Zenit (or as he types it 3enit) is a good friend from the World of Warcraft PvP community I’m in. I was surprised and excited when he offered himself to make the Serbian translation, which comes as another proof that Serbians and Romanians see themselves as brothers and good neighbours! So when I also asked him to answer the small questionnaire, he didn’t only answer it very fast, but also he was very thorough with the answers, a lot of nice things to be discovered there!

Enjoy the read!

Tell me something about your country or your language that people always get wrong

They’re always mixing Serbia with Siberia, and often ask am I cold :) Also those who know where Serbia is or are familiar with Yugoslavia ask if we’re still in war etc. mostly Americans because the rest of Europe is pretty much up-to-date with all the news in the Balkans. When they hear the language, they often mix it with Russian…

Tell me something you would recommend a tourist to try in your country or city

I recommend food (pretty much any traditional restaurant), museums (Nikola Tesla Museum, etc.), Kalemegdan (a park and city fort built by Romans in the 1st century AD called Singidunum. Being a strategic location on the hill overlooking the Danube and Sava rivers, it changed hands multiple times throughout history (Goths, Huns, Byzantines, Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians, etc.). Now, it is a city park with various historical monuments, cafes, restaurants, and art galleries), Belgrade Waterfront modern city promenade, something like Dubai :), Temple of Saint Sava (one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world), and last but not least - nightlife.

My personal favorite is the variety of pubs (either English/Irish or local “kafana”). I don’t know how to translate kafana. It’s like a pub, but also a hospital, university, home, battlefield, and every other establishment, all in one. There you will learn about life and death, you will experience love and breakups, pick a fight, smash someone’s head with a bottle, and then hug him and buy him a round. Why? Because you’re all brothers, strangers - you will never see him again, but you know him for his whole life. Every ache is healed there, all emotions are mixed, everything is nothing, and nothing is everything… There’s an old saying - “I hate when I come out of kafana as a gentleman, and someone steps on my hand…”

Recommend me a song in your language

Let’s go over with genres:

Folk:

Modern Folk (mainly played in kafana):

Hip Hop:

Rock’n’Roll:

Punk:

Heavy Metal:

Psychedelic (Goa) Trance:

Techno (Minimal):

And many more… (These are the general artists I would recommend)

Recommend me a movie in your language

It’s really hard to make it just one movie, so here’s more :D

And many more…

Recommend me a book in your language

To be fair, I’m not much of a reader, but there’s one book that is etched into my memory

Ivo Andrić, “Na Drini ćuprija” (English Wikipedia)

Recommend me a website or a blog from your country (in your language or in English)

Blog: https://www.beforeafter.rs/

Website: https://www.krstarica.com/ (This used to be the host of the biggest IRC channel in Serbia, back when IRC was a thing…)

What’s your current phone or computer wallpaper? Does it have a particular meaning?

I’m not much of an aesthetic person… On my phone, the background is a picture of my beautiful wife, and on my PC, some random Windows minimalist wallpaper.

Send me a representative photo for your country or language

I guess it would be sports related so here’s one…

Nikola Jokić and Novak Djoković in front of a Serbian Flag