Back in Belgrade!

Last weekend back in Belgrade was just great! The reason for going there right now was that I had a ticket for the Madonna concert Monday, but of course that was just a perfect excuse for going there again. I haven’t been back since October 2006, so it was a long time ago. As an extra bonus my wonderful friends had decided to arrange the now somewhat traditional boat party this Saturday, which of course was absolutely fabulous! The party and the concert are better described in pictures so that will come later, but one question I both asked myself and was asked to me several times is; what has changed since last time you were here?



On the first look it looked very much the same. Of course you see some new shops, others that have closed, some new restaurants and bars and even a few completely new shopping malls. Some housed may have been renovated, but many still look rather shabby, in their charming Belgrade way. But after a while you start to notice small differences. One new thing that I noticed in the streets and the parks, were the green boxes for dog litter and plastic bags to take it up with. With the amount of dog shit that used to be found on the streets this is really an improvement. (if they are used!). Another thing was that you now can pay with credit cards in almost every shop. They even had little terminals were you had to give the pin in even the smallest shops. Amazing!! I even thought the air was a little less polluted and that I saw less really shitty cars and more modern ones. All this taken together gives the feeling that Belgrade has become a little bit more modern and “normal”.



The most revolutionary however was the evolution that the men had gone through! I saw several men that actually were nicely dressed!! Not fancy, but maybe just a pair of nice jeans, shoes and a cool t-shirt or shirt. That is not so many sneakers-training pants and leather jackets as I remember it. That is really good. I mean the Serbian men could be really good looking and handsome, but they haven’t given a damn about trying or giving it an effort. They have just been dragging along in their probably very comfortable “uniform”, but comfortable is not reason enough. I mean how damn comfortable do you think the 10 cm stilettos are?! Not very, nor much of other kinds of women’s fashion either, but still we wear it because it looks good. So it is about time men make an effort as well. The most chocking experience I had this weekend however was that a Serbian man actually flirted with me!! That NEVER happened once in the year I lived here (nor my visits after that!). It was even a waiter in a café, maybe even more chocking!!

Serbian Chaos

Just saw the pictures from the huge demonstration in Belgrade. Saw how people managed to break in to the US Embassy and even set fire to one of the offices. The whole street outside the embassy was completely covered with people. It felt very strange! The street is one of the main arteries in Belgrade and it was my way to work every day for a year, and I passed there on my way to tennis, to the horseback riding, to the jogging, to the beach, to the airport and, yeah almost everywhere I went I passed there.

Of course the happenings came as no surprise. Everyone knew this could/would happen as Kosovo declared independence and the demonstration was announced in advance. And I have seen many pictures from big and sometimes violent demonstrations from Belgrade before, but the year I lived there it was very peaceful and it was one of the happiest in my life. Therefore it feels so strange and so sad. The whole situation is so sad. I am sad for Serbia. Not for losing Kosovo, but for making so many wrong choices, take the wrong turn at so many crossings and for putting itself in impossible situations.

Climatic travels

Last week I made a short guest appearance at Circus Belgrade again. It was good fun to see all the old friends and familiar (and new) places. Unfortunately a party-induced cold prevented me from fulfilling my promise to get very drunk, behave badly and cause a scandal before I went back, but nevertheless it was fun. Worse even was that the cold made me stop the running at Ada, before finishing the whole lap! I am sorry, Wout! That will never happen again! (What was your excuse Sepp?)

What did not improve my health situation was the climatic travelling this trip also meant. Having recently come from Africa to Sweden I had barely got myself adjusted to the cool autumn temperatures when I landed in a sunny Belgrade and 27 degrees. Guess whether the winter clothes I brought felt appropriate or not!

During my stay there it got a bit colder, but that still didn’t prepare me for what I met coming back to Sweden again. Snowstorm with bad traffic chaos! I wasn’t the only one however that was taken by surprise. It is funny, but in a country that every year suffers long, cold winters with lot of snow, people and authorities are still taken by surprise when the snow comes. This time I understand that the meteorologists had even said it would come now. We used to laugh at reports of snow in countries like Spain or Italy, where two centimetres of snow caused chaos and complete standstill, but we are almost there too now!