Diary of a British woman in Belgrade DAY 5 & 6

DAY 5

'čvarci' pork scratchings and 'sir' cheese

So, more shopping today. We went to Tempo, the big supermarket near Ada Ciganlija, Belgrade’s Lake, and did a big shop! On the way to Dragan’s mum’s place, we stopped at her local ‘pijac’ (open air market) called Vidikovac and bought yet more delicious food.

Baka Dana (Grandma Dana), Dragan’s mum, loves ‘čvarci’ (homemade pork scratchings) so we bought a huge bag for her. Dragan loves them too, but they’re not my cup of tea. He was relieved, there’s more for the two of them. We also bought some ‘pita sa višnjama’ (sour cherry pie with filo pastry), which was cooked in a round metal pan on hot coals. I took a photo of the pies cooking on the coals, which surprised the people working there.

There is also a tiled indoor section of the pijac, which has stalls selling cheese, ’kajmak’ (fermented milk butter), smoked meat and pastry. Filo pastry is a speciality here and still made by hand by some people. We bought fresh filo pastry and plan to make ’pita sa jabukama’ (apple pie). The lady selling the filo had a large photo of Putin on the wall and said we can only buy from her if we like Russia! Her son is living and working in Siberia.

Dragan has a relative who has a farm 40 miles away in a village where his father was born, who brings cheese and kajmak to sell at the pijac every Sunday. I have fond memories of a visit to that village when Aleks was a baby and Dragan’s parents used to spend summers on a small plot of land there. That particular summer was hot and I wandered off and started picking peppers from the veg patch on the plot. I only knew the toungue twister but had never picked a ’peck of peppers’ in my life. The peppers were big, deep red and lush. When I snapped them from their stalks it was a great feeling. I couldn’t stop! Dragan found me and said ’um darling, they’re not our peppers! A cousin is growing them here.’ For a split second I thought I could try and stick them all back on again, I didn’t want to upset my new parents-in-law! It all turned out fine and we ate some with BBQd meat later on.

Going back to Dragan’s relative, she sells cheese at the pijac at weekends (she’s 72). She kissed all 3 of us on the cheek 3 times and said ’oh lutko’ (which means ’doll’) to Aleks and gave him a cuddle. The cheese is all artisan, known as mladi (literally young - meaning mild) or stari (literally old – meaning mature). She tried to give Dragan some cheese to take home and for his mother, but he managed to evade her – this time. Dragan is very fond of her and promised to go and visit the family in the village. No more pepper picking though!

We bought a mountain of smoked beef and pork, which is deeply smokey, salty and dark. Wonderful for breakfast with ’paradajz’ (tomato) and olive oil from the Dalmatian Coast.

It’s very refreshing being the only tourist in Vidikovac Pijac. But to keep the prices down, I keep stum when we are buying goods from the stalls, because my English accent would invite higher prices.

DAY 6

A big day in Aleks’s life – today he went to school for the first time in Serbia. It was an early start 7.50am and his teacher met all 3 of us at the main entrance. She is very sweet and phoned us at 7.30am to say that she had been thinking about Aleks all weekend and how best to help him settle in. Dragan and I were very impressed with this. She only speaks a little bit of English and used Google translate to prepare some maths questions for Aleks.

In the foyer there is a large painting of Sveti Sava, the patron saint of education, by the stairs watching over the children. Children were arriving with their coats and backpacks, but they don’t have to wear uniform, which Aleks definitely approves of.

The school has an unusual name by British standards – ‘The School of the Defenders of Belgrade’. OK so we need to go carefully here, this does not mean that the school kids are the defenders of Belgrade! The school is right next to a park, which commemorates the fallen Serbian and Russian soldiers who liberated Belgrade toward the end of WW2. It is merely its location next to the park and cemetery of fallen liberators, which gives the school its name. With the propaganda that we were fed about Eastern Bloc countries by the West, this School’s name sounds strange to the Western ear.

Aleks had 4 lessons; PE, Maths, Serbian and ‘čuvari prirode’ (nature studies). Each class is 45 minutes long and there is a 5 minute break between classes. Halfway through the morning, there is a 25 minute break when Aleks had a sandwich and played football with his new friends.

