Some excitement here in Beograd. I hear there are tons of cops outside the US Embassy but no protesters. Kosovo is talking about "sticking to its agenda" (whatever that means exactly), I'm watching my news sources but everyone I've talked to expects it to stay a governmental, non-violent affair. Whew. Our recent warden notice (sent to registered US citizens in this fair nation) simply warned against going to public demonstrations of any sort because they could become messy. They always say that though.
We also had a low-level earthquake the other day - I'd thought it was just my neighbor doing something odd below, but no. Crazy. See, anything can happen here. No lie.
Past few days have been very quiet for me - my low back decided that it hated me on Valentine's Day (which I have no explanation for) despite my chocolate consumption. I went to a lesson anyway but could barely walk afterwards. Stayed over at Julia's and two doctors told me they didn't see anything wrong, so loaded me with painkillers and I lay on a bed of pain since I couldn't really do anything else. I did make it home the next day though (and up all those stairs) and haven't left my place since. I've had some visitors for coffee, watched some good movies, just taking it totally slow. Frustrating how my first three day weekend in months and I can't do anything on it (and I for once had what looked like a full social calendar, just to add insult to injury). Since the weather is totally freezing (could this be the reason for no protesters? Possibly.) being inside and warm isn't such a bad plan after all. Today I'm moving less like an old woman and plan to be back on my feet tomorrow no longer taking the simple miracle of locomotion for granted.
That way I can not attend protests more easily if nothing else.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Party photos!
I'm inordinately proud of the party I threw before I went to the states in Dec - more people than I'd expected came, it ended up being an all-night affair and lots of fun for just being a "gathering." There were foreigners from the US, France, Congo, a mix of Serbs from English teachers to art students to doctors - truly a motley crew and a lovely way to see folks before going away for a month. Just when things seemed to be winding down (Nicholas, Raphael and I were the only ones left) Miloš showed up with a French girl, two American/Serbian girls, and sandwiches, starting us off again until past 6 a.m.
Finally I've gotten the photos up - I even had Christmas lights courtesy of Julia and Kata (hvala!). Hope to get some other winter photos of Beograd and beyond posted soon as well. Enjoy!
Finally I've gotten the photos up - I even had Christmas lights courtesy of Julia and Kata (hvala!). Hope to get some other winter photos of Beograd and beyond posted soon as well. Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Elections
In case you've not heard, Tadić won the elections here on Sunday night. It was a close election, although there were record numbers of voters that came out to pick the new president. I didn't vote (for some reason I think I'd have a hard time passing for a guy named Vojin at the polls), but everyone I know did. Which is great to hear. I'll freely admit some relief that the pro-EU guy won (I don't think I'll need to pack up my bags anytime soon for political reasons), but the results show the country's deep divide, he only had about 3% more than his pro-Russia opponent.
Huh. Where have we heard this before? Again I'm struck with the similarities between Serbia and the USA, especially among the people I call my friends as well as those I meet randomly. Figured that elections are a good subject to write about on Super Tuesday- chatted with Tom this morning who freely admitted to being obsessed even though we're both transatlantic. Read a great opinion piece on Obama that made me want to believe so very much that our country might actually turn around, or at least start going down a different path.
So here's to believing that change can actually happen still. Even in this era of cynicism.
(And here's hoping you enjoy Mardis Gras! I went to Carnival party on Friday night thrown by Brazilian embassy types; there were some costumes, lots of dancing, generally a great time. The counsel dressed as an old lady for half the night and rocked out on his guitar, his mother playing percussion. Fabulous. I ended up chatting with a pocket of consultants for US Steel near the end who came from Columbia, Argentina, India, the US (but all based in USA) - again, small random world. Perhaps someday I'll stop saying that...)
Huh. Where have we heard this before? Again I'm struck with the similarities between Serbia and the USA, especially among the people I call my friends as well as those I meet randomly. Figured that elections are a good subject to write about on Super Tuesday- chatted with Tom this morning who freely admitted to being obsessed even though we're both transatlantic. Read a great opinion piece on Obama that made me want to believe so very much that our country might actually turn around, or at least start going down a different path.
