A matter of perspective, or something else?, Part 1

When I managed, with great effort, to find the hotel I was looking for when I had to go to the capital to be admitted to the hospital - not too close to the hospital so that I could call a taxi, but not too far so that the transportation bill wouldn't be huge, I reserved a room by phone and then asked additionally if they could call a taxi for me by phone in the morning - a service I had never used before, I had never needed to, because I had not slept in a hotel in the capital many times, in fact only twice.

In the morning at the hotel, I was still a little worried, you know, my constant anxiety, will the taxi come on time, will it pick me up on time, will it come at all. Because it was really late. It was a weekday, early in the morning in the hours before work, the regular, terrible traffic jams.

The taxi came anyway, and shortly after I got in, we got stuck in the traffic jam. This was something I hadn't taken into account in my calculations - yes, the hotel was located a little more than 5km from the hospital, the bill wouldn't be huge, but getting into traffic jams, things started to look different.

But here came the moment for the conversations with the taxi driver, for which one should always be ready, even if one doesn't feel like talking to him.
And these conversations can take the most diverse paths and directions, the most diverse topics.
Now the topic was life in the capital, because of the traffic jams.

And what amazed me the most was that the driver, younger than me by less than 10 years, as far as I remember, was extremely happy with his life, with the work he does, and with the state of things in general.

And that amazed me, because, believe me, I have never met a taxi driver like that before. Usually, those who have driven me over the years in the capital have been extremely nervous, aggressive, desperate, fans of conspiracy theories, or simply people whose lives have been ruined because of the system. I have been driven in taxis by scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where things are simply terrible, people are desperate there, or at least that was the case years ago, people with two higher educations, fired from the scientific position they held to make room for someone else and so on.

Now this, I would say young man, who had no education and seemed to know nothing else except the profession of a taxi driver, told me his whole life, including the fact that he had separated from his wife, but was currently supporting not only his child, but also her, he told me how he had bought an apartment in the capital separately just for her (and the prices of apartments in the capital are brutally and unreasonably high, like many things in this country, and I know very few people, in fact only one my age, who has managed to buy an apartment with their own efforts in their lifetime), he even told me how much money he made per month and that, mind you, was about three times what I received as a salary.
Needless to say what kind of education I have, languages I have to use in my job ​​and the type of work I am doing. I just listened to him in amazement and it made me feel... sick and pitiful.

You know my stories about my years of unemployment. The young man said - there is plenty of work for everyone. Anyone who hasn't found a job and hasn't made a lot of money is just lazy and very stupid.

Well, I'm neither lazy nor stupid, the situation on the labor market is terrifying, but some taxi driver convinces me otherwise.

Then, on the way to the hospital, where they were going to tell me that they suspect that I had cancer, I started asking myself so many questions.
Am I really just stupid, am I lazy, is my perception of things completely wrong?
Bulgaria is a wonderful place to live, the man had said. And for me, Bulgaria is a terrible place to live.
And why does a taxi driver get three times more salary than me? Maybe we are going back to that time, the communist era, when people from the lower class, ordinary workers without education, were respected in society and received higher salaries? Just like my mother, as a German translator in an industrial plant, received a much lower salary than a locksmith, or my father, as a doctor, received a lower salary than a foreman in a cooperative farm.

And the fact that I couldn't find a job, whose fault was it - apparently mine, according to what he says. And apparently I really don't know how things are... so many questions.

The man felt sorry for me because I was going to the hospital, stopped right in front of the entrance, even though he had to go through a barrier. I gave him a tip, it was deserved. And then things went... you know how they went, because I already told you.
Until three days later, when the doctors sent me for tests to another hospital.

I decided to take a taxi again, instead of losing time wondering how to get there by public transport, the distance is between 3 and 3.7 km, depending on the route.
This time I called myself, the same company that the hotel called. It seems to be a serious and legitimate company, since the hotel relies on it. And what was my surprise when I saw the same person in the car.
Can you imagine? I don't know how many people work in this company, but in the multi-million capital, seeing one person twice within three days is simply incredible!

The man was in that high-spirited mood again early in the morning, he said again how good his life was, he had made a lot of money since morning and was very happy.

Commenting on my route from hospital to hospital, he said, "The doctors and healthcare in Bulgaria are perfect. Bulgaria has some of the best doctors in the world."

Well, my opinion, after everything I had experienced just before that (just minutes before, I had received the news of terrifying new diagnoses-suggestions), the last three days and the last few months, was already completely opposite.

And I asked myself the question again - is there something wrong with me, is there some problem with me, or is it simply that this person's words are not true and cannot be true, even though they are spoken with such confidence.
And the fact that I've run into this very contented person twice now during one of the scariest periods of my life so far, isn't that some kind of sign, a sign that maybe I really am wrong?

However, this time he just dropped me off at some parking lot in the tangled maze of hospital buildings, he didn't want to take me to the building I was looking for, I didn't tip him and we parted ways a bit hastily. In fact, I was glad to part ways, because I was in a terrible mood, and his elevated demeanor seemed as out of place as it was impossible.

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Well, if I keep going on, this will become a really long post, so I'll continue in the next one.

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|