Week of fun in Belgrade…
So in my last post I elaborated on the fantastic fun I had at the WiB octogenarian birthday party. Well, it turned out to be quite a fun week all around!
So Thursday I went for a “last supper” with my friends “E” & “M” who, with their three boys, are about to return to the US after a year in Belgrade. They were my first friends here in Belgrade, and I tried to eat with them about once a week. They have been great friends to me while I have been here and I will miss them. I never would’ve made it through the winter without them! They helped me find my apartment, helped to locate my office, have been fantastic company, and always had a bottle of American whiskey waiting for me! It will not be the same without them!
Thursday night my roomie returned refreshed from her trip to Prague. We stayed up late catching up and I am so glad she is back!
Friday morning I had to make my journey to the “Ministry for Strangers” to renew my residency visa. As I have mentioned previously, going to take care of business at this place is always an adventure and takes many attempts to complete any task…regardless of how prepared one might be! So as this was my third trip for this task, I had hoped it would be successful. Well, after a small moment of panic when I was notified that under the new rules I had to provide proof of health insurance (as if I or anyone would be here in an effort to defraud the Serbian health system) I called the embassy to get my proof. Whereupon the representative told me I did not have insurance…which I do have! So after some discussion and wrangling they agreed to write me a letter, which was good – but I would have to return again to the ministry…which was frustrating.
Well, I decided to alleviate my frustration with some good ole American retail therapy. I had heard there was a mega-store not too far from where I live so I hopped a taxi to “Tempo”…and oh what a gloriously western place this is!!! Costco meets Wal-Mart! A warehouse sized shop that I thought was non-existent in these parts!
Need a pillow? They’ve got it! Need a slutty swimsuit? They’ve got it! Need a crate of apples? They’ve got it! Need a lawnmower? They’ve got it! Need a sleeve of plastic cups? They’ve got it! Need a stapler? They’ve got it! Need frozen pizza? They’ve got it! Need a 5 liter bottle of vodka? They’ve got it!
I called my roomie to see if we needed anything…but we really did not need much, so I spent my budget on supplies and decorations for the party we had planned for Saturday – a party we decided to throw for no real reason other than we like parties and had not been invited to many that did not include a majority of senior citizens.
Feeling electrified by my consumerist binge at Tempo, I returned to the Ministry for Strangers, got my visa, and went home to put away my new purchases and decorate the place for the next night’s party.
As I was rearranging furniture and making the place look festive, a friend from WiB who lives in the neighborhood (“Jo”) stopped by. Given that the previous night, in the course of our last supper, E & M had given me all of their left over liquor, I had a bottle of gin, a bottle of American whiskey, a bottle of irish whiskey, a bottle of rum, a bottle of absinthe, 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of pear rakia (Viljmovka), a bottle of blackberry rakia, and some beer. So Jo and I decided we should test out some of these supplies to ensure they were up to the standards of tomorrow’s party. I am happy to report that everything passed the test!
Saturday during the day was dedicated to work I had to do, and then party prep. I spent about 2 hours beforehand getting the food ready, and the place looked good. We were fully stocked with food and drink, music and décor. We had expected about 20 guests from the RSVPs that we got. Our first guests to arrive were friends of my roomie. 3 Americans and one Serbian guy (who was the husband of one of the American girls). They brought a bottle of vodka and a shaker and proceeded to make a delicious version of the cosmo that we dubbed “Belgrade Cosmos.” Then came our Swedish friend “K,” followed by two more Serbian girl-friends of ours. We were having a laugh, drinking and dancing when another guest phoned and asked if he could bring a few friends…SURE, we said!
Within an hour we had another 15 or so guests, all Serbian folks, most of whom we had not known previously, but all of whom were super cool. The dancing, eating and drinking went on until about 4am. It was a good party! And while not all of the originally invited guests came, we had a good turn-out and a lot of fun! Sadly, as the party heated up, the camera died, so most of the best moments were not documented…but no matter!
Sunday was dedicated to cleaning and eating.
Monday it was back to work. There was a woman visiting who is a Srebrenica survivor and a very active leader in the victims’ rights group Mothers of Srebrenica. She was amazing. I had time to talk with her and was captivated by her. Prior to the war she was an illiterate home-maker from a small village. Now, after the war, she has found a strength and a voice that is remarkable. She acts in no way like a “victim,” instead being an outspoken and assertive advocate for reparation and recognition for Bosnian war victims. Her stories were incredible.
In the evening I went out for a final drink with E & M before their departure to the US.
Today I went to get my hair cut. I am not sure if I mentioned this, but I have the very best hairdresser in the world here! His name is Dragan. He is like the Serbian celebrity hairdresser and I was lucky enough to get an appointment with him a few years back. He gave me the best haircut of my life back then, and I have been trying to replicate it in the US ever since…with no luck! Back in May, when A was in town, we went and had our hair done by him again…and he again gave me the best haircut ever! And fantastic color! LOVE IT! It is such a nice cut that people stop me several times a week to comment on it! So today I went to have my color and cut touched up so it looks good for my trip back to the US. Sadly, after the beautiful blow-out he gave me afterward, I was caught in a rainstorm on the way home and now it is flat, but the color and cut are still hot! Seriously, he is amazing!
In all, a great week in Belgrade! Now there are two more weeks before I leave for the US for a month. Pretty much every one of the next days will be filled with work, but all will be super interesting. I hope to have a lot to report soon.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A kick-ass octogenarian b-day bash...Serbo-style!
Last Night I Went to a Surprisingly Kick-Ass Party…
So yesterday I had a list of things to get done and was feeling a bit blue in the aftermath of the congenial and mutual but none-the-less difficult break-up of my three year romantic relationship with “P.” But it had been a week, and watching silly rom-coms with a bowl of popcorn was no longer acceptable in light of the fact that there are still many things to be done before I leave for my holiday to the US in a few weeks.
So, in light of all of this, I first gave the apartment a massive amount of cleaning attention in anticipation of the return of my roommate from Prague on Thursday. Then I got down to the business of returning a few important and dangling correspondence issues. I then spent some time making my hair and make-up look lovely. In the afternoon I was off to my faculty to retrieve a stack of books that I wanted to have here at my apartment now that the semester is over, and to obtain the letter I need to finish the business of renewing my residency visa (which I’m sure will be another adventure to report!).
The tram ride from my apartment to the faculty is about 45minutes. I may have mentioned before that my faculty is the furthest from the center of any of the University of Belgrade faculties. I have been told that this is because, during the Tito days, the Political Science Faculty was considered subversive and so it was placed a good distance from the actual center of political action. At any rate, I got to the faculty, got my letter, and loaded my bag with books. Now my bag was ridiculously heavy, and I had a decision to make.
I was due at the WiB offices to help prepare for a party that evening that was being held in honor of the 80th birthdays of two of the activists. So, given that the tram does not really go near the WiB offices, I could either take the tram all the way back to my house, drop off the books and then head to WiB, or I could get off the tram about ½ way and walk about 40 minutes to WiB. Given that I was asked to pick up beer and wine for the party and had a couple of stops to make, I did not want to be late and so decided to get off the tram and make the trek.
Oh how heavy those books became!!! Oh how long that walk seemed! But it was too late to change my mind and so I trekked on. About 10 minutes from the WiB offices, I stopped at the liquor store and bought two bottles of wine, and the equivalent to a case of beer. As I was about to leave the liquor store I decided that I might want a glass of whiskey at some point in the evening, and so I bought a fifth of Four Roses Bourbon, with the idea that I would offer it to the people at the party, but assuming that really no one would be interested…another miscalculation!
As I left the liquor store, now loaded down like a pack-horse, it began to pour rain. The hair I’d wasted 45 minutes on was now ruined, and my clothes were soaked (which for Serbian people…wet hair + wet clothes = instant pneumonia – regardless of the warm weather!). I was a little disappointed, but was so happy to get to WiB and set down my bags that it took a minute to realize that I now looked like I’d been pushed into a pool! I felt doubly ashamed of my appearance as others began to arrive in pretty party clothes, but at least I was there and ready to help prepare for the party, right?
Anyhow, for the few hours before the party, myself, the group leader and the two American girls who are interning with us for the summer decorated for the party. At about the time we were to begin, I announced that I had brought beer, wine and whiskey…and there was a sudden and palatable delight from several people there!
As people arrived, I greeted them, and offered them drinks, and to my surprise, the whiskey was a hot commodity…so much so that within an hour of the party’s beginning, the entire bottle had been demolished! At an 80 year old’s birthday party!! With a total of about 35 people in attendance! Even with no ice on hand! You’d have thought there must’ve been a hole in the bottle! I was thrilled that so many people were happy to share the whiskey, and had I known it would be such a hit I’d have bought a better whiskey! (and would’ve brought whiskey to these ladies much sooner!)
There was a great mix of interesting people, mostly activists from the organization. There was an amazing spread of food – including a special treat of guacamole prepared by one of the American girls. There were fantastic cakes, happy birthday was sung in Serbian and in English, and many great photos were taken. In all, to my surprise, it was a really kick-ass party! In fact, the two octogenarian birthday girls and many other people over 60 years old far outlasted me. When I finally departed around 11pm on a Wednesday – tired and a little drunk -, they were still going strong!
It’s funny because I was not sure what they would think about the whiskey, but it seemed to be a welcome treat, much to my surprise and delight. So much so that when I left, one of the women said to me “Next time you should bring two bottles of whiskey!” Hilarious!!
Oh, and one of my favorite parts of the evening…one of the women sat next to me while we were eating. She asked me how old I thought she was, to which I responded “57.”
“No” she said “I’m 72!”
“You’re kidding!” I said
“No!” she said “And do you know how I keep so young?”
“How? Please tell me!”
“I drink beer everyday! It gives you a little belly and radiant skin!” she exclaimed. I then got up and got her another beer…and poured one for myself – I can use all the help I can get!
On the way home I had to carry all of those books again, and when I woke up this morning, I had bruises on my collarbone and lower back. Still, it was a great night, one that I will certainly remember and one that I think I will be remembered for as well :-). There are some really wonderful photos from the evening, taken by awesome “B”, and I will update this post with a few when I get them.
In all, I can say that tonight proved to me again that Serbs know how to have a good time! Just as much as I was impressed by the dancing that went on at the Leskovac party, I was impressed by how much fun everyone had celebrating the birthdays of these two amazing women. And many of the other guests would have counted individually as the most interesting person many people could ever meet, so it was really a kind of honor to have them all in the same room and to have a chance to spend time with them. I feel really lucky to be a part of this group!
Thanks for reading!
Xina
So yesterday I had a list of things to get done and was feeling a bit blue in the aftermath of the congenial and mutual but none-the-less difficult break-up of my three year romantic relationship with “P.” But it had been a week, and watching silly rom-coms with a bowl of popcorn was no longer acceptable in light of the fact that there are still many things to be done before I leave for my holiday to the US in a few weeks.
So, in light of all of this, I first gave the apartment a massive amount of cleaning attention in anticipation of the return of my roommate from Prague on Thursday. Then I got down to the business of returning a few important and dangling correspondence issues. I then spent some time making my hair and make-up look lovely. In the afternoon I was off to my faculty to retrieve a stack of books that I wanted to have here at my apartment now that the semester is over, and to obtain the letter I need to finish the business of renewing my residency visa (which I’m sure will be another adventure to report!).
The tram ride from my apartment to the faculty is about 45minutes. I may have mentioned before that my faculty is the furthest from the center of any of the University of Belgrade faculties. I have been told that this is because, during the Tito days, the Political Science Faculty was considered subversive and so it was placed a good distance from the actual center of political action. At any rate, I got to the faculty, got my letter, and loaded my bag with books. Now my bag was ridiculously heavy, and I had a decision to make.
