Farmstay with authentic and welcoming Serbian family
ReportLocation: Razana, Serbia
My name is Julien, from France, and I write this on behalf of my dearest friends, the Maksimovic family, because they only speak Serbian. Note that this language barrier is in no way a problem, after all, I don't speak Serbian and they are still my dearest friends.The Maksimovic need/want international travellers on the farm because:
1. It's a farm. There's always stuff to do.
2. They are the most hospitable and open-minded people in the world (fact) and they just love it.
This is cultural exchange rock-bottom. I've learned more about the Balkan way of life in a month with them than my foreign friends that have been living in Belgrade for years. Also, I'm learning Serbian fast, which sounds useless only to those who don't know it's basically the same language everywhere in former Yugoslavia. Also it's a Slavic language and a Serbian speaker can communicate fairly well with a Bulgarian, a Czech or a Russian.
You'll drink milk that was inside a cow yesterday. And many strange and delicious dairy products made with it. Eggs straight out of the chicken. Bread that you kneaded yourself. A lovingly made Rakia (serbian liquor) that is orders of magnitude better than anything on the market. Lamb meat that was walking just hours ago. At this point, it might be relevant to warn vegans that maybe this is not the right place. Vegetarians have faired very well.
As of today, there's a beautiful lawn to pitch your tent near a stream in the shade of great trees. We're already thinking about setting up a proper shelter for volunteers :)
I understand that this is not the best accomodation situation. However, many of us have spent several weeks on the farm living out of tents and still had the time of our lives. Still, we're working on this. The Maksimovics are visibly embarrassed that I sleep in a tent. Maybe if you join us soon, you'll get to participate in building activities :)
Good internet if you get your own SIM card from Telenor.
