An American, a Croat and a Palestinian in Munze Konza

The title sounds like the start of a bad joke. Zemun or Munze Konza (Zemun Zakon= Zemun rules) as it’s known over here, has a bad reputation by those who live outside of Munze. 🙂 It was known as a rough place in the 90’s and home to the Zemunski Klan. It’s a strange place to start this  crazy story.

 

I reached out to the Palestinian Student Diaspora group in Serbia last year. I’ve always been interested in those folks who come from countries that my nation labels as “American haters”. You usually find out the total opposite is true. I made a post on their Facebook page and quickly received a message from the student president. We spoke for a bit and I told him that I’d love to meet up with him and a few of the 30+ Palestinian students who study in Serbian universities here. He told me not to get offended if some of them had some harsh words for the American government. I assured him that nothing could offend me and that we had plenty of Americans who had harsh things to say about American foreign policy. 🙂

The whole gang and me!

Palestinian culture day

We all met at Yala Habibi, a nargile bar, over by Slavija in Belgrade. Sharar and his crew of 6 or 7 other Palestinians showed up. They were all very kind and happy to meet up with an American. It was an honor to meet them and to have  them share some of their heartbreaking stories about life in Palestine. 😦 I also learned that Palestine is strong supporter of Serbia and they refuse to recognize Kosovo. They were one of the 50 brave nations that voted “NO’ to  Kosovo in UNESCO.

We parted ways, but kept in close contact. I took a few trips down to Kragujevac to visit Sharar and met a few of the other Palestinian boys and girls who study there at the medical and engineering faculty.

Crazy Hassan

My Palestinian pals and I in a kafana. The boys were singing some Miroslav Illic!

 

I stayed at their place for a few weekends and a few of them turned into some of my best friends over here. They come up and stay with me when i’m at my apartment in Zemun and here in Novi Sad. We are very different, but enjoy each other’s company. One of them even came over and taught me how to cook something called maqluba, a famous Palestinian meal.

Suliman teaching me to make maqluba.

 

I happened to be at my Zemun apartment over last year’s Serbian New Year’s Eve holiday. Sharar was staying at his girlfriend’s apartment in New Belgrade so we agreed to meet up for a few drinks to celebrate. We met up at a little bar in downtown Zemun with his Serbian girlfriend’s Croatian cousin. We had a blast throwing down a few beers and talking about all the differences we had between us. It was last call and the bar was about to kick us out so we paid our bill and started to walk over to Glavna for them to catch a cab. The streets were almost totally deserted with the exception of two police officers talking to the guy working at the trafika. I never like walking up on police officers in a foreign country especially when I didn’t have my id anywhere near me. Serbia requires you to carry a picture ID and police registration card on you at all times. We were talking when I notice the police looking at us. They started to walk towards us and I started sweating. I told Sharar that I hoped they wouldn’t speak to us because I didn’t have my id. What did they do? They walked right over and asked for our passports! :O My Palestinian pal speaks perfect Serbian as he studies medicine in Serbian language. The guys pull out their passports and I’m thinking to myself…. “We are doomed! A Palestinian Muslim, a Croatian Catholic and an American with no passport on him!”  The cops look at the guys and seem shocked that they are both foreign. Sharar has to translate to me. I tell him to tell the police that I do have a legal right to be here, but I hate carrying my passport because a Gypsy stole my last one! The cops don’t seem to give two shits about my excuse. They ask what id I have in my wallet. I pull out a Bank of America ATM card. The guy gives me an annoyed look and he asks me “What are we supposed to do with this!”  😮 I then tell Sharar to explain to them that I promote Serbia in a positive light and have been on many tv shows for it. The cop pulls out his phone and tells me to prove it. I go to Youtube and pull up the Prva Exploziv episode I was in where I sing “Tamo Daleko” figuring it might pull some heart strings on some big, mean Serbian cop. They both watch it for a few minutes and then the younger one smiles really big. He says “We knew who you were. We saw you and wanted to give you a scare!” 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m saved!!!! They tell me that I must keep id on me at all times. The older cop hadn’t heard about me, but insisted all five of us go in for a coffee at the kladionica. He doesn’t speak English, but the others translate most of the conversation. He said ” It isn’t very often that they run into a Croat, a Palestinian and an American at 2am in Zemun!” We have our coffee and I wish the gentleman a very happy new year! The policemen both add me on Facebook and we head out of the kladionica with a big sigh of relief.

The moral of the story? Make sure that you carry id on you at all times when in Serbia. You might not bump into the same friendly cops that I did!

 

Help a Serbian University Student Experience the U.S.A.

If you are like most folks throughout the United States, you probably know little about the J-1  Visa Summer Work and Travel Program.

