[caption id="attachment_3290" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Snapshot of The Mall "]<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01760.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3290" title="Snapshot of The Mall " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dsc01760.jpg?w=225" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

The minute I step foot in a mall, I feel small and disoriented. I think it's a combination of the florescent lighting, the slightly different music in each store, the meandering streams of people, the deliberate maze like nature of malls and shops within them and overly intense air conditioning. It's no different in Bulgaria.

Over the last six months or so, Sofia has experienced a boom in malls. We've had two new malls open--neither very far from each other. There's something kind of silly feeling about that. How many malls does a city like Sofia need? Clearly the malls were planned before the economy crashed and we sunk into a recession but this doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on Bulgarians or the mall culture on a whole.

I can tell you this because I spent a chuck of Sunday afternoon at The Mall. Yes. One of the two new malls in Sofia has been named simply: The Mall. I can't really decide if this is an awesome name or a totally ridiculous name.  It's a deceptively simple name and yet when you think about it also wholly egotistical.  The thing that I struggle with this what kind of emphasis do you have to put on "The Mall" to make it clear where you're going when you utter this simple sentence: I am going to The Mall rather than the more general sentence: hey, do you want to go to the mall?<!--more-->

Anyhow, I am not much of a mall girl. For most of my childhood our mall in Walla Walla had a hand full of low-end department stores (Emporium and JCPenny's0, a Sears, a Claire's, a couple of jewelry stores and a small food court. When I was younger this was all I knew. My MoM and dAd aren't really fashion people and I didn't have any friends who wanted to hang out at the mall, probably for good reason. Malls in small towns are generally depressing. They are not up to the standards of big-city malls still the small-town mall tries to emulate that experience. So we went there when we needed something--new jeans, back to school supplies, tennis shoes--and we didn't stay long.

Basically this is how I've treated all malls ever since. As a necessary evil. Go, get what you need and try not stay any longer than you have to.

This said, yesterday I had plans to meet a friend at The Mall. I managed to get to the mall about 40 minutes before her so I was forced to wander around by myself. I popped into a few shops, found a few things to try on and I did a decent amount of people watching. Malls are strange places.

But what I was really struck by is the way in which this mall based solely on appearance could be in any big city in America.  It feels like the kind of mall I've been to before.  I found myself wondering is this mall a replica or an imitation? Or maybe neither.

This mall seems to be a lens--one that allows me to see American culture through a uniquely Bulgarian perspective. The thing is, this is maybe more disconcerting than bright lights and loud music.

It was the glimpses of Bulgaria in an otherwise totally familiar American setting which was jarring. It was a couple smoking cigarettes at the Starbucks inside the mall (I did a double take). It was also a head (or three) of overly teased, overly crimped hair in the Gap (Yes, we have a Gap and the shop which has been known for years as a place to snag basics like white tees and jeans was being invaded by women with helmets of hair, super skinny jeans and vests.   Then there was a small child throwing a tantrum in Bulgarian (Why is he screaming in Bulgarian?!).  Finally there was the moment I was getting ready to pay for new shoes and looking in my wallet to find only leva (which was exactly what I should find there but felt somehow wrong given the setting).

Needless to say, this strange alter-universe that seems to be American on the surface but which actually is not, isn't the kind of place you want to stay any longer than you have to.

But on a whim, right before heading home, my friend and I pop in to <a href="http://www.sephora.com/" target="_blank">Sephora</a>. This shop has their America version down pat from the isles and row after row of make up to the lighting and even the sales reps black clothing.  It's pretty incredible. That's when I realize this is probably part of the appeal of the whole thing for Bulgarians. And why shouldn't it be?

Then the nicest things to happen to me in the mall all afternoon happens (and I don't generally expect nice things to happen to me at the mall).  One of the sales clerks comes up to me to say hello and introduce herself. It turns out she's been a long time reader of my blog. <em>(Hi!) </em>We had a nice chat about Sofia, the mall and the long weekend. It was the perfect way to end my trip to the mall. Thanks for saying hello!