Fabijan Vendrig se u avgustu 2014. godine preselio iz Holandije u Beograd zbog supruge koja je Srpkinja. Kako kaže, za te dve godine naučio je mnogo o našem narodu i predivnoj zemlji. U svom najnovijem blogu otkrio je šta misli o Srbima posle dve godine života u našoj zemlji. Tekst prenosimo u celosti:
1. Srbi su radoznali i prijateljski nastrojeni
Otkako sam se preselio upoznao sam 99,9% Srba koji su prijateljski nastrojeni prema strancima. Kad god bi im se obratio na stranom jeziku odmah bi me pitali odakle sam, da li mi se sviđa Srbija. To nazivam pozitivnom radoznalošću i nema ništa loše u njoj. Ako ih ponovo sretnete sigurno će vas se setiti.
2. Srbija ima prelepu prirodu
Prelepa priroda sa planinama, rekama, pećinama, kanjonima, ravnicama i močvarama. Dosta sam upoznao prirodu Srbije jer volim dosta da putujem, ali nastaviću da je istražujem.
3. Srbi su inovativni
Svi su čuli za Nikolu Teslu (da, Srbin je) koji je bio veliki inovator. Čini mi se kao da živim u zemlji sa mnogo Tesla: za svaku okolnost Srbi nađu rešenje ili bar ono privremeno. To sam već iskusio, kada sam bio na rubu živaca, ali hej, uvek postoji neki pametni Srbin oko vas koji će ponuditi jednostavno rešenje za vaš problem. U mojoj staroj zemlji, Holandiji vozač autobusa bi odmah otišao za garažu ako vidi da su vrata pokvarena. U srpskim autobusima će jednostavno staviti veliki kamen na vrata i nikoga nije briga: problem rešen!
4. Srbi uživaju u životu
Masteri u uživanju. Ekonomska situacija u ovoj zemlji nije tako dobra i ljudi se bore da prežive, ali nekako i pored toga izvlače najbolje što mogu. Nemojte se iznenaditi kada čujete veselu muziku na mestu na kojem to ne biste očekivali. Kada ima nešto da se slavi oni će to učiniti i pored svih nedaća.
5. Srpska hrana je fantastična
Jako je ukusna! Počeo sam mnogo bolje da se hranim otkako živim ovde (moja žena je ponosna na to). Nije mi se u početku baš sve sviđalo, ali sve više i više otkrivam. Skoro je tek počeo da mi se sviđa „svadbarski kupus“, a sledeći korak je čuvena srpska sarma.
6. Srbi drugačije definišu vreme
Srpski minut ne traje 60 sekundi već 120. Iz toga proizilazi da Srbi uvek kasne: ako imate sastanak u 13h budite sigurni da neće početi pre 13:15. Druga stvar, kada vam Srbi kažu „za pet minuta“ to će najverovatnije biti 10 ili 15, a možda čak i 20. Južnoevropski mentalitet je stigao do Srbije pre nego što su stigli vozovi (koji su takođe kasnili)...
7. Nema problema vs Mnogo problema
Kada vam Srbin kaže „nema problema“ to znači da zapravo ima mnogo problema. Sigurno ćete čuti i frazu „samo polako“, koja znači da se problemi neće skoro rešiti. U svakom slučaju tada kreće inovativnost i vraćanje na tačku 4.
8. Srbi su glasni
Oni govore veoma glasno. Čak i kada nisam živeo u Srbiji to sam primećivao. Jednom kada čujete konverzaciju na srpskom mislićete da je u pitanju svađa, ali zapravo to je njihov normalan razgovor. Tada nisam mogao da verujem, sada shvatam.
9. Zalasci sunca u Srbiji su predivni
Naravno da postoje mnoga mesta na svetu na kojima su zalasci sunca prelepi, ali ja ih volim ovde, posebno zimi.
