Tuesday

Tuesday was warm and sunny. I had asked Barbara who is a consultant who speaks five languages to ask our host, Meineke if there was a washing machine to use here. She spoke Italian to our host as she doesn’t speak Serbian. The next morning Meineke’s mother brought down two large plastic tubs so I washed jeans and shirts by hand, something I hadn’t done since hippie days in the log cabin where I lived. Later I found out there is a washing machine upstairs so I guess the answer is no to me or something got lost in translation…at any rate I was grateful for a sunny day that allowed the clothes to dry before nightfall.

We are staying in a private residence located about 5 miles from town. This is a common practice here since there is only one hotel that is expensive, very old and not so nice we have been told. I got brave and took a bus into town. It cost 30 dinar, about $0.40. It cost 250-300 dinar for a taxi. I was a little anxious since I had no idea where the bus would go into town and I only know one central area. Fortunately for me, the bus went right to the area I am familiar with. Some of the buses appear to be newer but don’t have a system for telling the driver where to let you off. The one I rode today was very old, dirty inside to the point I could have written my name on the dirty window with my finger. There was graffiti on the walls.

I am discovering that very few people speak English here. That makes ordering food in a restaurant or shop a trial. I hadn’t eaten lunch so was looking for a place. I saw a bakery and went in and pointed to something that looked like a savory pastry. It was pie shaped and was cut in half. Using sign language I asked if I could have a slice. After several tries the counter person took out an instrument that looked like a pizza wheel for cutting, did a mock cut to which I nodded and said yes. At that point she went into a long discourse and I had no idea what she was saying so gave up. I walked and walked looking for a restaurant. I finally saw a sign that said ‘slow food’. Cool I thought. Well it was another hamburger stand. I gave up and ate my second hamburger since I have been here.

Next I tried to find an Internet café. I finally found a café that had Internet but neither machine was working. So I returned to my little shop where I can use the shopkeeper’s machine. A different man was there today but must have known about me because he spoke no English but knew what I wanted. I was unable to access our blog site so may have to wait until we get to Croatia to post. I will try again Wednesday..

Without refrigeration it isn’t possible to bring home much in the way of groceries: a little fruit and bakery items for breakfast. Since it has warmed up I don’t trust using the cold pantry as a source for cooling items. But because finding restaurants is difficult and I really don’t want to eat HUGE hamburger everyday, I will alternate eating in town for lunch and bringing home something simple to eat. Last night we went out with Barbara who is staying upstairs and another consultant on the job. A staff member had recommended a restaurant where we could get something ‘light’. The cuisine here is very heavy with huge portions of meat. So Ron, Barbara and I get to the restaurant first. The waiter spoke no English but with trial and error we ordered drinks. Fortunately about half of the menu was in English. Because we had not made a reservation and ordered over the phone about two thirds of the items were not available. Any grilled meat was available of course. So Ron and I ordered a ‘green salad’ that turned out to be roasted vegetables, cheeses, cheese spreads and two lettuce leafs. We split one entrée of grilled chicken that came with a small helping of fries and three huge chicken breasts. Good lord, Serbs should weigh a ton. Or maybe this is a version of the Atkins diet that was a rage a while back. The worst thing about eating here is the smoke. Serbs love to smoke and they smoke throughout a meal without even thinking about asking other diners at the table if they mind. The other consultant whose name I don’t know is Croatian but lives in Serbia and smoked the entire time we were dining. Oy. Cafes were very plentiful here. They don’t serve food for the most part, just coffee and alcohol and everyone smokes. Barbara doesn’t smoke either so we were hopeful that we would be spared. No such luck. Food is cheap and plentiful here. My hamburger was about $0.50. I bought some dark roasted coffee that was freshly ground and that was about $1.50. Turns out that dark roast could be called ‘burnt’ roast.

Wednesday

I didn’t get up with Ron this morning, as I hadn’t slept well. He came into the bedroom to visit before leaving for work and said he had made the worst coffee of his life then told me he had used the Serbian coffee. I tried it later mixed with the Peets coffee I had brought with us and he is right. Kah kah! That is going to be thrown out.