Are you lazy? Would you rather listen to me talk about the work and travel program? Click here 🙂
This program was created in the 1960s by the Kennedy administration as a way of improving America’s image around the globe. It also plays a very beneficial role for the American business owner and the student. The businesses owners, customers, and employees get to learn about foreign nations, cultures, and befriend folks from different backgrounds. It makes the world a much smaller and more enjoyable place. The foreign students are allowed to work during their university’s summer break at seasonal jobs throughout the United States of America. They learn how American businesses operate and gain some valuable experience which can improve their employment future back in their own country. Once their work contract is finished, they get 30 days of tourism before returning to their country. This program supplies some employers with enough summer staff to fill their summer rush. It may seem like it takes jobs away from Americans, but many of these locations don’t have enough American workers to fill the open positions. There are many resorts in the middle of Denali National Park, Yellowstone, mountain towns in Colorado and the islands off the coast of Massachusetts that are unable to find locals to work in their resorts. This program is helping small business owners stay in business while bringing in foreign students who are renting apartments and buying local products from the community.

Serbia is one of the bigger players in this program. There were around 2,700 Serbian university students who were approved on this program last year. This year the enrollment was almost doubled! We, Work and Travel Group,  are sending around 750 students to the USA for the summer of 2015.

Do you know any business owners who might be interested in bringing in a Serbian university student for the summer of 2016? Serbian students are allowed to work 4 months between May 21- Oct 1st. My agency has contacts with many successful and large companies throughout the USA. 

The employer must provide a copy of their current business license along with a copy of their workman’s compensation insurance policy. The majority of our students are working in bars, restaurants, hotels, fast food restaurants, retail stores, and many other hospitality-type businesses throughout the USA.

The location and job must be vetted by the U.S. State Department to make sure it aligns with the program guidelines, but many states are covered. We sent our first group of Serbian students to St. Louis, Missouri this year. My old school friend, Bill Croy, is the GM for a few McDonalds on the western part of St. Louis. He decided to bring in 5 Serbian students and they are loving it so far. They are able to work with Hispanics, African Americans, and many other minority groups that they may have never encountered if not for this program.

 

They were also able to experience their first Walmart. 🙂 One of the students was dying to try “Hersey’s” for the first time.

 

This program can also be a great thing for local homeowners. The students have a budget of between $75- $100 a week to spend on accommodation. This can be a big boost to a struggling American household where every dollar counts during the hot summer months. One homeowner took in 7 students and is able to use the almost $12,000 each summer to take his family on a big vacation each fall.

The children in the house also love meeting these “funny sounding” foreigners. One American family from North Dakota randomly ran into a Serbian student who was asking if he could play soccer with their little son. They all quickly formed a life-long bond and they are now considered family. The American family even flew over to Serbia to surprise him and his friends on Thanksgiving.

 

It has even formed friendships between students from unlikely places. One Serbian student started working at a restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard. He learned that two of his coworkers in the kitchen were Albanians from Kosovo. It made him very uncomfortable at first, but they soon were hanging out together after work and on weekends. This program can really change the world.

Want to meet up with a Serbian student who is in the USA this summer? Download our app to find out where the Serbian students are and send them a message.!

If you or anyone you know, might be interested in taking in a Serbian student or two for the summer of 2016…… contact me ANYTIME!
charles.cather@workandtravelgroup.com

 

