Welcome to the world of work

My love has gotten a good "starter" job at a local nationwide discount chain. This will give him the opportunity to work on his English and get out amongst people. He is such a friendly, people person that it has been hard for him to wait for his Social Security and green cards so he could work.

That wait is finally over.

He is able to walk to work - it's only about a 10 minute walk from here. He has the type of job where he will be trained in what to do and will have possible advancement to other positions.

In the previous weeks we have been enjoying our apartment, cooking at home almost everyday and going to some of the local festivals. Here is a photo of him and a new friend he made from a local TV station at the Mudbug Madness festival which celebrates the crawfish.



So, life goes on....we are happy and just working and getting settled here in America.

I Found It!

I found a job! A very good one, in fact with a major department store here in Shreveport. There are several ladies working there from Eastern Europe and Russia and I am so excited to meet and speak with them all.

I sent in the papers on Friday to bring my love here. These are the final papers,so as long as the embassy remains open things should move along quickly now. I hope and pray that he will be here by the end of March.

He says things are calm now in Novi Sad and I am so glad. I have been so worried about his safety. I still am. Things can change in the blink of an eye.

I truly love these wonderful Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian, Hungarian et al people that I have met there and pray daily for their safety and well being. I wish there was a way for this conflict to end and end permanently so that they could move on and prosper.

I will always treasure my time in their country and hope that when/if I return that I will find them all in good health and doing very well.

All Souls/All Saints

This past Saturday we went to a large cemetery here in Novi Sad to visit my husband's parent's graves. This was in the midst of the All Souls/All Saints days celebrated by the Catholic and Orthodox communities.

I've never seen so many people at a cemetery in my life. There were cars parked on both sides of the main road as well as the side roads all around the cemetery. People made their own parking lots in the nearby fields.

Police were there to help with traffic flow around all of this.

In front of the cemetery gates, there are always people selling fresh flowers and candles. The flowers are gorgeous and the blooms are huge. This must be the best time of the year for the vendors....EVERYONE was handing over dinars.

We've been to the cemetery before. My husband regularly visits his parent's graves. From what I gather this is common here. I think it is very nice that the dead are not forgotten. In America, my deceased family members were buried far from where I was living, so visiting graves wasn't possible.

Inside the gates, there were people everywhere. On this particular holiday, people come and bring some food and drink to leave at the gravesites. I saw apples, loaves of bread, small cakes, etc. Some graves had only one or two mourners, others had large groups of people - whole families, I suppose.

We did what many people were doing: cleaning the gravestone, discarding dead flowers and replacing them with new ones, lighting candles and paying our respects.

There were some Roma kids in the cemetery, begging for money at the gates and riding their bikes among the gravesites. People here tell me that on this day, after people leave, they take the food that is left at the graves. If so, I guess it doesn't go to waste.

When people told me this, they weren't angry. It was more in the way of an accepted fact.

Pivo Festival in Čelarevo

On Saturday night we went to the opening of the Pivo (Beer) Festival in Čelarevo. Čelarevo is the home of LAV (Lion) Beer. It's pretty good beer. Kind of strong, but I am a light beer person. (I know, many people think light beer is an abomination, but Coors and Miller light are what I drank in Louisiana, although I prefer wine.)
Anyway, the free beer flowed and the young people partied. And those of us who are a little older had a good time,too. I met the sweetest old man and his grandson who spoke perfect english. The grandson told me his name, but there is no way I can pronounce it...he said his nickname is "Bottle"...that I can handle. Here's a picture of us:


He recently graduated from university with a degree in Computer Information Systems which is the same thing that my daughter is studying. He is 23 and she is 22...small world. He was working the festival, serving free beer.

There was music and dancing at the festival on a very large stage. There was also a beer drinking contest for the young men. Here's a picture of that:



There were also men roasting beef for the crowd to enjoy..free, so all in all the villagers were having a great time. There were rides and game booths for the kids and lots of laughter as villagers greeted each other and friends from other places. The buses that go between the towns and villages arrived frequently unloading even more people.

Here's a picture of my love with his sister and his nephew:


He really is the cutest thing....

Visit To Šen Winery - Ilok, Croatia

We returned to the winery of Rudolph Šen in Ilok. He had some wonderful rose wine as well as his very nice, dry white.

We visited about an hour with this wonderful man and he took a few pictures with us.



He spoke to us about his life (he's 77) as we tasted wine and shared our stories. Once again, here is someone who we really didn't know other than as wine customers, and now we are friends.

The Cows Come Home to Novi Sad

Last year in the town center, Novi Sad had an exhibition of painted horses. They were very beautiful. This year, the town is featuring painted cows. The cows are all the same, but the painting is done by different artists. The people here seem to love them as much as I do. People have their pictures made near them and children seem drawn to them.

I have uploaded pictures of them to my Flickr account. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/novisadnewbie/

You can also see pictures of some of last year's horses there.