So here's to believing that change can actually happen still. Even in this era of cynicism.
(And here's hoping you enjoy Mardis Gras! I went to Carnival party on Friday night thrown by Brazilian embassy types; there were some costumes, lots of dancing, generally a great time. The counsel dressed as an old lady for half the night and rocked out on his guitar, his mother playing percussion. Fabulous. I ended up chatting with a pocket of consultants for US Steel near the end who came from Columbia, Argentina, India, the US (but all based in USA) - again, small random world. Perhaps someday I'll stop saying that...)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Back in Beograd
Now that the jet-lag seems to be mostly gone, I think I can string enough sentences together to actually write something pseudo coherent. But be forewarned...
The rest of my time stateside was mostly a whole lot of fun - Minneapolis was a blast even if it was colder than, well, cold. I met excellent people, got to walk on a lake (how cool is that?), learned that I'm not good at guitar hero but still decent at foosball. Returning home meant facing the not-as-fun task of cleaning out most of my room so Barb can turn it into an office. Still, probably should have been done a long time ago and I was able to see/chat with lovely folks to split up the time. Also read a whole ton of things glutting myself on basically unlimited English book access. A small joy that unfortunately is a downside of living abroad - what I can get my hands on is a bit bizarre at times. And anyone who likes books should read Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan. It's funny and reflective, she makes good points about work and literature that I appreciated a whole bunch.
Coming back across the Atlantic was a bit more eventful than I'd planned. For one my flight time changed and I'd never gotten an email telling me so, thus rushing up to Indy. I also traveled with a friend's trombone - it got to travel up in first class closets, lucky thing that it is - although it wasn't too much of a hardship (I also had no close connections). In DC I ran into Anna, a fellow American who was a colleague in the spring, she's back in Belgrade on a language learning grant for the semester. We used the long layover in Munich to catch up. Small world. Even funnier is that another friend runs the NGO that gave the grant.
The other unlooked for excitement came on the plane to Munich Thursday. I was trying to sleep and started thinking about some notes that I wanted to write. This prevented me from sleeping so I decided to pull out my computer and start typing. Turned it on and then everything froze. Odd, I thought, so pushed to restart. Except that then it wouldn't boot correctly, got this blinking question marked folder. In airport later looked at a manual on Anna's computer and tried to fix to no avail. So the first real thing I did after getting home and being welcomed by dear friends was find an Apple store. And then learned a few hours later that my hard drive was toast. To-ast. And that it was going to be a decent chunk of money to fix; but I had no choice. Then on Friday morning my befogged brain cleared a smidgen and I got my Applecare number from Barb; went in to pick it up and asked if it was covered. They had to ask basically everyone in the store it seemed but apparently yes! Apple comes through again! So I now have a bigger drive and I didn't have to pay for it (although I suppose they could still call me later demanding my first born or something). The next hurtle was figuring out how to get the backup I made before I left to load since it now has a newer OS... oh, the joys of technology. But everything seems to be in order now and I didn't loose anything that I can tell. Whew. Lesson: ALWAYS get extended warranties.
This weekend also saw me back in the classroom for two groggy hours - thankfully my teens were mostly kind to me (I wooed them with stories from my travels, breaking the golden rule of keeping "teacher talking time" to a minimum). Sunday I went to Zagreb with Bodin and some of his colleagues to return an instrument (gotta love these orchestra types). Even though I'd vowed to stay out of cars for awhile it was good to see some countryside, actually walk around city center (even if that wasn't for very long - the lunch at his friend's place took longer than anyone anticipated and thus we only could scurry a bit in the center before hitting the highway again). There was a funny moment when Roland introduced himself to everyone and a little later asked me where I'd learned English. Everyone laughed when I said I'm American, that's how (he's a tuba player from Hungary). It was yet another multi-national, multi-lingual extravaganza. My Serbian still exists (yay!) and I'm playing around with the idea of starting lessons again just to get things regulated a bit more.
