Bread and Circuses

The first half of my yesterday was consumed with bread making. To mark The International Day against Fascism and Anti-Semitism, Women and Black had a vigil followed by a potluck party. The dishes were all Lebanese. I don’t really know why that was decided upon. Maybe it was an attempt to be fair and balanced. Regardless, it was delicious.

It was my first attempt at cooking with Serbian yeast, which comes in a paste, about the consistency of softened butter. The bread wasn’t Hoda’s quality, but I was satisfied and I brought the recipe to a coworker today.

Yesterday evening, I met up with a few Americans that sent an e-mail to Women in Black about a month ago, saying they would be traveling through Belgrade, wanting to know more about the organization. It turns out that they are circus people. They had been volunteering in Kosovo with some sort of reconciliation-through-circus-skills initiative.

As we were walking along the pedestrian street, we happened across some circus punks (I never knew there was such a thing) that they knew. These two guys were putting on a show—impressive juggling (fire, lots of balls), some acrobatics, etc. I hadn’t seen juggling in years—it was really entertaining. Watching the little kids around us get excited was almost as good as the show itself.

When sitting in a park and drinking non-alcoholic spritzer (if there is such a thing) was cut short by a downpour, we sought refuge at A&T’s nearby flat. A’s visiting brother does magic, so the evening ended with card tricks, magically twisted forks, a levitating 500 dinar note, potato juggling and much discussion of the juggling and magic subcultures, which I have learned are very curious places.