Dragan and I picked him up at 12.30 and the class were with their teacher in the playground, playing a version of ‘stuck in the mud’ called ‘Jurke’. Aleks really enjoyed his first day at school and coped really well. He was chuffed to make some friends too.

Whilst Aleks was at school, Dragan and I stole some time together and went for a walk through the city. It was cold, windy and sunny. The air is dry, unlike Exeter, which is usually murky and grey.

So, Dragan and I walked to Palilulska Pijaca (permanent farmer’s market, one of many in the city) near our flat, had a little mosey and then wondered past St Marks Church and its small neighbour, the Russian Church. I was chatting to Dragan in English as a tall young man in jeans and a leather jacket turned to talk to me. He said, ‘where are you from?’ with a Serbian accent and I said ‘England’. He said ‘this is the Russian Church’ and I said ‘oh yes I know my husband is from Belgrade’. He instantly dropped into Serbian and apologised. Dragan reassured him and then said to him, ‘I know you from somewhere, are you an actor?’

It out turned he was Miloš Biković, one of the main actors in the Serbian film Montevideo. Naturally I ended up having my photo taken with him!

Milos Biković & Ali

On a tragic note, in that area, are the remains of the Serbian TV station that was bombed in 1999 by Nato. I took a few photos, the whole of one side of the building was blown off and a sink is still attached forlornly to the wall. 16 people were killed when the building was bombed.

Diary of a British woman in Belgrade DAY 3 & 4

DAY 3

My husband, Dragan, our 10 year old son and I have set off from England, to spend 8 months in Dragan’s home city, Belgrade.

Nothing much happened today. We all needed rest, time to collect our thoughts and to adjust to the new environment – even Dragan. We also needed to go shopping for lots of things for the house, which we did. To the ‘pijac’ or ‘pijaca’ [1] (green or farmers market) for fruit and veg, although you can also find almost anything, even a Quidditch broom. Dragan said jokingly that I could fly home. It was unfair, as I was hoping to get home on a Nimbus 2000!

Ali with her broom (metla)

There are 32 green markets in Belgrade, roughly one for each borough of the city. The stalls in the markets are piled high with freshly picked produce and are much higher quality than in the supermarkets. They are a photographer’s dream, full of colour and character.

We then went to the ‘Kineska Prodavnica’ (Chinese Shop), which is run by Chinese people and sells Chinese goods for the house. Daniela, our Kuma, was our guide. You can find just about anything you might need here, from slippers to salt shakers. Cheap and cheerful.

For lunch, we bought ready cooked food from one of the outlets or ‘prodavnica gotove hrane’ (meaning a finished food shop) popping up all over Belgrade. You can buy hot Serbian dishes to take away that taste home-made. We chose fried fish, as it was Friday, which is a fasting day. Very good.

[1] http://www.beligrad.com/kalenic_e.htm

DAY 4

Today we went to a ‘Svadba’ [1], a Serbian wedding. You’ve heard of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’. Serbs are from the Balkans too and many traditions are the same. Although in the past these were normally 3 days long, this one was only one day.

Dragan drove to Arandjelovac, about 1 ½ hours from Belgrade. The groom was Dragan’s cousin’s son, so there were an awful lot of extended family there! Lots of kissing (three times) with rellies. Dragan was worried that we were going to be late (he is becoming anglicised, I was much more relaxed, am I becoming more Serbian?). We arrived just on time and people were still arriving 2 hours later!

Picture long tables in rows with white table cloths, a Serbian band with 2 accordions, a drum kit, 2 keyboards and 3 singers, and a top table for the bride and groom. The music is Serbian folk, everyone knows the words to hundreds of songs and it’s loud! It’s cool for the youngsters to join in with all of the songs and to dance the beautiful circle dance called the ‘Kolo’ [2]. In Serbia, folk is mainstream and is enjoyed by all generations.

October seems to be wedding season, summer is too hot and a lot of people leave the cities for the seaside in Montenegro or Greece and they also go to the mountains to cool off. We passed several convoys of wedding cars on their way to various weddings that day. The tradition is to blow the horn and tie towels around the wing mirrors of the car. Dragan has been to weddings in the past where guns were fired into the air and the wedding went on for three days.

