hostels and racism

Sofia is starting to feel like home. Well, not Sofia- I still know nothing about Sofia. The Art Hostel is starting to feel like home. Its nice to have Peter here because he will be here until August too and there is someone stable- plus we are both from Minneapolis, so if we run out of things to say, we can always talk about that. Its comforting to have someone who you know will be there every night. He is educating me about football and American law, two things I know little about. I have started keeping a journal of all the people I meet in the hostel- everyone I talk to anyway. I will probably meet hundreds of people from all over the world before I leave. Hostels are amazing. And the Art Hostel is the best one, according to my friend Winston who has hitchhiked across Europe for three months, camping and staying in hostels. He came back here three times over the course of his travels. Well, Sofia is sort of the place to go before traveling to Turkey, Greece or Romania, so it makes sense. I like it here- its very run down, nothing works and parts of the building crumble off all the time, but the people are wonderful and the art everywhere disguises the decay a lot. All of Sofia is in a state of decay though- communist statues that have been neglected fall apart and are a risk to passers by (big chunks of metal aren't supposed to fall into public squares), everything is dirty, the streets are lined with fancy restaurants and expensive clothing stores but right outside there is a homeless person digging through the trash bins or a drunk homeless person sleeping on a bench. Pick pocketers attack everyone- there isn't much tourism here, so bulgarians lose wallets and cell phones too. Lots of racism against roma people. Its really a shitty city, but the people are wonderful (if a bit racist). Bulgarians are the most generous and respectful people I have met.
My research is going better. I found out that Rostislav, the owner of a booking agency for BG punk, hardcore and ska, won't book antifascist touring bands in Bulgaria because of the skin heads here- they start fights at the shows and its very dangerous. So I have to figure out what that's all about... hopefully I will get my questions answered somewhere...
All for now. I might try to get some pictures on here... don't really know how, but I will figure it out. I am a technological idiot, you know.