6’7 Serbian Student Spends a Year in Kansas

Marko Vignejevic is a young man from Pancevo, Serbia. He spent one year studying at an American high school through the A-SMYLE student exchange program. One day he received a letter from the organization telling him that he would be spending his year in the tiny little town of Sylvan Grove, Kansas. Sylvan Grove has a population of about 300 residents! What would happen when a 6’7 Serbian student enters a tiny town in the center of the USA? I asked him a few questions to find out…. Charles- “What were your first impressions of the USA?” Marko- “Okay. My first impressions? Well, lets skip all the flying and sightseeing and jump right into Kansas. So, my first impression of Kansas was “Holy shit, this place is flat!” and I live in Vojvodina. 🙂 Then I started mentally preparing myself for the farmer lifestyle, instead of my city lifestyle that I had in Serbia. Then I got to the house and the farm and I liked it! It was way different than my house in Serbia, but I expected that.”  Charles: “What about the family you lived with? Were they nice to you?” Marko: ” They treated me very well! I never once felt like I didn’t belong! They had four kids already. One daughter and three boys. It was a lot of fun living with them as you can imagine with all those kids running around.”  Charles: ” Did you teach them any Serbian?” Marko: ” I tried, but It didn’t work out very well. They kept pronouncing the J and the G the exact same way. :)”  Charles: “Were they a wealthy family?” Marko: “ No, average middle class family, but they live much better than an average Serbian family.”  Charles: “ Were your real mom and dad worried about you? Did your host family speak with them? “ Marko: “ No, once all my flying was over, they were fine. My dad is a very reasonable man and calmed everyone else. I introduced my host parents to my real parents over Skype and there was a lot of awkward staring until I started translating because my parents in Serbia speak ZERO English.” Charles: ” How did the residents of this place treat you?” Marko: “The town is so small. It only has 300 people in it. The high school was a consolidation of a few little towns and only had 100 students. The people of Kansas were so nice to me, possibly too nice.” Charles: ” Were the kids at school friendly to you?” Marko: ” YES! The minute I walked into the school kids started saying ” Great! We are going to state in basketball this year” because I was the tallest guy in school. It was funny because they hadn’t even seen me play yet!  I felt like the star walking around this school being 6’7! I was also the only exchange student.”  Charles: ” How did your basketball season go in Kansas?” Marko: “It was good. We ended up 9th in whole state of Kansas, but lost badly in our final game. We were 5th in the state at one time”  Charles: ” Did you tell the kids at school about Serbia?” Marko: ” Yes. We had my Serbian flag hanging up in my American history class! :)”  Charles: ” Did you like American food?” Marko: ” Yes, I loved it! Could you find a way to bring a Taco Bell over here to Serbia? 🙂 ” Charles: “What was the worst part of your trip?” Marko: “Probably having to leave everyone. ” Charles: “Anything else you’d like to tell us?” Marko: ” Well… I won a free trip to Washington D.C and New York City for winning a writing contest and for having lots of community service hours!”  Marko: ” I’d love to find a way to go back to Kansas again next year!”

 

Only in Serbia…. “F-117 Bife (Bar)” in Indjia, Serbia

On March 27th, 1999….. The Serbian air defenses were able to blast an F-117 Stealth Nighthawk out of the sky. The only one ever to be shot down.

The F-117 82-0806 (whose remains are exhibited at Belgrade Air Museum) was shot down by the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade of the Army of Yugoslavia, with one of several missiles fired by an S-125 “Neva” missile system (NATO reporting name, SA-3 “Goa”) at a distance of about 8 miles.

According to Sergeant Dragan Matić, the soldier later identified as the operator who fired the missiles, the stealth plane was detected at a range of about 50 to 60 kilometres and the surface-to-air missile radar was switched on for no more than 17 seconds to prevent the site to be detected by the NATO’s SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) aircraft.

Some pieces of the 82-0806 shot down near Novi Sad were reportedly sent to Russia, to be used in developing anti-stealth technology.

Fast forward to 2014……I was on a bus from Belgrade to Novi Sad. The bus had one stop in between, in the little city of Indjia, Serbia.  The window seat is usually my first choice. I’ve never liked to sit in the aisle and have folks bumping into me the whole time. I was gazing out the window while the bus was pulling around the back of the bus station in Indjia,

when I noticed the words “F-117″ on the side of a little bar. I didn’t get a good look at the place, but noticed a few pictures in the window too. I had to get back over to see this place.

This afternoon,David Dautovic, contacted me for assistance. He is a young man from Pancevo who has been a Facebook friend for a long while. His sister is trying to gather a lot of pictures of people from around the world holding a sign that shows her love for her boyfriend. He asked me if I could help him out with one. I noticed that the bottom of his message said ” Indjia, Serbia”  I quickly asked him if he was anywhere close to the bus station. He was close by so I asked him to seek out this little bar and shoot me some pictures. He was kind enough to snap the following pictures:

I’ll head over there in the next few weeks to do some videos from this location. I might wear my Canadian flag shirt ! It might be a little safer! 🙂
Everyone likes Canadians.

 

Serbia’s British Friend

What is one thing that can be very annoying about having so many Serbian Facebook friends? Having your inbox flooded with the same info and links on anything that is going on in Serbia. That is how I first heard of Kevin Shannon, the adventurer , who was planning to march all the way across Serbia. There were over 20-30 folks who were sending me something from the local newspapers and tv stations about him and his mission. We had connected over Facebook and he asked me to join in on part of journey. I wish I had taken the opportunity to do so not only for my health, but to experience a little bit of his adventure.

We bumped into each other again the “Exit Festival Global Adventures” tourism conference. I was there to giving a presentation on my social network and blog while he was there to present  “Walk Serbia”. I decided to quiz him with some more detailed questions about his time in Serbia.