I was due at the WiB offices to help prepare for a party that evening that was being held in honor of the 80th birthdays of two of the activists. So, given that the tram does not really go near the WiB offices, I could either take the tram all the way back to my house, drop off the books and then head to WiB, or I could get off the tram about ½ way and walk about 40 minutes to WiB. Given that I was asked to pick up beer and wine for the party and had a couple of stops to make, I did not want to be late and so decided to get off the tram and make the trek.
Oh how heavy those books became!!! Oh how long that walk seemed! But it was too late to change my mind and so I trekked on. About 10 minutes from the WiB offices, I stopped at the liquor store and bought two bottles of wine, and the equivalent to a case of beer. As I was about to leave the liquor store I decided that I might want a glass of whiskey at some point in the evening, and so I bought a fifth of Four Roses Bourbon, with the idea that I would offer it to the people at the party, but assuming that really no one would be interested…another miscalculation!
As I left the liquor store, now loaded down like a pack-horse, it began to pour rain. The hair I’d wasted 45 minutes on was now ruined, and my clothes were soaked (which for Serbian people…wet hair + wet clothes = instant pneumonia – regardless of the warm weather!). I was a little disappointed, but was so happy to get to WiB and set down my bags that it took a minute to realize that I now looked like I’d been pushed into a pool! I felt doubly ashamed of my appearance as others began to arrive in pretty party clothes, but at least I was there and ready to help prepare for the party, right?
Anyhow, for the few hours before the party, myself, the group leader and the two American girls who are interning with us for the summer decorated for the party. At about the time we were to begin, I announced that I had brought beer, wine and whiskey…and there was a sudden and palatable delight from several people there!
As people arrived, I greeted them, and offered them drinks, and to my surprise, the whiskey was a hot commodity…so much so that within an hour of the party’s beginning, the entire bottle had been demolished! At an 80 year old’s birthday party!! With a total of about 35 people in attendance! Even with no ice on hand! You’d have thought there must’ve been a hole in the bottle! I was thrilled that so many people were happy to share the whiskey, and had I known it would be such a hit I’d have bought a better whiskey! (and would’ve brought whiskey to these ladies much sooner!)
There was a great mix of interesting people, mostly activists from the organization. There was an amazing spread of food – including a special treat of guacamole prepared by one of the American girls. There were fantastic cakes, happy birthday was sung in Serbian and in English, and many great photos were taken. In all, to my surprise, it was a really kick-ass party! In fact, the two octogenarian birthday girls and many other people over 60 years old far outlasted me. When I finally departed around 11pm on a Wednesday – tired and a little drunk -, they were still going strong!
It’s funny because I was not sure what they would think about the whiskey, but it seemed to be a welcome treat, much to my surprise and delight. So much so that when I left, one of the women said to me “Next time you should bring two bottles of whiskey!” Hilarious!!
Oh, and one of my favorite parts of the evening…one of the women sat next to me while we were eating. She asked me how old I thought she was, to which I responded “57.”
“No” she said “I’m 72!”
“You’re kidding!” I said
“No!” she said “And do you know how I keep so young?”
“How? Please tell me!”
“I drink beer everyday! It gives you a little belly and radiant skin!” she exclaimed. I then got up and got her another beer…and poured one for myself – I can use all the help I can get!
On the way home I had to carry all of those books again, and when I woke up this morning, I had bruises on my collarbone and lower back. Still, it was a great night, one that I will certainly remember and one that I think I will be remembered for as well :-). There are some really wonderful photos from the evening, taken by awesome “B”, and I will update this post with a few when I get them.
In all, I can say that tonight proved to me again that Serbs know how to have a good time! Just as much as I was impressed by the dancing that went on at the Leskovac party, I was impressed by how much fun everyone had celebrating the birthdays of these two amazing women. And many of the other guests would have counted individually as the most interesting person many people could ever meet, so it was really a kind of honor to have them all in the same room and to have a chance to spend time with them. I feel really lucky to be a part of this group!
Thanks for reading!
Xina
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Working with WiB
Women’s Network Anti-Militarism Seminar in Leskovac/Kukovica
My time with Women in Black (WiB) here has become much more active. I have been able to participate in several of their activist street actions. I have been a part of several of their monthly vigils for the recognition of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre. I have also taken part in their anti-fascism demonstration as well as several of their anti-militarism demonstrations. These have been great experiences for me, and also very good for my research!
Images from WiB Srebrenica vigil on May 11th
Rest-stop on the way to Leskovac with Tito tribute museum
The atifacts inside are from the owners private memorabilia
Another view of the museum atifacts
We began the demonstration in Leskovac by gathering in the center. After about ½ hour, when all the participants arrived, a pyramid made of shoeboxes, each with the name of a current global conflict written on it, was stacked in the middle of us. First we chanted some anti-militarist slogans and then as the leader called out the name of each conflict, and activist would take that box away and smash it until eventually the pyramid crumbled. This was meant to symbolize the ways in which the global culture of militarism is interdependent, but that each of us working in small ways against this can help dismantle militarism.
Images of some of the signs from the first performance
Image of some the the activists and the box pyramid during the first performance
Another image of activists and the pyramid during 1st performance
Some activists during 1st performance
After that, we paraded through the city for about 90 minutes with signs, chanting slogans, etc. Reactions to this were mixed from curiosity, to support, to anger and spite. But for me the best moment came when, at one point, we were spontaneously joined by a group of Roma (Gypsy) children. In accordance with another initiative that WiB is participating in at the moment for greater Roma rights and Roma inclusion (Roma are essentially invisible beings with no rights, no citizenship, etc.) the group started chanting “Roma are Serbian” and “Better education for Roma Children” and stuff like that. The Roma kids loved it! They were dancing along side of us and cheering. It was really amazing.
You see…before I lived here, my experiences with Roma were limited to begging in the streets of Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, etc. I knew that they had few rights and bad living conditions, but I was not really aware of what all that meant. Since I have been here I have learned a lot more about the issues and I see it as a multi-level problem that needs solutions on the legal and social level in Serbian society as well as a concentrated outreach and education initiative in the Roma community. Anyhow, there is much more to say on this topic, and maybe I will write more about it later. 
An image of activists during the parade part of the demonstration
Some activists with the parachute during 3rd performance
My time with Women in Black (WiB) here has become much more active. I have been able to participate in several of their activist street actions. I have been a part of several of their monthly vigils for the recognition of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre. I have also taken part in their anti-fascism demonstration as well as several of their anti-militarism demonstrations. These have been great experiences for me, and also very good for my research!
Images from WiB Srebrenica vigil on May 11th
Further, right before the public film screening at the CZKD that I mentioned in the previous post, I organized an evening for a group of visiting American students to come to the WiB offices, learn a bit about the organization and their role as peace activists during the war and today, and an opportunity for them to see the above mentioned film and Q&A with the film maker. It went pretty well!
Also in May, I gave a lecture on the Militarization of Media for WiB here in Belgrade. I was so nervous because I really wanted to impress the leader, (who can be very hard to please for various reasons I can go into another time), but everything went really well. She was pleased with my talk. And so, after seeing me speak, and after all the work I put into the film night, she has started to respect and trust me a lot more, and has organized for me to give talks to other groups in the network from throughout the region!
So, in line this, a couple of weeks ago I went with WiB for a weekend seminar in the south of Serbia. It was a seminar for women in the network from throughout the region. After a 4 hour mini-bus ride - which included a stop at a rest-area with a tiny little restaurant called “Tito” – complete with a mini-museum of Tito artifacts collected by the owners - we kicked off the weekend with a pretty elaborate anti-militarism demonstration in the city of Leskovac.
Also in May, I gave a lecture on the Militarization of Media for WiB here in Belgrade. I was so nervous because I really wanted to impress the leader, (who can be very hard to please for various reasons I can go into another time), but everything went really well. She was pleased with my talk. And so, after seeing me speak, and after all the work I put into the film night, she has started to respect and trust me a lot more, and has organized for me to give talks to other groups in the network from throughout the region!
So, in line this, a couple of weeks ago I went with WiB for a weekend seminar in the south of Serbia. It was a seminar for women in the network from throughout the region. After a 4 hour mini-bus ride - which included a stop at a rest-area with a tiny little restaurant called “Tito” – complete with a mini-museum of Tito artifacts collected by the owners - we kicked off the weekend with a pretty elaborate anti-militarism demonstration in the city of Leskovac.
Rest-stop on the way to Leskovac with Tito tribute museum
The atifacts inside are from the owners private memorabilia
Another view of the museum atifactsWe began the demonstration in Leskovac by gathering in the center. After about ½ hour, when all the participants arrived, a pyramid made of shoeboxes, each with the name of a current global conflict written on it, was stacked in the middle of us. First we chanted some anti-militarist slogans and then as the leader called out the name of each conflict, and activist would take that box away and smash it until eventually the pyramid crumbled. This was meant to symbolize the ways in which the global culture of militarism is interdependent, but that each of us working in small ways against this can help dismantle militarism.
Images of some of the signs from the first performance
Image of some the the activists and the box pyramid during the first performance
Another image of activists and the pyramid during 1st performance
Some activists during 1st performanceAfter that, we paraded through the city for about 90 minutes with signs, chanting slogans, etc. Reactions to this were mixed from curiosity, to support, to anger and spite. But for me the best moment came when, at one point, we were spontaneously joined by a group of Roma (Gypsy) children. In accordance with another initiative that WiB is participating in at the moment for greater Roma rights and Roma inclusion (Roma are essentially invisible beings with no rights, no citizenship, etc.) the group started chanting “Roma are Serbian” and “Better education for Roma Children” and stuff like that. The Roma kids loved it! They were dancing along side of us and cheering. It was really amazing.
You see…before I lived here, my experiences with Roma were limited to begging in the streets of Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, etc. I knew that they had few rights and bad living conditions, but I was not really aware of what all that meant. Since I have been here I have learned a lot more about the issues and I see it as a multi-level problem that needs solutions on the legal and social level in Serbian society as well as a concentrated outreach and education initiative in the Roma community. Anyhow, there is much more to say on this topic, and maybe I will write more about it later.
An image of activists during the parade part of the demonstrationAfter the parade/march came the second street performance. For this one we stood in a semi-circle in front of Leskovac city hall and placed a series of military helmets in front of us. Then several activists filled the helmets with bread, eggs, potatoes, etc. and mounted signs that read “Did you know that for the same cost as one helmet you could buy a kilo of potatoes, a dozen eggs, 2 loaves of bread…” and stuff like that. Then a group of activists wore a caterpillar (reminiscent of a Chinese new year dragon) with various anti-militarism symbols on it and marched around while others filled the helmets with flowers.
Flowers in helmets during 2nd performance
A part of the catterpillar behind one of the flower helmets
Flowers in helmets during 2nd performance
A part of the catterpillar behind one of the flower helmets There was then a third brief performance at another location nearby with a parachute which was decorated with anti-militarism symbols and symbols from the various groups in the network. People from the different groups each took hold of parts of the parachute, waving it around and eventually we all got under it and let it fall around us. This was meant to symbolize the fact that all of us who are committed to an anti-militaristic society are connected, and together we can enact change.
Some activists with the parachute during 3rd performanceBy mid-afternoon we were headed to the small mountain village of Kukavica, about 40 minutes from Leskovac up the mountain. Here we spent the rest of the weekend with all of the network women from throughout the region at a mountain hotel where we had a series of lectures, activities and meetings. In association with this, I gave 3 talks – 2 short and one long lecture.
