Sunday:
My recent visits to Greece and the Czech Republic have got my head spinning with comparisons to Bulgaria.

Greece is Balkan, but it remained "Western" in the 20th century, though admittedly its people served time under a military junta. The Czech Republic is a Slavic nation that suffered under Soviet rule for 50 years, but it's traditionally been in the sphere of Central Europe.

 In Greece, I saw a cafe culture where people sat for hours drinking (one) coffee and smoking (tons of) cigarettes. I found myself waiting an uncomfortably long time for a waiter to come to my table. On the southern coast of Crete, the locals eyed me with curiosity until one of us smiled or nodded -       then they insisted I sit and drink endless glasses of raki with them. Sound familiar?

In the Czech Republic, I understood tidbits of a foreign language: "seer" for cheese, "shunka" for ham. A Czech dude in a bar chewed my ear off. The Czech king wanted to convert to Christianity, he said. So the king asked the Byzantine emperor for help. The emperor sent two missionaries, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, to Prague. Thus the Czechs were responsible for the salvation of the Slavs. Heard something like that before?

In Crete - as far from Athens as one can be - the airport and roads were in excellent condition. Archaeological sites were outfitted with facilities to handle throngs of sightseers. Everywhere I went, credit cards were accepted. Practically every waiter and hotel manager spoke English or German.

Tourists were equally welcome in Prague, which has seemed to have sloughed off its communist past. I was surprised to witness Czechs shrug when I complained about the crowds of camera-toting gawkers massing under the astronomical clock in the Old Town. "Why shouldn't they come see it," they'd say. "It's beautiful."

Bulgarians have told me that if you go off-the-beaten path in Greece, you'll see Bulgaria-like conditions. Well, I saw dilapidated houses ON the beaten path, in the shadow of the Acropolis. But those houses were surrounded by well-maintained buildings. They were anomalies.

Bulgarians have also told me that if one leaves the centre of Prague, one will see housing blocks like those in Mladost. Yes, I saw such towers on the outskirts of the city. They weren't pretty. But they were painted recently and the municipality or residents had planted rows of bright flowerbeds alongside their walkways.

Clearly Greece and the Czech Republic struggled and solved some of the socio-economic ills Bulgaria is currently tackling. Clearly Bulgaria will surmount those problems, join Europe and, hopefully, improve the quality of life of its citizens without sacrificing the unique perks they enjoy now.

I'm wondering about the extent to which Bulgaria is headed the same way as Greece and the Czech Republic. Bulgaria was the most slavish of the Soviet allies. Unlike Greece, it has more recent serious historical baggage. Bulgaria also can't harken back to an Austrian Hapsburg tradition, like the Czech Republic. I suppose the resorts on the Black Sea are a sign of things to come, or a sign of the way things already are. But that's the coast. What about Sofia?  

Many expats come to Sofia because it is obscure. I've enjoyed being outside the stream of history US politicians, the media and others force feed Americans back home, for example. The various hassles one deals with here - hassles which really aren't too cumbersome (except the immigration office at Maria Luisa) - are the price of that obscurity. Indeed, those hassles are part of the adventure, a lesson in how transitions work, how life works before relentless efficiency takes charge.

The expats I met in Greece and the Czech Republic experience something else. Sunny Greece and beautiful Prague shed their obscurity long ago. They are relatively efficient, fully integrated into that stream of history one loses crossing the border into Bulgaria. Some expats I encountered sought escape with convenience: hot showers and cheap beer, in other words. Plenty of those in Bulgaria. Others thought they were living on the edge, as if Prague was Tbilisi, Georgia or a city in Uzbekistan. Sofia ain't Central Asia, but its far from the Charles Bridge.

I have no answers. But my mind is spinning, and the stream is coming.