Serbia has some amazing people

Maybe you haven't noticed them, but they are here, smart, brave, they boldly go where no one really would in their shoes. They represent role models how everyone wants to be.

So let's start with the president Boris Tadic (within people better known as BoTa). He's shiny, always using cool bro'-type of handshake, especially with the political opponents and sportsmen. He has to be very technical, as a Psychology graduate he used to be the Minister of Telecommunications. Way to go bro! Man, I want to be the president baby, then I would never have to skip a match of football, tennis, basketball or water-polo especially when the national team is playing, I'd be an honored guest, sipping champagne, commenting the game for the news. Super job. But it ain't easy though, you gotta be an amazing dude like BoTa to do all the amazing stuff for the country to keep it blossoming like this and still have time for the games.

Then we have another amazing guy, Velimir Ilic, who was a minister of infrastructure, and a president of Serbian Athletic association at the same time. But that's really nothing special, what he really is famous for is the amount of food and drink he can intake, and the amount of impoliteness he can outburst. Truly fascinating.

Dragan Djilas, man, this guy is the mayor of the biggest and almost the only important city in the country, he is fighting for the poor, for jobs, for the green, for health, for schools, for public transport... But that just ain't enough for that omni-capable dude. He is also a president of the basketball association. Don't know if he ever played, but he certainly knows a lot about business and can transfer his knowledge and know-how, because being the mayor of Belgrade is not making him busy enough, so he has of course some time for additional activities.

One of the most important goals of our government is the fight for Kosovo, at least that's what they say. Minister Jeremic is striving to convince other countries not to recognize Kosovo. But he is doing a killer job there, so that he can also help our tennis federation work better. He's been the only candidate so far to become the president of this federation, AFAIK.

Enough? Nooo, we have so many more amazing people, just couldn't write about all of them right now. For instance Oliver Dulic, a surgeon who is the Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning. Wow! Then if you scroll back in time for last 20 years, I bet there hasn't been a board of directors in Partizan/Red Star, without a member from the political party that's in the government. Mirko Marjanovic used to be a prime minister and also an honored president of Partizan.

And I must say, I don't follow what's going on in politics a lot. If I did, I would have probably known about many more amazing people in Serbia. They represent our biggest treasure, literally.

Disclaimer: If you think I'm biased for/against a political party, that's wrong, I'm only biased towards my shorter-term-memory and limited knowledge.

Serbia & Paypal - Do we really suck that bad?

Apparently yes. And we can't get it out of our throat.

Ok, sorry for being overly picturesque but its still that bad. The first time I went abroad for more than 10 days was 2006 in the USA. Normally, I ran into a payment method that was new for me - Paypal. It was quite cool, you basically register your bank account at a trusted site and you can use the Paypal account to pay at many many sites, without entering your credit card info. Also, you can transfer money to another paypal user, etc. But if you're being able to use internet and are reading this blog, you probably have an idea how it works :)

Anyway, you are potentially not aware how many countries are included in Paypal network. I saw the list 5 years ago and I was shocked because Serbia (and Montenegro) were not included. Back then maybe it was not 190, but 170 countries, but it doesn't change anything! And it's even worse now. Just by looking at so many countries that we consider 3rd world is not shocking for me anymore because I'm now used to that fact, but that list still makes me wonder...

I'm wondering what kind of issues are there and some of them are mentioned in this text (Serbian). If you think about politicians, they should be the elite, an extremely well educated, informed and motivated group of people. They should follow the world trends and try to implement them in Serbia if they work elsewhere. They should care about the needs of the people. But the accent here is that they should. Most of them probably never heard of Paypal, they don't need it. They are using cash, envelopes... Sorry, envelopes are too small, bigger bags are more preferable. Eventually, more sophisticated ones are using bank transfer to their uncle's companies. Basically, they don't need it and they don't care if it could be useful to the other part of the population that's a little bit technically aware and willing to make some use of the Internet. They just don't care and that's it. It's been 11 years since "democratic changes". Come oooon!

I'm not gonna dwell on reasons, I'm not an expert in the economy. But I'm happy to discuss with anyone if they think there is a legitimate reason why Paypal is still not in Serbia. And it would be so hard to convince me. If so many small and large countries all over the world have it, we can have it too. If we want. If they want. If they get their share. And if someone is really waiting for motivational %($) to push more on the matter (which basically means to stop slacking off), I just hope they never get that % they are waiting for even if Paypal would never reach Serbia.

I'm still disappointed but I hope it will change one day. Not Paypal problem, its cause.

