So, you may not know my sister but if you did you'd know that she is really damn funny. You'd also know that she's smart, insightful and loves to talk which is why I think she's so funny. Here she is: <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01992.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2316" title="My Sister and Me" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dsc01992.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></a>

She doesn't send me a lot of emails.  Mostly we stay in touch via gchat, skype phone calls, silly facebook wall posts and the comments she leaves on my blog. Anyhow, this week I got an email from my little sister. I knew it was going to be a <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/doozy">doosy</a>. The title was: pop culture references to Bulgaria and the first part of the message read: Hey Kiki, I've noticed a strange phenomenon ...

Any email that starts of this way has got to be good. And I am not disappointed.  Yes, I am going to share it with you. I couldn't save something this good just for myself.

However, before you start reading there are a two things you need to know. I am Carolyn but growing up I was Kiki (Carolyn is a hard name to say when you're learning to talk).  When I started preschool, at three years old, my teachers asked me if I wanted to be Kiki or Carolyn at school. I picked Carolyn and thus, for my entire professional career (yes, I realize I just claimed my professional life started at age 3) I've always been Carolyn.  My sister Charlotte, of course, still calls me Kiki but that's okay because I call her Char. For a long time, I was embarrassed to be Kiki. Now I think it's funny and charming.

But here's the point where I think each of you is thinking: Hey, you--I don't care what your name is. Hurry up. Get to the point. Show us the letter!

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Hey Kiki,

I've noticed a strange phenomenon recently in American pop culture: references to Bulgaria.<!--more--> I've noticed three major references in the last week and I wonder about this. You have been in Bulgaria for a year and a half, and I would think that I've been attuned to Bulgaria for that whole time. While I hear about Bulgaria from time to time, its not usually this often. So why is Bulgaria becoming hot now? I mean, I do think that it is like learning a new vocabulary word, once you know its meaning you hear it everywhere. But why now I wonder?

I've heard a little bit about Bulgaria recently because of the Olympics. I think I even watched a little of the Bulgarian team competing at the luge when I was in a bar. However, its the pop culture references that stick out to me.

Last week I was watching the show "Psych" on the USA network. Psych is a quirky show about a fake physic who is uses his skills of observation to get himself in and out of all kinds of situations. In this episode, the main character, Shawn, gets a phone call from someone in the Bulgarian consulate, and immediately begins speaking Spanish to the Bulgarian person on the phone.The audience can only hear Shawn's end of this conversation, but it goes on for a minute or two. And my Spanish isn't that great but I think the language he is speaking to this unseen Bulgarian person is more like Spanglish. This whole scene is just a small bit right at the end of the episode, but it got me thinking.

Then last weekend I went to see this big blockbuster movie, Valentines Day (which has practically everyone famous in Hollywood in it, from Julia Roberts to Patrick Dempsey) and in it Ashton Kutcher's character owns a florist shop. In one scene the flower shop is packed with customers and has a line out the door and the woman at the front of the line is speaking a foreign language, finally identified as Bulgarian. Ashton Kutcher's character asks if anyone in the shop speaks Bulgarian, and a male customer does, and steps forward to translate, although we don't see it. A few minutes later, Ashton Kutcher walks by the Bulgarian couple and says something like, "great, now you two can go start a Bulgarian village" although not as unkindly as that sounds on paper.

Finally today I was doing the dishes with the TV on and heard a references to a "Bulgarian Taxi driver" on a commercial, I came into the room to see what it was but I misses it. Maybe it is a Vonage phone commercial?

So anyway all of this gets me thinking. Why are jokes about Bulgaria and specifically speaking Bulgarian (supposedly) funny? Is it because Bulgarian speakers are so rare in America? But there are a lot of languages that must be true of. I think it has to do with the foreign quality of Bulgaria. Before you went there, I'd barely heard of it. I don't think Bulgaria really has a reputation here. Or maybe does it and I just missed it?

When I tell people that my big sister lives in Bulgaria, I almost always get the same reaction. People's eyes get big, and they ask "why, what is she doing there?" And I tell them about the Fulbright and that you are now teaching English. And then usually they don't have much to say. Now I'm the one being a little unkind maybe, and this was less true when I was in Washington DC. Now, back in Oregon, people just don't have much to say about Bulgaria, and the subject often gets changed quickly.

However, these examples seem to suggest that Bulgaria must have some kind of reputation here in the US. Unfortunately there does seem to be some kind of stereotyping going on here, especially in the Valentine's Day example. Language is the common factor here also. Both Psych and Valentines Day treat speaking (or not speaking) Bulgarian as a punch line.

So what does reaction does a mention of Bulgaria elicit for most Americans? Is is cozy little villages? Is the the post communist thing? I've found most people have only a vague idea where Bulgaria even is located.  But why is it funny? I think maybe if it is funny its a cheap joke.

Anyway this is just something I've been thinking about. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for more references, and maybe I can come up with a more consolidated theory about this.

Love,

Char

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I read her email and thought: <em>Oh, Bulgaria</em>.

Followed by, my sister's got a good point and the thing is, I didn't really know how to respond to her email.  Is there something inherently funny about Bulgaria? Do we laugh because Bulgaria is the unknown other? Or are these references just cheep jokes at the expense of a nation that's not in the position to stand up and say: hey! that's not what life is like here... we're more than a nation of taxi cab drivers and villagers.

So I did what anyone writing a blog would do. I asked her if I could post her email. She said, yes. And now I am opening this up to you my readers.  Thoughts? Comments? Responses?