Serb Expats: What Would Make You Move Back to Serbia? | B92 Blog

Did it all....

DraganM — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 23:17:21 GMT

I succeeded "in the West."
Milosevic was gone.
I had all the enthusiasm in the world.

And we went back...

We didn't ask for anything. We were greatful for the opportunity to do a work, to help re-building the country after Sloba, just to be in Serbia, in our Serbia, in our hometown, with our family....

Before we knew, we faced the reliaty...

-Negative selection. The best of the best left and are leaving Serbia. Those who are staying because they cannot leave or because they are in family relationships that afford them roles beyond their mental capcities -- took it all over. They are everywhere. They run the government, the NGOs, they serve criminal Serbian business oligrachy... The nepotism and titoism is the largest part of the 'human resources' and 'solutions'. It is repugnant. These guys know very well: anyone competent and not-corruptable is a danger to them, to their comfy lifestyle, to their high level positions and to their continuous advancing to the next level of their incompetentcy.
-"If you are not with us, you are against us." Corrpution. Bribery. Plundering of national resources. On all levels. The complicity of the 'common people'. Instead of getting readof it, 'the small guy' just looksfor the next opportunity to participate. If they could just get into the next 'tender', the next election, 'the next 'boat'... So that THEY, the common people, can also steal as their rules do... Because it is "the way system works." Do not try to change the corrupt "system". The goals is: "Find your way so that you too can benefit." "Snadji se, ukradi, drpi, ...."
-Business Oligarchy. Aka 'Serbian Tycoons'. They are everything but Serbian. 'Serbian' means for them to plunder everything Serbian, to bribe, to polute, just to amass as much money as they can for their children whom they installed at all critical functions of Serbian government and business. With such 'Serbian' tycoons, Serbia does not need any external emenies.
-The collapse of social structure. The non-existent medical system. Bribery, heroin and porngoraphy in schools.

If you simply refuse to be part of such picture, you are a suspect. if you try to contribute to the change, you are out or you are dead.

We are out. They let us out because my wife is American.

I would like to come back tomorrow.

But I shall not.

When?

-'Serbian' business oligarcy, i.e., Milosevic's funding clique, arrested instead of being members of American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia.
-The political system purged of all corrupt politicainas, i.e., of all politcians currently on the top, instead of rewarding them with loansand 'economist of the year' prizes.
-Enviromentalpolicies in place and enforced.
-Serbs start thinking again that the corruption is disgrace, that bribery is illegal, that schools need to be free of heroin and porngography.

I don'tthink we are coming back again... any time soon...

to be or not to be

Kristijan Cebzan — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:48:50 GMT

Hi,
I am one of those returning and part of those who might leave again. I would just like to ad to what is obvious and that is the fact that there is no general will to move forward from the cultural and political status quo. What made me return to Serbia is the enthusiasm i built up by living abroad and the hope to communicate that enthusiasm and share it by living a productive life in Serbia. After struggling for a year i learned again about the way things are done in here and realized that indeed i don't have any relatives that are either rich or politicians. Education and experience i gained by learning and traveling seem sometimes to much to cope with for the people who are in position to make some decisions.
The transition we are going through is from dictatorship to civil society - from decision over law to law over decision. Dictatorship implies will for power and dismantling the dictatorial structure in Serbia not necessarily means that will for power will vanish. On contrary - we live in a society that now has a lot of small dictators; individualism in Serbia does not imply humanism but self importance and personal benefit. How to interrupt this wave of individual self indulgence? It is very difficult to self reflect and more as time goes by i tend to believe that this might be a deep cultural issue rather then just the negative effects of post II war Balkans. When the market becomes more mature, substantial and stable, things might gain some variety and the individual might stand up for itself truly and sustain its life simply by working and having a normal life and later this might become civil society. In Serbia if you don't desire more then you deserve you are considered as unfit or incapable. One constantly needs to take sides and keep safe other people fogy doings and affairs, otherwise there is no chance to get into the situation to act. Simply by being proactive isn't enough unless there is a critical mass for that and this mass is still smartly and strategically kept away from the possibility to act upon this gray situation and status quo. I apologize for the negative view but imagine it was exactly the opposite when i was returning here.
best
K.

