Rock n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

SO I was hanging out at a cafe the other day with a Bulgarian friend, who just happens to be the awesome guitarist in the Chernoriztsite - a local rock band. He likes to practice speaking English whenever he can, and we somehow got on the topic of how he actually learned English. The story was one of the coolest things I have ever heard...

Back in the days of Communism, listening to heavy metal was forbidden. Music had to be from within the country and approved by the government. Most Western rock (including metal) was not on the list. However there was an underground system of passing around Western music, and cassettes containing hard rock songs were the choice of the times in the 80s. However, if you got caught listening to them, the consequences were not good. Understandably, lyrics were not readily available, and almost nobody spoke English. So groups of people would get together and listen to the songs over and over again and imitate the sounds of the words in the songs. He went on to say that listening to the songs now, they were horribly off base, but back then it was as if they had found the Holy Grail.

Eventually, through context and other sources, words started getting translated. For example, one of the popular bands someone found out that Venom (the name of one of the bands) meant "vitrova" or poison. Then a cassette came out featuring songs from the band Poison, and they asked each other "what is the difference between this Venom and Poison?" (they are the same word in Bulgarian). Eventually they gathered that venom comes from an animal, and posion comes from somewhere else. He went on to say that heavy metal was responsible for the basis of his (very good) English abilities, and that he went on to attend an all-English speaking university. Aside from his spot in the rock band, he works in the local government and is currently creating an NGO to help local underserved farmers gain access to grants, small business loans, and other resources.

And who said rock and roll isn't good for anything?

In other news, I am now officially the only American in Preslav. My amazing sitemate of a year left yesterday (as her 2 years of service are officially up), and is off to the States for a short spell before turning around and signing up for another stint in the Peace Corps. Her ultimate goal is to serve in every continent... What a life! As for me, I've made enough friends here in town to keep occupied through the year, which will be great especially through the winter. It's already a lot colder than it was last year... Still it's going to be a much different place with her gone and I wish her the best of luck wherever she ends up next.

(This is the point at which all the other volunteers laugh because I have now become a regular volunteer without a sitemate. Yes... most other vols have been putting up with this for a year now haha)

Until next time...