Appendix Appendix

I spent last weekend with M, in her hometown, Zaječar. It’s in Eastern Serbia, a few kilometers from Bulgaria, in a region known as ‘the appendix of Serbia’ (at least that is what I was told). Some thoughts, experiences, etc. of the trip:

-I think a lot of why I was invited a long was to serve as a buffer between M and many of the people in her life. Things couldn’t get too intense between her and her parents, between her and her ex-girlfriend, or her and her ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend (one of the most attractive people that I have seen in real life in months), if I am sitting in the room trying to follow along with the conversation.

-I think I ate only one meal a day, but I definitely made up for any caloric deficiency that that would have cause with coffee and beer consumption.

-I have long thought that Serbia is where American TV comes to die. There are all sorts of odd shows that are on the air here, some of which get quite a following. M’s friends are really into That 70s Show, which is broadcast a few times per day on the town TV station. I also watched an episode of a cartoon called Funky Cops, about bell-bottom wearing disco cops in San Francisco. Bizarre.

-M’s brother is the closest thing to a white hat that I have come across in Serbia. If his room had had a Dave Matthews Band poster, if would have been complete. Even though I was never particularly fond of those guys, there was something strangely comforting about running into one here.

-On Saturday night we attended a maskenball (costume party) at the local youth cultural center. I felt bad that had no costume, but it turned out that no one was dressed up. Of about 100 people, there were five in costume, counting M’s ex who wasn’t dressed up, but since she’s a bit gothy the party organizers thought she was. (How I missed E.) There was a 300 euro prize for the best costume. Had I put any effort into putting together a costume, I could have walked away with it (and crossed something off my life list).

-On a few tipsy nights, we played a word game. The first person said a word and the next person repeated that word and added another. At first, we played with random words in Serbian [I chimed in with my favorites—kikiriki (peanut), fioka (drawer), and piksla (ashtray).] We then switched to making actual sentences:

Juče
Juče, ja
Juče, ja sam
Juče, ja sam bila gola
Juče, ja sam bila gola na
Juče, ja sam bila gola na travanu…

(Yesterday, I was naked in a field…)

All the while, I was nervously awaiting my turn, hoping not to embarrass myself too terribly with my bad grammar.

We also played a round or two in English. My favorite go-round, started with ‘hello, my uncle is crazy and very nuts…’ It turned M’s friend’s living room into a strange, strange _________-Anonymous meeting.