Are you a little tipsy? Is it 2 am and you're just leaving your favorite pub, n sheets to the wind, where n is large? You think you want wings. You think you want pizza. You think you want falafel. But no. You want burek. Trust me. I had my (enormous mug of) Laško. I got a sirov burek from the great Nobel Burek stand. And now all is right with the world.
Also, BiteFight assures me that if you click here I will "receive booty and gold!"
It is so bedtime.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
If God Lived in Europe...
When I was an undergrad, the ever-humorous Yale Record put out an issue lambasting the residential colleges. Their bit on Silliman was as follows:
Ah, yes. That pleasing blend of Baroque/Art Nouveau (right two buildings) and, as the Record so nicely put it, "shitty" (left two buildings). I don't know whether this stuff is left over from the Soviet era or just their idea of cool, functional building, but, in any case, it's hideous, especially next to the rest of the gorgeousness.
This morning I went to an "American Breakfast" at the Marine House. There weren't too many people my age there (the marine I spoke with most was 34 and married with a 13-year-old daughter), and it seemed like everyone I spoke with wasn't actually from America. First was the nice and dorky Slovenian couple who had spent five years in New York while the wife did her post-doc at Columbia. Then there was the British man who just decided to settle in Slovenia, since his consulting job takes him all around the world. When I told him what I was doing, he mentioned he thought the Slovenian legal system was one of the worst in the world, citing judges who gave out disparate sentences for horribly silly reasons (the relative ages of two adult perps). I then told him about America's sleeping lawyer rules, and I don't think he was any less appalled by the Slovenian system, but he was certainly more appalled by American courts. I'm such a bad ambassador.
I chatted with two girls around my age who were from Venezuela, one of whom had lived in the states for a while. The marine I spoke with was from Trinidad & Tobago via Brooklyn. I did speak with a few always-American Americans, including a Colonel who reminded me just a little of Josh Brolin's Bush in W.. They were all good people (and very family oriented...so many little kids), and hopefully I'll see them at another social event. And maybe then the Marines will be in uniform.
After that I did more article reading (not for pleasure, sadly) outside at Cacao, where I had a mean hot chocolate and this view:
I then walked up to Ljubljana castle, where I sat overlooking the cloud-covered Alps and the red roofs of Ljubljana. I'll post Alpy pictures when there are fewer clouds...it's pretty awesome how well you can see them on a clear day. And now I am back in my room an blogging, soon to head back over to England for a Lasko. It's raining and I don't want to go far...plus, maybe I'll drink up an appetite for burek.
If God went to Yale, he'd be a Sillimander. "That's right," he declares. "I love the blend of Georgian and shitty architecture. It is in keeping with the diversity of my creation, which ranges from the restrained and tasteful Bengal tiger to the ugly-ass manatee."If this is, indeed, how God chooses real estate, I think he would be thrilled to live in Ljubljana. Rome? Please. Last I heard, pride was a sin. Plus, we're talking about architectural diversity, here. Exhibit A:
Ah, yes. That pleasing blend of Baroque/Art Nouveau (right two buildings) and, as the Record so nicely put it, "shitty" (left two buildings). I don't know whether this stuff is left over from the Soviet era or just their idea of cool, functional building, but, in any case, it's hideous, especially next to the rest of the gorgeousness.This morning I went to an "American Breakfast" at the Marine House. There weren't too many people my age there (the marine I spoke with most was 34 and married with a 13-year-old daughter), and it seemed like everyone I spoke with wasn't actually from America. First was the nice and dorky Slovenian couple who had spent five years in New York while the wife did her post-doc at Columbia. Then there was the British man who just decided to settle in Slovenia, since his consulting job takes him all around the world. When I told him what I was doing, he mentioned he thought the Slovenian legal system was one of the worst in the world, citing judges who gave out disparate sentences for horribly silly reasons (the relative ages of two adult perps). I then told him about America's sleeping lawyer rules, and I don't think he was any less appalled by the Slovenian system, but he was certainly more appalled by American courts. I'm such a bad ambassador.
I chatted with two girls around my age who were from Venezuela, one of whom had lived in the states for a while. The marine I spoke with was from Trinidad & Tobago via Brooklyn. I did speak with a few always-American Americans, including a Colonel who reminded me just a little of Josh Brolin's Bush in W.. They were all good people (and very family oriented...so many little kids), and hopefully I'll see them at another social event. And maybe then the Marines will be in uniform.