Re: ...

Galebar — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:04:33 GMT

Miskovic rulez!!!
After Costa coffee shops thats his next go.

Re: moving back?

s56a — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:48:38 GMT

Mene su odrali na Sanibel ostrvu ali je bar gospodja nakupila puno skoljki! Puerto Rico u lepom secanju, posebno antena u Arecibo.

Zaboravih da te pohvalim za konstruktivnu kritiku povratka u Srbiju. Ovi mladji otkrili Ameriku pa se prave pametni Krecem ka jugu kroz jedna sat...

Re: moving back?

Srki — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:22:29 GMT

ugly

Stating the facts in a way that for some may be unpleasant or even rude awakening has, by no means, elements of "right wing conservative" by any definition of r.w.c. If anything is right wing conservative, it is an intoxicating form of nationalism, xenophobia and regressive thinking that still permeates these blogs, coming even from supposedly educated and smart Serbs (some of them members of B92 flaming you on another blog for openly criticizing Serbian state of affairs or praising the western knowledge and experience).

In order for Serbia to become a better place, which may take a life time, a huge overhaul in behavior and thinking is a must, preferably founded in reality. Srki's post is nothing but exposing that reality.

Hey Znoru, thanks for the clarification and backing me up, when I listen them I feel like they all ran out of a nut house... ;-). I hate to say this buy I am under impression that Srba has a slight draft in his head related to this subject, maybe caused by Rose's blowing . So I'll chill out ;-)... cause I can ;-). Maybe he could prove I am wrong if he addresses the arguments (hahaha, yeah right!), but at least I can say it is far less hypocritical to sit in a "western" country and puke on current Serbian situation, then to sit in a "western" country and admire the same situation. Perhaps he is one of the candidates for abovementioned transport to Tasmania ;-).

Enjoy.

Re: moving back?

nsarski — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:20:27 GMT

Ne znam da ih nabrojim offhand, tek tako. Znam da ima ostrva na koja pretenduju (kao sto su i na Havaje pretendovali, pa ih najzad i uzese - i btw, onaj bulshit koji prodaju za 9/11 da je to prvi napad na teritoriju usa od Perl Harbora - to je ordinarna laz, Havaji tada nisu bili njihova teritorija vec protektorat), pretenduju, dakle, kao sto je Portoriko, Haiti, Dominiku vec drze ozxbiljno, na Kubu se oblizuju (i imaju ukradenu bazu u Gvantanamu - lease im je davno istekao, ali oni se prave blesavi), ali to nije bitno.
Meni su meksicki Karibi zanimljivi, tu imam gde da boravim. Za malog coveka dovoljno.

Re: moving back?

s56a — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:40:58 GMT

Da li znas nabrojati sva USA ostrva u Karibima? Ima ih samo 5

Re: moving back?

ugly — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:53:07 GMT

Srki, you have become classic rightwing conservative immigrant teaching poor people back home! I am glad RBB discovers Serbia with open eyes and shares her experience. Including bidgets

Stating the facts in a way that for some may be unpleasant or even rude awakening has, by no means, elements of "right wing conservative" by any definition of r.w.c. If anything is right wing conservative, it is an intoxicating form of nationalism, xenophobia and regressive thinking that still permeates these blogs, coming even from supposedly educated and smart Serbs (some of them members of B92 flaming you on another blog for openly criticizing Serbian state of affairs or praising the western knowledge and experience).

In order for Serbia to become a better place, which may take a life time, a huge overhaul in behavior and thinking is a must, preferably founded in reality. Srki's post is nothing but exposing that reality.

