Reading (For Dummies)

Foreign Friends

I have to say the last 5 months or so have been extremely eye-opening. Lately I've been listening to friends tell me the stories about their countries' histories and their lives.

Tonight I hung out with Maja as she told the story of her life in Belgrade under Slobodan Milosevic and during the riots and 'civil war'. She got out of town on October 15th, 2000, a few days before the Serbian government recreated the parliament and there was a fairly raucous march in Belgrade (also the day of her graduation). I found a fun timeline of the events courtesy of Radio Free Europe, which reminds me that Fritz is dating the daughter of a former Prague correspondant.

I can't imagine what it's like to live in such conditions. I wonder how someone can live with such stress every day. I remember seeing a lot of this stuff on the news a few years ago, but it's not until you hang out with someone that was there when you realize, 'Holy shit.'

Yeah, rulers that commit genocide and that kind of bullshit need to go; maybe Saddam does too. I just hate to see so many more people have to die for it...

Anyway I'm feeling like I've lead an extraordinarily cushy/comfortable/lazy life after hearing her stories tonight...