If there is one thing that I have learned in my first month is that Serbia really knows how to do reality TV. More specifically: Survivor. Yes, my friends… somewhere on the remote islands off the coast of Panama, 16 Serbian strangers were stranded and forced to create a new society… while voting each other off. So, what makes Serbian Survivor so much better than American Survivor?
Are the challenges harder? Are the personalities of the contestants even more outlandish? Are there less stringent rules and regulations in regards to nudity on television? Do they eat each other rather than vote each other off?
No… I don't think so… Yes… and unfortunately not.
The reasons that Survivor in Serbia is so great has nothing to do with the actually game play (as I call it now)… because there is “game play”… and then there are the extras. In the States, all that you see is “game play”. You see them on the island… living… working… backstabbing.
But, imagine. Survivor meets the "Monday Night Football Halftime Report" meets a Jay Leno style variety show meets "Meet the Press".
I know what you are thinking… "how wonderful!"
Now, before you get too excited you must remember that I have no idea what people are saying… it is all in Serbian, without English subtitles. Yet just like American Survivor… I am riveted. Even more so as I try and figure out this bizarre new format for the show. Let me put it this way… the running time of an episode is two hours… BUT, just like in the State, you only get one hour of “game play”. Bear with me.
Now, my first experience with the show was a couple of Sunday afternoons ago. We do not have many English stations in our temporary house and I was flipping through the channels and low and behold… I found Survivor. And they all talked funny.
I watched it for a little while and then got distracted playing with Gray and making lunch… all that sort of fun stuff… but I left the TV on all this time. Eventually I ended up back in the living room and Survivor was over… now there was some Meet the Press looking talk show. At least that is what I thought it was until they went to a clip of a "Reward Challenge" and then cut back to the panel… and continued to cut back and forth for some time… after a while I came to realize, through body language, that the panel was arguing about strategy. It then became apparent as they cut of various clips around camp and day to day life on the island that the panel was discussing the actions and motives of various contestants in the game. Then all of a sudden… the panel stopped talking and Survivor came back on. I had just witnessed a Serbian halftime report… for Survivor!
Okay… now that was just cool… BUT... it got better. When the show ended and they voted someone off rather than eating them… the program cut back to the panel who interviewed the person who was just voted out… they showed clips of his ultimate downfall… and then… this is what caught me off guard… they introduced a band… who then played about two songs on a very badly designed survivor looking set. Imagine the design staff of Survivor decorating the music stage on Saturday Night Live (but half the size)… but due to budgetary constraints, they could only afford about $25.00 and were only approved to buy from Party City’s “luau” aisle. That was the set. It was absolutely brilliant. Finally rolling credits rolled.
Now, I should point out that the actual “game play” segments of Survivor Serbia look exactly the same as the American version. And frankly, the American Survivor did three seasons in and around Panama and it is quite obvious that they are using all of the same locations… and probably the same structures for tribal councils and the more elaborate challenges.
But as far as Serbian TV in general… everything pretty much looks like the set I described.
They have Big Brother… which I can’t stand no matter what country I am in… and it looks pretty much the same… except it is on ALL the time. It’s like the Truman Show here… 24/7.
Also, there is something that looks like Dancing with the Stars. But, I have been told that it is not… but it looks like it. But image the room that American Idol uses for its first round of auditions… three judges sitting around a table… and about 50 people sitting on bleachers… cheering for people dressed up in ballroom dancing garb… that never dance! Folks, I have yet to figure this show out… and like every other TV program here… it is on all the time. And yes, I have yet to see anyone dance. Every time I flip past it… the same kind of pomp and circumstance that marks the end of an episode of Dancing with the Star is going on. Couples are standing in rows… couples are asked to sit down in what appears to be the safe area. Then they stand up again and join the rows… the Serbian announcer reveals what seems to be a winner… and it keeps going… it’s almost like a round robin of eliminations… “okay you beat Jelena and Miroslav… but, will you beat Branka and Vladamir?” It is all so strange to me.
I wish I knew more Serbian.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Day 136: Jetlag, The Devil
A Schutz Family Flashback:
Man, jetlag is terrible. It is so much worse than when we went to Amsterdam last year. But then again, the circumstances were very different. A year ago we were going as tourists. When you are touring you have limited time and you don’t want to waste any. And I also had the luxury of starting my trip visiting my cousin Winke, who I had not seen for a VERY long time. So it was only natural to fight the desire for sleep and socialize. The day I arrived in Amsterdam I stayed up until around midnight their time and woke up at nine in the morning: a normal night of sleep. That was all I needed and I was ready to go for the rest of the trip.
