Download БЪЛГАРСКИ НАРОДНИ ОБИЧАИ

Pride and Prejudice- overcoming stereotypes
Dr. Smokova
a veterinary doctor
Ilyana Iytova
an European member
Interviews with
successful people
Maya Zlateva
a writer
Vocational High School of Veterinary Medicine, Dobrich
Interview with a writer
 Maya Zlateva became interested in books and writing
early in life. She wrote her first poems at the age of 7.
 Her education includes courses in creative writing,
painting, and black and white drawing.
 Some of her books of poetry are: ‘She is … ‘, ‘Beyond
my soul’, ‘Sedition on Good Friday’, ‘Good-bye sunset,
hello dawn’, ‘The long way through the tunnel’.
‘ She is … ‘
Interview with a writer
Mrs. Maya Zlateva presents her works
Interview with a writer
Mrs. Maya Zlateva turns some teenagers into avid readers
Interview with a writer
discussion with pupils
Interview with a writer
Some questions:
Q1: When did you start writing poems?
I started scribbling away, not too seriously, when I was quite young, especially when I
was about ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. I was really shy about talking to people, so I liked
to scribble the ideas down and work out in secret what I wanted to say, rather than open
my mouth and let the words pop out and then regret it. I have a theory that everybody in
the world likes to make something. Some people like to make a cake, or a painting or a
model, I really like to get a pile of words and make a poem out of them.
Q2: Where do your ideas come from?
I try to be on the lookout for ideas the whole time, eyes open, ears open, absolutely
anything might give you an idea. So anything you've seen or heard, perhaps you see a film
which gives you an idea, maybe you meet someone who gives you an idea, anything like
that I try to do, but also very often I'm just a little bit like children in schools, people will
ask for a poem and I don't have any ideas at all to start with. I just have to get a blank
piece of paper and really make myself start thinking and scribble down anything to get
started and hopefully the ideas will then come if you work at it.
Interview with a writer
Some questions:
Q3: Why do you write poetry?
I write poems because I like to be able to say a lot in a few words and you do that with
poetry. I love playing around with words which you are at liberty to do with poetry, not so
much with prose, I do write prose as well, I write novels. That's a completely different
discipline, I enjoy doing that as well. But the other thing about writing poetry is that you
can write a poem and have a finished product in a very short time, so I can write a poem in
the bath, I can write a poem on the train, I can write a poem in my hotel room, so I can
have a book finished in a relatively short time.
Q4: What makes your poems different from other people's?
It's very difficult to say what makes your own poems different because that's the way
you work and you're very used to it but I think one thing I certainly do like to do a lot is to
use a lot of echoes in the poems, lots of near-rhymes, not just the ordinary rhymes at the end
of the lines. Things like tide and weed, gone and home, mind and sand. They don't rhyme
exactly but they do make a little sound in your head. I do like to use those a lot.
Interview with a writer
Some questions:
Q5: How do different cultures influence your work?
My work reflects my life so what I have experienced and seen does enter into my poems,
and, for example, if I had lived all my life in India and had never really gone abroad, then
my poems would be very different. I would not have written about Germany, I wouldn't
have written about Italy or England or the United States, nor would I have written about
experience which occurred in those places, sometimes in the natural landscapes of those
countries. I feel that I'm an outsider wherever I am, and I think that being an outsider
gives me a different perspective on life and on any culture including my own. And, so yes my travels and the fact that I've lived in so many different places have really determined
and influenced my writing.
Interview with an European member
Interview with an European member
 Ilyana Iotova was born on 24 October
1964 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian politician
and a member of the Bulgarian
Parliament.
 She currently is a full Member of the
Committee on Fisheries, the Committee
on Petitions, and on the delegation to the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.
 She is also substitute on the Committee
on Employment and Social Affairs, on
the Committee on Civil Liberties and
Home Affairs.
students from
Vocational High School
of Veterinary Medicine
Mrs. Ilyana Iotova
meets
Interview with an European member
Mr. Hristo Milushev
interviews
Mrs. Ilyana Iotova
a Bulgarian European member
Interview with an European member
Some questions:
Q1: I wanted to start this interview by saying that I’m always fascinated when I meet
women in the diplomatic corps because it was such a men’s club to begin with. So I want
you to start by telling us how you started your career in the Foreign Service of your
country.
