As I prepare to make my departure from Bulgaria, my home for almost two years, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at some of the many expats I crossed paths with - and interrogated - for your reading pleasure.

Submitted for your approval, an assortment of some expat moments and opinions that brought a smile to my face.



"I used to tell my friends that to go out to dinner in Bulgaria, you needed about three and a half hours, a very high tolerance for drinking, and about two packs of cigarettes, because by the time you've finished, that's just about what you've done,"

Ty Lowry,

North Carolina, US.



"It's the only place I know in the world where you can tell the temperature by the length of the ladies' hemlines. So, when we get up to about 30 degrees centigrade, it gets quite interesting.

"During the summer, you have to employ a driver if you're going to drive, otherwise you'll probably have too many accidents - but that was before I got married,"

Alasdair Barnard,

England.



"Bulgaria has the luckiest driver's in the world. They're lucky to be alive, that is. My advice to any foreigner is to drive defensively, you can't be oblivious and must be totally aware at all times,"

Nigel Hutchins,

Brighton, UK.



"Sofia is beautiful, but it doesn't know how to shovel snow. Walking is not possible and you can't use brakes because of the ice. The sidewalks have to be cleaned - people are forced to walk on the roads.

"Every year it's like this. In winter, Sofia is beautiful in a postcard, but day to day it is frustrating,"

Corrado Maraviglia, Asmar, Eritea.



"To come out of the airport and see the buildings... I just started to cry. I really thought it looked like on the news, like Sarajevo, like it'd been hit by a bomb or something. But, it's really improved in four years, I have to say that,"

Laura Garland Vogelsanger, Washington, DC, US.



"I love Bulgaria. I've just totally fallen in love with it. I'm seriously thinking of investing in property,"

Henry Muchamore, Edinburgh, Scotland.



"It's not so big of a country or city. In Sofia, you feel the city. Athens is a city of four million people - you don't feel the city. There are places you've never been and are never going to be.

"Here there's a relaxed feeling that you know everything; everyday life is much more comfortable,"

Vassilis Xypolias,

Athens, Greece.



"There's a lot of dynamism, especially in Sofia. In cultural activities there is a desire to create and express themselves. The people are eager to change and open themselves, which is a positive trend in this kind of transition environment,"

Gilles LaBorde,

Paris, France.



"As a foreigner, I'm often viewed as an opportunity by unscrupulous people. I'm constantly ripped off by taxi drivers. I don't even argue anymore - they just rip me off and I pay,"

Frank Clinton,

Sligo, Ireland.



"You make your home wherever you are. Life moves on. I've returned home, but there's nothing there I remember. In Sofia, you find places that take over what you've left behind,"

Ian Mitchell,

London, England.



"There's a history here that I don't fully understand. It's difficult at times to know what Bulgarians are thinking, and it sometimes leaves me feeling left out,"

Carlos DaSilva, Johannesburg, South Africa.



"I'm quite certain that we'll all be celebrating entry into NATO this year. I think the EU will happen in 2007. With the people I've seen, there's no reason to assume it can't,"

Jeremy Cripps,

Leicester, England.



"It just hit me. I had never really been in snow before - it was terrible,"

Chuck Stuart,

Freeport, Bahamas.



"As the years go by, it's gets easier to live here. Sofia really wasn't a beautiful city. It was dirty, and all of the buildings were run down - over the years, that has gradually changed,"

Mike Hennessy,

Tipperary, Ireland.



"I'm constantly feeling so honoured by being brought into their world. This is why I have exclusively Bulgarian friends,"

Jennifer Helsing, Vancouver, Canada.





If you are, or know, someone who would make an interesting expat of the week, please email their name(s) and contact information to editor@sofiaecho.com.