"Indian summer" in Kragujevac

A professor at the university kept describing the weather this way.  Somehow the phrase seems incongruous here... and yet, here we are with 80 degree weather every day in September and no end in sight!  Lovely.

The original grammar school/high school in Serbia- seen from the front door of my building.

The church that I see from my balcony.

Home, sweet home

Well, I've been staying in my little dorm room for five nights now.  The first two were... difficult, as jetlag and adjusting to a new environment majorly messed with my head.  I didn't get much sleep those nights.  But never fear!  All is well, and a vigorous regimen of sleeping and eating at roughly the correct times has me firmly on Serbian time by now.

Here are a few photos of my room.  It's in a student dorm run by the university, and it's a very new, clean and rather pretty building.  It is in a wonderful location, about 1/2 a block from the main street of downtown Kragujevac.  It is next to a giant red church and across the street from a happening cafe and, beyond that, the first grammar school in Serbia.  Very illustrious, indeed.

My room is rather plain and soulless at the moment, I'm afraid.  In my shopping expeditions I have yet to encounter tape and tacks, two items that I am relying on for some modest decor.  So excuse the bare walls; hopefully within a few days or weeks I will have it feeling more like home.

View from the hallway.

Teensy bathroom- shower behind the open door to the right.

View from the balcony area

View to the left of the perpetually busy cafe across the street

View to the right of the back end of a big red church

View from above of a family's back patio

Close-up stalker pic of their cute puppy

 Obviously it's hard to convey the feeling of a room with a few photos, but I'll say this: the location and view of my room can't be beat.  It's central, but because it looks onto the back parking lot of an apartment building and the back patio of a family home, it's not too noisy.  The church occasionally punctuates the day with pleasant bell-ringing (and, considerately, never at night!).  The coffee shop across the street couldn't be closer and is always bustling.  I like being able to creepily look down on my neighbors' pretty patio and dog and birds and pretend we're best friends.  Additionally, this gives me a pretty great chance of solving a murder like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.  I love my windows- they let it so much light and air in this beautiful weather, without blinding me in the morning.  And although it's tiny, it's neat and clean and new with plenty of built-in storage space.

Basically, it's a pretty great set-up... especially for the low-low price of free!  That's right, in an extremely welcome surprise upon arrival, I was informed I do not, in fact, have to pay rent.  Can't beat that!

A note for those unfamiliar with blogspot blogs: enlarge any of the photos by clicking on them. 

The rain around Kragujevac

  

On Thursday the 21st I finally arrived in Serbia after a very sad departure from Chicago, two blissfully uneventful flights, and about 18 hours of travel, .  Customs and baggage claim was fast and easy, and I was ecstatic to find my aunt Ljilja, cousin Neša, and some other Serbian friends of the family waiting for me.  Also present were Dida, my contact at the U.S. embassy in Belgrade; Andrea, another Fulbright ETA who will be teaching in a city in the south of Serbia; and an embassy driver who would take me to Kragujevac.

Enjoying my infinite legroom on the plane to Amsterdam.

The happy reunion with Tetka Ljilja.

Thanks to Andrea for the nice pictures!

After saying goodbye to my family, we departed in the embassy car (a Dodge mini van filled to bursting with all our luggage).  After dropping Andrea off at a hotel and Dida at the embassy, the driver and I pressed on through the gray, rainy afternoon.  Kragujevac is a very quick 140 km or so from Belgrade, and we made good time passing trucks and buses on the highway.  My driver was very friendly and filled with lots of stories and anecdotes about Serbia and Kragujevac.  

Apparently there is a saying in Serbian which translates to "the rain around Kragujevac."  If I understood correctly, this is used in a similar situation to when we might stay "stop beating around the bush."  Often, he explained, it will be raining heavily all around Kragujevac but not in the city itself.  Thus to go on and on without getting to the point is to be like the rain around Kragujevac.  

In June, when I first heard that I would be posted in Kragujevac, I naturally turned first to Wikipedia.  The article here describes a little bit about the city's history: its location as the first capital of modern Serbia in the 19th century, home to the first Serbian university, grammar school, professional theater, printworks, and military academy.  It was a city of firsts, but has suffered hard times since the 19th century.  In more modern history, it is primarily known for being the site of a tragic massacre committed by the Nazis during WWII, and then for the production of Yugos until their production virtually stopped after the NATO bombing of the factory in 1999.  Now, Fiat has purchased the factory and begun production here.

Indeed, as we approached the exit for Kragujevac, just past a factory belching smoke into the air, we could see a break in the clouds and the sun just barely peeking through.  Once we entered the city limits, passing first a large cross and then a huge modern sculpture with Fiat emblazoned across the top, the weather seemed to break.  It didn't quite stop raining, but it slowed to a drizzle and was much less gloomy.  

We pulled up to the student dormitory building where I will be living.  It's a very pretty building, modern but elegant with lots of windows and a pleasing design.  I bid farewell to the embassy driver and turned to Andjelka, who had come to meet me and help me settle in.  We carried my heavy bags up two flights of stairs to my small but sunny and clean room and I began to unpack.  Later that night, I met with another professor at the university for coffee.  By the time we were done, the rain had stopped entirely and it was a clear, crisp night in Kragujevac.