The Blog Must Go On...

Since my decision to make more regular blog posts I have kept very busy. Not that I am trying to excuse myself or anything.  Last Wednesday I made the move (via 2 bus rides equalling 7.5 hours and 2 flights) to Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland.  As you can imagine, my last few weeks in Belgrade flew by in preparation for my move and wrapping up things in Belgrade.  I'm not in a new environment and new culture -- transition phase, you are my most welcome friend. My first few days here have been a flurry of activity as I try to find my way around town, unpack, meet new people, and celebrate Halloween.  Halloween is a huge holiday here; several of the people I met told me it is bigger than Christmas.  Lucky for me, I love Halloween.  Candy and costumes -- what is not to love?  There were fireworks (which a caught a glimpse of from the house) and a parade (which we did see).   Hopefully, I will be able to write another post soon about my new surroundings.  For now, I am attaching a previously written, never published post below.  

Anyway, some of my recent events (in Serbia) have included:

1. A trip to Vrnjacka banja for a retreat with WiB. Vrnjack banja is a known spot for their spring water which is supposed to have healing powers. I'm not sure if the water has healing powers, but I know it has that sweet sulphuric scent. The retreat proved to be an interesting experience from the very beginning. The fun began with the complete fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel arrangements. On Monday evening I was given no less than 4 different sets of instructions on how I would be getting to Vrnjacka banja. The final set of instructions was to be at the WiB office at 9:30 am.

Imagine my surprise when I received a call at 7:50 am (which was exactly 5 minutes after I woke up) asking if I could be there in 30 minutes. Of course, this conversation was in Serbian and my Serbian is always at my worst when I just rolled out of bed. I hadn't showered in a few days, hadn't packed, and had slept much less than the recommended 8 hours (Due to a long night of frustrating that consisted of my computer crashing and me attempting to fix it only to have it crash again -- issues still remain.). The smart thing would have been to say, "No, I cannot be there in 30 minutes. I was informed I needed to be there at 9:30 am." The thing that came out of my mouth was, "Well...umm...uhh...I can try...maybe 35 minutes?" So, at this point we can all imagine me trying to stuff everything within sight (that didn't need a date with the washer) into my backpack. I then raced as fast as possible to grab the tram (I usually walk but in a jam the tram is a few minutes faster). I arrived at the office out of breath at 8:34 am only to find that we really wouldn't be leaving until 9:30 am. This was a bit frustrating (probably more so to those who would be riding in the car with me since the smells eminating from my body and hair could have used a good dousing with shampoo and soap), but I repeated the day's mantra of "Katie, this is funny. Katie, this is funny. Katie, this is funny....."

When we arrived at the hotel where we would be staying (along with eating and meeting), we were split up into groups of three for our rooms. I was placed with F. and R., two of the older WiB members. After the first night, F. asked me, "Do you know that you snore?" (New Serbian of the day=to snore) I responded, "No." F.'s response was, "Yes, you do. And very loudly. I couldn't sleep last night because you were snoring." At which point R. said, "I didn't notice. It must not have been too bad. It's not a problem." F. then said, "At first I thought it was you, F. It is a problem because I couldn't sleep all night." I didn't say anything. I knew it wasn't me that had been snoring, but R. because I was also woken up several times during the night. However, once again I had just woken up (to those who are confused --I'm not a morning person) and decided it wasn't worth it. I repeated my new mantra of the day, "Katie, in the bigger scheme this is unimportant. Unimportant. Unimportant. Unimportant...."

The following night I stayed up a bit later than my 'roommates'. They had left the bathroom light on for me for when I finally came into sleep. I came in and went to the restroom to brush my teeth and prepare for bed. As I was in the bathroom, I heard snoring (as I had the previous night) and then every few minutes F. would yell out R's name to wake her so she would stop snoring. It was quite funny. Of course, I received an apology the next morning and R.  received  notice of her 'excessive' snoring.

2. A recent Saturday afternoon found my friends J, J, and I participating in a local community event. This is when I realized my Serbian vocabulary surrounding body parts needs some more work. We went to the monthly Women's Day. On one Saturday each month a local women's group plans an event for women to relax and have fun. This week's event was a massage session. J, J, and I packed up our blankets and exercise mats (as instructed) and caught a bus to the community center where the event was taking place.

We arrived a bit late, but luckily for us the event was on Balkan time. The session started with some self-massage techniques and some stretching. It seemed to be shaping up to an excellent 3 hours.  Then it turned into some partner massage involving one person lying on the floor mat and the other using their feet, elbows, arms, hands and fingers to massage the other.  This was not as great of a time since it our attention (J is also from Indiana and is not fluent in Serbian) that we did not know our Serbian body part vocabulary.  The instructor was very adamant that the massages were done correctly so as not to cause injury, but this proved difficult for us when the visual difference was miniscule.   

3. Another recent outing included a trip to the Student Cultural Center aka SKC (which is actually two blocks from my apartment -- making getting lost almost impossible) to listen to Horkestar. They are an alternative choir that sings Communist songs and wear interesting outfits. They actually used to be a part of a different choir that split into two (Horkestar being one of the resulting choirs). Sometimes WiB worked with the original choir and continues to work with the other resulting choir. They wrote and performed alternative activist songs. If you are a youtube person, I suggest looking at the following video link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPaPnpDHxE&feature=related It is actually the song WiB has used at several actions I have participated in since my arrival last October.

Anyway, this performance required each member of the choir to wear a special hat. Several of us made sure to show up for the performance because our friend K had a solo. She did excellent, but it should be noted it was even more impressive since English rather than Serbian is her first language.

Keep your eyes out for a new post.  After all, the blog must go on...