we know a thing by its opposite. hot means nothing without cold, and since i'm traveling the world to explore the nature of happiness and my own struggles to find it, i decide to visit an unhappy place. and if i'm going to do unhappy, i want somewhere that does it with panache and takes pride in its wallowing, somewhere full of beautiful expressions like, "i don't want to feel good. i just want my neighbor to feel bad." [upbeat acoustic music] welcome to bulgaria. [nicky blitz' "blast off"] - ♪ getting too close, better pull on back ♪ - what if i travel the world, exploring what makes some places happier than others? - ♪ need a one-two... ♪♪ - i'm looking at the ways that where we are... - ♪ yeah, i'm a-comin', i'm a-comin' ♪ - affect who we are. - ♪ whoo, i'm a-comin' ♪♪ ♪ i'm a-comin', yeah... ♪♪ - it's been said that the search for happiness is the chief source of unhappiness. - ♪ i'm a-comin', i'm a-comin'... ♪ - well, that's okay. i'm already unhappy, so i've got nothing to lose. - ♪ let's go ♪♪ ♪ let's all blast off ♪♪ [projector humming] [upbeat music] - where are we? somewhere near the sunny coast of the mediterranean, certainly. or is this an italian opera out in the open air? this is a land that symbolically lives on roses, on sunshine, on delicate crops, on subtle loveliness. this, wherever it is, is a land of happiness. ♪ ♪♪ [bells tolling] - holy hell, have things changed since then. [quirky music] bulgaria ranks 85th on the world happiness report, smack dab in the middle. when you adjust for income, bulgaria, a member of the european union, suddenly ranks near the absolute bottom. - i'm a really happy person, and that's not a common answer here in bulgaria. - the air is very polluted. it's a problem. - [speaking bulgarian] - there are bumps in the roads, holes in the sidewalks. - political problems. - someone may push you in the metro. - older people are really more pessimistic. - we complain to each other all the time, and then after we exchange complaints, we say, "let's go to have a beer together. we have to discuss this." ♪ ♪♪ - i hold a black belt in dwelling on the negative, so i knew bulgaria would be the ultimate place to be amongst my fault-finding brethren. years back, a gallup poll found that bulgarians have lower expectations for their futures than afghans and iraqis, who have lived in literal war zones for decades. so i wonder, what can i learn about my own sorrows by exploring one of the unhappiest places on earth? oh, hello. hey, how you doing? yeah. is that-- - ok, please. - you're free? - yes. - ok, great. come on. [speaking bulgarian] - velcho. - velcho? - velcho. - rainn. [upbeat music] ♪ ♪♪ this is bulgaria's capital, sofia. with a population of 1 and 1/2 million people, it's not exactly paris, but it's doing a decent impression of a bustling, mid-sized european city. you ever watch "the office?" - the office? - the tv show, "the office"? no? [humming "the office" theme] - no. [upbeat music] ♪ ♪♪ - a very nice city, sofia. lots of trees, lots of parks. - no, not very nice. before 20 years maybe. now too much people from village... - oh, coming. - is coming to sofia. - too many people from the villages are coming into sofia? - yeah. life is different now. - ok. so are you happy? - [speaking bulgarian] - i feel you. [tense music] if people are fleeing to the city from the countryside, i'm curious to know what it is that they're running away from. velcho agrees to take me to a village called grozdyovsti. unfortunately, oof, we seem to be on rather different timelines. - how long to grozdyovsti? - two or three years. - two or three years? - yes. - are--are we crawling? [upbeat music] ♪ ♪♪ - i think it must be right here. ♪ ♪♪ ok. here we are. [grunts] merci. - bye. - this town may look abandoned... but i've been told someone lives here who is going against the grain. she's a former city dweller who moved to the countryside. uh, hello? and i want to know why. - rainn? - oh, hello. - [speaking bulgarian] - this is ejo kirilova. she lives with her two dogs here in her hometown of grozdyovsti where travelers stay with her in exchange for helping with renovation projects. grozdyovsti used to be a bustling town filled with residents going about their lives in the idyllic bulgarian countryside. lately, though, things have gone downhill. - how many people live here? - today, three people and a half one. - the half a person is not-- wasn't sawed in half. - she's a whole person, but she lives here only-- - half time. - half the time. - how many-- when you were a little girl and your mom was a little girl, how many people lived out