earthquakes and everest

well, the drama princess piece of me wants to say something about how my time here so far has shaken me up like an earthquake, and presented me with challenges to climb like mount everest. which is true in some ways.

but of course there are more physically real earthquakes affecting a lot more people right now in China and New Zealand and Japan and everywhere else the resulting tsunamis have touched...bringing me flashbacks of December 2004, my senior year of high school in India...coastal villages submerged...homes washed away...fishing boats washed up, fishing nets ripped apart, unusable...families ripped apart, grieving, surviving...

actually even before these recent catastrophes i was just remembering how there have been a number of real earthquakes in this region over the past several months, including one in November that struck about 80 miles south of here, in the city of Kraljevo, at magnitude 5.4, killing two people and injuring between 50 and 100 others, and displacing some families whose homes were damaged. i remember at about 2 a.m. that morning, waking up because my feet were doing that thing where they involuntarily rise up from the bed a little and wiggle around...but then they kept doing it for a few seconds longer than my sleep-slugged muscles would normally twitch for...and then i heard about the earthquake when i checked the news that morning.

of course, this incident totally slipped most people's memory, including mine, pretty soon afterwards. but the families of those in Kraljevo who were killed, and those who were injured or displaced, are most certainly still dealing with the effects.

and this reminds me of the world's memory-loss about this whole region of southeast Europe, the former Yugoslavia, which was rocked by inter-ethnic war, mass killings, sieges, bombings, and all the fall-out of these traumatic experiences and political separations. not so long ago...certainly within living memory of anyone over the age of 10 here. several former government buildings in downtown Beograd still stand in their bombed-out state, and all over the region, sitting there like scars on the beautiful countryside, houses can be seen like the one below - whether it was a Bosnian Muslim home gutted by Serbs in some part of Bosnia or Serbia, or a Serb home stripped by Albanians in Kosovo/Kosova, or a Kosovo Albanian home there, or a Croatian home somewhere in Bosnia or Serbia or Croatia, or whichever way the violence went at a particular point in time in that particular town or village - much more complex than these few examples can convey.

but everyday life has since returned to a 'new normal' for most people here, and the biggest crises in the news since i've been here were the hooligan protesters' reaction to the gay pride parade in October (no worries, I was living across the river in Zemun at the time), and the milk shortage (which didn't affect me too much because i'm slightly lactose intolerant, so i don't drink straight milk), and the eerily Egyptian-echoing gathering of between 50,000 and 70,000 opposition demonstrators to call for early elections in February (and unfortunately I was in Sarajevo that weekend and missed the excitement!)

so those are some of the 'earthquakes' that have caused some tremors since i've been here, and i hope to stay more in tune with regional and world developments, and hopefully share them here a bit more often...

and now for the 'everest' part - this has been a great source of excitement for me in the past few months, as i have found...dare i say...my favorite cafe in the world...?!?!!! oh, don't worry, i still love you, Treehouse. but i have gone way past the infatuation stage, and dived into a seriously delightful relationship with the Everest Kafe-Knjižara (cafe-bookstore) just a block from my apartment! a joyously orange-accented place, always playing the most soothing, meditative music, and serving a delicious vegetarian menu including (if you come on the right day) DAL!!! and a fascinating selection of teas, and friendly guys behind the counter who recognize me and are happy to see me every time i come in...

pumpkin-ginger soup with their homemade spiced bread
so happy to share the loveliness of Everest with my lovely Amy
and with the freedom sexy birds...