1. Where are you from and what do you do?

So: my name is Kevin Shannon and I’m from the UK. Currently I run my own small creative design studio called Chips & Gravy studios

2. How in the world did you get the idea to “walk across Serbia”?

 

I originally visited Serbia the first time in the autumn of 2010 whilst on 10,000 km cycling expedition from the UK to the far end of Turkey and then back again. On that visit to Serbia I completely fell in love with the country and made some great friends. During the 3 to 4 months that I spent in Serbia I spend most my time in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sabac and Nis. When I returned home I realised that I’d only seen a fraction of Serbia and although I had learnt about the country a little there was still Hell of a lot more to see. So I decided that one day I would return to Serbian  and walk the length of the country.

3. What did you know about Serbia before you came here? 

Before I visited Serbia first time I didn’t really know that much about the country. I had simply drawn a line across Europe and Serbia happened to be on that path. I knew the region was obviously famous for conflicts and I had a they recollection of seeing the NATO bombings on television when I was younger, but that was really it. But as I was cycling through countries before I got to Serbia I was warned that Serbian people what do horrific things to me once I crossed the border. Of course I don’t believe this but when your cycling on your own across Europe these warnings do not fill you with confidence.

4. Prior to visiting Serbia for the first time, give me four words that you would used to describe it…

Unknown, War, Scary, New

5. How long did your walk take?

The walk is actually two walks. The first in February 2013 took me five weeks and during that time I walked from the border with Hungary down to the city of Nis. My second walk was in July 2013 and I walked from south west Serbia back to the north of the country, which also took five weeks.
6. Biggest complication.

The biggest complication was issues from walking with such a heavy pack. My left knee became very sore during the first walk, and during the second walk I had horrific blisters on the sole of one of my feet.

7. Funniest situation.

I was in a small village about 75 km north of Nis, feeling very tired and the little homesick and out of nowhere a group of young kids came up to me with pieces of paper and pencils. The oldest had a hand written note in English which said that they were big fans and have been following my journey in the newspapers. Because they knew my route, they knew I would be passing through the village and so had taken it in turns to keep a eye out for me, just so they could get an autograph – they had been waiting for 3 days.

8. Favorite part of your journey.

The end? No, i’m just kidding. It’s actually very hard to pick a favourite part of the journey because so much happened but if I had to say one thing it was the generous hospitality everybody that i met on the road.

9. How would you compare Serbian food to your normal cuisine back in England? 

Serbian food is very rich with strong flavours, and of course there’s a lot of meat. Which is really the case in England. I guess if I had to make a comparison I would say that Serbian food it’s very much like a traditional English roast dinner that is served in most households every Sunday – however in England you have that once a week  and in serbia you have it almost everyday

10. Did you ever feel threatened or in danger?

I never really felt threatened or in danger, even in small Kafanas in the middle of god knows where surrounded by big, burly Serbian guys. The biggest issue with regards to safety to me was the packs of wild dogs. They were always a concern when I was walking in the mountains or sleeping out at night.

11. What 4 words would you use to describe Serbia after walking from top to bottom and back?

Beautiful, friendly, Great food, my second home 

 

12. Will you return to Serbia? What would you say to someone that is considering a visit to this part of the world?

Without shadow of a doubt I’ll be returning to Serbia – in fact I returned earlier this year for a conference where spoke about my was through Serbia. I already have plans to take my fiance to Serbia,  have my stag party there and maybe one day by small house somewhere where I can spend my summers (not walking)

 

 13. You have decided to publish a book about this exciting adventure, right? Tell me a little about the project.

OK, So the project was quite simply to walk through Serbia to try and discover the real Serbia. In my original trip to the country i felt i’d only scratched the surface and was intrigued to see more of the country so i set up Walk Serbia. When you look around the internet looking for more info on Serbia you’re met with a lot negativity (except for a few sites included yours) and i decided that i wanted to create a document of my personal journey to not so much counteract the negativity but give a truthful view of a country. Now, don’t get me wrong, i expected it to be a positive trip due to prior experiences but i was open to negativity also – i essentially wanted to create a truthful account of spending 10 weeks tramping around the country. And this is, i hope, what i’ve done.

I’m still in the process of writing the book – i’ve rewritten some chapters 4 times – but i decided that i would set a date (in my head) for it’s release. So now i’ve set up a website – walkserbia.com – which will be the hub for all things to do with the book including, the opportunity to buy the book, perhaps some videos from the road, exclusive photos and information on speaking engagements and a potential book tour. For the moment i’ve thrown up a very simple landing page which has a small blurb about the book and an area to signup to the newsletter which will give you exclusive updates, a free chapter here or there and an exclusive discount on the final book. I set up the newsletter for the reasons i just mentioned, but something amazing happened when i did – i realised just how much interest there was in reading the book; not just from Serbia but from all over the world. Serb’s from Australia, the USA and Canada and even South Africa have sent me messages to tell me they would like to buy copies for friends, families and co-workers which is exciting…and daunting.

