All In Good Taste: Savour The Flavour Of The Serbian Kitchen
Prior to my first visit to the Balkans, I was warned that I might find it difficult to spend any length of time there. Thankfully, I ignored their words – as I have a habit of doing – and jumped on a plane. That was five years ago and I have returned nearly twenty times.
Their words of caution were not related to the usual issues. They were because I do not eat meat. They believed that the Serbs’ meat-rich fare would leave me on a diet of cucumber and tomato (which wouldn’t be so bad, as Serbia has some of the best produce I have ever tasted).
Speaking In Tongues: A Little Effort Goes A Long Way In Serbia
Learning a new language gets more difficult as the years go by. I am living proof of that belief. It is widely accepted that the mind is more attuned to study during youth and, dare I confess, I hung up my school bag a few years back.
Do not get me wrong, I am far from being in my dotage, but I can testify that it is harder now than in my teens to learn lists of vocabulary or pick up the idiosyncrasies of grammar. To illustrate this, let me outline my well-intentioned attempts to learn Serbian, with its grammatical minefield. It is not a pretty story and, as yet, it does not have a particularly happy ending. But I am working on that.
A Feast of Ex-YU Cinema Confirmed For London’s Raindance Film Festival
Skaters, skinheads and kung fu fighters are among the colourful characters set to screen at London’s Raindance Film Festival 2011. As well as the usual string of daring and bold film choices for which the festival is rightly renowned, this year’s well-loved festival promises to treat film buffs to a wealth of contemporary Balkan cinema.
Streaking ahead of the success of recent years, this autumn’s festival (28 September – 9 October) will feature an incredible schedule of films from all the states of the former Yugoslavia. Established Festival Programmer Andreja Kmetović has drawn on his extensive contact base to pull together a strong and varied roster of contemporary cinema from the region’s top directors.
Wannabe Magazine Interviews Wild Rooster
Wannabe Magazine approached W!LD RooSTeR for an in-depth interview to discuss personal impressions of time spent in Serbia and opinions on what the future could hold for young people in the country. Here is a small sample with links to the full interview in English or Serbian.
Odakle potiče Vaše zanimanje za ove države?
WR: Moje zanimanje za Srbiju i zapadni Balkan je počelo pre pet godina, dok sam radio u Kini. Upoznao sam dvojicu momaka, jednog iz Banja Luke, a drugog iz Skoplja. Pričali su mi o svojim životima i iskustvima, a moja želja da saznam više samo je rasla. Skoro dvadeset puta sam posetio region, boraveći u Bosni, Hrvatskoj, Crnoj Gori, Makedoniji i, naravno, Srbiji. Uživam u bogatstvu kulture i zahvalan sam što imam divne prijatelje. Oni su mi pružili toplu dobrodošlicu i naučili me mnogo čemu o istoriji i ljudima iz regiona.
