Expats in Bulgaria – Meet Kylie

Can you tell us about yourself a little bit?

My name is Kylie and I am Australian.  Actually, “Kylie” is an Australian Aboriginal name meaning boomerang, but I doubt my parents knew that when they named me!

I am a mum to two great kids, one grown son who lives in Australia (miss him dearly!) and a teenager who is here in Bulgaria with me. 

When did you first visit Bulgaria?

I first visited Bulgaria for Christmas in 2013. I came for 6 weeks and travelled around quite a bit to see if it was somewhere I might like to live. It was very different to Australia and the Solomon Islands where I was living at the time but I really liked it. The answer was yes, yes I could live here!

How did you move here?

I then ended up moving here in the middle of 2014. I sold my house in Australia, packed as much as could fit into a shipping container and jumped on a plane!  In hindsight, there were a lot of things I brought that I didn’t need to. Although, I am glad I brought personal items, memories and ornaments that mean something. Those things can’t easily be replaced!

Do you speak Bulgarian?

My teeenager who is fluent now would say, no I don’t. I did start lessons over Skype before arriving and have had lessons from time to time while living here. I read something once that said Bulgarian is one of the hardest languages to learn for a native English speaker, and I don’t doubt it.

Honestly though, I can speak, read and write some basic Bulgarian and I get by with very broken Bulgarian with bad grammar. I do always try as I don’t expect anyone to speak English but I am always grateful when they do!  

Name 3 things you love about Bulgaria

I love the mountains and in particular hiking! The air is clean and fresh and the nature is beautiful.

I love the winters here and the snow! It is something different for me and I love to ski.  

And I love the food. It is very fresh and I love eating seasonal (most of the time) instead of imported foods year round. 

Have you seen much of Bulgaria or have you stayed mostly in Sofia?

I have travelled around Bulgaria quite a lot actually. I have seen Buzludzha, explored Plovdiv, been to Veliko Tarnovo and many times to the black sea. I’ve drunk wine in one of my favourite wineries in Melnik, I’ve visited Rila Monastery and of course, I have hiked the 7 great lakes. I love Bulgaria!

Tell us about Your Company and what you are doing for work here: 

Before moving to Bulgaria my career was mostly in Human Resources. 

I have had a few different jobs in Bulgaria but now I work as a HR Consultant. I work remotely and the clients I work with are mostly in English speaking countries like the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Although of course, I have also had Bulgarian clients as well.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylieralston/ or my website here: https://www.kukr.eu/