Now don’t worry we haven’t been carted off in handcuffs, nor are we getting locked up any time soon.
My sister in law was upstairs when she heard someone at our gate, as she came down to get the gate keys, she was telling us that it looked like someone official was waiting to be let in. Intrigued I looked out the window and saw a policeman standing there in our garden.
Now straight away my mind was racing thinking, what the hell could we have done to warrant his visit? Now his English was not great and well our Bulgarian is probably on par with his dual language skills, so when he asked for our passports after saying something else, we were all looking at each other, trying to figure out what was going on.
After asking us some question and getting blank looks, he got his phone out, and got someone on the line who could translate, who proceed to ask Donna if we were renewing our residency cards next year, and did we live here or were we just visiting. Once we had confirmed that we were staying here, and that we were planning on renewing next year, we received a few more blank looks and then he went off to his car.
All three of us were kinda looking at each other, still trying to determine what it was that he wanted, and if we had done something we shouldn’t have.
I quickly typed out a lengthy phrase on my phone, and with the immense power of Google translate presented it to him, whatever the translation said must have made sense, as he smiled and just said da, da, da (that’s yes, yes, yes in Bulgarian, not him singing).
He proceeded to write down our details on a piece of paper, and in return he gave Donna his name and phone number (and no not like that). He proceeded to tell us that if we ever had any problems, just ring his number, and after a short conversation explained where he lives and that he likes to make his own cheese, and that we were welcome to go round for a tasting.
Now where else in the world would you be given a policeman’s personal phone number to ring if we ever have a problem, or be invited round to their house for cheese tasting??
This is just one example of why we love this country.
I really enjoyed your post, thank you for sharing with us. Enjoy the vote!
thank you for your vote and comment, I will have plenty more to write about once I get the chance :)
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STOP@andysmancave I had to drop in on your channel because of your mancave name. And I found this great article - you didn't disappoint :) As you know, you would not have had such an amiable exchange in other countries.....lol (He wrote down his PHONE no for you???!!!......you will have to call him and ask if he's got the time or can he give you a lift to Sofia......no not really of course. Love it. Steem on - followed. Resteem.
thank you @healingherb , yes I was surprised that he gave us his phone number as well, I won't ask for a lift yet ;) but he is definitely someone that I would like to get to know better, I think a Christmas present for his children might be called for later in the year, never hurts to have friends like these :)
Exactly. I shouldn't have joked really - I guess the contrast between that normal humanity and what we see today in certain countries was so massive that it made me laugh (some kind of psychological survival mechanism). Maybe you would like to consider joining the ecotrain? See if you like the idea: https://steemit.com/steemit/@eco-alex/ecowhat-here-s-what-this-ecotrain-thing-is-all-about
Thats awesome what a friendly policeman , great read its always worrying when you have the police knocking your door .
thank you @todaysrant2017 this seems to be the case with a lot of the people here in Bulgaria, so friendly and helpful
"its always worrying when you have the police knocking your door ." I agree 100%. Would It not be better then to not answer any questions?
God I love this country that made me laugh excellent post resteemed.
thanks @crazybgadventure they are going round all the expats checking their statuses, so I'm guessing you will get your turn at some point :)
Wow thank you for letting me know.
np we heard about it a few months ago and thought nothing of it, and then he just turned up, all they are doing is making sure that you have a residency card and your passport, so nothing too major, trying to weed out the ones that are here illegally
I've been in BG so long (since '91) that all such stories either bore the tears out of me or give me the warm fuzzies. I am glad to say your story gave me the latter -- after the picture, mind you! But I'm going to die if I don't ask: What did you translate using Google? What was the phrase???
I said that we all have residency cards, we will all be living in this house permanently and will not be going back to the UK, also we will be renewing our residency cards next year when they are due, and was he the policeman that has a house in our village with a children's slide outside of it, and then I swooped my arm and went "weeeeeee" once he had read the translation
I guess the look he gave you was one of disbelief -- most BGs don't see in their own country what we do :)
no, we have seen similar responses from other people around here, but then I guess I must give the same look when they mention moving to the UK :)
Lol, that's it :)
Ooooh how I miss being an expat! What. Wonderful experience, confusing too. Haha. That's really cool. I miss Europe terribly! Thanks for sharing!
Hi farmstead where in Europe do you used to live, I love the expat experience and couldn't go back to the UK way of life again, we will be focussing more on homesteading next year when we are ready.
We were living in Bavaria in Germany, it was so. Wonderful. I'd give it all up here to go back! Except for maybe my dog... I guess husband too. ;) haha
it is always a shame to live somewhere and your heart belong to somewhere else, fortunately for us, we are living our dream, but we felt the same when we back to the UK for a bit.
There's just some things here in the US that we can do, that we aren't able to do in Europe. The hunting and fishing regulations are pretty crazy in Germany. There's not a lot of land to buy, and if you can afford it, it's not much land. There'd be no way we could afford 20 acres over there.
There's a lot I don't like about the US, but my husband is happier here. Which is good. It's probably the biggest benefit.
So a police officer arrives and you feel that may have done something wrong("...what could we have done wrong..."), you knoe you haven't done anything wrong but after being interrogated(questioned) you answered which could have criminalized yourself.
Why did you feel obligated to answer any of his questions?
hi @vidanatural thank you for your comment, we wanted to answer his questions as we wanted to find out the reason for his visit, when you are in the UK and a policeman approaches you, it is the normal reaction to think that you have done something or they want something, being here we just need to readjust to the ways of the country and understand them and enjoy them, we knew we had nothing to hide so weren't worried that we could have criminalized ourselves, but at the same time it isn't everyday that you have a policeman standing at your door either.
@andysmancave I hope you realize how lucky you really are. I am happy that nothing happened. I am only here to learn on many different subjects, such as topics relating to human behavior. I am still thinking about the "what if". Whether or not you are guilty of infringing someone else's rights, let us say you are innocent(which they are supposed to presume you are innocent of all elements of a crime), what if the cop in question(Of course, you would have no way of knowing his/her intentions), have happened to make up a charge against you? How do you know he was a real police officer?
@vidanatural on this occasion we had previously seen him and his car in the village, so we knew we were in safe hands so to speak, but if it had been someone we had never seen before, then I would have proceeded with more caution, i.e. asking to see his badge and calling the local station to double check his story.
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STOPEste Post ha recibido un Upvote desde la cuenta del King: @dineroconopcion, El cual es un Grupo de Soporte mantenido por 5 personas mas que quieren ayudarte a llegar hacer un Top Autor En Steemit sin tener que invertir en Steem Power. Te Gustaria Ser Parte De Este Projecto?
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