Day: January 10, 2009

Serbia is never boring and one of the reasons I really enjoy living here! This week the dispute between Russian natural gas company Gazprom and Ukraine temporarily cut off gas supplies to Belgrade. I had a couple of parents call me to see if we were to have school on Monday because of this. My friend who manages an internatioanal business in the city said he had to send workers home this week because the office did not have heat. On of the school employees in the business office also had the heat turned off in her building. Several students said their families got electric heaters in case of their gas being shut down.

The school uses oil and was not affected. Our home had heat so we didn’t have to worry either. Serbian officials were working to counteract the shortage of natural gas supplies. Happily the dispute was resolved yesterday and natural gas supplies will soon be back to normal.

Many Belgraders use coal stoves to heat their home. A pile of coal was dumped on the street near the exit of our house. Ned, one of the tenants above us, ordered the load. Yesterday, a worker hauled it up to his apartment. With the rising costs of natural gas and oil, it may be the cheapest way to heat a home. Very few Americans burn coal in their homes, mostly in the Pennsylvania anthracite mining area. My father remembers burning coal as a kid in their home and I’ll have to ask him about it when I call him tomorrow. Back then and in the early days of coal in the home, smoke was a problem. I noticed the odor right away and was wondering what that chemical smell was in the air. My sister-in-law noticed the smell also during her visit, recalling the winter odors of Istanbul where she used to live.

I would assume the stoves in Belgrade are not very modern and use clean technology. Fortunately, not everyone burns with coal and I don’t know the percentage of Belgrade homes and apartments that do. Our neighbor and a couple that lives in our building do however, so we smell it often. It doesn’t bother me. I would like to hear from readers who know more about it. I also can’t identify the types of coal. It probably not is the high quality, hard anthracite coal. Belgrade doesn’t feel polluted and we have clear views to the Sava River from our house.