My plan for releasing the book was to self-publish and through friends in Serbia distribute the book there and of course here in the UK. But, with the response i’ve had so far i’m not looking at other options. I’m thinking about getting the book translated into Serbian, i’m going to start looking for distributors in the US and Australia AND if the list keeps growing i could have a great opportunity to promote the book to publishers around the world  which will then (if i’ve done my job right) help to give the world a better understanding of Serbia.

Just like the journeys themselves felt like a community – i had people tweeting, facebooking and emailing to help influence what i should visit and where during the walk – the book is starting to feel the same.

 

 

Mexican Girl Falls for Serbia…..

I had a wonderful young lady contact me over Facebook. She was from the middle of Mexico , the exact state (Michoacan)  that I lived in for 1.5 years . She was nice enough to answer a few of my questions about her experience. I copied and pasted the responses so forgive any spelling or grammatical errors. If you would like to send her a nice little message, here is her Facebook profile.

Q) Tell me a little bit about yourself and your hometown

About me, well, theres not much to say Im a student, soon I will get Mayor in Psychology, next May actually, im 22 years old already, and I still live with my mom and my older sister, I have another younger brother, and he lives with my father and his wife. I loooove food, dance and sleep very well right now, im training crossfit, I really love it, its very complex and beautiful sport . My hometown… Morelia is a very historic place, it could take a looooooong while for me to tell smth about it, but, what can I say… Morelia is the city with most populated city in Michoacán (its state), and is the most extense, with an area of 78 km² and 597,511 habitants. It used to be a very strategic place for wars (when it was founded) and right now, the most important activities are culture and economy, you know, it’s a touristic place, for example, we have one touristic event called “Mariposa monarca”, and is a reserve of nature, where you watch all butterflies migrate to Canada (I think), and of course its an opportunity to sell food and services, tratidional food, like enchiladas, corundas, uchepos, tamales, elotes, atole de grano, atole of different flavors, churipo, carnitas, buñuelos, tequila, charanda, mezcal and other funny drinks , by the way, mescal burns almost like rakija, and taste is very similar, and of course don’t forget the effect jajajaj

Q) How did you first hear about Serbia?

Serbia was a country I never heard before in my life before, I even thought it was some sort of Asian country xD (sorry people, but we only learned about Yugoslavia) I first heard about it on the internet, I won’t say more , but when i heard about it I started to investigate it. I looked up its location on the map, the music, culture, food, and started to like it.

Q) What gave you the idea to visit Serbia? 

With time, I wanted to travel, thanks to a special b-day present from my mom so I started to look for different scholarship or volunteer programs that would allow me to travel and have some experiences. I found a program called “Vive Mexico” it is an organization here in Mexico that allows kids to travel, experience new cultures and volunteer. I applied for many countries including Serbia. I was accepted into the Serbian program called ” Drustvo Istrazivaca- Vladamir Mandic- Manda.”

Q) What did you like the most about Serbia?

this is a hard question for me, cuz, basically, I can say im in love with this country. I cant say I like everything, but…when I got there I really felt like I was at home. Serbia is very similar to Mexico starting with the people. They were very generous and kind. The food, OMG, the food was so interesting because it’s not the same food we have in Mexico but had some things that were similar like style, flavors and ways of cooking. They had spicy foods, cheeses, homemade dishes, yogurt, milk, meats and bread and so on. My favorite of them all was  sarma and burek. I could eat them both forever and never get tired of them. and even if it’s not a dish or anything special, yogurt (moja kravica) and cookies was great. Landscaping is amazing in Serbia too. Mexico has some green places, but I never knew green until I came to Serbia, PERIOD. Another thing was the water. In my country you cant take water from the tap or public places and drink it. But in Serbia you can drink it which is so practical. I loved the music, dance and drinks too! Rakija is similar to our drink, tequila. but when i tried it the first time it made me think of “Metzcal” because it burns and tastes so delicious. I almost forgot, the old buildings, they are beautiful!!  The Serbian guys are also very good looking so girls GO TO SERBIA. 😉

Q) What were your favorite cities that you visited and why?

