Current Affairs Ukraine

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Diogenes the Cynic said:
Our family lives around Murska Sobata in the North East, not far from Pjuj.

Mind you it's not a big country and it's easy enough to get to around it in not too much time at all.
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Been to Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina a few times. I hope to see Slovenia when things go back to normal. Whisper it...I also want to visit Serbia and Montenegro. :)
 
Bluerover said:
Been to Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina a few times. I hope to see Slovenia when things go back to normal. Whisper it...I also want to visit Serbia and Montenegro. :)
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Same here, haven't been to Serbia myself although obviously met many Serbs and ate in their restaurants in Slovenia.

I fear it may be some time until I bother to go there though, when I was in Slovenia a few months ago the main concerns were the support and rallies in favour of Russia and the unrest there has never truly settled.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
I imagine that's a proper Austro-Hungarian mix?
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Murska Sobata is countryside really, very small town near the mountains.

It's very close to borders for Hungary, Austria and Croatia but it's generally Slovenian with some Croatians really.

There's definitely a nice blend of some cultural things though (I'm speaking mainly of food as usual because that's always my priority) but a lot of cultural influence has flowed from Italy too even though that's not particularly close to the region, more of a general influence.
 
Diogenes the Cynic said:
Same here, haven't been to Serbia myself although obviously met many Serbs and ate in their restaurants in Slovenia.

I fear it may be some time until I bother to go there though, when I was in Slovenia a few months ago the main concerns were the support and rallies in favour of Russia and the unrest there has never truly settled.
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The former Yugoslavia was a very complicated country. In hindsight Tito did an incredible job uniting so many different people's for so long.

I am no Communist by any means, but I love history and I am very interested in the whole Balkan story

Tragic what happened in the 90s.
 
Bluerover said:
In my local Lidl there is a gorgeous employee from Slovakia. She is always bright and friendly. Just btw
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When a friend of mine moved to Glasgow for a while we used to shop mostly at Lidl as it was cheap and close and we talked (in Bulgarian) how fit the cashier is...

Well, she asked us for ID one time and turned out she's Macedonian but very fluently told us in Bulgarian (extremely close languages anyway) that we shouldn't assume no one can hear us and that she definitely heard us lol

It did not stop us, but she never spoke to either of us even if she wasn't on the till. Ah well. Was pretty though.
 
Bluerover said:
The former Yugoslavia was a very complicated country. In hindsight Tito did an incredible job uniting so many different people's for so long.

I am no Communist by any means, but I love history and I am very interested in the whole Balkan story

Tragic what happened in the 90s.
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The maneuvering he had to do was certainly impressive, but as long as you weren't political *at all*, you'd be likely okay. Obviously this is an oversimplification of a different time I haven't lived in, but...

The epitome of good times/bad times.
 
Bluerover said:
The former Yugoslavia was a very complicated country. In hindsight Tito did an incredible job uniting so many different people's for so long.

I am no Communist by any means, but I love history and I am very interested in the whole Balkan story

Tragic what happened in the 90s.
Click to expand...

Some of the older generation in Slovenia speak fondly of communist times, feeling they were better off back then.

Material wise anyway, not particularly politically.
 
DualityNSNO said:
The maneuvering he had to do was certainly impressive, but as long as you weren't political *at all*, you'd be likely okay. Obviously this is an oversimplification of a different time I haven't lived in, but...

The epitome of good times/bad times.
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I just hate war. The more I read of Balkan history the more I understand how complex it was.

I must say I found Croatians and Bosnians to be very welcoming. A bit of a shock when we stopped at a service station for a snack to see the lady making the sandwiches with a fag in her mouth. This was in former Republika Serbska.
 
Diogenes the Cynic said:
Some of the older generation in Slovenian speak fondly of communist times, feeling they were better off back then.

Material wise anyway, not particularly politically.
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It's the same feeling but I feel these people should open their eyes a bit, basically.

My grandparents on both sides were part of the 5 year plans and all that. On my mum's side - an accountant for a production/farm company and a land-owning farmer. Basically in their adulthoods (and with the help of TKZS ("model cooperative farmland")) they were not, like, rich, but well enough off - slightly bigger house next to my hometown, a house in said hometown, food and land, etc.

My dad's parents, may they rest in peace, were teachers and his dad was quite an anti-communist regime person, as is my dad (and any sane Bulgarian tbh), even if not outspoken. His dad was ratted out by one of his colleagues that he's not a "REAL COMMUNIST" and removed from his job as a school principal/director and his social life and relegated to the graveyard shifts in a local chemical plant/factory with no chance of anything else, where he literally died about a year and a bit later of a heart attack and I never got to know him.

Ironically both sets of people remember (gran on dad's side passed away a few years ago) these times with some positives - they had jobs, they had money, which was essentially paper if you were out of Bulgaria, but you couldn't get out of Bulgaria... But also they didn't have any of the amenities (or healthcare, travel options/opportunities/things in shops all-year-round, not "Oranges only on Xmas") which they live with now, and they're old enough to realise it. Heck, my dad is! lol He had to line up to get literally a random Lada with his dad when he was my age - I just went and bought a second hand Jeep cuz I liked it and could afford it with real life money. Funny talks to have with these parallels, and conscription and all that which are now removed...

As I said - good times/bad times. If you were of the correct political alignment though, or at least pretended to be, you'd be respected and at least well off...
I know I can't live without my amenities and freedoms now, and not only because "THE YOUTH OF TODAY" and all that, I've listened to and read the stories and can draw parallels, and so can my family.

As a side note - I've been to communist-time museums a few times (plan to go more) and got a few books of Bulgarian inventions and stuff from back in the day. Amazing stuff to see (and some to even remember!). Recently saw this and I have shockingly not yet been to Buzludzha, despite living an hour away more than half my life lol

Anyway, sorry for the derailing! This is quite serious so...
 
Bluerover said:
I just hate war. The more I read of Balkan history the more I understand how complex it was.

I must say I found Croatians and Bosnians to be very welcoming. A bit of a shock when we stopped at a service station for a snack to see the lady making the sandwiches with a fag in her mouth. This was in former Republika Serbska.
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It could've been literally right now in Shell tbh, at least in small towns it's not impossible lol

Balkan history is so full of things that have 10 sides to every story, it's ridiculous.
 
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