Re: moving back?

nsarski — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:34:00 GMT

Except Caribean and Hawaii

Mar Carribe we can do. With pleasure, I might add.
Hawaii is still in the US, last time I checked. Watsamatter, sudoku getting the upper hand on you?

Re: moving back?

s56a — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:29:48 GMT

I've seen few successful Serbs becoming racist in UK but I used milder term on you. It is so easy to smart about Serbian faults from confortable West. 85% of Serbian people live in the international getto without being much aware of it.

Moving out of USA is rarely life improvement. Except Caribean and Hawaii

Re: moving back?

Srki — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:20:51 GMT

s56a
Srki, you have become classic rightwing conservative immigrant teaching poor people back home! I am glad RBB discovers Serbia with open eyes and shares her experience. Including bidgets

. I should be happy you didn't call me a neocon or a fascists! Why, for pointing how it actually is there, or saying what I think that should be done to improve?
Look, I think you don't know what you are talking about declaring people "rightwing" or "conservative", without giving some arguments. I'd guess it is because you don't have them. Therefore it's just a claptrap on your part, in my opinion, so let's stay on the subject, if we can. I disagree with you with regarding RBB's eye-state, that's why I was complaining here...I think she just loves her husband very, very much to follow him to Serbia .

Anyway, I wish you all best.

Re: moving back?

s56a — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:39:40 GMT

Srki, you have become classic rightwing conservative immigrant teaching poor people back home! I am glad RBB discovers Serbia with open eyes and shares her experience. Including bidgets

Re: moving back?

Srki — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:43:33 GMT

Well, I have better idea. Why don't you take all those people that are happy in Serbia now, led by their embarrassing government and take them all to Australia with you? Or to Tasmania, even better! Then you can drop them there and come back (because we love you!). Having in mind numbers, probably you won't get big discount, but you will do a huge favor to those who are left. And you can include all these passive and active radicals, spsialists, quasinationalists, qusiintelectuals and quasibusinessmen, their tycoon sponsors, religious leaders and other death-eaters - I heard from my friends who live in Australia: the country is craving for new roads and mines in the Midland - they might become a powerful work force, if they beat them enough! Dammit, perhaps I should hate the fact that I have so many friends that escaped Serbia all over the world, to hear these facts...

Anyway, I didn't mean to make anybody sad here - my personal story is like thousand others, while your story is extremely rare and obviously misleading, despite you clearly good intentions. It is ok, you don't know me personally, but believe me, I am probably the most optimistic among all my friends - proof is that I actually decided to take my own destiny in my hands, the best way I could, and I am immensely happy with that decision and the consequences. I just hope the what is left of decent people in Serbia will do the same - to leave or to fight, I don't really care, but not to be stupid to buy your crap and get stuck in your virtual reality forever! Just look at your own hypocritical situation - your step children are gone to US to school? Do you really think they will chose to live in Serbia after they are done with school?

Oldtimer or Callin_bgd are right in my opinion - the reason why I am wasting my time arguing with you on this blog is not my sublimed desire to come back. I am done with Serbia, even my mom knows that! I have an American girlfriend for many years, she was in Serbia and even she understands that it is good place to visit, but totally terrible place to live in. I don't even have any desire to go there for vacation! But I did a lot of thinking and believe me - I am not selfish, I truly wish at least as good life as mine to all my friends and countrymen, known and unknown, if not even better. Because I know that I am not any better then anybody of them, in any way. I just got lucky and maybe had balls to chose right at some point in time. That is all, and I really hate that feeling that so much depends on some luck and little bit of courage!!!. As much as I deserve decent life I have now, my friends and family does. But closing their eyes is not good way, trust me! Milosevic was removed from power when people once had it enough. I think, if some change has to happen, people have to have it enough again. Having them believing how it is good, or at least not so bad, because they don't dig the thrash cans (yet) or because some poor soul decides to come back to Serbia, is a counter favor. Or supporting them in believe that they are special in the way they think they are (remember the stupid and to any inteligent man condescending list "how do you know..." you cited in the last blog, or idiotic comment how California has the largest Serbian population due to demographic move of "Serbian software engineers"?). You have no idea how much that self indulgence costs people there!
Making them pissed off on the life they have in Serbia and educating them who is responsible for that and reminding them that they actually have a choice (with or without elections) is the only way, in my humble opinion...

