Uzice

I left Belgrade for Uzice, which is close to the border of Bosnia.  Nikola had a CouchSurfing friend, Zoran, who could host me.

Zoran was 37.  He brought me back to his place, which was the quintessential bachelor pad.  Billiard table, leather furniture, playboys and maxims stuffed in a cabinet, lots of electronics with satellite tv, loads of media (dvds, cds, ..).  He also slept in a king-sized bed.  Empty.  And his bathroom had a dolphin theme.  Even seashells and sand in the toilet seat.  Plus his couches were all this deep sea blue.  His parents lived below him and his brother above him.

It was Saturday night, so we went into town to meet up with his friends.  They were cool guys.  Also older bachelors.  I got to like this one guy named Mug.  He thought I looked like the young Charlton Heston.

We went to a club.  Electronic beats.  Young crowd.  Probably about 20 years younger than the guys I was hanging out with.  Zoran had reserved a place at the bar.  We hung out there eating peanuts, drinking, yelling into each other’s ears, and acting like we were having a great time.  Zoran was mostly playing with his phone, like he was getting a lot of text messages or something.  We were there until 4am.  Long night.

The next morning I got up at about 11am.  I didn’t know where Zoran was, so I browsed through his dvd collection.  I was happy to find he had a large collection of really bad action movies, including a few Seagals.  I watched Out For A Kill.  Seagal as an award-winning archaelogical professor.  So good.  So shitty.  After finishing it, I realized Zoran was still sleeping.  He finally got up at about 3pm.  Then we went downstairs and his mom fed us.

Zoran and I went to the local soccer team’s game.  He felt it was important to show me that he knew everyone and that he got VIP seating.  Actually we stood.  It was free though, so that was cool.

It was his birthday, and I was included at his dinner which was really nice.  I liked his friends too.  Only one woman.  The girlfriend of one of his friends.  The conversation was almost entirely Serbian, although they took a break sometimes to give me a summary in English.  It was a unique experience to be left totally out of a conversation.

I stayed another night, and the next day he took me into town and told me about how he likes knowing people here.  “Everyone knows me.  I run the radio station so everyone knows who I am.  When I go to Belgrade, I sometimes feel lonely.”  A big fish in a small pond.  We walked around town and he waved to a bunch of people, and made little comments as we passed them by.  Mr. Popularity.

I left that afternoon to try to get to Sarajevo that night.  However, I got stranded at Visegrad, which is just over the border into Bosnia.  I tried hitchhiking but it was getting late and dark.  I caved and got a motel for the night.  15 euro.  I walked around the town which was really small, had some bread and bananas and water, and then returned to sleep.  I stayed up a little watching Austin Powers.  I remember liking that movie.

I got free breakfast from the motel the next morning.  I ordered sausages.  They came out with hot dogs and mustard on a plate.  I forged through that.  Tough.  Really disgusting.  Then I caught the bus to Sarajevo.

Belgrade

I made it to Belgrade for the last night of Beerfest.  I went alone because I had trouble meeting up with CouchSurfers, so it was a lonely experience.  I had beer from different booths, including a disgusting blueberry beer, and I watched some musical acts.  Then it got cold, and I got tired, so I left.

Belgrade is at the junction of the Danube and Sava rivers.  The fortress that overlooks the rivers was prime property and so there’s been a lot of conflict for controllership.

 This is a tower in the fortress.  And a Serbia burger, pljeskavica, which was huge and had some weird toppings like “cream of milk.”  Great though.

 I spent some time on the main pedestrian walkway in Belgrade’s city center.  I saw so many beautiful girls walking by, so I just watched.  A lonely creep.  I don’t know what it is, maybe the slavic blood.  I talked to one, and it seems they don’t even know they’re hot, so they don’t have that annoying “too good for you” attitude a lot of American girls have.  Plus, being American, there’s already a sense of intrigue working to your advantage.  Although, Serbian-American political relations might work to your disadvantage.

And on the right, an illegal street vendor.  There are lots of these in Belgrade.  Older people sitting around all day with a blanket-full of crap.  Shitty toys, wristbands, pens, keychains, batteries. They would wrap up their blanket every once in a while when a cop came by.

I visited the Nikola Tesla museum. A Serbian hero, he invented alternating current. I remember also that there’s a unit of measurement called the Tesla. Something about magnetism, maybe. Here’s the original AC powered motor which is the base for most motors we use today.

As I walked by a square, I heard Justin Timberlake, and got excited. There was a large crowd gathered. I didn’t see JT so I asked what was going on. People were gathering to set a new Guiness world record: the largest number of people to play monopoly simultaneously. This was exciting. History being written. I got a free t-shirt too!

I found a great hostel called The New Inn, which was centrally located, and offered great hospitality: free use of washing machine, and free internet. I hadn’t washed my clothes in a washing machine for weeks, so I availed of this offer. I have been starved of internet, so I over-indulged on it, spending hours in the middle of the day when no one was around the hostel. Mostly doing job search and prep stuff for Budapest.

At the hostel, I saw the movie Zeitgeist. It’s a blow-your-mind documentary which puts loads of holes in Christianity, suggests the US government in some way organized 9/11 so that the country would be “United We Stand” against a vague enemy of “terror,” and provides other thoughts about how we pay an unconsitutional income tax towards an ever-increasing national debt that’s pocketed by these “men behind the curtain” who own the federal reserve. It’s a very interesting and really heavy documentary that makes you think, but it’s so amazing and mind-blowing that it’s probably too wow to be true.