I cant tell you like my favorite, i mean i enjoyed staying at all those cities, but, instead i rather say like an order, and the number one would be Jagodina, its a small one, and because of that I think the most calm one, and i loved that, whole city is amazingand beautiful, very nice and great people, and one of my favorite parts besides downtown, is Potok park, that place is so simple and so misterious at same time, I couldnt be at the top of it, but where i was, I could see a place where you can just close your eyes and feel how the whole city embrace you, I cant explain the exact feeling, but is a great place to be chill . Number two, is Kragujevac, and again, city is great!, bigger, but still not crowded, I also loved the park, Veliki park, and I actually got lost there, it was very funny , anyway, that place is beautiful!!, green is all over the place, and there is a place where you can sit and watch people passing by, and still is quiet and relaxing, that place brings me lots of special memories, there, I felt some strong energy of love, peace, and fullfillness, its a magic place , third Valjevo, its a great city, great ice creams at plaza, but what I really loved from that place is Gradac, I actually stayed there, and we went to rock climbing, we were inside a cave, and the craziest and most amazing experience there was at this mountains, is near a border of town, but I cant remember the name of those mountains, we went there with Russian cars, and it was very fun!! Again, greeeen all over the place, there were like 3 mountains in a roe, all together, the smallest, middle and biggest, I wish i can remember the names, but, that was amazing. And last but not least, Belgrade, that city reminded me of Mexico city, crowded and big, people all around, transports, plazas, huge malls, even I rather more peaceful places, I still find Belgrade interesting, is because its huge, and full of history, buildings, that makes it so interesting, it still isnt that crowded as Mexico city, and gosh thats great, but, that city wellcome me and said goodbye to me of an amazing experience

Q) What was the strangest thing you encountered?

I cant say strange, but I wasn’t familiar with the carpets, you know, you get in a place, and take off your shoes. We don’t do that in Mexico. The toilets were also very strange. They are a different style and I didn’t know how to work it. One time in a restaurant I had to go out and ask a waiter to show me how to flush it. 🙂 The door handles are also a different style and the electrical outlets are so different from the rectangle ones we use in Mexico.

Q) What was the biggest problem that you ran into? 

Not problem actually, the only thing I can complain is that I couldn’t stay longer xD 😛

Q) Did you learn any Serbian ? 

I did learn Serbian, actually, im still learning, with my friends I made there, they help me a lot, plus, I search for pages where I can check grammar and all basic stuffs, but now is harder cuz im not constantly hearing it, when I was there, I realized I could actually learn it 100%, but of course I had to stay there way longer, I love Serbian, and the hardest part for me, probably to remember how to change last part of words, depending on tense and depending on gender, so, its funny for me sometimes to write it xD jajajaja

Q) What advice would you give to someone that is interested in visiting Serbia?

To not be afraid of what news, media or anybody that say things, especially negative things about Serbia, just don’t listen to that and go to Serbia, live your own experience. I can say that it is very safe, of course it isn’t perfectly safe, just like any country there is some crime, but it doesn’t mean there is a terrorist on every street corner, that is ridiculous. I can assure you that it is a place where you can find peace, so i am sure you are going to love the place. Go everywhere you can while you are there, try everything you can, meet all the people that you can meet , there are many things to enjoy. You will find a very close “family” there! 🙂

 

 

Another Movie that Portrays Serbs as Gangsters

Youtube is a great source of free movies. Every night before I fall asleep, I throw on some movie to watch because it helps me fall asleep. I was just randomly scrolling through some free movies and found one that looked interesting.

The name of the film I landed on was ” A Lonely Place to Die“. It was released in 2011 with a budget of $4 million dollars. I had no clue that it had anything to do with Serbs until I got 1/4 of the way through the film. The movie is about a group of 5 friends that are out on a mountain climbing excursion in the Scottish highlands.  They are in a very remote portion of the mountains that is miles and miles from the nearest village.

One of the climbers happens to hear a strange noise coming from a pipe sticking out of the ground. They dig it up to find a young girl that was enclosed in a little box. They try to find out about her, but she speaks no English.

One of the climbers says that he thinks the language is Croatian. That perked my ears up. I don’t want to give away the rest of the film, but once you watch it you will hear some references to Serbians being war criminals and the ending introduces you to her father who is a wealthy Serbian war criminal.

This can be added to the long list of films that like to portray the Serbians in a negative light. The movie was rated at 6.3 out 10 by IMDB and I found it very entertaining and suspenseful. Watch it for yourself and leave your comments.  Click here for the free version.

 

My Serbian Food in Pictures

Karađorđeva šnicla with potatoes, bread, and a sopska salad

One of the reasons that I have yet to leave this country is the vast amount of delicious foods! I wanted to share some of my past food experiences with you. Hope you enjoy!

