Moved East

Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Hi Aleksandra, for some reason, I've only just seen your message. I'll email you right after I've written this post!

How is everyone?

I've managed to organise quite a bit more, which is good. Only six weeks off now - eeep!

A pratical issue that is really bothering me (as I can only take one suitcase, and that has to include a whole load of stuff thesis related). What is the weather like in Belgrade March - May? I know that it'll be really hot in June and July!

Does anyone else have problems with people at home thinking Serbia is "dangerous"? I'm having a billion conversations a day following this format:

me: "I'll be off to Serbia to do my fieldwork soon!"
other person: "Serbia? Why?"
me: (some long waffle about thesis)
op: *assumes a worried face* "but isn't it dangerous there? What about everything happening in Kosovo?"
me: "Well. Belgrade should be ok. I'm not going to Kosovo unless it's ok!"
op: *not looking convinced*
me: "look, you can check up on me via facebook, and i'll email you the link of a Serbian newspaper so you can get more detailed news"
op: *still looking worried*

To be honest, this conversation making me tired. And it's starting to make me worry as well. It does look rather set to be a politically tense spring.

nspic · Joined: 06 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Novi Sad

hi,

i am kidding, but you are right. i get it the other way. oh you are a serb!? ... and then i get the look ... you monsters! the good thing is that i taught serbian to SF soldiers in the US and had the chance to change quite a few oppinions and minds.

march is rainy - may is better and warmer. but really, no one can tell with the weather being so inconsistent in the past few years.

i am having a very difficult time here and am thinking about calling it quits. the way things are now, i am not sure that my husband would be too happy and we would only end up terminating our stay sooner than planned.

the spring will be tense, i hope the radicals do not win the elections, that will set serbia back a few years, not that it is ahead of anything yet, but it would get a bit worse again. oh, and the corruption, and so openly displayed. blah, blah, blah ... i could go on forever and complain, but i have come here to make a difference and i cannot seem to get through.

i highly furstrated and disappointed,

aleksandra

p.s. on the bright side, business is picking up!

markowe · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:54 am Post subject:

Hi Laura,

It seems like a long time ago I was in your position, that fateful day looming when I would have to take suitcase in hand and head out into the great unknown..! It's got to be done though - nothing ventured nothing gained!

I am very familiar with the "conversation" you quoted! We all are who live out here. All I can say is I have spent 12 years here and have never once truly feared for my life, even in the crazy Milosevic years. Serbia is extremely safe in terms of crime and random military action - but then your friends are just not informed about the situation here. Kosovo is a million miles from Belgrade and there is no immediate reason for anything happening in Kosovo to affect Serbia proper.

But then I had the same thing when I was in Russia in 93 (94?) when one of the coup attempts happened - the way CNN portrayed it, it must have seemed like all-out civil war on the streets of Moscow...

And don't let Aleksandra's pessimism bother you either Smile

Her reaction is fairly common for Serbs returning to the West from Serbia - the country can seem a mess when you have lived abroad for a while and the dismay is all the greater when it is your own country, which you thought you knew. You have to accept certain things philosophically - the bureacracy, the corruption, the occasional chaos and try to see the underlying "order" behind it! Try to "go with the flow" somehow - doesn't necessarily mean you AGREE or LIKE what's going on. But life DOES go on - yes, even if the Radicals get in (p! p! p! to use a Serbian expression!) - and in my opinion they will NOT be starting any wars in Kosovo, despite all their bluff.

As for the weather - yes, spring is tricky! I wouldn't imagine it will be all that cold, but it could be pretty wet. If you were looking to lighten the load a LITTLE, then you could probably dispense with the real winter stuff. But then having said that, there will probably be a metre of snow!

Good luck packing, and perhaps we'll meet in Belgrade soon!

Mark
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Rene · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Belgrade

So is a dutch guy also welcome to join in Smile

The name is Rene, moved to Belgrade in November 2007 to join in with an IT company (doo) we already had going on here in Serbia. After going trough the usual hassle when relocating countries i am finally getting a bit more relaxed in mind and trying to actually fit in this country. Which is rather tough as expected, i don't speak the language and some of the people you come around with in stores etc. look at you like you just parked your spaceship infront of the store as i try to talk in English to them (with here and there a blended word of serbian, but my vocabulary is about 10 words so far Wink

)

nspic · Joined: 06 Dec 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Novi Sad

welcome rene,

well didn't they tell you to leave your spaceship at home? Very Happy

i think that we all somehow fit in here because we either have similar backgrounds or cultures and we feel out of place.

