Last night I attended the Belgrade Philharmonic’s performance in the New Year Cycle. The cycle is a concert series based on the various religious New Year celebrations. Last night’s concert was the Islamic New Year. It is always interesting to watch the “VIPs” enter hall and last night was no exception. With a lot of cameras, etc, Belgrade Mufti Muhamed Jusufspahić came in to be seated. I snapped this photo of him speaking with the Philharmonic Director, who looks “artistic” with the spiked hair and fashionable glasses.
The Islamic community in Belgrade and in Serbia is quite small with only one mosque in Belgrade and about 300,000 Islamic people in the country. Most are found in the Sandzak, a region in Southern Serbia that borders Kosovo, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
Jusufspahic is a somewhat controversial figure in that he is the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic community in Serbia. Several muftis in the Sandzak dispute this and there is political tension because of it.
I think it is nice for Serbia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia to have an Islamic community. It gives a bit of “exoticness” to the overwhelming majority Slavic Orthodox Serbian architecture and culture. The Islamic followers however, are Slavs, having been converted during the 500-year Ottoman occupation of Serbia. They don’t have different foods and look very Slavic. I enjoyed visiting Sarajevo and Mostar and hearing the call to prayer and seeing the towers of the mosques. I also visited the Bajrakli Mosque here in Belgrade in January of 2009.
We didn’t stay for the whole concert and Nadia and I went for a drink next door to the Hotel Square 9. A really nice atmosphere with not much smoking. We laughed quite a bit.
We drove two hours north east of Belgrade Sunday to the beautiful city of Timisoara, Romania. We went for lunch, some shopping, and some sight seeing. The first place we stopped was the magnificent Romanian Orthodox Cathedral near Opera Square in the center of the city. The Sunday morning service had just ended and we were given an unofficial tour of place by our friend, Vesna. It was the first time I had someone explain the intracies of the Orthodox Church. In the picture above is the front altar, which in the Orthodox Church is covered by a wall and doors decorated with icons, called an iconostasis. People were lining up to kiss a golden icon in the middle and they were also lining up to say a prayer over the relics of St. Joseph of Banat. A piece of cloth from his robes was in a box on a small side altar.
I explained the architecture to the boys. There are many domes and arches and the color schemes of gold, burgandy, and dark green, which are typical orthdox art style. There were paintings all over the cathedral walls. We sat for awhile on the chairs on the side and enjoyed the warmth of the church. I appreciated the opportunity to teach the kids about another religious practice.
I highly recommend visiting Timsoara. They have really good shopping – better than Serbia, I guess because they are in the EU and the prices were reasonable. We also had a nice dinner at an Italian Restaurant.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner last night at our home. We worked on Thursday so we postponed our family dinner until Saturday. I worked at the Strategic Planning Workshop all day, but Nadia and team Kralovec (Vera helping with the cooking and Ivana with the kids) prepared a delicious feast. The turkey was perfect and was accompanied by Nadia’s Bolivian salad, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs (my favorite), pumpkin pie, banafi pie, etc, etc., etc. We also drank some homemade Vishinata (sour cherry “moonshine”) and some excellent Romanian white wine.
We invited our friends Claudiu, Vesna, Dani, and Crina to celebrate with us. The kids had a good time and it was great to spend time with family and friends.
Although it is not celebrated here in Serbia, we did get to enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday. The school put on a “Holiday Celebration” on Thursday evening at the UK Ambassador’s Residence. They conveniently live a block away from us and we had a great night. The music teachers at the school are opera sopranos and they had a truly awesome performance. The food was delicious and plentiful and we had plenty of wine and laughs. Mrs. Davenport was especially kind to have the Detroit Lions versus Green Bay Packers football game on during the evening! We topped off the night with a Skype session with my brother’s family back in Michigan. My dad was there and he got to see Ocean and the kids.
We are doing it again today with our family thanksgiving dinner. We’ve invited some non-American friends to share the great “American Slava,” Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for in my life and I appreciate all that has been given to me.
Yesterday for the opening of our gymnasium a Serbian Kolo Dance Troupe performed. The “kolo” or circle in English, is a traditional cultural dance performed in the ex-Yugoslavia, in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia. This being Belgrade, it was the Serbian version of the dance. A professional troupe performed in the ceremony as you can see in the video above. I loved the music and costumes. Note the elf-like shoes, which traditionally are made of pig skin and are molded to fit one’s foot. They have a little “pig’s tail” on the tip of the toe.
It is a beautiful dance and great outfits. I felt like drinking a rakija while watching them!
