My Near Arrest

Connor, Sarah (other Fulbrighters), and I are currently at STEP Bulgaria. We're actually leaving in the morning, which is a long story that I'll probably save for another post, but in the meantime, we're in Varna helping a non-profit summer school for orphans. My story, however, takes place in Sofia. Last Saturday, there were planning meetings for STEP in Sofia, and then we took the train to Varna on Sunday. Saturday night, Sarah and I spent the night in an apartment that STEP owns in downtown Sofia. We went out for a bit to put more time on our pre-paid cell phones in case we had any emergency calls we needed to make. Then, we headed back to the apartment. STEP had given us what looked like a car remote that is used to disarm the alarm and then a key to the gate, a key to the building, and a key to our room. So, we got through the gate, and then held the clicker down like we'd been told for three seconds to disarm the alarm. Then, we opened the building door. And the alarm went off. Of course. We were both exhausted and cranky and kind of anxious being in Sofia for the first time. The last thing we needed was the alarm going off. But I pulled out my newly charged cell and called Jeni, the director of STEP, to ask what to do. She gave me the code, and we disarmed the alarm. About halfway up the three flights of stairs, we hear a knock on the door. Security had arrived to see what had tripped the alarm. Awesome.

Sarah and I trudged back down the stairs and opened the door to two non-English speaking, angry-looking security guards. We began trying to communicate through a mixture of broken Bulgarian and miming. And the guard responded in short phrases of English mixed with even more miming and mounting frustration. They made us set the alarm and then disarm the alarm over and over again. I'm not really sure why. I think perhaps we had somehow broken the alarm because each time we reset it, they radioed to their base and asked a lot of questions in Bulgarian before making us do it over again. Meanwhile, Sarah and I were praying. I'm too young to experience Bulgarian jail. I have no idea what Bulgarian jail is like, but I don't want to experience American jail, and I speak the language there. I don't even know if security guards are authorized to arrest civilians. I also didn't know if they were legitimately security guards. I have no idea what security guards look like in Bulgaria. I had visions of Taken flashing through my head. I haven't even seen Taken, but I had visions of what I imagine it to be like flashing through my head. Thankfully, after twenty minutes of broken conversation and apologetic grimaces mixed with dubious attempts to look innocent, the security guards said "All good" and left.

In short, I was probably never anywhere near arrest, but it certainly felt like it for awhile. I'm grateful to say that I escaped the harrowing prospect of jail in a foreign land.