Serbia on the other hand is an entirely different experience. And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we are not here as tourist, but as residents. We also don’t have the social stimulation that you would get when visiting old friends or family. So, the first couple nights were brutal.
On our first night I finally couldn’t take it anymore around 7pm. Serena and Gray had fallen victim to a nap earlier in the afternoon to they were not quite ready for bed, but I just couldn’t hang, so closed our blackout shutters and went to bed. When I woke up, I felt great. By that time Serena and Gray had joined me in bed and I slipped out to start breakfast. And that is when things went terribly wrong. When I stepped out into the living room I realized it was still dark outside. I walked to the kitchen to find out what time it was… it was midnight. I had slept for five hours and it was only midnight. There was nothing else to do but watch late night Serbian TV… so I did that for a while… and then watched a movie (I packed a DVD player into my suitcase, thank god)… and about halfway into the movie Serena and Grayson woke up and joined me. I want to say that we all went back to bed around three or four… and reads… all I can say is that we should have set an alarm… we woke up again at 12:30 in the afternoon.
This ritual was repeated on night two. Except this time I woke up around 10:45pm after only sleeping a little under four hours. Serena and Gray of course eventually joined me… and we all went to bed again around four… and then woke up again around ten in the morning (which was much better).
So, after two miserable nights, I was finally able to get my jetlag under control on night three. Serena and I stayed up to watch a movie and we vowed not to go to bed until nine o’clock, which we successfully accomplished. Now, I did wake up again at midnight, but I would let myself get up and finally got out of bed around six in the morning. And that day was my first official day of work; so fortunately, I was pretty much locked into a schedule at that point. Hurray for me.
Serena and Grayson on the other hand is a completely different story. It has been just over a week now and they have not been successful in adjusting… quite yet. It makes sense though; they don’t have a schedule yet. There is not much going on to motivate a normal sleeping schedule at this point. But we’re working on it. We didn’t give Grayson a nap today so we are hoping to get him down at a descent hour, the only problem is that Grayson hasn’t slept through the night since we’ve arrived… but he will… eventually.
We are feeling much better now.
-JP
Man, jetlag is terrible. It is so much worse than when we went to Amsterdam last year. But then again, the circumstances were very different. A year ago we were going as tourists. When you are touring you have limited time and you don’t want to waste any. And I also had the luxury of starting my trip visiting my cousin Winke, who I had not seen for a VERY long time. So it was only natural to fight the desire for sleep and socialize. The day I arrived in Amsterdam I stayed up until around midnight their time and woke up at nine in the morning: a normal night of sleep. That was all I needed and I was ready to go for the rest of the trip.
Serbia on the other hand is an entirely different experience. And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we are not here as tourist, but as residents. We also don’t have the social stimulation that you would get when visiting old friends or family. So, the first couple nights were brutal.
On our first night I finally couldn’t take it anymore around 7pm. Serena and Gray had fallen victim to a nap earlier in the afternoon to they were not quite ready for bed, but I just couldn’t hang, so closed our blackout shutters and went to bed. When I woke up, I felt great. By that time Serena and Gray had joined me in bed and I slipped out to start breakfast. And that is when things went terribly wrong. When I stepped out into the living room I realized it was still dark outside. I walked to the kitchen to find out what time it was… it was midnight. I had slept for five hours and it was only midnight. There was nothing else to do but watch late night Serbian TV… so I did that for a while… and then watched a movie (I packed a DVD player into my suitcase, thank god)… and about halfway into the movie Serena and Grayson woke up and joined me. I want to say that we all went back to bed around three or four… and reads… all I can say is that we should have set an alarm… we woke up again at 12:30 in the afternoon.
This ritual was repeated on night two. Except this time I woke up around 10:45pm after only sleeping a little under four hours. Serena and Gray of course eventually joined me… and we all went to bed again around four… and then woke up again around ten in the morning (which was much better).
So, after two miserable nights, I was finally able to get my jetlag under control on night three. Serena and I stayed up to watch a movie and we vowed not to go to bed until nine o’clock, which we successfully accomplished. Now, I did wake up again at midnight, but I would let myself get up and finally got out of bed around six in the morning. And that day was my first official day of work; so fortunately, I was pretty much locked into a schedule at that point. Hurray for me.
