Wednesday

Well it’s another sunny balmy day in Vranje. Hooray! The hills (low mountains?) that surround us are covered with a dusting of snow. The landscape here reminds us of Grants Pass because of the mountains and the rural areas remind of us rural southern Oregon-Applegate, Williams area.

I took a walk this morning up the hill behind our house. There is a narrow road with houses on each side. Some of them are farmhouses with barns. The only animals I saw were chickens but I am assuming there are some pigs or other four-legged type given how strong the manure smell was. There were a few huge lovely homes on the brow of the hill. I took some photos that we will post when we have access to high speed Internet, either in Zagreb or Colombo. While I was walking two neighborhood women were walking towards me. They stopped in their tracks and looked at me. I guess they know everyone in the village so I greeted them and they asked me in Serbian who I was (I assume that was what they were saying). Any way I said a few things and was on my way.

Speaking of Colombo I went online today to see what is happening there. The Tigers fired on a government helicopter that was carrying eight diplomats from donor countries. They were landing in Batticolola on the east side of the island when the Tigers fired on them. The government condemned the Tigers for such action but the Tigers blame the government because they didn’t tell the Tigers there were diplomats on board. You gotta love this mentality of “It’s not my fault”. War is so stupid!

I got an email from Veena and she still hasn’t found a tenant for ‘our house’. She said there was a couple that wanted it but she didn’t like how aggressive they were so declined to rent to them.

Our landlady here told me she was going into Vranje if I wanted a ride. So we rode into town together, ran our errands separately and met up two hours later to return home. Neither of us speaks each other’s language but it is amazing what you can communicate. Her car is old and every time you go up the hill into Vranje it starts sputtering and acting like it isn’t going to make it to the top. I discovered this on Monday, our first full day here when I rode into town with her daughter who works at UNDP. Today the mother starts really going fast in an effort to get up the hill but alas the car sputtered and we crept along for several blocks until the car regained its strength. The house we are staying in is a cash cow. We rent the downstairs apartment for 50 euro a night, the upstairs is now rented to three Italians. I don’t know what it rents for but is has three separate bedrooms and I think two baths plus a full kitchen (with refrig) and a washing machine so I would guess it rents for 75-100 euros a night. The owner lives in another section that I haven’t been into. Meinke, her daughter, is staying in town this week. The owner has the most unusual hair color, sort of maroon. I have seen it and several strange variations on red here.

So today I got breakfast rolls, a take out pizza thing for my lunch and mailed a package of two books to myself to lighten my load before heading to Ivan’s place. He was out so his girlfriend who works in the dress shop called him and he walked her through getting me online. I was grateful since I had limited time today.

We went out for salad tonight – just the two of us. Eating in restaurants is a drag after a while. We are feeling stuffed and like we have gained weight. The light dinner of salad was just the ticket.

Thursday

Ron and I actually managed to get up and go for a walk this morning before breakfast. It’s another lovely day here. We are trying to make our dinar last so we don’t end up with a bunch tomorrow when we leave or worse run out before we leave. Like Sri Lanka the dinar can’t be exchanged once you leave the country. We leave from an airport in Macedonia, not Serbia. Since we still don’t know if Ron will get any more work on the project beyond tomorrow we want to spend down the dinar. Otherwise we would just save them for the next trip. So last night we calculated how much we would need between now and when we leave, including paying for our lodging in cash since we are paying a private party.

Today we saw our landlady after we had finished breakfast so Ron went out to pay her. She used a higher exchange rate (the lodging had been quoted in euros). So much for our careful planning. I am eager to be somewhere where I can read a newspaper or see news in English on the TV.

I ate my last lunch here at Kybura where we have eaten so many times. We have yet to see a lettuce salad. Most salads are chopped tomatoes, cucumbers with grated white cheese on top or a platter of roasted peppers, cabbage salad, feta and pickles. Today I had the chopped salad and chicken soup with bread that warmed me right up. I had been at Ivan’s shop for over an hour on the Internet and my hands had turned to ice as the shop is rarely heated. Striking the keyboard became torture after about 45 minutes. Somehow blowing on my fingers didn’t seem to have any impact. The sun darted in and out behind clouds all day. I hadn’t worn my coat to town so anytime the sun disappeared I felt chilly. On the sunny days I can do just fine with my light wool jacket I brought with me.

When I got home, our landlady asked me a question and then came into the house. She was inquiring as to whether we had any heat. The answer was nope. We haven’t had any today so now the house is a wee bit cool. I should have had an espresso before I left town. I have since fixed myself a cup of decaf and am now warm. Hopefully she will get us some heat before nightfall.

Today someone was playing loud but pleasant music in the pedestrian square. It really felt and sounded like Europe. The music was tambourines, violins and I’m not sure what else but I felt like I was in some European movie set. Ivan told me today that his brother Igor owns the clothing shop that is in front his computer shop. I thought their mother owned the shop. She and Ivan’s girlfriend staff the shop most of the time.

When I was ready to leave town I walked to the taxi stand and looked for Goram. When I couldn’t find him I called and he said he would be there in 10-15 minutes so I told him I would wait for him. When he showed up he had his two kids with him. I think he picks them up from school and keeps them until his wife gets home then he goes back to work. At any rate, they are beautiful kids and Gorem got his six year old daughter to say something in English because she is studying English in school. It was very sweet.

We head tomorrow for Croatia so this is the last blurbia from Serbia.