So there you go, I'm back mostly catching up with friends and settling back into Beograd life. The next nine months promise to be anything but boring; here's hoping everyone has a grand new year (since it's still January we can still wish happy new year, right?) and that we all do better about keeping in touch!
The rest of my time stateside was mostly a whole lot of fun - Minneapolis was a blast even if it was colder than, well, cold. I met excellent people, got to walk on a lake (how cool is that?), learned that I'm not good at guitar hero but still decent at foosball. Returning home meant facing the not-as-fun task of cleaning out most of my room so Barb can turn it into an office. Still, probably should have been done a long time ago and I was able to see/chat with lovely folks to split up the time. Also read a whole ton of things glutting myself on basically unlimited English book access. A small joy that unfortunately is a downside of living abroad - what I can get my hands on is a bit bizarre at times. And anyone who likes books should read Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading by Maureen Corrigan. It's funny and reflective, she makes good points about work and literature that I appreciated a whole bunch.
Coming back across the Atlantic was a bit more eventful than I'd planned. For one my flight time changed and I'd never gotten an email telling me so, thus rushing up to Indy. I also traveled with a friend's trombone - it got to travel up in first class closets, lucky thing that it is - although it wasn't too much of a hardship (I also had no close connections). In DC I ran into Anna, a fellow American who was a colleague in the spring, she's back in Belgrade on a language learning grant for the semester. We used the long layover in Munich to catch up. Small world. Even funnier is that another friend runs the NGO that gave the grant.
The other unlooked for excitement came on the plane to Munich Thursday. I was trying to sleep and started thinking about some notes that I wanted to write. This prevented me from sleeping so I decided to pull out my computer and start typing. Turned it on and then everything froze. Odd, I thought, so pushed to restart. Except that then it wouldn't boot correctly, got this blinking question marked folder. In airport later looked at a manual on Anna's computer and tried to fix to no avail. So the first real thing I did after getting home and being welcomed by dear friends was find an Apple store. And then learned a few hours later that my hard drive was toast. To-ast. And that it was going to be a decent chunk of money to fix; but I had no choice. Then on Friday morning my befogged brain cleared a smidgen and I got my Applecare number from Barb; went in to pick it up and asked if it was covered. They had to ask basically everyone in the store it seemed but apparently yes! Apple comes through again! So I now have a bigger drive and I didn't have to pay for it (although I suppose they could still call me later demanding my first born or something). The next hurtle was figuring out how to get the backup I made before I left to load since it now has a newer OS... oh, the joys of technology. But everything seems to be in order now and I didn't loose anything that I can tell. Whew. Lesson: ALWAYS get extended warranties.
This weekend also saw me back in the classroom for two groggy hours - thankfully my teens were mostly kind to me (I wooed them with stories from my travels, breaking the golden rule of keeping "teacher talking time" to a minimum). Sunday I went to Zagreb with Bodin and some of his colleagues to return an instrument (gotta love these orchestra types). Even though I'd vowed to stay out of cars for awhile it was good to see some countryside, actually walk around city center (even if that wasn't for very long - the lunch at his friend's place took longer than anyone anticipated and thus we only could scurry a bit in the center before hitting the highway again). There was a funny moment when Roland introduced himself to everyone and a little later asked me where I'd learned English. Everyone laughed when I said I'm American, that's how (he's a tuba player from Hungary). It was yet another multi-national, multi-lingual extravaganza. My Serbian still exists (yay!) and I'm playing around with the idea of starting lessons again just to get things regulated a bit more.
So there you go, I'm back mostly catching up with friends and settling back into Beograd life. The next nine months promise to be anything but boring; here's hoping everyone has a grand new year (since it's still January we can still wish happy new year, right?) and that we all do better about keeping in touch!
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