Prancercising Around the World

Coming to Lisbon has made me realize how much I loved Belgrade. It was not as sunny, not as beautiful, and not as old as Lisbon but it had something that Lisbon doesn't, despite the fact that Serbians fully employed the typical European indifference sometimes bordering on downright anger. In fact one of the rudest people I’ve met in all my travels worked at the tourism office in Belgrade. When I asked if they had tours of the Serbian Parliament in English she went on a tirade about how the Serbian parliament was a place to work and not a tourist destination. I did my best to refrain from pointing out that the two are not mutually exclusive, that transparency in governing is a hallmark of successful democracies, and that an increase in tourism would likely inject much needed money into the economy giving the legislators in that very building the ability to pass more legislation that would benefit the Serbian people (and help get them reelected). Anyway, when I said above that ...

At some point after arriving in Belgrade my back started hurting, probably from moving and then lugging 60 lbs of bags to and around Europe. So a few days later I went to a gym that had pilates so I could get some low impact exercise. In my first class I learned that although Yugoslavian communism was different from the Soviet style, Serbia still embodies the spirit of the gulag. In the first ten minutes all we did were lunges - non-stop lunges. There were no water breaks and no modifications. You did exactly what the comrade - I mean instructor - told you to do exactly the way she told you to do it. But I survived and was even able to get my multiple miles of walking in the next day despite the fact that my muscles were not really functioning. The problem with this gym, however, is that it's right around the corner from a place with excellent dark chocolate sorbet (see photo below of me more excitedly hoisting my sorbet than I would the actual olympic torch). So nat...

Something I was not at all prepared for before coming to Serbia was what an interesting recent history they have - and I mean recent history as in when my parents were alive and when I was alive. It was the largest part of Yugoslavia, which was a federation that included many of the Balkan nations that rose to global significance during the Cold War era and led the non-aligned movement of countries that were neither on the US or the Soviet side. A guy named Tito led Yugoslavia for close to 40 years, keeping the union together and the warring sides of the Cold War at bay by sheer force of personality. Many loved him but ultimately he was a brutal socialist leader who did not allow for any sort of representative system of governance. In 1980 Tito died and Yugoslavia collapsed with the various areas all claiming independence. It was the Balkan equivalent of if Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all left the United Kingdom, leaving just England on its own. Since then the form...

A few days into my month in Belgrade I had a day that could probably only happen on a crazy trip like the one I'm on. It started with lunch. I had plans to meet up with a friend of a friend of a friend - an American citizen living in Belgrade. I wanted to find out how Belgrade living compared to living in the US. I knew we would be friends when within 45 minutes of meeting up he compared me to Hermione Granger. Although she is a fictional teenage witch I don't know if I've ever been so flattered by a comparison. After lunch we went on an impromptu tea tour of Belgrade. I had my first turkish tea and the Serbian American told me all about how after living abroad he can no longer live in the US. He's tired of the blinders that many Americans have when it comes to the rest of the world. And I can't say I haven't felt the same. After the tea tour he was going to meet an acquaintance for beers and invited me along. When we arrived my new best friend introduce...

Within the first few days of arriving in Belgrade I had two surprise food encounters. The first was when I bought what I thought were pretzel sticks but to my surprise inside was peanut butter. Similarly I ordered "rolled chicken" from a questionably translated menu to find that they were rolled in...bacon. Weirdly these two events represent my general experience in Belgrade. It's a city full of hidden gems and it will certainly surpass your expectations especially if, like me, you didn't have any. I was surprised how much I enjoy the people, the history, and even the overwhelmingly grey streets that were often lined with mature trees. The people aspect is partly due to a fourth-degree Belgrade connection that I'll discuss in my next post and part is due to the two city leads we had in Belgrade. The program I'm traveling with set us up with two local points of contact. I mentioned one in my last post - the one who seems to be always impersonating a 19th ...