I’ve noticed around the city the past couple of weeks many political posters. This spring they will be holding parlimentary elections and next year there will be a presidential election. The campaign has begun!
The posters definitely have a negative tone to them, highlighting the faults of the other parties.
The poster above reads, “Their interest in our debt!” and the subtext is “they brought the Belgrade economy to the edge of destruction.” The poster shows city mayor Dragan Đilas speaking with the economic minister. In a “city-state” such as Belgrade, the mayor has almost the same amount of power as the president and it is a position that the major political parties go after.
The current president, Boris Tadić will be serving out his five-year term in 2013. I think this is the first time a president has done that in Serbia’s short time as an independent nation. I don’t know how he can win reelection with the economy the way it is in Serbia. Experts are predicting Barak Obama facing difficulties getting a second term with 9% unemployment and a slow recovery. Tadić should be in big trouble with 23% unemployment, foreign direct investment falling in half in the past two years and inflation close to 10%. They also have 1/3 of their budget going to pensions.
But with a situation as dire as it is, it will be awfully difficult for anyone to turn the economy around. I don’t see much difference between the political parties (much like the USA) with all of them in favor of a 1 billion Euro subway system, promising more jobs, and cutting down on corruption. Most also agree to support the agriculture sector of the economy, which is already a healthy 13% of the GDP.
The argument used to be should they try to join the EU or go it alone or have a special relationship to Russia. I don’t see the EU accepting Serbia in the near future with the economic problems of Greece, Italy, and Spain.
Serbia needs leadership that will make it easier for businesses, both foreign and domestic to start up. Serbia is one of the most difficult places in the world to do business because of the bureacracy from Communist times. The rule of law needs also to be established here with everyone paying taxes and punishment of crime and corruption. I feel they should be putting their energy to trying to unite the Balkans instead of going for the EU membership. The negative campaigns are not focusing on the real details of what needs to get done and who can do it. Politics are the same in most countries and the USA is not an exception.
The poster below is making fun of Serbian Progressive Party leader, Tomislav Nikolić. He used to be with the Radicals and the left side shows him wearing a t-shirt of Voja Šešelj, the former leader of the Radicals, now on trial at the Hague. “Who is the person who never lied to you, Nikolić or the real Toma?”
Serbia deserves good leadership and I hope whoever gains power in the next election, and focus on good government and the betterment of lives of its citizens.
Last night I took the kids to the Red Star versus Radnićki game in the Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA). Radnički are the Detroit Pistons of the ABA, being from the motor city of Serbia, Kragujevac. They beat the Belgrade hosts, 83-79.
I was disappointed in Red Star and their American import, Adam Morrison. I heard a lot about the ex-Gonzaga player and was anxious to see him perform. He spent most of the game standing in the corner (see above) while the rest of the team handled the ball. They set no picks for him and he did not move without the ball at all. They also had him guarding the top player for Radnicki on defense, which got him into foul trouble in the first half. If you are paying for an import, you should use his strengths in the team’s offense. I was not happy with Morrison, he didn’t make much effort to get into the game and spent most of his efforts arguing with the officials.
The most impressive player for Red Star was a young guy off the bench, Andreja Milutinović, a 21-year old guard. He looked about 15 years old, but drove to the basket strongly and had a nice outside shot. Red Star is falling down the standings of the ABA and it doesn’t look to be a good year. It is hard to support a team that is not putting out a full effort. I should be cheering more for Partizan who this week came from 21 points down in the second half to beat Armani – Milan in the Euro League. I want to support Red Star but they are making it difficult.
Owen and Ollie had a nice time and we had great seats with our friends Jeff and Travis.
Nadia and I attended my daughter Ocean’s conferences today. I snapped this photo of her playing with her friends in class. Ocean attends the International Nursery School of Belgrade three days a week. Her teacher reports that she is making friends and is happy at the school. One of Ocean’s best qualities is her empathy towards others. She is always trying to help others. Another of her strengths is her language. She loves to talk. I think she gets that from her mother…
We are very proud of her and love her very much. Way to go Ocean!!!!
I took this photo Saturday evening while coming back from New Belgrade. All six lanes of traffic were open for the first time in many months as a large repair construction project was completed 7:00 PM on Saturday. The Gazela Bridge is one of the main bridges in the city connecting the old part of Belgrade with the New Belgrade. Besides being used for intra-city traffic, it is also part of two major highways crossing Europe (E70 and E75) and so besides Belgrade traffic, there is lots of foreign cars cruising through. The bridge has more cars crossing it than it was designed for.
