B92 Blog

" " Serbia is a wonderful place. " "

I pored svih kritika nekih pojava - Srbija je stvarno " a wonderful place ".

Pozdrav, Rosemary

live in a mostly warmer place

There you go...
Mexicans just amaze me.
Sense of colours is very different from Serbian in my opinion.

Look at the "world's happiest countries" from Rosemary's link:

1. Nigeria
2. Mexico
3. Venezuela
4. El Salvador
5. Puerto Rico

Nigeria, no. 1! The same Nigeria beset by the whole catalogue of societal problems, violence, health issues, and on top of it all, a life expectancy of 47 (!) years. You have to think yourself happy in a place like that.

One thing that is obvious about the top 5 "happiest countries" is - the warm climate. So, forget your worries about global warming - we'll all be so much happier! ;-)

is a hard thing to find, if the one who is looking for it is not already happy...

If you don't know much about Mexico, you may be surprised to find it has more in common with Serbia than you think.

I recently discovered another thing Serbs and Mexicans have in common - we're always late! :)

Because Mexicans have never had it better, while Serbs have.

Precisely, serbs lived much much better and poverty is induced recently, by usa and other western countries, their embargo, divide and conquer strategy, criminal bombing campagns against their allys in last two world wars.

Rosemary:

so this is what you really think of serbia - and probably any other eastern european country; knowing the amount of anti-mexican racism in us of a this can only be taken as offence. moreover, you are mistaken on many of your shallow comparisons. to name just a few ridicilous constatations:


>>> in the past the populace were little more than downtrodden peasants crushed by various outside empires (notably Spain) for eons - vojvodina, part of serbia, was as far from this as you can be; vojvodina had a very urban
serbian community in austro-hungary for several centuries, ever since the big move under carnojevic; the rest of balkan was mostly rural, but that is true indeed true for most of the world. the backward turkish empire, that lived in feudal age for perhaps 300 years more than rest of europe has, has been defeated in 1804 and 1815 and serbia started its freedom for much of 19. century, even before greece, who had similar destiny. rural peasants of spain and sicily are probably more similar to mexicans, and they have similar climate. serbia is quite a bit different.



>> cities have bad air pollution in part from old cars - so does new jersey and many rotten places in usa or ex
soviet union or half of the world. but i doubt mexico has that much pollution caused by depleated uranium bombs,
bombing of pancevo oil rafinery etc, which has polluted serbia's natural food, unsurpassed in europe by its quality,
conveniently for western companies. nothing to say about the rising cancer rates, a direct consequence of the
nato agression and criminal bombing, a lot to be happy about

>>extended families often live together (grandparents, parents, kids),
this is plain ridicilous. "extended families" in serbia have little similarity to the large rural families that
("seoska zadruga") that existed here long time ago, and are probably to be found in mexico. "extended
families" that in fact include a granny or grandparents only in case of housing shortage, typical of big cities,
are something you will find in most of europe, italy, russia, germany etc. in fact, it is a typical anglo saxon
abnormality to have kids out of house by age 17 (college age), this does not exist nowhere in the world,
not in japan or asia, not in most of europe, nowhere except at the most selfish parts of the world. ever heard
of "mamism" in italy? this is not a similarity between mexico or whatever, it is a skewed point of view


lastly, unlike mexicans, serbians do not consider us heaven on earth, in fact, most of them prefer canada europe
or even serbia (at least as it was until sfry was destroyed twenty years ago, according to divide and conquer
policy of the west),

if you want to compare serbia to some latin american country, poorer even than mexico, and not cause offence, try cuba. cuba, with its free education system and health care most americans (such as mexican immigrants, oh soo happy to have arrived to us) can only dream about, an attitude of defiance, a charismatic leader (castro is so much like late president tito) that usa hates, etc. cuba, just like serbia, lived in socialist system, and its corruption is of similar type, as is in easter europe, serbia was a bit happier place than cuba during these communist times, but
cuba had a better climate. everyone was equal in cuba, and in serbia too, soo unlike mexico under us-sponsored banana dictators. and then, berlin wall fell, and cuba was isolated and under sanctions just as serbia or iraq or so many places usa has enveloped in black.

mexico is a corrupt state leaning to us-sponsored fascist dictatorship, with extra rich and poor living in slums.

serbia, and cuba for that sake, was a socialist country, people never lived in slums, value system is completely different. education system in socialist countries is something us would envy but of course, us has a deliberately dumbing education system for the underclass (of mexican so-happy-to be immigrants, white trash and other undesirables).

some similarites do exist - for mediteranian people, and balkan people, are just as easy going and relaxed as south americans are, a climate if you like, and so is south of usa, where people are just as friendly as people in serbia.
but few of these countries had undergone such decline, induced from abroad, as serbia.

next time you see an unhappy serbian, try to figure out how many relatives has he lost to cancer due to nato bombing, how many friends have been destroyed in western encouraged wars of dissolution of sfry, how much
he had just 20 years ago and how much humiliation and loss has endured, so that usa well off could live in their happy little worlds and make ridicilous racist comparisons and generalisadions off top of their misguided arrogant
heads.