After that I did more article reading (not for pleasure, sadly) outside at Cacao, where I had a mean hot chocolate and this view:
I then walked up to Ljubljana castle, where I sat overlooking the cloud-covered Alps and the red roofs of Ljubljana. I'll post Alpy pictures when there are fewer clouds...it's pretty awesome how well you can see them on a clear day. And now I am back in my room an blogging, soon to head back over to England for a Lasko. It's raining and I don't want to go far...plus, maybe I'll drink up an appetite for burek.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Šake Šack
New York has many wonderful things that Ljubljana doesn't—downtown movie theaters, a subway system, racial diversity—but one thing the cities have in common is a super-popular burger joint in the park:
Hot Horse is a lot like Shake Shack, but there's a twist. I'll give you a clue: It's called Hot Horse. Yes, that's right. My mouth now tastes like horse. Frankly, I see why beef caught on. Like so many advertisements, the Hot Horse website has an animal cheerfully encouraging you to eat it, and like so many Slovenian websites, its English translation sounds like someone got a little thesaurus-happy. If you click on the mustard, it will tell you that "All the students...nerds, party animals, truants...come to me." They did a pretty good job with "nerds" and "party animals," but someone just couldn't come up with "slackers," so they asked their thesaurus oracle, "Thesaurus Oracle, what do you call a young person who fails to attend class?" And the thesaurus oracle said "a truant!" and that was that. For the second to last paragraph here, they asked, "Thesaurus Oracle, what do you call someone who likes high-culture and wouldn't want to go to an ordinary dive bar?" and the thesaurus oracle said "pretentious!" and so it was written.
I spent most of today reading a journal piece at a snail's pace. Really, watching the people around me was just much more interesting than the law review article in front of me. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow...maybe. I first read outdoors at beautiful Čajna hiša. The waiters at all of these restaurants seem shockingly reluctant to give you your bill...especially for an outdoor cafe, where they only come out on occasion, and it would be absurdly easy just to walk away. They're just totally unconcerned. I get the impression people sort of know each other here. Several times I've had someone walking down the street come up to the people sitting next to me and talk to them like old friends. I also get the impression there's almost no crime. There were zero murders in 2008, and people just seem generally unconcerned and law-abiding. I wouldn't say it's inappropriate to cross against the light here, but it's definitely appropriate not to cross against the light, which isn't so much the case in New York.
Anyway, after I read at the cafe, I moved to attractive-but-sketchy Miklošičeva Park. I had originally placed it slightly below Tompkins Square Park on the sketch scale, with only one roving bum and one decently-dressed man passed out against a tree. But after the bum pointed to the decently-dressed man to show me that he was holding himself and peeing in a dramatic arc onto the grass, I moved it slightly above Tompkins. Then I left.
I got a Slovenian SIM card for my phone, which came with free ice cream:
I don't really see the connection, either. But I was happy to take the ice cream. Then it was off to Hot Horse. And now I'm at England, the pub next door to my apartment, drinking a larger-than-a-pint glass of Union, the local beer (I walked past the brewery today). It set me back a whopping €2,20, but, sad to say, that's pretty appropriate. It's somewhat, er, Coors-esque. Maybe not that bad, but it's no Guinness. This place closes at 11, so I suppose that's all for tonight, friends. Send me stories of America!
Hot Horse is a lot like Shake Shack, but there's a twist. I'll give you a clue: It's called Hot Horse. Yes, that's right. My mouth now tastes like horse. Frankly, I see why beef caught on. Like so many advertisements, the Hot Horse website has an animal cheerfully encouraging you to eat it, and like so many Slovenian websites, its English translation sounds like someone got a little thesaurus-happy. If you click on the mustard, it will tell you that "All the students...nerds, party animals, truants...come to me." They did a pretty good job with "nerds" and "party animals," but someone just couldn't come up with "slackers," so they asked their thesaurus oracle, "Thesaurus Oracle, what do you call a young person who fails to attend class?" And the thesaurus oracle said "a truant!" and that was that. For the second to last paragraph here, they asked, "Thesaurus Oracle, what do you call someone who likes high-culture and wouldn't want to go to an ordinary dive bar?" and the thesaurus oracle said "pretentious!" and so it was written.