Easter dinner with colored eggs, stuffed peppers, pork and lamb soup

 

Homemade meal from a friend’s house in Nis

Kafana meal with cevapi, fries, sopska salad and Zajecarsko pivo

Sarma, pickled peppers, green onion and homemade bread

 

Fish soup (ribala corba) bread, and Zajecarsko Pivo

 

Komplet lepinja. Specialty from Uzice, Serbia. Grease from a roasted lamb on bread with egg and kajmak

 

Fresh fish from a small village near Uzice

 

they raised these fish in a stream by the restaurant

 

Mixed meat platter from Kod Srbe

 

cevapi, steak, and big cuts of pork with some fries and veggies

Sopska Salad

 

pizza with something called “beef sauce” smeared all of it

 

plate of fresh roasted lamb at Mokra Gora

 

different meats from a restaurant at Zlatibor

 

Gurmanska pljeskavica

 

palacinka or Serbian pancake

 

Eurocream and Nutella… sweet creamy hazelnut spread they put on pancakes

 

a few of the condiments you can get on your burgers

 

Sarma or stuffed sour cabbage rolls… my favorite

 

meat tray from a friend’s party

 

big pljeskavica with bread, urnebes, and fries

 

little pumpkin pies

 

cheese pies with spinach in them

 

snack tray of pavlaka, ham and fried zucchini

 

my favorite snacks… cheese, ajvar, crackers and a big bottle of Zajecarsko Pivo

 

after dinner drinks of Nescafe and boiled wine

 

Serbian traditional drink, rakija that was served in a glass of crushed ice 

 

 

Serbian Athlete Discusses Life in the U.S.A

The best part of my job is getting to speak to hundreds of Serbian kids that have had the opportunity to visit and go to school in my country. It is very hard to find one that had negative things to say about their time in the US or about the American people. The A-SMYLE exchange program is one thing that the government does well. Apply today….http://www.ac-see.org/programs/hs-citiesdates.htm Two months ago, a dozen kids from this program wrote to PRVA TV to beg them to help me stay in Serbia longer! 🙂 They told PRVA that they use my blog posts and videos to introduce their classes to Serbian life and culture. I was very touched when the tv station reporter told me this. ❤

Exchange programs are very important and can really change the world. I feel that all high school students should be required to live in another country and experience a totally different culture. It really is the only way to destroy propaganda. There always seems to be  billions of dollars available  for bombs, guns, and terror…….. why don’t we try spending it on the kids who will be running this evil planet in a few years? Our governments would never do that. There is so much more money to made in military conflicts! Obama, Bush, Nikolic, Tadic…… they are all controlled by higher powers. 😦 Sad, but true!!!

This young man was going to school in a small town in Illinois. He has enjoyed his exchange program very much. I asked him to write down a few things that he noticed about life in the USA. Here are his thoughts :

“Before I came to the US two years ago all my knowledge about it was based on things that I saw in the movies, tv and the internet. There are many stereotypes about Americans and some of them are accurate at some level, some of them are not but in general the picture that the rest of the world sees is somewhat true but it’s not complete until you actually visit and spend some significant time living here. First thing that I have noticed is how things look better here. Buildings, roads and infrastructure in general are a lot better in the US. Serbia has many beautiful old buildings and monuments but in general most of the things in Serbia are built back in the post Josip Broz Tito era. Some of Serbian buildings are very old and they are pretty much falling apart but since Serbia don’t have money to build new ones we are forced to use them. In the US everything just appears nicer and newer since there is more money to spend to take care of it. Other thing that was very different is the amount of space Americans are using to build towns and cities. I could say that just a regular US town somewhere in countryside or suburban area with a population of 20.000 probably has a bigger area then, for example, Novi Sad which has a population of 300.000 or more. Now something about people. Mentality is different than Serbian for sure. People here don’t talk or discuss politics as much as people in Serbia do. There are people who disagree with the US government of course but politics are not as common topic as it is in Serbia. I would say that main topic in the US are sports. I knew that Americans watch sports but I wasn’t really aware how much it is big until I came here. I also knew that professional sports are big deal but college sports are probably even more watched than professional sports. In Serbia the sports that are followed by people are pretty much at the same time of the year but in the US it is divided by seasons. With the beginning of August/September football is most popular I believe, both college and NFL. Then later on, somewhere around October/November NBA starts but it is not really that much watched until the playoffs. College basketball however is very popular. Hundreds of Universities with great basketball teams so there is plenty of good basketball to watch. Then in March it becomes super popular. No wonder that it’s called March Madness. I haven’t met a single American who doesn’t follow March Madness. It doesn’t matter if it is 10 year old boy or 70 year old granny, everyone have their favorite team and pretty much everyone makes a bracket and tries to predict the team who will win the National Championship. Then after that baseball season starts and it lasts throughout the summer. There are other sports like golf, hockey, track and fields and other but I don’t know much about that. There are plenty of good sports to watch all year long and people love to do it in the US. In Serbia its mostly just soccer and basketball and maybe tennis. People in Serbia watch other sports only when our national team is playing. Other than watching it youth here plays a lot more sports during the middle school and high school. Very often kids play more than one sport and all the competitions are mostly related to schools. Girls involvement in sports is also way bigger than it is in Serbia. Pretty much everyone here is playing or has been playing some sports. Social life is very different. I would say it is much more “alive” in Serbia. For youngsters there is a big legal problem which is no drinking before age of 21 and if you ask me it is a big deal. Law is very strict and for kids younger than 21 sometimes it is really hard to get booze and have fun. Young people here have to be very careful with throwing a party because there is always a risk that police will bust it and check for everyone’s age. In Serbia there is no such a problem so it’s easier to have fun and that is the reason why other people would say that Serbians live “laid back” life style. So parties and hang outs until early in the morning are not as common as they are in Serbia. Fast food in the US is very popular. Not just fast food but the custom of eating outside the house is much more popular. Plenty of restaurant chains and many different types of food so there is always a new place to eat. In general life here is easier, there are more opportunities for jobs and careers and material wise there is a lot more things and products. It is way more organized and the systems and patterns that people follow in the US are better so that makes life here simpler. On the other side I believe life in Serbia is more fun. It is harder but I would say that Serbians enjoy life better. This is just my personal observation so it’s not necessarily true. There is obviously a lot more differences and these are just some of the most interesting ones but it would take me forever to write them down.”

