President Bush visits Bulgaria

I snorted when I heard my office mates chatting about the upcoming visit of our dear American president – they were kidding, right? I couldn’t imagine what sort of agenda would bring the bushman to sofia…

But alas, Bush - and his swarm of secret service minions - visited last Sunday and Monday…and he fully succeeded in ruining my life. Okay, fine…he just ruined my weekend. A full twenty-four hours before to his arrival, the entirety of central Sofia was locked up tight with hundreds of barricades - (where do they keep those things in the off-season, I wondered.) Public transportation was severely limited, if it was functioning at all, and residents of the center were kindly requested to remove laundry and all things “unattractive” from balconies. Several suspicious looking characters were preemptively arrested (maybe Bush taught them that!) and Sofia’s finest were stationed strategically on every street corner (looking bored, mind you.) I was intrigued by all these measures…Was there something to fear in Sofia itself? (Sorry, that’s a really bad one. I couldn’t resist.)

I have to admit, I’ve never seen the city center looking so pristine – and with cheesy American flags plastered everywhere, I’d say the oozing hospitality almost offset all the anti-Bush graffiti. By the way, there was a protest that Saturday, though I missed it because I escaped to the Rila Monastery before the lockdown began. It didn’t look terribly convincing on television, but it was nice to see some healthy political activism in a country that makes the Tulsa “honk-if-you…” protesters look like violent radicals. (ie, political/civic participation is virtually nonexistent).

I didn’t wake up early enough to receive the President as he went strolling into the Bulgarian presidency – but I did watch the chaos on my flatmate’s television. The ironic thing was, in spite of the extreme measures taken prior to his arrival, the security appeared to be incredibly lax. Just as you may have seen from the footage of his Albanian visit, people were touching him, (stealing his watch), and practically falling over the barricades. The rumor is that these enthusiasts were ‘imported’ into the center by proud Bulgarian administrators after hearing about the extraordinarily warm Albanian welcome. It may not be true, but it sounds like a very Bulgarian sort of thing to do

I stopped following the drama shortly thereafter and I spent my Sunday lazing around my flat – which was pretty much my only option anyway. I’d almost forgotten about the affair until having dinner with a new friend the other night. A Yale undergrad, he and his Texan friend (donning a texas-flag tshirt) had decided to take part in the receiving line. So, although they were “unauthorized”, they waltzed right up and joined the festivities. The Texan caught the attention of the president, flashed him a view of his t-shirt and a loyal ‘hook-em horns’ hand signal. Bush reciprocated, and during the formal ceremony he flashed a ‘hook-em horns’ signal to the Bulgarian cameras. Although not very appropriate, not a big deal right?

The media frenzy that followed was astounding. To Bulgarians, apparently, the symbol is most closely associated with Satan. (Insert clever political quip here...)

To give you glimpse of the situation, please allow me to assume my assertive news-reporter voice: “What was that hand signal? What was Bush trying to say to the crowd? Is the gesture Satanic? Is this some secret American symbol? What could it possibly mean? We go now to our resident American culture expert!”

The mystery of it all was mind-blowing – so much so that virtually every news agency pondered the question repeatedly. Luckily, after many hours of strenuous deliberating, an acceptable conclusion was finally reached: Bush was saying “I love you” to his texas friend in the crowd. What a friendly guy! Phew, I’m glad they figured that one out.

Luke, my acquaintance, works at another NGO in town and made the effort to author a “very serious” press release clarifying the issue. By Monday, Bush had packed off for the USA and life in Sofia – chaotic, quirky, frustrating, invigorating – returned to normal.