Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Fiddle Somewhere

Apparently, I'm becoming a fan of lazy mornings. Florian and David had business meetings this morning. Which meant, after a late night, I slept in and enjoyed a quiet morning. 

When David and Florian arrived back home, we went to lunch. David knows the owner of the restaurant we went to for dinner last night. So we went again today for lunch. Afterwards, Alex gave me a five minute tour of the buildings around the restaurant. Starting with the Catholic church. Since it is mostly a Orthodox area, it is rarely used and not super well kept. Nonetheless, beautiful. 

Next was the University. Alex told me it is specifically for agricultural studies. They have fields behind the school for tests and studies for the students. I asked Alex if there were a lot of people in the program. He said "They just repainted the school. So it must be doing well enough for that." 

Today we were doing countryside driving. It was about an hour out of Novi Sad.

As we got into the car, David gave me a "Kinder Surprise." This is a delicious chocolate with a plastic egg inside. In the plastic egg is a toy. It was fun and super tasty. Florian informed me not to try to bring some home. Apparently they are illegal in America due to choking hazards. The fine? $3,000 per egg. Feel free to write to your State Reps. 

To get to our goal in the countryside, you must go through small little towns - villages maybe? Since the boys were deep in a German/Serbian conversation, I gazed out the windows. To be honest, all I could think of was Fiddler on the Roof. Tevey and his horse drawn cart going slowly down the road. A church in the middle of every town. Old men sitting in front porches debating vivaciously. Small houses showing their years and telling their stories. I never even got out of the car, but I knew these people have seen history. Anyone who reads a short history of Serbia knows these are tough people. You get a sense of this in Novi Sad, but you see it written on the walls in the smaller villages. Crumbling walls show the hands of people rebuilding lives. Old tractors working the rich land under the sun show the pride and commitment of the people. And as children run happily down the dirty streets, they show the next generations ability to strive into the future. If you think about the history this land has seen, it's a bit overwhelming. At least it was for me. A place I never expected to be in has completely opened my eyes to a corner of the world. Amazing! 

Finally, we arrived. We tramped around through the mud and looked at it. The sun was beginning to set and lit the fields perfectly. I even found rose buds on a bush. 

After scraping the mud off our shoes, we began to head back. Florian needed a SIM card for his phone and Alex needed shirts. So we went to the "BIG Mall." I'm not going to lie. Definitely nicer than some malls I've been to. We all realized we were pretty hungry. So we went to the food court. There was a Serbian fast food restaurant. David ordered crepes for us all. Alex was going to McDonald's for shakes. Before I came to Europe, I promised I wouldn't go to McDonald's. It feels wrong. But as the boys insisted more and more, I knew I wasn't getting out of this. So I justified a milkshake by saying it's not food. However, the crepes masked any guilt I had. Not only filling and cheap, but every bite is mouthwatering. Just... Mmm. 

We walked around a bit more but finally headed home. David assured me tomorrow will be sightseeing. Should be full of good pictures and great memories! And for all the curious, the main singer last night was "Ceca." As always, thanks for reading, and love any comments! 





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