Re: Staying on the Shiraz Street

DejanOz — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:06:17 GMT

stevie
...but was smart enough to leave early and try out berlin and sao paolo, and to settle down with the london aristocracy...

(I hope that Rosemary will forgive this short troll)
Very recently, he had this to say: "I miss Melbourne a lot"... The whole Grinderman image was built very much on the "bushranger" image, and Nick always said how he is fascinated with the Australian folk hero Ned Kelly (a bushranger that got hung in Melbourne in the late 19th century - a character amazingly similar to our own "hajduci". His 2005 film "The Proposition" was set (and filmed) in Australia, and shows the same kind of edgy and rather extreme view of violence, religion and human psychology you find in his lyrics.

But I just mentioned him as a very famous example of something that I can see around Australia: there's an amazing number of incredibly talented people (especially in rock music) you'll never hear about. Some of them are no less talented than Cave, just less lucky. That's one of the reasons why many have to leave, the "industry" in Australia is incredibly tough to get into, it seems that a few "grey eminences" are arbitrarily deciding which music will be recorded and possibly the best talent remains uncrecognised by that "industry". My current favourites, The Drones, are hardly ever heard of in Australia, although they have a cult following in Europe and the US.

Re: Education

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:22:45 GMT

Hahaha, no... I think that even if it was not as cheap as it is, it would still be an awesome option to consider... For crying outloud, community colleges in the U.S. cost 5 times as much. Not to mention that the government is ready & willing to fork over for your education at low interest rates w/ a 6-month grace period upon graduation.

You've got top-notch libraries, research facilities, equipment, lecturers... You get to travel (I did anyway) for cheap doing a year abroad... Possibilites are endless -- for $4500 a year! You can earn your B.A. for under $20,000, whereas ONE year in the U.S. costs $30,000 (tuition alone). And the U.S. universities aren't that much better.

What I didn't like was the textbook cartel. The bookstores charge(d) an arm and a leg for the textbooks and offer(ed) you 20% of the price if you were dumb enough to sell them back to the bookstore after using them for 3 months. The government should cap the price at $75 per book and subsidize those costing more than 75. I've seen books cost more than $200 (business/finance majors know this all too well).

Re: Staying on the Shiraz Street

stevie — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:47:37 GMT

The city where Nick Cave came from

but was smart enough to leave early and try out berlin and sao paolo, and to settle down with the london aristocracy...
not a stranger to good humor, either. check out "drugove" jarvis and your aussie jason:

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

ugly — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:11:48 GMT

The reason that you're visiting these pages is that you're still interested and want to see if positive shit will happen - so that you might come back. Right?

Wrong. Very wrong. I also visit these pages, but haven't gotten a slightest idea or desire to move back. For explanation see:
http://blog.b92.net/text/1159/Serb%20Expats%3A%20What%20Would%20Make%20You%20Move%20Back%20to%20Serbia%3F/#k78665

The reason some of us keep coming here is to try to understand how people think 10 or 20 years later and see if any articulate, intelligent input and exchange could improve life for those we left behind. I neither want nor I believe I need to return physically to Serbia in order to be of some value and help to my country. I belong to the generation that believed a song and ideas can change the world. Perhaps I still do. Although we don't sing here, we do exchange ideas that here and there might have some value and could hit a right spot. If something I said on these blogs over the last few weeks made some young person "stuck" in Serbia think or feel different about their life or change their thought process , I'm happy. Some may start thinking about leaving, like I did many years ago. Others may feel even stronger about staying and fighting. Whatever the case is, and no matter how different our positions are, at the end of the day I feel we have accomplished something here.

