Part II: A Favorite Memory
One of my favorite memories from the entire Serbia trip (and certainly one that will stay in my memory for quite a while) was our first group dinner at a restaurant down the street from our hotel, called Znak Pitanje. It was our second night in Belgrade, so most everyone was mostly adjusted to the time difference. Znak Pitanje (which literally translates to “question mark”) is located across the street from the Belgrade Cathedral and is made up of an indoor bar and restaurant area, an outdoor seating section, and then a series of private rooms in the back for larger parties. Since there were sixteen of us, we were shown to one of the private rooms as soon as we walked in the door.
They served us a traditional Serbian meal — vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes, mountain cheeses, bread, salted and smoked meats, sausages, more peppers, a bean dish, and a roasted meat of some sort — complete with rakija (the Serbian alcoholic beverage of choice, a fruit flavored homemade brandy). You have to remember, the Serbs consume a lot of alcohol — its just part of their culture — and they can hold it well. For them, it’s normal to have a small glass of rakija (or even two) with dinner, especially with a traditional dinner. They served us all rakija but we were welcome to drink or not drink as we wished. About halfway through the meal (which was delicious!) our Professor asked the waiter if there was any way we could have some music, even from a boombox. The waiter said, no, he didn’t think there was a way to get us music, and he was terribly sorry. We said, that’s fine, and went back to our meal.
About an hour later (time doesn’t seem to matter in Serbia, especially at meals), the waiter walked in, leading fourteen other Serbs into our private room. He smiled at us and said, I’ve brought you music! Turns out, these people happened to be singers and the waiter saw them sitting at the bar and asked if they could come sing some traditional music for the group of American tourists he was serving. They agreed and in they came, singing about ten minutes of traditional folk music for us. It was absolutely beautiful. Completely different from any other music I’ve ever heard, but still beautiful. I’m pretty sure the only word for it would be “magical.”
After the group had finished singing, they told us, we sang for you, now you must sing for us. So we tried to come up with something uniquely American for them, something they wouldn’t have heard before. Well, we ended up bumbling through two verses of “You Are My Sunshine.” They laughed and applauded for us and said we were good sports.
That night ranks up in my top 5 experiences for the entire trip. Yes, I saw tons of amazing things and had tons of amazing experiences in Serbia, but none of them can quite compare to the kindness of those people who walked into the bar and ended up coming in to sing to us. The Serbs have this very strong desire to show off the best of their country and a lot of the time, they’re willing to do pretty much whatever it takes to help tourists and visitors experience that.
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