here? - i don't know. maybe 100, something like that. - yeah. - everybody--everything was full of life here. and now it's not like that. now everybody-- - not with three and a half people. ♪ ♪♪ rural towns like this have witnessed population decline at the fastest rate in bulgaria, which itself has the fastest declining population of any country on earth. - so i'm renovating the houses. - renovating? yeah, a lot of different houses here. who lives in all these? - they're old family houses. - oh, wow, ok. so what are you doing today? what would you normally be doing? - i was going to make the elderflower juice because it's flowering right now. - uh-huh - and this is the time. i have only three days to pick the flowers and make the juice. - what do we need? we need elderflowers, and we need-- - we'll need to buy sugar... - ok. - and we need to get water from the village well. - great, let's do it. - ok. ♪ ♪♪ you stay, sweetie. oh, go--no, no, no, no. ok, oh. oh, well. ♪ ♪♪ so what's going on here? - this is our old store. - oh, wow. - it doesn't work for a long time. - and who-- who are all these people here? - well, this is a bulgarian tradition. when somebody dies... - yeah? - they put this, like,-- like a memory of it, and you see this. - oh. this is how you find out-- it's like an obituary. - yeah, it's-- - i don't know how i would feel about going to get some bread and lemonade and finding out that my uncle died. i don't know. it's a little macabre. - i hope that you learn before that. - yeah. ♪ ♪♪ doing anything in the bulgarian countryside takes planning and usually a lot of walking. it's a bulgarian puppy. the closest store is over four miles away in another town, and these days, it's only open two days a week because there aren't enough customers to keep it open full-time. - more dead people, i see. - yeah. - what-- what's going on in here? - it used to be the pub-- the city's pub, the village pub. - used to be a pub. - but now it's the store. - yeah. - [speaking bulgarian] - having a beer. ok. his name is nestor? - nestor. - is that right? - yes. - nestor, hello. - [chuckles] - nice to meet you. so he works twice a week, nestor? - yeah. twice a week, the bread comes. - and that's when they open the store is when the bread comes? - yeah. - people come to get the bread, and then they pick up beer, and buckets, and... - and things like that, yeah. - potatoes, yeah. does nestor remember a time when it was more busy, that the store was open every day? - [speaking bulgarian] - [speaking bulgarian] - and now there are 25, 30. - wow. [soft dramatic music] do you have any cinnamon raisin? it seems like bread day is the most exciting day of the week. - [chuckles] you can stay here, drink a beer, and talk with everybody. - yes. hi, buddy! hi, sweetie. hey. precious. so i've never seen an elderflower before. is this them right here? - this is--the white thing. - ok. right about now, as ejo and i forage for spring water and elderflower in the bulgarian countryside, you may be wondering, why exactly did everyone leave a place that looks so beautiful? - that is a gorgeous view. look at that. these hills are just... - yeah. - completely uninhabited. well, when communism collapsed in eastern europe in 1989, rural factories closed, and all of the collective farms were broken up, leaving no way for people to make a living in the country, so they flocked to the cities, and all the farmland went to ruin. - so who lives in here? a troll? [quirky music] so two years ago, you made a big change and moved out here. - yeah. - this is kind of, like, a popular fantasy of like, "oh, i'm going to move out of the city. "i'm gonna move to the country. i'm gonna to have bees." i saw bees over there. i'm gonna have a garden." but for a lot of people, that would get tiring after six months, something like that. how do you feel? are you happy about the move? - i'm absolutely happy. i feel calmer. - ok. - in my case, it happened so gradually that-- you know when you boil a frog, and the frog doesn't know that it will get boiled because the water-- - incrementally... - yeah. - gets hotter. - that happened to me. just one day, i realized that i live here. all my life, i loved nature, and i loved to go outdoors. maybe that's why i feel so comfortable here. [quirky music] - so far, the only person i've met in this country found happiness by getting away from everyone else. i sympathize. my inclination is almost always to be left the hell alone. - now we have to measure 3 liters of water. - 3 liters. - yeah, two times. now we need to have patience and to wait for it. - all right. my time in