I am happy to report that for the first time, I actually gave a talk entirely in Serbian! Although it was only a small talk and only one of the three, this is a HUGE step for me as, even though I am a confident public speaker, I become the most ridiculously self-conscious freak when I have to speak publically in Serbian. Up to this point, I have lasted less than five minutes before switching to English, so this was a HUGE thing for me!
Now I am not saying it was awesome, but I did it!!! My long lecture was in English and for this I gave an expanded version of my earlier talk at Belgrade WiB on media and militarism. It was well received as well. But now my goal is to be able to give my longer talks in Serbian by the fall. I am enrolling in formal classes so I can better learn the Cyrillic alphabet as I have studied this language in Croatia, which uses the Latin alphabet, so even though I have some low-intermediate speaking skills, I am functionally illiterate here in Serbia.
The location of the seminar was really beautiful. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but the former Yugoslavia at large has what I think is the most plentiful, various, and astounding natural beauty in the whole of Europe. I have been throughout Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, but oddly enough, even though I’ve been here quite a while, I have not seen as much of Serbia. I had been to the North part, called Vojvodina, and it is lovely in an Austro-Hungarian way. But this was my first trip to the south.
It is a poor part of the country economically, but the nature is beautiful! Green mountains, clear streams, clean air…all of that. I had been so tired of being in the city where there is constant noise all the time from the 5am garbage man to the jack-hammers of street work to the constant hooting of car and bus horns to the general loudness of busses to the loudness of Serbs themselves (who, quite comfortingly, are somewhat like Americans in their vocal volume) I had been craving quiet. Here it was!
Now, most of the weekend was packed with seminar stuff, but on one afternoon we “internationals” (5 Americans, 1 Swede, 1 Brit, and a few Serbs who did not have official business at the meeting at that moment) had some time off. I went for a 3 ½ hour hike with the Serbian woman who is the WiB photographer. It was awesome! We walked up the mountain (not steep), stopped occasionally near the river, and – the BEST part – ate the wild strawberries that grow in the forest!!! So tiny cute and juicy! When I first saw her eating them I said “What are you doing? Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to eat berries you see in the woods? They can be poison!” To which she laughed and said – “C’mon! They are wild strawberries!” And in fact they were…and they were delicious!
That same night, after the dinner – around 10pm – there was a party. It was actually such a good time! Many of the women in the network are older (many in their 60s and beyond even), but I am telling you, these women danced their asses off! And all night long! I finally went to bed at 3:30am and there was still perhaps 15 – 20 people still rockin’!
Overall, I loved getting away for the weekend. I loved being a part of this seminar. I enjoyed the lectures and activities as well as the social parts. And I came away from it all feeling much more connected to the group and having gotten closer to a really great group of friends.
In the coming weeks we have a globalization seminar coming up as well as the big annual trip to Srebrenica for the July 11th Commemoration. I will also be spending more time with some of the other NGOs I am researching for my work here. I am so happy to be here right now! This is exactly what I came here for! I am learning so much and I will have so much to bring back to my students in the US when I return (not to mention a very cool and somewhat substantial contribution in regional post-conflict books that I am going to be donating to our Holocaust Resource Center library for our graduate [and undergrads too] in Genocide Studies at my US university).
In all, my time here lately has been so amazing and really productive. I am so excited to be staying until the end of December! I am supposed to go back to the US for a few weeks this summer, and I am looking forward to seeing family and friends, but I have decided to cut the trip home a bit short so I can get back here.
OK, well thanks for reading! I will write another update soon…
Xina
I am happy to report that for the first time, I actually gave a talk entirely in Serbian! Although it was only a small talk and only one of the three, this is a HUGE step for me as, even though I am a confident public speaker, I become the most ridiculously self-conscious freak when I have to speak publically in Serbian. Up to this point, I have lasted less than five minutes before switching to English, so this was a HUGE thing for me!
Now I am not saying it was awesome, but I did it!!! My long lecture was in English and for this I gave an expanded version of my earlier talk at Belgrade WiB on media and militarism. It was well received as well. But now my goal is to be able to give my longer talks in Serbian by the fall. I am enrolling in formal classes so I can better learn the Cyrillic alphabet as I have studied this language in Croatia, which uses the Latin alphabet, so even though I have some low-intermediate speaking skills, I am functionally illiterate here in Serbia.
The location of the seminar was really beautiful. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but the former Yugoslavia at large has what I think is the most plentiful, various, and astounding natural beauty in the whole of Europe. I have been throughout Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, but oddly enough, even though I’ve been here quite a while, I have not seen as much of Serbia. I had been to the North part, called Vojvodina, and it is lovely in an Austro-Hungarian way. But this was my first trip to the south.
It is a poor part of the country economically, but the nature is beautiful! Green mountains, clear streams, clean air…all of that. I had been so tired of being in the city where there is constant noise all the time from the 5am garbage man to the jack-hammers of street work to the constant hooting of car and bus horns to the general loudness of busses to the loudness of Serbs themselves (who, quite comfortingly, are somewhat like Americans in their vocal volume) I had been craving quiet. Here it was!
Now, most of the weekend was packed with seminar stuff, but on one afternoon we “internationals” (5 Americans, 1 Swede, 1 Brit, and a few Serbs who did not have official business at the meeting at that moment) had some time off. I went for a 3 ½ hour hike with the Serbian woman who is the WiB photographer. It was awesome! We walked up the mountain (not steep), stopped occasionally near the river, and – the BEST part – ate the wild strawberries that grow in the forest!!! So tiny cute and juicy! When I first saw her eating them I said “What are you doing? Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to eat berries you see in the woods? They can be poison!” To which she laughed and said – “C’mon! They are wild strawberries!” And in fact they were…and they were delicious!
That same night, after the dinner – around 10pm – there was a party. It was actually such a good time! Many of the women in the network are older (many in their 60s and beyond even), but I am telling you, these women danced their asses off! And all night long! I finally went to bed at 3:30am and there was still perhaps 15 – 20 people still rockin’!
Overall, I loved getting away for the weekend. I loved being a part of this seminar. I enjoyed the lectures and activities as well as the social parts. And I came away from it all feeling much more connected to the group and having gotten closer to a really great group of friends.
In the coming weeks we have a globalization seminar coming up as well as the big annual trip to Srebrenica for the July 11th Commemoration. I will also be spending more time with some of the other NGOs I am researching for my work here. I am so happy to be here right now! This is exactly what I came here for! I am learning so much and I will have so much to bring back to my students in the US when I return (not to mention a very cool and somewhat substantial contribution in regional post-conflict books that I am going to be donating to our Holocaust Resource Center library for our graduate [and undergrads too] in Genocide Studies at my US university).
In all, my time here lately has been so amazing and really productive. I am so excited to be staying until the end of December! I am supposed to go back to the US for a few weeks this summer, and I am looking forward to seeing family and friends, but I have decided to cut the trip home a bit short so I can get back here.
OK, well thanks for reading! I will write another update soon…
Xina
Professional developments...
Professional Developments
While my day-to-day life has become more fulfilling here and I am having a satisfying social life, my professional life is still what primarily consumes me…here and always everywhere as I have a great passion for my work and being here is really allowing me to pursue some great things and learn so so much! Of course I am foremost here to be a professor and to write. But in line with my research, I also do quite a bit of work with some local groups, in particular Belgrade’s Women in Black (WiB) and since school has been out (mid-June) my work in this capacity has been able to be more dedicated. I have been able to take part in more of their demonstrations and activities (which I will detail more in another post).
In addition to my work at the university here, and my direct work with WiB, I have been active in other ways relevant to my research and fueling my passions. In fact, being here has really help me actualize the missing link I have felt so long between scholarship and action. In graduate school I had gone through a phase of feeling so "ivory tower" useless. I study all these global conflicts and atrocities, but from afar while I constantly feel like I should be on the ground doing something tangible. My advisors always said that your scholarship can be a form of activism - can work for social change. But that sounded like a somewhat comfortable cop-out to me. Now, being here I am engaged not only in my scholarship and work with WiB, but am actively seeking ways to put into practice the "rhetorically proactive" strategies I have spent so much time thinking about.
Although he is not a professional film-maker, a few years ago he made a film – a sort of documentary – which features the stories of three people who, during the war, committed “heroic acts of good” by helping people from different ethnic groups at great risk to themselves. Though the film is not artistically perfect – a good example of “naïve” art – the message is very moving and important. From the first time I saw the film, a few summers ago while attending the annual seminar, I have been dedicated to helping him gain attention for the film. So, when he told me he would be in Belgrade for a conference in May, I helped to organize (with help from WiB) the film’s Belgrade premier at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD).
I was the host of the evening, which consisted of my introduction of the film and the film-maker, then the screening of the film, and finally a panel discussion with the film-maker and several local well-known intellectuals. The evening was fantastic! The event was very well attended, with a truly international audience including several ambassadors (from Norway, Austria and Denmark) as well as attendees from the US, Sweden, and other places. And this was in addition to the many local people who attended. Through this evening I met several people who have since granted me some wonderful professional opportunities!
For one thing, I was interviewed for television about this event by both Serbian and Bosnian TV stations! The previous week, while participating in an anti-fascism demonstration, I had been interviewed by a local crew making a film about the treatment of minorities here in Serbia! And now in the last week I have been interviewed for two more films – one being filmed by local students who are making a film about the influence of Disney and other children’s programming on children’s gender identity, and one (just yesterday) being filmed by American film students about the ways that roles, opportunities and expectations for women have changed here from the Communist period through this post-war transition period.
[Interestingly, in this post-war period it seems that gender equality here has regressed seriously! In the Yugo-Tito-Communist period there was more money here, a greater emphasis on education, an unparalleled freedom to travel internationally (thanks to Yugoslavia’s policy of non-alignment during the Cold War), and an acceptance of gender equality that, while perhaps not quite as progressive as somewhere like Sweden, was certainly more egalitarian than in the US at that time. Now, sadly, with no money, HUGE restrictions on travel that make it impossible for Serbs to get visas, and the residual effects of the ethno-national chauvinism of the Milosevic years, things have changed. Young people are increasingly less educated, women get married and have children younger and Feminism as a lived practice is much more a part of the lives of those people over the age of 45 than in is for those under 30.]
So, even though I am not a TV glam-glam screen personality type, and I hate seeing photos of myself, it has been exciting to be sought out for these things!
Also through the film screening I met a woman who is one of the Vice-Deans at the university where I teach here. She is a historian and she helps to lead the American Studies program here. She had me as a guest lecturer in her class a few times in May and June, and now, in Fall semester, I am going to be teaching a graduate seminar for the American Studies program here on the American Civil Rights Movement! I am really excited about that! I have also recently given lectures for the Center for Women’s Studies at my university here, and in Fall semester I will be co-teaching a course for them.
I have also been able to attend some other activities organized by other local activist/NGO groups… There was a fantastic night of short films by students of famous Yugoslav film-maker Zelimir Zelnik at the CZKD. (I really enjoyed this!) There was the performance from local activist theatre group DAH Theatre that for which they performed the testimonies of women from all three sides of the war. (So moving! I really want to be able to bring this performance to my home university in the US!). And last weekend I went to an alternative theatre festival in Pancevo (neighboring town) that was really incredible.
One of the performances was conducted outdoors in Pancevo's central park. It featured four women and was centered on raising awareness of domestic violence here in Serbia. In essence, the performance specifically highlighted the fact that the average woman who is abused by her relational partner will go back 7 times before leaving for good. It was really well done and intense. It was also perfect for the space and the intended audience they hoped to reach.
