Friday, May 16, 2008
Gastro-Eko Fest, Sarajevo, and another demonstration
Alright, I normally am not in town without knowing whether or not there is to be a protest. This one I did not hear about or read about. So I was leaving to go to Gastro-Eko Fest a second time, these nice ladies from Prijedor have a K.U.D. they support with handicrafts, so I bough a small table cloth, and they invited me back for snackage. I went back, and there were a lot of people trying for snackage, which was FREE! And not cheap stuff to make either! and I might add, DELICIOUS! The ladies also gave food to some disabled veterans sitting on a bench, and a guy I am fairly sure was Roma, they were such smiling and nice ladies. So I enjoyed their lovely food,enjoyed chatting with them, and have a small table cloth for the coffee table, and from another stand got a pillow case, because the pillowcases in the flat other than the big green ones are too small. This one has a lot of hand work on it. The type of hand work people put on things like pillow cases looks a lot like handwork familiar from when I lived in Mexico, very bright, very simple stitches, cotton floss. It will be nice for those times I need to wash the duvet and pillow cases, because the weather is getting warm enough that things can't just be dried on the radiators like in Winter, and therefore it could be over night before something I was is dried. Especially any form of bedding.
So the Gastro Eko Fest had music, but nothing live during the day. I would have to come back at night, and I don't see well enough for that.
Going back I heard like lots of whistleing, and realized the 'Informal Group of Citizens' must be by the Katedral, and I made a detour to get back to Trg Oslobođenje-Alije Izetbegović, the protest walk had started by the time I got there. I made some other purchases, from official Fest folks and a couple casual traders who are out regularly. A couple village guys had a root I never heard of called 'Masne Korijen'. I have never heard of it! It's a local remedy for arthritis. It has no smell, you can rub it fresh on your skin, if you want to save some ahead, and you really should, it doesn't keep well, you can put it in either rakija or olive oil. The guys told me either works very well, I chose some in rakija because I figured it was less likely to say, get moldy. There are not so many preservatives in use here as in America, and I find that stuff kept in rakija lasts longer.
Visually the root resembles horseradish. I do not have a Latin name for it, I am going to have to find out more, because it feels like it works!
I needed to take a day off from even dealing with potential students after yesterday. That guy can't have been Bosnian! People here usually are Not Fooled by the fact I am not an absolutely typical American. He was. He sent a friend over but did not come over himself. I did a little bit of wandering about before taking a taxi home. I did not like the situation really, and frankly I don't need stupid people as students. Most Bosnians are Not stupid! The general run of people are pretty cultured, even people from small towns and villages, and this was a rare exception.
Even the guy I had to school a little because he thought services OTHER than English lessons were on offer was classier! Ended up having a long SMS exchange for him, because just for the Hell of it, I asked him why he wasn't looking at the 'Personals' instead of bothering me. He told me,that those women are only in it for the money and thez want a LOT of money! and I gave him advice on good books and told him, 'Be smart, if you aren't getting divorced don't cheat on your wife! Women always figure it out and it can get very ugly when we do!' I have to say women who charge highly for Other Services deserve the high fees, they are risking their health and their lives! Men should not bitch about it if they end up paying a la carte prices! Amazingly the conversation by S.M.S. was very civilized!
I have more respect for that guy than for the one who did not show up himself and sent his buddy to sus me out. I even have more respect for the guy from Zenica who at least showed up and didn't give me any b.s. when I explained the class plan and it wasn't for him. He was very gentlemanly about his ulterior motives and when he realized it was going nowhere,nicely went away.
He's planning to go to America, and I am sure he will be a big hit with the ladies in Kansas!
So the Gastro Eko Fest had music, but nothing live during the day. I would have to come back at night, and I don't see well enough for that.
Going back I heard like lots of whistleing, and realized the 'Informal Group of Citizens' must be by the Katedral, and I made a detour to get back to Trg Oslobođenje-Alije Izetbegović, the protest walk had started by the time I got there. I made some other purchases, from official Fest folks and a couple casual traders who are out regularly. A couple village guys had a root I never heard of called 'Masne Korijen'. I have never heard of it! It's a local remedy for arthritis. It has no smell, you can rub it fresh on your skin, if you want to save some ahead, and you really should, it doesn't keep well, you can put it in either rakija or olive oil. The guys told me either works very well, I chose some in rakija because I figured it was less likely to say, get moldy. There are not so many preservatives in use here as in America, and I find that stuff kept in rakija lasts longer.
Visually the root resembles horseradish. I do not have a Latin name for it, I am going to have to find out more, because it feels like it works!
I needed to take a day off from even dealing with potential students after yesterday. That guy can't have been Bosnian! People here usually are Not Fooled by the fact I am not an absolutely typical American. He was. He sent a friend over but did not come over himself. I did a little bit of wandering about before taking a taxi home. I did not like the situation really, and frankly I don't need stupid people as students. Most Bosnians are Not stupid! The general run of people are pretty cultured, even people from small towns and villages, and this was a rare exception.
Even the guy I had to school a little because he thought services OTHER than English lessons were on offer was classier! Ended up having a long SMS exchange for him, because just for the Hell of it, I asked him why he wasn't looking at the 'Personals' instead of bothering me. He told me,that those women are only in it for the money and thez want a LOT of money! and I gave him advice on good books and told him, 'Be smart, if you aren't getting divorced don't cheat on your wife! Women always figure it out and it can get very ugly when we do!' I have to say women who charge highly for Other Services deserve the high fees, they are risking their health and their lives! Men should not bitch about it if they end up paying a la carte prices! Amazingly the conversation by S.M.S. was very civilized!
I have more respect for that guy than for the one who did not show up himself and sent his buddy to sus me out. I even have more respect for the guy from Zenica who at least showed up and didn't give me any b.s. when I explained the class plan and it wasn't for him. He was very gentlemanly about his ulterior motives and when he realized it was going nowhere,nicely went away.
He's planning to go to America, and I am sure he will be a big hit with the ladies in Kansas!
# posted by Katja R. @ 3:46 AM 
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Kulturno Umjetnost Drustvo, cultural artistic society. These are groups of people in the region who preserve various arts, crafts, music, food, stories, whatever and they do performances. A lot of times it is a bonding experience for young and old. The custom of having something similar was preserved in America by the way, kids from ex-Yu had to go to 'foklor' and often hated it! One such kid was the famous Weird Al, he learned to play a MEAN accordion that way!
Thanks. It's really interesting to have a taste of your everyday life in Saravejo but occasionally I get a bit lost.
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# posted by 
: 9:15 AM
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