It has been a long road; and not always an easy one. As a matter of fact I joined the
Foreign Ministry, but not yet the Service as a Bulgarian interpreter, not even 23 at the
time. Obviously I must have delivered well because I was always included in high level
meetings and high level negotiations. So, at a certain point I thought that I would be
interested to do more. So I sat for a set of exams to join the diplomatic service, which
happened after a few years as an interpreter within the system. And that was how I
entered the service. Of course it’s one thing being called.
Interview with an European member
Some questions:
Q2: How is Bulgaria feeling now after these two important accessions- NATO and the
EU?
It feels tremendous. And you know what, you notice this almost physically, visibly. We
are at the table. We speak on an equal basis with all the rest of the members. It does feel of
course in its own way in Brussels, in Brussels you get the daily worries and the daily
demands for a young member as us. We still have a lot of work to do. I only wish that all
Bulgarians come to realize that it is no longer “them”, it’s “us”, “we” as a part of the EU.
That kind of awareness, though, takes a little bit longer
Q3: What is your advice to young people wanting to become diplomats?
I’ll try to lure them into this profession by saying that it is a very different and
absolutely fascinating way of conducting diplomacy in this century. It is no more the oldfashioned diplomacy, which was more of a ritual, believed to be kind of a mystery job
reserved for a select social circuit. No, now it is so participatory and so interesting because
it has become so dynamic and open to more partners, like the various non-governmental
organizations and think-tanks. It’s becoming a very exciting job, I wouldn’t even call it a
job; it is much more than that. It gives you a sense of mission, of service for your country
and your nation which is parallel to nothing else.
Interview with an European member
Some questions:
Q4: How does it feel for Bulgaria, on the ground, trying to change some of the institutions?
I know Bulgarian is a unique language and it became a part of the European Union
official languages, but there are also other things that come with no borders. Has trade
changed at all, have these educational exchanges changed anything for Bulgaria—for
better or worse?
I know that the first positive change that the Bulgarians noticed is the freedom to
travel, which is precious—travel equals education. We want to see more and more people
travel. The number has been increasing constantly. But we still have groups of Bulgarians
who cannot afford it yet, so the goal now is to enhance the economic status of the
population on a broader level; because economic differences are visible. There are very wellto-do businessmen and very successful people in well-paid jobs in the economic sector. And
then there are social groups who are still struggling hard to meet their daily needs. The
situation is improving. Salaries and wages are constantly on the rise. But you know how it
is—even if you have a 10% - 20% increase, which is a lot in terms of percentage, yet it may
not mean much as a nominal amount.
Interview with an European member
Some questions:
With EU accession comes more than just economic cooperation and travel restrictions going down. The
ERASMUS program is something that I think can open so many doors for the next generation of
Europeans.
Q5: In Bulgaria, there is so much culture and history, and it goes so far back, that it is difficult to even
grasp it sometimes. But, what I wanted to ask was how Bulgarians felt about unifying into a bigger
European culture when they have such a unique culture of their own. Does that nationalistic, patriotic
feeling of Bulgaria how it always was—fighting the Ottoman empire and preserving after generations a
unique and old culture and tradition—does this feeling contradict pan-Europeanism?
That’s a very good question. On the one hand, Bulgarian culture and Bulgarian cultural artifacts have
been pat of the European culture for a while. In other words, without being a full-fledged member of the
European Union we did have our relationships through the UN system and UNESCO in particular.
There are many UNESCO protected monuments and sites in the country and we have had fascinating
exhibits traveling the world for more than 30 years now. So, from a practical point of view, Bulgarian
culture has been in European and world circulation and known internationally for a long time. The
accession to the European Union in any way channels in a new way our cultural exposure, without
hurting our cultural uniqueness. We have become a part of the European programs to protect and develop
better our sites and monuments. That means more exchanges, more funds, and more expertise both ways.
It is a win-win situation. I don’t fear any dilution of the image or of the appreciation of what we can
offer as centuries-old history and culture.
Meeting with a veterinary doctor
Meeting dr.Smokova
14th December
Day of veterinary workers
Interview with
an European member
Some questions:
Q1: What do you do for a living? I treat sick animals and I put up with people.
Q2: How would you describe what you do?
In veterinary medicine you’ve got to do two things: you treat the animal, and then you’ve
got to use psychology on the owner. Everyday I put up with people like that. And I make
the joke that one end of the leash is easy to deal with. The other end of the leash is very
difficult to deal with. If a person can’t deal with these individuals that are very
demanding, that read the Internet too much, that think they know everything, if you can’t
look past those people, and, bite your tongue at times, you won’t get very far.