I am thinking about return

Godzila — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:46:06 GMT

at the moment this is not possible because of our jobs/careers. The things that make me think more about it are not financial since I am sure that I can provide a decent life with more or less basic necessities. However I think the pollution is a problem and health care is problematic if anything serious happen. On the other side I would love to spend more time with people dear to my heart there.

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

Colin_bgd — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:21:57 GMT

Blue rider:

When you read a Shakespeare play (for example), you do not read digested interpretation of it afterwards in order to understand it. In other words, read between the lines.

Also, the simple fact that you are using 40-year old terms (like gastarbeiter) to explain movement of people in the modern world, and in Europe without borders, only shows that the modern world is not understood in Serbia, and that it is exactly because we do not want to diagnose the problem we are not using the correct (or any) cure.

Of course, I would like to see Serbia become normal and prosperous country, but that has nothing to do with stating exactly what you see in front of your own eyes.

The original question of this blog is what would make you move back to Serbia? I could have answered hypothetically or realistically, so I have chosen to be sincere. I am not suggesting anything or giving advice to anyone.

And no, even if things were much better I would not go back, because that chapter of my life is over. I don't have attacks of nostalgia, and I don't have the urge to appear in my "village" in the latest model of Mercedes. But I do want normality in Serbia, so that I could at least have the option to choose a flight to Belgrade between 20 companies, instead of serbian government forcing me (and you) to fly only in 35 years old disintegrating JAT planes. If the cynicism and control towards its own people goes to that extent (not wanting to open up flights to free market), what can we expect with political (and other) freedoms.

So, grow up, once and for all. The sooner we admit to ourselves what rubbish our country has turned into, sooner it would be possible to start clearing it up...

And "the queen" was only a metaphor for "clean bill, long love" )) .

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

oldtajmer — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:01:54 GMT

P.S. This is a theme I see time and again on these blogs. There is clearly a disconnect btw ex-pats who left during the hardest of hard-core Milosevic years and all others. We, the former, are much more bitter, cynical, and less inclined to every trust that state again. There was even a blog on the subject recently (in Serbian, and Cyrillic at that, sorry Rosemary).

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

oldtajmer — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:58:08 GMT

m.agrippa
Wow. What the hell makes you so negative?

Negative?? I think most of what he wrote is verbatim true. Perhaps it's experience that made him so "negative"?

blue rider
Colin, my man, i can agree with you on most of the topics, but please alow me to tell you to fuck off when you're saying shit like - all Serbia gave you was a police bat on the back. Aa participant of all of those protests i can tell you that you're full of shit and please don't use that in future.

What are you saying? That this never happened? Police did NOT beat people on the streets?

I don't know what you're doing up there, but Serbia gave you, at least, some education and a spirit that you can now enjoy life in Uk without any difficulties

Wrong again, the education focus was a product of communism/socialism, and you can see the same thing in all ex-Eastern Block countries. The "spirit" you refer to is a spirit of SFRJ, not Serbia. He did say in the very first sentence that "his country no longer exists". I read this as Serbia (of today) gave him nothing. The country that gave him something is SFRJ.

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

blue rider — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:07:13 GMT

Colin, my man, i can agree with you on most of the topics, but please alow me to tell you to fuck off when you're saying shit like - all Serbia gave you was a police bat on the back. Aa participant of all of those protests i can tell you that you're full of shit and please don't use that in future.

I don't know what you're doing up there, but Serbia gave you, at least, some education and a spirit that you can now enjoy life in Uk without any difficulties (socialy). And besides, what the fuck are you doing reading and comenting on blogs here? Where people are shit?

I am not a pro-serb oriented guy, i am even not a serb. But i want to tell you that things are seldom or never black or white. The reason that you're visiting these pages is that you're still interested and want to see if positive shit will happen - so that you might come back. Right?

