Kamila the Camel is back in Bulgaria

KAMILA RETURNS TO BULGARIA

It has been a long long time since Kamila the Camel has made any statements or observations. 

She has been locked away in London, England for over 6 years with her carers feeling very sorry for herself. Understandable so.

 Although she had been there before as she was for sale in the famous Hamleys toy Shop in Regents Street, she never thought she would return.

History now indeed for Kamiila who looks forward to her new life in Yambol Bulgaria. This is where she learned so much about the culture and Bulgarian ways which make so much sense to her now.

So with renewed vigor and refreshed brain, Kamila is ripe for sharing her experiences once again.

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Kamila out of Hibernation

It was a tired Kamila this time last year, too much happened within a short space of time that she didn't know what hit here. The result was an exhausted Camel who needed to take time to recuperate and reflect on what was happening in her life.

Now Kamila has come to terms with the situation she finds herself in and is keen to learn more about here surrounding and the life she now lives. It is indeed a Bulgarian environment that she has accepted and takes the rough with the smooth.

From her days in Hamleys the toy shop in London, this is now a far cry. Today she saw the news from London with petty criminals looting shops, gangs attacking police and vandalising everything in their path. She felt so sorry for those she left there in the wake of this. No such thing in Bulgaria from what she has seen here so far, even though the poverty is far worse!

Kamila now looks forward to observing and telling what she finds.

Happy days ahead.

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Geri - Kamila's Monkey Friend

Kamila had been on the farm for a few weeks and found herself back in Yambol this weekend. She will be there fore a few weeks then the work really begins on the farm once April and the growing season starts. Kamila is keen that we don't go hungry this year and will be helping wherever she can.

There was a new friend waiting to meet her in Yambol, Geri the monkey who was also from London, she had arrived a few weeks ago as she was fed up with UK life. the price of bananas had doubled in the last year and you are not allowed to say monkey business as it offends minority communities living there. She had read about what happens here in Bulgaria and even though there isn't much much to live on we were always happy and free.

Kamila took to Geri straight away and before long they were bonded friends alongside Eli Kamila's best friend. It may be that Geri might get a taste of village life with Kamila in a few weeks as she had heard from Kamila that there are sliva (plum) apple and pear trees that she can swing from as long as we took a supply of bananas with us.

Kamila also has been in deep though recently as she has seen her family struggle a bit with their health. We think that she has something up her sleeve, but she won't let on yet. We'll just have to find out what it is in due course.

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Kamila Helps With The Christmas Tree

Today was a day where Kamila got all excited, she was going to help with the Christmas tree. this is her first Christmas in Bulgaria and she couldn't quite understand why there wasn't such a fuss here compared to the madness she saw in Hamley's Toy Shop in London where she used to be.

We only have a little Christmas tree and we think Kamila was expecting a massive one that would fill the room along with tinsel in every nook and cranny of the room. This is what she saw in England along with all the big expensive presents that were being bought. And all this started in November. We are now into the second week of December and thoughts of Christmas are just beginning to be considered.

"Don't they like Christmas in Bulgaria?" Kamila questioned. We were quite astonished with Kamila asking this.
"Christmas here is different, Kamila," we said. "It is not all about Santa Claus or Father Christmas and spending ridiculous amounts of money on presents to impress, food and drink, it is about real Christmas celebrations with family with Jesus being born in mind and modest gifts with more love than money."

Kamila just paused a moment in between putting another decoration on the tree. After what seemed like a deep though she said. "I think I will like Christmas here better than in London."
We asked, "Why?"

"It has more meaning here" she said and went on to add " And more smiles."

This was a Camel who had seen the height of commercial Christmas from the most visited toyshop in the UK and now is experiencing the other end of Christmas in a tucked away town called Yambol in Bulgaria.

"Christmas is still a long way away, there's still over two weeks to go." Kamila pointed out as she carried on with the decorations on the tree.

"We know." we replied. "What's the rush? No one rushes in Bulgaria, even at Christmas."

We all agreed that Christmas shouldn''t really begin until the 12 days before Christmas Day, well in Bulgaria anyway.

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Free Tomatoes

Tomatoes from the farm we proudly announced as we brought them in the kitchen to show Kamila. These are our own home grown tomatoes and there's more where they come from we went on to tell her.

Kamila was very familiar with tomatoes, she sees them being prepared for salads every day in the kitchen here so she was a bit mystified why we were so excited.

These are our own tomatoes Kamila, not from a shop of from someone else's garden, our own produce, and they didn't cost us anything.

Kamila though for a while then said she understood now, they didn't cost any money so that's why you are excited.

Well that wasn't the full reason we were so up about it, but you know really why. Kamila has a little more to learn about Bulgaria yet. She has spent far too long in London away from gardens growing tomatoes. Perhaps we'll take her to Skalitsa to find out where the excitement comes from

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Traffic Jam

Kamila knows what cars are she has seen many before now. What she didn't realise was that cars go very fast. The reason for this is that up until now the only cars she had seen were the countless number in Regents Street, London. She used to sit in the Hamley's toy shop window watching them go past for months on end. Al the cars were either not moving or going very slowly.

Kamila was told that cars couldn't go fast there because there were too many cars. When this happens this is called a traffic jam.

We also explained that in Bulgaria, there aren't any traffic jams as there are less cars. We don't have the money for cars let alone four to five cars for each family as in the UK.

Kamila listened very carefully to all we said and seemed to understand now why she thought cars only go slow.

After a great deal of thought and now sitting herself on the warm bonnet of our lada parked on the pavement, she said, "Well, I glad we don't get traffic jam here, it wouldn't taste very nice."

Kamila took a little pause to think again and added, "I don't think traffic jam would be like the food in Bulgaria because it also doesn't sound natural and healthy."

Well Kamila did get the wrong end of the stick, but she is right! We didn't say anything after that, Kamila was very happy to believe what she now thinks. What a very thoughtful camel she is!

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Dressing Gown Hammock

It was another lovely day and now for Kamila a walk in the garden is a daily thing. today there was another interest for Kamila as she saw some washing hanging from the washing line.

A dressing gown was of particular interest to Kamila as she said. "How about me having a go on the swing? She had seen many swings in Hamley's Toyshop in London but had never had a go.

"What swing?" we asked but before we had time to reply Kamila jumped up into the dressing gown and made herself comfortable.

"This swing?" she happily replied as the wind gently swayed the swing into action.

"It's more like a hammock Kamila." we said as Kamila now decided as she can lay down and rest in the hammock but it's still a swing as well.

This is one ingenious camel we all thought, as Kamila snuggled down for a little sleep in the newly christened hammock.

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Who is Kamila?

Kamila the camel originated in Egypt before being press-ganged into going into London's famous Hamley's toyshop. From there she was a gift bought for my Bulgarian partner who was visiting England at the time.

The camel wasn't originally called Kamila but was named after discovering that the word for camel in Bulgarian was indeed Kamila. Straight away there was another link that made us realise that this name would stick. Camilla Parker-Bowles looks like a camel! So the name stuck and Kamila (or camel) is now living in Yambol, Bulgaria.

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