Zahvaljujući mojoj kuci Zuri koju sam
udomila iz azila, sada imam nekoliko prijatelja iz Srbije Thanks to my dog Zuri, which I adopted from a shelter, I now
have several friends from Serbia
per that she’s very beautiful. But when she came to live here, she was struck by various culture shocks that are difficult to adapt to when you’ve spent your whole life growing accustomed to a different kind of etiquette. “One of the culture shocks I experienced is that here people who don't know one another don't greet each other on the street. In my country, when you see someone on the street, you greet them, you say “Mumbo jumbo”. When I came to Belgrade, I said “Ciao” and “Dobar dan” [good day] to everyone I met, and people looked at me strangely. When Ste- fan realised what I was doing, he asked me: "What's wrong with you? Don't greet people you don’t know; we don't do that here”. Oh, how hard it is for me to stick to that! So, now when I walk down the street and someone walks past me, I lower my head be- cause it feels unpleasant for me not to greet them.” When she first arrived, it was more difficult for her to meet people because of the lockdowns and COVID, but that has also now changed. “I had no friends in the beginning, because the lockdowns had just started, but thanks to my dog Zuri, which I adopted from a shelter, I now have several friends from Serbia, as well as several from Africa who I met at the African Festival that’s or- ganised by the Museum of African Art.”
U Srbiji ima toliko visokih zgrada da dobijem vrtoglavicu dok vozim. Kod nas nema toga, imamo samo jedan šoping centar, koji je izgrađen 2019. There are so many tall buildings in Serbia that I get dizzy while driving. Where I’m from there are no such things. We have only one shopping centre, which was built in 2019
Belgrade » Beograd | 67
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