Guantanamo detainee! Bulgaria has a Guantanamo detainee of it's very own. The detainee has been granted refugee status in Bulgaria and now the government is working to help him (and his wife) get settled.

First thing first, thanks Bulgaria. This Guantanamo Bay thing got out of control during the Bush-Cheney years.  Now 10 or so years later, it's beginning to seem like this mess is never going to get worked out. At least this is one small step to closing Guantanamo Bay.

This morning I was gmail chatting with my sister and told her about the blog post I was working on. She thought it was interesting that Bulgaria would chose to accept a detainee.  I think so too.  But I've written about this already in a <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/bulgaria-and-guantanamo/">post on February 1st</a>.

Today it was this headline that caught my eye: <a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=115984">Resettled Guantanamo Prisoner's First Words in Bulgaria</a>. I read the article with excitement--what are his first words going to be? <!--more-->Here's a quick review of the best five I came up with:
<ul>
	<li>Thank-you, Bulgaria.</li>
	<li>My name is .... (fill in name)</li>
	<li>I am from ....  (fill in Syria)</li>
	<li>I am a .... (fill in occupation)</li>
	<li>This is much better than America.</li>
</ul>
I came up with this list based on the opening chapters of most "Bulgarian for Foreigners" text books.  Basically you learn some greetings, how to say some basic things in present tense about yourself and a long list of Bulgarian food. It's enough.

Well, it turns out that the detainees first words in Bulgarian were reported by the Sofia News Agency this way:
<blockquote>Interestingly enough, the sentence that the former prisoner uttered in  Bulgarian after the immediate start of his language training was, "I  want back in Guantanamo!"</blockquote>
Really?! Is this for real? <em>This</em> was his first sentence in Bulgarian.  It's nearly unbelievable.  I wonder what text book he's studying from. But moreover, what does this even mean?

Is he saying that life was better in Guantanamo? Or that he dislikes Bulgaria? Or maybe he's frustrated with learning Bulgarian.  I understand that feeling.

But really, who's teaching this man and helping him integrate? It seems like a strategic mistake has been made.

Somehow this man hasn't been exposed to the wide variety of dairy products this country has to offer. I mean, give the man some sirine.  Because as we all know, his first sentence in Bulgarian should have been either: I love sirine or I love shopksa salad.

Okay, all of this banter aside, I sincerely hope that things are going well for this detainee.  What strange mixed up journey he's been on and I can only imagine that life in Bulgaria will be a shocking adjustment for him. As for the cheese thing, I am serious about that too--get this man some Bulgarian cheese and yogurt.