Jel ovo opština Temerin objavila rat opštini Sombor, pa sad Temerinci maltretiraju somborske snajke ovako?

Dude, next time You feel like firing a Big F**king Gun, at leasi point it against enemy.

I watched one guy spend 45 minutes blowing a stamp-size yard and a single-lane driveway; I could've raked the space twice in that time with a pocket comb. My friend was curious about the Mexican motivation to use leaf blowers. I quoted my old co-worker Miguel, whose response to the question "How you doing?" was always, "Happy as a Mexican with a leaf blower." I also theorized that the leaf blower is a status symbol for a supervisor who has been promoted off the lawnmower, or maybe it was just a macho thing to piss the gringos off.
Thus, my theory is that Mexicans are happier than Serbs, because Serbs do not use leaf blowers!

Happy man:

Blow job?

That's exactly right, Dottore! Not enough blow jobs!

I think the fact of our Slavic routs what makes us a little less happy... you have to hear the song from Djordje Balasevic called "Moja dusa slovenska"and let somone try to translate it to you and maybe then you will understand...sometimes we just like to sufer a little bit with a glass of vine,looking somewhere far away...Turks left that melancholy to us too...so I guess that is the thing that makes us different than Mexicans...
and yet then at the end all those "happy"Mexicans dream of day to go across the border to less happy America.Why?I wonder.If I was happy in Serbia the way I am now in US,I would never leave...
and yeah I found a different list of happiness for you :):


The meta-analysis is based on the findings of over 100 different studies around the world, which questioned 80,000 people worldwide. For this study data has also been analysed in relation to health, wealth and access to education. 1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Malaysia
18. New Zealand
19. Norway
20. The Seychelles
...somehow this list makes more sense to me(I didn't even try to find Serbia)but if you wish to do so here is the link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm

je dosta nategnuta...

Ali evo jedne: jedini srecni Meksikanci koje sam imao prilike da vidim su oni koji su uspeli da se umuvaju u US. Slicno je i sa Srbima...(ne pricam napamet, bio sam u Meksiku pre par godina...a i zivim u kraju sa puno komsija iz Meksika)

Cisto sumnjam da iko sa malo mozga u glavi moze da bude srecan u zemljama kakve su Srbija i Meksiko - eto jos jedne slicnosti...

Meni se cini da autorka zivi u Srbiji pod staklenim zvonom...

Pozdrav.

Only similarity I can see between Mexican and Serbs are following:
Sers - The "Slivoitz(a)" - The Krkanluck - Zurka / Veselje / Guca
Mexicans: - Tequilla - Burittos / Tacos / Enchiladas - Fiesta
Both: Good & responsible workers If paid well; the time is veeery relative; don't give a damn; great friends.

Serb would hardly "walk " a leaf blower, neither clean the toilet... Serbs rarely work zillion hours a week
Mexicans would hardly take a weapon and go to fight seriously (although they fight easily w/ each other; they love golden teeth and jewlery...
In the USA, Mexicans feel as they are riding on a space-ship. (There is huge difference between Mexico & Serbia, at all!)

smizibizi

For this study data has also been analysed in relation to health, wealth and access to education.
1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Malaysia
18. New Zealand
19. Norway
20. The Seychelles

The list is such a crap!:) There is no way that Bahamas, Brunei, Bhutan, Costa Rica and Malta are ahead of i.ie. Netherlands, New Zealand or Norway. Neither Seychelles could be as a 20-th! I know that country, so well...:)

Mungos, The Margarita-lover

P.S. Mr. Brown, health care is accessible in Serbia as much as in the USA. Don't forget that almost everyone is Serbia is guaranteed the health care, in contrast to the USA where officially(?) 60 million (1/5th!) people do not have an access even to the basic H/C! Even with a good health insurance, you have to pay a wealth for for moderately serious medical treatment.

P.S. Mr. Brown

Mungos, you talk/write in English like a true Mexican :)
It's Mrs. Brown, not Mr. Brown... Rosemary is a she :)
By the way, what is it with American bloggers here - they post something and that's it; no communication with the rest of us (boranija - green beans)... hello, blog is an interactive form of communication :)

I guess in The Seychelles and The Bahamans, the locals don't count as people...

Atomski mrav

By the way, what is it with American bloggers here - they post something and that's it; no communication with the rest of us

That's just C.I.A. gathering the range of responses... no need to interact at all. ;-) We all just end up filling their databases.

