14 hours until my first flight.
I'm packed, re-packed, checked, re-checked, and re-checked again.
To quote an old song from an illustrious unknown band, I feel right now like I'm being eaten by butterflies... and I know my nerves are walking...
Might stare at a Kusturica movie until bedtime, see if I can pay attention to anything.
This is the cusp of all I've been working towards for the past year. New journeys, new writings, new people to meet, new stage to perform upon, new chapter to begin. This is my analepsis from the illness of the previous few years. I am ready. Last May I said to the Universe at large, alright I've had enough, what else can you show me? and this is what has been presented:
A (now only) 44-day excursion through a land that has produced far more history than it could consume and I've been hungry for quite some time. I'm more than willing to clean up a few table scraps.
In the next five days I'll be in or pass through four countries, including the first stop in a sequence of namesakes: Bela Crkva. A soon-to-be-met-in-person acquaintance in Serbia has already nicknamed me to his friends: Crkva [that is, Sirk-wha, in simplest form].
These butterflies will settle down once I'm on the plane to Heathrow. And I'll have all but forgotten them when I grab my backpack in the Budapest airport and begin the ground campaign.
I suspect I'll post here again on Wednesday or Thursday.
· • ·
Sunday, May 23, 2010
About the Region
• · •
Some things can’t be true even if they happened.
——Ken Kesey
The general sat and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
——Roger Waters
…many things can be viewed more clearly, explained in greater detail,
and understood more easily.
This does not mean that the world has become any smarter or better for it.
——Dragoljub Žarković
Can you imagine a country where you can still find ancient towns
ringed by a crystal clear sea?
Jugoslavia is a country with a long, turbulent history.
After World War Two, it became a socialist federation
made up of six republics and two autonomous regions.
It speaks five official languages and prays to an Eastern Orthodox,
Catholic, and Muslim God.
This is no imaginary land, this is Jugoslavia.
——Tourism Commercial, 1990
What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit,
and I get bombs thrown at me!
It is outrageous.
——Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914
If the Balkans hadn't existed, they would have been invented.
——Count Hermann Keyserling, 1928
The Balkans, which in Turkish means mountains, run roughly from
the Danube to the Dardanelles, from Istria to Istanbul, and is a term for
the little lands of Hungary, Rumania, Jugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, and part of Turkey, although neither Hungarian nor Greek
welcomes inclusion in the label. It is, or was a gay peninsula filled with
sprightly people who ate peppered foods, drank strong liquors, wore
flamboyant clothes, loved and murdered easily and had a splendid talent
for starting wars. Less imaginative westerners looked down on them with
secret envy, sniffing at their royalty, scoffing at their pretensions, and
fearing their savage terrorists. Karl Marx called them ethnic trash.
I, as a footloose youngster in my twenties, adored them.
——C. L. Sulzberger, A Long Row of Candles, 1969.
Don’t, don’t, don’t live under this dream that the West is going to come in
and sort this problem out.
Don’t dream dreams.
——Lord David Owen at Sarajevo International Airport,
December 18, 1992
In winter days frost grips the city, but still the dedicated elderly and youth
meet for discussion, but when it comes time for spring and blossoms,
Heaven becomes the Sarajevo gardens of roses.
——Muhamed Nerkesija Es-Saraji, 17th Century
All the devil requires is acquiesence;
not conflict, not struggle.
Acquiesence.
——Suzanne Massie
Pessimum facinus auderent pauci,
plures vellent, omnes paterentur.
[The worst crime was dared by a few,
willed by more, and tolerated by all.]
——Tacitus
La vida total es un porqueria porqueria.
——Black Francis
A little political murder in the Balkans?
That will never lead to anything.
——Anonymous internet comment, 2003
As soon as flags start to wave and national anthems start to play,
as soon as history and religion are mentioned,
you can be sure that new bloodshed is coming for new generations.
——Hidajet Seric, 1993
Solo i morti hanno visto la fine della guerre.
——Platone
That crossed the line from ironic coincidence to evil omen.
——Calvin
· • ·
Some things can’t be true even if they happened.
——Ken Kesey
The general sat and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
——Roger Waters
…many things can be viewed more clearly, explained in greater detail,
and understood more easily.
This does not mean that the world has become any smarter or better for it.
——Dragoljub Žarković
Can you imagine a country where you can still find ancient towns
ringed by a crystal clear sea?
Jugoslavia is a country with a long, turbulent history.
