Fotos on an April Friday

This golden man with his golden umbrella and urn set out to make everyone smile with his golden afro. I paid about 20 dinar in order for Connor to have this wonderful opportunity. I'm a giver.

After the golden man we confronted Connor's worst nightmare. Puppets. Admittedly, these puppets were creepy. They played those tiny little instruments too. When we passed back by the tiny African American puppet was playing the trumpet in front of a tiny Serb girl. He had soul and she looked horrified. I have no idea what Connor looked like because he was about twelve feet behind me.

Sometimes I feel a little pixelated myself.

According to Connor, this sign says "Children are not slaves".

Shown: Not Slaves

At the end of this huge mural were some little men selling some fantastic paintings. As far as I know they weren't slaves or children either.

Oh dear Nato, I'm not finding many fans 'round here.

Oldies, but goodies. These are from Michaela's birthday party (she's the tiger). She had a clown at her party. I've never seen a clown at an American party. We're culturally petrified of them, it was a surreal experience. He was awesome.

He was a party maven. Not only did he do clown things, he also painted faces.

"Hey Connor, where is the closest tiger? RIGHT HERE!"

Shown here: Party hat triceratops and bewildered tiger

I love Belgrade....hidden in the elevator lobby of the mall.

The eProp. The most realistic fake laptop you will ever seen. Those swedes don't play. Ikea is legit, even when its not.

Creepy baby showcases Ikea wares.

One great thing about the mall

besides KFC is that there is literally always something going on. We never know what exactly will be going on, but its a guarantee that something will. This month its not only the mall's third birthday, but also Serbian Easter. So Connor and I dropped into the mall before exploring and walked right into some celebrations. We had to walk by the Easter celebration and in the food court there were some crazy photo opportunities. We took these photos after watching KFC facilitate some under age drinking. Although it was weird to us, its kind of par for the course to see young teens drinking Heineken. You can tell you're in Europe when you can buy a beer with your combo meal...or as your meal. I've got a ton of exploring photos for a later post as well. There are two many to include in one though.

This is the front side of the massive mall here in New Belgrade.

Connor showing what a beautiful fairy princess he really is.

The third pig played accordion, did you know that?

Which Musketeer would you be Connor?

I was the blue fairy to Connor's pink.

And I was slightly sad that I played this little stick...or I was tattling on our piggy friend.

Also, I think I make a more impressive Musketeer.

This was the large egg sitting right inside the doorway. There was a security guard for Marks and Spencer that was very suspicious of our motives.

Two floors up from the Easter celebration. The kids were decorating eggs and there was a magician. It was a bit crazy.

Welcome to Usce and its never ending celebrations.

Keeping Up With The Americans

The Hunger Games trilogy has been making the rounds of Team Serbia. Some people are dead set against reading them, while others have embraced them with school girl giddiness. On Team Belgrade there has been fierce discussion and dissection of the books and their pros and cons. Well, amongst three of us at least. Everyone else claims to be uninterested in them. Kyle, Connor and I enjoy hashing them out together.

So the other day, Connor leans over (speaking into my good ear) and says: "Are you free on Thursday?" This question is in no way unusual. Thursday is our usual adventure day. Kyle is, at this moment, sitting behind me talking loudly with Trey about something or other. I tell Connor I'm free and ask him what he's planning. "The Hunger Games comes out on Thursday. They're showing it at 8 o'clock." Then from the side of my non functioning ear: "WHAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Kyle has totally zoned in. He really doubted they were going to even show it here. It doesn't have quite the same cult following here as it does at home.

At this moment nothing else in the room exists. Only the opportunity to go to the Serbian premiere of the Hunger Games. Kyle announces that he's free on Thursday too. Actually I'm scheduled to have dinner at his house. He also says he'll drive. Sold. He asks his wife's permission just to make sure and then its on. The three of us plan to attend the Serbian premiere that week.

I have dinner at the Stevens' household and then get in the car with Kyle to pick up Connor. The whole way we're speculating and hoping about the quality of the film. We get to the theater about an hour before the show starts. Good thing too, there was a ridiculous line.

Connor and I wait in the food court, enjoying a coke and a slice of Baklava respectively, while Kyle runs downstairs to buy a birthday gift for one of his daughter's friends. Cars, because its a birthday boy. Finally its time to go in. You've never seen such excited people. I'm sure everyone thought we were ridiculous.

Two and a half hours later we walk out in awe. We had a great time and spent the entire car ride home rehashing the movie. Not many people can say they attended a foreign premiere two weeks after the American hoopla. Much less the Serbian premiere. Take that.

I was going to have them take a photo with the regular movie poster, but Kyle saw this mid-photo and took off running across the lobby towards this massive life size poster. You can't see the Serbian guys taking tickets or at the concession stand that are literally right behind both Connor and Kyle. Their faces were priceless. 

We had a lot of time to kill between buying tickets and waiting for the doors to open.

A Wandering Collection

These are from a mix of wandering days. I think most of them came from a Fortress trip with the World Race girls (pre sickness), a short trip across the river with Connor, and a very fuzzy trip across a few blocks to a doctor's appointment. Check it:

The first time I passed this on the way to my appointment, I thought it was James Dean. On the way back, I was disappointed to discover that it seems to just be your average "Hipster Joe" chillin by the drain pipe. I think I'm going to continue thinking of him as James.

It looks like I photoshopped this bizarre square in, but this is Serbia. No need to for artificial nonsense, especially on the walking street. This thing was incredibly light weight. You could spin it with the slightest touch. Still no idea why it was there or why it suddenly disappeared.

It wouldn't be a blog post without a creeper photo or two. This one is because I was in awe of the dreadlocks on these guys. Oddly enough, I continued to see Yellow Shirt on my side of town. Maybe I'm destined to be friends with him and his classy little bicycle.

This is only a small sampling of the meat that was served to us during our traditional Serbian meal. Serbs do love them some meat.

Connor and I were so confused by this clock, it was going backwards and had the wrong time. Connor thinks that its counting down to the Olympics...we really still have no idea what it is exactly.

Do you see him? This is what a cracked out Sponge Bob looks like.

Fred Flintstone in drag?

 

 

 

 

This is actually pretty cool. Its an open library. Its based on the one for one concept, take a book leave a book.

Although I have to question its placement at the end of the walking street. When we passed it there were some Hindu like pamphlets inside, that seems to be about it. Perhaps it would be better utilized in Studentski Grad? Or any place where students/readers gather, instead of the fortress end of the walking street. Although you could buy cotton candy fairly close, maybe that will draw some interest.

Wonderful concept, questionable execution.