1. orthodox church of st sava in belgrade (where the picture of the candles is also from) it is unfinished and they have been building it since before america existed.
2. The view from my family's "weekend" house, those are grape vines...
3. Bombed buildings in the middle of belgrade. These are from when Nato bombed belgrade 1999, the buildings here are the military headquarters...i think...many of the bombed buildings have been left as is.
4. This great grandma and her bed in her kitchen with Dora and Petra

"The traveler's past changes according to the route he has followed: not the immediate past, that is, to which each day that goes by adds a day, but the more remote past. Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places" pg 29
Calvino

Things are starting to come together here, as far as attempting to understand the region. I am back in zagreb and it was funny that i really felt like i was traveling home to sleep in a bed that has somehow become "my" bed. I have to say I am already missing Belgrade. It was a fascinating place that operated on the rules of an alternate universe. In some ways I cannot how it functions, but then once you immerse yourself in the culture it makes a little of bit of sense. There are no bus m comphredend aps in Belgrade, or tram maps, or streets that go straight. If you look up belgrade on google maps it is simply a dot. I think that is a sign of something important.

Well I returned back to Zagreb, a city of cleanliness and order compared to Belgrade and had a bit of a breather to relax and rest after a crazy two weeks and prep for a busy week to come. We had thursday off, which i cant explain how amazing it was to sleep in and go for a walk and just take it easy. Yesterday I went to the village my family is from where the great grandmother still lives. It was like traveling back in time. She had chickens. And grape vines, and a basement where they made their own wine.

Petra and Dora and I ran down a hill and shouted as loud as we could to let out all of our tension (as funny as that sounds it felt good and it was Petra's idea). I brought them back stickers, rose soap, and illegal DVDs from belgrade (which is also why i have watched slumdog millionaire and the changeling since I've been back in Zagreb) and so its been a family-oriented weekend...including some not so good chocolate chip cookies (sorry mom, i think i failed them, they though they were good but i am not convinced they were super flat?)