Today I slept until noon, which is unheard of for me but I have only had one full night’s rest since last Thursday so wasn’t surprised. Plus our apartment is too hot and I tend to feel drugged when sleeping here. Anyway, I was awakened when someone stuck her head in the door and yelled out for the person who normally lives here. This has happened four times since we have been here. I take it must be a local custom. Open the door and yell out the person’s name. Best to be dressed at all times.

So I ventured back into town to mail a book and try my luck on the Internet again. I returned to my little computer shop and discovered six men standing around drinking and smoking. Six people completely fills the shop. I offered to come back at a more convenient time but Igor insisted that I stay. He offered me vodka or whisky but I declined. Yuck! It turns out that today was his open house for his brand new shop so friends were coming by to celebrate. One man walked in and threw coins into the air. I later asked about it and was told it is done to bring luck. When I got up to leave I saw that there was paper money on the floor also but Igor said the coins are better because of the ringing sound they make. I threw a handful into the air and wished him luck.

So far all the street signs in town are in the Cyrillic alphabet making it impossible to me to use my map that uses the Latin alphabet. I’m not sure if I had ever been in a place where I felt more unable to communicate. I did find a chocolate shop where the sales clerk spoke some English. I now consider dark chocolate health food and I have only been able to find milk chocolate. However the clerk showed me some dark chocolate she had behind the counter. Score!

Thursday

Last night we walked to a restaurant that is about 10 minutes from here. The owner didn’t speak English but asked if we spoke German or Italian. We told him our friend, Barbara, would be joining us and she spoke Italian. It turned out he knew about as much Italian as we know Serbian, not much! So ordering became a challenge. Since we had had our fill of beef we asked if he had chicken. When he didn’t understand in Italian, I tried clucking and miming a chicken and he got it. I have lost whatever vanity I may have had and don’t mind making a fool of myself. It worked. But of course he sent two breasts per person, exactly twice what any of us could eat. So we asked him to wrap up the leftovers so Barbara and Ron could have them for lunch today. Our clothes reek of cigarette smoke. It is impossible to find any place where people don’t smoke. I am amazed at how many people smoke here and how many are heavy smokers.

Vranje is a small town of about 87,000. So far we have not been able to find a commercial laundry where we could have a sweater dry-cleaned. Ron even asked some staff at the UNDP office and no one knew of one. That is a first for us. Today I am going to try and find a hardware store to replace a light bulb that has burned out in the bathroom.

I have been reading in the tour book about places to visit in the region. We want to do two one-day trips this weekend if we can hire a car and driver. In Sri Lanka this was easy just about anywhere we went. A staff member at UNDP will inquire as to whether any of the UN drivers would be interested. If that doesn’t work, he was going to see if he could find some taxi drivers who might be interested. Given how old most taxis are here, I would think someone would jump at the chance to have an all day fare. We would love to see more of the countryside and some old castles, forts, or monasteries. We thought about going to Nis to see some ruins but NATO (ie the US) bombed Nis in 1999 and I think Americans would not be welcomed there. Apparently during the time we were bombing Serbia, we destroyed the airport, tobacco factory and industrial area in Nis. So we are looking at other areas that are within a day’s drive of Vranje. In Pirot there are about 15 women who still make kilim rugs. We may try to go there just to see how they are made.

We are staying in an area outside of Vranje called Bresnica. It is somewhat rural and at least half of the houses here are half finished. Most homes here are stucco and a few are brick. The unfinished houses have the terra cotta bricks/blocks in place but the walls have never been finished with stucco. Consequently the homes would be quite drafty. Some have boards over the openings for windows, as windows have never been installed. In South Africa we were told as people got a few dollars together they would complete the next step in construction of their homes. Perhaps it is the same here. Unfortunately, we are in an area not frequented by tourist so there are no English newspapers or books and no English channels on the TV. The US could have fallen into the ocean and we would not know about it. Today’s trip into town was uneventful. I did go shopping for a light bulb for the bathroom and had to go to five stores before I found one. One of the stores was somewhat like a department store although more primitive. I was surprised to see merchandise with a heavy coat of dust. I guess things don’t move too quickly here.

In the meantime, that’s the blurbia from Serbia.