Repent you heathens
Technically I wished everyone happiness in the Orthodox New Year a day early. Ooops.
I'm having a fabulous time whose only downside is the not getting enough sleep and possibly eating way too much.
Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner, and then Nik, Marja and I went over to the Temple of St. Sava to watch the fireworks because we had been led to believe there would be some there. Nik, who enjoys being manly and taking charge of things found us a spot near one of the smaller buildings by the temple, giving us a beautiful view of the thronged masses.
People were throwing little things I shall term firesticks, they are small and brown, like tiny twigs, you light them like a match and then you chuck them. As far as I can discern thier chief attraction lies in the fact they explode and cause havoc and dissaray. People were being quite liberal with the firesticks so Nik, Marja and I were doing the *huddled grazing zebra intermittently looking out for danger* impressions.
As far as fireworks, the thing we had come to see, at first the state of affairs did not appear promising. Intermittently some sad ejaculate like a singe firefly would shoot up into the atmoshphere and fizzle out there, in a way that would have been anti-climactic except that the whole thing was pretty unexciting to begin with. It made a decent noise though and was largely reminiscent of our weapons against air attack, as though some phantom plane was circling the temple gettng half-heartedly fended off by the Orthodox revellers.
It would have been, techincially speaking, a fairly shit spectacle except I was there with two people I loved, and I was getting hugged, we were holding hands, and seeing whethere the firesparks were going to set any of the trees alight gave us entertainment for a good few minutes.
THen the bells of the Church began to ring (we ordered them from Austria might as well get some use out of them), and kept at it, building towards a slow crescendo, and the NEw Year in all its splendour snuck in from the back and caught us by surprise. These absolutely marvellous fireworks began right behind us. They were obscenely beautiful, and a marvellously pleasant surprise, like discovering those ugly nickknacks you inherited from great-aunt Mavis are worth loads of money on e-bay.
We ooooh'd and we Aaaaaah'd and made all the usual noises of gratified mortals, watching sparks of colour whizz and shimmer and burst in the sky like rain and falling stars and giant dandelion clocks and a wonderful time was had by all.
Usually I am nervous around fireworks but I think I wasn't here becuase I was in a safe and familiar place, within walking distance of my house and I was with beloved and trusted people so it did not occur to me to have anything beyond a good time, and when I came home I was too exhausted for nightmares.
Today cool people picked me up and drove me to thier house and fed me there, and then dropped me back into town again, where Dee and I went to a concert of *religious and traditional folk music* (she had free tickets for it, her mother was in the choir) and afterwards went to the post-concert bash hosted at a local resturant where I improvised my way through Orthodox customs and meetings with the clergy, drank some surprisingly decent wine and ate more than wisdom dictated (and consoled my guilty conscience by walking home).
It was all very fun, my mate and I had a great time and the walkback through the city was pleasant. Old Beglrade is architecturally beautiful, and tastefully lit up by the Christmas/New Year decorations.
My family are enraptured with my weight loss and have been waxing lyrical about it for two days. My mother contents herself with commentary like *you have cheekbones!* and *you are gorgeous now, please never gain weight again*, while my grandmother as always, prefers the more tactful approach.
*You know,* (she said) *you're actually pretty now, and when you were fatter you didn't used to be. Before, when people used to tell you you were pretty I just nodded my head because I didn't want to hurt your feelings but really you were rather unattractive. But now, for the first time, you look good. Your face is slimmer and your ass is not so big.*
It's bittersweet.
I'm having a fabulous time whose only downside is the not getting enough sleep and possibly eating way too much.
Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner, and then Nik, Marja and I went over to the Temple of St. Sava to watch the fireworks because we had been led to believe there would be some there. Nik, who enjoys being manly and taking charge of things found us a spot near one of the smaller buildings by the temple, giving us a beautiful view of the thronged masses.
People were throwing little things I shall term firesticks, they are small and brown, like tiny twigs, you light them like a match and then you chuck them. As far as I can discern thier chief attraction lies in the fact they explode and cause havoc and dissaray. People were being quite liberal with the firesticks so Nik, Marja and I were doing the *huddled grazing zebra intermittently looking out for danger* impressions.
As far as fireworks, the thing we had come to see, at first the state of affairs did not appear promising. Intermittently some sad ejaculate like a singe firefly would shoot up into the atmoshphere and fizzle out there, in a way that would have been anti-climactic except that the whole thing was pretty unexciting to begin with. It made a decent noise though and was largely reminiscent of our weapons against air attack, as though some phantom plane was circling the temple gettng half-heartedly fended off by the Orthodox revellers.
It would have been, techincially speaking, a fairly shit spectacle except I was there with two people I loved, and I was getting hugged, we were holding hands, and seeing whethere the firesparks were going to set any of the trees alight gave us entertainment for a good few minutes.
THen the bells of the Church began to ring (we ordered them from Austria might as well get some use out of them), and kept at it, building towards a slow crescendo, and the NEw Year in all its splendour snuck in from the back and caught us by surprise. These absolutely marvellous fireworks began right behind us. They were obscenely beautiful, and a marvellously pleasant surprise, like discovering those ugly nickknacks you inherited from great-aunt Mavis are worth loads of money on e-bay.
We ooooh'd and we Aaaaaah'd and made all the usual noises of gratified mortals, watching sparks of colour whizz and shimmer and burst in the sky like rain and falling stars and giant dandelion clocks and a wonderful time was had by all.
Usually I am nervous around fireworks but I think I wasn't here becuase I was in a safe and familiar place, within walking distance of my house and I was with beloved and trusted people so it did not occur to me to have anything beyond a good time, and when I came home I was too exhausted for nightmares.
Today cool people picked me up and drove me to thier house and fed me there, and then dropped me back into town again, where Dee and I went to a concert of *religious and traditional folk music* (she had free tickets for it, her mother was in the choir) and afterwards went to the post-concert bash hosted at a local resturant where I improvised my way through Orthodox customs and meetings with the clergy, drank some surprisingly decent wine and ate more than wisdom dictated (and consoled my guilty conscience by walking home).
It was all very fun, my mate and I had a great time and the walkback through the city was pleasant. Old Beglrade is architecturally beautiful, and tastefully lit up by the Christmas/New Year decorations.
My family are enraptured with my weight loss and have been waxing lyrical about it for two days. My mother contents herself with commentary like *you have cheekbones!* and *you are gorgeous now, please never gain weight again*, while my grandmother as always, prefers the more tactful approach.
*You know,* (she said) *you're actually pretty now, and when you were fatter you didn't used to be. Before, when people used to tell you you were pretty I just nodded my head because I didn't want to hurt your feelings but really you were rather unattractive. But now, for the first time, you look good. Your face is slimmer and your ass is not so big.*
It's bittersweet.