28-VIII-2010.

Yesterday afternoon we hired Tika again, this time to drive us to Subotica. Lena is passing TOEFL tomorrow, as having a diploma from an american high school doesn't count in some places, you're a foreigner and we need some paperwork which can guarantee you'll be able to communicate. The nearest place being here, and the exam being today at 8:00, we understood there's no way to get there on time. The only morning bus leaves at 7 and takes about 2-3 hours to get there. There are no buses in the afternoon... so we took the cab, and will stay the night there. The first hotel they pointed us to was just too downtown, so we went for the Galleria (no way that it may be called Galerija, no sir). The lady at the desk spoke a funny and nice affectation of serbian with heavy hungarian accent you can't even hear in Čurda. Reminded me somewhat of Ilona in manners, and of any number of secretaries and front desk dolls anywhere, plus what I guess would be the manners of an expensive escort. "Do you have a reservation?" "Do we need one?" (sure enough, in those ten minutes while we waited for her to get off the phone nobody passed by, nobody came in, the elevator didn't ring, nobody, just nobody).

Then she said she'll see what she can do, asked for our IDs. We gave her our fresh passports - those issued by the embassy in DC - and she seems to have seen only the DC and the surname, which was unusual enough. Then she called the maid upstairs, and started chatting with her in hungarian "is 202 ready? no? dirty? 204? that dirty too... 206? almost finished... ok, then 208? fine, bye... sorry about that, the maid doesn't speak serbian too well... so ok we have one free room". Yeah right, you got perhaps six rooms occupied... So we went out for a smoke and to see what to do with the evening. As soon as we were outside, just looked at each other and burst into unstoppable laughter. Lena was utterly confused, so we had to explain: we never let on that we spoke hungarian, and the girl didn't have a clue, she thought nobody with an -ić surname would speak it. So we held the stiff upper lip until outside and heard the whole conversation.

We did come back to her to ask for a good place to have dinner and, guess what, it's right across. Except you have to go around the block and enter through the back yard, the front door is locked. Sounded weird, and looked even weirder when we found that back yard - it looked like some mechanic's junkyard. But we walked through that, because on the gable of the house there was, sure enough, the name of the place.

Of beer, they had only Jelen, but then much later I learned that the worse the choice of beers, the better the chances are that the food is good. Not. The cook is a pure genius. We each ate two plates full (and it was only a half of what was served) - me a pork gulaš, she mutton gulaš, Lena some grilled mushrooms and pohovano* cheese (strict vegetarian plus eggs and dairy). Got so stuffed that I thought I'll have trouble sleeping, but no, slept like a cannon. Though, the cot I got was equipped with the usual thick and uncompressable pillow, which I ditched and just laid three towels instead.

In the morning, Lena went with her exam and we walked around, had a burek, a coffee, visited shops etc. She tried a couple of rain jackets for the fall, at a chinese shop, didn't like it. Eventually the exam was done (passed with flying colors, off cross) and we went in search of transportation home. And then, right in the middle of the main square, someone calls me by nickname. The chief accountant of one of the best customers of Avai, now retired, bought a house in a nearby village (well, from near romanian to near hungarian border), and just came downtown to get something done, nice chatting with you.

Lena was getting an impression that I pretty much know everybody here or that at least every place is rife with people who know me. Which was beginning to annoy her a bit.

The bus station is looking good, well maintained. Had a coffee by the station bar. Probably the last time I saw a čučavac in regular use. It seems the tavern was skipped when the station got renovated, and the owner decided he needs not do anything, the business is going fine as it is, no need to invest any effort. The walls look like they met a brush last time in the previous century. The better then that we had our coffee outside, the decades old smudgy ambience inside didn't fit with the morning.

We got home later in the afternoon. Made a lot of good shots.

---

Mentions: 17-XI-2014., Avai, burek, čučavac, Čurda, Ilona Gnajs, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), pohovano, Tika, in serbian

29-VII-2018 - 23-XII-2025