Serena and Grayson on the other hand is a completely different story. It has been just over a week now and they have not been successful in adjusting… quite yet. It makes sense though; they don’t have a schedule yet. There is not much going on to motivate a normal sleeping schedule at this point. But we’re working on it. We didn’t give Grayson a nap today so we are hoping to get him down at a descent hour, the only problem is that Grayson hasn’t slept through the night since we’ve arrived… but he will… eventually.
We are feeling much better now.
-JP
Monday, December 1, 2008
Day 134 - Sounds of Serbia
Serbia seems to be two totally different experiences, depending on whether or not your eyes are open or closed. All in all I would have to describe Belgrade as being rather industrial. Due to the fact that most Serbs still use coal for heating, winter time brings with it a very nice smoggy haze. That haze though, is a perfect partner to accompany the images of some of the more unique architecture scattered around the city: the buildings damaged by the NATO bombings in the early nineties. Although the sites are a bit eerie, the remaining presences of these buildings are almost poetic, yet I am not terribly sure of the reasoning behind it. Are they a reminder of consequences of aggression? Or the opposite, a reminder to the rest of the world of how they once victimized the Serbs. Either way, the buildings remain. And the Serbian government has no intention of rebuilding them… at least for the moment.
I was the first to wake up on our first official full day in Serbia. It is safe to say that we slept in… but I got up at the perfect time. I had just left the kitchen with a glass of water when I heard the strangest thing. It almost sounded like very loud music coming from the apartment below us. I froze trying to figure out what I was listening to and wondering how often our neighbor was going to annoy us with their music… but as my ears started to adjust I realize that I had been completely wrong in my calculations. I followed the muffed sounds to our back porch and swung open the doors. And there it was… the more glorious church bells. I couldn’t help but just stop, close my eyes and listen to my first beautiful sounds of Serbia.
Later that day, the three of us decided to take a walk and get a grasp of where we were in reference to… well… everything else around us. We ventured out a few blocks when we realized that we are living right around the corner from a soccer stadium… and quickly realized that it was game day. We didn’t figure that out by the lines of fans making their way into the stadium… or from all the street venders that had set up shop for the big day. No, we realized it was game day by the precedence of about one hundred police officers lining sidewalks out front. I had always heard about Europeans and their fanatical love for soccer/football, but I had never witnessed, first hand, something like this. We were so taken back by the police presence that I refrained from taking a picture of a restaurant called “Bart’s” that had a picture of Bart Simpson, himself, pointing the way in… a picture that I still want to get for Jeff.
We decided at that point that our time for exploration was done for the day. We were not interested in getting missed in with the soccer fans… not with Grayson. To we headed home. The game started a couple hours later as it was getting dark. It gets dark here at 4:30pm. And that was around the time the crowd began to cheer for their team. I was amazing to listen to. Imagine an entire an entire stadium cheering together… but not the kind of cheering that we know in the States. This was not the sound of random cheers… or the periodic screams that come with doing the wave… and at no time did I ever heard the word “fence”. No, the Serbian fans were singing. They were all singing together to support their team. And their voices in unison echoed through the chilly night and into our apartment. It was astonishing. I truly believe that everyone should have the great privilege of listen to European soccer fans. Then again… I have no idea what they were singing… honestly, it could have been about a fence… but I’m not going to focus on that.
-JP
I was the first to wake up on our first official full day in Serbia. It is safe to say that we slept in… but I got up at the perfect time. I had just left the kitchen with a glass of water when I heard the strangest thing. It almost sounded like very loud music coming from the apartment below us. I froze trying to figure out what I was listening to and wondering how often our neighbor was going to annoy us with their music… but as my ears started to adjust I realize that I had been completely wrong in my calculations. I followed the muffed sounds to our back porch and swung open the doors. And there it was… the more glorious church bells. I couldn’t help but just stop, close my eyes and listen to my first beautiful sounds of Serbia.
Later that day, the three of us decided to take a walk and get a grasp of where we were in reference to… well… everything else around us. We ventured out a few blocks when we realized that we are living right around the corner from a soccer stadium… and quickly realized that it was game day. We didn’t figure that out by the lines of fans making their way into the stadium… or from all the street venders that had set up shop for the big day. No, we realized it was game day by the precedence of about one hundred police officers lining sidewalks out front. I had always heard about Europeans and their fanatical love for soccer/football, but I had never witnessed, first hand, something like this. We were so taken back by the police presence that I refrained from taking a picture of a restaurant called “Bart’s” that had a picture of Bart Simpson, himself, pointing the way in… a picture that I still want to get for Jeff.
