Hello Everyone!!
You may be wondering to yourself, “Self, why is Elder Novakovich's email arriving on a Tuesday. He has P-days on Mondays, and I am pretty sure you only get to type emails on your P-Days." Well let me tell you. We were busy all day yesterday and had no time. Well that was easy to answer! :)
So how is everyone? I hope it’s not as cold in Utah, or wherever you may be, as it is in Serbia. These past weeks have been crazy!! I can say that humidity is not a good thing during the winter. Come to think of it, humidity just makes everything worse: warm weather, cold weather, you name it. Humidity ruins it. But alas, let me step off my soap box!
Having been in the country for a month now, I figured I would create a list of sorts of things I find fascinating or peculiar about Serbia.
1. Restaurant Culture: Serbians love to go to Kofić with friends and just order drinks. And when they order their drinks, they just sit there for hours and hours and sip away at their drink. Last week the Elder's from Belgrade came down and we had lunch at Adriana's, which is the best place at center in Novi Sad. As we were eating, we found out we were the only table of 20 or so that had food on our table. No one ordered food. Not what I would do. I like stuffing my face with delicious foods!
2. Beer: Beer here is almost as cheap as water. Price of a 2 L of Jelen Piva: 100 Dinars. Price of a 2 L of water: 80 Dinars.
3. Bakeries: They plague this land like McDonald's plagues America. They have bakeries every fifteen steps. Love it
4. Plieskavica: Google it. Best food known to man. Take an American hamburger, and put it on steroids that make food more delicious. That's how I would describe them.
5. Exchange rate: 1 USD = 75 RSD as of today. Boo ya!
6. Novi Sad Branch: a total of 6 active members. All of them over the age of 60.
7. Language: Serbians learn English far better than we learn Serbian. We have met many Serbians who speak English with little or no accents.
8. DVD: Three bucks a pop, enough said.
9. Zip-lock Baggies: They do not exist in Serbia. You will never find a zip-lock bad in this country. They don't exist. ** Again, I have been corrected. I will have to try to find them, because I can't seem to find them at all!
10. Tennis: It’s hard to imagine, but tennis is one of the biggest sports out here. You see many, many tennis courts throughout the city.
11. Cross Walks: Serbians don't like being the first one to cross at an intersection. Whenever we come up to a crosswalk, we always go first. They always just stare at each other and hope someone else goes first. It's hilarious to watch! I will have to film it one day.
12. Fast Food: Fast food restaurants here are bomb: McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut. I could say with confidence they taste better out here than in the States. They serve french friends in Pizza Hut!
13. Novi Sad: The literal translation for the city name is "new now" ** I have been corrected, it means "New Garden" Thanks for the correction!
Well that's all I could think of on the top of my head. I will include more as I run across them!
That's all folks!
Love Elder Novakovich
Hi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Serbia.
Two fast facts: Zip-lock bags can be found in DM drugstores (drogerie markt) and in chains like Merkator, Maxi or Vero.
Novi Sad means "New plant" or "New Garden" (Latin Neoplanta).
On cross-walks we must to check if there's drivers that doesn't obey red light first.
Restaurants are addition of our coffee culture, with Kafana being prime institution.
Wish you all the best in Serbia!
"Sad" is a noun derived from the verb saditi - to plant. The Serbs eat in restaurants, and mostly drink in cafes and bars, which are not primarily eateries, even if they too serve (some) food. Hang in there, friend
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