![IMG-0081.jpeg](https://go.authorsguild.org/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBN1FzQXc9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--fe95f9ad3c39403e2523b4eb191238e0bad7c16d/IMG-0081.jpeg")
"Why do you want to write about us?" my newish Bulgarian friend asks me, smiling a bemused smile as she takes a sip of coffee.
Though it's a legitimate question, and though I'm prepared for it, I'm immediately uncomfortable, on my back foot, searching for the words to explain my motives – to her and to myself.
Why do I—a privileged, [arguably] well-educated woman from the west, a foreigner who can only just wish someone a happy birthday and order a salad in this country—want to write about Bulgaria?