10. Promaja može ubiti Srbe
Gotovo u svakom tekstu o karakteristikama srpskog naroda možete videti da se pominje promaja. Danas saznanje da promaja može „ubiti“ koristim u mnogo efektnijem maniru: ako mi neki Srbin bude dosađivao srediću mu „promaju“. Jednom mi je to kolega namerno uradio, namestio promaju i poludeo sam. Polako se navikavam na život u Srbiji. Posle dve godine mogu da kažem da sam srećan što živim ovde!
izvor: blog.fabian-vendrig.eu
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10 things I have learned about the Serbs & Serbia
On the first of August 2014 I moved from the Netherlands to Serbia. I can see you thinking, what, Serbia ? Yes, Serbia, a landlocked country located in the heart of the Balkans. I started to live with my Serbian wife in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. In those two years I have learned a lot about this magnificent country. I traveled a lot to Serbia before, but a real insight in the country you get of course when you live here.
Here are 10 most significant things I have learnt about the Serbs & Serbia:
1) Serbs are curious & friendly:
Since I have been living here I have only met friendly people (99,9 % of them), the Serbs are really friendly towards foreigners. Whenever I need to talk to them for the first time, they would start asking me questions like “where are you from?” , “what are you doing here?”, “do you like Serbia?”. Positive curiosity I call it and nothing is wrong with it. When you see them for the second time they will remember you positively: the Serbs are definitely curious and friendly.
2) Serbia has beautiful nature:
Serbia has beautiful nature with mountains, rivers, caves, canyons, plains, wetlands and much more. I have already known it , but since I have been living here I have discovered more and more and I keep on discovering new beautiful places.
3) Serbs are inventive:
The Serbs are really inventive. Everybody has heard of Nikola Tesla (yes a Serb) who was a great inventor. It seems I am living in a country with a lot of Teslas: for every circumstance the Serbs will find a solution or at least a temporary solution. I have already experienced it, I was on the edge of freaking out, but hey, here there are always the Serbs around who will offer a simple working solution. In my old home country, the Netherlands a broken bus door would already be a reason to cancel the bus service. In a Serbian bus they just put a huge stone to hold the door and nobody gives a damn: it works, so problem solved -next-.
4) Serbs are enjoying life:
The Serbs are masters in enjoying life. The economic situation in this country is not so good and people are really struggling to survive, but somehow they try to make the best out of it. Don’t be surprised when you hear cheerful music on a place and at time which you will not expect. When there is something to celebrate they will celebrate it with all the means they have available.
5) Serbian food is delicious:
Serbian food is delicious! I started to eat much better since I am living here (my wife is proud of it). I did not like everything from the beginning, but more and more I am appreciating the food. Recently I started to like so called “svadbarski kupus” (=wedding cabbage), the next step will be the famous Serbian “sarma”.
6) Serbs have another definition of time:
The Serbs definitely have another definition of time. Serbian minutes do not have 60 seconds, I think they have at least 120 seconds. The outcome of this is that the Serbs are almost always late: when you have a meeting at 13h00 for sure that meeting will not start before 13h15. Another side effect is that when a Serb tells you ” in 5 minutes”, for sure it will happen in 10 minutes or 15 minutes or 20 minutes… For sure the South-European mentality had reached Serbia, before the first trains arrived (which were too late obviously) …
7) Nema problema versus mnogo problema:
When a Serb tells you ” nema problema” (no problem) it can mean that you actually have “mnogo problema” (=a lot of problems). For sure you will hear “samo polako” (=relax, slow down) in this context, which means your problems will probably not be solved soon. Then it is time to go to point 3 of this blog (be inventive as a Serb) and if that does not help you can directly go to point 4: samo polako (enjoy life) !
8) Serbs are loud:
When the Serbs talk they do that pretty loud. Even when I did not live here I had already noticed it. Once when I heard a conversation in Serbian I thought that they were fighting, but actually they told me they were just having a normal conversation. I could not believe it back then, but now I do.
9) Serbian sunsets are beautiful:
For sure there are other places in the world where sunsets are also beautiful, but I like them here, especially in the winter.
10) “Promaja” can kill Serbs:
A classical remark which you can find almost in every post about Serbia (or the Balkans) and I have mentioned this also many times: “promaja” (Serbian for draft) can kill. I use this knowledge nowadays in a more effective manner: if a Serb is bothering me I will arrange some promaja. Once a colleague arranged me some promaja and I freaked out: I am getting slowly but surely used to living in Serbia 
After two years living in Serbia I can still say that I am happy to live here !
ps) All pictures are from the author of this blog, except of the picture under number 10