grozdyovsti makes clear what so many bulgarians left behind. - let's hug it out, bulgarian. - [chuckles] - but if i want real insight into bulgarian sadness, into my own sadness, i'll next need a translator who's fluent in the language of misery. ♪ ♪♪ after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. want a smarter way to mop? introducing the new swiffer powermop. an all-in-one cleaning tool with hundreds of scrubbing strips- that absorb and lock dirt away, for a mop and bucket clean in half the time. mop smarter with the new swiffer powermop. (mom) the moment i loved our subaru outback most... was the moment they walked away from it. (daughter) mom! (mom) oh, thank goodness. and that's why our family will only drive a subaru. (vo) subaru. more iihs top safety pick plus awards than any other brand. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. we moved out of the city so our little sophie could appreciate nature. but then he got us t-mobile home internet. i was just trying to improve our signal, so some of the trees had to go. i might've taken it a step too far. (chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch? what, we have a ton of mulch. [quirky music]eral ton. - i have a wound. we have [speaks bulgarian].mulch. call an ambulance. [speaks bulgarian]. ♪ ♪♪ when i landed in bulgaria and i read some of the stats about the population brain-drain and i looked at that airport and the expression on people's faces, i was afraid a little bit. ♪ ♪♪ sure, the more isolated regions of bulgaria seem like a bit of a downer, but i'm still baffled to how a city as cosmopolitan as sofia produces so many unhappy people. so many trees in bulgaria. - i know. - it's kind of blowing my mind. - yeah. bulgarians love the nature, you know? - dr. elena mustakova is a friend of mine and a renowned psychologist who recently moved from washington, dc to return to her native bulgaria. i'm hoping she can help make sense of the sadness. - tell me this-- i land in the airport, and i definitely feel like i'm in a cliché of an eastern bloc country. - yeah. - people seem really, really unhappy when you look at them. - yes, yes. - they look dour. - yes. - and they kind of look miserable. now, that may not be what's going on inside. maybe that's a front. help me to understand that. - it's not a front. it's a split in the psyche between the private and the public. in the public space, where there's no interpersonal interactions, people are miserable, negative, and hostile. - miserable, negative, and hostile, ok. - [laughs] - ok. - as soon as they get into interpersonal interactions, there's laughter, and very quickly people will help you and offer you things. and it just-- everything changes. ♪ ♪♪ - why the split personality? well, when you've endured the history that bulgaria has, you'd probably be miserable, negative, and hostile too. in the 14th century, they were conquered by the ottomans, and over the next 500 years, any sense of national identity was either beaten into submission or forced into hiding. ♪ ♪♪ in 1908, the ottoman empire fell, and soon came the soviets, who taught a generation of bulgarians that it was patriotic to rat out your friends and neighbors for the good of the communist party. by the time communism fell in 1989, bulgarians had been abused and abandoned by damn near everyone. ♪ ♪♪ - this is ten generations surviving extraordinarily resilient. they had to become very insular, protect their families, then really survive in small circles. [somber acoustic music] ♪ ♪♪ - [singing in bulgarian] - if surviving in small private circles is how bulgarians retained some sense of happiness, then getting past these outward cold facades has got to be the next step on my journey. - [singing melody] ♪ ♪♪ - this is ivo dimchev. he's one of bulgaria's most famous recording artists. - [singing in bulgarian] - he's got a pretty devoted following in bulgaria, which makes sense since his songs are about very bulgarian things, like vodka or a national pastry called banitsa. - [singing in bulgarian] ♪ ♪♪ [singing in bulgarian] ♪ ♪♪ - hello. - hello. are you the new singer for the musical? [chuckles] - yeah. [chuckles] yes, i am. ivo's currently in the middle of rehearsals for a musical he's written called "in hell with jesus." i'm sure the title will go over gangbusters. - i'm working with them on one of the songs called "vodka." - i'd love to hear it. - [singing in bulgarian] [singing in bulgarian together] - and so on. - [applauds] bravo. - bravo. - amazing. he's not like any bulgarian i've met so far, or like anyone i've met in general, now that i think