I don't give a damn about people who don't give a damn about me :)

Atomski mrav

I don't give a damn about people who don't give a damn about me :)

Way to go. I agree.

vidi shta kazhu za Bhutan;-)

Atomski mrav

P.S. Mr. Brown

Mungos, you talk/write in English like a true Mexican :)
It's Mrs. Brown, not Mr. Brown... Rosemary is a she :)

I apologize, deeply! Ispalo mi "s", s oprostenjem!

Mungos, The Clamsy

Kazezoze

vidi shta kazhu za Bhutan;-)

Da, kada su svi nafurani na religiju & uduvani 48 sati dnevno!

Mungos, The Ne Prima Se

Atomski mrav

P.S. Mr. Brown

Mungos, you talk/write in English like a true Mexican :)
It's Mrs. Brown, not Mr. Brown... Rosemary is a she :)
By the way, what is it with American bloggers here - they post something and that's it; no communication with the rest of us (boranija - green beans)... hello, blog is an interactive form of communication :)

And you didn't notice that I have dropped "b" from Serbs and "V" from "slivovitz"?
:)) Ima se, moze se!

Mungos, The Shame On Me

Well, I didn't want to risk anything... someone might say I'm nationalist or something even worse...

Da, kada su svi nafurani na religiju & uduvani 48 sati dnevno!

jok bre, budisti... nego ono je zanimljivo : "Gross National Happiness," he declared, "is more important than Gross National Product."
oni to imaju u zakonu.. sreca im vazhna, ko i meni uostalom:-)))

Several years ago I’ve heard one advice: “When someone asks you how are you tell him “never better” so that he can die under torture!” LOL
I think people are less happy here because they know, they remember better life.

@mungos
Why you think that people from Brunei should be less happy than someone from The Netherlands? I don’t think so, especially with Brunei (I know I wouldn’t be). Namely Brunei is small, religious country (sultanate) with very (!) wealthy economy based on oil industry; medical service is provided by government and is free of charge as well as education … I know I’d be happy :)

never-conquered country would have happier citizens than its very poor neighbor.

Your collective memory does not extend too far back. America is a country (geographically speaking) that was gradually conquered by European empires and nations, who almost completely destroyed and subjucated the land's indigenous people.

And you're right. It's not all about wealth. In a country in which 25% of the people is Evangelist-Fundamentalist (src. Jesus Camp documentary, as well as several globe-trotting Americans from the southern states) and you get spanked for watching the demonic Harry Potter, I'd rather live in Mexico... or Serbia.

poor mexico: so far from god, so close to the united states

poor serbia: so far from united states, so close to the mexico & god

poor united states: so far from god & serbia, so close to the mexico

..

Ah, neki kanda u Srbiji misle po onoj Njegoševoj... "Bog visoko, Rusija daleko..." :)
Što se mene tiče, što dalje od Rusije, što dalje od Amerike, a što se Boga tiče, tu mi je svejedno.

You have been long enough in Serbia to hear standard excuse! I guess Spaniards and English were better ocupiers :-)

extended families often live together (grandparents, parents, kids)

Nothing wrong with this in old cultures respecting elders! Not liberal though...

yu1bcd

extended families often live together (grandparents, parents, kids)Nothing wrong with this in old cultures respecting elders! Not liberal though...

This smacks of crude cultural relativism (which would make sense in the light of your other contributions, anyway).

The self-centered Anglo-Saxon 'me me me!' mindset doesn't fathom the value of family.

m.agrippa

The self-centered Anglo-Saxon 'me me me!' mindset doesn't fathom the value of family.

And what exactly is the value of family? Could you elaborate, please. How it is that "me" is not valuable, and "family" is? Exactly who has decided so?

m.agrippa

The self-centered Anglo-Saxon 'me me me!' mindset doesn't fathom the value of family.

Phrase. And quite incorrect in my opinion. Despite the fact that young people normally leave their home by 18 to start their own life, I haven't observed any lack of love and compassion toward their families. At least nothing short of "worm" Slavic "mindset", for example, or americanized Latinos, or anybody else's.

I was thinking of Chinese, the largest and one of the oldest. I also appreciate American way of gaining independce at 18 when entering college faraway from home. The worst case are Italians staying with MAMA until 40.

Still relative for you, Dejan of Oz?

yu1bcd

I was thinking of Chinese, the largest and one of the oldest. I also appreciate American way of gaining independce at 18 when entering college faraway from home. The worst case are Italians staying with MAMA until 40. Still relative for you, Dejan of Oz?

If I were able to understand what you actually mean, I would be happy to respond. However, now I don't know what you're saying, and will refrain from reading anything into your messages.

Perhaps the Serbs are following the old Greek saying that you should not talk about how happy you are in order not to provoke the envy of the gods.

that people that admire and love their country end up "building some other's home" or "painting some others house", i.e. working, living, spending, building, raising family, ... , in some other country. The place you live at is as much happier place, as much more you work on it. It seems silly that you love one country, and build some other's (ussually, a .... pit).