The performance itself is around 30 minutes. For the ½ hour before they begin, as the performers are setting up, they play popular music very loudly on huge speakers, which draws an audience of many people who happen to be in ear-shot. This strategy allows them to gather a much different audience than just those who chose to come to watch this performance. And in this way they are able to share thei message to many different kinds of people, not just typical "theatre goers" but also a broader general audience. People hear the music and see a group of women dancing around and they come over to see what is going on there - out of curiosity. They come for the music, but stay for the performance – which is just the right length not to lose anyone’s interest!
OK…so the performance itself is incredibly powerful, but what made it even more unintentionally impactful on this occasion was the 5 young boys (between ages 3 yrs. – 7 yrs.) who had gathered in the front during the performance. At first they watched with curiosity. About 10 minutes into the performance, then ran away only to come back holding terrifyingly real looking toy guns! [Made even more scary b/c in the US, toy guns no longer look real, so I was not used to seeing such a thing.]
The boys then proceeded to stand in a line, shoulder-to-shoulder, about 10 feet from the performing women, and began to “shoot” at them. Holding the guns in an eerily accurate way (specifically the little one with the rifle who had it resting on his shoulder with is head cocked slightly over the butt of the gun as he took aim), the boys continued to “fire” upon the women for the rest of the performance and even as they took their bow at the end. After the applause the boys ran away.
Now, the performers did not notice the boys during the performance, but everyone in the audience did, and the photographer (who happens to be an friend of mine from WiB) got some excellent photos of this. In the photos, one cannot even tell that the guns are not real! And so, for me, the message about violence against women that is offered by the performance is made that much more poignant by the boys “playing” at committing violence against these women! UGH! Crazy! (See the photos I've added below)
Young boys take aim and "fire" upon a group of women during a street performance to raise awareness about domestic violence
Here you can really see the little one with the rifle holding it like a real gun! While the one in the red-shirt seems to be scoping the scene to take aim at his next target.
Again in this one the rifle-boy is in full action and now red-shirt has found his mark. See how he holds it with two hands like a professional?
One last thing I want to tell you about from my work with WiB is the weekend seminar I went to with them in Southern Serbia. But I will talk about that in another entry.
OK, well thanks for reading and I will post more about specific WiB seminar experiences in the next post.
Xina
While my day-to-day life has become more fulfilling here and I am having a satisfying social life, my professional life is still what primarily consumes me…here and always everywhere as I have a great passion for my work and being here is really allowing me to pursue some great things and learn so so much! Of course I am foremost here to be a professor and to write. But in line with my research, I also do quite a bit of work with some local groups, in particular Belgrade’s Women in Black (WiB) and since school has been out (mid-June) my work in this capacity has been able to be more dedicated. I have been able to take part in more of their demonstrations and activities (which I will detail more in another post).
In addition to my work at the university here, and my direct work with WiB, I have been active in other ways relevant to my research and fueling my passions. In fact, being here has really help me actualize the missing link I have felt so long between scholarship and action. In graduate school I had gone through a phase of feeling so "ivory tower" useless. I study all these global conflicts and atrocities, but from afar while I constantly feel like I should be on the ground doing something tangible. My advisors always said that your scholarship can be a form of activism - can work for social change. But that sounded like a somewhat comfortable cop-out to me. Now, being here I am engaged not only in my scholarship and work with WiB, but am actively seeking ways to put into practice the "rhetorically proactive" strategies I have spent so much time thinking about.
This was a demonstration protesting the government's destruction of a Roma refugee settlement
In May I organized a film screening for a friend of mine from Bosnia who is a professor and an activist. He lives in Norway, but he runs an organization in Bosnia called The Center for Democracy & Human Rights through which he holds an annual week-long conference/seminar each summer in Konjic, Bosnia.
Although he is not a professional film-maker, a few years ago he made a film – a sort of documentary – which features the stories of three people who, during the war, committed “heroic acts of good” by helping people from different ethnic groups at great risk to themselves. Though the film is not artistically perfect – a good example of “naïve” art – the message is very moving and important. From the first time I saw the film, a few summers ago while attending the annual seminar, I have been dedicated to helping him gain attention for the film. So, when he told me he would be in Belgrade for a conference in May, I helped to organize (with help from WiB) the film’s Belgrade premier at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD).
I was the host of the evening, which consisted of my introduction of the film and the film-maker, then the screening of the film, and finally a panel discussion with the film-maker and several local well-known intellectuals. The evening was fantastic! The event was very well attended, with a truly international audience including several ambassadors (from Norway, Austria and Denmark) as well as attendees from the US, Sweden, and other places. And this was in addition to the many local people who attended. Through this evening I met several people who have since granted me some wonderful professional opportunities!
For one thing, I was interviewed for television about this event by both Serbian and Bosnian TV stations! The previous week, while participating in an anti-fascism demonstration, I had been interviewed by a local crew making a film about the treatment of minorities here in Serbia! And now in the last week I have been interviewed for two more films – one being filmed by local students who are making a film about the influence of Disney and other children’s programming on children’s gender identity, and one (just yesterday) being filmed by American film students about the ways that roles, opportunities and expectations for women have changed here from the Communist period through this post-war transition period.
[Interestingly, in this post-war period it seems that gender equality here has regressed seriously! In the Yugo-Tito-Communist period there was more money here, a greater emphasis on education, an unparalleled freedom to travel internationally (thanks to Yugoslavia’s policy of non-alignment during the Cold War), and an acceptance of gender equality that, while perhaps not quite as progressive as somewhere like Sweden, was certainly more egalitarian than in the US at that time. Now, sadly, with no money, HUGE restrictions on travel that make it impossible for Serbs to get visas, and the residual effects of the ethno-national chauvinism of the Milosevic years, things have changed. Young people are increasingly less educated, women get married and have children younger and Feminism as a lived practice is much more a part of the lives of those people over the age of 45 than in is for those under 30.]
So, even though I am not a TV glam-glam screen personality type, and I hate seeing photos of myself, it has been exciting to be sought out for these things!
Also through the film screening I met a woman who is one of the Vice-Deans at the university where I teach here. She is a historian and she helps to lead the American Studies program here. She had me as a guest lecturer in her class a few times in May and June, and now, in Fall semester, I am going to be teaching a graduate seminar for the American Studies program here on the American Civil Rights Movement! I am really excited about that! I have also recently given lectures for the Center for Women’s Studies at my university here, and in Fall semester I will be co-teaching a course for them.
I have also been able to attend some other activities organized by other local activist/NGO groups… There was a fantastic night of short films by students of famous Yugoslav film-maker Zelimir Zelnik at the CZKD. (I really enjoyed this!) There was the performance from local activist theatre group DAH Theatre that for which they performed the testimonies of women from all three sides of the war. (So moving! I really want to be able to bring this performance to my home university in the US!). And last weekend I went to an alternative theatre festival in Pancevo (neighboring town) that was really incredible.
One of the performances was conducted outdoors in Pancevo's central park. It featured four women and was centered on raising awareness of domestic violence here in Serbia. In essence, the performance specifically highlighted the fact that the average woman who is abused by her relational partner will go back 7 times before leaving for good. It was really well done and intense. It was also perfect for the space and the intended audience they hoped to reach.
The performance itself is around 30 minutes. For the ½ hour before they begin, as the performers are setting up, they play popular music very loudly on huge speakers, which draws an audience of many people who happen to be in ear-shot. This strategy allows them to gather a much different audience than just those who chose to come to watch this performance. And in this way they are able to share thei message to many different kinds of people, not just typical "theatre goers" but also a broader general audience. People hear the music and see a group of women dancing around and they come over to see what is going on there - out of curiosity. They come for the music, but stay for the performance – which is just the right length not to lose anyone’s interest!
OK…so the performance itself is incredibly powerful, but what made it even more unintentionally impactful on this occasion was the 5 young boys (between ages 3 yrs. – 7 yrs.) who had gathered in the front during the performance. At first they watched with curiosity. About 10 minutes into the performance, then ran away only to come back holding terrifyingly real looking toy guns! [Made even more scary b/c in the US, toy guns no longer look real, so I was not used to seeing such a thing.]
The boys then proceeded to stand in a line, shoulder-to-shoulder, about 10 feet from the performing women, and began to “shoot” at them. Holding the guns in an eerily accurate way (specifically the little one with the rifle who had it resting on his shoulder with is head cocked slightly over the butt of the gun as he took aim), the boys continued to “fire” upon the women for the rest of the performance and even as they took their bow at the end. After the applause the boys ran away.
Now, the performers did not notice the boys during the performance, but everyone in the audience did, and the photographer (who happens to be an friend of mine from WiB) got some excellent photos of this. In the photos, one cannot even tell that the guns are not real! And so, for me, the message about violence against women that is offered by the performance is made that much more poignant by the boys “playing” at committing violence against these women! UGH! Crazy! (See the photos I've added below)
Young boys take aim and "fire" upon a group of women during a street performance to raise awareness about domestic violence
Here you can really see the little one with the rifle holding it like a real gun! While the one in the red-shirt seems to be scoping the scene to take aim at his next target.
Again in this one the rifle-boy is in full action and now red-shirt has found his mark. See how he holds it with two hands like a professional?
One last thing I want to tell you about from my work with WiB is the weekend seminar I went to with them in Southern Serbia. But I will talk about that in another entry.
OK, well thanks for reading and I will post more about specific WiB seminar experiences in the next post.
Xina
Lovin' Serbo-Summer...
My Belgrade Summer…
Well, I guess it has been a while since I have talked about my life here in Belgrade. I should start by saying that since the weather has been nice (beginning at the end of March and intensifying each week) both the city and the people have become so much nicer! I am certainly much happier here than I was my first few months and much busier as well as I have gotten to know a lot of people – socially and professionally – so that I have had many more professional engagements and invited speeches, etc. than I did in the first months. I am so glad I decided to stay on through the Autumn semester b/c there is so much to do, and I am really enjoying every bit of my work!
One small down-shot: My fight to remain upright and uninjured in Serbian public space continues to be a negotiation of give and take! While on the tram on the way home from the university a few weeks ago, the tram driver slammed on the breaks and everyone went flying. I got my foot wedged under the metal wall near the door and broke a toe. OOOHHH the pain! I wanted to scream, but I stayed quiet for fear of unwanted attention.
Ironically, just as I was alighting from the tram at my stop, an insanely intense thunderstorm had begun and as I hobbled home in the driving rain, each raindrop to hit my toe sent waves of pain up my leg. My linen pants were quickly thoroughly soaked and I was freezing. A sense of relief washed over me as I arrived at my apartment building, but was short lived when upon entering I realized that the power was out (and hence so was the elevator) and I had to walk up 7 flights of stairs – wet, freezing and in pain! When I opened the door to my apartment the ceiling had begun leaking like Niagra Falls into my living room. Seriously…the biggest series of bad luck events over a 30 minute time span that I can remember in a long time!
But other than that…things have largely been great!
First of all, I have recently taken a roommate! My American friend from WiB, “J.,” has moved in with me and I couldn’t be happier about it! We really like each other, and we get along great. We have a sort of honest and sisterly relationship where we can tell each other if we want to be quiet, or if something is bothering one of us. We share food and expenses fairly. I totally trust her. We work together at WiB, that is how we met, though she is full-time at WiB through a 3 year U.S. fellowship program (and is really the “right hand man” there), while I am only there part-time. We like the same music and movies, we chat and laugh a lot, and – yes I am a dork – I was thrilled to see that she brought with her one of my most cherished card games, Phase 10! (Like a rummy type game from the makers of Uno). Also great is the fact that we have some common friends and some separate friends so we aren’t together every minute. I just can’t say enough about how much her living here has improved my daily quality of life. It is awesome!