about it, which leaves me curious about where this guy came from. - i remember when i was, like, 10 years old during the communistic regime, on a big holiday, like fourth of july, like every kid was marching in front of the palace of the president, and everybody had, like, a uniform but me. i dress as a woman with high heels and dress, makeup, and a wig. - [laughs] - and i dress like this, and i went marching with all my schoolmates like this when i was 10 years old. - you thought it'd be funny or you just-- - i feel-- unconsciously, back then, i felt that there is a-- there is this convention that we all have to look equal, and unconsciously my mind or my soul was like, "no, we should-- we should create a balance." - yeah. have you suffered because of this path that you've taken? has this been difficult? - yeah, i was very-- i was very abused, like-- and bullied, and beaten up... - oh, no. - in school. it didn't stop me. - so you followed your personal bliss. - yeah. - they couldn't stop you. - yeah. [chuckles] - i can totally relate because, although i'm dressed a little more conventional, i went to theater school, and that's how i found myself. i needed to express myself in my own weird way. - yes. [laughs] ♪ drink it up ♪♪ ♪ drink it, drink it up, my love, love ♪ ♪ drink it up, drink it, drink it up ♪ ♪ my love, love [imitates tambourine] that's me. it's a selfie sculpture. it's a 3d copy of my head. - oh, i see the resemblance now. - yeah. there are many around. ♪ la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ ♪ drink it up, my love, my love ♪ people who listen to my songs are art lovers or, like, mafia bosses, like mafia guys. - art lovers and mafia guys? why do the mafia guys like your songs? - because they're-- they're most open-minded. they're like a contemporary audience. - nice. maybe they'll take you to perform on like-- on an oligarch's yacht or something. - i just did two days ago. - whoa. - now that we've gotten some playful banter about bulgaria's terrifying ruling class out of the way, i'm joining ivo as a roadie for his concert tonight, and the crowd, i'm promised, will be at capacity. - i like to perform in kitchens, but i think this one is too small maybe. oh, my god. - it's a bedroom. in case it's not clear, ivo is setting up for one of his "home concerts," which is exactly what it sounds like. - [singing in bulgarian] - for the price of a t-shirt off his website, one of the country's most popular singers comes to your place and performs in your shower, or laundry room, or-- - [vocalizing] - anywhere with a power outlet for his amplifier. how did you start doing house concerts? - it was the very beginning of the pandemic, and everybody was locked in their houses. it was kind of rebellion thing for them, i think. a brave thing to do. - he's getting warmed up. [ivo dimchev's "banitsa"] ♪ ♪♪ - [singing in bulgarian] - this is ridiculously awesome. just a bulgarian superstar casually making himself comfortable and belting ballads about yogurt-based baked goods in the middle of a complete stranger's apartment. [ivo dimchev's "vodka"] ♪ ♪♪ - these people don't look miserable, negative, and hostile. they look happy. - whoo! [all cheering] - yeah! [cheers and applause] - whoo! - you've worn him out. [chuckles] - i began acting when i realized that lip syncing elvis costello songs... [playing drums] made my high school classmates lose their shit with laughter. in that moment, i found purpose and belonging. my front row seat to ivo's home concert reminds me of something that's easy to forget-- the mere act of self-expression, the sharing of your inner self with others, brings joy, whether you're performing to a sold-out arena or an audience of three. that was incredible. you've brought so much joy into so many people's homes during a pandemic! - i didn't have a choice, rainn. - what do you mean? - i didn't have a choice. i didn't have a choice. i just think it's the right thing to do. i don't know. i don't think about happiness. i think about, it's the right thing to do. and then, if it brings happiness, i'm really, like, satisfied. - thank you for letting me be a part of it. it was gorgeous. - thank you for coming. - it was amazing. you're incredible. thank you so much. - and thanks for helping me with the speaker. 