I spent most of today reading a journal piece at a snail's pace. Really, watching the people around me was just much more interesting than the law review article in front of me. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow...maybe. I first read outdoors at beautiful Čajna hiša. The waiters at all of these restaurants seem shockingly reluctant to give you your bill...especially for an outdoor cafe, where they only come out on occasion, and it would be absurdly easy just to walk away. They're just totally unconcerned. I get the impression people sort of know each other here. Several times I've had someone walking down the street come up to the people sitting next to me and talk to them like old friends. I also get the impression there's almost no crime. There were zero murders in 2008, and people just seem generally unconcerned and law-abiding. I wouldn't say it's inappropriate to cross against the light here, but it's definitely appropriate not to cross against the light, which isn't so much the case in New York.
Anyway, after I read at the cafe, I moved to attractive-but-sketchy Miklošičeva Park. I had originally placed it slightly below Tompkins Square Park on the sketch scale, with only one roving bum and one decently-dressed man passed out against a tree. But after the bum pointed to the decently-dressed man to show me that he was holding himself and peeing in a dramatic arc onto the grass, I moved it slightly above Tompkins. Then I left.
I got a Slovenian SIM card for my phone, which came with free ice cream:
I don't really see the connection, either. But I was happy to take the ice cream. Then it was off to Hot Horse. And now I'm at England, the pub next door to my apartment, drinking a larger-than-a-pint glass of Union, the local beer (I walked past the brewery today). It set me back a whopping €2,20, but, sad to say, that's pretty appropriate. It's somewhat, er, Coors-esque. Maybe not that bad, but it's no Guinness. This place closes at 11, so I suppose that's all for tonight, friends. Send me stories of America!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Dobrodošli!
Hello, friends! I am here, blogging live from fabulous Ljubljana, Slovenia:
I plan to blog here regularly throughout my time in Slovenia, so if you're interested in my (mis)adventures, check frequently. And please comment...half of the reason I'm doing this is to connect back with the English-speaking world. It will make me very happy to hear reactions (or random interjections) from the outside.
So here was today: After a long day's journey into night and back out again (in which I accomplished nothing necessary but did watch House and do an Atlantic Puzzler), I arrived at the extremely chill Ljubljana airport. I don't think they even stamped my passport. I took a cab into town and arrived at my lovely little apartment. I access the place via a door in a parking lot. That's it, no hallway, just a door that I open and I am in my room. I spent a while walking around and getting acquainted with the city—and getting snubbed by a waitress who just completely forgot I had ordered food—I read Middlesex in Tivoli Park for a little while. (Unfortunately, I'm really liking the book, which will help in my quest to do all of my school stuff last minute.) I then had dinner at Tomato and read with a glass of wine at a place called Antico in the old town.
I also finally heard from the marines! They're hosting a breakfast for Americans on Saturday, so I'll be going to that. Yay, American Marines in Ljubljana.
OK, this post was no fun because I am hideously jetlagged and need to sleep. More to come tomorrow!
P.S. The dragons send their best.
I plan to blog here regularly throughout my time in Slovenia, so if you're interested in my (mis)adventures, check frequently. And please comment...half of the reason I'm doing this is to connect back with the English-speaking world. It will make me very happy to hear reactions (or random interjections) from the outside.
So here was today: After a long day's journey into night and back out again (in which I accomplished nothing necessary but did watch House and do an Atlantic Puzzler), I arrived at the extremely chill Ljubljana airport. I don't think they even stamped my passport. I took a cab into town and arrived at my lovely little apartment. I access the place via a door in a parking lot. That's it, no hallway, just a door that I open and I am in my room. I spent a while walking around and getting acquainted with the city—and getting snubbed by a waitress who just completely forgot I had ordered food—I read Middlesex in Tivoli Park for a little while. (Unfortunately, I'm really liking the book, which will help in my quest to do all of my school stuff last minute.) I then had dinner at Tomato and read with a glass of wine at a place called Antico in the old town.
I also finally heard from the marines! They're hosting a breakfast for Americans on Saturday, so I'll be going to that. Yay, American Marines in Ljubljana.
OK, this post was no fun because I am hideously jetlagged and need to sleep. More to come tomorrow!
P.S. The dragons send their best.
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