P.S.

I supose that the same thing goes for Mexicans ... they love Mexico but every now and then crowd up Mexico-USA California or Texas borders.

Happiness is overrated.

What was the definition of happiness when the study was made? What does it have to do with real circumstances? With our expectations? With sanity and lucidity of the members of the target group(s)? ...

dunjica

What was the definition of happiness when the study was made? What does it have to do with real circumstances? With our expectations? With sanity and lucidity of the members of the target group(s)? ...

One interesting definition of Happiness is given in the movie “Ljubica” (btw, starring Bozidarka Frajt, for you “old school”):

Happiness = (What You Get) / (What You Wish).

Obviously, the more you get the happier you are. Also, the less you wish the happier you are.

Both (What You Get) and (What You Wish) are related to the characteristics of the environment you live in. The more developed the environment is, the higher chances for you to get more. The drawback is that you’ll see more of affluence around you and you’ll wish more too.

This is the first math movie I’ve seen.

I believe that this definition fits nicely into any of these rankings.

We all focused on how well the country is doing to how happy its citizens are. I believe that there are other factors to consider:

It’s What You Do Not What You Have

We all know that kids with all toys are more spoiled and less happy than kids with one or two toys. Same holds for adults.

Temper

Temper 1 – You’ll see many Latino/Mediterranean nations high on the lists. It is just the way to approach life. Give them basics (including music) and don’t harass: they’ll be happy.

Temper 2 – Northern nations: “Man, thank God they invented central heating.” The life taught them to be disciplined and appreciate what they have.

Temper 3 – Caribbean countries: “Dolce Far Niente” attitude. Funny how that doesn’t work in Bermuda (I know, I live there). It may be explained with the following factor.

Shocks

Shock is any significant change in the living conditions. It’s amazing how positive shocks do not increase the happiness as much as the negative ones kill it. That’s what I believe put us very low in the rankings.

Regional Factors

Must be in the water.


Look at us, Yugoslavian countries, in the first ranking:

38. Slovenia
42. Croatia
51. Bosnia
61. Serbia
64. Montenegro
67. Macedonia

and please tell me what “Sto juznije to tuznije” mean.

the less you wish the happier you are.

I think that´s the key to happiness.

something I've read about stress
it is not stress that "kills" us, but our reaction to it
the same goes for happiness - and I think it is not just partly about our attitude
joy vs. satisfaction

iza suda

It’s What You Do Not What You Have

It's what you are not what you have. As long as your happiness depends on external factors you'll never be happy.

If you ask an average German how is (s)he doing, probably the most positive answer you could get would be: "There is nothing to grouse (meckern, Germ.) about."

Grouse? Jarebica, tetreb? :)
Kao, ne žalim se ni na šta?

grouse = meketati? barem je meckern (njem) = meketati

Jedini prevod za grouse što sam našao je tetreb ili jarebica?!
Znači, ni Nemci neće reći da su dobro, već da se ne žale ni na šta. Nisu happy, već content. Dobro, nije ni to loše...

Ima i ovaj grouse:

Pa skontaj šta je na slici, tetreb :) E sad, možda ima glagol to grouse ali zašto bi "meketati" zvučalo isto kao "tetreb"? Možda u Nemačkoj tetrebi mekeću (lukavo, da zavaraju trag) :)

Atomski, Nsarski, sad ste me zbunili max. Moj LEO kaže da je grouse = meckern. A meckern = meketati. Očito ne valja prevoditi ovako iza ćoše. Onda da pojasnim. U našem prijevodu, Nijemci kažu, kad im je sve potaman, super, kao po loju, zdravo, veselo, bogato, uspješno, ...: "Nemam za šta meketati." Preveli bismo kao "Nemam zašta kukati." Stvarno hiper-optimizam, pokušala sam ironično poručiti.

Tako je to kada se vic pokuša objasniti :-(

Grouse je ta prepelica ili kojagod je to ptica.
Grouse je takodje i sinonim za complain.



Main Entry:noun
grouse
Pronunciation:
ˈgrau̇s
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural grouse or grouses
Etymology:
origin unknown
Date:
1531

: any of various chiefly ground-dwelling birds (family Tetraonidae) that are usually of reddish-brown or other protective color and have feathered legs and that include many important game birds



Main Entry: intransitive verb
grouse
Function:
intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
groused; grous·ing
Etymology:
origin unknown
Date:
1887

: complain, grumble

Uf, spasi mi Nsarski čast. Thx, hvala!

Drugi put koristim samo grumble.

Hvala, nsarski... čovek svaki dan nešto nauči :) Dunjice, sledeći put koristi complain da te ceo svet razume :)

Atomski, slijedeci put koristim srpski da me cio svijet razumije ;-)