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[upbeat percussive music] to understand what life was like under an oppressive regime, i'm meeting with an absolute legend of these sofia streets. but he's a punk-rocking, anarchist, total badass skateboarder, and i'm an unathletic bassoon player, so... [birds chirping] first i'll need a training montage. [spirited music] - [grunts] ♪ ♪♪ ha! ♪ ♪♪ - so the first thing is, find the center of the skateboard so the balance is equal both sides. [upbeat percussive music] ok. and that's a good start. - all right. let's call it a day. - [laughs] ♪ ♪♪ - alexander georgiev has been called the godfather of bulgarian skateboarding, a title he earned by introducing the sport to his country during a time when it was literally criminalized by the state. - then i can teach you how to pump. - yeah, that's not gonna happen. today we're meeting at a skate park he's helped erect in front of a former soviet monument, so basically a giant middle finger to the past. whoa! oh! - this is what you do. - that's well done. we got a little ass crack on that too. well done. when i was growing up, i was into kind of the nerdier part of the world, and the chess team, and dungeons and dragons. america is such a land of individualism and self-expression. we were really privileged... - yeah. - in that way. - yeah. - so what was it like growing up early-mid-'80s, soviet bloc country, trying to find this avenue for individual expression? - it was difficult. it was very difficult. i mean, this is like-- this is why we became skateboarders. it's like self-expression. or you go to school, and you're not allowed to be with long hair or any clothes different than whatever the-- - tattoos? - none of this. - were you ever arrested? - uh, we got-- yeah, we've been a couple of times. we've been beaten up and all this, you know? but this was normal at the time, you know? when you're different than the average person then, you know, you get in trouble. - right. [mellow electronic music] after communism fell, alex pursued his dreams of touring the world as a pro skater. but he eventually returned, enjoying the newfound freedom to promote his sport without catching a beating for it. but he soon discovered that even a post-communist bulgaria faced a lot of the same political nonsense. - you don't have a stable political system. these guys are not afraid to show that they're corrupted, you know? - yeah. - like, this guy's being accused for stealing government money, and the guy doesn't care. he's driving, like, a... - mercedes. - half a mil super car, and he doesn't care. - yeah. - you cannot rely on government-- even on government systems. i'm talking of health service, and--or police service, or whatever, you know? you need to do it yourself. ♪ ♪♪ - whoa! all right. i can totally do that. - not today. - not today. my hip-- - [laughs] - my hip's a little sore, but yeah. [tranquil music] ♪ ♪♪ bulgaria consistently ranks as the most politically corrupt of the 27 european nations. trust in community, in government, without these, studies tell us, happiness is elusive. americans certainly aren't immune to this lack of trust, but in bulgaria, it's been a way of life for as long as anyone can remember. i wonder, is there a way out of this vicious cycle? frustrated by skin tags? dr. scholl's has the breakthrough you've been waiting for. the first fda-cleared at-home skin tag remover clinically proven to remove skin tags safely in as little as one treatment. 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[upbeat music] - the soviets did for architecture what burger king did for gourmet food, but there are some interesting remnants of this bygone era. take this hobbit hole, for example. it's called a klek. hello? which translates to "squat shop." you've got a lot of stuff in there. [chuckles] any bodies? i'm kidding. you're a cobbler. [speaks bulgarian] during communism, these holes in the wall would have been basements and bomb shelters. nowadays they're used as everything from coffee shops to, apparently, cobbler dens. can you fix that? i'll be back. merci. [mellow acoustic music] bulgaria's economy endured incredible change in recent decades, but the relationship between a nation's wealth and its happiness is, well, complicated. ♪ ♪♪ there's an economic theory known as the easterlin paradox. it suggests that while initially a nation's wealth and happiness levels rise together, over time happiness doesn't continue to increase just because wealth does. [cash register chimes] basically, money makes a place happier, but only up to a point. since joining the european union in 2007, bulgaria has improved its economic standing, but now, rather than comparing themselves to other former soviet countries, bulgarians measure themselves against wealthier ones like germany and france. it fostered a culture of envy and introduced an unhappiness that's harder to define. fortunately, i