‘Ručak’ – is lunch and a Serbian wedding lunch is something to behold. My daughter Mila, warned me years ago about the number of courses – Mila said ‘eat like a queen’, just a small amount and then push it around the plate!

1st course, hot yellow peppers stuffed with kaymak (fermented milk butter) and chicken terrine;
2nd course, smoked beef, smoked pork, salami and cheese (known as cold cuts);
3rd course, delicious chicken soup;
4th course, ‘svadbarski kupus’ – wedding cabbage (pickled cabbage with smoked meat) – super delicious;
5th course, spit roasted lamb and pork – truly amazing
6th course, ‘torta’ (cake), OMG everyone brings these amazing layered cakes with cream, custard, choc, and sponge. There were at least 50 of them at this wedding. The service is brilliant, the staff are attentive, unobtrusive, professional and nothing is too difficult.

The photographers set up shop in a small room next door and provide print outs of photos of the guests at the venue for 150 dinars (just over a Pound) each.

But the most important thing is to meet the rellies! I met lots of relatives that I have never met before and Dragan saw cousins, uncles, etc… that he had not seen for 30 years. Extraordinary to be in a room when half the people are relatives that you don’t know!

When we left we were given a whole tray of roast lamb and a complete torta by Dragan’s cousin, the groom’s father! Aleks was mightily impressed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolo_(dance)

[2] http://www.serbia.com/big-fat-serbian-wedding/

Diary of a British woman in Belgrade - Day 2

My husband, Dragan, our 10 year old son and I have set off from England, to spend 8 months in Dragan’s home city, Belgrade.

So today we went shopping with our Kuma, Daniela. We loved the ‘Prodavnica Zdrave Hrane’ (health food shop), with lots of nuts, dried fruit and goodies in square glass compartments, which is sold by weight. Aleks had some red, blue & purple jelly sweets (not very healthy!).

Prodavnica Zdrave Hrane

The most important event was a visit to Aleks’ Serbian school. We were all pretty nervous, maybe the parents more than the pupil, but were very impressed in the end. Aleks’ teacher (učiteljica) is very sweet and gentle. We liked her very much. We also met the School secretary, who was friendly and said to Dragan that Serbian school is so different now from when he was a schoolboy in Yugoslavia, much more child centred and gentle. Dragan said that he certainly hoped so, because his schooling in the 1960s & 70s was pretty strict. He also says that living with a former teacher (me) brings back traumatic memories! The school has a resident psychologist who is responsible for the children’s well-being. We also met the English teacher and the headteacher, both of whom were very welcoming. In fact the room was packed with people chatting to us. Dragan and I were offered ‘domaća kafa’[1] (Serbian coffee), which was served with a glass of water by one of the house keeping staff. The coffee has coffee grounds at the bottom, is generally drunk without milk and always comes with a glass of water, so you don’t have to order it separately. I really like Serbian coffee, but only in the morning! The school building was boiling hot; interiors in Serbia in winter-time are always very toastie.

The school itself is very typical for Serbia, with stone floors and wooden desks. The outside area is pretty big with some trees, grass and playground areas for football and basketball. Aleks was very impressed with the small kiosk on the ground floor of the school, where the kids can buy pastries, drinks and hot chocolate!

We watched a PE lesson in the gym where the kids were playing dodgeball and chatted to some of the kids who were keen to speak English with us.

Aleks is looking forward with trepidation to next Monday morning when he starts his new school at 8am sharp. As am I.

As a finisher I thought I would give you a new Serbian word 'Prodavnica' (pronounced Prodavnitsa) meaning 'Shop'.

[1] http://www.serbiatouristguide.com/live/Food_and_drink/Drinks/Coffee

[2] https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/221956799/belgrade-in-winter-fine-art-photo?ref=ss_listing

Belgrade in Winter, Photo etching by Ali Savic [2]

Diary of a British Woman in Belgrade - Day 1

My husband, Dragan, our 10 year old son and I have set off from England, to spend 8 months in Dragan’s home city, Belgrade.

