So, from 17th till the 25th of august 2006 I have been in Serbia to visit a friend. I met Dusan during the olympics, he was one of my housemates in the "olympic house" or "casa olympica" on via Asti. He first was supposed to come here to Netherlands, but because of all the visa shit, he couldn't and I decided to go there instead.

I arrived on thursday the 17th, but without my luggage. I had a transfer in Zurich and there wasn't much time inbetween so I kind of expected it. The one plane had been late and I had to run to the next, so I already was expecting it a bit that my luggage did not arrive. So there I was at the lost and found, together with all the other Dutch people. :P
They said they'd bring my luggage the next day, and the next day it indeed did arrive around 7PM.
The first few days it was insanely hot there, around 36-37C.
I was sleeping in the house of the grandmother of Dusan, and it was a very cute little house in the suburbs of Belgrade. Nothing luxurious, a TV from the stone age, small rooms, but it was OK. I'm cool as long as there is a bed, a shower and nice people and there was.
Though his grandma kept pushing me to EAT! :P - I don't eat that much and certainly not in the morning. Their times of eating are quite different than the ones that I am used to, so that was a problem too. They eat the biggest meal of the day around 2PM while I mostly eat that in the evening. Plus I think I eat more times on a day, just smaller portions. In the first few days she said that I was eating 'unacceptably little' LOL!
Also some days later we talked about my country and for her my country was just not acceptable. The fact that a large part of our population does not believe in God and that gay marriages are allowed and such was a big shock to her. Dusan told me that had I told her I don't believe in god, she would have kicked me out of the house. She believes in God with everything she has and it's unacceptable for her if someone does not believe in God. I laughed a lot during this conversation.

The first evening, we went to something called the "beer fest". Some music, a lot of beer and some amusement rides. It was pretty cool, and there were a lot of people. I too noticed that most of the girls there were insanely thin and pretty and some dressed in almost underwear. It would not really be accepted in my country, but OK. I guess if you are a guy there, it must be very nice LOL!
We went on some rides and I especially enjoyed the pirate ship, but Dusan did not LOL. He was scared he'd fall out of it and he said that the feeling in the stomach was just horrible pml! We also went on this thing called the speedy and that was more nausiating (sp?) for me, as it was just going in circles. My stomach minds this more than going up and down. We actually went to the beerfest for 2 nights and the 2nd night I also went on the Kamikaze, which are 2 large boxes going up and down and upside down. That was *so* cool. I was hanging upside down hiiiigh in the air wheee! It looked scary from the ground but while in it, I wanted to go even higher and faster LOL!

For the rest, we just walked around Belgrade. There are many old buildings and buildings that I thought might collapse any minute or so lol, or any way, in my country, I'm not sure people would live in this and they would be scheduled to be re-build soon. Alas, makes you realize what kind of luxurious things and life you have at home. However, the were some nice buildings too and the city was 'alive' at any point of the day, which is very nice. I think the city was crap, but the people were nice and I loved how many many signs were in Cyrrilic, as I love to read it. (and I can! just don't understand the meaning of the words I read most of the time).
I also lurved the view from some kind of wonderful old fortress over the river.

Then I have also visited Zlatibor for a few days. It's this small touristy place in the middle of the mountains. There was like a lake, a few cafe's, some kiddyrides and a lot of kids. Mostly we just hanged and walked around there, talked and relaxed. One day, we went on a steamtrainride, which is one of the highlights of my trip. First we went by bus and the driver explained all kinds of things about the landscape, Zlatibor and the train and Dusan translated it for me as it was all in Serbian. I very much enjoyed the view of the mountains all around, especially since my country is all flat innit.
Then we got off the bus and went on the steamtrain. Nothing luxurious, wooden benches and stuff, but the view was just amazing.
Then after that, we got on the bus again and went to a place where you can get some healingwater. It is supposed to be good for the eyes and for the stomach or so but it's very gross pml! After that we went to the Etno village. Supposedly people still live there like in the old old days according to the old traditions. It was very cool to see and I'd love to have such a house. It's on my "...once I become a millionaire..." list. The village is the idea of some movie director and actually sponsored by Unicef. The view when inside the etno village was also insanely beautiful.
After going here we also saw a watermill, which wasn't that special to me and then we went back. All in all it was a fun day, but at the end I was very tired. I stayed at the hotel that night and fell asleep around 9. I slept 12 hours untill 9 the next morning. :P
The people in our hotel were very nice, they didn't speak English but it wasn't neccessary because Dusan would translate. However they were very guestfree, cooked nice dinner and on the last day the lady even brought us to the busstation by car.

Back in Belgrade, we had a little get together with a lot of friends of Dusan back at his house and it was very fun. I even drank some vodka with Juice eventhough mostly I don't drink. But the drink wasn't that bad so. We danced, we lauged and it lasted untill about 4AM. The next day I woke up at 9 and around 12.30 it was time for me to say goodbye to my friend and walk through sekurity towards my plane.

I for sure had a lot of fun and it was also a bit of an eye opener. I should value more what I have here at home and perhaps I should enjoy my life more than I already do. plus...Dusan convinced me to apply to volunteer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, heh...

xxx Dee