P.S. - Kako se kaze "jungle rot" u Srpski?

P.S. – I just got home from work and wanted to add a note to today’s post…

Today was a good day! I found my job without problem, and started transcribing a series of short films for the Women in Black (so that the films can be subtitled in Serbian). The films themselves are called Women on the Frontline and each is a short documentary detailing the struggles of various women from communities across the globe. Today I transcribed one about the trafficking of women & girls in Nepal for prostitution in India – really fascinating – and one about honor killings in Turkey. I can’t wait to copy these films to bring back for use in the classroom!

Also in the course of my day I learned how to use my phone to text friends in the US, had a successful and pleasant grocery store experience, and saw three massively pregnant dogs (which may not be exciting for most people, but reminds me things could be worse! I have no idea why the massively pregnant, clearly uncomfortable stray dogs here arouse my pity, but they do. I feel doubly bad for them in the summer!)

But there is one less fortunate thing to report…how do you say “I have jungle rot between my toes and need anti-fungal cream” in Serbian? YUCK! I have no idea how this happened. I clean my feet, wear clean socks, and even let my feet sleep naked. But somehow I have something totally gross growing between my toes, Not very sexy, I know, but a fact of life here I guess, especially for us foreigners, as from all reports, I am not the only one here who is struggling with grotesque fungal issues. It makes me realize that people here are immensely attractive in spite of common struggles and that makes them even more attractive!!

One other thing to note…it has become clear to me that Serbian women (when 10 or more years older than you) act a lot like Italian mothers – nurturing, but sometimes too honest! My American colleague at WiB is struggling with this. The women at the organization are all very close and nurturing, which brings with it a comfort level that allows them to tell you what is wrong with you…so that you might fix it I assume. They are not shy to tell a young woman that she is chubby, or that she needs to wear more make-up, or even to offer to take her to the store to buy better cosmetics! Presumably they do not do this to be rude, but for the person who is being picked at, it is not a pleasant experience. Now, they are not yet close enough to me to start picking me apart, but I am sure it is only a matter of time before they do, and I am hoping for either the strength to endure it gracefully or the language ignorance to not understand them!

Finally, I will be most fortunate if I make it out of here without getting hit by a taxi or bus! The green “walk” sign is meaningless for the most part, and sometimes people even seem to speed-up at cross walks and even at stop signs. I used to think that the people I see on the streets here who are missing limbs were war victims. I now think it is entirely possible that they tried to cross the street!

I once met a guy in NYC who was visiting from Japan. I asked him what he found most surprising or difficult to adjust to in US culture. He told me that he found it overwhelming that American people all seem to act as if the rules were not created for them…and cited the way that people cross the street wherever and whenever they like (as opposed to waiting for the light in an orderly fashion) as evidence for this. As chaotic and unbound by rules as this place is, I often think of that Japanese guy, and wonder how he would manage here. I imagine that his brain might implode!