On the other side, god bless you and your queen man, but the world has changed, A LOT. And there are so many options to choose from, it's fantastic. If you're sticking to the old SERBIA gastarbeiter way, then it doesn't matter where you are - you might as well be at home.

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

Colin_bgd — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:00:19 GMT

I am not negative, nor am I autophobic (?!?) or ashamed by the fact that I am a serb from Serbia. But this doesn't mean we should be painting untrue picture. This is how it is, nothing more and nothing less. If it changes fine, but having spent ten years demonstrating through the streeets of Belgrade, all I have gained is a police batton in the kidneys, and the realisation that everything is futile since people are not only accepting to live in total darkness, but they are actively choosing it and supporting it.

Serbia is not a case of glass half empty half full, let's have a debate. The glass is not only empty, but totally broken, all there is is a shattered glass. I do not wish splinters in my soles anymore, so I am walking different streets these days.

Also, if you put freedom in inverted commas, that only means that you have never experienced even a small amount of it, otherwise you would not be so sarcastic. I am not saying that I have absolute freedom, or even lots of it. But I can certainly have much, much more control AND responsibility over my own life than Serbia would ever even consider for its citizens, let alone allow it.

Here I have contract with "the Queen": I pay her taxes most of the times, she leaves me alone most of the time. Fair playing field for everybody, most of the time. If you think there is more, think again, and look around how much you really have today in Serbia.

Re: Moving back!

s56a — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:29:01 GMT

Since I wouldn't be caught DEAD in a Yaris and the plethora of similar other "cars", I was planning on shipping my car over to Serbia.

You might end up dead faster in big Dodge thanks to mafia! Serbian roots for 21st century kids are VERY important.

You chose boring political profession! It was fun for 37 years in electronics and computers.

BTW I moved from big 2501 cm3 Chrysler to small 1400 cm3 Hyundai Getz with the same 97 KS but I must admit I don't feel as safe as before. There are excellent safe EU cars but they are more expensive than USA tanks.

Re: Education

s56a — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:17:14 GMT

Biased alumni Bahamas are also good with better clima!

Re: When hell freezes over, and not even t

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:17:02 GMT

Wow. What the hell makes you so negative? If this isn't autophobia, it certainly borders on it... I never expected anything from my country (or any other) - maybe that's why my outlook is positive. "Freedom" (whatever that means) and comfort are safe, and safe gets tired after a while. I need a change / challenge.

regards

Re: ...

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:03:41 GMT

Oh come on! It would only serve as a weekend driver! It's not like it's a 7.0L Chevy big block.

When hell freezes over, and not even then.

Colin_bgd — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:51:03 GMT

There wasn't a country in the modern history in Europe that has taken so much from its citizens, and have given back so little. And this trend is always increasing.

After all, I do not consider myself an ex-pat. I was born and have lived in Belgrade for most of my life, but the country where I was born does not exist anymore. I am not prepared to trade my freedom that life in the UK has given me (in every aspect) to become a slave of serbian state orthodox fundamentalism. There isn't a peg strong enough that could pinch my nose and prevent the stench of lies, corruption, murder, nepotism, mediocrity, backwardness, illiteracy, backstabbing, hate, fear, envy, and greed to enter my sensitive nostrils. And this is only the description of people that live in my old appartment block (i.e. "ulaz".

The fact is that Serbia is much better off getting rid of people like us, who you have so incorrectly named ex-pats. Without us they can wallow in the myre at leisure and exercise modern day slavery onto the rest of population who is not capable of distingushing friend from foe, and who is always acting like a voluntary lamb to the slaughter.

So, Serbia cannot give me anything that I need or want. Furthermore, Serbia has taken away from me everything that I ever had, and is still hungry for my blood. There is no way that a sane person would make such a decision to return back to that dungeon of human spirit, and torturer of human soul that Serbia today is, and that will remain (unfortunately) for a long, long time to come.

ps. Make no mistake, anyone that has returned is going to say that it is great and that they are loving it, when in fact they are hating every minute of it. But that is exactly the problem, we never say what we mean, never show what we feel, and are never true even to ourselves, let alone others. Self delusional nation in the last stages of self destructive mental illness... Return at your own peril, and leave every hope at the door.