After World War Two, it became a socialist federation
made up of six republics and two autonomous regions.
It speaks five official languages and prays to an Eastern Orthodox,
Catholic, and Muslim God.
This is no imaginary land, this is Jugoslavia.
——Tourism Commercial, 1990
What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit,
and I get bombs thrown at me!
It is outrageous.
——Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1914
If the Balkans hadn't existed, they would have been invented.
——Count Hermann Keyserling, 1928
The Balkans, which in Turkish means mountains, run roughly from
the Danube to the Dardanelles, from Istria to Istanbul, and is a term for
the little lands of Hungary, Rumania, Jugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, and part of Turkey, although neither Hungarian nor Greek
welcomes inclusion in the label. It is, or was a gay peninsula filled with
sprightly people who ate peppered foods, drank strong liquors, wore
flamboyant clothes, loved and murdered easily and had a splendid talent
for starting wars. Less imaginative westerners looked down on them with
secret envy, sniffing at their royalty, scoffing at their pretensions, and
fearing their savage terrorists. Karl Marx called them ethnic trash.
I, as a footloose youngster in my twenties, adored them.
——C. L. Sulzberger, A Long Row of Candles, 1969.
Don’t, don’t, don’t live under this dream that the West is going to come in
and sort this problem out.
Don’t dream dreams.
——Lord David Owen at Sarajevo International Airport,
December 18, 1992
In winter days frost grips the city, but still the dedicated elderly and youth
meet for discussion, but when it comes time for spring and blossoms,
Heaven becomes the Sarajevo gardens of roses.
——Muhamed Nerkesija Es-Saraji, 17th Century
All the devil requires is acquiesence;
not conflict, not struggle.
Acquiesence.
——Suzanne Massie
Pessimum facinus auderent pauci,
plures vellent, omnes paterentur.
[The worst crime was dared by a few,
willed by more, and tolerated by all.]
——Tacitus
La vida total es un porqueria porqueria.
——Black Francis
A little political murder in the Balkans?
That will never lead to anything.
——Anonymous internet comment, 2003
As soon as flags start to wave and national anthems start to play,
as soon as history and religion are mentioned,
you can be sure that new bloodshed is coming for new generations.
——Hidajet Seric, 1993
Solo i morti hanno visto la fine della guerre.
——Platone
That crossed the line from ironic coincidence to evil omen.
——Calvin
· • ·
Saturday, May 22, 2010
A brief glance back as I look ahead...
In cleaning and organizing my room today, I came across the journal from my last Slavic journey.
Mostly mundane notes and poetic doggerel, but I mentioned in the journal an email to bid me joyous travels from a fellow named Tercek I know. He offered, as I recorded, Flirt with girls who don't speak English, sleep in seedy hostels, and never ever grow up. Then, as now, I reply to him, Czech, check, and cheque.
First Routine:
Monday 24 May 1pm > Tuesday 25 May 1pm
ILM>PHL>LHR>BUD.
Tuesday 25 May 10pm > Wednesday 26 May 7pm
Budapest > Beograd [night train]
Staying at the 3 Black Catz Hostel in Belgrade for two nights (maybe three if I've got something planned).
In novel terms, the flights and Budapest would be offered as opening prelude; Belgrade is the first chapter.
· • ·
Mostly mundane notes and poetic doggerel, but I mentioned in the journal an email to bid me joyous travels from a fellow named Tercek I know. He offered, as I recorded, Flirt with girls who don't speak English, sleep in seedy hostels, and never ever grow up. Then, as now, I reply to him, Czech, check, and cheque.
First Routine:
Monday 24 May 1pm > Tuesday 25 May 1pm
ILM>PHL>LHR>BUD.
Tuesday 25 May 10pm > Wednesday 26 May 7pm
Budapest > Beograd [night train]
Staying at the 3 Black Catz Hostel in Belgrade for two nights (maybe three if I've got something planned).
In novel terms, the flights and Budapest would be offered as opening prelude; Belgrade is the first chapter.
· • ·
Monday, May 17, 2010
Maps inadequate for the territory...
Not only is travel information about the FYR difficult to come by, but a number of "authoratative" sources outdated or just downright incorrect.
Lonely Planet's website still lists Kosovo as Serbia, and has a grand total of two paragraphs about the entire country (or, in their opinion, region of another country).
Wikitravel has rapidly become the most current source of info on the area, with some singular reports from individuals via CouchSurfing. It seems that travel by bus is quicker than train in a number of locales.
