Bulgaria
Posted by Hot_Amoeba_7326@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Are there those who moved to live in Bulgaria? Tell us everything that surprised you. I'm going to move from Poland to Bulgaria and I want to learn more about this country and culture
Hot_Amoeba_7326@reddit (OP)
How do Bulgarians generally relate to Ukrainians who speak Russian? Isn't this puzzling?
lordalgammon@reddit
You will feel quite welcomed. There is a small but quite vocal minority that supports Russia and is anti EU/Ukraine, but they are mostly paid or brainwashed. To the average Georgi and Iva Ukranian and Russian would appear to be the same language
Historical-View647@reddit
I'm not an expat here but a Bulgarian, who moved back to Bulgaria back in 2018 and still can't adapt back to life here after several years abroad between 2013 and 2018. I want to move out ASAP but I'll try to stay objective about living here.
We have beautiful nature and you might find our food good. It's not quite as good or tasty as Italian food, mind you, but it's generally very nice.
Are you moving to work at a call center or a multinational with Polish language? If yes, you should know that the work environments in call center and local multinational offices can be very toxic. However, you'll have some foreigner points.
We're one of the few countries where foreigners from nations that are more to the West/North from us are treated better than locals. I mean you'll have some privilege someone from India or even Turkey wouldn't get here so it might be good for your career.
That said, there's still a glass ceiling you might encounter as a Pole. The most you could become is a team lead or middle manager. As a fellow ex commie country person you will probably not get promoted to upper management any time soon, these positions are usually filled with Bulgarians. The few foreigners in them are from rich Western countries like Brits, Americans, Germans, French, Dutch and Scandinavians. Might be some exceptions if you're into IT, but generally people from those countries have it the best of all foreigners that move here in terms of upward mobility.
Beware the stray dogs, some can be aggressive.
Culture - it's more Southern than Poland ofc but don't expect Greek/Italian friendliness and openness in Sofia specifically. I can say our new buildings, particularly malls and apartments look the part, in fact many of them look more luxurious and flashier than new build apartments in far wealthier countries. However, the quality is spotty. Everything looks flashy on the outside but when you enter you see little problems like the rooms are tiny or shaped weirdly, sound insulation is bad, etc.
It would be a better country to live in if you don't need to work a local-based job. The friendliness of people varies from city to city. I find the people of Stara Zagora to be the most welcoming from all regional cities I've been to but the city is very new, it was destroyed during a war and rebuilt anew. Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse are really beautiful and worth a visit as a tourist but way too many people there are less friendly. The people are generally cold in Sofia, I haven't been to Plovdiv. Varna and Burgas are a hit or miss.
Hot_Amoeba_7326@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your answer, but we are not Poles, we are Ukrainians, we escaped from the war when we were 17 years old, our city and houses were destroyed, three years already in Poland, but the level of xenophobia against migrants is growing here, we just want a stable quiet life, have a stable job and just live, a factory or warehouse is even suitable for us to start, having at least 3000 leva for two, we would be able to live peacefully, I think. Maybe even stay forever, at the moment I don't consider countries like Germany, there's too much bureaucracy, I want something easier and calmer
Historical-View647@reddit
Oh in that case you're going to be OK in terms of finding a job. Lots of warehouse jobs most Bulgarians don't want to do. But as Ukrainians you also have the option for call center / business process outsourcing office jobs if you know Ukrainian and/or Polish (and Russian, too ofc but I don't know if you know it and even if you do if you would want to deal with working for the Russian market).
The thing is some locals take Russia's side in the conflict. Our president is a Russian puppet and in the protests of our nationalist party they wave Russian flags next to the Bulgarian ones.
You're right about Germany. Not only are they cold, they tend to be Russia apologists. They closed their nuclear plants and tied themselves to Russian gas, the dumbest move ever. I've considered moving to Spain or Portugal as they have the least influence by Russia and Germany.
Hot_Amoeba_7326@reddit (OP)
We don't need a principal job, even if it's somehow related to the Russian market. We will have more than enough quiet and calm life, again, racism towards citizens of other countries is growing in Poland, which gives a sense of insecurity of life. Thank you very much for your answer once again. In fact, it's very hard to decide what affects your future life.
Historical-View647@reddit
So bad to hear that about Poland, I guess I'm happy about deciding against moving there but it was mostly due to their language being more difficult than for example Czech and Slovak to me and the bad weather.
It's shocking how they can hate on Ukrainians, your two nations even have similar languages (I find Ukrainian sounding closer to Slovak and Polish than to Russian, despite always getting grouped with Russian). In Slovakia I never felt xenophobia, I think Slovaks are more welcoming than Poles. You might also consider Slovakia, btw. I suggest that if you can to spend some days in Slovakia and some in Bulgaria and then decide. Good luck!
Poch1212@reddit
Come to Spain bro
hahahohohuhu@reddit
I lived in Bulgaria for about 7 years.
Be prepared for differences in meanings of shaking or nodding your head. The usual yes is a no, and the usual no is a yes there.
Nice climate, good/nice people, terrible roads, very cheap cars, lots of clubs/bars/restaurants, low taxes, lots of green spaces, Cyrillic alphabet, did I say good/nice people? Good/nice people, good/nice people, good/nice people.