhaps you're right.
Retirement outsourcing country? :D
Yes, that is exactly the case. And as a matter of fact, an article recently came out saying that Sofia is the best place to retire in Europe. Of course, this does not apply to Bulgarian pensioners, especially those in Sofia, who rummage through garbage containers for food or live in the cold because they cannot pay for heating.
To be completely honest, I don't trust such articles, they always have an angle, right...
If one has a four-digits pension in EUR and has a roof over their head, there are plenty of better places to retire to, in Europe ;)
Oh yes, I can think of a few others immediately, I would never have thought to recommend Bulgaria anyway - no reason to. There are so many countries with a more pleasant climate, the same or a lower standard of living, kinder and more helpful people, more beautiful and better maintained, good laws that are followed and order. All these posts are paid and pointless. They have become especially frequent now, when the country is waiting for an evaluation from the EU for getting this and that, i.e. certain people to get this and that. It is downright disgusting and dishonest, both against the locals and the lies that are being spread among people who are not familiar with the real situation.
Yeah... I have to agree with you this time! :)
Oh my, oh my. Sell real estate? Sell insurance? Take a lot of mind altering drugs and write screenplays like, well just about any movies these days but, Riddick, The Clock on the Walls, Trolls, Sing!, Avatar, Old, I mean there's a million of them... Yes, the problem is if you take to many your totally gonzoed forever like the that writes the Beach Boys Songs.
I mean you're probably better off than I am because you can probably speak clearly into some sort of dictation program and when I do it ghosts and spirits interrupt.
If you get electrocuted with a lot of AC, I found that that helps. I was an electrician for a long while. Don't set yourself up for a shock where voltage goes through the brain.
"Hang in the baby"
I really do think a lot of books and movies are written by people who eat bad food, or take lots of mind altering drugs.
There is something safer I have found: live in the middle of nowhere where no one wants to come to see you and if they do they don't want to come again. It's best if there is a spouse so you get a reality check sometimes. Maybe the spouse can proof read. Offer suggestions.
Or, become a fisher woman there plenty of tales of the sea, Pirates of the Caribbean series, of magic, Harry Potter series.
I often say if I had enough drugs I could have written that but the best I have found is sincerity. That which you do and know is that which you write.
There's always over the road trucking. Talk about lonely. Sadly, they hunt you down you down if you write your adventures. Like driving at 120 mph on the highway to make a pickup on time.
You did that, wrote about a friend...
You'll get it. Look what happened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, she was hit on the head a fantasy dream ensued.
As with electricity or drug use, a hit on the head can work just don't do it too hard.
Let the imagination roll the writing. Let the memory record itself.
Was Dorothy hit on the head? Now I can't remember how this tale began, although I must have read it only 10 years ago.🤔
I spent a lot of time in my life, in fact, I have wasted a lot of time in my life in search of my mission. I kept asking the same questions, for years - what should I be doing, what is the thing that will put all my forces, capabilities and energies in the right direction, the right flow, where from all these things put together one would presume it was supposed to work miracles. I went to counseling, read books, took tests, tried to meditate on this question, did all kinds of practices, but it turned out that I never found my "mission in life", and now that I can't even find a job for so long, I'm already starting to doubt everything.
I went through this phase where I thought I could do anything as long as I made some money. But maybe it's not quite for me, I can't do some mediocre stuff on an assembly line, lie to people, sell poor quality stuff... in fact, I can't sell at all. Now, in this period of life, I just want to live normally, peacefully, in a place with a warmer climate, a more normal life. I try to mentally prepare myself for the fact that I will have to do all kinds of work for this, and that life, in addition to survival, is also a matter of constant compromises. But if I don't do them, I just have to die.
I understand your point with the head banging and trying to influence the brain, but it sure is very dangerous. I think one can never know what the outcome of such a thing will be - even taking drugs. After all, when something is not written in my destiny, it will not happen, no matter how much I hit my head, no matter how much I try to contact the other world for help.
I can just sit and wait to see what else can happen. As a favorite meme I found recently goes - living just in case things get better.
Those were kind of jokes, the electrocutions, cracks in the head, et cetera but there was this time on Mt. Diablo, California I was wiring a panel on the outside wall of an under construction house in a new suburb when - POUR! ZAP! OUT COLD!
I saw a beautiful city in a round hole of the High Thunder Clouds far off to the west...I have thought about it a lot and I believe union electricians threw a bucket of water on me but I really don't know because it was pouring rain for a bit once I came to. It was 240 single phase I was on at the time.
I wonder how a Bulgarian does so well at American?
The last time I was unconscious, it didn't help me at all, because I was relatively young - in the seventh grade, and it had quite unpleasant health consequences. Nothing else. I fell off my bike because I was riding with no hands.😂 Since then, I know that hitting the head is not safe, then requires months to recover.
About the language (if that's what you mean), I have studied English by myself. But the topic of languages is long and pointless. There are several countries in Europe that produce multilingual residents. Either because of multilingual communities or because of their good education system. Poorer countries on the other hand also produce people who emigrate and thus learn other languages. The competition here is very high. For everything. 😄
This thing seems to help too and I am taller so I look less fat
Again, those things are jokes but they did happen. I probably should say, "Don't do this at home."
But that is life. Crap happens and it hurts! I know.
I was writing about the values in people's necks that allow the circulation of spinal fluid between the brain and the spinal column where the fluid goes to the kidneys and is cleaned aereated, the pollution removed.
I cited that it might explain a lot about the subconscious and how it manipulates people to smack their heads to open the valves so the fluid will be exchanged and cleaned.
Why people box, martial arts, field artillery, have car accidents, hit their heads and the fluid circulates.
It was supposed to be humorous but this is the 21st century and everyone has a stick up their ass. Pull out the stick and be happy, or hit your head.
Haha, that really made me laugh. 😅
In fact, I watched a bit of boxing at the Olympics this year and I couldn't help but wonder why people do this. What would drive a person to play a sport that consists of constant blows to the head. Especially women. How big of a masochist do they have to be? But now I understand the drive😃
I have spent time writing two posts in answer to when you tried to find God. I have completely erased both of them. They were great some of my best on the subject. But too complicated.
I will try writing something very simple and credible. For example,
God is everywhere and always there. Simply, humbly talk to Him. Out loud or within yourself. It really is that simple. Know He's there and He is there. Always has been and always will be.
Thank you, friend!
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