Moving along

It's been a strange week, plagued by the illness of two colleagues, and the deaths of the mothers of two people I know. But the week ended with two days of traveling, first to Novi Sad and then to Alibunar for work related reasons. But the schedule was not to heavy, and thus, on our way home from Novi Sad, we stopped by a small winery and ended up spending two hours there, getting a tour of the facilities, going through the Bee museum (as the winery also maintains honey producing bees), and sitting with the owner, sampling the wine and listening to his philosophy on life. It boils down to something like Daoism: no experience is unhealthy, but must be embraced with moderation. It's like wine and honey, according to the owner, as there are only healthy ingredients in these two products, but consumed in excess, they can be dangerous.

I picked up a liter of honey and three bottles of red wine for less than 20 Euro. Plus I got a nice experience out of it.

On Friday I also went to the Tito mausoleum, which is just around the corner from work. The building is really nice, typical grandious Socialist construction, and the contents were pure mythology. The first exibit is a museum of all the gifts given to Tito by foreign dignitaries, leaders, and by Liz Taylor and Rich Burton (go figure). It seems Liz, Rich, the Marshall and Mrs. Broz were regular chums, with the only picture of Tito in casual attire being the one with these two thespians. It is also worth noting that all the gifts are made of silver, and include bracelets given by the Right Honorable Mr. Eden, tea sets from South Korea, and plates from Mexico.

Then you go out into the gardens, which are extensive, and walk up to a second museum filled with traditional gifts from various parts of Yugoslavia (clothing, weapons, furniture), symbolic of the unity of the State, and confirming Tito as the creator of that unity. The rumor is that a lot of the artifacts were plundered in the early 1990s by the Military under Slobodan M. After passing through this part, you continue through the garden and up to the actual burial site. The tomb is inside a building, with a few extra rooms filled with Tito's favorite stuff, including a Chinese dinning room set up, and the symbolic 'torches' carried by the Yugoslavs in public demonstrations of support for the dictator.  All in all, it was well worth the visit (not least because it was also free), even if it was bit heavy on mythology and glorification.

It does go some measure in explaining why this man still has a fairly well respected name across all of the former Federal Republic. People often talk about how Serbia, in the 1970s and 1980s was comparable, in terms of technology and living standards, to the west. It was thus in a great position to embark on its own journey (as a separate identity), yet those who took charge after Joseph Broz Tito, particularly the thugs in the 1990s, plundered the state, and set it back 10-15 years. This is best reflected in the countryside, where the infrastructure and farm technology reminds me of a German farming community from the 1980s, rather than the modernized ones of today.