Q3: How did you get started as veterinarian?
I grew up on a farm and I enjoyed working with the animals there. And we had an old
time veterinarian there that was pretty rough around the edges. I worked farm animals, I
worked for people, I did routine healthcare for sheep and cattle and things, and I just kind
of migrated that way.
At some point I finally decided that was what I wanted to do for my life’s work. I knew it
when I was fourteen or fifteen years old, but it’s something that takes many people a while
to figure out. There’s some place along the way that the light finally comes on and says,
This is what I want to do. It doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s what most
people in veterinary medicine do.
Q4: How to become a veterinarian?
You will need a high school education, a college degree typically in a field of animal studies
or biology, and 4 years of veterinary school.
Well, of course, you have to have four years of college. With the right classes, the right
grade point average, having an advisor that gets you down the right path, being in a state
that has a veterinary school has a lot of advantages. This state does not have a veterinary
school, so they have to rely on contracts with other surrounding states to take so many
veterinarians a year. Some people even if they don’t get into a veterinary school on their
first application, they have to continue on with maybe a masters in some field, or just
continue on with some more education. And then there is four years of veterinary school.
There is no internship unless you want to specialize in something, and go and have an
internship with a qualified veterinarian that is a specialist in his field. And that’s it on
education. That’s it. You know, really, if you get in and go out and practice, it takes eight
years.
Q5: What does your work entail? I come in at 7:30 and I begin treatment of sick animals,
and I have my practice a lot different than others. I believe that the animal is in better care
at home than it is sitting back here all night without anybody around it.
So, all my sick animals come in between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning, the ones I’m
treating on a daily basis. I get through that, answer telephone calls, and then spend two
hours doing surgery. Most are routine surgeries: spays and neuters and ear trims and tail
docks, de-claws, whatever anybody wants done to their animals. And then you have your
emergency surgeries ¦you’ve got things that are more of a medical need rather than the
routine stuff.
And then after lunch, I spend from 1:00 until 5:00 doing routine health care for animals.
That’s when I have my clinics. And I used to spend”when I did large animals”from 6:00 in
the morning until 10:00 at night, full tilt. Now, I’m here about eight hours a day, and I try
to put everything I can do into eight hours, and that’s Monday through Friday, with
emergencies at night, and a few Saturdays from eight to twelve doing routine stuff. I try
not to do any of my surgeries on weekends. And then Sunday, hopefully, you sit down and
you don’t have anything to do.
Q6: Is there anything you find exciting about this career? When I was doing large animal;
obstetrics, delivering calves, doing that was the most exciting part of the practice. Because
every one was different. The exciting part of what I enjoy doing more than anything in this
practice is surgery, whether it’s general surgery or whether it’s emergency.
I enjoy it because it’s just me and the dog in there, and one other person. I think it’s
probably the most rewarding part of this thing is the surgery that you do: the saving the
lives, the making lives better. I just enjoy the hell out of surgery.
Q7: What is most rewarding about being a veterinarian?
When you save an animal’s life. When you save an animal’s life or some little old lady
comes in here and gives you a hug because you have saved her animal’s life. That’s what it’s
all about. Some people don’t think it is. Some people think it’s money. The most rewarding
thing to me is what I do for the animal.
Q8: What advice would you offer someone considering this career?
Be damn sure this is what you want to do. It’s a long ways through veterinary school. The
first year is probably the most grueling part of the whole thing. The gross anatomy where
you’ve got all these species of animals to learn about. You have to have dedication, and
have patience, and you need to have a work ethic. It ain’t an 8-5 job, there are many times
you have to put in longer hours. I’d say that most veterinary students come away from
school with about $150,000 in debt, and that takes a lot out of your income to start with.
It’s a difficult road the first five years out of school. You just don’t come out of veterinary
school and say, Here I am. I’m a veterinarian, you know, ¦and you’re going to get this big
salary, and life is going to be great. It’s not. The person needs to have patience, and want,
and have a desire. There has to be that desire to be a veterinarian. Just because it looks like
it might be monetarily rewarding, it won’t be for a while.
 ‘This project has been funded with support from
the European Commission.
 This publication reflects the views only of the
author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.’