Thanks to the British Airways strike, my flight plans are pushed back from 20 May to 24 May. This effectively eliminates Budapest from a multi-day exploration, but it looks like I'll get into that chain-bridged city at noon on one day and I can take the nighttrain to Beograd the next day, so I'll have about 34 hours to soak in a Turkish bath, eat copious amounts of goulash whilst downing an inordinate amount of Tokaji, and watch the sunset (and the lights of the bridge blink on) from Gellért Hill, and, I suppose, sleeping for a bit.
In Beograd, I'll stay for a few days and, depending on the schedule of others, stay through the weekend or visit Bela Crkva and a friendly CouchSurfing host there. The return to Beograd will conclude meetings with folks there or head on immediately, again, depnding on schedule of others. Ideally, I'd have my meeting with Kusturica following this—which means train/bus down to Mokra Gora and his entho-village near there.
I'll reach Sarajevo once before Vidovdan, but I'll certainly walk the former Appel Quay that morning, something I've had a morbid fascination of doing for more than twenty years.
Destinations without specific timeline:
Sarajevo (first visit)
Mostar
Srebrenica
Višegrad
Jajce
Dubrovnik
Krk
Bar
Prishtina
Like to, but unlikely at this point:
Zagreb
Vukovar
· • ·
Lonely Planet's website still lists Kosovo as Serbia, and has a grand total of two paragraphs about the entire country (or, in their opinion, region of another country).
Wikitravel has rapidly become the most current source of info on the area, with some singular reports from individuals via CouchSurfing. It seems that travel by bus is quicker than train in a number of locales.
Thanks to the British Airways strike, my flight plans are pushed back from 20 May to 24 May. This effectively eliminates Budapest from a multi-day exploration, but it looks like I'll get into that chain-bridged city at noon on one day and I can take the nighttrain to Beograd the next day, so I'll have about 34 hours to soak in a Turkish bath, eat copious amounts of goulash whilst downing an inordinate amount of Tokaji, and watch the sunset (and the lights of the bridge blink on) from Gellért Hill, and, I suppose, sleeping for a bit.
In Beograd, I'll stay for a few days and, depending on the schedule of others, stay through the weekend or visit Bela Crkva and a friendly CouchSurfing host there. The return to Beograd will conclude meetings with folks there or head on immediately, again, depnding on schedule of others. Ideally, I'd have my meeting with Kusturica following this—which means train/bus down to Mokra Gora and his entho-village near there.
I'll reach Sarajevo once before Vidovdan, but I'll certainly walk the former Appel Quay that morning, something I've had a morbid fascination of doing for more than twenty years.
Destinations without specific timeline:
Sarajevo (first visit)
Mostar
Srebrenica
Višegrad
Jajce
Dubrovnik
Krk
Bar
Prishtina
Like to, but unlikely at this point:
Zagreb
Vukovar
· • ·
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Connections
In the past week, whilst hobbling around due to leg injury resulting from a hit-and-run, I have encountered a medical doctor who served as an intern in Bosnia treating refugees from the war, a pharmacist's assisstant who's family fled BiH at the beginning of the war, and a Serbian wandering beach bum who returns periodically to Belgrade to resume his infamous career as a club dj.
The strings of synchronicty are often sticky silken threads that lead one to another. A pattern is forming.
Sarajevo is calling.
How can I miss a place I've never been?
Or, as some who have me phrase that question:
How can I miss a place I've (seemingly) never been?
[-19 days]
· • ·
The strings of synchronicty are often sticky silken threads that lead one to another. A pattern is forming.
Sarajevo is calling.
How can I miss a place I've never been?
Or, as some who have me phrase that question:
How can I miss a place I've (seemingly) never been?
[-19 days]
· • ·
Monday, April 26, 2010
Preparing ourselves for the journey.
Ordinary facts are arranged within time, strung along its length as on a thread. Yet what is to be done with events that have no place of their own in time: events that have occurred too late, after the whole of time has been distributed, divided, and allotted; events that have been left in the cold, unregistered, hanging in the air, homeless, and errant?
Could it be that time is too narrow for all events?
Could it happen that all the seats within time might have been sold? Worried, we run along the train of events, preparing ourselves for the journey.
—Bruno Schulz
· • ·
Could it be that time is too narrow for all events?
Could it happen that all the seats within time might have been sold? Worried, we run along the train of events, preparing ourselves for the journey.
—Bruno Schulz
· • ·
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