Early start, our flight was at 6.30am from Bristol. Three suit cases, two violins, three rucksacks full of tech and devices, a handbag and three big warm coats. Oh, and me, Dragan and Aleks! The first leg was from Bristol to Munich in a lovely little Embraer jet. It flew quite low and being an uneasy flyer, I felt happy in a small plane — it was more like sailing. The descent into the airport is over a flat plain with villages dotted over a network of black soil fields and copses of trees. We spied the Alps cutting the horizon like a set of jagged teeth. Munich airport is very clean with little cabins to sleep in, but we just munched our way through loads of Pringles, whilst we spotted other Serbs arriving at the gate. We then boarded our flight to Belgrade. Bigger plane, so I was less happy, but to make up for it we were nearly rubbing shoulders with the Partisan basketball team on the flight. The Partisan team is one of the best teams in Serbia. Can’t be fun flying, when you’re a basketball player — tall folk! They had played a match against Bilbao the previous night.

We hired a car at Belgrade airport — so simple, quick and cheap. Dragan drove to our new flat in the centre of the city. Dragan says switching from the left to the right is easy and his driving style switches with amazing ease too! (More about that soon). He naturally doesn’t agree with that.

The flat is spacious, with parquet flooring and an open plan kitchen/living room. The ceilings are high, which is very relaxing and the walls are at least a foot thick. We have a wonderful view of a beautiful park called Spomen Park Oslobodiocima Beograda (Remembrance Park of the Liberators of Belgrade), which is next to the graveyard where the WW2 Serbian and Russian soldiers who liberated Belgrade are buried. Aleks has chatted to his friends on WhatsApp and they think it’s very cool that he lives next to a graveyard!

We met our ‘Kum’ and ‘Kuma’. Kum means godfather and much more[3] in Serbian, and Kuma means godmother. Our Kum is Ljuba and our Kuma is Daniela, his wife. They helped us settle in, something they would happily see as their duty as Kum & Kuma.

In the evening we went to visit some friends. They’re a lovely family with three children, so Aleks had some playmates. Our Kum, Ljuba, is also Kum to our host, the dad. It was a birthday party for the middle child. Kids often have two birthday parties in Serbia, one for the kids and one for the adults. No party food here as it was the adult party, it was good old fashioned delicious Serbian fayre. Prazan Burek (layered pastry pie), potato salad with onion and French dressing, Sarmica od zelja (meat pie layered with spinach, no pastry) and pickles and cold meats. Some of the food was vegan or fasting food (‘posna hrana’), as the birthday fell on a Wednesday (which is one of the two fasting days in a normal week, Friday being the other) [4]. The house is in the typical Serbian design, with a courtyard sheltered by a grapevine. The front room had a long table set for all the guests and relatives, with a huge wooden mirror propped against the wall and a cabinet full of Serbian china and ornaments. Our host is often involved in projects as an architect and structural engineer for local churches and his house has many interesting drawings and paintings adorning the walls. It might be described as ‘shabby chic’, but that would do it a disservice.

The kids played Monopoly, the Belgrade version! All in Cyrillic.

That night we all slept well!

[1] https://alisavicprints.com

[2] www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AliSavicPRINTS

[3] https://www.slavorum.org/the-godfather-probably-the-most-respected-person-in-slavic-culture/

[4] https://www.crkvenikalendar.com/post/post-rules.php

Three Days to Go

I think I have nearly done everything to prepare for our extended stay in Belgrade, Serbia which starts next Wednesday. Our 10 year old is about to embark on a challenging adventure, he'll be going to school there, which is a world away from his school experience in the UK. Half the children in the school attend in the morning and half in the afternoon! It's an 8 o'clock start for the first week and then a 1pm start for the second and repeat...!

So, TWO different starting times AND TWO different alphabets, Latin (mostly the same as English) and Serbian Cyrillic (hardly like English at all!) You'd think TWO alphabets might be ok, but each alphabet has its own hand-written form too!

So as not to feel left out, I'll be going to language school to learn Serbian when I'm there too. I was hoping by now, (11 lovely years of marriage to a Serbian guy) that I'd be fluent! But am I 'eck as like.

The most important things are packed, the contents of my online art shop, all packed into an A3 portfolio, a sketch book, my camera, some lino and some lino cutting tools. 

Once we’ve settled, first stop Grafika Kolectiv, a lovely Gallery for Printmakers in Belgrade est. 1949. Next stop Serbian Coffee & 'Torta' (Serbian cake) in the Hotel Moskva....

OK as a finisher, I thought I would give you a new Serbian word on each blogpost.... here goes....

