The article accurately explains the current situation in Washington, DC. What strikes me is the lack of cleaning machines and cleaning personnel as a whole. The municipality has spent its budget for this year. Not very clever, especially if we add the losses due to the days off.
The pavements and the streets are barely cleaned. Yesterday it was really difficult to walk. Metro is working partially and in very big intervals. No buses.
I really like the example with the taxis (at the end of the article) which shows very Oriental mentality. Maybe because most of the taxi drivers (not to say all of them) are Pakistani, Ethiopians and Afghanis.
Anyway, the point is that even in the most influential city in the world budget planners have not done good job. Actually I do not see any difference in the cleaning capacity or effectiveness between Sofia and Washington, DC. Of course people in Sofia with their constant tendency for complaining would have made several thousands complaints and traffic accidents (here at least people do not use their cars now), but this is a psychological and more deep issue.
The biggest snowstorm since 1932 hit DC yesterday. Snowfall is still going with the expectations t die down completely in the next hours. The record snow levels are between 20-30”. The media is mesmerizing the population since Tuesday and people just emptied the stores. I wish I had my camera yesterday at the store. Actually it is a good way to fight the financial crisis
Nevertheless, obviously the snow levels are high. Extreme for DC. I am posting some pix from around my house as of this afternoon.
Empty highway
A truck in trouble. The guy was trying to return on the road but without help it is almost impossible
Че не става за комисар, то е ясно. Ама защо поне малко не се подготви, бе. Друг е въпросът, че питанията на депутатите са абсолютно глупави. Но явно така действа машината ЕС – бюрокрация и увъртане. Започвам да си мисля, че от цялата структура трябва да се оставят отворените граници и свободното движение на стоки и капитал и другите бюрократични създания – Комисия, Парламент, Омбудсман и тем подобни хранилки да се закриват
DC is not an ordinary city. Originally built to that people can literally “breath” it amazes with its spaciousness. The chief architect Mr. L’Enfant tried to project a city where people will enjoy life. Where streets will not be as crowded as they are in NY or in Philly.
So, here are some shots and some day when I have more time to write I will try to make a short story describing the city and its sights.
Jefferson memorial. Not so impressive as the Lincoln’s one. Still Jefferson himself was very strange person. Denying the slavery he had a black mistress and even kids from her. He even wrote his own version of the Bible
The Capitol. From one of its angles. This snow was one of the very rare snowfalls for DC
Supreme court building. Strangely, but many people do not go to see the building where some of the most importasnt decisions for the nation are taken
Lincoln memorial
National cathedral. 6th largest cathedral in the world after those in Rome, Sevilla, Milano, NY and Amiens
Stone from the Moon into one of the National Cathedral’s windows.
A statute of George Washington in the National Cathedral. Actually I post it because of the very popular symbols behind it
At the floor of the National Cathedral – the star with pennies for each of the first states. Only one of the pennies is tales. North Carolina symbolizing its cessation from the Union. The Cathedral is built in a way to tell the American hystory. It even has the head of Dart Vader on the roof
Georgetown university. The main building is magnificent. Of course as a catholic university they have a small chapel in the yard.
Мисля си, че след като вече ЕС си има президент, аз спокойно мога да спра да разпознавам нашия като мой такъв. Така де, не че в момента го разпознавам, но имаше аргумент, че все пак няма друг, трябва да уважаваме институцията и т.н.
Вече има друг президент, аз не съм гласувал за Гоце, той едва ли олицетворява и 10% от нацията, гафовете и излагациите му стават брутално нагли, така че аз от днес спирам да го разпознавам като държавен глава на Република България.
Искрено се надявам на ни освободи от присъствието си възможно най-скоро и колкото може по-малко да се показва по телевизия и вестници.
Искрено също така се надявам, че ще спре да посещава зоопаркове и сладкарници на другия край на света, защото аз съм един от балъците, които плащаме за това Гоце да гледа какво е туй Жираф-ът, да се развява, където има мачове на волейболните национали (носи им само карък) или да трепе козли в Узбекистан.
И да не ми обяснява за международни сътрудничества, защото него никой не го разпознава никъде като никакъв.
I just made up a great rope jumping exercise. I had a shoulder injury and I decided to focus on the legs and endurance. This is it:
1. You start with 20 min. rope jumping. Of course, you can use all techniques – double skipping, cross jumps, one foot, backward skips and etc. The idea is to warm up well and full your body of blood. Definitely you will have to stop several times in these 20 minutes but try to keep doing it non-stop.
2. Burpees. 5 repeats of 10 burpess. Between every repeat you make 100 sit ups. Every way you like. Just make 100 after every set of burpees;
3. 7 reverse sit ups sets (lie on the ground or on a bench (better) and just pull up and down your legs. This strengthens your lower stomach muscles) and between each set you make 150 rope jumps. I tried to make as many double jumps as I could.