So, with “J.” living here and with the fact that I have now been here about six months, I actually have a group of friends now (mostly from WiB) that I hang out with and talk to almost daily. I get invited to things now, and I have friends I can call if I want to hang out or get a coffee or even just chat. Fortunately this also means that my social interactions with Serbian people are no longer limited to any person who asks and speaks English! I had met one person here who I had hung out with a few times, and it was like spending time with Eyore [from Winnie the Pooh] – just so negative and such a downer! Just about the time I also found out that this [astoundingly highly educated!] person is also rabidly homo-phobic [to the point of thinking it is degenerate and disgusting to associate with gay people] I made another group of friends who are very cool, and much more like me! Hooray for social choices!
And, as an aside, I am really still shocked when I meet people, here or in any country including the US, who are still rabidly homo-phobic! Especially educated people. I suppose when it comes to things like people who oppose legalizing gay marriage in the USA, while some of those opposed may be mis-informed and/or home-phobic, there is at least room with many who oppose gay marriage to have an ideological debate, and not all opponents are necessarily rabid homo-phobs. But with people who have a dogmatic hatred, there is no debate. [Just to make my position clear, I am in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in US law. People can do what they want in their church – allow it, don’t allow it…whatever, but equality under the law is the only logical position for our country. I am totally against discrimination of any kind – race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. and I have a hard time suffering close-minded people. I usually will try to take and “enlightenment” approach and try to help the person understand how they might think differently about the group they “hate,” but I won’t tolerate hateful language or attitudes in the people around me.]
OK…so…I love Serbo-summer! People had told me how fantastic spring and summer were here, but it was hard to believe in the dead of winter when everything looks so grey and people rarely smile. But spring and summer here are fantastic! I love it that you hear music all the time on the streets, and that big name concerts come here (AC/DC, Madonna, David Byrne, and others). I love it that the people who seemed so unapproachable and sour in the winter are friendly and smiling now. I love it that the cafes all have installed huge outdoor patios and everyone is outside all the time!
Even though it was been 80 – 90 Fahrenheit degrees for like 6 weeks now, I still love it. I love having a coffee with someone before or after work. I love going to the zoo and going to the Kallemegdan Park to take walks or even to bring a beer with a friend and sit and chat. I’ve gotten comfortable going to the huge open-air market (which used to intimidate me). I’m even getting more confident with my language skills and am starting formal classes to get better at the Serbian dialect and Cyrillic alphabet. I feel so lucky to be here. I am very happy to be able to stay for those extra months until end of December. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the city, though there is still so much I don’t know!
So, I am having a great time in Serbia. I am learning like crazy, enjoying myself socially and am generally happy. And now that the semester is finally finished (mid-June) I am more involved with the daily goings-on at the organization I have been working for, WiB. This is where I will stop this entry. In my next entry I will talk a lot more about my work here and all of the exciting professional things that are happening for me here.
Thanks for reading. And check out some of the Belgrade summer pics below...
Xina
Sunset at Kallemegdan Park
Sunset at Kallemegdan Park
At the Belgrade Zoo - feeding the Polar Bear - he's a great catch and I swear that zoo is the best entertainment $3 can buy!
Belgrade Zoo - Antelope (perhaps the only word that rhymes with cantelope!)
Belgrade Zoo - a huge and somewhat vulgar kangaroo
Well, I guess it has been a while since I have talked about my life here in Belgrade. I should start by saying that since the weather has been nice (beginning at the end of March and intensifying each week) both the city and the people have become so much nicer! I am certainly much happier here than I was my first few months and much busier as well as I have gotten to know a lot of people – socially and professionally – so that I have had many more professional engagements and invited speeches, etc. than I did in the first months. I am so glad I decided to stay on through the Autumn semester b/c there is so much to do, and I am really enjoying every bit of my work!
One small down-shot: My fight to remain upright and uninjured in Serbian public space continues to be a negotiation of give and take! While on the tram on the way home from the university a few weeks ago, the tram driver slammed on the breaks and everyone went flying. I got my foot wedged under the metal wall near the door and broke a toe. OOOHHH the pain! I wanted to scream, but I stayed quiet for fear of unwanted attention.
Ironically, just as I was alighting from the tram at my stop, an insanely intense thunderstorm had begun and as I hobbled home in the driving rain, each raindrop to hit my toe sent waves of pain up my leg. My linen pants were quickly thoroughly soaked and I was freezing. A sense of relief washed over me as I arrived at my apartment building, but was short lived when upon entering I realized that the power was out (and hence so was the elevator) and I had to walk up 7 flights of stairs – wet, freezing and in pain! When I opened the door to my apartment the ceiling had begun leaking like Niagra Falls into my living room. Seriously…the biggest series of bad luck events over a 30 minute time span that I can remember in a long time!
But other than that…things have largely been great!
First of all, I have recently taken a roommate! My American friend from WiB, “J.,” has moved in with me and I couldn’t be happier about it! We really like each other, and we get along great. We have a sort of honest and sisterly relationship where we can tell each other if we want to be quiet, or if something is bothering one of us. We share food and expenses fairly. I totally trust her. We work together at WiB, that is how we met, though she is full-time at WiB through a 3 year U.S. fellowship program (and is really the “right hand man” there), while I am only there part-time. We like the same music and movies, we chat and laugh a lot, and – yes I am a dork – I was thrilled to see that she brought with her one of my most cherished card games, Phase 10! (Like a rummy type game from the makers of Uno). Also great is the fact that we have some common friends and some separate friends so we aren’t together every minute. I just can’t say enough about how much her living here has improved my daily quality of life. It is awesome!
So, with “J.” living here and with the fact that I have now been here about six months, I actually have a group of friends now (mostly from WiB) that I hang out with and talk to almost daily. I get invited to things now, and I have friends I can call if I want to hang out or get a coffee or even just chat. Fortunately this also means that my social interactions with Serbian people are no longer limited to any person who asks and speaks English! I had met one person here who I had hung out with a few times, and it was like spending time with Eyore [from Winnie the Pooh] – just so negative and such a downer! Just about the time I also found out that this [astoundingly highly educated!] person is also rabidly homo-phobic [to the point of thinking it is degenerate and disgusting to associate with gay people] I made another group of friends who are very cool, and much more like me! Hooray for social choices!
And, as an aside, I am really still shocked when I meet people, here or in any country including the US, who are still rabidly homo-phobic! Especially educated people. I suppose when it comes to things like people who oppose legalizing gay marriage in the USA, while some of those opposed may be mis-informed and/or home-phobic, there is at least room with many who oppose gay marriage to have an ideological debate, and not all opponents are necessarily rabid homo-phobs. But with people who have a dogmatic hatred, there is no debate. [Just to make my position clear, I am in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in US law. People can do what they want in their church – allow it, don’t allow it…whatever, but equality under the law is the only logical position for our country. I am totally against discrimination of any kind – race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. and I have a hard time suffering close-minded people. I usually will try to take and “enlightenment” approach and try to help the person understand how they might think differently about the group they “hate,” but I won’t tolerate hateful language or attitudes in the people around me.]
OK…so…I love Serbo-summer! People had told me how fantastic spring and summer were here, but it was hard to believe in the dead of winter when everything looks so grey and people rarely smile. But spring and summer here are fantastic! I love it that you hear music all the time on the streets, and that big name concerts come here (AC/DC, Madonna, David Byrne, and others). I love it that the people who seemed so unapproachable and sour in the winter are friendly and smiling now. I love it that the cafes all have installed huge outdoor patios and everyone is outside all the time!
Even though it was been 80 – 90 Fahrenheit degrees for like 6 weeks now, I still love it. I love having a coffee with someone before or after work. I love going to the zoo and going to the Kallemegdan Park to take walks or even to bring a beer with a friend and sit and chat. I’ve gotten comfortable going to the huge open-air market (which used to intimidate me). I’m even getting more confident with my language skills and am starting formal classes to get better at the Serbian dialect and Cyrillic alphabet. I feel so lucky to be here. I am very happy to be able to stay for those extra months until end of December. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the city, though there is still so much I don’t know!
So, I am having a great time in Serbia. I am learning like crazy, enjoying myself socially and am generally happy. And now that the semester is finally finished (mid-June) I am more involved with the daily goings-on at the organization I have been working for, WiB. This is where I will stop this entry. In my next entry I will talk a lot more about my work here and all of the exciting professional things that are happening for me here.
Thanks for reading. And check out some of the Belgrade summer pics below...
Xina
Sunset at Kallemegdan Park
Sunset at Kallemegdan Park
At the Belgrade Zoo - feeding the Polar Bear - he's a great catch and I swear that zoo is the best entertainment $3 can buy!
Belgrade Zoo - Antelope (perhaps the only word that rhymes with cantelope!)
Belgrade Zoo - a huge and somewhat vulgar kangaroo
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Viva Italia...my May Holiday in Italy...
Italy
So it has been a long time since I have written. Mostly because I have been busy actually doing things, and working and I haven’t had the urge to sit and write about it. But in the interest of preserving the memories for myself for later, I wanted to take a bit of time this weekend to catch up on the blog as one forgets the details of things as time goes on, and I want to remember those things that have been important to me while I’ve been here. Sooo…let me start this catch-up with the trip to Italy…
As I had mentioned in previous posts, this was “P”’s first trip abroad, so I took charge of the trip planning. Now “P” enjoys seeing cool historical sites, and I made sure to plan for that, but what he is really an expert on is fine food and wine, so being his first time in Italy, and especially being that we are both of Italian heritage and he is such an acute fine food and wine enthusiast, I wanted to be sure that we found some really special restaurants at a variety of price levels in each city. Besides, although I have been to Italy many times, this is my first trip as a professional adult (ie., not a backpacking, penny pinching student/grad student) so I was excited to experience some of the finer things.
Still…we are not rich people, so I wanted to be sure we got to try some fine restaurants and tour stuff, but also some highly recommended less expensive stuff. So, to be sure that we had the most from our experience I had done a lot of research beforehand with friends (thanks to everyone who made such awesome suggestions for things to do and places to eat), on the internet and especially with “Slow Food Italy,” and I must say it really paid off! Just about everything we did and everywhere we ate was fantastic! But let me begin at the beginning…
So…the day I left Belgrade for Rome I had to leave my apartment at 4:45am. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time and waited in line, as there are no self check-in kiosks at the Belgrade airport. After waiting almost an hour (behind a huge Greek soccer team…very attractive young men I might add), when it was finally my turn it turned-out that the airline had no record of my ticket being purchased…even though I had the receipt in hand! It was a code-share flight, JAT & Alitalia. I was checking in at JAT, but had bought my ticket from Alitalia…which was not open! So I had no way to talk to Alitalia about the issue. In different circumstances I may have waited to talk to someone and caught a later flight, but this was the only one going from Belgrade to Rome that day, and I was worried that “P” would arrive and I would not be there to meet him and he might panic…especially since I had not given him the hotel information! So I had to buy a whole new ticket, a process through which I nearly missed the flight anyhow, and ended up running to the gate as the plane was boarding.
But not matter…I was a bit frustrated with the extra cost, but I was not going to let it ruin my vacation, and after the first day, I largely forgot about this minor frustration.
ROME
I arrived in Rome about an hour before “P” and was there to meet him. We took the train into the city center and easily found our way to the hotel. Given that we had planned to see several cities in just 10 days, I booked hotels that were relatively close to the train stations, so while it was really hot outside (easily in the 80s and 90s), and we were both pretty tired (and “P” jetlagged) we got there in no time at all. Now, I had heard that there was a possibility that the neighborhood near the station would be questionable, but it was fine. Not the prettiest, but really close to everything, and located in what appeared to be Rome’s Chinatown. And while our hotel, Hotel Moscatello, was simple, it was quaint, friendly, clean and affordable – really all we required, (and for me, anything nicer than a hostel is livin’ it up at this point!).
