countryside retreat/weekend in nature/sweeeet

I'd been in Belgrade since I arrived in Serbia almost two weeks ago, so I was ready to leave the city a bit and see more of the country, which I got a chance to do over the weekend.  Nathan and I went to the twons of Trstenik and Zagudica to help with environmental cleanings conducted by ISC's partners BCIF and Green List, who are running a campaign called Oplaneti Se! to raise awareness of and liminate wild dumps.

 

I got up early Friday morning, trekked up&down the hill to the bus station, hopped a bus for Trstenik, went back to sleep.  When I woke up, I was fast approaching the town, which lies about three hours drive South of Belgrade.  Got there and helped other volunteers clean up the roadside, then went to a reception to watch cute children folkdancing and singing.  I was recruited by locals to lend my ostensibly cosmopolitan tastes to the now-international jury of their art competition, for the best graffiti-style picture to communicate an environmental message.  I liked this one really colorful, flashy one thebest, but it was also the only one in English and I did't wanna project some kind of imperialist bias, so I deferred to my co-jurors in selecting one of the other, equally-deserving tableaux.

 

Then we got to take a boat ride down the nearby river.  My fellow sailors and I resisted the language barrier the best way we knew how, by them teaching my cool songs.  Some were about the river, I think?  Then we sang "Yesterday," which probably heard the most participation from everyone.

 

At the hotel that evening, the staff kept hassling me and Nathan, along with one kid with us from Green List  who didn't have his ID, about like registration and documents and stuff.  I'm pretty bored of this whole "tracking" thing, and carrying around documents.  I guess it's a step above putting RFID microchips in everyone, but barely.

 

After dinner we walked to the local hangout, a bar/poolhall called "America."  I don't know exactly how accurate it was to the home experience, but I'm 20 years old, so what do I know about American bar culture.  Had some fun with pool, table football, talking with my new friends from earlier in the day about the World, differences of Serbia/America, all that fun.

 

The next day we drove to Zagubica, in western Serbia, for another cleaning.  We didn't know the roads very well, and we had to keep asking for directions to Zagubica in different town.  One policeman told us it was 30km away.  About half an hour later, someone in a small village told us 35.  Another half an hour, and the number was down to 30km again.  Eventually we got there.  I learned only later that the region, Homolje, is known for its Vlachian black magic, so perhaps that played a role in our disorientation.  I enjoyed the drive though, lots of countryside and small farms and all the houses had the same red terracotta roofs

 

Zagubica was really beautiful, a little like my state of Vermont, with tree-covered mountains everywhere, and a natural spring.  In the evening, EXIT put on a concert in town with this rock band from Pristina called Popecitelji.  All the local kids got really into it, including some light slamdancing.  So basically I had a great time.

 

The next day, I got to see nearby Gorniak Monastery.  It was built in 1379, right next to, almost into the mountainside.  Inside the building were old and equisite frescos on the walls, and outside we climbed up to caves where hermit monks used to live.  Then, bus back to Belgrade, back to work, life, laundry that needs to be done.  I guess.  My friends were compaining on the bus, "oh no, back to reality."  Maybe for yall; I'm in Serbia.