On a Personal Note 4

Dear reader,

July was my vacation time. I went to Bulgaria – my home country. Above you see the National Cultural Center in Sofia as seen from my airplane window. I arrived on a Monday afternoon and spent a fun evening with friends before I left for my home town Vidin the next day. I spent most of my vacation there. Almost every day started at the cafe in the park, meeting one friend or another. Lunch was at home with grandma and her special home cooking, then some reading and an afternoon nap, and another restaurant visit with family or friends in the evening. That’s what I call good times. I hope next summer it lasts longer!

While there, my love for arts and culture (and my friends with love for arts and culture) took me to an opera (a concert opera performance to be exact) under the open sky at the medieval fortress Baba Vida. It is a fully preserved fortress, believed to be the foundation for my home town, and an important historical monument in Bulgaria.

During that month there was a musical festival in the city as well – a stage was build in the town center and there were concerts almost every night of the week. Music was expected to be part of life – not just some extra, but a vital part of quality life. Money, time and energy is spent on producing those events. And people come out to see them. The opera concert was packed – it looked sold out. The audience enjoyed it, and I had a great time.

Now, I would like to say that my home city and the area around it are actually a very poor region for a developed country. According to statistics I read recently (I can’t remember where – I will look for it), it is the poorest and least desired for investment region in the European Union. I personally know the struggles of my friends and family members to meet daily needs – electricity bill, new shoes, school supplies. Yet, they would spare a small sum of money for a concert or a movie every few months. They will do something to have some kind of artistic activity in their lives.  And this reinforced my opinion that artistic activity is inseparable from human existence.