We decided at that point that our time for exploration was done for the day. We were not interested in getting missed in with the soccer fans… not with Grayson. To we headed home. The game started a couple hours later as it was getting dark. It gets dark here at 4:30pm. And that was around the time the crowd began to cheer for their team. I was amazing to listen to. Imagine an entire an entire stadium cheering together… but not the kind of cheering that we know in the States. This was not the sound of random cheers… or the periodic screams that come with doing the wave… and at no time did I ever heard the word “fence”. No, the Serbian fans were singing. They were all singing together to support their team. And their voices in unison echoed through the chilly night and into our apartment. It was astonishing. I truly believe that everyone should have the great privilege of listen to European soccer fans. Then again… I have no idea what they were singing… honestly, it could have been about a fence… but I’m not going to focus on that.
-JP
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Day 133 - Help a Brother Out!
Hello everyone! I am taking a break from talking about myself today to talk about something more important:
I know it is the holidays and economy isn’t exactly the greatest, but I need your help. I am trying to organize a Christmas present for my brother-in-law Jimmy, who is living in the middle nowhere Tanzania serving in the Peace Corp. He has been there since June of 2007.
Currently, Jimmy is working on building a dispensary for the village he has been living in. The overall project will cost $13,916.00. BUT, he has already raised $12,886!!! The final $3,965.00 has eluded him… I hope… up until now.
For Jimmy’s Christmas present, I would like to raise the final $3,965.00 by the end of the year. So, I have one month! So, what do I want from you? Help and support. Please CLICK HERE to go to the official Peace Corp web page that features Jimmy’s project, read about it… and if you feel so called, please donate $10.00. If we can get 13 people a day to donate $10.00 we can completely fund his program before the end of the year!!!
Other Note:
1. Jimmy’s real name is Wilber James Newhall, so don’t get confused by the Volunteer Coordinators name being “Newhall, W. of GA”. That’s Jimmy.
2. Please share this information with as many people as possible. Although, you might not be able to help, someone you know might love to help.
Thank you so much!
___________________
Starting Amount Needed: $3,965.00
I know it is the holidays and economy isn’t exactly the greatest, but I need your help. I am trying to organize a Christmas present for my brother-in-law Jimmy, who is living in the middle nowhere Tanzania serving in the Peace Corp. He has been there since June of 2007.
Currently, Jimmy is working on building a dispensary for the village he has been living in. The overall project will cost $13,916.00. BUT, he has already raised $12,886!!! The final $3,965.00 has eluded him… I hope… up until now.
For Jimmy’s Christmas present, I would like to raise the final $3,965.00 by the end of the year. So, I have one month! So, what do I want from you? Help and support. Please CLICK HERE to go to the official Peace Corp web page that features Jimmy’s project, read about it… and if you feel so called, please donate $10.00. If we can get 13 people a day to donate $10.00 we can completely fund his program before the end of the year!!!
Other Note:
1. Jimmy’s real name is Wilber James Newhall, so don’t get confused by the Volunteer Coordinators name being “Newhall, W. of GA”. That’s Jimmy.
2. Please share this information with as many people as possible. Although, you might not be able to help, someone you know might love to help.
Thank you so much!
___________________
Starting Amount Needed: $3,965.00
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Day 132 - Steak, My Kindom for a Steak!!!
Now that we have internet I thought I would try and catch you, the reader, up on some funny and interesting stories that have happened since we have arrive. Here we go!
On my second day I ventured out to find a market. Found one… after walking about 6 blocks straight up a 75 degree hill. I walked around with my basket trying not to look stupid or say much. I went to the butcher and pointed at some nice looking steaks and said "Dva" (meaning “two”)… and the butcher looked at me and said, "Dve?" (which also means “two”… but I had used the feminine form of the word… and I guess steak is not considered feminine). So, once having my monosalavic case/gender ending corrected I simply said "Da" (Yes). Little did I know that he needed more information. My "Dve” was referring to the number of steaks I wanted… but he was selling steak by the kilogram. So after some very nice interpretive dance I received my two steaks. So at which point, with my steaks safely laid to rest in my basket, I looked up to say "xvala" (thank you)… and then the butcher cut me off saying, "is there anything else I can help you with today, sir." That's right… not only did he speak perfect English… he called me "sir". The nerve of some people, right?
