Serbia/Srbija

This is how you write Belgrade (Beograd) in Crillic. The city was beautiful and I can't wait to go back in summer to see its beauty in a different season. I went with my friend Irena. She is a Serbian volunteering in my town in Romania for the European Voluntary Service. I stayed at her apartment with her mom, dad, brother Boris (visiting from London) and her dog Mitar.
On my first real day in Serbia her brother Karlo took us to a traditional Serbian restaurant. The food was amazing. This is some cheese on the left and Zacousca on the right.

This is the meat platter. It was all really good. I actually ate placenta!!! It is the big round thing in the middle stuffed with meat. We stopped here after a long day of driving. Karlo had to go to Macedonia to pick up another American so he took us with him so we could visit Milena before we got to Belgrade. Milena was another volunteer with us in Romania but went back home after her sister died. Her family was lovely and very welcoming to have extra girls in the house. It was very sad. I learned that in the Orthodox religion when someone dies, their soul is still alive for 40 days. The family must go to the cemetery to visit the grave everyday until the 40th when there is a celebration in the name of the deceased person. They also light a candle for the person everyday and feed her. They always leave her light on in her bedroom with the door open. It was really sad. Milena is so strong, having to deal with the police and funeral house. In Macedonia when someone is killed (like in a car accident) the driver is responsible for the death and since she broke her neck and then the driver moved her, he should be in trouble. Well this is Eastern Europe (or the Balkans) and things are corrupt here. Which ever family has the most money for bribes and fees basically wins. This is the Macedonian flag.

Karlo runs an NGO called YAZAS in Belgrade. It is the best anti-AIDS organization in Yugoslavia. When we got to Belgrade he took us to a famous Serbian rock star's concert called Bajaga. It was amazing because we were in one of the penthouse suites with about 15 others.

There was also a singer there called Babidoll. Both singers were about 50 and famous for a long time in Serbia.

After the concert we went to a really trendy bar and the band showed up. I wanted to take a picture but I guess in Serbia it is really rude to do that and so that is why the back feels like they can go out. It was really nice to meet them but it was a really old crowd there. haha.

The one on the left is Karlo and then Craig, the American. Karlo and Boris, the other brother are 36 and 37. It was really nice because they took us out everywhere...and paid for everything!!

Sightseeing

Some Indian guys playing really good music in the Center.

There was so much grafitti all over the city. I loved this one.

This is the Art Museum in the center.

THis is a pretty, cobblestone center street.

These are some of the bombed out buildings from the 1999 war when NATO decided to bomb for 3 months. These are military buildings. Irena told me that it is too expensive to tear the buildings down so they just guard them like they do the normal ones. The Chinese embassy was also bombed and later said to be a mistake. Irena said that there were a lot of "Mistake" bombs and one of her best friends died while hiding in the country side. It is amazing to hear actuall stories of people who experience life changing moments like this. The American embassy has cement blocks surrounding it and the windows are now made out of cement. It was great to see it...but like normal my camera was misbehaving!!!!

This is the view out of a friend Boijan's apartment.

Having fun with the guitar.

More fun hitting Boijan over the head!! Boijan works for the secret police and even gave me a book from them.

Irena

This is the Cruise Bar on the Sava River we went to a few times. It's really nice and has really fun bartenders throwing bottles and glasses around. The Sava River runs through Belgrade and is really large and nice. The Sava and Danube rivers also cross and meet in Belgrade. There were a lot of boat bars on the rivers. We went to another one also where a drunk guy fell over board and drowned. The bar cleared out pretty fast after that but we got to stay because we were with the secret police. Fun Fun!! They even let me keep my pepper spray when our bags were searched. Very illegal in Belgrade, I found out that night.