know where they're working on a definition. it's a beautiful book fair you got here. i was looking for something on a kind of-- that really ineffable, particular bulgarian strain of sadness. - [speaking bulgarian] - the grief that anchors the bulgarian soul. - ok, my book is "the physics of sorrow," so it's--if it works for you-- - oh, you have a book called "the physics of sorrow"? - yeah, yeah, "the physics of sorrow." - amazing. how did that happen? [upbeat music] georgi gospodinov is one of bulgaria's most famous authors. he was even nominated for a nobel prize, which--well, obviously he had agreed to do this show before the nomination took place. his writings center on stories about his motherland's unique brand of misery. - tuga. - tuga. - tu-ga, slowly. - tu-- - tu--tuga. - tu-- - ga. ok. so could you feel, like, your adam's apple. - it feels like you're crying. it feels like you're weeping when you say it. like, "tuga." and what is this translation of this particular bulgarian word? - in english, it translated like "sorrow," but it could be "sadness." but it could be "melancholy," "sorrow." - ah, ok. in his writing, georgi defines bulgarian sadness as-- dear god, this is heavy-- "a longing for something that hasn't happened, "a sudden realization that life is slipping away "and that certain things will never happen to you "for a whole list of reasons, personal, geographical, and political." - actually, there is some specific quality that make us happy even in our sorrow. - ok. - and this is bulgarian self-irony. - self-irony. - it's not just irony. it's a self-irony. - that's kind of self-- self-deprecating combined with not taking yourself too seriously. - yes, yeah, not to take yourself seriously and to know that nothing is forever. it's all normal. it's all part of the human condition to feel sorrow. - yeah. it's interesting because there's a kind of a tyranny of american happiness that is very superficial. my relatives are from the midwest, where there's kind of like a, "hey, how's it going?" happiness is something that you put on. it's not necessarily something that you're feeling inside. but i think that it can become oppressive to talk about positivity all the time without recognizing that we need to understand our shadows in order to understand our light. - can i interrupt you guys? there's someone who wants an autograph. - oh, it looks like you got a fan here. - yeah. - [speaking bulgarian] - oh, selfie? nah, i really-- i really don't do selfies, so-- oh, it's with him. ok. - [laughs] [speaking bulgarian] - oh, another fan. - [speaking bulgarian] - hi. - [speaking bulgarian] - ok. if you want, i could just sign it too. if you want my-- i could just-- - [speaking bulgarian] - i could just put my signature in there too. i could-- do you want me to jump in? we can do it later. two coffee. - when i was five years old, i had a huge pain in my ears. so i remember how i-- i was sitting alone with my great grandmother and i crying, "grandma, i'm going to die, i'm going to die." she console me. you will not going to die, my boy. there is an order. first, i will die. then your grandmother will die. then your grandfather will die. then your parents will die, and just then you will die. - [laughs] - could you imagine? [chuckles] it's typical bulgarian-- i don't know--consolation. [upbeat music] - i'm realizing why i feel so at ease in this place. i think i'm bulgarian. i'm a worrier. i'm a pessimist. for as long as i can remember, i've walked a constant tightrope in avoidance of bad feelings. so this is the only happy bulgarian? i've spent my adult life running from sadness, but my conversation with georgi is a reminder that it's all a delicate balance. let's get a selfie with him. there is no joy without also acknowledging and accepting pain. to happy bulgarians. who would have thought a nobel prize nominee could be so wise? 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[upbeat music] ♪ ♪♪ but for the country to really free itself from the shadow of distrust that has defined it for generations... sweet bulgarian cherries. there needs to be some kind of future to strive for. oh, that's good. fortunately, amidst the wave of young bulgarians choosing to leave their homeland... there are some who are choosing to return. ♪ ♪♪ oh, hello! - [speaking bulgarian] - ah, very nice to meet you! [tranquil music] this is dessi and her grandmother fidana, also known as bobo. - she fixes me. i fix her. - dessi is a bulgarian-born artist who spent her childhood in detroit after her parents immigrated there in the '90s. but a few years ago, she began splitting