i would love to have a little get-together for all of us of one sort or another. this seems to be a place where good-ol'-boys rule and having a support group to find ways to live with it or work around might be very helpful to some of us. I am very thankful that mrak has created forum i just don't know how he has handled this change of surroundings and culture.

mark, how did you deal with it? how long did it take you to adapt? have you adapted? did you have to assimilate, or have you simply learned to tolerate?

rene,
i find the biggest challenges are in the business world. where as my personal dealings are usually very pleasant, the business transaction are painful to the extent that if i can find a way of working around dealing with local firms or businesses, i will. as you can read, i am frustrated already, and i have only been here for about 2 months. leaving germany and starting work in the USA wasn't easy either, but it was a learning experience and it was easier to adapt to then here. I feel like i have taken the time machine and turned the knob to 1995, in a lot of areas involving daily living.

laura,
i haven't forgotten about you and the teaching material i have promised, but i keep taking on projects and putting personal; things on the back burner. as a matter of fact, i will try to do it right now and send you some material. I looked up the book you have used, can you tell me on what page you left off? maybe you would prefer to go back a few chapters to refresh, but if i knew where then i can send you material based on that information.

signing off for now. greetings and cheers to all,

aleksandra

Rene · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Belgrade

Well our big advantage is that we don't do bussiness with local companies at all. Our main market is west europe, the Netherland, Belgium and Germany.

But indeed, i ran into some problems with the local Seat dealer here in Belgrade after somebody tried to steal my car from the parking area. I told them specificaly what to do and how to do it, but yet the pride of the head mechanik prevented them from actually doing what i asked them to do. The only thing happend was a lot of complaining that one wire was broken. You would imagine that a official dealer is able to fix that, but unfortunnaly the rather sell new cars then fixing them. Luckely a friend of friend knew a very good locksmith here in Zemun specialized in electronics, immobilizers and lock fixing and he fixed in 5 hours what the dealer could not fix in 8 days. Those little things happen a lot here, people are very good at saying nema problema, but they actually mean "I have no idea, but your going to pay anyway"

Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Welcome Rene. And how fustrating about the car! What did you end up doing?

Alex - nema problema! Just send over the stuff when you can, I plan to save it all on my laptop so I can access it whenever. I've now signed up for a language school - that is to say, I've filled in a form, and now haven't heard back from them! I plan to do one month crash course to (a) occupy myself while I set up interviews (b) learn enough to get by (c) to have something to DO as soon as I arrive, in an attempt to combat any sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

I'm also collecting all the documents required for my visa. The embassy here swear that it's easier to sort a visa out in Serbia, but something tells me that it's not a simple process. I appear to have to pay all sorts of taxes because I'm a student, and seem to need a billion bits of evidence. What will happen is that I'll collect all this stuff that I think I need, and I just know that I'll turn up and apply for a visa and be told that I've not got some critical document. Any tips from UK passport holders?

A meet up would be great.

markowe · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: Welcome to Rene!

Hi,

I was on a trip back to the UK so was a bit out of touch. But just want to say a warm welcome to Rene - yes, I think we can squeeze a Dutchman in Smile

I'll try and catch up with the thread once I have caught up with everything else that I missed.

Talk to you guys soon,

Mark (admin)

P.S. A meet-up sounds good! Why, us Novosadists might even venture into Belgrade!
P.P.S. Adam, I got your teabags Smile

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adam562 · Joined: 18 Oct 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Just thought I'd say a big hello to the new forum members!

I need to catch up with the forum and then reply if there's anything I can offer to the discussion.

A meet up does sound fantastic, as does that Tetley Tea, Mark! Thanks!! Very Happy

Adam
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Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Hi all! It's been a bit sleepy here of late, so I thought I'd just pop in and update you all about my preparations. That is, assuming that you are interested!

I appear to have got lucky, and have been offered two rooms in shared houses/flats. I'm still tryign to make up my mind about which one to go for, as they are very different. What do you think?

a) City centre flat, to share with a guy who's working in Albania most of the time. It's a fantastic location and very well priced. No internet though, which is a bit of a bummer. I'd also have to move out in the middle of my fieldwork, and would be on my own a lot.

b) Room in a house, a friend of a friend's mother. Very cheap and includes internet. Quite far out (Zemun), but it would mean that there's someone looking out for me while i do what is basically very lonely fieldwork.