As I walked through the town the other day, the weather was comfortable and people were out, sitting in the little cafes spread throughout the center of town. My love says that many people are on vacation at this time of the year and if they cannot go to the sea (Greece, Montenegro or Macedonia) they will enjoy the cafes of Novi Sad.
We stopped and had an icy cold beer at JOE'S, which is close to where my love works.
Živali!

Souvenir Shop

While walking in town the other day, I found the cutest little souvenir shop. This one sells handpainted and handcrafted things...not the usual T-shirts. Shown are some painted bottles.
It's called the "Prestige Suveniri Juvelir" (Souvenir and Jeweler) in the town centre area. The owner was friendly and proud to show me around the shop.

Cheese and cheesiness

On the bright side, I found some cheese that is close enough to Cheddar that I think I will be able to use it as a substitute in cheese enchiladas and macaroni and cheese. It is called "Trappist" cheese. We went to visit our neighbors on Friday and had a wonderful, cheesy lunch with them. The wife made what was basically macaroni and cheese with little chunks of chicken and just a touch of beef. It was delicious and soul-satisfying. It was made with this cheese, which is available in all of the shops I have been to. It's mild and light yellow. I don't think it is expensive...wait, what am I saying? To most people here, it's ALL expensive.

Speaking of markets and shops here that sell food. As I have mentioned before people here don't make a lot of money. A $400-500 a month paycheck is pretty good. So....

1. Why do they sell shrimp and other expensive seafood with all of the stuff you can't eat? Like the heads, eyes, antennas, etc? And yes, I know people here eat the fish heads...I am talking about the things no one eats.

2. Why, when you go to the local Police Station to get your license plate, drivers license, visa, passport, etc. do they CHARGE you for the form that you must have? I can see charging for the service, but for the frickin' form????

3. Why don't they either clean up the water so that people are comfortable drinking it (and then don't have to buy water at 70-80 dinars for 5 liters - about $35 a month, just for WATER) or if it is clean and safe, spend a little money on a campaign to inform the public?

4. Vojvodina is the bread basket of Serbia. So, why don't these good people get a break on prices of fruits, vegetables and meat? They raise and farm the stuff, but they pay the same as the rest of the country.

That's my rant. I don't want to be political. I don't begin to understand the politics here. I have no right to tell anyone else how to live, but I see these things and they seem so unfair. The people that I have met here will give you the shirt off of their backs...what little they have, they will share with you. I just wish they could get a few breaks, y'know?

Wait A Minute

I've been here for a while and now things are beginning to get a little clearer. One thing that has been brought home to me lately is that some people here think I am a RICH American. Omigod...funny.

For some reason (I don't know...maybe TV, movies???) some people think I had a big home back in Louisiana (try about 1600 sq. ft. asbestos shingled 3 bdr. 1 bath), big fancy car (2001 Toyota), and lots of money (family business, kid in college, lots of debt).

What I did own is now food for lawyers in my divorce and will likely be sold to pay towards my share of child support. My clothes have been given to Goodwill. My personal books, music, pictures...the things that I took for granted are gone. My Mom was able to grab a few bags of my best clothes for me but shipping them here from Texas would cost more than they are worth.

I know that these things are more than most average Serbians can claim. I'm not going to apologize for that. But, rich? Hardly. I was middle class in America. That means I had stuff, courtesy of credit cards and debt. I worked hard to get the things I had. My EX and I had 20+ yr. old furniture and our house needed lots of "fixing up".

The reason I bring this up is because of this wrong impression, these people seem to think that I should be able to buy whatever they are selling. We should be able to lend money to them...whatever. We live on my fiance's salary which is basically the same small salary that everyone else gets. How do I know this? Because, EVERYONE I have met here who works has told me what his/her salary is in our first conversation.

I came here with a few hundred dollars. That's all I have to my name. I don't have a job. All I own now came with me in 2 suitcases and one carry on bag.

I try not to lump all Serbians into one stereotype - I know they are individuals. I wish people here would do the same for Americans.

I Love To Walk Here

One of the things I love the most about Novi Sad is that you can walk anywhere, anytime. I am able to walk around town from dawn to midnight and it is safe. I would never do that where I come from, it is just not safe. There are also bike lanes on many of the main streets between the sidewalk and the street. Where I am from in America, (Louisiana), I have only seen bike lanes on the street itself.

When I go somewhere here, I mostly walk or ride the bus. Sometimes a friend will pick us up who has a car, but that is rare. The buses are usually fairly crowded, but people are considerate. They let older women sit down, they aren't loud or obnoxious. They pretty much sit quietly and chat. I have no problems at all with the bus - where I am from I never rode the bus because, of course, I had my own car.

I love to walk, though. It is good excersize and the air smells clean and when it blows from the Danube, it is cool and refreshing. There are parts of town with beautiful homes and trees. There are many high rise apartments here, some painted in bright colors to look at. There are local landmarks like the Sports Center and of course the town center which is fantastic, although it is touristy. There are little parks tucked away here and there to sit and rest in.

People watching is fun, too. The people here are attractive. I like to see them out walking their dogs, young couples holding hands, older couples walking and talking. It is very peaceful to me and very nice.