Voyages

I'm currently in Podgorica, Montenegro, having flown halfway around the world to support my friend's son in a game I don't understand 😊. It's new territory for me, as everyone knows that I am not an athlete.  But when the chance arose, I bought my ticket, got on a plane and here I am!

Montenegro is not a place that I ever expected to visit.  In fact, until last month, I barely knew it existed, and if asked, I thought it was Macedonia.  When I did hear about it, it was usually in a joke about slow service, lazy people, and a dormant culture.

In 2 days, I've busted the myth of slow service - all of our experience with waiters is that they're prompt, attentive and willing to explain things when they realize that my Serbian is all but non-existent. In talking to dozens of people (trying to get directions) only one was surly; the rest were helpful and chatty.  And I now know more of the language and can make (very basic) sense of signs.

Today I attended my first international water polo match, in which my friend's son scored a goal.  The Canadian supporters were few in number (OK, ALL the teams' supporters are few; no problem finding seats!) but very noisy.  After lunch (and really, there are more creative cheese sandwiches than grilled!) we walked, visited 2 churches and I'm recovering from the heat.

My impression of the town is that it's very like being in Trinidad, except that the language is different.  The plants, the landscape, the heat!, the style of some of the buildings... At one point I thought I was on Charlotte street 😉. Expect more, and pictures, over the next few days.