Later when I got home, Serena informed me that my beef steaks were actually pork. Hmmm… well I swear they were red. Dang it!
-JP
On my second day I ventured out to find a market. Found one… after walking about 6 blocks straight up a 75 degree hill. I walked around with my basket trying not to look stupid or say much. I went to the butcher and pointed at some nice looking steaks and said "Dva" (meaning “two”)… and the butcher looked at me and said, "Dve?" (which also means “two”… but I had used the feminine form of the word… and I guess steak is not considered feminine). So, once having my monosalavic case/gender ending corrected I simply said "Da" (Yes). Little did I know that he needed more information. My "Dve” was referring to the number of steaks I wanted… but he was selling steak by the kilogram. So after some very nice interpretive dance I received my two steaks. So at which point, with my steaks safely laid to rest in my basket, I looked up to say "xvala" (thank you)… and then the butcher cut me off saying, "is there anything else I can help you with today, sir." That's right… not only did he speak perfect English… he called me "sir". The nerve of some people, right?
Later when I got home, Serena informed me that my beef steaks were actually pork. Hmmm… well I swear they were red. Dang it!
-JP
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Day 130 - Thanksgiving
There is a lot to be thankful for this year, but it all seems trivial to me until we get more news from Mumbai. Talk to you soon and Happy Thanksgiving.
-JP
-JP
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Day 129 - Soccer & Snow
So, we have a pretty large dinning room in our temporary house. To give you an idea, the dinning room table seats about twelve. It is pretty ridiculous actually. Our permanent housing will not be nearly that big, but it has been fun living like kings in the digs that we have now. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our upstairs neighbors tomorrow, they are hosting all of us "orphans" here in Belgrade that are still in the process of getting settled… about 20 or so of us. So, in preparations, this past Sunday we moved our dinning room table upstairs… so we have this very large empty space in the middle of our apartment. So, what do you do with all that empty space when you have an almost three year old? You him his first soccer ball of course!
The dinning room is now referred to as our soccer field… or as I like to call it "Stadium Schutz"… it is only fitting since we are living between to the two largest rival futbal clubs in the city. It is loads of fun.
It has been raining pretty relentlessly over the past few days and getting home last night was near miserable. The only thing making it bearable was the knowledge that I was living in Belgrade… how crazy is that? Although, I am living a normal 9 to 5 grind, the realization and wonder of living here creeps into by head from time to time and it is a great feeling.
So, it's been raining and when I got home Grayson and I of course had to play a game of soccer… and while we were playing I looked up and out the window and saw the most beautiful thing. The rain had become snow. The largest and thickest snow flakes I have ever seen. Now keep in mind, it wasn't all that long ago that I was living in Charleston, SC wearing t-shirts and shorts in February… and last year in Switzerland was the first time I had experienced the every elusive "White Christmas" and now, it looks like we will be celebrating a "White Thanksgiving". Very cool.
Also, on another cool note, I received my new business cards today. Although, there would seem to be anything overly special about them… the anomaly is that they are double sided… English on one side… and Cyrillic Serbian on the other. Just call me ЏонПал Шоц.
Take care,
-ЏП
The dinning room is now referred to as our soccer field… or as I like to call it "Stadium Schutz"… it is only fitting since we are living between to the two largest rival futbal clubs in the city. It is loads of fun.
It has been raining pretty relentlessly over the past few days and getting home last night was near miserable. The only thing making it bearable was the knowledge that I was living in Belgrade… how crazy is that? Although, I am living a normal 9 to 5 grind, the realization and wonder of living here creeps into by head from time to time and it is a great feeling.
So, it's been raining and when I got home Grayson and I of course had to play a game of soccer… and while we were playing I looked up and out the window and saw the most beautiful thing. The rain had become snow. The largest and thickest snow flakes I have ever seen. Now keep in mind, it wasn't all that long ago that I was living in Charleston, SC wearing t-shirts and shorts in February… and last year in Switzerland was the first time I had experienced the every elusive "White Christmas" and now, it looks like we will be celebrating a "White Thanksgiving". Very cool.
Also, on another cool note, I received my new business cards today. Although, there would seem to be anything overly special about them… the anomaly is that they are double sided… English on one side… and Cyrillic Serbian on the other. Just call me ЏонПал Шоц.
Take care,
-ЏП
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