I convinced “P” that it was important to try to stay awake until that evening, so after a brief rest and shower we headed out to the Ancient Roman Coliseum. I had been here several times before, but this time we decided to take the guided tour, which also included tours of other ancient sights. It was spectacular! Our guide was hilarious, and really knowledgeable. After the Coliseum part of the tour was finished we considered taking the second part the next day, but “P” was going strong so we continued. Again, really fantastic! We learned so much, saw so much, and got some great views and photos.
After the tours we walked through the city so I could show him Trivi Fountain, “Mussolini’s wedding cake,” and a few other sites in that area with a goal of having our first night’s dinner at a tapas type mozzarella bar, recommended by “A” & “J,” called Obika Roma. Nice food. Fancy Italians having after work cocktails and appetizers. All around a good first night’s dining after which we wandered the streets stopping occasionally at random bars for drinks and taking photos of Rome by night.
Now…our hotel locks its doors at 1am, and if you will be out later than that, you need to pay a key deposit to get a front door key. Well, given that “P” was jet-lagged we did not imagine at noon when we ventured out that we would need that key. However, we found ourselves rushing through the streets of Rome, giggling like idiots, hoping to make it back in time…which we did…by a hair!
Here’s a few pics from Rome Day 1…
Rome - Colesium
Rome - Ancient Roman Coliseum
Rome - Ancient Roman Ruins
Rome - Colesium by Night
Rome's many histories - Colesium & medival tower in background
Day two in Rome was reserved for the Vatican. We had made reservations for the Vatican’s special Scavi Tour, which is a small (10 persons max) tour of the underground catacombs of Vatican City. I had not done this tour before and had thought it would be pretty cool, but I could not have expected just how fantastic it would be! (I highly recommend this tour! You have to make reservations at least a month in advance, but it is totally worth it!) We saw a thousand years of historical/archeological stuff and had a great guide who was really super smart and charming! The tour was about 2 ½ hours, after which we stopped by Pope Jon Paul II grave site and then walked around St. Peter’s basilica on the inside – never fails to impress!
We then climbed all the way to the top for the best views in Rome. I got a bit dizzy from the super narrow winding stairs as you get into the very tippy-top of the dome, (and there is like 400 stairs, but with hoards of elderly people also climbing it seemed embarrassing to complain about it) but once you get there, it is so worth it! Truly amazing views!! After that we spent about 1 ½ hours in the Vatican shop run by nuns so we could buy rosaries and gifts for our families that had been blessed by the pope.
After our Vatican exploration, we wandered around the area a bit, walked through Parco Adriano and saw the Castel St. Angelo and made our way to our chosen dinner spot. When we arrived, we realized it did not start serving for another hour or so, but I am so glad we made the choice to wait! We went to the neighboring square for drinks before dinner, (where our senses were assaulted by embarrassing American tourists who said things like “this is not how we get it at home in America!” And “Can you take this back and put some cheese and tomatoes on it!”).
We then returned to our chosen restaurant - Hostaria Costanza - for one of the best meals, best atmosphere and best service I have ever had!! Tucked down an alley, not super easy to find, with many Italians dining there and a few tourists was our little Roman delight. Now, as you may know, the Italian dinner is served in several courses with an appetizer, then a first course [primati]which is pasta, and a second course [secondi] which is the meat and veggies. Unlike at home where you eat a huge plate of pasta alone and call it dinner, you eat three smaller courses. So we decided that in order to taste stuff and not to be stuffed, we would share our meals – family style, as is typical at most southern European restaurants, but not as typical in the US. When we told the waiter we were open to his suggestions and wanted him to recommend what was best, he took care of us like we were in his home! We shared a truffle risotto for appetizer, then he brought us the white-bean soup (best I ever had!). Our pasta dish was traditionally Roman, and then our meat – which was lamb, and which was roasted and spiced just perfectly! He had brought us a perfect bottle of wine for the meal!
The best part was that as we sat there, there were two business men (an Italian, Marko, and a Greek, Vasilis) dining beside us. As we were finishing our meal they began to chat with us, and invited us to their table to after-dinner drinks and dessert. We sat chatting and drinking with them until the place closed! It was spectacular!
Below is a few pics from Rome day 2…
View into Vatican city gardens from top of St. Peter's Bacsillica
View of Rome from top of St. Peter's
View of bridge and Castel St. Angelo - Rome
BOLOGNA
Now I had been before to each of the major cities that we had planned to visit on this trip (Rome, Venice & Florence) but had not been to Bologna. Our hotel was amazing! It was very modern and glamorous, and stylish and still amazingly affordable. 4 Masini Design Hotel was definitely the finest hotel we stayed at the entire trip and it was the least expensive. It is very close to the train station, which means it is not as close to the city center, but Bologna is not that big, so really you can walk anywhere in 25 minutes or so.
Given that our main purpose for going to Bologna was to have the original “Bolognese” (which they actually call “pasta Ragu” in Italy) I had carefully researched our dinner place for that night. After a short rest and showers we set out to walk the city and check it all out before dinner. It is a lovely smallish university centered city – not Italy’s most beautiful, but certainly nothing to sneeze at. The restaurant we had chosen was located in a 16th century wine cellar, Osteria de poeti. Again great atmosphere and service! Fantastic good and wine. And I must say that our pasta course, “Ragu,” was amazing! In the US I typically do not prefer spaghetti Bolognese because to me it tastes too much like hamburger, but here it was a different story! The pasta itself was homemade (which makes a huge difference) and the meat is of a much higher quality (more like ground sirloin than hamburger meat). Great stuff!
Below are a few pics from Bologna…
Bologna - street scene
Bologna - Statue at entry of central city park
Bologna's 2 medival leaning towers
The next day we were to proceed to Venice, and this time I checked the train ticket times obsessively! We spent that morning walking around Bologna, and had “Ragu” and salad for lunch before boarding the train. Upon arriving in the first Venice train station, “P” said “we’re here” and we got off the train. As the train pulled away and we walked outside the train station I was totally disoriented and did not recognize anything, even though I’ve been to Venice several times. It took me a minute before I realized we had gotten off too early…silly me! But it was no real problem. We caught the next train to Venice, and took the vapporetto (like a water bus) to Ca D’Oro stop where our hotel was, Hotel Bernardi Semenzato. Of course, like everything in Venice, it was a little challenging to find, but we made it.
So, in general, my feelings on Venice are as follows… It is a really unique and amazing place and if you have never been there, it is something not to be missed. However, it is expensive, the food is nothing special, and you will be tired of fat tourists, cruise-ship day crowds, and African immigrants selling hand-bags by the end of the trip. Italy has so many fantastic places to see and things to do! I like Venice, I like the sights and the uniqueness of it, and after my first time I couldn’t wait to go back. But every ensuing time I have been back to Venice it has struck me as more of a tourist heavy Disney world-esque place. At least we were there in mid-May, just the beginning of the tourist season, so it was not quite as bad.
The best parts of Venice for me are the Guggenheim Museum, San Marco, and the experience of wandering in the endless maze of streets. I find this to be best at night when you have to fight fewer people, but it also means occasionally running into raccoon sized rats at the edges of the canals!
Anyhow, we did get to see a lot in Venice and took a 2 hour boat tour (not gondola) of the grand canal and some of the smaller canals. We had mediocre overpriced food the first night, but we had fun getting lost and wandering for hours through the streets that night, and I had the agenda of showing the St. Mark’s cathedral to “P” by night when there are less tourists. To me this is such an interesting and special cathedral because of the blend of Italian, Byzantine, and other influences in its architecture – given all the trading from so many other cultures that had happened in Venice at that time. During the day it is a zoo, even though it is so beautiful, and it is hard to quietly appreciate it. While you have to see it during the day to appreciate the use of color, seeing it all lit up in the quiet of night allows you to appreciate the structure without fighting the tourists, sellers and rip-off artists.
The second day we walked around a bit, but the cruise ship crowds were there in full effect and getting through the narrow streets was challenging. When we got to San Marco and the line was hours long to get inside, we decided to opt instead for a boat tour of the canals. It was really lovely to see it all from that perspective, and I am really glad we did it. Still, of all the tours we did while we were there, this guide was the least strong and entertaining and I largely ignored her in favor of the views and my own daydreams.
The second night we made reservations at a Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie – reputedly the oldest restaurant in Venice and possibly in Italy as a whole (according to local legend anyhow). We had prosecco before dinner, an appetizer of various local fish specialties, a pasta course of con vongole verace and a monk fish for our secondi. It was all very good, and the place was truly beautiful. If we hadn’t had such amazing meals in Rome and Florence, I may have thought it to be fantastic. The location was great, the place was beautiful. But again, everywhere in Venice I just feel like everyone treats you like a tourist.
Venice - Grand Canal w/Gondolas
Venice - view of smaller canal with bridge
Venice - View of famous Rialto Bridge
FLORENCE
I slept for most of the train ride to Florence, and when we arrived I stayed awake long enough to get us to the hotel and then went back to sleep again while “P” did a little touristing himself.
Now Florence is my favorite Italian city, and I had been most excited to get there, so I was disappointe4d that I was feeling unwell. But, by the early evening I was feeling somewhat better, so we walked a bit around Florence, by Duomo, by Sante Croce, down the river, through the main shopping area, near the Uffizi, etc. Then I went to bed early while watching some hilarious Italian TV.
First of all, everything on Italian TV that is not originally in Italian is dubbed (instead of subtitled) so there is no chance of really watching unless you speak well enough to understand Italian. This means that the best choices are either MTV or soccer matches (which I love!). That night I snuggled in for a soccer match which appeared to be Italy vs. France. But as we watched, each time a goal was scored, the player who scored would have to sing a karaoke pop song with some hot Italian singer. At first it was confusing and really funny! We eventually figured out what was going on…it was a game between Italy & France – touted as a sort of World Cup 2006 finalists exhibition - but it was a sort of charity event and old retired players from each team were playing alongside the current team members. Anyhow…interesting.
Our hotel in Florence, Hotel Berna, was again close to the train station and while it was a loud neighborhood, the room was fine, and the staff was fantastic! They even brought us breakfast in bed each day when they did not see us come down for the served breakfast. I would highly recommend this place if you were in Florence and wanted to be near the train station. It was also just blocks from the leather market and less than 10 minute walk from Duomo – all good things. The staff was really kind, helpful and really made you feel like they were happy to have you there, which was fantastic. However, if you were going to be in Florence for more than a week, I would suggest going with something father afield, even more in the residential part, even though it would be harder to get to the main sights, because of the chaos and loudness of the neighborhood (and it seems of much of the main tourist part of the city at large).
Our second day in Florence we decided to rent bicycles to get around more of the city more easily. Of course we saw all the sites, climbed the Duomo, toured Santa Croce, and rode around the city. For dinner that night we went to a pizza place that was recommended by a colleague to be the “best pizza in Florence,” and I must say it did not disappoint! Semolina it’s called – really fantastic pizza and good service and also very hip and artistic décor!
So, in general Florence has always been my favorite Italian city and this time was no different! It did not disappoint! It is such a charming place, so much beauty, so much to see and really amazing food! The only thing is I would like to spend a more extended time there, and maybe even to stay in a place that is a little more in the countryside. Next time…
The next day we decided to rent a Vespa so we could tour the Tuscan hills in the surrounding area. I was a bit nervous at first, but this proved to be the best possible choice we could’ve made. While the initial working our way through the city was terrifying, once we got out of the urban center it was so worth it! We spent the day riding all around, seeing vineyards and generally beautiful countryside. We stopped for lunch and a glass of wine at one of the smaller wineries. It was just a really great time…possibly my favorite day…it’s a toss-up really between that and the first two days in Rome.
