Topola - countryside, churches, kings

Two Sundays ago saw me leaving the metropolis for pastoral calm. My new friend Eric succeeded in borrowing a car, so we'd decided to go do some outside of Belgrade sight-seeing. I'd heard of this cool church from some people a few weeks ago about 50 km or so south of Beograd so we met at noon to head to Topola along with my friend Dušan (local expert since his mother's family is from the area).

I'll preference this by saying that my friend Tijana had a birthday party the night before (A super fun time with a black and white theme, salsa music. I got to wear my new dress.) and that'd I'd walked a friend home in the wee smalls of the morning since he was not able to himself. What makes it even better was that when I was walking back homewards I passed these people sitting outside a cafe drinking coffee as if there was nothing else more normal to do at 5:30 a.m. One said something to me in Serbian, I asked him to repeat and then finally had to pull out "Izvini, učim srpski." "Odakle si?" "Ja sam iz amerike." "Stvarno?" "Da." "You must come and have coffee with us." My half-hearted protest went unheard, and I sat where I was told to, drank my espresso with milk and listened to Serbian with some English mixed in. Cool crowd - a singer, the cafe owner, various friends. I got home and to bed around 7 a.m.... just fantastic.

So there I was, mostly awake and bouncy at noon. We figured out the way there, took a bit of a scenic detour when Dušan missed a turn and finally got to Topola. After stopping for coffee and chatting about educational systems (I'm telling you, learning all the time) headed to the church. It's completely done in mosaics inside, incredibly beautiful. This is the seat of the Serbian royal family, the uprising against the Turks happened around here as well (although don't ask me for dates- I was never good with them). In the church's crypt are the tombs of various royals, saw the first king of Serbia's grave and subsequent family. I just loved the walls, the mosaics are quite finely done with this vivid lapis blue and other colors.

We poked around the rest of the grounds, stopping by a little museum with artifacts about King Aleksander and Queen Marija (a total fox in that 1920-30s way), tramping through the woods a bit to find a gorgeous view over fields and hills - looked a bit like Indiana when all is said and done. Was wonderful just to be out in green again, I'd not realized how much I missed it. There was a funny moment when we went and found the wine house - it was full of contemporary art. No drinks for us. Then down the huge hill to a little church (not decorated so much), another small museum with Serbian history - Turkish uprising, peasant life (looked a lot like stuff from Conner Prairie or another pioneer town), moving Karađorđević's body. I worked on practicing my cyrillic, wished that Nemenja was there to make the history seem real (he's my official Serbian history teacher). After circling the town looking for food got some grill, the men had tea and continuing our rambling conversation before walking up the hill again, driving back to the city.

Driving through the Serbian countryside we could see the effects of a changing society - people are moving more and more to urban areas since there's not so much work to be had in the villages. The highway reminded me a bit of Highway 40 through Indiana; little towns that saw their prime years ago, now are worn down and faded. I won't wax sociologist here, but I still contend the country is pretty much the same worldwide (and not just in the way that it's almost impossible to enter as an outsider). It's comforting in an odd kinda way.

Emotions and government

It's been an emotional week. Last Monday I was surrounded by people deeply worried by their current political situation spouting gloom and doom, making plans of escape, saying the country would regress to the 90s, etc. Then colleagues at another school said I shouldn't worry at all, everything would be fine, I'd see. No need to be down. I find out that my grandfather died somewhat unexpectedly Friday morning and that getting home for the funeral is completely out of the question. Meanwhile Serbia wins Eurovision Saturday night (the birthday party I was at frankly was a bit lame until the final results since most people were just sitting and watching it), Marija Šerifović does have a fantastic voice so that's a great thing. Sunday sees Nikolić stepping down as the Parliament speaker, a new government being formed that's much more to the liking of the people I spend my time with. My students say this Monday that they really weren't worried, they were just worried for my sake. And, of course, the only reason I was worried was because everyone else seemed to be.

Now, anyone who says that the government waited until the last minute to form is exaggerating. They had a whole half hour left before the deadline. I mean, come on, they could have put it off a bit longer. Although 11:30 p.m. on a Tuesday isn't a bad time to make a government if you like that kind of thing. Interestingly enough, during the live broadcast when it's recess time they totally cut the sound. This, perhaps unfortunately, lets silly people like me do running commentary about these political figures that I know actually very little about. Think Mystery Science Theater. Ivan thought it was funny at least. But anything is possible in Serbia. Which is why I'm still here. I love absurdism and it most definitely thrives here in a very rich and developed way.

Sesame Street

It's funny how one assumes that EVERYONE watched Sesame Street as a kid. Unfortunately, Julia and co. missed out on this excellence. So I'm bringing my culture and history here to Belgrade courtesy of YouTube. Here are some of the best ones (after Cookie Monster clips, which is how we go on this topic anyway); enjoy traipsing down memory lane. Orange singing Carmen, How crayons are made, Alligator in my room, Rebel L,

1st May

Walking down the street yesterday in city center, it was totally and completely empty. Worse than on a Sunday. So here's my question - why is it when people are working the streets and cafes are full but when they're not everything is empty? True, many go have cookouts and flee to pastoral calm, but still... curious.

Happy 1st May, a huge national holiday here (it being Labor day and all that). I spent it sleeping in, then heading into town with some friends before going on a walk about "Invisible Belgrade" that my Serbian school organized. We went around and saw places where Roman ruins are (although none are really visible), talked about Celtic and Roman times. I think it's fascinating how the main roads are on top of the old Roman ones. That these arteries have been key for centuries. It makes complete sense but doesn't make it less cool. My fellow American on the walk is the future military attaché for the US Embassy. Madness who one meets.

The rest of the day was spent in various forms of revelry (with plans changing until the last minute as per usual - going to a splav became going out to eat, something we hardly ever do). But all in all a fine time had by all. Today is work free for me and most everyone else as well, but I'll have to start thinking about the next three days where I teach at least 5 hours for each. And do my Serbian homework. Ah, school.