'Zdravo' - an informal hello!

Slugs, Butterflies & Rewilding

I like wildlife. Many of my prints are inspired by butterflies, birds and natural landscapes. So, rather than trek up to Dartmoor I have tried to encourage wildlife to our garden in suburbia.

It’s been challenging, the soil is solid clay and we have an army of ravenous slugs akin to a slimy plague of locusts that munch their way through the classics, like marigolds, tomatoes & runner beans. Every creature has its place, so I try to avoid slug pellets and also herbicides.  

So to our surprise, by keeping a few wild patches and not using too many chemicals, we see hedgehogs, slow worms and frogs in the garden. We have a hedgehog house in the garden too, but so far no takers.

The City Council’s rewilding of roundabouts has inspired me to try to grow wild flowers in a small rubbly patch under the tree in the garden. I used the lovely dark rich compost from the bin, sowed the seeds and waited! Hmm, well lots of little seedlings appeared, very exciting, but they proved to be tomato and pumpkin plants! Seeds from Halloween pumpkin carving in the compost and also random tomato seeds. Only a couple of straggly wild flowers made it!

I have also allowed the garden to be ravaged by raspberries. They are easy to grow, they produce wonderful fruit and the nocturnal slimy munchers don’t like ‘em much. ‘Autumn Bliss’ produces fruit well into the autumn.

But the main point for me is try to attract butterflies and other pollinators to the garden. There is one particularly muddly patch of marjoram, nasturtium, buddleia and broad-leaved willow herb (a so-called weed), that the butterflies like to hang out in. Nectar rich flowers encourage pollinators to visit the garden and butterflies will lay eggs on their caterpillar’s food-plant.

Over the last few days we have had a large skipper butterfly lying in wait for a mate on the buddleia leaves, zooming up in the air to follow anything that flies by, including sparrows!

So I don’t ‘weed’ the garden any more, I leave a patch of long grass on the lawn and have a lovely patch of nettles next to my self-seeding nasturtiums. I have also conceded the fight with the slimy ones and don’t spend a wasted fortune on plants they find delectable.

So it turns out I have a cottage type garden, a wild patch in suburbia which is a far cry from the beautiful Japanese Zen gardens I have been admiring in Dr James Fox's marvellous programmes on BBC4, 'The Art of Japanese Life'.

Articles I liked on the subject

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3309051/Slugging-it-out.html

http://butterfly-conservation.org/11932-16020/dig-it--may-tips-from-the-secret-gardener.html

http://butterfly-conservation.org/292/gardening.html

www.facebook.com/hedgehogsociety/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08v8gxj

Print, Drink Tea or Worry about the Environment

Or all three…. So, I’m a printmaker and a stay at home mum. Both jobs are wonderful but switching heads can be challenging (aka nightmare, a term used during my less calm moments) and the mum bit mostly comes first. Here’s a typical day…

School run, could be scooter, bike or car. I have been known to scooter Aleks’ scooter back but was ticked off by a very elderly gentleman, who waved his stick and shouted ‘You’re too old for that!’

Ignored that.

Housework, washing in/out and very reluctant ironing. Which is more ecologically friendly ironing or tumbling?

Walk, bus or car to the print workshop, where I can use the amazing relief or intaglio presses. Good arty company there. Paper, ink and the other printmaking goodies are all available to buy.

Warming up, this takes far too long and usually involves a cuppa, a chat with fellow printmakers, a faff and fuss about measurements/paper/press adjustment.

Printing, so after about an hour I am usually quite inky, but my mind is totally focussed on the colour mixing, the detail and the best bit, revealing the print after it has been through the press.

Lunch at home, with an eye on the garden for butterflies. I have just signed up to be a garden butterfly recorder with Butterfly Conservation.

‘Headspace’ meditation, fab online app to guide you through daily meditations. BRILLIANT.

School run, with a quick go on Duolingo whilst I’m waiting. I’m learning Spanish! Should be Serbian, as we are going to spend 8 months there from November 2017. The Spanish is an avoidance tactic, Serbian is very difficult. Turns out I am not much better at Spanish!

Taking Aleks to Footie, I try to run when he’s training. I mean I try to GO running. I can run like a lot of people, but the drinking tea option shouts very loudly.