Our last great meal was our last night in Florence and it was by far the best meal of a whole vacation full of great meals! We went to a place I had researched called L’Osteria di Giovanni. The place had a very contemporary look to it, with the owner’s (Giovanni) private art collection on the walls. While we were there, they treated us like we were royalty, like we were restaurant critics or something! Impeccable service! The owner himself came and chatted with us for a while as we were eating! While we had the usual appetizer and primate courses, the highlight this time was the secondi – Florentine dry-aged steak! It was amazing! And they brought us just the right wine! We were so full we could barely have our after-dinner drink, but given that the owner brought us his special liquor and biscotti, we could not say no.
Below are a few pics from Florence…
Florence - Giotto's tower and the Duomo
Florence - Duomo
A view of Giotto's tower from on top of the Duomo, Florence
Florence from surrounding hills - featuring Ponte Vecchio Bridge
Florence from the hills - featuring the Duomo
A view from the Tuscan Hills surrounding Florence
A view in the Tuscan Hills on the outskirts of Florence
A view in the Tuscan Hills on the outskirts of Florence
THE END OF THE TRIP
On our final day we travelled back to Rome, and took a hotel at the sea side near the airport. We were exhausted, but in all it was really an excellent trip! In fact, “P” wasn’t back in the US for a day before he was already dreaming of his next Italian adventure and plotting the time when he can retire to Tuscany! I think he caught the travel bug! As for me, I still love Florence (and Tuscany at large) and Rome as well, but would be happy to skip Venice next time in favor of either spending more time in one place, or of seeing more of the south. So much still to see…
So, in closing, If anyone is going to any of these cities in the near future and you want some recommendations for sites or restaurants or hotels, please get in touch. I’d be happy to suggest some! Sadly, because I took so long to write about all of this, I can’t recall the name of the place in Rome offhand, but can find it if you’re interested (all the more support for my argument that you should keep a daily journal while travelling! Even for ten days! When everyday is packed with so many experiences, all those things you swear you’ll never forget about day 1 fade in memory by day 10!)
Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos.
Xina
So it has been a long time since I have written. Mostly because I have been busy actually doing things, and working and I haven’t had the urge to sit and write about it. But in the interest of preserving the memories for myself for later, I wanted to take a bit of time this weekend to catch up on the blog as one forgets the details of things as time goes on, and I want to remember those things that have been important to me while I’ve been here. Sooo…let me start this catch-up with the trip to Italy…
As I had mentioned in previous posts, this was “P”’s first trip abroad, so I took charge of the trip planning. Now “P” enjoys seeing cool historical sites, and I made sure to plan for that, but what he is really an expert on is fine food and wine, so being his first time in Italy, and especially being that we are both of Italian heritage and he is such an acute fine food and wine enthusiast, I wanted to be sure that we found some really special restaurants at a variety of price levels in each city. Besides, although I have been to Italy many times, this is my first trip as a professional adult (ie., not a backpacking, penny pinching student/grad student) so I was excited to experience some of the finer things.
Still…we are not rich people, so I wanted to be sure we got to try some fine restaurants and tour stuff, but also some highly recommended less expensive stuff. So, to be sure that we had the most from our experience I had done a lot of research beforehand with friends (thanks to everyone who made such awesome suggestions for things to do and places to eat), on the internet and especially with “Slow Food Italy,” and I must say it really paid off! Just about everything we did and everywhere we ate was fantastic! But let me begin at the beginning…
So…the day I left Belgrade for Rome I had to leave my apartment at 4:45am. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time and waited in line, as there are no self check-in kiosks at the Belgrade airport. After waiting almost an hour (behind a huge Greek soccer team…very attractive young men I might add), when it was finally my turn it turned-out that the airline had no record of my ticket being purchased…even though I had the receipt in hand! It was a code-share flight, JAT & Alitalia. I was checking in at JAT, but had bought my ticket from Alitalia…which was not open! So I had no way to talk to Alitalia about the issue. In different circumstances I may have waited to talk to someone and caught a later flight, but this was the only one going from Belgrade to Rome that day, and I was worried that “P” would arrive and I would not be there to meet him and he might panic…especially since I had not given him the hotel information! So I had to buy a whole new ticket, a process through which I nearly missed the flight anyhow, and ended up running to the gate as the plane was boarding.
But not matter…I was a bit frustrated with the extra cost, but I was not going to let it ruin my vacation, and after the first day, I largely forgot about this minor frustration.
ROME
I arrived in Rome about an hour before “P” and was there to meet him. We took the train into the city center and easily found our way to the hotel. Given that we had planned to see several cities in just 10 days, I booked hotels that were relatively close to the train stations, so while it was really hot outside (easily in the 80s and 90s), and we were both pretty tired (and “P” jetlagged) we got there in no time at all. Now, I had heard that there was a possibility that the neighborhood near the station would be questionable, but it was fine. Not the prettiest, but really close to everything, and located in what appeared to be Rome’s Chinatown. And while our hotel, Hotel Moscatello, was simple, it was quaint, friendly, clean and affordable – really all we required, (and for me, anything nicer than a hostel is livin’ it up at this point!).
I convinced “P” that it was important to try to stay awake until that evening, so after a brief rest and shower we headed out to the Ancient Roman Coliseum. I had been here several times before, but this time we decided to take the guided tour, which also included tours of other ancient sights. It was spectacular! Our guide was hilarious, and really knowledgeable. After the Coliseum part of the tour was finished we considered taking the second part the next day, but “P” was going strong so we continued. Again, really fantastic! We learned so much, saw so much, and got some great views and photos.
After the tours we walked through the city so I could show him Trivi Fountain, “Mussolini’s wedding cake,” and a few other sites in that area with a goal of having our first night’s dinner at a tapas type mozzarella bar, recommended by “A” & “J,” called Obika Roma. Nice food. Fancy Italians having after work cocktails and appetizers. All around a good first night’s dining after which we wandered the streets stopping occasionally at random bars for drinks and taking photos of Rome by night.
Now…our hotel locks its doors at 1am, and if you will be out later than that, you need to pay a key deposit to get a front door key. Well, given that “P” was jet-lagged we did not imagine at noon when we ventured out that we would need that key. However, we found ourselves rushing through the streets of Rome, giggling like idiots, hoping to make it back in time…which we did…by a hair!
Here’s a few pics from Rome Day 1…
Rome - Colesium
Rome - Ancient Roman Coliseum
Rome - Ancient Roman RuinsRome - Colesium by Night
Rome's many histories - Colesium & medival tower in background
Day two in Rome was reserved for the Vatican. We had made reservations for the Vatican’s special Scavi Tour, which is a small (10 persons max) tour of the underground catacombs of Vatican City. I had not done this tour before and had thought it would be pretty cool, but I could not have expected just how fantastic it would be! (I highly recommend this tour! You have to make reservations at least a month in advance, but it is totally worth it!) We saw a thousand years of historical/archeological stuff and had a great guide who was really super smart and charming! The tour was about 2 ½ hours, after which we stopped by Pope Jon Paul II grave site and then walked around St. Peter’s basilica on the inside – never fails to impress!
We then climbed all the way to the top for the best views in Rome. I got a bit dizzy from the super narrow winding stairs as you get into the very tippy-top of the dome, (and there is like 400 stairs, but with hoards of elderly people also climbing it seemed embarrassing to complain about it) but once you get there, it is so worth it! Truly amazing views!! After that we spent about 1 ½ hours in the Vatican shop run by nuns so we could buy rosaries and gifts for our families that had been blessed by the pope.
After our Vatican exploration, we wandered around the area a bit, walked through Parco Adriano and saw the Castel St. Angelo and made our way to our chosen dinner spot. When we arrived, we realized it did not start serving for another hour or so, but I am so glad we made the choice to wait! We went to the neighboring square for drinks before dinner, (where our senses were assaulted by embarrassing American tourists who said things like “this is not how we get it at home in America!” And “Can you take this back and put some cheese and tomatoes on it!”).
We then returned to our chosen restaurant - Hostaria Costanza - for one of the best meals, best atmosphere and best service I have ever had!! Tucked down an alley, not super easy to find, with many Italians dining there and a few tourists was our little Roman delight. Now, as you may know, the Italian dinner is served in several courses with an appetizer, then a first course [primati]which is pasta, and a second course [secondi] which is the meat and veggies. Unlike at home where you eat a huge plate of pasta alone and call it dinner, you eat three smaller courses. So we decided that in order to taste stuff and not to be stuffed, we would share our meals – family style, as is typical at most southern European restaurants, but not as typical in the US. When we told the waiter we were open to his suggestions and wanted him to recommend what was best, he took care of us like we were in his home! We shared a truffle risotto for appetizer, then he brought us the white-bean soup (best I ever had!). Our pasta dish was traditionally Roman, and then our meat – which was lamb, and which was roasted and spiced just perfectly! He had brought us a perfect bottle of wine for the meal!
The best part was that as we sat there, there were two business men (an Italian, Marko, and a Greek, Vasilis) dining beside us. As we were finishing our meal they began to chat with us, and invited us to their table to after-dinner drinks and dessert. We sat chatting and drinking with them until the place closed! It was spectacular!
Below is a few pics from Rome day 2…
View into Vatican city gardens from top of St. Peter's Bacsillica
View of Rome from top of St. Peter's
View of bridge and Castel St. Angelo - RomeThe next day we were to leave for Venice, with a one-day stop in Bologna in search of genuine “spaghetti Bolognese.” In the morning we made time for a few last sights in Rome, including my favorite of Rome’s small oddities, the Capuchin Cemetery. This is a church (interestingly called Immaculate Conception – just like my elementary school) within which there is an elaborate display of ornately arranged bones from the late 1600s-1700s. It takes less than an hour to see it all, even if you really linger over it, but the detailed mosaics and scenes that they have made with these bones really fascinates me and I need to see it every time I am in Rome. “P” also enjoyed it! You are not allowed to take photos, but they have a series of postcards for purchase with all of the scenes from the various rooms on them, so it is really worth it to buy them.
So after the Monk’s bones, we picked up our bags at the hotel and headed for the train station. Unfortunately I had misread the tickets and we missed our train. It was momentarily stressful, but we were allowed to catch the next train (for a small fee) and were on our way to Bologna.
So after the Monk’s bones, we picked up our bags at the hotel and headed for the train station. Unfortunately I had misread the tickets and we missed our train. It was momentarily stressful, but we were allowed to catch the next train (for a small fee) and were on our way to Bologna.
BOLOGNA
Now I had been before to each of the major cities that we had planned to visit on this trip (Rome, Venice & Florence) but had not been to Bologna. Our hotel was amazing! It was very modern and glamorous, and stylish and still amazingly affordable. 4 Masini Design Hotel was definitely the finest hotel we stayed at the entire trip and it was the least expensive. It is very close to the train station, which means it is not as close to the city center, but Bologna is not that big, so really you can walk anywhere in 25 minutes or so.
Given that our main purpose for going to Bologna was to have the original “Bolognese” (which they actually call “pasta Ragu” in Italy) I had carefully researched our dinner place for that night. After a short rest and showers we set out to walk the city and check it all out before dinner. It is a lovely smallish university centered city – not Italy’s most beautiful, but certainly nothing to sneeze at. The restaurant we had chosen was located in a 16th century wine cellar, Osteria de poeti. Again great atmosphere and service! Fantastic good and wine. And I must say that our pasta course, “Ragu,” was amazing! In the US I typically do not prefer spaghetti Bolognese because to me it tastes too much like hamburger, but here it was a different story! The pasta itself was homemade (which makes a huge difference) and the meat is of a much higher quality (more like ground sirloin than hamburger meat). Great stuff!