Re: ...

nsarski — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:13:14 GMT

Wow, imressive!

Ever considered Bradley with tinted glass?. And the roar! Wrrrrooooouuuummmmm!

Out of this world

and 100% safe. No one can touch you.

Re: Education

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:01:56 GMT

Canada has some of the best universities in the world (McGill, Toronto, Queen's, Carleton...) and the tuition is ridiculously low ($4000-$4500 a year, non-medical majors), given that all universities are public. If you want a top-notch education without filing for bankruptcy / paying off your loans for decades, Canada is the best choice.

University of Toronto
McGill

Re: ...

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:54:09 GMT

I prefer the sound of the 6.1L HEMI.

Moving back!

m.agrippa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:52:48 GMT

I don't think I need a particular reason to move back (which I am planning on doing, btw). Four or five of my friends have moved back during the past year or so and they're loving every minute of it. I will be getting married soon and I wouldn't want my kids to be born/growing up anywhere else. (Hey, this is good enough for a 'good reason', isn't it?)

Leaving a well-paid job (albeit a very boring one) is something worth thinking about, but the possible pros/rewards are too great to ignore.

What bugs me personally -- and this might sound very trivial to many of you -- is the tendency of the government(s) back home to poke around people's personal, daily lives and the choices they (wish to) make.

For example, consider the extra tax or whatever fees they're charging if you're an owner of a car with an engine over 1.5L / 1500cm3. I depend on my car here, and I'm pretty certain that I will be dependent on it when I move back. Since I wouldn't be caught DEAD in a Yaris and the plethora of similar other "cars", I was planning on shipping my car over to Serbia.

I still haven't bought it as it will become available next spring, but I can only imagine the look on a bureaucrat's face when I tell him/her it's a Dodge Challenger with the 5.8L / 5800cm3 (or the 6.1L - still not sure) engine. I spy a brain aneurysm. (If the Challenger becomes available in Serbia, I'd save a tonne of cabbage though -- or not, since the Big 3 cars are way overpriced back home).

If anyone has any info on these fees/taxes/surcharges, I would appreciate it immensely.

Re: moving back?

DejanOz — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:29:11 GMT

Rosemary Bailey Brown
Maybe we can get a bulk rate discount by all moving to Australia en masse. ;-)

I don't know about the discount, but certainly would recommend people to consider moving to Australia if they can. There's plenty of work available here if you have the right skills, the unemployment is at a record low. I don't know how long that will last (certainly not forever) but at this moment it is not a bad time to come to Australia (especially to Western Australia, which is undergoing an unprecedented economic boom thanks to exports of all the resources that are fueling the giantic economies of China and India). So where the bloody hell are you? ;-)

Re: ...

Dragan Dujaković — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:43:40 GMT

Nietzsches Aprentice
Well, in reality, I do want to open a brew-pub in Belgrade at some point...

Pa gde ces pored zive Kasine? - Why, with Casina still running?

Re: moving back?

ugly — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:14:27 GMT

To answer your question - If we resurrect one man that was killed by the abovementioned dogs, and give him hands open to work for 10 years, then I would think of returning to Serbia, like I was thinking when he was alive. So, I guess that means - never.

My message for those who are considering going back to Serbia: don't! If you don't like where you are, think twice. Then go somewhere else. And if you do chose Serbia, don't tell I didn't warn you ;-).

If anyone was ever to write an encyclopedia about the modern Serbain exodus, this entire post deserves a chapter in such book (so do some others here). I'm sad and moved, cause I recognize many personal experiences in these words.

And to those hopeful that Serbia some day will be a decent place to live, I wish the best of luck, but we have only one life to live.

"Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man." (Friedrich Nietzsche)