Fashion, Food, and Apartment Hunting

fashion
Rachel warned me that people here wear the weirdest outfits and I would see some interesting outfits. When I told her that she was overreacting and that so far everyone seemed to dress fairly normal (with a few outlier), her reply was wait until the weather is warmer. I guess there is not much you can mess up when it comes to wearing a winter coat, boots, and other winter wear. Rachel told me her favorite (aka the most outrageous) Belgrade fashion was a woman she saw wearing the boxer-short underwear as shorts with a camisole walking the busy streets of Belgrade. Oh yes, and the woman was wearing high heels (Although, what shoes would look good with that outfit?)

Well, today I had my first encounter with the "true" fashion sense of Belgrade. Today was a warm day, especially considering we just had several days of snow. As I was making my way to class, I saw a woman wearing black pantyhose with black shorts, a black shirt, a long, black wool dress coat, and metallic silver cowboy boots. Let me just say, this combination is not attractive. Most of the elements are fine by themselves (Well, I'm not sure where anyone would wear the metallic silver cowboy boots and be fashionable), but when mixed together...well it was a fashion faux pas. I've decided when warmer weather comes around I will need to carry my camera around with me at all times so I can add a fashion do and a fashion don't section to my blog.

food
I went to a delicious little pub (restaurant) with Kristin (the BVS director) the other night. It was traditional Balkan food. The name of the restaurant was ? The food we ended up getting was very tasty, but there were definitely some options on the menu that made my stomach churn. They had translated the menu into English, but they obviously did it without anyone advising them on how to make the dishes sound more appetizing. Some of the translations included: a young male bull's sex organs, bowels, and some other animal organ dish (I believe it was liver). I did not want to eat any meat entrees that evening after reading the menu. I had a delicious Serbian salad with cheese and bread with cheese (which was the equivalent of square cheese sticks). I also had an excellent dessert, tufahije. It is an apple stuffed with walnuts and baked until it is very soft and juicy. It is then topped with whipped cream. It was delicious.

I'm still looking for a place to live. I have several people at the office who are helping me search. Today I sat with someone at the office and we called several of the places listed in the housing/apartment ads. Most of the places listed could only be contacted through the use of an agency (which costs a lot of money). There was one owner who actually was renting without the use of an agency, but she did not want to rent to an American.

apartment hunting
For now, I am still living at the office. I am hoping to move out as soon as possible. It is nice to have somewhere to live, but very frustrating to not be able to unpack, to not have free use of a kitchen, and to never have time alone. Also, random people come into my "bedroom" (which is really just a storage room with a small bed in it) throughout the day. There have been times when I have come back from class to have see my suitcase partially open (which is was not partially open when I left for class), the windows open, the doors to the balcony open, or the bed completely remade (apparently, the light brown side of the reversible comforter is preferable to some people). There is always someone at the office/apartment. This weekend the other activist who has been living here (for the last two years) has gone home for the weekend, but I am still not alone. Two other activists are staying here for the weekend. The adventures that come with the different apartment guests are endless. They include a woman running around topless, a drunk man appearing at eleven at night and not leaving until after one o'clock (impeding my ability to sleep since I was sleeping in the common area that night), couples making loud kissing noises (which is really annoying), parties, dancing, music, laughter, late night visitors (mainly to use the free Internet), and early morning visitors. Usually I have a room in the back to escape to (there were a few days in which someone else was staying there), but it is not fun to feel confined to one small, cold room. There is no end to the surprises and the chaos. Once again, I should reiterate that I appreciate having somewhere to live and that of course, the random people and their behavior amuses me (in perhaps a perverse manner).