Below are a few pics from Bologna…
Bologna - street scene
Bologna - Statue at entry of central city park
Bologna's 2 medival leaning towersThe next day we were to proceed to Venice, and this time I checked the train ticket times obsessively! We spent that morning walking around Bologna, and had “Ragu” and salad for lunch before boarding the train. Upon arriving in the first Venice train station, “P” said “we’re here” and we got off the train. As the train pulled away and we walked outside the train station I was totally disoriented and did not recognize anything, even though I’ve been to Venice several times. It took me a minute before I realized we had gotten off too early…silly me! But it was no real problem. We caught the next train to Venice, and took the vapporetto (like a water bus) to Ca D’Oro stop where our hotel was, Hotel Bernardi Semenzato. Of course, like everything in Venice, it was a little challenging to find, but we made it.
VENICE
So, in general, my feelings on Venice are as follows… It is a really unique and amazing place and if you have never been there, it is something not to be missed. However, it is expensive, the food is nothing special, and you will be tired of fat tourists, cruise-ship day crowds, and African immigrants selling hand-bags by the end of the trip. Italy has so many fantastic places to see and things to do! I like Venice, I like the sights and the uniqueness of it, and after my first time I couldn’t wait to go back. But every ensuing time I have been back to Venice it has struck me as more of a tourist heavy Disney world-esque place. At least we were there in mid-May, just the beginning of the tourist season, so it was not quite as bad.
The best parts of Venice for me are the Guggenheim Museum, San Marco, and the experience of wandering in the endless maze of streets. I find this to be best at night when you have to fight fewer people, but it also means occasionally running into raccoon sized rats at the edges of the canals!
Anyhow, we did get to see a lot in Venice and took a 2 hour boat tour (not gondola) of the grand canal and some of the smaller canals. We had mediocre overpriced food the first night, but we had fun getting lost and wandering for hours through the streets that night, and I had the agenda of showing the St. Mark’s cathedral to “P” by night when there are less tourists. To me this is such an interesting and special cathedral because of the blend of Italian, Byzantine, and other influences in its architecture – given all the trading from so many other cultures that had happened in Venice at that time. During the day it is a zoo, even though it is so beautiful, and it is hard to quietly appreciate it. While you have to see it during the day to appreciate the use of color, seeing it all lit up in the quiet of night allows you to appreciate the structure without fighting the tourists, sellers and rip-off artists.
The second day we walked around a bit, but the cruise ship crowds were there in full effect and getting through the narrow streets was challenging. When we got to San Marco and the line was hours long to get inside, we decided to opt instead for a boat tour of the canals. It was really lovely to see it all from that perspective, and I am really glad we did it. Still, of all the tours we did while we were there, this guide was the least strong and entertaining and I largely ignored her in favor of the views and my own daydreams.
The second night we made reservations at a Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie – reputedly the oldest restaurant in Venice and possibly in Italy as a whole (according to local legend anyhow). We had prosecco before dinner, an appetizer of various local fish specialties, a pasta course of con vongole verace and a monk fish for our secondi. It was all very good, and the place was truly beautiful. If we hadn’t had such amazing meals in Rome and Florence, I may have thought it to be fantastic. The location was great, the place was beautiful. But again, everywhere in Venice I just feel like everyone treats you like a tourist.
And while yes, we are tourists, there is a difference between cruise-ship one day in-and-out and people who really want to get a taste of the culture. It’s not their fault really, the tourist industry workers in Venice are disenchanted with the whole thing I am sure. It just makes me feel very self conscious of the fact that I am a visitor as opposed to the way the best places we went while we were in Italy made us feel like we were in their home, as if they were happy to share their specialties with us as long as we were open to appreciating them.
But there was one place in Venice where we actually felt at home and welcome…and interestingly enough, it was a bar that looked a bit cheesy from the first impression, but the guy running the place was so cool and fun and open and welcoming and interesting that we went back a second time. It’s called Bacaro Jazz, and as far as I could tell, it was a totally tourist cheesy joint, and was run by folks who are not Italian. I wouldn’t normally recommend this kind of place, but they were super cool and kind, and made the best cocktails I have had in Europe (in recollection).
So…After our dinner at Poste Vecie, we stopped back at that Bacaro Jazz, where we had made friends with the manager the day before, a guy from Bangladesh named Islam. And He made us some of his mean bad-ass cocktails! As we sat and chatted with him again that night we also met an American couple from California who we had drinks with for the evening. It was great fun! But after a bit I started to feel unwell and we started back to the hotel…
By the time we got back to the hotel, I was not feeling very well! You see, I have an allergy to octopus. I did not eat any octopus, but there had been octopus with the appetizer and it had clearly gotten on the bread that I had used to soak up the other appetizer fish. Needless to say I spent that entire night very ill…YUCK! The next morning as we prepared to leave to Florence I was dreading going into the heat and getting on the boat to take us to the train. But we had a train to catch, so green and dehydrated as I was, we made our way to the vaporetto and the train station (where, thank god, “P” was infinitely helpful and kind!)
Below are a few pics from Venice…
But there was one place in Venice where we actually felt at home and welcome…and interestingly enough, it was a bar that looked a bit cheesy from the first impression, but the guy running the place was so cool and fun and open and welcoming and interesting that we went back a second time. It’s called Bacaro Jazz, and as far as I could tell, it was a totally tourist cheesy joint, and was run by folks who are not Italian. I wouldn’t normally recommend this kind of place, but they were super cool and kind, and made the best cocktails I have had in Europe (in recollection).
So…After our dinner at Poste Vecie, we stopped back at that Bacaro Jazz, where we had made friends with the manager the day before, a guy from Bangladesh named Islam. And He made us some of his mean bad-ass cocktails! As we sat and chatted with him again that night we also met an American couple from California who we had drinks with for the evening. It was great fun! But after a bit I started to feel unwell and we started back to the hotel…
By the time we got back to the hotel, I was not feeling very well! You see, I have an allergy to octopus. I did not eat any octopus, but there had been octopus with the appetizer and it had clearly gotten on the bread that I had used to soak up the other appetizer fish. Needless to say I spent that entire night very ill…YUCK! The next morning as we prepared to leave to Florence I was dreading going into the heat and getting on the boat to take us to the train. But we had a train to catch, so green and dehydrated as I was, we made our way to the vaporetto and the train station (where, thank god, “P” was infinitely helpful and kind!)
Below are a few pics from Venice…
Venice - Grand Canal w/Gondolas
Venice - view of smaller canal with bridge
Venice - View of famous Rialto BridgeFLORENCE
I slept for most of the train ride to Florence, and when we arrived I stayed awake long enough to get us to the hotel and then went back to sleep again while “P” did a little touristing himself.
Now Florence is my favorite Italian city, and I had been most excited to get there, so I was disappointe4d that I was feeling unwell. But, by the early evening I was feeling somewhat better, so we walked a bit around Florence, by Duomo, by Sante Croce, down the river, through the main shopping area, near the Uffizi, etc. Then I went to bed early while watching some hilarious Italian TV.
First of all, everything on Italian TV that is not originally in Italian is dubbed (instead of subtitled) so there is no chance of really watching unless you speak well enough to understand Italian. This means that the best choices are either MTV or soccer matches (which I love!). That night I snuggled in for a soccer match which appeared to be Italy vs. France. But as we watched, each time a goal was scored, the player who scored would have to sing a karaoke pop song with some hot Italian singer. At first it was confusing and really funny! We eventually figured out what was going on…it was a game between Italy & France – touted as a sort of World Cup 2006 finalists exhibition - but it was a sort of charity event and old retired players from each team were playing alongside the current team members. Anyhow…interesting.
Our hotel in Florence, Hotel Berna, was again close to the train station and while it was a loud neighborhood, the room was fine, and the staff was fantastic! They even brought us breakfast in bed each day when they did not see us come down for the served breakfast. I would highly recommend this place if you were in Florence and wanted to be near the train station. It was also just blocks from the leather market and less than 10 minute walk from Duomo – all good things. The staff was really kind, helpful and really made you feel like they were happy to have you there, which was fantastic. However, if you were going to be in Florence for more than a week, I would suggest going with something father afield, even more in the residential part, even though it would be harder to get to the main sights, because of the chaos and loudness of the neighborhood (and it seems of much of the main tourist part of the city at large).
Our second day in Florence we decided to rent bicycles to get around more of the city more easily. Of course we saw all the sites, climbed the Duomo, toured Santa Croce, and rode around the city. For dinner that night we went to a pizza place that was recommended by a colleague to be the “best pizza in Florence,” and I must say it did not disappoint! Semolina it’s called – really fantastic pizza and good service and also very hip and artistic décor!
So, in general Florence has always been my favorite Italian city and this time was no different! It did not disappoint! It is such a charming place, so much beauty, so much to see and really amazing food! The only thing is I would like to spend a more extended time there, and maybe even to stay in a place that is a little more in the countryside. Next time…
The next day we decided to rent a Vespa so we could tour the Tuscan hills in the surrounding area. I was a bit nervous at first, but this proved to be the best possible choice we could’ve made. While the initial working our way through the city was terrifying, once we got out of the urban center it was so worth it! We spent the day riding all around, seeing vineyards and generally beautiful countryside. We stopped for lunch and a glass of wine at one of the smaller wineries. It was just a really great time…possibly my favorite day…it’s a toss-up really between that and the first two days in Rome.
Our last great meal was our last night in Florence and it was by far the best meal of a whole vacation full of great meals! We went to a place I had researched called L’Osteria di Giovanni. The place had a very contemporary look to it, with the owner’s (Giovanni) private art collection on the walls. While we were there, they treated us like we were royalty, like we were restaurant critics or something! Impeccable service! The owner himself came and chatted with us for a while as we were eating! While we had the usual appetizer and primate courses, the highlight this time was the secondi – Florentine dry-aged steak! It was amazing! And they brought us just the right wine! We were so full we could barely have our after-dinner drink, but given that the owner brought us his special liquor and biscotti, we could not say no.
Below are a few pics from Florence…
Florence - Giotto's tower and the Duomo Florence - Duomo
Duomo & Baptistery - Florence
A view of Giotto's tower from on top of the Duomo, Florence 
Florence from surrounding hills - featuring Ponte Vecchio Bridge
Florence from the hills - featuring the DuomoA view from the Tuscan Hills surrounding Florence
A view in the Tuscan Hills on the outskirts of Florence 
A view in the Tuscan Hills on the outskirts of FlorenceTHE END OF THE TRIP
On our final day we travelled back to Rome, and took a hotel at the sea side near the airport. We were exhausted, but in all it was really an excellent trip! In fact, “P” wasn’t back in the US for a day before he was already dreaming of his next Italian adventure and plotting the time when he can retire to Tuscany! I think he caught the travel bug! As for me, I still love Florence (and Tuscany at large) and Rome as well, but would be happy to skip Venice next time in favor of either spending more time in one place, or of seeing more of the south. So much still to see…
So, in closing, If anyone is going to any of these cities in the near future and you want some recommendations for sites or restaurants or hotels, please get in touch. I’d be happy to suggest some! Sadly, because I took so long to write about all of this, I can’t recall the name of the place in Rome offhand, but can find it if you’re interested (all the more support for my argument that you should keep a daily journal while travelling! Even for ten days! When everyday is packed with so many experiences, all those things you swear you’ll never forget about day 1 fade in memory by day 10!)
Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos.
Xina
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