Iskrica 2

Iskrica2.latest.mp3

Commentary on the text:

When the investigator’s words are transcribed in brackets, it means they do not appear on the audio but are rather reconstructed to recreate the sense of the original conversation. These words appear in English translation only in Glossed View, in both English and Bulgarian in Line View, and in Bulgarian only in Cyrillic Line View

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Iskrica 2

1 (b) [0:00] In the old days the rich people didn’t have very big houses,

2 (b) [0:04] and their children were different from our children, you know.

3 (b) [0:09] Their children were [better] dressed. But us – our shoes; well –

4 (b) [0:13] they weren’t like their shoes, but rather made of pigskin. That’s how we were.

5 (b) [0:19] And we even went out that way on Lazar’s Sunday, with those shoes.

6 (b) [0:23] So in fact we didn’t have anything. But the rich people, they bought up everything.

7 (b) [0:29] All we had was what they gave to our fathers. And tobacco especially –

8 (b) [0:34] They bought that up. Our tobacco sold for very little, but

9 (b) [0:38] their tobacco was always more costly; the rich peoples’ tobacco sold for more.

10 (b) [0:43] Not like in the collective farm, where there was a committee [regulating things].

11 (b) [0:47] There was a difference there too, but it was less.

12 (KK) [How did you grow tobacco?]

13 (b) [0:52] For tobacco, in the old days, we’d begin already in March

14 (b) [0:56] to prepare the beds, but there wasn’t any insecticide then to spray on them.

15 (b) [1:01] Once our beds were prepared, we spread bird droppings on them.

16 (b) [1:05] We did the planting by hand, with stakes. There weren’t machines, there wasn’t anything.

17 (b) [1:11] We’d get together somewhere [to work] in brigades, or each one would do it for himself.

18 (b) [1:16] In the old days, because I didn’t have brothers or sisters, I was –

19 (b) [1:21] I had to go with a yoke on my back, and to carry water in copper pails.

20 (b) [1:25] I plant a row, then I water it; and then

21 (b) [1:28] I plant another row, and water it too.

22 (b) [1:30] My father and mother are off doing other work.

23 (b) [1:32] What can I do? This is [the work] I’ve been given.

24 (b) [1:35] And the next day, when they came, again [the pails go] onto my back

25 (b) [1:38] so as to carry water, this time further off. But there wasn’t any. So

26 (b) [1:43] we took barrels to gather the water, and that’s how we brought it

27 (b) [1:46] and planted [the tobacco]. And when it came time for harvest, it was hoed

28 (b) [1:49] by hand, without plowing or anything. When it’s time

29 (b) [1:53] for the first picking, we gather a few leaves from below,

30 (b) [1:58] and we go one time through the entire field, however much [it is] –

31 (b) [2:01] we had planted two or three decares of tobacco, but those

32 (b) [2:03] who have more people to work plant much more tobacco. But we

33 (b) [2:07] were less people, so planted less tobacco.

34 (b) [2:10] And when the first picking is finished, we go through on the second one.

35 (b) [2:14] We begin to pick the leaves when they've started to turn yellow,

36 (b) [2:18] again two or three leaves at a time, so they stay good-looking.

37 (b) [2:21] Then we thread them on needles, and on cords, and after that

38 (b) [2:25] we make frames, and [put these threads] on the frames. No, first [we put them] on poles

39 (b) [2:29] and tie the poles [to the frames] with corn husks. Then a scaffolding is made

40 (b) [2:34] and we line up the poles on the scaffolding. When it rains,

41 (b) [3:39] we have the scaffolding to keep things dry. Then we take these poles

42 (b) [2:43] and line them up by pairs, one next to another,

43 (b) [2:46] one next to another, and that’s how we lined them up in the old days.

44 (b) [2:49] Now it’s all simple: you just cover them with a plastic sheet, and that’s it.

45 (b) [2:53] But that’s how it was back then. During the winter,

46 (b) [2:56] when the fog starts to come in, we get ready and start

47 (b) [3:00] to process [the tobacco]. When we see they’re soft, we start to make it [into bundles]

48 (b) [3:04] [using] our knees [for support]. Шe make it into bundles, and tie them up

49 (b) [3:09] with corn husks, and make them into large bales.

50 (b) [3:14] Or more like a pile. We make them not into bales but into storage piles.

51 (b) [3:18] And then, after they give us pieces of burlap to cover them, we take and make them

52 (b) [3:21] into bales. We untie [the leaves] from the corn husking, and give them

53 (b) [3:26] to the men [who] make them into bales.

54 (KK) [Did you all go to school?]

55 (b) [3:29] In the old days, when we went to the school here, we went [only]

56 (b) [3:32] through fourth grade, and then we started to go to [school] in Mŭdrets.

57 (b) [3:36] But when we went to Mŭdrets, we didn’t have shoes; there wasn’t anything.

58 (b) [3:41] So they got us these sandals, with socks [only] to the knees.

59 (b) [3:47] That’s where our socks came to in the old days. Our knees were all red [from the cold],

60 (b) [3:51] and that’s why they hurt [so much] now, but what can we do for them?

61 (b) [3:53] Back then we studied Bulgarian [language], math, catechism, shop, physical education –

62 (b) [4:01] I can’t remember what other subjects we studied.

63 (b) [4:04] For me, I was really good at math, but since I didn’t have any money,

64 (b) [4:08] and there was nobody to support me – I even [had to] take

65 (b) [4:11] [my own] food – I didn’t learn a lot. But [even though]

66 (b) [4:15] I wasn’t allowed to study much, I still got a fairly good grade.

1 (b) [0:00] jenò vrème̝ čorbədžìiti sə n’àməli mnòu gol’ɛ̀mi kɤ̀šti̥

In the old days the rich people didn’t have very big houses,

2 (b) [0:04] ama nəlì čurbədžìja ə ličɤ̀t mu dicàtə ut nàšti dicà

and their children were different from our children, you know.

3 (b) [0:09] t’àn’te dicà sə ubl’àkəni ə pək nìi cərùlkiti i tò

Their children were [better] dressed. But us – our shoes; well –

4 (b) [0:13] e n’è təkìvi cərùlki̥ əmi ut svìncki nəpràeni i təkà si ə b’à:mi