If you are planning or just to move to Bulgaria read this article, the idea is to help you to make the transition easier to your new life Bulgaria and provide you with the basics about this beautiful country.
Some essentials you need to learn before even arriving in Bulgaria.
Please remember this one:
Nodding means no and shaking one’s head means yes, just the opposite of what you are used to, add to this that you don’t understand the Bulgarian language, and you may be in a funny situation at the grocery store that you ask for a product, the seller nodes repetitive you to tell you that they don’t have, and you stay and wait, since you understood the nodding was a yes.
Bulgarians are proud of their traditions
And they celebrate many occasions during the year, you may find that Name Day, which is a tradition that Bulgarians love, holidays and many traditional other occasions as Easter or Martenitsa tradition are they are deeply rooted in Bulgarian culture
Few tips about customs in Bulgaria
5-things-to-do-when-in-BulgariaGetting ready for the new start
Looking for job
After you have found a place to live and if you arrive without a job nailed, try to especially prepare your resume, highlight those skills that could help you in the Bulgarian labor market (degrees and languages that you are fluent in).
The labor market in your home country could ask for a different set of skills that in Bulgaria, keep also into consideration that Bulgaria is becoming an outsourcing hub for many international companies.
What we mean is that if you aren’t proficient in the Bulgarian language you may face problems in finding the same job that you had back home.
Upload your resume on job portals as www.jobs.bg and www.jobtiger.bg and check them for opportunities regularly.
I have a friend that his profession is Engineering, but since he doesn’t speak the Bulgarian language couldn’t find a job in his specialty, but he reinvents himself as technical customer support in a call center, and now he is pretty happy with the turn in his life, salaries in call center for native foreign languages speakers could be way higher than the average of salary in Bulgaria.
Get used to the Bulgarian driving, parking and road problems.
Things happen differently in Bulgaria. Broken pavements and potholes on the roads have to be accepted (things are getting quickly better in this subject, especially in Varna).
Driving and parking will require you the development of new skills as well, even if you have been driving back home.
Be patient
The level of bureaucracy could impress some people from western countries, especially in smaller towns could be difficult o find people in the governmental offices that can speak English, remember to bring a translator or a Bulgarian friend to help you when you have to do some paperwork in Bulgarian institutions.
Register with your personal doctor or enroll your kids on the school cant be time-consuming tasks.
Customer service is still behind developed countries standards, be flexible, don’t take it personally, everyday activities such as registering a change of car ownership, and many other very time-consuming tasks, that back home you could do even online, sometimes here it’s best to write the morning off (If everything goes smooth).
While Bulgarians are noted for being open and friendly people, you will not be given any special treatment here just because you are a foreigner, so don’t expect all documents to be available in your language or to be exempt from complying with local administrative issues and bye-laws, be prepared for possibility that you will be asked to fill up forms in Bulgarian language (something obvious for many people, but not for everybody).
Food and drinks
Bulgarians are proud of their skills for producing homemade wine and Rakia (kind of grape or fruits spirit) and this craft is an old tradition for them, but you as a foreigner, could face some problems with the amounts of alcohol that fellow Bulgarians expect you to drink, be careful, be polite and if you aren’t in the mood for that much alcohol, say firmly No, and they eventually with let you in peace, if you feel confident and want to drink at their pace, better write the next day off!
The same may happen with the food if you are invited to a Bulgarian house expect to be served a lot of food and be pushed to eat.
Discover the amazing nature of Bulgaria
The countryside in Bulgaria is beautiful to enjoy it, take the time to go to the mountains or the beach.
Get out of town and have fun in nature, there is so much to see and do, that go out and enjoy.
This will help you to meet new people and places, and in the long run, adapt and understand Bulgarian way of living.
And the Most Important: don’t compare with your home country
This advice may work in many places and not only for Bulgaria, and is probably the most important advice that we can pass on – is to recognize that life in Bulgaria is not the same as living in your home country. And there is no point in trying to transform your new country into a small version of your own country.
There is little value in drawing comparisons with any of the thousand and one things that everyone in your country is used to and takes for granted, be tolerant, flexible and relax, in this way you will reduce the impact of the cultural shock.
Many people living in Bulgaria today often say that they are reminded their country years ago when children were safe, life was straightforward and neighbors helped neighbors. While this may be quickly changing, it is true to say that just about every expat would acknowledge that they have benefited greatly from a neighbors’ assistance and that people, in general, try to make them feel welcomed.
