Kapital weekly
Issue 41

The setting: Shiller Park, Chicago. A suburb in Chicago otherwise known as Little Bulgaria.
In Shiller Park, everything down the main street is almost identical to the main street on your average Doupnitsa or Pazardjik. There are cafes and restaurants littered with umbrellas sporting Astika Beer on them, with stores offering Bulgarian merchandise, older Mercs and Beemers parked everywhere in sight and waiters coming up to you, asking you in a real provincial softer jibe "Ko sha iskatii?" (What would you like?).

Except the mood has gone a little sordid as of late, with people talking in whispers, an air of uncertainty all around you. "I am leaving mate, what am I going to do here? There is no money to be made anymore, just heavy work" is the routine one seems to hear from just about every corner. This is the confession coming from Spas, one of the four blokes sitting at a table outside for a chin-wag with his mates, sipping from his pint. He is not alone, however.

Had I met those lads just last year, I would have heard the usual refrain about "Bulgarian immigrants excelling overseas and in Chicago, in particular" but sadly, this is no longer the case. The economic crunch in the US has fundamentally changed the business and living environment for most Bulgarians in America. For most Americans themselves, the economic stagnation is an unpleasant predicament which for some of the immigrants is even worse. Their lives have not only been altered, they have been turned on their heads, and this affects other communities such as the Greeks, Serbs, Poles, Albanians and Bosnians.

Debt burden
"I've got a mate in England, doing what I do here - construction, and he is earning 200 euro daily and every other weekend, he shoots off to the Bulgarian Black Sea, so why on earth stay here?" retorts another chap drinking his pint of Astika.
In fact, the lads have gathered to investigate a possible bailout for their mate Spas, who has received a letter from the bank telling him he has far too many outstanding debts and that he is about to be on the wrong end of a court order. His house is otherwise chic, in a flash suburb of Chicago. He and his wife arrived here six years ago as part of a brigade and two years ago acquired their large single family house. Another Bulgarian, Joreto, is his broker, managing his mortgage payments, doing the same service also for many other Bulgarians in the diaspora.

"He assured me that my income isn't of importance, rather it's all about how I present my case, and because I am a good chap, everything will be all right..."
Incredibly, it was. So Spas and his wife went about sorting out their new house, new furniture, new fence, new green belts, new tiles, new Beemers and it all looked rosy for the "prosperous new businessmen" from Bulgaria.

In reality, Spas is a lorry driver and his wife is a domestic cleaner. Unskilled labour is Chicago is delegated and allocated according to immigrant groups. The Serbs who have been there longer usually own the PUDs and apartment estates or parts of them, collecting the rents. Bulgarian and Polish women usually are cleaners or look after the elderly. Poles work with cement and/or are bricklayers, whereas Bulgarian men generally are lorry drivers.

These sorts of occupations need no special documentation and initially all was well and their business went smoothly. Until the collapse. The first sectors in the economy to take the brunt of the impact were construction and transportation. The increasing prices, petrol, the old lorries that constantly broke down, thus increasing maintenance costs, meant that Spas' company was going under. And since Spas did not bother spending much on superfluous things such as insurance, his company consequently has a very low rating, and so clients usually opt for other companies, especially now since there is so much supply and almost no demand.

Belt-tightening
Simultaneously, households are tightening their belts, making housemaids redundant, and instantly an otherwise prospering immigrant family has found itself in the red. With a combined income of about $6000 to $7000 monthly being cut in half, Spas' family is a reflection of many other immigrant families across America, and the outlook for the future is grimmer still.

Last week both his Beemers were recalled by the dealership because they were not paid off. Spas gets up from the table and says: "I am packing everything. I am sending it back to Bulgaria, and then I am leaving."

More than 8000 Poles have left America in the past six months, returning to their homeland, according to the Polish American Construction Association.
The Bulgarian consulate in America is as of yet unsure as to what is the precise figure of Bulgarians turning their backs on America, heading back for Europe, but the general consensus for now is that it is more than 10 per cent or about 100 000.

Moreover, with every passing year, fewer Bulgarians are headed across the pond to America.
In America you need education for better-paid jobs, but most young Bulgarians find it hard to work full time and study and with the economic crunch looming overhead, they are leaving.

The general consensus is that UK is the place to be. No one wants to be returning permanently to Bulgaria, and a lot of Bulgarians have given very positive feedback from their experience in the UK. It appears that Britain will be the new target for massive invasion.
Maria has been unemployed for six months and she is bidding her farewells to her friends. Chalga music blasts the entire building at her farewell party, as friends come to say goodbye and give her going-away gifts. She has come to hate America.

"I am sick of looking after some damned kids, a lot of work, no recreation, and above all, you are no one here," she says.

`Little Bulgaria'
A lot of Bulgarians here live in "Little Bulgaria" - they work for Bulgarian bosses and in most instances, you don't need to be proficient in English at all.
"Everyone knows someone who knows someone, and eventually you end up somewhere doing some kind of job," Maria says. There is Bulgarian rakiya, Bulgarian food, BG TV, newspapers and magazines from the homeland, albeit not too much of a choice.

The favourite vocational spot for the Bulgarians here is another "little Bulgarian" establishment in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin - the Wisconsin Dells resort. There are a lot of Bulgarian students there who end up working part time jobs, hired by other Bulgarian immigrants.

In every pub in America run by Bulgarians, alcohol and cigarettes are sold to adolescents in spite of the threat of massive fines. The owners are used to the fines, but serve the alcohol regardless as they are afraid to lose their clientele. The solution is the almost permanent sign outside the pub saying "private party", aimed at confusing the inspectors.

Many have already purchased their return tickets to the homeland. The only thing for most of them is to figure out a convincing story that resulted in their premature homecoming.

Unlike most of his mates who are lorry drivers and are headed for London, he has opted for a return to Bulgaria instead.
He wants to earn some money before his return so he isn't regarded back home as a total loser. He has read that currently in Bulgaria there is a high demand for American merchandise, which he is thinking of buying on credit and then selling in Bulgaria. That way he will appear to his friends and family to be a businessman rather than a total washout.