 

What is Rocky Balboa’s Connection to Serbia?

We all loved the movie Rocky. I remember being an avid fan of the film series. I used to out in the woods and pretend to be Rocky Balboa.  🙂 Rocky was always the underdog who overcame all the obstacles to win whatever challenge was ahead of him.

You are probably wondering why we are talking about Rocky Balboa on my Serbian blog. 🙂 He has ZERO connection to this country…… or he didn’t until 2007!

My buddies that picked me up at the Nikola Tesla Airport in May of 2010 were driving a tiny red Yugo. They mentioned some of the things they were going to show me on the trip back to Zrenjanin. They mentioned a statue of Rocky Balboa! I quickly asked the million dollar question ” Why the heck is there a statue of Rocky Balboa in Serbia?” They said they had no clue, but it was worth the drive!

The small village of Zitiste, Serbia is located in the region of Vojvodina in Northern Serbia. The population is around 3,000 residents. The majority of villagers work in the agricultural sector. The name is said to have derived from the word “Zito” which means wheat. The village had suffered years of war and numerous natural disasters so the villagers started discussing ways of ending this unlucky streak. A small group of friends that was led by Bojan Marceta, formed a group to push for a statue of Rocky Balboa in the town square. They had seen the famous statue in Philiadelphia and thought it would be a great thing for their little village! Rocky is a fighter just like all of the residents of this small village in Northern Serbia. They had defeated hardship after hardship just like Rocky! Rocky would be a perfect symbol for Zitiste! Their group approached the local mayor who gave his blessing. The only thing left was to find money for this project. They contacted the local chicken processing planet, Agroziv, that is located in the municipality of Zitiste.

Agroziv is one of the largest chicken processing plants in Europe. They process around 8,000 chickens an hour! The CEO was all for the idea of bringing this tourist attraction to Zitiste. They now had the political and financial backing they needed. The only thing left was to find the man to create this statue. They contacted, Thomas Schomberg , who created the original Rocky statue.

Thomas Schomberg, the famous sculptor that created the finished Rocky Balboa statue

He threw them a discounted price of a whooping $1.5 million dollars! 😮 They couldn’t afford anything in that range, but they refused to give up! They contacted local artists and finally found the perfect fit! Croatian Boris Staparac, was given the job for 5000E. The world press got wind of this strange idea and flocked to Zitiste during Chicken Fest 2007 , sponsored by Agroziv, to see them unveil the statue!

Finished Rocky statue in Zitiste, Serbia with the Agroziv chickens

They had a crowd of around 20,000 people on hand for this occasion! They loved it!!! The statue brought a bit of fame and notoriety to this small little village along with a deep sense of pride! It is still attracting tourists to this day! The days of defeat and lack of confidence are over for Zitiste!! They will prevail!!! If you are interested in watching a 30 minute documentary on this statue click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq7ELHGVRT8

Please join our new Serbia website SAY SERBIA….. http://sayserbia.com/
and if you are in a generous mood…. please dontate a few dollars to my Serbian film series… We are going to show the premiere episode of Yankee Doodle Went to Serbia Ruma, to the city of Ruma in a week or so!! You guys and gals will love it!!! I have some other plans that are in the works for Republika Srpska!!! Please help or spread the word…. Living on your savings for three years is a big drain on the pocketbook!!! 🙂 HVALA!!!! https://www.wepay.com/donations/serbia-through-american-eyes. I really need to buy a new video camera to continue my videos on Youtube. 🙂 Volim vas!!!!