Jaden is very ill today. Our friend Emese has contacted her doctor and arranged for her to come by, even though she is still on vacation (that’s right, a house call!). In the meantime, she brought by some anti-vomiting medication to give her. Getting her to lay down and rest is not a problem.
Peter needs to visit a bank and pick up some plumbing supplies, so Zia and I get to accompany him to Subotica (SUBot-ka if you are Hungarian, Serbian is SU-bo-ti-sa, you will hear both). Lucky me, I get to drive!
Dear readers, I don’t know how many of you will ever have the privilege of driving in Serbia. If, however, you should ever find yourself in such a fortunate circumstance, I have compiled a list of driving rules for your edification:
SERBIAN DRIVING RULES:
1) 50 kph in town and 80 kph in the country
2) You may pass anywhere and at any time. In fact you are encouraged to do so.
3) Always check the rear view mirrors before passing as the guy behind you in the Mercedes may be blowing past you at the same time.
4) Pedestrians are worth 500 points, bicycles 700, and motor scooters 1000, and they mean it - really!
5) Busses and trucks are required to be driven by psychopaths. Stay away from them, even if you have to drive on somebody’s front yard.
5a) If you have a bigger car than the one coming the other direction, the smaller car will move to the shoulder for you - or else!
6) If someone should dare to get in front of you or, move more slowly than you would wish, or, heaven forbid, act in such a fashion that requires you to slow down or stop, you are required, by law, to honk the horn non-stop until you are three blocks past the offender or until you feel better, which ever comes last!
7) (This one from Peter) If you hit a retired person on a bike, the government will pay you a cash bonus because they don’t have to pay retirement anymore.
From this you gather that the roads here are pretty narrow, and you would be right to a point. This is farm country and mostly back roads. There is an Autobahn near by, but no one is trusting me to drive on it - yet.
Being farm country, there is also a lot of farm equipment on the roads (which Peter tells me I may pass anywhere, anytime - no surprise!). Farm equipment is a broad term that encompasses combines, tractors, horse-drawn wagons, hay trailers stacks about 90 bales high (No really, the first one of these beauties we saw was just barely clearing power lines!), and etc., etc. Needless to say dodging these moving targets makes driving an adventure.
As we go, Peter fills us in on the history of Subotica. The city was founded in the 1300’s and given as a birthday present to Maria Theresa. Like most cities, Subotica was originally quite small, but gradually absorbed the local ‘burbs, growing in size. There is still a little friction in the ‘burbs about being part of the city, but mostly they have joined willingly. City hall is a beautifully ornate, 100 year old building. Peter tells us it was designed by an English architect. No one bothered to tell him that the city was built on sand, and when the building sank - a uniform foot on all sides - he assumed it was his fault. He then climbed to the highest tower and three himself off.
Subotica is the first place we have visited that makes me feel like we are in Europe instead of a small town in the U.S. with weird signs and people who talk funny. At the center of town is a large open area that could be from central casting...
Great old buildings - check
Central fountain - check
Tree lined boulevard - check
Really cool statues and architectural features - check
The obligatory Mc Donald’s - check
Peter made his visit to the bank and sends us to the music store on the first of several futile attempts to buy folk music collections. On the plus side, they were well stocked with guitar music, so I was able to grab a collection of classical pieces by Yugoslavian composers and a beginning guitar method, that should add a regional flair to my classes in the fall. How global is the marketplace? You could move this store to Vancouver and never notice a difference. They had all the major brands, Yamaha, Bach, Takamine, etc., and nothing by local artisans.
We met Peter, and then a brief visit to the WC for Zia, where she was chastised by the attendant for daring to take more than three squares of toilet paper. From there to the farmers market, much like the ones in Topolya and Kishegyes, only much bigger. From there we went to the "Black Market." Needless to say, with the end of the oppressive dictatorship in the region, there is no reason for a Black Market (I’ll pause for your laughter here). The Black Market is much like a mall, except all the stores are really small and entirely portable. We will be coming back on Monday theoretically, so a quick trip through for plumbing supplies and a present for Greg (Zia’s son-in-law), and then back home.
The doctor visited in the afternoon to see Jaden. Medical care is free for children in Serbia - however the doctor will accept a small "gift" for her house call. Jaden is dehydrated from vomiting, but otherwise OK. Bed rest and electrolytes are the prescription.
We are guests of Lajos and Bori this evening for dinner (Kyra and Jaden staying home to sleep). Dinner is a famous Hungarian fish stew - very spicy - served over pasta with bread and pommes frittes on the side. The obligatory schnapps course is six-year-old cherry (aging it smoothes it out - some). Lojos has just received the license from the state that will allow him to start commercially producing this rocket fuel for public consumption. He took delivery of his first two semi-truck loads of cherries this week and goes into production next week. He promises pictures of the whole process.
You, fair reader, are probably assuming that Zia and I are drinking a lot of beer on this trip - and you would be correct - but mostly we aren’t mentioning it unless it is something really good or particularly awful. The rest are what homebrewers affectionately refer to as "lawn mower beers," low in alcohol, refreshing but thin on the palate.
Dave
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