Questions and answers MEMORY BOXES. When you think about your childhood what images/ scenes come to your mind? The most vivid images from my childhood

Questions and answers

MEMORY BOXES

When you think about your childhood what When you think about your childhood what images/ images/ scenesscenes come to your mind? come to your mind?

The most vivid images from my childhood are the places where we played. I remember an old tree with a bird house on it. […] We also liked to play next to our block of flats, or to make cardboard houses under the first floor balconies. […] When I wanted to play with the village kids in the street, I didn't hesitate to climb over the gate, much to the consternation of my parents. I was only 6 then.

- Blagovesta Vasileva, 50

Age group 41-50Age group 41-50

I remember visiting my grandma’s village. In the day we used to go fishing in the river (we, the kids, used to catch small frogs which we kept in jars and then let back in the river). […]I remember a sky filled with stars, the song of the crickets, the smell of the tobacco we had strung in the day, drying up under the awnings, a feeling of total peacefulness and bliss.

- Darina Buchvarova, 48


I remember the picture of Pavla Zhekova (Pancho Vladigerov’s first piano teacher) during a piano or a German lesson.

- Adelina Peneva, 58

I remember the image of my grandfather, his bright eyes; his hands while he is giving me a sugar lollipop in the shape of a rooster bought from the fun fair in our home town Shumen.

- Snezhana Kurteva, 52



There is a scene, which is imprinted in my mind. It's a very sad scene , which I associate with St. George's day. People in the village would choose a lamb and slaughter it as a sacrifice to the patron saint […]When the mother of the lamb, which had been slaughtered, couldn't find her little one she would bleat desperately and inconsolably for a long time.

- Nikola Nikolov 78

Which of the things you have Which of the things you have touchedtouched left the strongest left the strongest feelings in you?feelings in you?

I was disgusted by the idea of touching sticky dough. - Zhenya Tellalova, 35

Seashells, pebbles, flowers…

- Maria Georgieva 38

Pravets 8MD

- Boyan Boyanov, 38

Age group 28 - 40Age group 28 - 40

When I was a little girl, my mum worked in a dressmaking factory. She often brought bits and pieces of fabrics for me to play with. What I liked most was the Indian silk - so soft and shiny. When you touch different fabrics with your eyes closed you can always tell which one is the silk.



I remember the feel of baby skin – soft, silky and smooth; smelling of something which cannot be described.

- Galina Radeva, 55

When I was a small child, around the age of 3 or 4, my grandmother used to take me to her house in the countryside. I used to play with the small, yellow chicks. I would take them in my hands and feeling big and strong I protected them from the cat.



I loved to ride and I used to take the horses and the buffalo-cow to graze in the meadow. Up until this day I can still feel the horse underneath me – unsaddled, because back in the days we did not use saddles.

- K.A., 79

I remember my mother’s sewing machine. I used to touch it while she was not looking. My mother did not trust me around her machine and forbid me to touch it in fear I might break it.

- V.K., 75


Do you remember any Do you remember any noisesnoises, , soundssounds, , musicmusic, , songssongs that had a strong influence on you? that had a strong influence on you?

I can remember my father whistling from the balcony when time came for us to go back home in the evening.

- Zhenya Tellalova, 35

Our parents used to sing old Macedonian songs, and we, the children, used to laugh.

- Rayna Miteva, 34

I remember the sound of the floppy disk device when it could not read the floppy diskette.

- Boyan Boyanov, 38


When my younger sister was born and brought home from the hospital she cried so loudly, that after a few days I told my parents: "Please take this crying baby back to the hospital. I don't want it for a sister". I was only 6 years old.


There are noises I've always associated with different seasons: the birds chirping in spring , the crickets in late summer, the noise made by a circular saw when men cut wood in the autumn, and the thick snow creaking under your feet in winter.

- Irina Ivanova, 46


As a child I lived near a church. Although we weren’t allowed to go there, I can still hear the chimes of the church bells.


I remember the soft, sweet voice of my primary school teacher. We were mesmerized by her voice when she sang. Another memory I can recall is the roar and the trembling of the ground whenever there was an earthquake.



Back in the days my mother used to sing a lot. Even Yovcho Karaivanov, a folk singer, would come and record my mother’s songs and then sing them on Sofia Radio.

- K.A., 79

I remember the noise the crickets made in the summer - steady, high-pitched and eerie. It created some sort of magic - a feeling of timeless stillness.

- Nikola Nikolov, 78


Are there any Are there any tastes andtastes and smellssmells that you will never that you will never forget and connect with your childhood?forget and connect with your childhood?