It's all the same

Only the names will change,
Every day, it seems we're wasting away.
...
I'm a cowboy on a steel horse I ride,
I'm wanted, dead or alive.

There's a shortlist of music bands whose concert I wouldn't miss if given chance. Bon Jovi belongs to the group. Song "Dead or alive" reminds me on the days I started driving my father's car, and even after that period, it's always been easy for me to find myself in this song, one way or another.

I've been to Munich a month ago, and I hadn't known that the concert was gonna be there at the same time. But when I found out they're coming to Zurich, there was no way I was gonna miss it. :)


And I haven't really been to many gigs of this size, but this is by far the best one. Needless to say that his voice was amazing and the sound system was awesome. It all made a perfect experience to me. He sang mostly their greatest hits, and there is so many of them, I don't wanna count, but, for 2h30min, there were only 2-3 songs I hadn't heard before. He was also quite cool, having fun his way with the audience. And the audience, well, it's another interesting aspect. It was all mixed up, from younger people in mid-twenties to older couples who I guess used to listen to them even 25 years ago. This is very different from Serbia, where not so many older folks would go to a rock concert.

The gig brought lots of emotions in me, not that I only singed and enjoyed great music, but whole bunch of different feelings merged in my head, from love, pride, sorrow, joy. In the end it was nothing but happiness for being able to attend such a spectacle. I was singing and dancing all along and had funky great time. One of the highlights was during the song "Superman tonight" with all these people, and especially the last person. Please make sure you watch the video to the far end. This rocks me for sure. And it's not the only one, many of their songs have very direct meaning as they're trying to influence the people to bring outside what's the best from the inside.



Organizationwide, it was perfect, high frequency of public transport, no waiting at the entrance, many places to get food/drinks. Pretty cool. What I didn't expect is to see people re-selling the tickets in front. And actually it was possible to get a good deal over there.

Here you can see the whole staduim calling them to come back to the stage with their arms in the sky. Sorry for not so good sound/video quality, but I just couldn't sneak in a decent camera. At least I can bring here some of the memorable moments and I'm sure you can get a nice feeling how it was.

Wanted - dead or alive. Sorry, you can hear one loud idiot who can't sing :) at some moments, but then - you can really feel how it all seemed to me.

Thanks for reading and
Have a nice day

Serbia in Switzerland

I've been here for a couple of months already. I'm one of them now. I am a gastarbeiter. In countries where German language is spoken, this term stands for "alien at work". In Serbian language it signifies much more than that. It stands for success, freedom, money, joy and happiness for the proud owner of the title, as well as unfulfilled dream and envy for the rest. It doesn't entirely work this way in reality, but it sells.

How? Here, one beer costs 8CHF, in Serbia 1-2CHF. For anything else, the ratio is similar, ~5 times more expensive here. Basically, showing off is peace of cake, and if you lack manners, people will see it, and eventually buy it. But it's not only lakes and mountains here. It's hard work as well. And not so much showing off.

I've heard a joke from a colleague. I made him say it, even though he was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning. "If you see a dead man on the street, how do you know he's from Yugoslavia? No traces of breaking." No matter how brutal this is, one should realize that there's no fire without a spark. And if you've got the fire burning, some winds will spread the fire all over, some winds will cool it down.

* By walking through Lausanne, we ran into a musical event - Balkan Gypsy Music. Several bands were playing, mostly Serbian, Bosnian, etc. music, the evergreen songs. There were people out there, watching, dancing, singing, not so many maybe 50-100 ppl, but it was very nice, and I really enjoyed. It was even multicultural, so an elderly Scot joined and danced his own way to our songs.

* By walking through Geneva, we ran 3 times into different groups who were doing three shell game. Needless to say, it's basically organized robbery and if you are in Serbia, you have probably learnt to stay away from such groups. I don't think that Swiss and foreign tourists are used to that. You could see 100CHF bills all over the place. So guess where these guys came from? I even heard one of them swearing "Mrš u pičku materinu".

Austria, Switzerland and Germany are synonyms for heaven to many. To me, gastarbeiters were mostly synonyms for the worst Serbian music, often low manners and political opinions that are more radical than of those who live in Serbia. Tables are turning I think, as many educated people immigrated in 90's and after. I never imagined myself in a German spoken environment, but here I am. I don't complain, I work for an amazing company in a very beautiful city in a very beautiful country. I hope to be, as the time goes by, one of many people, one of those small particles, that will together help puting out the fire that sheds some light to a better image of Serbia.

