We live next door to the most clear indication of the cities affluence, Nijlon Market. We are sandwiched between the ‘city proper’ hemmed by the canal, and the poorer Klisa, butted alongside a Roma settlement. Klisa feels suburban, it’s lack of...
The delights of holding the ‘Missionary’ title
And the real shortcomings of that word too.
Learning to walk a line true to my faith and how it can be expressed in the culture around me as a living every day and ordinary mission overseas.
The social barometer of Novi Sad
Blunt utensils
Last Tuesday we took Adam and Baba with us on the weekly shop, it was a nice day, the walk was calming. There, we decided to stop at the supermarket cafe to give Adam his tea and perhaps have a light tea ourselves. In this echoing space, partially screened from the...
Welcome candles
Last night we lit candles. The sky flashed as the rain disturbed the hot dust and thunder rolled from somewhere unseen. The flickering lights would protect us from electricity outages that the storms so often bring. By the time my boys had fallen to sleep one lone...
Hidden from the sun
Call me a wimp but some days are just too hot. August loved hitting the top thirties, topping over the brink of 40 occasionally and can still be pretty unbearable once the sun has departed. Nights are a gaggle of sweaty bodies and kicked off covers. Opening the door...
that we should call it home
It’s three weeks since we left this little corner of the globe for our holiday, if that word rightly applies. Having been ‘back’ a few days now, got my head around the change, the return, the messing up of schedules and the run-off of trinkets with...
To the girl in the crowd
The city is swamped with tourists, oozing out of temporary accommodation into streets thick with the ebb and flow of crowds. Sun fall brings a wall of people trekking across the bridge, along Belgrade road and up to the entrance gates. A few rows behind me I hear a...
Behind the banners : tips for Exit festival
This weekend is Exit festival in Novi Sad. It’s going to be great, it’going to be hot, and it’s going to be an invasion of people into a town that’s all keyed up for their arrival. Last year the attendance numbers were logged at 185,000,...
Destroying the Dandelion
On Tuesday evenings Baba comes. It’s become a mini ritual for us, she will arrive mid afternoon or later and we’ll leave the house on our weekly grocery trip. Clutching jute bags, with the sunset behind us, we walk the familiar path and savour an hour or...
Unaware
Yesterday was switch off Sunday. It was a CMS community thing, and to be honest that’s the reason I took part. Switching off is awkward for a household whose life is pretty much fed and watered by the internet, just 10 days after a 3 day internet blackout made...
Celebrating the child
The dawning of June is the time our city really celebrates being young. May bid farewell with Baby Exit – a kids version of the city’s major festival. The fortress boasts mini stages where judo meets ballet and various other costumed groups perform for...