After this you will barely can walk. But is just crucial for your lower body.
Днес имам имен ден. Така или иначе не празнувам, защото имам адски много да чета от една страна, а от друга, няма с кой, но ето какъв коментар намерих в Дневник за днешния ден. Коментарът е по повод на статия, че на днешния ден се работи най-малко в годината. Поствам го, защото много ме изкефи:
“Господа! Интересна е българската традиция. Днес майсторите сядат на маса, Най- напред на масата сяда най- старият майстор и на него се сипва на нпред. Той отчупва от хлябва и всички мълчат и чакат да преглътне. След това той слага мистрията си на масата. Когато я постави и отдели ръката си, другите оставят своите инструменти. След това майсторът казва :”На здраве!” и тогава всички пият.. Вие може да се смеете, може да гледате кино, но така ми говореше стар майстор преди години. Уважението на занаята пази ритуалът и ритуалът пази занаятът. След като се постави мистрията на масата никой повече не посяга да си я вземе до пролетта, за да има работа. Сега нямат работа. Нарушиха обичаите, мразят традициите не уважават рода си и са без работа. Те и за майстори не стават, защото разрушиха държавата си. Както и да гледате , ще дойдат други по- честни и те ще са строителите на новата България. Днешният ден е даден, за да се постави мистрията на мястото ‘и, а вие си мислете, как така не ви върви работата в офиса? “
We just had a meeting with a giant. The GWU law school has organized a meeting with judge Thomas Buergenthal – judge at International Court of Justice.
The first thing that one immediately realizes about the judge is how humble he is. When the moderator was speaking about his achievements his face was reddish. Obviously he was embarrassed. And then he did not talk to much because he said he was not used to so much talking and felt uneasy when people were just listening to him
The purpose of the meeting was to present the new book of Mr. Buergenthal – “Lucky child”. The judge is one of the few children who survived Auschwitz. The whole period he was in the camp he was separated from his parents and actually he did not know if they were alive. He father did not make it. Two years after the liberation of the camp by the Russians Nr. Buergenthal gathered with his mother. Then they reached US.
The extraordinary thing about this man is that after all he had gone trough, after all deaths, pain, screams he encountered in the camp and in the war as a whole, he did not keep this hatred inside him. Somehow he overcame it.
His message is that obviously today’s society still bears the grains of hatred. We have had genocides in the Balkans, Rwanda, Somalia…We can prevail this hatred in only one way – education.
I would also add sport and travelling. Only by meeting the different we can get used to it.
Here is a link to judge Buergenthal’s book and life http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007192
Mr. Buergenthal, thank you for today’s meeting and for the example you gave us what life can be and how a man could fight it.
Probably it is common for small nations. However Sweden, Norway, Singapore are considerably small nations but I have not detect this complex among their peoples.
Hence the complex must be common for also poor and “suppressed” nations. Particularly I detect it among Bulgarians and Moldavians. Actually I have only empirical data from these nations’ representatives. So, no offence. Maybe there are more or maybe I am wrong.
I detect it in the following way: currently I am in the US. You have people from all over the world. Bulgarians are rare. When I see one we both start to share or…just feel that we have something in common. It is not like that with Indians. Or Chinese. When a Chinese sees Chinese he does not pay a lot of attention. Maybe because they are 2 bln. one would say.
Well, I think the answer is more about in the history.
For several decades Bulgarians have been under somebody’s rule – Turkish yoke, then communism. We lost our pride somewhere in these centuries. We started to rebuild it after 1878. However due to the Balkan wars and WWI we suffered 2 national crises which pulled us back to the beginning of reviving our pride or sense of presence. Sense of presence in terms of knowing who we are, what we want and how to achieve it.
After 1990 we started to build again. Obviously several generations will be lost in the search. Actually I understand and can justify the manifestation of inferiority complex – one sees it in the striving for explaining to all around you where are you from and how important is your country. As if somebody cares. Immigrants for example tend to explain what a shitty place is their country while those who did not manage to immigrate. Even though there is no war or hunger for example. I am not going to details here.
Maybe we will become “normal” when we start to realize that the world is not anymore bipolarized. That Balkans are as important for the world order as…let’s say Portugal or Malta. And unless we think positively our life will not really improve.
I feel that minority complex is in us. I see it in almost every Bulgarian. I see it in everybody who explains what a strange nation we are (corrupt, dirty and thievish). I see it in anyone who fails to understand that people every where on this earth are good and bad regardless their nationality. And as once a very old friend told me: “Look for the good ones because the bad ones will find you themselves”.
Maybe we have to travel more. Not just to Europe or US. Africa, South America, Asia with their ancient histories are there. See how people deal with their lives there. Sometimes others may tell us more things about ourselves than we can.