I've spent two days dithering between the two, and have been completly unable to make up my mind. I think i am now going to ask the guy in (a) if i can take the flat for one month, and see how I get on. In that first month, I'll be at a language school every day, so it'll be nice to be close to that and all the people doing the course. Then, I can see how I feel, but would probably move out to the sticks for the rest of my fieldwork. unless... you guys ave any better offers?!

Frantically trying to finish off all my work here, and sort out my house in the UK - I leave next week. And haven't even had time to think about packing! Eeep!

L

markowe · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:42 am Post subject:

Hi, yes, we are a bit slow round here, but I was wondering how you were getting on.

Quite a dilemma about flat-sharing - you could always try to find a third option!

a) dunno how you feel about sharing with some guy you don't know - your choice of course. The lack of Internet is definitely a major downside - speaking personally, there is no way I could settle for that because of my work. I simply can't work without Internet access. City centre is tempting though, of course.

b) Zemun IS a bit out in the sticks, but it could be as little as 15 minutes by bus into the centre and the Internet is certainly a plus.

Your idea sounds like a sensible one - commit to just a month and then once you get here you will probably find lots more options opening up to you.

Well, all the best with the move, and of course we could plan a little meet-up in the near future!

Mark
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Rene · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Belgrade

i lived in Zemun for the first 4 months and the connection into town was pretty okay. Drive the number 15 bus to zeleni and your in town within 20 minutes (or 40 minutes between 5 and 7 in the evening because of traffic jams)

Zemun might not be centar, it's a pretty ok area to live in. Really quiet, yet it has everything you need in it's own little centar. Pretty close to river and not as smoggy as center. I stayed in a flat in Zeleni last year for a month, but that was really not my cup a tea. To crowded and taxi's/bussed testing their horn 24/7

My friend lives near central station, pretty okay area. Lousy parking and there is also traffic round the clock.

Myself, last week i moved into my own rented apartment in Benzaniska, just accross the road in zemun (near Merkur for those who know the area)

I looked at 9 or 10 houses, and the where in the range from being small (25m2 to so greasy you could fry an egg in the chair) The place i now found is pretty neat, a bit on the big site but for a while i will do just fine.

Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Hi all

Just thought that I'd drop by and let you know how my first week went!

Lots of ups and downs (I was warned about that, everyone tells me that fieldwork is the strangest thing ever, partly because you are not doing an organised programme/have a regular job)

ups: I've met a lot of really nice people in the last week, I have a pretty decent room (very glad I went for the Zemun choice, particulary now I've seen the other places), people who I have been trying to get hold of for months are now finally replying to my emails now I'm in the country, I like being in Belgrade, it has a good buzz.

Downs: Really, I didn't expect to burst into tears taking off from London. Finding out that Im the only person doing the language course (the others dropped out due to the events of last week) - that was a down because I was really hoping to meet people that way, but It's bound to be good for my Serbian, having two people teach me... and the final down is that I simply did not know enough Serbian to tell the guy yesterday who sold me a single tomato for 100 dinars that I knew he was ripping me off, can I have my money back please? Looking horrified and saying "skup" just seemed to result in a shrug. Bah.

Lovely day today, so I'm going to go and explore Zemun a little. We should all meet: the only question is BG or NS, and when!

markowe · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:05 am Post subject:

Hey, welcome to Belgrade! Or actually, Zemun, since its inhabitants like to emphasises that Zemun is NOT Belgrade. Wondered whether you had taken the plunge yet!

Yes, we all need to meet up asap and teach you the most useful phrases, such as "100 din for a &*%^&*^ tomato, you must be joking!" Actually, they are quite expensive this time of year, but not that expensive! It annoys me that there are people who have started to rip off foreigners (the Exit festival is another case in point) - people used to be fundamentally far more honest here, but I guess there are hawks in every big city...

Learning Serbian is definitely a priority - my wife pointed out that even if there is a hint of animosity towards Westerners, that all goes away when you speak Serbian with people, they immediately see you as an ally somehow. And they especially like the Irish too Smile

Oh and a tip that goes for any foreigners visiting Serbia, if you are asked, regardless of your actual opinion, unless you are talking with people you are sure you trust, Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbian territory. Now repeat after me...!

As for meeting up, I will be in Belgrade next Saturday around midday for the final exam of my interpreting course. I will have a ride back to Novi Sad, but could just stay in Belgrade and meet up? What do the others think? I have to hand something over to Adam too, so that would be an additional bird killed with the proverbial stone.
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Laura9654 · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 23

Well - I'm free this weekend, so that would be fine with me. What do the others think?