There is much more to my experience in Serbia, but I have to wait until I get photos from my good friend Nikola, who hosted me during my stay.

Belgrade: Village Life

One CouchSurfer, Nikola, agreed to meet up with me for BeerFest. I waited by the fountain outside the Hyatt at 9:30pm, but he didn’t show.

The next day we decided we’d meet at the fountain in Republic Square at 7:30pm. I waited until 8pm. No one. I was feeling stupid for waiting around like a fool, so I went to an internet cafe and called Nikola. He said he’d be at the fountain in 5 minutes. So I ran back, and waited another 30 minutes like an idiot, and getting frustrated and angry about it. I even remember punching my hand, getting riled up about it. So I asked a girl if this fountain I was waiting at was Republic Square. No. Shit! I was waiting at the wrong place the whole time. So I ran back, and found Republic Square (easy and obvious — I’m an idiot), and then ran to call Nikola via Skype again. He was walking back home (a second time), but came back to meet me. We finally met after about 2 hours of waiting and being frustrated.

We walked around, had a drink, and talked. It was a good time, and he offered to have me stay at his place the following night. Great.

I hung around the hostel most of the day, working on my resume, using the internet, and cooking a 10-egg breakfast. Then I met up with Nikola at a fountain we had agreed upon as a meeting point. “Meeting at the fountain” became a joke between us because of the shitty time we had the night before trying to meet.
Nikola came with his girlfriend, Milica, who was really nice, and understood English really well, but was shy about speaking it. We exchanged lots of Da’s and Ne’s and Hvala’s and lots of hand gesturing.

Milica dropped Nikola and me off at his grandma’s place.  She cooked us some food and we shared some of the Hungarian palinka I got from Adrian in Romania.  Alcohol.  Great for bonding.

We stayed up for a while talking and then went to sleep in the living room as the radio played Serbian music.

Milica drove me, Nikola, and Grandma to their village south of Belgrade.  We stopped at Nikola’s uncle and aunt’s place.  They lived on a small farm where they had some sheep and grew their own vegetables and fruit.  They were very welcoming.  I smiled a lot and said a few of my Serbian words.  “Lepo” : Nice.   As we were eating, the aunt was sitting on a chair outside the table, waiting on us, making sure we had everything we needed.  That’s the traditional way.

Grapes and peaches from their garden.

The uncle brought out some of his home-brewed slivovice, a plum brandy.  He kept filling up my glass.  Ziveli!

The aunt served us some lamb they had slaughtered, along with pepper/tomato dressing (really delicious).

Some of the tomatoes from their garden.  Huge.  Tomatoes in Southern Europe (Greece, Macedonia, Serbia) were beautiful.  Really tasty.  So sweet and juicy you could eat it by itself.

I loved meeting Nikola’s family.  It may have been my favorite time in Serbia.  The uncle told me that I was welcome back anytime.

A small house near Nikola’s village house.  Tiny car.

Milica, Grandma, Nikola, and me went out to a restaurant that served traditional Serbian food.  Look at the tomatoes!  Egg, ham, cheese, and this butter stuff which was delicious.

These guys were playing in the restaurant.  I wish I could have sung along.  Everyone else knew the words.  Really lively stuff, but then they left, apparently because no one was giving them tips.  That was disappointing.  I thought they were playing to have a good time, but it was for money.

Me, Nikola, and Grandma at the restaurant.  I snuck away to pay for the bill.  I had tried on other occasions, but I was always caught and they’d pick it up.  I was happy to do it and they were pleased too.  A small payback for an excellent experience.

At a different restaurant, I was given a recommendation.  The name is translated as “Every girl’s dream.”  Notice the shape.

We went to a cave to see these primitives starting a fire.

Having fun.

Just before we left back for Belgrade, Nikola and I went to get some apples.  They grow on trees!!  And here’s the lane that leads to Nikola’s village house.

I had an excellent time with Nikola.  Time away from the tourist track.  I was able to live like a Serbian.  The hospitality was incredible.

Job Hunt in Budapest

I’m in Belgrade still, and love it here.  I’ve found a great CouchSurfer named Nikola who has let me stay with him for a few days.

In the meantime, I have been thinking seriously about getting a job in Budapest.  I loved the city, and I met some great people there.  And hey, my dear old high school friend Attila is there too.  I got a job lead from a CouchSurfer, Andras, which seems to fit well with my skills.  Here’s the description:

PEC is an international manufacturing technology provider with offices in Belgium, Hungary, the United States and Hong Kong. PEC provides factory automation and industrial IT solutions (MWare Manufacturing Execution Systems – MES , IT Hardware).

For the Budapest office we are looking for:

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERS

Main tasks:
These employees will be part of our Hungarian team, developing and implementing O.O. MES and quality testing applications.
We are looking for young professionals, having a university degree and being able to fluently communicate in English.

The needed specific skills include one or several of the following:
OPERATING SYSTEMS: Microsoft .NET Platforms (Windows 2000/2003 – XP – CE)
PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT: C++, C#, .NET, Web Services, JAVA
DATABASE: ORACLE, SQL Sever
METHODOLOGY: UML, OO

We will be offering a complete package, including an exciting job, challenging career opportunities and a competitive salary.

I’ve updated my resume, and crafted a cover letter.  We’ll see what happens.

Belgrade Beerfest

I’m cutting my time in Macedonia short so that I can make it to Belgrade for the last day of the Belgrade Beerfest.  I’m trying to arrange meeting up with some of the CouchSurfers there.  It should be fun.