I remember the taste of vegetables from my granny’s garden and the smell of freshly backed bread.

- Zornitsa Gercheva, 33

I associate the taste of a raw red pepper stuffed with cheese and the smell of blossoming trees in spring with my childhood.

- Zhenya Tellalova, 35

Age group 28 - 40Age group 28 - 40

In the sweetshop near my place they sold some delicious snail shaped pastries with walnuts, drenched in thick sweet syrup. I can still recall the taste.


There are certain smells I associate with my childhood: the sweet smell of candy floss, the smell of boiled corn-on-the cob, the smell of baked pepper in the autumn, of freshly fried fish in a small seaside restaurant in the summer, and the smell of smoke in the air in winter.

- Irina Ivanova, 46

Age group 41- 50Age group 41- 50

The taste of chocolate, because I could only taste it very rarely.


I recall the taste of roasted apples with cinnamon that my

grandmother used to bake in the oven.

-Snezhana Kurteva, 52

The smell of burned foliage in early spring.

- Bogdanka Boyanova, 60


I can recall the smell of the hearth at home and the delicious dishes my mother used to cook.

- L.L., 76

I remember the taste of homemade ‘banitsa’ (cheese pastry), baked in a masonry oven.

- Ivan Ivanov, 69


Are there any Are there any historicalhistorical events which had an impact events which had an impact on you or somebody close to you?on you or somebody close to you?

Age group Historical event

28-40 The revival process in Bulgaria, the “great excursion”, the forced name changing of the Bulgarian ethnic Turkish population, the demise of Todor Zhivkov, the collapse of the Berlin wall

41-50 10 November and the changes in the governmental structure, the revival process

51-60 1968 Prague Spring, 9 September 1944, the death of S. Aliende in Chile, Nov. 10th, 1989: the democratic transition

61-79 The cooperation of the farms, G. Dimitrov’s death, the second world war and the coming of the Russians

80+ The second world war, the German occupation of Yugoslavia

When you see a When you see a landscapelandscape / / citycity / / schoolschool / / officeoffice/ / mountainmountain which kind of which kind of smell smell do you think first?do you think first?age landscap

ecity school office mountai

nseaside

28-40 grass, forest, mushrooms, summer

smoke, exhaust fumes, asphalt

detergent, starch, stale air, dust, old wood, chalk

coffee, leather furniture, paper, ink

pine trees, grass

seaweeds

41-50 herbs, grass, rotten leaves,

smoke, exhaust fumes, petrol,

dust, wet chalk sponge,

paper, ink, wild flowers and strawberries, thyme

Seaweeds, salty sea smell, fried fish and beer

51-60 blossoming trees,

smoke, exhaust fumes

chlorine, sweaty trainers in the gym, canteen,

paper, coffee

pine trees, seaweeds, sunscreen, fried fish

61-79 blossoming trees, clover and poppy, damp

exhaust fumes,

chalk, dust, coals, country soap,

paper, cigarette smoke

fresh air, dew, freshness

seaweeds, fish and clams

80+ mountain wind, herbs, pine trees

smoke, petrol

plasticine, old books, chlorine

paper, ink pine trees seaweeds, fish

If you are in a If you are in a citycity / / schoolschool / / officeoffice / / mountainmountain / / seasideseaside which which kind of kind of soundsound do you associate with them? do you associate with them?

age city school office mountain seaside28-40 cars, chaos,

traffic, car horns,

hubbub, voices of children, bell, the shouts of teachers,

coffee maker, telephone, typing and printing, silent buzz of machines, seals

sound of the radio while in a bus, serenity, birds, rustle of a creek, bird songs, howling of wolves,

waves, seagulls, laughter

41-50 traffic, people talking, cars

hubbub, bell opening and closing doors, movement of people

silence, cracking of branches, rustling leaves, breeze

people talking, children laughing and shouting, waves

51-60 hustle and bustle,

school bell, shouts in the breaks, songs,

typing on a keyboard, telephones, wheels of the chairs, conversations

gusts of wind, wild animals, bees,

the lapping of waves, seagulls, life guard whistle, shouts of vendors,

61-79 traffic, busses, cars, music coming from buildings,

joyful shouting, typing, writing, calculator

wind, rustling leaves, birds,

waves, seagulls, horn of steamer

80+ traffic silence, laughter

phones, typing, opening and closing doors,

bird songs, rippling of the stream

the lapping of the waves

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Questions and answers MEMORY BOXES. When you think about your childhood what images/ scenes come to your mind? The most vivid images from my childhood