The end of me asking Europeans to 'draw-your-country' is inching ever closer. Only 15 countries remain and, although they're elusive, I'm as keen as ever.
Excitingly, at a party this weekend, I met two Bulgarians, Elena and Irina. I asked Irina, an architect, to draw Bulgaria.
Irina, who has lived in London for thirteen years, thought it could be difficult to draw as the borders had often changed.
By coincidence, she had been having a conversation about maps with a map-maker just before I asked her to draw. This, she said, was probably the first map of Bulgaria she's drawn since school. Amazing!
----
So now, I've 15 countries left to find, and I'm getting a bit more proactive. So if you know someone from any of the these places, let me know: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Czech Republic , Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovakia, Turkey.
4 comments:
I work with a Turkish girl (well, London-born but with Turkish parents, if that counts).
As for the other eastern europeans, i reckon if you just ask waiters in any cafes you go to where they are from and I'm sure you'll have the remaining eastern european countries covered off pretty quickly
I've thought about the London-born people, but I think they can't count (I could easily find Turkish and Cypriot in that way, but I think they actually should come from the country).
(This opens up a big debate, I guess, about what 'being from somewhere' actually means...)
As for waiters, oh that I was so brave! I shy away sometimes for fear of looking a bit weird. More balls required!
(Incidentally, I've no idea why I didn't get the Czech and Slovak maps when we went to the place in Hampstead last year.)
find a regular coffee shop with friendly staff, when i used to go to cafe nero in clapham i got to know them all quite well, and we had a bulgarian, two latvians and a pole...they've moved on now or i'd recommend them to you!
Yes, good tip. I've found a 'Latvian bed and breakfast' which serves meals, which I think I'll go - and a Montenegrin shop.
It's the more obscure places I'm not so sure of - Albania, Bosnia, Moldova as these guys can't easily work here*, and Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg because they're tiny.
(*I think. I could be all wrong about that.)
Post a Comment