The bridge built in 1970 was in desparate need of reinforcement and it looks and feels much better. The project did however, make everyone’s lives a hassle because of the limited options in crossing the city. Hopefully with all six lanes open, this will cut down on the traffic delays that were a daily part of many Belgraders lives.
The city is working on another bridge across the Sava River (see photo below) which should be done in the next few months. It will be interesting to see how this affects traffic flow. There are only two other bridges going across the Sava in the center part of the city. The bypass project, which would divert E70 and E75 traffic is still in the planning stages.
By the way, the name “Gazela” comes from the fact that on a side view, the bridge does look like a gazelle running.
View from the river, of the almost completed Sava Bridge (August 2011)
I just finished reading All About Tesla – How Nikola Tesla Invented the 20th Century by Michael Krause. I have heard much about the scientist and it was good to read a complete biography of him. His picture graces the 100 RSD note and the airport is named after him. The book is a bit dry, but Krause does a good job of covering the details of his life as well as mixing in his personal experience during the research on his life.
The famous "Blue Portrait" of Tesla, circa 1916
I would compare Tesla to Steve Jobs of today, but with bad business sense and a bit of autism/depression in the mix. He was one of the superstars of a new technology, electricity, and fortunes were made as the young industry got its start. It would have been amazing to live at that time, and the book captured the sense of society’s first reaction to electric light. Like the internet and computers of today, it fundamentally changed the way we lived. Before reading the book, I was under the impression that it was Thomas Edison versus Nikola Tesla to determine if direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) would become the dominate form of electrical circuitry. But in reality, there were many more people involved than just those two. Tesla’s contribution was producing a motor that George Westinghouse used to become rich and have AC be the current of choice. Tesla’s big mistake was selling Westinghouse the patent and not collecting royalties. The generator allowed Westinghouse and then others produce enough power to transport the current over distances. Like Jobs, Tesla was famous for his presentations. He gave lectures all over the world that were known for his showmanship. He wowed crowds with his demonstrations of wireless transfer of electricity to light early fluoresent light bulbs.
Publicity Photo of Tesla in his Colorado Springs Laboratory - circa 1899
Tesla is a “rags to riches” story. His father was an Orthodox priest in a small village in Croatia. Tesla barely got into university in Austria. His uncle pulled some strings and he got in on a military scholarship. Like many peasants in the late 1800s, Tesla fled the Austro-Hungarian Empire (my ancestors did a few years after Tesla left) to go to the US to make his fortune. He eventually became a world-class inventor and scientist, and also a huge celebrity. He lived large, living in luxurious hotels his entire life, and gave lectures demonstrating all sorts of electrical phenomena, like flourescent light bulbs lighting without being plugged in. He was good friends with Mark Twain and other famous personalities. Due to his extravagant living, it was constantly a boom and bust for Tesla. Many venture capitalists like J.P. Morgan, invested in his research and development laboratories, but because he as a wacko and didn’t focus on products that could be sold for a profit, he lost a lot of people a lot of money. The lectures and his articles for New York journals, made him quite a celebrity. He lived life large!
Serbian currency with the measure of magnetic field unit named after him
Tesla did come up with many patents and his ideas were ahead of his time. His ideas contributed to someone else making money in the fields of radio, x-rays, hydro-electric power, remote-controlled submarines, etc. As he got older, he got more out there, focusing all of his experimentation on impossible schemes. He was obsessed with a tower in his lab in New Jersey. He had the idea of a super tower that could send electricity across the world, as well as being a weapon, kind of like a laser death-ray of science fiction. Indeed, many of his ideas were used by science fiction writers of his time. In comics in the 1940s, some writers based their “evil scientist” character on Tesla.
I loved his idea of tapping into the cosmos’ energy, kind of like being able to power devices on cosmic rays or dark matter or the collective consciousness of living beings. Maybe someday this will be a reality.
He had many strange quirks. He was celibate his entire life. He worked insane hours with little sleep (10:30 AM – 5:00 AM) and avoided all sunlight. This led to periods of exhaustion and depression. He had to put pieces of rubber under his bed for a time, because of his hyper bat-like senses wouldn’t let him sleep because he detected the friction of the bed posts and the floor.
He was also proud to be a Serbian and in his later years, the Yugoslavian government supported him. I learned from the book that his name may be Ukrainian, because Tesla is not a typical Serbian surname. He was a fascinating fellow to say the least and Serbia and Yugoslavia should be proud of his contributions to the human race. I really want to go see his museum here in Belgrade. I’ll do a post on my visit there.
Belgrade Mufti Muhamed Jusufspahić, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Bill's Blog 