Issue 170

As with most disruptive ideas, this concept is as straightforward as it is hard to implement. Together with the EPAM Bulgaria team, we took the challenge to turn it into a reality.

We started with the idea of boundaries. We took the time to contemplate boundaries in our team: to understand them, to discuss them, even to define some of them... until we were finally able to see beyond them. We called this the "OneTeam!" initiative, and it was the beginning of an inspiring journey pushing us to become a better team every day.

Hiding in plain sight is one of the best ways to avoid attention. There is a region in Bulgaria that has achieved that, although not quite intentionally. The Danube region is a treasure trove for visitors, yet few travellers venture along the 470-kilometre stretch from Vidin to Silistra that defines the greater part of Bulgaria's border with Romania. This is in sharp contrast to the popularity of the Danube as a tourist destination in Central Europe.

Dr Rob Dixon arrived in Bulgaria in August 2020. Prior to that he served as deputy director for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and as Deputy Head of Mission in Tel Aviv. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Wales Aberystwyth. He is married to Dòra Blazsek-Dixon, and they have one son. Originally from Birmingham, he was born in 1974 and enjoys outdoor sports, travel, history and reading.

The tweeting machine is set in motion, slamming anyone the president for reasons that will probably remain a mystery forever considers a "hater" and a "loser."

1. The Bulgarian actress, Maria Bakalova, starred in which 2020 movie?

A. Cuties

B. Mr Jones

C. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

2. Bulgaria's only narrow-gauge train goes through which winter resort?

A. Pamporovo

B. Bansko

C. Borovets

3. Bulgarians eat carp for which December feast?

A. Christmas

B. St Nicholas Day

I am so powerful I can stand in for a snow plough.

Heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev before his 12 December match with Anthony Joshua

In short, I am a patriotic Christian Socialist.

Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev

The (North) Macedonians' megalomania is a proof of their Bulgarian origin.

Professor of history Andrey Pantev 

A few yards from the muddy waters a small village house stands. This is where Vanga, the blind clairvoyant and one of Bulgaria's best-known 20th century phenomena, used to live. She died in the 1990s, but Bulgarians continue to quote predictions she may or not have made about anything from football to the sinking of Russian submarines and US presidents, among many others. The area is now widely considered to be one of Bulgaria's top vortexes. One of its telltale signs is the flock of helmeted guineafowls roaming about.

"Are all Bulgarians as touchy-feely as you?" The question had never occurred to me, until my friend Jenny asked me a few weeks after we met during our freshman year of college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. This was the first time I thought about personal space explicitly, even though I'd probably experienced it on a sensory level throughout my whole life. I was coming from a high school in Kuwait, which, although American in name, spirit, and language of instruction, was actually a hard-to-disentangle jumble of cultures, customs, greeting habits, and levels of touchiness.

Unexpected circumstances not only turn our lives inside out, but also make us see them with new eyes. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to stay at home for longer than usual, to move the office in the kitchen and the classroom in the living room. Consequently, it stimulated us to realise how important the space that we inhabit was.

This is why this year's current interior trends are not only about colour schemes and different styles. They go further to explore the basic understanding for what a well organised, healthy, comfortable and modern interior should look like.

The Christmas and New Year's celebrations in 2020 will be as never before. Unlike other years, this December we will forget about the ease with which we planned trips, meetings with friends, parties and family gatherings. But this should not discourage us. The Covid-19 pandemic stimulated us to reconsider our life and priorities and to realise how important for us were our loved ones, families and friends. The global cataclysm reminded us to concentrate on the small things in life and to cherish them.