I hitched a ride from the Serbian-Bulgarian border. I planned to be in Nis, Serbia before the sunset, but it's already nightfall and I'm in a small town called Pirot, still 75 kilometers from Nis.
I'm dining on a traditional 'gurmanska pljeskavica' (Serbian cheeseburger) and a not-so-traditional Coca-Cola. The old man who picked me up, Dusan, just paid for my meal with one of the fattest rolls of Serbian Dinars I have ever seen. I estimate its worth at at least 100 American dollars. He's waving the money around to let the world to know he has just paid for the Amerikan's dinner. I remember I'm not in Latin America where such an act might get you robbed.
Southern Serbia (and the Balkans in general) operates on a different wavelength from the rest of the world. Only in Nis do I see people spend a 12 hour day drinking the same cup of coffee while talking about all the things they have to do, need to do, should do, could do...without ever actually doing them. In neighboring Bosnia this has a name, 'cief,' which loosely translates as 'doing nothing and loving it.' This sounds more like the laid-back 'mañana' attitude of Latin American countries such as my current home of Costa Rica. However the Balkans has managed to create an equally laid-back, but more sophisticated culture, around something which is not supposed to relax you - a cup of coffee.
I blame the evil tourism industry. Since I live in Costa Rica, I use it as the obvious example. Costa Rica has marketed and sold the expression 'Pura Vida' as THE way of encompassing the people's friendly, relaxed attitude towards life. This place is sold as a peaceful, military-free country with gorgeous beaches and perfect sunny weather where nothing goes wrong. They don't mention the criminals who prey on tourists, the tourists who prey on prostitutes, the trash and piss-smells in the streets and the fact that it rains 11 months out of the year.
While it is true that Costa Ricans are happy and friendly, that's only true if you talk about happy, touristy things. If you take the conversation beyond the weather, they turn out to be as conservative, deeply religious and closed-minded as your average American Southern Baptist Republican. Despite me tolerating criticism daily about 'gringos' and capitalist USA, if I criticize Costa Rica I'm usually told to, "go back to your own country if you don't like it. (see Youtube comments.) Sound familiar? Yeehaw!
The Balkan countries of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, (and Kosovo depending on who you talk too) have stunning mountains and beaches, nice weather and friendly people who will often invite you into their homes like family. Unfortunately tourists still see this region as a war-torn, poverty-stricken place full of violent, genocidal war criminals.
When my nice Serbian friends travel through Europe, they hear supposedly intelligent people call them 'war-criminals' and 'racists' because of the actions of a few powerful people with evil ideas. Oh well...such is history. Germans still have to apologize when they get 'too patriotic' at international football games because some politically sensitive, whiny pricks start throwing out the word 'Nazi.' I don't care. I was cheering for Deutschland at the Eurocup 2012.
But I digress...
I watched the elderly Dusan wandering around the gas station parking lot and wonder how he could be a war criminal. He was beyond laid-back, and the fact that he couldn't speak English didn't stop him from sharing his whole life with me. We had already stopped by his house to move furniture, finished a Serbian dinner on his tab and had coffee at a local cafe that was owned by his son who had lived in Chicago for some years. His son was 'Americanized' and had explained to his father that although I appreciated the hospitality, it was 8 o'clock at night and I had somewhere else to go.
Dusan was now soliciting rides for me from truck drivers in the gas station. His son said I was in a hurry; but Dusan couldn't be hurried. He strolled from truck to truck seemingly without purpose, and yet somehow managed to find a ride for me within 10 minutes. He passed me his number and told me to call him when I arrived in Nis...and that I always had a home with his family if I was ever in Pirot. The same crushing, sad feeling I had had with Maria in the Ukraine - knowing I would never see someone again - came over me.
An hour later I was at the riverside amphitheater in Nis, singing Gogol Bordello, drinking heavily and partying with my friends as if we had never missed the past year together.
I'm dining on a traditional 'gurmanska pljeskavica' (Serbian cheeseburger) and a not-so-traditional Coca-Cola. The old man who picked me up, Dusan, just paid for my meal with one of the fattest rolls of Serbian Dinars I have ever seen. I estimate its worth at at least 100 American dollars. He's waving the money around to let the world to know he has just paid for the Amerikan's dinner. I remember I'm not in Latin America where such an act might get you robbed.
 |
| "Ciefing" in Mostar, Bosnia |
I blame the evil tourism industry. Since I live in Costa Rica, I use it as the obvious example. Costa Rica has marketed and sold the expression 'Pura Vida' as THE way of encompassing the people's friendly, relaxed attitude towards life. This place is sold as a peaceful, military-free country with gorgeous beaches and perfect sunny weather where nothing goes wrong. They don't mention the criminals who prey on tourists, the tourists who prey on prostitutes, the trash and piss-smells in the streets and the fact that it rains 11 months out of the year.
While it is true that Costa Ricans are happy and friendly, that's only true if you talk about happy, touristy things. If you take the conversation beyond the weather, they turn out to be as conservative, deeply religious and closed-minded as your average American Southern Baptist Republican. Despite me tolerating criticism daily about 'gringos' and capitalist USA, if I criticize Costa Rica I'm usually told to, "go back to your own country if you don't like it. (see Youtube comments.) Sound familiar? Yeehaw!
The Balkan countries of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, (and Kosovo depending on who you talk too) have stunning mountains and beaches, nice weather and friendly people who will often invite you into their homes like family. Unfortunately tourists still see this region as a war-torn, poverty-stricken place full of violent, genocidal war criminals.
 |
| Horrible, war-torn former Yugoslavia |
But I digress...
I watched the elderly Dusan wandering around the gas station parking lot and wonder how he could be a war criminal. He was beyond laid-back, and the fact that he couldn't speak English didn't stop him from sharing his whole life with me. We had already stopped by his house to move furniture, finished a Serbian dinner on his tab and had coffee at a local cafe that was owned by his son who had lived in Chicago for some years. His son was 'Americanized' and had explained to his father that although I appreciated the hospitality, it was 8 o'clock at night and I had somewhere else to go.
Dusan was now soliciting rides for me from truck drivers in the gas station. His son said I was in a hurry; but Dusan couldn't be hurried. He strolled from truck to truck seemingly without purpose, and yet somehow managed to find a ride for me within 10 minutes. He passed me his number and told me to call him when I arrived in Nis...and that I always had a home with his family if I was ever in Pirot. The same crushing, sad feeling I had had with Maria in the Ukraine - knowing I would never see someone again - came over me.
An hour later I was at the riverside amphitheater in Nis, singing Gogol Bordello, drinking heavily and partying with my friends as if we had never missed the past year together.
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