Dodji

Parni valjak - Dodji



Probably one of the best songs I have ever heard. Words so emotional, rhythm so touching. Gave my best to make it "singable" and maintain the number of syllables, and the sense, though it's not always literal translation. Didn't translate all the strophes, maybe some day when I have more time. French version sounds better IMHO. I'd really like some time to hear it from somebody who can sing. :)

fr
Viens ici,
Tout Oublie,
Je t'offre des nuits magique,
Et des reveils dans mon lit du miel.
Viens ici,
Et reste ici,
Je t'offre mes pleurs comme des perles
Mes intentions sont toujours sinceres.

J'aimerais m'endormir,
dans tes bras fragils,
Et la-bas je pourrais bien mourir.
Que le temps passe bien,
Pour moi, c'est rien,
Je deja attends toute ma vie.

eng
Come to me,
I'll be here,
I offer nights with magic,
And mornings made of sugar and of silk.
Come to me,
And stay with me,
I offer tears instead of pearls,
My plans with you
Are still the way they were.

I would gladly fall asleep,
In your arms so sweet,
And I'd never wake up from the dream,
Let the time passes by,
With this lullaby
I've been waiting for so many years.

EKV - Krug - analiza pesme

Uzeo sam nesto da citam sta ljudi misle o EKV pesmama i dosao do nekog sajta gde je neko pricao o besmislicama njihove muzike, tj. posebno teksta i trazio je da vidi skolsku analizu ove pesme, jer jelte nije video nista smisleno u njoj. U najmanju ruku se ne slazem sa tim pa sam uzeo nesto i napisao, i mislim da nije lose, pa rekoh da stavim ovde, te ako neko ima neko drugacije misljenje neka slobodno komentira. Mada, ko nema definisano misljenje, mozda nije lose da cuje odslusa pesmu najpre, da moji stavovi ne bi uticali. Bas bi bilo interesantno da cujem kako drugi shvataju.

Dakle, moje vidjenje :)

Krug - Ekv
Ovaj krug sam smislio
Ovaj krug sam stvorio
Ovaj krug sam razbio
U vetar rasuo
Vetar misli vetar zna
Sve sto znamo ti i ja
On me voli on me nosi
On me razbija

Kakav je krug? Zatvoren. To je nesto sto ogranicava. To moze biti krug porodice, moze biti soba sa racunarom, svoj grad (ljudi koji nemaju hrabrosti da odu iz grada), samoca, itd. Krug kao ogranicenje i krug kao ponavljanje se svodi na isto. Ogranicavamo se ponavljajuci iste stvari. To su sve one stvari kojima sebe ogranicavamo ne zelivsi da se prepustimo okolini koja zna da bude brutalna. Lakse je tako. Lik u pesmi razbija krug i pusta se vetru promena (vetar je sasvim logicno simbol promena). Vetar ga voli i nosi svojim "krilima", ali ga onda razbija - novo razocarenje u spoljasnji svet.

Kao da sam umoran
Kao da sam star
Kao da je dosadno
I suvise da znam
Ovaj krug sam skupio
I opet sklopio
On me voli on me nosi
On mi oprasta

Umoran, star, dosadno, suvise: dakle, dosta mu je svega, vraca se nazad u svoj zacarani krug, gde ima ponovo svoju sigurnost.

I kao ne i kao da

Kao zabrana i kao dozvola
Kao ne ne ne kao da da da
Kao zabava kao dosada

Krug je za njega sve. Zabrana i dozvola istovrenemo, kako? Ima dozvolu da napusti krug, ali s obzirom na dosadasnja iskustva, to mu je isto kao zabrana, jer zna da ce se vratiti. Zabava i dosada: bio sam sklon da pomislim dva su ove dve reci unete da dopune, jer fino zvuce u kombinaciji sa "zabrana i dosada". Medjutim i one se uklapaju, jer u krugu jedino nalazi zabavu (ne nalazi je van kruga), ali s obzirom na ponavljanje, ta zabava postaje dosada.

Krug moze biti i mnogo drugih stvari, mislim da je skoro nemoguce pronici u to sto predstavlja krug autoru, ali je bitno da je univerzalno i da svako moze pronaci ponesto. Mozda taj krug oznacava krug droge.

Moja licna filosofija zivota je potpuno suprotna od ove navedene, ja se kad god mogu trudim da razbijam krugove, mada i dalje mogu da se pronadjem u njima. Na kraju, bogatstvo zivota se moze meriti i po raznovrsnosti stvari koje smo cinili, a cesto, jako cesto smo mi ti koji sebi postavljamo granice.