her time between bulgaria and the states in order to spend her days boozing with her grandmas here in the town of kyustendil. - nazdrave! - nazdrave! so what brings you back and forth from the states to bulgaria? - a lot of it has to do with her and my other grandma. and when i left, i was so young that i didn't really conceptualize it. when, you know, you have, like, the awkward immigrant experience of "my name is longer than the alphabet." - what's your full name? - dessislava dobreva terzieva. - [laughs] ok. - as i got a little bit older, i became closer to my roots. i actually started to realize what it means to have this bond, what it means to have these two perspectives and also what it means to-- every time i see my grandmas, i give them life. i mean, it adds years to their life... - right, right. - because it's what they live for. it's family. - right. [upbeat music] you could have a bulgarian tv show. - she really does need her own show. - "babo knows best." - "babo knows best." - may i try it? - so you don't want too much. spread that out and nicely. - [speaking bulgarian] - uh-oh, she's already criticizing me. - [laughs] no, no, no. - i can tell. is this ok here? - [speaking bulgarian] - well, you gotta put the-- - sorry. i almost forgot. - the most important part. ♪ ♪♪ - so this has, like, zero carbs, right? - [chuckles] oh, yeah. this is keto. - [chuckles] let's get this in the oven. - babo, [speaking bulgarian]? - [speaking bulgarian] - she's waiting for it to warm up a little bit. - babo! - [speaking bulgarian] - ah. - ah, beautiful. can't wait. [tranquil music] - so this is grandma's living room. - grandma's living room. - and also my favorite room in the whole house. - very simple, very lovely. - in a way, it's frozen in time because it's the same furniture, it's a lot of the same little objects as when i was born. - mm-hmm. these relics from the past continue to provide meaning for dessi, and she incorporates odds and ends from babo's home into her art. - i take what exists, and i either remove it out of the context or i place new things into that context that don't make sense. that juxtaposition speaks to the immigrant experience. it speaks to having a hybrid identity. - is that you? - that's me. this is a traditional... - wow. - bulgarian garb. and i can put it on for you. - oh, that'd be fabulous. [upbeat acoustic music] ♪ ♪♪ how many bulgarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? [chuckles] - [speaking bulgarian] - [laughs] stop. it's become something of a tradition for babo to help dessi put on the bulgarian folk dress whenever she visits. - wow, beautiful. [applauding] when was this dress originally made? - this dress is from 1928. - 1928! - my grandmother's mother... - yeah. - wore it to her wedding, because back in the days, this is what you wore. - right. i can't really imagine what that would feel like to not only have this connection to your beautiful grandmother, but your great grandmother. - mm-hmm, it's definitely a point of pride, and something i care a lot about, and something i nurture consciously. - my family from america is very fractured. - mm-hmm. - multiple divorces. and i don't have any artifact or connection to their life or my own ancestry. that must feel amazing to have that connection. - yeah. - my dad used to make a tater tot casserole with a cream of mushroom soup. - mm-hmm. - and a lot of cheddar cheese and sour cream. and maybe i should embrace that. - well, yeah. - my whiteness. - [giggles] - you know? ♪ ♪♪ ok, what have i gotten myself into here? - one, two-- - polling might suggest that bulgaria is pretty unhappy... oh, i'm lost. - but i got to say, dancing with dessi in babo's backyard while she cheers us on is pretty damn fun. it's fantastic! ♪ ♪♪ so what are we drinking? - it's homemade wine. - from back here in the yard? - from grandma's backyard, yep. - wow. so bulgaria consistently ranks among the lowest on various happiness indexes that are done around the world. what's your take on this? - well, i had an amazing childhood in bulgaria. i mean, from morning to night, just all day playing. front, back. there we go. i feel like we rank so low on this happiness index, and yet i come to bulgaria, and i'm like, "god, these people know how to live." and i love being here, and that's what keeps bringing me back. - oppa! - which means "bravo." - all right, all right. - [applauds] power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley. to help prevent bleeding gums. try saying 'hello gumwash' with parodontax active gum health. it kills 99% plaque bacteria. and forms an antibacterial shield. try parodontax active gum health mouthwash. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv before my doctor and i chose breztri for my copd, i had bad days, (cough, cough) flare-ups that could permanently damage my lungs. with breztri, things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing. starting within 5 minutes, i noticed my lung function improved. it helped improve my symptoms, and breztri was even proven to reduce flare-ups, including those that could send me to the hospital. so now i look forward to more good days. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. can't afford your medication? astrazeneca may be able to help. ask your doctor about breztri. bridgett is here. astrazeneca may be able to help. she has no clue that i'm here. she has no clue who's in the helmet. are you ready? -i'm ready! alright. xfinity rewards creates experiences big and small, and once-in-a-lifetime. wanna lose weight and be healthier? it's time for aerotrainer. a more effective total body fitness solution. (announcer) aerotrainer's ergodynamic design and four patented air chambers create maximum muscle activation for better results in less time. it allows for over 20 exercises. do the aerotrainer super crunch, push ups, aero squat. it inflates in 30 seconds. aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. lose weight, look great, and be healthy. go to aerotrainer.com. that's a-e-r-o trainer.com. l music] that's a-e-r-o trainer.com. - i came to bulgaria bracing myself for the unhappiest place on earth. and there's no question, there is a lot of unhappiness here because of a corrupt government, crumbling infrastructure, a general lack of trust. bulgaria has a lot of work to do, but it's not beyond repair. - i love a lot of things about bulgaria. we're really creative, really quick, and we know how to enjoy. - now young people, they have so many more opportunities. - i have the choice to study architecture, or psychology, or-- - or to go somewhere else. - or to go somewhere else. - to travel. - i see a lot of young people learning the steps of national dances and even rehearsing in parks, which has never happened during socialism. democracy has given us a craving for an identity that we thought lost. - i'm trying to direct the people's attention to actually the good things. ok, there's a hole in the street, but look, actually, there's this beautiful nature around us. - [speaking bulgarian] - i love my country. i don't want to leave it, like, never. ♪ ♪♪ - hiding amidst the grim balkan façade, i found another bulgaria, a place where families celebrate themselves. oppa! where strangers unite through joyful self-expression, where rebellious counterculture takes root in the heart of the younger generation. all right. and where even a village of three and a half people can be a paradise. do i look bulgarian? [chuckles] my time here makes me realize that i, like bulgaria, am not beyond repair. [upbeat music] it's what georgi said, "happiness isn't the absence of sadness. "rather, it's coming to terms with that sadness, accepting it as a part of you, as a first step forward." - bulgaria is quaint in the most genuine meaning of the word. the simple life, the sort of farm we in the busy west look for to find peace on. just listen to the mountain music. [upbeat acoustic music] ♪ ♪♪ - ok, any requests? how about a bulgarian folk song? ♪ oh, bulgaria ♪♪ ♪ you're my favorite area ♪♪ that's all i got so far, but-- - yeah, you will expand on it. - we can--let's-- let's sing it. i'm gonna expand on it. - [chuckles] - ♪ you're on my list ♪♪ ♪ now you're not communist, bulgaria ♪ ♪ ♪♪ whoo! high fives. come on, oleg. don't leave me hangin'. ♪ ♪♪ - bulgaria is an unhappy place with every opportunity to be happy. iceland was the opposite. [car horn blares] all right, this is nice. [cars honking] i wonder, how much of our happiness is shaped by perspective? [upbeat music] ♪ ♪♪ next up, i'm heading to a country that understands the answer to this better than anywhere. all right, here we go. i'm venturing in. >> tonight on the mehdi hasan show. from nixon to trump, the cost of loyalty to a criminal president. we will get into the new charges and new defendant in the classified documents case. plus, conservative justice samuel alito says that the supreme court cannot be regulated. clearly somebody who is not read the constitution. and it just a stop. that is the mention from some black conservatives to run desantis as he defends teaching the benefits of slavery. ♪ ♪ ♪ good evening. i am mehdi hasan.

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