The European Voluntary Service (EVS) together with Foundation 42 organize social events for foreigners, living and working in Bulgaria. The idea is to create an environment in which they can communicate with other foreigners who live here and at the same time meet with Bulgarians. One such event is called Survival BG, organized by Serbian Danilo Dalovic and Spanish Alba Martos-Rosa.

They told Radio Bulgaria more about their thoughts and feelings about life and people in Bulgaria.

The first thing that attracted Alba's attention was Bulgarian language she had never heard before. Coming to Bulgaria she realized that people are more reserved in physical expression than the Spanish. Alba also finds Bulgarian sense of humor particularly remarkable. People in Bulgaria are more relaxed in comparison to those in Serbia, Danilo says. Alba relies heavily on help from friends who have lived in Sofia for a long time.

Danilo comes from a small town in Serbia and asked what he liked the most in Bulgaria, the first thing he thinks about is the beautiful Bulgarian capital city: For Spanish Alba, cold winters are a challenge, so she recommends that newcomers buy warm clothes. The two young people have not decided whether they want to stay here when their project is over, but Alba says she will surely bring home a box full of jars of the favorite “Ljutenitsa”.

Lorena, like Danilo, is from a neighboring country. She comes from Transylvania in Romania and has lived in Bulgaria for about a year and a half. She loves people, traveling and getting to know new cultures. At age 22, she decided that her life was boring and came to Bulgaria under a volunteer program to find out about life in other lands.

The first things that surprised her were the mysterious alphabet, which quite unfamiliar to her at the beginning, and the people. She was impressed by the young people and found their sometimes cynical jokes fascinatingly interesting and amusing. And the most unforgettable moments for her are hitchhiking trips with friends.

Jan Weyer is also one of the participants in Survival BG. He is from the German city of Hamburg and has lived in Bulgaria for about two years. Jan, who works as a consultant for various companies, arrived in this country by chance but as time passed by he decided to stay. According to him, Bulgarians are very hospitable people. He did not expect to find out that Bulgaria had very rich history and culture. Culinary traditions are also close. For example, Germans likes a salad that is very similar to Bulgarian Shopska Salad, as well as an alcoholic beverage similar to Bulgarian rakiya. He says that unlike his fellow countrymen, Bulgarians are livelier and he likes that very much.  For the young man the biggest problem remains the language barrier. However, he is already familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet. He can even read, but he knows that more effort is needed to learn Bulgarian. Asked about things Bulgaria has brought to his life, he replies:

English: Alexander Markov